El Día de Matanza (The Day of Killing)

Well this week has been one for the books, for sure. It's been an up and down week. It started off on Monday and Tuesday when I had a horrible headache and body pain, plus I don´t like the food, so I wasn´t eating much, so that didn´t add to the pain well. I'm weighing 188, I was getting fat though... I was at 198 but I've lost 10 pounds in these past 2 weeks. I was in bed all of Tuesday but then Elder Walker came in and put the team on his back, gave me some pills from the states and then gave me a blessing in English.. the next day I woke up HEALED. I didn´t feel one pain! Priesthood power ladies and gents. 

On Wednesday we visited one of our powerful investigadores, Raul. The man is about 45-ish and has read until 2nd Nephi! He had been coming to church these past weeks and we found out he is married when we thought he wasn't so we moved his fecha (baptism date) up to the 23rd of September. The guy is a STUD. 

We also had a BOMB lesson with Victor and Mirea this week, super spiritual about the Restoration.. probably the best L1 lesson I've had in all my mission. We then put a fecha (baptism date) for them the 14th of October. 

Apart from that, I've been going OFF in my studies. Elder Walker shared this message with me that Elder Uceda from the 70 shared in a meeting with the Zone Leaders a couple weeks ago about being disciples and not just finding, teaching and baptizing, but making converts and disciples of Christ. I was also reading a talk from Elder Bednar talking about how we need to listen more than talk and discern what our investigadores and companions are saying. Super great stuff that is helping me really change the way I think out here. 

On Friday we were coming back from a meeting in the church and we found this burger place an elder had suggested.. they sell burgers, really good burgers, for a straight sol! That's straight 30 cents in dollars! CHEEHOO! Those things were the best. 

All day Saturday we were moving. Our old room was TINY and I hated it so we found a new room, still close to the pensh and it's so nice. We love it! So all day Saturday that we were moving, we had the help of 6 other elders, but after lunch they all had to leave and we were stuck organizing. That took a while. See Mom, you´re not the only one moving. 

(***Warning from Mom - Gross story ahead - a "boy" story - but it's a way of life in Perú***)
Sunday was a day I'll never forget. We get a text from Elder Chiza saying, "You wanna kill chickens?" Haha, we were like, heck yeah! So we did. I killed like 5 or 6 and one almost pooped on my shoes. I was waiting for my companion to kill one so I could put my chicken in the holder and kill it, and the chicken I was holding knew it was about to die and was screaming and whatnot then lost it and pooped and it splattered all over my shoes hahaha. It was horrible. After that, we washed up real nice and went upstairs and made arepas (Corn bread, circular in shape, which can be cooked roasted or grilled. Very thin tortilla made with wheat flour, milk, sugar and vanilla, and fried in oil or shortening. Is typical of Colombia and Venezuela) with the 4 Venezolanos (Venezuelans) that live there. That was super good. Never had one in my life. 

After that we got a call from Angelica (the pensh) asking if we wanted to kill some Cuy (sorry I forgot how to say that in English haha) (Guinea pig)  but sadly we showed up late to the assassination and weren´t able to kill them, but! We did get to eat them and it's delicious! They´re pets in the U.S. but food here. 

Anyway, that's about it for this week. It's been a pretty eventful week. We are about to go off the next week since I'll be able to actually proselyte. Love you all. The gospel is true. Live it. Love it.


El asacino (The murderer) Elder Rokovitz

                                                                             

Me with my boy, the new assistant to the President, Elder Stroud.

Me with Coco and Josue. (Picture from Moche before the transfer.)

They told us not to smile.... Only my companion and I didn't smile haha. (From Moche before the transfer.)

Elder Aldea, Elder Daza and me. (Moche, before transfer.)

Us with Ykar. (Moche, before the transfer.)

My last haircut at Golden. (Moche)

Last haircut in Moche.

Haircut is done.

Our Abuelita (Grandma) who is the owner of our apartment. Sisters will be moving in. She cried when we left.

All the elders being transferred to Huaraz.

The view of Huaraz. It has rained once, but the good stuff is coming, with thunder and lightening.

My new companion, Elder Mori.

Elder Mori after his little toe surgery. Elder Mori is doing better, he walks slow right now. He was doing good then the guy cleaned it and it really hurt because he doesnt have a toe nail.. 

