11/26/2012

I did have a good Thanksgiving. It definitely was different than most, but we still had a good time and ate a TON!

I did miss spending the holidays with you guys, but it's teaching me I need to appreciate the time I get to spend with the family more back home. As we get older and older, it's important to spend as much time together as we can when we have the chance, huh?

This previous week was a little slow. Because of the Holidays, it was a little difficult to set appointments up with people, so we ended up doing a lot of tracting. Unfortunately, not many people were home this week, and the ones that were all had other things they wanted to do, so there wasn't really much success in that regard. However, we did find a family that had just barely moved in that day, so hopefully when we try back in a few days we will have some success. I want to teach a family SO bad! As of now, almost everyone we teach are individuals. I hope that we can have some success with them!

Besides tracting and the few lessons we had this week, we also ate WAY too much. On Thanksgiving, we ate with a member of the Owego ward named Sister LaCava and her family/friends. In total, there were around 14 people there, and it was pretty fun! Bishop Knudsen and his wife were there, so we got to get to know them a little better than we have previously. We were able to visit with a few Recent Converts and a Less Active family through the day, so luckily we didn't have to tract on Thanksgiving itself. Sister LaCava sent us home with a lot of leftovers, so we had Thanksgiving- Round 2 the next day for lunch! Then, we were eating at the Bush family's home on Friday, and we had Thanksgiving Round 3! Then, the next day (Sat), we still had leftovers, so we had Round 4.. And wouldn't you know, the family feeding us on Saturday also did a Thanksgiving meal! So Elder Gasetoto and I have had Turkey, Potatoes, Rolls, Green Beans, etc for 5 meals in a row! Crazy! We're pretty much turkey'd out, but it was all super good food.

Our Investigators are doing pretty good. We got one investigator a bunch of Cinnamon supplies (mouthwash, gum, suckers, etc) as he stopped smoking yesterday in the hopes that he can be baptized on December 29th.. I really hope that works out! He's been meeting with Missionaries since March of last year, and he's good to go once he stops smoking. We also have 2 other investigators that are getting pretty close, but I'm still not sure if I'll be here to see it. I hope I will! But the work is progressing. The hardest part is just finding new people to teach.  The people looking for more in their lives (or will admit they are) are few and far between. But seeing them once they have been found makes it all worth it!

I'm really excited to be in Owego for the Christmas season! We realized that this is a pretty cool transfer!

Elder Gasetoto and I get to celebrate-

1. Thanksgiving

2. Elder Gasetoto's one year mark (Nov 29th)

3. Christmas

4. My six month mark

5. New Years!

That's a lot of holidays! We're pretty excited. Should be fun! I'm already wondering if I'll be leaving Owego next transfer or not, and the upcoming transfer is just started! Sheesh.. I just need to stop worrying about stuff, huh? ;)

I'm also going to do the 4 Standard Works in a Year Challenge this upcoming year! I found a paper in my stuff you must have put in with a schedule and I'm going for it! Should be a good challenge!

I hope things at home are going good! That's exciting to hear about so many new missionaries! I got a letter this week and learned that about 4 of the girls I was friends with at college have mission calls.Crazy! I hope things go well for all of them.

 

Thanks for all you do for me! I realize more and more how great of parents I have and how good of examples you are to me. I really do appreciate all you have done for me (although in the past I probably haven't seemed like I have) and hope that I can follow your examples in my life later on.

One scripture I found that had a good message for the Thanksgiving season- Doctrine and Covenants 78:19-

"19 And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more."

We're promised great blessings if we have an "Attitude of Gratitude!" (Not sure where I heard that from.. But I'm pretty sure it was a conference talk.. :D )

I hope you all are doing good! I'm glad to hear from you and excited to talk to you on Christmas! I'll have to see if "Skyping" is allowed in our mission.. If so, that could be a cool way to talk.

Love you all!

-Elder Hussey

11/19/2012

Hello everybody!

It has been a very interesting week... First things first-We got Transfer Calls on Saturday! Normally, we get a call from our Zone Leaders around 8:00, but we were teaching a lesson at 5:00 when we got a phone call. As soon as we finished the lesson, we listened to the message from them telling us they had transfer calls, but they'd call us back later that night. The anticipation was killing us! Luckily, we only had to wait about 5 minutes until they tried again.

