SLC Missionary Christmas - December 29, 2014

First of all I have to tell you that everyone compliments the warm head band Dad gave me and when I tell them, "my dad got it for me" they look confused and ask me if I have a mom. I say, yes, my dad just has really good taste, also. (:

It was so hard to hang up at the end of the family call on Christmas, but I am doing well and become more and better with each day. The Lord is helping me grow so much. Our Christmas was really awesome. We had a huge dinner donated to us so we could provide for this sweet old lady who said she has no family that comes and visits her on Christmas but when we told the ward council they said her son is the bishop in another ward in the stake and lives really close so we should probably double check on that - turns out she has a little dementia (haha) but it worked out because our investigator Martha really doesn't have family here so we got to spend it with her! It was really fun! She came to church on Sunday, which is huge! She really enjoyed it. Sister Britton and I spoke along with a return sister missionary, so it was perfect for her! It was my first talk so that’s pretty exciting. I got to talk about some of my thoughts from Elder Holland. The biggest take away I got from Elder Holland was that he pled with us to be faithful. He said the true meaning of Christmas is about being faithful. He told all of us "be faithful, be faithful, be faithful!" What if Christ had not been faithful? Without the Atonement, the birth of Christ would mean nothing today. I am so grateful that our Savior was faithful to the end and that we can look to Him as an example of faithfulness. I am so glad you got to see grandma Shirl and hear Colter’s talk. It was a missionary Sunday for sure.

Sister Britton has a huge family (12 nieces and nephews!) so it was a little crazy during her Christmas day phone call, but I did get to just introduce myself and it was really fun. Unfortunately, Christmas night Sister Britton got really sick so we have had a pretty slow week trying to get her feeling better. ;(

An update on my investigators: Ron Radcliffe is still out of town, his wife will call us after the new year and we haven’t been able to see Justin and Kris. They also said to try after the new year. 

My gift to Christ this year is based off of two scriptures: 2 Nephi 25:29 and D&C 4:2 and it is to SERVE and to WORSHIP Christ with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. Also, Moroni 7 is the chapter that Elder Holland said was one of the best in the whole Book of Mormon and that we need to know it, so that is why I used a lot of it. My gift to Christ is also part of my New Year’s resolution. I am really excited about it! 

*   With my heart: I am using the scripture in Luke 2 that says, "and Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart." I am going to identify my relationship with Christ by writing down how I feel Him in my life each day and also by just writing down my spiritual experiences and my struggles daily in my journal so I can keep them in my heart and remember how I felt and what I learned and also "pray unto the father with all the energy of heart" (Moroni 7:48).

*   With my might: I am using the end of 2 Nephi 25:29 that says, "and with your whole soul" because that sounds like might to me and that is my faith. Moroni 7:37 talks about how miracles happen due to our faith, so each day I’m going to note miracles that happen because I had FAITH that they would. Also each day I am going to make sure that I "confess by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ. " (Moroni 7:44).

*   With my mind: I am using a quote given by President Kimball - we read it in our companionship study everyday: "of all the treasures of knowledge the most vital is the knowledge of God: His existence, powers, love, and promises." And, Moroni 7:19 where it says, "I beseech of you brethren that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil". So, in my studies I am making sure I read the Book of Mormon everyday and finish it by my six-month mark. And, I will read the New Testament every other day - I am hoping to finish by Christmas, and read a General Conference talk every week.

*   With my strength: I am using a quote from Elder Holland’s devotional. Someone asked what advice he would give to a new missionary. He said to "work your head off...,  work harder than you have ever worked before." Each night I am going to report to the Lord whether or not I worked my hardest. And, I will "cleave unto charity" (Moroni 7:46) so I can be more bold.  

Elder Holland talked about God sending babies into the world whenever He needs a problem solved and it really hit me hard that I want to be a teacher and help and inspire God’s children to become what He needs them to be. At the end of Elder Holland’s talk it hit me that that is what I am doing right now! I AM a teacher and I AM helping God’s children to be what he would have them be. What a beautiful and sacred calling. It’s so hard, but I love it and it is so, so, so worth it. I am so grateful for this gospel and the light that it brings. I am so grateful for prophets and apostles who lead us and guide us to be better - to become more and more like our Savior.

