First week of training... 24 August 2015

My new companion, Sister Lawson is Awesome! She is from Dallas. (: She has such a strong desire to serve and a willingness to learn! She was adopted by her biological aunt and uncle when she was four-years-old and that is how she was able to be raised in the gospel. She still has contact with her birth mom and sees the difference between the sadness in her birth mother’s life and the fullness she  has because of the gospel. She says she wanted to serve a mission out of gratitude and a desire to help others to have that fullness of joy. She is so ready to work and so willing to learn from me. We have great unity because I am learning so much from HER! She is very obedient and takes corrections as I try and help fine-tune her exact obedience. Exact obedience is my favorite thing, so I am grateful she feels the same. I know that is how I have been able to see so many miracles daily. 

Sister Masih, believe it or not, went all the way to Rock Springs! haha That is crazy because she has been there before. So, she is very close.  (: 

President and Sister Eberhardt are awesome. I am so grateful for President Eberhardt’s trust in me as a trainer to Sister Lawson. I have wanted to train for a long time because I just want to feel that greenie fire again! haha I have been with older missionaries my whole mission, other than Sister Masih, they are all home now! 

We have four new investigators and one of them gave us these flowers. We have a new mission video! I just saw it for the first time at transfers, which was fun. 

I am sorry to hear about mom’s wrist. I hope she gets to still bike in the Pedal the Petrified event. I know she has been way excited about that.

It is cool to think about God’s plan for His children, but it is so hard to comprehend some things that it is easy to over think. I am glad that God’s ways are better than my ways and I am grateful to always feel peace and the confirmation of the Spirit when I teach the and simple basic doctrines of the gospel to those who are just learning. Father in Heaven always sends me peace. 

So, my new District Leader, (the elders here are white-washing the area and we have a new District Leader, who is also training) is Elder Berry from Farmington, NM. It’s fun to be serving with someone from the same home mission! 

Love you.

-Sister Hatch 

ready, set, GO! ~ August 17, 2015

This week disappeared in 2 seconds, but God is good and he still gave us tons of miracles! It was celebratory for Sister Smith’s last week (:

Last Monday we went to this little boutique for preparation day and while we were browsing we got a call from President Eberhardt who gave us the okay for Denise to be baptized! We hung up, screamed, and hugged right in the middle of the store... and then we called Denise and she had a similar reaction(: People were looking at us like we were crazy but it was so happy!

Super cool story for the Rapues. So, the morning before their lesson we were praying about what date Allen and Charlotte could be baptized. Originally we were thinking about September 12^th, which we all felt really good about, but when we prayed it came to all of us to do it the 19th of September. When we went to go see them, she of course started by telling us stories of her family and she was talking about her daughter Ayrnessa, who she loves so much but she was miscarried just before she was born. The date she would have been born, we found out while she was talking, was September 18th. (: When we told them about how we had prayed about their baptism date and what had happened, they were all emotional. Especially when we told them that if they could be ready to be baptized by this day, a year later, on her birthday, their family could be sealed together. The spirit was so strong and ever since that lesson, Charlotte can't stop talking about "her baptism"! Allen is totally committed, too but he has quite a few Word of Wisdom things to work out, so keep him in your prayers.

Everyone else is doing good. We had a super spiritual lesson with Shana and she is going to pray about being baptized sooner than the first of the year. She is really overwhelmed right now with her sweet granddaughter, Piper. Piper is 3 and just had to have a very intensive brain surgery. She was born with something that makes her brain grow too fast for her skull, so it doesn’t fit inside. They just put in these crazy wires that makes her head push out. It has been very traumatic. Especially since she had to have her head shaved. She is so sweet. Please keep Piper and her mom Samantha in your prayers, too.

Diego has decided her wants to stay Catholic, but he loves the Book of Mormon and is asking us questions about the church so we will keep meeting with him. (:

We are mostly just trying to find more people to teach since everyone is getting baptized. If you could pray for that also we would love it. We know that Heavenly Father is preparing lots of people to hear His good news, we’ve just got to find them and open our mouth.

