8/27/2012

Family!

I don't say nearly enough how grateful i am for you. I love so much the emails i get every week from mom and dad, and from the sisters too. It makes me so happy to hear from you and know that everything is going well at home, and to know that so many prayers offered for me. I can honestly feel them. This week i had some cool experiences with that. And all i can say is thank you, and keep praying for me- i need it! 

The package was awesome and yes, there was enough to share! The debit card is still mysteriously absent.. I really hope it comes soon! We've been getting a TON of mail lately because the strike ended, but no debit card.. 

This week we did the two multizone conferences and an exchange with a missionary who's in his training, and his companion. Teaching 80 missionaries for two and a half hours is crazy! I'm learning lots about teaching and being in front of large groups of people. We did practices and some cool examples so they wouldn't get bored. One thing we talked about was how to study more effectively. As part of that i asked for a volunteer. An elder came up and i told him to do a handstand. He was caught off guard and said he couldn't do it, so i told him to sit down. Then (we had this planned) i asked Elder Karl, a gymnast, to come up. I told him to do a handstand and he did one for like 30 seconds, spun around, it was awesome. I asked him why he could do it and the other elder no, he said because he had practiced for 10 years. We talked about how we need to practice teaching in our companionship study. All the missionaries know they should do it, but a lot of them don't. The meetings went well, we ate pizza hut after and everyone likes that :) But no mom, i didn't sing or play the piano, some other missionaries did for special numbers though that were amazing. 

Here's the high point of the week: Our investigator, Anthony, accepted a baptismal date!! He's already gone to church four times, goes to all the young single adult activities, etc. His baptismal date is this Saturday, September 1st.  A few days later we taught him the law of chastity in a members' house, that member is the pensionista (lady who cooks for the missioaries) of the sister missionaries in our ward, and just in that moment the sister missionaries got to the house to eat- in the same room where we were teaching. It was kind of awkward to have them there listening, but that part of the lesson went perfectly. After he accepted to live the law of chastity we asked him how he felt about his baptism for this Saturday. He said, "I've been wanting to talk to you guys about that. i'm not going to get baptized anymore." i was thinking NOOOOOO! He explained that his family and friends (bad friends that invite him to go drinking all the time) had told him that he needs to think about his decision more and should wait a while. When he said that i just prayed in my heart to be able to help him change his mind. In the next five minutes we saw a miracle! Ideas and what he needed to hear came to both of us, and when we had talked a little while everything went silent. In that moment a kind of weird, but inspired question came to my mind. I said, "So Anthony, what do you need to do to progress?" He said, "I need to be baptized" He said he wants to do it this Saturday like we had planned and now he's more sure than before. It was so scary and so cool. Those are the coolest moments as a missionary. I love it! The promise in d & c 84:85 is true! When we do our part to be prepared, the spirit tells us in the exact moment what each person needs!  So hopefully everything goes well and we'll have a baptism this week! The assistants haven't baptized since March, so it's time! 

Low moment of the week: While President Risso was talking in a multizone conference i fell asleep (Elder Chuiz and I are exhausted lately), and just in that moment he asks me to talk about Thomas Edison (long story) in front of everyone. I kind of pulled it off, and i don't know if he realized i had been asleep, but some other missionaries did.. that was funny. 

There is so much to do in these next few weeks. It's going to be nuts. Here's a rough outline. 

Wednesday we are doing a training for the missionaries that are in their first 12 weeks in the field and their companions.

Saturday Elder Hooker (an area 70) is going to visit the mission.

We're opening three new areas next week (we have to visit the areas to search for members, house, pension, etc.)

This week we have to plan everything for TRANSFERS! (transfers are next tuesday, i can't believe i've been in the office a whole transfer!) 

Tuesday are transfers and a training for the brand new missionaries and their companions

Thursday is Zone Leaders Council. 

Two weeks later Elder Pino of the 70 is coming to tour the mission! I'm going to be with a member of the 70 for like a week! And i have to train missionaries with him there!??! I'm nervous but it'll be cool. 

That's all i can think of now. But all that plus exchanges with other missionaries as always, reports, visiting district and zone meetings, and working in our own proselyting area and Anthony's baptism.. There's a lot to do. I'm not bored. :) 

I love you! Have an awesome week!

Elder Hatch

Here are the elders that are in the office. Left to Right: Elder Samamé from Panama, Elder Chero from Peru, Elder Chuiz from Peru, me, President and sister Risso, Elder Hemsley (yes i've come across him, i've lived with him for a month and a half!) and Elder Navas from Costa Rica.

Oreos and Pepsi in president Risso's car. We ate tuna sandwiches and it reminded me so much of our family car trips!

Elder Cuba is who you can see in the picture. This is in Cajamarca from a few weeks ago, their proselyting area is pure hills!

