1/7/2012

Family!

This week was nuts. We had worked like nobody's business, and had no success for two weeks in a row, and honestly, i was wondering what i was doing wrong. Then, this last monday, things just changed.. Everything started with Cresencio. He's a champion, and we ended up finding his granddaughter who's 16 and also randomly wants to be baptized.. But we were super excited about them and just loving life, working, and having fun. We are looking for new investigators using the ward directory, too, and visiting inactive members. It's working, and we found a 24 year old guy named Raul, who's also so ready for the Gospel. His only problem is that he works as a security guard and every other sunday he can't go to church. So this next Sunday he should be able to go and we'll see how his progress goes. Anyway, everything was going well until friday... fateful friday... when we went out and it was raining like pretty much every day.. but a few days before elder Giraldo had left our umbrella in a member's house. We were walking to an appointment and he said oh, can we go get the umbrella? normally i get super in the zone and would have said no, we can get it after the appointment, but for some reason i said yes really quick before thinking and we went to pick up the umbrella. When we were walking back a guy parked in a parking lot by a condo complex starts honking and flashing his lights at us.. Then he comes and talks to us and says his parents are members in Lima, and he saw us, and because of recent problems, felt like he needs our help. He invited us to go talk to him later that day, and we did. 
I don't want to give too many details, because i need a story or two to tell when i get home, but he and his wife are the most amazingly prepared gift from heaven i've ever recieved as a missionary. We've taught them twice, they went to church with their two little kids and old dad, and after church on sunday they invited us to lunch with them. We taught/talked to them for a solid 2 hours after and while eating, and it was just so natural and fantastic. Victor, the man who found us, expressed us all his doubts, fears, etc, and we helped him understand the gospel. He and his wife invited themselves to be baptized and set their own date!! It has been such a special experience for me in only two visits with them! We have all teared up, and sometimes i can't say anything but wow. I love them, and am so grateful that our Heavenly Father let me have this oportunity. So, anyway, friday night after our first lesson with this dream family, we leave their house basically skipping because we're so happy, and go to our appointment with cresencio and his granddaughter. The first thing he tells us is that he's opening up a new institute (he owns like 5) in a village like 3 hours away and he's going to be there for a MONTH :( It brought me back down to earth, but i know he'll get baptized soon. But things are still going great. 
After forgetting the keys to the room i made elder Giraldo in charge of the keys and yesterday he forgot them at night.. I didn't want to risk my life again dangling from the third floor, and he didn't either, so we had to get creative. The keys were on his desk and a window was open but had gates around it so only an arm could fit through.. So i took one of the laundry drying lines from our roof and tied my shoe to it to try to somehow grapple the table and drag it to myself and grab the keys... I ended up breaking a light bulb and knocking the phone off its hook, but no keys.. I was inventing other things with a broom, etc, when the owner of our house finally got there at like 11 at night and gave us the keys. haha it was great. 
Anyway, today i officially start my last transfer. i'm not trunky but definitely am thinking more about home.. It's going to be so weird being home. I feel way more natural here. Oh, speaking of home.. One of my good friends here in the mission just got back from the mission (lives in lima) and is dating a sister missionary from the mission too.. haha he sent a picture of them hugging. ick. But i'm happy for them because they were both amazing missionaries. 
Well, i think that's about it! 
Love you guys!
Elder Hatch 

Here's our district today at a convent- it looks small in this courtyard, but i'll send a picture of how huge it really is. 

1/1/2013

Family!!!

Wow, it's so nuts to be back in the real missionary world! And now i only have an hour to email, so my letters are going to be shorter, because i need to send pics, too! Here it goes:

My new area, here in Cajamarca, is huge. Our ward is really rich (compared to others) and for the first two weeks, we couldn't find any of our investigators because they're all travelling.. And one of the best investigator families we have just went on a trip for a month :( But oh well, we've found some awesome new investigators. One, in particular, is such a blessing! Here's the story:

We were doing divisions, i had been in the area for like a week, and still didn't know my way around too well. We were looking for some less active members with the directory and were lost. We asked a guy in the street if he could help us, and he ended up inviting us into his house to teach him. He has all the desires in the world to repent, change his life (he's had lots of family problems in the past) and join the church!!! You don't find that kind of person by chance. I know the Lord put him in our path that day and that he is so prepared for the gospel right now!!! His name is Cresencio Torres. Champion of champions. We also have a few other families. One that works in a bakery and another that makes suits. It's really hard to get them in a calm hour when we can teach them. 