This gospel is so true. It brings me so much joy each and everyday. Seek truth this week. (:

Squats = baptism 10 August 2015

This week I have felt spiritually and physically strong. haha. Sooo, our zone has this inside joke that the more squats you do the more success you will have. Our zone is obsessed with squats. As part of our vision, goal, and plan for the month they have included a "bonus" fitness challenge each day during work out time. Mom, I would like you to know that my mission has not made me lose my competitive streak. We have winners everyday and I have been holding my own with the elders. ;) So, a couple days ago the challenge was to text in how many squats we did in 5 minutes. I whooped everyone with 187 squats. I am soooooo sore, but my squats led us to have a pretty miracle-filled week. lol

Miracle number 1: Charlotte is ready to be baptized!! Okay, so Charlotte is just incredible. She has more faith than any one I know and such a deep, and beautifully rich relationship with Heavenly Father. Everything we teach she says she has heard before, not from any person, but she said it just rings true to hear and she knows she has been taught it before in the pre-earth life. She is one of those people who I think went through a thinner veil when she came down to earth. Anyway, she has known for a while that the Book of Mormon is true and that she wants to be baptized. Her family comes regularly to church and she calls herself a Mormon. However, her 17-year-old son is away right now and she is very close to him. She loves family and won’t let us even bring up a baptism date until Travis comes home. He got in some trouble, so they aren't sure when he will be home and even then it would take some time for him to be ready for baptism. We have prayed and felt like, although family is important, she needs to set the example for her family because she is SO ready. But, she literally shuts us down whenever we try to mention it. Well, this week we planned to talk about the Holy Ghost and before we even started she says, "oh ya, I decided I need to lead the way for my family and I want to be baptized before Travis comes home." She knows it is what God wants. <3 HUGE miracle. She still wants to be baptized with her husband Allen though, and he is just a few steps behind. Pray that he will receive his witness this week and have the strength to live the Word of Wisdom. He has been praying this week to know if he should be baptized, too. I love love love the Rapues. Their daughter, Dakota, is 14 with some special needs and she is my best friend. She is the biggest sweetheart and I think her testimony is going to help her dad. She always reminds him to read the scriptures (: Travis has been reading the Book of Mormon while he has been away and just wrote Charlotte telling her that he wants to join the church, too! Oh, how the Lord answers prayers! Someday they will all be sealed in the temple.


Miracle number 2: Shana will hopefully be baptized on September 5th. She wants to be baptized but is not sure if she can get work off enough times to come to church. She is really praying and trying though. Her daughter is a recent convert and her son is also a member. She is mom’s age and such and incredible lady. It is her time now. (:

Miracle number 3: Diego is Catholic and we started teaching him a couple weeks ago. He listens to our message and reads the Book of Mormon, but hasn't really committed to much else. Well, this week we committed him to baptism and he said he would pray about it. (:

Miracle number 4 is something I need all of your help with. Denise wants to be baptized this Saturday before Sister Smith leaves. She is so ready and so worthy but she has to get permission and we still haven’t heard back. We could really use everyone’s prayers that her baptism will happen this Saturday. She is in need of this great blessing.

Thank you all so much for your love and prayers. I know they help me each day to become the missionary Heavenly father wants me to be. I know this church is true. I am so grateful for the spiritual knowledge we are able to all acquire from the Holy Ghost as we diligently seek. My knowledge has grown so much on my mission and my knowledge has increased my testimony. This week seek to gain more spiritual knowledge, because I KNOW that God gives to them that ask. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

CTR(:

"Humility is the KEY to Inspiration." -The Best Two Years 3 August 2015

"Oh, what a week, in a week, in a week!"- Sister Masih (my Samoan comp who speaks hardly any English. LOL - love her)

This week has picked up a lot since we have a car with miles to use again! We have had lots of miracles and hope to have four more baptism for the last two weeks of the transfer, which is coming much too quickly because Sister Smith is going home :( The only happy part about it is that it gives me a safe assurance that I will stay here in Green River! Hooray! Next transfer will make 6 months here and I never want to leave! I think next transfer might be my last so I will make sure to give my wonderful family here my whole soul!

Speaking of serving with my whole soul, I have learned a lot about humility this week. I have learned to trust more in the Atonement and ask for and trust in the Spirit each and every moment of every single day. I have seen over the last month that miracles truly happen when you make a conscious effort to give everything you have to the Lord. He has blessed me so much with people to love teach and help. However, I don't think it clicked until this week that it doesn't really matter how hard you work if you don't have the Lord. The Lord requires us to serve Him with all our heart might mind and strength so that HE can give us those blessings and make those miracles happen. The diligence we have in our life and the hard work we give has only a small part to do with the rewards that we reap. It is the Lord who makes the magic happen when we are willing to show Him that we will do everything and more for Him.

"Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." (Alma 26:12)

I am so grateful for the power of Jesus Christ to fulfill my purpose and accomplish my goals each day. We had a wonderful zone meeting Friday about our new vision, goal, and plan for the month. The vision has really struck me: we are to be the missionaries we would be if we knew the Savior was coming at the end of the month. We should live our lives like this always because the Savior lives and He is with us always. I pray I can live my life each day for Him.

Highlights of the week:
We got the Hamiltons moved and all transitioned to their new ward. The Elders Quorum of their new ward helped them move in as well as there new sisters. They are part of the Colorado mission #wyomingmissionlife. Hopefully Dave will be taught soon and their family can be sealed in a year. (:

We met the coolest 12-year-old boy who not only wants to be baptized but also to go on a mission! We taught him the first 2 lessons and he soaked everything in and had the best questions. Sadly, he was just visiting his best friend and he actually lives in Colorado, but hopefully we can get his address soon and send the missionaries over there asap. Man, I just realized how much we are helping Colorado missionaries.

We had awesome lessons with a couple of our investigators just reading the Book of Mormon with them. Two different lessons, but both out of Alma 7 (<3) so good. With Shana it lead to a wonderful conversation about baptism and it is something she has really thought about and prayed about. She has known the missionaries for several years and her 2 kids are members. She says she still feels like she just needs to learn more, so we are starting the formal lessons this week! We also read it with Leona, the 15-year-old who is ready to be baptized, but her parents won’t let her. We asked her to write down a question she had and to think about it as we read. We promised her that if she allowed the Spirit to touch her heart, she would find her answer. We discussed as we read and by the end she could hardly believe that she DID have her question answered. She didn't think it was possible, but it was plainly there in a single verse. I don't know what her question was or what verse gave her the answer, but I do know that the Book of Mormon is true and it can answer any question of the soul!

All of our families are doing good. We are praying really hard to have four more baptisms this transfer, so within the next two weeks. We prayed at the beginning of the transfer and felt so strong that we could have eight, so there are four more. Denise, Charlotte Rapue, Gus Madros, Shana Burd, and the Clarks, could all very well be baptized but they all have minor things holding them back so please keep them in your prayers.

Okay, cute story of the week:
Every Sunday we visit this Tongan family with 9 kids, the Halapuas, (this Sunday I finally remembered all of the kid’s names! woo hoo!) any way, they are reactivating into the church and they just have the sweetest spirits. We watched a Mormon Message and discussed it and what we learned and all that good stuff; the little 6-year-old quietly pipes up in the middle of it all and says, "um... could I give my testimony?" So of course we let him go ahead and he lifts his head up and declares his sweet testimony: "I'd like to bear my testimony, I know this church is true and I know that we have a living prophet on the earth, President Monson, and I know he blesses our families. I love my family. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." It was so cute! I love the testimonies of children.

That’s all for the week. Love you all! CTR!!

He ALWAYS has a plan! ~ 27 July 2015

This was hard this week because we had to walk everywhere since we are out of miles, so we didn't have as many lessons. President Eberhardt was really proud of us for hitting the standard of excellence (SOE). He gave us all a gift card. Apparently, one of the other elders in our district hit the SOE a while ago and when he saw what he got, he asked Sister Eberhardt when President Eberhardt had started giving awards, Sister Eberhardt says, "....uh, today. He just really thought these sisters deserved something for their hard work." I love interviews with President Eberhardt; he truly is called of God and always helps me feel the Spirit so strongly. I am so blessed to have the Eberhardts my WHOLE mission! They go home just after me… (:

Even though we didn't hit the SOE this week because we couldn't get to enough appointments on foot, we prayed that we would find lots of new people so could continue to hit the SOE since all of our lessons are not counting for key indicators because our investigators are all being baptized, which is great! So, we really focused on finding.

We have only seen the Clarks once since their baptism and they said they would be at church but they were not. Gerri’s kids cause her lots of grief and she is so emotionally and physically exhausted. She says prayer and the spirit have been helping her, but I know they need to be at church to receive all those blessings. They need extra prayers right now.

The cool part about one of their lessons canceling, however, is that is how we found one our new investigators this week! Outside the Clark’s apartment door, there was a lady holding an albino corn snake (which I only knew about because that is the kind Cierra had) and a bearded dragon lizard! (What I have always wanted for a pet.) So, we started a conversation and she told us to come visit her! ah, I love how Heavenly Father has always got a plan!(: We will be seeing her and her husband, who is  a less active member tonight!

