1.28.2012

 I'm not sure why, but it seems like it's been a long time since last P-Day. Each week is sure unique out here on a mission. It was a really good week, but it was super busy! This next week will be good too, and we should be around Syracuse more this week.

Things have been a little cold in Syracuse, but nothing too bad. Luckily, we're in a position with investigators that unless we really want to get out and walk around in the cold, we don't have to. We try to, because we really need to find new investigators, but we don't have too much time to do it! Crazy.

The work is definitely going really well! Elder Simmonds is an awesome missionary and is really fun to work with. We both get along really well and we're starting to figure out how to teach with each other. I feel super blessed to be his companion.

Syracuse is definitely different than Owego. First off, there's about 165,000 more people, so we get a lot of chances to meet different people all the time. We're able to find new investigators pretty good. We've picked up more in the past 3 weeks than I probably did in my first 6 months.. However, most of those people came from the previous Elders talking to people on the bus (they only had a car every other week before I came here). So we have a really big teaching pool as of now, but in the future there will need to be a big emphasis on finding.

We had an amazing week! Get this... We (Syracuse West) had 10 investigators at church! It was CRAZY! Include Syracuse East, and we had 13 investigators at church. It was super exciting! It did make it a little wild, but the ward did a good job at taking care of people while we were running around like crazy. Definitely a good feeling to have! :)

There is one Ward is Syracuse, and a YSA Branch. The Ward has around 150-180 active members, while the branch had ~30. There are a lot of SU Students out here, so there are actually young families in this ward! It's pretty weird to hear crying babies in sacrament again. :)

This next week should be really good! Elder Simmonds and I are doing some baptismal interviews, going to ZLC (Zone Leader Council), and just loving the work! Things are going really good and we're having a lot of fun with the work. The mission really is a great experience!

 

It's been a huge eye opener for me (even more so now in Syracuse) to see how good my upbringing was. I'm definitely blessed way more than I deserve! Really though, I am so grateful for everything.

Love you!

-Elder Hussey

P.S. A few pics. We went to MOST (Museum of Science and Technology last week and had some fun, then funny billboards, and a picture of a BLACK SQUIRREL! They're super weird-very entertaining. Oh, and somebody lives on the 2ed floor of their building. HA!)

 

1.21.2012

Good Morning! :)
 

Looking at the last week, I feel exhausted! It was sure pretty exciting. We're doing another exchange tomorrow!... But I get to stay in Syracuse for this one. Phew! It is definitely an exciting calling. I had a lot of fun this previous week when I was in Fulton and Utica. It amazes me to see the variety involved in each different area of the mission. Owego was a small town, like an in between of Roosevelt and Duchesne. Syracuse is the biggest city in our mission. Fulton is about Vernal sized, while Utica is a big, diverse city. It's cool to see how the work is going in different areas and also get to learn from different missionaries in the process. The exchange with the Assistants was very eye opening. They were really good examples to me and Elder Simmonds and helped us figure a lot of new things out. It was definitely an adventure! I was sure glad to get back to Syracuse after being gone so long!

There will be a lot of differences in our mission in the next few months with all of the new missionaries coming. There are two missionaries in our zone who have had the assignment from President Wirthlin to find new apartments, and they've found enough for the changes we're expecting in our zone. Cars... We'll see how that works out. Who knows! I guess some areas will just have to oil the chains on their bikes and get ready to get fit!
 

I can't believe that so many people are out on missions now! I heard from some friends from college that Ethan is in the MTC, Adam finally made it to Mexico, and that 3 or 4 more girls I know have put in their mission papers! It's pretty weird to think about. I keep expecting to hear that someone I know is coming out here to the NYUM Mission! You never know, huh?
 

Weather here is pretty good. It's getting colder again, which is kinda a downer.. But it could be a lot worse! One of our zone's areas, Fulton, just got SLAMMED with a snowstorm yesterday night.. About 18 inches of snow. We didn't get anything. Not one bit of snow. Weird, huh? I'm not complaining! We do have a nice car though that handles really nice, so that much is good. And we make sure we're really safe whenever we go out. Don't worry!
 

