Mother I need your opinion!

Dear Mother,

You were supposed to tell me that I had no choice then to live at home with you! But I will pray and find out what the Lord thinks is best and get back to you. Is it possible to have anyone maybe live with us...2 or 3 friends? You haven't answered. I know that Kenny would really Love to be my roommate but I feel like I want to stay by my family. Anyway, if you have any other thoughts, let me know. I asked Everyone here in the office for opinions and they all are pushing for me to stay home. THanks for being the best Mother ever! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Remember Momma, 2 or 3 friends to live with us is nothing, just service????

Ready for the News?! 

I found out that I will be staying in the office, Isn't that Great?! It was such a relief when president told me. This will be our 5th transfer together! To put that in perspective, we will have been together for 7 months! I'm so grateful for the opportunity we have to be together, we must be doing something right! Our next transfer we will have 2 new office elders and we are very excited for that. Our goal is to become the most efficient and spiritual office team the Lord has ever seen! Then hopefully we can turn that over to the rest of the mission and just continue to see the miracles! 

(just like you said mom, get off the treadmill come home and let someone else have a turn)

This week was busy of course, but we had some really neat experiences. One that I would love to share happened last Tuesday night. 

Last Sunday a random never before seen man walked into the church and was directed towards me during sunday school. He was originally from the U.S and his Korean wasn't perfect even though both his parents were full Korean. 

Anyways, I came to find out that he was a in-active and so i set an appointment to meet on Tuesday night. Tuesday we had mission leadership council and the spirit was so strong and led elder Sol and I to give probably the greatest training we'd ever given together, so that night we were just excited and pumped. We met with him and he began to tell us his life story. It was one of the most interesting, and saddening stories I had ever heard. 

His parents are faithful members and he grew up a faithful member. However, he began to choose another path which led him to gangs, drugs, and other things that just tore down all his spiritual strength. In the end all his "friends" abandoned him and he was left not only alone but was an outcast, and those that knew him really persecuted him. Well, his faithful parents sent him here to Korea to flee from his past/humiliations, and he found a new life here in Korea. 

He is actually a professional rapper and him and his group of friends are some of the most well known rappers in Korea. Anyway, he came back to church because his life is moving on and he needs guidance and direction. He wanted to know what God would have him do in life. He talked about how when he was growing up and even now, all the church members have this "happiness" that no one else has. It was amazing to hear this story of the prodigal son that had been humbled and was now searching for the light once more. I testified to him that God knows what must be done, and knows what would make him truly happy. The spirit was strong as we committed him back onto the path of the straight and narrow. He had felt too down and that God would not accept him back even now after realizing his faults. However, That is when I with all the confidence in the world bore witness of the infinite atonement of the Savior, Jesus Christ. That through the redeeming power of Christ he could and would and is accepted by our Loving Heavenly Father. 

It was a great lesson and the most amazing thing was, I felt that I was the means of answering years of heartfelt, tearful prayers of this man's parents. Reading the article that Elder Bednar wrote in the Liahona or ensign on this topic was great, but having it reassured by the spirit through an actually experience was a miracle. 

Never stop praying, never stop loving, never stop caring!

Thanks dad for being up at 2 in the morning reading the book of mormon. I know exactly how nephi feels to have "goodly parents." You are an amazing example to me and I am grateful for your steadfastness and spirituality.

I love you!

Elder, Kaufusi

PS: Tell Will Faulkner congratulations from me! Mom, Could you maybe get me his email so I could send him a message? 

Love, 

Elder Kaufusi

Will I stay or will I go...it doesn't matter

Well, I don't know if I'm staying in the office or not, or if they are going to let me go out to work down in the vineyard one last time! But I'll probably know by tomorrow, or the next day. However, my feeling is that the Lord has things in store for me and for what I can do to help others, and that is where I will put my trust. 

A side note, if I train maybe I could end up training Elder Mattingly one of Dad's friend's sons. Or maybe the other Orem utahn elder Miller (full name jacob tusitala miller) he's another ethnic Elder so that could be fun! But who knows what the Lord has in store! 