8/20/12

Hi Family :) 

First off, yes i got the package from mom! Thank you :) The cookies are so good, and i had completely forgotten that taffy exists, and how much i love it! You're the best! I still haven't gotten the debit card. I hope it comes soon! 

This week we went on our second trip to do the zone conference. To answer mom's question of if we talk in the conference, yes! We have a two hour part for what we teach. This conference President Risso asked us to give the missionaries some ideas of new things to do in their areas, and as a second point, how to study better. We teach for a little while, do practices, put the missionaries in groups to read certain parts of scriptures, etc. This week in Jaen it went a lot better than in Cajamarca. So the first day was the conference, and in the afternoon we revised the area books of each companionship. that gets old really fast. But we have to do it every few months to motivate the missionaries to update their area books! Jaen is a pretty big city on the edge of the jungle- it's super hot there and it was rough to sleep! Worse because Elder Chuiz and i had to sleep in the same bed!  Saturday we went into the wilderness/mountains/jungle to Chachapoyas! Aka my new favorite place in the world. the road on the way there is so picturesque! We drove along and between HUGE super green junglish mountains three hours into nowhere to get there. I don't know if i just haven't seen Utah mountains in a long time, but these mountains seemed way bigger. Chachapoyas is awesome. All the houses there are built in colonial style, the roads are really narrow, there are hills (there are none here in Chiclayo), and it rained like crazy when we were there! 

Wherever we go we usually do a conference or something, then work with a companionship in the afternoon. I went out with Elder Carranza, from Argentina. He felt like we should go visit the lady who used to cook for them, because she hadn't been going to church lately. We got there and they told us she was in her bed and needed a blessing! We went up to the second floor and her foot was totally purple and yellow and swollen. The fair was in town and she was playing on a slide and fell and messed up her foot and ankle pretty badly. She said she had been hoping we would come but was to embarrassed to call the missionaries. We gave her a blessing and it was a really special experience of being able to be where the Lord needed us. We went to a baptism they had in chachapoyas too. It was in a river nearby. Sunday we went to church there in Chachapoyas, because it's a branch and belongs to the mission. They had their branch conference and president and sister Risso spoke in sacrament meeting. I feel so blessed to get to work with President Risso all the time, and to get to do exchanges and learn from so many different missionaries. I feel like as assistant i'm learning more than i'm teaching. It's a blessing and a big challenge. 

This week we have two more multizone conferences in Chiclayo on Tuesday and Thursday. each one will be with about 70 missionaries from here in the Chiclayo area. It'll be the same conference we've done in Cajamarca and Jaen with a few changes and improvements Elder Chuiz and i will plan tonight. 

It's awesome to hear that Cameron is back and how awesome his mission was. i can't wait to be able to talk about the mission with all my friends when we're all back. 

I'm learning a lot through experience about how trials make us grow. It's sad that sometimes we need trials to help us draw nearer to God, but i think that's a big part of why missionaries grow so much during the mission. Just when you get comfortable or feel confident, something changes- either your companion, your assignment, area, or some other type of challenge comes your way and you learn so much through it all. I just hope i can meet the challenges well and become who i need to be. I love this work, and I have felt through the Spirit so many times that it is true. I know that the Savior loves all of His children, and that love is what motivates me every day. 

I love you and hope you all have a great week! 

Elder Hatch 

Photos: Mom asked about the flag we're holding in the picture from last week, it's the flag of Uruguay

sorry most of the pictures are from the car window, but this is how the people dress in Cajamarca!

The sweet catholic cathedral in cajamarca. Each of the bricks is carved with designs!

This is Elder Huntsman baptizing in Chachapoyas in a river! It was awesome.

We stopped the car by the side of the road to take pictures by this sweet waterfall coming back from Chachapoyas

8/13/2012

This week was awesome! We went to Cajamarca with President and Sister Risso from Wednesday to Friday night, and had a great time.Wednesday afternoon we worked with the zone leaders, and Thursday morning we did a training for the district and zone leaders there in Cajamarca. It was cool for me because Elder Hurst was there, the Elder that i trained! He's district leader now and i always hear great things about him. Friday we had the special zone conference where we gave them some ideas of new things to do in their work areas and trained on how to study more effectively. We get to do the same meeting three more times in the next two weeks. That afternoon we went out to work with a companionship in Cajamarca and it was so amazingly beautiful there! I don't have my camera right here to put the pictures of the Cajamarca trip on, but next week i'll send some. There the ladies wear traditional clothes, cool sombrero type hats, and have their babies in fabric backpack things hanging on their back! It's what i imagined peru would be like. We trekked up hills and i felt weak and short of breath because it's up in the mountains! it was really cold too, and i had to sleep with three blankets and the beanie with a built in beard that Lindsey and Casey gave me! We also revised the area books of all the elders in the zone to make sure they're filling out all the teaching records right, etc. And after we finished everything we packed up everything in the car and went back to Chiclayo. The car trips were some of the most memorable parts though! President Risso used to be a drummer in a band, and really likes music. he always sings along to music, he gave us all the updates on the Olympics, told us all about when he was called as a mission president, his interviews over video conference with Elder Holland and Elder Uchtdorf etc. It was awesome!

