Hull - September 24, 2012

Thank you for your much love and prayers.

Dad, I'm sorry you and Addie got sick. I really hate to be sick. My ankle is feeling a lot better. It was weak for about a week, and I almost rolled it two days ago, but luckily I was wearing those boots! It's recovering just fine. I like Grandma's and Grandpa's new car. I hope they like it as well. I'm glad I learned how to clean up, clean bathrooms, wash dishes, and cook. My cooking actually isn't that bad. But I guess I’m the only one who has to eat it. This week we did some service and weeded a garden, so I’m glad I know how to weed and work hard. I've also decided I’m trying to become a do-er, and a more bold missionary.

Mom, I’m glad you are doing family history. Just be careful that you spend as much time with the living as you do the dead. But, I love that you're so into family history. Leigh and Sean got a Family History Packet.

Doesn’t Solomon’s family look so happy in their picture? I'm so happy for them. Becky, or Sister Amoah, cooked for us last night. It was delicious. I hope one day they will be sealed in the temple; I think they're working towards it. I believe Sean and Leigh have pictures of temples and want to go there. The ward has monthly temple trips, so someday they will make it there.

It is definitely getting darker and colder here! I'm not really excited for the winter, but I know that I’ll be alright. I’m at the south part of the mission so it'll be warmer than it is up north. Elder Ball tells me that York is a posh area, sort of rich. It'd be really nice to serve there. A lot of people suggest going to York. There really aren't Polish people there, so I don't think that I'll be going there. I like Hull though. Things are starting to pick up a bit with teaching Polish people. And I definitely feel that my Polish is coming along a lot better.

Yesterday we got some “address unknowns”, or people who we aren't sure live at a certain address. We travelled all the way out to South Cave. We talked to the neighbors and found that the lady still lives there. Then, our next closest one was in Brough. A bus comes from South Cave only every hour. We missed the bus by about two minutes. We set off to walk. It was probably a good hour to an hour and a half to get there. We were both so tired.

We're teaching a few Polish people. Kszystof, who is a Polish butcher. Daniel and his Family are amazing. Daniel was sick yesterday, so he didn't come to church. We’ll probably see him next week. They're OK with us coming over and teaching them. Daniel’s brother Kamil is going to Poland. He is reading the whole Book of Mormon and trying to find if it's true.

I'm out of time.

I love you so much,

Starszy Ressler

Hull - September 17, 2012

Ah, I miss and love you all so much. Our week’s been pretty good. Andy came to church for the first time in weeks. I guess he is going to be leaving Hull or unable to come back to church, so I guess we weren't able to help him be baptized. But he has a strong testimony and knows the Book of Mormon is true. He's read it twice now. He might move down to Huntingdon and can be baptized there. The Brigham City Temple does look beautiful. Leigh was telling me how amazed he was at the Salt Lake Temple, that it took 40 years to build. Sean loves to look at a picture of it. Leigh is planning on going to the temple soon to do baptisms. I'm so excited for him.

We've been working with a lady who hasn't come to church for a year. Her son is eight and hasn't been baptized. She kept putting it off because she wanted to be ready to come back to church before he was to be baptized. She's been coming to church and last week Solomon was baptized. Their family seems to be so much happier. It's been a testimony to me that this gospel really does strengthen families.

You know that Mormon Message “Saved by Christ”, with Brother O'Neil and the one winged owl, Arthur? Well, he's a driving instructor and Elder Ball knows him. Elder Ball is working to get his driver’s license and Brother O'Neil gave him his first driving lesson on Thursday, with a manual transmission. It was a little scary, but Brother O'Neil is so funny that he made it fun. He has to have a lot of patience to be able to help a missionary from America drive on the left side of the road and to learn stick.

My Polish is improving, I still don't know everything that people are saying, but a lot of smiling and nodding helps get things by... no, I'm really understanding a lot more than I did a few months ago. I look forward to the day when I can speak the language well and understand it more fully. I'm glad that you're cousin is enjoying her visit to the U.S. that's good that the children know how to speak Polish. Do they know English as well? We go by a Polish shop every once and a while and try out some Polish food and also to try and small talk in Polish with people. It's good practice. I was able to find this Latvian chocolate that tastes almost like cookie dough in the middle (at a Polish shop). It's really good!

We had a lesson with some Polish people. Krzystoff, Januszcz (probably not spelled right), and Anna. Januszcz and Anna are older. Januszcz speaks just a little English and the rest only really speak Polish.

We also had another miracle. We felt impressed to go to an area that had already been knocked. I sort of felt hesitant, because that's a bit awkward when the other elders have already knocked that area and talked to those people. But, we found a university student that had just moved in and were able to teach her a powerful lesson about the restoration. So I know that we are guided to people that are ready to hear the gospel if we just listen to the promptings of the Spirit.

Kockam cie

Starszy Ressler

Hull - September 10, 2012

This week, was good!! Life is going alright. We're finding and teaching a lot more Polish people now days and I’m really happy about that. Hopefully, I can understand what they are saying. Elder DeShazer and I speak Polish together a lot. I think I’m improving at the language. I need to be better about that though.

I love being in England. It's sort of weird when restaurants advertise that something is 'American style'. I read about Addie’s pirate ship. Aye, aye captain!! Sounds like a lot of fun! We don't have anything fancy like a pirate ship, though we did have to kill two HUGE SPIDERS in our flat!

Hey thanks so much for sending a package, that'll be nice to have something from home. I don't want anything too expensive; I really don't want to inconvenience you. Now and again we all miss home a bit, but I’m happy to be here, and to be a missionary is such a wonderful thing. Tell Brother Gundersen ‘hello’ and thanks for all he taught me in seminary. I'm glad I got to be a part of seminary and feel the spirit in my teenage years. I can't believe that time goes by so fast. I'm still being trained, but it feels like yesterday I was graduating high school. And now I’m 19½. It'll be interesting to see myself at the end of this mission. I believe that Heavenly Father is helping us all to become the people that we can be. He see's our potential and knows what's best for us better than we do.

