The Final Report

August 22, 2016

Hello everyone!!!

I know I have been less than great at sending out emails and updating you on the happenings of Sister Hatch in LA, but you'll have to forgive me. These last several months have flown by and I just haven't quite been able to keep up.

With that said, I have reached the end of my 18 month assignment to serve as a missionary here in LA. I have grown and been refined in so many different ways, I couldn't even begin to describe. The Lord has blessed me with such a special experience as a missionary, which I am so deeply thankful for. I have had the opportunity through trials, frustrations, heartbreaks, joys, triumphs, successes and immense happiness, to draw closer to my Savior Jesus Christ. I have come to know Him. I have an even stronger testimony of the Atonement now than I did before. I have seen the miracle of God's forgiveness in my life as well as the lives of others, and I have played a small part in bringing my brothers and sisters back to the fold.

I can't think of anything else in my life that has been so fulfilling as serving this mission. I can testify that Heavenly Father knows us. He loves us, and He has a PERFECT plan for us. I have had countless moments during the course of my mission that have proven that to me. If it weren't for my Savior and loving Father in Heaven, I would not have been able to do anything I've done in the last year and a half. They have helped me to stretch and grow and become such a better me than I was. It has definitely been the hardest thing I have done thus far in my life, but I wouldn't trade it for anything! I have been broken down by a loving Heavenly Father, who then helps to build me back up from the inside out. I have learned to take the Savior's yoke upon myself. From doing so, I have also learned that truly His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

I testify that God loves each of us, his precious sons and daughters. I know that the gospel that I have preached for 18 months and lived even longer than that is true. I testify that the gospel has been restored to the earth by a modern-day prophet, Joseph Smith. Thomas S. Monson is God's prophet today. I testify that if we live the gospel and keep the commandments to the best of our abilities, we will be able to stand blameless before our Father at the last day. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is the way through which we are able to become clean to do so.

I love the Lord, and I love being a missionary! I am determined to continue to wear the Savior's name on my chest long after I take off my badge.

Love, Sister Hatch :D

Good Times as a Missionary

August 15, 2016

Sisters Hatch and Meyer

Sisters Hatch, Risenmay, Abon, Meyer

Sisters Hatch, Kosoltrakul, Risenmay, Abon, Meyer

Sisters Hatch, Meyer and Abon

Sisters Abon, Ragle and Hatch

Anniversary

August 8, 2016

Hello!!

Happy Anniversary mom and dad!! Glad you had a fun weekend and were able to go to Brittany Fischer's wedding! YAY for her!!! I'm glad she was able to find a good man who took her to the temple. 

I hate to break it to you, but all this going home business is overwhelming simply by definition. It also doesn't help that they changed our departing missionary training from tomorrow to transfer day at the mission home. That used to be where we get the info we need as far as our schedule the last couple of days, what we will be doing, when our departing interview is, etc. But don't worry, I'm fine :) 

I have to say, I am really thankful for all you do/have done for me on your end of things so that I can just focus on being here. That has helped me out a ton. So whatever details you have for me or anything is great. I am just thankful that I don't have to worry about things on that end in addition to things here. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please forgive me, but I really don't have any desire to type about all the craziness of the last week, And I didn't say much about the week before, so you'll just have to wait till you see me in person to hear about all the adventures ;D But I will send some pictures. 

Torrance North Zone plus President Haynie, far right

I love you all very much and am excited for the next couple of weeks! 

P.S. Also, please tell everyone I don't hate them, we have been slammed lately and that means I don't have much time to do anything else besides write a blurb to you and president. I am thankful for the love and support I receive and hope everyone can forgive me!

Crazy Week

August 1, 2016

Soooo this week has been quite crazy. I will have to tell you all about it later. But in the mean time, here is Sister Risenmay's version of the story, since I have been working on my plan and she had time to type - love you!!

From Sister Risenmay:  So then on Friday we went on exchanges with the Redondo 2nd sisters and had a ton of fun! We taught their awesome investigator, had dinner with just about the coolest family I've ever met, talked to all the fancy people in Redondo:) 

Then the next morning we had just woken up when Sister Hatch called us from back in Lawndale. Apparently some sisters had requested an emergency exchange and so we made plans to fit that into our already hectic schedule that day! We drove the Redondo sisters up to a baptism in downtown LA and dropped them off their while we went to talk to the USC Chinese sisters. 

