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.