I love England and I love being in Hull. So, transfer calls
were last night. Elder Ball is going to Peterly, which is up north in the cold.
He will be serving with Elder Richards. Elder DeShazer's companion, Elder
Christensen, will be staying and serving with another elder. And I will be
going to the great land of...Hull! (I’m staying) and I will be serving with...Elder
DeShazer! So, I guess we'll serve together again. I'm excited, this is a good opportunity
for me to speak Polish more, and also we will be focusing a lot on Polish
people. Hopefully, we'll see some good things happening this winter.
My cold has died down. I've been on medicine and that's
helped immensely. Also, I feel a lot better, not all the way, but a lot
improved.
The work is good. On Sunday we had a Polish fireside where
we tried to get as many Polish people there as we could. We only got Daniel and
Justina and their family. They are doing great. They're making plans for their holiday
in Poland, which we are keeping our fingers crossed for (or in Polish, our
hands in a fist with our thumbs tucked in). Daniel is pretty solid on joining
the church. So we told him of our experience finding him. He told us that he
had prayed about 2 weeks before we first met him, asking for God to show him where
the truth was and when we knocked he was like, 'maybe so'. So, I think things
will go well. We also taught a Polish Lady this past week. It was an
interesting lesson, but we'll be persistent. She said she'll read the Book of
Mormon, and that's a good start, I think. We've also been trying to meet with a
man from the Czech Republic named Peter who's hit a hard time trying to find a
job. I called Grzegosz and Anna last Friday, and Grzegosz said that things
still aren't too well, but they are better the baby has made some improvement
but is still in the same critical condition room. They spend a lot of time in
the hospital. We haven't been able to see Nikola again yet, but hopeful
someday. We met a new Polish man who is a lorry (truck) driver and so is his
wife. He says they've talked to the missionaries in Poland. We'll be going back
there on Sunday, which I'm excited for. I hope things are going to explode in
this area. I feel like they can, we just need to be ready so that the Lord can
trust us with these people who are seeking the truth.
I love the Polish people. When I meet one I get excited and
I just love them. I think things are going to start picking up with them as
well, well I have hope it will. We're meeting with some really good people.
It hasn't snowed yet, but I've seen some frost on the ground
in the mornings, and I think they're preparing for some snow soon. But, it is
getting really cold. It also gets dark at five at night and I hear at its peak
will get dark at 4pm, which is kind of weird to be out knocking in the dark and
it only being 4pm. But we'll survive.
I actually find a lot of people who speak Russian here, as
well as Lithuanian, Latvian and Slovakian, and Czech, and so on. There is a dear
older lady here, Nelly, and her daughter Ala, who live in our ward. They are so
kind and so nice, and so humble and grateful. They speak Russian, and Nelly
loves the missionaries. I think one day I’ll give learning Russian a shot. It
is a language I want to learn someday, but I think Polish is good enough for me
right now.
An elder from Sweden who is leaving soon gave me one of his
old suits that he was about to just leave behind. Since I’ve lost weight my
suits were really loose, and now we have to wear a suit everyday until it gets
warmer. So, this one is a bit smaller and fits me a bit better, but the other's
still fit as well.
Ah, sadly, no they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here. But,
did I tell you about bonfire night? They celebrate a guy burning at the stake
by having bonfires. That was new to me. Hey, it's only temporary that I’ll miss
Thanksgiving, and it's worth the sacrifice. I've found I've grown a lot already
on my mission, and lost some of myself (my weight a bit) but I hope that I'm
not done growing because I'm still very imperfect. One thing I've come to
realize is that pride is not a good thing; I need to strive to be a more humble
person. I didn't think I was prideful, but I guess we never do. I guess the
change comes when we realize that it's not about ourselves. Enjoy Thanksgiving, eat some turkey for me,
alright?
Love you much,
Starszy Ressler
