February 21

Hello Again!!! 
  
I don't know why it is always a surprise to me that life never slows down at our house. I guess I am a little selfish and thought everyone would just push pause for the two years while I was gone. Ok so not really but it does always amaze me that life just keeps going. 
  
So this new area is so different than I am used to. Life is slower paced. It is super quiet and calm. I dont know what to do with myself anymore. I really like the area though. I didn't realize how much I missed the small town life. The biggest problem is trying to keep ourselves busy. I am literally going crazy not being able to teach. This last week we taught only 4 lessons!!!! UGH Not fun. Tracting here also is not as much fun as it was in Gresham. There are 4 companionships in McMinnville none of which really have anything to do other than tract so the entire town (about the size of Rexburg) gets tracted out about every three months. So nobody gets too excited to see us. The other problem is that the ward we are assigned to other than the YSA Branch is in Dayton. Picture Grace only having like four or five different very active churches. We really cant go tracting there either. It has actually been requested that we don't by the members. We don't completly follow that because  we need soething to do but we try not to get people upset with us. 

In awnser to your question yes we are allowed to have GPS. The roads in Oregon are not always the most..... user friendly. Picture the roadways in Pocatello only that is how the entire state is. So the Gps would be very helpful especially because I am in such a large area. My area is a little bit like Carribou county. I live in McMinnville (population ~35,000) but cover McMinnville, Dayton, Lafayette, Yamhill, Dundee, Newburg, Amity, Carlton and all the space in the middle. So I don't know that I will really ever learn my way around all of my area. 
  
I really enjoy working with the YSA. We have more spiritual meetings with them than I think I have ever had in church. They are so devoted to learning and growing in the gospel. They really love the Lord and want to serve him. The Relief society president gave her two weeks notice so that she could better serve in her calling. That is real faith. 
  
We are doing our best to stay busy. This week we have a few different lessons planned and we are doing service with a Part Member family who is moving here from Canada. His Sister-in-law lives in the Dayton ward (the family ward that I cover as well) and she told him that our payment was lunch and the first discution. Hopefully something good comes from that. 
  
As far as anything that I need.... I can always use more laundry soap. I am also out of Attain. But I really would love some bread. When I read your e-mail about making bread I was like man I miss that stuff. I really am pretty well taken care of though. I am really trying to get better about spending money. It is my goal to make it all the way through March without having to use any of your money. I can do it. 
  
So yesterday we went back to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. It is so cool there. THey also have an IMAX theater there and all of the movies are approved so yesterday we watched the Hubble movie. It is amazing to think how small we really are and how many worlds without number really is. It was AMAZING!!! I loved it. 
  

February 14

Hello!!!

Wow what a change this week has been. It is amazing the difference that less than 100 miles can make. The people here in McMinnville are so much different than those in Gresham. I also now know why everyone says that Portland is beautiful... because no one goes to Gresham for vacation they all go to Downtown Portland and out to the coast. I am out towards the coast now so it really is beautiful. I love the vineyards. Probably not a good thing for a missionary to say but they keep all the grape vines trimmed back and they grow in strait lines and are evenly spaced. LOVE IT!!

 

The work here is way different! I went from teaching 15-20 lessons a week to teaching 3. Blah! Not my favorite week at all. But we are going to change that. If we can't find investigators we are going to start teaching members because as you can imagine it doesn't take very long for a town of thirty thousand people to get tracted out especially when there are four companionships none of which really have anything going on. So it gets tracted out about every three months. And unlike in Gresham there are not very many people out on the streets so that really isn't an option any more. Time to learn new ways I guess.

 

So guess what happened again this week..... On Thursday night I got a call from the office elders (usually not a good sign). I had called the office and asked them to move my bike to the mission home for storage while I am in a car area. So on Wednesday the elders had gone out to Gresham to get my bike and take another elder his. So they went and picked mine up and then went over to another apartment in Gresham they unloaded the bike that they were dropping off and took it upstairs to the Elders. They came back out about five minutes later and all the bikes in the back of the truck..........GONE. OH joy! SO I have now been out for five months and gone through two bikes. The only good thing is that because it was the mission that lost it this time they are going to pay for it. So someone gets a bike that is only one month old courtesy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

 

Sounds like that you had a really fun week though. Tell you what, I really miss having home made bread. The stuff from the store is really not very good. It is fun to hear about all of the family activites. I miss being a part of them.

