5.19..2014

Hello family!

This past week was interesting... It was really good and went by quick, but at the same time, it seemed like it went forever. In fact, it was about the opposite of the way time went by when I first came out. The days went by quick, but the week was long. Kinda odd.

 

So, updates on New York the past week.. It's been really good! Like I stated earlier, we had a good week. Elder Wendt and I talked a lot about having courage and just talking to as many people as we can each day, and it has really helped the work be exciting.. We've learned a ton and met some really great people in the past week. We also had quite a few lessons with investigators and we have a few people who are progressing quite well. I looked back at some records from when I first came to Fayetteville and I am amazed to see the growth that has happened in the past 4 months. Sometimes, it takes hindsight to see how much we've grown.

The weather this week changed quite a bit.. We had a few days that were 85 degrees and really humid, followed by a few rainy 55 degree days... In fact, we went to bed one night and it was 75 degrees in our apartment, then we woke up the next morning and it was about 62 in the apartment! Brrrr..... But now it's a nice in-between. It's not humid yet, but it's not cold. It's just about perfect! Hopefully it'll stay that way for a month or so... :) I enjoy the rain though when it comes.. The humidity is the only thing I'm not a fan of.

 

 I've been the "go-to guy" for a lot of the Zone Leaders and other missionaries when they have needed help with paperwork. I've kinda tinkered around with Microsoft Word and Excel quite a bit and figured out how to make forms for recording info. So, each week we get 2 hours of computer time to use church websites and computer programs for work related things.. It's kind of funny, because now the Zone Leaders have asked me to compile all of the stuff I've made and give it to them in a "Elder Hussey Packet" so that they have all of that stuff. It's really funny see the talents and abilities the Lord blesses us with as we serve him.. I didn't ever think I'd learn how to use Excel on my mission!

 

Well, that's all I have to update you on this week. The work continues to move forward. We just need to do our best and let God take care of the rest! When I remember that, life becomes extremely satisfying, even when things don't go as planned. Love you all! Thanks for your love and support. You guys are the best!

 

Love,
-Elder Hussey

5.12.2014

Good morning Family!

So this past week was probably one of the best I've had on my mission. Here's what happened.

Tuesday- After a long day of work, Elder Wendt and I went to our bus stop to catch the bus back home.... We were there 10 minutes early, but it never showed up. After about 30 minutes waiting, our Ward Mission Leader (Brother Horn) came to save the day and gave us a ride to his home for dinner.

Waiting at the Bus Stop

On Wednesday, we did Service cleaning up an old historic cemetery as a District. Now this cemetery was pretty old.. Like, people who fought in the Revolutionary War were buried there. Because most of the tombstones go really far back, it was kinda in rough condition. We all worked hard, had fun, and cleared out as much garbage as we could! We worked at it for about 2.5 hours. Here's some pictures to show the results-

It was a lot of fun! We all enjoyed getting to know each other better and enjoyed Pizza afterward. We then went to the Church and had a great District Meeting, followed by District Pictures!

I'm not sure why... But I have a really goofy smile in this picture. I was probably up to something...... :)

Thursday flew by, then on Friday we headed to Utica for Return and Report, the new missionary follow-up training. That was really good. It was great to see a lot of missionaries I've gotten to know over the past year and get excited for the upcoming transfer. President Wirthlin pulled me in his office and we talked about the upcoming transfer and what was going to happen. He gave me a heads up that I'd be finishing in DeWitt and that I'd be with Elder Wendt, then he told me not to tell anyone else. Haha! President Wirthlin is great.

Saturday, we received transfer calls! Elder Wendt and I are staying the same, but almost every other companionship in THE ZONE is changing. Every companionship in my District is switching.. That wild. It will make for an exciting transfer! Elder Rebman, who was in the same district when I was in Massena, is coming to be in my district! I'm way pumped to get to work with him. It will be AWESOME!

Sister Susan Grant's baptism was great. She was beaming and looked SO happy! I am so grateful that I got to be a part of it.

A joke with most missionaries is that the week of a baptism, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. We showed up to set up for the baptism on Saturday to find out that they had refinished the gym floor in the Church.... And all of the tables and chairs from the gym were in the Chapel and hallway. We shoved them in any classroom we could fit them into to de-clog the hallways, got the font filling, printed the baptism programs and got it all set just barely in time for everything to start. The service went perfect! The talks were good, music was great, etc... But wouldn't you know... I said the baptismal prayer wrong the first time. I was so focused on doing everything right that I mixed up a few of the words! Luckily, I caught it before I put her under the water, so it was simple to start over and do it right. Luckily, God allows do-overs in life. The rest of the baptism was great.

