Warwick, Queensland, Australia

Warwick is a town in Queensland, Australia, lying 130 kilometres (81 mi) south-west of Brisbane. It is the administrative centre of the Southern Downs Local Government Area. In 2006 the town of Warwick had a population of 12,562. The surrounding Darling Downs have fostered a strong agricultural industry for which Warwick, together with the larger city of Toowoomba, serve as convenient service centres. Warwick is situated on the Condamine River.

Mean max temp: 24.2 °C 76 °F
Mean min temp: 10.8 °C 51 °F
Annual rainfall: 692.1 mm 27.2 in

Referred to as the 'Rose and Rodeo City', Warwick was established in 1849, the town is now the centre for the surrounding region famous for its horse and cattle studs and fine wool.

August 2 (post transfer)

Hey,

Yeah it’s me and it is Tuesday afternoon. This is my P-day now that I've just been transferred and my Comp has to do emails so I thought I'd explain just a little bit of my journeys over the last 24 hours or so.

The flight down to Brisbane was good. It seemed a lot faster than I remembered the flight up. The sights out of the plane were awesome. Everything was very dry and dead. I even saw a couple of wild fires burning which was cool. I got to the airport and chilled in Brisbane airport for about an hour before the ZL's (Zone Leaders) picked me up and took me to other missionaries that I'd be staying the night with. We had a chill night. There were four of us running together for the afternoon and the Senior Comp (home bound) of the area had been there 9 months so he had a good number of goodbyes to say. On top of that he hadn't packed...the bad thing was we didn't get back to the flat until like 10pm and then he literally packed until 2am so none of us got any sleep really. I think I got about 1 hour of sleep last night. It was tough. We went to Transfer meeting today which was interesting. There are 17 missionaries going home and 12 coming in this transfer so that’s a really big transfer. There were so many people there. As it turns out I have been re-assigned to a small town called Warick about 2 hours west of Brisbane. It was really weird being back in the big city so I'm comforted slightly that I get to go back out in the country. I'll still have the same challenges but it'll be good. The area has been closed for the last 6 months so we have a good deal to do to pick up things and get it running properly. It is a good little town; we have a car so it should be a good time. Once again, it is a very small town so we'll prolly be biking a fair bit. All good though. I need to shape up. My Comp luckily is quite experience and has served in the area previously about a year ago. It'll be fun, I hope. Unfortunately I've kind of been running on adrenaline for the last day and haven't had anything to eat to I'm a little knackered. On top of that we have to clean the freezer. The last set of Missionaries left food in there and turned the fridge off so there are heaps of maggots in there and it smell awful to say the least. Some missionaries are just shocking I can't explain.

It will be good experience I reckon. The members here are great already and we haven't been here a day yet.

Well my Comp is ready to go. It was good to email you and at least to let you know I got to my new area safe and sound. Tomorrow we have to drive back into the city for a training but all is good. Thanks for everything I'll let you know my address later went we decide if we're moving or not. Love you. TTYL

Elder Hatch

August 1

Hey,

Luckily I get to email this week. The big news is that I did get a call Friday. I'm going back down to Brisbane. I won’t know exactly where I'm going until Tuesday but I could be anywhere. It'll be interesting to say the least. It’s weird to be in the limbo and not have anywhere that is yours. Friday night we got the call and I started packing. Saturday morning we picked up Elder Dahl, my replacement, from the airport, showed him around town and cleaned the flat for “deep clean”. It was good fun. Our flat is about the size of the kitchen back home with a small bedroom off to the side so it was a little more cozy with the extra Elder there but it was good time all the same. Elder Dahl's a good guy and he'll do well here in Isa I reckon. It’s weird after being here so long to be finally leaving but at the same time it’s good to move on. Some days it feels like I've been here for ages while other times it feels like I just got off the plane. It's been an interesting journey to say the least. I'm looking forward to going to the temple in the next transfer. It’s really been a blessing to get to go to the temple once a transfer and now I'm missing it after being up here for 6 month. I always think it could be worse though. Some Elders are up- north for 9 months at a time. It’s different to say the least. Being in the city is going to be shocking I’m sure. Too many people...people everywhere. lol.

Right now we're in the library in Mt. Isa. I've packed all my stuff in the car and shortly, following doing emails, they'll be taking me to the airport to fly back down to Brisbane. Not going to lie, I’m a little bummed about not being able to take the 26 hour bus ride, but it is all good.

