The CCM

From Elder Kofoed this week.  He must type like a tornado.  Oh, well.  I'll take it!

Hey guys! so to start off, we have come up with a definition for the CCM: where we plan on planning to plan plans about our plans- which get changed, which gives us no time to accomplish our plans. We are always having district planning meetings, and we never even end up doing everything we planned on, because schedules are always changing because Columbians have no chill. However, this whole experience is going super well.

There have been some spiritual moments in here, but sadly, we have only gotten to talk to one person outside the walls of this gated place (more on that later.) So, I would like to take this time to touch on some of the things that have happened here that i may have left out.
First off, the driving and the streets around here are insane. Its kind of like New York, except way worse. Nobody ever stops at stop signs, they dont believe in speed limits (but neither do i, so i cant judge), and there are tons of people. The craziest thing is that there arent so many cars as there are people on mopeds and motorbikes. They like to weave in and out of traffic, inches from wreckage on both sides, and sometimes carry so much stuff on the back that looking at it youd think youd have trouble putting it even into the trunk of a car. 

Speaking of cars and traffic and stuff, I am still deciding whether or not i am safe in the CCM at night. See the thing is, there are always police sirens sounding off and stuff. It makes sense that it would be so, since theres a station right next to us, but that still doesnt change the fact that someones car alarm is going off every five minutes. 

They have these fruits down here called Granadilla (said like graun-a-dizha) that look like grenades. Theyre basically the south american pomegranite, and to me, even more delicious. Still havent eaten any guinea pigs, but hopefully as soon as i get out i can check that off my list.

One of my teachers, Hermano Arango, taught us a valuable parable for teaching lessons to investigators. He said that teaching lessons is like dating. To have a successful lesson, the investigator needs to feel the spirit and know that what youu are teaching is true. To have a successful date, you need to earn the kiss at the end. You plan everything out, come prepared, and if everything goes well, then oh how sweet the victory. he finished: "the only difference is it´s two guys." 

Both of my teachers are slayers. The one i just told you about, he met his wife on his mission, but she lived in the US. After the mission, he hit her up on facebook. In their first conversation, he talked about marriage with her (kind of like how missionaries discuss baptism in the first lesson to.) basically, he used his knowledge from missionary work to convince his now wife to come down to Columbia and marry him. The way he asked her to do so was on the SECOND day she was in the country, he took her to the temple and proposed to her in the Celestial room. He did it with a watch, not a ring. The reason was so that he could give it to her without a battery and tell her that time would stop until he could see her again. Definitely a boss.

My other teacher, Hermano Gomez, and his fiance who also works in the CCM, are the cutest couple alive. I´ll tell you about his story another time, because it´s pretty good. Our district is pretty convinced he´ll be a general auuthority someday too.

So, Elder jackman and i one night were walking around the ccm memorizing the first vision in spanish, when a guy walked by talking on his phone. We said hola, and he immediately hung up on whoever he was talking to and came right over to the fence. Incredibly, he also spoke fluent English, which is hilarious because Elder Jackman and i are basically the onlyones who have met anyone who speaks fluent english, and we´ve met about 6 or so. He introduced himself as Saloman and told us a little about himself. he had a family, a little girl and a wife. she had been baptised 10 years before, but had become inactive. he said she always did like the church, she just got too busy and couldnt go anymore. we talked to him a little about our church, and a little about the plan of salvation, and he said he would be very interested to hear more about us, and readilly gave us all of his contact information, including his address, his cell phone number, his home phone number, his wife´s phone number, and email. He said he´d love to have the missionaries stop by, and then he called the person back that he had dropped off. I dont know but i think that must be a thing down here, just to hang up on people and call them back when you werent busy.

So tomorrow, we go proselyting again, so on TUesday, i will update you on how that goes! I love you all so much, and i hope youre all doing great. Love you especially Buster.

Elder Jonathan Lane Kofoed