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March 23, 2015

Hello Family and Friends!!!!!!

This week has been a rougher one for me. It is very hard to constantly have rejection in your life and even harder when you have appointments scheduled and then they cancel on you last minute! But I am trying to get used to it... It is just that we have this potential Brittany that I think I told yuo about last week. I had tracted into her with Sister Kolkova and we finally got in contact with her and had an appointment and everything set up with her and I felt SO good about her and I still do but then she cancelled. We rescheduled and she cancelled again!! I don't want to sound so negative but it is really hard for me to feel like something good is going to come and then it's taken away and after working so hard!

But on a better note we do have a baptism this Saturday! I just don't feel as excited about it because I don't really know the Sister and we didn't ever teach her so I don't feel as apart of it. I am just hoping it sparks some kind of fire in the ward and shows them that baptisms can happen and then they will help us more! I am excited for the baptism, don't get me wrong, it's just different because I don't feel like it's ours...

We are still giving Brother Topley time to read the BOM so we will see how that goes next week:) He is still coming to church every week so everything is still good there! 

Oh and the other day in the middle of our studies one morning a Jehovah's Witness came to our door:) It was kind of cool to be on the other side of tracting haha and helped me even to see what I could do better with tracting. She was kind of just splurting out tons of information and handing me pamphlets and it made me realize that is probably what we look like. So I realized we need to just keep it simple because no one knows what we are talking about at first. Anyways it was a strange experience and she wanted to come back so maybe I looked too interested:) I did tell her I was an LDS missionary but she didn't seem to care haha:)

And I bet you've seen me on Facebook lately!! It has been fun cleaning up my Facebook... haha:) I don't have nearly as much stuff as Sister Hooker did though... She is actually still not done cleaning her Facebook and it has been a week:) I am glad I didn't use it that much before my mission! But it is really cool to be able to see more of what I have been missing out on but it also makes me more homesick. I am doing pretty good now though. It just took a while to get used to:) It is also a little bit harder with Sister Hooker being so close to the end of her mission because she is pretty trunky and I have to remind myself that I am still at the beginning haha. Anyways sorry for this super negative letter I guess I have just been having a hard time. But I know that this week we will be better! We are so close to having 20 appointments set up so hopefully we can stay busier!! And Conference is so close! I can't wait!!!

I love you guys and miss you so much!!! Thank you all for writing me and keeping me updated! It sounds like you all are having a great time and I can't believe school is so close to an end! Exciting!!

Love,

Sister Hatch

Scripture of the Week:

 "Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.

  I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me.

And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted.

 My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.

 He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh.

 He hath confounded mine enemies, unto the causing of them to quake before me.

 Behold, he hath heard my cry by day, and he hath given me knowledge by visions in the night-time.

And by day have I waxed bold in mighty prayer before him; yea, my voice have I sent up on high; and angels came down and ministered unto me."

(1 Nephi 4:17-24)

This is a great chapter! We will always feel weak and hopeless but through Christ we can overcome those negative feelings! Through the Lord we can feel unstoppable!!!

Miracles

March 16,2015

It has been an amazing week!!!! Many miracles happened!!

First of all we are officially starting Facebook tomorrow!! Woot!!! Woot!! You can't chat with me or inbox me but I will be able to see your posts and vice versa so I think it will help me to feel closer to you guys! I am so excited! But it will also take a long time to hide everything on my Facebook. 

We had another lesson with Brother Topley and it was amazing!!! The spirit was so strong and he was able to open up to us about how he was offended by someone in the church and so it has taken him a while to get over it. He doesn't want to rush into baptism so we aren't pushing him but he finally agreed to read the Book of Mormon!!! I know if he does he will find his answer so he is so close to baptism! We can taste it!!

Then the Spanish Elders passed off a woman who they had taught and she wants to be baptized March 28th!! Score! We didn't even have to do anything!! But the bishop does want us to try and teach her english so that will be a challenge but it will be fun! I do know a little spanish so hopefully that will help:)

And finally we got in contact with a girl we had tracted into a while ago and set up an appointment! She seems so golden and we can't wait to teach her!! See there are people who are ready in Airdrie!!! 

2nd Ward has a lot of less actives and part member families so we have been trying to meet with them and have been semi successful. They are all super nice and so we just need to find a time that they can meet with us!

It also finally snowed!!!! Which I am so happy about because I was really hating the warm weather. But now it will be a little more scary driving...

Our zone decided to do a "fast" from tracting this transfer because the want us working more with members and we have definitely been seeing the blessings already!! It is so true that when we get the members involved that is when the real magic happens!! 

One of the amazing things I realized this week is that we have the truth! Other people who want to bring us down or pull us away from our beliefs haven't experienced what we have. They don't understand why we live the way we do because they haven't felt God in their lives. So why do we let these people break us down? Why do we let them pull us away from what we know is true? We should be standing taller and testifying to them of the things we know and feel! We don't need to back down from them, they should back down from us because we have the Lord on our side! I just realized that as I read the story of the tree of life. It talks about how some of the people who partake of the fruit are ashamed when they see the people in the building mocking them. Those people who have tasted the fruit should showing the others how wonderful the fruit tastes not giving into their worldly happiness. Anyway I just want you to think about that and read 1 Nephi Chapter 8. It is so good!!!

I love you all and miss you tons!!! But just remember that God loves you so much!!!

Sister Hatch

March 9,2015

So this week has been stressful getting to know the new ward and everything! I can't imagine how stressed Sister Hooker is trying to get to know two wards at once! But she seems a lot more calm than me. I guess I am too much of a worry wart. It was so funny though because I had been talking to Sister Hooker one about me being shy and what not and she said I do not see you as being shy! Can you believe it? She is the first person in the history of forever to not think I am shy!!! Maybe the mission has changed me even more than I realized! I guess it is easier to talk to people than ever before but I still think I'm shy sometimes:) 

Second ward has tons of less actives and part member family and so we have been trying to contact as many as possible and see if we can meet with them. We have had some success already which is really good! We met with the Relief Society president in 2nd ward and just went over all the sisters in our ward and there was over half of them that she had no idea who they were!! That is insane!! So we have just been trying to tract them down! So lots of work to be done, I just hope we are able to accomplish something with it!

We had another lesson with Brother Topley again finally and it is so frustrating with him! He knows it all, there isn't really much more we can teach him, he just wants to find his answer that it is true. But he isn't reading the Book of Mormon either so it will be hard for him to find his answer if he isn't reading the thing that will give him the answer. So we think he is just scared and that he knows when he reads the Book of Mormon that he will find an answer and that is what scares him the most. So we are just praying so hard for him because he is so close!!! There is also a woman in second ward who had taken the lessons from the Spanish Elders and wants to be baptized!! So we will just have to meet with her. She doesn't know too much English so it will be hard but she wants to be baptized into second ward so hopefully that will happen soon as well! Some legal things have to be worked through first though. So we could possibly have 2 baptisms in the next month of so!! Just keep praying for them!

It has also been so warm here!! No snow for a long time! It has been in the teens which is probably how warm it is in Az. It feels like Arizona winter:) But I am not complaining!! The people say that it tricks you for a while into thinking that summer is almost here and then there is a huge snowstorm so I'm not getting too excited:) 

So everything is good and busy!! And it sounds like you guys are doing well and staying busy as well! I hope your spring break is super fun and I will be looking for my package!!! Life is great and God is amazing!! Don't forget to look for the tender mercies the Lord gives us every day. They are there I promise!!! I love you all!!!

Sister Hatch

Quote of the week:

"Patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something... even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!"

President Uchtdorf

New Companion

March 2,2015

It is totally ok!! Last week was crazy and since I had told you that P-day was on Tuesday I wasn't expecting you guys to have emailed me but I did get some emails. I bought a card reader finally and I guess I will buy a USB also:) And I want all kinds of pictures just so I can show you guys off and have some pictures to decorate my planners with. 

It is so insane that Wyatt is home but so cool!! I bet he has a ton of great stories and experiences to share!! I can't wait to hear them all when I get back! Grandma is so funny!! I miss her!

So I got a new companion... Sister Kolkova is officially gone South:( But my new companion is Sister Hooker and she is amazing!! She has been out for 14 months and I am learning so much from her!! She is also from Queen Creek, Az so it's cool to talk about some of the same areas back home:) With 2nd ward being apart of our area now we have so much work to do and it is great!! I don't think I will be complaining anymore that I have nothing to do:) Yesterday I went to 5 hours of church it was amazing but exhausting!! Especially because it was fastSunday but 2nd ward members are so welcoming and are excited to have sisters again! Sister Hooker and I already decided we are going to get a baptism this transfer!! I really believe we can do it especially with Brother Topley being so close! Great things are going to happen this transfer I can feel it! 

I am also the designated driver this transfer which is scary but exciting! It hasn't been snowing too much lately so I haven't had to worry about that but it could snow any day and I am nervous to drive on snow. But our car is so  sweet and so it's fun to drive!! I missed it a lot!!

Anyways I have a lot of pictures this week from transfers and everything so get excited!! Oh and I have actually been able to eat meat again now that Sister Kolkova's gone haha:) We aren't served fish every night! Fish is good and all but it gets a little tiresome eating it every night! haha:)

I love you all so much and miss you!! Have a great week!! God is amazing!

Love,

Sister Hatch

Scripture of the Week:

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.

A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.

And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you."

John 16:20-22

(I know these pictures have nothing to do with her email this week but they have to do with past one)

The quilt the members made for her.

Canada's national food.

Transfer week

February 23, 2015

So President decided to change P-day on transfer week to Monday and we won't know transfers until Wednesday... It's so crazy!! I am getting so anxious. But Sister Kolkova got a Sister Training Leader call so she will most likely be transferred and I will stay here which I will be so happy about! I love this area!! And with us being over 2nd ward as well it will be fun! But I will be sad to lose Sister Kolkova:( It has been fun!

This week was another busy one! I definitely know that the Lord is blessing us for our efforts!! This week we had a service opportunity with a lady named Betty. She had found one of the Elders service flyers and so they were helping her move. Then she also needed help cleaning her house for the open house so we spent a good chunk of the day Friday at her house. She is a single mom who has had a lot of struggles in her life and she said she would be willing to learn more after the move and everything!! And even better she is moving into our area!! So we pretty much have a new investigator thanks to the Elders:) 

Thursday we figured out we had a flat tire from the Elders. We didn't realize it so who knows how long it had been flat haha:) Elder Condie changed the tire for us and we watched so now I think I could change a tire. It doesn't look to hard. I am definitely learning a lot about cars on my mission! And the Elders like to make fun of us because we don't know anything but oh well... 

I had deer for the first time as well this week! It didn't taste too different from steak. It was good!! 

We are officially starting Facebook proselyting in this next transfer!!! I am so excited!! I think it will help me feel more connected to home even though I can't chat with you guys:( But I can see your posts! It will also be a huge temptation but I think I can handle it! Also our mission is the next one to get ipads! They said late spring, early summer but who knows if that will actually happen this time:) We have to pay for our own though and it is going to be around $400 so I don't know if I really want to get one... But we can talk about that more when the time comes:) 

Things are really good here and I will tell you more how transfers turn out next week!! The work is finally picking up so I really want to stay!! I love you all so much!! Have an amazing week!:)

Love,

Sister Hatch

Scripture of the Week:

"If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things- that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal."

D&C 42:61  

Albert one of the Ladies that they go and visit with and sing to. 

The Sheppards.  The ones that are always giving them the gourmet food.

Good-bye Sister Kolkova.  Sister Kolkova was transferred.

One of the members in her ward.