Rokin' Perú: 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