Monday, January 25th, 2010

Hey family

so it was an interesting week this last week, started off with one of the most interesting lessons of my mission. so we had gotten a referral from a less active member of a couple and we had taught them twice and they came to church last week and than we had a meeting set up with them for monday at this members house. So we get to the members house and the wife of the couple was there and the husband was coming in a little bit from work so we were chatting with the wife and with the members and the wife is like can i use your phone to call my husband? he should be here by now, i said sure and handed her the phone and she called him and starts talking with him and all of a sudden starts crying and runs out of the room so i was like wow what happened did he get in a crash or something or beat up? At that moment the husband of the member couple starts having a massive seizure and his wife runs into the other room to find out whats going on over the phone, luckily we had another member with us lada who supported the member during the seizure which lasted for a good two minutes and then he passed out on the couch and was all gray, by this time the two women have come back to the room and we find out that this couple who had be reffered to us had robbed 12 houses in the past and the husband was now wanted and there were police staked out at his work and home but he had been tipped off by a friend so he avoided it and now he was on the run and his wife wanted us to help him but we were like yeah right we are out of here we aren't getting involved with this so we took off. So moral of the story dont give referrals to the missionaries if they are wanted by the police.

Thursday we went to ostrava to do a baptisimal interview there, I did it with the man and it went really well. Interesting story with this guy is that he had almost been baptized a few times but just couldn't make it. The elder who was working with him again towards baptism was like ok Tomas, you have worked towards this a few times before but each time come up short what's the catch? Tomas was like well I have a problem with the word of wisdom, I understand why I shouldn't smoke and drink alcohol or coffee but i just cant get over the french fries part. The missionary was like what? french fries aren't part of the word of wisdom. and tomas was like what? One day I came for a meeting with missionaries in the past and we were chatting and they asked what I ate for lunch and i told them french fries and one of them got all serious and told me that french fries are against the word of wisdom. Haha luckily we got that situation all figured out, he brought it up and told me the same story during the interview when we were talking about the word of wisdom, he was still a little nervous but I reassured him that french fries are not against the word of wisdom and he can continue eating them.

We have some new people we are working with, unfortunately we had to drop some of the families we are working with because they just are going anywhere hopefully in the future things will change with them but right now we have some fresh new people in the pool to teach and as far as I know none of them are wanted criminals so that is a good start.

Thanks to everybody for all of the birthday wishes, my birthday turned out well yesterday we had a great dinner with the other elders after we went tracting with them and I don't really feel a year older and wiser too but hopefully that wisdom will come soon. It is nice and bitter cold here right now but I am surviving, i had my first real good dose of prujem so far on my mission but I'm already past that and once is good enough for me with that.

Congrats to Ian on getting accepted to BYU that's great news.

Its really great seeing the work move forward in the mission its already come so far over the last two years but its in motion to be even better this year again. I hope everybody has a great week remember to feast upon the words of Christ daily and be happy.

Love

Elder Hatch

Monday, January 18th, 2010

hey family

i hope everything is going pretty well with you, it sounds like it from your letters. We had another great week here, Jozan jr was baptized on saturday and confirmed on sunday and there was a great turnout to his baptism of family and investigators. We have an investigator named martin with a baptismal date and he came to the baptism and brought his wife and two kids along with him and they all really enjoyed it, his wife opened up quite a bit and enjoyed the baptism, i had talked to her once before and she was pretty closed off but was a completely different person after feeling the spirit there and wants to start coming to church and learning more about these things.

Also if you remember the man whose wife died and we sang at her funeral last transfer? Well we home teach him now and he is improving quite a bit, his daughter has gained interest in the church after the death of her mother and came to church with him yesterday and i sat with the two of them she was deeply touched and is starting to believe and thoroughly enjoys reading in the Book of Mormon.

I had a little scare yesterday at church, about 2 minutes before church started as I was greeting investigators coming in President slezar came up to me and told me that the main talk for sacrament meeting wasn't there and asked me to give a 15-20 minute talk on forgiving others. Of course I said yes. As I was playing the opening hymn I was frantically trying to think of scriptures to share about forgiving others, but than to my great relief, during the sacrament hymn in came the member who had the talk so I was off the hook.

