3/26/2012

Family!! 

First off, i really liked that analogy about the atonement and a marble egg mom told me, it reminded me about another analogy that people always use here- they say that when we sin it´s like hammering a nail into a piece of wood.When we repent we can take the nail out but there´s still a hole for us to remember it. But to God we´re made clean and he doesn´t remember it, so i don´t like the analogy that much. But the marble egg one is good, because it shows how our experiences make us who we are, and even though we´ve made mistakes, we can learn from them and they make us beautiful. I´ve learned so much about the atonement here in my mission. Before i knew what it was, but now i´ve experienced what it is, and really come to love Christ as He´s worked in my life and i´ve seen him work in others´ lives. It´s like what christ says. A debtor will love his master if he forgets a small debt, but a person with a great debt who is forgiven truly loves his master even more. It´s sad that we all make mistakes, but it´s because of those mistakes that we come to love Christ for saving us from them! 

In our new house the water continues the same... it´s okay though, we´ve learned to live with it. we only really need water to bathe and we have that in the morning, so we´re happy. 

With transfers i think we got 7 new missionaries in the zone. I´ll try to get a picture of the new zone tomorrow in our zone meeting. Being a zone leader is fun, but stressful sometimes! I´ve learned to adapt my schedule and be ready for anything. Yesterday was the craziest: we went at like 3:00 to fill up the baptismal font for a baptism from the missionaries in Tuman (they baptize in our chapel because they don´t have a baptismal font there) and the font was still full from last week and it had cockroaches in it and was all murky and smelled like a fish tank, so we started emptying it and then the pipe was clogged so it started flooding into the street, but we just let that go because the streets are mud anyway, then we cleaned the font, but no water was flowing, so the bishop had to come open the utility shed and we hooked up a hose and filled it up that way. It was crazy! Then at the last minute we had to go running for baptismal clothes too! ahh but it all worked out in the end. 

Yes, Elder Cox and i are SO excited for general conference. It´s like the super bowl for missionaies. I think i´m going to be shaking when elder Holland talks. He´s my hero- if i had one wish it would be to have him as my companion for a day to see him knocking doors and teaching. sometimes i day dream about him and Paul from Christ´s time being companions together and baptizing all of pomalca in a day. :) 

But we´ll watch it here in the stake center and hopefully get a lot of investigators to come! This week finally 6 came! The whole Frias family except Marjori who had a baptismal date, and the Tellos, too, who are progressing. 

Love you! 

Elder Hatch 

Elder Thompson, Elder Hill, me, and Elder Hurst in transfer meeting. Elder Thompson is a trainer now, elder Hill is in Chachapoyas (the coolest area of the mission) with my old companion, elder Insaurralde, and elder Hurst is in Cajamarca (the second coolest part of the mission) All my old buddies :)

Looking fierce on my mototaxi

This is in front of our bishop´s house. This fruit is called a guanabana- inside it´s white.. It´s as big as my head!.

3/19/2012

Family, 

Another week that went by way too fast. I feel like i say that every week, but that´s really how i feel! Elder Cox and I are kind of discouraged because again, none of our investigators came to church on sunday. It´s impossible for them to progress if they don´t come to church! Everyone tells us they´ll go, we even send members to pick them up, but things always come up and they don´t show on Sunday. When it comes down to it, it´s their choice and we can´t force them, but we´re going to give a last effort this week and if they still don´t show up we´ll have to drop a few investigators. But we have one investigator, Marjori, an 18 year old nursing student, who´s awesome. She couldn´t go to church this last week because her uncle died and she had to go to his funeral, but she accepted a baptismal date and we´re excited to work with her. 

Yes, elder Cox is from Utah state.. It´s a shame. But he´s going there for engineering on a scholarship- a really smart guy. He says he´s thinking about changing his major to something with computers and then he would transfer to BYU. I´m encouraging him to make the right choice :) And it´s really funny that we look so much alike- we get asked all the time if we´re twins. 

