Hey Everyone! So, I survived my first day in the MTC. Crazy stuff!
Everybody here has been telling us that if we make it until Sunday, we'll be fine. The weird thing is, it hasn't been bad at all! I get along with all of the Elders in my district really well. Food is okay. Eating at the SUU "Dining Hall" prepared me for that, so I'll be ok.
The Spirit is really strong here! We study A TON. My companion ,Elder Chappell, is an awesome guy! Unfortunately, he isn't going to Utica. His mission is the Omaha Nebraska Mission. He's gonna do awesome there! We get along really well, which is a huge relief. We set a goal to read the Book of Mormon within our time here at the MTC. We figure that we'll need to read somewhere around 28 pages a day to do it, but I believe we can! It would be an awesome experience.
Elder McPhee and Elder Davis are the two other Elders in our room and they are both going to Utica NY with me. We all get along really well and spend a LOT of time together. Group prayer in the morning and night is great with these guys!
The first day was really busy and kinda confusing. A lot of going from place to place and getting instructions from people. They got us all of our missionary stuff, then let us meet everybody in the district. Our teachers are pretty cool! Brother Roberts, our male teacher, is from South Africa and knows President Crankshaw (my old Stake President) from SUU. After that, we had a meeting with all of the new missionaries that just entered the MTC. They had us all sing the "Armies of Helaman" song, but changed the words to talk more about how we were actually the missionaries here to spread his word! It was kinda funny when we realized that the words were different. Then, we had a "Teaching Experience" where about 50 of us were all in a room and had "investigators" that we would try to answer their questions. It was kinda cool, but we have a TON of studying and work to do. But McPhee was the man and was able to find a scripture that answer one investigator's question exactly, so we were pretty excited. All in all, it was a really busy day. But, towards the end of the day we had about 90 minutes to unpack, get to know each other a little better, and study the scriptures/preach my gospel/the white bible (missionary handbook), etc. Surprisingly, I was able to sleep pretty well. It took me a little while to calm down all of the thoughts and emotions going through my mind, but I don't remember it taking too long to fall asleep. No snoring in our room last night, thank goodness, but Elder McPhee and Davis said that one of us (Either Chappell or myself) was a deep breather.. Hope it isn't me! (But, it probably is... Hopefully I don't keep anybody up!)
REALLY COOL EXPERIENCE!!!!
President Wirthlin, my mission president, requested to meet all of us Elders that were going to Utica. So, we (McPhee, Davis, Chappell, and myself) made our way to the main office of the MTC to meet with him. A bunch of security kept asking us what we were doing and where we were going. We were kinda confused on why they were being so strict on where we could go, but then we realized the Mission Presidents were just getting out of a meeting where a bunch of General Authorities were speaking to them. So while we were sitting on a couch waiting for President Wirthlin, we got to see Elders Bednar, Oaks, and Scott. We didn't get to talk to them, but it was really cool to get to see them up close. As he walked past, Elder Bednar waved at us. Since he's my favorite of the Apostles, that basically made my day itself! You could see the spirit radiating off of them.
So, that was basically my first day! P-Day will be on Thursday, but not this week, so I can only email. To all who write me, THANK YOU! We don't even know where to get mail yet... So sorry that I won't be able to write you for a while. I promise that I will next Thursday when I have a chance! It was kinda a bummer when they told us that we couldn't write anyone besides this email to our family for the first week, but it will be okay. It'll help all of us focus on the studying and work for the first week. I can't wait to hear where Adam is going on his mission! Exciting stuff.
Love all of you guys! Thanks for your wishes and prayers! Know that I am happy and doing well. I can feel the spirit and I know that this will be an extremely good experience! My prayers go out to all of you!
Love, Elder Hussey
