Taglish It!

Alright, so this week I am finally getting settled in to my apartment, but things are still out of place.  It will probably take to the end of the transfer for me to get all set up.  The ward is great. A lot of them speak English. My bishop and his wife (who is from Hawaii), our ward mission leader, and half the ward speaks Taglish.  Back in Caloocan, we always used to joke that you weren't a real missionary until you didn't have a follow-up trainer, but now I think that you don't know what it is like to be a missionary until you have to open an area.  My companion speaks English, Tagalog, and Vesia (What they speak in the southern Philippines).  We Taglish it at the house and Tagalog outside.  This week we planned for splits because there is so much work here.  My goal is to have so much work that the AP's have to split the area.  It has rained every day.  Washing my clothes by hand is really hard and it takes a long time.  I am just thankful that I only have to wash my garments.  My companion cooks so later today we are going to buy some food and we will start cooking at home. We eat at the bishop's house once a week and members feed us through out the week.  The coolest thing that happened this week was Elder Russel M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve came to our mission and spoke to us.  I was able to shake his hand and look into his eyes.  It was really cool.  I learned a lot from him.  He taught us in this little chapel so we were really close to him. 

Thats about it that happened over here in the Philippines. A lot of the same old same old.  Training is hard but fun.  I love you guys.  Hope you had fun at the cabin.

Love Elder Hatch

First Transfer

Alright I got transferred. I am in an area that the last two elders were pulled out, and I have a brand new missionary.  His name is Elder Bahian.  He is Filipino, but from the southern part of the Philippines, the part were no foreigner are allowed.  It has been a learning experience these past few days.  I have no idea where anything is or who anybody is or where the live.  However the ward is really good. There are a lot of ward missionaries that are willing to work and know where the members and less actives live.  That has been a huge blessing.  I had a baptism the first Saturday we were here.  That was a good way to start the area.  I am in the province, which means farms and open areas and clean air and green.  This is what I thought the Philippines would look like.  I will definitely take pictures of this area. It is beautiful.  I have a new apartment. It is a little bit smaller, but I have a real shower.  The water is still cold but I don't use the ladle for my shower.  The down side to this area is the sister that washes my clothes is not endowed, so I have to hand wash my garments.  That is a new experience.  I will never complain about having to do Laundry again where all you have to do is put it in the washing machine and fold it.  Life is a little rough right now just because I don't know where anything is outside of my apartment or inside.  After a few weeks it will all be good.  The most stressful part is not knowing where things are.

That is way cool that MC took state, of course it is the year after we all left.

Thanks for all the support I love you guys.  Keep going to church and reading the scriptures.

Love

Elder Hatch

Trainer

Ok so sorry about the email something happened and I think it was sent late.  But the plans for Mother's Day are I will call right around 8 am Monday here and 6 pm Sunday there.  Have Skype open by 6.  Can't wait to talk to you guys.   Had a fun week.  I don't know what you got in my last email so I will just recap.  Last Saturday (May 5) I had a baptism. It was a really big responsibility.  7 kids were baptized.  I have the pictures and I am taking pictures.  It was way confusing who was baptizing who and a lot of them were Child of Record.  There was a lot of running around making sure people were where they were supposed to be.  It was a great baptism.  The ward is doing great. The work is picking up again, a lot of investigators, trying to get them to church.  I like that my area doesn't flood.  Our zone is the only place in the mission that floods, but my area doesn't too bad.  Oh and guess what? I am Training.  I don't really know what to think about it.  I am exicted and nervous at the same time.   Its good to hear about home, and about Joel and those guys.  Sorry about writing late. We had temple pday so it was moved to Wednesday.  I will talk to you on Sunday.   Love Elder Hatch