Sept. 20, 2010

Dear family,

The past couple of days have been tough, but I am settled in now and I am used to talking to everyone. Although some people look intimidating, most of my fear and doubt is gone, and I am able to talk to them because I know that I am doing the Lord's work. I used to be very upset when people would argue with us and close their doors on us when we haven't even got a word in, but now I just shake it off. Instead of getting angry and upset, I just get sad. I know that the things we teach will bring happiness and to have people not want to listen, is not the best feeling. Although I have only been here for a little while, I love this place, especially the area I am in.

Over the past couple of days, my companion, Elder la Rosa, and I have been having so much fun. We have been able to find many people who are interested in the things we have to say. One of the things I love on my mission is tracting. It is great to watch people on their doorstep become fascinated about our message and see that they understand the things we have to share is important. In my area, we do not really receive many referrals from members, so we have many hours of finding. About a week ago we knocked on a house and the person who answered was Richard. We weren't able to come in because he was busy, but we were able to schedule an appointment with him. He was really sincere, so we were excited to teach him. We taught him this past Sunday, and the lesson went magnificent. We taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel, and he was really receptive to our message. He told us that he let us in because he knew we would listen to him, unlike the other churches in the neighborhood. He said he respected us because we were able to discuss things pertaining to Christ, while other religions would try and force doctrine into him. We all understood one another, and the spirit and love was there. At the end we extended a conditional baptism to him and he accepted. He is a Roman Catholic, and he said he was baptized and explained to us that he grew up in this church his whole life, but he also said that if he gained a witness through prayer that the things we taught him were true, he would no doubt get baptized as a member of the church.

There have been many miracles that have already happened on the mission, but there is not enough time to write everything. Basically the work is great, the people are wonderful, I had chicken adobo last night from Filipino members+played the guitar, I love finding people to teach, but love teaching more. The place I serve in is great (sometimes we call it Africa because when you go into Edmonton, you see no white people). I finally understand how a person can sleep during a prayer, and I know that there will be much success in our area. England is the best, the church is true wherever you are in the world. The people are different, but the spirit and the doctrine is the same. I love you all.

Love,

Elder Resolme

Sept. 13, 2010

Dear family,

So I am finally here in London. Its is pretty insane. It was sad to leave the MTC, but it was more exciting to get into the field. There were two buses. One going to London South, and the other, going to London and Birmingham. We all left around 6:00 am. It took around six hours by coach to get into London. We stopped off at Birmingham to drop off a group of missionaries including my companion, and then we were off. The ride was horrible, because there was no ventilation. When we finally made it into the city, it took around an hour to get to the mission headquarters. We passed by the headquarters because there was no where to park, and then the second time, the coach driver just decided to park in the middle of the street. It was hilarious! All of us 8 missionaries piled out of the vehicle and basically stopped oncoming traffic as we unloaded our luggage. President/Sister Patch as well as other missionaries helped pile our luggage into the office. After we had a couple of meetings with the mission President and leaders, we made our way into a meeting with the Area Presidents. We sang 'Called to Serve" and then our trainers greeted us. We were all surprised. We had no idea who they were. After we met everyone took pictures and then scattered to our different missions. We took the tubes and then finally got to the flats. My first area is in ENFIELD.

Enfield is an area that needs some work. I have been in the field for about a week, and we have had only a couple of appointments a day. The rest of the time we spend is finding. We had about 20 hours of searching this week for people ready to receive the gospel. After everyday I was so tired. We knocked on so many doors, street contacted for hours, and constantly tried talking to people on the buses, but there were only a few who received our message in a positive manner. Sometimes it is discouraging, but everything pays off when you have an appointment and you are teaching about the restored gospel.

The second day I was out, we went tracting for a couple hours and people were just not interested. We finally ran into a family who let us in. The family name was Georgia Steer. They are Greek Orthodox and the son is a Christian. It was an amazing experience. Being able to teach is wonderful. its moments like this when I know i am doing the right thing, by being out here and serving. We have not had many appointments with investigators, but when we do it is so fun.

