12.30.2013

Hey Family!

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas and that you have a HAPPY NEW YEAR! (almost) I hope we're all able to evaluate our lives, set goals, and then actually accomplish them, for an unaccomplished goal is only a wish.. And wishes only make things happen in Aladdin. :)

Here's what happened during our Christmas..

Twas the night before Christmas and in Lowville's apartment,

surrounding the Christmas tree were the gifts you all sent.
(I'm going to stop trying to rhyme now because that first line took way too long to do...)

Pretty cool tree setup, huh? Also, we had tons of pictures of Christ.

We woke up at 6:29, managed to roll out of bed and say our prayers before I really realized it was Christmas. SO...... We got the peanut butter hot cocoa going and took some pictures to document how excited we were to be awake.... A member here named Sister Call made us sweet knitted slippers! They're so cool!

 

 

 

We drank our hot cocoa and then opened gifts. It was simple, practical, and a fun start to the day. After we were done, got ready, and then studied the Nativity, we went to visit some people in the Nursing Home here in Lowville. We had some good visits with Sister Collatz, Sister Shanks, and a few non-members we talked with for a while. We gave them all a picture of Christ and shared what Christmas was really about. It was great seeing them and it really seemed to make their day.

After visiting them and grabbing a PB&J, we decided to play Santa Claus for a little bit. We made the runs around our area and dropped off the pictures of Christ that Heather had sent to me. (We had gotten frames and wrapped them the Preparation Day before.) We were also able to stop by several members homes and sing a Christmas Song with them. People really seemed to enjoy it and we got a bunch of sweets.

 

The rest of the day was kinda a blur. We saw a lot of people, then headed up to Jay's house. Elder Sedgwick Skyped while I talked with Jay, Sister Ryle, and Garrett. We ate a delicious meal of turkey, ham, stuffing, potatoes, rolls, etc. Then, I was blessed to have the opportunity to Skype with all of you! I loved getting to see all of you and talk with you. Maylee sure was cute! Heather sent me more cute Christmas photos of her. It really seemed like all of you were doing well and the chance to talk with all of you was one of the greatest gifts I could receive on Christmas. The time went by quick, but it was really fun getting to talk with all of you.

Afterward, we talked with Jay and Sister Ryle for a while, took some pictures, then headed back to Lowville. 

 

 

What I really seemed to understand this Christmas was how important it is to appreciate and love your loved ones. I feel so blessed to have you guys as my family and I know how lucky I am to be a part of it. Because of that, I also felt the Joy that came from visiting those who might no longer have family. We can all look out for each other and love one another, because we're all spiritual brothers and sisters! I love spending time with everyone. Family bonds and strong friendships are really what life is all about. I really enjoyed Christmas though and am grateful for the opportunity I have to serve as a missionary during such a sacred holiday. It taught me a lot about Christ, his birth, and his life. I loved Christmas and I hope you all loved it too! It sounds like you all had a good day.

It is crazy to hear about people being home and reporting on their missions already.. The 2 years goes by quickly! Jared also emailed me and sounded like he was doing well. It does seem like it is a difficult thing to adjust to though! Good thing I don't have to worry about that for a while. ;)

We also taught during combined 3rd hour yesterday. We focused on creating a Branch Mission Plan and personal goals to share the Gospel. It was really good! We just have to determine that we are going to act and make a conscious effort to share the Gospel. Then, if we pray for opportunities and then look for them, we'll be blessed with missionary experiences. It sounds like you guys are having a lot more interaction with missionaries that we ever really did when I was growing up. That's a good thing!

2014 should be good. I'm setting goals to strengthen myself spiritually, mentally, and physically by taking simple steps. Going to bed on time, drinking more water, and bearing my testimony more often. I'm going to try really hard to not overwhelm myself with goals and make sure that I actually go through with what I'd like to accomplish. I hope that the new year goes well for you and that you're all doing good.

Love you guys!

-Elder Hussey

 

12.23.2013

Hey Family!

Merry (almost) Christmas! It sure is an exciting time of the year, huh? I know one thing for sure.... Walmart is PACKED! You should have seen the lines this morning as we were doing our shopping. It was ridiculous! But it was really cool to see how happy people were when we were just nice and smiled.

Things are going really good this week! We did get a little bit more snow, then it got really cold, then it warmed up to about 45 degrees for 2 days, and then the weather got really crazy! We had an ice storm hit the county above us, and we got a little bit of it as well. That was pretty weird to see! Luckily, the roads were really clear and we didn't have to cancel church again.. Although there were only about 10 of us there. It was one of the best days at church we've had though! We were asked to fill in for the Christmas Program (because most people involved in it weren't able to make it to Church), so I gave a talk about the Nativity and how we can relate the lessons from it to our life. I talked about studying scriptures, being humble, following the prophets, etc. It went really well considering I did absolutely no preparing for it.

The ice storm had a lot of people worried this week. In 1997, there was a really bad ice storm that hit this area and took the power out for about 2 weeks.. Luckily, it was only 24 hours for most people this time. It was really weird seeing everything coated with ice though. As you opened the car door, there would be a "POP" and the ice would explode off of the door. Walking on frozen grass was a little unique as well!

The mission is pretty fun during the Holidays. People are all really happy and excited about Christmas, and it's really easy to talk with people about Christmas. The thing that has really struck me this year is how many people feel that Christmas is too commercialized! Several people I've talked to have shared their frustration with the Christmas Season being turned into a money making season. Hopefully everyone will start to feel this way, then start to act accordingly to make a difference! I've really enjoyed working towards Christmas without being focused on gifts, spending money, etc. I was really blessed to be here in Lowville and have a unique idea for a gift to send to you guys! Make sure you microwave it- It's much better microwaved. :)

I'm excited to see all of you on Christmas! It will be really exciting to see Maylee in real (kinda) life, as well as share part of Christmas day with you guys. Because we're allowed to call for 30 minutes and then Skype for 30, I'll probably end up calling you at the start so we can get Skype all set up/figured out.

This Christmas I've learned a lot about service and how simple it is to spread Christmas Joy! On our way into Walmart this morning, I saw a lady get done unloading her car and she was about to walk the cart to the storage place, so I offered to take it for her. She got a big smile on her face and said thanks, and I responded by saying "Merry Christmas!" It was really easy for me, and it really seemed to brighten up her day. If only we could spread Christmas Cheer all year round, huh? Try to make sure that we aren't just extra nice and happy during Christmas, but do it throughout the whole year. That's been one of my thoughts and a goal I'll try to accomplish this upcoming year.

Well, I hope that Christmas Eve is great for all of you. Looking back, I really appreciate doing the Christmas Caroling, watching Christmas Story with everyone, and then reading through the Nativity. I love all of you guys.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 -Elder Hussey

12.16.2013

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Guess what the total snow amount is up to now?

Made your guesses? We've gotten....................... 6 Feet of snow! Woohoo! It's actually getting to the point where there is enough snow that it is starting to compress itself and look like less. The "Powder" is almost compact enough that you can walk on it! It's pretty exciting!

The Storm started on Wednesday, which was when we got our first 2 feet. Then we got a break Thursday morning, ran to Watertown to do another baptismal interview, then the snow started back up as we came back into town. We got another 1.5-2 feet that night, but weather was cleared up enough in the morning that we were able to go to Utica for a Zone Training Meeting. Then it started again Saturday night and dumped another foot or two. In fact... Church was cancelled! That was really really weird. I didn't like that. It's funny how you can come to appreciate something like Church so much. In the past, I didn't notice how much of an impact missing church had on me. However, I could tell a big difference to my day yesterday! But yeah! It's been pretty snowy here in Lowville. It's gotten below 0 degrees a few times, but then it's warmed up again and snowed some more. Everyone is talking about a warm front that is going to hit us this Friday. The rumor is it's going to be 50 degrees. If that's true, and all of this melts, we're probably going to get hammered by another storm. The weather fluctuating this much is crazy and I'm sure it'll be a winter to remember!