                                       

Peruvian Park City

Well ladies and gentlemen, I'm here! Chillin' out here in Huaraz. This place is so great! It straight looks like a Peruvian Park City (Park City, Utah.) It's awesome haha. Huaraz is a MUST when we come back after my mission. It's a huge turistico (tourist) spot.

First off, Tuesday (transfer day) was super hard. I said goodbye to familia Rosales and I was all good until I was about to hop in the car. When I started to tell everyone goodbye, I just started bawling. It was pretty hard. After that, I dropped off my son (Elder Aldea) at the bus station and he shipped off to the fish city, Chimbote. After that, I spent the day with Elder Jensen out in his area. He's a Zone Leader in Trujillo. Had a crazy deja vu moment when we were in a lesson.

That night my bus left at 9:40 p.m. We were waiting for the other 2 elders to get to the room so we could go but they took forever! We got to the bus station and we were sprinting to get there on time. The bus about left us. Haha love it. The bus ride up there was like 10 of us going down to Huaraz but I couldn't sleep almost at all on the bus. It wasn't too comfortable. We got here at 5:30 a.m. I met my companion, Elder Mori.. He. Is. A. Stud. I'm already predicting that he's going to be one of my favorite companions in the mission. He is so cool and humble and fun. He's from Lima and just finished his training. I'm hyped to be with the kid.

I couldn't sleep when I got here so I just unpacked everything and then we went out and got to know everyone. Our area is so awesome! But everything is super super steep uphill! I'm about to have ripped legs. The only down thing is that in the mornings it is FREEZING COLD. It's awful. And if the water thermos goes out... we are screwed. The water is FREEZING here. Apart from that, I got a bunch of compliments on my Spanish my first day here, which made me super happy.

On Friday my companion needed to go to the doctor to get his toenail checked out because he had an ingrown toenail.. turns out not only that, he also had a fungus in his toenail.. so they ripped the whole thing off. So he can't walk until Tuesday mas o menos (more or less). So I've been piggy backing him up to the room and down to the pencion's house. The thing that stinks though is because of the elevation (about 2 miles above sea level) it's super hard to breathe so that's been fun. After we got done with his toenail, we were leaving and we saw 2 men outside. One was in a wheelchair and only had one arm to push himself around. The other was on the ground with a bunch of things, trying to sell them, and playing this flute.. but really just blowing into it because he didnt know how to play it. It broke me down seeing those two. I wanted to give the man on the ground something.. although I can't, I would've if I would've had my money. I was fighting back tears seeing those two. It really put into perspective my blessings - I can walk, talk, hear, see, I have talents and abilities.. it really humbled me a ton.

The next day we had a baptism. Her name is Mayumi. She's 16 and her mom got baptized about 2 weeks ago. The baptism went great! The ward is awesome here and helped out a ton. The water heater wasn't working though so my companion baptized her in straight antarctic water! It turned out great though.

The food here.. is different.. After lunch on Saturday I wasn't feeling too hot, stomach wise. At night I felt like crap. I choked the food down then went straight to bed. After that, on Sunday, I felt like crap in the morning, took a pill, felt fine in chruch, but right after church I felt horrible. I've got a bad fever and I think it came from like a stomach infection or something from the food. With the food and the walking uphill, I'm about to lose a bunch of weight. I've already lost 5 pounds. But I was also fat in Moche, thanks to the cooking of Hermana Ana. But yeah.. I'll live. I'm feeling a little better now and hopefully tomorrow I'll be up and running normal, but we`ll see what happens.

The apartment is.. small.. We`ll probably try to move this month or the next.

Elder Cruz was here.. but he's gone because he got transferred this time.

The bread and cheese that Angelica gave me is bread and cheese from Cajamarca. It's the best bread and cheese I've ever eaten! I ate it all within an hour without realizing it. She thought that was pretty funny.

Elder Stroud said he is tired haha. He said he hasn't had a night of 8 hours of sleep since he's been called as the new assistant. It sounds like a bunch of work but he's a stud. He can handle it.

I sure love escudriñando (scrutinizing) the scriptures now! I forgot what the word is in English.. haha. There are so many things to study and so little time. I wish I could have like a whole day of studies! It's crazy.

The eclipse is supposed to happen today but I'm sure I won't even be able to notice.. and well.. I can't exactly watch the news hahahha, but send me pictures next week. My memory card convereter broke.. I'll get pictures to you guys si o si (yes or yes) next week, but sorry.. no pictures of the Peruvian Park City this week.

Anyway, it's been a crazy week but I'm hyped to be here. We are about to put in work! I love you all, have a good week.

Love, Elder Rokovitz



*** Cory wasn't able to send pictures this week because of his broken memory card converter, but I found a few on the mission blog that were taken recently that I'll add for this week.


                                                                               

These were back in Trujillo for a meeting Cory attended. It was probably a Zone Conference or something.

Elder Aldea and Elder Rokovitz listening and taking notes during the meeting. 

A great lunch prepared for the missionaries at the meeting. 

Elder Daza and Elder Rokovitz

Elder Johnson and Elder Rokovitz

These two have not been companions but have become fast friends.

This is a picture taken in Huaraz recently that was on the mission blog. Huaraz is right up against the Andes mountains. They are the 3rd largest mountains in the Western Hemesphere.Yep, there is snow in South America. This is Cory's new area. We're looking forward to getting pictures next week. Let's hope he gets a new memory card converter. 

The Hype

Boys and girls, I'm going to HUARAZ!!! I'm about to freeze my butt off!! It's freezing there. Huaraz is the area that everyone wants to go because it's the area más bacan (most cool area) of the mission! It's super pretty and the food is good, but it's also the highest part of the mission. It's about  10,100 feet above sea level. (For the Utahans, that's about 1000 feet lower that Mount Timpanogos. Altitude sickness can start around 8000 feet.) For that, it's super cold there. There are parts where there are glaciars and whatnot. But it's awesome!!  I had to take out a little from my savings account.... I had to go to the mall and buy a coat and a jacket and some sweats. BUT the cool thing is I saved 50 percent so that was a huge blessing! I'm about to eat a bunch more pachamanca because I hear that is the traditional food in Huaraz.  

Okay so first off, to tell you how it all happened, I'll start with yesterday night (Sunday). So all week I was telling everyone that I was bouncing to Huaraz, even though I had no idea yet. The call came in Sunday night and Elder Diaz said that Elder Aldea is going to Chimbote and that I'm going to Huaraz!! I. Lost. My. Mind! Elder Aldea and I started going nuts haha. He started throwing things at me though haha. Holy cow I'm HYPED! My new companion is going to be Elder Mori. I think he is just barely finishing his capacitacion (training). I'm going to miss Moche a TON. I love this place.. but I'M GOING TO HUARAZ. Oh and I'm going as District Leader again so that's cool. But yeah, anyway to cool down the hype....

This week we have been so so exhausted every day! We have been working like crazy, getting the things ready for the sisters, cleaning the room, saying goodbye to everyone, etc. On Wednesday we got a call from the young men's president (who is away for work) and told us his wife needed a blessing as well as his mother, so the four of us went over there and watched "To This End Was I Born", then gave them both blessings. It was a super spiritual experience. It was great. I didn't give the blessing but I always love that opportunity because I just feel like the Lord is speaking directly through me and it's such a great experience.

Really, this week we haven't done anything too crazy. On Friday I was reading 2 nephi 21 and it straight took me an HOUR to analyze the verse and figure out what it meant and who it was referring to. Not only that, but when I completed 1 year, all my studies started in Spanish, not English, so if I don't understand something, I look it up in the Spanish dictionary. So yeah, it's pretty hard in the Isaiah verses, which I just conveniently happened to hit the Isaiah verses when I started my full Spanish studies. Ha. Love it.

Other than that, we had a multi estaca conferencia (stake conference) and got to hear from 2 Seventies, one of which was Juan Uceda, who´s from Perú, and also Elder Cook, as well as Sister Mckonkie. All but Elder Cook spoke in Spanish which was cool. And the first 70 gave this super great talk about the tree of life and analized the story a bunch. It was such a great talk! The closing hymn was "Para siempre Dios esté con Vos" which is "God Be With You till We Meet Again." Ha. Love it. Hermana Ana was crying and when I looked over at her, I started crying and couldn't look back at her or I would've been bawling. I'm going to miss that family a ton.