On Sunday I was finally able to meet the ward. In my area there is only 1 ward. There are probably around 80 members, and by looking at the ward, you wouldn't even be able to tell we were in London because there are only about two English families.The rest are from all sorts of different places.The ward is so diverse its mind blowing. I bore my testimony and also taught the youth for an hour. All the members are great, and the food that they have given us is very good.

This area has a great amount of potential, i cant wait to have more appointments and grow mentally and spiritually. there are definitely times where it is rough and times where it gets discouraging, but you just have to keep on working, because there are people waiting to hear the good word. Church is true, God lives, Jesus is our redeemer. Hard work pays off.

Thanks for all of the other emails. Sorry, but I can only email my family. Looks like you just have to write :)


Love,
Elder Resolme

PLEASE WRITE HIM! I know he looks forward to hearing from you. His London, England address is the second address posted on the first post in this blog.

Sept. 9, 2010

Dear family,

These past couple of weeks have gone by so fast. Preston has been such a great experience. Learning about our purpose as missionaries has been the best. On Friday we went tracting for the first time and it was difficult at first because there were so many people who just didn't want to hear about the message we had to share. Although we were discouraged at first, we kept on smiling and kept on knocking. Because we showed our willingness to serve as a messenger of Christ, Heavenly Father blessed us with people who were receptive to what we had to say. It was a wonderful experience. So tomorrow we'll all be leaving for the field. Its been a blast here in Preston, but everyone is excited to get out and serve.

Love,

Elder Resolme

Sept. 1, 2010

Dear Fam,

These past couple of days have been amazing. I am really getting used to the MTC and everything is going well. The spirit here is so strong and I am learning so much, fast! My teachers have helped my companion grow in leaps and bounds. I remember when it was hard for me to be able to teach a lesson at first because my nervousness got the best of me, but now, the spirit calms me down and words just start to flow out of my mouth. I never really understood everyone in church saying that until now. It is insane! I love it.

On Friday, we had the opportunity to go out and proselyte in Manchester. This place was packed with so many people. All of the companionships were so excited to be able to get out of the MTC and do some teaching, but when we got out of the train station, many companionships were overwhelmed (including Elder Jean and I) and we were so discouraged. Everyone was busy and had no time to hear the words that we wanted to teach them. It was tough so we tried picking people out of the crowds thinking that they would listen, but they wouldn't. We were so down on ourselves that we just kept on walking and smiling. We finally got things together and knew who we were and what were here to do. So we went up to various people no matter how intimidating they looked and introduced ourselves. Yes, we got many rejections like, " not today, I dont want to hear it, and go away" but we kept on going and we were led by the spirit to people who were prepared to receive the gospel. We were able to talk to a couple of people who were interested in the things we had to say. We gave a couple of cards with information about the church and were on our way. We didnt set any baptismal appointments! but it was all good. We even had a lady who asked us to take a picture of her in front of the mall, we found out she was a member and we got some referrals from her. She was the best. Her name is Noreen and she is from Africa. She was at the mall for her day off and she was leaving for Africa the next Tuesday. Our experience proselyting was tough, but fun because we knew that we were doing the right thing. Through the spirit, we will be able to find those who are prepared for the gospel, but those elect of God will find us, we just have to be prepared to ask the right questions.

Today we were able to go to various church historic sites. We went to the River Ribble where the first saints in England were baptized, President Hinckley's flats when he was here on his mission, and the village of Downham (where Elder Kimball preformed a great work). We walked on holy ground and it was a powerful experience. There are pictures of this stuff and the thing I'm pointing to is where President Hinckley lived as a missionary. Sooo cooool.

Scriptures that help me when I feel down- Doctrine and Covenants 84:88, 6:36. Hope you all are having as much fun as I am!!

Love,

Elder Resolme

PS these are some sweet pictures of the MTC, historic sites, and our district.