Thanks for the email Colin glad to hear you’re doing well and that things are going good for you. Enjoy your last week at school before the holidays and keep pushing through finals. That’s always a stressful time of the school year but it really feels good to have it done after you get out of that last test. Honestly. I was just telling my Comp how some weekends I'd get a massive pizza from Papa Johns and just go to town on that as a reward for finishing all those tests. Man the pizza over here is shocking...it is like all thin crust and most regular pizzas are like 8 inch with not very many toppings. It’s sad. I miss good pizza lol.

Well got to get headed to my flight pretty soon. I'm a little nervous but I guess what's new? Thanks for everything and for the support and kind words…talk to you soon. Love you.

Elder Hatch

Vegemite

What is Vegemite?

Vegemite is considered as much a part of Australia's heritage as kangaroos and the Holden cars. It is actually an Australian obsession that has become a unique and loved symbol of the Australian nation. A Vegemite sandwich to an Australian kid is the equivalent of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to an American kid - but the taste is QUITE different!

Vegemite is one of several yeast extract spreads sold in Australia. It is made from leftover brewers' yeast extract (a by-product of beer manufacture) and various vegetable and spice additives. It is very dark reddish-brown, almost black, in color, and one of the richest sources known of Vitamin B. It's thick like peanut butter, it's very salty, and it tastes like - well let's just say that it is an acquired taste!

Australian children are brought up on Vegemite from the time they're babies. It is said that Australians are known to travel all over the world with at least one small jar of Vegemite in their luggage, for fear that they will not be able to find it.

July 25th

Hey,

Things are going well here. The last week was good. We stayed fairly busy and things went pretty smoothly. We have an older lady name Sister Spath in the branch who is almost 80 and who we visit regularly. She's from Germany originally but has lived here in Mt. Isa for ages. She a single sister but lives with another branch member named Bro. Aria who is almost 70 and is a for them. They are really good to us and just fun people to talk to and visit with. Anyway her daughter from Canada has been in town and they are leaving for a couple of months to go to Canada on vacation and work in the Cardstone temple. All the members of the Branch wished her well and we even had a photo session…lol. We've really enjoyed them and we'll miss them while they are on vacation.

Over the course of the week we had some cool stuff happen. Tuesday we were walking down the street and this inactive member that we didn't even know existed came out and invited us to dinner with they're family. They were basically like cowboys that normally work out in the middle of nowhere raising livestock but they're in town for a little while and so yeah. Good people and it was a good deal of fun to get to know them and what not. We even had a couple of random invites which was a little unusual. It’s funny at times when we knock on someone’s door and they say come in. They usually don’t know who we are and so it kind of an interesting situation. Still it’s weird all the same to have people invite us in on the spot because that never happens and I have to ask yourself sometimes...what is the angle...



Other than that it has been pretty normal. Not much going on the rodeo is starting here in a couple of weeks so the town’s population will prolly explode when that goes down. We had like 50 people at church this Sunday which was crazy and just unheard of for the most part. That was really cool. Sadly though the senior couple get cold easy and like it warm so it was very very warm though out sacrament meeting and most of the other meetings as well. Got to do something about that one…

A big thing they have going on down here is the rugby world cup just this last weekend, the Walabies played South Africa, so that was big. Everyone over here loves their rugby. Good times though.

I'm mailing off a package today...not really sure what’s all going to be in it but I have a gift someone gave me, some Tim Tams (chocolate cookies) and some Vegimite so far so yeah, I prolly find some other stuff to go in there and send that to you today. Enjoy. Hopefully nothing gets removed at customs.

Elder Hatch

July 18th

Hey,

Thanks for the emails it’s good to hear from you as always.
I liked the picture of the dust storm in the valley, which sounds pretty cool. I bet it was a lot to clean up though. The pictures of the b-day (Grandma Guttery’s) party were great and everyone is looking really good.




I'm glad you found some Ginger Beer (soft drink) and tried it. It is definitely an acquired taste. I think I had it my first transfer here and then about three months later and I was hooked after that. Yeah, definitely give it another try, make sure it is well chilled and invert the bottle a couple of times… lol. I really enjoy it. A fun thing that the missionaries do here is called the peachy dance. You get a Bunderberg Peachy, like you saw at the store, and then after you try it you do a dance the mimics how you like it or dislike it. You should get some of that too. It is really very nice. I liked that one much better at first than the ginger beer at first. Try it and see what you think. It taste like a peach pie in a liquid form its good. They sell the ginger beers in a box of 10 and we've gotten a couple of those and gone through them over the last couple of months.

