I’ve figured out how awesome my companion is. He’s super funny. In high school he got bullied and didn’t really have much friends. He is a little different and shy and weird at times but he’s so cool. He’s a stud. He really wants to work hard but he seems to just go with what his companion does, so we are working hard! Also he got a package this week and the first thing he did was give me some Snickers and Kit Kats and jerkey. He’s super selfless and just a stud!
Me and my companion, Elder Cruz
Also this week as I went to go wash my hands in our "kitchen", I found a little friend in my sink.. Also, a couple days later, found another little friend under my laundry basket.. this time bigger. So in Chao we had a little cockroach problem.. well here.. the little problem... Scorpions! Yup, scorpions! Haha I was so rattled! I’ve never seen one in my life, so yeah.. if I don’t respond next week.. well you now know why hahaha.
I got told Friday night I was supposed to give a talk this week. I whipped that up in a hot minute. I realized in the mission.. even speaking Spanish.. I like giving talks more. Maybe it’s just because I know more haha, but I love it. Before, I had to try and fill up a talk to barely make time.. this time, I had to cut it back a little bit to make my 15 minutes. And I got a note near the end saying, "tiempo" (time) haha, but my talk was about repentance. Something I shared was in Alma 36 when Alma hijo (the son of Alma) is talking to his son and tells him about when he was visited by the angel. Something I really liked though in verse 3 is how it says if we will just put our trust in the Lord, He will strengthen and support us in our trials and dificultades (difficulties) and it’s so true. All we have to do is put our trust in Him and do our part and He will guide us and support us. Also something I learned about repentance is that we have to accept the Lord. Accept that His infinite love and mercy is there and that He truly is there and has forgiven us. Sometimes we skip this step and let the flashback of our sin weigh on us. The most important part of repentance is that we accept that the Lord has payed for our sins and that if we keep the commandments and promise to never commit the sin again and we don’t, then the Lord will put that on His shoulders and carry it for us. I testify of that and know how true it is.
Also, I loved what President Hiskey said! Man I was crying.. it’s so true though. I am so happy! But thanks for that story. That’s so cool. That makes me so happy! (The story Elder Rokovitz is referring to happened Sunday morning in a youth morning side for our Stake Conference. A while back, parents who have missionaries in the field right now were asked to send pictures of their children in the act of missionary work to the Stake President. I sent maybe 7-8 of my favorite pictures that Elder Rokovitz has sent to us. The night before the morning side, President Hiskey came up to me and said in awe, “That picture you sent me of Cory, where he’s sitting on the bed with his companion with that one couple and the walls of their house are only as wide as their bed?????......” He was blown away seeing their living conditions, but in awe with the happiness that was evident on Cory's face. At the youth morning side, President Hiskey had made a slide show of the missionary pictures he had gotten from everyone in our stake. A friend of ours was at the meeting and she told me that when President Hiskey got to Cory's picture with Ivan and Clarita he said, “This is Cory Rokovitz serving in Perú. Look how happy he is!! See that bed that they’re sitting on? That’s their furniture. See those walls touching the bed? That’s the size of their house. See that table? That’s where their kitchen starts. But look at how happy Elder Rokovitz is!! Some of you are afraid to serve a mission because you don’t want to leave your electronics or other posessions, but look at Elder Rokovitz!! He. Is. Happy!!” It sounds like it was a pretty cool presentation. We told Cory that we felt he was being a good example to all the youth of our stake. Here is the picture that was used in the slide show.):
Not too much this week though, sorry haha. We’ve been trying to know the members better, the less active and the recent converts to help us in the work. So we have done a lot of walking.. But that’s the work ladies and gents! I’m loving it though. At night at the pensh (pencionista's) we teach her husband English.. he’s terrible at it hahaha. We just teach him all the jerga and pronunciation like “Sup” and stuff like that. Also we play hyped card games after dinner.. trust me they get hyped. Life is good. I’m loving the mission and loving the work! I love you all and hope you have a great week. Keep up whatever you’re doing haha. Cuidense muchísimo! (Take care very much!) Su guapaso misionero (Your handsome missionary), Elder Rokovitz.
I’ll take more pictures, haha sorry. I’m starting off slow, but I’ll start getting more pictures here.
