Week December 6

Thank you so much for the emails. It is really so good to hear from all of you. Just from your emails it sounds like so much has changed over the last couple of week. It just blows mind to think about it if you know what I mean. I kind of still have the view of home life as when I left but, yeah, things are changing but it's all good.

In regards to (Uncle) Shorty, IDK if you remember but Sarah Vining from Azle, she is actually in the MTC right now and is headed to Washington State on her mission so that who they (Shorty & Nivla) met. That’s so cool; it is truly is a small world.

Colin you trip to Idaho (over Thanksgiving) sounded amazing. I'm very jealous of you. I’m glad you could have such a great time with your mates over the Thanksgiving holidays. Thanks for the great email Colin. It is good to hear from you. I know you’re busy and all though so all is good.

Well this last week has been very busy with heaps of change and adjustment and what not. This was the last week of the transfer and as it goes I got transferred again (Somerset Ward based in Plainland, Queensland, Australia). The beginning of the week wasn't too bad we just tried to follow people to find more people. Thursday we had a good District Meeting and then that evening, it rained, flat out. Friday we had to drive down to Brisbane for Zone Leader council which basically shot our day to piece. It was a really good council and some great training was given. Saturday was a deep clean day. The new flat was a mess from previous missionaries so we just went for it. I spent at least two hour in the bathroom on this and that and mostly the shower, and yeah. Needless to say it needed it. Sunday was good and church went well. We had two investigators there, which was good. After church we went to the investigators fellowship’s house and had a lesson. It went well but after the lesson the couple made a huge Samoan feed. It was so much food and we just had to eat and eat. You can’t say no to Islanders. It was probably the biggest feed I’ve had, or more so, the worst I've ever felt after a feed. We literally couldn't move off the couch and if we did we would have thrown up everywhere. It was bad but good all the same. I've been transferred to the Somerset area by Toowoomba kind of. It is bush as well. It will be an interesting change and definitely a learning experience.



Thanks so very much for the emails my time is very short but I’ll talk to you next week. Sorry I couldn't answer all your questions. I'll get to them once all the drama and change has passed. Love you very much and miss you heaps. I'm excited to talk to you in a couple of weeks.

Elder Hatch

November 28, 2011

Hey Family,

Thanks for the emails. It sound like it has been an eventful end of the week with dad getting released as Bishop. That is so exciting. Let me know who the replacement is and how things turn out. Write me a message Colin and tell me how Thanksgiving is going and what crazy stuff you’ve been up to. I love the talk (from Stake Conference) dad, it is really good. Thanks for forwarding that to me. We can now call home via Skype for Christmas so just to let you know that is probably how we’ll do the call home. I'm not sure about the detail regarding how it works or even when it'll be yet but just to give you a little heads up… My Comp's done it before so it won’t be a problem I reckon, unless I get transfer and then who knows, lol. I'm hoping I stay here for Christmas at least but it’s hard to say.

It has been a good week; long at times but good. We've found some promising potential investigators this last week so hopefully, in the next week; we'll help them progress a good deal. Two of them have basically said they'd seriously consider joining the church just from past experiences with missionaries, in one case, or the examples of members they know in the other. It’s really excited for all that to happen in just a couple of days. I feel very blessed to have these people to work with. It’s rare to have people that are actually cool having missionaries come over and visit. This is the last week of the transfer so who knows what will happen come next Sunday. We have a couple of people in the Zone that will be moving so we'll be going to transfers in Brisbane next week. Also we have to go down for a Zone Leader council this week so we'll be doing a little bit of traveling which isn't bad. It is a good drive and all.



