All is Well...

I was able to catch Jonny online while he was writing and ask him about the car accident last week.  He and his companion were passengers in a taxi and it was a minor accident.  Jonny was in the back seat and was not hurt at all.  Phew!

DUDE Alberto!!! Welcome to the club man! I was so pumped when I scrolled down and saw that picture! I dont know if youll get the chance to read this or not, but I want you to know how happy I am for you! youre on the right track man. Whether you realize it or not, you have just made one of the biggest and best decisions of your life, one that you will never regret, not in this life or the next. Los angeles estan fiestando para ti en los cielos, mi amigo. I love ya man! if you get the chance, write me will ya? (Alberto is a Young Man that was goalie on Jonny's soccer team.  He got baptized here in Middleton on Saturday.  He's originally from Mexico).

Well, theres nothing super crazy going on right now, mostly just preoparing the baptism for the brother of Thomas, Joseph! (funny how the two brothers have the names of the first prophet of the restored church, as well as the living)! They're  both the coolest guys, and I've kind of told you how we met them right? through contacting their mom (not the old lady in the picture). we're working with the rest of the family, some cousins, some friends, and others living around them. We have also found a good bunch of less active members, that are so cool just have such a problem waking up in time for church. Through them, we have been working with their families and friends, and have set baptismal dates for some of them. Just goes to show how one person, or family, can really make a difference in changing the lives of others for the better. 

One of the things missionaries need the most is help form the members. Please, please please continue to invite ´people to meet the missionaries! Share what you know, a brief little testimony of the restored gospel, and it could make a real difference! That's how brigham young was converted, by the way. Love you guys, hope everything is going good back at home, and just know that i am here, i am safe, and i am loving the work!!

Jonny is in an area called Garcia Morena

Thomas Pangonis' Baptism

Ha Ha!  I can tell there has been some tie swapping going on!

You can't take the soccer out of the Missionary!

Keep Those Angels Close!

Opposing Forces....I keep praying that Angels of Safety prevail - any maybe that Jonny gets transferred to an area with NO CARS!  Walking and bicycles sound good to me!

Woah, this has been a great week! pretty crazy, actually, as compared to the last one. I will be somewhat brief, because I am short on time, so.. well, here we go!

So I had my second baptism this week! An 18 year old named Thomas. We met him through contacting his mom. We invited her to general conference way back when, and she came, and thomas decided to come along! since then, hes been super proactive with the lessons, reading the book of Mormon day and night, and Saturday, he asked me to be the one to baptise him! Hes the coolest guy ever, and if i have the chance to send pictures today, i will! were working with the rest of his family right now. his brother has a set date for the 21 of November, and we are working with the parents, but they have some complicated marriage and past divorce/non-divorce problems. maybe ill explain that later. also the cousins and relatives are looking promising too.

So mom, before you freak out, I want you to know that my companion and I are 100% ok. I got in another car accident. it wasnt too bad, just a little sort of bump in the road, but it was enough to shake my companion up pretty good. We had to take a couple of days off while the assistants made sure that we were ok and stuff, but were all fine, mentally and physically! the point is, i dont know if anyone informed you (mom) but just know that I am perfectly safe and sound.

I think its pretty easy to see that there are two separate opposing forces in missionary work. One, Satan and his dirty minions trying to hinder it,two, Heavenly Father taking care of us with his angels. But dont worry, the good always reins triumphant! Just food for thought, gotta go, take care!

"Tranquilo" Halloween, Rice and Soup

Ooops!  I forgot to post this last week!

Hey guys! Another week in the work gone by! This week has been good, although I can't really say that anything super incredible has happened. I mean, yeah we had halloween, but halloween here is very "tranquilo" here. They dont go all out like they do in the united states, just a couple people wearing costumes and stuff here and there. So, we had to just have kinda our own fiesta in our room. Basically, that meant we downed a bunch of coca cola and ate lots of food. Yep pretty sad.

Speaking of food, all we ever eat down here is rice and soup. The funny thing is that these people have thought up a million different ways to cook it. The thing that isnt funny is that its hard to not get fat. So far, Ive been doing alright, but we had a reunion for all the people who have been out for the same time as I have, and you wouldnt believe how much theyve changed. I didnt recognize one of my good friends from the MTC at first because he had really put on some weight. Thats one of the biggest things Im afraid of happening-not so much the fact that theres a possibility some guy might try to chase me down with a machete or something, but the fact that if im not careful i might not be able to outrun him. 

