Nov 8, 2010

Fam!,Well i dont have much time to write because my computer wasnt working for a bit and i had to change.. but tonight i will send the pics from a members house cause i am not gonna have time to do it right now.. but i am doing good and another change is almost over.. we find out who has changes tonight but i am pretty sure i am staying in canalitos and i have a feeling that my comp is too.. but i dunno and we will see tonight.. umm for the day of the dead we went to the cemetary and were going to paint a toombstone but we didnt.. it was fun and yall will like the pics i will send in th night.. also i have an arrigamortis story that will top all the other ones in our family.. so we were walking up in our area far from our house and my stomach starting bothering me.. luckily we made it to a members house and i use the bathroom in their outhouse on a cement toilet seat with no tp and the seat was cold and wet.. then we taught them and they fed us chicken that one of their kids brought in in a bag then water that might not have been pure.. i ate and drank though and we left.. i starting feeling terrible and we were a long way from the house and i was freezing cold cause its been really cold here recently.. to the point of wearing my sweater.. anyway i told my comp i couldnt make it to the house but then i felt better.. but then again i was about to explode.. i was like is there a little alleyway close to here.. there was and it was dark so i went running down this alleyway.. then i squated against a cement wall in the dark with dogs barking by someones house and had arrigamortis.. it was crappy.. my stomach hurt soooo bad.. my comp thought i was crazy but really i couldnt hold it in.. later we got home and i had more arrigamortis and threw up a billion times all throughout the night.. it was the worst night i have ever had in my LIFE!!! i didnt sleep and spent more time in the bathroom then in my bed.. what a blessing to get arrigamortis in guatemala.. haha umm yeah mom i got the package and everyone has been enjoying the candy.. thanks for the little part you sent specifically to my comp too.. that was really cool and it made him feel good.. and mom i am pretty sure you do have a spot reserved for you in heaven.. Haha umm we found a new family this week and little by little the work is getting better and our teaching pool is getting bigger.. last week i was pretty discouraged but things are finally coming around.. also at church this week we had two less actives come that weve been working with and two youth that weve been working with.. in church this sunday i lead the hymns so that was exciting.. alot of people have been sick so i got stuck doing it.. but tonight ill send pics.. i love yall a lot and thanks for the support as always and your in my prayers...love,Elder Hatch

Nov 1, 2010

Hey Family!Well we are into november now.. the time is flying... and i bought a card reader so now i will be able to send pictures without a problem for the rest of my mission hopefully.. anyway last email i was kind of rushed so i wasnt super clear but the spider i saw was the size of the palm of my hand and all hairy.. it was pretty legit.. also i said its really neat how the bible talks so much about the restauration of the gospel the great appostasy and about the book of mormon.. it doesnt help though cause the people here are hard and dont want to listen most of the time and only the spirit and testify that the things we teach are true.. but i just never realized how many scriptures there are about those things in the bible and then the bom too goes hand in hand with everything the bible says.. its just a little easier to understand.. also i was wondering if matt graham had gotten his mission call and if tyler white ended up going on a mission or how he is doing? well halloween here is today and its called the day of the dead.. after we finish here we are going to the cemetary with a family here in canalitos and we are going to paint and decorate a tomb looking think of the grandma that died..
they decorate with flowers and both plastic and real ones then the also paint and clean up the toombs or however the heck you spell it.. well the one pic is of a service project we did moving dirt for a family with our zone.. another is me and the typical guat food of beans eggs and longanizas.. or sausage things.. and corn tortillas.. with my guat flag i bought..