This last week has been really good here in Lowville though. It's really taught me about the importance of service. We've gone out and shoveled a lot! We would walk almost everywhere (because roads were bad) and just shoveled out people's walks! However, after doing a lesson and walking back the same way, it didn't even look like we did anything. But doing anonymous service that nobody will probably know about feels pretty good!

We had a less-active member that we really were wanting to meet with on Wednesday, but she had been unresponsive to our efforts to contact her all week. So, we had the idea to go with a member and shovel out her driveway! As we did so, she ended up seeing us, coming out to talk with us, then inviting us in and making us grilled cheese sandwiches. It was great! It turned out that she had just been having a really difficult week and was struggling with some things, and she didn't feel like talking to anyone. However, after our visit with her, she felt a lot better and has been doing really good! We've been in contact with her several times and she is really looking forward to meeting with us later this week.

When we went to Utica on Friday, our Zone Leaders (Elder McPhee and Elder Davis- Both Elders that I came out with!) gave a training on Christ and the "Christlike Attributes". It was a really cool meeting! They had assigned everyone to study one of the Christlike Attributes before and I studied humility. In my study, I really came to understand how important it is that we trust God. Unfortunately, I have the tendency to trust my own knowledge and wisdom a little bit too much. This helped me realize how important it is to trust though. Trust that God is in control. Trust that all of the other missionaries have the Spirit and have good ideas I should listen to. Trust that God trusts me. It was actually a pretty enlightening experience in preparation for the training. Then the training was really good and helped me understand the Savior a little bit better, and recognize that there is a lot that I don't know. I still have a lot to learn! But I feel like I have a new sense of peace and direction in my life since Friday. It's a subtle difference, but I think it will make a big difference throughout the rest of my mission and my life. It was really good.

I cannot believe Christmas is already so close! It absolutely baffles me. Honestly, I feel like it was Dec 2nd just yesterday. I'm not sure what will happen with the packages, but it'll all work out however it works out. :) I'm not sure what we're going to do this year for Christmas.. I might see if I can order some pictures of Christ again.  Then we could get frames out here and maybe get that together before Christmas. I had plans to figure this out far in advance, but Christmas has just snuck up on me!

I have something that I'm going to get sent to the house. Hopefully that makes it there okay. Besides what I've mentioned above, that's about all that is going on out here! I love the Christmas Season and the things which it reminds us of. I'm grateful for all of you and the things that you do for me!

I love you guys!

-Elder Hussey

12.9.2013

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

What a special time of the year! There are so many unique blessings that we have during the Christmas Season. We talked about this at District Meeting and talked about all of the unique missionary opportunities we will have this Christmas Season. It is fun to think about how we can share the true joy of Christmas with others, and I like the ideas that you sent Mom. One thing that is really fun that you could all possibly do is set up a time for the missionaries to come and share a Christmas Message about the true meaning of Christmas, then invite some non-members or less-active members. We're trying to get that set up with a lot of the members here in Lowville.

We had a pretty unique experience right after our District Meeting. As a district, we all went to the City Hall in Watertown and decorated Christmas Trees for something like the "Festival of Trees" in Utah. That was really fun! There was Christmas music, everyone was happy, and we were able to help other people set up their trees after we finished ours. It was a lot of fun and we were able to meet new people we wouldn't have met otherwise! Here's a picture of us by the tree-

As you can see, everyone had a lot of fun and it was a good experience. After that, I did an exchange with the missionaries in Watertown. It was exciting to see another area and be back in a city for a while. We had a good opportunity to share a little bit about Christmas when a lady let us in and we watched a Nativity video with her, a neighbor, and a few kids. It was really good! The exchange was really good, but it helped me appreciate Lowville a lot. I love getting to serve in Lowville! It's such a great place.

Elder Sedgwick and I are doing really well here in Lowville! We're being blessed with quite a few people to teach and exciting things are starting to happen. I know that there are people that are searching for the Gospel, and we will find several of them this next month. The Lord just asks us to do our best and then he provides the miracles.

This morning, I was studying in Alma 26 and verse 17 struck me. How amazing is it that God is so merciful to us, that he is willing to "snatch" us from our natural, carnal state? God loves us enough that he was willing to give his Son, Jesus Christ. As we think about how much we love our families, we can barely understand how hard this must have been. But that is the joyous message of Christmas! Jesus Christ came to this earth for the purpose of helping us overcome our sinful nature. We can be transformed as we come unto Christ, and I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ does change us. We can become saints as we come to know Christ. If this knowledge is one of the greatest gifts God can give us, it can be one of the greatest things we can ever give to anyone else.

I'm grateful for all of you!  It is tough being on a mission, but there's nowhere else I'd rather be during the Christmas Season. I look forward to seeing all of you when we get to Skype, and I hope that you all are able to think of some good ways to share the Christmas Spirit! Love you all.

-Elder Hussey

12.2.2013

I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was really good for us here in Lowville. Unfortunately, I woke up in the morning with a little bit of a stomach bug... that wasn't very good. But, I decided I would humble myself and let God help me out, so I confessed that I felt sick to Elder Sedgwick and had him give me a blessing. I drank a bunch of water, took some vitamin C, then I slept for a few hours. When I woke up, I felt a lot better and we got out working.
 

Holidays are different on the Mission. In the past, I thought that I didn't want to "bug" or "annoy" people on the Holidays, because they were spending time with their families. However, I realized that it's a wonderful time to share a message about Jesus Christ! People are home, relaxing, and reflecting on what they're grateful for. That's a much better time than when Dad's at work, Mom's cooking dinner, and the kids have a basketball game they have to leave for soon. So we got out and did some tracting, and we actually met some really nice people and pretty much everybody was really nice, even if they weren't interested. That was pretty neat.
 

For dinner, we went to one of our good non-member friends, Jay. He is such a cool guy! I may have mentioned him before.We met him through a member of the Carthage Ward, then have done service for him a few times (planting apple trees and yard work projects). We've gotten pretty close to him and his son and they were able to learn that we're (referring to Mormons) not that weird. But Jay is a really good cook and he put on a really good meal for us. I was stuffed! We let the food settle for a little while, then got out the pie. I felt like I was going to die! (partially because I ate so much, but also partially because I was still sick... ) But, I felt better after a little while. Then, the cool part! Jay told us that he was ready to hear about "The Plan". We had tried to go through the lessons in the past with him, and it had never worked. But his interest had been peaked enough that he was finally ready to hear. So we had a great lesson on Pre-Earth Life, Adam and Eve, and the Purpose of this life. Because we have a good relationship established with Jay and his son already, it was a great discussion where we were all able to talk about the Gospel and really see how it can help us in our lives. It was really cool to see them listening and really contemplating the things that we taught and we're going again to explain the rest of "The Plan" later this week.
 

The rest of our week was good. We had to go to Watertown to do a baptismal interview on Saturday, which went well. The investigator was a nice guy that was looking forward to his baptism. It's exciting to see people accepting the Gospel.  After the investigator left, we walked out to get in our car. Just before we pulled away, the Sister Missionaries came out and had a funny look on their face. Turns out, they had a flat tire. I realize that their are certain skills out there I need to learn that I have never thought about, such as putting spare tires on. Luckily, Elder Sedgwick kinda knew what to do, and we were able to get the spare on and they made it to a shop and got everything fixed. You never know when that's going to happen, do you?
 

