Hull - January 28, 2013

Things are going well here. I'm starting to grow really attached to Hull; it's a lovely city and some days I am amazed that I am in England. I love the people here even more than I used to.

I'm amazed at the changes that are happening with everyone having children, getting married, or going on a mission. It's good to see that the world goes on even when I'm not there. But it seems things are always changing. Even here there are some people we talk to over again, because we've been in the area for a while and sometimes we see some change of hearts in the people we meet.

When David was baptized they played the movie “Just a Stonecutter” and Piotr was there. Elder DeShazer translated for him. He really enjoyed the movie and he kept saying “finja film” which means great movie. It is good to see the dedication that people have to God. I see that in a lot of Polish people even though some of them aren't very interested in hearing about anything about the gospel.

Daniel, David, and Piotr all have such testimonies; they know it's true. Daniel is doing well and is coming to church regularly. He is now looking to get married, which is a lot more difficult to do here in England than it is to do in America (there's a lot more you have to do legal wise). But they're in the process of getting things worked out and then he can be baptized. It'll be amazing when both he and Piotr are baptized. I can't wait for when that day comes. But all in good time I think. We're still looking for more people to teach at the moment.

I'm also excited for Brendon to go on a mission. I think it'll be a good experience for him. I too am curious to where he'll go but I know that there is a place the Lord has prepared just for him.

I'm mostly better from the sickness and doing a lot better (I keep telling myself that). We had to take a few half days off and sleep towards the beginning of last week, but now we're up and running again (still recovering though). The sad part of it is that even though I'm not really sick any more I've lost my voice (Imagine me trying to talk to people on the streets with no voice). It's rather hard and I've found one of my favorite things to do is street contact even when I have no voice. But it's do-able and I know that good things are coming just around the corner.

Love you

Starszy Ressler

Hull - January 21, 2013

The work this week was alright, but a bit slow. Do you remember my dear friend Sean who was baptized back in the summer? He is making progress to come back and has come to church two weeks in a row now. On Wednesday he was sick and asked if we could run to the store and get some cold medicine for him. We did that and then gave him a blessing. He was having chills lying on the floor and didn't want to move because it hurt. After the blessing, he stood right up and said he was doing better. I know Heavenly Father loves him and wants him to come back. Sadly though on Thursday Elder DeShazer caught the cold that was going around and then on Friday I got it too. So we spent half of Friday and half of Saturday in bed. I feel a lot better now, but still a bit iffy. But the truth is I can't just sit around too much longer and by the time that I hear from you again I'll be fully healed.

There’s a lot more moisture here in England than Utah so the cold lasts a lot longer, I'm excited for it to go. Don't worry, I'm doubling up with my super dry jacket and my nice fleece one that's grown a bit too big for me now days; so it's perfect to fit on top of another coat. It works out decently well. I'm pretty toasty.

Our mission is going to get about 98 new missionaries by July. That includes 4 new Chinese speaking missionaries and 2 new Polish speaking elders. So we're going to get some help soon. Piotr is in Poland at the moment and Daniel is back with his family. Daniel's family gave him the alright to be baptized and now all we are waiting for is for them to get married and then he can get baptized. Daniel really is an amazing man; he's someone I want to be more like. He's very diligent and loyal. He sometimes only gets a few hours of sleep and then still comes to church the next day.

It really is amazing to see all the miracles that happen. I know that God lives. It's sad to see so many people that refuse to trust him; they have no problem blaming him but won't trust him. Just the other day a man stopped us and was yelling at us, blaming God for the snow (like 2 inches). That's sort of a joke. But the truth is that England shuts down when they get just a little bit of snow. David, who we just baptized last month, said he saw a picture of Canada where the snow was as high as a house and then he was like 'stop complaining England.' It's sort of funny.

My only hope is that this mission does some good to either me, the people, or the world we live in; I'm confident I'm making a decent dent in it all. You know I've had my ups and downs here; some days are really good and others are a lot harder. But I suppose all I can do about it is keeping it all up. Life is just one big adventure.

Love you,

Starszy Ressler

Hull - January 14, 2013

This week we had a foreign speaking specialized training meeting. I had to give some instruction for a couple of minutes; I was scared to death. I was all sweaty and my hands got gross, but it wasn't all that bad. I just think of you, dad, having to get up and talk all the time in front of large bodies of people. That's something I may get used to someday. I don't know when, but maybe someday. I enjoy teaching people in small groups and individually and making the gospel personable to them. But there may be a day when we find a house full of 20 Polish people to teach, so I guess it's a good thing to prepare for.

For the meeting we got to travel all the way to Leeds, it was good. There were two Elders there from the Czech Republic and it was fun talking to them in Polish. We can understand each other about 50% since the language is so similar. They are really powerful missionaries and are assigned to speak Slovakian, which is also really similar. Basically, Czech, Slovakian, and Polish are similar. I enjoy talking to Czech or Slovakians every once in awhile on the street. They usually can understand a bit of Polish. I do love learning a language and being in a different country. But sometimes it's also a bit weird, but I like it.

David is really amazing and happy. I can see how much happier he is with the gospel. It's really helped him and the ward loves him. It seems everyone wants to talk to him after sacrament meeting. David blessed the sacrament on Sunday as well and did a terrific job. And, he went out teaching with Elder Christensen and Krylborn. Sean came to church this past week! I was happy to see him.

