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.
