March 16, 2015 ~ Week 37 ~ pictures of Matarani

Oceans port of Matarani.

Matarani.

March 16, 2015 ~ Week 37

Zones in Mollendo? 1

Missionaries? 14

Missionary Districts? 2

Churches? 4

Branches? 4

Serving the Gospel in this part of the world? Priceless

Well, I’m in a town called Matarani, which is in the Mollendo Zone.  Matarani has two elders and two sisters.

I am with Elder Alvey.  I knew him from the CCM.  It’s great to be able to serve the Lord together with him.

My room is like twice the size of my room in Camana.  It is a single room and we have our own bathroom.  We sleep on the 4th floor of an apartment complex.  We have 4 windows in our room and we sleep with the windows open.  The walls are painted orange so that’s cool, the floor is tile and every morning I wake up and see the ocean so that is super sweet. I love our room.  It’s so much better than the room in Camana.  We share water with everyone that lives in our building and since we live on the 4th floor sometimes we wake up and don’t have water.  I shower using a cup and buckets twice this week, so that was a fun first time experience.

I felt this past week that I was opening up the area because we had no scheduled appointments and it was just hard, however we found this one 18 year old named Edgar.  Everything just clicked with him and he is excited to be baptized on the 28th.

I am the district leader here in this zone along with another elder from Ecuador.  I have 8 missionaries in my district and I am very glad that the Lord has put his trust in me to do this. 

Matarani is hard but it has potential.

Chao,

Elder McCook

Words of the week: Ocean- mar

                                District leader- líder de distrito 

Oceans port of Matarani.

Matarani

March 9, 2015 ~ Week 36

My time in Habitat, Camana, Peru has come to a close. 

After 7 months the Lord has called me to serve His children in a village called Mollendo.

As of now I do not have a lot of details as to describe Mollendo, but I am very happy to know that my Heavenly Father is thinking about me.

I have met so many amazing people here in my time in Camana.

The names,when I first arrived were hard to remember, but now as I leave they will not be easy to forget, not only their names but their acts.

The Rama Camana can be compared to “the little train that could”. It is a story of a small train that used all of its might to get to the top of the mountain.  Just like the little train made it to the top of the mountain, so will the Rama Camana make it.  I can’t wait for the day that I hear that they are no longer a branch but have grown into a ward.

Later this day I will be taking a 2 hour bus ride to Arequipa and then take another 2 hours bus ride to Mollendo.

See you next week, and next week I’ll be writing in a different part of the Lords vineyard.

Chao,

Elder McCook

Words of the week: Nos vemos en Mollendo- see ya in Mollendo

 

Representing U of A in my last days in Camana.  Chao.

Last picture with my district in Camana.

 I had to throw up the peace sign just in case this is my last week in Camana. (7 months)

A Pocahontas moment.

Can you hear the sounds of the wind in Camana?

At the highest part of my area,

an overview of Camana.

The rice field is green and all ready to harvest.

March 2, 2015 ~ Week 35

Happy 8 months!  Yesterday (Sunday) marked 8 months in the mission field.  It was a good Sabbath day. As I have said in past letters it is vacation time in Peru and Camana.  It is quite the tourist sight for the gringos. It was very nice to see a family of 3 gringos at church.  I talked to them after the sacrament meeting and it was such a strange question to hear in English: "How long have you been out Elder"?   It was even weirder to respond in English. 

Usually when the Peruvians ask me the same question they ask (translating to English) "how much time do you have in the mission?"

Transfers are next week and whether I do or whether I do not have a change (everyone tells me I will), I will continue to work the same because that is what the Lord wants me to do.

I have truly enjoyed my time in Camana but especially my time with Elder Ramos and training him.  Besides studying from the English book I have recently taught him "hey what’s up dock"? And "That’s… that’s… that’s all folks".  I love teaching him English, and in turn he has helped me with my Spanish but especially talking like an Argentino. 

This week we hiked up to the highest point of our area, I had to throw up the peace sign just in case this is my last week in Camana.

A Pocahontas moment.

Can you hear the sounds of the wind in Camana?

At the highest part of my area,

an overview of Camana.

 It’s been a great 7 months.

Chao

Elder McCook

words of the week- cuanto tiempo tienes en su misión? 

                                how much time do you have in your mission?

The rice field is green and all ready to harvest.