Transferring Somewhere

This week is Transfer Week and I am TRANSFERRING!!!!!!!!!!!  I get to go to another area.  I am going to miss my companion though.  We have had a great time and it doesn't even feel like we have been together for a whole transfer; it only feels like we have been extended Exchange.  I have no idea where I am going or who my companion is going to  be I won't find out until tomorrow (Thursday 24).  Ok, this is how we find out who is transferring and how transfers work.  The Saturday before transfers, the APs call the zone leaders (Me) and tell me who in the zone are training.  I then call those who are training so that they can go to the Trainers Training.  The Tuesday before transfer day, the APs call me and tell me all that are transferring out of the zone.  I call the district leaders and tell them who is transferring out and they then call the missionary who is transferring.  Our Pday is on Wednesday, the day before transfers, so we can pack without it cutting into the work.  Thursday is Transfer day.  Every missionary who is transferring and zone leaders have to meet at the mission office before 10:30 am.  We then have a Transfer Meeting, this is where we find out where we are going and who our companion is.  We then get mail and go to our new areas and start working as soon as you get home.  The ride for us to the mission office is about two hours, and we are the farthest from the mission office.  Most of the time Elders can tell if they are going to transfer or not.  It is kind of the game we play, guess who is leaving and who is staying.  About the temple, we don't go to the temple of transfer day, our temple day is some other Wednesday in the transfer depending on your zone.  The ceremony is in English, but they have the translating headsets that they use in conference and the MTC.

We have had a good week.  We received a referral from Elder Anderson about the middle of last week, so we decided to try and go and contact it.  It was a little hard because there was no address, but there was a phone number.  We texted him to try and find out where he lived.  He did not give us very good instructions on how to find his house.  We were just about to give up when we stopped to talk to some people and place a Book of Mormon.  The lady we gave to Book of Mormon to, told us that the person we were looking for should come to where we were at then take us to his house.   So we asked him to meet us at the house we were at.  He showed up a minute later and we started teaching him.  He his a golden contact.  He was taught by sisters missionaries back in Bicol and had a baptismal date that he missed because he moved here to Bustos.  We gave him a baptismal date for February 23. Of course I am now leaving ha ha.

The only thoughts I have for "Stand in Holy Places", kind of go along with what was said in the last few conferences about how it use to be enough to just go to church, but now we have to be active and alert in church.  With "Stand in Holy Places" it use to be enough to stand for truth, but now we must stand in the best spots, in the best activities, all the time.

That is all for now I will let you know how my new area is next week.

Could you ask Larry if he is still thinking of me running the farm when I get home or not.

Love you,

Elder Hatch