Yesterday in Church we only had one recent convert there and no investigators, so we went to the Gospel Doctrine class. The lesson was on Doctrine and Covenants Section 134 and I learned quite a bit! I don't know if I had ever really read through that section, but I learned a lot about how we should try to be active participants and know what's going on in our county's politics. I was kinda glad that I wasn't in charge of teaching that lesson though, because I'm sure it would be difficult to keep the discussion from going to specific politics/politicians. But it was really good and opened my eyes on how we should be as members of the Church.
 

It is crazy to hear about all of the missionaries coming home. I cannot believe Julia is coming home, and I'm not sure if you knew this, but because of the storm in the Philippines Jared was coming home 2 weeks early. Something like that. So you might see him sooner than you thought! Isn't it amazing to see how quickly 2 years can fly by? It's a good thing I still have over 6 months left of my mission. :D "I have work enough to do".
 

Speaking of that ,I have really grown to appreciate the hymn book over the past month. I still am not the biggest fan of singing (probably because I wish I was more musically inclined), but the words and messages found in the hymns are amazing! I've been trying to learn some of the hymns that we don't sing as often and have learned a lot from them. There's also scriptures associated with each hymn and they can be powerful when memorized and reflected upon. One that I really like is "Know This That Every Soul is Free". The words are powerful! In the First Presidency Preface, it states- "We hope leaders, teachers, and members who are called on to speak will turn often to the hymnbook to find sermons presented powerfully and beautifully in verse" which I think is a fantastic idea! I want to try and utilize the words of a hymn next time I speak in church.
 

Well, the work continues on in Lowville! We're going to be making a big push this Christmas Season on sharing the true meaning and joy in the Christmas Season, and I would invite all of you to do the same. We have to help people remember how important Christ and our families are. I'm very grateful for you guys. I miss you to, but I'm glad to be out here. I love serving as a missionary and know that it's important that we make this sacrifice to be further God's work. Thanks for your examples as well.

Love you!

-Elder Hussey

P.S. Just in case you'd like to see how excited I was during the first snowfall... Love you guys!

11.25.3013

Hello family!
 

So, first things first... I'm not being transferred?!  I was pretty surprised as well. Elder Sedgwick is not moving either. So we get to continue to work Lowville! The weird thing is the realization I had that my next area will probably be my last. :(    I am excited that I get to stay here in Lowville for Thanksgiving and Christmas! We are going to continue to make progress and I'm sure we'll see some cool stuff happen. And I was called as District Leader, which means I'll go on exchanges with other missionaries and give the trainings at District Meeting. That will mix things up enough to keep it exciting! It'll be good.

I didn't ever tell you about Rich passing away? It was pretty sad. Elder Bybee called me to let me know about it. He had a heart attack, then was taken to a hospital in Vermont where he had triple-bypass surgery. That all went pretty well, but then he had a piece of tissue go into one of the heart valves and he had a stroke. They were able to stabilize him, but he was completely on life support. Rich doesn't have any living family (only child, no recent spouse or anything) and had Elder Bybee as the point of contact, so it was Elder Bybee's decision to keep him on life support or let him go. He prayed and fasted about it, and felt that Rich wouldn't want to be left like he was, and they let him go. I had a really good talk with Elder Bybee about it all.  I was pretty sad, but I feel like the experience with Brother Laconti passing was a form of preparation for this experience for me. It kept me from having any form of shock when I found out. It was just a simple understanding that Rich wasn't gone forever and that I'd get to see him again. Apparently the missionaries that were in Massena found a box full of family history stuff in Rich's apartment. They gave it to the mission office.

So Mary's baptism was a good experience! She is such a sweet lady! Here story is pretty simple actually...

She moved to Lowville about 6 months ago. She had met Becky, our recent convert, and Becky invited her to come to Church. She came, really liked it, and has come every week since! She went to a different church when she was a little girl but wanted to find a church that she wanted to attend. She has done pretty good about reading the Book of Mormon and got an answer that it was true, accepted everything we taught, committed to obey all of the commandments, and just got baptized! She said a prayer at church yesterday and it was so great! She was thanking Heavenly Father for helping her find the Church and for everyone that was a member and for us missionaries. It was really cool. The baptism went well, although that crazy snow storm I mentioned earlier almost caused us to cancel it. There were some places of Lewis County that got 7 inches of snow in about 2 hours!  Here in Lowville, we only got 3 inches. It was wild though! And we had to get out the heavy winter gear. This winter could be a wild ride!

Anyway, I know that this work is true! God has prepared people for the Gospel and it's just up for us all to find them. Mary is a good example of somebody that was ready and will be a great member of the Church. I'm so grateful I got to be here when we found her, taught her, and saw her enter the waters of baptism. It truly is a great privilege we all have to be members of the Church.

Love you all!

-Elder Hussey

11.18.2013

Hey Family!

 

The weather in Lowville keeps swinging back and forth.. Last week, right after I emailed saying that it was really nice weather, we walked out and it was really stormy. Then that night, it snowed and we woke up to about 2 inches of snow on the ground. Then two days later, the snow was all gone and it was about 50 degrees. Then today, it is raining, cold, and windy. When it's a consistent temperature, I can adjust pretty well. But, the weather has seemed to be getting pretty temperamental all over the world the past few years, so the days of consistent weather might be a thing of the past. I guess that's part of why God created us so that we could adapt!

 

That sounds like it was fun having the sisters missionaries come over for dinner. Did we ever had the missionaries over to eat when I was growing up? I can't ever really remember any interaction with missionaries. That's one thing I really like about wards outside of Utah. Everyone here knows the missionaries pretty well! Hopefully I'll be able to have interaction with missionaries later in my life! I didn't realize how great the calling I had at college (Ward Mission Leader) was until now.. It'd be way cool to be involved back home!

 

I don't know when we'll be able to have iPads. It's weird, we've heard tons of different rumors about how the iPads work and everything.. I'm used the the work as it is, so that doesn't bug me, but not knowing the details kinda drives me crazy! We'll get them while I'm still out though. President Wirthlin has said it will happen in the first quarter of 2014. I guess we'll see! And yes, the NYUM missionaries get to go on a Palmyra trip about 2 weeks before they go home.

 

That's really funny you already saw those pictures on facebook from District Meeting! I wonder how they got up there so quick.. Did the Hammari's post them? And it was pretty funny... I was wearing a yellow tie all through district meeting, then before we took pictures, I ran in and put on the cheese tie as a joke. It took a long time before anyone noticed, and even then, I think only a few of the Elders noticed it. Fun stuff. The camera doing the video wasn't me, but all of the cameras were lined up on the Piano. So it probably got me as I went up to get mine. I wonder who's camera that was... Taking district pictures is always pretty fun though. Gives us a chance to be goofy. I didn't know the outside world would see us acting goofy so quick though.. There's a lesson to be learned there.. :)

So transfer calls is this Saturday! I'm super anxious to find out what is happening... I feel like it would probably be me leaving. However, there is a chance that we'll both be staying. But I kind of have the dreadful feeling that I'll be leaving. It's amazing to see how many good friends I've made in Lowville. I have a lot of people that I'm going to miss a ton if I get transferred. But, if I do, there'll be plenty of new people in my next area that I'll go to. I'm not sure what is happening though. I guess only time will tell! Being transferred the day before Thanksgiving would be kinda a bummer. We'll see!

