6.23.2014

Wow.... This is weird.

I cannot believe it's been two years since I left all of you back in Utah. It seems like the time went by really quickly, but it also feels like I've been a missionary forever. I have absolutely loved my mission and will forever be grateful that I served, but I'm excited for my "Graduation".

As you were all wisely counseling me, we have been working really hard this week. Even though today is Preparation Day, we had one lesson at 10AM, another at 4:30, and one at 8:00 tonight. Then tomorrow, we have one early in the morning, as well as 2 in the evening... Finding time to get everything packed might be a little tricky, but we'll get it all figured out. Things are really going good in the Fayetteville area and I feel good about everything I've been a part of on my mission. Nobody ever looks back at the mission and wishes they didn't work so hard while they were out here, and I can say the same.

Getting to go to the temple again was amazing. I was reminded of so much and am very grateful for the reminders of some of the things I learned. Loved it! Seeing all of the other missionaries and other Church history sites was amazing. I felt the Spirit in the Sacred Grove, even though we were all swarmed by mosquitoes... I got bit about 20 times.. The Temple Trip was fantastic though.

This past week, we did our District Meeting on Lesson's Learned on the mission. We watched a talk called "Life's Lessons Learned" by Elder Wirthlin, then took a while to think of the experiences we've had on our missions, and the lessons we've learned. Afterward, we had a form of testimony meeting where we all shared one or two things we had learned that will benefit us the rest of our lives. It was really good to reflect and see what the Lord has taught me as I've been serving. I've grown quite a bit over the last two years, although I'm still 5 ft 5. :)

I went on exchange to Syracuse with Elder Butterfield this past week too. That was great! Elder Butterfield came out and started his mission in DeWitt when I was in Syracuse. I love the guy. We had some great teaching experiences together and I got to see a few people from the Syracuse Ward I hadn't seen for a while. That was great! Then, all weekend, Elder Wendt and I have been hitting it hard trying to see everyone we could and get things set up for Elder Wendt and Elder Jackson later this week! Things are going pretty good and they should be able to manage pretty easily. Like I said earlier, we have a few lessons set up for today and tomorrow (5) and need to get laundry and packing done.. We're going to be really busy. However, I am determined to get out there and try a few more people while I'm out here. I'll still be able to do missionary work and help teach when I get back home, but I won't be doing any more tracting. That actually sounds kinda nice. ;)

Thanks for all of your love and support in getting me out here on a mission. I'm so grateful for Dad, Tyler, Grandma & Grandpa Hussey, and Nick's examples in serving missions. I'm grateful for great parents that put up with me throughout the years, and all the love and support Heather has given me. I don't know how I would have done this without all of you. I'm glad that I've been able to wear a tag that says "Elder Hussey", as well as the Lord Jesus Christ's name on it.

This work is true! The Fullness of the Gospel has been Restored, additional scripture has come forth, and the Heavens are open! God is our Heavenly Father and Jesus is the Christ, and they have provided the Plan of Salvation so that we can live with our families forever in eternal happiness. These things I know to be true.

See you soon,

-Elder Hussey

6.16.2014

Greetings family!

I hope you are all doing great! Elder Wendt and I are enjoying ourselves in New York quite a bit, even though it has been quite rainy. However, cooler temperatures and no humidity sure are nice to have. Things are going really well here for us in New york. Much like all of you in Utah, we have been quite busy! That is really nice as a missionary. It's good to have places to be.

This past week was really great! Let me think for a minute about everything that happened.... Alrighty, here we go!

Monday- After Emailing and shopping, we went to the Church for a District Activity! We brought a Frisbee and played Ultimate Frisbee together, which was pretty fun. It was a muggy day, and I really got into the game, so I was pretty worn out by the end. The one sad part about our District Activity was that before we even got there, one of the Sisters (the one that is going home with my group actually) did something and hurt her ankle... I knew nothing about that, but found out when we saw her using crutches the next day... Oops! It's nothing too serious though and she's doing pretty good. Missionaries need to be really careful to make sure they don't get hurt, both right before coming on a mission, as well as when they're about to come home. I'm being super safe! :)

After our District Activity, we headed to Cortland for my exchange with Elder Rebman, and it was fantastic! We had a miracle right from the get go when we got into Cortland. As we parked the car and were going to put my change for proselyting, we saw a note pinned to the front door that read- "Hi, my name is Henry. I am moving to China tomorrow, but I would like to learn more about the Mormons before I leave. Can you give me a call?" At first glance, Elder Rebman and I didn't think there was any way it was for real.. It sounded too good to be true. However, we gave it a call, Henry gave us his address, and we went right over! He was a foreign exchange student that was attending at SUNY Cortland for a semester while he studied Linguistics. One of the last things they did was go to New York City, where they attended the Book of Mormon play. He said that he really enjoyed the play and it made him really interested to talk with us. He talked to someone who apparently knew where the Elders lived, so he came and rang our doorbell, and when we didn't come, it made the note we found.

