Mt. Isa

Mt. Isa

Sunday, November 27, 2011

November 28, 2011

Hey Family,

Thanks for the emails. It sound like it has been an eventful end of the week with dad getting released as Bishop. That is so exciting. Let me know who the replacement is and how things turn out. Write me a message Colin and tell me how Thanksgiving is going and what crazy stuff you’ve been up to. I love the talk (from Stake Conference) dad, it is really good. Thanks for forwarding that to me. We can now call home via Skype for Christmas so just to let you know that is probably how we’ll do the call home. I'm not sure about the detail regarding how it works or even when it'll be yet but just to give you a little heads up… My Comp's done it before so it won’t be a problem I reckon, unless I get transfer and then who knows, lol. I'm hoping I stay here for Christmas at least but it’s hard to say.

It has been a good week; long at times but good. We've found some promising potential investigators this last week so hopefully, in the next week; we'll help them progress a good deal. Two of them have basically said they'd seriously consider joining the church just from past experiences with missionaries, in one case, or the examples of members they know in the other. It’s really excited for all that to happen in just a couple of days. I feel very blessed to have these people to work with. It’s rare to have people that are actually cool having missionaries come over and visit. This is the last week of the transfer so who knows what will happen come next Sunday. We have a couple of people in the Zone that will be moving so we'll be going to transfers in Brisbane next week. Also we have to go down for a Zone Leader council this week so we'll be doing a little bit of traveling which isn't bad. It is a good drive and all.



Things are getting warm here. Luckily we have the ocean breeze to keep the temperatures down. I guess I'll do a week in review for you... Monday we basically shopped or window shopped most of the day and then went and got some ice cream by the beach. Tuesday we had a Zone Conference with the AP's and Mission President which was good. They talked a good deal about effective planning and keeping good records, they also announced the new mission goals for the coming year. Instead of focusing on overall baptisms we'll be working on trying to break the Zone’s record for over all baptisms in a month. Our Zone’s highest is 7 so that is our goal. Each set of Companions will be expected to get one baptism to meet the goal. We're hoping with the new people that we have coming up, we'll be able to meet that goal for next month and if not then the month after. Wednesday was pretty normal, finding and contacting potentials, a Stake missionary correlation meeting and that was about it. Thursday it rained for the first time in November so we did basically the same as Wednesday except we did our best to dodge the rain storms. That night we went over a member’s house and had a big Thanksgiving feed. It was really good, honestly. It was mostly organic, heaps of food, and then heaps of dessert. It was a good Thanksgiving but not the same a back home, lol. Friday was our planning day but as it turned out we had to teach a couple of lessons so planning didn't really happen. It was Friday when we found the promising potentials so it was a good lead into the weekend. Saturday we did our planning and then tried to visit and find people. We also tried to get things coordinated for one of our investigators to get to church. Sunday was good. We were expecting more people at church but most didn't make it. We'll get them next week though. We did get another referral which was exciting. As it turned out she's an American lady in about her 70's. She is a little crazy but that is nothing new for missionaries.

Well that was my week in a nut shell. We're thinking about going to a Ginger factory today so that should be fun. Since we have transfers next week, I don’t know if I’ll be writing Monday or Tuesday, so yeah, just a heads up. Thanks for messages. Love you heaps. Have a great week.

Elder Hatch

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Week November 21, 2011

Hey Family,

I hope things are going well for you. Thanks for the emails.

It has been a really fast week. We've been here and there and everywhere which has been fun but all good. Monday we went to the Big Pineapple but it was closed so we just took pictures by it and all. After that we went on a hike to a waterfall so that was fun it was cool to get into the bush and to just do like a nature hike kind of thing. We don’t get to do that enough. I took heaps of pictures just for the heck of it. Tuesday was busy; we got a referral, a 25 year-old Thai girl. She is Buddhist and doesn't speak perfect English so the teaching is going slow but she's really nice and we hope she continue to progress. Wednesday we had a leadership meeting in Brisbane so we caught the train down there.



It was good but a heap of travel. Thursday we traveled an hour up to Gympie and then another hour and a half up the Hervey Bay(whale watch capital of the world). for a District Meeting and then back and then we had a trade-off. It was a busy day and was good fun. It really makes you realize just how big the (Brisbane) Mission is. Driving 4 hours one way and still being in our Zone it’s unbelievable. Good times though. Friday was a heap of planning and Saturday we worked on training for this coming week. We did some missionary work as well. After school year 12 here ends and the kids graduate they have a week of crazy parties which they call "schoolies". Since we live on the beach in the heart of tourist beach bum center they're everywhere this week. It is not as bad as I make it out to be but it is worse than normal, lol. All good though.

I will be having a Thanksgiving dinner. One of the members has invited us over specifically for that. We're excited. They're pretty well off and all organic as well so it should be a treat. It'll be a fun night. It looks to be a good week with a heap of missionary work to be done. We need to find more people to teach.

It’s already week 5 of 6 so transfers are already coming up. I’m not sure if I'll be here for Christmas but I hope so. This next transfer a big rugby league celebrity is coming into the mission and he could be coming up here. I've linked an “I-am-Mormon” video of him to the email. He seems like a really cool guy but I reckon it'll be interesting, to say the least, if he does come into our Zone. The Mission President has be saying that he doesn't want to send him to the city so who know what will happen. Even non-members know him and that he's coming here.

http://mormon.org/me/6TDH/

Thanks for the messages. Love you. Colin, send me a email and tell me how Thanksgiving break is going. Talk to you next week.

Elder Hatch


Sunday, November 13, 2011

November 14, 2011

Hey family,

It has been a crazy week but I’m exciting that it is our P-day again. Glad to hear from y’all today. It sounds like it has been a pretty interesting week by the sounds of things. I hope your guests (Shan and baby Anya) are doing ok. I hope the whole adoption process goes ok and everything works out. Good to hear about the LaFerney’s doing a marathon, wow.

This week was busy; Tuesday we had a trade off with the Nambour Elders during which time we did mostly service so all and all it was a fun day. Wednesday was pretty normal. We visited heaps of people and got a lot done. Thursday we had the AP's drive up from Brisbane for trade-offs and a district meeting but we locked the keys to the flat, and chapel in the boot of the car, so yeah, that made for and interesting morning but it worked out in the end. Friday we had weekly planning and we had to get the car serviced and a new "back up" key cut for the car. All up it cost a whopping $500. That was interesting. Saturday we had another trade-off with Nambour except this time I went to Nambour with was interesting. Nambour is kind of a redneck town, off the beaten path, but we got a good deal done and it was a good day. We've actually taught some lesson this week which was excited so hopefully we will keep that trend going. The AP's want us to have a baptismal date by the end of the week to be an example to the rest of the Zone so we'll be doing that.

Yeah to answer your questions about last week photo, yes, that guy in the photo is my companion, Elder Huysmans from New Zealand. The burger was very big as you can see. It took ages to eat it but the record is 5:50 min. All I can say is that is a pretty crazy record. The combined list of ingredients are... two massive Aussie hamburger patties-they weren't just straight beef--and they had other seasoning in them that made it more of a rich taste that made it hard to eat as well, then two eggs, beet root, cheese, "ham", like you saw, but it really Aussie Bacon or basically Canadian Bacon as we know it, lettuce, tomato and yeah, that is all I can remember off the top of my head. It cost $18 for the thing but I reckon it was worth it for the experience. lol. To eat it, I first attempted to do the classic pick it up and eat it but that ended quickly as it kind of started to fall apart. The meat is so filling and after eating that much food it really is a challenge to keep eating more. The way I had to go at it was basically working on eating the meat until it got to be too much and then taking a break by eating the veggies or the bun, which goes done a little easier and keeps your mouth from going dry. ha ha. It is a little sad but it was all good fun at the end of the day.

I was thinking about Christmas stuff and one thing I would appreciate and need most is some ties. I got a couple new ones in the last year but I'm getting sick of them. I prefer polyester because it holds up better in the humidity but silk is ok too. That and maybe some more music just as long as the lyric are missionary appropriate.



We're going to the Big Pineapple today and hoping that will be fun. We should have a good picture to send you next week. It is definitely getting warmer here. It has been close to the 30's (Celsius) this week but with the sea breeze here it is a lot nicer than you'd think.

Thanks for everything, love you.

Elder Hatch

Monday, November 7, 2011

November 7, 2011


Hey,

Glad to hear from you. I only have 10 or 20 minutes to write all my emails so I’ll have to be fast. The week has been busy and we've had several training sessions during the course of the week along with Stake Conference sessions, so a lot going on. Today for P-day we did a little shopping and had a huge burger at this place called Rick’s Burger. The burger was massive and it took like 30 minutes to eat it. It was literally the size of my head. Hope the picture I attached gets though. We have a dinner tonight and I'm not too keen on eating anything. I guess I'll live all the same.

I've just finished the BOM again and now I’m starting Jesus the Christ and the New Testament again. I'm excited about digging into something different.

We’ve got a busy week coming up; 3 trade-offs (with other sets of Elders) planned and who knows what else going on. The week after that will be much the same as well. I guess that's the life of a missionary…

We don’t have Daylight Savings time. The sun just comes up here at like 5 am. It’s a nice way to wake up but it does mean the sun goes down earlier. We're getting fed ok, but not that much, so I'm going to have to start experimenting with things to find some quick, easy, and cheap meals that work for me but I'll figure things out. lol.

I’m doing good…really wish I had more time to write but I gotta go. Thanks for the emails. Love you.

Elder Hatch