Week 25 Christmas in the Mission Field

December 28, 2015 Family, It was so good to talk to all of you! Seriously, it was the best Christmas present I could have asked for. Sorry I didn't really send y'all anything... I don't know what to get or when to get it but if you guys are ever wanting anything from Cali let me know, I can hook it up. But anyways thanks for all being at the house so I could talk to everyone! It was so great. I didn't think that it would be so hard, but it was. I guess just seeing your faces and hearing your voices. Anyways this week was alright. We had a very bad week as far as missionary work goes. But I guess that's partially attributed to the holiday season. Monday we went over to a family in the wards house that night and just visited with them. Tuesday, we had district meeting, and we combined that. We did a fun relay race thing. That afternoon we did a hot chocolate finding activity with the zone. That night we had dinner at a Thai restaurant with a member. Wednesday we did our usual service at the library, and had dinner with a cool family in our ward. Thursday was fun too. We did a caroling thing with both zones at the Santa Rosa mall. We just sang songs by the food court then sang as we walked then went to the entrance and sang more. It was fun. President came and surprised us so that was fun. That night we ate with a family in our ward, at this random Filipino family's house that they know. It was strange but pretty cool. We had some really strange Filipino food, like on tail soup, and a really weird gelatinous rice dessert. The food was good but the dessert was nasty. Oh well, it was worth a try. Oh, I can now play the 4 major ukulele chords. So I can play like over the rainbow and stuff. So that's fun. Christmas Day we obviously skyped, and we also made some cookies as well as on Christmas Eve. We had dinner at a family in the ward with 10 kids, though they are all grown up and only 6 were there. That was interesting; we don't know them well so it was a little awkward. That night both zones went to the stake center and played sports and stuff which was also really fun. President showed up for that and was giving me crap about being so much taller and how it isn't fair. Haha it was hilarious. Saturday we did planning which was boring as usual. That night we are at a member’s house that fed us on Wednesday. They are super cool people. It was weird, their daughter was in town, along with another kid from another family, and they both graduated same year as me and Julander, so that was weird. Sunday was normal. At dinner a member kind of chewed us out for not doing our job. Just like showed us what we should do and stuff. I love that family but that didn't exactly boost my spirits. Oh well. Life goes on. Other than that not much has gone on. Thanks for everything everyone. I really do miss you all but I know I'm here for a reason. Love, Elder Hatch

Week 24 All the Service!!!

December 21, 2015 Family, Well another week has passed and it's time to write again. It seems like the weeks are going slow but the months fast. It seems weird that in 2 weeks I will have been out 6 months, and Josie will be leaving! Pretty crazy but an amazing time for all of us. Who would have thought that we would be at a time when me, Josie, and Sam are all on missions! Very cool to think about. But, it is even weirder that I won't be with you all for Christmas and Christmas Eve, that I won't get to do the crazy nativity or bingo or things like that! But I know that it's ok, and that it's better that I am here and that I miss it, than to be home. Anyways, this has been a pretty long week. It has been raining pretty much all week with no snow. It doesn't really feel like Christmas at all with no snow but I can handle that. I never loved snow anyways. But Tuesday we had district meeting which I though went well. I don't like having to teach those but other than that I don't mind being a district leader. It really is like no difference other than teaching district meeting. I bet it would be different if I had elders in my district, instead of me being the relief society president(having only sisters in your district). So I haven't had to conduct exchanges or anything like that. Pretty sweet. Later Tuesday we practiced for our skit in the Christmas devotional. That was fun. I will send the video of our actual performance. That night we had a lesson with our recent convert at a pizza place. It was kind of distracting with a tv on in the background playing King of the hill. Wednesday we did service for the Salvation Army in the morning for a while picking out and sorting toys for kids. It was great. We then did service at the library as usual for Wednesday's. The rest of that day we did some finding that wasn't super successful. Thursday we had the Christmas party and devotional at the mission office building with a bunch of zones. It was really fun, every zone did a skit and it was hilarious. Afterwards we did a devotional that was also very good. It was a really good morning. After that we did the usual service at the food bank and then went off to dinner. We had dinner with a cool family in our ward. They took us out and the place we were going to go and that was closed, so they took us to another place and for 6 people total it was $250!!!! It was an alright place, like really good food but not worth that much! Called Mateos in Healdsburg in case you were wondering. We then went over to another recent converts house and had a little lesson with them. Mostly just a visit to check up and see how they are doing. Friday we did planning, then had a lesson with a new investigator. We did the restoration with him kind of. He had a lot of questions about proof archaeologically of the Book of Mormon and other sources and stuff. Also of any prophecies that Joseph Smith made that came true. We are going to see him next Sunday. We had dinner with a cool family in the ward and then had a lesson with the kind of weird guy in our ward that never comes to church or anything. Saturday we did finding pretty much the whole day. It was pretty rough. I honestly don't remember much from it. Sunday we had church, and we sang in the ward choir since it is so small. We also did sharing time in primary too. Afterwards we did studies and had dinner at 4! After that we tried to do some finding and were semi successful, afterward we had our Sunday night meeting which was good. Today has been a pretty good day so far. Also, sorry I don't send many pictures. I just always forget to take pictures haha I will try to do better. But here is the video of our skit. So pumped to talk to y'all on Friday! Love, Elder Hatch

Either Elder Hatch is really tall or those sisters are really short.

Week 23 Pretty Slow in the Mission Field

December 14 Family, This week was another fairly long week. It seems like it has been a while since I have sat down to write you all. But this week was filled with a little bit more success, but hopefully even more in the week to come. Luckily, we were able to pick up a few new investigators and hopefully we can help them out. It's weird how quickly Christmas is approaching. Even though the weeks are slow, it still seems as though it should still be November. But anyways, this last Monday was a pretty good P day. We had fun playing basketball as usual. We had our usual FHE at Sister Hands house. She is so awesome, she has that FHE every week and she feeds us a couple times a week, whether it be for dinner, lunch, or breakfast. She will feed us whenever we do service for her and she loves taking out missionaries to lunch if she knows them. She takes tons of pictures too, and sends them to her grandson who baptized her and is now on a mission in Argentina. Tuesday was pretty good. We went on exchanges with the zone leaders and I went with elder Green, from Alberta Canada. He is a really funny kid. He and one of the other elders in the zone have all seen Tommy Boy so we have a good time quoting that and other movies with each other. It's so funny. Also that day was our zone meeting which was good too, because I didn't have to teach district meeting. Also Tuesday was my 5 month mark! Super weird but it was cool to think that I have been out that long. Pretty soon it will be 6 months for me, and Josie will be gone by then too! Josie I know that you will do amazing. You don't have to worry about being a missionary, and the MTC isn't as scary as it sounds. Just enjoy the endless food there! Anyways Wednesday we went to the library and did service there, and later that night we went caroling at an old folks home. A sister in my district had surgery on her foot for an ingrown toenail earlier that day but was such a trooper and stood the whole time and didn't complain at all. I still haven't heard her complain once. So Christlike. Thursday we did our usual service at the food bank. Unfortunately we had to drop one of our investigators this week. He hasn't been keeping any of the commitments and we think he just likes the visits. So that was hard. Friday we planned, but that night we visited a couple people that said that we could come back again. So we are excited for that. Saturday we did finding most of the day, and we went up to Geyserville for the first time. It is a funky little place. Weird statues everywhere and in people's yards and stuff. That night was the ward Christmas party. That was pretty fun. Elder Julander talked to a nonmember kid and gave him a discussion while we were there. So that was cool. Sunday was pretty normal. And today has been normal so far too. I hope that the weeks go by a little faster and that we are able to do everything we can and not miss opportunities. Anyways thanks everyone for everything, I hope you all have a very merry Christmas season and I can't wait to talk to y'all! Love, Elder Hatch

Week 22 Struggling with Investigators

December 7, 2015 Family, Well another week has passed by and it's time to write once again. It has been a really long week, but then again it seems like Monday was not too long ago. This week was a little bit better and me and Elder Julander are doing well. Monday was a good day. Pretty fun playing basketball. Although it's not as good as this week, because we just sat here and laughed for the last hour or so. Pretty awesome. But that night was good, we had our usual FHE at our recent converts house where a few people from the ward come. Tuesday was district meeting which I thought went pretty well. Then we had our PPI's with the zone leaders. That night we had a lesson with a recent convert and that went all right. We had one of our super cool members go with us to that so he made it better. Wednesday we went to the Badger Building(mission office) and had interviews with President Wright. Those were really good. I always love talking to him, he just calms my nerves and makes me not worry about what I am doing and how I do it. It was really cool. President Wright is such an amazing guy. We then had a last lesson with a guy that just isn't progressing at all. He is the one that we had to cast out the demon from his house. It wasn't going well with him. Later we had a lesson with another recent convert and that went well. They have more Legos than I have ever seen. They sort them into colors using tool boxes and stuff. Pretty crazy. Thursday we went and gave a blessing to another recent convert because he got his wisdom teeth out that day. Later that day, he called us as he was high as a kite. It was soooo funny, he was singing Firework by Katy Perry. It was beautiful. Friday we did planning which was boring. Saturday and a lot of Friday we did some area book finding. That's what we are going to do most of this week. Should be good, hopefully successful. Saturday and Sunday we went to a nativity thing that they do down at one of the other buildings. It is a really cool program. Sunday was good too, as we went to find a less active, we ran into his roommate and long story short we set up a return appointment with him. Hopefully it turns out well. He doesn't want to read the Book of Mormon but doesn't have a good reason why not. So that was cool. We then went to our usual Sunday night meeting that night. It wasn't a super busy week this week, but pretty good nonetheless. I am just so humbled by all of this, and it is amazing the things that the Lord can do and does do to help us, and also to help us grow. I am so thankful for all of you and am excited to talk to you on Christmas! Thanks for everything Love, Elder Hatch

Week 21 First Thanksgiving on the Mission

November 30, 2015

Family, Well another week has passed and time to write once again. I hope you all had an awesome thanksgiving! Our thanksgiving was pretty fun, we went and helped set up the crèche festival at the Yulupa chapel at 7, and its 40 minutes away so we were up at 5:30 to be there on time. It was cool though, both Santa Rosa zones were there so it was super fun. A whole bunch of missionaries. After that we went over to the Toupins, who is a super cool family in my ward, and had cinnamon rolls with them. Unfortunately that meant that we didn't get to play in a turkey bowl, which is too bad but oh well. It was awesome being at the Toupins, they have 6 kids, 5 of which are boys so it was super fun. Later that night we were back at their house for dinner, so that was waaaaaayyyy nice of them. But Tuesday was pretty slow, but it was weird cause we had to say bye to the other elders that were leaving. We went out to brunch with a member in our ward for their departure so that was nice. That's where the pictures are from. So me and Elder Julander are now in an apartment with just us. Wednesday was about the same as far as the work goes, we had one lesson with our investigator but it is frustrating, because he hardly ever keeps commitments, and we do things with him that he should feel the spirit, but just doesn't, or doesn't recognize it or something. It's so frustrating we don't really know what to do. Thursday we don't really do much on holidays, so we were at the Toupins for a while during the day and at night. Friday we had one lesson, so that was good. Kind of the same situation with this guy as our other investigator too. Pretty frustrating. But that's ok. We also had district meeting and unfortunately I still have to teach district meeting. But it went ok. I have another one tomorrow and haven't done much for it but it'll all work out. Saturday was pretty casual too, we did weekly planning and not much else. We are trying to find people in our area book but have been largely unsuccessful thus far. But we will keep at it. Sunday was pretty good too. We actually managed to meet some less actives that we have been trying to find for weeks. It was helpful after not finding anyone all week. We then had a stake meet and greet with the stake presidency that night with all the Santa Rosa missionaries. That was pretty fun too. Other than that not much has been going on. I am looking forward to a much busier week this week, hopefully. Thanks for everything everyone, I love you all and hope that you have a good Christmas season. One thing with the new Christmas season is the new Christmas video, #ASaviorIsBorn which you can find on Christmas.mormon.org . It's a really awesome video, and I would encourage you to all watch it. Anyways have a good week! Love, Elder Hatch

Week 20 Transfers..Am I staying or going?

November 23, 2015 Dear family, So transfers are tomorrow, and we got the info on Saturday night. But president has changed it up, so instead of sending us a document, the zone leaders just call us and tell us whether we are staying or leaving, and they don't tell us where we are going if we are leaving. Then, at transfer meeting on Tuesday, president announces where everyone is going and who is companions. But you only go if the companionship is changing. So me and Elder Julander are both staying for another transfer, so we will both be here for Christmas and the transfer ends on January 5th. So it should be fun. The big news though, is that the Spanish elders that live with us are both leaving, and their area is being absorbed. So, me and Elder Julander will be living with just the two of us this transfer, and I haven't done that so far on my mission. So it should be interesting. But anyways, Monday we went to the beach and it was FREEZING. Like 50 degrees with a 20 degree wind chill. It was a good idea in theory but it was way too cold to be any fun. I will attach a picture of it, because it was beautiful. Later that night we went to a few FHE's which was cool. One of the super cool families in my ward has a daughter that was companions with Jonny's sister Liz Ricks in St. Petersburg. So that's cool. They have a picture of their daughter and Liz and their other companion on their wall so that was cool to see. I need to tell Jonny. Tuesday we had district meeting and we combined it so that it was the whole zone. It was pretty bomb, we did a lot of fun activities and I think everyone had a good time and learned from it. That day was pretty good too, we had a couple lessons and were fairly productive. Wednesday we did service for our recent convert which was fun. We also got a church headquarters referral so we went over and had a lesson with them on Wednesday, and she is a member and he is not. He's kinda ghetto but I think it should work out for the best. That night we also had another lesson with a recent convert. One thing about Tuesday and Wednesday, is that Tuesday night we had Round table pizza for dinner. Wednesday afternoon, our RC took us out for lunch to round table pizza. For dinner, we had round table pizza at a members house, and later that night we ate mountain mikes pizza. So I am pretty sick of pizza at this point. Plus we had little Caesars on Saturday. So yeah. Thursday we drove down to Petaluma. We then drove straight to the food bank for our usual service, which we then rushed right to our appointment with our semi-progressing investigator. He hasn't been showing much signs of progress but we had a very good lesson with him and I hope that he starts committing to more things. That night we had a lesson with our recent convert who is a weirdo. Luckily he was better this time than last, but he is still an interesting guy. Friday we had planning and not a whole lot else. We ended up eating with and staying at the ward mission leaders house a lot of the night. He is a crazy guy. Saturday we did service for some members in the morning, then passed out flyers for the food bank at Safeway for like 3 hours. Then was the fun part. We went with the zone leaders to cast out an evil spirit from one of our investigators house, so that was fun. It was very weird but interesting. That night we got our transfer info, like I was saying. Sunday, we spoke in church at a homecoming for Jake Carnation. Their family is way cool and they took up most of the program. That was good. That night we had our Sunday night meeting and my STL is going home so that's weird. She was my first STL up in Eureka too. Other than that not much going on. The zone is changing so that's weird but not much else. Just keep on keeping on. I love you all so much and pray for all of you every night! Thanks for everything Love, Elder Hatch

Week 19 Best Bowling Game of my LIfe

November 16, 2015 Family, Well it was another good week here in Healdsburg. It has been a pretty fast transfer here, with only a week left. My guess is that all of the elders in Healdsburg will stay here, and that I will be with Elder Julander for another transfer. But we find out on Saturday. Also featured is all my subject quotes are from Zoolander as of late, seeing that I am basically companions with Zoolander hahaha. But Monday was fun, we went bowling and I had the best 2 games of my life. The first game I bowled a 134, and the second game I bowled my all time high score, 151. And I got a strike in the last frame of the 10th frame, so I would have won the $20 too haha. Too bad it wasn't at home. But that was pretty fun, I was shocked at how well I did. Tuesday we had district meeting, which went well. The curriculum for that week was on the restoration, so I could think of no better way to teach it than to watch the restoration movie. The new, really good one. It was actually a very spiritual district meeting as well. Tomorrow is the last district meeting of the transfer and it should be a good one. We are combining and doing some fun stuff as a zone. But Tuesday afternoon we went and taught a really old couple, the wife is not a member, but they are sooooo stuck in their ways. The sisters wrote some stuff about how they are blind in rejection to commitments so we tried to do it in a roundabout way but it didn't work much. But Tuesday dinner was really cool, we ate at the church, it was a high priests/youth dinner where both come, the youth serve, and then they mingle. It was awesome, we met some good people there too. Tuesday night we went to try and meet a former investigator that had a baptismal date, but ran into his dad who spoke primarily Spanish. He told us to come back the next morning at 10, so that's what we did. Now Wednesday, that was an interesting day. We started off the day going to that guys place, and we find him there peeing off of the porch of his double wide. So we are like hey what's up and it was kind of awkward but eventually we asked if we could share a message with him, and he was like "yeah let me just go and grab my sandals real quick" so, that's what he did. He came back out with his sandals, but that wasn't all. He had a receipt, and a bag of wholesome herbs if you know what I mean. So as we are sharing the video with him, he proceeds to roll, lick, and smoke his own joint. All while we were showing him a video. It was soooooo funny. I'm not really sure what to do with that guy but that was sure funny. On of the weirdest things that has happened to me so far. Haha you just gotta laugh at stuff like that. But after that we just went and did some finding. But what was cool was dinner also. So our recent convert, Zach Rettig, is a senior in high school. His mom and dad are both extremely Catholic, but they really supported his decision to be baptized and they love the church, but they both work for the St. John the Baptist school in town, so they aren't interested. But anyways, the school was putting on a Veterans Day dinner(mostly put in by Zachs mom) in which Zachs dad was pretty much the MC of the thing, doing the announcing and stuff. So Zachs mom being the awesome lady that she is, invited us to the Veterans Day dinner that night, which was in the auditorium of the St. John the Baptist school. So we spent the night at a Veterans Day dinner at the catholic school. It was a really cool event, just a little different. There was a bar there and stuff which just seemed a little off to me but it was very nice of her to invite us as her guests. The food wasn't bad either, plus a cute little program put on by the little kids. Like a mix between the Veterans Day thing at Woodstock and the primary program haha. So that was awesome. Plus she gave us a bunch of leftovers, like enough to fill our whole fridge. Thursday we had our usual service at the food bank which is always fun, since both Santa Rosa zones are there. We then had a lesson with our semi progressing investigator, who we found out has read anti in the past, which is mainly why he hasn't been baptized or super interested. But we are working with him. That night we ate with a lady in our ward who is one of the best cooks ever so that was sweet. Friday was planning so not much there. We went to our recent coverts house and she just talks your ear off, but is super funny. Saturday we had a car appointment in Santa Rosa so we were there most of the day, except for dinner. Stake conference was Saturday night and Sunday morning also. Our stake pres. Is moving to Utah thanks to a series of events of which involved his father in law being the MTC pres in Argentina. So we got a new stake president! The first counselor was named as the new stake president, but what is cool is that a guy from the laguna(Spanish) ward in the stake was called to be the 2nd counselor. I'm also excited to see who replaces president Olsen. My bet is Dan Adams or Bill Baker. But it could be anyone, even any of the bishops..😏 haha but seriously that will be exciting. But President Olsen has been awesome, and I'm sure the stake will miss him. It was cool, we had Elders Zackary Smith and Jorge Zeballos at the stake conference and they both spoke to us. So that was awesome, plus President Wright spoke at both sessions as well. All in all it was a pretty good week. I really am learning about the doctrines of line by line, precept by precept, and also of the fact that Heavenly Father gives us struggles sometimes, but only to help us and make us better. To show us how we can improve. To make sure that he is molding us into perfection, one experience at a time. Because he knows how to do it, not us. One of my new favorite Mormon messages is "The Will of God". It's elder Christofferson speaking, and he is amazing. I'd encourage you all to look that up, it has really helped me out and also some people we have met. But anyways I love you all and love hearing about life back home. Hope you all have a great week! Love, Elder Hatch

