This week on Friday is my year in England mark. We'll I guess you can really say, my year in Hull mark. All the members are making jokes now about how they should just move my records here and I can just move in. I usually joke with the other missionaries that I meet at Zone Conferences and other meetings that I've slept in the same bed for pretty much my whole mission. I don't mind staying here, but I kind of want a change. Don't get me wrong, I love Hull; I love the people, and the ward. But that's kind of a long time to be in one place. You sort of get to the point where you've knocked the same streets multiple times. I'll try to take more pictures and tell more about what goes on.
So to be honest we Polish Elders don't really compare ourselves to the rest of the mission. We can't compare ourselves to the other missionaries, there are too many variables. All one can do is their own best. Polish people are Catholic, about 90% of Poland is Catholic, it's tradition. Elder Humphries talked to a man who picked up his little son and shook him saying "my son was born Catholic and he will die Catholic" They simply can't comprehend it. To them being Christian is being Catholic. So obviously it's a bit tougher I'd say than compared to the rest of the mission. This week we went to Sheffield to say goodbye to President and Sister Lindley. We have a new mission president now. I'll meet him tomorrow when we go to York.
We met an older man named Steve who got real excited to learn about the Restoration and says that it makes sense to him. I'm excited to see him again on Saturday. Also, we are teaching a man who is still learning English, so it's sort of a struggle.
I think I'm beginning to understand more and more about wanting to
help people and not being able to. There's so many people I wish would
just let us share the gospel with them, or just read the book! But they
have their free will and I can't make that choice for them.
I sometimes get discouraged just like everybody else. I've found that faith is the opposite of discouragement, so we just simply got to have faith that God is preparing people for us to teach and baptize here in Hull. I feel like I've been through a lot of "trials of my faith". You just simply can't let yourself get too discouraged, because then you lose faith. There are honestly times I've felt like I've been only hanging on by a thread, but Heavenly Father grabs on to that thread and pulls me up somehow. But, I know that He's there and He's helping us every step, even if we can't see it. I know that my will alone will not get this work done on its own, it's simply too big. I know of Heavenly Father's power and how it's really him who makes things happen.
As a district I have something called a focus, I can choose one thing to focus on every week. This week we are focusing on getting people to church. To do that we are asking people the question when we invite them "Is there anything that would keep you from coming to church with us this Sunday?" and then try to work out how they can get there. I think I've adjusted quite a lot more to being a district leader. It's still a lot to be responsible for, but it's not as bad as it used to be. I think because I have a better idea of what I'm doing.
Tomek didn't get baptized. He thinks it'll happen, he just needs some time to talk to his family about it.
We're also teaching a man named John. John is very good at studying the scriptures. It has a lot to do with his previous faith. He reads the Book of Mormon and loves to look up all of the verses in the Bible that support it and then types it up on the computer. He hasn't read a lot of chapters, but he goes into depth a lot. It's pretty amazing.
Love you much,
Starszy Ressler
