District Meeting and a Baptism

Monday, September 25, 2017

Hey everyone! 

So I don’t have a lot of time so this will be short. 

So the first thing that happened was that we had a district meeting and I gave a training since I am the district leader. Only thing different was that it was actually the whole zone that was there because our president has some new "rules" that he put into place that will help elevate the whole mission so the zone leaders told the whole zone the new information. So after that I got up and started my training and.... I said a person’s name wrong. It is Elder Carneiro but I said Elder Carno. Yep. SO that was fun. 

Oh and I got a new comp called Elder Henrique. He is chill and I think well will get a lot done here. 

Oh and Andre, the person that was struggling with smoking, stopped! And got baptized. When we went to pick him up I felt an overwhelming amount of peace just letting me know that this was right. 

Love you guys and I will talk to you all next week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Ups and Downs

Ai caras! Beleza? 

So this week has been a mix of ups and downs. 

So first off we have a pesquisador chamado [an investigator called] Andre and he was the one that is having trouble with cigarros [cigarettes] BUT he was progressing and was getting ready for BATISMO. Or so we thought, because he passed the interview and everything but we had an activity before he would have gotten baptized but he showed up and confessed some things to Elder Western (who gave the interview) of stuff that happened after and he then sat down with Elder Western, Elder Valdiviezo, and bishop and they talked about how he couldn’t get baptized until next week. Needless to say, he was a bit mad at them but he calmed down, and now we will work for Saturday! 

So we also had transfers and a lot happened. First, Valdiviezo and Hilario left for the mission office and house since they are going home. My new comp was someone else but then they changed everything around and now I am with an elder named Elder Henrique. Oh, and I am district leader now which means that I give training to the people in my district (which is really small. It’s my comp and I and the Zone Leaders). So that will be fun haha. I am excited and a little nervous for this new responsibility but I know it is where the Lord wants me so I will continue with this. 

I hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Miracles and Miracles That Went Bad

(Monday, September 11, 2017)

Hey everyone! What's up! So this week has been a good and hard one. 

So, first off we have an investigator that won’t stop smoking or drinking! It is frustrating because he keeps telling us that he wants to quit and we gave him a blessing (which he said worked and every time he wanted to smoke he wanted to throw up. So we thought that would end it right? No. He still continued after, hence Miracle that went bad) but we ended up just telling him that he can’t keep doing this. So we helped him with taking away chances to smoke or situations that he would do these things so let’s hope that will help! 

NEXT, we went back to visit an investigator and we ran into her son, Italo. So we started talking to him about music, cars, planes, and then we said, oh a gente vai passa amanha ta bom (or, we will pass by tomorrow alright?) He then said, “or we can just talk right now” (hmmm, alright sounds good) so we then taught him and his mom and we marked a date with him. Then we passed by again and he will be moving but it is still in our area so we will see him again! 

Then on Thursday was Independence Day here WHICH WAS a normal day. Like, no one celebrated anything. I heard more fireworks going off for Flamengo (a soccer team and my favorite team here. Vai Flamengo!) than I did for their own independence. BUT we did have a churrasco (barbecue) and it was killer! 

But then our mission president said that the missionary manual said that holidays were perfect for finding families so he said if you go out and search, you will find one family and one youth (jovem) that will go on a mission. So we went out, and...... We got a family and a youth to teach!! We just need to continue to pass by there, but that day, we got 6 new investigators. It was just a testimony to me that if you use the time of the Lord wisely, especially when you do your part, the Lord will provide. 

I hope you all have a great rest of the week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Changes & Zone Conference

(Monday, September 4, 2017)

Alô tudo mundo! Tudo brite? 

This week was pretty awesome! So first off we have this investigator called Andre and he is honestly the best. We have been working with him and it has been good. On Tuesday, after Zone Conference (which I will talk about after) we went by to check on him and to teach him a little more, but when he walked up, we didn't even recognize him! He cut his hair, fez um barba (shaved) and was dressed in slacks and a button-down shirt. He said that he was trying to be more like us and we then talked to him about how he can be more like someone better, Christ! Haha so that has been good. 

So, Zone Conference. Zone conference was really good. Our mission president wants to have 100 baptisms in the month of September so we talked about ideas on how we can get that going and what would be impeding that. 

Also, the secretários showed us a video of what they do on a regular basis para a gente entender (for us to understand) and then we watched a guy who explained the power of doing an angel Gabriel contact. He said that we need to have the same conviction as the angel Gabriel when he was talking to Mary. He said that Gabriel told her what would happen and that we as representatives as Jesus Christ have the same power. I really took this to heart and have been doing my best to apply it because I AM a representative of Jesus Christ and I am doing the same thing He would be doing if he was here in Brazil. I am going from house to house, blessing the lives of people, and sharing a message of eternal families and how we can live with our Heavenly Father once again. I know that this is the true church and I know that I am doing His work. 

Hope you guys have a great week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer