5.28.2013

Happy Memorial Day! Because the library was closed yesterday and we don't really have many members with computers here in Massena, we're emailing a day late! But we had an awesome Memorial Day! Elder Bybee and I went to Rich's house for the annual missionary cookout! Ever since he met the missionaries, he takes them to the Chinese Buffet on their birthday, and he does a steak grill on big holidays.

We just relaxed, ate steak and ice cream, and talked for a good while. We definetely had a good time. Probably the best preparation day and one of the best holidays I've had on my mission! We also got out and got to see one of our really cool investigators, an 8 year old girl with a baptismal date for June 22nd, and  a member we're getting to come back to church. It's not too often that you have such an awesome Preparation day!

Transfers are in 2 weeks... It scares me to think about! I think I'll probably be staying in Massena... I really hope I stay here! It's been so awesome and there will be so much good happening in the upcoming months.. I just pray that the Massena Branch is able to get a strong foundation and grow as it should.

We're getting really excited for the branch to open! It's kinda scary though.. If people follow through and actually come to church, we could have somewhere around 30 people there. On the other hand, we could only have 10 people... I am praying and we are working really hard to get a lot of people coming! Then hopefully the members in the area will all come together and work to build the branch. If the members and the missionaries are both working hard, there's no way it will fail. But if either of the two aren't doing their part, it's hard for growth to take place.

This past week was pretty good! We did a lot of tracting.. Because of holidays and bad weather, we only had 7 lessons last week..But we already have 3 this week and we have 3 more scheduled today, so things are really picking up. It is funny seeing how things fluctuate in missionary work. Some weeks, we're running from place to place and have no free time to find new people to teach, then other weeks we're trying to find new people 90 percent of the time! But Elder Bybee and I did meet a lot of good people last week, and while none of them are investigating the church, we'll hopefully make more progress as we work hard.


Oh, by the way, we finally met a less active we've been trying for a long time named Ammon, and we finally got ahold of him! He's super nice and moved up here not too long ago. However, he works on Sundays during church...

It is crazy to see how much is going on with missionary work lately! This morning I crunched some numbers from the statistical report at conference! Looking at convert baptisms, it averaged 31 people every hour. So Elder Bybee and I were tracting for an hour this morning, and nobody was interested. But as we were driving back for lunch, I looked at the bright side and said "Well... At least 31 people somewhere got baptized in the past hour!" It's amazing to think about...

But the work goes on in Massena! It's going well and I'm so grateful I get this chance to be out serving a mission. I've learned and grown so much already, and I haven't even been out for a year! I can't imagine how great the rest of it will be!

I love you all,

-Elder Hussey

5.20.2013

Good afternoon family!

 

I always look forward to hearing from everyone. It's good to hear about what is happening at home and share what has been happening out here in New York.

 

It is so odd to think that school is done with back in Utah. The students in New York have school until June 21st! Poor kids... Summer is half over by then! But when I come back home, I won't know anyone in school. If I do the college days thing for ambassadors, nobody will know who I am. Weird to think about..Also it's weird to think about the youth going to Elders Quorum and Relief Society! I bet that's pretty cool. I remember being kinda hesitant when thinking about going to Elders Quorum. I felt old all of the sudden!

We had a good week here! We had a building cleanup on Wednesday which went really well. The weather was really bad (and we had planned to do a lot of yard work..), so we were worried that people wouldn't come. But we said a prayer about 2 hours before, and 45 minutes before 6, the clouds parted and the sun came out. We had a really good group of people show up and had things looking a lot better in no time! We probably had 25-30 there (some from Potsdam helping us out). We're really excited to get the branch up and running though. Only one more week of Church in Potsdam!. That's weird to think about. But it'll be really good getting started in Massena.

 

We had a few really good lessons this past week. We have a nice single mom and her daughter on date to be baptised June 22nd. We're very excited for them, and I'd just ask you to pray for her to accept the Law of Tithing. She doesn't have any problems with the Word of Wisdom or Law of Chastity, but funds are tight in her house. I pray that she'll have the faith to give it a shot and see how the Lord blesses her.

 

We had District Conference this week and Zone Training Meeting, so we spent a lot of time away from Massena. It was good to have some great motivating talks and have a few ways I can improve brought up. Life really is about doing our best and always pushing ourselves to be better!

 

Missions sure are funny.  We had a really solid investigator drop us this morning.  It's sad to see how much happier they are becoming and how much their life and family relationships are improving, then see them give it all up.  I keep seeing more and more every week what is really important in life- Family and the Gospel.  If you're being obedient to all of your covenants and doing your best, things just have a way of working out in the end.  It isn't always easy (in fact it can sometimes seem like it's making life harder), but it's definitely worth it.

