We Walk, And We Walk, And We Walk

So I'm just going to jump right in because I never know how to start off my emails. Our investigators are progressing well. We just struggle with getting them to church and getting people married here... nobody is married. But I definitely will see some baptisms before I leave Chao.

Your advice on loving the leaders and memebers was good. It's hard with the leaders sometimes, but I have realized that our Branch president has only been a convert for 4 years, "B" just needs love and I encourage the other elders to love him even though at times it can be hard, because no one wants to just get roasted, they want to be loved and helped and that's why we are here. We are here to love and help the people and I just always remind the other elders that. All is getting better. It just comes little by little. I love 3 Nephi 18:32 (Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them.)  And that's exactly why we are here. That's the missionary purpose and goal. I love that scripture, it's great! 

We are trying to get to Juan, we haven't yet, but we aren't going to give up on him that's for sure. Thank you for your advice and words! 

So this week has been hard but very good as well. Our wedding with Marilu and Magnu fell through so that means our baptisms of that family also falls through. They are re-scheduling for the 26th of November and we need to re-ask them about their baptism. What happened is the papers fell through getting approved because of some of the complications, but it's okay, they'll get married and baptized. They're pretty much members! They're so faithful and awesome.

On Wednesday we taught Nancy and the spirit was super strong! Also me and Elder Harper have been teaching so much better in unity because I actually understand what's going on. It was an amazing lesson and she loved it. She didn't come to church though.. sad face. Also she told us this crazy evengelical story about how she was flying during a blessing.. it was super weird and me and Elder Harper were so confused! Afterwards we just sat there in silence and Elder Harper goes.. "Wow.. I really don't know what to say to that.. all I can do is testify of the Savior and He is the redeemer of the world." Hahaha it was so funny! But other than that part, the lesson went amazing and the spirit was super strong. 

On Thursday me and Elder Harper woke up for our normal every-other-day morning run. We ran, went to the parallel bars to workout, and went super hard. We were sweating like crazy right.. yeah well.. we get back, Elder Haper goes to shower.. no water! Haha the water was just trickling barely out of the shower head so he did that. When I got in, nothing! The water was gone, but there was still water running in the sink. So, I cut up our water bottles that they give us that are like 2 gallons or something, and took a bucket shower.. haha it sure was interesting.. and cold. It was nuts! I've never had to do that before, that's for sure.

Later on that day we taught Cicilia. It went super good and we were about to challenge her to get married and baptized but she said that she can't yet. They have all their papers in order and ready to go. They just need to save.. and she says her husband wants her to lose weight. Here they are super open with that. But we are going to work on that because her husband is a less active, because he works late night security, and she comes to church with her kids! It's pretty great! 

The next day, it went as normal. Only taught two lessons and walked all day haha but we were led by the spirit to check up on an appointment to come with us the next day to a lesson that's in the market thingy. Then on our way out we found frugeles!!!! The best candy here, in my opinion. 

That's how this week went. Sorry, not too much, but we just practically walked all week. But all is well. We have been super exhausted but we are happy! That's what the gospel does! We have been walking a lot this week and only getting like 1 or maybe 2 lessons in a day. It's been hard but the lessons we have taught have just been on fire and so amazing! 

Also, during my studies this week I read in Alma 26:36 and it says "Blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land." I just love that because through all the hard times that we are having the Lord is watching over us and recognizing our hard work and faith and if we just keep enduring to the end He will bless us. 

We have a new elder in our area now named Elder Stroud. He is a gringo!! So yeah, gringos are running Chao right now. It's pretty great! He is from Seattle. He's been out 6 months in the mission and he gives me hope for my Spanish haha. He says he understands everything pretty much and he speaks with ease, so it gives me hope.

Dad, the map you looked at... yeah our city is that small. Chao is a very small area. That's why there are only 4 of us here. There is another area in our area which is called Chao dos (two) which is for the other elders. It's in nuevo (new) Chao, which is like a ten minute taxi ride. 

Church is true, live it, love it, learn it, apply it. Take care everyone. I love you all and hope all is well!! Love you fam bam! Sorry Momma, I forgot to take pictures but there will be a lot the next week for sure!

Elder Rokovitz

Goals, Noche de Postres and Incas On Parade

Sounds like all is well back in Zion! Haha me and Elder Harper always argue where Zion is because he's from Missouri.. But we all know it's Utah!

Anyway! This week has been great, naturally! But also super hard at times. We did a lot of walking and not so much teaching, especially in the middle of the week. 

On Monday we had a great lesson with Omar and Alexander. They're part of familia Quevo (the golden family we found) and they just love it and are super interested. Omar is a future missionary for sure! He's 14 and Alexander is 20. Also on Monday I wasn't feeling good. I had a fever and a super bad headache that night and it continued for a few days. I wasn't feeling so hot. Then on Wednesday or Thursday it got better. We called Elder Whitney about what to do and he was upset that I hadn't slept in. So one day I slept in an hour and I did feel a lot better after that! Everthing started going back uphill again. 

That day we also set some great goals during companion study! Basically we set goals about things I was having problems with, and Elder Harper noticed some great things too! Everytime we break a rule we have to do 25 push ups too. Elder Harper's a great kid. I love him for sure! He always keeps things interesting and fun haha. Also I've been understanding Spanish a lot better this week, thanks to my good attitude! A good attitude always keeps things going good.  

We had a bit of drama this week during consejo (council) with "B". He just tried to critique us on a bunch of things and I think everyone cracked on him and told him we need to focus on the people.... This made him mad and afterwards he talked to President Overt and told him "I'm stepping down from Elder's Quorum president and leaving Chao." This made us really sad as missionaries. We talked to his wife later and fixed some things and apparently the District President talked to him this Sunday too and now "B" is taking back what he said. I hope things go better this week in consejo. We will see what happens. 

Anyway! On a happier note, we sort of had a 5 week reunion, which is just a training, but all the missionaries from my CCM group came back to Trujillo and we got to eat Papa Juan's (Papa John's haha) and have a 4 hour training! Yaya! But yeah, it was good to see everyone there! 

                                                                           

With Elder Lee at our training in Trujillo.

That night we taught Ivan and Clarita and they're getting better. I really see a light in them and they just look so happy and interested. Ivan really understood el dia de reposo (the Sabbath day)... but he didn't come to church! Ugh.. but I think he just needs friends at church because he's come before. I'm just glad he's happy and I think he's realizing he knows his answer. 

Then later that night we went to go teach Juan.. he told us he has no hope and that God can't change him and there's no God for him. It really broke my heart. Apparently his friend talked to him and told him we are evil and we put a demon in him. It was really sad and that night I just poured my heart out in prayer and just cried and wanted Juan to have happiness more than anything! I think he knows the gospel can change him, he's just confused. We are tying to find a time to visit him and talk with him. We saw him the next morning during our run. I talked to him while I waited for Elder Harper to catch up haha and he seemed happy again. He just is really confused and I think we just need to visit him and talk with him. He's okay, he just needs reassurance. 

Saturday we made BROWNIES!!! Yeah apparently no one in Peru knows what brownies are. We made them for an activity that night. The activity was called "noche de postre" (dessert night or night of desserts, but it sounds cooler in Spanish.) What it was is basically we had 4 different rooms with different stations and the members went into them in groups and the objective was different games and obstacles representing obstacles in our lives that keep us from the gopsel or distract us from the gospel, then at the end if you got through all your stations everyone gets to pig out on desserts and that's their reward for being faithful and enduring to the end! It was awesome and apparently the best turnout we have had for an activity in Chao.. oh and the elders planned it all.. but yeah it was great and a bunch of members came and brought friends and less active members came etc. It was awesome! Also Hermano Castillo came. He is a less active member. He calls me and Elder Harper his "angelitos" (little angels) and we have this sick secret handshake with him haha. But he came and then came to church with his friend! It was awesome because normally he sells on Sundays but he didn't this week. 

                                                                           

Noche de postres 

Noche de postres

This is me with Flor, our pencion. She's the best!

Then we got POLLO A LA BRASA for dinner because it was Elder Portillo's last day before he went home! We got back late (with permission) and we almost got robbed too. On our way to pollo, some guys yelled, "get the gringos" in Spanish. That was only a little scary.. then later President gave us a ride home because we weren't feeling like getting robbed, but as we were trying to unlock our door some sketchy guys were walking super fast at us and then after we closed and locked our door they were looking in our window.. yep that was fun. 

