Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Denver Harbor - May 27, 2014

I've been doing great! I really feel like I'm starting to get the hang of all this. I'm not there yet but I feel close.

I hope that I can stay here for at least 2 transfers more. There are a lot of great people here and a lot of work that needs to be done. We're a little worried about the ward situation. I feel a little selfish for wanting to stay in an area so bad but this area is awesome. Hey by the way, Elder Strong should be coming back tomorrow so we'll see what happens there.

It is getting a lot hotter! Not humid yet but it's coming. It's been raining for the last little while and after that it will probably get really humid. I'm not too worried though. I'm sure that I'll get used to it. This week we'll make sure to drink a lot of water though it's a little different because we are in a car still.

This week was pretty crazy. Turns out me and Elder Long are heading over to Beaumont right after this to get his knee checked out. Yesterday he was playing basketball and he twisted wrong and we think he hyper extended it. I think that he'll be fine though. Another crazy thing is that I learned the haka! There is a culture night coming up for our ward and we're doing a talent show thing. We have an hermana in our district who's family is from Samoa and she had the idea that Elder Long and I (now just me) should do the haka. We had her and a couple other Polynesian missionaries teach me and it should turn out good.

I was talking to a relative of Sister Crawford a couple of days ago and he told me that when he was on his mission a general authority promised him that if he would say morning and evening prayers in German every day after his mission he would keep his language. He said it works.

I like Utah cold weather and Texas hot (so far). Texas in the winter was really cold though it didn't seem like it and there was no snow. I'm excited to see what the summer will be like here!

Sorry I don't have a whole lot of time but I hope you know that I love you!

Love you!

Elder Ressler

Monday, May 12, 2014

Denver Harbor - May 12, 2014

This week was an awesome week! I really had a great time and I feel that I made a lot of improvements in my teaching and how I deal with people. It's all a learning experience and I'm just learning to have fun with it. Everything is awesome out here and I loved talking with you guys yesterday! I miss you guys a ton, but I think that this will only be a short time. I was thinking about the mission and I realized that the mission is kind of like a life. You start out not knowing what you were doing and then you really progress and learn. It's cool because you can think of it as the other way too. You could say that this life is really just preparing us for later on. Kind of cool, huh?


I feel more confident in my Spanish and I can usually say what I need to say. Some days are better than others though. It's cool though because people ask you where you learned Spanish and you just tell them that we learn by talking to people on the street. They get really impressed. Of course we study it too but a lot is just practice.


Thank you so much for praying for my investigators and for the ward. I know that it really makes a difference. The people here are great but they struggle sometimes.


We went on exchanges with one of the APs and he really taught us to help people see the benefit for them. Asking them what they really want in life. Then helping them see how the gospel can help them get it. Pretty cool.


Yeah chile really is great! And what's really funny is that members keep on giving us different kinds of chile all of the time. Last week I think that we got three different kinds and they were all great!
I really love this one scripture in D&C 6. I think that it is somewhere in the thirties. It says, "Look unto me in every thought. Doubt not, fear not". I'm really trying to apply it to my life.


Don't forget to hoe to the end of the row! (Advice to his siblings on finishing up the school year)


I love you guys so much. I'm learning so much here on my mission. I really do learn something new every day.


Love,


Elder Ressler

Monday, May 5, 2014

Denver Harbor - May 5, 2014

This week was terrific! We had a lot of success and taught a lot of people. As far as numbers go this was one of the best weeks of my mission. The family we are teaching is doing great and they should be getting baptized in a couple of weeks. They really have a strong desire the only question is when.
Here it has been super hot too! I love it though. Right now it is perfect temperature. It will probably get really hot really soon though. I'll let you know.


There is a saying here that if you eat more chilies then you can speak Spanish better. I'm going to try and eat all that I can :)


Elder Long is doing fine. He got his cast off this week and now he just has to use a boot. We'll be stuck in the car for a little while longer but that'll be all right. We're still able to do missionary work but it's not as fun. Being on a bike you are always moving and you can just stop and talk to people off the street. I like biking a lot more because in the car you feel really lazy. You do get to places faster though.


Yep today is el Cinco de Mayo! I know that this is kind of hard to believe but not a whole lot of people are celebrating it really. It's funny because the majority of the people here are Hispanic but most of them don't see it as a big deal. I'll let you know if anything crazy happens.


Wow I can't believe that Jacob is home. And he's probably taller than me too. Wow that is going to be crazy. That's cool that he was able to take some time and just talk about his mission. Really it is impossible to fully explain everything. It really is just something that you have to live.


The work is going great in our area. The ward... is struggling. It is a big ward but many people have been offended or just plain decide not to come. On average only about 60 people come out of 348. A week ago we had ward conference and the Stake President told us that if we don't start trying to get everyone back to church the ward is not going to survive. We are trying to do our best to get people coming but there is so much that needs to happen. The Bishop here sure is the man for the job though. He's organizing everything so that the members visit all of the less actives. My companion and I are trying to help as best we can. As missionary work goes though we are doing great. It's really true there are tons of people just waiting for us. The ward helps us by just coming out with us and giving us referrals. That is really what needs to be done. Just helping out by being an example and befriending nonmembers.


I've been great! It's awesome because I feel awesome all of the time. It gets hard sometimes because of the choices some people make but you feel really satisfied on a mission.


I love you!


Elder Ressler