Week March 7, 2011

Sounds like things are going well back home. Glad you like the scripture bag Dad it is a kangaroo scripture case. There is a little home run business in Ipswich that makes those scripture cases, the coin pouches and other fun stuff like that. One day after a zone conference in Ipswich we went to that shop and got all of that stuff. All of the missionaries combined probably spent $600 or more. But unfortunately they didn't have very much b/c they had got flooded and all. I did get a full kangaroo hide and I’m using it to have all my companions sign it. It’s nice and hopefully will be a good keepsake.

Yeah we do have a "mobile" which is nice and that's awesome you found out who our Branch president was here. LOL President Coggins is a good guy. He's really funny and they just adopted a baby. Every Sunday we have dinner at their house and it’s really a lot of fun. Other than the Coggin's dinner on Sunday we have a Tuahine dinner on Thursday and a Toli dinner on Saturday. Those 3 families feed us once a week, every week which is great. The members here really are the best. The problem is there are just not that many of them. We eat well though and get along just fine.

As far as Petrol goes they sell it by the liter and I’m not sure the exact price but I want to say that it runs about $1.50 a liter if not more. It’s heaps expensive to live in Australia but more so Mount Isa. The cost of housing, food and so forth is very high. People get paid heaps to work in the mines so it’s all worth your while.



It’s weird, it’s already March but it'll be a long month I'm sure. The next big thing is that next Monday we'll be going to Townsville for a Zone Conference. I'll email next Monday but we'll leave that night and get back Wednesday night. Oh and the mission is taking us first class (well economy), we get to fly though!!! This will be my 4th plane ride since I started my Mission. We're excited to see Townsville, and for Elder Parkinson, just to get out of Mt. Isa for a couple of days. lol. He's been here for the last 5.5 months straight and hasn't gone anywhere else in that time. It'll be good. We hope to be able to see some sights while we're there.

It has rained heaps in the last week and so it has been very cool here which has really been a blessing. It makes the days so much easier. We take a kip (naps) during lunch which is always good. I have to talk in church Sunday on the Word of Wisdom so I'm sure it will be an exciting experience. The first time of many I’m sure.

Elder Hatch