The other Clarks are so solid but Ernie has brain problems and gets seizures a lot and he just had a really bad one this week :( We haven’t been able to talk more with them, so we aren't sure what Is going on, we are just praying he is ok. His baptismal date will probably be pushed to later in August but they are so prepared. We just really hope Adam and Gerri will see their change so their family can mend.

The Hamiltons were just baptized, Emily and her daughter Alexandria, who is 8. I have now taught an 8-year-old and an 80-year-old who were baptized! haha. They are so sweet and we are sad to be losing them on Friday to their new ward in Laramie. We know Emily will stay strong though.

We had a really cool experience with her this week. So, when we taught her word of wisdom she shared with us a weakness she has had and she really wanted to overcome it. We made a plan and she succeeded so wonderfully. Fault on our part though, because we focused so much on that particular part that we didn’t go very in depth about the other stuff. So two days before her baptism we came to visit her and she was drinking coffee. We asked how the word of wisdom was going and she was beaming because she had been doing so well! So we asked if she remembered about the no coffee part and her face dropped. She totally forgot and felt so horrible. We told her that is was normally required to be living the word of wisdom for a week before her baptism but that would be a day before she moved and she wouldn't be in our ward to get the Holy Ghost. She said that after this she would promise to live the word of wisdom if we could get permission from our zone leaders to let her still be baptized on Saturday. We said we would check. She took a sip and we didn't know how to approach it but the Spirit led us and we told her that if she really wanted to be baptized in 2 days that she needed to show her faith by dumping out the coffee and removing all temptation. She popped out of her chair and said OF COURSE! She told us this was something she wanted to do, so she dumped it out, then ran to the kitchen and cleaned out her cupboards and gave us all the tea and coffee in her house. We told our zone leaders what happened and they were really proud of our integrity rather than just ignoring it and going ahead with the baptism and not saying anything about the one drink of coffee. They prayed about it and she was able to still be baptized as scheduled. (:

I am so grateful for obedience and integrity and I know that Heavenly Father always fulfills our righteous desires and grants us the wishes of our hearts!

Life is good. Thank you for your prayers (:

Happy day, ALL is well! (: – July 21, 2015

Where do I begin? This week was like the top week of my mission. SO many good things to report. But because of our awesome mission hike, I don't have lots of time.

Just a quick preview>>

The Clarks were baptized! It was so amazing. Adam said that he was so looking forward to the feeling of peace he would get, but he could have never imagined just HOW great he felt. It was so good that his kids could be there. They are adorable and SO want to be baptized, but their mom won’t let them. Gerri has just been waiting to be baptized and she was so ready and was so smiley (: Their blessings for the confirmation on Sunday were just beautiful!

We had 8 again at church, but the big news was that we HIT THE STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE! This is the standard the mission president has set for key indicators that is like top notch. It is to have 1 baptism, 5 at church, 10 lessons with members present, 5 other lessons to nonmembers, 5 lessons to less active or recent converts, 3 new investigators, and 3 progressing investigators. We hit all of these this week OR exceeded. We were so determined, and our faith and the Spirit helped us accomplish our goal. We are so blessed to be helping so many people. What if I hadn't come on a mission?! ugh…

I love being an instrument in the Lord’s hands; there is nothing better than serving with our WHOLE SOUL!!

Our mission hike was so good and you know me, although I love Green River with every piece of my heart, YIKES, it is so good to be around all the missionaries again. We had a blast. I will try and send some pics soon. The hike was soooo beautiful. Hennifer Utah is such a cute little town and the Mormon Trail was just breath taking. It was so neat to stand at the top of the mountain and see the trail that the Utah Salt Lake City East missionaries traveled and our pioneers too (: I love seeing all of my friends and I know the Lord loves when His children can gather together in righteous places doing righteous things. How GREAT will be our joy when we are all reunited in the celestial kingdom. I didn't even really think of that until now, we just shared a lot of laughs and had a good time together. It felt so good. I know that will be the fruit of our labors and the importance of this work: so we can all be happy together, forever! 

My companions are doing great. Sister Smith has started her one-month-count-down, her brother just got home from his mission in the Arizona Tempe Mission, so she is pretty excited to have an return missionary around. She has a very healthy attitude towards going home. She is a good example. Sister Masih is so flipping funny. She doesn't really understand English so she just doesn't catch a lot of things or she will just say really funny things that make us laugh all the time. She has funny phrases she always says like when she falls she says "ouch! so sorry my leg." She is just a hoot, but its hard to explain unless you know her I guess. lol She has a very powerful testimony and always testifies of what we say.