Things are getting warm here. Luckily we have the ocean breeze to keep the temperatures down. I guess I'll do a week in review for you... Monday we basically shopped or window shopped most of the day and then went and got some ice cream by the beach. Tuesday we had a Zone Conference with the AP's and Mission President which was good. They talked a good deal about effective planning and keeping good records, they also announced the new mission goals for the coming year. Instead of focusing on overall baptisms we'll be working on trying to break the Zone’s record for over all baptisms in a month. Our Zone’s highest is 7 so that is our goal. Each set of Companions will be expected to get one baptism to meet the goal. We're hoping with the new people that we have coming up, we'll be able to meet that goal for next month and if not then the month after. Wednesday was pretty normal, finding and contacting potentials, a Stake missionary correlation meeting and that was about it. Thursday it rained for the first time in November so we did basically the same as Wednesday except we did our best to dodge the rain storms. That night we went over a member’s house and had a big Thanksgiving feed. It was really good, honestly. It was mostly organic, heaps of food, and then heaps of dessert. It was a good Thanksgiving but not the same a back home, lol. Friday was our planning day but as it turned out we had to teach a couple of lessons so planning didn't really happen. It was Friday when we found the promising potentials so it was a good lead into the weekend. Saturday we did our planning and then tried to visit and find people. We also tried to get things coordinated for one of our investigators to get to church. Sunday was good. We were expecting more people at church but most didn't make it. We'll get them next week though. We did get another referral which was exciting. As it turned out she's an American lady in about her 70's. She is a little crazy but that is nothing new for missionaries.

Well that was my week in a nut shell. We're thinking about going to a Ginger factory today so that should be fun. Since we have transfers next week, I don’t know if I’ll be writing Monday or Tuesday, so yeah, just a heads up. Thanks for messages. Love you heaps. Have a great week.

Elder Hatch

Week November 21, 2011

Hey Family,

I hope things are going well for you. Thanks for the emails.

It has been a really fast week. We've been here and there and everywhere which has been fun but all good. Monday we went to the Big Pineapple but it was closed so we just took pictures by it and all. After that we went on a hike to a waterfall so that was fun it was cool to get into the bush and to just do like a nature hike kind of thing. We don’t get to do that enough. I took heaps of pictures just for the heck of it. Tuesday was busy; we got a referral, a 25 year-old Thai girl. She is Buddhist and doesn't speak perfect English so the teaching is going slow but she's really nice and we hope she continue to progress. Wednesday we had a leadership meeting in Brisbane so we caught the train down there.



It was good but a heap of travel. Thursday we traveled an hour up to Gympie and then another hour and a half up the Hervey Bay(whale watch capital of the world). for a District Meeting and then back and then we had a trade-off. It was a busy day and was good fun. It really makes you realize just how big the (Brisbane) Mission is. Driving 4 hours one way and still being in our Zone it’s unbelievable. Good times though. Friday was a heap of planning and Saturday we worked on training for this coming week. We did some missionary work as well. After school year 12 here ends and the kids graduate they have a week of crazy parties which they call "schoolies". Since we live on the beach in the heart of tourist beach bum center they're everywhere this week. It is not as bad as I make it out to be but it is worse than normal, lol. All good though.

I will be having a Thanksgiving dinner. One of the members has invited us over specifically for that. We're excited. They're pretty well off and all organic as well so it should be a treat. It'll be a fun night. It looks to be a good week with a heap of missionary work to be done. We need to find more people to teach.

It’s already week 5 of 6 so transfers are already coming up. I’m not sure if I'll be here for Christmas but I hope so. This next transfer a big rugby league celebrity is coming into the mission and he could be coming up here. I've linked an “I-am-Mormon” video of him to the email. He seems like a really cool guy but I reckon it'll be interesting, to say the least, if he does come into our Zone. The Mission President has be saying that he doesn't want to send him to the city so who know what will happen. Even non-members know him and that he's coming here.

http://mormon.org/me/6TDH/

Thanks for the messages. Love you. Colin, send me a email and tell me how Thanksgiving break is going. Talk to you next week.

Elder Hatch

November 14, 2011

Hey family,

It has been a crazy week but I’m exciting that it is our P-day again. Glad to hear from y’all today. It sounds like it has been a pretty interesting week by the sounds of things. I hope your guests (Shan and baby Anya) are doing ok. I hope the whole adoption process goes ok and everything works out. Good to hear about the LaFerney’s doing a marathon, wow.

This week was busy; Tuesday we had a trade off with the Nambour Elders during which time we did mostly service so all and all it was a fun day. Wednesday was pretty normal. We visited heaps of people and got a lot done. Thursday we had the AP's drive up from Brisbane for trade-offs and a district meeting but we locked the keys to the flat, and chapel in the boot of the car, so yeah, that made for and interesting morning but it worked out in the end. Friday we had weekly planning and we had to get the car serviced and a new "back up" key cut for the car. All up it cost a whopping $500. That was interesting. Saturday we had another trade-off with Nambour except this time I went to Nambour with was interesting. Nambour is kind of a redneck town, off the beaten path, but we got a good deal done and it was a good day. We've actually taught some lesson this week which was excited so hopefully we will keep that trend going. The AP's want us to have a baptismal date by the end of the week to be an example to the rest of the Zone so we'll be doing that.

Yeah to answer your questions about last week photo, yes, that guy in the photo is my companion, Elder Huysmans from New Zealand. The burger was very big as you can see. It took ages to eat it but the record is 5:50 min. All I can say is that is a pretty crazy record. The combined list of ingredients are... two massive Aussie hamburger patties-they weren't just straight beef--and they had other seasoning in them that made it more of a rich taste that made it hard to eat as well, then two eggs, beet root, cheese, "ham", like you saw, but it really Aussie Bacon or basically Canadian Bacon as we know it, lettuce, tomato and yeah, that is all I can remember off the top of my head. It cost $18 for the thing but I reckon it was worth it for the experience. lol. To eat it, I first attempted to do the classic pick it up and eat it but that ended quickly as it kind of started to fall apart. The meat is so filling and after eating that much food it really is a challenge to keep eating more. The way I had to go at it was basically working on eating the meat until it got to be too much and then taking a break by eating the veggies or the bun, which goes done a little easier and keeps your mouth from going dry. ha ha. It is a little sad but it was all good fun at the end of the day.

I was thinking about Christmas stuff and one thing I would appreciate and need most is some ties. I got a couple new ones in the last year but I'm getting sick of them. I prefer polyester because it holds up better in the humidity but silk is ok too. That and maybe some more music just as long as the lyric are missionary appropriate.



We're going to the Big Pineapple today and hoping that will be fun. We should have a good picture to send you next week. It is definitely getting warmer here. It has been close to the 30's (Celsius) this week but with the sea breeze here it is a lot nicer than you'd think.

Thanks for everything, love you.

Elder Hatch

November 7, 2011

Hey,

Glad to hear from you. I only have 10 or 20 minutes to write all my emails so I’ll have to be fast. The week has been busy and we've had several training sessions during the course of the week along with Stake Conference sessions, so a lot going on. Today for P-day we did a little shopping and had a huge burger at this place called Rick’s Burger. The burger was massive and it took like 30 minutes to eat it. It was literally the size of my head. Hope the picture I attached gets though. We have a dinner tonight and I'm not too keen on eating anything. I guess I'll live all the same.

I've just finished the BOM again and now I’m starting Jesus the Christ and the New Testament again. I'm excited about digging into something different.

We’ve got a busy week coming up; 3 trade-offs (with other sets of Elders) planned and who knows what else going on. The week after that will be much the same as well. I guess that's the life of a missionary…

We don’t have Daylight Savings time. The sun just comes up here at like 5 am. It’s a nice way to wake up but it does mean the sun goes down earlier. We're getting fed ok, but not that much, so I'm going to have to start experimenting with things to find some quick, easy, and cheap meals that work for me but I'll figure things out. lol.

I’m doing good…really wish I had more time to write but I gotta go. Thanks for the emails. Love you.