Week 18 Oakland Temple and Lauren's Baptism

November 9, 2015 Family, Well it hasn't been long since my last email, only since last Wednesday. Not much has happened here really, just the same old same old missionary work. Some conferences and stuff like that. Still trying to get the area going and figuring out where thugs are and stuff like that. The best news from the weekend is that Lauren got baptized! I am sooooooooo excited for her! I wish so badly that I could have been there but it's ok I know it was awesome anyways and that it was a really good moment for her. But anyways it has been a fairly good week. What is weird is that yesterday was my 4 month mark! Some other cool news I heard about was that Emily Taggart got her mission call to Malaga Spain! There is a kid we went to high school with named Sam Hirst that is in that mission right now so they know each other and will see each other there no doubt! I want someone from Cottonwood to come to this mission. That would be so cool. Anyways, last Wednesday was the temple trip as you know. Super cool, the Oakland temple is awesome. It was an awesome view from the temple balcony thing of pretty much the whole Bay Area. Super cool. You could see almost all of San Fran and Oakland and stuff. Thursday we had a lesson with an investigator that has been taught a lot and dropped a lot by missionaries. We decided to go and try again because we don't have any other real investigators so we are going to see if this time, with us he accepts it. We will see. Friday we went down to Petaluma and had a zone conference with both Santa Rosa zones and both San Rafael Zones. All in all there was probably 60 or so missionaries there. It was really fun and there was some really good training done there. Saturday not much happened, just planning and whatnot. Yesterday was pretty good, we impromptu sang in the ward choir which was funny. Then we did sharing time in primary which was also awesome. And until the. I have never really known what people talk about when they say they go in primary and love it because the spirit is so strong, but I understand now. Before it was our turn, we snuck in the back and they sang the "Army of Helaman" song and the spirit there was incredible. We sang it with them from the back just kind of joining in, and it made me think back to the first night in the MTC. We sang that song there and usually it's "we will be the lords missionaries to bring the world..." But in the MTC it's " we are now the Lords missionaries to bring..." So from then on I sing it like that and it brings the spirit very strongly. The primary kids really do have a special way about them. There was like 8-9 kids in the whole primary but they sang it with so much enthusiasm that almost made me emotional. It was a super awesome moment. I understand now what people mean when they talk about primary that way. It's also funny, I love telling people that me and my companion are both 18 year olds that just graduated high school. Lots of people seem surprised but also I just love the reactions from people. They can't believe it. Also that we have less than 6 months of experience between us. But Sunday night we had dinner with the Carnations, and Mom I think they sent you some pictures. Their son got back from his mission less than 2 weeks ago and she said she loved getting those pictures do now she does it all the time. She is a crazy lady. But at their house they have this massive fountain in the front yard and an insane homemade swimming pool in the back. That's what the husband does, is make swimming poo,s and fountains and stuff so he just made this insane one in his back yard. I think just the fountain in the driveway is bigger than our whole apartment no joke. It was a cool place, but unfortunately they aren't finished yet so there isn't any water in them yet. But they look super cool. Anyways thanks for everything everyone. I love you all so much and appreciate families so much more now on the mission. I hope you all are having an amazing time with whatever it is that you do. I pray for all of you daily. Love, Elder Hatch

Week 17 Halloween in California

November 4, 2014 Family, Well first off let me apologize for not telling you last week that I would be emailing today rather than Monday, as we had our temple trip today and our p-day was moved to today. But also, I got to go to the temple today! It was awesome, we went to the Oakland Temple and it is sooooo beautiful. It is a pretty big temple and it is pretty in the middle of nowhere, you are just driving on the freeway and then all of the sudden on the right hand side it's like, "oh hey, there's the temple" which is super cool. So that was awesome. A really cool recent convert in our ward, Zach, who is a senior in high school right now gave us a ride to the temple which was way cool of him. He is one of the coolest members in the area. Anyways, this last week was a pretty good week, it went by faster than the last couple, so that is good. It's weird to think that later this week, I will have been out for 4 months! So weird! But it does feel like the first 2 weeks of the transfer go way slow then it starts to pick up. This week should be fast too, because today is temple trip and P-day, tomorrow we are going to Petaluma, and Friday we have zone conference, which is also in Petaluma. So we will be in Petaluma a lot in the next few days. So last Tuesday we had zone meeting, which was way nice because for one, I didn't have to do district meeting, and second, we got the new music rule, which is that we can listen to any music as long as it follows the white handbook standards. So that is waaaay nice, especially with bands like vocal point and piano guys, stuff that is really good but still uplifting and spiritual. Tuesday we also had exchanges which was pretty nice and I got to go with Elder Hastings, who is one of my zone leaders, and has been my whole mission so far. It was pretty good. We had a lesson with a recent convert name Nate Legakis, who is soooooo strange. He texts us all the time, and he would do it to the sisters too. So when we went to his house, we were already kind of scared, because this guy is pretty infamous in the Santa Rosa area as far as missionaries go. So he opens the door, and the first thing we notice is that his 4 year old son is butt naked. And he was for the whole lesson... We didn't really know how to react. We just kind of let it happen cause I mean, what can you do. The worst part was that halfway through the visit, his son tries to get something out of the fridge, and spills Parmesan cheese all over the floor, but the dad doesn't pick it up, he just leaves it there and his son just starts playing in the cheese, butt naked still. It was horrible. Soooooo awkward. Me and Elder Hastings always have the strangest experiences together. Wednesday, we ended our exchange, and then just did some finding and did service at the library. Thursday we did our weekly zone service at the food bank, which was good as usual. After that we were trying to find a guy that formerly had a baptismal date, and we actually did end up finding him and teaching him a lesson. I think that he took it well, and we are meeting again with him tomorrow. Friday we had planning which is lame, ate dinner at the bishop's house, and did more finding that night. Saturday was interesting, we did service for a lady that lives in another wards boundaries for a big chunk of the morning, and after that the members that knew her, which are in our ward, took us all out to lunch, which was way too nice of them. After that we went to our ward party at the bishop's house, and carved pumpkins and things like that. That is where the random horse picture came from. The bishop has 2 horses and one of the other elders just happened to be by me at that time, because all four of us were at the party. So yeah, that's where it came from. So I hope y'all enjoyed that random picture. I saw and enjoyed yours from the game as well. That night we ate with the same family that got us lunch that day. So they were waaaaayyyy to good to us. But because of Halloween we just had to stay in the rest of the night. Sunday was pretty cool. We had a baby blessing for a baby of a nonmember dad and recently returning less active mom. The dad has had a lot of missionaries work with him, and we will try to as well. I hope that because this is his first baby and whatnot, that his heart will be softened and that he will be more receptive to the message and have more of a desire to change. But we will see. The rest of the day went well too, we were actually able to see some of the less actives that we planned to, which was sweet cause a lot of the time the less actives aren't home or something like that. Monday we were allowed to go shopping and do laundry thank goodness, but other than that it was just a normal missionary day. Just the usual stuff, as was Tuesday. But today was definitely really cool. Plus, I am beyond excited for this Saturday because it is Laurens baptism!!!!! Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh I am just so happy for her and pumped that she is making this awesome decision. I think that she understands it all too, like she gets it. She isn't just doing it because she is, she actually knows that this is a huge step and is ready to take it. But anyways, thanks for everything that each of you do! I love getting emails, and especially pictures, things like that. I also have worn the Gameday shirt like 5 times already. Thanks Maddie and Stephen. Thanks also for the pants mom and dad. I haven't had Sister Wright fix them yet but I'm sure she will and I will see her on Friday to ask her. But other than that I am doing well, still trying to do things the right way and figure out how to talk to people and approach them and whatnot but I realize that it's more of a constant progression rather than an all at once kind of a thing. So I will, keep working on it and everything else that I can do better. But one thing that I have learned over the last little bit is that you don't have to be perfect right away. God doesn't expect you to do things perfectly, or he wouldn't have called you to do it. Also He is aware of our progress and is mindful of us. That is something that is really cool to me. Lastly I just want to share my personal testimony on the power of example, and what it can do for people in our lives. There are always times that we need to say something, or are prompted to go up and spontaneously say something or write something, call someone, whatever, but most of all how we are prompted to help others is by being prompted to do the right thing, so that we can be a good example to everyone around us. We might not always do the right thing, but that's ok, because as long as we are trying to do the right thing, people notice and want to do it as well. The most important thing that we can do is just choose the right and do what we know is right, so that we can set the right example for others. Because without our example, what are we? We are pretty much just an empty bag of words that mean nothing. But, if we are righteous in what we do and also use other spiritual gifts that God has given us, then that is when we become truly powerful, and become more like the savior. Thanks for everything everyone, I love you all and pray for you daily. Love, Elder Hatch

Week 16 Emergency Transfer

October 26, 2015 Family, Well this week was another interesting week. Monday I finally got to play some real basketball, with real people, on a real wood floor, not carpet! It was way fun. There are some really good Elders in these zones. Monday night I prepared the final preparations for my district meeting. So that was good. Tuesday was an interesting day. So we had district meeting, and that went well. I thought I did a decent job. What was interesting was the last 10 minutes. With 10 minutes left, I had just turned the time over to one of the zone leaders to teach the last 10 minutes, and I got a call from President Wright. He was like hey Elder Hatch are you at the Peterson Lane chapel? I was like yes I am and district meeting will be over in 10 minutes. So he said that he would be there in about 20 minutes and that he wanted to talk to me and my companion. I was like sure thing president. So he came, and met with the AP's first, then he called me in and I was suddenly in an interview with president. So he asked me if there was anything that he could do for me to help relieve some stress, then he told me of the situation he was there for. There was another missionary that had just come out that was struggling, and he thought that if he switched him to be my companion in Healdsburg that he would do better. He told me that he felt really good about it, but that he would pray about it and let me know later that day if they were going to make the switch. So we then had a meeting with the two of us and Elder Flinders and he told Elder Flinders the situation. After that we went and got some lunch, and President Wright called me and said that we were going to make the switch. So we met the other elders at the church building after Elder Flinders packed all of his stuff up. We made the switch and now Elder Julander is my companion! So Elder Julander is from Enoch, Utah, and the funny thing is that his grandpa has a car auto shop in Panguitch called Paul's Auto. So that is way funny. Its pretty sweet, he is about 6'4" so we are pretty intimidating. Other than that, this week has been a little slow. We have names of people to go see, but a lot of the time when we call them or try to stop by, they never answer. It sucks. But we have talked to more people lately, so that is good, and we have been doing a lot of service. Wednesday, was just pretty much all of that, service, trying to find people. Thursday we had a little more service, and we also went to Petaluma. One of the Spanish Elders that lives with us was sick like all week, and so there were some nights that I stayed back with him, so that his companion wasn't stuck inside all day. So that got a little boring. Friday, we had weekly planning, and then dinner with this spanish lady in our ward. Pretty much she just spoke spanish to the other elders the whole time. That night we went over to a recent converts house. Saturday, we did some more service, we fixed a tarp for a sailboat. That day, we met with a bishop from middletown, because he somehow knew elder Julander. That night we ate with a family and they were soooooo funny. Probably the funniest dinner on the mission so far. Sunday was pretty cool as well. Church went good and we went around doing some less active contacting, although it was not that successful. But that night we had dinner at President's house, which was pretty cool. President is such a cool funny guy. He had two of his kids there with him as well, one that is in high school, and one that is in college. It was a pretty funny dinner too. That night we had a meeting at the Peterson Lane Chapel. It sucked, I found out that My car was almost all out of gas. So that was fun. I had to bum some rides and say some prayers haha. But that night I learned that some of the sisters in my district that I thought were doing well, were not doing well. I was just totally oblivious. Dang. But I think that they can work it out. One is brand new this transfer, graduated in 2015 and all, which is nuts. Anyways, the whole Emergency transfer thing made this week pretty crazy. But I am still trying my best to help him and help out my district. I know that I will get better, and I am learning that I need to have realistic expectations of myself, and that I wont be able to do everything at once. But I really am trying to rely on the Lord and I hope that I will continue to do better at that. Thanks for everything, for all of your prayers and everything that you all do. Love, Elder Hatch

Delinquent Mom

I have been delinquent the past month. I will try to catch up on his emails. Watch for the news from the past month.