Of course, I stuck my foot in my mouth.. It's now snowing. But it's nothing too crazy.
 

So, that's most of what's going on here lately. One of the funniest things is using the public libraries for the computers... There are some very entertaining people here in Syracuse!.. That's for sure. I'll have a lot of funny stories to share/reminisce about when I get back home... It surely is the Best 2 Years for AND of my life. I'm lovin' it!
 

I  hope things are going well for everyone back home.

Love you!

-Elder Mitch Hussey

1.14.2012

Good afternoon! I hope all is going well for you guys at home. Things are going great here!

Not as much time as we now email in libraries with a 30 minute limit.

 I did go and get my flu shot. :)  Good thing too, because a lot of people have had the flu this past week!

 That's crazy to think that the weather has been so cold in Utah! Heather said it was -16 degrees in Cedar City earlier today!  It actually hit 45 degrees yesterday! It was super nice. It's getting a little colder today, but I'll be okay.

Syracuse is a unique city! I kinda like living in a city. There are a lot more places to buy groceries (not just one store like in Owego), WAY more people to talk to, and a ton of places that haven't been tracted recently! There's almost too much work for us to handle! (That's going to be changing soon though. Here in the next few months Syracuse will have 4 sets (8 people) of missionaries in it! That's going to be weird... But really good! That will help us out a little bit.

Being a Zone Leader is really busy. This past week I did a 2.5 day exchange in Cortland, then tomorrow I'm going to exchange in Fulton until Thursday, then I'm exchanging to Utica until Friday night, and then exchanging with Liverpool next week. It's wild! But it's really fun. We get to know a lot of the missionaries in our Zone, and are really able to see what is going on and how we can all find ways to improve. It's been a blast so far! (Although I'm still really behind in my Journal and writing letters.... AHH!)

Things are good though.

That's about all the time I have... I took a few pictures. One is of me and Elder Simmonds, and one is of my MTC District roommates at Transfers. Pretty fun!

Oh! One more thing. Elder Baird is back out on the mission! I haven't seen him yet though... But I'm glad he's back, and he's returning to one of his previous areas, Malone NY! That's pretty sweet.

 I love you guys, and I love the work. Hope all is going well for you! You're all in my prayers.

 Love you!

-Elder Mitch Hussey

1.7.2013

What an exciting week! It's been really crazy so far. But it's been really really good!

I am now in the Syracuse West area. Syracuse is a lot different than Owego, that's for sure. I love it already though! The people (I've met) are really nice, we have some sweet investigators, and the Lord is already blessing us hugely! It's been AMAZING!

First off, everyone keeps asking me if I'm freezing being here in New York. When they ask that, I remember the cold winters when it was -20 and say it's not too bad here. We have quite a bit of snow, but it's been about 25 degrees most days this past week. The new coat I got a few weeks ago is PERFECT! It has 2 pockets that fit a Book of Mormon in them perfectly, and it's warm. That all worked well in the end.

Second, you asked about what being a Zone Leader is all about... Lets start at the top. You have The Mission President and his 2 Assistants that are looking over the whole mission.  Then, there are 5 Zones in the Mission. In each Zone, there are 2 or 3 districts, with 4 or 5 companionships in each district. So, as Zone Leaders, Elder Simmonds and I are over quite a few missionaries. We go on exchange with all of the district leaders, solve problems that areas are experiencing, and try to help everything run smoothly in our Zone. It's pretty crazy! We spend a lot of time on the phone, a lot of time on planning, and will be spending a lot of time doing exchanges. In fact, I'm going to Cortland tonight! It's been great though.

Elder Simmonds is the man! He's from Bountiful, UT, and has been out around 14 months. He was not the Zone Leader before, so we're both figuring it out. President Wirthlin kinda let it slip that we are one of his "experiments"  Pressure is on! But it's been a great companionship! Elder Simmonds is really great at talking to people and finding new investigators, which is something I've struggled with. We've worked hard this week and are being very blessed!

We have 9 investigators with baptismal dates, and have been finding new people to teach left and right! The Lord is taking good care of Syracuse!

We show up to teach an investigator and there are 2 new people there that want to learn about the Church. We show up to church and there's a Senior in High School that wants to learn about the Church. We go to Walmart to buy milk- A guy says "Hey Elders!" then explains he used to meet with the missionaries, but then he moved here. We're going to teach him too! It's just been an amazing week and has really helped me out a ton!

The new youth curriculum does seem really great! It puts the ball in our court a little more, but there's much more room for growth and experience within that. It's going to do great things for the youth of the church!

Sorry I haven't gotten many letters out in the past few weeks. I'm going to fix that today. I'm also going to get the Flu Shot, right after this. Sound good? You can also expect a package from me in a few days... Sweaters, a tie, pants.. A few things that I knew I wouldn't be using out here on the mission and couldn't fit in my bag. I did find out though... Priority Boxes are the way to ship things! I didn't do that...and Parcel Post cost 5 bucks more... and takes 4 times as long to get there. Live and learn, right?

I love you guys! Know that I am doing well, I feel like the Lord is definitely taking care of me, and there's no place I'd rather be/thing I'd rather be doing right now. Serving on a mission is sweet, and I'm so excited to see more people experience this joy. I set some New Years Resolutions, and I'm going to do the "Read the entire Standard Works in a Year" challenge. The Pearl of Great Price is SWEET! I'm learning so much already.

Anyway, because we don't have a family history center here, I won't be able to email as much (or I might just seem really scatter brained..) But I'm loving life! Thanks for all you do!

Love you guys! You're in my prayers, and I'm definitely learning that God truly does answer our prayers... sometimes just a little differently than we expect. I'll get over it. :)

 Talk to you next week! Have a great week,

 -Elder Mitch Hussey

1.1.2013

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

It is amazing to think that it's already 2013.... Time flies!

It sounds like you all had a good Christmas and I hope you all had a good New Years as well! I loved talking to you guys and really enjoyed being able to see you guys as well! It's amazing to think about the blessing that technology are bringing to all of us now, huh? It certainly was a special week, for several reasons.

First- Christmas was great! We had a lot of little pictures to take to investigators and members of the ward we've worked with a lot. They really appreciated it and we had a lot of fun with the many different people we spent Christmas with. It was great to talk to family and spend time with friends, even if the Christmas package didn't make it (which P.S. We got it on Friday.. HA! I'm glad it made it here though. According to the post office, mail got delayed because of snow storms. But thank you so much for all of that! It was a bunch of great ideas!)

Second- We found out about Transfers!..... Guess what?!? I'm going to Syracuse New York, and I'm going to be a Zone Leader!... Crazy. I'm kinda super intimidated by that, but I know that God doesn't give us anything that we're not capable of completing/overcoming... So... This will be an adventure. I'm packing everything up today and heading to Syracuse tomorrow morning! Weird stuff.

Third- We got a TON of snow! Two Big storms hit us here in New York and dumped 7 inches one day and about 10 another.. It was wild!

Now, there was some bad news associated with this storm... The roads were CRAZY! (Don't fear, we didn't drive in it..) Because of this storm on Saturday, most people in the Ward weren't able to get into Owego.. Because of this, the baptism was postponed and rescheduled until................

December 30th, we had the baptism and confirmation right after the Church block.

It was great! The Spirit was really strong and she was glowing. We saw her yesterday and you can just see a huge difference in her already. It was awesome! Everyone was saying that was the perfect way to end my time spent in Owego. I must say, I agree 100 percent. It was awesome.

And yesterday was New Years Eve! We visited a lot of people and spent the evening with

the Rogler family. One of their daughters, has the cutest little boy and girl! We had a lot of fun with them. (Plus, she gave me a trim on my hair! Win-win-win!) :)

(One funny thing.. There is a lady we got to know pretty well out here. She wants to call and talk to you sometime in the next few days... She has our home number. Hahaha she tried calling when we were there, but thankfully you weren't home... She was saying it was ok if we didn't dial the number! I told her that she could call sometime I wasn't there though.)

I also passed my 6 month mark without even noticing it! That was pretty weird! It's so strange to think that I'm already 1/4th into my mission! I need to get pushing a little harder and work more and more while I have the time.. I have a LOT of improving I can do.

Speaking of improving, I had a thought the other day about New Years Resolutions. When the Christmas Season comes up, we all work a little harder at making the best version of us shown to everyone. We might try to be more patient, or we might try to make contact with friends, or whatever it is that we try to work on. Then, one week later, we have a tradition of setting goals for the upcoming year.. Might I suggest that the reason for that is that in the Spirit of Christmas, we see ways that we need to change to be more like Christ? Let's all look at the ways we acted different than normal during the Christmas Season, then set goals to not only try to act like that during Christmas, but throughout the whole next year? That's what I plan on doing.

Things here are going really well. I'm seeing people's lives change as they accept the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, my testimony is growing, and I feel like I myself am changing and developing into much more than I would have been without coming on a mission. I love the people of Owego and I'm going to miss them, but I'm also excited for the upcoming year and all of the adventures that will be sure to come.

I love you all, and I hope you had a great time during the holiday season. You're in my prayers, and I hope we can all do our part to make 2013 one of the best years yet!

-Elder Mitch Hussey

12/24/2012

Guess what? It finally looks a little like Christmas!

 

 

 

The Snow finally hit New York last Friday! We had some pretty good snow and it was actually pretty fun! It hasn't gotten too cold yet, so that's good!

 

 

 Looks like we might have a white Christmas after all!

 

Or maybe not!

 

All of the snow has already melted! Crazy stuff, huh? Oh well... That just means driving will be a little bit safer for a while. And also that we won't be as cold. Haha!  (As you can see, I finally managed to get an actual winter coat! It's quite a bit warmer than my previous coat.. Although the weather has warmed up significantly since I received the better coat. That's how it works, huh?)

Things here are really going pretty well lately! I did an exchange with Elder Kip Atwood from Paradise, UT in Corning and it was a blast! He's a way fun missionary and it was cool to see what the work is like outside of Owego.

We had President and Sister Wirthlin come to church in Owego yesterday, which was a nice surprise. We also have the baptism set up and ready for next Saturday. (The reason we're waiting until Saturday is because one of her main fellowshippers in the ward had left until the night of the 28th, and she really wanted her to be there.) I'm really excited! She asked me to do the baptism for her, so I'll finally get to use the white trousers and tie! :)  I'm really just so excited for her. She looked like she was glowing yesterday at Church, and really seems like a new person compared to when I first met her. It's SO cool seeing how much the Gospel can help people.

Next Saturday, after the Baptism, we'll be having "Transfer Calls..." Crazy! I've pretty much accepted that I'm headed somewhere new, but you never know! My Zone Leaders said I was headed up to Potsdam, so we'll see if they're right! Could be a cold winter in a week or so... :)  Whatever happens, I'm excited. It's a great time to be out serving a mission and seeing what kind of difference we can make on people.

We're almost ready for Christmas tomorrow! We finally got a tiny Christmas tree (I should have taken a picture!) and got a few packages in the past week. I got a package from Heather and Nick on Wednesday and a package from Tyler and one from Mom and Dad on Thursday. I hope that was all of them! In Mom's email, it said "Did both of your packages arrive?", so hopefully none of them got lost in the mail. Elder Gasetoto also got a package from "The girls of SLC" (Huh?) and one from home as well, so that was good! Funny thing was, he opened his presents as soon as he got them! Hahaha!

So here's the schedule for tomorrow.... We're running a bunch of presents to investigators around 8:30 or so, then eating breakfast/opening presents with the Richardson family at 9:30. After breakfast, we're headed to Elmira for District Meeting at 12 (where I'm giving my first training... Exciting!) After District Meeting gets over at 1:30, we're headed back to Newark Valley to eat dinner with the Cox family at 3:30. After dinner is over, I'm guessing around 5 (3 in Utah), that seems to be the ideal time for me to call/skype you guys! I'm excited to get to talk to you all. I hope that works for all of you... If that doesn't work out, email Sister Cox and relay the message to me so I know what other time would work out.

It should be a very exciting, very merry Christmas. It's weird not being home for the holidays (and kinda doesn't make it seem like Christmas Eve...), but it'll still be good.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, wherever people are spending the holidays. Where we spend the holidays and what we get during the holidays aren't what's really important, but the reason for the season is most important.

I believe Mormon.org/Christmas got it right when they said-

"Christmas is about Family. Christmas is about Friends. Christmas is about Service. Christmas is all about Christ."

Merry Christmas! I love you all.

 

Elder Mitch Hussey

12-17-2012

Hello!

 

I cannot believe it's almost Christmas! It is crazy to think that it will be Christmas Eve one week from now! I don't quite understand how/why, but time is flying by! I've almost been out for 6 months already! Weird, huh?

Our investigator has not been baptized yet... But she's now got a solid baptismal date and has even had her baptismal interview already! She's going to be getting baptized on December 29th... The Saturday after Christmas and the day of Transfer Calls! Crazy! I'm so glad it's working out that I will still get to be here when she gets baptized. And she is definitely ready for this. We have several other people who are getting really close to baptism, but I don't think I'll be here when any of them make that step. Our other solid investigator is actually a bit older than you're imagining.. He's 56! At this time, the youngest person we're teaching is in his mid thirties. In fact, this entire area is kinda lacking in youth... There are 3 young men, and 3 or 4 young women in the entire ward! A few are back from college for Christmas though, so that's good to get to see a few of them again.

The Christmas Decorations out here are definitely different... But they're still good. Not many people put Christmas Lights up on their homes, but a ton of people do yard decorations. There's a few yards around here that look like there was an explosion of Christmas lights, reindeer, and inflatable Santa Clauses. I'll have to take a few pictures this week.

This past week was pretty exciting for a few different reasons..

1. Had my first mission encounter with a dog! We were out tracting a neighborhood in West Corners, and we didn't hardly have any luck. Although it was perfect tracting time (5 PM), nobody was home. At the end of the street, we saw a house that was all lit up inside. We were convinced that was the reason that we were in that neighborhood, so we started walking up toward the door. We notice their mid-sized dog was on a long leash in the yard, and he noticed us too. He walked up to us, sniffed our hands, and then let us pet him for a minute. However, he wasn't too keen on the idea of us knocking on the front door, because as soon as we took a step towards it, he attacked! Now, I'll be honest here- I just ran away. Once I was out of danger, I looked back to see it going after Elder Gasetoto. Right when it was about to get him, he just slapped it in the face a few times and ran back to where I was. It was both horrifying and hilarious. Haha!

2. Elder Gasetoto started feeling sick on Wednesday, then on Friday Morning it was pretty apparent that he had the Flu.. Luckily, the Zone Leaders were coming from Elmira, so I was still able to get out and work. Unfortunately, we had to spend Saturday and Sunday in the apartment.. I hadn't gotten my flu shot yet, so apparently I have a pretty good immune system?

3. Speaking of good immune systems.... Last week, we had someone give us some snacks! They were basically a muffin and a cookie mixed, and they were a little bit past expiration, but found to be okay upon quick examination, I tried one. It tasted kinda weird.......... Elder Gasetoto was about to eat his, when he realized the bottoms were covered in mold. Looking at the rest in the package, almost all of them looked okay on top, but the bottoms were all gross. I thought I was going to throw up! However, I didn't get sick, and maybe that was the thing that kept me from getting the flu!... Right? Right? I'll just say that's what happened and it was a blessing in disguise... Yeah, we'll go with that.

Lesson learned- Always examine expired food thoroughly before consumption.

That was the exciting parts of my week! With Christmas and a baptism next week, things are going pretty good! It's definitely a different Christmas Season, but I'm enjoying it!

Hope you all are having a great Christmas Season back home!

Love you guys!

-Elder Mitch Hussey