Elder Kofoed is On the GO!

Bogota Columbia

Hey guys! so its been a great 5 days or so. Probably not going to be able to get it all in, but ill give it my best. just to clear up some doubts, yes mom, i did find my columbian pesos. no mom, i do not have any more. i used the last of them today for a 100% Columbian that totally makes me look like a legit blanco bandito. 

Jonny's Companion, Elder Jackman, is in the middle. 

We went on a tour today, which was pretty cool. we climbed to the top of a mountain to see all of Bogota Columbia. If you can imagine Bogota, its even bigger than the entire utah valley and every inch of space is used up. It looked even bigger than the great NY to me, just not near as many skyscrapers. ill send some pics if i can get them off my camera. Later, we went to a tourist attraction to buy some stuff, and there were peope doing some crazy things, ie balancing bicycles on their teeth in the middle of the street, playing more than 8 instruments at once, and whatever else it took to get some of the dinero off of us gringos. i held my ground. Also, i ate a bag of fried ants. wasnt all that bad, but it made elder ware throw up i guess. his loss.

So, i mentioned in my last letter that we would be going proselyting again. about that, it was great. they told us that we would be going to a nice community. What they didnt tell us is that we were going to a very strongly populated and very opinionated Catholic Community. Dont get me wrong, we only had a couple of people who wanted to Bible Bash, but for the most part the people were very nice (as they generally are around here). of the 7 or 8 referrals that we got, there are two i would like to mention. 

one lady we walked up to talk to was standing just outside of a catholic school (which was a lot like the one in Nacho Libre, if you can imagine that). She told us that she had just dropped off her kids at the school, and she was looking for a taxi. We talked to her for about 5 minutes, but she seemed to be more intent on finding a ride home rather than what we had to say. also, she said she had a religion, that we would just be wasting our time. Part of me wanted to give up, and my companion was about ready to drag me away, but i just decided to stay persistent. Eventually, when we were asking how she was feeling, how life was and stuff, you know, the usual, she said she wasnt all that great. she said she was struggling a bit, because her grandma had recently passed away. without missing a beat i kicked my companion in the ankle and told him to get the Plan of Salvation folleto out while i kept the convo alive. when i got to the juicy part about how we believe that "las familias son eternidad, y mediante seguiamos el ejemplo de JesuCristo, viviriamos con nuestros familias para siempre." (families are eternal, and by following the example of Jesus Christ, we would be able to live with our families forever - rough translation.) at that moment, she forgot completely about that taxi and focussed entirely about what we had to say. We gave her the pamphlet, roughly explained the Plan, and bore testimony about it. She wiped a tear from her eye as she gladly accepted our invitation to learn more, and gave us her information. i hope that we were able to at least bring her a message of peace, if nothing more. I just wish i could follow up with some of these people, becuase i would love to see how they turn out.

The other was a man who was standing on the street corner, listening to some marriachi band full blast from the phone in his pocket. We walked up to him, started talking to him, and i was slightly suprised at what i saw. It wasnt that he looked mean, or like he wanted to hurt me or something, or anything like that. He just looked... sad. I have seen sad people before, but not quite like him. he said he was on his way to work, that  he didnt have much time, but we asked him how he was. As we talked to him, he told us about his situation, one i cant begin to describe in this letter. I wasn´t exactly sure what to say, but as i opened my mouth, and let the Spirit do His job, the words flowed (english grammer?) out. I don´t remember a lot of what I said, or how I said it, but the little of what i remember is that i told him and testified to him that God loved him, He cared for him, and that he was not alone. My companion talked to me about it later. He just seemed to light up, like he had finally found hope in something, and well.. i dont know. its not easy to describe. We gave him a Book of Mormon, testified of the joy it brings, and by having faith and acting on its teachings, we can find the answers and the strength we need. We asked him to read Alma 32 first, about faith, and eventually, all of it, and he said he would do so. He left a different man than we had first met on that street corner. I pray and hope for the best of him.

The rest of the week has been pretty great. I am about out of time, but just a couple of things to mention: the kids love me, but only because i have blonde hair and blue eyes and sometimes i talk funny. We walked by a daycare center or something, where the kids were planting a garden or something, and they all ran and jumped on the fence. we talked to them for about a half an hour, where they asked us about the US, told us their names, and other stuff. Its funny how humbling it is when a 6-year old is speaking better spanish than you. Thank you everyone for the support! i am doing great, working hard, and tomorrow i get a new companion: one who doesn´t speak any english at all. yikes. Love you guys!! (especially you mom:))

With His CCM Instructor and his wife

 

Selfie overlooking Bogata