Root Beer, Floods, Eggs, and Marking Baptism Dates

Hey everyone!! So first things first, we made root beer! Haha so I got my Christmas box last week and there was root beer concentrate so I and the other three Americans made some root beer and it was amazing! I have not tasted that for about 11 months (é claro né?) so it was great to taste it once more. Also, I bought a new shirt and hat for my birthday and the elders in my district got me a mug with a bunch of bands that I love so that was amazing. THEN on Tuesday, there was a flood! There started a thunderstorm which led to a lot of rain which led to half the city filling up with water! It was insane to see all this water which made me worry that the same thing would happen that happened in 2011 (just look up Teresópolis 2011 and you will see) but nothing happened so that is good. THEN on my birthday we had an activity that was amazing, but at the end everyone went out and.... I got a few eggs to the head. So apparently it is a tradition here that when it is your birthday you get an egg to the head so that is what happened. Haha it was definitely a new experience. So finally, on Sunday, there was a rapaz (young man) that brought his friend to church and we started talking to him about baptism and then after church we talked to him about baptism and we marked a date!! It was incredible and we will continue to work with him. 

Oh side note, when I woke up on my birthday my companion decorated our apartment and sang happy birthday which was amazing.... if I wasn’t so tired. hahaha but it was sweet.

I hope everyone has an amazing week!

Elder Kupferer

PS We celebrated my birthday with Subway as well. It was great.

Christmas Package and Splits and One More Transfer Gone

Olá pessoal!! How is everyone!

So a lot has happened this week. So, first off, the zone leaders went to Juiz de Fora to do splits and they returned with... MY CHRISTMAS PACKAGE!! It was amazing! I was really excited to get that finally haha. The new ties are dope, the cereal was amazing, and the letters from everyone was greatly appreciated. Also, I did splits again in order to help do an interview and we walked past a part that was really beautiful (I will include the photo) and the woman was baptized! So that was amazing! Also, we did a family home evening in the house of a less active with her daughter and the daughter’s husband (which are active and they are really amazing) and the spirit was really strong. We talked about a lot of stuff and we ended up getting home a little late haha. Finally, one more transfer is gone. My district will remain the basically the same, I will stay with Elder Kemerich, and everything will be amazing. Only thing that will change is that the sisters will leave and we will get two more elders, one of which is from my group! It will be an amazing transfer, especially since I will have 1 year on the mission during this transfer, and I will turn 21 on Wednesday! It has been really cool to see the difference this past year and I am excited to continue to work here!

Oh and we will have an activity on my birthday that will be amazing and I made the invites which is pretty sweet. Hope everyone has a great week!

Love, 

Elder Kupferer

CBF, Dedo de Deus, and Getting a Job

Monday, January 9, 2018

Ola, tudo bem? How is everyone doing?

So this week was amazing. So on P-day, we went and visisted the CBF which is the headquarters for the Brazilian Soccer team. It was amazing. We also went and saw the Dedo de Deus that was cool. Oh sorry this will be really short because we don’t have time.

So I will finish with a miracle that happened. So we told an investigator that if he reads the Book of Mormon, he will find a job. He told us afterward that the NEXT DAY, 8:30 in the morning, a restaurant called and asked if he would accept a job. The Book of Mormon is true! Man it is amazing how this has happened. They are amazing, only problem is that they need to get married but we are already working on that so this is going to be amazing. Oh and we had three people at church yesterday! I hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

New Year, Another Baptism....and No Hair

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Hey everyone!! So this week has been fun and hard! So first things first, we have been working really hard this week. We did a division on Tuesday and that day, Elder Bledsoe and I made two new investigators and Elder Kemerich and Elder Oliveira.... 7. They killed it that day! They told us afterward that they would go to one appointment and then the people there told them to pass a different person there and that kept going and going. The district meeting was good. This district is really awesome. Anyways, we had another baptism! It was amazing! When Gabriella was prepping, she switched to the baptism clothes, and then did the interview, and then got baptized!! That was the first time that I saw that which was pretty great! There was just one thing that wasn’t the best. When we went to search for our investigators, 6 of them said that they would be going to church and.... only one person went. BUT that person is awesome and she was really excited. So that was really good. Then for the new year... I slept through it. Yep, missionary work doesn’t stop for the holidays. And on Monday we went to work and.... no one was open or at home. We just visited a less active and went to the hospital to help a member out that got in an accident.

So about the no hair. I went to get my hair cut and the guys were doing a great job..... until he started to cut up on top. I think there was a miscommunication because he cut way lower than I wanted and now I have close to no hair. If I have a photo I will show you guys, but I hope everyone has a great rest of the week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Merry Christmas...and Yellow Hair

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

ALÔ!! Merry Christmas!! 

This week has been intense but has been a lot of fun. So we had our Christmas conference which was awesome. We got these new ties that was awesome, we ate some açaí, and I saw half of my group! 

Then, we had a baptism! So we were working with Gilson since the first day that we got here. He was the only one of his family that wasn’t a member so that was great to see. BUT there were a few things that went wrong hahaha. 

So first off, the cover for the drainage was lost so we filled up the baptismal font and when we went to the baptism, there was only half of the water! It still worked but it was interesting. 

Also, Gilson showed up late! We were a little nervous but when he showed up, everything was fine. Then after we made a video for his wife and for his family and everyone was happy. 

He then was confirmed on Sunday and then.... he painted (I think he means colored or dyed) his hair. I forgot to take a picture but we were waiting at his house for him and when he arrived, he had yellow hair! He told us that he wanted to paint it which because he thought it would be great but it turned out yellow. So what did we do? We cut it for him! haha it was definitely one of the most interesting things that happened. 

Man this was such a great Christmas, especially helping someone be baptized and doing this sacred covenant. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Love,

Elder Kupferer