Holla (April 26, 2010)

Familia,
Elder Bednar was WONDERFUL! I got to sit on the front row and was right in front of the pulpit. His testimony was so powerful and I know once again that he is an Apostle of the Lord. Through his testimony I also had my testimony strengthened that President Monson is called of God to be the Prophet at this time and that they are special representatives of our Savior. He spent three hours asking us questions about the talks he had us study in preparation and then answering questions. His main point was that we need to act and not be acted upon and that real teaching gets the investigators involved and active in their learning. There's s much more he said and I'll try to gather my thoughts this week and share next week more about what we learned. Somebody asked him what was one thing he has learned from being an Apostle that he didn't realize before. He told us that he knows now more fully than ever the individual love that our Heavenly Father has for each one of his children. I am starting to realize this as well. Nothing we do on our mission is an accident. The Lord guides those He calls. One example is that we went to an apartment looking for a former investigator who we found out had moved. However, the man that lived there listened to us and we set another cita (appointment) with him. When we came back he wasn't there, but his daughter answered the door and we found out that her and her brother were actually baptized when she was 11 and hadn't gone to church in years. I know the Lord led us to find her and she came to Stake conference yesterday and is coming back next week!

Another example was one night we ate dinner with a family who told us they had a daughter who was not a member. The next day we went to go visit a recent investigator who wasn't home. Right at that moment a suburban drove up and we talked to the mom after she got out of the car. We shared a message with her and her husband and found out that this was that family's daughter! We're still teaching her and we're hoping to get her to come to church this week. Missionary work is so amazing and testifies to me over and over again that the Lord is mindful of each one of us and loves us very much.

One of our investigators has a baptism date! However, she needs a new job so she can go to church on Sundays. We are trying to help her find new job and develop her faith in our Savior and His ability to work miracles when we do our part. It's so hard though because the people we teach have to sacrifice so much. They have difficult lives and so many more complications before they can be baptized than I would've ever imagined. I love them all so much and all we can do sometimes is pray and then do what we can.

We get fed all the time and the food is delicious! My companion has the most bottomless stomach I have ever seen and she out eats me all the time! It's crazy! Real Hispanic food is muy rico!!!! I have not had tongue yet, but I hear it's delicious :) The other night this lady kept giving me more and more and I couldn't handle it I almost threw up. My companion told me next time to just say no. It's so hard to refuse cause they work so hard for us.

I've gotta go but I love you all sooooooo much and I think about you often. Don't worry about me (mom :) ) and stay close to the Lord!

Love,

Hermana Hatch

Tuesday PDay April 20, 2010

There's so much I want to share but so little time! The work is AWESOME! Let me just preface by saying that we found 12 new investigators this week!!!! We told the Lord that we would talk to every single person we met and invite more people to baptism, thus showing our faith in action- and in return we asked Him to bless us with success. He has blessed us so much, although it's often not been in the ways we expected or asked. Everything happens in the Lord's time and all we can do is do everything we can to not just ask, but act- and then trust in Him to do His part, even if it's not in the time frame or way we want.

We are teaching a family and it was so awesome to teach them about the Restoration of the Lord's church on the Earth! We also found another family just last night and I'm so excited to teach them more. My Spanish gets better and better each day and I am able to understand a lot more. We take turns in the lessons so I do get to teach and testify a lot and I love it!

So many funny things happen when there's a language barrier. One example is we had one of our investigator's share a dream she had with us. Her husband died a few months ago in a car accident (she's like 27) and she had shared dreams about him before with us so I assumed that this is what she was saying. However, she shared a dream about a guy friend confessing his love for her and asked us what we thought it meant. I told her it was a blessing from Heavenly Father because I thought she was sharing a dream about her husband. Luckily, my companion is getting pretty good at smoothing over my mistakes. Oh the joys of learning Spanish...

Another funny story, I had my hand kissed by a drunk man while we were STOing, who I didn't even know was drunk since I didn't know the word for beer. I just thought he was an animated person. We meet some pretty interesting characters, but don't worry mom we are VERY safe and are especially cautious. We don't really walk on the streets after dark.

Here's another story for you- we found this woman in Ojai- another little city North of Ventura (our area is pretty big for only two spanish missionaries). We had knocked on the door looking for a man named Jesus who we had an old teaching record for. So at the beginning of the lesson my companion kept asking if Jesus was there and if she could invite him to come in too. She kept responding "Claro, Si Si" (Of course, yes yes) but looked at us progressively weirder and weirder each time she said it again. Finally my companion asked her if her husband's name was Jesus and she said "No!" The whole time she thought we were talking about inviting Jesucristo and was Jesucristo there, etc. etc. We had a good laugh with her about that one. We're gonna see her again tonight. We also found two other investigators in Ojai and they are awesome! THe Spirit was so strong in their lesson and I'm so excited to see them again tonight.

The branch is wonderful and the members are great! We're really trying to build it up and we visited some less active families this week. They all came to church on Sunday along with one of our investigators! It was so great! The mom of one of the families said the closing prayer in Sacrament meeting and specifically thanked the "misionaras" for coming by and helping them to come back to church. It was so touching and made our week.

