Baby Ruthie

I have been a huge slacker. I will try to update the blog this weekend between conference sessions. Meet Ruth Olive Montague. Born July 29, 2016 Our first granddaughter. 3 more yet to come.

Week 53 One Year Down and One Year to Go

July 11, 2016 Family, Hey y'all! So in big news you all already know that I hit my year mark this week! I seriously can't believe it. Plus, today is my "1 year left" mark, since I go home on the 11 of next year. Where has the time gone? I just can't believe it. Before you know it I'll be at 18 months. In other news, we had a good week. The Fourth of July was AWESOME!! We went out to point Reyes with the zone and did some fun hikes and went to the lighthouse and stuff, then we came back and had a big bbq with the whole zone and this awesome part member Fijian family. The wife is Fijian and the husband white and they cooked up all this food for us, like 20 missionaries. We all had a really good time it was one of the better 4th of Julys that I have had! The family was the Forsters they are in our ward. They are a super, super cool people. Tuesday was zone meeting, which was alright. I don't mind teaching that since I don't have to teach district meetings any more. We had exchanges that day and another elder came to Novato with me. We taught our investigator, Bazil, that night at a family's house. He is getting baptized on the 24th of this month! So that's cool. We are hoping to teach his brother in the next few weeks. Since their mom is an RC we think his brother will probably get baptized too, even though he hasn't come to church yet. Wednesday we had service at the food bank, and we tried to see some members that night. Thursday we had a bunch of service, in the morning and in the afternoon, then we saw some other members that night. Somebody that was high at one of our less actives house was ranting to us about something. As he was doing that he dropped a joint in my lap... Haha, super funny and I wasn't expecting it. Friday we had zone conference up in Santa Rosa all day. Since it was our year mark for like 5-6 of us, we went and got all you can eat sushi at a place in Santa Rosa called Hikunis. So that was really fun. That night we saw some of our investigators, just drop by. We were having a doorstep conversation with one when in the middle of it she was just like "I'm high right now, so I hope that's not weird but just letting you know" we were like ummm ok and so we then left haha. Saturday we went and did some service cleaning up Muir Beach. It was cool, the whole zone came. Me and elder Moniz feel like the whole zone is finally unifying, which is nice. We did weekly planning that day and some visits that night. Sunday was normal. We were at the ward mission leaders house eating and correlation and doing visits all afternoon, had dinner with a super cool family, and did zone numbers for the rest of the night. It was a good week. Full of fun, and work. Pretty crazy that it was my year mark. The time has just flown right by. Also crazy that Maddie’s baby is almost here! That's so cool! I'm super excited for that as well. Anyways, love you all! Thanks for everything! Elder Hatch

Week 52 Cool Experience on the Bridge

July 4, 2016 Family, Well another week down! It was actually a really weird one... Kinda strange being ZL but aside from that it was just weird anyways. So, Monday was a good day. I can't remember what we did for Pday or that night. My brain is fried. Tuesday we had transfers. We went up to Santa Rosa for it and had lunch with some more missionaries. We came back and had dinner then had a sweet lesson with our investigator and set a baptismal date for the 23rd! So that was exciting. Wednesday was nuts. We went down and did service for the parks and rec department by the bridge, but before that happened we got a flat tire so we had to go get that fixed and it was quite the fiasco but we managed to get it done. We then did some service at the food bank then tried to find some less active members that night. Thursday we did district meeting and I got to choose which one to go to, then we did food bank service again. So Friday was weird. We went to MLC and were late so we got roasted by president for that. But MLC was super long and boring, but that night we did contacts on the bridge, but some of the elders missed the exit and so the only options were to drive over the bridge and leave mission boundaries, or to back into oncoming traffic. But, right as they were about to go across the bridge, a cop pulled up and he was a member, so he blocked traffic on the bridge so that they could come back and get into the parking lot. It was awesome, me and Moniz got to ride in the cop car for a little haha. The member cop is so cool. Saturday we were able to set a baptismal date with another investigator for the 30th! So that's cool too. Sorry for the late letter we had fun celebrating the 4th! Crazy day. Love you guys! Happy 4th! Elder Hatch