This week has been busy as usual we had some amazing miracles as we just put our head down and went to work. One happened yesterday! Our recent convert brought his friend to church last week and then again this week. We were able to teach him the first lesson. It was powerful and the spirit was so strong as elder sol and I testified of the restoration of the Gospel. As I recited the first vision and looked him in the eyes i could see the spirit working on him so evidently that i was shocked myself. After the lesson, (even though it was our first time meeting and teaching a lesson) we asked him to be baptized and he accepted. We pulled out our phone to pick a date and he picked the middle of march only a few weeks away. it was amazing! We knelt and he ended our lesson with such a heartfelt prayer. I was truly blessed to be in the presence of a prepared Son of God. But here is the rest of the miracle. We went and found out that his baptismal date wouldn't work because of stake conference. Naturally we texted him and asked if he would like to push it back a week and he said that he wanted to move it up a week! Miracles happen everyday, and to be worthy of the spirit to take part in them fully is such a great opportunity to choose who we want to be in this life.

 I pray that this week you will each wake up everyday and choose to follow Christ and be worthy of the spirit. Then throughout each day find those times where the Lord would have you do his will. I promise they are always there, and I promise that recognizing them makes an enormous difference in our lives. 

Love, Elder Kaufusi

Hello Family - Mission Life

Hello Family! No greater tender mercy then to see a picture and read the story of my family bringing someone into the fold of God. I can't express to you how amazing that was for me to see and think about. Truly the results of prayer and love! 

Things are going great for me here. Just rolling on through with things. We had Interviews with President right after staff meeting today. It was big because since Elder Sol and I have been together 4 we know that the next transfer one of us will be leaving the office. So we thought president would tell us during interviews today and he did talk about it but nothing really was stated! So it's still up in the air if I will go for my last 2 transfers or if Elder Sol will go and I'll stay in the Office for my last 2 transfers. The spiritual experience that I had though was President asked me what questions I had. The thing I told him that I was studying on and praying about was with the time left on my mission how can I know and accomplish all that the Lord has for me? How can I squeeze every little bit out of what is left? How can I have the change of heart and nature complete so that I can go through life and eternity with my head completely turned towards God? As we talked he began to tell me of his recent studies and insights on the idea of a changed heart. As he talked literally everything that I had been studying and thought about was brought  up and aligned so perfectly. He spoke of the words from Alma 5 and focused on, "Remember/Understand." It was incredible to see him be used as a tool from the Lord to help me gain personal revelation and direction. We do not change our hearts, the Lord changes our hearts. We must do all that we can to show forth our faith so that when the time comes the Lord can change our Hearts. 

A miracle this week was the opportunity I had to go on exchanges with a missionary that I had lived a long time with and had seen grow since day one into an amazing tool and servant for the Lord. As we were teaching we asked a man if he had ever wondered about where we, as human beings com from. Out of the thousands of times I've asked this about 99% of the people say, "no I don't wonder, and I've never really thought about it." However, this time the man said, YES. He went off on how it was one of the greatest mysteries to him and that he wondered so much about it. We were shocked to see how prepared he was and gratefully told him that he could come to know the answer to his heart's great question. It was an amazing experience and I'm so grateful the Lord allowed me to experience it. 

I Love you all and am excited to see who is next in the family teaching pool of investigators! 

Love,

Elder Kaufusi

안녕하세요!!

안녕하세요!! 

Korea is great as always, the winter has been so mild, spring has definitely come early. 

The new transfer is in full swing and we have so much good time to proselyte! 

Last week we were able to go out and do a lot of street contacting. Of course there are those that don't accept the message but to raise my voice in Korean and testify of Christ is one of the greatest if not the greatest experience ever. 

This week I had the opportunity to go on an exchange with Elder Rhodes (i think you met his mom or what not but we came to Korea together). During the exchange we just did amazing things! Miracles were everywhere! We met with 3 people and picked them up as new investigators, and had quite a few street lessons. The best part was as we worked together the spirit filled our hearts with even more desire and fire and we literally ran from place to place, person to person. The work just never stops! I love it!

