Be Thou Humble

Well ladies and gentlemen, Elder Torres, this time tomorrow, will be with his family. We received the changes last night and welp.. My new companion is white. My new companion will be Elder Nicols from my CCM group. We are complete opposites. I need to humble myself, have love, and serve him. I'll probably only be with him for 6 weeks though. I've been in this area a long time so I'm pretty sure I'll go the next transfer. It was CRAZY seeing Hermanas Asher and Klunker in the office this weekend, finishing their missions... I came out with them!!  

This week has been one of the best weeks in the mission for sure! Monday was hard but after being able to talk to my president and others, we had a NDH (Noche de Hogar - Family Home Evening)  with our Venezuelan investigators and some Venezuelan members. It was really good because I taught 1 Nephi 8 and was able to explain a lot of great advice after what I had felt hours earlier. Also, I received a package from my friend from home, Madi, on Monday, which was PERFECT timing.

                                                                               

The next day, our pension was having a bad day.. she has had a VERY hard life and she basically told us her life story. I was able to share what Dad said about passing through our personal Gethsemane´s, passing those "Thursdays and Fridays", but in the end, "Sunday" will come and it'll all be worth it. It was such perfect timing to be able to share that. 

During this week I've had a TON of spiritual experiences though. My companion and I taught "The Restoration" after not having taught it in a while. It was a super spiritual lesson and we were able to invite a new investigator, Paul, to baptism for the 10th of March. He's 13 and his grandma is a member. 

We also went and helped out the Patriarch, whose business almost went up in flames due to the 8 house fire that went up last week. He lost everything on his last floor. It was pretty sad. We got a lot of work done though. My companion didn’t really want to work the whole time and wanted to leave after 30 minutes, saying we were wasting our time. He fell after jumping off a seat onto a shampoo filled floor and also cut his finger on something. Later during the day he kept saying he was upset that his shirt got dirty and that his finger was black and kept saying how mad he was. It was hard to hear him complaining about those things when this family we had just helped had lost so much.

                                                                              

Cory and another elder working to clean up after the fire.

The damage done after the fire.

Thursday was an AWESOME day! We taught Ariana the first half of the Plan of Salvation in the bishop's house and tied it in with repentance and baptism. The spirit was SUPER strong! It's been one of the best lessons of my mission. I explained to her about baptism and shared 3 Nephi 11:32-33 then explained more. At first she kept trying to run from the fact we were talking about baptism and kept trying to change the subject but the spirit was so strong, she just slowly stopped trying to change the subject and it just ended up her listening. I invited her for baptism on the 10th of March and SHE ACCEPTED! Super hyped honestly. 

I was talking to Harold (one of the YSA) and he said he talked to her after that and she explained she has never felt anything like that and she accepted baptism because she “felt something different that day.” It was the highlight of my week for sure! 

On Friday, Elder Johnson came up to Trujillo and has been staying in our room for the past 3 days. Man I love that kid! Super sad to see the guy go home but it's been real with him. Him, Elder Velasquez and I just bro´d it down these past few days and talked a bunch. Also, Saturday night we got some pizza and drank mate. Love it. It's been real with him though. 

                                                                              

Anyway. That’s pretty much it for this week. I'm looking forward to a.. new experience.. I love you all and have a great week!

Otuafi, Elder Rokovitz

                                                                               

After a District p-day.

Me and Elder Velazquez.

A baptism that the sisters had. 

Pope In Town

Alright so this week, I'm the saddest missionary in the world because I never saw the Pope.. we obviously couldn't go, but he didn't pass by close to us. He was more up in Huanchaco (like 20-ish minutes away) but it's all good. I'm still reppin' my Pope shirt. 

Anyway, my companion has just been like taking over and is trying to visit all these people we´ve never talked to before and they all end up failing us.. soo we´ve been walking basically all week. I'm exhausted out of my mind though. 

On Monday we played Laureles in fútbol.. they beat us by 1 so now we´re 1-1 haha. We´re going to make it a tradition to play them every change. Afterwards we went up to Moche so I could download all my corrupted videos off their computer onto my hard drive. It was so good to see Ana's family again and laugh with them! We got done kind of late and had to go straight to dinner then straight to a NDH (Noche de hogar - Family Home Evening) we had planned with Ariana. We watched the Joseph Smith movie and it turned out great. We could tell she was really impacted by the rejection towards the Mormon pioneers. She really liked it and at the end, in her prayer, she said, “Prophet” Joseph Smith, yup! Hyped about that one. She's coming along little by little. She read 2 Nephi 31 and really liked it but my companion said she started asking questions and getting off topic in the lesson (I was on an interchange). 