Elder Hatch

October 31, 2011

Hey family,

Glad to hear from you. It sounds like things are going well for you. Yes, today is Halloween here but it is a pretty rainy day so not much going on. Yes, they do celebrate Halloween here but it is definitely not as big as it is in the States. Here, they already have Christmas decorations up in the Malls. It is a little scary and all. We even sang a Christmas song for Comp study last week. I wasn't too keen on that one but that’s how it goes I guess. It is that time of year...kind of. It has been a good week we've had a heap of changes in the Zone’s leadership so we have had a little bit of adjusting to do. Nothing too big though. My new Companion is good; he is a hard worker and wants to get things done. In the last week we've visited a good deal of Ward members and have done quite a bit of work it seems. We're co-Senior Comps and Zone Leaders so basically we're just supposed to just go for it. We are in the car full time now and, even though we have bikes, they haven't been used in at least 6 months in not longer. We're not really going to Brisbane as often as we did last transfer but we will have to go down there this week and next for trainings so that will be exciting of course. It is a good little drive and a good change of scenery. Other than that not a whole lot going on we're kind of in the phase where we don't have many people to teach so we'll be doing some good finding and hopefully get some people to teach.

We got the opportunity to do some service this week. It was good to get out of proselyting and do some service. Work is always good fun. It is looking like we'll get to do some service next week as well so I hope for the best.

Keep feeding the missionaries. I guess it is kind of like a lady said in our ward yesterday. She basically said that she knows as she feeds the Missionaries in the Ward, she knows that her son will get fed on his mission as well.

Keep working hard Colin. It'll start getting pretty cold (in Provo) in the next month or so. Be prepared for that. I reckon you prolly have a jacket but yeah it does get cold and wet when it snows. Good fun though. Dig in though, with your studies, you only have a couple more weeks before break so put in the time and then you get a little break. It sounds like things are going well though.

I'll work on getting more pictures taken. I've kind of fallen down on the job as far as that one goes. The beach is pretty cool here. I'll get some beach photos and other pictures in general.

Got to go … love you … bye.

Kiefer

October 25, 2011

Hey family,

The week has been long I want to say. It has been a good week. Very busy and all over the place but it is good that it is over. It is week 6 and transfers came in Sunday. My Comp got transferred which, honestly, wasn't too surprising. He's been here a while and it was definitely time for him to move on. My new companion is E. Huysmans (not sure on spelling). He's a kiwi (New Zealander) too and has been a Zone Leader in another area for the last 5 months so at least he has some training and experience as far as that goes. I'm excited and hope we can get things moving here and find some people to teach. It is looking like this transfer won’t be as busy as last but still it will be interesting. We had a lot of people move out of areas in the Zone and new people to replace them so, of course, that will be fun to get going and pick up where the others left off.

At transfers before the changes are announced to the Companionship's the departing Elders bear their testimonies. It was weird to see a good deal of the missionaries that I knew when I started my mission now going home. All good though. I will probably have to talk in Sacrament Meeting again this week. Not too keen on that but it will be a good experience. All Blacks (New Zealand) won the rugby Union World Cup. It was good fun to hear about. Other than that not much else is going on. The Wiggle had a concert in town. We have our Stake Conference in a couple of weeks. Oh the life of a missionary…(and no, he didn't go to the concert)



We got to do some service this week. We chopped down a couple of groves of palm trees. We just smashed it in like 2 hours. There is nothing missionaries are better at than destroying stuff. I was all good fun. We traveled out about an hour inland to the country to visit a less active Sister and her family who want to start coming back to Church. That was exciting. We're hoping to go to the Australia Zoo one of these P-days. Hopefully we can put that together this transfer. I've got a feeling it will be an interesting transfer but I don’t know.

Thanks Colin thanks for the messages. It was good to hear from you as always. Good luck with calculus it sounds suppa intense. Keep working hard and, of course, get a much study time in as you can. Its difficult work but it is a fun time. Glad you’re thinking about the mission papers. Set some goal and draw out a plan in general. It'll help to put things in perspective.

It has been a long day and I'm smashed. Thanks everyone for writing to me. I really do appreciate it. It is good to hear from you. Love you heaps. Thanks for everything.

Elder Hatch