So, for the next transfer, I will be serving in............... Owego! Elder Gasetoto will be serving in.......... Owego as well! It looks like we will get to spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years together! Should be an exciting! So yes, I will be here in Owego for a while longer.

 

It is amazing how fast the time is going by. I've been out for almost 5 months already, and I will actually get to celebrate my 6 month mark right at Christmas time! Cool to think about!

Sounds like an exciting time for Missionary Work! I'm excited for my friends who are all coming out and serving or receiving mission calls! I hope Keith does well, and I'm excited for Jessica getting a mission call as well! That's pretty crazy! In regards to the China mission call rumor that is going around... We had a guy from the Missionary Department at the meeting this week, and he told us that was a rumor that was going all over BYU right now. I guess we'll see if it's true sooner or later, huh?

Speaking of the meeting in Utica last week, it wasn't anything too crazy. It was just a training for about 50 of the missionaries in our mission about some important teaching principles, the Christmas campaign the Church is doing this Christmas Season, and some new ideas for finding/teaching people around New York. It was a lot of fun though! We stayed the night in the Mission Home, got to see a lot of the missionaries I came out with, and had a lot of fun in the training. Nothing too crazy though. The work is definitely being "hastened" and changed slightly so that we can be more effective and help more people find the Gospel.

 

Things in Owego are pretty good! We had a good week this last week. The weather has gotten a lot warmer all of the sudden and it's beautiful! There have been a few days we've actually tracted without jackets. So, there was one funny story this past week-During our weekly planning, we decided to set goal to get one of our investigators, to commit on a Baptism date for December 29th. He's been investigating for about 18 months now, and LOVES the church, but has had some things that he has needed to work through before baptism. During our lesson with him on Saturday, we asked him to say that opening prayer. While he was praying, he asked God to help him stop smoking so that he could be baptized on December 29th. We were shocked! We hadn't even mentioned it to him yet! He told us that he had been praying about it, and decided that was the right time for him. So we're very excited for that.

 

I'm glad that I get to be here in Owego a little while longer. We should be having 2 or 3 baptisms this Christmas season, and it'll be really great to get to see these people that I've grown to love make this wonderful step in their lives. It should be a great transfer coming up soon.

 

Besides all that, things are going pretty well! I'm staying warm so far, teaching is going pretty good, and I'm learning a lot new each day. We really do have a lot to be grateful for. It's great to have a holiday like Thanksgiving where we can look at all of the blessings in our life and realize how blessed we really are. It'll be weird spending the holidays away from home this year, but the Owego Ward takes good care of their missionaries. We're eating at Sister LaCava's house this Thanksgiving. She makes SUPER good food, and she told us they're cooking 2 turkeys. Sounds like a good day to me!

 

I am very grateful for all of the blessings in my life at this time- 

I have an awesome family, that did a great job raising me and is continuing to be a great example to me.

I have amazing friends who support me in my decisions, and are also great examples to me.

I have an awesome companion, who I'm slowly learning random Samoan words from and who I enjoy working with.

I am extremely blessed to have a knowledge of this Gospel, and I'm very grateful for this chance I have to spend 2 years of my life sharing this great gift with the people of Upstate New York.

The list could go on forever, but we all have a lot to be grateful for. I hope you are all doing well wherever you are, and know that you're in my prayers!

 

Love you all!

-Elder Mitch Hussey

 

 

11/12/2012

Hello Family!

 

Happy Veterans day yesterday! We actually are working with 3 or 4 different veterans, and the sacrifices that they have made in their lives in order to protect our country is amazing. I really appreciate what they have done for all of us, and the lasting effects that it has had on their lives. It definitely isn't something that is easy to go and do.

The weather here in Owego is kinda Bi-Polar! Man, come to think of it, Owego really is just like home! It got really bitter cold last week and even was snowing one day (I'm not looking forward to winter), then it got nice and warm for the past 3 days. We've actually been able to see the sun a few times the past few days! Pretty cool. :) Before we know it though, we'll just wake up and it'll be a freezing winter wonderland. It'll be exciting to see what the snow is like out here in New York. It's crazy to think that people back in Utah are already Snowboarding and Skiing! Tis the season, I guess.. There are already Christmas decorations all over Front Street in Owego, and it's not even the middle of November yet! Pretty funny.