While we were talking to them about some struggles they were having, we got a text from some OTHER sisters that one of them had just gotten bit by a dog pretty badly... not just a dog, a GERMAN SHEPHERD!! It was pretty bad, so they went to the doctor and got that all figured out while we went back to LA, picked up the Redondo sisters, drove them home and then went on the emergency exchange. 

Turns out... one of them had just found out she was going home. And so starting Monday her companion would need a new companion. And you know who the only sisters in a trio were? My companions and me:) And I'm the only one who speaks Spanish. So yep, we got mid-cycled this morning and I'm officially serving in... COMPTON!!

Sister Farnsworth, Sister Abon and Sister Hatch

Hot!!

July 25, 2016

Howdy!!!

This week was busy!! And HOT!!! We were able to have some great exchanges and meet a select few new investigators. It has been really warm down here this week, but thankfully we have the lovely ocean breeze to help us out. So here we go!!

On Tuesday we had exchanges with the Hermosa Liahona 1 sisters and they went really well. On Friday we had another exchange with the Hermosa Liahona 2 sisters that also went well. They sure are working hard to keep things going since they had 2 out and 2 in. 

On exchanges we were able to teach a less active little boy named Terrance, his mom and some of his friends who were there playing. He doesn't come to church, and hasn't for a long time. We are trying to help him want to come back to church. 

The next day we had a pretty good lesson with an investigator who has been taught for over a year. She was supposed to come to an activity for Pioneer Day this weekend and also church, but she didn't come to either of those. We talked about it and decided that there are just a lot of things going on in her life right now, so we are going to turn her over to the Lord and let him work on her for a while. Hopefully some day she will be able to decide to act on what she knows is true. 

The rest of the week consisted of trying to contact referrals and talking to everyone we could. Lately there haven't been many people out and about - probably because it has been so hot and they're all at the beach! But we talk to the ones we can. 

Our zone did an amazing thing this week. We had 58 member present lessons!!! It all started on Sunday night with the zone leaders calling us and counseling with us about the trend in key indicators from member present lessons to sacrament meeting attendance to baptisms. Half of the investigators taught with a member present attend sacrament meeting, and half of those who come to sacrament meeting are baptized!! So they wanted us each set a goal within the companionship of how many member present lessons we were going to have throughout the week. We set a goal of 7. They combined each companionship's goal and the total that became our goal for the week in the zone was 50. By Saturday night we had reached our goal!!!!! And then there were more lessons on Sunday! It was so great. The Zone Leaders would text everyone each time someone had a member present, so we kept a running total, and it got everyone pumped up! I have never felt so united with my zone before. We added that goal to our praying for our mission's monthly baptism and Recent Convert temple baptism goal, and we definitely saw God's hand bless each companionship during the week. I loved having the members come out with us, and it gave us more drive to really have members come out with us, whether it was to lessons or just contacting. 

Yesterday was a great example. We were able to take a Young Woman out with us after church. We had a lesson planned and then wanted to try a few potentials in the area. The lesson we had went very well - we showed one of the "His Grace" videos and this guy loved it. We are going to see him again on Tuesday. Then after the lesson, we were trying to contact a woman who lived in the back house, and there was a big fence and a dog. So we were waving someone down over the fence and between the pickets. The guy that came out said that he was meeting with the elders somewhere in Redondo beach, and that he was so glad that we came to find his sister!! He told us to keep on her the way the other missionaries keep on him! It was pretty funny. After that we went to try another potential and the guy who answered the door there was a member! He has been less active for a while. But we were super excited to meet him! It was just neat to see that Heavenly Father definitely magnified the efforts of 3 sister missionaries and a young woman on a hot Sunday afternoon. 

Sara McCoy, Sister Hatch, Sister Abon, Sister Risenmay

Funny story about the lesson we had: it was at a park table that had NO SHADE because the table with a covering was taken by this guy all by himself. We sat down and the back of my legs were on FIRE! It was SO hot and I had to stand up for a few minutes to try to let the concrete cool. Thankfully the random guy at the shaded table left and we relocated ourselves there so that we didn't melt. That was a tender mercy!

We have been having a really great time together, and we are really helping each other work hard. That is one thing that I am thankful for. I am not letting up or slacking off, thanks to my companions. Life's good! 

Well I think that's all for now folks!! Hopefully the first day of school went well and you are doing okay with schedules and such. Have a great week!

Sister Hatch :)

Returning Soon

25 July 2016

Marvin and Virginia Hatch

3101 Scenic View Drive

Winslow, AZ 86047

Dear Brother and Sister Hatch,

On 24 August 2016, Sister Lauren Renae Hatch will be given an honorable release from the California Los Angeles Mission. 

Sister Haynie and I love Sister Hatch.  You can be very pleased with the contribution that she has made while serving in the California Los Angeles Mission.  She has blessed the lives of many; including those who have accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ as a result of her efforts and those she has helped to return to activity within the Lord’s kingdom.  Her name will be remembered for generations to come among many.  She has grown in her testimony of the Savior and in her ability to work with people.  We also have been deeply touched by her service in the mission, and we trust you were greatly blessed through her labor.

Sister Hatch will be part of our lives forever. Sister Haynie and I are grateful for all she has done to help the Lord hasten the work of salvation. We feel that she and her colleagues have a rendezvous with destiny. Our prayer is that she will grow in faith and good works as she continues to serve our Heavenly Father.

Sister Haynie joins me in wishing you and Sister Hatch the best.

Sincerely,

Robert M. Haynie, President

California Los Angeles Mission

Sister Bielamowicz

California Los Angeles Mission

1591 East Temple Way

Los Angeles, CA 90024

Phone: (310) 474-2593 Ext 2

Final Temple Trip

July 18, 2015

Hello everyone!!!

This email won't be quite as long as the last one. We are low on time today :/ BUT we had such a great week this week!!! We had a lot of fun working together, and got to see a ton of miracles along the way!

The fun started on Tuesday. Sister Syu is like a PRO packer, so she was ready to go. We got her sent off, and then I headed to Redondo Beach with another member to wait for my new companions. Transfers went smoothly and we were able to do a little bit of settling in before leaving for new mission leadership training. The first adventure was that our garage door opener died during the night, so we walked down the street to the 7/11 to get a new battery. But the rest of our day went quite well, and we were able to find an awesome new investigator named David!! 

He had a co-worker who was a member of the church, and Area Book Planner says that the co-worker shared a Book of Mormon with him. So we went to visit him Tuesday night. We spoke briefly with him and set a return appointment for that Thursday. We brought our ward mission leader with us, and they got a long really well. He was super excited to see us, because the last missionaries he had met told him they would come back, but then never did. Unfortunately he missed our appointment/ church tour on Saturday and didn't come to church on Sunday, and we haven't been able to get a hold of him. We are working on it though!!!

Last Monday evening, Sister Syu and I met another really cool guy in our ABP, and we were able to have a really awesome lesson on Saturday! He has a super solid Christian background, and participates actively in the church he currently attends. We are looking forward to meeting with him again this weekend. 

I LOVE MY COMPANIONS!!!!!! This week has been so great, and we have had lots of fun, while still being able to work hard. Between the 3 of us, we talk to EVERYONE and have some really great conversations. I am enjoying it :)

It was a privilege to be able to go to the temple last week. It was neat to just have a spirit of peace and contentment as I reflected over my mission. I really enjoyed President Moncurs' (sp?) message about what we do in the temple and how important it is. I am also thankful that we got to go at the beginning of the transfer, so that I could have that sustaining influence throughout these last several weeks. It is going to be wonderful!!!

These are the pictures of our temple day last Friday. The temple is closed for 6 weeks and won't open again until the week after I leave, so we did our departing session on Friday :D

Sister B didn't say 1, 2, 3, so I was not smiling, and it was super bright anyways. LOL. Makes for some great memories down the road.  :D

President and Sister Haynie are on the front row, far right.

Love you all a bunch and hope you are doing well!

Sister Hatch :D

The LAAAASSSTT TRANSFER!

July 11, 2016

Hey there!!!

We had a busy week this week. We started with back to back exchanges with both sets of Chinese sisters. They went very well. We had full 24 hour exchanges with the USC sisters, then from there had day exchanges with the Culver City sisters. I am looking forward to being their Sister Training Leader again this transfer. 

Back in our area during the first of the exchanges, me and Sister Larsen were able to go to a lesson with a member from the ward. Unfortunately, the person we had scheduled an appointment was not home. Instead we were able to try a potential across the street and drive down a few blocks to try and contact a referral. We weren't able to meet the person who's info we had, but we did get to meet his daughter!! She is super cool and very prepared. We haven't been able to meet with her or the rest of the family because of out of town baseball tournaments, but we hopefully will this week! If the original appointment hadn't fallen through, we probably wouldn't have met this girl either. God sure works in mysterious ways!

One day this week we had a short amount of time before we needed to go somewhere else. There wasn't enough time to try the potentials we had up the street, but we did have time to knock on a few doors. One of them was a screen door, with the actual door propped open. We were talking with the voice from inside the home, when I saw a huge figure stand up. Then this very tall woman opened the door and invited us to come in for a minute. She is seeking healing physically and spiritually, so we showed her the #Hallelujah video from Easter. She loved it! We asked if we could get her contact information, and invited her to come to church. She needed a ride and our Relief Society president was willing to help us out. We were so excited that SHE ACTUALLY CAME!!! It turned out so great, and she loved church!!!! We are going to visit her again this week and start teaching her! It was definitely a miracle to find her. 

Just a few houses down and across the street from this woman is an investigator who is unable to get baptized because of some family circumstances. She went to the Gladys Knight event, but she started remodeling her home shortly thereafter which made it difficult for us to be able to teach her. Finally she told us she was done with the remodeling and that we could come teach her. We decided to apply a training from Mission Leadership Council about turning investigators over to the Lord (the nice way of saying "drop") with her and give her some time. However, when we started visiting with her on Saturday evening, she agreed to meet more often and to begin again to do those things that she had been doing in the past. It was a neat lesson. 

I am sincerely looking forward to this next transfer, partially because I GET TO STAY IN LAWNDALE!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, I LOVE Lawndale. Anyways, I feel that it will be a really great transfer, and thankfully I will have two amazing sisters to be my companions. I have the opportunity to serve with Sister Abon again, and also Sister Risenmay!!! I am confident that I will be able to put it all out there and finish my mission the way the Savior would want me to. Plus it isn't going to be nearly as busy, so that should be good. It is great to be a missionary!!! 

Sister Abon and I, as well as the other departing missionaries get to go to the temple this week. It is something that each group of departing missionaries gets to do the Friday before they leave. We are going this week because the temple will be closing on the 18th for maintenance and I heard asbestos removal. I am looking forward to that. They also usually have us go to the temple the last day before we fly out, so maybe we will go do service there? I guess we'll find out. 

Love Ya!!

Sister Hatch :)

Quick Picture Message

July 11, 2016

This is Bishop Mead from Harbor 1st and his family, plus Nicole and Linda who are recent converts :D

This is some of the Pruitt family and Funaki family. The little girl next to me in the blue shirt was crying because her mom and dad left to go to the gym, so we sang I am a child of God and took a picture :)

This is how my 4th of July went. I was looking out the window/trying

to balance the Kleenex box on my head. It didn't work out too well.

This is Brother and Sister Peraza, less-actives who we are working with to help them prepare to go to the temple!!!!!!

This is me and Sister Syu at Sister Su's house, who is from Sister Syu's home ward. They didn't know each other, but Sister Su remembers seeing Sister Syu's dad. This is the king of the fruit - Durian!!

Fourth of July

July 4, 2016

Hello everyone!!

We are emailing earlier than usual today, since we don't have access to the libraries and what not and other missionaries need the church building.

I got an email for this new thing called My Plan that departing missionaries do the last six weeks of their missions to help them transition back into "normal" and keep the momentum from their mission going. I'm going to start working on it next transfer. I'll let you know how it goes.

This week President Haynie and his wife arrived in the mission!! They said the Weidman's were only here for about 3 1/2 hours with them and they were out! I miss them, but the Haynie's seem to be great too. They are from Seattle WA and from what I have gathered, President Haynie was a banker in his early days, then a businessman. So they are here and that's that. There are some things that are a bit different, and a lot of unknowns, but it's all good for now.

Our exchanges this week were with the Hermosa Liahona Sisters. A neat thing she shared with me was her goal for this "charity transfer". (What we decided as an MLC to do to help us and our mission stay focused during the mission president transition). Sometimes it is overwhelming to have a goal to have more charity as a missionary. So she tweaked it and thought up a plan for herself that I LOVED!! She chooses one thing she wants to work on throughout the day that would help her increase her charity. She tells Heavenly Father about it and then commits to it. During the day she works on it and then at the end of the day, she reports to Heavenly Father how it went. I thought it was such a good idea! I tend to get frustrated with myself when I feel like I am not progressing or growing, so I am going to work on doing this same thing. That way I can at least be more accountable to Heavenly Father and have more manageable goals.

This coming week we will have exchanges with the 2 companionships of Chinese sisters. Then on top of that we have Miaaion Leadership Council and Zone Training Meeting. It should be a great and rather busy week. Thank goodness this is the end of the transfer, because I am so worn out! Next transfer hopefully isn't this busy!

Love you all and hope you have a Happy 4th of July!!!! I will finish p-day and be in my apartment by 6pm. :/ But that's okay. We got to go to the pancake breakfast this morning :D

Sister Hatch

Mission Pictures

June 27, 2016

Hi family!! 

Glad to hear you are doing well! I don't have much to say this week, and I also don't have much time, but here's a tidbit:

Thankfully I had mostly good days with a few bad moments thrown in during the week. Overall things are moving forward, the work continues on and we are working hard. We had our bishop come out with us to see a less-active brother in our ward and it was really powerful. I went on exchanges with Sister Abon to Redondo Beach on BIKES! And it was fun!!! 

The temple was really great. I feel like I learned some new things and I just enjoyed being there. I didn't feel like I needed to stay in the Celestial Room for a long time, and when we left, I felt pretty good about things. We had a handful of things to do while we were at the temple, which included getting our gate opener back from the loaner car (we've driven 4 different cars this week, not because of accidents though - more on that next time), getting a new car key made and going to the Distribution Center. It was a nice trip. Traffic even cooperated!!! THAT was a miracle for sure!

President Haynie arrives this week, so stay tuned for more details about that next week. 

Love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!! ❤

Sister Hatch :D

Editor's Note: The Institute director at UCLA sent this picture to Sister Hatch's stake president (President Palmer) who then sent it to her parents. :) 

Us and our super cute and sweet Brother Reiter- he is from Poland :)

Recent Convert Linda and us

Another Recent Convert, Cristian 

These are the BEST people in the whole wide world- Grandma and Grandpa Hinkson. They adopt every missionary who comes to their Ward as their grandkids, and I love them so much!!

Part-Member Family - little Rick, Victoria and Sophia Betton

Last Zone Conference

June 20, 2016

Hey!!!

Good to hear about all the fun stuff you've been up to lately! I've decided that I probably won't recognize the house when I come home, but that's okay. That and Courtney confirmed that I am going to need some new clothes when I get back. That should be fun. 

ANYWAYS - We had exchanges with the USC sisters this last week, and it was fun! I went there. We had a lesson that was part Chinese and part English. I kinda just sat there and waited for someone to say something that I actually understood. Unfortunately the guy we were teaching had been accessing a lot of anti-Mormon material on the internet, so he doesn't have a baptismal date anymore. It was pretty sad. But we still had a great exchange and that's what matters most!

