Published: August 19, 2008 02:00 pm         

RCHS grad returns from two-year missionary stint in Peru

For the past two years, 21-year-old Jacob “Jake” Luna so enjoyed serving as a full-time Spanish-speaking missionary among the poverty-stricken residents of Lima, Peru, in South America that he was willing to eat virtually nothing more than rice and beans.

And, if he ever tired of eating rice and beans, then he said he would just do as the Peruvians do and eat … beans and rice.

“Once in a while I would even be fed a little chicken or pork with my rice and beans when a family would invite me to dinner,” he added. “The people there were so friendly that they would go without meat for a week just to be able to offer it to me.”

But, according to the former Royse City High School student, and oldest child of Joe and Becky Luna, the meager diet was well worth it because he had such a fantastic learning experience serving in the Lima Peru South Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). Peru is a mountainous country on the Western coast of South America, just South of the equator.

“I loved every minute of it, and learned an unbelievable amount of things,” the returning missionary said. “Besides learning so much about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I learned about myself, living on my own, living with others and, especially, about learning to live with far less than we have in America.

“For example, the people all lived in homes made of adobe, cement and cardboard – with tarps spread across the tops as roofs. Clothes were washed in a bucket. Everyone pretty much ate the same thing everyday.

“There were wild dogs everywhere, and I had to learn the language while chickens were pecking at my feet,” he added, with a big smile. “Oh and there were few paved streets, plus we had to endure packed buses to get anywhere. But I’m so glad that I went on a foreign mission, and had the chance to experience all of the different customs, lifestyle, food, etc.”

According to Luna, he even experienced the devastating 8.0 earthquake which destroyed two cities and much of Peru on August 15, 2007.

“It was really scary,” he said. “I’d never been in an earthquake before.

“I’ll never forget it. We were eating dinner, and even though we were over an hour a way from the epicenter, after one big earthquake hit - followed by several little ones - the people all ran out in the streets screaming and crying. The lights were out for hours and the telephones were all dead until the next day.

“The earthquakes only lasted two or three minutes but caused so much damage, completely destroying the cities of Chincha and Pisco, which were only an hour or two away.”

Luna, who is now back home living with his family again – including two younger sisters and a younger brother – said he really misses the humble people, their extremely modest lifestyle, teaching them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and even the food.

Reflecting upon his two-year adventure, he says the top three things he learned were that God does answer prayer, that the Bible and the Book of Mormon are the word of God and that he can rely on God.

“The number one thing I learned was to rely on my Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ,” he said. “I never prayed so much in all my life. Countless times I met people who had never before prayed who received answers to their prayers. I learned that God listens and does answer our prayers.”

“Elder” Luna, the title by which he went, served in five different cities near Lima, for between one and seven months. Although he served in several mission leadership positions, including zone leader, he said he spent most of his time either teaching people about Jesus Christ and His plan for us all, or was involved with humanitarian service projects.

He said he tried hard to pass on that knowledge to the wonderful people he met daily. Many also received that knowledge and were baptized into his faith.

“We did see many baptisms,” he recalled. “I remember well what we called ‘White Christmas,’ because 55 people were all dressed in white and were baptized that very special day.”

Now that Luna is home, he’s currently working at a Rent-A-Center location in Dallas. He plans to begin college at the LDS Business College in Salt Lake City in January, 2009.

He said he hopes to return to visit the people of Peru again someday.