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.