Another week down! It's crazy to think that I've been out here for over one
whole month so far! Some missionaries count how long they've been out by the
amount of Fast Sundays they've had, so if I'm doing that- 2/24 down!
Crazy!
This past week was a really good one, although slightly tougher than the
previous weeks. We had about 10 appointments cancel on us throughout the week,
so we finally made it out tracting. Fun stuff! I'm proud to say that I made it
17 days in the mission field without tracting. Pretty impressive feat if I say
so myself. Haha! But that helped me appreciate how nice it is to have
appointments. We had some very hot days last week, and walking from door to door
got hot pretty quick! But nobody was rude to us as we were tracting and I was
only freaked out by some dogs one time, so all is well. :D
As I look back on it, there was some exciting stuff that happened this
week! Monday was P-Day, which is always awesome! Then on Tuesday, we
had District Meeting in ElMira and stopped at Walmart to pick up a GPS. That was
pretty fun to get to figure out! I will definitely need it though... The roads
here in New York are really confusing. The way Elder Baird puts it- "It looks
like they spilled a plate of spaghetti on a piece of paper and decided that was
where the roads should go". Makes me appreciate the grid system they have going
in Salt Lake!
On Wednesday we met with a few solid investigators and had a really great
day. I received a really great compliment by some potential investigators. They
told me- "We've had a lot of people come and try to convince us to join their
church, but there's something different about you. You show you represent Christ
by what you do, not just what you preach." I'd say that's a good compliment to
get! That, mixed with a package from home, makes the day about as good as it can
get!
Then on Thursday, I finally noticed that the days were starting to go by
quicker and quicker each day. It helps when we have a lot of appointments and
service to do, but still- The days aren't dragging on as much. On Thursday night
we went and had dinner with the Bruns family in "West Corners, NY" (Endicott).
Really fun family with SUPER CUTE 2 and 4 year old daughters. They were really
fun to eat with. And West Corners was really nice! If I were ever to live in New
York after my mission, it would be in a place like that. Beautiful houses, green
hills everywhere, neighborhoods that weren't scary. About as much as you can ask
for! So that was a pretty nice night. Now I just need to convince Elder Baird to
go tracting up there... :)
Friday was the hottest day I've had in New York, and the day that SIX of our appointments fell through. BUMMER. So this is when we got to go tracting for a few hours. So the day seemed to drag on.. Until!.... We stopped by a investigator's house who was never home, named Eric. He is a super solid guy that always grew up semi religious, but is just trying his best to find what he believes is true and feel the Spirit. We had a sweet lesson with him about the Restoration and it made all of the tracting seem worth it. Then when we went out to our car, there was a note on our car window.. It said- "Elders- If you like Zucchini Bread.... Come inside!! -The Cox Family". We had parked the car close to their house, and they noticed it and put the note out there. So of course, being two exhausted and hungry missionaries, we weren't going to pass up an offer like that! So we went and visited with them for a minute before heading home for the night.
Saturday was another hot day where a lot of appointments fell through. But,
we helped 2 people, Sis. Newbury and Tom Thomas, with service projects they
needed help with. Sis Newbury had some trees come down in the storm last week,
so we helped her haul all of them out of the yard. I'm pretty sure we were
discovering new species of insects left and right as we were hauling those
trees! Kinda gross, but funny at the same time. Then later in the day, we were
helping Tom Thomas move a playset he had built for his daughter... The first 2
pieces were easy, but the last piece was HUGE. It was like a tree house, with no
tree needed. Instead, it had a bunch of 6 by 6 boards holding it up.. And 3 of
us to move it. It probably weighed at least 500 pounds.. With a lot of hard
work, prayer, and honestly, luck, we were able to get it on its' side and slide
over to where it needed to be. I still don't know how, but we got it! The next
challenge... Getting it back up on it's feet so it can be used again! Haha
Sunday was an awesome Fast and Testimony meeting. Elaine, a super solid
investigator, was able to make it to Sacrament Meeting for the first time and
loved it! I was feeling the Spirit a lot through the meeting and some very
inspiring testimonies were given. Even I got up there to bear mine! And
amazingly, the 2 fasts I've done on my mission so far haven't even been bad. I
haven't felt fatigued or extremely hungry yet.. Knock on wood! And this was also
the first time I've ever paid Fast Offerings! Pretty good! It was really an
awesome Sunday, and we ended it with a sweet lesson with The Mercer family.
Sister Mercer was baptized about 4 months ago, and her husband is close. We just
need to get them to Church more often and help Bro. Mercer stop smoking. So we
had a lesson with them about satan and his attempts to influence our lives. This
is when I had a little inspiration and I like the way that it came out. Towards
the end of the lesson, we told them that satan didn't want them to read
scriptures, pray, or go to Church. In fact, he'll do whatever he can to try and
make it inconvenient for us to do so. So I just told them that we need to "Stick
it to satan". When we think about how miserable satan wants us to be, we just
need to think about how much it must tick him off when we do good, spiritual
things, and do them! I bet it drives him nuts to see people making these huge
changes in their lives and coming closer to Christ. Just my personal thoughts
about it. :)
So that was my week! Email time always flies by... But next week I'll tell
you a bit more about Owego, New York, the crazy animals out here, etc. Should be
exciting!
I'd just like to leave all of you with a challenge to Stick it to satan. He
might try to keep you from reading scriptures and praying, but just think about
how much it drives him crazy when you do those things.. Then do them! The more
good we have in our lives, the less control he has. Who wouldn't want
that?
Hope all is well back at home! I'm doing good out here and learning to love
the work.
Love you all!
-Elder Mitch Hussey
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