Where we live now just he and i are there. The zone leaders get nicer, bigger houses with a kitchen. Our new house is awesome. It´s easily the nicest place i´ve lived. The only problem is that water only comes three hours a day. they´re going to fix that today though supposedly. 

yes, Kraps crackers are just like Ritz and i love them. I also eat a lot of piqueo snax. It´s doritos, spicy fritos, cheetos, and lays mixed. It´s amazing. I also eat apples.. that´s the only fruit i eat. For dinner i usually eat hotdogs or grilled cheese and cereal  for breakfast. I feel like i´m back in college again, i love it! Not as good as mom´s cooking, but i´ll take it. 

I wear my glasses almost all the time. If i´m not wearing them in pictures it´s because i usually take them off. I would wear my contacts, but there is SO MUCH dust in the air it´s ridiculous, and i always have dust in my eyes, and i feel like contacts would be miserable. 

This week is transfers. We already got the info- we´re both staying here, but seven missionaries are being changed from our zone. So it´ll be another fun and exciting week! Sorry Brooke for not writing back.. I´m bad at writing back in emails, i don´t have much time. But i´ll write you right now :) 

Love you family! 

Elder Hatch 

Here are some pictures of the room!

3/12/2012

         Well, this week has been fun but went by way too fast. They´re all going by too fast now. probably because we´re so busy lately! We had a zone leaders´ conference on tuesday- we have one the first tuesday each month, and i learned a lot. One thing the assistants and president Risso suggested to us was that instead of giving a whole chapter from the book of mormon to investigators that we can give just a few verses, or one verse that will really hit home with them and answer their questions and preoccupations. We´ve been trying it out, and i´m excited to see the results this next week. We had some really good lessons this week, but none of our investigators came to church, so that´s frustrating. This week we´re going to try to visit all our investigators with a member with us so they can go on sunday to pick them up and go to church together. Wednesday we had zone conference and elder cox and i taught the zone about some things we learned in the zone leaders´ conference. Thursday we went to chiclayo to the mission office to take care of all our financial things. since i´m senior zone leader now, i have to control the zone fund. i have to keep a running total of how we use the money, and i´ve forgotten a few times and can´t remember at the end of the week what the discrepancy is from, but it works out in the end. Friday i went to Tuman and did a work visit with elder Cifuentes, one of the district leaders in our zone. Like all of his investigators are pretty teenage girls... i´m kind of worried. Surprisingly, lots of missionaries are like that. Saturday morning in Tuman we cleaned their church. It´s a big building they rent and use as their church and it was so dirty! We basically dumped a bunch of water and soap all over everything then squeegeed it dry. Saturday night elder Cox and i realized we still needed to find a house, so we used the half hour we had free to search. we were talking to a member lady in the street and i saw a few other random ladies and just felt like i should talk to them. I did, and turns out her brother was has a house up for rent, we went and looked at it, it´s perfect, and we´re moving in tomorrow! i´ll send pictures next week.
        I got good news from the zone leaders in my old zone at the zone conference, a family i found with elder Thompson knocking doors in Los Amautas got baptized this last week! A mom and her daughter, and the mom´s younger sister. Such good news!
        Elder Cox and i are getting to be good friends, we found out we had similar taste in tv as children.. He started singing the Arthur theme song and i joined in.. We were both really surprised when we remembered THE WHOLE THING! Sometimes we´re so tired we can barely stay awake, like after we ate lunch with a member family on sunday. The mom was talking about all her problems and i was falling asleep, then elder cox put his arm on my shoulder and started falling asleep and i realized the mom was still going strong with her story. Another time i was exhausted and teaching about the book of mormon. I was trying to say that all joseph smith did with the book of mormon was change the language, but instead i said that all he did was change its religion.. I couldn´t help laughing at myself.
Elder Cifuentes had some books to learn italian in his room, and i asked to borrow them and he let me, so now i´m learning italian in my free time. Il ragazzo é italiano. That means the young man is italian in italian. Impressive, i know.
No, i haven´t bought many things from here in the mission.. I´ll have to buy some.
Oh and last thing, I´m probably going to extend my mission three weeks.. because of the mission change our transfer schedule is three weeks off, and so to not be a problem for president risso, i´ll probably go home three weeks late. i know it´s still a long time away, but i know mom likes to plan vacations well in advance :)
I love you!

