Denver Harbor - August 4, 2014

The mission is going really well. I'm having a really good time with Elder Woodruff and I'm learning a whole lot. I can't believe how fast time has been going by. Lately everything has pretty much been the same. A couple of days ago it hit hundreds which was SOOOO HOT but we made it to Tuesday which rained all day.

Thanks so much for fasting for us this week! That's great that you guys made a family mission plan! We've been working a lot with the ward trying to help them to create their own and they finished it about a month ago. It's really important to plan what you are going to do to be a better missionary. Planning is tough sometimes but so worth it. This week I'll be looking for specific blessings that came from y'all's fast!

I've really seen a huge difference between those who magnify their callings and those who don't here. There are some people who just want to sit on the side lines and watch everyone do the work. Then there are others who are actively trying to help. I've also seen a lot of people try and blame other people for the things that happen and I've come to know that it just doesn't do any good.

That's awesome that your friend got sealed in the temple this last week! I bet that you are super happy for him. It's really tough to see marriages end but I'm so happy that he's been able to get married again! Something interesting that our stake president said is that those who end up going less active usually do not have all of the saving ordinances done. I've learned a lot about how important the temple really is.

This week we had a really neat experience. We met with President Drake on Tuesday for interviews and during that time we were able to learn a lot about attitude. The APs passed out a talk that they wanted us to read that is called "every missionary can baptize" which talks a lot about how attitude makes a difference. It said that a lot of times we as missionaries create doubts that make it impossible for us to act with faith. It used the example of walking into a home and see the husband of a family light a cigarette and then subconsciously begins to doubt that he will want to give up smoking. It's true that a lot of times things like that happen. It's our job to get rid of those doubts and one of the ways we can do that is to have visual reminders of miracles that have happened in the past. We are all going to be making a miracle board and posting it up in our room so that we all can remember the miracles that have already happened in our missions. For me I think that one of my favorite miracles is being able to baptize Cesar and then watching him baptize his dad. I also found out from Elder Ek that Cesar is starting to attend mission prep too and it makes me really happy to know that he is doing well.

I haven't gained too much weight on my mission if any but I would like to have a little bit more energy and feel healthier. In all honesty I don't think there is any specific food that you could send me. Mostly I just miss your cooking but that's okay. Here we eat a lot of meat and things that probably aren't the greatest for us. We eat tortillas at every meal which I'm fine with but it's not so healthy. I've decided on my favorite food out her by the way. My favorite food is called Mole. It's pretty much a chicken leg with this amazing chocolate sauce. It doesn't sound that great when I explain it like that but it is super good. If you ever go to a Mexican restaurant you guys should see if they have some it's awesome.

Love ya

Elder Ressler