I'm not too worried about the winter, I’ll live through it. I bought a new jacket that's lighter for the summer and fall rain when it's hot. We have been going through a heat wave, so it's been really hot. Hey, I found out 'Mercy Me' is approved music, and I have music like that. Brendon should know who I’m talking about. We’ve had people who were so close to baptism and I’ve seen it just go downhill. I know that when times get tough, that's when we need to be at our very best, and sometimes that's what makes us grow the most. If you can't climb a hill, how can you expect to climb a mountain? It's been so interesting to see just how my life has prepared me for this moment. I know that this is where I need to be and I’m going to trust that what I do won't go to waste. If someone doesn't accept the gospel now, maybe I can put the thought in their head so that they will later.

We're teaching a man named Daniel and his family. He has two really cute children. He's lived in England for eight years and is reading the K.M. (Book of Mormon) and he speaks really good English. His partner Justine has only lived here for about three years and is still working on her English. Tonight we are scheduled to meet with a man named Krzystoff. I've only spoke to him over the phone and he doesn't speak too much English. I think our testimonies grow as we do spiritually scary things, and sometimes speaking in Polish can be quite spiritually scary since you don't know everything everyone is saying. But the work is going well, and I feel like I’m becoming a better missionary.

I hope you all are doing well,

Kocham was

Starszy Ressler

Hull - September 3, 2012

Two weeks ago we went to an art museum and a whaling museum. This past P-day we spent the day cooking Mexican food. And I'm not really sure what we are going to be doing for this P-day.

Oh wow, camping. Sounds like you're all having fun even though school has started up already. That picture of the food I sent you is a kabab. It's processed lamb meat on pita bread. They have it up in the kabab shop on this rotating cooker and then slice off pieces of it for you and put it into this oven cooked pita bread like thing with sauce and vegetables on the side. It was delicious.

Leigh was baptized and confirmed this past week. I had the honor of baptizing him. Sean came to the baptism and to church yesterday. He seems so much happier when he comes to church and reads the Book of Mormon, and I think he's realizing that. I know that when I do those things in my life I am a happier person. Well, I've almost lost a stone (about 14 pounds) and I credit it to us walking all the time. Ever since we discovered it's actually faster to walk to Boulevard Street and that area from our flat than taking two buses to get there, we've walked a lot. I'm not too worried about winter, actually I am. It gets cold some nights. Two of the Elders gave me two more blankets, so now I'm all toasty. I think in winter time I'll still have the two blankets, so I'll be warm.

So this past week we had a miracle. We've been looking a lot for Polish investigators to teach. We decided to try a part of the city called Gypsyville and for a while we were sort of scared to go there because we thought it would be full of gypsies. We set off with the thought that we'd finds some Polish gypsies. Well, it's just like a normal city, not at all like we expected. We started asking people if Polish people live in the area, and everyone said that not many did. We searched for hours and became a little frustrated I suppose. We said a prayer asking if we could be lead to Polish people and that they'd be friendly and willing to listen to our message. We walked to the next side street with about 8-10 houses and I felt like I should knock on the first door to the right with the light on. A lady answered. She was a member of the church, so we asked her if she knew of any Polish people in the area. She directed us to the next side street over and said there used to be, but she didn't know if they were there are anymore. We went to the next side street. I felt inspired to knock on the door to the left with the light on. Inside I could see a woman holding a baby. When Daniel opened the door, we discovered that he is Polish, and we talked with him. Two days later he and his family came to church! I have no doubt that we were inspired to go to that house, in that area, with very few Polish people. We're teaching his family again on wtorek (Tuesday). Daniel has lived in England for around eight years and speaks really good English. After finding Daniel and his family, we tried some of the other houses in the street, and they all said that no Polish people live on that street. It's amazing the first house we knocked was a member who led us to the next street, where the first house we felt impressed to knock was this really amazing family. Daniel said that they don't go to church because where he was from it was too political, or something to that matter. We explained to him that no one gets paid in our church.

Some of the Polish people we find just simply aren't quite interested in hearing the gospel. But we don’t have too much trouble making friends with them. For example, I enjoy seeing a Polish man, who's usually drinking or drunk, and waving to him when we see him. Plus, I can practice my Polish a bit. Sometimes, since they all come over from Poland, a lot of them will share a flat, so there'll be a lot of them living together. We know of a place like that where we visit, and we sometimes meet new people when we go there. So, maybe someday we'll find someone who's interested.

OK, so another story. Elders Humpheries and DeSazer are teaching a family, well the man, Danny isn't a member, but the lady is. The lady, Steph, hasn't been active for a while and Danny is looking to get baptized, but they are just waiting to either have him move out or to get married first.

So, we had just visited this Polish flat and talked to a man named Peter and his brother who are really nice, but didn't have a lot of time that day to talk. We felt like we should knock somewhere in the area and went to a side street, prayed, and then started knocking. The first house, no one answered. The second house, a young boy was outside playing. We asked him if his parents were home and if we could talk to them. He said his nanny lived there and went and called her. An older lady walked up to the doorway. And for a moment, just paused and looked at us. Then she said something like “I'm so glad to see you two missionaries.” We talked with her for a while. She's a member of the church who is not active. And then we found out that she is Steph's mother! She looked at us and said “Ah, I can feel you two have the spirit,” and she started crying. It was pretty amazing how we are guided to places and to reach out to people who need the Lord in their lives.

Starszy Ressler