"I Saw a Llama!"

Imanalla Alliyanchu!

That is Quechua for "Hello, how are you?"

I can have a conversation in Quechua now so I guess you could say I’m tri-lingual now:) haha. 

This was a good week, the highlight of which was finally seeing a llama. It was just by the side of the road with it's owner, so we took a picture with it. And, we are not in touristy part of Lima, so this was a legit Peruvian llama. 

We had to go to the center of Lima two days in a row to do immigration stuff to be legal in Peru.  They took pictures, fingerprints, and looked at my teeth. But, that part of Lima is WAY nice, with fancy cars like Audi's and big fancy houses. We all got a smile on our faces when we saw the American Embassy:) That took most of the day, so it took a big chunk out of the work. 

 We had a lunch of the Selva (JUNGLE) the other day with a member, and I ate this teeny tiny little orange pepper and ten seconds later thought I was going to die! It was HOT! 

So I didn’t even know fleece pants existed, until I came to Peru, but EVERYONE wears them down here! 

 We went to the Metro and found some maple syrup, so we cooked an American pancake breakfast for the Pensionista´s family. They had never had pancakes before, that was their first time, but they liked them! 

Nobody has a clothes dryer down here, everyone just hangs the clothes up to dry. I am learning more and more Spanish everyday, and the language is coming along quite nicely. BUT, sometimes I just have to nod my head and pretend like I know what they are saying. 

We are teaching the family members of Osvely Y Elsa, and they all seem to be super interested. Yesterday at church I think we had a total of nine people from that family, so that was way cool! 

I think my main spiritual experience this week was realizing how amazing The Book of Mormon truly is. Before my mission I totally took it for granted, because it was so easy to get a copy. But, when we give a copy to a family, they cherish it and respect it so much because that is their only copy, but more importantly, it is the word of God, and a huge blessing in our lives. I´ll just sit and read and read and read sometimes, because there are so many neat things. I think we all just kind of breeze through it sometimes because we have to, but if we focus on the words and try to apply the stories to our lives, we can better receive the blessings of The Book of Mormon. 

One other thing, is that when we ask someone to pray for the first time, their prayers are SO sincere. I think that I am going to try to make my prayers more sincere. I KNOW that Heavenly Father is always listening to and answering our prayers no matter what. 

Love you all so much, and thank you for being such positive examples in my life.

*Tupananchiskama, 

Elder Reschke. 

*P.S. That means see you later in Quechua. 

P.S.S. Halloween is way bigger in the U.S., but some of the kids still trick or treated. They just went to the tiendas though, because there are like five tiendas on every street. There was like a gazzillion little Spanish speaking Spidermans roaming the streets on Friday Night!

Questions Elder Reschke answered this week:

Do you like the area you are in?

 In all honesty, when we went to the center of the city the other day I thought  “I would NOT want to serve my mission here.” I got a little homesick for good old Carabayllo. It is so much more humble circumstances where I live but I wouldn’t have it any other way, because with all the Ward Members and everyone, it just feels  like family. My area is so awesome!  I love it.

What is an interesting experience you had this week?

We carried this huge bundle of firewood or something to this house way high up on the mountain. It was WAY TIRING! But, it was a good contact. 

How far are you from the mission office?

In Utah traffic , fifteen to twenty minutes. In Lima Traffic forty or forty five minutes by Bus/Convee, or thirty minutes by Taxi.

                                                             First llama sighting:

                        This is the building where Jake lives.  His apartment is on the second floor:

                                               Cooking pancakes for a Peruvian family:

                                                                       Pancakes:

                                                                  The foursome:

                                                             Ready for the day:

"*Causa is the name of this food. It was right after our fast, so it tasted SO good. They eat these interesting sour olives down here called aceituna. My taste buds are starting to adjust."

 *Peruvian causa, from the Quechen. Bright yellow potatoes are blended with oil, lime juice and, most importantly, Peru’s ají amarillo (pepper chilis), and then layered with a variety of fillings like tuna or trout, shredded chicken or shellfish, tomatoes, avocado, hard boiled eggs, beets, and corn in countless combinations. Basically, a causa offers anything you could want of summer rolled into a peppery potato mash.
                                                                    Causa:

                                                                       Dinner time:

                                                                Peruvian poncho:

                   The hairless street dogs of Peru. A man wanted Jake to pet this dog, but he declined:

                                                         
                                                         The hill houses:

                                           The crunchy corn snack Jake loves "Canchita":