July 27, 2015
Hey everybody!
This week has been pretty crazy! Since you all last heard from me I have successfully left the MTC. Hallelujah. It wasn't that bad, but the freedom of being in the real world is pretty great.We flew to Oakland and then drove to the mission office for a bunch of meetings. When we got off the bus at the mission office everyone who was there for the transfer meeting was cheering us on. We felt like a bunch of celebrities. It got me pretty pumped. We spent the night in a hotel and then headed back to the mission office for more instruction. We got our ipads, found out where our first area was and who our trainer would be. My training companion is Elder Searle from Mesa, Arizona. He is actually a classmate of my MTC companion. Elder Searle is 6'4" tall so we are pretty tall. People have a hard time saying no to us because of our stature. When President Wright brought me up to get my picture taken he just had a big grin on his face like he always does. He told me I was going to be a long way away and at that point I knew I was going to Crescent City. I was ecstatic! I really wanted to go there before the mission and it is my first area. It is about a six hour drive from Santa Rosa. Almost every elder that I talked to said that Crescent City is one of the best areas. So I was super excited. I am in a car area and I am the designated driver. Well actually I get to drive one of the two trucks in the mission so I was super stoked about that.
The first full day was awesome! We taught a tribal member Arrain. She believes everything I think, but struggles with modern day prophets. Her husband, Robert, tried to bash with us and say all this negative stuff. Elder Searle asked him if he had read the Book of Mormon, and he said he hadn't. Later in the lesson he said he would read it if he had one. So, I gave him a Book of Mormon! It was the first lesson I have been in, on the first day, and I handed out my first Book of Mormon. It was awesome. Later that day I met with the ward mission leader and he showed us the ward mission plan. The next day I met Velva, an older lady that had her records removed from the church like ten years ago, but her visiting teachers never stopped visiting her and she has been reactivated. She will be re-baptized as soon as her paperwork goes through. She is a really awesome lady and her home had a very special spirit. Later that night we met Ervin. He is a gangster that wants to be baptized but has a few issues he needs to work out. He reads the Book of Mormon everyday and is making the Atonement a part of his life.
We have gone tracting a couple of times, and let me tell you baby, they was open for business. Elder Searle jokes that I am a good luck charm cause the first day we went out we knocked on like 15 doors and like 12 of them accepted a the card and we set up return appointments with two of them. On Saturday, when we were tracting, we found a family on the street that lives next to the bishop that there exact words were, "we are looking for a church right now." It was like praise Jesus, Hallelujah, we can help with that. We set a return appointment with them and will have to see how things go.
I seriously am loving it here. The weather is great, the people are amazing, and my companion is cool. It is an adjustment period the first little while of course, but we get along just great and it will only get better I think. We drove through the redwoods on our way to Crescent City the first night and it was soooooo cool. The trees are HUGE and apparently I haven't even seen the really big ones yet. It really is crazy that I am here in Crescent City in the same ward the Nick served in and we are from the same ward. That definitely was not by accident. The Lord works in mysterious ways sometimes, and sometimes in very plain ways. I believe that this is one of those times. I am obviously here for a reason and I can feel the spirit of this city. I love being able to do personal and companionship study each morning. I am learning a lot, not quite as much as in the MTC but it is still good. The other companionship in Crescent City with us is Elder Waites and Elder Judd. Elder Waites was in my MTC district, so it is cool that we are able to be in the same apartment together.
I gotta get going. I love getting all your emails. Love you all.
Elder Hatch
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