I love being in the real missionary world again, working all day knocking doors, and walking a ton and just being completely in my area. The office was great, and i learned SO much, but nothing is like the experiences you have every day working in the field. Another blessing is not being any kind of leader. It's been like a year and a half since i didn't have a responsibility. 

We skyped from a member lady's office. Christmas we had p-day, because everyone's drunk, today too, sorry for not telling you i wasn't going to write yesterday. But we just hung out with the district and visited members. Today we went to a waterfall that's like an hour away from here, and it was super fun! The town is basically dead,nobody is in the streets because they're all drunk and sleeping in their houses! Great way to jump into the new year! This morning we were walking to our pension and a super drunk guy was stumbling down the middle of a kind of busy road! After a minute of watching him almost die like six times, we decided to help him off the road. He told us he wanted to die, and i said no, you don't want to die, you're just drunk! He looked at me really seriously and said i'm not drunk, i'm fine. Then a few minutes later, in spite of our attempts to help him, he wandered back onto the road into oncoming traffic... great guy. I hope he made it home okay. 

This week for a day i went to another area called baños del inca on exchanges, i worked in a farm in the morning and found out i can relate pretty well with cows- they didn't let the other missionaries get too close, but they loved me. While i was petting one another one came up to me so i would pet it too. 

It has been raining all week- i love it so much! Almost two years without rain, i was super ready for a change. The food here is different too. The bread is more rustic and so good, and the cheese is to die for. I'm thinking of buying a lot here in the mountains and coming back to retire :)

Ooh, another great story. So, when i got here to the area our room was way too small and moldy, but we moved downstairs to the second floor to a much better room. One day i forgot the keys to the second floor room, and we were locked out. The owner of the house wasn't there, and the people who live below us wouldn't let us try to climb up in the elevator shaft type thing, so elder Giraldo dangled me down to the second floor from the third floor and i got into an open window. It was so scary! I was imagining newspaper headlines of a dead gringo... But it turned out ok, i only scratched my hand, and i learned my lesson and don't forget the keys anymore. 

I gave a talk in church on sunday too! I'm busy, happy, and super excited to work as hard and as best as i can my last two months! I love you! 

Elder Hatch 

on the stairs to santa apolonia- classic peruvian mountain man and woman in the foreground
Me and elder Andersen, one of my zone leaders, being funny at Yacanora!

having fun in the guard posts in santa apolonia
here's my lunch today.... yummy.

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!

11/26/2012

Family,

Today is transfer day in the mission! Elder Chuiz, my last companion, is going home today. It's interesting to see the missionaries on their last day and talk to them about how they feel, etc. I feel bad for President Risso though, because he passes the whole morning in interviews. I swear, half of being a mission president is interviews.

The picture last week of the missionaries sleeping is a picture i took in the office- here we have a little makeshift storehouse for all the materials and furniture in the mission- those matresses are for new areas, etc.

Scop's baptism went great! The only problem was that Scop and his family (with a lot of less active members) showed up right on time and everyone else came like a half hour late. I was pretty stressed. But once we got started everything went well. The best part is that every week more of the family goes to church. This week Leila's sister and her two daughters were there! It's amazing to see the difference that one person can make on the entire family!

Oh, more good news. I have pink eye. Yesterday it was at its peak and it was bugging me pretty bad, but now it's feeling better.

We found a few cool new people in our area this week. The problem is that one couple can only meet with us once every two weeks... so it will be pretty hard to get them to progress. They said they were really interested in the Church and wanted to attend the meetings yesterday, but after all they didn't show up. We also taught the husband of a long-time member lady. He asked us a few quesions to test us, like "every church says their church is the true church, so i can't believe everyone who tells me it. What do you say?" But i just shared my testimony and invited him to find out for himself. Sometimes i get frustrated just wanting people to understand and accept our message- it's so simple and clear to me that it's all true and that if they do the things we invite them to they'll be blessed, but people get so confused because of all the other churches and different ideas that exist.

Oh, President Risso told me that i'm going to be transferred from the office in 3 weeks! Because a lot of missionaries are going home mid-transfer because they want to be home for Christmas instead of getting home at the start of January. And he said if it's possible he wants me to have a good 2 months in the field to be working like a normal missionary again. i'm happy with the idea. :) After being in the office so long i need a breath of fresh air.

Here's my thanksgiving story: A few north american missionaries who i saw throughout the day wished me a happy thanksgiving, but other than that i honestly didn't think about it too much. Elder Infante made Fettuccine Alfredo for dinner- i like that he loves to cook! But the real excitement happened on Friday. We were walking by a trash dump (they are abundant in chiclayo) and we heard what sounded like a bunch of cats, so we went to see what was up, and saw a little baby dog, like born that same day size, on the ground crying, and a black bag a few feet away that was moving and making lots of noise- it was full of baby puppies. Someone had just tossed their dog's newborn puppies in a bag and thrown it in the garbage. Obviously we couldn't just let them die, so we grabbed the bag and took them to a member family's house where they have a mom dog who gave birth not too long ago. Long story short, the mom dog didn't accept the babies and wasn't lactating anymore, but the family offered to take care of the puppies if we would search for houses for them. There were 9 of them!! I even named one that was golden hatchi (it's a common dog name here) haha. We had to give them milk in syringes, but yesterday seven of them died.. It seems like the other two are going to die too, which is sad, but we tried! That was our adventure of the week. Oh, one more adventure.

We sent our suit coats to be dry-cleaned- four of us from the office, and the lot fell on elder Infante and i to go pick them up saturday at night. So we get there and the girls who work there start getting nervous and realized they had given our four suit coats to four different missionaries.. So we called them and they just happened to be the missionaries who live in the most dangerous part of chiclayo, but we needed out suit coats to go to church on sunday morning! So we took the four coats they had in the store and took a mototaxi to Villahermosa.. After getting lost for a while we finally made it and did the exchange. it was risky and we got home at like 10:30! But we were safe.

i'm out of time, i love you family!

Elder Hatch

Here's Scop's baptism!

Marvin, the same young man that baptized Leila, baptized Scop. The other people are her family, all less active people who are reactivating!

And here i am feeding a little puppy!

Here's one of the little puppies eating.

11/19/2012

Hi fam! 

Right now i'm listening to Christmas music! I'm getting into the Christmas spirit. I wanted to set up the christmas tree here in the office today, but appartently president risso said we have to wait until december. But we're basically not even going to be here in december. Here's the rough outline.. So, Elder Pino from the 70 was going to come but he´s super busy so he's sending an area 70 in his place to come do the tour of our mission.... kind of a dissapointment, but i'm sure it will still be great. Anyway, the first week of december he's scheduled to come and we'll probably be going to Jaen and Cajamarca in that week, and have a huge conference with all the missionaries here in Chiclayo. The second week we have zone leaders council, then the next weeks we have ward activities, visits to Cajamarca and Jaen for Christmas activities with them, and a christmas activity here in Chiclayo. President and Sister Risso are having 200 uruguay national team soccer jerseys made for all the missionaries! shhh, it's a secret though. Oh, and as for christmas decorations here in Chiclayo.. decorations outside of the house don't really exist here because people would rob them in the night, but inside the houses everyone sets up crazy huge manger scenes, but not until the weeks around christmas. The only places that are decorated now are big international retail stores. 

When we got back from our trip we taught Scop, (great name), Leila's son. He's 12 and really wants to get baptized and go on a mission to the united states :) haha but Elder Infante and i are helping him gain a testimony. He's going to be baptized this saturday! We're excited for that. 

Oh, and yes mom i know sister Case! She was in my zone in Latina. Now she's in Jaen and this last week when we were in the snack break during the conference for sister missionaries she told me that my aunt is her mom's boss. and President Risso said "and Elder Hatch is your boss" haha it was so funny! 

I had another funny and embarrassing moment this last week.

We were in a zone meeting in the Chiclayo Perú zone- like 20 missionaries. I was talking about how to be more effective in the first lesson. I was finishing up my spiel and i was trying to say something like this "so that we can have more naturality in our first lesson" but what came out was "so that we can have more nature in our first lesson" and everyone laughed at me. But i bounced back quick :) I'm surprised i don't make a fool of myself more often. 

I was studying yesterday in Ether 12. Verse 12 always has been interesting to me. it says that if we don't have faith God can't preform miracles. I'm sure God wants to perform so many miracles and help us out so much, but we limit what He can do for us a lot because we don't have enough faith! I'm trying to boost my faith by being constantly obedient and trying my hardest to prech the gospel effectively and by the spirit so that i can see miracles in the lives of the people i'm teaching! 

I love you and hope you have a great week!

Elder Hatch 

The first picture is of Elder Samamé and Elder Perea working hard sunday night in the office while the rest of us were working on reports.

The second is of Pres and Sister Risso with us at Gocta! Sister Risso would kill me if she knew i was sending this picture home! haha i was taking pictures of her and President walking and we were all sweaty and she was yelling at me to not take pictures! haha