“My Lord, my God, I know.”- President Boyd Kenneth Packer ~ 6 July 2015

It seems that each week in the mission field gets faster and faster! It’s hard to even recall all that happened in one week!

On July 3rd I hit my 10 month mark as a full time missionary and this was the same day that the beloved, and my favorite apostle, President Boyd K. Packer passed away. As I have reflected on how I have "aged" in my mission, I went back to read one of my favorite talks by president packer called, “These Things I Know" from April 2010 General Conference. He read a poem he wrote that has stuck with me. He talks about his age and how his physical body has slowly withered away through the years. But, he says that he would trade youthfulness for anything because of the knowledge and wisdom he has gained - both temporally and spiritually.

You all know how much I love Peter Pan; I wish I could stay young in Neverland forever. But I agree with President Packer, I have learned too much and grown too tall to ever keep myself from aging. How wonderful that God’s plan is one of eternal progression!

Here is the last past of President Packer’s poem:

And now you see I’m 88.

The years have flown so fast.

I walked, I limped, I held a cane,

And now I ride at last.

I take a nap now and again,

But priesthood power remains.

For all the physical things I lack

There are great spiritual gains.

I have traveled the world a million miles

And another million too.                       

And with the help of satellites,

My journeys are not through.

I now can say with all certainty

That I know and love the Lord.

I can testify with them of old

As I preach His holy word.

I know what He felt in Gethsemane

Is too much to comprehend.

I know He did it all for us;

We have no greater Friend.

I know that He will come anew

With power and in glory.

I know I will see Him once again

At the end of my life’s story.

I’ll kneel before His wounded feet;

I’ll feel His Spirit glow.

My whispering, quivering voice will say,

“My Lord, my God, I know.”

I know God lives and His plan of happiness is perfect and real! This poem made me feel happiness that President Packer made it to the end of his life's story.

This week as I have continued my life story, I continued to see more miracles!

Emily Hamilton is preparing to be baptized the 25th of this month! She has had some incredible spiritual experiences and it has been wonderful to teach her about some of the experiences she has had and what they mean. I love how the restored gospel answers our questions so perfectly! Alexandria will hopefully be baptized with her mom, we just need to help her understand what baptism is and why it is so important because she still isn't quite sure. She is the cutest little thing.

Also, we got a referral from one of the Seventy and we contacted the referral. She is golden and we are seeing her in a couple days. No big deal…. haha  Our stake president was going on visits with the Area Authority Seventy and they went to a restaurant afterwards and found this girl who said missionaries used to visit and she missed having them in her home! So we called her and she said we could come! It was kind of funny when President Young gave us the information, he said, “Yah, I think she is in the Elders area, but I don't really care; give her a call, sisters. (: lol … I love Elders but... Ii love being a sister missionary;)

The Clarks should hopefully be baptized this month. Adam gets his surgery soon and wants his baptism done before the operation because who know how long his recovery will be. Plus, he knows that he will have extra help from the Sprit if he does it before. Keep him and Gerri in your prayers, please.

Cool story this week for the Clarks. They own their own transmission shop and just moved it to a bigger location. This was a bit of a risk and their business had not been doing well and bad weird things kept happening and they were having lots of bad luck. They were really concerned and called to ask us if we would come say a blessing over their new shop. We came and kneeled with the Clark family and a couple of their employees and I offered the prayer. The next day they were booming with business and it hasn't stopped yet! They gained a huge testimony of the power of prayer! 

We met this awesome 15-year-old, Leona, who is ready to be baptized. She has had the lessons, she attends seminary, goes to mutual and church when she is allowed and basically taught us! Her parents won’t let her be baptized, so she and her parents just need lots of prayers. We pray her parent’s hearts will be softened.

Well I want you all to know that I know god lives. I know we should never stop marveling at the miracles because the power of Jesus Christ is incredible. I love repentance, it keeps us on the road to perfection and happiness.

-- XOXO, Sister Hatch

For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land - Alma 13:24 June 29, 2015

And the miracles come again!

After a couple weeks of discouragement, through diligence and the spirit and the tender mercies of the Lord, our area really took off this week!

To wrap it up, we got to go to the temple and zone conference this week, and nearly all of our investigators are progressing. (:

Zone conference was more about consecration. I know that as we give everything to the Lord, He will give us more than we could ever plan for ourselves. The RIGHT way is to believe in Christ and to serve Him with our might, mind, and strength, and our WHOLE SOULS. (See 2 Nephi 25:29). I can testify of the JOY of choosing the Lord’s way rather they our way. 

