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.