We Made Mission History.

Hola Familia Y Amigos! 

This was a very solid week for us here in the Zona Carabayllo. 

Hope you were all able to have a good week. I know that ours was fantastic:) 

Last Monday was our Zone’s turn to go to center of Lima. Slightly stressful, because we were in charge of taking a whole Zone of sixteen people across a city of 8.5 million people, making sure they had a good time, making sure that nobody got lost or did something stupid, and getting them all back safe and sound, but it was a success and, we had a great day and made mission history.

We are the first Zone of the mission to have taken a private tour of El Estadio Nacional, which is the big national soccer stadium where the Peruvian national team plays.

It was awesome, and we went inside to see the field and everything.  My companion and I got to to the offices to leave our legacy signature in their little book at the stadium.

After that we went to a market called Polvos Azules, which is one of the biggest markets in Lima and has  EVERYTHING you can imagine. Then we went over to the historic Plaza De Armas to take pictures and buy souvenirs. It was a solid day. 

     As far as the missionary work is concerned, we are very happy with the work we are doing, and we have seen amazing progress in our Investigators. Christian and Fatima are getting ready to be married this Friday, and my companion and I are going to be the witnesses. That same night is their baptism and after their baptism is their wedding reception. We have seen amazing progress in them and I know they are truly receiving a conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is so amazing to compare how the Investigators were when you found them, compared to how they are after having accepted the gospel in their lives. It is an amazing difference.

     I am so happy that the work is progressing here in Perú at such a rapid pace. There are thousands of people that the Lord is preparing to receive the blessings of the restored gospel in their lives. What a blessing it is for us as missionaries to be able to be lead by the spirit to these people and share the gospel with them.

I had a good experience interviewing one sister for baptism. I was able to testify to her of the amazing blessings of the Atonement of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. She is preparing to be baptized this weekend. On a work visit, I was able to meet a lot of great people and help them prepare to be baptized for the month of February. 

Yesterday I was reflecting a little about the things that I have learned thus far on my mission. It’s really interesting because after being in the service of the Lord for nearly 18 months, one realizes the things that are really important in life. I realized that I don’t even remember who the student body president was, when I was in high school. Really the only things that are important in life are the things that aren’t of the world. Like service to others, obedience to the principles and teachings of the gospel, establishing a relationship with our Heavenly Father through the small and simple things, and trying to be a better person every day. That is one lesson that I will be applying from here on out, and I know that it will shape my life and the person I am capable of becoming. I recognize I still have a long way to go, but I know that the Lord is shaping me in every way. 

        Thanks for the support that you all have given me, and I hope you all have a fantastic week.

Much Love, 

Elder Jacob Reschke.

P.S. For P. Day today, instead of going to Chilis like all the Zones do, we are going to what apparently is one of the tastiest restaurants in Lima. Should be a good time. 

I am deciding between Fried Guinea Pig or the Barbecued Octopus. 

The decision of a lifetime….

Questions Elder Reschke answered this week:

Did you receive your birthday package from us?

Yes I got your birthday package!  Thanks for remembering my birthday. The snacks were super tasty, and I love the tie pins.  The hummus is super tasty, and please tell Dan thanks for the soccer Jersey! 

 I like it a lot.

(Jake’s brother Dan sent his old high school soccer jersey to Jake.)

I know you planned the soccer stadium tour for this past week, how did you arrange that?

We just called the stadium and talked to them to set up the tour.  Everyone loved it.  You have no idea how big soccer is down here.

                                                  Lima City Center, January 2016:

                                                                    Soccer Stadium:

                                                                At the Soccer Stadium:

                                                                   Soccer Stadium:

                                          Elder Parra and Elder Reschke at the soccer stadium:

                                          
                                         Zona Carabayllo at  El Estadio Nacional:

Soccer Stadium:

           Beautiful mural of runners.  Of course Elder Reschke would need a picture of that:

                                                    Signing in at the Soccer Stadium:

                                                                   Lima City Center:

                                                                     Lima City Center:

                                                                  Lima City Center:

                                                         Yep, "Star Wars" in Peru. (Poster we saw.):

                                                           My Birthday Package:

                                                        Cool old truck on the street:

                                                    My trainer Elder Martinez and I:

                                                                    Desk in my room:

                                                                           Our room:

     Our bedroom:  (Elder Reschke has had this same quilt on his bed since he was three.):

                                                                       My "closet":

                                                                       Part of the area:

                                                                          "Peeps" in Peru:

Feliz Cumpleanos to me:)

Hola Familia Y Amigos! 

This week was fantastic! On Monday for P. Day, we had a really fun water balloon fight, and who knew that tag with water balloons and 16 people could be so fun?

