Letter Dated March 1

Hello! Well its my last day in the USA for two years.. kind of weird but yeah it still doesnt seem real yet. this is gonna be shorter because it took me about ten minutes reading all yalls emails.. haha but keep sending it i love hearing how things are going. I am kind of packed.. it wont take too long to get the rest of it ready. things are going good here. there are definitely ups and downs though but i just keeping pushing along. It is amazing though how much God does know us. I have been trying to figure out how to better get personal revelation though. i should have read that book that you were reading dad. haha sorry for being stubborn and not doing it cause i regret it. but i am sure ill figure it out.. i have two years left! thanks for the packages this week from steph, jenn, and jocelynn. and mom and dad i got your package too. its nice to be able to eat everynight before i go to bed cause our dinner is at 430! its ok though and i think i will have room/ weight to take most of it down to guatemala with me! haha it seems like a dream that i will be going there but its tomorrow! i bought a phone card so i am pretty sure ill be calling yall tomorrow sometime between 12-5 texas time when i am in the dallas airport! so be ready. and everyone is doing this so its not like i am not obeying rules.. i follow all of the rules to the best of my ability cause i realized blessings are predicated on obedience. I talk to a lot of the elders that are going to texas and give them advice. like to eat blue belle and get some shipleys donuts. haha if you want to send me that texas tie in my closet mom thatd be cool :) anyway thanks for the letters and everything too! they make me smile and feel good! there are 12 of us going down to the guatemalan mtc or maybe more. i dont know about my info down there but just email me back here and then next monday ill give you my address for letters and packages and ill tell you how that will all work. Its gonna be rough leaving my district here though cause honestly we are super close now and its so fun being with them. Our teachers are really good here too and they love us a lot and thatll be sad. I am a little nervous to go but i will have elder lusty my comp and elder winkle with me. and obviously the holy ghost will comfort me too! so the elders in my district are elder lusty, winkle, sanders, anderson, anderson, christensen, brey, richards, baker. and sean i saw pres. smith the other day in the cafeteria and went and introduced myself to him and he said hed gotten your email. anyway ill be calling yall tomorrow so be ready! i love yall so much and pray for yall daily. Keep praying for me and the people of guatemala. and the people of chile. thats where the other 7 members of my district are going and i heard about the earthquake there. Also keep me updating on the aggie basketball news. Some byu people are like is cs where a&m is? and i am like yep.. then they are like oh.. hahah yeah we beat yall two years in a row its ok... God's University can't win everygame :P jk i dont say that but i am definately thinking it! get me a tourney schedule please once it gets here! i saw ross for the last time and ryan and also hilliary gray is leaving too and i saw her. Also steven shiver from huntsville i see a lot and a mclellan from magnolia. And there are two other hatchs here from ariz. ive talked to them but yeah. oh yeah you should hear us sing we are as the armys of helaman! one of the coolest things ever and its sends chills through my body! aka the spirit is super strong when we sing it. also the devotionals are really good here and bring the spirit very strongly.anyway love yall and bye

Pictures from the MTC

Letter Dated February 22, 2010

Howdy! So this week in the Mtc has gone well and guess what!? i only have 8 days left here then i am headed to the guatemala mtc on march 2nd! so if sean and kellye youd send out an email saying that if people were gonna send me a letter or have started they MUST send it tomorrow or i will not be getting it before i head down to guatemala. ALSO TELL THEM ABOUT DEAR ELDER CAUSE I CAN ONLY USE THAT TILL NEXT MONDAY THEN I AM GONE!! HAHA thanks for doing that for me... i got our itenerary or however you spell it like last thursday night. We heard that they would cancel on us but now there is more room in the guatemalan mtc. so we fly out at 8 on march 2nd from salt lake get to DALLAS TEXAS!!!! at 12 then fly outta there at 5 to guatemala city and will get there about 8 or so!!! its pretty exciting and i know it will be good to get adjusted to the culture and more immersed in the language before i am actually out in the field. I am a little nervous just cause i am but my companion and another elder in my district are going too and we are gonna still see eachother a lot cause it will be a lot smaller. It will be good though for many reasons so when i do hit the field i will have a head start. I dont know about my mailing info once i get down there but i will figure it out. I am gonna try to send yall some pictures soon. Its funny my companion says yall all the time now and so do some of the other members in my district. our district is awesome.. we all get along really well and we work pretty hard most of the time and still have some fun. We do service after the sunday and tuesday night devotionals of putting up a ton of chairs, these big mats that cover the gym floor, and the podium stuff... honestly its one of the most fun things we do. we make it fun and joked around and its fun working together. Also the devotionals before hand are really good. This last sunday the people incharge of welfare missions and humanitarian ones spoke to us. they showed us some videos of people in poverty and some people that our church has helped out and honestly we shouldnt ever complain about food or any of the living conditions we have. We are soooooo blessed to live in the united states and we take a lot of things for granted here. I know i will come to realize this more once i am in guatemala and see what its like there. Umm also we watched an Elder Holland devotional on dvd that he gave here in 2000. That was amazing and all of us just sat in our class room for like 20 min without saying anything after it was done. The spirit was so strong and it really hit me that when i say somos representantes del senor JesuCristo that i am really representing Jesus Christ. That is a big responsibility and i need to do everything i can to represent him well and bring people unto him. My testimony is growing a lot and has been strengthened in a lot of areas. Just a few though is that Heavenly Father really does know us individually and helps us out when we are doing whats right, and in my case trying to live the law of exact obedience. Another thing is obviously the gift of tongues, but i have learned you have to really apply yourself if your gonna be able to recieve that gift. another thing is that the Spirit does bring things into your remembrance when your teaching a lesson. Also the Joseph Smith story and teaching about the first vision has been really powerful. So in all i am doing really well, i have ten minutes left. THe mtc is a good mix of learning about the gospel and learning a language and having fun just hanging out with my district and eating food which i like the cafeteria and playing ball. I actually kind of jumped over this kid this week and i beat somebodys stuff off the backboard for the first time ever. It was pretty awesome.. and no i am not a beast. i am starting to realize that everything we have was given to us from Heavenly Father so we just need to be thankful and humble. I still have a lot to work on though in that area but i am sure itll come. Anyway I dont know what else to say, i feel the spirit multiple times a day and am having a ton of fun! I am so exciting to do what our purpose is invitar a las personas a venir a cristo al fin de que reciban el evangelio restaurado mediante la fe in jesucristo y su expicacion, el arreprimiento, el bautismo, la recepcion del don del espiritu santo, y el perservar hasta el fin! or something close to that. anyway i hope jennifer got my letter and read it to everybody last week. I also got the package from sherrie today and the emails youve sent to me on here. i dont have time to reply individually on here but i also got seans dear elder and shaynes stuff and jennifers stuff and mom and dads letter. Umm i think thats everything ive got :/ anyway keep sending stuff but just write me through dear elder this week so i can read it the same day. Thanks for all the support and prayers, I pray for yall everyday too and love you a lot. Keep doing what your doing and try and look for opportunites to share the gospel where ever you are. I will write again next week. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is amazing. I love yall a ton and hope everybody is doing good! I didnt get everyones email in so pass it along!!!

