January 11, 2012

Hey everyone,

It has been a long week. With P-Day being on Wednesday it takes a little bit extra of a push to get through but it was good. We didn't find a ride to go to the Temple (in Brisbane) but maybe next transfer.

(Below is a link to the Google Earth image of Kiefer's current flat. It will start out blurry but it takes some time to download all of the image, so be patient. How cool is it to actually see where he is living?!)


View Larger Map

The week has been busy. Our flat has a pretty good yard to it, right and, the grass grows quite a bit when you just leave to grow, plus the rain and things too. Needless to say, our lawns were very overgrown and they needed to be cut. The real estate was nice enough to drop a little note that let us know we were in break of the lease agreement and we needed to cut the lawns. They were quite overgrown and it took us a good deal of time to get it under control and then some more time to get the edges cut. We really don’t have any equipment to cut it so finding a mower was fun. We got two mowers originally but as it turned out when we got them home neither worked. We had to call someone to come help us and he got one running but we still had quite a bit of lawn to cut. It was a big job. The flat in Laidley, probably the one with the white Corolla parked in front, on the lawn...the car isn't there (on Google Earth)…but you can see (the picture of) Jesus in the window. Funny thing, they had us take down the Jesus (pictures) in the flats for safety reasons…lol.

The flat is so dirty right now. This Saturday is deep clean. I'm keen to get it fixed up. The last two days have been scorchers it was 40 Celsius (100+ Fahrenheit) on Monday and about the same yesterday. We did what we could to stay out of the sun but we only have so many people to visit. I've been putting on sunscreen everyday though so no worries. I really don’t want to get burnt. Our flat has a/c but previous missionaries have lost the remote that controls the whole system so we can only turn it on and can’t adjust the settings at all. We'll be investing in a replacement remote ASAP...lol. It is hot! It’s supposed to be raining in the next couple of days, so that will, at least, make it cooler if anything. This last Sunday was good though we actually were really busy. My Companion had to give a blessing. After church we taught a random nonmember that was there and then gave him a blessing of comfort. We were leaving church when we were asked to give another blessing for sickness. Then we had to travel 30 minutes to have a lesson with an actual family that didn't fall though!!!! It was shocking. Honestly. But really it was a great blessing. They seem relatively interested and it was quite exciting. Sadly these were the first real sit-down lessons we've taught to a nonmember since I’ve been here but that’s life. We are hoping things will work out with these people.

Transfers are next week. My companion might be leaving so P-Day will be on Tuesday next week, just to give you a heads up. I hate change I’ve got to say. It will be a busy week to come. We have meals most days so that is great. Other than that, there is not much to report.

I haven't gotten any more packages but maybe I will tomorrow at interviews with (the Mission) President. Happy Birthday Colin and dad; I hope you get to do something special for the day. Love you all and talk to you next week.

Elder Hatch