Mt. Isa

Mt. Isa

Thursday, June 28, 2012

June 24, 2012

Hey family,

It was good to hear from you. I’m glad to hear the trip has gone well and that things are going well for everyone. Far out, I can’t believe your papers are almost already done Colin.  I'm really excited for you.  It'll be a great experience for you. You'll learn a lot. I hope it isn't too weird being back at home with the Family.  I'm sure it will be good to see your friends.

Hey just got your email Colin! I’m glad you’re doing well.   Don’t worry about your Mission papers taking ages. The turnaround is pretty fast for domestic and most foreign calls you'll be leaving in 2 or 3 month tops. That’s just what I've gathered or I’m guessing more like but whatever. Hang in there. Thanks for the email man.


This last week was another week that was about normal nothing too crazy or out of the blue happening or going on. Tuesday we had a Zone blitz in our area which was nice. It got us heaps of tracting hours and several potential investigators as well to work with in the coming weeks.  Hopefully we'll start teaching someone out of those potentials found. Wednesday we did finding most of the day and contacted potentials and people on the Ward list that we didn't know. It was good. Thursday we did our weekly planning which took a while. Friday we had interviews with Mission President which went well.  My companion is still shook up a bit from the anti-mormon guy so it helped him to talk to the President about it. Plus it was good opportunity for me to talk to the other Missionaries too. The training was good and it was a good motivator to work harder. For dinner we had a Tongan family feeding us and they took us to Hungry Jacks. My Companion and I both got large sized Whoppers with chips and drinks and smashed those.  Then, the next minute they came back with another round of Whoppers and chips and we smashed that round too. It was a lot of food, honestly, and since it was fast food it doesn't sit too well. It is kind of like a challenge, you put that much food in front of me fine I'm going to find a home for it. Lucky we didn't have anything to do after that. Island people just kind of have the mentality of the more the Missionaries eat, the more blessings we receive, which is true I'm sure, to a point. It was fun; we haven't done that in a couple of weeks. 

Saturday we went to a baptism of an 8 year old we've been teaching and which was good and then went on a bit of a road trip to our dinner which was in the bush a bit but turned out to be quite good. It was at a place called Mt. Tambourine North. We're going back up there to a Glow Worm cave and then we might cause trouble somewhere else in the meantime.  I'm thinking about getting a USB powered portable hard drive but not sure if it will happen. I'm looking at a 750 GB one for $89 or a 2T one for $135 but not sure if I'll get to the store before the sale goes off. I'll ponder upon it and see how it goes. It would be mostly for pictures and music so I can back everything up. I see though.  

This Sunday is transfers.  I’m not sure what will happen honestly. I'm hoping our flat doesn't get changed but I'm thinking it will despite the good time. I'll be emailing Tuesday sometime. We'll see how it goes. Elder Sin got his trunky call this last week. The office is setting up his flight details home. Thanks for everything.  Love you very much. Hope you have a great week and have a safe trip to Camp Pioneer (Scout camp). Talk to you next week.

Elder Hatch

June 18, 2012

Hey Family,

Good to hear from you and its good Colin has left the institution without too much trouble. Colin you should send me an email. Let me know what you’re up to. It’s been ages. Hope you’re doing well and the transition to home life is not too much of a shock. It'll be weird living with two old folks again. You'll have to see if you can outrun dad. All the same though. Glad you’re doing well. I'm excited for you. Hope you’re feeling better dad and the trainings go well. With all the experience you have now that should be right up your alley. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa you are an inspiration.




Well P-day has come fast this time round. I love having the shorter weeks. It’s weird. Not much has happened in the last couple of days. The work goes on as normal. The weather has been nice and sunny, not too hot, not too cold. It’s been good. In the coming week we have a good deal of things going on. Tuesday the District is all coming to our area for about two hours to do a finding blitz in our area. That’s how they do it down here I guess. That will be interesting. Hopefully we'll get some good potentials out of it.  We can only hope so…get some more lessons going.  Friday we have interviews with Mission President which will be good. Saturday the other Missionaries have a baptism going so we'll invite people to that and hopefully it will be a good experience for them. We might be getting mini Missionaries that will follow us around for a week. That’s always different. 

Someone said they had a pretty good hail storm in Texas somewhere but I guess since you are pretty far from there and the cars are in the garage there’s not much to worry about....oh the truck. Sad Face.


(June 13 hail storm in Lakewood area of Dallas)


Have fun in AZ and at the Grand Canyon. Take some pictures. Drive safe. Love you much and miss you all. Send everyone my love. Talk to you later next week. 