We've been really trying to find people to teach. We have a few, but patience is a good thing I guess. We're trying to teach a lady named Sylwia; she's really energetic. Right now, we know a lot of people, but a lot of them are busy because a lot of Polish people work crazy hours and then sleep and eat, and then work crazy hours all over again. So it's a bit of a struggle, but we are continually finding and teaching. We mostly teach Polish people because we go into areas were there's a lot of Polish people. We haven't really taught English people for a while now.

I'm sort of lucky because it doesn't rain very much in Hull; we're sheltered some from the bad weather. In fact, today's the first day I've really seen any snow, and it was only a little bit of frost this morning and that's already mostly melted away.

This week we found that a Tesco by our flat sells Polish food in jars. So I've had Polish stew, a Polish beans and sausage mix, and something that translates to pigeon in English, but is this cabbage sausage burrito thing that is covered in tomato sauce, so good!

Love you,

Starszy Ressler

Hull - January 7, 2013

The hardest part about a holiday is getting back into everyday life. But I'm sort of secretly happy that the holidays are over because a lot of people don't want to meet with the missionaries over the holidays. They would say that they were busy until after the holidays. Now they have no excuse! But I did enjoy it myself a bit.

This week sure has gone by fast. It's been a good week. David is doing really well, I'm happy for him. David's the only one who'd be of an eligible age to serve on a mission if he chooses to. Today I remembered my camera, so I'll be able to send a lot of the pictures I took recently.

I think sometimes patience is a good thing. I think that things will happen in their own time and that they will happen, we just need to be a bit patient. I heard from Daniel. He went to church in Poland two weeks ago, also he's talked to his family and everything is ok. So I think that means that when he comes home and when we see him we can make plans with him to work towards being baptized!

This week, Elder DeShazer and I did a lot of walking. We did a lot of finding. I think we found some really good people who can progress. We met a family who asked us a lot of questions and seemed interested a bit. I think if we keep working with them they'll do well.

The first ever Chinese group got started here in Hull. They'll have sacrament meeting and Sunday school all in Chinese. I'm really happy. I heard that they had about 20 Chinese people come. I think eventually we'll get a Polish group just like that. We just got to go and find all the people first, which is happening. I just got to stay diligent and patient. Things will work out.

I'm getting better at understanding and speaking Polish. It's a hard language, but I like it. There are a lot of Z's and W's and Y's for example. You'll sometimes see a lot of 'szcz' and yes, that does make a sound. or like mblga. Sometimes there's stuff like that. Chlopaki is how you say 'man' in polish like 'Hey man! but it's sort of slang. Actually, it means ‘boy’, but I hear it a lot. Like 'listen, boy!' is how it really translates. Life's good. My week was good. We did a ton of finding though. It's funny when people will tell you that an area is really dodgy, but you go there anyway, and it's really not that dodgy at all. We did over 25 hours of finding, which is sort of a lot, but also a bit average. We're really trying to find some more people to teach right now.

On P-days we usually clean the flat for about 30 min, then come email, go shopping, and then just hang out. Sometimes we do stuff like watch approved movies or play basketball. One day the whole zone got together and had a giant nerf war in the church. That was fun. The sister missionaries cheated though…no fun. It's pretty nice to have some time together. It’s weird to wear normal clothes. It just feels different for me now. I'm used to wearing a shirt and tie now. At first I thought I’d hate wearing one. But now it's weird not to.

Wow, that should be a very good bishopric (our home ward got a new bishopric on Sunday). I know that men are called of God in these latter days to be our leaders and are given the priesthood authority. That authority is the power that God gives to us for the salvation of his children here on earth.

Love you tons,

Starszy Ressler

Hull - January 2, 2013

This week was transfer week. The Assistants made a joke about us being transferred to Poland, but we're staying here in Hull.

So, Niedziela (Sunday) I sat by Leigh, the man who I baptized back in September time. He's doing great and serving as a Young Men’s assistant. He's also going to university to try and be an engineer.
Sadly, Piotr wasn't able to be baptized yet because he doesn't have permission from his wife in Poland, but the door isn't shut. She simply wants to find out more about what he is getting into before she'll let him get baptized. He's told us he feels the spirit at church, and he loves to come and to talk with us and to read the Book of Mormon. David was baptized; he's quite an amazing individual. He said that he couldn't be happier after his baptism and he looked like it as well. He's doing really well and fitting in with the young single adults in the ward. He even told us that in a few years he might like to serve on a mission. He's 21 now, so he could make it if he would want to. I'm really happy for him. On Sunday he was confirmed a member and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. And then he was interviewed and given the Aaronic Priesthood after church! Also, Danny, the man who was baptized and then confirmed last week was given the priesthood. It really has been a happy week for us and there's still more good stuff to come.

I'm really excited for the New Year. Things are going good. I feel that many amazing things are going to happen soon amongst the Polish people here in Hull. Hull really is a beautiful city. It's sad how you get attached to a certain Elder and then it's time for them to leave, same with a place. One thing is that I probably won't leave Hull for a long time, and because I've been here so long it's growing on me, I really do like it here. I can think of all the amazing people I've met so far and all the amazing miracles. You know, God really is a God of miracles.

I know that this is where I'm supposed to be right now, there's someone that I'm supposed to become, Heavenly Father has a plan on what I can learn and who I can become. It's like that Mormon Message about the currant bush and the farmer. God knows what we can be, so he gives us experiences to grow to that if we choose his will. I like Nephi am grateful for loving parents who have helped me already to grow to who I am today; the beautiful thing is I'm not done growing.

Love you much,

Starszy Ressler