So, I'll answer some questions-

1.Where do go to get on the internet to do your email on Monday?

We are very blessed here in Owego.. Because our building is a Stake Center, we have a Family History center that has 2 computers. We can use it for our emailing on Mondays, then we also have 2 hours each week of "Mormon.org Time". The purpose behind this is to learn how Mormon.org and LDS.org work, so we can help ward members share things from it with their friends, tell investigators or potentials where they can find answers to their questions, or find answers to our questions/concerns when teaching people. Sometimes, we find good conference addresses as well and use them as lessons with recent converts, less actives, and long time Investigators.

2.How often do you teach lessons?

Once again, I've been very blessed in Owego. This past week, Elder Gasetoto and I had a pretty good week. We taught 15 lessons. Normally, we end up getting 2 or 3 lessons a day. We always have 5 or 6 planned out for each day, but it never quite works out that way. I'd say our average lessons per week here in Owego is ~14 lessons. We don't have enough hours in the day! This past Sunday was pretty exciting though- we got 4 Investigators to attend Church! That's the highest it's been since I've been out here. I keep tellling Elder Gasetoto that we'll get 6 at church one of these weeks... :)

3.Do you think you will be transferred next week?

I'm not quite sure. I have now been in Owego for 4 months, so there is a good possibility that I could get transferred. I'm hoping not, considering transfers is the day before Thanksgiving.. But I'll go/do whatever the Lord wants. However, there is a wildcard on the table.. There is a meeting that I am going to attend in Utica this Wednesday. A few missionaries are being called out for this meeting (about 6 or so) and none of us have ANY idea what it's about.  So there's a slight chance that I could be staying in Owego, and actually training a new missionary! I don't know.. I guess we'll see next week! If I don't email next Monday, that means either Elder Gasetoto or I am being transferred, and P-Day will be on Tuesday.

It's kinda scary! I've grown to love Owego, the ward here, and all of the people we meet with. Many of them are close to baptism, and I worry that I won't get to see them make this amazing step if I'm transferred. But, I shouldn't worry about it. I know I was sent to Owego for a reason, and if my time here is done, I must have accomplished whatever purpose that was.

This should be an exciting week! Keep safe, keep warm, and keep doing all of the good you're doing!

Love you all,

-Elder Mitch Hussey

11/5/2012

Hello everybody! Can you believe it's already November? The time out here in the mission field is just flying by!

This past week was pretty crazy. Everyone here in the Owego area was hit pretty hard by a flood a year ago, so everyone was really worried about Hurricane Sandy. In fact, almost every store was cleaned out of bread and water, and the gas stations had a constant line of cars at them last weekend. Monday night, it was pretty windy here in Owego and it was raining quite a bit. The Susquehanna river is way more full that it is normally because of it. We had an adventure running out in the cold/dark rain and shinning a flashlight on the river to make sure it wasn't going to flood. Then on Tuesday, it was just drizzling rain all day and was overcast. A few people were telling us that the storm was headed straight toward us, but broke apart about 50 miles south of us. We all consider ourselves very lucky here, because many nearby areas got hit really bad by the storm. It's sad hearing about all the devastation in New York City and New Jersey. Hopefully people will all contribute and help out and get things back to normal before too long.

It is starting to get a little chilly on the East Coast! In fact, last night it was snowing in Newark Valley! We came out of one of our investigators houses and it was just blowing around everywhere. Fortunately, it didn't stick and it's a little warmer today.. I'm not quite ready for snow yet. But it will be here pretty soon... Bummer.

This next week should be pretty exciting as well. It's finally elections! A lot of people think that we're out here trying to make people vote for Romney, so I wonder what they'll think when they still see us around in a month or so. But it should be exciting to hear about it. We're hoping some ward members here will let us know who wins... It's tough never being able to hear the news!

Also, I believe Elder Baird may have gotten surgery last week. If so, that's fantastic! I hope he recovers quickly and is able to get back out on his mission soon.

Besides the Storm and upcoming elections. There hasn't been too much new going on here. While storm threw us off on the first part of our week, it was back to normal missionary work after that. One thing that is constantly amazing me is just seeing how much people here sacrifice to help the Gospel grow. So many people are super willing to help us out and love having us over for dinner.. It kinda makes me feel like a bum! I can remember when we'd talk in Priest's Quorum about going on splits with the missionaries and thinking that I didn't have any time to go out and do that... Oops. Live and learn I guess, huh? I've also learned about how important home and visiting teaching can be. Often times, that is the best thing for a family that is struggling in their lives. Just knowing that somebody really cares about their family can often improve their situation much more than two 19 year old boys knocking on their door.

Another thing I've learned is how important it is to really study the scriptures in depth, keeping notes and marking passages. I've learned SO much more from my studying by doing that. I found a paper from Mom that has a calendar, with a plan to read the entire standard works in a year.  I think I am setting a firm goal to do that this upcoming year (2013). Should be really cool! I've also had a few friends who are getting close to serving missions ask me about a good scripture setup, so I took a few pictures and will email them as well showing how I have mine tabbed/marked. Hopefully it gives a few of you ideas and you can improve upon mine and come up with an even better system! :)

 

That was my previous week. Luckily, nothing too exciting happened. I've found that exciting things in my mission so far include sick companions, natural disasters, or crazy people, so maybe it'll just be best that I have a boring mission from here on. ;)

I hope everyone at home is doing well! When people write me, feel free to send a picture or two on occasion! We missionaries LOVE pictures. And letters. :) Also, I'm very sorry to those who I have not written back yet. It's been a crazy past few P-Days, but I should be getting quite a few letters done today.. I hope.

1 Nephi 17:13

Once again, you're all in my prayers! I love you all and I'm very grateful for all of the love and support you send my way.

Love you!

 

-Elder Mitch Hussey

10/29/2012

Happy Halloween!

I'm sure you all have heard of the "FrankenStorm" that is going to be hitting New York later today/tomorrow, right? That should be very interesting.  People in Owego are kinda skittish because of the "Flood of 2011" that nearly wiped the town out last year, so most of the stores are cleared out (everyone bought everything) and the gas stations have had a pretty constant flow of customers for the past 3 days. We went and got a bunch of water, bread, and peanut butter last week, so we'll make it through the storm. It may cause me to no longer love peanut butter sandwiches, which would be a bummer, but it'll all work out. 

I used to think that the 30 minute drive to Vernal was SOOO long.  But I'm getting a lot more used to being on the road pretty often. Here in our area we travel about 1,200 miles a month. That's a lot for a missionary. My companion does not drive, so I am already the lead driver! It's been kinda nice though, because I was afraid I'd forget how to drive if I went too long without getting to drive anywhere. However, the mission has said that the first day that we get snow here in New York, no missionaries can drive anywhere. Apparently the 1st day of snow is normally has a pretty high crash percentage rate? That is something we'll be sure to do in order to stay safe.

 

 It seems like almost all of the people who will actually talk to us throw in an "oh, by the way, I'm voting for Mitt Romney" at the end of our conversations.. Haha! In Delhi (my companion's first area) everybody thought that the missionaries were actually just campaign workers for Mitt Romney. Pretty funny! It will be really interesting to see what happens here in the next month. Should be exciting!

 

Let me tell you all a little bit more about my companion! He is from American Samoa, and has been a convert to the church since 2008. He didn't like Mormons very much when he was growing up, but his dad started meeting with the missionaries. After overhearing a lot of what they were talking about and noticing the change happening to his dad, he decided to start listening as well. One thing leads to another, and he ended up getting baptized about 7 months later! It's funny... The MTC made it seem like everyone would be ready to get baptized within 6 weeks of teaching them.. But it often takes quite a bit longer than that. We all just need to have some patience!  He is super fun to be a companion with. He didn't speak much English before his mission, but it's getting pretty good now. However, there have been a few lessons that we've left and his response has been- "Holy Moly.. I didn't understand anything that they were saying in there!" He LOVES rice and chicken.. He eats that once or twice a day.   And he snores like a freight train! But luckily, I have earplugs. Haha! He's a good teacher and is doing a great job.  He's been out on his mission for about 10 months now. His first area was downtown Albany.. He got there on December 21st and was FREEZING! (He's already getting super cold) His second area was Delhi (something like that) and he served there until about a month ago, when he went to Elmira for a week, then the beautiful Owego! We're getting along really well and having some good times serving together.

