Rokin' Perú: A Trip to Trujillo

HEYYYOOO,

I was SUPER hyped to finally get my Hump Day package. Elder Stroud put the team on his back and had our paquetero (packer - parcel - could possible mean the postman?) go get it. LOVE LOVE the camel shirt. I was dying! Absolutely perfect for me haha. Also loved all the caramels.. I mean "camels" haha. Hey, also it came on my one year anniversary for being in the field, so what the heck, it counted.

(I put lots of candy with caramel in it in the box and covered the letters "r" and "a" with little camel stickers, making the candy say, "Camel M&M's" instead of "Caramel M&M's", etc.)

(I sent Cory's Hump Day box on June 21st, plenty of time for it to arrive on his Hump Day of August 2nd - One year in the mission field......but it never arrived. It was somewhere between Lima and Trujillo, I knew that much. When I went to the postoffice to make a claim on the lost box, the postal woman, who has had missionaries in foreign countries herself, told me to have someone go check at the local postoffice in Trujillo and see if it was just sitting on a shelf.....Sure enough - that's where it was.)

This week has been a super spiritual week by far and such a fun week! First off, we went to Trujillo on Wednesday… well Thursday, but we left Huaraz on Wednesday at night. By the way, I HATE the bus ride. It's 8 hours one way and I can't sleep worth beans because the bus is made for Peruvians.. not Americans who are 6 feet tall. So I can't sleep worth anything.

We got to Trujillo at 6 a.m. and the training started at 9 a.m., so we didn’t get anytime to sleep before the meeting either. We came up for a training with Elder Gonzalez, a recently called 70 from Uruguay, and half the mission was there. It was a super great training. It's really going to change my mission a bunch. Plus I've been reading this thing called “The Ricciardi Letter” which is BOMB! Literally this week is going to change my whole mission. Learned a bunch of how to be direct, but direct with love.

After the training we got to proselyte in Trujillo and dang straight I got to go to Moche!! It literally felt like I was home. I was with Elder Dazá's new companion from Brazil, Elder Rocher. He is a stud! He's only been in the mission field a month and already speaks almost perfectly. But Portuguese is also super similar to castellano (Spanish). It was a super great day because I got to see Ana and the family plus baby Sofia, their new granddaughter! She's adorable. Also got to visit a few members and old investigators. It was a super great day there.

Baby Sofia

Out to dinner with the Rosales family.

Seeing my old bishop's family and their daughter, Celeste.

When we got back to Huaraz, me and my companion passed out for the morning because we were EXHAUSTED! Basically we didn’t sleep for 2 nights because I can't sleep worth anything on that bus. After that we put in work! We got 8 investigators to church this week, which was awesome, and we are possibly having a baptism this week. Our investigator, Raul, was in Lima for an operation and didn’t have his phone but he came back Sunday morning and went straight to church! The guy is awesome. We just have to teach a few more things before Saturday. Super hyped about that.

On Saturday I was sitting here with my companion and thought, “Man, what was I doing a year ago today?” I looked up in my journal with my companion and yup… it said, “Well, Amber got married today so that’s cool.” Hahaha I died! Literally the one day I look back.. Amber had gotten married! Well, happy anniversary Amber and Riley! Love you guys!

Apart from that, this week has been super spiritual and a mission changer. President shared an amazing story of his daughter, who had never seen snow and wanted to see it for Christmas. President Rios had explained to her that it doesn’t snow where they live, but there is a place in Huaraz called Pastoruri (where we went last week) where it snows.

His daughter insisted on going and one day they were able to go. When you go there, you have to hike about 600 meters more or less (a little over 650 yards). She was only able to make it a mere 200 meters before getting tired from the 5000 meter altitude (over 3 miles high). To her luck, there are horses that are able to carry you higher, although they only get to a certain point as well.. leaving another 200-300 meters to go. Frustrated and tired she wanted to give up, when a frail, small women offered to carry her the rest of the way. She had explained it was her job. President's 9 year old daughter accepted and was carried the next 300 meters to the glaciar. His daughter was beyond happy to be able to touch the glorious snow and ice and see it for the first time. He related it to our Savior - Though we may feel tired and not see the journey possible, we can always rely on the Savior to carry us to the Glory of His father's presence. With tears in his eyes, President Rios concluded his powerful testimony of the Savior. I had tears in my eyes as he finished. It just makes sense. It finally clicked in me the meaning of Adam's death and the Savior's resurrection and the carga (load) He takes for us. And I also learned the meaning of the phrase, “I know my Savior lives.” In that, I DO know my Savior lives! He did not die and conclude his mission on the cross, rather He concluded it in His resurrection. He loves us, and will carry us in our trials.

I love this gospel and I love this mission here in the beautiful country of Perú. I invite all to search this truth as well. En el nombre de Jesucristo, amen. (In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.)

Tu misionero fiel (Your faithful missionary), Elder Rokovitz

I was able to download all the pictures that haven't been downloading when I was in Moche, sooo here we go!