                                                                             

Pollo a la brasa. I love this. It's so good. 

Me with Elder Portillo after church before he left. I'm going to miss him. He's the best and he's so funny. 

                                   

Me taking the mattress to our room from Elder Ortiz's room since we had a sleep-over haha, and I don't know why he started boxing me hahahaha.

We are in a trio until tomorrow when Elder Ortiz's new companion comes, who's going to be a gringo! Yay!  

Well, that is all. I'm working hard and loving the work! Putting in work cada dia (every day)! We are going to go buy some sweet stuff in Viru today.. finally.. so I have to go! I love you all. Stay safe, Don't take cold showers and don't get robbed! 

Elder Rokovitz

                                                                             

A Catholic church here in Peru. I thought it looked pretty cool. 

Me and Elder Harper with the Incas. They had a parade for their school and got all dressed up.

Flor's family - left to right at the couch is Cindy, then President Overt (he's the Branch President), Flor, Hermana Carmen (Flor's mom, who has cancer), Maite, on the couch with popcorn or something. She's our favorite, other than Madison, the baby, and then Kayla who is holding Madison. Big happy family.

Keeping Myself Animated and Loving It Everyday

Whooo, it's been a great week! Also it sounds like it's been great at home. I'm glad to hear all is going well.

Well to start off, yeah we have a baptism date for the 10th of November. We confirmed that this week. They are getting married on the 29th of this month and we are very excited. Their names are Marilu, Magnu (the parents) and Lucy. Lucy is about 13, I think, and then Ariceli, who is my age, but Ariceli is a member. Also were trying for Ivan and Clarita. Also Carlos and his daughter, but we need them to come to church and Ivan is still looking for his answer. Ivan and Clarita are working toward their marriage. We taught them this last week and Ivan keeps saying he wants to find his answer before baptism so it's been kind of hard with him. I know he felt something different in the lesson though because I could see it in his eyes! After we left, I got the thought that we should fast for him. We just finished today and I know he can get his answer if he just completely leans on the Lord! But he hasn't been coming to church, so that's kind of hard for him.

Juan is doing good. He is always busy and so he's been hard to teach lately and hasn't come to church yet, but he is definitely doing good and a lot better. I can see he has just been happy and he's always so happy to see us when we pass by on the streets! I love that guy! 

Also we got a reference from a recent convert. Her name is Nancy. She loved our lesson and seems really excited about the gospel! She really needs it right now because her son moved out and lives with her ex-husband and they are sueing her for some reason. It's really sad but she loved our message! 

This week we found a great new family. Familia Quevo (the Quevo family) and they all have such great faith and want the gospel in their lives and are all so nice and friendly. They don't go to a church but the mom, Migalee, used to go when she was a kid all the time. I'm really excited for them! We teach them again tonight. Also she told us that she had seen us before and we were always so friendly and saying hi and stuff.. See, being friendly always pays off! 

We had an intercambio (exchange) on Friday. I went with Elder Ramos, the Zone Leader, and his other companion, Elder Rodrigues, while Elder Pacheco, the other Zone Leader, came here (they're in a trio.) Elder Pacheco has his last week this week so we'll be getting new Zone Leaders. The intercambio was good though! I felt super confident in my Spanish and we taught some good lessons. 

A woman we taught was in love with me.. haha, it was weird but super funny! I don't know if it was because I was white or what but when we asked who should give the first prayer, without thought, she said, "usted!" and pointed to me. Then during the lesson she was listening, naturally, but then when I would talk she would whip her head around and then completely focus on me with this giant smile and with her hands on her cheeks! Haha it was hard to teach because I was trying to stay serious and not laugh. Then when they asked who should give the last prayer she tried to make me do it again! They tried to get her to do it and she wouldn't, so I kindly asked, and boom, like magic she just suddenly wanted to give it! Haha it was so funny!! 

It's funny how much the people love the Gringos here. All the little kids love saying ¨hello¨ to us and always ask how to say dog in English. Also a ton of people just yell "Gringo" as they drive by, it's hillarious! 

Me and my companion really figured things out this week. We were having a little bit of hard times.. he didn't really know, I don't think, but I did bring it all up on Sunday. I just said "WE" need to do things and I think he understood well. We've been doing really good and a lot better, He's been helping me and we really had a great week this week! 

On Tuesday however, I did get a little frustrated with him. Monday night he fell asleep at 9:30, right after planning and didn't set the alarm for 6:15 a.m. to go on our morning run. When I woke up on Tuesday, I went to go pray.. and somehow during my prayer, I passed out and fell back asleep for an hour.. I felt so horrible! He never got up and so I was really frustrated. But we worked things out and I prayed for repentance a hundred times. Then in the shower, I had a little "pump up" speech. I told myself that there is only one time to do this. There will be other weddings, other babies.. (Amber and Riley that doesn't mean you can have a baby while I'm gone), other houses blah blah.. but only one mission! I need to put all that I have into this mission and work my heart out, not get sad about home or anything like that. The Lord has me where I need to be! Also it was a great shower because right before I showered, I decided to fix the shower.. haha it was broken for about 4 days and we had to shower in freezing cold water each day..  yeah you guys should try that! Turn the faucet all the way on cold and take a shower.. it's great!! It definitely wakes you up! But yeah, after that things got a lot bettter! We have been a lot more unified this week and we both are just on the same great spiritual level and we are noticing a difference! 

Yesterday we held a training in ward council but they didn't listen and then during the break, like everyone we have been having problems with, all left. It was really frustrating and I'm kind of upset with their immaturity. This Saturday we are all going to go house to house to them and try to get them to participate more in the work. Some of the members don't really help us that much with our investigators etc.. it's frustrating but hopefully talking to them this Saturday helps. 

I'm reading right now in Alma 14-ish in the Book of Mormon, with Amulek and Alma. The Book of Mormon missionaries are the best, aren't they? I sure love the missionaries in the Book of Mormon. They sure had a lot of faith and I just read about them in the prison today. I really love them, they're the best! Also I definitely notice that those miracles are performed through their faith. When we have faith and totally put our full trust in the Lord, He will always strengthen us. I love that so much and I always pray for more faith.

Questions from family:

Liver? - Haha yeah liver.. not my favorite! It's so nasty! Maybe I'll try drowning it out with Aji. That's a hot sauce here that's really good.. but I told Flor I didn't like the liver so hopefully she won't make it again.

What is papia? - Papia is this nasty fruit that Peruvians love for some reason. Flor always makes papia smoothings and they're horrible, but it's just okay enough to bear, even though they're awful.

What do people do for work and entertainment? - So for entertainment.. honestly I don't really know. The kids have these little things called "trumpos", it's like these tops almost, I don't know how to explain. Other than that, they just work or talk or eat. I'm honestly not that positive. Most of the people here work at Campo Sol, which means "the sun field", which is just picking fruit and what not.. that's about what 90 percent of the people do here for work, either that or moto taxis. Also different forms of taxis because people down here in Chao, and most of Peru, don't have cars. They rely on the taxi or bus or moto system.

How big is your apartment? Do most people live in houses or apartments? - Our apartment size is a little big for most houses here, especially in Chao. Most people here have like a little dirt court yard type deal, then there's about 4 rooms with different families in each room, all dirt floors for the most part. 

Is there much crime there? Is that why you have such big bars on your front door - Crimes, yes. Lots of robberies etc. but not too much that it's a giant deal. It's just not as safe as the U.S. obviously. but yeah the bars on our apartment are pretty heavy duty!

I love the changes the mission is bringing to me and all the happiness. You really could never know the happiness and the hard times without going on a mission. I sure do love it here. I'm working hard every day to be obedient and faithful in the work. I work as hard as I can every day and just try every day to make sure I don't have bad days! Just keeping myself animated and loving it every day! 

Well I have to go, I don't remember what time we started! I love you guys and I'm so glad all is well back in Zion! Take care!! - Elder Rokorokorokovitz

                                                                              

This is where our Branch goes to church. We're looking for a different building, but this is it for now. 

This is a hobo that roams the streets of Chao on Sundays during the market. He wears this bear outfit and pounds on his bucket for money. He's one of my favorite people in the world. 

 

Ser Mormon Es Ser Feliz (Being Mormon is being happy)

Okayyy so this week's been good, naturally. Carlos, yeah.. Carlos.. apparently he didn't want to be baptized this week because he told us he was getting married. Then he said it was a surprise who it was to. Then he finally told us. It was Lizbeeth!! What the heck? His old wife that left him for another man! We checked up on him 3 days later.. and she apparently isn't coming now.. ugh.. women! Stay away from them. But he is going to be baptized on the 22nd of this month and probably his daughter that we didn't know about, who is 10. We'll see what happens, because he didn't come to church.

Juan is doing really good. He really loves our messages and is really intelligent even though he can't read. But he didn't come to church these last two weeks. The first week he had family over from out of town and the next week he went to Trujillo and just forgot.

Tuesday I was having a hard time in the morning. The night before, I took Nyquil because I've been having a small cold somehow, and so I was super groggy. Also I was having a few hard times with my companion. Sometimes he doesn't have a lot of faith and isn't 100 percent obedient. He's always just so close but never 100 percent and I always feel bad. Also he sometimes complains about certain things and doesn't help me with my Spanish as much as I was expecting. It's kind of hard sometimes. Maybe I'll bring it up this week if things don't get better, but I'm not sure how to. I pray for him every day though and pray for help. 

I liked the story of the brother of Jared that you told me and how if I feel like I'm losing my Spanish, that maybe I should ask myself if there is more that I should be doing. A lot of the times it can do with my attitude also. When I don't have a good attitude I can't feel the spirit or be happy. Definitely true! I'm hoping to have the best Spanish I can! When I start learning more and more words and become more fluent I really want to study the grammar! I want to become as fluent as possible and take advantage of this great oportunidad (opportunity)! And yes, I am as happy as I look in my pictures. I'm loving it here! Some hard days but that's natural. The good days outweigh the bad days, that's for sure! And teaching investigators always is great. 

Anyway, we weren't having success for about 2 days. We have been looking for new people to teach because we had a lot of people we were teaching that weren't progressing. It finally paid off! We just kept working hard and pushing through and praying for people who have been prepared and finally on, I think it was Wednesday or Thursday, it paid off. We found a bunch of new people and got citas (appointments) for this week. We killed lessons and I was able to actually participate more in lessons. I have actually been participating a lot more, not just giving my testimony, but actually teaching them. Flor said she is very impressed with how much I participate in lessons! We took her to a few lessons and she brought that up this week. It made me really happy! 

On Friday we had an interchange in our District so I went with Elder Portillo and Elder Ortiz went with Elder Harper. I learned a lot from him. He's from Texas but looks Latino. He's super cool and funny but he goes home this change so at times he's a bit trunky haha. I learned to be persistant with people a lot and to have fun and make them laugh. He said that when he had fun and focused on making them laugh but also making them feel the spirit when he taught lessons, his mission started getting a lot better! It's crazy what a good attitiude will do for you. 

Then, like you said you noticed from a Facebook post, we had service! That was a lot of fun and good to get out for a bit. 

Then it was my favorite time of the month, Fast Sunday!! I love Fast Sundays because everything always goes better haha, except we started the fast off with liver.. I hate liver.. liver is worse than papia!! Haha but it's okay, because the fast was amazing and things went really good with Carlos. We told him not to drink anymore and explained the palabra de sabiduria (Word of Wisdom) more and he said he would never drink again! I think he only did it because of the hard time he went through with his ex wife this week. But yeah, my Spanish was super good in that lession (lesson)! And the other lessons we taught. 

In testimony meeting, I thought I would be a good example missionary and share my testimony.. haha well I screwed up! I said the Book of Mormon is the clavo not clave. Clavo means nail, clave means key.. people started laughing but I didn't care haha, I'm sure they understood! Then Flor kept making fun of me for it haha. Oh well, life goes on! It was funny though. Other than that, it was a great Sunday! 

Today was great! It started off this morning, we got up to go on a run and workout at this park. On the way back a dog started chasing me and wanting to bite me! Haha at least he made me sprint. It was nuts! I actually almost got bit but then I stopped super fast and picked up a rock. Whenever you pick up a rock they run because they know that they're about to get hit, so it ran away. 

We had consejo (advice, counsel) today, which was weird, but apparently it was because President Rios was supposed to come but he didn't because he was in Chimbote. He is coming next week to consejo though. We usuallly have it on Wednesdays. but there's been a lot of drama apparently with some of the leaders and just not good stuff.. not like I could understand.. it always seems happy and great to me! 