 

I love you all! I'm so greatful for the support and help you are giving me.  You're all the best!

-Elder Hussey

5.13.2013

Things are still going good here in Massena! It's been really rainy and overcast yesterday and today, but I'm realizing that the weather can only make you have a bad day if you let it have that effect on you. When Elder Bybee was Skyping, there was a hail storm that blew through town. It was sweet! Hopefully it'll be warm again in the near future.

 

Like I told you all when we talked yesterday, my Birthday was pretty good. We had Chinese Buffet with Brother Rich and ate cake with him as well. He's the man!

All in all, it was a good birthday. Nothing too crazy happened, but I had fun. Thanks again for the packages you guys sent. I appreciate everything and will definitely be using the scripture case, pencil, and fish tie. It was really great to have a simple birthday getting things I'll actually use. Sounded like Dad had a good birthday, even if it was spent traveling. Maybe he was able to get some Birthday Cake Oreos again.

This week should be really good. Elder Bybee and I are going to mix things up a little bit. Rather than trying to schedule a few appointments every day, we're going to try and see everyone we possibly can at the start of the week, then catch everyone else and do finding on the weekends.. Hopefully this will get the work moving a little bit faster. We're really excited for the Branch to open, but it kinda makes it scary as well. We need to work REALLY hard and smart so that we don't just have 10 people there when it opens up. It'll be a wild ride. My mission has been pretty cool so far.. It's been such a great experience, and I'm excited to see what the future has in store.

Anyway, if you have any questions for me about the area or the work, let me know. I can't ever really remember what I want to talk about when I email, so it might seem kinda like scattered thoughts.

I love you all so much though! I really do appreciate everything you have done for me so far in my life and I really do look forward to what the future has in store. I hope this week is great for all of you!

-Elder Hussey

P.S. here's a few more pictures I've taken.

5.06.2013

Hello family!

How crazy is it to think that it's already May?!? I cannot believe how fast the time seems to go by. Tyler and Heather are already graduating!!! That is so crazy to think about. It doesn't really seem like it's been 4 years since Tyler started Pharmacy School (however, for him, it probably has felt like an eternity! But you made it!). Congratulations to Heather and Tyler! That is awesome to have such good examples. And keep up the good work Nick! You're almost there! :)  I'm looking forward to talking to everyone on Mother's Day as well!

We do have a chapel in Massena, but it's been closed down for years. For a while, they had a congregation meeting here, but it dissolved when the economy went bad a few years ago. So we do drive to Potsdam every week, but we have an empty chapel here in Massena that's just waiting to be opened up! It's a unique building. It used to be a doctors office, but they converted it to a church building.

The first package is here, and I guess there's a second on the way! Thank you very much Mom and Dad! I have a few things I'll hopefully be sending back home today.
 

This past week has been pretty good. The weather in Massena is BEAUTIFUL! We've had almost every day in the 70's with rain at night, but none during the day. We had some really good lessons with investigators and things are progressing fairly well. It's been pretty amazing looking back on this first transfer in Massena. We've found more investigators and had some of the best weeks of my mission so far. We're really excited for this upcoming transfer and are going to work really hard to make the most of it.

I can't really think of anything else that's happened.. Elder Bybee did get kinda sick last weekend, so we spent a little bit of time in the apartment, but he got back out on Saturday and kept on working hard. Getting sick on the mission is the WORST! You feel like you're holding people back from progressing, you get really bored, and then you're dragging for a few days afterward. I can't imagine what it was like for Tyler and Nick on their missions in foreign countries! I'm sure they had some pretty good sicknesses while they were out.

Things here are going really good. I feel good and am very excited for the future. It's amazing to see how quickly the time goes by. I'm already going to be 20, which is CRAZY! I feel old! I remember Tyler coming back from his mission saying he felt old. Now I'm starting to understand that. We mentioned that Brandon Flowers from the Killers was a mormon to some kids, and they had NO idea who The Killers were.... Kids these days. :)

Anyway, happy graduation to Heather and Tyler, happy early birthday to Dad, and I'll wish Mom and happy Mother's Day when I talk to you all on Sunday!

Thanks for all of the updates. I really enjoy hearing from all of you! i miss you all, but I know we'll all be able to hang out again before we know it! Time sure flies..

Love you all!

-Elder Hussey

(We haven't been doing good on taking pictures lately.. I need to start taking more so you can see what Massena is like! I'll work on that.)