We ended up teaching him the Restoration, answering a bunch of questions he had, gave him a Book of Mormon, and then he said the closing prayer, which was his first vocal, structured prayer. It was awesome! Afterward we ran to the Church to use a computer, where we found a way for him to contact the Church for more information when he got back to Beijing. Once we got that to him, he asked for our emails so that he could send us any questions he had as he read the book. It was really awesome!


Tuesday- Elder Rebman and I had a great day! We went tracting for a while, talked with people on the street, then got lunch at Denny's, which is one of my favorites to go to. afterward, we went to an investigators and helped him paint his dining room. Painting was a lot of fun and the room looked WAY better once we were done. As we painted, we actually did a lesson with Will and talked about the 10 Commandments. Will was awesome and is actually going to be getting baptized in 2 weeks. Pretty sweet!


Later in the day, we were able to teach their investigator, Brandon. Brandon is sweet! He's a 17 year old that met some of the Elders who invited him to Church Ball. He started coming to play ball, then started coming to Church on Sundays. He likes it a lot and wants to get baptized, so the Elders are helping him get there. That was way awesome teaching a kid close to our age that was attending church/investigating all on his own. There are so many prepared people out there! We have no idea...
After the lesson, we all played Basketball and I wore myself out again. I'm not too bad at shooting and I'm still in fairly good shape, but I don't know plays or anything.. But we had a lot of fun.


Wednesday- We ended our exchange at our Zone Training Meeting in Liverpool. Unfortunately, somebody rear-ended a school bus and we got stuck on the highway for about 20 minutes, so we ended up getting to the meeting late.. Oops. The training was awesome though and I learned a lot! We had a member from our Ward (Bro Bird) come and talk with us about the Book of Mormon. He has a really strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and is really motivating! It pumped me up again.

Here's Elder Rebman and I after the meeting was over-

We took several pictures, but I didn't have any with us looking at the camera.... :/

Right when we got back into DeWitt, Elder Wendt and I ran off to our investigators, the Nelsons, to take them on a Church Tour. Because we didn't have the car, we had to get a ride with them. We had a great Church Tour with them. They liked the building a lot and we were able to answer a lot of the questions about Sunday Services. Church tours are a great way to answer questions and help people understand things a lot more. Had dinner with an awesome family right after the Church tour and finished our night!

Thursday- Good day! We tried a bunch of people in the morning, did weekly planning, then had dinner at Sister Loomis's home. We had stuffed shells and I ate WAY too much... It was really good. After dinner, we had a great lesson with our investigator Pam about the Plan of Salvation. The member who came with us, Brother Herlihy, did a fantastic job explaining everything and is a great teacher.

Friday- RAINY DAY! We were able to see a less-active brother in our Ward, and then on our way to a headquarter referral we received, we noticed a giant rain storm coming in... We started to power walk and made it to the referral's before the rain started, however, the referral didn't answer the door.. Dang. So, we ran outside as it just started raining and took cover under a bus stop just as the downpour started, where we waited until Brother Huller picked us up for dinner. When dinner was finished, we went to our investigator Don's house and read the Book of Mormon with him. It's amazing to see the power of the Book of Mormon as people read it. They naturally stop swearing and smoking and the Spirit really comes into their home. It's quite odd actually, but it's really cool!

Saturday- Went to a potential's house from the Blitz we had. Curtis let us right in, and his wife sat down with us also. We started teaching the Restoration and they were really interested and wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon. We gave them one and set up a time to see them this week! So, we were able to find more investigators this week, which was REALLY nice. Things are really coming together here in DeWitt!

We went to help the Blanchs (an active family in our ward) with some service and got a great workout moving furniture, then we had another good lesson with Pam about the Plan of Salvation. I drew it out for her and we answered a bunch of her questions. It was a great lesson!

As soon as the lesson was done, we headed off with one of the counselors in the Bishopric to Bishop Frazee's. They did a cookout and had all of the Bishopric and the missionaries over. It was great getting to know some of them better and hearing stories about their missions. We have great leadership here in Fayetteville Ward. I love them!