Well, I love you lots! Sorry it is so short.

The church is true, the book is blue, and Jesus Christ is REAL! I hope you can all access the power of His love and forgiveness in your life this next week!

CTR(:

"Dessert is on the house for anyone who saves the universe."- family commercial from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - 13 July 2015

WE ARE SAVING THE UNIVERSE HERE IN GREEN RIVER. haha But, really, we have had so many miracles this week!  ~ 13 July 2015

The third sister in our companionship is Sister Masih. She is Samoan but lives in Australia. She was in my first zone and she is our secret weapon! Since she got here we have had miracle upon miracle. We have so many new investigators and SO many people preparing for baptism.

We got to Green River at about 7:30PM  on the day of transfers and got a call from one of the men in the bishopric that there was a couple who want to be baptized. We visited with them on Saturday morning at a members house and they came to church on Sunday; they are preparing to be baptized on August 1st and they are so prepared. And here is the crazy part: turns out, they are Adam Clark’s parents! They aren't really in contact with one another and had no idea that Adam and Gerri have been meeting with us for the last couple of years! But they have been praying that they could find a path so we are so excited and hope this will bring their families closer together.

Gerri and Adam Clark are getting baptized next weekend! Since the day their baptism didn't happen, we have been asking when they DID want to get baptized and they kept putting it off. We prayed about it and felt good about the 18th. So, we went over and asked them to say a prayer and look at a calendar. They both felt like they should do it the 18th. The power of prayer is SO REAL!

Emily Hamilton wants to be baptized the 25th and her daughter Alex isn’t sure. We asked her to say a prayer about it; she was so cute - she said the closing prayer and thanked Heavenly Father for sending us and then said, "now, God, I have a special question to ask, just for me... should I get baptized?" She said, “amen” and smiled. She said, “Usually when I pray, my tummy feels warm ... right now it feels HOT!” (: We told her that what she was feeling was the Holy Ghost telling her she should get baptized. But, she was still worried about the water-by-immersion part. But, as you know, Heavenly Father is always thinking of these things, the monthly stake baptisms happened to be the next day for the 8-year-olds, so Emily and Alex both came! Alex said, “That wasn't scary at all,” and she wants to be baptized with her mom on the 25th!

We have a new investigator, JT. He’s the one who is married to the girl who reminds me of Maren. we went to read the Book of Mormon with him, but he had so many questions about our religion, so we just took an hour answering his questions. He was really impressed by our answers, but I explained to him it wasn't us, it was the Holy Ghost. He said, “There ya go again with good answers!” haha I love their family and am so excited to teach all of them.

We had 8 of our investigators come to church this week, so that was awesome! That is more than I have had my whole mission. This area is so prepared by the Lord. I never want to leave!

So, the spiritual thought of the week: We need spiritual nourishment to be able to keep growing. I know that I am where I am today because of the wonderful examples I have in my life. I am so grateful to be a part of a multi-generational family whose roots strengthen mine. Elder Bednar gave a talk about observing the Sabbath day in our homes and used the analogy of trees. He said the old trees that die strengthen to soil for the new trees so they can grow too. It all starts in the home. Well, it made me think how new converts in the church don't have that. They don't have extra-fortified soil yet. They are starting their own little forest! They need the support of their strong ward family to be able to give them the spiritual nourishment that they need.

I invite everyone to reach out to our brothers and sisters around us. Those that are new in the church and those who don't know their Savior yet: pray for them, help them, and nourish them. They can't do it without you. We all need each other to grow up to be what the Lord intends us to be. I thank you all for allowing me to be a strong tree. I humbly pray my roots can strengthen those that I am teaching here in beautiful Green River, Wyoming. I know that as I do this, and as you all reach out, these people will be able to in turn make OUR roots even stronger!

God is Good.

And, funny moment of the week: we had a combined Sunday School meeting about the official stance of the Church on marriage and it got pretty heavy and Sister Kennah (who was supposed to teach Relief Society - but the conversation went on way too long) raises her hand and, as if to contribute to the heavy comments, says: "I just made chocolates shaped like the Salt Lake City temple and I would just like to pass them out." lol Best comment of the class. XD

-- XOXO, Sister Hatch