I thoroughly enjoyed Zone Conference this last week. I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to be taught by the Spirit and by our awesome leaders. I had anticipated bearing my testimony, and was thankful that I was one of the first ones to go, because I would have been a little less put together by the end of it all. (All the missionaries who will be departing before the next zone conference share their testimonies. Zone conference is every other transfer; when we don't have zone conference, we have interviews with the Mission President). I really tried to give a strong testimony, not a "thankful-mony". That was something I remember hearing about recently that really hit me. I prayed beforehand to know what it was that Heavenly Father wanted me to say that would help the missionaries there. Hopefully something I said touched or helped someone. I just really enjoyed listening to those elders and sisters share what they know to be true. It is awesome to serve in this mission with such awesome people! I can't believe that was already my last zone conference. I think I definitely left things on a good note. I felt so empowered and could very much relate to the talk from Elder Holland during April General Conference. It was hard to go back to doing the things we normally do. I just wanted to feel good forever! But we don't learn unless we leave these experiences. 

President Weidman made a comment that I was very thankful for. He said that he and Sister Weidman are 100% committed to the Lord and His work, and there is no quit and no give up in them. That helped me solidify the person that I want to be. I am working every single day to do whatever it is that Heavenly Father wants me to do, and be who He wants me to be. I am striving to be who He wants me to be. I know you all are too, and it makes me so thankful for the greatness that I am surrounded with. ;)

The rest of our week was rather uneventful. It sure warmed up the last few days of the week. I struggle with the heat. In AZ we have air conditioning, so it's not so bad. Here you just have to deal with it unless you are in the car. These coming weeks are going to be a big test for me. It is the last two months of my mission, and it is going to be HOT. But I am committed to going out to work and I am working on not complaining. That isn't too easy though, when you feel like you're melting. Tis a work in progress. 

Last night was kinda rough. We had a special Mission Leadership Council conference call about some things that President feels we need to work on in our mission. We have been working really hard to find people to teach, have conversations, make everything productive, attend to our Sister Training Leader responsibilities, etc. Yesterday one of our appointments with a referral fell through and we didn't make up for any of the convos we missed during the week, so I was pretty frustrated. Then hearing about the mission projecting less than our goal and the MLC being down, all I heard was me or us or our area. It was frustrating to say the least. During the call I broke down and started to cry. All I could think was "what else can I do?" After the call I just cried some more and then talked a little bit with Sister Syu. I have just been struggling with not feeling like we are doing something wrong. We haven't had anyone come to church in several weeks, we haven't had anyone with a baptismal date, even though we have been trying to invite people in lessons and on the street. (We haven't followed up with Visitors' Center guy yet, so I'll keep you posted. As for everyone else, we have been struggling to contact people).

So yeah I guess that's my trial for now. Pushing through the frustration and continuing to be a consecrated missionary despite the setbacks or lack of progress that I feel is happening. I know there are prepared people in this area somewhere, and I am going to work as hard as I can to find them! And when I do, I'll go out and find some more! Last night was just a rather weak moment for me. 

I am looking forward to going to the temple this week. I hear it is going to be closed for the duration of my last transfer, so it looks like this will be the last time I get to go as a missionary. It will be a nice way to recharge and prepare myself. I am so thankful for the temple in our mission!

I love you all very much and appreciate your prayers of love and support in my behalf. You are the best!!!

Sister Hatch 

My Week

June 13, 2016

Hiya!!!

We had a pretty busy week this week. It started with Mission Leadership Council on Tuesday (Yes, Sister Syu is an Sister Training Leader). It was really good and I have been working on a few specific things throughout the week as a result. We were able to have exchanges with the Redondo sisters after MLC and it was fun. Sister K came with me and I just love her so much! I'll show you a picture another time though. 

We were able to have a member out with us on Tuesday evening, and it was really great. She is so awesome, and loves to come out with us whenever she can. Her husband is a convert - she says it's a miracle, and we shouldn't try it. LOL. They are both musicians and help out with baptisms for the ward. She is also the ward choir director, and her husband is the accompanist :D I really enjoy having her come out with us because she knows what we do and just goes with it. We had some really great conversations, and have a few people to follow up with this week - one of whom wants to go to the Visitors' Center!! Isn't that awesome? We are going to give him a call on Wednesday and follow up with that. 