 After that, we all watched the movie "UP", so it was a fun P. Day. 

On Tuesday we had a good Zone Conference and learned a ton of good new principles that we will be applying in our work these coming days. 

We are excited, because we are seeing a ton of progress in our area. 

Elder Parra and I have a personal goal regarding baptizing in the month of February. I know we can do it, and we are going to work so hard to get to our goal.

We were able to do a lot of work visits this week to help the other missionaries in the Zone, and the highlight was a work visit I did in an area called La Habana.   We taught some really spiritual lessons to some families to tell them the importance of getting married so that they can get baptized. 

I am so glad we were able to help them, and I know that they will for sure be able to get baptized in February.

Personally, in our area we feel super pumped, because this week we found a lot of cool new people, and we already have some people that have accepted the baptismal invitation for the month of February. 

Christian and Fatima are super excited for their wedding plans, and are getting ready to be baptized on the 30th of January. She lived in California for 12 years, so sometimes we just talk in English…it's kinda weird but cool at the same time!

Sunday was my birthday, which was a super fun day. I had a birthday lunch with the Familia M., and Hermana Paty made 

Causa (classic Peruvian dish made with yellow potatoes, lime juice, fish or chicken, avocado, peppers, olives, which are layered), it is super tasty, especially refreshing on a hot summer day. She made and decorated a super tasty homemade chocolate cake and they all sang me happy birthday!

Church was good like usual, and after church we did a

 Family Home Evening at the home of the Familia M., and Christian, Fatima, and the Familia C. were there too. 

It was a good evening, and they had bought me a cake and sang Feliz Cumpleaños, which was really nice of them. 

Today, for P. Day we are taking the whole Zone to the historic Centro de Lima. I arranged a personal tour of the Estadio Nacional, which is the giant soccer stadium where the Peruvian national team plays, and they are going to take us down on the field. Something that a Zone from this mission has NEVER done. After that we are going to a store called Polvos Azules, and then we are going to visit Plaza De Armas and go to the Catacumbas, which is in the basement of a really old Catholic church so that we can see the thousands of bones and skeletons of the people they killed during the Santa Inquisición.  Should be fun.

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week. 

Love ya so much!

Love, Elder Reschke. 

Homemade cake:

                                                              Elder Reschke's 20th birthday:

                                       Peruvian tradition:  cake in your face on your birthday:

                                                              Family Home Evening:

Another great week in Peru.

Hola Familia Y Amigos!

 Hope everything is going well with you guys! This was a fantastic week for us. First things first, on Monday we had a good P. Day. We all went to a park by the chapel and played a pretty intense game of Capturar La Bandera (Capture the flag). Everyone liked it, and after we ordered pizza and watched “Toy Story 2”. It was a pretty chill P. Day. 

This week we were doing the wedding papers of Christian and Fatima who are getting married and baptized on the 29th and 30th. We had a super good week teaching them, and they are super excited. They know like a ton of ward members now so they have a ton of fellowship. 

Tuesday at the Zone Meeting I gave a training on making your area progress so that you can see success. Wednesday we had our monthly Zone Leaders Council Meeting, where we talked about the goals of December and new goals for January. The Zona Carabayllo was one of only four Zones in the whole mission who reached their monthly goal for December, and that was the first time the whole year that the Zone had reached its goal. So, we got a huge round of applause. In 2015, the mission got more than 1600 baptisms, so we set a goal for 2016 of 1800 baptisms!! Crazy huh?

 Jueves, (Thursday)  I was able to do a good work visit over in Santa Luisa and see how they are doing. ON Friday we met a way cool lady named Juana. She has had a lot of trials in her life. We shared a very powerful lesson on the Plan of Salvation with her, and she and we both felt the Spirit very strong. She understands the role that the Savior has in her life, and that she needs to be baptized. She gave a very powerful prayer at the end and was thanking the Lord for sending his two missionaries to teach her the Gospel. We are excited to teach her.

 Our lunch fell one day, so we ate at a tasty jungle restaurant. Tacacho con Cecina Y Salsa de Cocona. Super Tasty. I love jungle food. 

Now we have church at 2 in the afternoon, which is super late, but I love it because now more Investigators can come to church. Everyone is busy in the morning. 

Anyway,  that was our week. The Zone is progressing very well. We are working one on one with each missionary so that each missionary can have a conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So far, we have seen great results, and everyone is working very hard with the same goal of being good servants of the Lord. 

Stay tuned, because today we are going to have the water balloon fight of the century for P. Day. More to come on that next week. I love this work so much, and I am so grateful to our Heavenly Father for the many many miracles that I have seen daily out here on my mission.