Then later today we got to go to the beach!! It was so much fun! Just got to run around and have fun and play with the crabs and stuff. It was a great time! 

 Well, I love you all! Love the gospel, it's great! Also, Amber, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for the Book of Mormon you read and underlined for me. It has been the best thing ever in my mission! There is so much help! During my studies when I don't understand stuff, I know where to go and I read it over and look at the notes and stuff you wrote in there! After I read my Book of Mormon all the way through, I'm going to read this one all the way through! 

I love you all! I have to go! Besitos (Little kisses)!! 

                                                                                 

The view of our city.

Me and Elder Harper overlooking our city.

Doing service. This is a big trash can with a bike attached. I'm sitting on the bike seat.

Cleaning up the sidewalks with Elder Greer.

Sweeper patrol.

Service with some of the other elders.

Keeping the streets clean.

The beaches of Peru. 

Having a great P-day with Elder Harper, Elder Ortiz and Elder Portillo.

Missionary Work Is So Amazing

Okay I changed my mind, I'm answering fans questions in the beginning.

How long has Elder Harper been out? Is he a good trainer and do you both get along?

- Elder Harper has 14 months. He is a great trainer and we get along very well!! He's a great guy. 

Tell us more about your pencionista, Flor? How far do you live from her? Does she make all of your meals for you?

- Flor is a mom and has a family so she just lives with her family. It's about a 15 minute walk. We have all 3 meals with her but she usually brings our breakfast to us. We have a pencion that lives behind us.. hard to explain but it's connected and she should be back from vacation soon. We will only eat breakfast with her though. 

Do you have any cooking facilities in your apartment or is it just a room and bathroom?

- We don't have any cooking or anything else, haha, our room is basically what I showed you. Haha not much, but enough!

                                                                         

Our room

Our study area

Our bathroom. The mirror is a new addition.The first day I shaved without a mirror. That was tough. I've only shocked myself twice on the shower head haha, and it wasn't too bad. If you want hotter water, the pressure has to be lower. (Before Cory left, we were told something about the way the water is heated, if you touch the shower head during your shower, you could get shocked.)

Where do you email from? Are you limited on computer time?

- Yeah the internet... you come to an Internet Cafe, with computers. You pay them a sol 50, which is like.. I don't know.. 50 cents for an hour and a half, and at that hour and a half your computer shuts off, regardless of what you're doing. Haha it's not cool, but oh well, nothing I can do. 

So this week started off on p-day with Elder Harper moaning and groaning.. haha it was kind of weird but he was sick, so it was acceptable. All he got was pulp to eat and drink. Pulp and Sporade. When you say "pulp" in Spanish it sounds like "poop."

                                                                           

Elder Harper with his "pulp" and me last p-day.

We got to teach Juan the next day (my nickname for him is "Bacan Juan") he's way cool. He wants to change his life so much. Like I said last week, he came up to us and was drunk. He told us later this week that that night after he talked to us, he was drinking with his friends, then decided he was done drinking! He walked out and wants to change his life. He can't read, he never had the chance because he had to work as a kid since his dad left and mom died and he never had school. We asked if he had a USB. He said, "Yeah but it's just filled with worldly music. I want you guys to put spiritual music on it and uplifting things!" Haha he's the best. So we're going to get him the scriptures and Mormon Tabernacle music on it. 

The next morning started off with us studying. We needed a little breeze, so we opened our side door. Later we looked to our right and got the crap scared out of us because there was a chicken walking around in our room haha. It took us like 10 minutes to try and get it out of our room! It was so funny. 

The rest of the day was good until we taught Juan. I couldn't speak any Spanish for some reason and botched the First Vision. Then I couldn't speak anything during our lesson with Carlos. I had a really hard night and wondered if I would ever learn the language.. it was a really hard night. I poured my heart out to Heavenly Father.. The next morning I woke up and decided I needed to quit being a selfish bago and just go to work and just be happy. We had interviews with Hermana and Presidente Rios and that really helped! They both told me how good my Spanish was, how fast I was and how well my pronounciation was. Then President Rios asked if I had had a language blessing before. I told him I hadn't and he gave me an amazing blessing! He told me to be patient and that it would come through my hard work and dedication. He told me to keep up the good work. That also really boosted my confidence and I haven't had a bad day since! Also I know I'm a disciple of Christ and that my work here is His work. I love it here and couldn't ask for anything else in my life. 