the burn i got from being really smart with beans.. me and the guajardos.. mom and dad you should look them up somehow and email them that you got the pic.. i was suppose to send it to them but i lost the card they gave me.. well the other day we got a jalon with the police cause the buses were too full.. the police dont do crap here but ateast they gave us a ride home in their little cop bus thing.. it was pretty tight and it was for free.. a lot of the little kids here always tell me to do tricks.. cause i guess alot of the missionaries have done tricks for them before.. so i always juggle for them with rocks in the street.. they think its pretty cool and i have gotten pretty good with for rocks balls or whatever now.. umm we got two news last week.. they are both 16 year old boys.. they are pretty cool and we have another appointment with them this sat.. hopefull we can get em to church and get them to have a baptismal date.. haha all the latinos say i am weird cause i am not like all the white people.. i dont play a musical instrument like the rest of them.. i dont do computer stuff i didnt play video games and all i did was sports... but i take pride in being different! haha but yeah mom and britt i sent yall letters last week so hopefully youll get them sometime this month.. this lady gave us a warm green drink with floaty stuff in it the other day.. i drank it all but even my comp thought it was nasty and didnt finish it.. it was siiiiccckkkk!! i thought i was gonna gag.. but didnt.. i am getting better and a lot less picky.. umm and just to say something about the fast i did last week.. we all know that fasting helps with spiritual things and if we have faith miracles can happen.. but also it helps with your body.. like i said in the last email my stomach was messed up.. but after i fast 24 hours i have been good ever since.. its pretty amazing.. well i dont have too much more time or anything else to say but if yall could please pray for melanie.. hna or sis lidia morales.. and the family toledo... those are the people that hopefullly will be baptized next change.. well i love yall and thanks for the support yall always give me.. but all the emails i got this week was just one from dad and so if yall have time please email me.. well yall have a good week and ill write back and send more pics in a week!! love yallElder Hatch

Oct 27

Hey fam..Well like i told maybe mom last week when i was writing here my stomach has been messed up for about 10 days now.. its pretty pretty fun and i took peptobismal one night buty it didnt work but today i am finally starting to feel better.. well today we woke up at 430 and went to the temple.. it was really good cause i hadnt been for 3months.. we also did a special fast for our area and our investigators so that was good and i also learned something new this time in the session and it was cool to be in the celestial room and feel the peace that is always there.. also before i forget.. i talked to our zone leader today who is a big and open byu fan.. and he started talking to me about college bball.. then about byu.. then i asked him if he remembered who they lost to two years in a row.. he told me aandm.. i was like yeah boy!!! i am from college station.. haha it was pretty tight cause he is a big byu fan :P.. anyway on to other stuff.. i did divisions last week so i still got to work quite a bit.. it was really good to work and get out of the house.. we still had a dr appt so i might be able to say that i know zone 10 better then canalitos but atleast now we are working a little bit even though he still has pain in his leg and quite a bit.. i just hope they dont send him home.. i just want to have a comp next change though so that i can work like normal.. also sometimes it bothers me cause he thinks he knows more then me.. i am not saying i know everything but sometimes he tells me things and i am like dude.. you worked three weeks your whole mission.. i know what i am talking about!! its not too bad and if i have him another change it wouldnt be bad at all but i just needed to get that out.. anyway we have 4 baptismal dates now.. the one original one we have fell.. out of nowhere wen went to visit him and his wife told us he is going to another churuch and doesnt want to even talk to us.. it sucks cause i feel like i could have down more.. but we were in the hospital and it was super hard to find him.. it sucks but maybe he will come around later in life.. somebody must have gotten into his head.. but we have 4 dates for next change.. a 60 year old lady whose been a few times.. a 15 yr old girl whose mom is a member and a girl and her boyfriend who are young.. but have a kid already but we have to marry them then baptize them.. i am pretty confident that atleast the couple will get baptized next change but the other two will need a little more work and need to get a really good testimony before they will really get baptized.. but please pray for them and my comp too and me if yall want.. haha umm in one of the divisions we found a conselour of pres torres.. it was scary cause i have never liked leaders or talking to them cause i am the kind to keep my distance and just be obedient and do my own thing.. but i shared a message with them and they said my spanish was good so that made me feel happy.. i still feel like i have soooo much work to do on it.. but i understand almost everything and can talk pretty good now and i think my accent is getting there too.. also we didnt have water and i ran out of shaving cream.. so one morning my stomach was jacked up..

