3-25-13 email

hello everybody! So, you guessed right, my new area is in Santa Fe! Haha, ya I had to get a bus pass when I got here, but I got reimbursed for it by the mission. Sorry, I had to email so late today, we had a ton of things to get done, and we didn't get to it until now. Anyways, my new companion is Elder Acosta. He's a super friendly, rather large, polynesian guy from SoCal. He only has two transfers left, so he's almost done. It's funny, because he is actually the missionary I replaced when I came into my first area in socorro, so we've known each other for most of the mission. Although we don't have a whole lot in common, we've been getting along pretty well so far. We actually have a huge area here. we cover the entire city of Santa Fe for spanish, including most of the smaller towns nearby. We even cover Las Vegas! haha, the New Mexico version that is... It's very different from my last area. Basically replace all of the latinos with natives and hippies. And that is about what I'm at. This place definitely has a culture all it's own. It's pretty fun though. I just have to be careful and not talk to any Indians in spanish. They don't like that. I am not district leader here, but I think this area will be just as challenging. The missionaries before me didn't work a whole lot, so there's a lot of catching up to do. It will be fun. Oh, and it's cold here. when I left El Paso it was about 85, and when I got here it was in the 50's. Back to winter I 'spose. BTW my new address is 4129 S. Meadows Apt #612 Santa Fe, NM 87507. And yes I would love a package. If you can reasonably, send a bigger box, because I might want to send some stuff home soon. We'll see though. Well, I'm going to have to let you go because we have to go to dinner now, but I hope you all have a wonderful week-Elder Hatch

3-18-13 email

Dearest Familia, I am doing great. We definitely had a productive week this week. We were able to see some more people and get some more done. I have some news though. I am getting transferred again!! AAAHHH! I was only here five weeks, and now they're sending me up north again. Haha I'm totally ok with it, it just really surprised me. I guess I'm needed elsewhere. I'm not sure if I'll be district leader up there, but we'll see. This transfer was great though. I feel like I grew a ton in this area. Having more responsibility, speaking more spanish, excersizing even more. It was a really good transfer for me. I have to admit, I'm going to miss El Paso though. Who knows, I could just be going up to Las Cruces. We'll see. So I don't really have much to say for this week. Sorry I didn't really take many pictures in this area. I'll try to send you the few that I do have next week. One thing I am not looking forward to is packing again. Such a hassle. Oh, also, I found out that two of my past areas are splitting this transfer! Hondo Pass and Mission Trails are both recieving more missionaries this week! Yay! I'm glad you enjoyed the recorder. I'm glad it got there. And I hope Miranda had a wonderful 18th Birthday! I sent a card today, so hopefully it gets there soon. It sounds like everything was awesome though. I hope she had fun. Also, good luck to Tyler in his musical! I definitely want pictures of that. Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week this week. I'll have a lot more to write about next time. -Elder Hatch

PS You should perform a musical number at my homecoming dad!

PPS tell people not to send anything to that address anymore.

3-11-13 email

Here's my zone picture. The one to my right is Elder Nelson.

Hello Family!  It was a pretty good week this week. More of the same. Missionary work is exciting to do, but after you've done it every day for 14 months, it can start to seem very routine. Haha, we had a good week though. We were able to see a lot of people and teach a lot of lessons, but were really stuggling to get people to keep commitments. Besides our three or four good investigators right now, not anybody really wants to read the Book of Mormon or come to church. We did find some really promising potential investigators this week though! Hopefully we can keep finding more people to teach. So transfers are again next week. This one went by really fast. I don't think I'm going anywhere, but I might get a new companion. We have 30 new missionaries coming in next week! And I don't think any are leaving either. We are starting to open up a lot of those new areas I was talking about! It's pretty exciting to be a missionary right now! So I feel like there's not a whole lot to talk about right now. It's still getting warmer here. Summer here we come! Oh, and did you guys get my letter with the voice recorder? I sent it a few days ago, so it should get there pretty soon. Thanks for all the pictures though! It's weird to think you guys still have snow up there. Congrats to Nathan on the Math Bowl! Weeeeeeeeelllllll...... I gues that's it for this week. sorry guys, this one is kind of lame. I'll probably have more to say next week though. See Ya! -Elder Hatch

3-4-13 email

Dear Family, It was a better week this week as far as missionary work goes. We were able to see more people, and I definitely felt more productive. We are starting to get some more support from the members too. Gina, as well as another investigator named Thomas, have both committed to baptism, but neither of them were ready to set a date. That's still really good progress for us though! The wind was much better this week, and we've been in the high 70's for a few days, so that's been really nice! On a sadder note, my running shoes finally died. They were pretty ripped up already, and then I tore a huge hole in another one earlier this week. So I had to buy some new ones. Thankfully, we randomly have a super nice outlet mall in our area, so that wasn't too hard. I'm getting pretty used to this area, but I feel like there's not a whole lot to say today. It's kind of weird to hear that there's still snow back home, because it's definitely already spring here. Oh, and speaking of back home, I've been thinking a lot about my future lately, and I decided I just need to start making some decisions. So I thought a lot about it, and I have decided that I want to try to attend winter semester right when I get back. I would also like to live in the dorms, but probably somewhere just off campus. And getting back with catering would be perfect I think, but well see what happens. I really like how flexible they are, and they save me money on food too. Anyways, It's still a long ways off, but I'm going to need your guys' help getting things organized when it comes. Also, when I get back I really want to start focusing on becoming financially independent as soon as I can. I recognize that this hasn't been one of my stronger qualities before, but I feel like I have learned a lot out here, and I have seen a lot of bad example of people who spend their whole lives leaning on others around them for money and support. Anyways, food for thought, but if you have any suggestions on all of that, let me know! I still have no idea what I want to study though... :( So, I don't have a lot of time right now to write, but I think I will try to send the recorder in the next couple days with a couple spiritual experiences that I have had on my mission. Hopefully you weren't planning on having that today... But it sounds like everyone is doing good back home! I can't wait to hear about DC Miranda! BTW I'm going to try to get you something cool for your BDAy, but well see if I get a chance soon.  Well, I think that's about it for this week, but I hope you all are doing great! -ELDER HATCH