Lancaster, PA - August 29, 2016

I'm staying in Lancaster and my new companion will be a missionary in my district from Ephrata. Elder Duffy is being transferred. Elder Duffy will be companions with my trainer.

Grandpa just told me that Aunt Barbara is in town. I'm looking at him right now. He helps out at the Family History Center on Tuesdays lol.

We went to the temple open house with the girlfriend of a guy in our ward who just left on his mission. She has already read half of the Book of Mormon.

We helped some Amish people paint and we're seeing them again tomorrow.

Love you,

Elder Ressler

Lancaster, PA - August 22, 2016

Our week has been good we had a lot of referrals to contact so it kept us busy. We met tons of new people to work with, but all the old investigators couldn't meet with us this week. We're seeing our main investigators today and tomorrow though. We had two investigators come to church.

I keep running into people that love Dad and Grandma and Grandpa Ressler. This week we are working on two Amish farms and teaching a lesson. I went and saw my Great Uncle Charles and Aunt Shirley. Pretty interesting when I called they said we could only come over as non missionaries and they had zero interest, but maybe I'm planting seeds. They were super nice. He reminded me a lot of Grandpa Ressler, but more quiet. I saw a picture of Grandpa Ressler when he was younger and Dad looks just like him. Hey now I know what Dad will look like when he's older.

Love ya!

Elder Ressler

Lancaster, PA - August 15, 2016

This week we got to go help the Amish pick watermelons and it was so cool to learn more about them. They are such good people. They're pretty much Mormons that stay away from technology too. They believe a lot of the same things. We get to see a different Amish family next week too!

I finally got the pictures from the open house. Side story me and my companion got to run up the steps that Rocky ran up to in Philadelphia. It was like 100 degrees so a grey suit did not do well in the heat.

Also last preparation day this lady from Columbia who lives in our ward taught me and my companion how to make ties really well. She measured out the penguin tie pattern. I never thought I would ever sew... but it's cool I don't think I'll ever buy a tie again. Especially because you can choose the pattern you want. My companion got pretty sick this week so I had some free time and made some really good floral ties. It pretty much made this week an all time low for proselyting time. He pretty much almost passed out with the heat so it was hard to do much work.

Besides that I had Sunday dinner with my aunt and uncle and grandparents.

Love,

Elder Ressler

Lancaster, PA - August 8, 2016

This has been a super good week. I don't even know where to start. Here in Lancaster it's crazy because everyone knows my family. Today I went by the house my dad was born in. I also went out for breakfast with my grandparents to Shady Maple. They are the same as ever. THE BEST! They're excited I'm here. They tell every missionary they see. Everyone is like hey I met your grandma the other day. She ran into my mission president twice. Grandpa gave me some family contact info that live nearby to visit and teach. My life is like a family reunion out here because everyone in the ward knows my family or is related.

It's crazy. This week was temple week so we got to go to the DC temple. It was good seeing so many missionary friends I haven't seen in a while who just happened to be going at the same time. I got to help my dad's cousin move houses. I love the ward here. They're too nice, I'm getting pretty fat already. But don't worry I found a bench press in our apartment that I didn't know was there. I'll get there.

We started teaching the Haitian family and they remember members of the church helping them during the earthquake. It's awesome to see the influence of the church worldwide. I don't have the pictures yet, but we got to go to the Philadelphia temple open house and guess who we took with us! 39 Amish people! We went in a huge bus! It was awesome they loved it. We sang their hymns during the bus ride and got super tight with them. They loved the architecture of the temple and a couple of the families are going to invite us over. They came because of a member of our ward Bro Ride. It was cool seeing them amazed at planes and the TV. It was the first VIP tour of Amish and Elder Gong our area president came! I'll get the pictures next week.

I love it here in Lancaster PA getting in touch with my roots. It's cool knowing I'm here for a reason. My grandpa has nonmember relatives in the area and you know I'll hit them up. Elder Duffy didn't feel good part of this week so it was hard not working for a couple days, but it's good.

Love you all!

Elder Ressler

Lancaster, PA - August 1, 2016

I'm doing awesome. Me and Elder Duffy are really getting along. We picked up a really solid investigator and also a family from Haiti looking for a church and we helped move in that's how we met them. We had an investigator give us some anti questions before we dropped him.  It's crazy for me that people are so doubtful before they even read the Book of Mormon. They were dumb questions not even real questioning. We work downtown a lot but most of our investigators don't actually live there. I gave a talk in church. It was really heartfelt. I went to James Buchanan's graveyard but only passed by today. We're planning on going to Shady Maple next week. Grandpa surprised me and showed up right before my zone training and found me in the hallway. It was awesome man! We worked on Green Street and Prince Street the other day  guess what, I ran into Dad's cousin... Sister Rohm and her son Christopher are in our ward. We helped them move. They were pretty funny it was one of those chaotic moves. We went to Dienner's today. We do volunteer at water street mission. Hey and I bought some new fabric for my ties today the elders are going to teach me to make ties next week.

Love,

Elder Ressler