Elder Hatch 

June 13, 2012


Hey Family,

It has been a long week and I'm glad that it is P-day. We've had a good day so far, hopefully that will get the rest of the week moving in the right direction too. This last week has been interesting. I'm not sure how to describe it much more than that. It has rained a good deal and so being on bike a good deal makes more drama.  We've been working all the same but still it can be difficult. We had a special Zone Training which was uplifting and was a good time. We're trying to get to know people still and get the area figured out. We actually had an interesting experience, I think it was Tuesday. We were biking across our area and this younger guy in his mid-30's stopped us on the street and had us come by to his house. We went over later that day and he was very nice for the most part. As it turned out though, he was an American from Atlanta. He said he was "searching" for truth but it was clear very quickly that he was more testing and proving religion rather than seeking with sincerity and real intent. We got Anti-d pretty hard. It is always a fun experience I have to say. It’s sad though how some people refuse to take their questions to God and get beyond the little details. Through it all though we really emphasized the importance of receiving a testimony first and then knowledge of the Gospel, as opposed to blind faith or fact finding and/or the scientific method. It is faith not science.  That was my interesting event this week. Not all that uplifting but it was a learning and testimony building experience. 

Today for P-day we actually didn't get to go to the Temple, unfortunately.  We'll have to miss it this transfer and go next one.  Instead we went fishing this morning. We went closer to the ocean but the wind was blowing like crazy so it made thinks more difficult. Nevertheless we caught a heap of fish. We were just using prawns on hooks with some weights. We were getting little brim mostly and some other flavor but not sure what. They weren't much bigger than my hand but a fish all the same. I took one of them and put a bigger hook and tried using it as bait for a bigger fish but no luck. It was fun. Next week someone said some species of fish will be running so it will be good fishing but I really just don’t know. We will see. In the coming week we don't have much going yet but we'll push through. We'll be doing Tim-Tam slams with the new Elder this week. It'll be good fun.  Next week maybe we will do Peachies. (?)  IDK.

Congratz Colin on making it through (Spring session at BYU). I bet it feels good to be almost done. I think the day or night I walked out of taking my last test in the testing center in any given semester was one of the greatest reliefs during my time at school. Good enough to order heaps of pizza and have a party. Good time. Hope your last tests go well if they're not done already. Good work all the same. It’s not easy.  Thanks for everything.  Love you all.  Talk to you Monday.


Elder Hatch

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

June 4, 2012


Hey family, 

The days have been very interesting this week. Monday night we got another missionary added to our companionship.  Neither Elder Sin nor I were very keen on it and he (the new Elder) was a bit of a know it all too, which didn't help, but we adjusted over the next 4 days. Right as we were getting used to it they moved him again. Our flat houses 4 missionaries normally. It has two bedroom and we sleep in the living room, the extra Elder made it quite tight. He moved out Friday so we are back to normal.

It rained literally all week long. It was interesting at times and we were on the bikes for most of the week. We got soaked several times. It was fun all the same. Once again I was glad to have my coat. I got to finally see and meet the new Ward at Church this last Sunday which was good just to see the overall dynamics and the different characters. It seems like an older Ward with fewer young families and youth. There are quite a few people that look like they've been there in the Ward for 100's of years and the recent move-ins look to be from New Zealand. It’s interesting. I'm sure things will only get better. There really aren't too many Oriental Elders in the Mission but during the last 6 months we have been getting heaps more. The goal for the Area Presidency is to have the Pacific Area self-sufficient as far as missionaries go. That is so they don’t have to bring in heaps of American. We have several Chinese Elders, one each from Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia, a couple from the Philippines, a group from South Africa, then of course the Islanders and Kiwi's (New Zealand).  It is a crazy mix.   The membership of my new area is made up mostly of middle to upper class Aussies and Kiwi's.  We have been getting fed really well though so that's been great. The other missionaries that flat with us are good too. We get along pretty well. It’s good to have that flat unity.
  
We didn't have a Temple trip this week but we will next week on either Tuesday or Wednesday so our P-day won’t be until then unfortunately.  Today we're going to go on a big hike to a waterfall in Springbrook National Park. The water should be flowing quite well with all the rain we have had in the last week. It’s going to be fun, I'm excited about it. I'll take some pictures and send those next week. 


It's really exciting to hear that you are starting your Mission papers Colin. As you prepare yourself temporally and spiritually, involve the Lord in all that you do.  This is something that you'll be helping others to do on a regular basis as well as for yourself.  Don't put off doing the basics like prayer, scripture study and attending Church until you get your call.  Start now and it will make the transition between normal life and Mission life easier.  Not to mention, you'll be a more effective Missionary too.  Enough of a soap box for now.  Work hard.  We'll talk before too very long. 

Elder Hatch