Running Around Doing Interviews

Monday, February 26, 2018

Opá! Tudo bom!?

Dude so this week was one of hard work, miracles, and one of the most tiring weeks of my mission. 

So, President sent a letter out that said that CADA DUPLA DE FÉ VAI BATIZAR (Each companionship with faith, will baptize) this week. So I used this in the district meeting and we just talked about faith and it was one of the most spirit filled meeting of my mission. It was really powerful, and then that day.... nothing happened. haha 

But then Wednesday, we did splits, and I went in our area and... we marked two baptismal dates! I didn’t believe it! Actually everyone in the district marked a date for Saturday. 

Also, in the district meeting, I said that I wanted to run from place to place, doing interviews for everyone and that is what I did haha. On Friday, I started in the São Pedro area and.... the guy sumiu (disappeared) he wasn’t there. So we waited a little longer but he didn’t show up. So, we went to the next one, Wagner, and he passed! That was really cool. That is one of the things that I like the most is to see all these people in the interviews is to see that they are ready to serve the Lord and to make this big step. So after Wagner, I crossed the city to do the interview of Roberto, who passed also! So there was one more thing that went bad, none of our investigators passed or the mom didn’t sign the paper. So out of 5 dates, only two were baptized. But I learned something. I learned that if you do your best, it doesn’t matter if you baptize. Yes that is our focus, but I knew that I did my best and everything will happen in the Lord’s time. 

I hope everyone has an amazing week!

Amo Vocês, 

Elder Kupferer

Walking All the Way to Petropolis (Almost)

Monday, February 19, 2018

Alô!!!

So this week was amazing and full of adventure. So first off, we did splits on Wednesday with Elder Cruz (my group) and Elder Souza. So I took Elder Souza to the country just to knock on doors, do contacts and just start more work out there because there are a lot of good people there. HOWEVER, when we got to the first neighborhood, Imbiu, I felt a distinct impression to go visit Maria Gouveia. Only thing about that is that Maria lives in Vale Alpino which is more or less 2 hours walking. But I have learned to follow the Spirit so.....off we went.

So as we were going, we did some contacts, taught a lesson to a new investigator Sandro, and continued to walk. As we were walking we would just pick goiaba (guava) and acerola (that’s the name, like a cherry) on the way. Oh, and on the way two dogs thought it would be cool to follow us so that was pretty sweet as well. But anyway, we continued walking until a bridge that had a right (to Vale Alpino) and a left and I went.....left. I continued to walk and walk, I passed an ice cream factory, one more dog, and just kept going until a motorcycle pulled up next to us and asked if we were lost. I said that we were trying to find Maria Gouveia and he said, "Uau, você está muito ferrado" (You are really screwed). So he apparently is an inactive member that told us that we picked the wrong road that would lead to Itaipava, which is in Petropolis, and that we only had time now to take the bus back to the city. So, I felt pretty down about myself when we were heading back because I felt we wasted our time but then a miracle happened. We were waiting and a car pulled up asking if we wanted a ride. We said of course (now, alright I know this might not sound the best but I already have seen them in church so I thought we were safe) and we hopped in. It turns out it was a sister of the church that usually gives us money for lunch, but now she told us where she lives so that we can visit them and that next time we will eat all-you-can-eat pizza. So I learned that we should always follow the Spirit, even though the outcome won’t be the same as you thought.

So I ran out of time because I wrote this story so I will just leave one thing that happened on Sunday. I was walking to the stake center (I was about 20 minutes away still) and it started to pour! I also thought that I didn’t have my umbrella (but it turned out that I had one haha) so I walked the rest of the way to the stake center just getting poured on and I was SOAKED by the time I got there. I didn’t dry off completely until I got home, and this was because I got out of the wet clothes. So that was fun.

I hope everyone has an amazing week.

Amo Vocês, 

Elder Kupferer

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Hey everyone!! 

How is everyone doing!! 

So first off, congrats to my cousin for killing it in the MTC and my other cousin for getting your mission call to Rio de Janeiro!! haha sorry to say it, but this part of Rio is better (and Minas) 

ANYWAYS, so this week was cheio de coisas (full of stuff). 

On Friday, we had splits and I left with Elder Johnson to work. (Oh side note, Previous P day we made tacos so that was amazing) While we were walking, we were doing contacts and half of them were all in my area!! (Let it be known that I was working in his area so this is rare to happen) 

Then the next day, we did splits again because I needed to do a baptismal interview for them and we went and... The woman wasn't there when we wanted to talk to her. SO we just started to work in another part until about 7:30 when the other elders said that they found her and were teaching her. So we booked it to her house, I interviewed her and she passed! This woman is amazing and has such a strong desire to serve Christ. 

Then, on Sunday, we left with the quorum president to do some visits. When we did each one, I was taken back by how he talked to each of these inactive members and how it was just one invite that they needed to get their lives in order. So something I learned this week is that the power of the atonement is real and can help people. Also, families can be together for eternity, we just need to work for it. I hope everyone has a great rest of the week and I will enjoy this P day on Tuesday because the quorum is doing a barbecue here. See ya!

Com Amor,

Elder Kupferer

Conferência de fogo

Monday, February 5, 2018

Hey everyone. I know my mom will hate this because, like always, I am short on time. So basically this week has been really good except that our baptismal date fell through but we got a family that moved into our ward that are getting ready for baptism! So we will continue to help them out.

Our district meeting was really good and then on Thursday was spectacular! I can’t even begin to describe how animated everyone was. It was seriously one of the best ones I have been to. We talked a lot about how we can hit our goals and help people be baptized. One of my favorite quotes was that "a pessimist will always see the difficulty in the opportunity, but the optimist will always find the opportunity in the difficulty.”

Oh and one more thing that was cool was that we were doing our studies in the morning and the other elders in Teresópolis called for us to help with a service project. They asked how much time it would take to get there and we said 30 minutes (actually it is usually 50 to an hour) and we changed, said our prayers and left. In our prayers, we asked for a bus to be out in the front by the point that is in the front of our house. We left and didn’t see the bus so we started to walk. But after a minute, Elder Kemerich looked backwards and there was the bus! So we ran back, and jumped on the bus. This already was cool, but then while we were going, the bus picked up some more people. When I looked forward, it was Mateus (who will go to the Tijuana Mexico mission!) who we talked to. Side note, we needed a member to come with us and we talked to him and he was willing!

So the lesson for the week, prayer with a just desire in your heart, have faith that it will happen, and the miracles will happen.

Have an amazing week!

Elder Kupferer

Everyone that passed in Bairu (Antiga Grajaú)

My District

On of my Zone Leaders

Fanciest Guaraná I have seen in my life