Apart from that, yesterday Elder Daza and Elder Mayta went to talk to president and when they came back at night for dinner with the assistant, Elder Hart, all of Elder Mayta's things were packed.. he's going home tomorrow.. I started to cry because that's super hard. I love the kid to death but he has some medical things he needs to try to fix back at home. Poor guy. I love that kid. He wants to come back though. He says, "2 to 3 months and I'm back."

Oh by the way, my BOY Elder Stroud is the new assistant!! Hyped out of my MIND for him. He's going to be a great assistant!

So yeah, this week has been a bit crazy, but it's all about to start over in my new area in HUARAZ!! Love it. Anyway, that's it for today. I love you all and pray you're all well!

Love, ya boy en HUARAZ, Elder Rokovitz



                                                                             

With Ana's son Abraham. Abraham is the one that we workout with in the mornings doing boxing.

Me and Elder Aldea with Ana and her family. I'm going to miss them so much.

                                                                                       

Us with the Rosales family.

I love these people so much.

Elder Aldea and me with Ana. She and her family have been so good to us. (The day Cory was transferred, we got a message from Ana that said - "Sister, sadness. Embarks our son to Huaraz. Is nice tourist place but I die of pain. I pray a lot for our son, I want him to do well in Huaraz, and they feed him well. Thank you sister for giving me your son and the service he gives in Trujillo Peru. It's all for you and your husband because he is the reflection of you.

We love you and we look forward to your visit.")

Elder Mayta always ate a tiny amount of food so Ana played a "little" joke on him haha.

Found Elder Daza with a facial mask on hahahahaha. (We noticed one of Cory's senior pictures in his football jersey in the background on Ana's little shelf. I think he must be pretty special to them.)

Puppies! A member has 7 of them.

A family that we just barely started to gain confidence with....and now we are both leaving. Hopefully they'll love the sisters.

My companion sleeping hahahaha.

The three "cabezas de coco" (the three coco heads)

Me with Elder Callejas. He goes home this transfer.

Both of these pictures (here and below) are with our bishop and his wife and little girl.

**This picture came from a ward member on transfer day. She said - "Our embrace. Dear Sister Rokovitz, good morning !!! Very sad because Elder is leaving the neighborhood, but happy because it will bring more love to families who need it ... A huge hug and we will always remember Elder Rokovitz, a great boy. We also love him very much ... For my family, the Elders are little angels that are passing through, but leave much love in our hearts. Hopefully someday we'll see each other again. Huge hugs and kisses sister, from Trujillo-Moche-Peru."

**Another sister made bread and cheese as a gift for Cory. She said - "Hi hermana. I am very sad. My nephew Rokovitz is going to Huaraz. (She calls him her "nephew")

But happy to spoil him and your son stole my heart.

This was the bread and cajamarca cheese that I gave as my gift."

The rest of these pictures were part of the ones that didn't come through last week. Cory didn't really give much explaination of what they were about other than it is a place called Chan Chan and it's the biggest city of mud in the world. They are pretty cool to look at though.

Hermanas (Sisters)

You better watch out! You better not cry! You better not pout, I'm telling you why,........ hermanas (sister missionaries) are coming to Moche. Yup, we are being replaced. Elder Hart called us up this week and told us that my companion and I are being replaced for hermanas (sisters) so that we could prepare our carpeta de area  (area folder) and whatnot. But don’t worry, we aren’t trunky to leave, we straight found 16 new people to teach this week. Eight of which we found yesterday. We. Went. OFF this week! We don’t know where we are going yet, but we are going.

Anyway, apart from that, we had a really good multizone training on Tuesday. Two things that I really liked that President Rios said was, “A successful missionary isn’t one who is baptizing every second, but that is the objective.” Also, “Overcome fear with more faith.” It was a really good training. 

                                                                             

(Elder Rokovitz is the 5th from the left.)

                                                                          

The next day was a great day! Hit a year in Perú. First off, at lunch the Rosales´s took us to eat pachamanca, which is the food cooked in the dirt. They dig a hole, put down rocks and coal, then after that they put down leaves from a banana tree and then the food on top of that, then more banana leaves, then they cover the whole thing with dirt again. After a hot minute, they dig it up, put it on your plate and boca (mouth). It's super good! 