Things are going really good in Lowville. This past week was great! We taught 15 lessons, which was really great. We still struggle to find new investigators, but the ones that we have are doing good. We have one investigator that had her baptismal interview and is ready for Baptism this Saturday, Nov 23rd, at 4 PM. We're pretty excited for her! She's one of the first that I've been there fully from start to finish with. She's a great lady though, and she asked me to baptize her. It'll be a really good experience! The Lowville Branch continues to grow (slowly) and the work is progressing all over the world. We're lucky to be a part of it! No matter where or how we're involved, it's the same great redeeming work. I know that the Church is true, the Gospel blesses families, and that Christ is our Savior. That's such amazing knowledge to have and I definitely feel the need to share it with everyone I can while I'm out here. I love all of you guys and am so grateful for all that you do.

-Elder Hussey

11.4.2013

Hello Family!

It's crazy to think that it's already daylight saving time... I'm not a huge fan of it though. I must admit, sleeping for one extra hour was probably one of the best gifts I could be given. I feel SO good, just from that one night of getting enough sleep. However, it is now pitch-black by about 5:15 PM, and it gets light at about 6 AM. Ironically, I'd prefer that it stay dark in the morning and then stay light until about 7 or 8, but I guess we'll just have to adjust. It's kinda creepy when 2 guys dressed in black knock on your door when it's dark outside, but it makes it really easy for us to tell who is home and who isn't. So I guess there's pros and cons to every situation.

 

It's almost winter! It looks really nice outside right now, but it's probably somewhere around 35 degrees. And it doesn't really get above that. We've seen snow a few times falling, but it has yet to stick on the ground yet. I guess we'll see! I have my winter coat, boots, and gloves ready to go for when it does hit!

 

Halloween was pretty uneventful for us out here. We had a few lessons early in the day, then when Trick-or-Treaters were on the streets we went to a members house for dinner and watched the church movie, "The Testaments". We put Mormon.org cards with a note that said "Happy Halloween! :D " on the stuff they were giving out, but they probably only had 6 people total come to their house. That was odd, considering they live in Main Street... But it was really cold and rainy on Halloween, so that probably discouraged most parents from going out.

 

So I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but one of the highlights of Lowville has been the CHEESE. It's delicious. We go and get fresh cheese curd every couple of weeks, which I have really grown to love. Yum. But this past week, we decided to finally get a picture with "Lady LeWinDa Milkzalot", the biggest Dairy Cow in New York. Oh yeah!

Pretty wild, huh? Then, I couldn't help it... I bought a new tie. Just to warn you though, it's pretty "cheesy". Ha. Haha. :)

It's a foam cheese tie! It is pretty sweet. It smells like cheese even! (Disclaimer- I'm not sure if that is intentional, or if it's just because it was sitting in a cheese store so long..) But it's pretty cool! I've wanted to have some sort of souvenir from each area that I've served in. I have some rock called "slag" from Owego, pictures in the ghetto by the graffiti from Syracuse, some really old sweet ties from a catholic thrift shop in Massena, and now a cheese tie for Lowville. I don't know what I'll ever do with it besides look at it with nostalgia, but it was too cool to resist. :)

I love fast and testimony meeting. It's sometimes scary when you don't know what people are going to say, but it always ends up going well. We had one of our investigators get up in sacrament yesterday to bear her testimony, and it was great! We could tell she was scared, but she was so sincere and sweet as she did it. It was a good moment to remember. We also had another investigator come to church for the first time yesterday named Jerry. He's a good guy! We've been meeting with him for a while, so it's great he finally came. He seemed to enjoy it a lot and we're actually going to play pool at his house later this afternoon! That'll be sweet.

Things are continuing to go well here in Lowville. We now have about 10 investigators, which is a huge relief. Things were kinda stressful when we only had one. We're just continuing to work hard and be diligent and obedient, and we're seeing blessings come as we do so. We taught 13 lessons this past week, which was the most I've taught in quite a while, and it looks like we're going to have another good week.

We have an awesome potential that is dating a less-active member of another congregation named Jay. He's the guy that we've helped plant trees for. Anyway, he makes super good food for us when we come over, and he invited us over for Thanksgiving. We were super excited for that, until we realized something... Transfers is the day before Thanksgiving. :( Dang! Now I'm super worried about what is going to happen at transfers, even though it's still about a month away! It's crazy to think about how fast time goes by.. But, nothing I can do about that! "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not unto think own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5-6  Or, in other words, "Do your best and let God do the rest". :)

Things are good for us out here! I continue to learn about how simple the Gospel is, but what a profound impact it can have on our lives. I'm recognizing more and more things that I can work on and change to be more like the Savior, but luckily, I'm being blessed with patience to keep working with myself and not get fed up. Repentance is sweet!

Love you all,
-Elder Hussey

10.29.2013

Good morning family!

 

Sorry I didn't email yesterday.  I forgot to mention last week that we had a general authority coming to do a mission tour, and that P-Day would be on Tuesday because of that.  So, P-Day is today!

 

Things are going good in Lowville.  We had a fairly good week with relatively good weather. There was one nearby town that got about 5 inches of snow, but luckily we didn't get hit by that storm.. We can still see the ground as of now, but almost everyone says that Lowville always gets some snow before Halloween.  I guess we'll see!

 I was reminded me a little bit about something someone said in this last sessions of conference.  I think it was Elder Holland saying if we don't take time to be well, we'll end up taking time to be sick.  Sometimes we have so much on our plates it seems like we don't have any time to slow down and let ourselves catch up to everything that's going on, but that's the time we definitely need a break from the world to catch up.   As a missionary, it's kind of easy to see that because we don't have the craziness of the temporal world throwing hurdles at us, but it applies spiritually as well.  Take time for the things that matter most!

 

So this week I got something in the mail that made my entire day/month/year!  If it was only for this one letter, I would consider my mission a success.  Here it is-

This is from a lady I taught a year ago in Owego

How great is that?  I loved it.  That really shows me how great serving a mission is. I love being a missionary!  :D  I also received a great letter from Dad that I really appreciate, as well as some pictures from Heather and Nick of Maylee.  Thanks for all that you guys do.  You're all great!

Oh, so I almost forgot to tell you about the General Authority coming yesterday! His name was Elder Bruce D. Porter of the First Quorum of the 70. He and his wife were great! They taught us about the simple doctrine of the Gospel of Christ- Faith, Repentance, Baptism, The Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. What I really got from it was the daily effort we should put into the Gospel. We should daily be working to build our faith. When our faith increases, our desire to repent will increase. As we repent, we are living up to our covenants we have made with God, and are worthy to receive the Spirit in our daily lives. This is how true peace is found in a world full of chaos and confusion.  I know that this is true and I'm grateful for a gentle reminder on what I can do every day to follow God's plan more fully in my life.  The Gospel is great!

Anyway, I don't really have anything else too exciting to talk about. One of our investigators is doing really well.  She's learning a lot and progressing well.  We're trying to find more investigators, and that's been the biggest challenge lately.  So pray that we'll be lead to those that are prepared, and also that they'll be led to us!

Love you guys!

-Elder Hussey

10.21.3013

Good morning Family!

It's weird to think about the time difference back home.. It was really apparent when we were at the Priesthood Session of Stake Conference and we didn't even get out until 10 PM. In Lowville, it's definitely getting chilly at night and in the mornings, and occasionally it'll rain lightly and I expect snow to be falling. Winter will be hear before we know and I'll have to get out my winter coat and boots.