Also, Lenis (don’t remember if I told you about her but she's a Venezuelan that we are recently teaching) she's so cool! It was funny because we knocked on her door the other day and she looks down from the second floor window and says, “I'll be right down my love.” I was like WHAT?? Haha their way of speaking is very different and loving and just laid back and chill. Haha it was pretty funny. But she's starting to really progress well. She read all of the pamphlet from lesson one and she answered all the questions in the back. Almost no one does that. Basicially only Hirvin did that! Then she came to church on Sunday and stayed 2 hours. She would’ve stayed 3 but she hadn’t eaten breakfast and was hungry. She's really progressing fast though and is super interested. 

On Tuesday we had a Multizone conference and it was really good. They basically re-taught all the things from concilio (council). Afterwards me and my companion went to pick up some Pope shirts for our Zone. Then when we got back we planned. 

Later in the week we went to go visit Marta, a member who always gives us BOMB homemade yogurt. We get there and she's straight making homemade butter?? Like what?? No one does that! It was soo good though. We get there and she goes, "Man I really want to make a keke with this butter" and we were like, “We can help!” So we did some.. “service” helping make a keke. After that we had to run up to go to interviews but when we got there president said he needed to go home because his daughter was home alone and scared. 

On Thursday and Friday we had back to back interchanges. I left both times. I really needed it though. I was with my boy Elder Benevenuto and Elder Harris. Good times. On the interchange with Elder Harris we found this guy who was the second member of the church in Perú and got his priesthood from Thomas Monson! How cool! His grandkids were visiting from Utah and I ask his grandson where he was from. He goes, “Oh I'm from Spanish Fork.” I was like, "WHAT!!" I go, "Where by?", “Oh just by the golf course, by Spanish Oaks Elementary.” WHAT!! He is straight in our Stake and straight went to Maple Mountain high school and graduated a year before me.. and his sister, Brooke, graduated with Amber! Haha small world. 

Later we met this lady who's son lives in Springville.. straight found two people in one day from my hometown. Pretty nuts. But yeah, that’s about it for this week. Nothing too crazy. Pretty hyped for this weekend though because Elder Johnson, who is going home next week, is going to be staying in our room. Anyway, that’s about it! Hope you all have a great week!

Con amor, Elder Rokovitz

                                                                                 

Team captains for our fútbol game - Zone Leaders.

Team picture.

Team love.

You already know - my boy, Elder Daza.

My boy, Elder Benevenuto.

A five house fire that happened in our Zone at a marker. Two of the houses, or stores/shops, were members. Another was the store of the parents of Eileen. The fire went on practically all day, from around 8 am to about 6 pm.

McFlurries and the Pope

So this week has been pretty good. Pretty chill week, not too much happening, but it's been good. On Monday my companion and I went to the mall. I did my Christmas shopping with the money that was sent. I bought myself some cool stuff (new suit, sweat pants, new pants, bought some shoes in the mayorista market that normally cost like 300 dollars… I got them for 35 dollars haha.) Afterwards we went to the McDonald's there in the mall. I wanted to cry. Haven’t had McDonald's for a hot year and a half haha, it was SOO good! Straight McFlurry and fries had me almost cry, straight up!

                                                                             

Tuesday we ran it off in the morning. My companion, Harold, Nicola and I all went running in the big park. They´re slow. I was going hard, and WOW, I was EXHAUSTED the next day. Like I've never been so tired in my mission. Not only that, I had to prepare myself because the assistant, Elder Rhoton, (from my CCM group) did an interchange the day after that with me so I had to pull it off that I was hyped and not tired. The next night I came back WHIPPED! Absolutely exhausted! It was a super good interchange with Elder Rhoton. I learned a bunch from the kid. He´s a stud. Really just all in the simple stuff that we forget at times to do. Doing those simple things really does bring out the best results in the end. 

On Wednesday we had an awesome meeting with the Zone about the things from consilio (counsel.) One of the points we talked about was being called to where we needed to be and to keep enduring to the end, although it may be hard to know why we should. I shared, in my own words, the story from Elder Holland given in a mission president training not too long ago. It’s the one about the rebel son  that his missionary brother finds him and tells him, “I'm here to call you back home.” The story really impacts me a bunch and just gives me hope for my big brother. I almost cried a bit sharing the story, then relating it with Chad, saying how I would want missionaries to find him and that’s one of the things that keeps me going when things get hard. It turned out really good and everyone really felt the spirit. 

During this week we had a bomb lesson with Hirvin about the priesthood. The kid is a stud. He has such intelligent questions. Also we had some super great lessons with Ariana! She's so awesome. She reads everything we ask her to. She tells us how she is praying and asking if it's all true. She has a real desire to know if this is the truth or not. And she always comes to church each week for the 3 hours. We had a lesson on the Sacrament to help her understand more and she really got it. Tonight we are going to watch the Restoration video with her. She already has a bunch of friends and they always accompany us to lessons. She's so prepared though. We are so hyped! 

                                                                                 

Ariana is in the middle.

Mateo is the little boy in the blue tie. He's our pencion's son.

Us with Ariana.

Later this week we were FINALLY able to contact Familia Roncal. We haven’t been able to meet with them for almost a month. They had a fecha (baptismal date) for the 27th of this month but due to the lack of contact, I don’t think they’ll make it. But Johan and Jose Luis did come to church, which was good! 

Also during this week we were preparing for today. We are playing against Zona Laureles again in fútbol CHEEHOOO! We got some cool France jerseys. When we were there, there was a Pope shirt on display - - quick backround info, the Pope is coming to town here in Trujillo on Saturday. -- I look at my companion, and in English say, “Bro, I want a Pope shirt.” He looks at the guy and points to the shirt and asks how much it is. The guy goes, “10 soles.” 10 SOLES???? WHAT!!! THAT’S LIKE 3 DOLLARS!! I was like YUP! You already KNOW I bought myself a Pope shirt! 

                                                                                  

In the second hour at church we always have a Gospel Principles class with all the investigators and new converts. Sooo, both teachers got released and apparently nobody got called. We get there and realize there is no teacher with about 15 people there… cool. So yeah, I gave a 50 minute improvised class haha. But it actually turned out WAY good. 100 percent guided by the spirit. Haha, so yeah, that was cool. 

Hermana Tejada (Hermana Higginson's companion here in La Noria 2) found out she has to return home this week. She has a blood disease and lacks iron in her body. She's always tired and can barely leave to proselyte lately. Super sad, but it's better that she gets medical attention at home. So we made No Bake cookies for the last time with her this week, then had a little goodbye “party”, even though it wasn’t a party.. it was Sunday.. haha, but yeah, kinda sad, but it was honestly a miracle she was even here in the first place. So yeah, keep her in your prayers if you would! 

                                                                                  

I may or may not have eaten 12 of the cookies......

Anyway, that’s about it for this week. It's been a great week. Had some super spiritually uplifting lessons this week with Hirvin and Ariana! Hope you all have a great week though. Miss you all. Love you all. Dueces.

Ya boy, Elder Rokovitz

                                                                              

Found this kid in the park. Don't even know who he is and I don't even like the Jazz, but he was reppin' Utah!

Chillin' with our boy, Fernando. We saw all his "rocker" stuff outside and wanted to contact him. He's not an investigator though. He's pretty funny. He told us that he was in the CIA before and that the Mona Lisa is really the Virgin Mary. We asked him to play a song for us with all his stuff but he said he would have to hook it all up, so instead, we sang Karaoke with him hahahah.

At the Bosque elders baptism.

Elder Torres did the baptism.

The "Fam". Elder Torres, me, Hermana Higginson and Hermana Tejada.

Me with little Mateo. He can speak German.

Elder Torres and me.

The three amigos.

 

La Roca Chistosa (The Humorus Mouth)

This week has been a very, very, spiritual, uplifting week for me. It was very hard with the passing of Brennan. (Unfortunately, a great friend passed away on the 30th after being caught in an avalanche while snow mobiling. He was one of Cory's youth leaders and also someone Cory worked under when he sold Direct TV for a little while. He was also one of our neighbors. It was tough news for all of us.)  On Monday I was a wreck. I cried in internet, then got my mind off it a little during our Zone p- day, then lost it in the shower afterwards. We had a NDH (Noche de hogar - family night) with familia Florian and the sisters that night and they could tell something was up. I told Hermana Higginson afterwards what had happened and it felt good to at least have a couple short minutes to tell someone. She was awesome! She sent a text that night with a little motivation and D&C 58:3 that she had just read in her studies 2 days before (Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.) Biggest help in the world! 

After that, the next morning we went to the temple as a Zone and that helped even more. I then read D&C 138 in the Celestial room and just cried to myself a little. I loved verse 37 (That they might carry the message of redemption unto all the dead, unto whom he could not go personally, because of their rebellion and transgression, that they through the ministration of his servants might also hear his words.)

Later, when we got back to La Noria, we went and grabbed some ice cream with the sisters and Hermana Higginson listened to me, which helped me more than anything just to tell someone how I was feeling and what had happened! It was so nice to have someone to talk to. 