                                                                                 

Pachmanca

A special "One Year" mark lunch with the Rosales family. (Nice face Elder Daza haha.)

After that, they kept telling me that their nephew needed a blessing back at home, but I wasn’t buying it. I know them way too good. We get back to the house and I wasn’t going into the house for nothing. I was waiting by the corner and Abraham came up behind and gave it to me like Michael Jordan (an egg on the head). After that I took 7 more eggs! Plus two bags of harina! (flour.) Love it. Took me a hot minute to shower all of that off but we're all good. 

                                                                               

Elder Rokovitz after the eggs and flour, with Elder Daza in front and Ana off to the left side.

A little blurry but Elder Rokovitz, Elder Aldea, Elder Mayta and the Rosales family. 

** If you are connected to Dawn or Cory on Facebook, there are a couple of fun videos of the egging/flouring on our FB pages.

After that, in the night, we had a little camp fire on the roof...... not saying what we used for the fire..... sorry Mom. It's tradition. (The tradition is to burn one of your white shirts - Mom and Dad's money up in smoke.) It was a super good day! All thanks to la familia Rosales! 

The next day I went on an interchange with Elder Diaz who is one of our Zone leaders and who is the son of Elder Alarcon (meaning Elder Alarcon trained him when he was a new missionary) and who is Elder Alarcon's companion again as a Zone leader. Also, he was Elder Harper's companion (Cory's trainer) so we had a bunch to talk about. It was a good interchange. 

That night the elders of Alto Moche 2 called me and told me that one of the companionships in my district (of Alto Moche 1) were fighting and whatnot. So the next day I went on an interchange with Elder "H" and we talked for about an hour about his companionship and how to better it and whatnot. It was really good for him. He's got 20 months in the mission and I don’t want him to finish on a bad note. So we had a really good day. We visited Vilma and talked about the day of rest because she said she had to work on Sunday si o si (yes or yes. I've learned that this means exactly what it says. Basically, it will happen, no matter what.) But she said that she already compromitted (committed) to work, but she would talk to them and tell them she can't work Sundays. It went really good. 

On Sunday when we were in the third hour of church, I hear my name from behind, look behind and my boy MAGNO entered! Like what?? The whole family came down to Moche to visit Elder Daza and I! It was so great to see them all felices (happy) and whatnot! We talked after church, then we ate lunch with them because they had brought their lunch to eat. It was so good to see them and such a great surprise! 

                                                                               

Elder Daza, Magno and Elder Rokovitz

Elder Rokovitz, Elder Daza, Elder Mayta and Elder Aldea 

Elder Rokovitz after church.

After that, like I said, we went off! Found straight 8 new people to teach in that day and 16 this week! It's been a great week and has flown by. I'm sure this week is about to fly by even more. It's our last week but we are about to bust our butts and finish on our best note. 

Anyway, nothing else. Just lovin' life. Anyway, I love you all. Take care. Be happy. Life's good. Besitos (little kisses)

Tu amigo fiel (Your faithful friend), Elder Rokovitz

** All photos in this blog entry were sent by others in Perú this week. Cory said the computer was being too slow when he was trying to upload his pictures so we didn't get them this week. He sent the descriptions, so if he sends them, I will add them next week. I understand there's a picture of the "rooftop camp fire"...... not sure if I want to see that though.

                                                                                     

Elder Rokovitz with all those eggs..... And I suppose the brocolli is suppose to be Elder Aldea since it's wearing Elder Aldea's glasses and has his name tag.

Something that was super special that these wonderful people in Perú did on the 2nd was to not only make a cake to celebrate Cory's One Year mark, but also to celebrate Cory's sister's birthday, which was on the same day as his year mark. They don't even know Amber but because they love Cory, they also love his family. Two cakes!! One for Cory and the other for Amber, with her name on it. They sang "Happy Birthday" in their very best English for Amber and then again, in Spanish. The Spanish version of "Happy Birthday" is very upbeat and fun to see and listen to. A video of that was sent to us, along with a message from Cory to his sister for her birthday. That video is on Amber's Facebook. We sure love these people and the love they show to our son. Eternal friends!!