Letter #33- The most important thing we can learn is to be happy where you are!

April 8th, 2013

Dear Everyone,

Way awesome day! You know why? Because yesterday is not today and things are changing. I think I've made a slight discovery this last week and General Conference aided in this discovery. Ever since I've moved to this new area I have felt dazed and confused, even more so than I did when I first came into the field. I didn't know why? But you might have been able to tell from my last few letters that there was something missing.....I had lost a spark, lost a little fire, and I was wrestling with a few internal debates (whew...good thing I wrestled in High School, other wise they might have won). I was searching for an escape, saying it's got to be something that I'm doing that is wierd or something that's happening around me, I was looking for a trick or a technique that would help cure my spiritual vertigo.... Well, after self examination and several pages of just writing my feelings down I had not found any resolution to the predicament I found myself in. So I knelt down and prayed for a long time. Nothing happend, a few days later, tried the same knelt down, prayed, nothing. I was thinking that I must have done something wrong, or that God knew I wouldn't be willing to act on the prompting that He gave me.

So, I just went into the scriptures, conference talks, Preach My Gospel, looking for a solution. Days later I remembered that I had  been in a meeting with President Holm and several other missionaries and he had talked about stretching our vision. And that my vision had shrunk. Time was flying by, but I wasn't feeling like I was accomplishing the things I could be. I had blurred my own vision and I was afraid of the changes here, afraid that I wouldn't get to see the Johnson's again, afraid that the Aguilar family wouldn't be baptized, afraid that I wouldn't accomplish these things that I no longer had any influence over. Don't get me wrong, remembering those experiences and learning from them and cherishing them is totally fine. But I was clinging to them.

I then was wanting to set new goals, so I grabbed a paper and started writing down what things I wanted to accomplish in my life time. Starting with the broad goals and working down to the specific and honestly I still haven't finish it. But then at General Conference I sat down still a bit dazed, but ready and willing to recieve inspiration on my questions I had written up. I listened to every single talk, minus two (due to investigators not being home when they said they would be, but I'll listen to them, promise.) It wasn't until The last session that something struck a chord. Elder Porter's talk about having no fear for the future, humbling yourself before him and accepting the will of the Father, know that and having faith in his purpose for me to be here. The spirit inveloped me with a fire, a desire to go out and testify to others of the gospel.

The most important thing we can learn is to be happy where you are! The city in which you live has no influence in your spiritual harmony with our Heavenly Fathers will for you. Bloom where you stand, be a light on a hill, be thou an example of a believer. Heavenly Father has purpose for us, you and me, where we are. Do not day dream about the past, and wish that if only this person were here, or if only I was in this place, if I had more money. Stop day dreaming and make today amazing so that your yesterdays from now until the end of this mortal life will be as a disciple of Christ. And then when you get to that point set new goals. And start again. I love this life! I love being a missionary and I love making other people happy. My today is fantastic and my tomorrow will be even better, and I wish the same for you, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love you all,

Elder Hatch

Letter #32- 5 things

Dear Everyone,                                                                                                           04/01/2013

This new area is great! I don't have much time, like 5 minutes! But I am loving my work! We are teaching a lady named Sherry Cafero, and she is super talented, you should look her up on youtube! I'll also be sending home a CD of her singing! She is so talented and the cliche of a Southerner. She is amazing, she'll be baptized on the 13th. Remind me to talk more about her next week. We are also teaching a family of 7 who are on date to be baptized the 20th and they are amazing. Truth be told, my new companion is just a boss and he is a very amazingly smart missionary! I am going to change my missionary tactics due to him because it is outstandingly effective. He just does everything possible for the less active members and members and then people just fall into our laps like nothing! We have  several people we are working with. Branch should be starting here in about 3 weeks. I've met Brother David Bushman who grew up with my dad in Joseph City, he's in the ward I work with now. I've been just going to work. Doing the best I can. The thing I've really been studying lately has been the gospel of Jesus Christ. Specifically how it helps us to eternally progress. And it's only 5 things we need to apply all the time. Faith, Repentance, Baptism/Sacrament, Holy Ghost, and Enduring. You apply those 5 things everyday and you will spiritually progress faster than you could imagine. I'm over time by like a minute! Gotta go!

Love you all,

Elder Kendon Hatch

Letter #31- New Area: West Columbia

Dear Everyone,                                                                                                             03/25/2013

So I am in a new area, called West Columbia. It's a sweet little area! We are working on organizing a branch here and in the next few weeks it should be ready to go! Just waiting on permission from Salt Lake! I am companions with Elder Harris and he is a way good missionary, he's especially good at working with less active members. I've been trying way hard to catch up with him and try to figure out how he usually does things so I can help him out the best way possible. We're teaching a family called the Reyes and they are awesome! They all want to get baptized, but we're waiting on marriage license and such. We had another Elder with us Elder Ferrin, but he left to Argentina today. Elder Harris is from Lindon, UT. I don't really know much about the area yet and I don't know much of what is going on half the time right now, I'm just trying to learn how to transition from Goose Creek to here. But we're seeing a lot of success with baptisms and enthusiasm of members in this area. Well, I'm keeping this one short.

Love you all,               

Elder Kendon Hatch

Letter #30- Our Heavenly Father Has Prepared a Way

Dear Everyone,                                                                                                           03/18/2013

Firstly I want to say happy birthday to my Dad! Woo hoo! I wore a green tie for his birthday! Things have been going well here, I am getting transferred to a new area. I won't find out where until Wednesday, so I'll let you all know next week. This last week was a super good week. We have been teaching a ton of lessons lately! We have really been searching for new people to teach! We will teach a quick lesson to someone and find out that they aren't elect yet and we'll bear testimony to them and then leave them with a prayer. Just planting little seeds here and there. I have been really focusing on my studies and how well they are going. I notice that it's so easy to get comfortable, I've been changing around the furniture each week to make sure I don't get too comfortable with my studies. And I've really been working on mastering Preach My Gospel. My studies are so much more efficient when I do that.