Pictures

Feb 7

Ok first off sorry about the letter last week. I got a warning when I had four minutes left and I just kept typing and then I thought to myself how much longer do I have so I looked and only had 20 seconds left and so I just sent it. Ok on to other things.

 

Transfers were yesterday which is why there was no e-mail. Elder Mecham and I both got pulled out of Gresham (super frustrating). We finally had a real investigator and we got pulled. It is a good thing that the Lord has a hand in it other wise I would be super mad. That being said I really like where I am at now. McMinnville... a small town out in the middle of no where. There are only about 30,000 people here. It really reminds me of Soda Springs. Only way more trees. I now cover two wards The McMinnville YSA Branch and then the Daton Ward. Daton is about like Grace. It will be a lot of fun serving here I think. One thing to note is that the Library here is not open on Mondays so I will e-mail on Tuesday. Another Bounus about transfers is that I am now in a car.

 

Leaving Hartley Park was SUPER hard. I love the people there so much. The really support the missionaries. On Saturday we went over to the Lowes house to say goodbye because we figured that one of us was going to be transfered. They are super nice. Sister Lowe is from Firth and knows Elder Mechams family. They invited us back that night to watch 17 Miracles.What a great movie that is! THey had to drive to Deseret Book to buy it so the offered to pick us up anything that we needed so I had them get me the missionary library. Then on Sunday we went and said goodbye to other members of the ward the McMullins, Sister Paxson, Hofstrands, James and of course the Strommers. THat was REALLY hard. One thing that the Strommers do at the dinner table is everyone tells their favorite thing of the day. I love that tradition and on birthdays it is favorite thing about the person. So they did favorite things about Elder Mecham and I and then gave us a card that they all had signed. We also recieved many threats about coming back and that if we didn't they would hunt us down. Will even said that he would come and burn down our towns. I love that kid and that Family so much.

 

Life really sounds good. You would think that you would slow down sometime but I know that that really isn't in our blood. We live for insanity. That must really be fun having Erik and Chelsie there. I wish that I could see them but I am glad to be out here. Yesterday aas we left Portland to come out to McMinnville I was amazed at how beautiful it really is. There are about 30 wineries that we passed on the way. They look so cool. Also there is an aviation museum in our area and we are going there today. It looks way cool. They have the Spruce Goose. THey also have a water park with a comercial jet liner that they have turned into a huge waterslide. I want to go there when I come back.

Jan 29

Dear Family,

What a great week it has been. We have really seen the work here take
off. The mission goal for lessons is 20. The average is about 8-12.
This week Elder Mecham and I got 24!! Most of those were tracting
lessons but they were still good lessons.

The most exciting thing that happened this week was that we got a new
investigator!! Half of our work is with less actives. This is a huge
change for this mission. At Zone Conference this week President Morby
talked about how if we are investing that much time into working with
less actives then we need to draw on that bank and ask for referrals.
This is how we got our new investigator. Her name is Brianna and she
is 15 years old. She is a good friend of a less active family named
the Salleys. She looks to them as kind of parents because she hasn't
had the best family life. So we met with her for the first time on
Thursday and after the lesson asked her if she would be baptized and
she accepted. We met with her again on Saturday and we set a baptism
date for March 3rd. We were so excited!!! When she came to church
yesterday the ward really made her feel welcome. After sacrament Cajsa
Strommer (love that family) came over and said ready to go to class.
That was the last time that we saw her until after church. The young
women took over which really is the way that it should be. While she
was in class she told everyone that she was getting baptized on March
3rd. They invited her to Seminary and Mutual.

