Keep calm and work your tail off.

Hola Familia Y Amigos! 

This was a good week for us here in José Galvez. Happy Fourth of July last week! To celebrate we went to Chili’s to get some Chicken Fried Chicken, and they came out and said that they didn’t have the gravy. So I said, "Well due to the fact that there´s no gravy, you are going to compensate with some free chips and salsa or something aren´t you?" So we got free chips and salsa! And in the end, they gave us gravy too:) 

It was a good week, and our numbers this week were the highest numbers I have had in this area, as far as lessons, new investigators, and references. For that, we are happy. Elder Parra and I did a work visit to the sister missionaries in my District to help them a little bit with their contacting, so that went well.

      We have a little investigator named Yoice, and he is ten years old. He is awesome! He comes to church every week with his shirt and tie and, provided that his parent sign the baptismal permission, he is going to be baptized my last Saturday here.

A few days back we knocked on a door up in the hills, and this little old lady came out. We tried contacting her, but you could tell she didn’t understand Spanish very well. From the way she talked I noticed she had a Quechua accent, so I started talking to her in Quechua, and she seemed so relieved, and just went off talking in Quechua! Haha there are these other three ladies from the provinces and they were just sitting on a wall chatting, and I was talking to them all in Quechua, and they were laughing up a storm that a Gringo from the United States would learn their native language! 

      With my companion, we found a really cool mini-village like place high up in the hills, and we love to work there, because it is quiet, you can hear the birds singing, and it is just a lot more peaceful. 

I have been inviting all my converts and friends to my last sacrament meeting to come say goodbye, and it looks like quite a few of them will be there! I am so excited for that. I just can’t believe I only have three weeks left! It is so crazy, but I am trying to remain calm and work my tail off, so that I can leave it all on the field. Isn’t that what life is all about? Keep calm and work your tail off. Hope everyone has a great week, and I love ya´ll so much! 

Love,

Elder Reschke 

P.S.Yesterday I gave a SOLID Gospel Principles class on 

Eternal Families. The Spirit was super strong. 

P.S.S: Today I am going to center of Lima for the LAST TIME!

Questions Elder Reschke answered this week:

No E-mail from you last week. We were sad.  What happened?

Sorry about the e-mail last week.  I had written the majority of the group e-mail, but before I could send it, the entire system froze up!

How was your week?

Everything is good here.  I am happy because we were able to teach 36 lessons this week!  We are working VERY hard so that I can finish strong.

Anything crazy happen this past week?

Well, I am sad because the silver llama tie clip that McKenna sent me fell off my tie and I looked down and it wasn’t on my tie anymore:(

Then a baptism fell through.

AND, we were walking to lunch yesterday, and we said “Oh that’s weird, it’s raining!”  Then we looked down and it was not rain.  It was paint falling from above because they were up there painting. Our shirts and pants and ties were rained on with bright orange paint!  Luckily I was able to rescue my tie.  But I think the shirt was done for.  

I have really put into practice some advise that Ben gave me in the beginning of my mission, that sometimes, when things go wrong you just have to laugh and count your blessings.  If there is one thing I have mastered out here on the mission, it is how to count my blessings.  And so I feel really good!

Are you going to be one of those weird return missionaries when you get home?

Well what do you mean by weird?  Because I have picked up some Peruvian habits.  Among them..eating rice with every meal, jay walking, eating soda crackers, loving salsa music, and using Peruvian slang!  Hahahahaha.

What are 3 things you are looking forward to when you get home in 3 weeks?

1. Go to the temple with all the family.
2. Play Monopoly Peru Version.  But do to the fact that not many of you speak Spanish, looks like it will just be me, Dad, Laura, and Esperaza (Spanish Sister in our Ward) playing.
3. Sit down and show everyone my pictures and tell them all about the two year adventure I had, and have Arroz Con Leche for dessert.  (Hope you don’t get bored because I have a lot of stories to tell you all.)

Hope you aren’t disappointed when you get home, we didn’t redecorate your room or anything like that.

Not at all, I WANT to come home to the same old room!

                                                              My desk in our room:

                                 Working up in the hills.  We absolutely love it up here: