Just a few pictures from Maui.

President and Sister Peterson, Elder Hatch, Elder Medieros, and Elder Fredrickson

A church house on Maui that is a church history site.

Inside the little church.

These were take while they visited every zone before President and Sister Peterson are released. Thursday July 1, 2010 is the big day for passing of responsibility. I think Zach is prepared for the transition. He has been doing all he can to prepare for this emotional time in his life. He is excited to meet the Daltons and is ready to serve with them the best he can. I am sure we will get some pictures by next weekend.

Madison's 23rd Birthday

Our Madison is 23 today. We are so glad she is part of our lives. She brings so much fun to our family. Here are Madison's top ten.
1. She has a great sense of humor and is always making us laugh.
2. She is a great fisherwoman and loves to spend time on the boat with the family.
3. She has a good eye and steady hand when shooting a gun. Watch out or she will end up buying drinks.
4. Mads loves being with the family. We are so glad she was accepted at the U so she could live at home and be here for all the family fun. She hates working Sundays because she has to miss family dinner(and church).
5. She loves family reunions and spending time with her cousins.
6. She has lots of fond memories of Cedar and all the crazy things that happened there.
7. You can always count on getting a hand made card from Mads on your birthday. She is very creative and artistic when it comes to cardmaking.
8. She is extremely musical and plays her beautiful music whenever she gets a chance.
9. She is a great example to her family, friends, and coworkers.
10. She is a true friend.

We love you so much Mads. Thanks for being in our family and making life great. Hope all your hopes and dreams come true. Lot of Love. "THE FAM"

4 months to go! Can't believe it is going so fast.

Week 87

I know it has been a while so I figured I would sit down for a moment and write a quick email. Things have been super crazy. I will try and summarize the events from the last couple of weeks for you the best I can.

Week before transfers- Well we did all of the transfer plans and it all went pretty well. No major issues in the planning process. We had lots of missionaries moving though so we had lots of flights to book, lots of rides to coordinate and lots of new missionaries coming so we had to make sure that things were ready for them. So we got everything ready and were able to do a few other things before transfer week came. There are always just so many preparations that go into transfers and you just want to make sure that everything goes smoothly and that everyone gets where they need to be without too many problems.

Transfer week- Holy cow where do I even begin with this week. So Monday we had a p-day of sorts but not really. We played basketball for about an hour but then had to go to a lesson with our tongan ward and then after that we had to get everything ready for the greenies who would be here the next day. So Monday absolutely flew by. Tuesday we had a big old planning meeting with President Peterson where we tried to get as much stuff prepared for President Dalton as we could to make the transition a whole lot smoother. So we did that and then we drove out to the airport to pick up all the missionaries. It is so funny to see their faces when they step off the plane because they have such the deer in the headlights look. It is classic. I am sure I had the same look when I came though. So we get them and for some reason it takes forever to get their luggage. The machine at the airport stopped working and then there were about a 1000 people there trying to get there luggage. Oh I forgot to mention their flight was delayed so they landed at the same exact time as another flight so there were twice as many people as usual. We had to keep track of them in the big crowd. So we got them and took them to Presidents and got them all situated for the night. We went back to get the chapel ready for transfer meeting the next day and we get there and the chapel where we usually have the meeting is all taken apart because the stake is having some showtunes concert in there and they had lots of the rows out and the stage all taken apart. Elder Medeiros and I looked at each other and just went oh boy that's great. So we talked it through with President and he said it wasn't too big of a deal we would just deal with it.

So transfer day we take all the greenies to the tabernacle for transfer meeting and stuff like that. This day is always super stressful for us because we get about 1000 phones calls (Now I know why dad hates talking on the phone) of people trying to figure out how to get to the tabernacle. We have to make sure cell phones get to their proper area and cars get to their new areas and make sure that everyone has a ride back to their area and that everyone that has a meeting gets to it and is not late otherwise all of the other meeting that follow will be late. So we will just say that it is a super stressful day.

Then the next couple of days after transfers we pretty much just spend moving people and moving furniture and all of that kind of stuff. It was still really crazy because we had so much stuff to do. Then during the weekend we spent the whole time getting our zone conference training ready because we have to present all this week. We had two days to pound it out so we sat down and just pounded the whole thing out it was insane. So that pretty much puts us where we are now. My hands are tired of typing so I am going to stop.

ofa atu
Elder Hatch

Weeks 84,85, and possibly 86

We haven't gotten a big email for awhile but have gotten small blurbs here and there. So I will try to summarize some of the life of Elder Hatch.
1. He finished off Zone Conferences in week 84. He loves traveling to all the zones and meeting with the missionaries. He tells us the missionary spirit is very strong and he loves getting his batteries recharged being with all of those missionaries.
2. He has been working on transfers for the past week or so. Transfers are on June 16 and there are 16 missionaries going home. So this is a big transfer. They have been working on putting the right companionships together for this transfer. Transfers are a big deal to him. He takes them very seriously and there is a lot of prayer, fasting, and trusting in the Lord when making changes in companionships. He is now preparing all of the paperwork, transportation, and training manuals.
3. On July 1 President Peterson and his wife will have completed their service in Hawaii. Zach is helping to make preparations for a smooth transition to President Dalton and his wife. This is a very difficult thing for Zach as he has grown to love the Petersons as if they were his own parents. He has such love, respect and admiration for both of them. I know they will have a close relationship for the rest of their lives.
4. He has also been making deliveries, teaching some investigators right there in Honolulu, visiting all the missionary pads, and working on other missionary stuff.
5. He found out that we will be picking him up in October. Hawaiian Air had a great rate and so we booked our flight. So exciting.