The missionary work is going good here lately. We picked up some new investigators this past week that I am really excited about. It's sad that things seem to sometimes get difficult for people when they start to work on the spirituality though. I just wish that people could see how much better their life could be in 10 or 20 years if they joined the church. Everybody in the entire world has SO much potential, but without the Gospel to push them to be better (repent) and the faith to keep going, we can sometimes be stagnant and progression stops. That's no good! Living the Gospel isn't easy, but it's definitely worth it!

We've been doing a lot of service lately, which is great! It's funny,we woke up early to go help a guy dig a bunch of old dead plants out of his yard, and I had a funny thought. I was thinking about how nice it was to be outside in the yard, doing manual labor that wasn't stressful or require too much mental strain, etc, then I had a flashback of working in the yard back home and my difference in attitude.... :S I'm learning so much on my mission, and most of it isn't anything I would have ever expected! I've learned to appreciate nature, doing yard work, and the importance of cleaning stuff regularly rather than once it gets bad. I've also learned to eat tomatoes and onions, and I even ate some Salsa last week! It wasn't my favorite thing ever, but I still enjoyed it..

 There's a lot of people that like doing bow hunting up in Lowville area. We were able to shoot a few arrows with a member's compound bow a few weeks ago, and it was really fun. That's something I could really get into when I get home! I would have never imagined myself saying that before the mission. Crazy stuff!

I still love being out here! The mission is great! Elder Simmonds went home this past week, which was really sad. (Elder) Jeremy Baird and (Elder) Matt Simmonds are back home and I miss them a lot!  Elder Gasetoto goes home this next transfer. It's crazy! It's just so weird to think that I won't see my former companions out here in the mission field again. But it's really cool to see how many new friendships have come into my life because of the mission. To think that I probably would have never met all of these friends if I had gone to another mission or had served somewhere else is weird. I'm really grateful to be in New York and I know that I'm meant to be in Lowville at this time! The Church is definitely true! :)

I love all of you guys though. You're in my prayers and I appreciate all that you do for me. Keep up the good work back home!

Love,

-Elder Hussey

P.S.  There was a rain storm yesterday, and after the sun broke through the clouds, there was an amazing rainbow! We could see it, start to finish. Pretty awesome.

10.14.2013

Dear Family,

Transfers are this week. However, I felt confident that nothing was going to change, so I had forgotten to mention it last week. Elder Sedgwick and I will continue to work in Lowville for 6 more weeks. We were excited about that, because we have a lot of work that hasn't quite come to fruition yet.. We can see it coming in the horizon, but it's just a matter of being patient and diligent until it arrives. Here's a picture of our District this past week.

A few people in the district are transferring, but things are mostly staying the same. It's always exciting to meet new people and I have no idea who any of the people coming are, so that will be good. It's amazing to see all of the people I've met on my mission so far and the friends that I've made. I'm kind of grateful that I'm in the US and will be close to a lot of the friends I'm making.

Things in Lowville are going good. We didn't pick up any new investigators this past week, which was kind of a bummer, but we did have some good lessons with those investigators we already have. We had one investigator that we just could not get to read the Book of Mormon, but this past week we were inspired to read 3 Nephi 11 with him (The account where the Savior first comes to America) and it really caught his attention. He kept reading and when we finished the lesson, he said he was going to read before he went to bed. I think that will make a big difference if he finally starts to desire to understand the message the Book of Mormon contains.

 

The weather is pretty nice here in Lowville! it's definitely not summer anymore, which has its pros and cons. The Leaves were all beautiful, but most of them have all fallen to the ground. Luckily, it's still mild weather. I don't think we'll have any snow in the upcoming week... Hopefully. :)

 

So this last weekend was Stake Conference in Utica. That was pretty cool! I love the conferences and all of the direction we can receive there. It's amazing to see how big of an impact it is to take simple notes of what doctrine they're speaking on, what they ask us to do, and the blessings they identify for us to look for. Then, you can go back through and see what you can do to fully utilize the leaders counsel. At Stake Conference they were talking a lot about missionary work (at the Saturday Session) and exact obedience to the Commandments (on Sunday). There was one speaker that asked a few questions that really made me think... He asked- "Are we keeping the Sabbath Day holy, or are we just attending Church? Are we keeping the Word of Wisdom, or are we just not partaking of those things identified to be bad?" He gave a few more examples, but those two really stuck out to me. There's always ways that we can improve and do better at being obedient to the Gospel, we just have to remember that it doesn't all come at once. It takes diligent effort and continued repentance to overcome the natural man.

There was also a talk about the resources the Church has to help us in our religious study. The Church's scripture study app is awesome! It can download all of the Church Publications (Standard Works, Magazines, Conference Talks, and books used in church classes) as well as download videos (like Mormon Messages, church movies, etc) and has some neat ways to organize everything and make it easy to study. Some important advice he gave though- "If you're paying for an app from the church, it's not from the church". Everything digital the church is doing is free for us to use. It'll be interesting to see the effect this has on the publication of the Ensign and everything else in 10 years. Things are changing, but it's getting easier to utilize everything the Lord has given us.

Besides that, we really didn't have anything too exciting happen here in New York! I just found out in an email that a lady I was teaching in Owego got baptized this past weekend. That's always a good feeling! It sometimes takes people a while to be ready, but I'm glad to see that she made this step. Missionary work is awesome!

Love you guys! I'm grateful for everything that you do to make it possible for me to be out here. Serving a mission is great, and I don't know if it'd be possible without all of you! You're in my prayers. Keep up the good work.

Have a great week!
-Elder Hussey

p.s. Thanks for the music you sent! There's some good music there and I appreciate having something new to listen to. You'll have to see when you're with Heather sometime if you can figure out how to get Enoch Train off the internet.

10.7.2013

Good afternoon family!

Fall was at it's peak last week and it was beautiful!

The leaves were all changing, the weather was mild, and it was a great week to be out as a missionary. However, we need to be prepared, because winter will be here before we know it!  That will bring a new-found beauty with it as well though.

Conference was great! I can't believe that I've been out in the mission field for 3 sessions of conference either! It's amazing to see how fast the time flies.  The themes of Conference definitely seemed like "Missionary Work" and "Overcoming Adversity" to me. It's great to see the emphasis on missionary work, and their help on overcoming adversity will be sure to help us all in future years. I'm so grateful to be a part of a church that has living Prophets and Apostles that are able to share counsel from God to us through the Spirit of Revelation. The teachings they brought to us can help us overcome, grow, and become much more and better protected than we could be on our own.

Things continue to go well in Lowville. We had some good lessons this past week and have a good week ahead of us. We're just continuing to do our best and seek for ways to improve! There is one old conference talk by Joseph B Wirthlin called "Three Choices" that I really likea lot. We should always be seeking for ways to Repent and Improve, otherwise we're not really progressing. The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is definitely true! I know it.

Thanks for sending the music to me Mom! We will enjoy that a lot!

I've actually been thinking a little bit about applying to colleges as well. I know I said I wasn't going to be one of "those Elders", but I'm kind of wondering if we should put an application into BYU... It'd be really nice to be closer to all of the family, plus they have a really good broadcasting and film program. And also, my choice of career might be different.. Maybe dental. There's a lot of stuff to figure out after the mission! But that was kind of my thought.  However, I still really liked SUU and would enjoy going there again. I'm just a little confused at which one is good and which would be best.

I love you guys! I know that I'm so blessed to be a part of the family and you are all inspiring me to be better as well. It's such a blessing to be a part of a family who is all supportive and loves one another, and is active in the Gospel. That's a blessing that I wish everybody could enjoy like I have. Thank you guys! I love you.

