Talking about Tithing and the Celestial Kingdom at the BAR!

THE KITCHEN BAR:) haha not what you're thinking.. oh great times at the Flannery's.. :)

Anyways

              LAST WEEK!!!! (BEFORE TRANSFERS)

I get to meet my new trainee a week from tomorrow!! I won't know exactly who it is until a week from Wednesday but I meet them on Tuesday for a fun activity;)

It has now been confirmed that the Paramount Stake is getting a third set of missionaries. The four of us (Elder Meyer and Welch and My companion and I) think that they will give us three new missionaries since Elder Welch goes home on Saturday. The three of us will be the only ones who know the area still after the area split. Sounds pretty reasonable to us.. We won't know for sure until Saturday.

Life on the mission is pretty great:) lots of adventures for sure. We topped our last weeks lessons by 7, which is a HUGE increase and we are pretty excited about that:) Hoping to do it again this week, since it's our last and one of us won't be in half of this area after Monday. We're going for it!

I've realized one of the hardest things for me will be saying goodbye to some of the members here. There are so many that are completely awesome! I was sitting at dinner with the Mathews- eating Swedish Pancakes:)- and I realized that I would so miss them when I leave. Same with several other families that I've met and come to really love! I can't believe I've been in Meridian for almost 6 weeks already! I would be perfectly fine serving my whole mission here:) It's constantly changing to. In our area, which is half the stake, we get about 2 or 3 new families each week! Most of them are members which is great!

Another thing I've been doing out here is making a list. A list of what? Things I've discovered while I've been on a mission. Here we go. (No judging me)

1.Eighteen months with out guys is EXTREMELY difficult! Especially when you are surrounded by some of the most spiritual, not to mention good -looking, young men that are on the face of the earth. (I know this is so apostate of me..)

2. Naps are impossible on a mission:)

3. A companionship IS like a marriage.. only worse haha. In a marriage, if you both are struggling with each other, you can go for a drive or something. Can't do that on a mission. BIG no-no..
4. You can only get that  warm right-out-of-the-dryer feeling once a week:\

5. I used to want a cat or dog for a pet... I don't anymore.

6. Missing my kitchen where I can cook fancy meals.
7. Working out right after you wake up is super hard for me.. Need a couple minutes before I can function..

8. Walking in 100+ degree weather for multiple hours is not fun BUT. . . is more successful than if you drive. (We get a referrals, meet non members, as well as several other great experience every time we walk)

9. I love Swedish Pancakes:)

10. The mission really does go by fast - and I'm not even at the point where it starts to fly by! Almost 2 months already!!!

So that is the start of my list:) More will be added every week! Hope life is going great out in the real world and I will write next week!

-Sister Hatch

What OFF Season!

Two weeks left of this transfer.. That's crazy! Not only until the end of the transfer but until I train! We have 9 English speaking sisters coming in and then 2 Spanish speakers. Guess what sisters we have right now. 11 English speaking! (Well, one learning English. I love Sister Chen) We will be getting at least 15 new companionships every transfer. That's a lot! We don't know if there is this much growth in every mission or just ours.We are lucky for sure.

I just saw a guy walk through the library with a shirt that said "What Off Season?" and it makes me think of my family who just drove through my area on their way to a basketball camp for my siblings.. Never an off season haha but while they drove through they also stopped at a families house in the area.

The Flanery's live in the McMillian ward in Meridan and I love them! So laid back and I'm hoping Bro Flanery didn't say anything inappropriate.. he's kind of known for that.. but Ava (their little 6 year old girl) loved them more than anything because my mom said I would share AAAALLLL  of my candy with her. She think she's so cute.. that's probably because she is!

Sigh.. This week has gone by so fast.. We've had some kind of meeting every day this week and I can't believe it's P-day already.

Not much to really report for this week except I finally feel like I may be ready to train this next transfer.. May.. Never know until I get my new trainee:)    (everyone may have to pray a little for that poor girl haha)

Well that's pretty much my life. Just working and being exhausted all the time but a good type of exhausted - if there is such a thing. Love you all!

-Sister Hatch:)

1 Month Down and I still LOVE my Job!

I really cannot believe I've been out 1 month! It really is crazy! Then I look back and sometimes the only reason I can't believe that is because it feels longer! It's not bad though:) Really loving it out here- Except for that one day were it was close to 120 degrees outside and we were smart and decided to walk.. yeah.. not our best idea..

Well, I have basically 3 weeks of being a 'greenie' and until I find out where I will be next transfer and I cannot wait! We are thinking that our stake will be split. At the moment, our stake is split in half missionary wise. Sister Dickey and I are in Paramount 1 and Elder Welch and Elder Meyer are in Paramount 2 (just the names of the areas. We have 5 wards and the Elders have 4 or 5- not sure). Elder Welch is leaving at the end of this transfer meaning there will be three of us left who know of the area and they have been searching for another place to house the missionaries so... we hope that it will just be us three here hopefully haha we will each just have a new trainee:) 

I don't know how the missionary work is going in Utah but here it's going like crazy in most of our wards. The McMillian Ward is definitely the most into it. It make our job a whole lot easier when we have ward members like they do. Sister Stevenson (wife of our WML) just found out that I was training next transfer (she served in..Virginia I believe..) and she said "I know how you feel.. I trained as well- second transfer out. Except she barely knew english, we were on bikes in the winter, driving through snow and -- We had to wear panty hose!" haha You just have to know her. She is so bubbly and funny but then she has those times when she tries to be serious and.. it doesn't work. Her children are going to be soooo solid one day! No joke. We sat in on their family night meeting and.. wow! Her oldest, Asia, is ten and the cutest little girl you have ever seen but she knew it. Everything. We read Alma 26 and she explained it and said thing I never realized about that chapter! Her younger boys (8, 5, 3) will be there soon, as well. But love Sister Stevenson. Going on exchanges with her on Tuesday to a couple of members houses.

