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