4.1.2013

It doesn't really seem like it's April Fools Day.  I didn't do anything to Elder Bybee and he didn't do anything either. Probably for the best though.. :)

We did have a pretty good Easter! It was different, but we still enjoyed it. I've come to realize that I need to appreciate time with the family more when I get back home! It's really a great blessing to have the opportunity to be able to spend time with family and friends.

Church was pretty good yesterday. We went to the Malone branch, which is a little northeast of us. That was different! It's pretty small (~20 People) and gave us a good taste of what the Massena Branch will be like when we open it.  Sacrament Meeting was good and we had some good talks on the Atonement and Ressurection. The Malone Branch is a little worried because when we open the Massena Branch we're stealing 4 of their most active members. Should be interesting!

After church, The Huffs (the senior couple in Massena) had us and one of our investigators over for dinner. We had Ham and funeral potatoes here as well, so it was kinda like a taste of home! It was pretty fun. We went out afterward and tried to find people to teach, but almost everyone was doing stuff with family and having their Easter Dinner, so we didn't have any luck yesterday. But this past week was pretty good and we had some good success. We went out and tried to contact a lot of former investigators, met a lot of people who haven't been to church for a while, and did a lot of tracting. I think I've probably done more tracting in Massena already than I did in the first 9 months of my mission! Crazy stuff.. But we're enjoying it. We found a lady and her family tracting. She had investigated with the missionaries 8 years ago and hadn't seen them around since, and she was excited to have us come back. We also have some really great members that we're working with on a few things to get them back to church. Somehow, we managed to teach 11 lessons last week, which amazes me. In Syracuse, there were a few weeks towards the end that we taught less than 11 lessons! So we're just going to keep working hard and see what we can get done!

 

The people in Massena are really pretty nice for the most part. The Jehovah's Witnesses tract a lot out here, so everyone seems to think that's who we are.  But the work is going good. We just choose a former investigator, potential, or less active member for every half hour, then just tract the surrounding area as backup. It seems to be working pretty well so far. We're offering to do service every chance we get, but nobody has taken us up on it yet.

 

 

We had one investigator  we taught twice last week. She came to a baptism in Potsdam and really felt the Spirit and wanted to get baptized. However, she is moving this upcoming Saturday. Due to time constraints and a few things we'd need to work on, it wasn't possible for her to get baptized here before she leaves. She seemed to understand that pretty well when we were with her, then texted us later and said she would just meet with missionaries when she moved and that she didn't want to meet with us this week. That was pretty tough. It's hard to see how something little can discourage someone so much. I just pray and hope that she really will learn from missionaries when she moves.

 

 I've really been thinking and wondering what I want to do with my life after the mission (although that's still a long time away) and I don't quite know! Maybe I'll have to do a little study and work to see if I would like working in Insurance, huh? Who knows. I guess I'll figure that out in a year or two. Gotta just focus on the work while I'm out here, because 2 years is going by pretty quick already!

 

Weather here is pretty good, although it's supposed to get a little cold this week. Hopefully it doesn't snow again.... But that's what the weather forcast is saying. Dang! But Elder Bybee and I are both doing well. I had a kinda weird cold this past week that is kinda lingering, but I'm almost over it and should be back to normal soon. I'm also trying to get into better shape, but people just keep on giving us candy!  Elder Bybee and I had almost a full week without any and feel kinda gross now when we have it. Pretty weird!

 

The work is going good. We can feel the Spirit in the area and know that we just need to keep praying for guidance, then getting out and doing the work! As we continue to do that, everything will work out in the long run. We just gotta try our best, and the Lord takes care of the rest.

 

 Love you guys!

 

 -Elder Hussey