Well ladies and gents, I'm sicker than a dog. I'm getting better but I was fighting to stay alive. I just got a bad cold. It's actually getting really cold here, especially at night with us living by the beach, and with the seasons changing, I caught a cold. Every night I'm practically dying with a cough.. but I think I'm starting to get a little better! I just have a bad headache right now and cough, but it's calmed down a bunch.
Anyway to start off the week, we went to see Vilma. She actually said something super cool that I liked. She said, “At times we separate ourselves from God when all He did was love us.” Wow! It hit me pretty hard. She's doing great and really progressing.
We had a Multi-zone conference this week. President Rios went OFF about the spirit and revelation. Something great he said was, “NEVER think you're the one who is teaching in lessons. The Spirit is the teacher. You're just the instrument that the Lords uses to communicate.” Also like it says in Matthew 10:20: "For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. " I found that today. Pretty cool. But! I really saw that put into place during my District meeting. When I was teaching, I was even learning a bunch. It was such a great District meeting. At the end, I gave the prayer (it was in English because that’s what president wants) but I was about to start and I couldn’t speak for like 15 seconds, the spirit hit me like a wall! It was awesome. I was bawling the whole prayer but I felt the spirit so strong! It was such a great meeting. Elder Daza later told me, “I didn’t understand what you were saying, but wow, the spirit was strong.” I think it changed the attitude of our district this week too because our district went OFF! I was hyped.
We went to visit Jorge this week and he looked a lot happier than the last time we saw him. He's been completing with his promises and it's showing because he seems like a different person!
Later that day we visited Jessi. When her 4 year old daughter saw us she goes, “Hola angels!” She can't pronounce “elders” so she calls us angels, haha, she's adorable! Jessi is doing great as well though. I have no doubt that she will get baptized in August.
On Thursday I had an interchange with the Zone leaders. I went over with Elder Alarcon, my companion from Chao. It felt like Chao again but in Trujllo. We got along really well and we were laughing all day! We taught this guy named Jose, but he goes by “Latin Palo”, don’t ask me why haha. They had left with him the intro of the Book of Mormon and, Holy. Cow. We asked what he understood and he basically recited the whole intro. He told us about the Lamanites, Nephites, tower of babel, Mormon passing the plates to Moroni, the Hill Cummorah, Joseph Smith, how it’s the most correct book on earth, and even down to Sept 21, 1821! CHEEHOO! The guy is a straight stud. Elder Alarcon and I were laughing because we have never seen anyone understand that much. It was nuts! He's about to get baptized for sure!
That next night we were eating dinner and Ana´s mom and sister had come into town. Ana's mom reminds me of Grandma Henrikson so much, especially because of this... She was sitting in front of their computer and we were all eating. Elder Daza put a Mormon message on for her and it was way too loud, so we told Ana's mom to turn it down. She picks up the mouse and starts doing everything possible with the thing; pounding it on the desk, picking it up, moving it around, clicking 100 times and scrolling. We. Were. Dying! Haha it reminded me of something grandma would do with technology, hahaha love it.
Yesterday we walked ALL day, it was nuts! We fought to get 2 new people added to our teaching pool. One of them was Cristian Hess, who is about 70-ish. As we were 10 minutes away from dinner starting, we were knocking every door possible to find someone. As we were walking, I saw an old man cleaning on his balcony. We walked past and then I got the feeling to go back. I thought of a quote from President Monson that President Rios said this last week, “If you don’t choose to obey the quiet voice, you will be losing one of the best moments and experiences in your life.” So, I stopped in my tracks and we went back. I asked him simply how his day was and he responded that it was alright but not too well. I promised that we had a message that would better his day. He let us in and we talked for about an hour about his life, the gospel and all his stories. Later he bought us sodas and walked back to Ana's house with us. President Monson was right. That was one of the best experiences of my mission.
Anyway, that’s about it folks. It's been a great week. I love you all. The church is true. Missionary work is great. Have fun ladies and gents!
Love, Elder Rokovitz
Love, Elder Rokovitz
Us (my district) after last p-day.
You already know, me and my boy, Elder Johnson.
I ripped my pants trying to be a good missionary and do some service. I squatted down to pick up a bag and that's what happened.....oops!
My pants.
Me and Elder Daza in the back of the moving truck.
They told me to drink lots of water because I'm sick.... My backpack is filled with about 7 liters, so I hope that works.
Me and the dad of a church member, who is an Israelite, and my buddy.
Me and Elder Daza and Claudia's daughter.
A bunch of crabs on the beach. That's about 1/8th of them.
A really big crab.
Drunk guys that wanted to take a picture with us.