We had a good turn out at church this week with 5 investigators at church plus all of our recent converts in the last 4 months plus quite a few of the less actives we are working with. Recent converts are great to teach with even though they don't have a lot of gospel knowledge their testimonies are so strong and simple and its much easier for them to relate how the gospel blesses them in their life because those memories of when they didn't have it are so recent in their minds.

We went to zlin this last week for a day to help out the missionaries there and we had some real good success. I finally got my international drivers license, so now I don't have to worry about the cops getting upset at me if I get pulled over and pull out my American drivers license, that happened once when Elder Roberts was driving but we got let off easy, probably because the cop didn't know English.

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes, a couple of people asked if that means I am legal to do everything know in the czech republic, basically once you are 18 here you can do whatever you want so I have been legal since I got in the country.

I reread a really good talk this last week, its probably the best talk i have read about missionary work it is called "missionary work and the Atonement" by Elder Holland I recommend it to all, and if you know any missionaries out send them a copy. The work is going well here we are pushing to hit our goal of having three more baptisms here by the end of the transfer we have a month left so we are pursuing that.

Thanks for all of your love and support and prayers for me it really does help, you are the best.

love

elder hatch

Monday, January 11th, 2010

Hey family,

So it has been snowing quite a bit here this last week, it snowed 20 centimeters one day and then another 10 centimeters after that, which isn't a huge amount but it's a lot more than they are used to here so they have had trouble keeping the roads paved. haha our little fabia is definitely not the best in the snow we have gotten stuck a couple of times but luckily the thing only weighs 2000 pounds so its easy to push out.

We had zone conference down in Brno which turned out really well we had a good training and we learned a lot of good things from the assistants and President. I am glad you got all the pictures you sent I will try to do a better job of taking more and sending them home more often.

We had a cool experience last night, we were driving home and it was snowing and we were going a different way than we usually do home and all of a sudden there on the side of the road walking in the snowstorm was one of our less actives who wasn't at church. So we stopped the car real quick and jumped out and talked with him. He had been going through a real hard time then but we cheered him up and set up a meeting with him for tomorrow. It still blows my mind just how the thought of going a different way home could have such consequences.

This last week we went on exchanges here in olomouc and I was with a pretty young missionary named Elder Rigby and we saw some really good success happen, it was crazy for me to think when I was in his shoes I was still in liberec. Yesterday was the 1 year mark of lenka's baptism I got a nice text message from her about that she is doing great.

We have had quite a few sick investigators all week but we were able to take that to our advantage with sending them reading assignments in the Book of Mormon and 2 of our investigators are starting to really enjoy reading in the Book of Mormon which is always great to hear about.

Some bad news of the week is that Milan Sr. is having a really hard time finding work and trying to sell his apartment for a while and he got upset and banned his kids from coming to church or FHE so we are trying to figure out that situation. I don't know if i have told you that or not but every friday night we have a FHE activity put on by the missionaries for members and for investigators where we have different games and activities and than a spiritual thought at the end. It is usually a pretty good time and allows the members and investigators to get to know each other and interact.

We should be having a baptism here on Saturday with Jozan Jr and hopefully his dad will be baptizing him which would be a great experience for them both.

I would like to request no more sending me candy, you all have been doing too good of a job with that and with christmas my companion and I both have massive amounts of candy so we are good on that but thank you all for your kindness and thoughts with sending me that.

Something I have been really working on lately is always mentioning and testifying and teaching of the savior in our lessons no matter what we are teaching about, it always brings such a strong spirit and ends contention. We had one lesson with about 6 investigators in the room with 2 new members and there started to be quite a bit of contention between everybody about different theological beliefs but I just brought it back to Christ and bared a simple testimony of him and it was amazing to see how there was just instant peace and the contention was gone and people started sharing about who Christ is for them and it turned into a great meeting. We have had a couple of other similar experiences, i have really come to enjoy teaching and testifying on my mission. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and he guides us on the path to true lasting happiness and joy all we need to do is be willing to follow.

