Condensed Milk

Oi Tudo Bem?! Tudo Bem! So this week has been pretty awesome. I first had zone conference which was pretty awesome. President Lacerda talked for four hours and from what I could understand it was great! I am glad we could have the opportunity to have that conference especially since I also got to meet a good amount of people in my mission. Then I was back in my area and we got back to work. It was a little tough to start because we had one investigator tell us to go away, but the other ones are cool, just sometimes they aren’t very motivated so it is hard to make commitments with them. But we just contacted three people that seem really promising so we are hoping it works out. Also, people here are really nice and are very generous. For example, we went to just visit with a less active family and they had just bought chocolate milk and bread with meat and gave us some. And we went and took the sacrament to a member and she made us fruit salad which was good but I noticed that they love condensed milk here. It is very interesting. Another thing is that we celebrated my companion’s tenth month in the field so that was great. 

One last thing was that I had to give a talk in straight Portuguese for 10 minutes with a day’s notice. So guess who used language study for that talk? This guy. But it went really well and I am glad for a trainer that went over my main points to help make sure I was speaking the way I should. Well I hope everyone has a great week!

Love, 

Elder Kupferer

Welcome to the Mission Field

What’s up everyone! 

So these past few weeks have been interesting.  First off, I had to fly to my mission and that was really interesting because I was with 5 other people and we all decided to go on splits and divided into duplas (companionships) and we started handing out cards and information so that was fun.

Then, when we arrived, first the airport was super small (it was one building) so when we landed, we had to turn around to get to it, but when we were waiting for our bags, there were missionaries with the mission president waiting for us.

We then went to his (the mission president) house, got lunch and he showed us his skateboarding video that happened because he was trying to get someone to come to his institute class. (My president skateboards what’s up?!)  We then figured out our companions that night (mine is Elder Western from Salt Lake City which means he speaks English (yes) but we have been trying to only speak it when I need him too).  We then had dinner and my mission president then showed us pictures of when he had long hair and played the bass (like what!)

The next day, we headed to the area. It is this place called São João Del Rei, it is this super Catholic town with about 8-10 different Catholic cathedrals (or churches sorry I don’t know the correct term) which is cool but that means all the people are super Catholic which makes it a little harder to contact people but it’s great. 

The members here are great, they feed us lunch every day, and it is always fun to visit them (there are only about 20 members though so that is interesting). I am just trying to get used to being in a new area but I am loving it, loving my companion, and I love working. Thanks for all the emails and talk to you all soon!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Man with A Bear Tattoo

Oi! Tudo Bem? Tudo Bem! 

This week has been killer!  So first thing, I love always getting new missionaries, especially when you are the ones here longer. It is nice that we can tell them that it gets better but the best thing happened yesterday. I saw some new missionaries coming so I just said “Oi novos missionarios!” and they just gave me the biggest stare in the world. I felt accomplished that I sort of gotten better from that. 

I also had my first dream in Portuguese. I was at a concert and someone came up and needed me to translate for him because he was sick so I helped talked to someone in Portuguese which was awesome.  

We went to do Proteletismo and it was awesome. We handed out 8 Book of Mormons and had some fun experiences. 

The first one was I went to talk to a guy and he said “Meu paí é Satanás” (My dad is Satan) so Elder Carlson and I just said thanks and walked away. 

Then there was the man with the bear tattoo. We approached him and his brother (we will call his brother Jared and him the Brother of Jared {Book of Mormon reference, you should read it} because I cannot for the life of me remember his name because it was long and complicated).  We approached them and he stared at the book for a while, then just handed it back so we kept going, but when we were talking to another person, he came running up and grabbed my hand, and asked to see the book again but didn’t take it. THEN we walked past one more time and said that his brother would want it so I had to go get another book from a sister because we ran out and then handed it to him. And when we shook our hands and after we got his and Jared’s reference he grabbed my hand, lifted his shirt, and showed us his bear tattoo and closed his eyes, and said no power. SO that was fun. 

Then we had conference and that was honestly the best. I have such a strong testimony that we have a living prophet on this earth today and he still gives us constant guidance and council. Thanks for reading and hope to hear from you guys!

Love,

Elder Joseph A. Kupferer

Suave na nave!

Oi todas as pessoas! This week has been a mix of emotions. 

The Portuguese is slowly coming and the food is starting to just be the same thing except for the occasional good surprise. The subject is actually a phrase that our teacher told us which means  “cool on the airplane” but it is so much fun to say that we keep saying it.

Also, the temples are always so much fun to go to. Also, it is also a lot of fun to go around the city but we started seeing the same stuff so we are going to try to change it up.

 Also, I have been in Brazil a month! I don’t know how the time has flown by so fast. 

So time for some sad news. One of my companions had to go home to have foot surgery because he dislocated his foot while stepping wrong on the track (there was a drop from the track to the grass) and he has a stage 3 sprain which means that almost all his tendons in his foot are torn.  He will have to be home for about 3 months but by the sounds of it he will be straight out once he can. If everyone could just keep him in your prayers that would be spectacular.