I would just like to make it known now that I completely love my job:) I cannot even explain how great it's been so far! My favorite experience so far has been working with this one investigator. I really enjoy it when ever we go over because it really feels like a good home. She has two kids and they are as funny as can be! Last week when we went over we played the cup game (where you do a rhythm as the cup gets passed around. don't know how to really explain it but if you know the game you know what I'm talking about) with her youngest girl who is about 6. Funnest time ever. We are teaching their family tonight how to do a family home evening night so I'm super stoked for that. Everything just seems to be put in place for her. She does like to drink wine and that is possibly what might be the hardest thing for her but as she grows in her testimony like I know she can, I know she will know what is right.
My companion is trying to get me to start a video journal right now. It wouldn't be a huge step because I film different parts of our area on our way home so you might be getting few of those soon haha 

I just want to say thanks to everyone who sent me those "Green"ie packages.. Ha Ha Ha.. very funny.. but my district and mission liked all of the candy:) we made the green cookies for last p-day and everything else just got passed around during volleyball. Thank you all again and I hope life is great and yeah.. Love ya!

-Sister Hatch:)

It's True..........

You may be asking yourselves "What's true?" and I mean the gospel, of course haha!

But there is another thing that I've discovered in my two weeks of living in Meridian and that is.. I live on Pinterest. What?! Let me explain.. no....It'll take to long.. Let me sum it up. If Pinterest was an actual place, like tangible and right in front of you, Meridian Idaho would be it. Seriously. I'll send pictures when I can but yeah.. amazing here. I realized this last Tuesday. Everything is perfect and no two houses are alike. It's insane. Lots of home projects, beautiful landscaping and there is this one family (The Impomeni's) that cook amazing Italian food like I did back at college. I was just experimenting but they are just Pros at it! So yeah.. I still live on Pinterest even when I'm out in the Mission field.

Oh! I learned last Monday (after I sent my e-mail) that something crazy is happening in 4 weeks.. So today, our missions officially split. We knew as soon as we received our first assignments what mission we would be in but today is the official day. Now in our mission we have 12 sisters but one is leaving at the end of this transfer so in reality we have 11. I learned on Monday that our next transfer we will be getting 12 NEW SISTERS! Do you know what that means?!?!?! I'm going to be a trainer in 4 weeks!!! Ah! It's crazy.. But I'm excited:) (maybe not so much for the new sister.. haha you all might want to pray for her that she doesn't go crazy because of her new trainer). When we were in the MTC we had the thought that we might be trained by someone who had only been out for 6 weeks but I don't think any of us thought much about being the actual trainers after our first 6 weeks. Insane. The amazing part about this whole ordeal is that in the next 3-6 months our total number of missionaries will TRIPLE! I'm sooo excited:) at the moment, we have 72 missionaries covering our mission (Boise, Meridian, Star, Eagle and soon in Idaho City). We will have over 200 missionaries in 6 months. The work is moving forward fast! We are all so excited here for that:) I'm not sure if I will still be in my area or if they will have me open an area (yikes!) because of the sheer number of missionaries coming out. They will most likely split our area and.. sadly.. we most likely will lose our car :'( we have the smallest area in the mission so pffft. There goes our car.. Oh well haha to a better cause I guess:)

Work is still going out here. We're mostly teaching member families the discussions.  We teach to investigators and everyone we meet. I really didn't notice until now that it was so much easier to share the gospel before my mission. I had a lot of friends who I could have and didn't. I guess I was afraid they might have been offended by it but I really wish I would have because they wouldn't have been. On a side note, there is this amazing book everyone should read. It's called "The Everyday Missionary" or something like that. All the wards bought a few copies up here and it's going around to everyone. It is really good I hear so start reading! Members are really the key in missionary work now. Everything you saw at the broad cast last week goes with what I and every missionary will now learn. If you haven't watched the broadcast, it is on lds.org and it's amazing.

I'm not quite sure what else to share. I can't believe it's already been a week again! Well, then I think about how tired I am and then I believe it's been a week.. I love it out here though:) Not a fan of the 110+ degree weather but it works (beat that heat Utah!). It's been really humid out here for some reason, too. I believe it's because someone is always watering their lawns.. Sister Dickey thinks otherwise.. Speaking of Sister Dickey.. We are awesome today, and everyday, and we match:) We are that cool haha!

I hope everyone is doing GREAT and love you all!!!

Love,

Sister Hatch:)