Sending Love to the Shire, 

Elder Reschke. 

P.S. IT IS SUPER HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Sorry for all you Utah people up there in North America freezing your tailbones off!

Questions Elder Reschke answered this week:

This week is your birthday.  Any birthday plans?

Haha, thanks for the “Happy Birthday”.  Wow 20 years old, I’m ancient!

For my birthday, we will probably get a tres leches cake and eat it with the Zone….

Is it hotter this year than last?

It is hard to judge yet about the weather, but it sure is getting hotter.

What are the different types of food there in Peru?

There are three types of food:  Costa, Sierra, and Selva (Jungle).

I have eaten all three, and they are all super tasty.  Jungle food consists of a lot of exotic fruits, meats, river fish, and spicy peppers. And, who knew there are a million different ways to cook bananas. Super tasty though.

How are things with your new companion?

Super well.  We are pretty much best friends.  We know when to be serious and help the Zone, but we know when to have fun.  We consult the Lord in prayer in everything we do, and we really feel the Spirit together.

He is from California.  He was born in the U. S., but his parents are Mexican, and so he speaks Spanish perfectly.  We both have very intense personalities, which is good.  We get along really well, and are having fun, and working hard too.  

Scripture of the week?

Matthew 7:21 which says that we have to do the will of the Lord.

Miracle of the week?

The miracle is that we were able to see some baptismal dates fall from the heavens this week!

                                                       Arroz Chaufa de Mariscos.
                                        (Peruvian rice dish that is essentially like fried rice.)  

 Tacacho Con Cecina. (Amazon dish that is Roasted Plantain Fritters with Pork.):
             When your lunch appointment falls through, you get to eat Jungle food!  Super tasty:

Feliz Año Nuevo!

Hola Amigos Y Familia, y Feliz Año Nuevo!

This was a good week for us. Monday we had changes, and I had to say goodbye to my companion, Elder Romero, who has now finished his mission and is in Honduras. 

On Tuesday, I received my new companion and fellow Lider de Zona, Elder Parra, from California. My first gringo companion, other than the MTC. We are super excited to work together, and we are super good friends. We already knew each other because we are from the same group, and came here the same day. We have some new philosophies that we are going to implement in the Zone to be able to help everybody, so we should be able to see some great changes here in the Zone.

     We have tons of new Investigators in our area, and on Thursday we met a family who is GOLDEN! The Hermana is Peruvian, but has lived in California for most of her life. Her name is Fatima, and her husbands name is Christian. They have agreed to be married on the 29th and baptized on the 30th of January. We had a super super powerful lesson about the Restoration, and they are so happy to have found the true restored gospel of Jesus Christ. They came to church yesterday and loved every second of it, and we did an awesome Family Home Evening in a members house. We watched the “Testaments.”   They loved it, and the spirit was so strong as we testified of the power of the Book of Mormon. More to come on them. 

     New Year’s was fun! Everybody was decked out in yellow, and Elder Parra and I made pancakes in our room for dinner. We could see the fireworks from our roof that night, and there was a super good view of the whole city. LIMA EXPLODES during New Year’s. SO many fireworks, it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen in your life.

2015 was a super good year. I have had so many amazing experiences, memories, and awesome times, that there is not even room to explain them all. I am very excited to see what 2016 has in store, and I hope you were all able to make some new resolutions! We have just had a fantastic week. One day we found 5 new people, which is awesome. We are ready to keep working hard to be able to have the best transfer ever! 

I know that this is the work of the Lord, and I am absolutely honored to be able to share this message with the Peruvian people. I love the Peruvians so much. I love Perú, and I love our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. I hope you all have a superb year.

 Love ya´ll so much.

 Con mucho amor y cariño,

 Elder Reschke. 

Questions Elder Reschke answered this week:

What is the Scripture of the week?

The scripture is a super cool one but I forgot the reference so I will write it down next week.

What is the Miracle of the week?

The miracle is that we found this amazing family that is going to progress so rapidly!

Saying goodbye to Elder Romero was hard:

                                                               Good food in Peru:

                                                              The streets of my area:

                                                    Elder Atwood and Elder Reschke:

                          We were hiking around in the hills while proselyting, and my comp said,
                            "Look!  A one legged chicken!!  Oh wait, never mind...it has two legs!"
                                        (Guess you would have had to of been there to find it funny.)

                                                                   Working up in the hills:

                                                              Looking out on the city:

                                                           Some houses on the hill:

                         Tasty chicharron de pescado mixto (Fried fish mix), and frozen lemonade: