Mt. Isa

Mt. Isa

Sunday, October 30, 2011

October 31, 2011


Hey family,

Glad to hear from you. It sounds like things are going well for you. Yes, today is Halloween here but it is a pretty rainy day so not much going on. Yes, they do celebrate Halloween here but it is definitely not as big as it is in the States. Here, they already have Christmas decorations up in the Malls. It is a little scary and all. We even sang a Christmas song for Comp study last week. I wasn't too keen on that one but that’s how it goes I guess. It is that time of year...kind of. It has been a good week we've had a heap of changes in the Zone’s leadership so we have had a little bit of adjusting to do. Nothing too big though. My new Companion is good; he is a hard worker and wants to get things done. In the last week we've visited a good deal of Ward members and have done quite a bit of work it seems. We're co-Senior Comps and Zone Leaders so basically we're just supposed to just go for it. We are in the car full time now and, even though we have bikes, they haven't been used in at least 6 months in not longer. We're not really going to Brisbane as often as we did last transfer but we will have to go down there this week and next for trainings so that will be exciting of course. It is a good little drive and a good change of scenery. Other than that not a whole lot going on we're kind of in the phase where we don't have many people to teach so we'll be doing some good finding and hopefully get some people to teach.

We got the opportunity to do some service this week. It was good to get out of proselyting and do some service. Work is always good fun. It is looking like we'll get to do some service next week as well so I hope for the best.

Keep feeding the missionaries. I guess it is kind of like a lady said in our ward yesterday. She basically said that she knows as she feeds the Missionaries in the Ward, she knows that her son will get fed on his mission as well.

Keep working hard Colin. It'll start getting pretty cold (in Provo) in the next month or so. Be prepared for that. I reckon you prolly have a jacket but yeah it does get cold and wet when it snows. Good fun though. Dig in though, with your studies, you only have a couple more weeks before break so put in the time and then you get a little break. It sounds like things are going well though.

I'll work on getting more pictures taken. I've kind of fallen down on the job as far as that one goes. The beach is pretty cool here. I'll get some beach photos and other pictures in general.

Got to go … love you … bye.

Kiefer

October 25, 2011

Hey family,

The week has been long I want to say. It has been a good week. Very busy and all over the place but it is good that it is over. It is week 6 and transfers came in Sunday. My Comp got transferred which, honestly, wasn't too surprising. He's been here a while and it was definitely time for him to move on. My new companion is E. Huysmans (not sure on spelling). He's a kiwi (New Zealander) too and has been a Zone Leader in another area for the last 5 months so at least he has some training and experience as far as that goes. I'm excited and hope we can get things moving here and find some people to teach. It is looking like this transfer won’t be as busy as last but still it will be interesting. We had a lot of people move out of areas in the Zone and new people to replace them so, of course, that will be fun to get going and pick up where the others left off.

At transfers before the changes are announced to the Companionship's the departing Elders bear their testimonies. It was weird to see a good deal of the missionaries that I knew when I started my mission now going home. All good though. I will probably have to talk in Sacrament Meeting again this week. Not too keen on that but it will be a good experience. All Blacks (New Zealand) won the rugby Union World Cup. It was good fun to hear about. Other than that not much else is going on. The Wiggle had a concert in town. We have our Stake Conference in a couple of weeks. Oh the life of a missionary…(and no, he didn't go to the concert)



We got to do some service this week. We chopped down a couple of groves of palm trees. We just smashed it in like 2 hours. There is nothing missionaries are better at than destroying stuff. I was all good fun. We traveled out about an hour inland to the country to visit a less active Sister and her family who want to start coming back to Church. That was exciting. We're hoping to go to the Australia Zoo one of these P-days. Hopefully we can put that together this transfer. I've got a feeling it will be an interesting transfer but I don’t know.

Thanks Colin thanks for the messages. It was good to hear from you as always. Good luck with calculus it sounds suppa intense. Keep working hard and, of course, get a much study time in as you can. Its difficult work but it is a fun time. Glad you’re thinking about the mission papers. Set some goal and draw out a plan in general. It'll help to put things in perspective.

It has been a long day and I'm smashed. Thanks everyone for writing to me. I really do appreciate it. It is good to hear from you. Love you heaps. Thanks for everything.

Elder Hatch

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

October 17, 2011

Hey family,

Things are going well. Yes I'm a Zone Leader. It is only my first transfer as a ZL so I'm learning what things I need to do. The last week went pretty well. We had two tradeoffs which were good because I stayed in my area. I'm glad we have a small zone because I don’t know if I could handle too many more tradeoffs. It’s tough but a good learning experience. It is basically like running the area alone because the Elder you have with you knows nothing about what is going on and generally has the day to chill and relax. All good though. It is already week 6 so this is the last week of the transfer. Time really does just fly by it seem. I think they'll be a heap of changes in the Zone soon. There's been some drama over the last couple of weeks which will prolly prompt the Mission President to make some changes. We have a couple of missionaries that have been in their area for 6 months now so it is time for a change I reckon. My companion will be likely by leaving and I will prolly be the Senior Comp again...

Lately we have been working with a family in which the wife used to be less active but has recently started coming back. They have a less active girl living with them that is a good family friend, university aged. Another less active friend and another recent convert guy forms their main circle of friends. The recent convert guy had his Mission papers in but they all are struggling with they're testimonies and just keeping the commandments in general. They're good people it is just that they're not 100% committed. The couple, or the main family, are young (late 20's) with a couple of kids and the husband’s family lives very close to them. That family has heaps of drama in general but the husband has a brother that recently, in the last two years, came back from a mission in Sydney. He did really well down there and was doing well until 6 months ago when he literally went apostate, anti-Mormon all the way; beliefs, attitude, everything. He has the kind of personality that people seem to just love him, if you know what I mean. Anyway he works as a business partner with the husband of the main family. The brother, is strong in the Church, but over time within the circle of friends the apostate guy has just subtlety been working on all of them to get them to question their beliefs and now he is even trying to keep the recent convert from going on a Mission. The Mission President and the Stake President have talked to him now and they have straight up said that he's dangerous. The Elder have been working with them all for a while. They had come really far and even gained testimonies of the Church but now the apostate guy... has just got to them and has really just been causing a huge crap storm. It is really sad to see.

But good things are happening, I ran into a Christian that learned Hebrew and read the bible in Hebrew. That was fun. The other Elder Hatch in the Zone is from California but doesn't know his ancestry. We spend most of our P-days doing sports all day; good exercise. We had a big storm here two nights ago but we didn't get any hail just a lot of wind and heavy rain. It was a fun storm to watch; heaps of lightening. It was good. We have training in Brisbane tomorrow so we'll be riding the train in tomorrow morning. Tonight we will have 10 Elders staying at the Nambour flat so that will be quite the experience I reckon.



The Kiwi's beat the Aussie in Rugby Union which was quite exciting. We're thinking they're just going to smash France this next weekend in the final. It'll be good though. Love you. TTYL

Elder Hatch

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

October 10, 2011


Hey,

Another week gone by; It’s been a crazy week but all good. We had a Zone Leader council down in Brisbane this last Friday so that was a fun trip. It rained a little on Saturday before General Conference which was cool; luckily we didn't get caught in the rain. Things have been going well. It is already week 5 which means we have to submit transfer recommendations and next week well have more training down in Brisbane. It will be good fun and we're looking forward to it of course. It’s been a little weird being a Zone Leader with all the trainings, trade-offs in other areas and just other random stuff coming up. It has been difficult to get to know the area and the members too well. It’s hard but we're working on it though.


I'm glad you tried the Vegemite! No I don’t eat it all the time but if I’m feeling like a snack or something small randomly, I'll pull it out with some crackers or something which is good. I'm not a big fan of the Vegemite and toast but I guess you just have to be in the mood for it. My Comp like to eat out a lot and we don’t spend a lot of time in the area and the other Elders tend to eat whatever food you might have in the fridge. So I’m not very good motived to go out and buy real food. Alas, the life of a missionary.

I really enjoyed Conference. We watched it at the Chapel this last weekend. It was downloaded off the Internet and streamed. The Ward has a nice projector and the picture quality seems to be getting a lot better and, yeah you could see that everyone (the speakers) was getting a lot older. Guess it has been a hard 6 months. I really enjoyed the Saturday sessions the most. The speakers were all very good and it was very uplifting and motivational. Not too many people showed up on Saturday but quite a few were there Sunday. Australia played South Africa in rugby and won yesterday so that was the talk of the day mostly. The finals are next week sometime. We'll see if the Kiwis or the Aussies will come out on top. LOL I don't really have a team but I think it would be good to see the Kiwis win.

There is actually another Elder Hatch in the Zone and this last week I went on trade-off with him. It was funny going over to the member’s house for dinner. Hatch and Hatch. I don’t think they actually believed us at first. It was good fun though. He's a good guy. Definitely acts like a Hatch.

Other than that not much is going on. We’ve been hearing the world is supposed to end again this week so I'm looking forward to that as well. I’ve been looking into sign of 2nd coming and all...lol… just kidding...

No, it doesn't feel like I've almost been out a year. I still fill very, very green. IDK though. I try not to think of dates and numbers and time too much.

Thanks for the support and the good emails. I really do appreciate them. Love you and hope all is going well for you. Talk to you next week.

Elder Hatch

October 4, 2011

Hey,

Sorry again for the short email last week. The computer was a joke. It’s good to hear from you and it sound like everything is going pretty well back home. I got an email from TJ and he sounds excited to be going. Four months is a good deal of time to prepare so that’s really good. Good on him.

Things have been really crazy over the last week. We had a training to give Tuesday, a leadership meeting is Brisbane on Wednesday followed by a Stake meeting, Thursday we had trade-offs with the Nambour Elders, Ward dramas and weekly planning on Friday, trade-offs Saturday with the Assistants to President. Sunday we had church, prep for more training, and more dramas, and then Monday we had another big training followed by a trip to Gympie. It has been a flat out week honestly, just like...wow. Good but wow. Today (Tuesday) we are going to a laser tag place so I’m quite excited. I need a good P-day… hope it will be fun.

Nambour



Kawana Waters


We cover a big area here on the Sunshine Coast. Our Zone basically includes from the area of Kawana Waters up to Bundaberg. We have about 12 Elders and 2 Sisters. But that is the whole zone; it’s quite a large area to say the least. It is pretty beautiful here the beaches are very nice and the terrain is interesting. It is pretty cool, very tropical like with random mountain/hill things jutting up out of nowhere. It’s hard to explain of course. My area has Buderim Hill right in the center and the view from the top is amazing. Buderim is fairly upper class living due to the proximity to the beach but it still good. I reckon I'll be here a while but that’s that. The Rugby World Cup is on and is the talk of the nation. New Zealand, Australia and South Africa all have strong team so we're just seeing who will come out on top.

Our (General) Conference isn't until next weekend. I’m not sure if its taped or what but we very excited for it and looking forward to listening and watching it. Mormom.org is taking off over here. They’ve started the big ad campaign and it is reaching lots of people. We've run into heap of people that have seen the ads on TV; it’s a great missionary tool gives us more to talk about with people. It is running until the end of the year so we still have a lot of good that can come from it.

I’m not driving much my Comps the driver so I get to navigate around the place. It is pretty easy to get sick of driving.

Thanks for the emails. It is good to hear from you. I’m sorry I can't include more in my emails…so much going down... Love you. Talk to you next week.

Elder Hatch