12/17/2012

Family!

I'm donezo here in the office! It's my last day here, and a ton of missionaries are here because it's transfer day and they always flood the office to say goodbye to everyone who's going home. Everyone is trying to get me to tell them where i'm going, but I've kept the secret :) I'm only going to tell you guys. Tomorrow i'm going to Cajamarca!! My ward is called Atahualpa, and my companion is Elder Giraldo, from Colombia. He has been in the mission for like 6 months i think. I'm not going to be district leader or any sort of leader, just senior companion. What a relief. I've been some sort of leader for like a year and a half of my mission. I'm super ready to just hit the streets and focus 100% on my investigators for the last 2 fantastic months of my mission. I hope the office-to-world change isn't too hard on me. My time here in the office has been great, I've learned SO many things, and will always be grateful for the opportunity and life lessons I've learned here. Oh, and guess who the new assistant to the president is going to be?! Elder Insaurralde!!! My companion from the start of my mission when we were both super new and had no idea what we were doing. We've come a long way. When i think about the lessons we taught i almost cringe because of how bad we were! But i'm proud of him, he's a great missionary and will be an excellent assistant. 

As for Christmas  i'm 99% sure i'll be able to use Skype  I'll be in the fanciest part of Cajamarca, so i'm sure some member will let us use their computer. i'll call you a few days before Christmas and set up the time.

Mom and dad- have you figured out if we're going to puno or the jungle?? i want to know! And i can't believe dad won the grand prize at work! You guys are so lucky! Mom with her flights to Hawaii, and now dad to anywhere in the US. Not bad. At least they weren't for anywhere in south america too, after you had already bought the tickets to perú. That would stink! haha. 

Elder Infante... He's doing great. He's so funny- classic super stubborn peruvian from the mountains. There's a stereotype of the people from the mountains here and he fits it perfectly. He has been scratching himself constantly for 2 months, and didn't want to go to the doctor.. finally i made him go and the doctor gave him some creams and pills to take every day. now a week has gone by and he's only taken the pills once and put the cream on once, but doesn't like it because it makes him feel sweaty. And he is still itchy all the time! When he complains i tell him to take his medicine, but he won't. But he has a lot of faith in natural medicine, like the water from boiled potatoes supposedly cures your kidneys, etc.... haha i have more faith in modern medicine.

This week we did an exchange with the zone leaders from La Victoria zone. Elder Hurst and his companion, Elder Fandiño. I worked there in their area with Elder Fandiño. They have awesome investigators, and we had a few lessons that were so spiritual! One was with an entire family they're teaching. They had assigned Mormon 7 for them to read, but they didn't read, so when we got there we read it with them and taught as we went along. That chapter is prefect for teaching so many things, but anyway, the spirit was so strong and when we got to the part about being baptized by water and by fire, one of the girls asked "by fire?" and i don't even know what i said but it turned out perfect and they all accepted to be baptized :) Ah, i LOVE teaching people the truth by the Spirit! That same day we taught a lady with a million questions about the book of mormon, prophets, and everything else. She knew a lot about the bible, which is super rare, ah i was so excited while we were teaching her. 

We visited a lot of other companionships and basically weren't even in our area this week. Typical. But I'm content with the work we were able to do in San Felipe. 

In President Monson's Christmas message he said that we should think about what gifts we can give to others and to the Savior. I feel like right now i am in the perfect situation to give everything i can- all of my heart, might, mind, and strength in the Lord's work. I hope I can live up to what He expects and needs me to be. I love our Savior, and am trying to be like Him. It's hard, but i really think i'm changing and becoming better.. putting off the natural man little by little. :) 

I love you!

Elder Hatch

12/10/2012

Hi family, 

Yes, i got the smaller package (i'm going to open it on Christmas, as instructed) And i got the little paper saying the other package is in customs here in chiclayo so i have to go pick it up, but yes, they're both here! A lot easier than last year! But i loved the tension of waiting. :) 

The good news keeps coming lately. I get to talk to all the zone leaders every week (i'm kind of burnt out on reporting now, i've been receiving reports for almost a year and a half now), and basically all the missionaries every few weeks, so i get updates on how my old investigators are doing all the time. This week the zone leaders from Pomalca told me that Jorge Medina, a 16 year old champ, went to the temple last weekend and did baptisms for his dad and grandpa! It's the best feeling ever to know that a person i have been able to help be baptized has gone to the temple. The Floreano family is still planning on going to be sealed in January, too! 