 And I LOVE that my family, YOU are all involved with it at home. Listening to the miracles that our family is having in missionary work truly gives me great strength. I have prayed countless times in behalf of you asking the Lord to keep you in safe hands and out of harms way. He has answered my Prayers, he gave you the greatest spiritually protective blessing of doing missionary work! I love you all so much and I hope you know, that I know, that you are truly in the hands of the Lord. 

Love, Elder Kaufusi

PS: answers: MOM...yes I got my license thank you so much for doing all that. Nothing better than a picture of a 12  year old, (at least thats what I look like in my picture) with the measurements of 6'10 250 lb... haha classic. and Yes I got your package that came with the license a couple weeks ago, so I am super happy as always.

Hello

Mother...you get mad at me for short emails!!!!??? Just kidding 

I appreciate you taking the time to email me. Dad made up with his amazing sermon from stake conference.  It's always a blessing to hear from everyone in the family! 

Here in Korea we are seeing a lot of miracles. 

One happened not exactly to me but to a missionary i know. 

he was having some hard times and up till this point in his mission he had wanted to go home multiple times. We are decently close and so for 2 days I was on exchanges with him last weekend. For those two days I prayed so hard for him, that the Lord might use me as a tool to allow the spirit to be felt in his life. Spiritually this Elder just was dying and did not want the gospel in his life. He was allowing himself to be lead into the mists of darkness and thought that returning to the great and spacious buildings is what he wanted in eternity. 

It was very stressful and Truly sad to see a fellow servant of the Lord in this position. 

During our exchanges we talked a lot about his decision to go home and pursue the things of the world. The end of the first night, I felt that I had spoken a lot and shared many experiences that he could learn from, but he still wasn't changing. 

I went to the Lord in earnest pray and just asked, "Lord what should I do? I have no idea, I will do whatever is asked of me if you will just ask me." The thought came to me that I should just bare simple plain pure testimony to him. The next morning we had another talk and as the thought came to me to bare testimony i followed, and bore strict testimony of God and Jesus Christ, their love for him and desire for him to return. By the end we were silent and continued to sit. We watched a mormon message and then he turned to me and said, "It's too bad, I think that I wanted to stay for a second back there." I knew that the spirit touched him, but it wasn't enough. 

However, He had an interview with president, his stake president and his father, yet he still was set on leaving. I coudn't understand, I thought that surely someone's words would touch his heart. I couldn't believe that after hearing everything he was still set on going home. I prayed again but the feeling that came was that it would be ok and that the lord's will would be accomplished. That night he prayed to God and in desperation asked for a witness that he was needed on a mission. The next day he got a call from someone random person asking to learn English. They said yes, but the person said that he wanted to meet with them immediately. After church they met with him and he told them how he had a sister that was baptized into the church and that him and his children want to have the same things his sister had obtained. He asked if he could learn of the Gospel and come to church from then on out. This elder couldn't believe his ears, truly the Lord had sent a sign to him. He told us that evening that he was willing to stay and that he gained a witness that God was there and that he needed to become the missionary the Lord needed. It was a miracle. To see and hear this Elder find/remember the Lord. I didn't know how it would turn out, but I do know that constant prayer and faith in the Lord saved my brother from spiritual darkness. Well That was  a Long story/miracle but it truly was amazing. 

Love you family!

Love Elder Kaufusi

Service of the Lord

Another amazingly packed week here in the Korean vineyard.

 The biggest Korean holiday of the year was this last week so we held a massive conference and My companion and I had to do language progress evaluations with like 13 people and they each take about 1 hour and a half so I got to talk with a lot of missionaries. It's always such a faith building experience to hear the testimonies of these amazing missionaries and see them progress in korean but more importantly spiritually. It was good. The transfer is next week and we finished calling and telling everyone everything last night. 

It's neat to see the hand of the Lord just reach down and make things happen every transfer. Going on transfer 4 with my companion. We are super excited! Hope everyone is doing ok. 

I love it here and don't know if I'll fit in back home. I think I should just stay here for a while... Anyways I love you all so much, and I know the Lord lives and Loves you too! 

Love Your Living Son, Brother,

Elder Kaufusi

Last weeks email

Sorry got caught up in doing transfers with President so couldn't email till right now. Not a lot of time, there's always more to be doing but I'll give you a sweet miracle that happened this week. 

We had this investigator named go-joon-hyoung and he was picked up before I got here. Anyways when he first had a baptismal date everything was great, he did the interview and was prepared. However, when we went to call his mom who lives 4 hours away she denied. He wasn't able to get baptized and it was a pretty big deal and everyone was so sad. 

He felt really embarrassed and didn't come out to church for a couple weeks. In fact, he didn't even meet with us for a couple weeks. We had tried to meet up with him, but it just never ended up happening. well after a couple weeks rolled by he started to come to church again to see his good friends in the ward. then he started going to activities. However, when we asked if we could meet he still was too busy. Finally last week we met with him and had dinner and talked. We originally didn't want to bring up baptism with him because we were afraid that it would be too much for him, but the Lord helped us and we talked about it. His response to baptism was that he felt more ready now then ever, and that he would truly put a great effort into persuading his mom. 

We ended up hearing him talk to his mom and it was amazing. He didn't shy away, he told her what baptism was and that it wasn't the same as sprinkling (his mom is catholic), and the spirit worked on her and said it was ok. That very week we had his baptism and it was a great meeting. I'm so grateful that we had the opportunity to see the Lord's omnipotent hand in this work!

I've been here the longest i've been anywhere in my entire mission, and i've been with my companion the longest I've been with anyone. We are going on 4 transfers together (6months). We are going to make this last transfer explode and we will bring down so many miracles it will be unbelievable! 

Love you all so much!

Elder Kaufusi 

HELLLLLOOOOO MY FAMILY

Well Thanks for the Emails, great to hear that no one is hurt and what not. Sister Christensen (president's wife) said that she saw that a Kaufusi in salt lake died in the paper last week or something. Do you know who it is? 

The work is going great, We have had a great week of zone conferences but also proselyting! I went to the east coast and walked along the ocean with president and my companion one morning. It was so cool. We stayed in a hotel and it was like a family vacation! It's about a 3 and a half hour drive so we packed into presidents car and went over there. The conference went well, I'm so grateful for the misssionaries that I get to serve with. THey are inspiring.  THat night we drove back. I of course grabbed a whole lot of sea shells and a bottle of sand. 

A miracle we had this week was yesterday, sunday, we had some appointments and they all went well. That night I went to my old ward's mission leader's house and had dinner and shared a message using some of the sea shells. But the big miracles came when during the dinner my companion just let out a "YES!" and it was a text from our recent converts girlfriend. She is great and we were teaching her the lessons and she had a baptismal date but then her uncle said a lot of bad things about our church and her parents banned her from coming to our church. It was heart breaking. She was doing so well. Well the text she sent during dinner was that she persuaded her parents and from now on she will be able to go to church! HUGE MIRACLE! The Lord truly softened the hearts of her parents and strengthened her faith to be bold. Also we were on the way home last night and I saw this kid just smoking off the side of the road and I just got that feeling that he needed to be talked to. I went and introduced myself and started talking. we came to find that he had been to our church with his friend but because of work and things he was unable to continue. We asked him if he attended a church and he said, "yeah, yours, i used to go every week." Then he told us that he wasn't baptized. Now we will start meeting with him and help him to progress to baptism and lifelong membership! It was such a miracle. All it took was just the smallest hesitation and I would have missed talking to this prepared kid. But I know that the Lord was leading us. Im so grateful for this work, it is the greatest! 

I LOVE YOU ALL.

If there's anything that I can do for you let me know. 

Love,

ELder Kaufusi