Elder Hatch

Pics:
A few people from the zone playing wackee six!
dad´s favorite crackers :)

3/5/2012

Hey fam :)
first of all, dad asked about if i live somewhere as a zone leader or i just travel. Yes, we live in a house and are assigned to half of a ward, the Pomalca ward. We visit other missionaries about one day a week, and the rest of the time we work in our own zone. There are always a lot of meetings and things to do though, so our time we can dedicate to the real missionary work is cut in half most of the time. This last week we had LOTS of unexpected things come up. Friday morning the stake president called me and said he needed us to go to his house urgent, so we went and he told us that the family we´re living with is having family problems and we need to move to a new house asap. so, we talked to the family and now we´re looking for a new house. Some brother in law of theirs moved into town and is renting a house and really mad that the missionaries live where he "should" be living, so the stake president thinks it´s best if we just leave. So, we´re searching for a new house.. not fun. and the missionaries we´ve been living with have had a lot of problems in these three weeks, and finally they both cracked and almost got into a fight, so they had an emergency change.. We had to wait three days until president risso could get it all worked out, so half of this first week i wasn´t even with my new companion, elder Cox, but with one of the missionaries who was having problems and elder Cox was with the other. Today we´re finally back together and happy.
Thankfully we got our new cell phone and it´s made a lot of things a lot easier. Just barely though we were teaching a lesson and it went off right while elder cox was bearing his testimony and killed the spirit.. the downside to having a phone. It´s loud even when it vibrates.
Here basically everyone works in agricultural things. Livestock, cutting sugar cane, in the sugar factory, etc. Most people are really poor. Houses are really cheap to rent. a big house of two levels that´s really nice is like 300 soles per month, aka a little more than 140 dollars.
Elder Cox is from Orangeville, Utah. Where in the world is that? about 20 minutes from price. Super small town. Elder Cox has been in the mission for 20 months, and 10 of those he has been in the mission office. I´m senior companion but he knows way more than me and teaches me so much! He´s a great, obedient missionary, and fantastic companion.
Here are some scriptures that have impacted me this week:
D&C 24:8
D&C 88:63
Luke 21:19
Mostly about patience, I´m learning lots and know that i need all the help from the Lord i can get! I love my assignation, companion, the challenges and fun times that i´m having. I am honored to be a missionary and be able to help others.
Have a great week, I love you and pray for you always!
Elder Hatch

Pictures:
Hanging out with some pigs in Chongoyape..
Elder Cox and i and some other missionaries/random people on the bus back from Chongoyape today for p-day.
The pomalca zone in chongoyape. It´s so beautiful there!

