GO OUT AND PREACH!

Hola Familia y Amigos!

Twas a good week for us here in Canto Grande. On Wednesday we had our trip to the historic city center of Lima. It went smooth: Everyone had a good time, and we didn’t lose anybody, so I would consider that a success. We went to the Museo Nacional de la Reserva, which is a really cool museum with a bunch of Incan and other native artifacts. I learned that back in the day when they didn’t have blood, they used chicha (chicha is a fermented beverage usually derived from maize) as the sacrificial liquid, and I also learned that TUMI (that little Incan guy that is all over the place in Perú) was actually the knife that the Incans used to make their sacrifices. Interesting huh? 

After going through the museum, the museum curator took my Companion and I aside and gave us a bunch of cool free stuff to hand out to the Zone, and so the Zone was all excited and thought we had arranged that or something. We took some pictures in the Plaza de Armas, and then did some souvenir shopping.

   On Tuesday I gave a Zone training about all the false traditions that the missionaries sometimes employ as they teach the restoration. We had a work visit from one of the Assistant’s, which was a good experience. We had a good day working in our area, and we were able to talk about the Zone a lot. The Assistant told us that our area is a good example for the rest of the Zone, so I was happy to hear that. 

     

On Saturday we had kind of a discouraging experience. The baptism that we had all planned fell through because of some opposition from their family members. Instead of sitting there and feeling sorry for ourselves, we went home, packed up our backpacks with Books of Mormon, and hit the streets to go share the Restored Gospel with as many people as we could. We told ourselves we couldn’t come home until we had given out every book.

 We gave one to a guy and he was like…"Not gonna lie, I really don’t have time to read.” We gave him the book anyway and promised him he could find time. We did a loop around the park, and came around the other side, and we saw him on a park bench. He had the book opened to the introduction. Caught in the act!!!! So after meeting a bunch of really cool people that night we felt better about ourselves.

  We are continuing to work with our two Investigators that have a baptismal date. Cristian and Renzo are both really excited. More to come on that a little bit later. Well that is all that is new. Hope you all have a fantastic week, and I love ya´ll so much.

Con Amor, 

Elder Reschke.

P.S. The church announced that the new Lima Peru temple is going to be in Los Olivos. I have been there a few times, and it is SUPER close to our mission.   My old area in Carabayllo bordered Los Olivos. Fun fact for the day.

                                               Elder Bradford and Elder Reschke:

                                                                     Lima city center:

                                                          Our Zone in Lima city center:

                                                   Things we saw at the museum:

                 I don't know why the lady with the baby on her back is in the museum, when
                                     you can just hit the streets of my area and see the real thing!

                                     I had 10 books of Mormon and my companion had 10:

             We handed them all out in one day.  That is 20 new,  possible Investigators:

I Couldn't Believe My Ears.

Hola Familia Y Amigos! 

This was a solid week for us here in Canto Grande. On Monday, for P. Day, I planned the Amazing Race. It was a lot of fun, and one of the items was “take a Selfie with the Llama in the Llama Park.”   I probably should have remembered that one of the Zone members is on crutches because he broke his leg a few weeks ago. Oops. That one completely passed over my head. 

We had a good week working here in the area. As of right now, we have three baptismal dates. Milly, Christian, and Renzo. We are very happy for Renzo, because he is a long time investigator. He has been through SOOOOOOOOOO many different missionaries. The thing is he is a professor, author, and studies philosophy, so he looks at everything in a very analytical sense. We finally just asked him, "DO you believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only church upon the face of the earth which has the authority to baptize you so you can receive your salvation?”   He answered, "Yes." "Then will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized on May 7th?" (Long Pause). Then he said, through tears, "Yes. The time has come, and I need to be baptized." I couldn’t believe my ears. SOOO many Elders have passed through here and he has always said “not yet not yet.”   He finally accepted this glorious message of the restored gospel, and it was all thanks to The Book of Mormon. Im telling you all;  The Book of Mormon does miracles. If you haven’t read it, READ IT!. You just never know the way in which it might change your life.

     SO on Friday, we had room inspections, so Elder Bradford and I took Sister Erickson around to all the rooms of the Zone to make sure they all had refrigerators, furniture, etc. She gave us a tasty breakfast:) 

It was also my LAST interview with President Erickson. He did things a little differently. He only talked about the Zone for a brief minute, and then took a pause and said, "Well, Elder Reschke, this is our LAST interview together, so I think it would be appropriate to take some time to reflect.He told me about everything he has seen in me for the last 21 months, and talked a little about what I am going to do after the mission. It was super weird to have my last interview with President Erickson, but it was a solid interview, and I learned a lot.