The other problem is my companion doesnt care one bit. I try to get him out of the house every morning to go for a run or something, and I just cant do it. Dont get me wrong, he is a hard worker, and we're doing really well together, but he hates excercise. Maybe when I have a new companion here in 8 weeks or so (because thats how long he has left in his mission) that will be different. Speaking of new companion, theres a chance I might train after I am done with him! 

  

The thing here is after someone finishes their first 12 weeks here, sometimes president has them train a new missionary. The Assistants to the President came and did an assesment with me, and then later told my companion that I'd be ready to train soon. The problem is i dont know how I feel about that.. like, there is so much i need to learn. not only the spanish language, but scriptures, rules, and the life of the missionary. talking with people, teaching in simple ways that they can understand, and really making a difference. But who knows, if im ready, then i will train. if not, well i wont be very disapointed. Sure, it would be awesome to have my first son (thats what they say in the mission when you train someone), but i hope i can be qualified enough to really help them be a great missionary.

Blessed to Baptize

To start off, shoutout to baby brother David for making it to 17 years!! Felìz cumpleaños muchacho!! Also, way to go at state vikes! happy to hear my home town still has some glory on the soccer field! (kidding) Seriously everything is going well at home! For the most part, everything is going well here too.

I just got done washing all my clothes by hand (yet another reason why I love America), but at least they're actually clean again. I come home every night smelling worse than roadkill, because of how hot it is and how much i sweat from it. 

But speaking of clean, holy cow I had my first baptism this week!

So, we´d been working with some sixteen year old twins for the most part of the 6 or 7 weeks I have been here. Heres the thing-they've been coming to church for their entire lives with their mom, but their dad isn't a member and up until this point he has refused to let them be baptized. Despite all the sets of missionaries and tireless work of the members of the stake, he had never let up. It was to the point that they were worried it might not happen until they could make the decision on their own. 

I would like to say that my companion came in and talked their dad into allowing it to happen, or that some angel like the one that came to Alma the younger came and rocked his world, but the truth is that nothing like that happened. What happened, as far as I know, is that we worked with the twins and their mom, teaching them all the lessons, and he just out of nowhere changed his mind. He just said "ok" one day. But what I dont get is why. What changed in him that made him change his mind? I dont know what really happened, but what I do know is that the Lord works in mysterious ways, and by small and simple things, great things are brought to pass. (Alma 37:6-7) We have prayed and fasted for them, and apart from that we had them write down their testimonies and give it to him for his birthday. Then on Saturday, we went with them down to the baptismal font.

I had the opportunity to baptize Melani, one of the twins, and my companion the other, Milena. Needless to say, I was super nervous leading up to it. This was my very first ever! I had no idea what it was going to be like. But when we were down in the water, the overwhelming peace and calm of the spirit came over me, and everything went perfect. When I brought her up out of the water, I could see that she wasnt the same as before. She came up, and she was glowing. She was so happy, so pure, so light. I will never forget it.

I thought about what would have been if I had decided to put my mission off for a couple of weeks or so. After the accident, I was pretty shattered, and in all honesty I had no idea what to do. I talked about how I recieved an answer to my prayers that I needed to just get out in the mission field and in the work that Sunday, but I never really knew why. Truthfully, I still might not know exactly why, even now. What I do know is that I wouldn't have been here to see this miracle, and neither would my companion, who would probably still be zone leader in his old area. Although I miss the people at home sometimes, and wonder where I would be right now if I had waited, I couldnt be happier with the work than I am now. I love the mission. It's the best decision I have ever made - the decision to serve. 

I´m not the same person that left small town Middleton, I have changed in ways that I cant really begin to express. I love you all, I miss you all, and I want you to know how blessed I am to be a missionary.

Feeling the Fire

He's feeling the "fire" of missionary work...

let's just hope he doesn't burn the house down!

So first off- dad, thank you so much for the pictures! I love to see how the family is doing! unfortunately, im not able to save any of them, due to the fact that all aour memory cards and flash drives have been collected for the assistants to the president to go through. Also, aunt nan! Love the emails from MJ! i will try to write him if i can find the time! A new nephew? wow!! he looks good, way to go Mats and Nikki! And Kaden, Congratulations on the mission call man! Hey, if you can write me, a guy in my mission has some pretty sweet stories from his dad, who served in the same mission! (ps. theres a legend about black panthers down there - and its true). Also, mom, I sent a personal letter home for the family, but i dont know how long it might take to get there. I hear in can take up to months back and forth. ok, now for what has been going on here:

So it turns out we had a problem with fruit flies in our room. HAD. But now, i think i may have solved the problem. yet i may have also created a new one. I have instructed the latinos in my room the art of creating a handheld flame thrower with a can of axe spray and a lighter for the sake of ridding our house of the pestilences. We are fresh out of ways to do so humanely, and so we have taken very drastic measures. So far, its worked out pretty well. At least, we dont have a fruit fly problem anymore. Howe3ver, they havent quite given up the technique. I now call the guys who live with me the Peruvian Pyromaniacs, because they really are. But we are almost out of axe spray and lighter fluid, so i think that theres a chance that we wont end up burning the house down.