Yesterday we got to attend a baptism of on of Elder Mechams old
investigators. She is such an AWESOME woman. She started meeting with
missionaries almost a year ago back east and then moved out here last
June which is when Elder Mecham stared to teach her. She had to
recieve permission from Salt Lake in order to be baptised and it took
seven months.

Jan. 22

Hello!!!

This week has felt like a really long week. It is so weird because
usually time moves so fast out here. And it wasn't like we were not
working because we had one of the better weeks we have had so far.

But the best thing happened this week... We were in a lesson at a
less-actives home and when we got there it was pouring rain and then
at about 9:15 when we went to leave there was about two inches of
SNOW!!! You would have thought that I was 3 years old. when we got to
our apartment I ran in and grabbed my camera and was outside taking
pictures and then I sat right next to the window just looking out
watching the snow come down. I am so glad that I did because when we
woke up the next day it had allready started to rain and by 2pm all of
the snow was gone. And then just like in the song "The rains came
tumbling down." It was pouring. I think we had about 2-3 inches of
rain on Thursday. They had to close roads because of all the rain. I
am so glad that my coat is water proof because tell you what I have
put that omi-tech to the test. Yesterday we were out street contacting
and making visits and I was completly soaked from head to toe other
than where my coat was. The only problem is that if your hads are in
your pockets the rain runs down the coat and into the pockets and
becase they are water proof the water has no where to go so it just
stays in the pocket. I had about a half an inch in my pockets by the
time we got back to our apartment. It has been fun.

We had our ward conference yesterday and it was really good. It was
all about finding the lost sheep. It seems to be a theme chusrch wide.
Which is a really good thing because there is a lot of work that needs
to be done. They pointed out in Sunday school that that seems to be
the theme of President Monson's time as prophet.

Jan 15

Dear Family,

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!!! Too bad that ment no internet
access at the library. We had a pretty good week. Right now Elder
Mecham and I are really focusing on getting in contact with people in
the ward that haven't had contact with the church or been home taught
for at least 12 months. This list has 150 names on it (Bishop Dance
would hate the home teaching in this ward about 35 - 40 %). The list
was split up between High Priests, Elders, Young Men and Ward
Missionaries. The only problem is that Elder Mecham and I have been
doing most of this work. One of the members of the Mission Presidency
found this out and was ticked!!! He said why are we sending the
missionaries after people who probably don't want the gospel in their
lives. Oh well we are almost done with the list so we are going to
just keep pushing forward with it.

Probably the most exciting thing that happened this week is that there
was talk of snow. This city shuts down I guess if there is even just a
skiff of snow. I am glad that I am not in a car area right now because
most mission vehicles are grounded. Probably due to the three car
accidents that happened on Sunday. I have no clue ho that happened
because the snow wasn't even sticking the roads were just wet. Anyway
too bad for them because if they have a car it usually meens that they
need it to really function in the area. Elder Mecham and I can walk
and still be effective. It is so funny though all the buses have
chains on and all it is doing is tearing up the roads. Whatever I
don't pay any taxes in this state.

I also got to go to the Portland Temple for the first time. It is a
beautiful temple with lots of dark wood work. I still love the Idaho
Falls Temple. I really think that it is my favorite. We get to go to
the temple every three months. I wish it was more but it is more that
most missions so I am greatful for that.

Jan 9

Hello

This has been a very interesting week. Not one of my favorite weeks.
Elder Mecham and I have really focused on getting members to our
lessons. On Saturday we had two lessons that we were going to be
taking members to. Both lessons were canceled but of course they
couldn't let us know before hand so we took members to no shows:) Love
that....NOT! It has been crazy how many apointments we had cancel this
week. BLAH. Oh well I guess that is just how things go sometimes. You
have to go through that all the time with your secret meetings.

The most exciting thing that happened this week is President and
Sister Morby came to our District Meeting ans we also had interviews.
I love the Morbys they are such wonderful people. They are the kind of
people that when you are aroud them you just have to smile. You can't
help it. They love the Gospel so much and they are always helping us
to be better.

