Hard Area

I am doing ok.  I am in a really hard area.  The branch in cool and nice, but we have 3 investigators and we are working with like 5 less active families.  The rest of the time we tract.  This transfer I have felt what state side missionaries feel.  The work is really hard but most days we have fun and all of my journal entries start with "It was a good day..."  Life here is good.  I have learned how to make spaghetti. It tastes really good. I cooked Camp Eggs twice, and I eat a lot of fish.  One more thing this week, I became a real Philippines missionary.  You can ask Jed what that means or just wait to till later for me to tell you.

I did not get transferred, so I will be in Bustos for 4 1/2 months hopefully for 6.  My companion is not transferring either, so we will be together for 3 months.  My companion has stretched me. He was E.T. into my area for me to watch him and help him become a better missionary. And it was hard.  We are doing better now, but we still have a way to go.  It will be a good transfer.  

We have this one investigators, Nicole(15) and Karen(13), They are a little young but they read and always remember what they read and they have really good questions.  They are fun to teach because we promised them that if they will read then we will sing a hymn.  They love it and we don't mind singing and we still have like 330 hymns we can sing.

I am having fun and it sounds like you guys are having fun as well.  Don't worry about me.  I  have been out on a mission for 13 months and in the field for 11.  Nothing surprises me anymore and a new transfer is a great time to just start over and have a new attitude. I was a little down this transfer but I am doing good now.  I will try and keep you more informed on what is going on and how I am doing.

Love you lots

Elder Hatch

Very Short Post

Not much happened this week. Transfers are next week, so I will let you know if I transfer or not.  It is not likely.  We have started to do a lot of tracting.  We find the biggest houses and try and talk to the people.  It is really scary, but at the same time it is a lot of fun.  That is really funny that everyone has two rooms.  Oh I got Grandmas package yesterday.  Be sure and tell her thanks it was a great care package.  Also tell her that the dearelders are awesome.

Sorry for writing so little, we just got back from the temple and I am very tired.

Love you all

Elder Hatch

October Conference 2012

Conference was great.  There were a lot of good talks.  I can't wait for the Liahona, it will be a great time to go over the talks again.  One of my favorite talks was the one Elder Jeffery R Holland gave about not going back.  The one by Elder Russel M Nelson was way funny, it also let us know what our expectations are of what we need to know.  We all got a heads up from the members about the change in missionary age.  It was a big shock, but really cool.  The funnest part was when they showed the congregation and all of their faces.  This was a really good conference that was a great spiritual builder.

Not much happen this week; well, a lot happened but not in the work.  Monday was Pday, Tuesday was District Meeting with the whole zone that was really long, Wednesday was Zone Interviews with President Sperry, Thursday was a kind of normal day, Friday was Weekly Planning which takes forever, Saturday and Sunday was Conference.  So really nothing happened this week, we just prepared for conference.

It was really good to hear about your week and how everybody is doing.  It is always fun to read what is going on.  I am sorry that I am not much of a writer, but not a whole lot happens here in Bustos.  Love you all, thank you for sending a package.

Love,

Elder Hatch

I forgot this happened.

Waiting for Confernce

Oh man Conference at the Cabin would have been great.  It is really hard because we have to wait a week for Conference, because we always here things from members or from other missionaries.  We are like, "no don't say anything we just want to watch Conference."  Conference is probably the most looked forward event in the mission.  Everyone all ways talks about how excited they are about Conference which is something I will keep when I go home.   So this weekend is our Conference (13-14), always a week later.  I am glad that every one enjoyed the Cabin and Conference.

For the shoes, if you can't get them replaced for free, then just send the card and I will buy shoes here.  That way I can be sure that they fit and are the style I want.

This week was really kind of crazy. A lot happened.  To start, after I got done emailing you guys, we got a call saying that my companion was getting Emergency Transferred (E.T.).  An E.T. is a switching companions on a day other than Transfer day.  We don't know why it happened.  So I have a new companion, Elder Tropia.  He was my last Zone Leader (ZL), so we are just having a great time.  He is Filipino.  He is just 6 months older than me in the mission, but he has been a ZL for 9 months now.  He is the oldest ZL in the mission.  He is teaching me a lot on how to be a good ZL.  He is from Baguio, which is really close to where the new temple is being built.  We had a few meetings this week and exchanges; we have just been running around crazy.  We hit a dead spot with the work, but in Branch Council, we got some new names to visit.  But this week is not going to be much better, because we have a lot of meetings this week as well.  That has been the week so far.

The next two transfers end on Nov. 1 and Dec. 13.  From then on just add 6 weeks and that is the end of the transfer.

I wrote some letters so I am expecting some mail in the near future, but other than that I just get Grandma's dearelders, which are greatly appreciated, and the dearelders that you send of Derek and Shalya, I like those as well.

Who have you taught this week? 

We started teaching the old Branch President.  He is a really cool guy and still cares about the church, but doesn't come to church.  He is going to be our focus for the next little bit.  Our main goal is help them renew their temple recommends.  Another family we are teaching is the De Vera family.  They are a partially active family.  We are going to work on getting them ready to go to the temple.  We also visited a really active member to ask for referrals, and we found out that he is 97 years old.  He still comes to church every Sunday and acts like he is 65.  He is my favorite member.

Are you working with investigators or with inactives?

Still working with Less-actives, but we are trying to find new people to teach.

When does your companion go home?

My old companion, Elder Wilson, goes home in December.  My companion now, Elder Tropia, goes home in April.

Is it hard when you get a new companion? Is it hard to say "goodbye"?

It all depends on the companion sometimes you happy to get a new companion sometime you sad.  It all depends.

Not much happened this week either, but I did find a really good scripture that has helped me know what I am suppose to do as a ZL, it is D&C 81:5.

Love you all,

Elder Hatch

Mission Shoes

Sounds like you all had a great week.  I had a good week too.  We had a baptism.  That was a good time.  So our baptism was suppose to start at 5; everyone was there, except Joanne's sister, Jasmine.  Joanne was the baptismal candidate.  Jasmine was going to be the only family of Joanne at the baptism.  We had to wait for her, a baptism only happens once.  Jasmine goes to school three hours away and only comes home on the weekends.  Jasmine got stuck in traffic, so the baptism didn't start until 7.  It was really good though.  It gave the speakers time to write their talks.  Joanne's baptism was the first in a year in this area.  The members were really happy.  It is great to see the fruits of our labors.

That is awesome that the ward is doing a Book of Mormon reading challenge.  That is the hardest thing out here is people don't read.  I know that if we read the Book of Mormon, we will gain a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and all problems will disappear.  That is all we are doing now if they didn't read, we read with them.  Reading the Book of Mormon is the only way to become truly converted to the gospel.  It doesn't mean that you need to study the Book of Mormon an hour everyday, but it does mean that you need to read the same amount of time everyday.  Whether it is 5 minutes, 15 minutes, or 30 minutes, it just needs to consistent.  I challenge you to do the reading challenge.  I know it will help you come closer to Christ than any other thing.

About school and coming home, I will just talk to you at Christmas.

About my shoes, I just remember that I think that I have a 2 year warranty on them.  If I do then it would be awesome to get some new ones.  I will send you the pictures and you can see if I can get some new ones.

I found a really great bunch of scriptures about receiving revelation.  It is in Mosiah 26:13-34.  Read over it and tell me what you found out about revelation.

The inside back of my shoes!

The bottom!

"Walk a mile in a man's shoes"