It sounds like it is very hot back home. I'm just glad it’s not that bad up here right now. It’s been in the teens, Celsius, in Brisbane and that’s pretty chilly so I’m not so keen about that now. It’s been nice here (Mt. Isa) and even on the warms side of things in the last week but it’s all good, the heat is not always bad.

Ha ha...Dad you’re getting trunky! (tired of being Bishop) That’s funny. You've done a good job though and you'll be missed I'm sure. They'll find something else fun for you to do so don't worry about that. That’s kind of how the church works lol.

We've had to start a miracle book to record ...daily our miracles. I'm not too keen on doing it, honestly, but we’ve been doing it and it is good to see the little ways the Lord has help us and strengthen us in the missionary work. I've been driving a little here and there with the senior couple's car but not too much whenever we go somewhere with them I'm the driver so that’s nice but we've still been biking a good deal as well. Transfer will be soon and I should be moving. I don’t know right now if I'll get flown down or take the bus. I'm not sure if I have a choice I think they just book whichever one is cheaper at the time. But since I flew up I might be busing down as well. It’s hard to say. I hope I get to bus down. It would be an interesting experience even if it was a painful one. I reckon. I won’t know for sure until I I'm either in Brisbane on the first or second of August or here in Isa. Either way it’s all good. The Rodeo is coming to Mt. Isa next month and things are about to get real crazy lol.

The week has been a slow one compared to last week the potentials we contacted and taught last week, fell through on the return appointments and our normal investigator were busy so we did some good finding for the week. Fun stuff. This week will be better though. I enjoy it here and it’s a good place but it can be hard. Studies are going well I feel like I'm learning a lot about the gospel and what not and that good.

Thanks for the emails and for the uplifting words. Love you; I'll talk to you next week.


Elder Hatch

Week June 13

Hey,

It was a pretty good week. We spent a good deal of time getting ready for preparing our investigator, Tia for the baptism and what not. We did the program and cleaned the chapel and font out. It was fun. The baptism went well, we had a great turn out for the baptism and it went great. Needless to say it was rather stressful to say the least but it was great in the end. Funny thing was the baptism was a 1 pm, we ended up getting there a little b/f 11 am and font wasn't finished filling until quarter to 1 pm. Needless to say the hot water only lasted 45 min. Then when it was all filled the water in the font had a green color to it even though the font's tile was lined in blue tile. lol. I took a couple of picture of it. It went forward all the same and we're happy. The support of the members up here is amazing and honestly without their fellowship this baptism wouldn't have happened. They have just taken Tia in and it really is amazing to see. Just can't explain it.

To answer your question a Maori is the name of the race of native New Zealanders that live there before the white man or other islanders started to migrate there. In Mt. Isa we have a good deal of Maori people and even within our branch a good deal of Maori's members. They have mean feeds and are very good to us. It’s great.

The word "Dodgy" is one of those words we say a lot over here, at least as missionaries. A dodgy missionary would be someone who is not very obedient, don’t do as he told or something like that. I guess it could think of as something that’s shady or just not very good. People can be dodgy, a place or an environment can be dodgy- dangerous or not safe or even objects that aren't really in harmony with out believes or call i guess. It’s hard to explain.

There are of course heap of kangaroos out here in the bush but we don’t see them at all since we basically never even leave the outskirts of town. My companion said that when he was driving up here on the bus they literally hit 10 to 15 kangaroos in the greyhound bus. The buses have big bull bars on them or "roo wrestlers" and when the driver see's on near the road he speeds up so that when it jumps across the road it hit the side of the roo wrestlers and bounces off, otherwise the full weight of the roo can really batter up the bus and they can even get caught under the wheels the driver don’t stop for them needless to say. When I go back down they'll prolly send me on the bus and I'll be able to tell you all about it. At least in Brisbane all the roo lived on the golf courses and there would be a pack just lying off the edge of the fairway. It’s really funny to see.

Other than that not much goin. We've heard a lot about the pacific plate moving and so we're waiting for another massive earthquake over here lol. Supposed to be a big one in Indonesia soon but we’ll see. Thanks for the emails, drive safe, love you heaps.

Elder Hatch