Well, we'll just continue on in the work. Hope you all have a great week, and I'll talk to you next Monday!

Love,
-Elder Hussey

9.30.2013

Good morning family!

It's really good to hear from you. I love hearing about everything going on at home and I'm grateful for the info you all send me. It's an exciting time in the world, isn't it?

I'm so excited for conference! I have grown in knowledge (and probably maturity) enough that I know how important it is. Think about it... In the scriptures, there are great learning opportunities like "The Sermon on the Mount" and "King Benjamin's Address". Would I kick back on my sofa and struggle to stay awake for any of those? No way! I'd be mentally, physically, and spiritually prepared so that I could get as much as possible from it! The fact that we have a living Prophet and 12 Apostles is AMAZING! But just as the Scriptures don't do too much unless we read them, the counsel from a Prophet and Apostles doesn't do much if we don't listen. (I'm really putting this in my email so that I have a big guilt trip 15 years from now when I've gone back to old ways and call myself to repentance!... :) ) We can learn some great things from Conference if we prepare ourselves correctly and come with questions to be answered. It'll be good!  (Also, I did hear that the Priesthood session will be broadcast.. I hope people still come to church for it though. It's a lot more powerful watching conference in a dedicated building when you're dressed up.. You guys should try it for the Sunday Sessions if they're going to have it going at the church.)

This past week was good for us! We had one day that we had 4 lessons, 3 investigator lessons (all with members present) and one less active lesson. It was fantastic! I hadn't had a day like that in a long time. We found new investigators, made contact with some wonderful people who will hopefully be investigating soon, and just did our best. That doesn't mean we didn't have our setbacks... But all in all, it was a good week. Things are going well in Lowville!

We had a Priesthood activity this past Saturday. We were all taught how to use a compass, then we went on a wild goose chase through the woods trying to find our way to lunch.

 

I thought it was going to be an easy course.... I was wrong. After getting lost a few times, wandering in circles, we eventually made our way to Lunch. It was a lot of fun though and we all bonded a lot! And I learned a lot as well.. Follow directions exactly when you receive them, and don't take the easy route. Sometimes you have to put your shoulder down and push your way through some brush and bushes in order to stay on track.

 

 

I got a lot of really good pictures as we were out in the woods! Nature is so beautiful. It was quiet, peaceful, and you could slow down and think a lot more than you can in the normal world. I can understand why Joseph Smith went into the Grove of Trees to pray. Powerful stuff!

 

Things are going well. We're striving to do our best, and when we really give it our all, that's when the miracles start to happen. My favorite scripture still stands true-  Alma 26:12- "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."

 

We can see miracles happen in our life every single day. The only thing it depends on is our Faith, and then the necessary actions required on our part! The mission is still going great. I am continually amazed to see how much I've changed already. In fact, I actually ate a pickle the other day! :O I know what you're thinking.. No way!  However, I'm sorry to say that I still really don't like pickles... At all. Oh well! :)

Anyway, I love you all! I hope you continue to do well. Thanks for all the love and support allowing me to be out here.

-Elder Hussey

 

P.S. CD's work great! We have the cd players in the car, as well as CD players in most apartments. Also, I use the computers to throw the music onto my little speaker thing I brought out here on the mission. So CD's work well. Some artists I really enjoy- Enoch Train and David Tolk. I really love instrumental artists!

 

 

9.23.2013

Dear Family,

 

I cannot believe how fast this month has gone by! It has been a very unique month with some difficulties and great learning opportunities. I'm grateful for all of the opportunities I've had, even though they haven't all been the easiest things to go through. But all in all, I'm grateful for the month of September! I can't believe it's almost been a month since Elder Sedgwick got here! That's crazy.

 

That will be odd to think that the 11th Ward might not be your home Ward in a week.. I can think about how difficult that could be for the Youth. After my mission, I understand what the point of church is and would be able to adapt from it, but it would have been difficult to go from the Priest's Quorum with all of my friends to another with different guys. But, after a month or so everyone will adapt and it will seem like normal!

 

I'm glad you were able to find the Enoch Train music on iTunes! Yeah, it's instrumental (kinda folk-ish) versions of Hymns. They're pretty good, while being unique. With the limited amount of music we have, it sometimes sounds like we're listening to the same thing over and over. I have learned to love Hymns though! When we hear normal music in Walmart and other places, it all seems.... I'm not quite sure how to put it. Pointless? It doesn't uplift or edify in most cases. Hymns on the other hand, definitely help me focus on the work. Not to say I'm only going to listen to Hymns after the mission, but I have learned the purpose of them! :)

 

Now that it's fall, we probably don't need to worry about the white shirts. I have a lot of long-sleeved shirts and they're all holding up pretty well. I like the size 15 on the neck as well as "Slim" or "Fitted" fits. I don't know if you could tell in pictures lately, but I've slimmed down a little bit this summer. I'm back down to 140, which is what I was before the mission. At my peak, I hit 150.... So that's pretty wild stuff. I want to stay around 140! It's been amazing to see how quickly I've been able to lose weight as I did simple stuff like drink more water and stop buying soda and oreos... :) Also, walking and biking all summer helped. So hopefully I don't start gaining again this winter! You're right though, most suits and slacks are getting slimmer and more fitted.. That's the style now days. I guess that means we need to try and stay slim and trim so that we can fit in them! My suits are all holding up fairly well. I think I'm going to go get them dry-cleaned soon (I haven't done that as much as I should..), but the only Dry-Cleaners in Lowville doubles as a liquor store.... So........... Yep. Haha

 

Things haven't changed much in our mission yet. I figured because we're in the US we'd be one of the first to get them, but I was wrong! There's been a greater emphasis on working with members, but besides that it's just work as usual! We've been told that we will be making the changes (facebook, iPads, Church Tour Hours) during the 1st quarter of next year. As of now, it's just been the same old thing.. Try potentials, tract, try referrals, tract, and teach a few lessons here and there. But things are beginning to improve!

 

This past week Elder Sedgwick and I both had colds, which is no fun. I don't know why, but the colds out here in New York stay with me a lot longer than they did back home! It's odd to realize that when you switch where you live, even you immune system is affected! But I felt a lot better yesterday (because I could actually breath out of my nose!) and am improving. That's good. Besides that, we had a pretty good week. We did a bunch of service on Tuesday that was fun! We helped a member clear out his "swamp" and get a bunch of wood out and cut the wood. I never imagined I'd be cutting through weeds and stuff with a machete to clear a path on my mission, but I can now say that I did! Pretty cool. It was hard work though! I was picking up some pretty big pieces of wood and then throwing them out to dry land so Elder Sedgwick could cut them. Don't worry though, I was really smart on how I was lifting and throwing. I've seen too many people with bad backs and knees on my mission... Not something I desire in my future. I feel like I could go and do shot-put (or whatever it's called when you throw the metal ball) a lot better now! Although, my right side was the one getting the workout. My left side of my body seems kinda weak in comparison. Oops.

 

We also had a Zone Meeting in Utica, which was really good. We rode down with the Senior Couple in Watertown, The Hamarris (I may have misspelled that..). They were really cool to get to know and reminded me of how much I miss the Huffs! Elder Hammari was telling me I should look into the Airforce ROTC when I get home if I want to go into either Dentistry or Meteorology. He said if they really want someone, they'll pay for pretty much everything in schooling as long as you sign on to work for them afterward. Something to think about.. :)

 

Brother Laconti's funeral was on Friday. Because most of his family is Catholic, it was a Catholic service. It was amazing to see the differences there was in the funeral, as well as the similarities. The Lowville Branch priesthood was all there and we were the pallbearers for the casket. Kind of another unique experience. It was all in all good.