I love you all and I look forward to hearing from you this next week

Love,

Elder Hatch

Monday, January 4th, 2010

happy new year to all

So we have survived it through the holidays and into 2010 and life is going well. For New Years the other elders came over to our apartment and we were allowed to stay up till midnight to see in the new year. we had to be inside by 6 because this country takes their new year quite seriously. Basically everybody saves up their money and buys as much alcohol as possible and then get drunk out of their minds for about 2 days. Luckily we have our families we are teaching who don't drink so that wasn't a problem for us and we were able to continue on with missionary work.

One of my favorite moments from this last week was yesterday at sacrament meeting, it was fast and testimony meeting and the 12 year old son in one of the families we are teaching got up to bear his testimony and bore a sweet simple testimony about God and Christ and then shared about how he found out that Joseph Smith really was called of God, it was simple but perfect. He and his other brother really want to be baptized but right now their dad is against it. The dad was at church and it was good for him to hear his son's testimony; it definitely got him thinking. We fasted for them yesterday to soften the dad's heart and we taught them last night and the dads heart is starting to soften, he still isn't for it all the way but he is becoming more open.

Another cool moment from this week was that I got a call from the missionaries and plzen telling about a guy I found with Elder Graham. He hadn't been heard from in a while but he showed up at church yesterday and he has read half the Book of Mormon and wants to start meeting with missionaries again. We found 2 new families this last week to start meeting with and they are already reading in the Book of Mormon, tonight we are going out to visit the family who wants to get baptized but needs to get married first- they had been out of town for the last two weeks over holidays.

Our days have been pretty full of teaching, which is very nice to be in and out of the cold during the winter but we have also been spending time going to help other missionaries find. I am doing good nice and healthy. Tell Grandma Ruth to take it easy and recoup from her fall. We have zone conference this next week so we will be going to brno for that. All the time you spent on the piano bench is paying off here grandma jacque. Alright so I finally did send the picture chip today so you should be able to get that. I got the emails you sent about the dates for registration and all of that I will have interviews with president so I can talk with him about that this week, is there a way for you to start looking for housing for me for summer? I believe it is pretty easy to get housing in summer time but a lot harder for fall so might have to start on that as well? I hope everybody has a great week, thanks for all of your support and prayers it is much appreciated

love,

Elder Hatch

Saturday, January 26th, 2009

Hey family i know we just spoke last night but here are some of the details from this last week for you and for others if they want to read, so Christmas eve i ate three dinners by the 3rd dinner i was hoping and praying that one of the gifts of the spirit is an expanding stomach but unfortunately it is not or else my faith was not great enough. in the early afternoon of the 24th i called up a less active woman who had just gotten out of the hospital and asked if we could come over and sing Christmas carols which she was very excited for. we showed up and sang a couple of songs for her and she broke down and started crying she thought everybody had forgotten her for Christmas and she was all alone so it made her day for us to show up and sing to her and than we visited with her and prayed with her. it really made me think how little acts we do can make such a big difference for others and how our heavenly father knows what everybody needs. we had been in the building with some other members and i just had the thought to call her pop into my head and all it took was 30 minutes of our time to make her day and Christmas season, so if you ever have the thought to do something good for somebody do it, it may seem small to you but it could make a world of difference for the other person.

The branch president had us over for Christmas dinner and they are an awesome family, they have three little kids and it was great to see them so excited for Jezisek to come (baby Jesus). The little boy got a Lego set which was pretty over his head and almost everybody but luckily my comp is a Lego expert so he was able to help him out and show him how to build his Lego car.

we went to Christmas mass and i saw some of our former investigators there from last transfer which probably surprised them quit a bit. Also Wednesday evening the assistants came out and dropped off packages for us and also for Ostrava from home so Thursday morning we got up and jumped in the car and drove to Ostrava to deliver presents which was fun, your reindeer horns came in handy for that mom. i would like to say thanks to all of you for the packages and letters you are great. and congrats on finishing Luke and hitting your goal. well that is about all for today that i can think of life is going well and we are working hard. i hope everybody has a great week ahead of them

love

Elder Hatch

Monday, December 21st, 2009

Hey everybody

Well the weather changed here this last week and it has dropped some snow on us last night when we came in it was -13 degrees celcius, i don't know what that is fahranhiet but it feels pretty cold.