     Friday, Elder Bradford and I had to go buy furniture for some missionaries. Let me just say, I am the master of negotiating. hehehe. We got stuck in a Peruvian marketplace, and let me just tell you a Peruvian market on a Saturday morning is like COSTCO on a Saturday morning times 50. It is the most hectic place you have ever seen in you life, with people running all over yelling, selling things, and dead animals hanging up all over the place, a variety of different smells, it is something that you have to experience to really understand.

     Yesterday was a solid Sunday, and we were able to have a good meeting with the Stake Presidency to talk about the Zone, and we also had a very good meeting with Renzo to help get him ready for his baptism. So, all is well in the land of the Lamanites.

Hope you all have a fantastic week. 

Con Amor,

Elder Reschke. 

Questions Elder Reschke answered this week:

Miracle of the Week? 

The miracle of the week was the fecha (date) with Renzo.

What is the weather like now?

It is still hot during the days, but cools down a bit at night which is nice. 

Funny story:

Oh, so funny story that I don’t think I ever told you guys. This lady in my Ward in Carabayllo came up to me and said, "Your Dad is a dentist!" and I was like, “Yeah how did you know?”  She said she has a sister who lives in Utah and this sister, she went to the dentist and it just happened to be Dad, and that the dentist (Dad) told her that he had a son on the mission in Lima, Peru, and she told Dad that she had a sister that lived in Lima and said she would ask her if she knew me. Small world huh? Haha I don’t think I ever told you guys that story.

Podemos Reunirnos Para Siempre Algún Día. (We Can Be Together Forever Someday).

Hola Familia Y Amigos!

Hope you all had a fantastic week! It was a pretty good week for us. For P. Day, we played ping pong and watched Mulan. It was a pretty chill day.

On Wednesday we had our Zone Leaders council meeting, which went pretty well. Luckily the Senior Couple missionaries that live in our area took us in a taxi:) It was good to share some ideas with the Mission President, Assistants, and other Zone Leaders.

The next day, I had to go BACK to Independence with my Companion to register some families for the massive wedding that the mission is doing. Long bus ride, but we are happy we were able to get 2 families registered!

We did a couple of good work visits this week to be able to help the other Elders in their area. We took out a baptismal date with a Sister that lives in a very humble home high up in the hills, we just need to verify it. 

In our own area we are working with three Investigators that have a lot of potential: Milly, Isabel, and Christian. Christian has accepted a baptismal date for May 7th, so we are excited for that. It was just a solid week of good spiritual experiences as we taught our Investigators. 

Saturday, Elder Bradford and I planned an activity for all the missionaries in the whole Zone so they could bring their Investigators. We watched Meet The Mormons, and a lot of people came, so I would call that a success. 

Yesterday a lot of people were not  in their houses because of the Peruvian Presidential Elections. But in the night time we had a good Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) with a young couple in the Ward and their family members who aren’t members. We watched the movie Together Forever, and it was a good experience. I am so happy for the wonderful opportunity I have to share a message with other families that they can be eternal families!  What a joyful moment when the families discover that.

Well, I hope everyone has a fantastic week.

 Saludos de Lima, Perú!

Con Mucho Amor y Cariño,

Elder Reschke.

P.S. For P. Day today we are going to do La Carrera Asombrosa (The Amazing Race). More to come on that next week!

                                                               HLJ=CTR

                           Sunday Night Zone verificación with my companion, Elder Bradford:

                                   Steve Prefontaine lives on in Peru, thanks to Elder Reschke:

                                                                  Lots of planning:

The Perúvian People Are Rejoicing.

Hola Familia Y Amigos! 

Hope you all had a good Conference weekend. I know we all had a very memorable one. Especially when President Monson announced the new temple in Lima, Perú.   The second he announced it, there was just a surge of the Spirit in the chapel. It felt like an electric shock. Everybody surprisingly gasped, and everybody was just astounded. It was such a glorious moment, and the smile on each one of the Perúvian faces was just incredible. Definitely a moment in the mission I am never going to forget. They haven’t announced where it will be constructed yet, but after examining the options, it is very probable that they will put it smack in the middle of the North Mission's boundaries. Of course, we missionaries feel really happy, because we feel like Heavenly Father has recognized our diligence and our labors, and building a temple here in Lima is Heavenly Father’s way of acknowledging our efforts.

      I thoroughly enjoyed the conference, especially Elder Holland`s talk about "looking forward to tomorrow." I also enjoyed Elder Christofferson`s talk about the responsibilities of a father in the home. It reminded me of how blessed I am to have a fantastic father.

     Other than that, it has been a good week with my new companion Elder Bradford from Cedar Hills Utah. AKA American Fork. We have just about the same time in the mission,(he goes home a month before me), and we are both going to BYU, so we have a lot in common. We are really good friends, and we are excited to work together as Zone Leaders of Canto Grande. We have a lot of potential as a Zone! 

We received a golden reference this week named Milly, who is super excited about our message, came to two sessions of conference, and has already accepted the invitation to be baptized. We are going to keep working with her.

     Funny story of the week. I was on a work visit with Elder Beazer at a house up in the hills in the evening. The Hermana had made us something to drink and put out some crackers to eat. But then the mom and the dad were going to leave so they could take their baby to the doctor. They were kind of in a rush to leave, and then they looked at us and it occurred to her that she had just barely given us something to eat. She was like....okay we gotta go.

 Anyway, I hope you all have a fantastic week.

 Love you all so much,

 Love Elder Reschke. 

                                                                 Good food this week:

                                                                       Our apartment:

                                                                 Our apartment view:

                                                                              My bed:

Semana Increíble.

Hola Familia Y Amigos, 

This week was a fantastic week for us here in Zona Canto Grande. For P. Day, it was just a normal working day because on Wednesday we had the wonderful opportunity to go to the temple.

It was a fantastic experience. We woke up early and took the train to the temple.

The temple was amazing, and it was so beautiful and peaceful inside. 

We are so glad that we had the opportunity to go. 

After the session, we had the opportunity to help out a bit in the sealing room, so that was a fantastic but rather “trunkey" experience! haha. 

It was a great day in the temple. 

We had an AWESOME lesson that night.

We visited a family that we had contacted in the marketplace, 

when my companion went to go get his pants hemmed.

THEY ARE PURE GOLD. They absolutely loved our message,

and there are four of them. Hilda, Janice, Xiarra, and Cristian. 

They listened so intently and we really felt the Spirit as we taught them. 

Teaching them was an incredible experience. After that we had a lesson with Karina, and we took out the baptismal date for the 16th of April, and she is super excited to be baptized.

To top off the perfect night, when we got to our room, President Erickson called and said he was going to take us to lunch the next day. Score!! We had a tasty lunch with President and Hermana Erickson, the Assistants, and a couple other missionaries from the Zone.  Every now and then he takes people to lunch, it is so nice of him.  I had some tasty Cabrito a la norteña (lamb cooked with vegetables and spices until tender), which is a super famous Peruvian dish. 

There was a good appetizer of canchita serrana con chifles. Cabrito means goat.  It was a nice restaurant.  My plate cost 35 soles, which really is only something like eleven bucks but here in Perú that buys a plate that is like Market Street Grill quality. 

I did a good work visit with Elder Rivas. We contacted a really cool new Investigator, and she has a lot of potential. We also had the best tacacho  (a roasted banana Amazonian cuisine dish from Peru. It is usually served with bits of pork) I have ever had in my life! Super tasty. 

This week was the Semana Santa, a super famous Catholic holiday that is basically like Easter for the Latino Americans. 

It was a good week centered in Jesus Christ.

That is about all that is new for us here in good ol´ Perú.

 Oh by the way, tomorrow I am getting a new companion,

 a gringo named Elder Bradford. 

We are pretty good friends and so it should be a good experience. 

Thanks for everything you do, and I love ya´ll tons! 

Have a fantastic week. 

Con mucho cariño, 

Elder Reschke.

P.S. I attached a picture of my companion burning all the letters from his girlfriend back home who “Dear John-ed" him. 

It was a glorious moment!

Questions Elder Reschke answered this week:

How was your Easter yesterday?

I have a confession to make....I thought Easter was NEXT Sunday! Isn’t it always the first Sunday in April or the same Sunday as General Conference? Nobody in Perú celebrates Easter. They celebrate Semana Santa, or Holy Week in English. Its like a huge Catholic holiday remembering Jesus Christ. So, my Semana Santa was good, but I was getting ready for Easter next Sunday!! Oh well. 

We have a big snow storm here in Utah right now. 

What is your weather like?

It is Soooooooooooooo Hotttttttttttttttttt here!

Are you being careful not to drink the water?

Haha don’t worry Mom, all is well.

It’s common knowledge around here that you don’t drink tap water.

Dropping off laundry:

                                                                    Love this view:

                           My companion received a "Dear John".....it was a glorious moment:

                                             The temple is so beautiful and peaceful:

On Top of the World!

Hola Familia Y Amigos!

  Hope all is well with everybody. We had a good week here in Canto Grande. 

For P. Day, last Monday, we went hiking, which was fun. We took motos up the

this really cool little trail that led to the top of the hill and from there 

you could see the other side of the mission, the ocean, etc. 

It was a super good view. 

Everyone who didn’t go got super jealous and wished they would have gone:) 

But yeah all is well here in the Zone. On Tuesday I gave a training to get the Zone a little more pumped because everybody seemed kinda down in the dumps. I gave a comparison to a mile race, and how every six months in the mission is like a lap of the mile race, and it led to a really good discussion on how everybody needs to start strong, stay with the pack, and in the last lap when they hear the bell they just gotta take off and give it their all to finish strong. Everybody really liked it, and afterwards one of the missionaries who is in the last lap came up to me and said, "Thank you for that, that helped me a lot." So that was good to hear.

     As far as the Investigators go, we are teaching a family that is every missionary´s dream to teach: Father, Mother, and their two kids. They are called the Familia P., and they are awesome. They always give us Chicha or Inca Kola, and this week the Hermana is going to cook Cuy for us:) They are awesome and we are going to help them get married so they can get baptized. We have to contact their little village in La Libertad to be able to get their birth certificates. No problema:)

We also found a really cool Investigator named Fanny, who has a lot of potential. More to come on her next week....But April is looking like it is going to be a good month.

     So something that happened yesterday was like the most awkward moment of my life, but it was cool. So we were at Stake Conference, and Elder Montoya from the Seventy was there giving a talk. My companion and I had to take care of some matters with some of the other missionaries in the Zone and we were walking from the building where the classrooms are to the big tent outside where the overflow was watching the Stake Conference. On the way to the tent, we had to walk past the chapel where the seventy was inside giving his talk. Suddenly, the doors open and the ushers come out and start motioning toward us and, they say, "The General Authority is calling you guys! He wants you to come in and go up on the stand!" And we were so confused and panicked for a second because we thought he was going to publicly chew us out or something for not sitting down. So they ushered us inside and we went up on the stand and stood right next to him, and it turns out he was talking about missionary work and just wanted two visual aids. He said something that really stood out...he said that “we will always love our missions and that we are going to cry when the day comes that we have to take off our nametags". Ouch! That hurt, but it is so true.

I love the mission with all my heart.

I love the people of Perú with all my heart. I can’t even begin to describe the happiness that I feel as I share the Gospel with our brethren, the Lamanites. 

I know without a doubt that this church is true. 

I love you all so much, and I hope you all have a fantastic week.

Love, Elder Reschke.

P.S. Hehe my Companion almost got ran over by an ice cream lady selling ice cream on her little bicycle cart. 

Haha it was funny because she came up from behind

and yelled: HERMAANNNOOOOO!!!!!!

It was her fault not his though! 

Questions Elder Reschke answered this week:

You have a new niece this week, little Lily.  What do you think of her?

Lily is super adorable!  Glad she was born just fine!

*Note from Mom (This makes 1 niece and 2 nephews that Elder Reschke has not met yet - Miles, Jack, and Lily.)

Did you get the package we sent?

Yes and the Girl Scout cookies did not melt and they are super tasty:)

All the other snacks were good too.  Thank you so much.

Did you like the pictures we sent?  And who has changed the most in 19 months?

Loved the pictures and Abigail has changed the most.

Miracle of the week?

Miracle of the week is that we were able to get ahold of the little village where the birth certificate is.

Scripture of the week?

Matthew 11: 28-29:

28. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and iI will give you rest.

29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meed and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

What are you doing for P. Day today?
Today is a regular working day because we are going to the temple Wednesday.

A little tineda (store)  in the hills before starting on the trail:

                                                                   Hiking up the trail:

                                                             At the top of the trail:

                                                                View from the top:

                                                       Looking out on the world:

                                    Yes of course we brought the Book of Mormon with us:

                                                  Beautiful Peruvian flag that we love:

                                                            The trail up the mountain:

                                          Look,  a house at the top of the mountain:

                                                                     Top of the world:

                                                The brave group that made it to the top:

She Finally Got Baptized!

Hola Padres y Amigos!! 

Twas a good week for us here in good ol´ Canto Grande. We had a fun P. Day last Monday. We rented out a big nice soccer field, and hired a guy to make tacos for the whole Zone. 