 

On Saturday, it was the Cream Cheese Festival and Lowville made history! They had the biggest cheesecake in the world here... Unfortunately, Elder Sedgwick and I weren't there when they revealed it, but we did get to eat part of it. So I ate part of a world record on Saturday. Pretty cool stuff, huh?

 

Yesterday was really good too. We had a lot of people at Church that hadn't been for a while. Also, our recent convert Becky, invited 2 of her friends to come to church. They really liked it and we have appointments set to teach them this upcoming week, as well as a few appointments with referrals and former investigators. Hopefully we'll have a very busy and productive week! It looks like that should be the case.

 

I'm getting excited for conference! I can't believe it's almost that time of the year again. It's weird to think back about what life was like last time it was fall conference... I was in Owego with Elder Baird! A lot has changed since then, but a lot is still the same! It'll be good to hear the counsel of the Church Leaders! I love General Conference!

 

Well, I better get going. Hope you're all doing good!

 

Love you guys,

-Elder Hussey

9.16.2013

Hey family!

This week was very unique. It's amazing to see how when you're obedient and do your best, the Lord does bless you and help you along the way. However, that doesn't mean that you won't have difficulties or struggles. One thing that has been a little bit hard to deal with this week was the death of one of the members of the Lowville Branch. We had just started to meet with Brother Laconti a few weeks after I got here and I was starting to get pretty close with him. He had a difficult life and a lot of struggles, but we were meeting with him and started to have some really good visits with him. This last Thursday, we had a really good lesson with him and he was really starting to progress. We stopped by on Friday and helped him load up his van for a trip he was going on and had a good visit. However, his neighbor we're teaching called us and told us he thought Brother Laconti was in the Hospital. So we drove by after church and saw that his van was still there and he didn't answer when we called, so we went to the Hospital to find out if he was there and visit him. When we got there and found out he had been admitted, the nurse told us that he had passed away a few hours before. Didn't expect that to happen. It was kind of a weird day. My testimony of the Plan of Salvation has grown a lot, so I wasn't upset or angry, but I still can't quite believe that he's gone and that we won't get to meet with him anymore. It's just hard to believe we saw him and he was doing fine, then two days later he was gone. However, I am grateful for the fact that he was beginning to progress a lot and that he was mending his relationship with God right before his passing. But that was the difficult part of our week.

Besides that, things are going really well. The Lowville Branch is so great! When I first got here, we only had one meal appointment a week. However, I've been working really hard to build relations with the members, and it's starting to work! We had a few really good member present lessons this week, and in the upcoming 2 weeks, there's only 2 days someone didn't sign up to feed us. It's amazing how quickly things can change as you do your best. We still don't have a ton of people that we're teaching, but we're just doing our best and I know that we'll start to see the work pick up and progress. Just like Massena, it's only a matter of time! I know that this is God's work.

That's cool to hear about that meeting Dad got to go to! It's really cool when you get the opportunity to see an Apostle or General Authority in person. The Spirit is strong in those meetings! Dad did spend a lot of time at church this week though! Back before my mission, that might have been a little rough, but I've learned to love the time I spend at church. Meetings and figuring out how we can better help our Brothers and Sisters out there are great, as long as it's followed by action.

Things are going well. It's amazing to see how many unique experiences I've had so far on my mission.... A companion getting really sick, opening a branch, and now the passing on of a good friend I met on the mission. It's really odd to think about, and while that sounds like it hasn't been the best experiences, I'm really grateful for the things that I've learned so far and the ways I've grown. Missions are pretty great!

I love you all! Thanks for all of your love and support.

-Elder Hussey

9.9.2013

Dear family,

We had a great week here in New York! It's amazing to see how quickly things can change as you're obedient and just do your best. Things are going good out here. But it's getting chilly! The other day when I went to bed I just had my little sheet on me and the fan blowing on me (it had been an average day around 75-80 degrees), then it got down to 36 degrees that night! I was freezing when I woke up! Just this last night, it got down around 40 degrees again... So I got my big blanket out of my suitcase. I can't believe I already am getting out the blanket! Crazy stuff.

So, I'm sure you're all excited to hear about my new companion. Here he is!

His name is Elder Sedgwick (Sedge, like hedge, then wick, like a candle) and he's from Post Falls Idaho! He's great. Really excited to be out here. He got baptized about 2 years ago when he was at college and he's got a strong testimony. It makes me think about how odd it would be to come out on a mission so soon after having been taught and baptized! It's a brave step into the unknown, that's for sure!

Like you were saying about the first area setting the standard for the rest of the mission, I actually think this might be a really good experience for us. Elder Bybee and I both really had our work cut out for us going to Massena, but it really pushed us to work hard and while it was very difficult some days, we saw a lot of miracles happen and Elder Bybee is already a really solid missionary because of it. I've really learned that trials make us stronger, as long as we go in with the mentality of changing and improving. Because I've learned this lesson from Owego with Elder Baird, Syrace and Massena, I'm excited to see what happens. Hard work pays off!

Speaking of hard work paying off, we had a great first week in Lowville! We found a few new investigators through formers, had some good lessons with people we've already been in contact with, and have a few members getting excited about missionary work and giving us people to teach! This was the best week I've had yet in Lowville, and I only plan on it going up from here. :) Good things are to come.

However, the adversary is working as well. We had one guy that was absolutely furious and was screaming like crazy at us yesterday and told us never to walk on his side of the street again.. We could have let that discourage us and called it quits, but we just kept on going and found a really great family a few doors down that was really interested and had been looking for a new church to go to.. That's the way it always seems to work. When someone is really rude and tries to make us stop, that's often when the next door neighbor is ready. So when we have trials and things are getting really hard, Satan is trying to get us to give up and sink into despair, but if we persevere... anything is possible. But, as a new missionary, having somebody freak out and scream at you is a pretty wild experience.. That didn't ever even happen to me in my first 6 months!  (Don't worry about it at all, it wasn't really a big deal. It was just an older gentleman that didn't want anything to do with us. We will just steer clear of his property from here on.)

It's exciting to hear about everything going on back home! I hope you know that by informing me of Comicon in Salt Lake City, I'm instantly making plans to go if it's there again in the next few years... I may have changed a lot so far on my mission, but I'm still kinda a nerd.. :)

That's really cool for Emily and Barbara to get their mission calls! They'll be great! I wonder where Allina will be going.... Exciting! The anticipation can be killer. They'll all do great. I'm also interested to see if they split the Roosevelt 11th Ward.   That could be a tough thing to accept if all of your friends were in the other ward, but it gives you a chance to make new friends and learn more about how church is really about the Savior.

I like the healthy eating challenge you are doing! I've been trying really hard to cut out the sweets and I've pretty much stopped drinking soda, and already I've dropped about 8 pounds back to where I was before my mission... The only problem now is that I've lost a lot of muscle. But I'll just continue to try and eat healthy and get more fruits and veggies.  I've been improving a lot on the veggies I'll eat when people prepare them for me, but I have difficulties getting myself to make them for myself.. The 8 cups of water sounds like the most difficult part, but that would probably make a huge difference in the way I feel. I'll try to do that.  Tell me what the point system is and I may join in! :)

By the way, thanks a ton for the package Mom and Maylee sent. It was a lot of fun and it's always great to get a reminder of you all back home during the week. And I'll try to do better on sending actual letters to all of you...

