SIMPLY CHASING DOWN THE WORLD!

Wow..
So much happening in one week..
The most exciting though is the realignment of our ward boundaries. Luckily, Sister Bozant and I just gained some super solid members while everyone else in our district.. lost some lets just say. We'll see how everything goes. The best part was at the start of the meeting last night the opening hymn was "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go" and that lightened the mood. It was great haha

Sunday we had in one of our wards something called a "Musical" Sacrament. Basically, it's a testimony meeting but everyone gets up and says their favorite hymn and for 30 seconds explains why it is or what it means to them. We tried so hard to have our investigators come to this meeting but OF COURSE everyone just happened to be gone.. One day we will have them all there. Everything that could have gone wrong this week DID go wrong haha gotta have your ups and downs on mission, I guess. Loads of fun. Sister Bozant and I also just discovered that we are actually over the entire stake! Which is over half the mission! We have the opportunity to teach all the single women who are investigating the church that live in the stake boundaries. Fun stuff! (Our miles aren't liking us too much right now..)
I finally got a copy of a quote that I read my first transfer out in the field and I've been sharing it for the past week with almost everyone that I can. I love it and it really exemplifies what I've become and really the feeling I've learned to love since being out on my mission so far.

I am a part of the fellowship of the Unashamed. 

The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made.

 I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. 

I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. 

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure.

 I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, 

tame visions,mundane talking, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. 

I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. 

I now live by presence, learn by faith, love by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power.

My pace is set, my gait is fast, my goal is Heaven, my road is narrow, my 

way is rough, my companions few, my Guide is reliable, my mission is clear.

I cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed. 

I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the 

table of the enemy,  ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won't give up, back up, let up, or shut up until

 I've preached up, prayed up, paid up, stored up, and stayed up for the cause of Christ.

 I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.

 I must go until He returns, give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes.

And when He comes to get His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My

colors will be clear for "I am not ashamed of the Gospel ..." (Romans 1:16)

Every phrase is what I am striving to become and will continue to for the next year. I can't believe I'm a third done with my full-time mission service. It truly feels like I've been out a month or so but I can feel the change that's occurred and I love it! I have one year left to complete what I came out to do and that is sooo not enough time. Before, I believed 18-months was a long time but it's not. 

Love you all and I'm off to work!

-Sister Hatch

Miracles are REAL!!

So... adventures last week. Starting with my companion waking me up at 12:30 to make an E.R. trip. That was just the start of our exciting week but I'm not going to go into that. 

 

Something else exciting, on Sunday I had the chance to speak to all of the Stake Presidents in the Idaho Boise Mission. Not intimidating at all. It was actually super fun. I got to meet back up with Sister Johnson and we shared about a family in the Paramount Stake that we had grown close with and their daughter was my first actual baptism. 

 

We had Zone Conference yesterday and it was Amazing. Our purpose was a big focus. I love meetings like this.  One of the Stake Presidents that was there at the meeting on Sunday spoke to us. He said that most likely our reaction when we all opened our call and read the words "Idaho Boise Mission"... yeah.. most of us were not pleased. Now, we realized (most of us at least) how much of a blessing this is to us. We have the chance to teach more than most in our mission and see results from our labors. We are serving in an area where the church is fully establish and the work is hastening. He went on to list several other things that just were amazing and I had never thought about things.

 

                                    Not to brag but... The IDAHO BOISE MISSION is the the best mission in the world

 

Also, a straight-up miracle happened last night. We have an investigator who is 14 (1/2) and has been taught for over a year. She is absolutely golden! Her mother won't allow her to be baptized until she is 16 (it was 18 but they lowered the age). Sister Bozant and I have been trying to get into see her mother and have had a few door stop visits but nothing really productive there. Last night we finally got in! Over the course of an hour or so we talked and calmed some of her worries and she actually agreed to let us teach her what her daughter has learned. Her mom says she is firm in her catholic faith but wants to know what she can do to help her struggling daughter and has realized it might just be by understanding her faith. It was amazing. We have an appointment with her for next week and we might have her daughter come teach with us to know how she really feels about this major choice in her life. Last night was just amazing.

 

Hope all is well and sorry for the abrupt end but I'll write you next week!

Idaho Boise Mission

Dear Parents,

We thought you would enjoy receiving a photo of Sister Hatch and her new trainee, Sister Bozant, from Henderson, NV, posing with President and Sister Winder.  It is a pleasure serving with such wonderful young missionaries in the Idaho Boise Mission.

Regards,
Sister Gibbons
Idaho Boise Mission

Shotgun Training!

Gotta say that training is difficult. Opening an area (shotgunning) is hard. Both at the same time when your 4 months out... I'm just happy I'm getting out of bed every day haha

So Sister Bozant is my new comp.  Super exciting for her. We do have our struggles but it's all good haha The work is going incredibly great for being in this area for less than a week. We set a baptism date last night! I just love to see people being introduced to the gospel and running with it! Pure joy as you see the spirit touch them and really help them recognize the truth of things. As our lesson went last night, you could see the spirit working with our investigator... Love it!

I'm going to back up a little bit. So, last week was transfers. Crazy busy! We are now living with a member family. The Miranda's are amazing. Bro. Miranda is in the Bishopric and is hillarious. He is from Guatamala and has a little bit of a different type of humor but I love to see him laugh at his own jokes.