 

The missionary work is going good here! We had a very busy week and were running all over the place trying to see everyone that we haven't been able to for the last month or so.. Elder Gasetoto still hasn't met about half of our investigators. Depending on the storm this week, we could have another crazy busy week!

 

One thing that I have really come to appreciate already is having members go out and work with the missionaries. We have a lot of investigators who are women, and we can't go in their house without another male! Plus, it's sometimes just really nice to have a 3rd person to help with teaching. We went teaching with a ward member yesterday and he was able to add some very good insights and help us with a few of our investigators. Missionaries really appreciate help teaching, eating dinner with families, and rides to appointments. Just something to keep in mind. ;)

If you were wondering about the picture of me on a slide in someone's apartment, that is a slide that is in our Landlord's apartment that used to go from an upper loft to his bed, but then when he moved his bed is still just sitting there, and it's kinda a mission legend. The last day Elder Baird and I were here, Elder Baird really wanted to get a picture on it.. So we ran into one of our Landlord's friends, asked him about it, and he took us up and let us get a picture. It was super funny!

 

Missionary life is great! I love the feeling of the Spirit that is always present in missionary work and am having a great time serving the Lord. I'm very excited for my friends who are in the MTC or will be soon. The mission is sweet!  My advice?  Work hard, pray always, and keep a good journal. :)

 

Love you all! Have a great week!

 

-Elder Mitch Hussey

10/22/2012

What a crazy week! It's been pretty great though.

First things first- Elder Baird ended up going back to Arizona for a short medical absence. He met with the doctors in Arizona and is going to get his Gall Bladder taken out soon! Crazy! That should be really good though. That means he should be back out here in the mission field within a month or two. It was really weird seeing him have to leave. We got a call on Monday night informing us of that, we packed everything up, then he headed out on Tuesday morning. While it was a wild past few weeks and I was sad to see him go, I'm comforted that the doctors know what the problem is and will be able to fix it pretty soon. I really enjoyed my time with him as my companion and learned a lot from him. He's one tough Elder for pulling through as long as he did! Get better quick Elder Baird! We need you out here! ;)

Now, I am here in Owego with Elder Gasetoto (Elder Nah-Say-Toe-Toe). He is from American Samoa and he is awesome! We're already having a lot of fun and getting back into the work. This past week flew by because we were so busy, but it was super good. We were able to meet with a lot of our investigators, do some tracting, and attend our Stake Conference with Elder Shayne M. Bowen of the Seventy.

A lot of our investigators are doing really well. We had some very spiritual lessons with people last week and I'm really able to see a huge difference in their lives from the time that I originally met them compared to their lives now. While the past transfer delayed some of their progress, they picked up right where they were this last week and are back on the path towards Baptism. There are about 3 or 4 that are getting very close towards baptism, and I just hope and pray that I'll still be here to see one or two of them make this wonderful commitment to live their lives like Christ. Seeing how much the Light of Christ can influence their lives for better makes all of the hard times out here worth it.

Elder Gasetoto is a ton of fun! Like I said before, he's from American Samoa and is a great companion. He's been on his mission for almost one year. He started his mission off in Albany on December 21st, 2011. Back home, he always spoke Samoan, but his English has gotten to be pretty good in the past year. We've had a lot of fun meeting (and eating) with the members here. When we ate with the Bruns family (they are SO awesome!) this week, they pulled out some pumpkins and we carved Jack-O-Lanterns after dinner! It was Elder Gasetoto's first time carving a Jack-O-Lantern and we had fun!

The rest of the week was pretty crazy. We were able to get Elder Gasetoto moved in, then got to work! We have had a lot of people to stop and introduce Elder Gasetoto to while setting up appointments, we did quite a bit of service this week, and we taught some great lessons. I'm already learning a lot from Elder Gasetoto.

