Sister Kirsten Hatch: Kirsten's in Canada

Hello Familia!!!!!!!!!

This week has been a little harder than usual. I got really homesick, probably because of all the changes. My new companion is great and Canada is great, it was just hard to get into the swing of things here and also to not be with my MTC district. We really became close as a district in the MTC and it was hard not seeing them all the time. But I'm slowly getting used to everything here and I'm feeling way better than I did at the beginning of the week when I arrived. So the first night I got here we just met the Mission President and his wife and ate dinner. They let us go to bed early that night which was amazing because we were all really exhausted from traveling all day. We just stayed in a hotel for the night and then met up again together the next morning. Wednesday we figured out our area and our new companions! My new companion is Sister Kolkova, she is from the Czech Republic!!! It is a little hard to understand her accent at times but I'm getting used to it. She is a vegetarian and rarely eats dairy so she's pretty much a vegan which is fun! She is the designated driver as well and she is still getting used to North America driving laws so it has been interesting. Plus neither one of us has ever driven in the snow so we are hoping we never get stuck because we wouldn't know how to get out haha!!! Anyways, I am in the Airdrie 1st ward which is in the Calgary North Zone. Our ward is the BEST!!!! It is not the biggest ward but the members are amazing and super nice. We get fed pretty much every night which is super nice and they spoil us. They are always sending us home with tons of leftovers and treats so I don't think I will ever go hungry in this area. We have a house all to ourselves which is super nice too!!!! A family in the ward went to Australia for the winter and will be gone for 6 months so they let us stay in their house while they are away! The house is nicer than ours so yeah we are really spoiled! And we have a super nice car!!! It is brand spankin new, like only a few months old new and the seats are heated which is super nice when your freezing cold and there is a touch screen radio and everything. I am living the rich and not even paying for anything!! It's sweet! We are also the only Sisters in our district because a lot of sisters went home this last transfer and not a lot have been coming out.

Saturday was our first normal day because we had to get settled in to the new house (the other sisters had just moved in as well) and then we had to drop off the previous sister in Calgary to go home. So Saturday we went tracking. We just went door to door passing out these cards for Christmas about the new mormon message on sharing the Gift. I don't know if you've seen it yet but its a good one. Anyways we are supposed to hand out 10 cards each person each day so we just went from door to door which was pretty fun. It's so funny to see people's faces when they see us coming. They automatically turn the other direction or look away or just look scared for their life. But I'm getting used to that as well. Sunday I finally got to put names and faces together. We did have our Ward Christmas Party on Saturday night but not the whole ward was there. Our Christmas Party was pretty small as well, we just had desserts and a short program put on by the primary kids and then Santa came of course. But anyways Sunday I bore my testimony as well. And they only have 4 young women total in their ward so the Alameda ward is an improvement from Airdrie 1st ward haha. After church we went to visit some old ladies in a retirement home. We just sang them a few hymns and read them a chapter out of the Bible. They are so sweet and that has been my favorite thing we have done so far. I just wanted to stay and visit with them all day. But we visit them every sunday so I'm going to be looking forward to that each week! And we are also helping out at their tea party this Friday so that should be fun!! We might spend some time with them on Christmas also because no one has invited us over for Christmas yet and they have no family visiting them this year.

You don't need to send the Christmas tree because we got a little Christmas tree from one of the members in the ward. We are going to decorate our house more today because we got a lot of decorations from members to put up in our house!! The weather hasn't been bad at all, everyone has been telling me this week has been warm. Apparently last week it was -30 (celsius) and this week the lowest it has been is -5. I haven't been cold at all really. Today I am going to go get boots and a coat, I've just been borrowing my companions boots because she had an extra pair and my coat has been warm enough for the weather we have been having. It has actually been so warm the snow has been melting. But then that creates slick roads and sidewalks. I already slipped on the ice when walking which was kind of embarassing but I think it will happen a few more times at least.

So we have been staying pretty busy. We got a new investigator and my companion said this is her first investigator in this area so far and she has been here 7 weeks. We have been working a lot with members especially less active members. There are a lot of less actives in our ward and I have come to realize that strengthening the less actives is just as important as finding non-members to teach. We have been trying to set up a lot of teaching appointments with members just to get practice teaching and the members also benefit as well.

It sounds like you are all doing so well!! I am so sad I missed Brenna's first basketball game. That's sad she fell;( I hope she is doing better. I am so excited for Ashlyn in getting the job at Culver's!!! That will be awesome!!! I bet Hailey did amazing at her concert as well!! Send me lots more pics!!! I MISS YOU GUYS SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!! I am going to send pics today as well! I love you all so much and I wish you could all be here with me and that I could tell you everything but there is too much to tell!!

Love,

Sister Hatch

P.S. it would be amazing if you could send some recipes. I don't care which ones just send your favorites. Thanks!!