Family,
I think i'm going to get fat here in the office. Our pensionista cooks really well (not as well as mom, of course) and whenever we go to our area to work, the members give us a ton of food! That plus sitting down most of the day could be a bad combination... But i'm starting to exercise again.
We were going to have zone conferences and all that fun stuff this week, but last Tuesday when we were in the transfer meeting with all the missionaries, President Risso sat down badly and hurt his back. He's had problems in the bast, but this time was the worst yet. He was in his house all week, had several shots for the pain, and today he finally got permission from Elder Uceda to go to Lima for some better medical attention. So, this week he'll be in Lima and everything we were planning gets postponed at least a week. Elder Chuiz and I got to go to his house one afternoon to talk to him about plans. It was so different seeing him relaxed in his house, in slippers, etc. And Sister Risso made us fresh strawberry juice!! (We aren't allowed to eat strawberries in the mission, but if the mission president's wife invites you to... :) And she made us chocolate chip cookies too! Then President Risso showed me all his church books in English, their pictures around the house, etc. It was a fun afternoon.
In our area we have one real investigator. His name is Anthony, he's 20, and we met him last week at a ward sports activity. His girlfriend is listening to the sister missionaries who are serving in the same ward as us. He went to church this Sunday and had a good experience. Tonight we're going to teach him the restoration and hopefully invite him to be baptized! Our area is pretty rich and knocking doors doesn't really work, so we are trying hard to get the members to give us referrals. We're also doing lots of ward activities, which i'm generally against because planning takes a long time and the results aren't generally too great, but in San Felipe the members actually take their nonmember friends to the activities! And it's a great chance for us to contact them and set up an appointment.
Yes mom, i'm writing in my journal. Up until the year mark i wrote every day, then up until two weeks ago i wrote about every other day, and now i write once or twice a week. I want to write every day, but sometimes it just doesn't happen. but in these last few days I've been better and i'm writing every day.
Here in Peru, the mail system workers have been on strike for about two weeks, and we heard that they set a big post office in Lima on fire so if anyone has sent me anything... I hope it didn't get burnt! I hope they go off strike soon too, because i like getting letters :)
Today for P-Day we went with a zone of missionaries to a town called Monsefú, and i bought some little souvenirs finally! One is a cool painting of Christ on a piece of wood, and the lady who sold it to me told me she could put my name on it for free, so i said ok, thinking it would be cool... Then she pulls out a sharpie and i got scared but thought, maybe she can do cool calligraphy or something.. Nope. She just wrote Elder Hatch right in the middle of it in normal handwriting! Haha, but now it has a story with it so it's cooler :) And it's hot here today, i got sunburned!
This week should be pretty normal, we're going to do a few exchanges with missionaries who are having problems, and finish up planning the multi zone conferences, and zone council meeting.
I feel like i don't have very many cool experiences to write about anymore! Most of my days are kind of boring, i don't get to teach too much, but the thing i really enjoy is getting to be around President Risso a lot. He has so many great ideas, and i feel humbled when he asks my opinion about something important in the mission. We were talking about some problems with disobedience, and president said something i really liked, he said, "We can't follow Satan's plan. We can't force missionaries to obey, we just have to teach them correct principles, and teach them to love the Lord."
It's great to hear about all the fun vacation in California. Sorry i was a bum and didn't want to go to with you guys a few summers ago. Sometimes i can't believe myself! I just hope that when i get back i can be a better son, like you deserve.
I love you and hope it's a great week!
Elder Hatch
This picture is the view from the office! We're right down town, a block away from the central plaza.
The second picture is from Laquipampa, that little village in the mountains. I don't think i've sent this already.. But there they speak spanish and Quechua! I'm glad that here in chiclayo they only speak spanish..
I hope you can see in this picture, some of the birds have blue feet! this is at the beach in Puerto Eten.
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