Letter Dated February 15, 2010

Hola Familia,

The e-mail is not working cause I don't know why but I am doing good. The first day and a half were a little rough cause I was nervous about everything but I am good now and having a lot of fun. My p-day is on mondays so thats when I'll be emailing as soon as it works. Wow! There's so much to say. I love the district I am in. I'm the only non-Utahan and I represent Texas well. Some elders even say "ya'll" every once in a while. I can bear my testimony in Spanish, pray in Spanish, and I know my purpose in Spanish! The gift of tongues is pretty amazing, but sometimes I feel like my brain will explode, but esta bien! That's kind of been our motto through everything...it's good! Living the law of exact obedience is pretty easy and the blessings from it are amzing. Heavenly FAther will bless you with almost anything ig you ask in Faith and are humble.

Dad, I found a scripture for you...Ooops! I don't have my scriptures in the laundry room with me. It's Alma 46. I think its the second or third to last verse. It's about plants.

Anyway, my companero is cool. He played soccer for Taylorsville. He has a strong testimony and is very enthusiastic about everything, which is good. My projected leave date is April 7th. Once the email starts working, I will have 30 minutes to write you. The food is good and there are lots of options.

The Spirit is good here too. We went to the temple today and that was good. Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need and he wants to help us and so we are never alone. The elders that have been here for a month longer than us, seem so much older than us. Hopefully, I'll mature fast too. We study and pray alot which is very good. It's fun to learn Spanish and guess what? I tried singing in the choir....not doing that again though! Music is harder to read then espanol!

The time at first, went by slow but its finally picking up. I am thankful for these two years I have to serve and I can already tell their going to be great. We have gym 5 times a week and everybody that plays ball is impressed with me! Just kidding but not really. A lot of people tell me how good I am a and ask if I am going to play in college. It's pretty fun playing and the exercise is much needed.

Anyway, I don't know what I left out, but I am doing really good. So, continue to pray for me and send letters/emails as often as you can. Food/Candy sounds pretty exciting too. Send actual letters for the next couple of weeks until the email starts working. Hope everything is going well and I love ya'll a lot.

Elder Hatch

P.S. I am a legit missionary now! Woohoo! Oh, yeah. I've seen Ross and that was cool and Ryan Horne and a Elder Shiver from Huntsville.

Off to the MTC

On February 10, 2010, Tyler entered the MTC in Provo Utah. Mom and Dad took him down and dropped him off at the front doors, where he was met by another elder who helped carry in his luggage and take him to his room. This was a bitter sweet moment for Mom and Dad, who have spent 41 years of their lives raising their kids. Tyler's best friends are Mom and Dad. He has a very close relationship with them and this has been hard, especially for Mom to say goodbye. But, they are so proud of Tyler for making this decision to go serve the people of Gautemala and more importantly, the Lord for these next 2 years.

Here is a picture of Tyler outside the MTC. Mom said that he was ready to go. He was so tired of all the emotions of telling family and friends goodbye. He was just anxious to go and get his mission underway.

Tyler wanted his last lunch to be from McDonalds...a double cheeseburger. I am surprised he would even want to eat at this moment. I would be sick to my stomach. Mom and Dad are home now and say that it is kind of different to not have Tyler come check in at midnight or just sit on their bed and visit with them. Dad said he will miss the head rubbing and the long arms drapped around his shoulders. It will take time for them to get used to him being gone. The time will start flying by and he will be home before we know it.