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