Week 95 The Weekly Round Up

Aloha family,

Yes it is that time of the week again already. I really can't believe how fast this comes around each week. It seems like I was just typing my last email home and here I am again. I don't think this week was as crazy as weeks past, but I will try to do my best to talk about a few of the highlights and a few of the crazy things that happened.

Tuesday 17th- So we started doing interviews this week and they are always fun. The interviews are a great way for us to see how the missionaries are doing and get some one on one time with them while President interviews. It is really interesting sitting down with them and talking because you find so much out about them and who they are. Sometimes they tell you a little more than you want to know but it is all good. So after interviews were finished we had a few cars that needed to go a few different places and stuff. So we took a car out to waipahu and it was good. We had to hurry back though because our ward mission leader wanted us to go on splits with us. So we hurried back and we asked him who we were going to see. He said that he was taking us to a guy that the missionaries had taught before and when they had taught him he told them that he was already baptised. Well he hadn't and our ward mission leader was on a quest to go find this guy. So we drive out to kalihi and find this guy hangin out with his family. Our ward mission leader just goes inside because it is a tongan household so he can just do that and he finds the guy. So we sit down with the guy and Brother Fatongia is like, "James you lie to me!! You tell me you baptise, but you never baptise!!" We were both just sitting there like oh man what is going to happen and then the guy was like, "yeah I haven't gotten baptised yet but I have been thinking about it." Then Brother Fatongia says, "No time for baptise!! You been taking the lessons to long already!! You need to baptise" the guy was like yeah I know, then brother fatongia looks at us and is like elda what is two weeks from fursday? We were like uh sept. 2 and he was like good we baptise then. The guy was like alright cool. Anyway I know that was kind of a long story but Elder Doane and I had a good laugh about it after. We are going by to teach him a few times this week just to refresh him on everything and then we will get him interviewed. It was just funny the way it happened. Then after that we went to this super shady part of town down by china town if you know where that is. We drive down this dark sketchy alley in Bro Fatongias truck. We get to the end and it was sooo funny. There was like this old asian couple like dancing in the middle of the street, these two tongan guys sitting on the side and this other black guy just drunk out of his mind. I wasn't scared though because we were with Bro Fatongia and he knew the people. So we are sitting there talking to these guys and we can't get out of the truck because the alley is to narrow. The drunk guy on the side is just like sitting there and Bro Fatongia is like, "Hey you never like come fix my truck?" The guy was like, "you never call me?" come to find out that Brother Fatongia had hired the guy to fix his truck, he had come to the Fatongia's home, started fixing the truck got bored, left his tools and caught the bus home. So on the way home Brother Fatongia decided to take us to McDonalds. So we get to the drive through and he starts ordering but he has his tongan accent so the lady can't understand him. It was so funny listening to them trying to communicate. Then as he was finishing the order the lady told him how much and he was like ok sista. We start busting up laughing he starts laughing and the lady that took the order starts laughing into the mic thing. So we get to the window and he gives her the money and he is like, "Why you laugh?" and she just gets all serious and doesn't know what to say because she doesn't know if he is serious or if he is joking. Needless to say Elder Doane and I had a good laugh that night about the events that had happened that night.

Wednesday 18th- So we were in Laie today for interviews. So we had to take two different cars. They needed a car in Laie and we were also supposed to pick some furniture up from Laie and also deliver some to other parts of the island. So we decided that we had become HD. Meaning HD moving services, HD used cars, HD airport services, HD problem solvers and the list goes on and on. So we got to Laie and I felt like I was back home again. We started the interviews, and even though most of the sisters have changed, they all still seemed to know me. It is always fun to go up there. The sisters are so funny. So we spent some time there and we went to the kahuku grill, an all time favorite. Owned by one of my most favorite people in the whole world President Hanneman. So we go and he is there so I gave him a big old bear hug. I was so happy to see him and he like wise. It just made the trip to Laie so much sweeter to see the good friends that you have made while you are here. So after we did that we went all the way around the island to wahiawa. We took the way all the way through north shore because it is faster to get to wahiawa. It was also good because Elder Doane had never seen the north shore. So we got to waihawa, made a quick stop to drop off the stuff and then off we went, becuase we had to get to an appointment with our ward back in town. So we got back but we were a little late. It was ok though because the tongans run on what we call tongan time. They are always late. So we get there and they want us to share a message and for some reason the got the idea that right after we shared the message we had to leave. So we told them no no its ok we can stay for a little while. It was actually really good because there were some inactive people as well and some non members there that we were able to teach. It was a good night though.

Thursday 19th- This day was really really long. We had two zones worth of interviews to do. As we have been doing the interviews we have been checking the missionaries area books. So we checked about 25 area books in total. It was ok but after awhile you just feel like you are looking at the same thing over and over again. We didn't finish all of the interviews until like 6:30, so we came back had to run to one of our members houses for dinner and then we went straight home to bed because we were so tired.

Friday 20th- Well we got up this morning and flew to kauai. It is always kind of different to fly back there because it is my greenie area. We got there and we were able to spend some good quality time with the missionaries. It is a little bit harder out there for them because there are only 8 missionaries on the whole island so when we get a chance we like to talk to them and give them some comic relief. Nothing else really happened.

Saturday 21st- We spent some time cleaning today. We never have any time to clean so we decided that we didn't have anything going and that are pad really needed to be cleaned. So we took a couple of hours and deep cleaned it. We got rid of ALL old crap and made it so the only things that are in there now are Elder Doanes and mine. It was really great and our pad felt a lot better after. I think that is the only really major thing that happened.

Sunday 22nd - So we taught our gospel principles class as normal and it went really good. We really get some good involvement from our recent converts. So we taught the class and then during 3rd hour we spent some time with the young single adults. It is really good to talk to them because a few of the guys have been trying to decide whether or not they want to go on missions so we were really able to help them. Then after church we were able to teach our investigator Erin. She is so awesome. She has such a solid testimony already and she is not even a member yet. She said she gave up coffee already and she didn't even know why. She said she gave it up just because her fiance said that in the church they don't drink coffee and she really liked what she saw in him. We were teaching her about living prophets and I asked her, "Erin what would it mean to you to know that there was a living prophet on the earth today?" She took a second to respond and when she did she got really emotional and talked about how she knw it was really important. That God is the same forever and that she thought he would call a prophet again today. She told us that it would be really important in a world that has such ever changing values. She was still emotional as she talked about how she realized that things that she saw on tv are not ok and that she would have never realized that if she would have never met with us. She talked about the trails that we face in life and how satan throws so much stuff at us. I then was able to share one of my favorite scriptures Helaman 5:12 and I think it really helped her. It was just a really good lesson and the spirit was really strong. I miss being able to teach like that all day every day. But I have learned to cherish those opportunities when they come. Then we had to run to the airport to pick up President Dalton. We had to run a few other places and we were driving our truck and all of the sudden I look behind me and there is a cop with his lights on? I was like hmm thats weird I haven't done anything wrong? So he comes up to the window and like motab is playing and he asked for they typical stuff. I was like something wrong officer? He was like yeah your saftey inspection is expired and so is your registration. I was like oh ok? He was like does this vehicle belong to you? I was like no this belongs to our church. He was like ok just tell your church to get it fixed. I was like ok. It was really funny though. Anyway that was pretty much my week. Some funny stories this week. I hope that you all enjoy. I love you all so much and am grateful for the support that you show to me.

Ofa atu

Elder Hatch

BIG NEWS from Annie and Steve

A few pictures

Can't believe it is down to 2 months

Maddie is Home YEAH!!!

Maddie has been on a pharmacy rotations for school in St. George. She has been gone for a month. We are so glad she is back and making us laugh again. We all missed her, especially the dogs. They were so excited to have her back. Little Ruby keeps snuggling up to her on the couch and follows her around. It is always great when one of the family comes back home.

Week 93 Review of what has been going on. July 28th thru Aug. 8th

Aloha Family,

So it is that time again to send yo another email. I figured I would send it now because this is about the only time that I will have over the next week with the crazy schedule that we have this week. So I will try and recap the last two weeks of events since I wasn't able to email last week with the busy schedule that we had.

So starting with the first week. So I can't remember if I wrote about this week or not but it is always super stressful because this is transfer week and there is so much going on and so many things to coordinate. You have to make sure that no one misses any flights and that everyone has a ride to transfer meeting and that everyone has a cell phone and everyone knows how to get back to their pad and so on. There is always just so much to keep track of thank goodness for excel. So we got the greenies and got them all oriented the first night. Actually it went pretty smooth for it being President's first time. He did a really great job and with such a great learning curve. He kept a very level head and just stayed calm through most of the process. So Tuesday night we finished with the greenies a little early which never happens and make the preperations for the next day.

Wednesday July 28th - Transfer day!! This day is always fun and always crazy. I always sweat soooo much this day because I am just running around like a chicken with my head cut off or something. haha It is always good though. So we got the greeenies to the tab and it was wierd because I had to conduct this time. I felt really inadequate again. It seems like I should still be sitting down in the group with all of the other missionaries waiting for my asignment. It made me remember the feeling and emotions that I had every time that I found out that I was being transfered and the anticipation. I felt so bad for President though because he was trying so hard to pronounce the names of all of the places but he was struggling. My heart went out to him and I just wanted to be a bug in his ear and help him be able to say it right. I also felt bad for him because he said a companionship that I knew was not right, he had just accidenlty looked at the wrong line and when I heard it I knew it wasn't right. So I walked up really quick and just told him hey they are supposed to be with so and so and he got really embarrased but he handled it really well and just took it and made a joke about it and moved on which I was really impressed by. This day always feels so long. By the time 3 rolls around it feels like it should be 8 already. It turned out to be a good transfer day with no problems which was really good.

Thursday July 29th - This day was really good, I was hoping that it wasn't going to be to tough but I don't know who I was kidding knowing that I was going to have to send two of my best friends in the mission, home. So we had a somewhat normal morning with studies and what not and then it was time to start preparing the diers. So we met them all at the tab and President gave some of them their final interviews. It is always interesting to see the faces of the missionaries, becuase you can see in their faces who didn't do all that they wanted to and you can also tell those who did exactly what they wanted to. It makes me happy to know that I will be able to have that satisfied look on my face and being able to say that I know that I did all that I could in the time the Lord gave to me. Anyway, we went back to President's house and had the last testimony meeting with them. This is always tough because you hear some pretty powerful stuff in that meeting. We always have one last good dinner with them as well before we take them to the airport. So it came time to take them to the airport so we took them and I just spent most of my time sitting and talking to Elder Eteaki and Elder Fredrickson. It was good just to talk to them for a few minutes and to reminisce with them about the last months that we had been around each other and the good times that we shared together. Oh let me back up just a second, we got to the airport and usually this member girl helps us out but when we got there I couldn't remember her name so I went up to the counter and just started to as if there was a member that worked there and they said yes Eta worked there and it clicked with me that was her name. So they went and got her and I started to work everything out with her. It was crazy. She said that they used to email the info to her and she would get everything ready so once we got there we could get the bags done quick. So I got her information for the next time that we go. So I just started to do them one by one with her and got everyone checked in. So then it came time to take them to the security check. I was doing fine not crying until it came time to say goodbye to Elder Eteaki. Man I love that kid with all of my heart. I gave him a hug and started to let go and he just kept holding on and would not let go. He started to cry and it made me start to cry. I knew that I was really going to miss him once he was gone. He is one that I will go home and find right away. He and I will be life long friends for sure. So we sent them through and I just sat and watched them until I couldn't see them anymore and then I picked myself up and went back to work because I knew that was what was expected of me and I knew that they wouldn't want me dwelling on them.

The rest of the week was pretty much the same, not to much exciting going on. We did a lot of preperations on the weekend for all of the training that we would be doing this week. So we made all of the preperations and them we were actually able to do a little bit of procelyting. It was great. It felt great to be able to teach a little bit and to be able to go and knock on a few peoples doors and talk to people.

Monday Aug. 2 -It was ZLC which I just absolulty love because it is just like a brotherhood. We get so close as zone leaders and form a bond like none other and we just really all understand each other. It was kind of hard because there is so much stuff that goes into it and there is tons of planning and preperations, but everything went really well. All of the zone leaders took all of the training to heart and were all really excited to have it implemented into their zones. We were really glad that they took it so well, because it could have gone either way and they took it the right way. I wasn't really to worried about it though because the zone leaders are so good and I knew that they would take it the right way. We spent most of ZLC just teaching them all about the new stuff and everything that we would be training them on. But after ZLC we took some time for ourselves because we knew that we wouldn't have much time the rest of the week to do anything. The Kauai zone leaders were going to be staying with us for the next couple of days so we took them to costco and we stocked up on a few things to hold off for the next couple of weeks. It was a pretty good pday, finished laundry and headed home for the night.

Tuesday Aug 3-This was the first day of training and it went pretty well. We got everything all set up and ready to go and the training went smooth all day. It was really long though. It was like 7 hours so it took lots of concentration and we had to stay very involved. After about 6 hours of it I was pretty much cooked for the day. After that we were able to go and teach a few people and to have dinner with one of our members.

wednesday thru friday Aug 4-6 - All of these day were just full of training. It was crazy to have all of the leadership on Oahu all in one place. It was kind of scary in a way to think that all of the leaders had been taken out of thier zones for the week. It all turned out really well. It actually turned out that all of them went back to their areas and were applying the things that they had been learning for the last week so that was really good to hear. We were so excited that they were taking it to heart and applying the things that they had learned. It was cool as well because we were able to watch the new segments of the district.

Saturday Aug 7 - So today we had a baptism for 5 people. It was a really good baptism. It was a family that had 4 teenage daughters that were active in church but just had never gotten their daughters baptised. Then also a samoan lady that is married to a tongan guy. Her name is Jesse and she just has the sweetest spirit ever. She knew it was true and she really wanted to be baptised so it turned out good. Then we had a party with our ward at the park. It was really great because they had brought a few nonmembers so we were able to talk to them and hopefully we will be able to teach them. It was just good to build some trust with our ward. Elder Doane is really helping me my tongan, he is more fluent than I. The people just love him. I am trying to get better so that he and I can teach together in tongan. That would be really neat to be able to do that. After that we had some time so we started going and visiting some of the formers in our area book and were able to start meeting a lot of tongans that lived around. We were able to set up a few lessons with some of them for next week so that will be really good. It was a really good day though.

Sunday Aug 8 - Well today was ward conference and we showed up expecting the normal and found out that they were changing all of the meeting around. So instead of having sacrament first it was going to be last. We had priesthood first then sunday school and then sacrament. It all worked out. We taught the gospel princlples class and it was going really good. We had only been teaching for like 15 minutes and then bishop told us we needed to end because they were going to start sacrament meeting early because it was the ward conference. So we go in to sacrament and it is just packed. Which was good because I haven't seen our ward that full in a long time. Then after just like any other tongan event they had food at the end of ward conference. I love the tongan food now. It tasted good the only bad part is that it is not very helathy for you. Then after church we did some studies and then we went to this one senior couples house for dinner. The Freemans they are so awesome. I love them so much and they are such a strength to us in the office. But we went up and ate with them and it was great. Then we taught a lesson and that was pretty much our day.

So sorry this is so long but I felt like I should recap on the whole week. I love you all so much. I will email you next week when I get back from the big island and tell you all about my adventures there.

Ofa atu

Elder Hatch

Week 92 (a bit late)

Aloha Family,

I am so sorry that it has been so long that I have had a chance to write so I will try and tell you what has been going on for the last two weeks.

So Starting on the 13th through the 18.

We had the rest of the interviews this week and we were able to introduce President Dalton to all of the missionaries and have a chance to meet with each of them. Man I always get so tired when we travel so much....anyway so we were on Big Island, Maui and around here in Honolulu. We spent lots of time hearing the same thing over and over again so Elder Medeiros and I always tried to find things to do while they did the meetings. There always seemed to be something that would come up or something that needed to be done. So we finished the interviews on Saturday just in time to go to a baptism of a Samoan fellow I taught while I served here in Honolulu with Elder Eteaki. It was so neat to finailly see him take that step and be baptised. He had been investigating the church for like 9 years or something like that. It was also good to see Elder Eteaki finally help this family as well right before he went home. He has been working with this family the whole 9 months that he was here and was able to get some closure on them. Well after the baptism we went to another baptism. So we are driving and it is back up in Mililani my old zone and we get there, and one of my favorite samoan guys from my old ward was there. I got really close to his son while I was there and now his son is out on a mission. Anyway so I gave him a big old hug and he said how much he missed having me around and I told him that I missed he and his family a lot as well. It was just so great to see a familiar face again and it flooded back so many memories and emotions from when I had served in that ward. I am not going to lie it kind of made me area trunky. So after the baptism Elder Medeiros and I rushed back because we still had so many preparations that needed to be made so that we could start the transfer process the next day. I never realized how complex the transfer process was until I became an assistant. So we made most of the preparations that needed to be done and at about 10:30 we finally called it a night and went back down to our pad. It was a really long day to say the least. So Sunday came and we had church in the morning. Man have I told you lately how much I love the Tongan people and the wonderful spirit that they have about them. It is just so amazing to just feel of their love right as you walk into the chapel. Anyway so we had church and then came the big moment. It was time to go and pick up my new companion. So for those of you who don't know we went and picked up Elder Doane. I love this elder. He is just such an amazing missionary and you can just feel the spirit so strong within him he will be a great companion to have for the next 3 months. He is from Salt Lake and went to Highland High. He loves playing lacrosse and he loves to go skiing. He and I have served around each other before so it was so great to be back around him again. So we picked him up and brought him back to the tab so that we could start the transfer process. Man let me just say I am so glad that I paid attention for the couple of times that I had the privilage to do transfer plans with President Peterson. It truely paid off. As we sat down to do the first one it was a little different because President is so new and doesn't know the missionaries very well yet. Elder Medeiros and I were just so unified though and had the spirit and had good notes from the last time we did transfers, that he and I would just start going with things that we knew needed to happen. We let the spirit work through us and we were able to know companionship changes. It was funny a few times he and I would throw out scenerios of things that could be done and we would both understand what the other one was talking about and could complete the others sentence, and then President would be like wow wow you just lost me there. Go back and tell it to me again? It was kind of funny. It made Elder Medeiros and I feel good though because we knew that the Lord was using us as a tool to move the work forward and to know what would be best since President is so new. Anyway back to the week..... So after transfer plans we had dinner with one of the senior couples and then we had a meeting with president and by that time it was time to call it a night.

