The Dog That Was Strolling Through The Chapel......

Hola Familia Y Amigos! 

It’s been a pretty good week down here in Perú. It’s been a little strange because my companion was finishing his mission, so we spent a lot of time doing splits with members while he went to the final meetings in the offices and stuff like that. 

But, the work is going well. We did a service project for William and Isabel, and moved a TON of sand onto their roof, which was quite a job. They are progressing really well, and we have a baptismal date of the 21st of March for them. They came to church yesterday, so that’s a good sign. We also invited them to come to the baptismal service of the other missionaries, which they did, and liked.  We went to teach them, but we couldn’t teach them until they butchered their chicken.  And, as you know from New Year’s Eve, I have experience with that kind of thing, so we went and helped them butcher their chicken.

 We met a way cool girl named Vanessa, who is super open to our message. We left her a chapter to read in The Book of Mormon. The next visit, I said, "Did you read the chapter we left?" "Yeah I read it.." "What did you learn?" "That this is the true church!" Um, yeah okay perfect! We´ll roll with that. I wasn’t quite expecting that answer, but it’s good enough for me! She really wants to follow this way of life, and accepted to be baptized on the 28th of March. The thing is though,  that she has to get married to her husband first. Um...So, we have 18 days to do all their wedding papers so that they can get married in the massive marriage on the 27th. I never knew that "wedding planner" was part of the job title of missionaries, but we are trusting in the Lord that he will help us do everything in time! 

P. Day on Monday was fun, we played soccer as a Zone, and then went to Plaza Norte for lunch. Back in America, we kind of joke about Mc Donalds, but it is a welcome sight here in Perú! 

But yeah,  life is good down here in Perú, and I’ll keep ya´ll posted if anything crazy happens. But I just wanted to leave my testimony that what the Prophets say is correct: Missionary work is the most rewarding work on the face of this planet. Being a missionary is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but definitely the most rewarding. My testimony has grown so much in just this little time that I’ve been here. I have met so many new amazing friends, even though the majority don’t speak my language. But that is just evidence that we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father and that we are all brothers and sisters. I know that The Book of Mormon truly changes lives, and it is my invitation that you all can read this book, because it truly is the word of God, and it’s amazing.

Love you all so much, and thanks for all the prayers.

 Con Amor,
Elder Reschke

P.S. We were walking down the street the other day, and this little Peruvian kid saw me and pointed and started yelling, "Alien!! Alien!!!" hahaha I suppose gringos are a pretty rare sight in this part of Perú. Have a great week:)

P.S.S.  We were walking through the marketplace in the electronics section, and spotted some BYU Cougars Skull Candy Headphones.  What in the world are they doing in a marketplace in Lima Peru?

Questions Elder Reschke answered this week:

Why are you always moving dirt?

No idea.  But for some reason everyone has this big pile of sand they want moved onto their roof  I think they are going to use it for construction.  Because the roofs here are like hangout places…it’s where people have their clotheslines, and cook food sometimes.

What is the school schedule like for kids there in Peru`?

Today is actually the first day of school for them, so everyone had to go back to school.  They have been on Summer Vacation since Christmas.  So, it’s kind of “the dog days of Summer”, haha.

Is Summer hotter there than here in Utah?

I would say it probably gets hotter in Utah.  But, the thing is, we walk around so much, and there is SO MUCH dust and dirt just blowing around so the dust makes things interesting.

Any mail this week?

I’ve gotten a few “dear elder” letters from you, and one from Dan.  Those are always fun to read!

Your companion, Elder Quille goes home this week.  How is he?

Ya know, it’s always just kind of a bittersweet feeling.  It’s tough killing a companion (companion’s last area)  we are going to refocus, and we are gonna KILL IT this week.

In the Motto taxi with Elder Quille:

                               Elder Quille, Elder Walker, and Elder Reschke in the Motto taxi:

                         We moved sand up to the roof of our Investigators, William and Isabel:

                                                         Food after the service project:

                                                 Breakfast with the M_________Family:

                                                          Working up in the hills:

          Elder Reschke, Elder Stilton, Elder Quille, Elder Sangama by the cemetery on the hill:

                                                            Trail to the hill houses:

                                                           Serving the Lord in Peru:

                                                   Elder Quille and Elder Reschke:

                                  A random dog that came into the chapel during the baptism:

                                                                      Seafood soup:

    Crab and muscles were in the soup:

                                              The seafood soup was tasty.  I really liked it:
                                                                   

                                         Ward Leadership Training we had yesterday.
                              In this picture there are a lot of my favorite people that I've met:

 Breakfast with Tobias, who we reactivated.  If all my seven months here, the only thing I accomplished was to reactivate him, my whole mission would be worth it because he is amazing:

                                              Elder Quille, Elder Sangama, Elder Reschke: