Hull - August 28, 2012

Ah Pennsylvania! I love Pennsylvania and Grandma and Grandpa Ressler a lot. English people seem to be really interested in Amish people. I tell people my grandma was Mennonite, and that's similar to Amish. I'm glad you got to have a good time. We get to talk to and see so many families here, and I'm so glad that I have a family as amazing as I do. I show your picture to lots of people that I talk to because I love you so much and am so proud of you all.

Packages are so expensive to send, I'm not really sure actually. Maybe you could send my thumb drive. I can't remember where I put that at home. Actually, you could send me a CD of approved music. Maybe you could send some Paul Cardall or other spiritual, gospel music. No pressure, I'm alright here.

Leigh didn't get baptized because some of his family members that he wanted them to be there couldn't make it. So we moved it to next week. I think it's great that he's involving his family to see the change in his life that he's making.

Sadly, we haven't been able to talk to that Polish man again. We've tried a few times, but that one flat has several Polish men living there. It seems like they work all the time. It's sad that a lot of them don't like it here because, even though they get work and get paid well, they're away from their families and turn to alcohol because they don't know what to do. They work a lot and it's hard to find them or come back to meet with them because of their crazy work schedule.

This past week was amazing. First, a funny story. A few weeks back we met a drunk man and made friends with him. At first he wasn't very receptive and was cussing up a storm. But as we talked to him he softened up and actually started to like us. He invited us in and us a glass of milk. We talked with him for a while and taught him a lesson. We tried later to come back, but lost contact with him. Last night, it was late when we were walking down a street and we saw this lady that looked sad. We asked her if we could do anything for her. She said something about her boyfriend. She has had a hard time recently, and was in a car accident in which a five-year-old child died. We talked about what happens after this life and I was able to share about last Christmas with the Pack Family's car accident and how Colum died on Christmas Day. After we talked to her for a while this man came up the street yelling and cussing. She said, “Oh no, that's him.” I was a little scared for a second, but my companion recognized him and the man recognized us. The man said, “Hey! We drank milk together!” and he softened up. The man really likes us. He put his arm around me and said, “I respect this lad.” So, that's my funny story for this week.

It rained this past week really hard, probably more than I've ever seen before in my life. I didn't know it was going to rain because it had been sunny for a long, long time. But out of nowhere it just poured and my white shirt got soaked. We ran under a bridge for a while and then made our way to the street we were knocking at. Luckily, a university student took pity on us and let us come in to dry off. We got to teach a lesson and tell about Joseph Smith. The spirit is so strong when we teach the Restoration and the First Vision.

Missionaries in our mission can have the chance to drive. There's a senior couple in our area, the Olsons, who are from Idaho. I love them, they are so kind. They drive and the zone leaders all have cars and drive. So, there might be a chance that someday I might be driving on the left side of the street. You may have to re-teach me how to drive in America when I get back. Summer is just starting to end here in England, except they don't call it vacation, they call it holidays. Things are going well here. This past week was the end of the transfer and transfer calls, and I'm staying in Hull. That's good because I'm not through being trained, yet. I'm really excited about this next six weeks. I think it's going to be good.

Love you tons,

Starszy Ressler

Hull - August 20, 2012

It sounds like the family is doing fantastic. I can't believe that Harrison is in high school and Brendon's a senior and Sadie is in junior high. And Addie's having a birthday. I feel so old! The gospel really does strengthen families. I tell people that all the time, and I know it's true. I've seen it in my life. I hope that this week goes well with everyone starting school.

Wow!! I'm really excited for Will Cameron’s mission call. If you see him, tell him that a mission is the best thing in the world. He'll be able to use the experiences in his life to help other people come to the Savior and His gospel. Brazil, so he'll be speaking Portuguese. That'll be fun. Mike Morris is already back? Time really, really goes fast. It feels like a week ago I was back home getting ready to leave and now I've been here for four months. It sounds like everyone is doing really great.

This past week on środa (Wednesday) we had zone conference. The zones in the lower half of the mission got together. The mission president spoke to us. It was really great. Then, on czwartek (Thursday) we were knocking down a street and I met a Polish man named Lucas. He was talking on his phone, but we talked a bit. He asked me if we'd like some coffee or tea. I said, “woda?” (water) and so he invited us in. In his flat there were about five Polish working men living there. We talked and I tried to understand and answer their questions and teach. We gave out all the Polish Book of Mormons we had. One of the men has lived in England for eight years and speaks really good English. They had us sign their K.M.'s (Book of Mormons in Polish) because they said that this could really change their lives and they wanted to remember the moment. We're going back to teach them this week, I'm so excited to teach in Polish, and they're really solid. One of the men's wife and children go to the church back in Poland. They're moving here with him! There really are no coincidences I find. Heavenly Father knows what's best for his children even better than we do.

Oh, yea, so when we met Sean, we also met his friend, Leigh. We've been teaching him and now he's going to get baptized this Saturday!! Ah, it makes me so happy. He's such a good man. Yesterday, he came to church in a suit and Sean had bought a shirt and tie to wear to church. They both looked great.

We have to make some difficult and scary choices. Our zone leader gave us counsel that we could do the scary thing of dropping our not-very-solid English investigators and go and focus on finding Polish investigators. So, we'll see how things turn out.

We have about 30 minutes to exercise each day, so we jog or do push-ups or sit-ups. Sometimes we aren't so diligent in our exercise and just stretch.

It's so amazing being a missionary. I have no doubt that I have had the experiences in my life to prepare me for my mission, to come here at this time to England and to speak Polish. I know now that I have been called by God through a prophet of God to come here. That's a bold statement, but it's true.

Kocham cie
Starszy Ressler

Hull - August 13, 2012

I'm doing really well. Sorry, I'm not really good at taking pictures of myself. That's something I can work on for you next week though. This week one of our investigators disappeared which is really sad, we went by his house pretty much every day to see if he was back. Hopefully, we'll catch him this next week and see what's up. Saturday Sean was baptized. I gave a talk at the service, which wasn't the best, but it was alright. When Sean was baptized, I could feel the Spirit. Yesterday, he was confirmed, and also was ordained a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. He's really amazing. I think he'll do well.

No, I didn't really like black pudding. Wow, Keenan is back. Two years really goes by fast. I can't believe that these past four months have gone by fast. I'm really excited for Will to get his mission call. Please let me know where he goes. Skylar emailed me the other day which made me happy. I hope Landon contacts me, too.

I've talked to Russian people also. It's difficult to talk to them. The language sounds sort of similar. I suppose they have the same root, both Slavic languages. I have not bought an umbrella, yet. I may go buy a lighter jacket though because the one I have is really heavy and huge, and some people mistake us for missionaries from another church. It really hasn't rained all that much. We had about an hour this week where we were out in it when it was coming down hard, but other than that it's been really hot. Alright, now for this past week.

Last Monday was zone P-day, so the whole zone got together and we played sports and then watched some approved movies. We're teaching a family now days, they aren't married, but want to be. During one of our lessons the man pretty much proposed to his wife and he said something to her like 'you realize that means just sticking with one man', and then a bit later 'no, but I'll have you, I'd marry you'. Then later on this week we invited him to church and he started shouting to everyone on his street (he knows a lot of them by name) “Hey, we're going to church. Want to go to church?” That's how we found two other investigators. One of his neighbors is an interesting guy. He sort of believes in something about aliens and the pyramids. Sean was baptized and confirmed, and now he's a priest! That's really exciting. We're still teaching his friend Lee who we met at the same time as Sean. He also is doing really well and has a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. This past week, I've had loads of opportunities to speak Polish. We've also had loads of interesting experiences. Like an old, one-legged Irish man kissed me on the hand. But after that we found another amazing family. We've been blessed to run into and meet families that we can teach the gospel. My watch ran out of battery, so I'm either going to have to take it in and get the battery replaced or I might just buy a cheap watch. That way it works and I'm not afraid of it getting lost or stolen. Oh, this week I bought some Polish bread because we wanted to go into a Polish shop. I love it! We went through a loaf in about two days. I recommend it, if you are ever able to find it. It really hasn't rained a whole lot here, but that doesn't mean that it still can't. The other day we talked to some people who are gypsies, I think. They go around on horse and buggy and collect old metal or old things people give them and then recycle them. They're really nice. When we asked them if they knew anyone who is Polish, they did and even called for him down the street. He came and talked to me and realized I wasn't from Poland because I was speaking incorrectly. I told him I was learning Polish. He seemed impressed at my pronunciation and of what I could say to him. He was also impressed that I learned Polish through prayer, which is true I have had to pray a lot and I really wouldn't know Polish like I do now if I didn't have help from Heavenly Father. I've also had to work really hard to learn it. He said he wanted to learn English better, so I think that's a pretty good in to talk and meet with him and teach him about the gospel. When we gave him a K.M. (Book of Mormon in Polish) he was really interested of what it was and that it was in Polish. He also sort of gave us a referral to another man who speaks Polish and also speaks really good English. We'll have to drop by their soon.