i showered with a bowl with cold water and didnt have shaving cream.. it was crappy.. but thats the life of a missionary here in guatemala.. haha umm also i have studied alot in my time in the house and its cool how the bible talks so much about the restauration and if people would just listen and cause they all say they read the bible theyd know that the book of mormon is true that joseph smith was a prophet and that the church is true..well i saw a huge spider the other day and it was cool but i couldnt catch it.. umm ahh my time is almost out.. we did service the other day and it was super tiring but the lady thanked us and almost cried so it was definately worth it.. well my camera and pics maybe next week love yall and ill write monday!!Elder hatch

October 18, 2010

Dear Family,Hey well i wont have too much to say this week cause we were in the hospital until sunday in the afternoon.. it was super crappy and i was about to go crazy from being stuck in there for soooo long.. but we are out now but my comp has to rest for a week now then we have another appointment with the doctor to see whats up.. but yeah is wasnt fun.. but l forgot to tell yall last week but i had a moment on tues where dad would have told me.. lets use our head for something other then just carrying hair... so anyway if you are gonna cook something in a can like bean are something that is packed tight you can poke a hole in the bottom then open the top, blow and all the stuff comes out without having to use a spoon. anyway i tried to show this other elder the trick.. but i couldnt get a whole in it.. so about two minutes after i had put the oil in the pan i got it.. but the beans fell in the hot oil and it splashed on my arm and it hurt really bad..
it was the smartest thing ive done in my life but i have a pretty cool purple burn mark on my arm now.. i have a pic of it but my this computers are some retardes and wont read my card so i can send pics.. anyway so some of the highlights of last week were eating at mcds three times and hearing the first country song ive heard down here in guat.. then showering in nice showers.. it was crappy though and i had a headache almost the whole time cause when i sit around and dont do anything am in the same room for forever my head hurts.. so it was not a fun week.. also the guy we were gonna baptize is not excited anymore and hasnt come to church.. its crappy cause its hard to find him and we have been in the hospital.. i still dont know my area and the pool of investigators is not good cause we have worked about 6 days this whole change. its hard and cause elder bravo got appendicitis fri night and i used to live with him so i went with his comp back to colombia.. my first area and now the family we found last change are gonna get baptized and also three teenagers i found my third changed and this other kid.. its hard to know that they are doing so well there and that i helped find and teach them and then here i dont have anything.. and if my comp leaves i will practicall have to open up this area cause i still havent been to the far away parts and i dont know the members houses well or the less actives and definitely not the investigadores cause all we have is about 4 or 5 right now.. but we are gonna do divisions this week so i can work here in my area and hopefully get things started again.. hopefully my comp doesnt get sick again or them might send him home.. especially cause they still dont know why he got sick the first or second time.. but yeah.. i bought 12 new ties for in dollars would be about 60 cents a tie.. they are pretty cool and now i have 50.. it was one of the more exciting parts of my week.. haha umm and we raced beds in the hospital to see whose could raise the fastest and the food was pretty good too.. also all the old nasty nurses liked to mess with me cause i am white.. but they did say i speak pretty good spanish so that made me feel good.. umm what else.. a doctor who spoke english and is from here knew about blinn when i told him i was from cstat.. that was kind of weird.. happy bday mom you have almost reached 61 years.. haha and i made a card in the hospital but i have to develop a pic so i havent sent it yet.. well i dont know what else.. i am doing good.. my stomach hurts right now though.. ughh dang guat food.. haha but yeah i wish i could send pics cause i havent for a while and i have some good ones but yall will just have to wait a bit i guess..
well i know this work is really important and that i am suppose to be here in guatemala and its really cool to be a missionary and have everybody look up to you and look to you for help.. i know that this church is true and Jesus Christ is at the head of it and directs it.. i have learned so much during my first eight months out here and am excited to learn more.. thanks for all yalls support and i love yall a ton. keep praying for me and my comp and i praying for yall too.. everyday..well ill write next week but not until weds cause we are going to the temple!! well love yall

October 12, 2010

Hey fam.. I dont have much time to write today cause i recieved a lot of emails.. i didnt write yesterday cause i was in the hosital with my companion.. the same thing that happened last change to him happened again.. so we went to the hospital sat night and i was there until yest afternoon.. its an infection and they dont know what the cause of it is though.. please pray for him though and that he will be able to get better soon.. he should be coming home tomorrow hopefully and another elder is with him right now cause we had zone conference today and president wanted me to come.. but i will be going back with him tomorrow if he is still there.. its crappy in the hospital.. i can study but i cant focus for that long of a time and being in one room the whole day i was about to go crazy... well mom and dad my shoes the rockports have about had it.. there is no grip on the bottom of them so i need to buy new ones or have yall send me some nice once from the states.. the bottom has gotten really thin and the insides of them are messed up now too from getting wet soo many times so let me know if yall want to buy me some or if i should just buy some from down here.. we put a baptismal date with the guy last week and he is gonna get married and baptized the first week in november.. its exciting but i dont really know him or anyone too well yet just i worked about a week then went tot he hospital again with m y comp.. i didnt tell yall but last change conf. elder karrs parents were there to pick him up and so i got to translate for them all the testimonies of the elders that were going home.. it was pretty cool to do that.. we had been knocking doors like crazy trying to find investigadores and last week we found 7 news and two families.. but we werent able to go to our return appt cause we were in the hospital.. also we had a fhe last night with a bunch of ward members and the investigator whose mom is a member and it was really cool and if we can get her going to church maybe we can put a baptismal date with her! we also had interviews last week and they went really well.. i felt appreciated by president so that was good and yeah umm... the house here is hard with just two of us.. its kind of boring but better for studying.. it has been COLD here recently and i have wanted to wear a jacket in the night.. i didnt think it got like that in guat but it does.. well i have 8 months now in the mission.. the time is going fast now and its getting easier with the language and everything but i still need to do a lot stuff better to be a better missionary and servant of God.. i got to shower in the hospital in bare feet for the first time in 8 mnths so that was pretty cool and it was the cleanest i felt since i was in the mtc.. it was like a nice hotel.. but super boring.. anyway i cant get my pics to work but i am doing well down here.. thanks for all the emails and support and ill try and figure out the pic thing.. mom and dad the guajardos were there today and i took a pic with them but cant send it cause this computer is dumb.. welll my hour is almost up but i love yall and am praying for yall!! take careLove,Elder Hatch

October 4, 2010

Hey Family,Well as i though i had a change and now i am in a different zone.. atlantico and a different area Canalitos 1.. i am still in the capital technically but my area isnt like it was in colombia.. its a lot cooler here and it even gets cold.. i am only about 20 min. from my last area but i am up in the mountains and its really pretty here and green.. there are still businesses and stores and stuff but its different and there are a ton of trees and dirt-mud roads here.. i havent seen all of the area yet cause its really big and my new comp elder meza had troubles with his leg last change.. he is from honduras and i am his second trainer.. he only worked about two weeks last change so i will have to teach him a lot and we will have to find a lot of investigators and members cause he doesnt know the area too well.. itll be hard but we will do it. he is almost back to 100 percent though so we should be working at a normal pace pretty soon.. well back in colombia the last lesson i taught was with the new family that we found through a reference.. it was tight and it was awesome to see how prepared they were to recieve the gospel.. one of there best friends is a member and then they just had a new baby and they both want the best for him so they are looking to start going to church.. but they told me not just to go for the heck of it but they want to be completely dedicated to it.. they dont have any problems with the word of wisdom or anything and they are already married unlike everyone else here in guat.. it was really cool to find them and they should be baptized this change.. but wont be there. .but thats ok.. we have a few people here that we just need to teach and help them gain there own testimony and they should be able to be baptized this change.. atleast one guy and then maybe another lady too.. we will see though what else cause we havent really been able to work fully yet..two ladys cried when i left colombia.. it was sad but cool to see that i meant so much to them.. i left a bunch of pictures back there with my info on them so they can email me when they want.. our house here has two rooms and the sink is outside and it rains all the time.. its not too dirty and we are gonna clean it up somemore today after this.. we have water somedays and somedays no.. just depends on when it comes.. the first day i had to shower with a bucket and bowl of water.. it was freezing cold.. but now the shower head works so long as we have water but if not.. i heat a bucket of water on the stove and pour it in the cold water so its about luke warm.. in other words be thankful for showers and warm water.. haha just kidding but it does make me appreciate life back in the states!! well i am learning how to cook now and thats good and be more self sufficient cause there are just two of us in the house even though other missionaries live right next door.. we have 4 miss in the ward cause the area is so big.. i liked conference a lot especially Pres Uctdorfs talk sat morning about how we need to slow down our lives and get back down to the basics and the most important things in life.. i though our family could use that a lot cause we are busy bees for the most part and always like to be running around and doing stuff.. sometimes though we need to realize the most important things for ourselves and especially for our children.. we need to make time to do things as a family.. just simple things too like eating together for dinner.. having family home evening, praying together daily, and reading the scripts daily, and doing other things to strengthen our familiy bonds.. well i am doing good but need yalls prayers and thanks for the emails like always.. if anybody wants to send me a package that would be really cool!! i havent gotten one for a bit and they are super exciting to get as with just letters and pics.. well i love yall a ton and dont think i will be able to get to send pics cause this computer is stupid but ill figure it out for the next time hopefully.. i love yall a ton and pray for yall daily and thank Heavenly Father for yall and this wonderful gospel in my life!! love yallLove,Elder Son Uncle Brother T Hatch