Here's the story of the multizone conferences with Elder Camargo this week. 

Monday night we got to cajamarca and ate some killer KFC with president and sister Risso- we ate a bucket of chicken and a super good christmas cake thing. I have been really spoiled with all the fast food. But luckily i haven't gotten chubby, people actually keep telling me i look skinnier...? no exercise and lots more food, and i get skinnier. I don't get it. But i love it. Anyway, tuesday morning Elder Camargo was supposedly going to fly from lima to cajamarca and get there just in time for the zone conference. We were all waiting there while pres and sister Risso went to pick him up... time goes by... they call us, and guess what? The plane got there, but no Elder Camargo. Like 100 calls and an hour later, we figure out that he missed his plane from Colombia.... So we just did the conference with pres and sister Risso and us for four hours. it went great! Then we drove back here to chiclayo. Wednesday morning and afternoon we had 2 more conferences, and by then Elder Camargo had gotten here to chiclayo. When there's an authority there you can feel the tension in the air. The only bad part was that he took our time away! He said i'm going to ask you (the assistants) to give me your time... Seriously??!?!?! We spent like a week planning everything and he told us we had an hour, then he changed his mind! haha so he and his wife took 2 hours. Of course, it was way cooler than what we were going to talk about, and i wasn't really mad, just kind of bummed. I got to talk a lot with him. After the first conference wednesday mornign he asked me what he should talk about in the second meeting, so i gave him a few ideas. And in the afternoon he put me on the spot a few times, for example, he was walking along talking and said in doctrine and covenants 4 it says we have to serve God with what, elder Hatch? I knew that one. All of our heart, might, mind and strength. But later on he also quoted part of 3 nephi 28:29 and asked me where it was, but i didn't know.  I don't think anyone else did either, though. I went 50%, not bad. In another part of the conference he pulled me up in front of everyone as a volunteer. He was talking about how when we go on a mission we are literally set apart from the world, from sin, etc. He grabbed me by the shoulders and moved me a few feet away from him and said, "You have to separate yourselves from sin!" and he looked at everyone- in that second i shuffled a little bit farther away from him, and he looked back at me and everyone started laughing. I don't know why i did it, i wasn't trying to be a clown, but it just happened. Luckily he laughed too, and said "well done". It was a moment i'll never forget. 

After the conferences he talked a few minutes with Elder Infante and i, and invited us to a meeting with him, president Risso, and all the stake presidents from Chiclayo. I was so pumped! He talked about how missionary work needs to function in the wards. Then we all went in president Risso's car to an appointment with a tough investigator of a companionship of some sister missionaries. The investigator didn't show up... It would have been an awesome lesson. 

So, since we weren't even going to participate, we didn't go to the conference in Jaen. It was fine though, because we had a few days to work in our area, which are scarce lately. 

Saturday we went to work with some zone leaders in the Chiclayo Central zone, and we moved from our old apartment where we lived with the other four office elders to our own area in our own apartment. I didn't want to move, but elder infante is always super angry at the other missionaries because they never clean up after themselves, so he finally exploded and said we're moving tomorrow, and we did. It has its pros and cons, but oh well, i'll only be here another week. 

Tomorrow is zone leaders council. It's my 10th, and last time, in attendance. It's tradition that the elders who are leaving bear their testimonies, so i'll probably do that tomorrow, and we're going to talk about what we were going to talk about in the multizone conferences there. 

I can't believe Christmas is in 2 weeks! I haven't really had time to think about it. But i love this time of year. 

Thanks for all the prayers and love, i am so grateful for my amazing family, and the support you are constantly giving. 

Elder Hatch

12/3/2012

hey family!

Sorry this week is going to be really really short because i have a lot to do this morning before we head off to cajamarca after lunch! This week we were in the office a ton, planning stuff for the multizone conference. I´m attaching a picture of a little card we're making for the missionaries to put in their agendas to give them more ideas of topics when they´re knocking doors. This weekend our ward did a caravan to the temple in lima, and Anthony went! He did baptisms! And on sunday both him and leila, the other lady we baptized a few weeks ago, bore their testimonies! I was so happy i had to fight back the urge to fist pump a few times. It's been a good week. I love you and hope you have an amazing week!