Monday 12th- So we go up to the office and spent pretty much the whole day just doing transfers. It is such a long process and so draining. You are always just so tired by the time you get done because you are just focusing so hard on what needs to be done and what will be the best for the mission and so forth. We had sort of a p-night were we were able to do a little bit of shopping and some laundry but that was about it. All and all it was just a long day with nothing to exciting.

Tuesday 13th- It was amazing how the lord blessed us this time as we did the transfer plan. Were able to get all done with them by Tuesday afternoon which is just amazing and it left us so much time to be able to do all of the paper work and the hard part of the transfers. Making all of the packets, getting things ready for the new missionaries, making sure that everyone had a car that needed one and a cell phone that needs one, and so forth. There is just so many things that go into transfers it is jut not even funny. So for the next couple of day we pretty much just spent most of our time doing all of that stuff. Oh yeah on Wednesday we had a cottage meeting at president's house and it was really great one of the people that I taught down in Ewa Beach got baptised and then came and spoke at the cottage meeting. It was a really great meeting with some really solid testimonies born. I always love going to those things and being able to feel of the spirit so strongly. Especially being an assistant because you don't get to teach nearly as much as you would like to so you have to do you best to have those really spiritual high moments.

Thursday and Friday 15th and 16th -So nothing really exciting happened on Thursday so I am going to skip right to Friday. So as we were getting all of the logistical things figured out for transfers we figured out that we are going to have to move a few people and going to have to buy some beds and things. So the whole morning was spent just moving furniture around and stuff. We went to one of the mission storage sheds and it was just packed with crap ( Which was kind of frustrating because I had just cleaned the shed like a month ago) but anyway someone else had put more crap in there. So you knowing me I didn't put up with that for more than about I don't know 30 seconds. I loosened my tie and just started pulling crap out. Looking at stuff to see if it was even worth keeping organizing it so that things would fit better. Oh I guess I should tell you we were doing this because we found out there was some more stuff that needed to be put in there. SO I just start pitching old desks that have seen better days and old chairs and nasty stuff just getting rid of it and loah and behold there was room to put the things we needed to in. I am going to have to change the lock on that door though so no one else will put crap in there haha. So after we finished that we went and stole some beds from this one pad because we had to take their bunk beds to put into another pad. So we got them torn apart and in our pad. Then we went and bought new beds with one of the senior couples and took them to the missionaries that we had stolen them from. Then it was time to take a trip out to beautiful Laie. Man I love taking that drive it is so pretty and is always so fun to go there. So we ran out there and delivered the stuff. It was so good to be out there and to feel of the spirit out there again. I felt like it was home. I loved that area so much and I miss it all the time. It was such a great area and had such great people to serve with out there. Anyway any chance I get I always love going out there. Anyway that was pretty much our day.

Saturday 17th - So today was pretty boring just did more transfer stuff. It was good though we were able to go to a few baptisms as well. Alright I don't have anymore time tonight because it is like 9:30 at night so I will finish in the morning and send the rest love you.

Elder Hatch

I was waiting for the second half of the letter but never got it. But I will share what I know.

Tuesday 27th the new missionaries arrived in Hawaii. Zach always loves it when they come. They are so eager to get started and bring a great spirit with them.

Wednesday 28th- Transfer day. This is when all of his hard work for the past two weeks really comes together or not. Making sure all of the missionaries make flights, and get their cars and phones, and have what they need in their new pads. The exiting missionaries all come to the President's house and spend the night there. He had to send his wonderful companion Elder Medieros to Maui. They got along so well and it was a great experience for Zach to serve with him. Elder "Nalu" Medieros goes home in 6 weeks so he was grateful to go back out to teach for the end of his mission.

Thursday 29th- The exiting missionaries do a bit of traveling around the island before they head home.

Friday 30th - I think the missionaries flew home on Friday but it could have been Thursday. This is getting harder and harder for Zach because these are missionaries he has spent most of his mission with. There were several missionaries that Zach has gotten very close with that he had to send through security at the airport. He tells us it is very difficult to say good bye. He said the only thing that makes it better is knowing that he will see them in a couple of months.