Monday, September 10, 2012

9/10/2012


Another exciting week spent here in Owego New York!
 
One of the first sweet parts of my week... Meeting the new Elders in my District! Elder Rammel (Zone Leader- Elmira) and Elder Plotkin (Corning) are both from California and are a blast. While we'll miss Elder Erdman and Tollefson, we still have a sweet district. I was joking around saying I'm slowly bringing the district down to my level, as the new missionaries are shrinking closer and closer to my height.. Heheh :)


The next exciting part of my week? Stopping at Burlington Coat Factory after District Meeting to find a winter coat! While there, we were able to find a very nice looking, professional, coat that fits me almost perfect. I don't look like a marshmallow when I have it on! Because it was left over from last years winter gear and a few other details, I was able to pick it up pretty cheap. I took it for a test run during a storm the other day and it's really good at keeping my warm and dry, and with a liner will be perfect for the winter months here. I was also able to get a "Power Tie"(as Elder Baird referred to it) at Burlington. That just means that it's a sweet tie that the missionaries and people see that's just awesome.. So I like it! Maybe you'll see it in pictures sometime soon... :) Elder Baird has a thing for "Paisley" ties, so he was super excited to find some sweet cheap ties while we were there. It was pretty entertaining to watch!
 

 
This week has been filled with some pretty weird storms. It's kinda weird, we'll go out in the morning and the sky will be filled with blue skies and sunshine, but you can just feel something weird in the air... Then sure enough, in about 5 minutes a bunch of dark clouds, rain, and wind will blow in. It'll be crazy weather for 20 minutes or so, then it'll just stop. Then, it normally starts up again for another 10 or 15 minutes, and will be done for the day. Luckily, Elder Baird and I have had appointments at all the right times. Right when the huge rain drops start coming down, we'll run into our lessons apartment and barely escape the storm. While we're in teaching, you'll hear all of the crazy weather outside, then it'll let up just as we leave the appointment. We have gotten caught in the storms a few times, but it hasn't been anything my new coat and an umbrella can't handle!
 


The awesome part about these storms- The clouds hold electricity in them and glow like nothing I've ever seen when the sun goes down. It's made AMAZING sunsets this past week. Made for some good pictures too!
 

One of our investigators was having a hard time with a few things this past week, so after talking about it for a little while, she asked me if I could give her a Priesthood Blessing. It was an honor of her to ask, but it scared me to death! While I've stood in on quite a few now, this was actually my first time ever giving the blessing. It was really cool to see how much the Spirit was guiding me in what I said.. In fact, I can't even remember much of it, but Elder Baird said it was really powerful. Afterward, she told us that Elder Baird and I made a strong spiritual circle and she could actually feel a difference in the surrounding area. It was cool to see how much the Priesthood can help, even if it's just for giving people comfort and peace in their situations.

We also had a great visit with President and Sister Wirthlin on Saturday. We had talked to them previously and they said they were going to stop by and see us at the Church at 5:00, but our appointment at 4 fell through, and on our way back to the apartment they called and told us they were there and ready to see us. It was pretty lucky our appointment fell through and also very lucky that we keep our apartment clean. I wasn't embarrassed to have them come through and President Wirthlin liked a few things we had and was taking pictures to show as examples of the missionary white board, etc.


I had a really great interview with President Wirthlin. He was just seeing how I'm doing, if I've been able to adjust to the mission field, if I need anything from him, and then we ended with a prayer. I've been able to get to know President Wirthlin pretty well now and I really love the man. He's always got the spirit with him and he's already taught me a lot about being a missionary.

While it's been an exciting week, missionary work is still going good! We have a few really awesome 'Gators (aka Investigators) that we're working with, as well as some sweet less active families that are starting to come back to church. While sometimes progression is slow, we are making progress in the work. We had an excellent Sunday yesterday with a Linger Longer afterward. Our Investigator and a few of the less actives that came really enjoyed the excellent food and getting to know the ward better.

 Next week should be exciting! We have a 1/3 mission conference in Liverpool with Shayne M. Bowen, a member of the 70. (For a glimpse at what he is like, you can watch an awesome Mormon Message based on one of his talks here- https://www.lds.org/youth/video/reclaimed?lang=eng ) It should be really awesome! Because of that being on Monday however... P-Day next week will instead be on Tuesday. It should be an awesome experience and I'll be excited to tell you all about it!

 One thing that I've been learning recently... There is SO MUCH awesome stuff that is on LDS.org. The "Bible Videos" are fantastic and show Christ's ministry in an excellent way. If you have a smartphone or iPad, search LDS Church and download the Bible Video App. You won't be disappointed! Also, I've been finding out so much about church history on LDS.org. It's really cool to really dive into and learn more about how it is that we have this awesome Gospel in our lives. I took all of these resources for granted back home, and I'd like to challenge all of you to get on there sometime and find something cool for yourself, especially as conference is coming up soon.

Well, the Church is true! I'm getting constant reminders of that on a daily basis and I'm trying my best to help people recognize that as well. Some of the weird rumors people have heard about our church will never cease to confound me, but we can just do our best to live our lives in the correct way to show people that we have the true Gospel. Be good examples in all you do, and it'll make the missionaries jobs a lot easier. ;)

Love you all! Hope things are going well out West. Thanks for all of the love and support!

 
-Elder Mitch Hussey

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