I love you all! It's amazing to see how much the Lord blesses us as we simply do our best, as insignificant as our best may really be. God is good! :)

Love,

-Elder Hussey

 

P.S. Elder Baird (my trainer) finished his mission last Wednesday! Sad day... Time goes by quickly. Elder Simmonds goes home next transfer, then Elder Gasetoto the next!

9.2.2013

Another transfer gone by, and more adventures in the near future! We got transfer calls last week and.......... I'm training in Lowville! Exciting stuff. Training is a really good experience, because it just pushes me to work so hard and be so obedient to set a good example for the new Elder. And Elder Bybee is like one of my best friends now. We got really close. So I'm excited for this new adventure. Elder Davis is headed to Liverpool, which is a suburb just north of Syracuse. He'll love it there. But I'm really excited for this. We gotto Utica tomorrow night and I'll know who I'm training on Wednesday!
 

Here's a picture of the District. Elder Baird and Elder Chandler are our Zone Leaders and they were there when we took pictures. Elder Baird (my trainer) goes home this Thursday! Crazy to think about..
 

Regarding missionary work, I think the best place to start is the less active members. We need to show the Lord that we appreciate the people he's already led to the church. Plus, they have already had an interest and a testimony, so we just need to find some way to get the flame going again. When you teach and reactivate them, it'll lead to their family and friends being introduced to the church and it's a chain reaction from there. And we all know less active members, so everyone can instantly know specific people they can begin to work with to bring back.

Anyway, I feel really scatterbrained today. I'm super excited to train again though and I know that it'll be a great experience. We have made contact with a few families this past week that we'll hopefully be teaching soon, so the work might really pick up momentum in the upcoming transfer.. I love and miss you all at home, but I really love being a missionary. It's amazing to see how active God really is in all of our lives!

Love you all,

-Elder Hussey

8.26.2013

Hello Family!

It is beautiful here in Lowville! I feel so blessed to be able to enjoy such beauty as I'm involved in this great work. The weather is cooling down, trees are starting to turn, and the upcoming two months are going to be wonderful before winter hits.. Then we'll see how much I like nature! ;)

Things in Lowville are good. We had a pretty good week and were able to meet with a lot of Less-Active members.. Unfortunately, we're still struggling to find new investigators. But we did a Preach My Gospel class with the Branch yesterday and are going to be focusing a little bit more on working with the members, so I pray this will help us find some good solid investigators and help Lowville find Real Growth. I've really grown to love Preach My Gospel and wish I had studied it when I wasn't on my mission.. All those suggestions they give us in conference and seminary really were good ideas! Who would've thought... Oops!

Well, we have a district activity today, so we're headed to Watertown soon! I'm excited to actually have something different to do on Preparation Day.. I can only write letters and nap so long before I start to get restless! But I hope you all have a great day and that all is going well for you back home. You're all in my prayers!

Love you guys,
-Elder Hussey

8.19.2013

Good morning family!

This past week in Lowville was great! We had a few good lessons and a really wonderful lesson. I'm glad I get the opportunity to be in Lowville, although I really miss Massena. I heard from Elder Bybee and he told me that a young man we taught wants to get baptized, and some other investigators that were all planned for baptism but fell through, are all learning again and doing well.. I miss everyone there! I loved my time being there.. But all is well here in Lowville. There are so many wonderful places we could be in this world! It is what you make of it.


The baptism was great! We followed the baptismal guidelines found in Preach My Gospel rather than just what traditions have been for baptisms in the past and it went really well! The Spirit was really strong and we had almost everyone that is active in the Branch at the baptism! How cool is that?


It was a great experience for all who were there though. Becky was excited and really happy and the branch really loves her already. The Lowville Branch does a really good job at fellowshipping and helping people feel like they're a part of the family.

We're just trying hard to find new people to teach! We had our baptism and our other most solid investigator is moving back to Hong Kong this upcoming Thursday.. So we only have one investigator as of now! Crazy stuff... But I know that there are people out there who are ready for the Restored Gospel. We just have to get out there and gather them all in! It'll be a good growing experience for me.

 

As my testimony of the Gospel grows stronger and stronger, I am so grateful for all of the blessings that come as we are obedient to the commandments. As we strive to have the Spirit with us always, we sometimes don't realize it's there. However, when it is absent, there is a definite lack of knowledge and comfort in my life. I know that to be true! Without God's help, all that I can do is only for the moment. With God, we can work into the Eternities.

 

I love you all! I'm so grateful for you, and I'm so grateful to be out here.
 

-Elder Hussey

8.12.2013

Hello family!

Things are going good here in Lowville! I am feeling really good today. Not sure why, but I'm not gonna complain! It's been so beautiful here lately, and the fall will be even better. I can't wait!

We do have a baptism this week on Friday. I am excited, but it's also really a scary week waiting in anticipation.. Our investigator doesn't have much support from friends or family and I am just praying she will stay strong and stay true to what she knows! It's going to be a good experience for her though! She's great.

Elder Davis is a fun companion. We really do get along well, but it has made it really apparent how much of a red personality I am.. He's probably a blue/white, so I feel like I'm really overpowering personality wise. I need to make sure I let him lead and grow while I'm with him. He is a california kid though! The stories about California drivers- All true. Just kidding! hahaha He's been out about 6 months and is still in his first area. He was a little more shy growing up and the mission is a big step out of his comfort zone. Talking to random people, especially when you are the ones starting the conversation... On their doorstep, is difficult stuff sometimes. But he's a good companion.

Lowville is a different area from all of my others. We have 2 investigators and a few less-actives we kinda see here and there, but I'm hoping we can change that soon. We had 4 lessons in all of last week, so we have a lot more time to get out and talk with people. The area is HUGE in comparison to my other areas, so we are driving a lot more than I'm used to. But the people are nice and life is a bit slower paced, so people are a little bit more willing to talk with us. We have been working on getting everything organized and figured out so that we can effectively work our entire area while staying within our mileage limitations. We can go 1100 miles a month, which sounds like a lot, but it can go by really quickly.

We had a new family move into the Branch this past week. I really enjoyed moving them in and we are so glad to have them! We just got 4 more priesthood and one more sister, which basically doubled the amount of priesthood in our branch! Yesterday was the first time in 5 months I haven't had to either bless or pass the sacrament! Crazy stuff..

Dinner appointments are a little sparse up here, but I keep joking with the members and giving them the meal calendar. It's not so much the food aspect (I tell them they can just give us PB&J if they want), but getting to know the members and helping them feel the Spirit of missionary work does wonders. As of now, we get about 2 meal appointments a week. But that gives me an opportunity to learn how to cook! :) And I've continued to expand what I eat.. I've been eating Oatmeal for breakfast the past week! Crazy, huh? Who would've thought?

Also, funny story- There were 2 little girls out with a booth last Saturday selling stuff. I thought it was lemonade, but it was actually little bags of lettuce. Anyway, they were working so hard trying to sell stuff and earn money, so I decided to buy a bag for $1.00
Gotta support kids that are willing to work for their money! So I washed it up and thought it looked a little different.. I thought it might have been spinach or something. It tasted like weeds... I got a good laugh out of that though.

I've been really bad at getting back to people... I haven't emailed friends too much, although it's nice when they drop a note and let me know what's going on in their lives. But, like you've said before, an email is cool- a handwritten letter is way better. I need to get back into the habit of writing letters again! And you are right, missions have changed a lot.. Even in the past year!

Well, things are going good here. I'm excited for this week. I'm so grateful to have a great family like you back home and I glad I get this opportunity to be out here.
Love you all!

-Elder Hussey