Zone conference was awesome, my companion is the best, and Ventura is beautiful!

Guess what!!!???? Elder Bednar is coming this Saturday to our mission!!!!!!!! I'm sooooooooooooooo excited!!!!!! I can't wait until Saturday! Missionary work is amazing! I love you all sooooooooooo much!

Have a great week!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Hatch

Greetings from Paradise! April 12, 2010

Wow I have so much to say I don't even know where to begin. I flew in to Santa Barbara last Mon to beautiful weather and lots of green and pretty flowers everywhere! The Mission President, his wife, and the Assistants greeted us and took us to the mission home. I love my mission president!!!! He is such a great man who is clearly close to the Lord and very inspired! It is a very well organized mission with many goals and much success. The first day we filled out paper work, got oriented, and went street contacting! (we call it STOing- short testifying opportunities) It was very scary, especially since a few of them were in Spanish. Talk about getting thrown right into the fire :) Two Sisters who have been here for awhile took us out and I went with Hermana Hanson. It was a long, tiring day. The next day we got assigned to our new companions and I got put with Hermana Hanson! I was so excited cause she was very easy going and I had enjoyed being with her! We are assigned to work here in Ventura with the Spanish branch. Our area is pretty big for this mission and spans from Ojai to Saticoy- those names probably mean nothing to you. Mostly we stay on the Avenue in the city were most of the Hispanic population live. We have plenty of work because we are actually white washing the area. My first area and we're white washing! For those of you who don't know what this means it is when they take the two missionaries in that area and replace it with two new missionaries to breathe a new life to the area. So Hermana Hanson didn't really know the area or the members too well, and I basically knew nothing. And on top of that, one of the Elders that we are replacing had an injured foot for the last month so there hadn't been any work done for awhile here. The area book was a mess and the most recent investigator record forms were dated in January of this year. Most were from before then. Needless to say we have had a crazy week. We started with contacting many of the former investigators and recent converts. We still haven't visited them all but we're getting close. We also have done a lot of STOing. It's been stressful, but my trainer is AWESOME and we both feel really good with the work we did this week. We even found 5 new investigators.

Ok, so my trainer Hermana Hanson is wonderful! She's super patient, diligent, hilarious, and obedient. We get along really well and we're already becoming good friends. I love her a lot. She's very encouraging and includes me as much as possible even though I'm still learning Spanish. The Spanish. Ummm it's tough :) It's frustrating when you have no idea what everyone around you is saying and your sitting there terrified to move in case it somehow draws attention to you and they ask you a question. :) It's awesome! It's ok though because I trust the Lord to help me if I do my part. I already speak more in lessons and STOs and I'm understanding tons more! Everyday it gets better! The people are so humble and nice too and the members are so sweet. They tell me that they're just happy I'm here. There's a saying that you'll learn to speak faster if you eat chiles or peppers or something and they tell me that all the time. Actually, one of our new investigators that we found last night told me that she thought my Spanish was beautiful. It touched me a lot. I don't think she means literally, but because she knows I'm trying really hard and that I love sharing the Gospel. Yesterday I had to get up and introduce myself in Sacrament meeting. I was so nervous I don't have any idea what I said, but my companion said I did great. But she says that about everything I say haha so who knows?

I haven't had tons of opportunities to try their food cause the Elders forgot to tell us that we have a dinner calendar here. Oh tanto Elderes. I'm really looking forward to this week cause we have one almost every day! We actually are pretty much out of food so we're pretty excited to go shopping today. Yesterday a member gave us this huge foot long for dinner and we were so excited cause we only had eggs left- but then we stopped at a light next to a homeless women and knew that she needed it more so we gave it away. I think the Lord blessed us with that food to be able to help one of His children. Never miss an opportunity to serve any of His children! Are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend on the Lord for everything? I feel so blessed seeing the trials and struggles of the people I'm serving and teaching. We are so lucky to have what we have.

The weather is awesome and we can see the beach from the highway! It's really beautiful here, although lots of traffic and tourists in the city. Ojai is a little town in the mountains and the drive there is gorgeous! I'll definitely have to come back someday and show you all.

I love being a missionary and I know that this is where I'm supposed to be! Hispanic people are the most loving people I have ever met! My companion and I joke about how we hate having to contact white people cause their so much scarier and mean :)

Welll, my time is up. I love you all very much! Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. This is the restored church of Christ on the earth. We are sooo lucky to know that! Have a great week and write letters! Snail mail is awesome! :)

Con Amor,

Hermana Hatch

PS_ make sure you send my towel and hoodie thanks!

Updates from Mom...