My companion and I are very blessed and fortunate to be having success in our mission. We have 4 baptismal dates scheduled, and are working with a family that looks very promising. We have three baptismal dates in the next three weeks, all of which are about prepared and are looking to be confident and strong members in the church. I ahve been blessed with the oportunity to baptise my first convert this Saturday in my mission! I am very excited, and know that it is only through the strength, inspiration, and guidance that the Lord has blessed my companionship with that these miracles are being prepared to take place.  

I am starting to see the power of the Priesthood more and more throughout my mission. So far, I have been able to take place in 4 priesthood blessings, 3 of which I have been given the opportunity to offer. Every time, I have no idea what I am going to say going into it, but as I open my mouth, the spirit fills it with words. I dont remember a lot of what I say in those blessings, partially because they arent really my own words, but what I have seen come to pass I will never forget. For one, a man who´s ankle had been swollen for two months lost all of its swelling just days after the blessing, and he was able to walk comfortably on it again. Elder Adams had been sick to the point that he could barely get off his bed and walk around for a week and a half or so, and a day after the blessing, he was up and working to full capacity again. My companion hurt his hand, and it was swollen, and looked bad. The morning after the blessing, he told me he felt no pain in it afterwards. To be honest, I was very humbled. I had struggled believing that the Lord´s power might be able to work through someone as imperfect as I, but through the mercy and grace of God, i have seen and have taken part in these miracles. I feel as Ammon in the Book of Mormon, where he says that as to his strength he is nothing, but through the Lord, he can do all things. Now, I am nothing comapared to that guy, but i feel as he does. There was nothing I could have done for these people, except for do my best to administer in my calling to them, but the Power of God has made them whole again.

Well, I am sorry if this email didnt make a lot of sense, but my thoughts are a little bit scattered, haha. But just know I am safe, I am happy, I am Elder Kofoed, and I am a missionary. (kind of dramatic, but i like it).

Humble Circumstances and the "Bandito"

This letter made me cringe - and then it made me cry....

Hey guys!! Woah this has been a crazy and great week. The truth about it all is that I really have no idea where to start. I am at the point where sometimes its a little hard for me to talk and think in English because my mind is kinda starting to switch over to spánish, so if something I say doesnt make sense, just roll with it. Anyways, I say this week has been pretty crazy because it really has been crazy. I am sorry to inform you mother, I did indeed meet a "bandito," and I met him two nights in a row. But he wasnt harmful or anything-all he took from me was my blue pen out of my shirt pocket. The second night, when I was with another gringo, the zone leader actually, he came after us again. We got away, thankfully, without the loss of any of our writing utensiles. He wasn't  too sketchy. As a matter of fact I haven't run into anything really sketchy besides the one time I saw a machete fight in the middle of a busy street, and that was about 3 minutes after I i had been pen-pocketed (haha). I also met a convict from the United States who is living here hiding from the law. He begged me to help him return to the states, said he would do anything, pay me however much I wanted, and a bunch of other stuff. I told him that I am a missionary, and im not really allowed to get into that stuff, shook his hand to leave. He tryed to pull me in for a hug, but i kind of yanked my hand out of his and walked away, to be brief. 

The poverty around here is pretty bad-i cant believe how many people live without a home around here. However, I have never seen a more generous, loving, type of people. There are tons of people who sell food on the street here, and though they dont make very much money for themselves, they are always more than willing to give some of their food to the homeless. You don't always see that in the States. At first, I wouldnt go near any of the homeless, but I learned a valuable lesson from one of them that I will not forget.

We were making a contact on the street, and while we were talking with the contact, a homeless man I often see walked up to us. I hid my hand with my watch behind my back just for safekeeping. But the man didnt want any of our stuff. He didnt ask for money, or for food, or for anything else. He simply wanted to "listen to the good word of God" as he put it. That knocked me off my heels for a second (and not becuase of the smell of his breath). Ok sorry for the joke. But really, here was a man who had nothing more than the clothes on his back and the plastic bag in his hand, and he wanted to hear our message. He, even through is circumstances and poverty, believed that our Heavenly Father was looking out for him, and that He loves him, just like any other one of His children. What an inspiration that was to me. In all honesty, if I were living his life, I wouldnt believe in any sort of Supernatural Being, let alone a Heavenly Father such as ours. But here he was, "listening to the good word of God." I found a soft spot in my heart for this guy. Although we couldn't teach him for various reasons, and though we couldnt help him much more than the pamphlet that we gave him, I hope the best for him, and for his circumstances. I am thankful for the humbling experience. 

