Happy Thanksgiving!

November 23, 2015

Well hello! 

Brace yourselves, because this email is going to be pretty long. 

The last 2 weeks have been crazy! So let me start with where we left off last time I sent out a big email. That Monday Elder Bielamowicz called us up and told us to pack our things because we would be moving on Wednesday. So we got all packed up and cleaned up. Then either Monday night or Tuesday morning (I forget which) Elder B called to tell us that we would still be moving to accommodate the new senior couple, but he wasn't sure where we would be moving to or when, but soon.  So we smile and say "okay!" And go about our merry little way. 

We had an AMAZING lesson with Emily at president Weidman's home that Tuesday night. She brought up some concerns about her family not being able to go to the temple and not having their complete support, and President and Sister Weidman were able to help her out with those. She also basically taught us the law of chastity and word of wisdom, and said she knew that lesson was coming, so she stopped coffee all by herself. #miraclesandtendermerciesmuch! So that lesson was great and afterwards we enjoyed some little cookies and a beautiful view of the back of the LA temple from the mission president's back porch. It was so great. 

Wednesday of that week was rather uneventful. . . . But it was misleading because the rest of the week was ridiculous. That night, Elder B called and said they would be there to pick up our stuff at 7am, since we would be going to the temple at 7:30 Thursday morning. So the next day we went to the temple and it was great! The endowment session was really good. We finish the session and grab lunch before heading to district meeting (there is a cafeteria in the temple -- did you know that?). Sister B had called and told us to stop at the mission office before going to our meeting. She told us we are not moving yet since the repairs to the apartment we were moving to had not been completed yet. So we're in limbo for a while until we are able to talk to Elder B and get things all figured out. That night we moved back up into the patron apts. temporarily, and they told us we would be out of there first thing Saturday morning. So we do weekly planning on the hide-a-bed and only have some of our things since we would be leaving in 24 hours. 

Saturday morning comes and we get our stuff packed up, again, and head out. We get to our new place in Hollywood, not Beverly Hills and it is a pig sty. They didn't have as much time for the repairs and installation of new floors and painting before we needed to be in there, so they did not do a great job cleaning or anything. We kind of get things set up, but the stove doesn't work, there is paint on everything and we have some not-so-great live-ins known as roaches. :( We also didn't have an operational shower since they painted the bath tub. Needless to say, we spent as little time there as possible that day. We came back for the night, but then got up and left first thing Sunday morning to go back to the patron apts. to shower and get ready for Sunday. We didn't go back 'til that night. 

We spent 5 hours on Monday cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. We didn't even leave until 3pm, just to go back to the patron apt. to shower and do our laundry, etc. The maintenance guy came to fix the showers supposedly, but we ended up showering with a big bowl because the faucet worked but not the shower head. Lame, but whatever. We did get the shower working though, and our apartment is looking pretty Celestial now :) It took some serious elbow grease!

We had a great lesson with Erin on Wednesday, who is set to be baptized on Dec 5. She asked us how to repent, and mentioned that it is something she wants to do to prep for her baptism! It was so cool. Our next lesson with her was on repentance. 🏻

Also on Wednesday, Emily had her baptismal interview and it went well, despite the possible postponing of her date. President interviewed her and all was well! 

Thursday we had district meeting and zone training meeting to learn about the new Christmas initiative #ASaviorisBorn and practice for our meeting with Elder Clark of the 70 tomorrow. It went well and we then proceeded to freak out about plans for Emily's baptism. One building didn't work out, and the guy wasn't so nice about it and I was a little irritated. Then the next building worked but needed to be a bit later, and it was going to be tricky (or so we thought). 

Saturday comes and we get everything set for the baptism. It was pretty small because a lot of people are gone for Turkey Day. But the miracle was that Emily got baptized!!!!!!!! Everything came together perfectly and we had a great baptism. It seriously was nothing short of a miracle. She got confirmed yesterday and it was great!!!! 

Me, Emily, Sis Abon

Emily's friend Stacy, me, Emily, Audrey from the ward, Sis Abon 

David (bottom) baptized and confirmed Emily, and Logan (top) was

baptized 1 year ago on the 21st, so he and Emily share a baptism

anniversary.

I probably left out several details, but time is short, and I'll cover more next week. 

I love you all very much and am so thankful to have you as my family. Have a great week and eat some turkey for me!

Love, Sister Hatch 

Beginning November 29, 2015, visit https://www.mormon.org/christmas/teaser for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' new Christmas Initiative.