I am wearing the boots today for the first time just to try them out. I like them a lot. I really like the ankle support.

I'm glad to hear that you're all doing well and seem to have had a good summer. Maybe if you're bored you had too much summer? Just kidding. It's been summer holiday here too. I think it goes on for a little while longer. They only have about six weeks of holiday.

There is such a diverse group of people here. If they don't speak English, then I ask in Polish if they speak Polish and only some of the time do they answer yes and the other part of the time they say they're from somewhere else, like Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, the Middle East, and there are a lot of Chinese students. I like talking in Polish though. And, I don’t know a lot so it's hard to communicate with everyone. I have a long ways to go with the language, but I know that the Lord will provide a way for me to learn it. If I keep looking for opportunities to speak and teach in polish, and with lots of hard work, I’ll be blessed.

Hull - August 6, 2012

I'm doing well. It rains quite a bit here, which is good. The rain makes everything green and beautiful. I found myself sitting and studying right next to the window this morning and just pondering on how lucky I am to be here. It's hard work, but it's worth it.

The new missionaries from Poland are in a different mission, I think. The work is moving along. We have plenty of Polish and English Book of Mormons that the church provides for us. Sadly, I fear that I am losing my Polish, and might not ever be fluent with it because I’m not able to use it as much as I’d like. There are so many different kinds of people here besides Polish; Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian, Portuguese, Caribbean, you name it. But it's alright, there are a ton a Polish people and we're trying to find them. I know that I can learn Polish if I keep working hard to use it and retain it.

I'm glad that Will Cameron is doing well and I'm excited that his mission papers are in. You can give him my email address, if you want. I can't really watch too much of the Olympics. But I'm sort of cheering for two teams now, the US and Great Britain.

We have a baptism service scheduled for this Saturday. The person who tried to get baptized last week is going to try again. I really hope it goes okay for him. And then the young man who I met my first week out is getting baptized. I'm excited for him because he really retains what we teach him. He knows it's true, and really wants to go to the temple some day. We're also teaching his friend who is getting baptized in two weeks. He's amazing. They both come to church. I love all the people we teach. This week we found a family, well they're not married, but they seem to want to be. We told them they need to be married to be baptized and they're pretty alright with that. We told the man that the church could marry them for free, they'd just need the rings and the marriage certificate, and his eyes went wide. He was excited and told us that he would be the first person in his family to be married. I'm excited for all of them.

The Hull Ward is a great ward. The people are really good there. There's a few that go teaching with us, and that helps a lot because the people that we teach need the friendship of the people in the church. That's something I could have been better at back home. It's hard to talk to people you don't know, but that's missionary work, and that's what helps a lot. The ward members are really nice. The families that feed us are amazing. I'm serving in the Hull 1^st Ward which is pretty much west Hull. It's a big area and we mostly stay in the city area. We don't go outside the city too often. We do walk a lot. We buy weekly bus passes and ride whenever we can. We try to talk to people on buses. Some people want to talk and some people don't. I like it when I can have a good conversation with someone.

This past week I ate something called black pudding. It's alright, but I'm probably not too fond of eating it again, if I can help it. I've also had black currant flavored stuff, which is alright. I actually don't mind it. I don't really remember seeing black currant in the US. It was illegal to grow there at one point, so that's probably why. Football (soccer) is a really big thing here. I always see people in parks or in the streets kicking a football. I'm still getting used to everything here.

Love you tons, 

Starszy Ressler