I love you so much! I am so, so, so blessed!!

Happy New Year! mwah!

-Sister Hatch

An AMAZING week! December 22, 2014

LOL, Mom, you called me Elder Hatch :'D in your email to me this week - I love you so dang much! That reminds me of a funny story: So there is an Elder Hatch in our mission who is serving in the ASL branch so at mission meetings we get to sign a little and its really fun. President Eberhardt found out that I sign but there aren't sisters in that branch and so during transfers when he was deciding where to put people he told one of the elders he should just put Sister and Elder Hatch together in the ASL branch. hahah He is such a funny guy. I am grateful to be where I am at though, I LOVE it. Actually, one of our investigators, Teresa (she likes us to call her mother Teresa) she reminds me of you, but anyway she thinks its weird to have to close your eyes when we pray so I told her that of  course you would keep your eyes open in sign lauguage so when ever we are at her house now I say the prayer in sign language so she can look at me and not shut her eyes. (:

Thank you for all the fun pictures!! I am sorry I am not good at sending pictures. Cameras are complicated!

Mom, I just want to thank you for your big heart so full of love. I don't know if I have ever told you this but you are the least judgmental person I know and that’s why everyone loves you so much. You light up people’s life. I was just thinking about that the other day and I am so grateful for your example. I can't ever thank you enough for how much light you bring into my life.

Stephanie’s baptism sounds perfect. What an amazing girl and how special you could be a part of it. Ron Radcliffe had to go out of town after our first lesson because his son is not in very good shape. He has a drug problem and they are really concerned about him. Please keep Brook Radcliffe in your prayers. Other than that most everyone is doing pretty well. Pray for Justin and Kris and Michael that they will open their hearts. Martha is who is progressing but we haven't visited her for a while. We are planning to help her get baptized by the end of next month.

So this week was AMAZING because we had zone conference. Right now I am working on becoming the "Fourth Missionary" which is from a talk by Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge that was mentioned all throughout our zone conference and we have been asked to read. I am just getting started on it but you should look it up it is incredible. How cool that Dad got to be in zone conference just a day after me! Ours was exceptional. Sister Eberhardt talked about "soul delighting" and how we can find happiness and joy in many things that are good things, but it is only within the gospel and our Savior that our souls can truly delight. My soul delights in being a missionary. The assistants talked about unconditional surrender and how we need to put our future dreams and wishes in a box for a year and half and serve the lord. They compared it to the story of “The Three Trees” (an old folk tale, if you don't know it you should look it up it is amazing!) it shows that when we give ourselves to the Lord we see the reality of our dreams and wishes but in a way we could never imagine possible. My gift to Christ  this year is serving and worshiping Him with all my heart, might, mind, and strength (2 Nephi 25:29 and D&C 4:2). I want to tell you more about it on Christmas! (Thanks for setting up Skype! – YAY!)

The miracle and best news of this week was our mission Christmas devotional. Sister Britton was asked to come up with a choir for it and eight of us have been rehearsing for the last month. At zone conference, the day before the devotional, Sister Eberhardt comes up to us and says "not to make you more nervous about performing, but you will be singing for one of the Twelve! We just had the most amazing devotional by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland! But wow, what an experience.  ahh wow I don't even know how to type about it. He asked to shake all our hands (200 missionaries) and it reminded me of when Christ came to the Americas and took the time for each person in the to come and feel the wounds in his hands. I can't wait to tell you more about it at Christmas! 


 Christmas at home sounds like it is filled with the spirit! I can't wait to meet Lexi when I call home! yay I am so excited. I am also just really happy to be here though. As much as I love you, this season has not been as hard as I thought it would be. I feel so much love around me and am so focused on my savior. I think a mission is the best place to be on Christmas and I am so happy that your Christmas is filled with the light of Christ as well. It is the only way. I wish I could be serving a mission every Christmas! But I am so so so so soooo excited to see your beautiful faces on Christmas. (: 

(We only get 45 minutes, btw...eeep) 

I love you, see you soon! (: 
I miss your laugh. <3

Love, SISTER Hatch ;) 

Best day, best lesson, best companion, best district... December 15, 2014

Hey!

Life is good because the gospel is good. I am so grateful to be a missionary. It is hard work and this week has been a roller coaster but I am grateful for every moment! The snow finally came last night but today is another sunny day! It's crazy!!

Sister Britton is awesome as always! She has really become one of my best friends. We have been companions for much longer than the norm. I am actually the longest companion she has had out of her five. We have lots of fun together and lots of miracles are happening in our area. I love her because she is an exactly obedient missionary which was one of my goals. Lots of sisters say, she IS the white handbook! haha but she is also super crazy and fun. We are a good balance. Today we are taking pictures to make a Christmas card! We have 3 sets of Elders in our district and one set is our zone leaders and we split the stake with them: Elders Kelly and Holden. They are both super awesome. I don't know Elder Holden super well yet, he just replaced Elder Gray, this funny elder from North Carolina with the thickest southern accent with lots of sass. :p The other elders are Elder Bently, who has just been out one transfer more than me. Lots of missionaries call him Elder Sunshine becasue he is so kind and smiley. Elder York is his companion and he is a champion. He is a convert of just a few years and is an awesome missionary. He has had a pretty crazy past. Elder Conn who was my district leader in the MTC so it has been fun to keep him in my district in the mission, and his companion is the district leader, Elder Todd and he is the best district leader EVER. He is a wonderful example of th type of missionary I hope to be like. He is a great leader and a great friend. He is the biggest goof ball and a spritual giant. We also have 2 sets of senior missionaries: the Larsons and the Hunts. The Hunts live in our stake and take such good care of us. They are amazing and mom would be best friends with Sister Hunt! I can't wait for mom and dad to meet them, they finish their mission in February, but serve from their home so you should meet them when you come for conference! So that's our district. The best district in the mission - and we know that because at transfers we all stayed exactly the same in our district except for Sister Bates leaving. We are like a little family.

This week I had the best day and best lesson of my whole mission, so far. It was with a man named Ron Radcliffe. He has been married to an active member for 45 years and has never really belived in God. But he is ready now. We taught him a lesson for 3 hours - just answering questions and bearing testimony. He told us about all these spritual experiences he had throughtout his whole life but is just now connecting the dots with how it has prepared him for this moment and that he thinks his experiences are from God. He had 4 members there for the lesson including his wife, a good friend whose husband was recently the mission president in Ohio and they just returned a month ago, one of the converts of just a few months from the Ohio mission, and his friend who he feels deeply connected to and who literly looks and acts exactly like Stratton. Sister and President Eberhartd and Elder and Sister Haws (car coordinators for the mission) all know him well and so many peole have just kept him in their prayers for years! It is so exciting to be a part of! Keep him in your prayers please and pray that we will be inspired to teach him because we feel lots of pressure because so many people we care about have been waiting for this moment! We know the spirit is the teacher though. I am so filled with the spirit just thinking about that lesson! yay, I love being a missionary.

And please just know how grateful I am for you all. Sister Britton was just asking me if I was doing ok because this is the point in a mission when most missionaries get home sick. I am not home sick and I know it is because everyone is so supportive and encouraging. Thank you for talking with me about my investigators and praying for them each. I love you so much. I can't even express how grateful I am for you!

x0x0 Sister Hatch

Hi!!! <3

First of all thank you for letting me know about Karen's passing. My heart hurts so much for her family. What hard news to hear. It brought me lots of tears. But I am so grateful for the Lord and His plan of happiness. I have learned this week how important it is to trust in the Lord. Sometimes it is easy to think, hmm, are you sure that's right Heavnly Father? Because I'm experiencing lots of sadness and pain! But, He is always right. We see the blessings eventually if not right away. I'm most happy to see that Bridgette is doing well and herself again. My heart aches for her. I love her so much and miss seeing her bright face. Please send her all my love! If I wrote her a letter could you get it to her? It already looks like there have been miracles from this hard adventure. How lucky our ward family is to have Bishop Miller. Joe is amazing and I can only imagine how wonderful of an experience the blessing Bishop Miller gave to Karen must have been for all of them. I wish i could have been there for the funeral. I know it was beautiful. Please give their family all of my love and support. I wish I could express my self better. My heart really hurts. I love their famiy so so much. The real question is, who will take care of all the stray animals? ;) At least we know that any pets who have the passed away are now being taken care of really well! haha I will miss that sweet spirt of Karen's so dearly. <3

On another note, thank you SO MUCH for calling Karina annd for the wonderful package! My scriptures are beautiful and my companions and I have had so much fun with all the fun treats. <3 We are having a haircut party with one of my favorite ladies, Kimberly Andelin. She is this amazing single mom who faught in the army and is just way too much fun. She has the best kind of personality and has been through sooo much. She recently had her records removed from the church and we are not sure why but she loves to have us over and share messages with her two little boys. Anyway, we are bringing the biscoff spread you sent so it can be a real preparation day party! ;)  

And Karina just loves you, Mom! I showed her a picture of you and she just thinks your gorgeous as well (p.s. I showed the cute picture of you, dad, and Lily to everyone and soo many people asked if it was your baby!) I'm so glad you got to chat with her. I just knew you would get along so well! And thank you for my chirstmas present! I'm so excited to wear it! (: I know you are really helping her out as well. She is moving out of our area but she is going to be across from the Walmart where we shop at on preparation days so we have a plan to meet up there every week!

So transfer news came this morning. Sister Bates is leaving and Sister Britton and I are staying! It was such a relief to know I am staying. I am starting to feel so at home and I love everyone in the area so much and I am just finding my way around! Working with 4 wards is crazy and I'm just getting the hang of it. On the other hand, it was CRAZY to find out sister Britton is staying! This is her SIXTH transfer in this area. By the end of this transfer she will have been here for HALF of her entire mission. She is incredible and I know she is staying so she can be Sister Traing Leader her for another transfer and also be here for so many that need her. She is the best trainer I could ever ask for. We are sad Sister Bates is leaving, but she is the only one in our district being transfered. We are beccoming such a little family! I love my district leader and everone in the distric!

This weekend was amazing because it was stake conference and the First Presidency Christmas devotional! We got to eat with Elder Evans from the Seventy before the adult session and it felt funny because normally we are there helping out for the dinner! - Not that I did that much, but it felt weird to be on the other side. Elder Evans was wonderful. In the adult session he talked about the beautiful He is The Gift video and asked us to think about WHEN we discovered the gift, HOW we have embraced it, and challenged us all to SHARE it. Sister britton was called up by him to bear her testimony, it was amaizng. 

I am so excited and grateful to be a missionary during the Chirstmas season. I am feeling the true spirit as I represent Jesus Christ and share His message to all. Be able to be at the Conference Center for the First Presidency Chirstmas devotional was a neat experience for Martha. (Billie got super sick :( but was able to watch it with her friend on tv. It was so cute, she was like: "I really don't want to miss this experence but it will be nice to see it at home with Andrea, and I really just want some peppermint tea! I can't remember if that's allowed!"  haha  We told her it was and I said I would bring her some of that yummy chocolate pepermint tea you sent, she was so excited!) I was worried about Martha because she was sleeping for most of the talks during the devotional, but when President Eyring spoke it was like he was talking directly to her! She loved it so much and felt the spirit so strong! She said she was filled with peace and joy just like he talked about; she said she would remember that night forever.

We haven't been to see the lights on Temple Square yet but Justin and Kris are taking us on Friday! We are so excited!! Every year in this area they hold a service called the Inter-faith devotional and there is a committee of all the leaders from the different churches. Each year they switch off the church where it is held and choose who the speakers will be. We just had it and it was so beautiful and unifying! The churches included ours, Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish, and so many others! It was soo so cool! You should talk about doing something like that in Holbrook! 

Fun tid-bit of the week: the people of Utah love my style. So far I have been told I look like a girl on the inside of a snow globe, an American Girl doll, and a Christmas cookie! lol  It's the small things in life that make me excited.

Anyway I hope your Christmas season is staying full of Christ and not too stressful. I love being able to celebrate Christ everyday and know it can be extra special for all of us this Christmas season. I love you so much. I love love love you! (: I hope you're feeling Christmasy and sharing the He is The Gift video with lots of people. Pray for people who are prepared and the Lord will provide! xoxoxox te queiro muchisimo!! 

p.s. Hopefully I will be able to write Karson soon but let her now I am so grateful for the letter she wrote to Michael! xoxox

oh another p.s. Karina said she approves of both mom and dad as true Spaniards! 

Holidays and Miracles - 1 December 2014

Hello, I love you all!! I loved all the pictures! I'm glad you have the Facebook page and the kind people here who send you photos of me - cause I am so bad at it! But there just isn't enough time!

I have to tell you that I had the most amazing Thanksgiving. I thought it would be a little rough being my first major holiday away. (Can you believe it was LAST Thanksgiving that I had just made the decision to serve a full-time mission for sure?!) But it was wonderful! The word "joy" stuck out on every page of my studies that morning as I was reading Preach My Gospel! The gospel is sooooo full of joy! I am so GRATEFUL for the gospel and to be using this time in my life to spread the joy! It was a day full of happiness even being away from home because I know we are an eternal famiy and I am here as God's daughter to help our spiritual family all return. It brings me so much happiness to know that! (:

Billie is awesome! She is coming with us three sisters as well as our investigator Martha (YAY!) to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional next Sunday at the Conference Center!!!! She is so solid and Martha is progressing leaps and bounds! She is such a fire ball. I love her so much!

The 20-minute find miracle turned out to be kind of sad. The couple broke up and Allen, who was really the interested one, moved out of the area but we have hope that missionaries will find him where he is at. We actually teach a couple of people who are formally FLDS and I have run into a couple others besides them. I know a couple who still belong to it, they just don't live in the community. It's really interesting. One is named Walter Dickons. He is this tiny old-as-dirt man who wears huge khaki pants held up with suspenders and he can't hear anything. He lost his hearing aids so he just cups both of his ears the whole time he's talking and smiles. HAHA Unfortunatly we aren't teaching him anymore because we haven't made any progress with him. But he is so cute! One of the former FLDS we teach ran away with a few of his brothers when he was 18 and was baptized LDS while in the military. We are teaching both him and his girl friend who has no religion. They have amazing stories.

Anabel and her sister Jasmine are both doing awesome and we are continuing to teach their dad, Nacho! He is too good. He always compliments each of our outfits and says we are "kinda cute" in his super thick mexican accent. (:

I haven't recieved your package yet but I'm sure it will be here soon!

I LOVED all the Thanksgiving pictures! We have such a beautiful family! I did miss your food. We had FOUR dinners. Stratton would be proud, but if I wasn't a missionary being blessed by the Lord I would have puked - or died. I have never been so full in my life. It was painful, but we survived. haha And we even had a Thanksgiving miracle! The mom of a less active family we went to see, Tina, was very sick. We were able to call the Elders over and they gave her a blessing. She has been better since then.

Temple Square lights bring another miracle. Our investigators, Justin and Kris invited US to go see the lights with them, so that will be soon.

I actually was just able to see the He is the Gift video a couple of minutes ago! BEAUTIFUL! We are doing a survey weekly for the campaign in our area.

I am so excited to be here for Christmas! I know it will be a time I can truly reflect on the true meaning!

Happy Thanksgiving! I miss you lots but I am doing so well! I can't believe it has already been 3 months! In just one week I will be done with my new missionary training! And then transfers. I am excited to see what happens and praying I stay in my wonderful area! But I trust the Lord to put me where He wants me and doing what He needs me to do. I love you soooooo much!

x0x0 Sister Hatch! mwah!!