Finally Here!

Hola Familia Y Amigos! 

     Finally here in Peru. It is so nice to get out of the CCM and just be free to roam the streets and talk with everyone. It reminds me that there is a world out there! 

     This has probably been the most crazy week of my life, but one of the most amazing. We made it to Peru alright. Ha ha. I told the airport people I would be here for ninety days. That is what you are supposed to do, because then you can worry about the Visa later. Some of the other missionaries said two years, and the airport people were like¨"WHAT??" and then the missionaries look over to me and frantically say "Elder Reschke help what am I going to do?" ha ha but we spent that first night at some random missionaries houses and had a training the next day. The Mission President and his wife are very nice people. Then we got our companions and it was off into the big world.

      My companions name is Elder Martinez from Honduras, and he doesn’t speak English. But we understand each other fine...usually...and he is very nice. I live SMACK in the middle of an area called El Progreso. These are some of the humblest people I have ever seen in my life. Tin roofs with some rooms with no roof at all, bathrooms consisting of toilets out back covered by a thatched wall, and I used the bathroom at one of the houses the other day and there were a bunch of chickens just chilling in the bathroom.

      It is super dusty and there are hundreds of homeless dogs everywhere...they just eat garbage I guess. But you know what? It is amazing because these are the nicest, happiest people you have ever met in you entire life. Direct quote from one man:

 ¨"My house is poor, but my love for you is great."

      We went on splits the other day and I went with the District Leader to an appointment up in the hills. The person wasn’t home but we started talking to her neighbor. Classic Peruvian lady. She lived in a little house with a tin roof and a dirt floor. We started to teach here and she just broke down crying saying that she knows God commanded his angels to send us to her house to come teach her about the Gospel. It was an amazing experience. The people are so open to hearing the gospel, and we found these two GOLDEN investigators named Elsa and Osvely. They are super interested and they listen to everything we say and accept it. We brought them with us to church and they loved it and stayed for all three hours. They agreed to be baptized on October 18th.

      They are always willing to feed you, and the food is fantastic. Lots of chicken and rice and I think I had liver of some sort of animal the other day. Lots of really good homemade fruit drinks. And no there is not a Walmart anywhere near here. They have little tiendas (shops) on every street corner. Which is nice. IN America you have thirty different choices of deodorant but here you have three. 

I have three Pensionistas to help us out. One to do our laundry, one named Hermana Isabel to cook us dinner, and one named Hermana Norma to cook us breakfast. We eat lunch with a different person every day. (I see *Elder Koji Aoki every day at lunch!)

     The little Peruvian kids just roam around the streets and we will stop and play soccer with them. We play soccer with our Zone every Saturday and Monday, and we are preparing for the big tournament. I play defense, and we are ordering Ghana soccer jerseys with our names and numbers on them. 

     If you touch our shower while the water is running you get electrocuted. 
But it’s worth it to have warm water.

     The Spirit I have felt this week was absolutely amazing. We had a baptism of one of our Investigators on Saturday. They asked me to pick the hymns and to speak at his baptism...in Spanish...I just said a little prayer and crossed my fingers and went for it and it was really good.

     So I guess another part of the job description of missionaries is to organize marriages. We are going to the government building tomorrow to get the papers, and we get to go to the reception:)

      The church building here is actually nicer than most in America, and the soccer field we play on is really nice turf as well.

      The transportation is wild. I think that if somebody wants to drive a bus then they just find a bus and drive it. They cram a ton of people on the busses, and they also have these interesting little vans crammed full of people that just pull up and pick you up. And, for traveling in the hills they have these little things called motos. I don’t know how else to describe it but a three wheeled covered motorcycle. We have taken all three modes of these transportations.

      I don’t have a ton of time so I will talk more next week. Love you all so much, and always remember that Heavenly Father knows and loves you and that the work of Jesus Christ is real. I am so grateful and excited for my opportunity to share this message with the world.

Love Always, 
Elder Reschke 

*Elder Aoki is one of Elder Reschke's friends from our Stake!

                          Elder Reschke is finally in Peru, happy and ready to serve the people there:

                                          Elder Reschke and his companion, Elder Martinez:

                                                         Elder Reschke's area, El Progreso:

                                                         Elder Reschke's apartment:

                                    Elder Aoki on the right side, a friend from our Stake:

                                                                First baptism in the field: