1.28.2012

 I'm not sure why, but it seems like it's been a long time since last P-Day. Each week is sure unique out here on a mission. It was a really good week, but it was super busy! This next week will be good too, and we should be around Syracuse more this week.

Things have been a little cold in Syracuse, but nothing too bad. Luckily, we're in a position with investigators that unless we really want to get out and walk around in the cold, we don't have to. We try to, because we really need to find new investigators, but we don't have too much time to do it! Crazy.

The work is definitely going really well! Elder Simmonds is an awesome missionary and is really fun to work with. We both get along really well and we're starting to figure out how to teach with each other. I feel super blessed to be his companion.

Syracuse is definitely different than Owego. First off, there's about 165,000 more people, so we get a lot of chances to meet different people all the time. We're able to find new investigators pretty good. We've picked up more in the past 3 weeks than I probably did in my first 6 months.. However, most of those people came from the previous Elders talking to people on the bus (they only had a car every other week before I came here). So we have a really big teaching pool as of now, but in the future there will need to be a big emphasis on finding.

We had an amazing week! Get this... We (Syracuse West) had 10 investigators at church! It was CRAZY! Include Syracuse East, and we had 13 investigators at church. It was super exciting! It did make it a little wild, but the ward did a good job at taking care of people while we were running around like crazy. Definitely a good feeling to have! :)

There is one Ward is Syracuse, and a YSA Branch. The Ward has around 150-180 active members, while the branch had ~30. There are a lot of SU Students out here, so there are actually young families in this ward! It's pretty weird to hear crying babies in sacrament again. :)

This next week should be really good! Elder Simmonds and I are doing some baptismal interviews, going to ZLC (Zone Leader Council), and just loving the work! Things are going really good and we're having a lot of fun with the work. The mission really is a great experience!

 

It's been a huge eye opener for me (even more so now in Syracuse) to see how good my upbringing was. I'm definitely blessed way more than I deserve! Really though, I am so grateful for everything.

Love you!

-Elder Hussey

P.S. A few pics. We went to MOST (Museum of Science and Technology last week and had some fun, then funny billboards, and a picture of a BLACK SQUIRREL! They're super weird-very entertaining. Oh, and somebody lives on the 2ed floor of their building. HA!)