3-26-12 email

heyheyhey!
well week two was great down here in mexico...I mean El paso...Hahahaha
anyways, it was great to get your letters! I will be trying to send
one later this week if I can. Ummm, to answer your questions, I
actually might not need a bike my whole mission. most spanish areas
use cars. we actually have a truck right now because there are a lot
of dirt roads. we actually have the second largest area in the
mission, and the largest is right next to us. It takes about an hour
to drive from one end to the other. Its just me and my companion in an
apartment. oh! and I got the package so i have sheets now! Tell audrey
and Brian, and Rich and Jen congradulations! I love new cousins! My
spanish is slowly and surely improving! I can understand most of what
people say, unless they are on the phone. and Im getting better and
better at speaking too! We get fed by basically everybody we talk to
so thats pretty fun. I havent been hungry since I got here. In fact,
the other day we had three dinners back to back. It was really good
food, but it made me a little sick after so much. Im enjoying all the
strange mexican food like chicharrones, taquis, menudo, tripiditas,
and lots of other things! Im getting used to spicy food too! actually,
all those are pretty spicy. Its kind of strange because about 90% of
the people down here are bilingual, so its a lot of spanglish!
anyways, we have our first baptism this week. a lady named Genovevah
Almaraz! she was mainly taught before I got here, but I have gotten to
know her pretty well. She is a younger grandma, so maybe 60, but we
are also trying to teach her sister, and her son, who is almost
exactly my age, but he has a mohawk and smokes weed all the time. hes
pretty funny. were also helping a man named rodrigo maese to stop
smoking because he really wants to be baptized. We also had an
investigator, ricardo rivera, who sang to us for about a half an hour
because we couldnt get him to stop! hahaha he was good but it was
still pretty weird. Sadly, I have to go now, but Ill try to tell you
more in a letter. hopefully. Elder Hatch

First email from the field- 3-19-12

Hello hatch family! im not really sure how much time I have on this so it could be long or short. Anyways, I am in the farthest south district in El Paso! I live just a few blocks from the border and I can see Juarez from my apartment! It is actually way fun down here! its pretty warm, it was raining today, but it hit 90 a couple days ago. Anyways, we get fed dinner by somebody every day, and sometimes twice a day. I am really enjoying the food, and have been trying many new things. I feel like most of the time I can understand most people, but i still cant speak a whole lot. I feel like the Mtc actually prepared me pretty well in most aspects. oh! my companions name is elder bishop hes from bountiful and hes pretty cool. very organized. ummmm tell eric congradulations and that texas spanish speaking rocks!!! Also,HHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPYYYYYYYYYYYY
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miranda! i got you a little something so ill be sending that with more of a letter soon. I hope you have fun! and I definitely wore my green tie! also you should tell me how byu basketball is doing back in utah.Anyways, I better go, but I imagine ill have more time next week. I am doing great though! adios
sincerely, Elder Jacob Hatch

Jacob Sighting

On Monday Jacob left for Albuquerque, New Mexico.  We were able to talk to him on the phone for a little bit when he was in the airport.  He was tired because he couldn't sleep the night before, but it was so good to be able to talk to him.  He was excited.  There were 12 missionaries traveling to Albuquerque--5 Spanish speaking.  Since then, we have not heard from him at all.  We are anxiously awaiting news of where he is and how his first week has gone.  However, on Tuesday, Jaocb's grandpa got to see him and give him a big hug as he came out of the mission home to travel to his area.  Of course this made Papa's day.  How lucky for him that he could conveniently arrange to pick the Elder's from his ward up at the mission home after they dropped their car off there that morning:)  Papa said that Jacob looked like a missionary:)  Jacob wasn't sure yet where they were taking him..he thought somewhere down south-- El Paso or Las Cruses.  Today we finally got a form letter from the mission president-President Miller with the above photo enclosed.  The letter said his trainer was Elder Bishop and he was sent to the Mission Trails area.  So, not much help.  There is no city/town in New Mexico or that part of Texas with the name Mission Trails.  Ugh.  I'm guessing it's the name of an area of town...probably in El Paso.  I'm hoping an email on Monday will let all of us know!

3-10-12 Letter

Dear family,

I don’t really have a lot of time today because I leave the MTC at 6 on Monday morning.  My flight leaves at 9:45 from SLC.  Way cool.  So I don’t actually know the rules about calling you guys, but if I can, it will be between about 8:30 and 9:30.  Anyways, sorry I didn’t write a lot last week, I didn’t get your dear elders until Friday for some reason.  Oh, and I also just sent that huge package back to the Help U Mail, so you guys should forward that on to  the mission home ASAP por favor.  Thank you for all of your wonderful letters!  It’s sounding like you guys are having some great times.  Anyways, I will be having to take a little money out this week for some last expenses before I leave.  Oh, and it looks like I can actually (probably) call and it would probably be in that last half of the time period!  I love you all so much, and I can’t wait to hear from you all in New Mexico!

Elder Jacob Hatch

3-5-12 Letter

Dear family,

I had another great week here! Elder Holland came and spoke to us again on Tuesday and it was amazing.  So this week I don’t have much of a letter, but I’m sending a copy of my notes from that meeting.  Keep in mind he fit all of this into less than an hour!  He is such an awesome, emotional speaker.  It’s starting to wrap up here because we only have like a week and a half here until I go.  I’m supposed to get my travel plans in the next couple days so I’ll tell you all about it next week!  Well, I better go but I can’t wait to hear from you all again!

Sincerely,

Elder Jacob Hatch

PS Tell Bro Isaacson thank you so much for his letters! Tell him his support is much appreciated and that highlighter they gave me is really nice! I’m sadly almost done with it I’ve been using it so much! I love the strong testimony he has and his encouragements to share mine!

PPS I just met an Elder Elder that moved into the room next to me! Whoa!