Homecoming!!!!

So, Jacob comes home in just a few days!!!  He is scheduled to land at the SLC airport on January 8th.

His homecoming is on January 12th.  Our meeting block begins at 1:00 pm; Sacrament Meeting begins at 2:50 pm; location is approximately 10000 South (Sego Lily Drive) and 2100 East.  There will also be a mission farewell that day, so I would arrive early.

12-31-13 email

Dearest Family,
This is going to be a shorter email, but don't worry too much. I will see you all in about a week. In fact, this will probably be my last email. There is a chance that I will have time next Monday, but well see. Next week is going to be crazy! I am really excited, but it still feels pretty weird. It's weird to think that my mission is just about over. It seems like forever, but it's gone a lot faster than I thought. I'm going to try to make the most out of this last week, but it's getting hard to contain the excitement and the emotions. A lot of change is coming for me. But I think it will be great!
Anyways, we had a great week last week, and a wonderful Christmas. I think Elder Blood was just fine. He is still getting packages. SOOOOO spoiled. We ate a lot of food too. lots of tamales and menudo. Yummy. Also, I'll probably have to send one more package this week. It will be even heavier, so I hope it makes it. haha well, I better get going now, but I'll be seeing you soon! love ya! -Elder Hatch

12-24-13 email

Merry Christmas family! Well, I'm going to keep this real short, because I'll be talking to you tomorrow! I'm so excited! But I did want to let you know that I got your package and I finally got Miranda's letter too! guess it just took a while for it to get here. I am very excited for Christmas though. For most people here, Christmas Eve is actually the bigger day, so we have a lot of plans for today and tomorrow. Speaking of plans, we got a place to Skype, so I'm hoping to call Sometime between 10-11 in the morning. I'm so excited! Well, I better get going, but I'll see you tomorrow! Merry Christmas! -Elder Hatch
PS Make sure to tell the Ruppers I really, really loved their package! The book is amazing, and I've already read the whole thing! I've shared some of the stories with my investigators too. Awesome. Thank you so much!

12-17-13 email AND return home flight info!

Feliz Navidad!

I don't know about everybody back home, but I'm sure feeling the Christmas spirit this week. Even if it did almost hit 70 today. Haha it just doesn't want to be winter here yet. That's ok, I'll just have a shock when I come home I guess. Anyways, I actually just had my departing interview with President Miller. It was really good. He's a great guy and he gave me some great advice. I also asked about meeting up with family before I leave Albuquerque, and he said yes! So, on that tuesday the 7th, if the Sants (anybody who wants to) can pick me up at 10 am at the mission home (5601 dogwood trail NE) I'm all theirs until one oclock which is when we are going to the temple I think. I am so excited to see everybody again! Also, I can't believe you got the travel plans already! What time do I get back? Don't worry though, I'm trying really hard not to think about it too much. I'll be honest, I'm not doing so great at it, but I'm trying. Haha, it helps that the work is still doing pretty well here. We have a ton of families that we're teaching. The only problem is that we STILL can't get them to come to church. I'm still really hoping for a baptism before I go, but these people really have to come to church first. We do have our Christmas party this Saturday, so we hope to at least get some people to that. Speaking of Christmas, we should be having a pretty good one here. We already have some dinners set up, and we should have somebody to skype with as well. I'll let you know what time next week! My companion is super spoiled with mail right now. Which means that I have been too. Lots of junk food and stuff. In the last week, he has gotten 12 packages and 22 letters. Don't worry, I'm not hinting that I need more mail, (I am coming home soon) but I just thought it would be worth mentioning how ridiculous he is. Anyways, we had a great Zone conference yesterday in El Paso. We were visited by Elder Foster from the seventy. I also got a letter from Grandma and Grandpa Hatch saying he visited them a couple of weeks ago too, so I thought that was pretty cool. We talked a lot about working with the other members of the church to help spread the gospel. Then they served us a large Christmasy lunch. I also got to see some of my friends that are going home with me. Overall it was a great experience. Hmm, I still have some more time, but I'm really not sure what else to write. I'll probably have tons of stories for you in a few weeks though! So I guess that's it for now, but I hope you all have a great week in the cold! I miss you! Y FELIZ NAVIDAD! -Elder Hatch

****Jacob will be returning home January 8th.  He lands at the SLC airport via United Flight #1139 from Denver at 12:52 pm.  You are all welcome to join us in giving him a warm welcome home!******

12-10-13 email

Dear Hatch Family,

        Ah, it is finally starting to feel like Christmas. I love it! Ok, I take that back, the weather here is definitely not very Christmasy. It's still a little too hot for a thin sweater. But it's supposed to get colder here soon. Especially with how windy it gets here. So I got your package a couple days ago! Thank you so much! Great music, homemade fudge, some decorations, now Christmas can really start. I've also been keeping up with the nightly scriptures. I even got a candle and everything! As you all should know by now, this is definitely my favorite time of the year. I'm really enjoying it. Especially this Christmas because I know I will be seeing you so soon. Oh, I also got Dad's letter yesterday. Thanks! 

        So this week has been pretty normal. Which is good. We finally had the whole Vasquez family come to church this Sunday, even the Dad. They told us they were ready for baptism, so hopefully we can make that happen in the next week or two. Our other investigators still are not coming to church though! Which is frustrating, but there is still hope. There's always next week I guess. One of our best investigators, Rudy, was actually just out of town this week, so he couldn't go. We actually have a lot of people we are working with. There are even some people in Sierra Blanca that we are going to start to teach. Anyways, there isn't really much new to share, but basically, I'm doing good. I got a haircut today, and I'm hoping it's my last one before I go. We'll see though.

        Thanks so much for all your love and support, especially at this time of the year. I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas season too! At least you have snow up there. It's going to be pretty cold when I get back... Speaking of that, Dad asked me a question in his letter about work. I would definitely love any asking around you could do, but don't worry about it too much. That will be one of my first priorities when I get home.

        I'm glad you are all doing well back home. Even though you keep seeing movies that I haven't heard of. Congratulations to Dad for fixing the dryer too! Oh, and I'm glad that Grammy is starting to recover well, I hope that everything keeps going well. Well, I better get going now, but I hope you all have a wonderful week! See ya in just a couple weeks! (on skype of course) Hasta luego! 

        -Elder Hatch

12-3-13 email

Dear Family, I'm glad you all had a good thanksgiving. This week was pretty good, but not a whole lot of news to report. We had a great Thanksgiving. I ate the most I think I have ever eaten in my whole life. We ended up having four dinners right in a row, with everybody expecting us to pig out. It was all very delicious, but too much! I almost threw up more than once. Hahaha, but there's no refusing food from Mexicans. It doesn't happen. Anyways, we are actually emailing pretty late today, so I only have a couple more minutes. As far as missionary work goes, it was ok this week. We had some great visits this week, and then nobody showed up to church! Pretty frustrating honestly, but we'll keep working with them. Some of them did have good excuses because of the holidays, but still. Also, I'm starting to get a little antsy without any christmas music. Hahaha No worries, but please send a lot! Also, Grammy is definitely in my prayers. I really hope she can recover quickly! And I am DEFINITELY going to ask about seeing them before I can go home. That would be amazing. Well, I have to go now, but I hope you all have a wonderful week! I'll try to send some fotos! -Elder Hatch

a puppy at a member's house (leave it to Jacob to take photos of cute puppies:)

Elder Blood studying

with Elder Hernandez in Fabens, TX

11-25-13 email

HEEELLLLLOOOO FAAAAMMMMIILLLYYY!

Surprise! I'm emailing on monday again! I guess because of transfers and everything they moved it back to monday for this week. It will go back to tuesday next week though. So anyways, this week was pretty awesome. We were able to set baptismal dates with a few people. The first one I think I already mentioned, is Rudy Silva. He is doing great, and already following the word of wisdom, and praying a lot. Sadly, he didn't come to church though, we still don't know why... We'll see him tomorrow. Also, we finally set baptismal dates with most of the Garcia family! That was awesome. We are just missing the dad and the oldest son. Only because they weren't there at the appointment. I really hope to see some baptisms before I leave here. OH! I almost forgot to tell you, I will officially be ending my mission here in Fort Hancock with Elder Blood. I'm pretty excited honestly. I'm glad I'm spending the holidays with these great people here, even if I can't be with family. Speaking of holidays, this thanksgiving should be great! We have three dinners planned already, so we definitely won't go hungry. In fact, I'm thinking of just fasting all week until thursday so i'll have room for all that food! haha That's still kind of weird to me that you are coming to Albuquerque for thanksgiving! I think you should definitely try to visit President Miller, he is pretty cool. He travels around a lot though, so it might be hard to catch him at home. Sadly though, you won't be able to see the Douglasses. They actually moved back to Arizona a couple of months ago. I would love you to meet them someday though. I still email them every once in a while. I hope you have a lot of fun in New Mexico! I'm excited to have holidays with all the family again. I see pictures of everybody and they don't even look the same! Everybody is growing up I guess. So as far as Christmas goes, I would love a TON of christmas music, just keep it Christ-centered. And I would love that same package you sent last year with decorations n' stuff. And by stuff I mean fudge. haha Also, the only thing that I really want for Christmas this year would be new scriptures. One of those new edition english quads. I'm not picky about the style. Other than that, just some money for clothes when I get home. On the other hand, I would love to get you all something cool from my mission! Some cool Mexican/Native American stuff. I don't have a whole ton of money, but if anybody wants anything specific, just tell me and I'll try my best! Well, I better get going now, but I hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving! Until next week! -Elder Hatch