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