2/27/2012

Hi family!
Well, this morning at 11 we took elder Chaco to the mission office and right then President Risso got there too and told us that we could go if we wanted, so we said goodbye to elder Chaco, and left.. He stayed there to have his final interview with President Risso, and in the afternoon he´ll go to Lima, then on to Arequipa. It´s so weird to have a companion finish the mission! He was ready for it to end, and really excited to see his family!
February was a rough month for the zone. Only two baptisms as a whole zone! That´s super duper low and everyone is worried. I talked to Elder Gomez, one of the assistants to the president, last night and he gave me some good ideas of things i can do to get the zone up and running again. I think i´m going to do a lot more visits to work with the missionaries and get them excited about the work again! Everyone just feels dead and like they don´t want to work.. There´s definitely a lot of things to improve! It will be fun with my new companion to get cracking and see improvement. Right now i´m in a trio companionship with other elders from my zone, but in the morning President Risso told me my new companion is going to be Elder Cox, who´s been in the mission office as the financial secretary basically my whole time in the mission field- since last june. He´s american, too, as you can tell from his name. We´ll have fun :)
I´m glad you got the manger scene! I sent it about three weeks ago. When i got changed! I had it up in my old room and was wondering if i should send it or wait for next christmas, but i decided to send it! it should have a CD in there too that says fe en cada paso on it. It´s a musical fireside we did in the Piura mission and i sing in a quartet! Make sure to watch it!
Yes we cancelled the old phone, We still don´t have a cell phone, it´s miserable being zone leader without a cell phone. we´re always calling people and have to go to public phones, borrow cell phones, etc. Doing reports is a nightmare without a cell phone.
We travel around the zone in vans. They´re almost the same as astro vans, but with extra seats and they´re pretty cheap. The farthest away area, Chongoyape, is five soles.. about two dollars. for an hour and a half drive that´s not bad. All the areas are along one road that goes straight east into the mountains.
We´re really only making progress with one family right now as far as normal missionary work goes. Their daughter, Rudy, is schizophrenic and was baptized a few months ago. The parents are in their 60s and have attended various churches. they´re super nice and always give us lots of food. The husband wants to get baptized, but the wife´s a little hesitant and shy about it. We´ll see what we can do with Elder Cox, because we want the couple to get baptized together, not just half! They want to be baptized in a river too, if they do it, so that will be cool.
I know this work is God´s work and that He guides me all the time when i´m dilligent and seek His help. I´ve been a little down about the results of this last month, and just when i needed it most, i found the advice and guidance i needed. In the January Liahona President Monson talks about being positive and making new goals. etc, and elder Carl B. Cook in the same liahona talks about looking up, like his talk in general conference. It was perfect, and i´m going to stay positive instead of getting down ont the zone. They might not be having much success in their areas, but at least they can have a fun, happy zone leader! I´m excited to get to work this week.
Elder Hatch

Pics:
A cool mountain pretty close to here. It´s from my first p day
The zone from last tuesday! Now Elder Chaco is gonezo.
A ward activity we planned, we had a camp fire and roasted marshmallows and hot dogs. I ended up with a marshmallow stuck to my shirt- i have no idea how it got there.

2/20/2012

Family,
First of all,  i´m going to write the things i want to say so i don´t forget while answering mom´s email.
Thanks mom for the valentines package! I got it a week and half ago, and forgot to write last monday about it! I loved the beef jerky and i shared all the cinnamon hearts with my zone. (i´m getting better at sharing.. )
Thanks linds for the pictures of your kids! They are SO cute, and i love the style of the pictures!
A funny thing the people here always say is "si Dios quiere" or if God wants.. It´s really funny when we commit people to go to church and they say if God wants.. I always tell them that of course He wants them to go to church haha it´s funny.
On sunday all four of us missionaries here in the Pomalca ward gave talks in sacrament meeting. The other companionship only took up like 10 minutes together, so elder chaco and i had like a half hour. I talked for like 15 minutes- i´ve gotten so much better at giving talks now! I talked about the tender mercies of the Lord, like Nephi says in 1 nephi 1 20 i think. There was a talk by elder Bednar in the liahona about that this month. I felt the spirit really strongly while i was speaking and ended up crying. I´m turning into a cry baby. But i really love the oportunity to talk, i feel like i always learn so much.
Saturday elder Chaco and i were talking to a drunk guy and a 18ish year old guy was listening to us and walking around behind us.. we didn´t pay much attention to him, until he stuck his hand in elder Chaco´s pocket and went sprinting off yelling and elder Chaco realized he took our cell phone! like 10 people saw it happen, a bunch of kids that were swimming in the irrigation canal and they know the guy who it was. He´s a druggy and his name is Chino Huaman. We paid a little kid 2 soles to show us his house, took the police there, and he wasn´t there, but it was his house.. He´s definitely sold it by now, so we´ll see what happens. Bummer, so we´ve gone a few days without a phone. Being a zone leader without a phone is the worst! There have already been a bunch of problems.
Yeah so pomalca is only about 7 kilometers from chiclayo, super close. I feel like my whole mission is going to be within five minutes traveling time..
Our zone is big though. I visited Chongoyape and Patapo this week. Chongoyape is an hour and a half away in the mountains, super prettty! and patapo is about a half hour away.
I still teach a ton, but about half of it isn´t in my own area. I feel like i don´t even know my area or elder Chaco that well.. We go to chiclayo to the mission office, to the bank, to buy stuff for the zone, all the time. almost every day we go there.
Elder Chaco is doing well. I´m keeping him working while i can! and yes, we´re both called zone leaders. he´s zone leader 1 and i´m zone leader 2 .
No, i don´t cook myself rice. We get enough of that from other people! I mainly eat cereal or bread and lunchmeat for breaakfast, and hotdogs or hamburgers for dinner. lunch we rotate in different members´ houses because we don´t have a pensionista, but this next month we´re going to pension on the second floor of our house with a member family.
All the stuff about dad´s surgery is crazy, but i´m so glad everything went well, and that doctor conley could do the anesthesia too! He´s the best. It´s good to hear about all the support and love the family has gotten, too. I know everything will turn out right and that the Lord has a special plan for dad now! I´m sure your joke reportoir has gotten a lot bigger! oh, and i´m expecting pictures.. it´s so easy to take a picture and send it with an iphone, so do it! :)