Sept 27, 2010

Hey family!!Well good news! the baptisms and marriage went well!! and they were confirmed sunday too!!! it was a little wedding with just all of us elders and the family of sergio.. it was good though and after we had the baptism.. it made all the time worth it that i had been waiting to see the happyness of maria fernanda and sergio and also of the familia reynoso..

it was super cool.. i know that they are gonna be happy but they just need to continue working and make sure they attend the church every sunday so that they are off and on like they sometimes are.. and also cristians baptism went well.
he is a smart little kid and him and his family are doing well in the church. he was really happy to be baptized and his mom was really happy to have another one of her kids baptized! well i am pretty sure i am out of this area now after being here for almost 6 months... the time has gone by really fast though.. we find out tonight for sure but i found out my comp is training so that means that i will be headed out for sure.. i am ready for a change though and it will be intersesting to see where i get shipped.. i have been working in a trio this last week and in the area of other elders.. so yesterday and tonight and tomorrow i will be passing by to say bye to the members and investigators i have been working with over my time here. its sad but there is a chance some time i will come back here in this zone in another area.. i directed the district meeting last weds so that was cool but i was kind of nervous cause my comp was in the hospital.. he is doing alot better now though only that sat he went in and had his appendix removed.. but he is back home now. its been a crazy change and last week was ridiculous.. an elder from my group went home so another elder got an echange to be with us.. also i have been working with a priest some too thats 16 but looks like hes 10.. haha its been a good change though and it was good to finally see the fruits of my labor here in colombia...i found some sweet shorts in a paca the other day that are nike and revirsable.. and i bought them fo 20 quetzs or about two and a half bucks.. well we will see what happens with changes weds morning but i am pretty sure i am going up to senior comp for this next change which will be good.. itll put more pressure on me but itll help me with my spanish and help me be better leader.. my spanish has gotten a lot better this change i just need to work a little more on the grammar then learn new words and verbs.. but i can understand almost everything now.. i really dont have too much more exciting news this week cause i have been working mostly in the area of other elders.. this sunday all of our investigadors were sick or couldnt come so we didnt have any investigators in church so that sucked but we have some possibilites that could get baptized the next change but i wont be here.. its sad cause i have grown close to a lot people and its sucks saying bye.. well theres not too much more too say but thanks for all the emails and i will write next week some time.. i love yall a ton and thanks for all the support yall give me.. i know this church is true and if we do whats right we will be with our families forever because of what our Savior Jesus Christ did for us.. well i got to go but love yall and ill write yall later.. and if anybody wants to send me letters or pics in the mail thatd be tight! haha

Love,Elder Tyler Hatch