Conference. Was. Amazing! It's weird what happens when you listen to every talk haha, and as a missionary it's 100 times better! It applies to everything you do. My favorite was President Uchtdorf's talk during the Priesthood session about finding and bringing back our "Amuleks." It is refering to our less actives and obviously just missionary work as a whole. It reminded me of Chad and how badly I want someone to find him and bring him back. So I have to do the same and never give up on people out here. Maybe a mother is hoping I will find their Amulek and bring them back! Elder Hale's talk was also amazing! Conference was the best! That's really cool what you told me about Chad going into the church on Sunday to ask if he could park his trailer there for a while! I pray for him every single day! I'm glad he found a bishop who was very kind to him. I love him so much! Also I really liked Carol F. McConkie's talk. It gave me motivation! My favorite line from her talk was, "God needs brave sons." I wrote that on my wall! Anytime I'm having a hard day and thinking, "Why is Heavenly Father putting me through this? Does He actually think I can do this?" I just think of that now - God needs brave sons! Also the talk about the man who ran over his son.. I heard that is where Jason and Jaimee are from. The Whitney's told me that. Apparently they have a daughter that lives there.. I forgot her name.. it also might be their son, so "Whitney" could be their last name. 

On our way to lunch during one of the conferences, we got into a moto taxi.. it was someone's idea to put me, Elder Portillo and Elder Ortiz in the back.. probably weighing about 6 or 700 pounds haha .. Yeah, we flattened the man's tire after about 10 seconds of sitting there.. haha oops won't do that again!

I got to hear all the conference talks in English, thanks to one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Ramos. He's in a trio and two of them are the Zone Leaders. He said he would go on a change with me since the Chao boys had to go back to Chao for priestood and for the night (we were in Viru, which is about 30 minutes away and wouldn't get back in time.) I wouldn't have any of my stuff but it was worth it to hear it in English. I later found out Elder Ramos didn't get any of his stuff because there needed to be equality. He's a great guy!

After conference and being with 2 Latinos for a straight 24 hours, my Spanish really boosted. Being with them I realized I can speak a lot better than I give myself credit for! Entonces (so) my Spanish yesterday and today has been on fuego (fire)!! And I've been participating and communicating a lot more. Elder Harper even noticed it and said I've been on fire.

Oh! Also.. I feel bad for poor President Monson.. I don't know how much longer he'll make it. He's such a great man! I really enjoyed both of his talks so much. They were really good! 

I alsmot forgot!!! On Sunday for lunch the Whitney's invited our district over for lunch! Hermana Whitney made roast, homemade rolls, actual mashed potatoes (the mashed potatoes here are nasty haha, they call it "purey" and it's like practically soup), also veggies and COLD lemonada!!!! Then brownies!! Awww it was the best! 

Lunch at the Whitney's. They are like a mom and dad to us out here.

Also, I had my first actual mango. Mom, I don't know why you've deprived me my whole life.. haha it was the best thing in the world!

Well, that's about it for my week! I love you all. I hope all is well. I want everyone to know that missionary work is so amazing. It's easily the hardest thing I have ever gone through, but it's also been the best. Seeing the joy in people's lives just makes me so happy. It's so amazing and I know that missionary work is the Lord's work. It may be really hard, but it'll all be worth it in the end. I love the scripture, I don't know it off the top of my head, but it says something like, "how great will be your glory in the kingdom of God if you bring save one soul unto me." I know that is so true!

Anyway I need to go. I love you all!!! 

                                                                             

My bacanaso companion, Elder Harper!!

Home sweet home. BYU blue.

The streets of Chao

With my companion and other elders.

We got to eat pizza during lunch at one of the sessions of conference. That's part of our Zone! 

Here are some pictures that we missed last week due to not knowing how to log into the site:

Me and my boy, Elder Simonsen. He passed out during personal study haha. 

Me with Hermana Mujica

What some generous person wrote about me and my note to Hermano Castillo - "Elder Roko is the maximum." (Yes, I did that on purpose, I know you're reading this Castillo.)

Me and my wrestling buddy

With more friends from the CCM

With an elder from Aunt Cheryl's area.

With some of my buddies at the temple.