Yesterday was Stake Conference here in Owego. Elder Bowen, Stake President Beck, and President and Sister Wirthlin were able to meet and talk to a few of our investigators before the meeting started, which was really great.

Elder Bowen (He spoke in this last General Conference-Sunday morning session) did a great job. He talked about a lot of different topics, but mainly our gospel, the reasons why we should share it, and the importance of the Temple. It was very powerful and I learned a lot. I was also surprised and loved the dynamic feel of his talk. He was very funny and could also bring the Spirit into the room for everyone. I'll send my notes I took in a picture so you can all read what I got from it. Warning, the "Quotes" may not be exactly correct, but the general idea is contained.

 

Besides that, we are just getting back into the swing of work as normal. The last month or so has been very different than I ever would have imagined, but to be completely honest, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I learned a lot by going through this trial and I feel like Elder Baird and I both got to be great friends going through it together. While we will all have trials in our life that sometimes straight up stink, we can always learn something from it. I've found the scriptures to be very true that tell us that God will not give us anything in our lives that we can't handle. Sometimes we don't realize how strong we really are until that strength is tested.

I hope all is going well at home! All 50 Billion trees out here in New York are red, orange, and yellow, and it's beautiful! I'm doing well and loving my time as a missionary.

You're all in my prayers!

-Elder Mitch Hussey

10/15/2012

Good Morning!

It's a beautiful day here in Owego! The temperature is almost perfect, the leaves are all different hues of yellow, orange, red, gold, and brown, and it's a great day to be a missionary! :)

Things are about the same as last week..The Doctors still don't quite know what is going on with Elder Baird. However, we have one more visit with a doctor this Wednesday. We'll just continue to have faith that everything will work out and we should know what's happening for sure by next week. I'm hopeful to finally find out what is going on as well. But, Proverbs 3:5-6 was a good answer to my prayers considering this matter.

The past week has been pretty good. Elder Baird and I have gotten out to teach a little bit, and we've had some really good lessons with people. One of our investigators has now been off of coffee for over a month, so she could be baptized sometime soon. We just need to get out and teach more often and we should see the work begin to progress at a really great rate. I'm really excited though. When an area has missionaries leave or they get sick for a while, the work kinda slows down, but once it starts up again, the areas EXPLODE! Hopefully we'll be seeing this sometime soon. We know a lot of great people who are wanting to accept the Gospel, they just need a little bit of help getting there. Stay tuned for all of that coming soon! ;)

 

Besides that, I've been practicing the piano a lot (thanks to a borrowed keyboard from our wonderful Ward Mission Leader, Brother Demming) and I'm getting quite a bit better! In fact, I'll be playing the hymns for Zone Conference in about 3 weeks. Scary! I've also been working on a sweet missionary scripture setup, and I've been making some serious progress lately in reading through it, marking it all according to a color code setup I came up with, and tabbing scriptures to help out in the missionary work. Tabbing scriptures is helping me a lot in memorizing where the scriptures I need are. Already, I'm no longer relying on the tabs, but thanks to them, know where to find the specific scripture on faith that I need. That much is good!

 

One thing that was pretty exciting, was we were invited to dinner at Stake President Beck's home this past Friday. They have a great family and a beautiful home, and they made us/sent us home with some awesome home-made chicken noodle soup. Afterward, our Zone Leaders came and we had a spiritual blessing for Elder Baird. It was an exciting little experience that we were blessed to be a part of.

 

So that was my previous week! This week should answer a lot of our questions and prayers, then the work will start to progress again.

I can't quite remember the exact quote (I think Heather or Mom sent it to me),  "Come what may, and love it." Those are wise words indeed. We don't always know how things are going to work out, but we just need to do the best we can and have faith. I've learned a lot about that recently!

 

Stake Conference is this week, and Elder Shane M. Bowen of the Seventy is going to be addressing the Saints right here in Owego. SWEET! Should be an awesome experience.

Keep up all the good work at home! I hope things are good for all of you.

 

-Elder Mitch Hussey