Kiefer in Australia

Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010

Dear Brother and Sister Hatch,

Your son has arrived, has had his mission orientation, and is now in the area around the Brisbane Temple talking (GQ-ing—asking golden questions) with various people who are usually visiting that particular area. He is in good spirits, but tired, and is so anxious to be doing missionary work. Thank you for sharing him with us.

President Langeland will be sending a letter to you soon with more information. We just thought you might want to know that everything is fine with your son.

Sister Abel
Mission Secretary
Australia Brisbane Mission
ph. 07.3268.7077
Fax 07.3268.5625
e-mail 2014513@ldschurch.org


Monday, November 29th

Hey,

I'm doing good. Its really nice here. It not perfect but the weathers been good. It gets a little toasty during the mid-day but we've had cloud cover in the afternoon that has made it great. Its getting hotter though and that's make biking a pain and just tracking in general but that's alright. We share a car with another companionship and get it thur. - Sun which makes getting around great to say the least. The ward/area is good. Its about 80 % poly so we're thinking we're going to get fed well. My trainer and companion is Elder Merrill from Utah. He's been out for a while and I'm the second one he's trained. He's good and we get along well. The area that I'm working in is called Forest Lakes. Its south of Brisbane city center and is very immigrant centered. Its not bad though and the people are very laid back. The elders before us had been in this area for 6 months so they were very loved by the ward. We're white-washing the area so my companion and I don't know anything about the area except the records in the area book and the notes the other missionaries left. Its been hard just jumping into things but its been good. The flat is pretty ghetto but that's that. Every night I've been here I've slept so good its great but that's probly just b/c I'm exhausted by the time I get to go to bed. Teaching has been good. We've taught a couple of lessons and they've gone well but I have a lot to work on. It really hard to simplify everything you say to a primary level and still teach well.

The church is true though and we're doing what we can to help people to understand that. I'm not sure what my address is but I'll have it next week for y'all but you can send stuff to the mission address and I get that eventually. We have new missionary training this Wednesday and I'll pick up anything that's there. In our district we have two sets of sisters and then theirs just us but they have they're own areas so we don't see them except for on p-days and district meetings. Our zone is pretty tight though and its going to be a lot of fun. we're really busy though and we're hard at work. This next week is going to be fun so we'll see what happens. We're going to go do our shopping after this and then spend the next 5 hour of the day doing sport. which sounds fun...i guess? but it'll be go to move around and do something. Love y'all. We'll talk to you next week. Hopefully I'll get a full hour next week to email.

Kiefer Hatch





from Kiefer's December 6 email

Hey how is it going? I have a full hour today to email so hopefully I can get everything written I need to.

The mission has been going good. We have so much to do. Its good but their is a lot to do in a day. We have lots of potential investigators and referrals to contact but we're still working on getting actual progressing investigators to teach. I don't really know where to start but i guess I'll just kind of jump into it...

I found out that my trainer (Elder Merrill) is actually on his last transfer of his mission and goes home on January 4. He still a good missionary and isn't that trunky yet lol. More so that means that I will be in this area for at least one more transfer if not more. Thats good to know but it will be fun when transfers come around and I get a new companion that doesn't know the area. I'm excited for Elder Merrill. the funny thing is he's really got his mind set on getting married and i'm givin him a bad time about it.

Well its all good down here. The accent isn't all that bad the culture in may area is so diverse. Lot of religions and races, from Africans to Asians and Australians. Everyone has accents but since I'm in the city it not as bad as in the bush. the Polynesians feed us heaps but its all good. A lot talk broken english like they've just got off the boat from New Zealand but I can understand them alright in most cases. Most of the missionaries here have gained weight ironically from the food in general. All week we've had rain off and on during the days and its been absolutely beautiful. It has kept the heat at bay and the sun away so I just pray it will keep raining LoL. I love it. our flat doesn't have ac so its going to be painful as it get hotter.

Yesterday we had thanksgiving dinner at an Italians house in our ward. It was a big get together and the food was great. The father is an amazing cook and pasta dishes were all to die for. Really great. We have dinner again at the bishops house. They wealth and very nice. Had my first peachy and did an awkward dance that the family video taped so I might send that to you. Its basically a soda that tastes like a peach pie in a can. It was amazing. Also had Kangaroo that night which was surprisingly very good. Like beef jerky sort of. I think tonight they're going to have me try ginger beer. I'm excited.

Yeah it was cool could to meet a 2nd cousin here. I was so excited. She was on the ward list and an inactive so we decided to just drop by to get to know her. I knew grandpa hatch's name but I just couldn't think of it on the spot. She has three little kids and is really nice. We're hoping we can get her to come back to church and to reactive her. I hope we can help her out. They came to church last sunday we're hoping for the best.We have dinner with them next monday so I'm excited about that.

We went hiking with the zone today to a place in our zone call white rock it was a good little hike and it was nice to see some of the countryside and to get out of the city slightly. i guess for christmas I'd like a slightly smaller camera that I can just take on the town everyday and for random stuff but idk yet. I might decide on something else.


from Dec. 14, 2010 email

Hey,

Sorry I didn't get to email you Monday. Today, Wednesday, was our temple day and our p-day. We played Risk last night with the zone leaders at they're flat so we didn't get much sleep. It was fun though and it made the temple session very interesting. The Brisbane temple is very nice. Its only a mini temple but its good and you could really feel the spirit there. I've been doing good. We've been busy with this and that but haven't had the chance to teach heaps of lessons or anything but that's alright. We have a couple of good investigators that look promising but are going to need some time to make some changes in their lives. We had a zone conference this week for the southern Brisbane region. Their were heaps of missionaries there and it was some good training. It focused on finding. The mission president has given us the goal to have 14 hrs of finding a week which is a big increase from what we're doing now but it will be good to get talking to more people. Finding includes tracting, talking to people on the street and a couple of other things. Its tough but we're working on it.

We had this one guy wave us down earlier in the week on our bikes. As it turns out he was from Costa Rica and has had the missionary lessons in Sydney but never was baptized. He's a good guy and speaks broken English but it was really cool to just hear his testimony of the church and his desire to be baptized even though he has had a bad divorce and has had some hard times. Hopefully we can continue to help him. He's a good guy.

We have the car from Thur-Sun so that's good. The other days though, we are on bikes most of the day. They have good buses and transport here so we use that too.

Sounds like you are all doing really good, its good to read your emails. Have Colin just email me or send me his address b/c I dont have it for some reason. Thank you for your prays and support I'm praying for yall as well and look forward to talking with you in a little over a week now. I keep learning heaps and things are going great. Tell everyone hi for me and thank the Coombs and Grandma and Grandpa for me as well.