I am so excited to tell you more about my new friends, the Hamiltons. They are a family that angels have been declaring to here in Green River; that the Lord has sent us to! Emily has really felt the Spirit in her home and recognizes the need to be on THE path that our Savior has set for us. She knows that although we are all different, there is one way back to our heavenly home and that is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have such a testimony of the power of the sacrament and the Sabbath day. Even when the speaker rambles on for the whole meeting and you have no idea what he's talking about, if you prepare people spiritually, they get something out of it! Literally, the speaker this Sunday was crazy, but emily was really touched and said she could feel the Spirit. haha the Church is soo true.

I have so much more to tell you, but unfortunately I am out of time! Praying for you always; I love you and I know the Lord does, too.

Please pray for Jess, his son just got in a huge accident and had his foot amputated.

-- XOXO, Sister Hatch

"Come What May and Love it" ... And "Sunday [Always] Comes" ~Joseph B. Wirthlin JUNE 22, 2015

Oh, how I love the mercy and grace of our Lord! This week started as a continuation of last week. Sister Smith and I were trying hard not to get discouraged. It seems that with each of the people we are teaching, as soon as they come up to breathe, they get knocked in the face with a big wave! They are truly being put through the refiners fire. Gerri is praying for a new baptismal date but neither her nor Adam were able to make it to church because Gerri's grandson had to go to the hospital and she was there with him all night! To top it off the next morning their dogs ran away! Adam is getting his back surgery so he had to work Sunday to get ahead on everything before surgery. The Rapues had a crazy week, too. They had the important court date for their son (he has been away for 3 months now and that has been hard enough on there family - he is 16) right before the day Allen had to leave for an emergency. Charlotte didn't know how she was going to get through the court thing by her self and she didn't have gas money to go get Allen, let alone to go to the court for her son. 

Well, I am just so grateful that Sunday comes. Just as Sunday was the day our Savior conquered death and brought light back in to the world, Heavenly father blessed us with countless blessings on this Sunday. 

In sacrament meeting we heard talks about grace. It is a gift from God that we access when we live the gospel. It is the ONLY way we can be saved, but we  receive the power of grace as we submit to him. It really encouraged me. I have been praying to know how to better consecrate my self and living on the mercy of daily repentance and asking Heavenly Father how we can help the people here in Green River... here are some of the miracles of our Sunday:

-   Gerri's Grandson Jaxon is better and healthy;

-   Right after we prayed that the Clark’s would find their dogs, they texted us and said they just came running back to their car shop!

-   We were able to find the Rapues a ride to the court house and someone else helped them out with gas and everything went great with there son!

-   Allen was able to make it home and be there for that as well.

-   AND we found 4 new investigators! 3 of them are a family and they are G-O-L-D-E-N!

The 1st new investigator is Ernest. We met him before, I can't remember if I told you about him. he is Pentecostal, his dad is the preacher at the local church and he knows the bible like the back of his hand. We bore testimony the first time we saw him of the Book of Mormon and how it completes the bible, and gave him a copy and he said he would read the introduction and we could come back in  a week. We came back to find the book on the door step with a note and Bible verses with some doubt. We resolved his concerns with more verses and some articles from LDS.org and this week is the week we returned to talk about it. He really enjoyed the articles and we taught him the restoration lesson and he is really intrigued. He wants to know more about the priesthood and how specifically the Book of Mormon and the Bible work together. So, we have some things prepared for him and we will return next week! It’s a fun way to teach. We just keep exchanging information and answering his questions. He is so nice and really loves Jesus Christ. We are excited to learn and grow from one another.

The family is the Hamiltons and we found them when we were trying to find a less active member the ward council asked us to visit. They are Christian but don't belong to a church and are very spiritual. They know a little about out church and love the family aspect of it. Dave and Emily are the couple’s names and they have a sweet 8-year-old daughter named Alexandria. They are moving soon and Dave is moving first on Thursday. We wish we could have found them sooner but God is definitely in charge on this one and we know he directed us to them at this time. As we finished our lesson last night with them, Dave asked if we would come back at least a few more times before he leaves Thursday. We are so excited for this family and know they will continue to progress in their new home. 

Sunday night we couldn't wipe the smiles off of our faces! It was such a spirit-filled day and we feel grounded back to our purpose to invite others to come unto Christ. It is like the talk Elder Bednar gave about the truck that got stuck in the snow: the weight of the chopped wood in the back of his truck is how he got out. Sometimes the Lord burdens us with a load so we can move forward. We learned how important Elder Wirthlin’s advice from his mother to "come what may and love it". We need to remember to laugh; we need to have an eternal perspective; we need to remember the principal of compensation; and, we need to trust the Lord. Miracles are real. I pray we can always recognize the hand of the Lord in our each and every day.

Take a look at this messages:

https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/sunday-will-come-2

https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/come-what-may-and-love-it-2

http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/bearing-our-burdens-with-hope