I used to think that my current circumstances in my area were difficult, but I thank my Heavenly Father every morning night and other times I pray for everything I have been blessed in abundance with; a family who loves me and cares for me and has helped set me up for the rest of my life in ways of truth and right. Im thankful for the blessings of the gospel that i may have squandered before. If I had any advice for the people back at home, it would be to count your blessings at the end of every day. You dont realize how lucky you really are until you see some of the things I have seen- people who can barely walk for the want of hunger and nourishment-people that live every day of their lives on a street corner-people that dont even know about the United States of America. I tell people that I have a small herd of cattle at home, and theyre amazed to know that I have even 1. I show them pictures of my family, and they see a little bit of my daily life is like, and they tell me they'd give anything to live one day like I used to. 

Okay, i gotta go, but love you guys, and really think about what I have said, and never take for granted the daily pleasures of life back home.

Elder Jonathan Lane Kofoed

Ecuador Guayaquil West Mission

Beautiful Explanation and Testimony of the Atonement

So, since my first email never sent for some reason... I will try my best to update you all about my current circumstances as briefly as I can:

First of all, I am living in an apartment with three other guys from Peru that speak no English whatsoever. In other words, Im suprised that I am here at this computer writing, because the stress over the language hasnt yet caused me to jump out of window. However, I have learned a lot of the language and am adapting to be able to hear and comprehend what these locos are talking about. Just kidding I love these guys. We get along great, except when Elder Vela catches us digging in to his snack-stash. (the guys a sugarholic he{s got oreos packed away like you wouldnt believe). Anyways, you might have seen the pictures of Guayaquil, Ecuador. I tell you its like the most ghetto place on earth. It makes the streets of Queens in New York look like Disneyland.The guys tell me, though, that it is the best area in the mission, so i am trying to stay optimistic.

Now for the good stuff: Holy wow did you guys SEE General Conference!?!?!?!? It was so good! Sometimes it was a little bit difficult to understand in the spanish language, when they would use people with different types of spanish dialects, but I picked up on a lot. Some of the things that stuck out to me: 

The importance of the Sabbath Day (particularly the sacrament and the ordinances and blessings therin), the power of prayer and personal revelation, the plan of salvation (with particular interest in the importance of families), and my favorite, and most especially, the Atonement. That is what I want to talk a little about today.

First off, in the Bible, whenever it talks about Jesus going to the Garden of Gethsemane, it never uses the word: Expiacion - or Atonement in english. So where did the word come from? In another scripture in John, it talks about the offering of sacrifices of blood for the sake of remission for sins. Basically, what we learn is that Atonement means simply a sacrifice or offering of blood. Sounds pretty intense, but what more fitting of a word for the suffering that Jesus went through in the Garden of Gethsemane, where it says the His sweat were as great drops of blood. 

I have been thinking a lot about the Atonement since the Saturday morning session. Why is it that we really can find strength, peace, and comfort through the Atonement? The scriptures talk about how Christ suffered for ALL the pains, sicknesses, afflictions, sorrows, and more for the world. He suffered all these things, both physically, mentally, and spiritually. Why? Obviously, because He loves us. Like I said, sometimes we marvel at the power the Atonement has, and its ability to help fix ourselves. Something clicked in my mind that morning in general conference. I have probably heard it so many times, but maybe i just needed to hear it said a little differently. When Jesus suffered in the Garden, even before His death on the cross, He went through it all. He felt every burden, great or small, and suffered it, that we might be able to cast ours off with the power of the Atonement. Incredible no? But there is more. Now, we have problems in our lives. we are afflicted. we are burdened. we are plagued with sins and temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary (Satan) in our daily lives. The only hope for relief that we have is that great act our Savior did for us. Why does it help us? Becuase we actually have someone to sympathize with. Christ says "I know how you feel," becuause He really, truly does. Then, He says "Here, let me take those away, " and He does. And then, after all that we can do, he says "Be thou healed," or "Go thy way, and sin no more." 

Gotta go, love you all and Have a great week 

--

Elder Jonathan Lane Kofoed

Ecuador Guayaquil West Mission

jonathan.kofoed@myldsmail.net