When we went to pick up the tacos, he gave us some Enchiladas and Chicha Morada 
(Peruvian beverage made from purple corn. It is usually made by boiling the corn with pineapple, cinnamon, clove, and sugar) on the house while we waited. Score! But yeah it was a pretty chill week. 

On Tuesday I went on a work visit to Las Lomas and we had a good visit, finding some new people to teach. I met a nice member lady whose native language is Quechua. 

She learned Quechua even before she learned Spanish. Cool huh?

Wednesday we did a good but tiring service project, moving a whole pile 

of sand to somebody’s roof. 

That is my favorite type of service. 

Thursday we had to travel to Limatambo, which is the oldest stake center in Perú. 

It is where Gordon B. Hinckley went to establish the first stake in Perú, so that was kind of neat. The reason we went there is because we had a visit from two general authorities, Elder Uceda and Elder Lynn Robbins from the Seventy. It was a good meeting, and I learned a lot about how the mission prepares us for life and shapes us and molds us. Before the meeting I met up with my comp from the MTC, Elder Fullmer who is serving in the Lima East Mission, one of the "Richest missions in Lima" or so they say. 

Friday was solid, and had a good day working with Elder Beazer in my area. 

Saturday, the zone helped out with the Missionary Preparation Young Men’s activity,

 and we each got assigned some priests to work with and we took them to work hard in our areas. It was fun, and we met a lot of really cool new people. 

Saturday evening we had another baptism. We baptized Hermana R., who was SUPER happy to be baptized because she has been investigating the church for a really long time.

 She even has a son in the mission field. It was a very sweet experience, and like always, my favorite part was hearing her testimony afterwards. It was a hectic but very good day for us. 

Yesterday was a good day as well. I gave a talk in church, which was good.

 I told a story about Elder Cook from a good BYU talk called “Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ”. 

     We are super excited (my Companion and I), because in this moment we have a lot of people in our little bank of families that we are teaching. They are learning a lot and progressing very well, and if all goes as planned, we should have at least 6 baptisms in the month of April. 

We are going to keep working hard, and giving all that we have to the Lord.

Love you all so much, and I hope you all have a fantastic week. 

Love,

Elder Reschke. 

P.S. Not gonna lie I can’t think of a good P.S.,

but I write a P.S. every week,

so I don’t wanna break the streak now. 

Questions Elder Reschke answered this week:

Miracle of the week?

The miracle is that Sister R.  finally got baptized.

Scripture of the week?

Scripture of the week is:  

Luke 6:12, and it is dedicated to Dad:

“And it came to pass in those days, 

that he went out into a mountain to pray, 

and continued all night in prayer to God.”

Transfers are next week, any idea what will happen?

Nope, no transfers this next week.  This transfer is the special 7 week transfer instead of 6 weeks because the Latinos are going to be in the MTC for three weeks instead of two.  

So we still have two more weeks to go of this transfer.  

We want to go to the Peruvian restaurant here again, any suggestions of what to order?

Lomo Saltado, Adobu, Papa rellena, Chaufa, Milanesa, etc.

What are your plans for P. Day today?

We are going to hike up a Cerro (hill) and take pictures with the Peruvian flag. 

And don’t worry Mom, we won’t fall off, it is not a cliff, but more of like a dusty pile of dirt.

Have you eaten any really good food lately?

We ate some really good cabrito norteno the other day.  

Super tasty.

Have you gotten any letters in the mail lately?  I have been sending you letters each week through the pouch?

The last letter I got was from Kylee, a couple of weeks back.

And every now and then one from Lizzy.  

I haven’t gotten one from you in a while..maybe somebody stole the pouch..haha!

Are you happy?

Yes.  To tell you the truth, Elder Rodriguez is one of my best friends. 

We get along VERY VERY well! 

                                                  

  Me and the Cerros (hills):

                                  A nice lady I met this week. Her Native tongue is Quechua.
                                  She didn't even learn Spanish until she was 15 years old (so cool):

                                       Moses!  (A.K.A. Elder Rodriguez) making me laugh.
                                       In the morning, while we were getting ready for the day,
                                       he came out of the bathroom dressed like Moses!  Hahahaha:

                                                            Baptism of Hermana R.:

                                When we were in the clerks office looking for computer paper,
                                 we lifted up the cabinet lid and found these two pieces of cake,
                                          ready to be eaten by two hungry missionaries.
                                                     It was tempting, but we didn't eat it: