1-28-13 email

Dear Family, I am going to start with some pictures again! These are from Brian's baptism last saturday. (Brian is the shorter one) As well as one of me and Elder V. I do hope you enjoy them

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     So as you can probably tell from the pictures, we had another succesful baptism last week! It was a smaller baptismal service, but I think it was probably one of the most spiritual that I have ever been too. President and sister Miller came, as well as a lot of Brian's friends that he invited, none of which were members. It was really cool to be able to see him get baptized. He was sooooooo ready for it. So that was the highlight of my week basically.

     I have also been getting a lot out of reading the Book of Mormon in spanish. I am already in Mosiah, and I am starting to understand more and more of the words as I go. And while I am getting a lot out it spanish-wise, I am also getting a ton out of it spiritually as well. I feel like I am really starting to understand the Book of Mormon more, and it really doesn't seem boring to me like it used to. So I am enjoying it.

    Other than that, not much really happened this week. It has been a little slower recently (besides the baptisms) for some reason or other. We are starting to find some more new investigators though, so we'll see how things go. I'm starting to feel like I've been in this area forever! Which I have. I love it so much, but I think I'm ready for some change. Oh well, we'll see how transfers go in a couple of weeks.

    So being healthy is going great still. I have now lost a total of 8 pounds! Yay! haha, well that's pretty much all that's going on with me right now. I'm glad to hear you passed your test mom! I knew you would though, so I'm not very surprised. Good luck on the next ones though. Also, I have something for Nathan, but I won't be able to send it until next monday, so it will be a little late. Happy Birthday though! I hope it's awesome!
 Oh, and to answer some of your questions dad, My clothes are doing pretty good. I might need some new shoes before I go home, and maybe a pair of slacks, but for now we are good. Also, I hope you continue to enjoy basketball, it sounds pretty fun. Even if you are old haha... Well, I better get going, but I do hope you all have a wonderful week! -Elder Hatch

1-22-13 email

AHHH! Lots of emails today! I'm going to start with some pictures! I 
have been trying to take a lot of pictures with my new camera, so here 
they are!

Ok, and heres a couple more pictures... Of my dogs! 

 

Well, as I'm sure you guys figured out, we couldn't email yesterday because of martin luther king jr day, so I am emailing today! So it will have to be a little bit shorter because we've got places to go! So it has been an awesome week this week! We did indeed have Shikha's baptism on saturday, and it was basically perfect! We had president and sister Miller come again, as well as almost the whole ward. We actually had  to pack pretty tight into the room to fit everybody! Sadly, her parents did not come, but she had SO much support from the ward, that I think it was still a very special experience for her. The spirit was very strong in the room, and it all went extremely well. I took some pictures for you guys, so I hope you like them. She was baptized by Parker Moses, her boyfriend's little brother. (He couldn't be there because he's on his mission in Hungary) It was the first time he had ever baptized somebody, and he did a great job. Sister Miller even came up to us afterwards and said the whole baptismal service was amazing! So It was a really great experience, and definitely lifted up the rest of the week. Which was not bad either.

We are also very excited because we have another baptism planned for this saturday! Yay! Brian Cornell is totally prepared for his baptism this week, and I think he is probably one of the most golden investigators that I have seen. We are definitely excited for him too! Sorry, I'm running out of time, so I'm going to have to cut it short about him.
So to answer your questions Mom, we have actually had a pretty warm week here, with no snow whatsoever! Well, we did have a little snow last monday, but that left pretty quickly. We almost got in a wreck because of the ice though! Dumb teenage drivers... haha, we avoided it though. Also, we still get fed a lot, but I have still been doing awesome on being healthy! I have lost about 6 pounds already, and I'm starting to feel much better. We usually excersize seperately in the mornings, so I do my own thing, which is usually a routine of weights, pushups, situps, etc... nothing really special, but I'm enjoying it. Well, I better go, but I'm glad you guys are doing well, and I wish you luck for your test this week mom! Hope you all have a great week! -Elder Hatch

1-14-13 email

Good Morning Family! Well, I now have less than a year left on my mission. We are starting to count down instead of up. It's kind of weird to think how long I've been out here. To be honest, I really didn't do anything at all to celebrate. In fact, I didn't even remember it was my hump day until about dinner time. It has been a really good week here though. (random thought: my typing skills are really improving with all of these emails I write hahaha) We have started to see some more success in the spanish branch. Mostly because of our new branch mission leader Hno. Lopez. He is pretty excited about the work in the branch! We were even able to find a new investigator this week! Yaya! People are finally all back from their vacations (including a disney cruise our branch president's family went on) so the work is a little smoother now. One sad note is that Tania Salinas has decided to go back to Mexico this week for school, so we really hope she will be able to stay active in the church down there.

      On the other hand, we are having lots of success in Taylor Ranch. We have the baptism for Shikhah Gurung this Saturday. She is doing awesome. She is so prepared for her baptism, and we are so excited for her! It's been really fun teaching her, because she comes from a culture that I haven't seen before on my mission, so it's been nice to have a little variety in the teaching process. It has really helped her a lot to see how much support the ward is giving her.

      Also, we have the baptism for Brian next Saturday! He has also been an extremely golden investigator that really is super prepared for baptism. We are almost done with all the lessons, and he really hasn't had any problems with the commandments or anything. So hopefully all goes well for him in the next couple of weeks.

      Other than that the work is going pretty good. We've been seeing some success in some of our older investigators, including a man named Don, and another guy named Daniel. Hopefully we can keep seeing all of these awesome results of our hard work!

     Anyways, I have been doing real well lately with excersizing a lot and eating healthy, so I'm already starting to feel and look a little bit better. It actually hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be. I think I will try to send some pictures back home soon, as well as some christmas stuff. As far as after the mission goes, I still have a lot of time to think about it. My only thought right now is that if I could find a job right when I get back home, I could save up some good money for spring or summer term, but honestly I'm not really opposed to going to winter term either, we'll just have to figure something out I guess.

   So I'm really trying to make an effort to write more in these emails, because Elder Valladolid takes FOREVER to write his, so I might as well write some more. Ummmm.... It has actually been pretty cold here lately, but no snow. I really miss the snow. Well I can't think of anything else to write, so you will have to be satisfied with that. I hope you all have a wonderful week!!!!! Elder Hatch

1-7-13 email

Hello everybody! My week has been pretty good. The work has been a little bit slower lately because everybody went on vacation here. But that will end this week! Yay for the end of Vacation! haha, never thought I would say that. So we are actually having a lot of success in the English ward lately. It really seems to switch back and forth a lot. Shikhah has decided to get baptized on the 19 of January. We are really excited for her. It's been interesting to work with her, because she basically has been a member for a couple years already, so we aren't really teaching her anything new. It's also been amazing to see how much courage she has, basically going against her parents by choosing to be baptized. Her parents are Buddhists, so they really don't understand why she wants to join another church. We have been praying and fasting a lot with her and a member family that she is really good friends with to soften her parents' hearts. Hopefully everything goes well. We will also be having the baptism for Brian this month, although he hasn't yet decided on a date yet. We have also been getting a lot of good refferals for english, which is new, since they are usually for spanish, but we have been enjoying them anyways! On the flip side, we basically have nothing going on in the spanish branch right now, because we baptized all the people we were working with... oh well, we are working hard to pick it up again and find some investigators!

       So for some more big news, we got a new car this week! we now have a truck! Which doesn't really make sense to me considering our area, but it's been fun. We actually switched cars with an area down south, that has almost no paved roads. and they ended up with our little malibu... pretty strange if you ask me. Anyways, today is pretty cool, because a year from today I will be getting home!! That's so wierd! I can't believe I've been a missionary for a whole year! I don't think I'm really doing anything to celebrate, but it's fun to think about. It's also crazy to think how long I've been in this area. by the end of this transfer, I'll have been here almost six months. I feel like I know almost everybody here, and it's really starting to feel like home. It's going to be hard to leave this area.

      Anyways, I have started reading the book of mormon in spanish. so far I've been reading it a lot side by side with english, so I can check on words every once in a while, but now I have a goal to read the whole thing only in spanish. So far it has been a lot easier than I thought it would, which is pretty cool. There is usually only one or two words a page that I don't know, and it's usually pretty easy to get it from the context of the story. I'm enjoying it a lot because I've been getting a lot of new things out of it because of the different language. I'm excited to see how it all goes.

     Another story from this week: We were helping to clean out an old ladies garage this week, and she was just having us throw most of the stuff away. She is a pretty serious hoarder, so there was A LOT of stuff. Anyways, I found this nice brand new camera still in the packaging, so I asked if she really wanted to throw it away. she said she had no use for it, and then insisted on giving it to me. So... I have a new camera now.

    So looking back on the holidays, they were hard sometimes, but they were also amazing. Definitely different, but still just as magical as they ought to be. I would say it was a great experience.

    Well, I better get going, because my time is almost up, but I hope you all have a wonderful week and keep enjoying all that snow! Hasta la proxima! -Elder Hatch