Week 51 Zone Leader in Novato with Elder Moniz

June 27, 2016 Family, Another week down! Only like a week and a half and then I hit my year mark! It's nuts. I can't believe it. It doesn't feel like I have been out for that long. Crazy I only have one year of this left. It's not enough time! Anyways this week was good! Pday was fun last week, we went out to this light house called point Bonita or something like that I can't remember but it was really cool. We then went down to Sausalito and checked out this cool sock place called Socksalito hahaha. That night we went and saw a less active and had a good lesson with her. Tuesday was district meeting, it was a good last one, and we had the zone leaders come down for it. I'm just thankful that we don't have to teach district meetings this next transfer. That afternoon we did some finding then had dinner with a part member family and taught the young daughter about baptism because she is getting baptized soon. Wednesday we went and did service at the food bank and then did some finding that night too. Thursday we had two different services for the morning and afternoon, and had to go up to Santa Rosa that night and we didn't have a dinner so we went and got sushi while we were up there at an all you can eat place. We got our mini that day and he was so cool! He is from Middletown, the place that basically burned to the ground in September of last year. Friday we did service as a zone then did our planning that afternoon. We took him Tracting in the morning and got some doors slammed in our face and he actually liked it.. It was really strange. But he was happy to be there and we got along with him great. He was much better than the one from the previous week. We had dinner with a woman that has been actively coming to the Novato ward for 32 years and never baptized. We all pretty much said why the heck have you not been baptized?! We are still working on it; me and Moniz are motivated to baptize her before the end of the transfer. She needs to JUST DO IT. That night we went to the bridge to contact and do suicide prevention. It was so windy and one sisters glasses flew off the side of the bridge! Haha super funny but also too bad for her. Saturday was good too, we had the basketball in the morning, then studied, then tried to do a service with the zone but it cancelled so we all just didn't really know what to do. We had to be in Santa Rosa the rest of the night for the mini mission thing so that's how we ended our Saturday. Sunday was good, church and we visited a family with the ward mission leader that afternoon, had a good visit. Also me and Moniz are staying together! Thanks for everything! Elder Hatch Who knew that McKay liked Sushi? Thanks to Elder Moniz grandma for hooking them up with good food. She tells me he likes spam musubi too.

Week 50 Mini Missionary Experience

June 20, 2016 Family, Another week down! Can't believe that this next week is the last week of the transfer already! It's kind of crazy actually. It has flown by. My year mark is rapidly approaching! Also, too bad about the Warriors game last night. I thought for sure they would pull it off! But LeBron was just too much for them. It was a good year, anyways. This week was pretty good, we had a mini missionary with us from Wednesday night to Saturday night. But before we got him on Tuesday we had a good district meeting, then we went and did some finding less actives, then had dinner with a really awesome family in the ward, the Smiths. They have a bunch of kids and the whole family is really missionary minded. That night we went and did some more finding of less actives. Wednesday we went and did service at the food bank in the afternoon, and that night we had a meeting in Petaluma to pick up our mini missionary and also to teach a little mini MTC thing they had for the mini missionaries. We had a mini missionary from Petaluma. He was pretty quiet, a really reserved kid, but, we think that we were able to get him out of his shell a little bit in his time with us. Since me and Elder Moniz like to have fun and joke around we think that it was good for him. Thursday morning we went and cleaned the CrossFit gym, then went and contacted some LA's before going to do service at the food bank that afternoon. We had dinner then went to do correlation at the ward mission leader’s house. Friday we had our weekly planning and went that night to a restaurant with a member and they brought their nonmember friend, we were able to teach him and give him a Book of Mormon and stuff, so that was really cool. That night we went to the bridge and contacted people and did suicide prevention. Saturday was a crazy day. We had basketball early that morning then headed straight to a service on Stinson beach doing a beach cleanup thing. Right after that we had lunch then went to help a member move. They live up like 4 flights of stairs and me and this one elder ended up taking all of the big stuff, even with my sprained ankle. Haha but it was funny, we headed straight up to Petaluma from there for the final meeting for the mini missionary thing. It was just one thing all right after the other all day Saturday, it flew by. Oh, and on Friday or Saturday (can't remember which) we found out that we are getting another mini missionary this upcoming week! This time it's for the Santa Rosa stake because there are too many youth and not enough missionaries. Sunday was good too, we taught Elder Moniz grandma on skype, really cool, and also met the sisters’ investigator, then went to the bridge to contact cause we knew everyone would be watching the game. But, it was a great week this week. It's weird that it's already down to only a week in the transfer left. Love you guys! Elder Hatch