We went and saw Carlos and his family again this last week and they are loving the gospel! They said this time when we went over there that they understood the importance of praying to God and not to saints (they were extremely Catholic). We invited them twice to be baptized during the lesson and they wouldn't accept a date. It's been driving me crazy trying to figure out what it is they feel that they need to know before being baptized. We talked about the authority with them and they acknowledged that they need to be baptized by the authority of the priesthood, but I don't know that they understand it! I know that the Lord is answering their prayers though. They have come a very long way!

Also I did a ton of self evaluation and goal setting this week, to make sure I'm doing what I need to do and to be sure I'm going to the direction the Lord wants me to go. Everyone quick! Grab your Preach My Gospels and set goals based on the inspired guidelines found in there! And I promise that so long as you set goals and hold yourself accountable for those goals you are going to find an increase of the spirit in your life. I have a testimony that goal setting is inspired, as well as planning things out. Our Heavenly Father, I guarantee has set goals, and has prepared a way (sound familiar) for those goals to be met.Well, I have a lot of packing to do, Love you.

Elder Kendon Hatch

Letter #29- It's a small world after all

Hello Everyone,                                                                                                           03/11/2013

As I've been here in South Carolina I met a young family from Arizona. I talked to them and they said they were from Joseph City. So we chatted about people we knew together back home. I went this week and talked with the Lee's again and Sister Lee's maiden name is Spurlock and her mother was a Fish. She came up to me Sunday and asked if my dad was Bly, so ya. I found somebody who knows my family even over here in South Carolina. CRAZY!

This week has been really crazy. We have been working really hard on finding new people to teach and we have been putting to use the things that we learned from Elder Marcus B. Nash when he came to see us a few weeks ago. His wife is also a Hatch and knows many of the Hatch's in Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. Crazy again! Elder Grayson and I have been working with Carlos and his family. I don't remember how much I talked about them this last week. But we passed by there house this last week at the scheduled appointment time and they were not home....We were so bummed! We decided to wait around in the area and see if they showed up so we went and taught at another home. When we came back out they weren't home. So we decided to check back the next day. We came back and the note we had left was still there....So we assumed they went out of town, they weren't answering their phone and we were worried. Well long story short they showed up to church. Had a good meeting and felt the spirit strongly and were in tears in the second hour. But they had to leave for the third hour. Keep them in your prayers please. The Aguilar family.

Jorge is doing great! He has been inviting his friends to church, also the Elders Quorum President here took him out and bought him a suit. He was beyond excited and is now wearing that thing all the time I bet. He's hilarious! He is eating up the gospel. Also, pray for Makai, and the Johnson family please, they are dealing with quite a bit right now.

Well, in means of things going on with me, I've been great. I've been really bearing down on myself and making sure I put Heavenly Fathers will before mine. It's so easy to get casual in this work especially when you find a family that's just fantastic like a lot of the people here. But I've found that as we willingly and wantingly submit to what you know is right, you find so many more blessings in your life. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.

Love you all,

Elder Kendon Hatch

Letter #28- PRAY WITH YOUR FAMILY!

03/04/2013

Dear Everyone,                                                                                                                                    

We have had a good week! This last week we had many trials, we have been extending baptismal invitations and NO ONE is excepting! GAH! And on top of that the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have asked that we triple our key indicators each week! I felt like a huge failure these last two weeks, until........

Elder Grayson and I have been working with a man by the name of Carlos. His wife was going to divorce him, but thank goodness to some amazing members testimonies they were able to patch things up and they are super happy now. We dropped by to see them one time and they weren't there, but we left a The Family: A Proclamation to The World in their door jam and left. We then had a week or so go by and we didn't go to see them at all, finally we did and caught Carlos Jr. outside with his friends. We started talking with them just pretty casually, asked if his parents were home and he said, "My mom is, but she is showering." Classic turn away....Who knows she might have been. Any way we left the friends with pass along card and went on about our work.

We then were in the area for an appointment that had fallen through, so we decided to go by. It was completely dark, couldn't see hardly anything and they live in a fairly rough neighborhood with no lights on the dirt streets. We walked up and both the gates were closed so we went to see if we could possibly open the smaller one. When we heard someone say, "It's locked." We looked over and Carlos and his wife Veronica were outside talking. They scared me at least, I don't know about Elder Grayson. We talked for a little and he opened the gate and they invited us inside, smiling all the while. We went and sat down. And the first thing out of Elder Grayson's and my mouth was that their house felt different, they looked different and happier. They then told us that they had been praying as a family. Carlos Jr. said he felt better about things. David is a 6 year old and fell asleep during the lesson, but the lesson was way good. We then scheduled another appointment and came back later in the week Friday. We had a very good lesson with them with the amazing testimony of a member there and they committed to come to church.

They went to church! Then we got a call from a Sister in our ward saying that Veronica had called her yesterday after church and had told her how much she loved church and being there. Moral of this story. PRAY WITH YOUR FAMILY! The moment this family started to pray together, they allowed themselves to be open to the spirit of the Lord. Then allowing more love in their home. The spirit has the power to cleanse people and even though these people do not have the gift of the Holy Ghost yet, they get samplings of it each time they pray and talk with us and attend church. Do not fight the Spirit! Ok, I'm done preaching. I've gotten way Baptist since I've come down here.

Well, I'm doing great by the way. Thank you for all your prayers, love and support.

Love,  Elder Hatch