Sunday- Church was great! Everyone pretty much knows that I am leaving soon, so a ton of people were asking if it was my last Sunday... it was kinda crazy. I don't feel like the end is coming so soon... Weird. But we enjoyed Church. We sat by the Ward family during sacrament (the 2 boys that just got baptized) and helped the kids stay quiet during sacrament. It was fun. I love the Ward family. :)

We saw a less-active sister of the Ward who said she would come to Church next week, tried a bunch of people, then went to dinner at the Malcom's. They are an awesome family that moved into the Ward just after I was transferred there. We've gotten their son Tyler out teaching with us a few times and I'm really glad they had us over for dinner. The Ward also had a farewell dessert for the Chamberlains, the first Stake Patriarch that is moving to Michigan this upcoming week. Saw a few people from the Syracuse Ward that were there.

Now- As you can tell, it was a crazy busy week, but it was really good. This week looks equally busy, and I'm just so grateful to see the growth that has come to our area the past six months. Miracles are always happening and the work is progressing. I'm glad to be a missionary. :D

I love you all and I look forward to seeing you all soon, but I'm glad I have one more week in the field. Keep safe and we will meet up soon. I'll try to not drive Elder Wendt crazy this week as I'm nearing the end of this adventure and the beginning of a new one. Life's good

.

-Elder Hussey

6.9.2014

Dear Family,

 Elder Wendt said that he doesn't ever want to leave Utah after his mission, which is too bad! I love seeing new places and learning about different areas. It's always an adventure!

In our mission, we go to the temple the 2nd to last week of the mission.. So on June 17th, at 7:00 we will meet up in Liverpool, and I will go with my group to the temple! It's crazy to think about... Elder Wendt will be staying with the missionaries in Liverpool throughout that day, and we will get back from Palmyra at about 8:15 that night. We're going to do a temple session, then tour the Church History Sights. There's also a few mission traditions, like racing up the Hill Cumorah. I better start conditioning now! :) I'm pretty excited to go to the temple again. Brother Huller, a member that takes good care of us, has done over 800 Endowment Sessions in his life, and his goal is to get to 1000. That is crazy! I've only done 3! He definitely set a good example there.

Elder Wendt and I are doing good! We are seeing small, simple, consistent improvement in our area which is good. This past week we picked up a new investigator- A man named Pat who was a college professor at LeMoyne University, a catholic college nearby. He's a really cool guy and seems really interested in our message. The funny thing is, he told us that he typically isn't interested in religion after bad experiences he had in his life, but he still wants to talk with us! We answered some questions about the Plan of Salvation and gave him a Book of Mormon. He then informed us about the Triple Crown, horse racing, and his favorite horse, Secretariat. Talking with Pat helped me realized that there is a lot in the world that I have NO clue about. I still have a lot to learn...

Training is a lot of fun at the end of the mission.. It's funny to look back at when I was being trained and see what I was like compared to now. I remember feeling ready to take over once the Elder Baird situation was over, but also being really excited and worried about what would happen. It's starting to get to that point for Elder Wendt! I'm having him take the lead in planning and a lot of the work. He is more of a white personality in the color code, so it's quite a bit different than when I was with Elder Bybee (who was more of a red personality) and Elder Sedgwick (who was more of a blue personality). Things are going well though and we will continue to work! Talking with people is the biggest thing we're trying to work on. It's kinda hard to walk up to a random person and try to figure out how to share the Gospel with them.. But it's exciting!

This week should be really good. We are having a District Activity today, then doing an exchange until Wednesday, then we have Zone Training Meeting, as well as 2 Church Tours later that night, and several lessons and service opportunities already set up! It's really nice when we plan things in advance and have a good week already set up in advance. Planning ahead makes life a lot easier!

I want to bear my testimony to all of you about the value of setting productive goals, then working hard to accomplish them! I know that as we all identify specific things we desire to accomplish, then do everything we can to accomplish them, as well as calling upon the powers of Heaven to aid us, we can accomplish miracles. It takes a lot of hard work, as well as focus to do this, but it will make us much more productive in our lives. There is a talk on LDS.org titled "Personal Time Management: One Key to a Leader's Effectivness" that I have learned a lot from. This is one part of the article that I really like:  "There are some basic principles and fundamental concepts of time utilization that are very helpful in learning to manage our time better. The first is the concept that we don’t really manage time but rather we manage ourselves in the amount of time we have. So we are really addressing the subject of self-management. We must learn to operate most effectively in the uniform allotment of time each of us has received.