After we exchanged back with our normal companions on Wednesday, we had the opportunity to go and help a widow who moved in just before I came to this area. She has five kids, all one year apart! Her living situation is not very well kept, and she has several problems with her neighbors, two of whom are members of the church on either side. So we weren't sure how this was going to work out. We have talked with her kids before, and they are the sweetest. She had us help get their room cleaned out and we got rid of a handful of garbage bags of clothes that weren't in good condition anymore. As we were working together she talked about how hard it was when her husband died and the struggles she and they have had since then. I was impressed with how well she was doing, given the circumstances, although it wasn't all that great anyway. She is working really hard and trying to get back on her feet, and we really want to teach her. Unfortunately though, one of the members who lives next door to her is the executive secretary or something like that, and he doesn't have such nice things to say about her. I can't say I blame him, but still the gospel is for everyone. We'll carefully consider that situation and handle it delicately.

After doing service we went straight to Inglewood for Sister Syu's dentist appointment. We decided the night before to go to this one part of our area that we don't go to very often. We haven't had too much success, but we are still working hard there. We met one of the investigators from a few transfers ago who the sisters hadn't been able to see since before I got here. It was pretty late by the time we got there, but we had a nice little chat about her experience with the church and sang a primary song for her and her son and niece who were there also. 

Our weekly planning took longer than usual on Thursday because we needed to get our training for Zone Training Meeting figured out and had exchanges the next day. It turned out to be a good thing because I got a killer headache at a recent convert lesson right before going home for the night, and I went home and went to bed right after planning. Then the next morning we needed to be at the church earlier than I thought, so we ended up having very little time for studies that day. 

Our exchanges on Friday were with the Hermosa Liahona sisters. I stayed in our area with Sister Christiansen and we only had two conversations that day. We had appointments after our exchange, and they each went late and we had to travel to a couple of them, so talking to people was kinda down the drain. BUT we did have a cool miracle! We have an investigator who's girlfriend was a less active member of the church. She died of cancer recently and he has been meeting with the missionaries for a bit. The problem is though that we are only able to meet with him every three weeks or so because of his work schedule. We went to see him on Friday evening, and had planned to talk about baptism with how to begin teaching. The conversation went in an entirely different direction though. He asked what we had been up to, and we talked a little bit about our trainings from ZTM. It was perfect!! We mentioned what we had learned about the four specific promised blessings of baptism (I'll have to explain those another time), and how cool it was to talk more about them. We definitely piqued his interest, because he asked for the scriptures we had mentioned and wanted to study it more on his own. WE WERE SO EXCITED!! He told us that he is pretty sure he has never been baptized, but we haven't a clue as to what his concern is. So we are looking forward to following up with him. It's going to be great!!

We had 0 appointments on Saturday, so we were able to go out and contact referrals and talk to everyone we saw. We made up for a lot of the lost convos, but not quite all of them. I feel good about it though. That evening after dinner we used the new families and temples pamphlet that we received at MLC to teach one of our recent(ish) converts about the temple and the priesthood. He is a little older, and Bishop wants to make sure he understands and is able to do what he needs to. (also tell you next time).

We had a pretty average Sunday. We were asked to give the RS lesson about True Greatness from the Howard W. Hunter manual. We were so busy during the week that we totally forgot about it until we saw the Relief Society president show up for ward council. That was rough. But it went well, despite the fact that it felt like 100+ degrees outside and the doors to the room were shut. But it was good. We had some really great talks in sacrament meeting about the priesthood and trials. I don't remember many of the details at present, but I remember that they were good! 

I am looking forward to my last zone conference this week. It's sure to be a good one. Time has gone so fast lately. I am working really hard to apply the trainings I have received and the commitments I have made so that I can become whatever Heavenly Father needs me to become by the end of my mission. It's coming on quick! We will also have exchanges with the Chinese sisters this week, so that should be good!

Sister Hatch :)

Friend Pictures

June 6, 2016

Hey folks!!