This week we are going to the other far away zone, Jaen, which is borderline jungle region. We'll be there for a day, then we're going to an area that's three hours away from there in the middle of nowhere, Chachapoyas. Everyone wants to go there, and i finally get to see it!! I'm excited. It'll be a lot like the trip to Cajamarca, we're doing the same conference and we'll do exchanges with other missionaries, etc. Oh, and i heard from Austin Saguibo this week! He's assistant in the Paris France mission! haha i was excited when i heard that. 

Saturday night President and Sister Risso invited all six office elders over to their house to eat food from Uruguay. We ate sandwiches that are like hamburgers but have a steak instead of ground beef! It was really good, and we had a good time there in the mission house. i'm sending a picture of that too. 

In our ward we're really only working with a few people, one is an inactive lady named Diana. She's 24 and finishing up her education to be a nurse. She asks us ALL the difficult questions. Why couldn't the blacks have the priesthood? Why does the church discriminate against homosexuals? etc. It's really fun to teach her, because we never know what she's going to ask us! We've had some good lessons with her, but the best part was that she went to church this week! 

yes, there are tons of food stands in the streets! And shaved ice too, but you never know if the water is sanitary... I've had it a few times. they give it to you in a plastic bag instead of a cup. 

I'm out of time, it's late and we need to get to work in our area! I love you and i love this work! I'm working hard to contact all the taxi drivers we meet every day. That's about the only chance we get to teach some days, so i'm improving on that. 

Elder Hatch 

The first picture is of our apartment! It's awesome with three rooms, a kitchen and a big bathroom with heated water!! And the second picture is of my desk, my animal crackers spilled!

More pictures: I cut a ton of onions in a members' house and i was crying!

The other picture is one Elder Chuiz took of me from behind while we were walking in our area..

8/6/2012

Family!

I don´t have too much time today, we´re doing some last minute preparations for the meeting we have tomorrow with all the zone leaders in the mission. today we played a bunch of games outside with a zone of missionaries and ate mcdonalds after! Just a month ago the first mcdonalds came here to Chiclayo. 

As for the letters and packages, i haven´t gotten anything. The mail system workers are still on strike.. Everyone is going crazy here with no mail! And i have good/bad news!!! haha today i was looking for something in one of my suitcases and there in the open was MY DEBIT CARD!!!!!!! Oh my goodness, i had honestly searched through my bags four times each, took everything out and put it back in twice, i looked EVERYWHERE. And today when i saw it sitting there i just started laughing. So this is the second time i´ve told you my card is gone then found it while the new card is en route to Peru. i´m sorry, but i seriously couldn´t find it before. 

The Rissos don´t have any children living here, they´re all older and married with kids. the family just came here to visit last week. 

President Risso came back from lima, now he´s using a back brace, and they told him that his spine is basically shot. the area doctor of the church said that if President Risso were a horse he´s shoot him! So he´s a little bummed that he just has to live with it and take pain pills, but he´s excited to be back here working like normal again. 

All week we couldn´t find anthony. He´s looking for a job and studying now, so it´s going to be almost impossible to teach him. The nice part about being assistant is that we have basically unlimited minutes to call people on our cell phone, so we can keep in touch even if we can´t visit people, and anthony went to church. In our area we´re mostly working with members trying to get referrals, because knocking doors and getting in is almost impossible in our area, and not very effective for the little time we have there. 

Wednesday elder Chuiz and I pack up and load into Pres Risso´s car with him and his wife, and we´re going to Cajamarca, a zone that´s six hours away from here, to train district leaders, have a special zone conference, and work with the missionaries. We´ll be there three or four days. Everyone says Cajamarca is so beautiful, it´s in the mountains! you should google it! 

As for my coming home... I´m leaning toward coming home january 8th. Here are my thoughts on the living situation: if i live by campus i wouldn´t necessarily need a car, but if i live at home i think i would. So either way i´ll have to spend money that i don´t have! haha 

Everything´s great with me! Thanks so much for all the prayers and love. I´ve been super healthy my whole mission, and the only reason i can think of is all the family that must be praying for me to be healthy! So keep it up because i don´t want to get sick :) 

The gospel is true and makes me so happy! I´m reading John in the new testament, and had a fun time comparing scriptures to prove that Jesus is Jehova and that the Godhead are 3 different beings. Before the mission i would have never done that much less enjoyed it! I think it´s like the 10th time i´ve studied the same thing, but i have to polish up my skills just in case. 

I love you! 

Elder Hatch