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.