My mom got to talk to Allesha for a while when she called from the airport, and I asked her to share some of the things they talked about. Here is what she had to say:

*She bore her testimony to us in Spanish then English.
*She radiates the love of Christ and told us one of the most important things she has learned is that rules and commandments are simply vehicles to open the windows of heaven and allow greater strength and blessings to come into our lives.
*When she first got to the MTC, she had a problem with a couple of rules, but made up her mind she was going to live them the best she could and couldn't believe the increase of blessings she felt in her life because of it.
*Her attitude is great and she said having a positive attitude makes all the difference, no matter what life throws at us.
*She told dad and I we were great parents and she was grateful for her wonderful family. "I thought of you during General Conference, mom, and thought you'd probably be thinking about all the things you didn't do.... You did a GREAT job and you're a great mom...and dad's a GREAT dad." ( Wow, she really must be looking through the eyes of the spirit..that's what the Lord does..sees the good and builds us up)
*She asked that everyone write her--it really helps her to feel your support, prayers, and love

The Lord lives, this is His Church, and He longs to pour out His blessings on all of His children. THAT'S why she is out there trying to open hearts, teach His truths of who He is and who we are, as well as His plan for us to find joy and prepare to return home to Him and to lift and bless His children.

First Phone Call Home!

We got to talk to Allesha this morning! She called from the airport as she left the Missionary Training Center and headed to CALIFORNIA! She sounded great. She said she was so excited to get out to Cali and get started teaching people. Her Spanish was awesome too :) Hopefully my mom will get on here and post some stuff too, because she talked to her much longer. Anyway, I will get her address and post it on here soon. Keep writing her, she loves it! we will hear from her again on Mother's Day and we can't wait! She said she loves you all!

Last email from the nunnery! April 1, 2010

Holla familia! Como estan?

I LOVED the pics of Dallin and Cason and fam. They are already both soooo big! And I've only been gone for a couple of months. It is crazy! I will be calling on Monday but it's not as early as I thought. We leave the MTC @ 8 so you can expect my call sometime between 9:30am-11:30am. Our flight leaves around then and we fly into Santa Barbara! Sorry I can't be more specific but I really don't know what time works best. Monday's my Pday (rest day) in the field so after I call on Monday you won't hear from me until the following Monday.

So my last week at the MTC! Woohoo! I've had a good time here but I'm definitely ready to leave! I'm so excited for the field but incredibly nervous as well! We were practicing contacting (in Spanish of course) the other day and I realized that next week I'll be doing it for real with real people! AHHHH!!!! Yeah that's a scary thought. I wish I was better at Spanish, but I have faith and I'm really working on my patience. I'm super excited that it's General Conference this weekend! What a great way to spend the last weekend here! We all gather in the Gym to watch all sessions. Saturday I'll be packing and doing laundry in between sessions and studying- the usual :)

We got new Hermanas in the zone! Three of them! I'm so sad cause we don't even really get to know them. I got to orient them last night and I'll be doing more of that tonight with them. They are really awesome and I know they'll keep the zone running well. Since it's my last week I decided to make a list of some of the things I'm gonna miss about the MTC and maybe a few things I won't :)

Things I will miss:

1. Jalapeno bagels- I eat one almost everyday for breakfast. Don't judge me they're delicious!

2. Having someone else do my dishes for me and clean the bathroom for me (I know, we're spoiled)

3. The beautiful view from the 5th floor in our building that I love to look at as we study in the lounge.

4. Having all the doors held open for me and getting treated like queens (the Hermanas really are rather spoiled)

5. Gym! Volleyball!

6. Duche in la Noche! (The party that Hermana Flower and I have when we take showers at night at the same time. I know it sounds kind of weird but it includes us singing at the top of our lungs and having conversations with other people in the showers next to us- good times).

8. The firesides and devotionals of course. They are so inspirational and I have loved everyone!

9. Our time share extra bunkbed in our dormitory (Sorry if that doesn't make sense)

10. The give away box on each floor of the Residence halls. Sisters put stuff in here when they're leaving. I have gotten a really cute bag from it, slippers, and a night time shirt. It's like a mini Savers but for free! Perfect for me right?

11. The temple. Enough said.

12. The biscuits and gravy we eat at the temple.

13. The progressive investigator we have been teaching. We love her even though she's a "fake" investigator

14. My teachers- Hermana Shiley is one of my close friends now and our new teacher Hermano Catt has forever changed my mission. They both inspire me and I love them a lot.

15. MY DISTRICT! I'm so sad to leave them, but we are all on to better things. I can't even wait until the after mission reunion! :) I know I know I won't think about it.

16. My zone- they're all so awesome! Oh trashketball.... Sometime I'll explain it

17. My Branch presidency and their wives. I love them all so much!

18. Of course my Hermanas, roommates and companion! What will I ever do without them?

19. Walks to the temple on Sundays.

20. The Sunday night movies they show.

And the list could go on and on.... I'll admit the MTC isn't my most favorite place, but I really believe that attitude is everything and I've made the most of the time I've had here. I've learned tons and I've grown tons! I can't wait to go out into the field and teach people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ! What could be better?!

I love you all and I'm excited to talk to you on the phone on Monday! Hacen Lo Justo!

Mucho Mucho Mucho Amor, Hermana Hatch