May 25, 2015 ~ Week 47 ~ Pictures

Had a nice chat with the Peruvian national police so week took a
picture together.

Juan Carlos; the first 15 year old person I have met in Peru that was also born with one hand.

May 25, 2015 ~ Week 47

After writing on Pday I left the internet café and as we were walking around, roaming the streets of Mollendo I noticed that ahead of me about 20 feet was someone that appeared to have one hand.   Normally when I think I spotted someone with one hand, it turns out they were just scratching their back.  However this teen had a green shirt wrapped around his arm, so I just went for it and said "hey, do you have one hand?"  Boom, right there a relationship of trust started.  He was born with one hand as well.  He was a shy little guy but we had a nice conversation that ended after I took a photo with him.  

I would have loved to have had a gospel discussion with him and get to know him more but he lives over in the Curva which is about 40 minutes away from Mollendo.  Also, that’s where the rioters and the cops are having their rocks and tear gas wars.  Speaking of the riot, we are now on day 60, I believe?

It has gotten pretty calm over here in Matarani, but the national police haven’t stopped their little gringo comments.  We decided to actually go over and talk with those that say hello to us and call us gringos, it turned into a nice conversation as well that ended with a photo.  I have always wanted to take a photo with them and their riot shields but I’ll settle for the latter.

Besides these two photos, this past week was long.  Appointment after appointment fell through and members have just not been contributing.  I have seen the adversaries influence in the life of the people I have talked to but I realized two things this week, perhaps I knew them before but this past week I’ll (as they say in Spanish) gave an account to the things I learned:

1)  God Loves the people of Peru, all of them.
2)  For one day, a normal person could not do what a Latter Day Saint missionary does every day if they did not soundly know that this is the only true church upon the face of the earth.

If I did not care about either of those things I mentioned above, my life would never be the same.

God loves you.
The church is true.

Elder McCook

Words of the week: joven-teenager
                                dar cuenta- finally realize
                                defecto de nacimiento- birth defect

May 18, 2015 ~ Week 46

I’m back!
Last week I didn’t write a blog letter because not much happened due to the fact that I spent 3 days locked inside of my room.  We were not allowed to leave because the riot was getting out of our control.  So I just stayed in my room with my companion for those days and studied slept and watched Disney movies.  We were given permission to go to our pentionista’s house to eat.  We were in our street clothes so that we would not draw attention to ourselves, but I don’t think our white skin helped the cause.

The national police arrived this past week and there were about 10 stationed on every corner, armed with their riot shields and tear gas guns.  After talking to a few of them they say they will be here for at least
a month but that it’s an indefinite time.

This week was a week in which we were able to get back into missionary clothes and work!!  Huxton, (one of the less active members that we are working with), his daughter, Jennifer, turned 8 years old this past Friday.  Three nights before her baptism she asked me to give her all the pamphlets so that she could study and be ready for her special day.  She asked me to baptize her, she is just such a sweetheart.

Inspiring question of the week,
How many grains of rice did you eat this past week?
Too many!!!!!
But I did eat this one not so good plate, let me share with you.  It was a bowl of thick gravy soup, called “chunyo” and my bowl consisted of one potato, carrots, vegetables and a thick, thick, thick, brown clumpy gravy.
It was the first time I have eaten it in 10 months so I hope I won’t have to eat it for another 10.
This is life on this side of the Lords vineyard.

Have a great week
chau

May 11, 2015 ~Week 45 ~ Pictures

We have been on lock down and unable to teach for 3 days due to the riots in Mollendo, Peru.  We only leave in our street wear to visit our pensionista's home to eat.

Waking up everyday with random tire fires started by the rioters.

 The entire Peruvian military showed up.

So they burnt a bus.

Pretty much all the roads are blocked.

More rock in the road.

But on the bright side, this past week, me and some other missionaries
bought some sweet Peruvian hats

April 27, 2015 ~ Week 43

I think I need to stop saying that in my blog letters that "it’s incredible what can happen in one week in the mission" 

cause not a week goes by where I’m not just astonished.

Let’s do this....

We have been teaching a less active named Huxton for a long time.  During 6 weeks of trying to teach him, we have been able to meet with him twice because we could just never find him in his house and he’s maybe attended church a few times in his life and watched about triple the amount of religious documentaries on discovery so there’s a lot of confusion going on between what’s in the scriptures and what’s on TV.  Recently while he was working, 

he tore his Achilles tendon, and he was in the hospital for quite some time and now he has a cast and will be on his bed at home for the next 3 months.  Since then he has accepted us and wants us to come back to his house every day.  We explained the story of the sons of Mosiah and related it to him. He’s using this time to grow spiritually.  On Thursday me and my comp went over to Villa el Pescador and had a few appointments over there.  The first 

one fell through so we went to the next and it was with 

this 13 year old girl named Yulissia, we went to go find her house with one of her friends and no one was home and so we waited a bit till she came running around the corner with one of her friends.  So we were talking and then her mom came out of the house and started watering the dirt so it doesn't smell (that’s a thing here in Peru people just use the hose to clean the dirt). As I offered 

to help, my friend was talking to the girls about the Gospel and 

I was talking with the mom.   The hose eventually ran 

out of water and so the mom went back inside to get more. Yulissia asked if we could give a Book of Mormon to the mom and write our testimonies inside, sweet stuff, but then before we started writing, 20 boys no older than 10 ran around the corner saying "hello, hello" then they asked for our autographs and shoved their arms up so we could sign their forearms.  It wasn’t the time or placed so we got out of there after we taught them how to say cool in English.  That same night there was a wedding at the church for two members and it was supposed to start at 6pm but ended up starting at 9pm because no one had keys to open the church and it was just crazy. Then as the future wife arrives and gets out of the car so does Huxton!  He ended up walking with his crutches down the wedding line.  It was so awesome to see him show up to church even if it was for an activity.  Then the following day he bore his testimony at church saying he wants to get sealed in the temple with his wife and kids!

I’m going to the temple some day.

Chao

Elder McCook

Words of the week: marriage - matrimonio
                                 I will go to the temple someday- iré al templo algún día

April and May 4, 2015 photos

Missionary life is the life for us.

A souvenir from the beach!