What a memorable 21st Birthday! I loved it.

Side-note: When we went to get my birthday dinner on Saturday, we told the Waitress that it was my birthday. After she found out I was turning 21, she asked us all what we'd like to drink. When I said lemonade, she asked "Would you like your lemonade with alcohol, or without?" Hahaha that makes me feel old. I don't think I'd ever be responsible enough to drink. So, we turned down the alcohol and had a great dinner. It was fantastic!

Sunday- Talking with the family yesterday was excellent. I love you all and appreciate you so much. Getting near the end of the mission, my perspective is changing, but I'm still excited to be here. I am excited to be out here, but I'm also very excited to see all of you here pretty soon.

Now, to keep from getting trunky, I'll put the necessary Prophet quotes-

"Forget yourself and go to work" President Hinckly

"Lengthen your stride" President Kimball

"Keep Keepin on" ?

Love you all! Keep working hard.

-Elder Hussey

Off to switch the car!

5.5.2014

Good afternoon family!

This past week has been pretty exciting.. Good things are happening here in our area. We have been very blessed to have a new investigator that is progressing quite well. Pam had met with the missionaries once in 2009 and at that point, either got too busy or ended up losing interest. Every once in a while, missionaries had made contact with her, but she was still too busy. Elder May and I felt pretty good about trying her, so we did! Our first time meeting her, I was feeling pretty sick and it was a cold day.. As we talked to Pam, we found out she was having problems with one of her feet, so we offered to shovel her driveway/sidewalk. She told us that she wouldn't ask us to do that, so we asked "hypothetically, if we shoveled it, would you be upset?" She of course, said no, so we shoveled her driveway and got her phone number to get in contact and set something up. I may have mentioned this last week, but she had something crazy happen where she ended up going in the hospital for a few weeks and we lost contact. Luckily, we got in contact with her again and things are matching up with her schedule. We've had some good lessons with her and set up to do a church tour with her this past week. It went really well!

We got to the Church before hand and got things set up. We turned the lights on, got the heat going, set up the Sacrament trays, and made it look as alive as possible. Pam and a member came and we took them on a tour! We focused a lot on the pictures and answered a lot of Pam's questions. It really stuck out to me how much our Church buildings focus on the Living Christ. Rather than pictures of the crucifixion and Christ on the cross, the pictures are all focused on his teachings and his resurrection. That was a little bit of an eye opener that I hadn't had before. How wonderful is it that we know the most important part of Christ is that he's living rather than his death? It was all a part of God's plan and truly is a joyous gospel!

Toward the end of the tour, we watched the Church movie, "The Restoration". It was really great! I felt the Spirit really powerfully as we talked about the Restoration and then went into the Chapel to talk about the Sacrament. It was a great finale to the tour and the perfect place for all of us to pray together. I really hope that Pam recognized the Spirit as we did the tour and continues to progress.

During our Church tour, Sister Grant was getting her baptismal interview... She is good to go! This Saturday, May 10th, at 6 PM, Sister Grant will be getting baptized! It's going to be a birthday to remember. The best part is that my Birthday this year will be focused on someone else. I don't want it to take away from Sister Grant's special day at all. It'll be good. :) After she had her interview, they came and were a part of the rest of the Church tour. And Brother and Sister Grant are coming to our lesson with Pam tonight! It should be great. We're going to ask Sister Grant to invite Pam to come to her baptism.

Besides that, Elder Wendt and I are doing good. There was an emergency transfer here with the Sisters.. Sister LeBaron was very likely leaving at transfers anyway, but because a Sister got sick she ended up leaving on Thursday. We all met up right before she left and we took a bunch of pictures together. Here we are!

As you can tell, I cut my hair this week... It's short! Sister LeBaron is the one standing next to me and she is now in Binghamton (right by Owego!). I'm sure she's doing great. It just goes to show that you never know what's going to happen in life! You just need to be flexible and do whatever the Lord asks.
Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

I love you all. I hope you're doing good and I look forward to "seeing" you later this week. Have a great week!

-Elder Hussey