 

A second fundamental principle that relates to effective time management is the constant focus on results. The leader who focuses on the required results rather than on activities will find the greater results actually occurring. We often race at high speeds all day only to discover that we have been doing things rather than getting things done. We have been involved in many activities but have not accomplished the results."

Now, this being said, I want to let you know that I am far from perfect at this.. I still am a procrastinator, plan to do too much in the time I have, and fall behind schedule from time to time, but I am working on it. I'm grateful for the examples of Mom and Dad trying to get me to "use my time wisely" and see the benefit of using our time wisely. The Savior didn't have much time during his earthly ministry, but he was able to accomplish much more than we can even comprehend. As we follow his example, we will be able to accomplish miracles within our lives and the lives of others.

I love you all! I hope that you are enjoying the every day tender mercies of the Lord! You are all great examples to me and I want you to know how much I care about you.

-Elder Hussey

6.1.2014

Dear Family,


It does sound like you guys are all busy busy! Life seems so complicated... As a missionary, it's kinda weird because we don't have to worry about the temporal things very much... Just as long as we have food and can get our laundry done, we're happy. Then, when coming back to the real world, we no longer have a credit-card that refills with money every month, the bills for the car and apartment aren't magically covered, etc. I'm sure it's a little bit of an adjustment. It all should be really exciting! Glad you are all doing well.. I feel extrememly blessed that everyone in the family has done well since I've been out. I've seen some missionaries that get really worried about family while they're out. Thank you all for helping me out in that way!

This past week was really a good week. Let me think back on what happened...
On Monday, we went to dinner with the Vickery family. They are really great! They actually remind me of our family quite a bit.. Bro and Sis Vickery both remind me of Mom and Dad, then they have 3 kids that are spaced out about the same age difference as us (although they have 3 daughters instead). As we were riding with Bro Vickery to dinner, he and I talked about classic cars, current sports cars, restoring vehicles, etc. Bro Vickery works for a company that paints cars, so he travels around New York working on Hot Rods and the likes. Suprisingly, I've taken a liking to cars since I've been out here... If Dad is going to test-drive any cars in the near future, he should take a Mercedes E-350 out for a spin.. There was one parked at the supermarket we go to and I was kind drooling over it.. Luckily it didn't get to the point of coveting.

Tuesday- We had a Zone Training Meeting in Liverpool. Elder Butterfield is still one of our Zone Leaders and I love getting to work and learn with him. He's great! I still remember his first morning in the field when Elder Simmonds and I had to take him and his trainer shopping... Time flies! One of the Sisters, Sister Christensen said something very profound during a testimony meeting after the training- "Be grateful for our imperfections, for they provide us with opportunities to come to know Christ." I've come to know that is true as I've been a missionary.

Wednesday- I was on exchange in Cortland for 2 days. The most exciting part of this was feeding baby squirrels with a bottle! Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of me doing it. More unfortunately for Elder Moore, the baby squirrel he was feeding... Made a mess on him afterward. Oops! It was pretty memorable though! We also did a Book of Mormon Class with the Ward while I was there.

Thursday- Ordered a new phone from Sprint! Our current phone is having issues... There's a short on it, so it randomly restarts and causes trouble for us. We finally decided we were going to fix the problem, so I got to talk to a lady named Maria troubleshooting the phone for a while before they decided to send us a new one. Exciting stuff!

Saturday- Went to a small parade in Minoa (a Duchesne sized town) with some members and went to a fair afterward to get some burgers. It was kind of like the carnival that comes to Roosevelt every year. It reminded me of home... Haha

Sunday! Awesome day. We had a baptism!

 

That was pretty exciting. Their family is great! The kids were just adopted by the Ward family, so we have been teaching them and getting them ready for baptism since I got here in DeWitt! Teaching kids is definitely a new experience for me. The baptism went really well and they had me do a talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost! I prepared a little bit before hand, but gave the talk "off the cuff". Hopefully this doesn't sound prideful, but I feel like I'm getting to be a competent speaker, and I hardly ever have anything that I'm reading from. It's fun!

That was our week here in New York! The weather has been BEAUTIFUL, it's not humid yet, and the work is all going well. I'm glad that I get to be out here! This upcoming month is going to be fantastic.

 

Love you all,

Elder Hussey