Heres the cool story from last week, so there had been this family on the branch records that had been catching my eye because it said it was a family of kids baptized aged 18, 16, 14 so this last week i finally asked the branch president about it and he told me that they had parents as well who were really good people but who hadn't be baptized and that they used to come to church but their car broke down and they live about 30 minutes outside of town. So I decided it would be good for us to go out and visit them and we brought a member along, it turned out that they had lived in England where they met the missionaries and the kids were baptized, the parents weren't baptized because they weren't married so they were working on having a wedding but then had to move back to the Czech Republic before that could happen. They were like we still believe the church is true but we haven't been baptized because we aren't married. I was like well that's an easy problem to solve, we can have a wedding and have the branch president marry you... before that though we had a really spiritual lesson with some strong testimony and the spirit was strong and we committed them to work to baptism so now we are planning their wedding and a baptism at the end of January start of February.

Saturday we had an awesome branch christmas party with about 50 people there probably half of them non-members, we reenacted the nativity scene and then had a christmas quiz challenge and lots of good food and mingling all of our investigators loved it and are starting to really fit into the branch. One of the families we are working with is really close, the boys want to be baptized really bad as does the mom but the Dad is against it so we are continuing on trying to soften his heart.

So think of all of your questions that you want to ask me when you call on christmas, call me at 8 o clock in the evening on christmas day czech time. My new companion is from Pleasant Grove Utah and studied computers for a semester at BYU before the mission. So I have talked to Elder Monk a couple of times, I am his zone leader and talked to him on the phone his first full day in the country and than I saw him last friday in brno for leadership conference because his companion is district leader there in zlin, seems like a great missionary. Well that will probably be all for today ill just keep it nice and short since you will be calling on Friday, I hope you have a great christmas everyone and congrats on the A in biology Ian way to pull that out.

Love,

Elder Hatch

Monday, December 14th, 2009

hey family and friends

well transfers have come in and its not that big of a surprise but i will be staying here in olomouc and my companion elder roberts is leaving to be district leader in prague. My companion will be elder andersen, i dont really know much about him so i will let you know more next week about him, he had just been serving in liberec and before that in trebic so we have served in similiar cities.

Well the highlight of the week was saturday, i was allowed to go down to brno to see the ptakovi (husband and wife) get baptized which was amazing. It was my first time seeing a family get baptized together which is a remarkable thing. they have a very strong desire for an eternal family so they will be working towards that. The baptismal service was very well attended and it was great to see all of the members there, lenka gave a talk at the baptism which was a cool site to see and maminka gave the other talk. A cool thing about that was it is almost a year ago that lenka was baptized with maminka speeking at her baptism and now they spoke together at this one.

Friday was a little bit different experience, a woman in the branch died this last week from heart surgery she and her husband were baptized about 6 months ago here in olomouc and she was only 50. The husband wanted us to go sing at her funeral so we went and sang Be still my soul there, the husband was very sad that his wife died but he has that hope and faith that he will see her again. He was probably the most composed out of all of the family, their children are atheists and were completly devasted and mad at the world and he was the one comforting them. At the funeral service the branch president gave a talk on how milos and his wife will be united again which was really good. Czech funerals are alot different from in america and was quite the experience. I am so grateful for that knowledge that families are forever and that although these relationships will be seperated shortly by death they will continue again. Milos the husband told us one of the last things his wife told him was make sure you do everything you can to get to the temple to make sure that happens. The branch president and his family had us 4 missionaries over for dinner which was very kind of them they have a great family and treat us very well.

So this last week my companion and i were asked to help somebody move a big couch into their apartment up quite a few flights of stairs by far the best workout i have gotten in a while. I am glad to hear of your accepting my challenge and reading luke as a family and 3 nephi invidiualy that is great to hear. The work is going well here, we had 6 people at church and the work is moving forward, something funny was this one guy we had at church we havent taught the sabbath day to, and after sacrament meeting he went to a little grocery store and bought a container of ice cream and these plastic spoons and was giving everybody a spoon to eat the ice cream with and he bought a bag of candy for the primary kids.

well i hope you all have a great week and thank you for all of your love and support, its a great life to be a missionary and to serve others

love

elder hatch