Glad you all had a good time this week. As you know I sent Sister Perez home and got a new companion. Her name is Sister Syu, and she is from Taiwan. She has been out just over a year, and this is her first English area. She said she was/is super nervous, but she went to BYU-I before her mission, so she speaks pretty well. President Weidman leaves on June 29, and we have "Meet the President" and a special Mission Leadership Council meeting the next 2 days. I am sad to see him and Sister Weidman go, but I know Heavenly Father needs me to have 2 mission presidents for some reason.

Sister Syu has definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone several times throughout the week, but then I remember that its okay and I need to just handle it. She also does conversations a little differently, which is also not bad, just different. I'm working on being humble enough to let myself become better through doing hard things.

On Saturday we went to Chick-fil-a for dinner, because we had been out all day and it was too hot to go home and cook something. So we go and order and while I am waiting I go use the restroom. When I come back, the lady hands me my food and another random guy walks up to us and starts asking us questions. I was only half listening, because we were in the middle of all the other people waiting for their food, and the trash can, so it was a little hectic. I gathered that he had met missionaries, or other members and talked to them briefly about the gospel, and wanted to know what gospel we were preaching. After I spilled my shake on myself and almost dropped the rest of my food, he let us go so we could eat. As we are finding a place to sit, we ran into a member family from our ward. Then we turned around and there were the South Bay YSA sisters. Remembering that we are not supposed to eat together, I turned so we could go find a place outside. 

I sat down and began enjoying my food and trying to relax after a long day, and as I was finishing my food, out walks the same guy who started talking to us inside. He asked if he could join us and we said sure because he seemed to be genuinely interested in hearing what we had to say. By the end of the conversation, after I had reached the end of my rope with him, he was trying to prove us wrong based on whatever different version of the bible he was reading from, and told us that he was genuinely concerned for our eternal welfare. He said "Either one of us is right and one of us is wrong, or we are both wrong". After our charity study that morning, it took a lot for me not to say something stupid.

I was so frustrated with him and also more so with myself. Why didn't I have more patience? I could have said this better, or that differently, and maybe he would have agreed to meet with missionaries in El Segundo!! Sister Syu kindly reminded me that he wasn't prepared, which is why he didn't receive what we had to say. I'll say though, he sure knew his bible and was strong in his faith! After this incident we went out with one of the recent converts in the ward and she is a HOOT! That helped. But then the investigator we had a lesson with and invited to be baptized earlier that day called us and said he was not comfortable with the Book of Mormon and is not going to become Mormon. That one hurt a bit more than it might have under different circumstances. Oh well. He said he needed some time to read and that he would get back to us. So there ya go.

We don't really have any investigators right now, which is stressful. (As sister training leaders we are supposed to "Maintain a vibrant proselyting area") But its all good. I know and am confident that we are doing the best we can with the situation, and are going to be blessed somehow, sometime. We have set some return appointments for the week that are promising. We'll see how it goes. We talked to a lot of people throughout the week. We have been able to meet and set return appointment with new people, so we are hoping for those to go well and become new investigators.

Me and Sister Perez had the opportunity to go out contacting with the new missionaries that came in last week. It was fun! It was a warm day, but we had some good conversations and the sister I went with is super cute. We got 3 new Visitors' Center sisters and 1 full-field sister, who is under our stewardship as Sister Training Leaders. We have both of the Chinese sisters companionships this transfer, so that's going to be new. I have learned how to roughly say who I am, and that's about it. We don't really run into any straight Chinese people, but one of the ladies in our ward is from Sister Syu's home ward.

So that's the raw version of my week :P It has been good, and things are great here. I know my email sounds bad, but it was just a bit of a rough week is all :)

Love you!!!

Sister Hatch

Sister Risenmay, who was in Sister Hatch's cousin Nicole's YSA branch in Hawaii. They were together while their companions were at their departing temple trip. 

Sister Risenmay is with Sister Moli.

Ceasar and Sonya Provincio

Emily Provincio, and Chica the dog :P and Ceasar again

Emily's twin, Michael

Us with Brandon Provincio and David Hoeft

Sister Arrington and Sister Ames from the San Fernando mission, 

who live with Sister Hatch's roommate from BYU-H, Sister (Cara) Young :)