August 14, 2012

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the emails. They’re great as always. I do enjoy them. It sounds as if thing have been very busy for you and that Colin’s mission prep is going well too. The pictures of the hike look pretty cool dad I have to say. It sounds like it was a great trip. The terrain looks beautiful.  Too bad the fishing wasn't better

Congratz again Colin!  I can hardly believe you will be coming here. It has been cool to tell the members that you'll be coming here as well.  Keep studying your Scriptures and Preach My Gospel and preparing yourself.  You know that though... I’m excited for you.  

This last week has been pretty good. It has gone by fast which was good. We had a family that was shifting in the Ward that we had to help and some other service with our investigator that helped to move things along too. That was great. This last weekend we had deep clean which, as you know, I love.  It was good to get the flat all cleaned out. Transfers have been crazy as they normally are. My companion and one of the other missionaries in our flat got transferred which was sad, once again change comes upon us. I wish I could have killed Elder Sin off, but sadly I won’t get to. The funny thing is he's gone into a small area full of Polynesians in a 3-way with two Samoans that are huge.  Elder Sin is a short Asian. It was a big joke at transfers. My companion now is very green and is fresh from Fiji. He's a big built guy. It’s kind of intimidating to say the least.  It will be a trying transfer I reckon. It will be interesting. He's not a greeny but he's only been out 3 month so he's still very much in Island mode and I’m his first palangi (white) companion.  It will be an experience for both of us. We have another greeny coming into the flat to be trained so life is going to change in the flat to be sure. As always please keep me in your prayers as I know you do. I'm very grateful for the support that you give me and for you great examples to me too. I can’t say thank you enough. 

We went fishing this week.  We went to the ocean and fished off a boat dock.  We caught a heap of little fish. We didn't throw them back but just chucked them in a bucket. Over here they have really big pelicans and a couple of them were flying around close.  We got one's attention and it came down. As we caught a fish, we’d take it off the line and then throw the fish right into the pelican’s mouth. It was a fun sight to see and fun to do. I wish I would have gotten some pictures but I didn't have my camera on me. It was cool and was a fun experience.

Thanks for everything again. I miss you all heaps. Love you much and will talk to you next week.

Elder Hatch

August 6, 2012

Hey,

Australia Adelaide!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!! Congratz man far out as I was opening the email I was pretty nervous. Wow. Far out that’s great. You’re coming to Australia!!! That is awesome. I'm so excited for you. I don’t know what to say exactly. It’s too bad you won’t be going to Mongolia or someplace like that but the Adelaide Mission has some crazy places let me tell you. I've talked to a number of missionaries that have served there and it’s definitely very different. Especially as you go up north into the Northern Territory. Far out that is so exciting. I'm really glad for you. It will definitely be a great experience for you. I don’t know what to say. It’s great that you don’t leave for a little while that will give you some good time to get your passport and visa and everything else lined up before you head out. It will be good to see you at Thanksgiving too. Wow. I'm sure you're very relieved mum and happy about the call. I was a little worried to that you'd get sent someplace not nice but that’s great. I'm happy for you. I'm collecting some souvenirs so next week or the week after I'll send them home in a package or something that or I might just keep them and bring them with me on the plane. IDK…lol…crazy.... I'll tell one of my crazy companions from there the lookout for you Colin. More likely you'll prolly bump into him, lol. Wow. 

My week was fast which was great. We picked up a couple of new investigators and had a couple of good lessons where we actual got to share the gospel which was great. Today we went to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary (http://www.cws.org.au/) we got to feed and pet the kangaroos.  I got some good pictures and it was heaps of fun. It has been a good week and with today it made it even better. 

We will have transfers in the coming week.  I’m not sure what will happen. It will be and interesting couple of months all the same. Thanks for the emails. Have a good trip dad and vacation. I know you have fun. Love you all. I'm very excited for you Colin. At least someone will understand what I’m talking about. Until next week on Tuesday or Wednesday…bye…

Elder Hatch 

Another Mission

On Thursday, August 2^nd, Colin received his Mission Call.  He didn't open the call (or tell anyone else he had it) until Saturday. Needless to say, he was very happy with the call when he finally opened it. 

Colin has been called to serve in the Australia Adelaide Mission.  He will enter the MTC on December 19, 2012.

The Australia Adelaide Mission is located in the center of Australia, covering the middle 1/3 of the continent (from Darwin in the Northern Territory to Mount Gambier at the far bottom of South Australia, a distance equivalent to that of Detroit to Mexico City), and is one of the largest (geographically) missions in the world.  The upper portion of the Adelaide Mission is adjacent to the Australia Brisbane Mission (Kiefer’s mission).  

July the Last 2012

Hey Family,

Sorry about the delay on the email for the week. Our last P-day was crazy. It was really good to hear from you.  You all sound great. I'm excited for you Colin. I thought you would have your call by this week but I guess not until next week. Hang in there.

This last week has been about like normal but then busy at times which has been nice. We got to do a lot of service during the week for the non-member lady that I told you about last week. She really appreciated it and is having us back tomorrow.  We hope to share a lesson with her. That was an exciting development in the last week. We also talked to a less active family that wants to start trying to get back to Church and that have an 8 year old that need Baptism so we'll be teaching them and helping them to get back to Church. We also got a good referral that we hope to start teaching soon. This weekend was good and promising for future success in this area. That’s a good place to be. Yeah. That’s a little bit about what is going on here. Last P-day we actually went down to Tweed Heads which is about 40 km's down the Gold Coast. A member took us down there and we spent most of the day fishing in rivers that feed into the ocean. We saw some cool sights and caught about a dozen fish. Elder Sin took them home and fried them up and now is working through them. It was a really fun P-day; very tiring and long but very fun. It was a good experience. It was so much better than playing sports for 4 hours straight.

I'm doing pretty good I guess. Elder Sin goes home in about 2 month so we're very close to the same age mission wise. We're trying not to get too trunky, as you do. Transfers are the 14th of August. I'm not sure what will happen. I have two transfers left and Elder Sin has 1 so I’m not sure if we'll stay together one more for me to kill him off and then I die the one after or if one of us will move. It’s hard to say. Time flies, but I tell you, sometime it can crawl.  It will work out though. 

Love you heaps thanks for everything you do for me. Let me know if I can do anything for you. I'll tell Elder Sin hi from you. Enjoy the Olympics we hear a lot about it. Thanks for your emails. Talk to you next week.

Elder Hatch