So I will talk to all later. Tchau!

Love,

Elder Joseph A. Kupferer

The Street Artist

So this week has been great! I first went out after emailing last week and got a Flamengo (a soccer team in Río) jersey, got a free cookie and I showed some people a food place that is amazing.

We also gained Sister Davila and an Elder Carlson who is my new companion with Elder Deal! (Not sure if I emailed about him last week but he is from Nebraska so that is cool.)

We have exercise time during the day and we are constantly playing volei (volleyball) and everyone is killing it. It is a lot of fun especially since Elder Carlson does a handshake whenever something good happens so we kind of do it a lot. 

We then did some proseletismo [proselyting] in the biggest street in São Paulo which was really interesting. We were handing out Book of Mormons to just random people and it was hard! There were a lot that didn’t want the book but we did hand out three. The first guy was a security guard who basically just asked us to hand him a Book of Mormon. The second guy was a minister for some Christian church and thanked us for the book so hopefully he reads it haha. And finally the last guy was the street artist. He was just painting these really small paintings and we just walked up and tried to speak Portuguese and he tried back and then said that he was actually was better at English so we then talked in English for about 30 minutes about the church and he seemed really interested and he said he would read it so there is hope! The coolest part though was that he was from Georgia, which is the country right by Russia which I thought was awesome. 

We have been doing splits and teaching each other which has helped with the Portuguese. Also, the devotionals are the best here, especially when we get the MTC exclusive videos. 

One final thing, I have the best district and can’t believe that I will be leaving for the field in 3 weeks! Thanks for all your support! Talk to you all soon!

Love,

Elder Joseph A. Kupferer

A Great and Sad Week

So this week has been pretty great and sad. 

We had a bunch of our Brazilian elders (quick side story...we were all showing pictures and when they all saw my dad, they said he looked EXACTLY like Bruce Willis) were leaving for the mission field this week and these elders that came last Tuesday were saying that they were really going to miss them after this week and I chimed in, “That's nothing, I have known them for two weeks!” which as soon I have said I realized how stupid that sounded but while in the CTM, it doesn’t feel that short! It feels like I have known all these people for years but it has only been a few weeks so I can’t wait to get to meet people out in the field. 

So P day is also awesome, I went to the temple, then we went out and got some candy, cookies, and this thing that is basically fried dough with chicken inside. IT IS AMAZING. I am getting like three when I go out today. And I have been able to go to the São Paulo and the Campinas temples and it was such an amazing experience. I am so happy I am so close to two temples while in the CTM. 

Also, there have been this new batch of missionaries and I am back in a trio! Elder Carlson is awesome and I can’t wait to get to work with him. Well I can’t really think of much else to talk about so I’ll talk to you all next week!

Love,

Elder Joseph A. Kupferer

I asked Joseph where his new companion was from and this was his response:  

He’s from Nebraska. He just reminds me of Harrison Scoville, like same sense of humor and he is a hard worker.

Oi! Howsyourdog?

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

This week has been GREAT!

So we first showed up to the CTM Tuesday, and that day I wasn't feeling that well. [Mom note:  When he left us here at John Wayne, he had lost his voice and had a cold.]  I did all of the activities but I still didn't feel well so I asked for a blessing and I really felt like God is watching over me and called me to be here. So after that, we went to a devotional given by Elder Holland and it was honestly amazing. I am super grateful for the opportunities to have devotionals here. 

I also met all the Brazilians on my floor that day and they are super welcoming! I have been hanging out with them every day and they have been awesome. The food has been good as well, we have had all different kinds of food and it is a blessing. We also have time to go have exercise and my district always goes to play volleyball which is a bunch of fun. 

The hallway in our dorm is always busy with people and I have made plenty of friends there. We all hang out and trade a few things, I gave a Brazilian a US dollar bill (which they seem to be fascinated over) and then I got some Reis in return (the currency is called a Real but the plural is reis). 

Portuguese is coming along. It was really difficult at first but it is slowly getting better so that is a blessing. The reason that title is there is because since we are learning, sometimes people don't understand what you are saying. I walked up to one of the sisters in my district and said, "Oi (hey), ajuda" (I was paraphrasing to say do you need any help?) but what she heard was "Oi Hows your dog?" So yeah, we have come a ways since then. 

We also have this investigator that we go teach (his name is Alexis) and the first day I KNEW NOTHING. I understood maybe ten words he said but by yesterday I was able so respond (slowly and disconnected) to him without even looking at my notes so I already see some improvement. 

I loved the São Paulo temple today and how pretty it was inside and I can't wait to go back next P day.

          

This first week has been amazing. I know Christ lives and that he loves us and if you want to know more just email me because I only have 45 minutes to write so sorry if this is short. 

Talk to you all next week!

Love,

Elder Joseph A. Kupferer