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