Elder Jacob Hatch: 10/23/2012

Hey Family,

Yay i'm glad mom and dad got my package! Sorry it was late.. but it's the thought that counts. I hope the sweater fits mom, i'm not the best at sizing things.

Yeah, so i thought the date was February 16th, but it's actually the 18th and i'll be getting home on Tuesday, the 19th. A few more days to wait haha. It'll be almost 25 months. And yes, it's because that's the day that transfers happen. my ending date from the Piura mission would have been the 30th of January, but because of the difference in the transfer schedule here in Chiclayo i could choose between the 7th of January and the 18th of February.

Mom asked about if i've been in any little church branches. My actual areas where i've been assigned have all been wards with a lot of members, but in the mission there are tiny little family groups where like ten people attend. I have only been in the sunday meetings of one of those once! In a little place called Pedro Ruiz, like 8 hours from Chiclayo.

This week was transfers! My companion, Elder Chuiz, is in another area and my new companion is Elder Infante, a pretty big boy from the south of Perú. But his family moved to Chiclayo a few months ago! They live like ten minutes from here, it's pretty funny. He's the man, and sometimes i feel like he's a mom. He is always cleaning and he loves to cook (he cooks really well). He'll be a great companion.

After transfers it was supposed to be a normal week without any special meetings or anything for us, but on Wednesday President Risso told us that Elder Torres, of one of the quorums of the 70, had invited him to the stake conference of Cajamarca, one of the far away stakes here in the mission. So, Pres Risso decided to go and invited us to go along, too. It was a win-lose though because we're teaching a few awesome families and we couldn't take them to the stake conference that was happening in our own stake here in chiclayo. We invited them to go alone, but i'm not sure if they went. Today at night we'll see when we go visit them. But Saturday morning we went with pres and sister Risso to Cajamarca. In the afternoon we worked with a companionship of missionaries in the Chontapaccha ward. It is raining every day in Cajamarca lately, and i LOVED being there! I got to use my rain jacket for the second time ever. Sunday morning was the stake conference and i really enjoyed the talk of Elder Torres, the 70 who was there. One thing he said is that in our lives we simply don't have time to sin. We don't have time to waste on needless entertainment either. There is so much good we have to do, and I believe that the people who make it to exaltation will be those who are always anxiously engaged in a good cause. For example, we can use a whole afternoon watching TV, or we can do the Lord's work indexing, or spending time talking to our families and doing good for others. Another thing i understood while he was talking was about condemnation. All condemnation is is a limitation of opportunities. When we choose to sin we are in a way condemned because we don't have all the opportunities we would have otherwise, and it would be so sad to have our opportunities limited forever! That's why we have to repent now and live exactly how God demands so that we can have unlimited opportunities for eternity. That afternoon we went to a little town a few miles away from Cajamarca called Jesus. Not a bad name for a town. We were thinking of putting a companionship of missionaries there, but there aren't any members there so it would be really hard to start from zero. We finished off the day with the Sunday night reports which was a struggle, because the cell phone reception in Cajamarca isn't very good. Monday morning we went to a cool really old farm slash tourist attraction with Pres and Sister Risso called La Colpa. For lunch i ate Chinese food at a food court in a mall there in Cajamarca, and we made the journey back to Chiclayo. I slept for like the first four hours, and when i woke up my stomach was going crazy. I started feeling all gross, so i had to stop off to go to a bathroom in a pharmacy in a little town and i bought some peptoish stuff then i started getting worse and sweating, and i thought i was going to barf but through some serious prayer i made it to the house. Pres and sister Risso dropped us off and i literally ran up the stairs, tossed my bags on the table and barely made it to the bathroom to throw up. The second week in a row?! I'm sick of food poisoning. Today i'm fine though. And Elder Infante took good care of me last night. He even wrapped my feet up in an extra blanket because my feet were really cold and i was shivering and he made me some herbal tea.

Right now i'm just excited to get out and work like normal in my area! There are so many good people waiting to be found and taught the gospel. It's amazing how God is preparing people daily all throughout the world to be able to accept the gospel. He knows us so well and His plan for us is perfect. The coolest part of being assistant is being able to work with and get to know so many missionaries. I'm so grateful for all the awesome missionaries who give their best every day trying to help others have joy through the Atonement of Christ. This is His work and His Church. I know that true happiness comes through the choices we make to draw nearer to God.

I love you!

Elder Hatch

My Peruvian girlfriend Smile