I was able to get a new bike this week and a much better lock. It is
so different to me how much you can't trust people here. This last
week our bikes got stolen, a members car window got broken out at the
church and a less actives apartment was broken into while they were in
Idaho. People here are very much an entitled people. It is sad. I
really don't care that my bike got stolen. It makes me laugh a little
bit to be honest but it is sad to see how lazy people are here. It is
not uncommon for people to sleep until 1 or 2 in the afternoon get up
watch tv until about 10 and then go to bed. The worst part is they
can't understand why they dont have money to pay their bills.I don't
know I am just glad that I have been taught how to work and to provide
for myself.

Thanks for sending that stuff. I would love some oatmeal. I am trying
to eat really healthy in the morning and at lunch so that when I go to
dinner I can eat without having to worry too much. The great news is I
still haven't gained any weight. I still have enough money for right
now but I  had to use all of my HSA money so I might need some down
the road. I will let you know. We get $125 a month but that really
isn't enough to buy what we need. Even without spending money on
extras most missionaries run out on the 15th.

Jan. 2

Happy New Year Family!!!

So Elder Mecham and I got the new year started out right. We played
card games until 10:15pm and then brushed our teeth and went to bed.
We had to wake up at 6am because we have PEC at 7:20. Ever since I
left home I have become a super light sleeper (I hate it). Anyway so I
was up half the night listening to traffic which is FANTASTIC;) but I
was able to fall asleep about 2ish and stay asleep until just before
6. I sleep right next to the outside wall next to the stair case that
leads up to the apartments above us. Under the stair case is a place
to lock up bikes. We don't us that very often because we have a closet
that we can lock them up in but it is kind of a pain so everyonce in a
while we will chain them up outside. So just before I heard a lound
bang from the rod that the bikes are locked up on and I was a little
confused but then I heard a squeeking noise which Elder Mecham's bike
makes. I then heard the gate that locks off the enterance to our
apartment off slam shut. I thought to myself, "I think our bikes just
got stolen." I was going to run outside and try to see but I was only
in my garments so I didn't. So I went out and looked after I got
dressed and sure enough both bikes, helmets & the lock were gone. So I
get to start the year off with a brand new bike!!! It is really kind
of a funny story it makes me laugh to think about it. I just find
myself hoping that they can use the bike to help feed their family for
a little while or something. Who knows though. It doesn't matter I
just figure they must need it worse than I do. The only part that bugs
me is that there is someone who keeps leaving the gate open so I am
sure that is how they got in.

Other than that it has been a little bit of a slower week. I was sick
again two days this week. So frustrating!!! I just think that it must
be the change in diet. I don't know though. I have only thrown up one
but I constantly feel like I am going to. The worst part is that my
stomach is constantly cramped. I bought a bunch of fruits and
vegatables today that I think I am going to eat durring the day and
just save the heavy food for at night when we go over to members
houses. We are so well taken care of in this ward. In December there
was only one day that we didn't have a dinner but that was made up for
the night that we had two dinners. This ward really rocks though. Our
January calendar is full every night and most of Febuary is as well.

This week we spent time helping the ward contact people. There are 150
people that have not been to church of home taught in over a year so
they are trying to get in touch with them. This has huge potential for
us because many of them are part member families. Hopefully we will
see good things come in the future.

Dec. 26

Dear Family,
It was food to hear from you yesterday. It was the vewry best part of
Christmas for me. It is so incredible how much we are loved by the
members in this area. I love them so much. It really is true that as
you serve others your love for them grows. I hope that I am able to
always feel as much love for the people that I serve. If not it is
probably because of pride that I have and not being willing to serve
others. Pride is something that I am really having to let go. 

Dec. 19

Dear Dad,
It was good to hear from you. We had a Mission Christmas Party
yesterday  so we were not able to make it to the library. The party
was in Aloha which is a suburb on the West side of Portlad and I am on
the East. The party was from 12-3 but really went until 4:30 and then
on the way home the GPS stopped working and we took the wrong exit so
we had to turn around. That caused us to get cought in 5pm traffic. It
took just over 30 minutes to get to Aloha in the morning and over two
hours on the way home. The worst part was that we had two dinner
apointments yesterday one at 5:30 and then at 6 and because of having
to get a new phone we didn't have either of their phone numbers.
Luckily the one that was dropping off dinner called us and said that
she would bring it to us as soon as we got home. Even better was that
our dinner at 6 is a bus driver and was stuck in the same traffic as
us so we got to her house just before she did (after 7). The Christmas
Party was so much fun. I love President and Sister Morby. They are
among the most fantastic people on this earth. At the concert in
Vancoover on Saturday Sister Morby came up to me and asked how I was
doing and you could just see the love and concern that was on her
face. Even more impressive is that she knows me. Her Uncle was there
and she introduced me to him and said this is Elder Hatch he hasn't
been out very long. It is amazing to me that she knows me out of 217
missionaries serving right now. They have such a strong spirit about
them and they are so uplifting. I love to read the weekly letters from
them they really give the the drive to work harder. The concert in
Vancoover on Saturday was FANTASTIC!!! It was the Portland Ensign
Chior and Orchestra (Formerly the Portland Mormon Choir and
Orchestra). The Songs they sang were totally focused on Jesus Christ
and really invited the spirit in SO strong. It is cool, they start
each of their performances with a prayer and President Morby was asked
to give that. We took Will and Coleene and after the prayer Will
leaned over and said that President Morby was a little intense. It
drives me crazy that Will can recognize the spirit but isn't willing
to accept it. It makes me think about how our Father in Heaven must
feel as we choose to ignore the promptings of the spirit. As I was
reading the Ensign this morning there was a quote from President
Monson from 1985 which said "Never, nerver, nerver ignore a
prompting..." How true that really is. That is something that I have
really been working on as a  missionary. Working on overcoming fear
and pride to follow the promtings of the spirit and help others come
unto Christ. It is not an easy task but it is one that I am willing to
put all my effort into.

Dec 12

Dear Family,
Sounds like a lot has happened this week just like always. It is so
crazy how fast time is going and everyone tells me that the longer I am
out the faster time will go. I guess I will just have to wait and see.

The work is a little frustrating right now. Our investigator with a
baptism date will no longer let us into her apartment which means we
are now back to zero progressing investigators. Kind of a bummer but
we are pushing forward. I had an uneventful week. I spent most of the
day Tuesday feeling like I was going to throw up so I just sat in my
dumpster recliner curled up in a ball. I did manage to keep everything
down which was a huge blessing. I think that eating all of this really
good food is what is getting me (also what is packing on the pounds).

The members here are so great I love them so much. Yesterday we were
working on our Christmas plans and talking with Joan Oakey and she
asked about a Christmas tradition that we had and I told her about the
Mrs Right story and how much I loved that. She said that it sounded
like so much fun and wanted to try it so she might call you but I
don't know that for sure. But I plan on using that at our traditions
party so if you could send me a copy of that story that would be
fantastic. 

So some super Exciting news... We get to go to a concert in
Vancoover this Saturday with Will and Collen!! We are so excited. We
totally love Will. We saw him last night at the Strommers and when we
got ready to leave he came over and gave us a huge hug. He knows that
the gospel is true it is just all new and a little scary for him I
think. We are meeting with him again tonight to finalise plans for
Saturday. Other than that the only other fun thing that happened is
that Elder Mecham left our phone is his pocket and then washed his
pants so we have been without a phone for a little over a day now. We
will hopefully get a new one today or tomorrow because a phone is
essential to missionary work.

Dec 5

Hello Family

This week has been a bit of a bland week. Nothing too exciting really
happened. Our investigator with a baptismal date has fallen off the
face of the earth so we are really hoping to be able to find her but
that is looking a little scary. She set her date as Christmas Eve but
hasn't come to church so even when we do find her we will have to
change her date. Oh well we will just keep pushing forward.

We had a special fast on Friday that we would be able to find new
people to teach. We both have a lot of faith and we know that we will
be able to find them. We taught several less-active lessons this week
which are great but sometimes I feel like a full time home teacher
rather than full time missionary. We are teaching two excommunicated
members who are really trying to come back into the fold and desire to
have the gospel back into their lives.

