2-25-13 email

Hello family! well, this week was a little dissapointing, but not too bad. We tried to visit basically everybody in our area, and hardly anyone was home. Oh well, we did find one awesome new investigator named Gina. Her in-laws are in our branch, and they gave her a book of mormon a while ago. It turns out that since she recently had her baby, she has been reading it every day! Wev'e met with her twice now, and I think she could get baptized very soon. We just need to get her to church. Other than that, we had a pretty slow week. I did get to help trim some pecan trees though. that was kind of fun. Haha there are probably more pecan trees in this area than there are people. I can't wait till all the farms start to get green and pretty. I missed it just barely when I was down in socorro. This area could definitely use some pretty. This week we had another nasty week of dust storms. There were a couple times we couldn't even see ahead of us when we were driving. It's kind of cool acctually, you just feel really dirty all the time. Apparently, since there are so many farms here, that means a lot of dirt. Also, there is zero water in the Rio Grande right now, so that's probably adding to the dust. Anyways, I am actually really enjoying this area in general. It's really nice to be a spanish missionary again. I'm learning a lot of new words here from all the people we talk to. (some of them I won't repeat) And I am loving all of the delicious mexican food again. When I get back, I am going to make you guys some awesome food. Elder Nelson and I are getting along great! He is one of the funniest companions I have had thus far. We live by ourselves, the Anthony Elders live closer to the chapel. Which is teeny tiny by the way. We eat dinner with them every night though, so we see them all the time. The members here are awesome, there just aren't a whole lot of them. We do get fed every night though, because Mexicans love to feed missionaries. Hmm, I just realized I'm not very good at using paragraphs... sorry bout that. So that was my week in a nutshell. We have been knocking a lot, so hopefully that brings us some new investigators soon. Congratulations on getting in to BYU Miranda!! That's awesome! Good luck with getting into classes and stuff, it's kind of stressful. I wonder how I'm going to do it if I go to winter semester... I can't believe all of those young people going on missions! We heard that there are 58 new missions opening up! Oh, and we found out who our new mission president will be. His name is President .......Miller. Except a different one. Haha we all thought that was pretty funny. I hope he is cool. Well, that's about all for this week, but I hope you all have a wonderful day/week! sincerely, Elder Hatch

PS definitely don't worry about me, the only thing I have to worry about here is dogs. A lot of them. Other than that, most Mexicans like missionaries, especially the guys in the cartel. Hahaha

2-18-13 email

***We received a letter from Jacob's mission president on Friday telling us that Jacob is now a district leader:)  We told him about this letter so I guess that's why e never mentions it in his email***


Hello Family! Well this last week has been very exciting. To start off, I will let you know where I am. I am back in El Paso! So far I am loving it. I am actually on the northernmost edge of El Paso in a small town called Canutillo. It was a little bit of a culture shock to me, because I basically went from the richest area in the mission, to the poorest area. It's very much like Mexico here. We live in a one room house that is about as big as our living room back home, but it's pretty nice, so I have been enjoying it. We have dogs in this area too! except not really. there are just a few strays that live behind our house. And we wouldn't want to play with them anyways. They would probably try to eat us and give us diseases haha. I feel like my spanish is already getting back in shape here. almost nobody speaks english here. It's gotten to the point where i don't have any problems understanding anymore, and talking conversationally to mexicans is getting easier and easier. I really just need to start expanding my vocabulary more. Anyways, we have been trying to find new investigators here, because there aren't many super solid ones to work with. Oh! I almost forgot, my new companion is Elder Nelson from Boise, Idaho. He has been out about 7 months I think, but his spanish is already pretty good. Our branch is pretty good sized, with maybe 100 people attending. There are two other elders in the branch, Elder Mason and Elder Cluff, and that is our whole district. So far I am getting along really well with all of them, and I'm really starting to enjoy this area as well. It makes me feel a lot more Mexican to actually be somewhere where Mexicans live. I'm feeling much better now by the way, and I'm still trying to eat really healthy, and excersize more, but we actually eat mexican food in this area, so we'll see how long that lasts. So my mailing address here is PO Box 1697 Anthony, TX 88021. We don't have a mail box here, so you can send stuff to me through that. Also, since I'm no longer 10 minutes away from the mission office, I will hardly ever get mail sent there. So I feel like I have a lot of things to say, but I can't really think of anything right now. I'm glad Nathan liked the card. I had a lot of fun making it. I spent a long time looking for a good song though. That would be pretty crazy if President Rudd came here! It's wierd to think President Miller is leaving so soon! only three more transfers! Also, I met Elder Daniel Peckham at transfers last week. I thought that was kind of cool. Our mission is really starting to grow. by June we are supposed to hit our cap at about 250. That means at least 70 new missionaries in the next three transfers! exciting! And Congrats to dad on his promotion at work! I don't really know what that means, but it sounds great! Well, I better go, but I hope you all have a great week up in Utah where it's still winter! -Elder Hatch

2-11-13 email

hello family!! So the big news is yes, I am getting transfered to a new area tomorrow! I am pretty nervous, but at the same time very ready for a new sort of challenge. I really have no idea where I will be serving yet, so I will have to let you know next week probably. Anyways, last week was a horrible week. I got the flu, so I was in bed monday, tuesday, wednesday, and part of thursday. Being sick as a missionary is NOT fun. You still can't watch TV or anything, so all I could do was read scriptures and ensigns, which got old pretty quickly. So basically, I had a pretty miserable week this week. We really didn't even have time to get anything done either. Well, I am feeling much better now, so hopefully next week will be better. In my new area that is! It's going to be interesting leaving this area. I have been here so long! Almost six months here! It has really started to feel like home. I'm definitely going to miss these people. Well honestly, I really don't have much to write about today because the week was slow and I'm getting transfered, but I am doing good now! And yes, I do still have a few people that write to me every now and then. It sounds like everything is pretty much normal back home. I hope you guys can make it through winter in Utah! Until next week! -Elder Jacob Hatch

ps. 13 months today! yay!

pps. Happy birthday Grandma!

2-4-13 email

Hello family! Hey sorry guys, i've got a pretty bad cold today, so I don't want to stay at the library very long. In other words, this will be a shorter letter. I guess the big news is transfers are next week! I find out this Saturday if I'm leaving or not. We have 19 new missionaries coming in this next transfer, and then 30 next transfer! That's a ton of missionaries! Supposedly it's mostly going to be sisters though. So I just want to wish Nathan Happy Birthday again! I am sending something off today, so you should get it in a couple days. I hope you had an awesome birthday though.

     So honestly not much really happened this week. It has been pretty slow since the baptisms. We have found a few new people to teach, so things are starting to pick up, but it has still been a slower week. It doesn't help either that both of us have been a little sick, or that nobody wanted to see us during the like 5 hour superbowl! Ya, that was a little frustrating. oh well. Well sorry guys, this is a super lame letter, but I really need to go home and rest now. I hope you have a wonderful week! Elder Hatch