Week 32 Training Again

February 15, 2016 Family, Well, the transfer is here and there is some cool news. So unfortunately Elder Hardy is going to go to Fairfield, so I am really sad about that. I love Elder Hardy. He is a great guy, and a really good missionary. He is going to be a District Leader there and he is going to be awesome. I get to stay here in Woodland and train a new missionary. He is gonna be brand new out of the MTC. It should be good. It will be a good experience, I think that I am much more prepared now than I was when I first trained, especially since I actually know the area this time. This ward is a really good ward to train in. It is a good ward, big area, and good work. It should be good. I hope that I get another good greenie. It should be a good experience. What is cool, is that Julander is coming to this zone, and Flinders is here still and will be follow up training, and I am having another son. So I will have 2 sons, 1 step son, and 1 granddaughter all in this zone. So I am pretty pumped about that. Anyways so last Monday was kind of lame for pday, but the night went well. We went and saw some good people that night. Tuesday we were on exchanges and I went with Elder Judd, who was in my first apartment in Crescent City. It was really good, I learned a lot of good stuff from him. That day we were able to see some of our potentials and set up appointments with them. They are some people that we have been trying to see for a long time. That night we had splits and we were able to see 2 families which was good. Wednesday we did service at the food bank then again in Davis for Graffiti Abatement. So that was good. That night we saw 2 more people that we have been trying to meet with the whole transfer. One is a couple of brothers whose mom is a member but not active. We are going to try and meet with them regularly now. Thursday was a good day too. We went and saw potentials in the morning, then during the afternoon we had a lesson with one of our investigators who is hopefully being baptized in August. We saw him on Sunday and he has been doing well with the commitment we left him. Later that day we saw a girl that is the granddaughter of a recent convert and is super interested and golden. We are going to start teaching her this week and hopefully her siblings too. We had dinner with a cool family in the ward that night then saw our RC Hunter that night too and it went well. Friday we went and moved a bunch of stuff for a senior couple from one sister apartment to another and that ate up most of our day. We had dinner with a cool family in the ward again, the dad of whom isn’t a member. That night we saw a less active family and it went pretty well. Saturday we all did a big service thing as a zone then had fish tacos at a member’s house, like the whole zone. It was awesome the fish tacos were super good. We had dinner with a member from Vallejo that night, then a lesson with a less active family that we met for the first time. That went well. We then had a semi party at the church waiting for the transfer news. Sunday there was a big multi stake conference for California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and BC. It was good; there was some really good counsel. We found out that Elder Bednar is coming to the Woodland Stake Conference in April, so I hope that I am going to be here for that, It would be so great! We had this stake conference, then another one in March where we get a new Stake President, then that one in April plus general conference. So it’s a bunch. But it has been a really good week though, and I am excited to train, it should be a much better experience this time. Thanks so much for everything everyone, I love you all so much! Love, Elder Hatch

Week 31 He knew Elder Foster

February 8, 2016 Dear Family, Well it was a pretty good week here in Woodland. We had a busy week and I can’t believe that there is only one week left in the transfer. The two transfers before this were so long, and this one went by so quickly! It seems just yesterday that me and Elder Hardy became companions. Our time together is rapidly closing. I am thinking that he will leave and I will stay here. I am really hoping that I don't have to train again. That would be rough. But anyways this last Monday we went bowling and it was super fun. All of the sudden I am way better at bowling than I used to be. I bowled a 159, then a 154, which are both my highest scores ever. So I don’t know what is happening. But it was super fun. Tuesday we had exchanges and I went down to Winters with Elder Kay. It was pretty fun, because Elder Kay was living with Nick Foster in his last couple of transfers and saw him die. So we had some good conversations about that. We were at this family’s house and their kid was like throwing up all over the floor. It was nasty haha, but not too bad. Wednesday we exchanged back and went to find some part member and less active families in the ward. It wasn't super successful but not too bad. Thursday we went and gave a sister a blessing then did service at this hoarder house, and it was like crazy hoarder. Like we were walking through trails in the house and backyard. In the process we threw a couch off of a balcony. It was pretty rad. That night I did my first baptismal interview and it was with a 9 year old girl. She was baptized by one of the sets of Spanish Elders and her dad who was baptized in December baptized her on Friday. It was super cool. Friday we had a lesson with our investigator Sean, who is hopefully being baptized in August. We hope he makes it to that. It’s a long ways away but he has some difficulties he has to work through before he can be baptized. That day we did weekly planning then had Hunters baptismal interview, then Lisset’s baptism that I just mentioned. Saturday we did service helping clean up the crèche festival stuff for a member in the ward who is in charge of it. She is super cool, we had a bunch of the zone there and it took like the whole morning, but it was fun, because we rode in the back of a moving van to put the stuff in storage, which was super fun haha. This member is crazy, she loves the missionaries. So that was fun. Later that day we had a lesson with two recent converts, then had dinner with this random member from Vallejo who knows Elder Hardy. So that was fun. That night was Hunter’s baptism, which went very well! It was really cool to see him be baptized. He has changed a lot in the past month, he comes to church every week and goes to young mens every week as well. Sunday we had church, then we went to find some people. As we were in a lesson with some members in the park, there was a lady sitting by herself in the park, because her daughter was off playing with the member’s kids. So we invited her to come and read with us. Unfortunately she was Spanish so the communication was off but luckily we had a Libro on us so we gave it to her! It was cool, the Hermanas’ are going to try and find her later this week. So that was pretty cool. We were reading 2 Nephi 9 and about 20 verses in I decided to act on the prompting I was getting to invite this lady, because it was getting stronger and stronger. I am glad that I did, afterwards one of the members we were with said that she was getting the prompting too but didn’t act on it. So it was cool to see a prompting in action work out for the better. That really helped my testimony of the spirit grow, and know that its promptings are real. Other than that, not much happened this week. I’m mad that the broncos won the super bowl of course but I will get over it. We tried to visit people Sunday afternoon and night but everyone was either not home or was mad that we interrupted the super bowl, so that was annoying. But anyways, thanks for everything everyone. I love you all and pray for you all every night. Love, Elder Hatch

Time Flies

WOW the time is flying and I am so behind on my blogging. I will try to catch up this weekend so we can see how Elder Hatch has been doing for the months of February and March. Watch for upcoming pictures and messages.

Week 29 Look for Missionary Opportunities

January 25, 2016 Dear family, Well another week has passed, and we are already half way through the transfer! Pretty crazy. It seems like no time at all has gone by but here we are. Cool stuff. We had a pretty good week this week. As for some questions you guys have, my comp is from Orem, Utah. He went to Timpanogos High School and played football there. He is the oldest of 3 kids and has lived in Orem his whole life. He just graduated this summer with me and has been out one less transfer than me, so since mid august. He is a really great guy and a hard worker. Also thanks mom and dad for the awesome food package. It was all there in good condition. Me and 3 other elders ate the ribs the night we got them, and they were soooooo good. Thanks a bunch. The cheesecake is amazing too along with all the other food. I am also enjoying the new Utah blanket and especially the Rubik's cube. It is actually slightly harder than the regular one so it was a new challenge. Fun stuff. As for the weather, it has been raining a ton. We get rain it seems like almost every night and often during the days. Unfortunately we wont be going to the temple this transfer. The mission dept. for the church is changing some things up so i don't know when we will go next. I am hoping to go to the Sacramento temple at some point though. Monday was a pretty insane day. We had P-day and lately, we have been having 2 dinners every Monday night, because there is a family in the ward that has us come over really late for dinner and a lesson, as the wife is investigating the church. So the background is its a man and his Vietnamese wife, and her sister all living together in one apartment. Anyways she is investigating the church,and her sister kind of is. Her sister sits in on the lessons and stuff. So we were eating this crazy Vietnamese food, like catfish, shrimp, and squid soup of some kind. Really weird stuff but it was good. So we are eating that, and in the middle of dinner, the table breaks and the soup spills all over mine and Elder Hardy's pants. It wasn't hot or anything but really messy and we smelled like fish the rest of the night. Not to mention that it broke some of their dishes and spilled soup everywhere. So that was fun. Also I cant give details but it sufficeth me to say that before, during and after dinner the couple told us some really crazy like confidential stuff that they are going through and dealing with right now and we ended up being at their house for a long time after dinner. So it was awkward before dinner, then we spilled the soup, and it became even more awkward. Then we were there helping them after all this for a long time after dinner too. It was a really crazy night. Super weird, one of the weirdest ones I have had on the mission so far. Tuesday we had district meeting which went fairly well. I hate having to teach district meeting but the Hermanas in my district were very nice afterwards and told me that they really enjoyed it. So that helped out a lot. The rest of that day I was on exchanges with my zone leader, Elder Warnick. He has previously served in my area that I am in right now, in fact he trained someone that came out with me in this area, but anyways he came up to Woodland with me and it was great because he knew some people to go see and he was really familiar with the area. We had dinner with a super cool family that night, the Stowells, then went on splits that night. We do splits 3 times a week in this ward. Its so much but its really cool to see the members of the ward getting so involved in the work. Wednesday we had a missionary broadcast from members of the 12 and the missionary dept. of the church, for every missionary in the whole world. It was really cool, there was great counsel given by Elder Oaks, Anderson, and other members of the 70 and general auxiliary leaders of the church. Cool stuff. Later that day we went and did service in Davis. We did "Graffiti Abatement" so basically we walk around Davis and look for graffiti to clean up. Its pretty fun, very chill service that still gets stuff done too. We ate dinner with this super cool family in the ward that showed us a bunch of their huge guns, and I mean HUGE. It was super cool. The dad isn't a member but is a hilarious guy. They have a daughter on a mission too so they appreciate missionaries and they were really good to us. We gave blessings to the mom and son after dinner and it was cool to see that things said in the blessing were really applicable to the situations. Like the mom had just gotten a new church calling and in the blessing was said something along the lines of being calm and knowing purpose in church callings or something. It was a neat experience. I have seen a lot lately the power of blessings and the amount of revelation that can be received while giving them. It was awesome.That night we went on splits again so that was fun. Thursday we had a lesson with our investigator that is super cool. He has a baptismal date for august that we hope that he will be able to make it to. We then did service at the food bank and while we were there we talked to these two guys about the church and word of wisdom and stuff. They were cool guys. Later that night, we went over and gave a blessing to a member that we hadn't met before. She and her husband were super nice and it was an awesome experience. That night we were going to go on splits but that cancelled so we brought our investigator to the church and played soccer with the Spanish branch and Elders for that ward. It was super fun. I am so tall, white, and not good at soccer haha. All the Hispanic people were super good. Friday we did our usual weekly planning. We had dinner then went off to see the family of the little girl that was just baptized. It was super fun. We had a lesson with them then had some fun with them after. It was awesome they are a super funny and nice family. Saturday we did a bunch of finding and also had a lesson with a recent convert in the ward who has had a really amazing life. She is super awesome and strong in the church. Later that night we saw our investigator and set a baptismal date with him for Feb 6th. So it is official and it is happening then. We are really excited about it. Sunday we had church as usual then went out to Knights Landing about 20 minutes away. Unfortunately nobody we wanted to see was there so it was just a waste of time and gas and miles. But later that day we saw a less active member that is the crazy cat lady. She has 10 as of right now and while we were there the animal shelter or something dropped off 3 of them that had just been neutered and they were all drunk from the procedure. They were tipping over sideways and stuff. Super funny to watch haha. We then had dinner with members and we were going to bring them to a lesson but it cancelled last minute, which was super disappointing. We had our usual Sunday night meeting that night and now we are here. Thanks so much everybody for all that you do! I appreciate all of your love and everything you all do for me and I hope that you guys are all involved in the missionary effort in your areas wherever you are. I would challenge you all to look for missionary opportunities and make sure that you are living the standards of the gospel because people watch and see the things that we all do. People know we are members and we need to represent Christ always. Love, Elder Hatch

Week 28 Picking Lemons

January 18, 2016 Family, Well it was a great week this week. We are doing some good work here and having fun doing it. It is a great area and a really missionary minded ward and ward council. The bishop is very missionary minded as well. It's cool. But we have to earn his and the ward councils trust. Anyways Tuesday we had zone meeting which was good to have the whole zone together. That night we went on splits and I went with a member of the ward and had an interesting lesson with an excommunicated member that doesn't want to come back but is really nice still. So that was cool, I haven't been on splits for a while Wednesday we had zone conference with President and Sister Wright, the AP's and the Tech Elders. It was good to see the people from my old zone and President and Sister Wright again. That night we had a lesson with a 14 year old investigator that is going to be baptized soon. He is a punk but he is from a rough situation so we work with him and we know that he understands what we say. Unfortunately he wasn't at church so he can't be baptized next Tuesday like we thought. He has to come 2 times in a row so we will have to push the date back. Thursday we went and did zone mulching service again. It was cool to see everyone so many days in a row. That night we went on splits again and one guy didn't show up but it was ok. Unfortunately we didn't have much success but at least we tried. Friday was planning but that morning we had a lesson with an investigator that wants to be baptized but has a lot of stuff to work through first, but he really wants to and we think that later in the year he will definitely be baptized. That night we had another lesson with our 14 year old investigator and it was the best lesson we have had with him so far. He was like fully engaged and stuff which was amazing for him cause he has crazy ADHD and stuff. Saturday we did this cool zone service where we picked fruit for these random people in Winters. I learned that lemon trees have huge spikes on them. So unfortunately we were all getting stuck by them. But it was fun anyways. I have some pictures from it. After that we went to a baptism out in West Sacramento which was cool. We were like almost in another mission. Super crazy. That night we had a lesson with this lady that is super stubborn and it was way frustrating. But it was like the busiest day in the mission so far. A bunch of missionaries all went and ate at the stake mission leader or something like that in west sac after the baptism. Sunday was good. The bishop met with one of our investigators and she is ready to be baptized now! We are going to set a date with her tonight. So that was awesome. Unfortunately that day when we went out on visits nobody was home. But it has been a really good week. It went by so much faster than weeks past. I have really learned that we are always in an area, with a companion, or serving around or serving certain people for certain reasons that we may not know. And not only on the mission but always. No matter where we are, we are always in a place where the Lord has put us to both bless others but also be blessed by others. Thank you all so much for everything and I love you all Love, Elder Hatch