As far as Christmas plans go:

Christmas Eve Elder Mecham and I are having other missionaries come
over to our apartment and we are haveing a tradition party. So each
missionary is bringing one tradition from home and we are doing that.
Then that night we will be with the Oakey's (Joan). They said that we
will just have to let go and join in with all their crazy traditions.
Sounds like fun to me!

Christmas Day we are going to the Strommers house. We are SUPER
excited about that. They want us there at 5:30 for presants. They said
dont shower just come over in your pajamas and you can shower later in
the day. Then we will have Church at 1. I will be calling sometime in
the later afternoon/early evening.

Nov 28

Hello Family!!

I am glad that you had a good Thanksgiving. Only 13 people...thats
kinda weird. I had a good time and ate so much food. We had three
dinners. ugh after the last dinner we had over a 50 block bike ride, I
thought that I was going to puke on the side of the road but made it
home ok. One nice thing is that I didn't realy miss home very much
because it didn't feel like Thanksgiving.

This week we spent a lot of time out finding new people to teach. It
is probably just because I am new but I really don't mind tracting at
all. You meet some interesting people. We taught almost 20 leesons
this week which is the mission goal so we are hoping to reach that
this week. We were also able to commit an investigator to baptism so
the work is progressing.

Thanks for the order. Perfect timing I ran out of my other body wash
this morning. I love you all very much have a great week.

Nov. 20

Hello Family!!

This week we have been working a lot with members and less actives. I never realized how much we have been blessed in our lives until now. This week a recent convert who is awesome but is having a really hard time in life let us know just how bad thing really are. We got a text from her that said that she could no longer pay to run her heaters so if we had any extra blankets they would be greatly appreciated.  We didn't have any but we were at Rite Aid and I saw some blankets for $2. They were really thin so I bought two for each of them. When we took them over to her we found out that they all the kids were sleeping on the floor. I really broke my heart. So we gave them to her and tried to lift her spirits a little bit. Then the next day we went back and someone had an extra futon mattress and an air mattress so we moved them into her apartment and set them up. Later on that night we had a ward "great exchange" (DI drive) where you could go through others stuff before it was loaded  into the trailer. We found her another air mattress. We also found five really warm blankets in another missionaries apartment we we washed them (Who knows when they were last washed) and gave them  to her. Anyway the whole point of this entire story is I am SO grateful for everything that we have been blessed with.

Nov. 13

Hello Family!!

It is great to hear from all of you. Dinner with the Oakey's was great. I love this ward they are so nice to everyone and I really love the members here. Everyone is concerned what we will be doing for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yesterday Elder Mecham and I spoke in Sacrament Meeting with Brother Strommer. It was a great meeting about missionary work and getting motivated to invite others to come unto Christ. When you really think about the missionary work it is so simple all we are doing is inviting people to listen.

This week was a bit of a struggle for us. We met with Will on Wednesday and he told us that he decided he was an Athiest. The worst part of that is that just before he told us that he didn't belive in a God he told us that he thought the Church was true for us. It was really hard for me because I have grown to love him so much and I know that he really recived an answer to his paryer but gave into peer presure from people at work. It made me think of how Heavenly Father must feel as we use our agency and not follow him.

We did get four new investigators this week which is fantastic and I just need to keep positive and moving forward.

Nov. 7

 I ride my bike pretty much everywhere. The good news is that my area is mostly flat and that there are bike lanes and paths in most areas. The worst part that I have to ride most days is an intersection that has nine lanes and two sets of tracks. We try to get through there as fast as possible. It is supposed to be the rainy season but we have yet to see to much rain. More than anything it has just been cold. Tell you what the cold here is different. It is a wet cold.

We are working with a few less actives but more than that is part member families. We are really hoping to see some success from these. Elder Mecham has been out 14 months. He is a really good missionary and I am learning so much from him.

So you will never guess what I did this morning. We took recliners out of the dumpster and moved them into our apartment. Never thought that I would be a dumpster diver. Oh well they are nice.