As I was reading D&C 138 in the temple, I found a cross reference in D&C 64:33 (Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.) The sisters had just gotten news that one of their investigators, Yeisey, decided not to get baptized (her baptism was programmed for this last Thursday) and then she is leaving to Spain for a year today.. The sisters were heart broken and really sad. But I was able to share D&C 64:33 with them, thanks to having found it on Tuesday. The Lord really works in mysterious ways. Everything was just set up so perfectly! It really strengthened my testimony a ton! 

On Tuesday, around 5 pm, my companion and I were heading to a cita (appointment) and were about to buy something to eat because we were hungry, when we came across this guy - A really big ol' guy, tattoos, long shorts and shirt wearing a flat brim hat. I had seen him earlier that day and he had said, “Hey elders!”, but we were in kind of a hurry and said hi and kept going. This time when we saw him again, he said hi to us again and we stopped to talk to him. He got talking and he told us he is kicked out of the house. He´s 26 and lives with his uncle and aunt but he got kicked out and they won't feed him. (I'm guessing for not finding work or fighting from what he had told us.) He said he hadn’t eaten dinner or breakfast and hadn’t had lunch either. Looking at him, I could only think of one person, my older brother. I looked at this guy and all I saw was Chad. I thought to myself, if Chad were passing the same, I would want someone to love him and take care of him and feed him. We did all we could, brought him to a place to eat, bought him some food, and talked with him for a few minutes. Sadly, he's leaving to go up North to go into work up there so we can't teach the guy, but I just felt really good to know I could help him out a bit and only hope the same for Chad. 

But apart from that, it's been a really great week. We found some awesome new people, 1 "Inka Kola" (Ariana), she's super cool. Her dad didn’t like it when we invitd her to baptism the second lesson though.. haha he stood up and objected. BUT, she still came to church and loved it. Super awesome girl. Also found another teenager, Lucero. We´ve been teaching her family but she's the most interested and we recently got a real lesson with her. She's already come to church twice. We also found some super cool Venezuelans, Venezuelans are the best. They couldn’t come to church because the wife got sick but we have another cita (appointment) with them later this week and they said they’ll come to church next week. 

Also checked another thing off my bucket list this week. I was on an interchange with Elder Davis and he taught me how to solve a Rubic's cube. I already have it mastered. I'm HYPED! 

Also, Hirvin (found out it's not spelled I-r-v-i-n) got ordained a priest this week, CHEEHOO! Felt like a proud dad seeing him get ordained. Not gonna lie, I almost cried. 

It's honestly just been a super great week. I've been able to really understand and apply the Atonement this week. I just felt so much power testifying about the Atonement this week. I felt like I just actually understood it and gave more sincere testimonies other than just repeating. It really has been a great week. It started off super hard, but thanks to the hand of God and the Savior in this week and other missionaries helping me out, it's turned into one of the best weeks on the mission. I love this gospel and know without a doubt I'm on the right path. Hope you all have a great week. I love you all!! Dueces.

P.S. Rokovitz in German means “Funny Rock”

Te amo. –Elder Rokovitz

                                                                                 

The Zone Christmas dinner. My pasta was great..... my roll/scones..... not so great.

Caroling with the sisters and delivering cookies.

Me and Elder Torres with some cookies for delivering.

Pretty good looking cookies.

Caroling to the house that we helped decorate. 

Loved seeing familia Proaño. One year in the church now.

Me with Dany, one of our investigators.

Reppin' the 801 (Utah's area code)

Nativity at the temple

With our Zone at the temple.

Nice little temple selfie.

With the sister missionaries from our area.

Our Zone.

Our District, minus Elder Davis.

Found some old friends at the temple..... our bishop from my Trujillo area with his family.

One of the breakfasts that our pencion, Daisy, made for us. Good food.

Elder Torres' birthday.... guess who smashed his face in his cake??

Elder Torres - last birthday in the mission field.

At the bishop's house for Elder Torres' birthday.

Homemade birthday cake for Elder Torres. This is our pencion, Daisy, in the white, with her son Mateo and her mom.

Birthday boy.

With my old companion, Elder Mori and also with Elder Huezo.

Spending time with some great elders.

Elder Johnson's new name tag....... look closely - oops!

Zone Leader Dab.

Family

Dab part 2.

First Pollo a la Braza in La Noria..... bout dang time.

Eating with familia Florian and another Venezuelan investigator we met this week. Her name is Yúbisay.

Making cookies with the YSA (Young Single Adult group)