Pictures:
1. Pomalca!
2. Elder Sampson and elder Cajas last p day at a place called Boró, a resorvoir.
3. Elder Chaco with our pink mosquito nets in our room. These are for the sister missionaries, we´re just trying them out for a few days before we give them to the sisters. Our room looks like a princessy little girl´s room!
4. a little trail up to an altar on the mountain in Chongoyape! i wish i could have gotten better pictures there, it is BEAUTIFUL!

2/13/2012

Lots to tell today! So, tuesday i went around saying goodbye to everyone in los amautas, that was hard and sad.. I don´t like seeing people sad and crying! Blanca gave me a really nice silver ring with my name engraven inside, my pensionistas gave me two mugs, i gave the ctr rings you sent me to estefany and her cousin, victoria. I had an amazing experience there in los incas and los amautas. 

Then wednesday was the big day of changes. everyone with changes was there in the institute building, and they announced the transfers by zone. My zone, chiclayo peru, was the second to last one announced, and all the zone leaders had already been transferred except me and one other, and the two zones without a zone leader still were the zone i have been in for six months, or pomalca. Thankfully i got pomalca! My companion is Elder Chaco from arequipa, peru, he has two weeks left in his mission, and it shows haha.. So basically i have two more weeks to get to know everything about my area, zone, and being a zone leader, because i´ll be getting a new companion in two weeks. 

Pomalca is 7 kilometers from chiclayo, super close to where i´ve been my whole mission, but it feels like a different world!! it´s so so amazing here. The town is built around a huge sugar factory, and for miles in every direction are neverending fields of sugarcane. The city has a really small town feeling,  and i´m loving the change. we live with two other missionaries, but we have a big house. I eat lots of cereal and candy and yogurt, but we´re going to buy groceries today and i´ll get some good stuff. (more candy :) haha jk. 

There are 14 missionaries and 4 sisters in our zone, and the area farthest away is about an hour from here. This week i´m going to do working visits in a few areas to get to know the zone a bit. 

The sister missionaries had a baptism of a lady who recently had eye surgery and couldn´t get her eye wet, so elder chaco and i had to search for some swimming goggles one morning and go 40 minutes both ways to take them the goggles. that was fun! our zone is so beautiful with rivers and mountains and everything´s green! 

There´s a lot of work to be done in my area and in the zone. I´m sure i´ll be here for a while, so i´m going to buckle down and get some good work done.

We watched a movie called 17 miracles as a zone today, and i loved it so much. It made me think about how much other people have sacrificed for the Gospel and made me realize that what i´m sacrificing is so insignificant. I hope i can be even a little useful to the Lord to help His children find the truth. I know God loves his children and is always willing to help us when we are obedient. I´ll be praying for you a lot dad, and the whole family. I love you!

Elder Hatch 

ps the computer stinks and i can´t put up pictures, sorry!