Oh, so I'm cursed, apparently. In the Paramount Stake, 5 of the 6 wards I served in got a new ward mission leader. Since I've been here (5 days or so) one has already been released! I should really warn them when I come in haha so now 6 of 8 I've served in have done that. Hmmm....

 

Well, my letters are going to be a lot smaller. The library I'm at now only allows 1 hour to be on instead of two like the Meridian Library. Kind of annoying. I'll send pictures next week and hope all is going amazing with everyone!

-Sister Hatch

A New Chapter

So transfers were this weekend and you could probably guessed what happened. I'm finally getting transferred out of my Greenie Area.

I'm leaving the Paramount Stake for the Boise East Stake and the Oregon Trail and Columbia Village wards. The BE Stake is about half of our mission and my two wards are more than 6 times the size of the Pmt Stake. Crazy! Oh.. and I'm training a brand new sister missionary, too! They flew in yesterday morning (I'm getting to that). Going to be a whole new adventure. I'm not quite sure who exactly is in my District/Zone except Elder McKenzie (my District Leader) and his two companions, Elder Martin and Elder Ficiur. Hopefully we will have another set of sisters in the District, as well. I rather doubt it:(

They say the first transfer is the most bitter sweet. It's so true. I have loved to be in the Paramount Stake for the past 5 months (I've served in 6 of the 9 wards). The people out here are crazy. Just saying. But I love it all the same. Hopefully not all transfers are going to be as hard as this one but we'll see. Sister Johnson and I (yes we were still together for a few days) said goodbye to people for the past few days and taking some questionable pictures... as I've said, people are crazy out here:) in a good way. Okay, questionable with only one family and just because they are that A-MAZ-ING haha and they have a dog that can do a Joker impression that is pretty dead on. I'm going to have to send that picture next week. Everyone is amazing though. If I had enough time I would tell you all about ever one of them.

 

Anyways, I have to appologize for not sending this out on Monday! I'm horrible I know. But my new companion is... drum roll please....

 

SISTER BOZANT!!!!

 

She is sooo cool:) love her to death. She's from Las Vegas and just super awesome. I'll have to send a pic on Monday but super fun stuff:)

 

Hope all is well in small town, USA!

 

-Sister Hatch

We are AWESOME!

"Awesome at what?" you are probably asking yourself. I will get to that in a minute.

This week has been a whirl wind!.. Transfers are next week and looks like it's going to be another crazy change! I'm most likely going to be leaving the Paramount Stake since I've been here 3 transfers. Although my companion has been here 2 so it really could go either way. This area I'm in is notorious for keeping missionaries for up to 9 months! That would be half my mission.. Wow..

Okay, I can't hold in the awesomeness anymore. Guess what we did yesterday! Since my companion and I will most likely not be together for a third transfer we had... A HALLOWEEN PARTY!!! haha legit I know;) We carved pumpkins and made cookies to give out to our investigators! We had one pumpkin we carved for the mission office with Idaho and "IBM" on it (Idaho Boise Mission)..Okay, really dorky I know but hey! We had fun:) We also went and played with miniature horses:) The pumpkins were from the Boise Temple Presidents garden. His daughter lives in one of our wards and they told us they had some extra Pumpkins and thought we might know what to do with them.

Anyways, sorry for the shortness of this but thinking you may get a laugh out of our weirdness a bit:)

Sister Hatch

P.S. A picture (finally) of the baptism we had few weeks back. She's so cute!

Miracles

Plain and simple, that's what has been happening in Meridian. Miracles.

I have been in the same area my whole mission (with the exception of loosing/gaining different wards with additional missionaries in the stake) and some thing amazing happened. One of our wards, where we really have taught only members or "eternal" investigators, we found THREE new investigators this week! Crazy, right?

After the last session of conference, Sister Johnson and I we're thinking of ways to get the wards more enthused about the Lords work and really couldn't think of anything besides what we were already doing (Sad, I know.). We decided to finish handing out invitations to the before mentioned ward's harvest festival to some of the really active members. Our WML's goal was to have them invite one family who was either LA or not members to the party and spread the word that way. On our sixth house, the father came out and said, "Why don't I just take you over to my neighbors right now? I'm pretty sure she would be interested in this ." And so we went over because we weren't about to pass down a chance to meet a non member family. When he asked her to come he also invited her to take the missionary lessons! Guess what she said.. YES!! Sister Johnson and I just gaped at each other. We had no clue he was going to invite her but he did. Talk about taking the lead!!! So that's just one of the many miracles that's happened in the Paramount Stake. It truly is one. We haven't had a new investigator in the ward since before I was here so close or over 6 months! And we have 3!

One of the highlights of my week, though, (besides conference. nothing beats that) was when I met the Doctor. Seriously! We went on an adventure and you never knew I left because he's a time traveler! Jk.. I wish. But the T.A.R.D.I.S. was parked outside someones house:)

General Conference was pretty amazing this year. Partly because it fell on my 4 month mark:) Hopefully everyone had the chance to hear at least part of it. For me, the main message that I received was that God really needs everyone's help in sharing the message of the Gospel with those that don't have it. The apostles promised us blessing and miracles would occur based on our effort to keep the covenants that we have made with God. They promised that there will be nothing to stop the blessings of heaven if we will simply and completely act in faith.

I'm working on my faith even more. We can always do better. As missionaries strive to find those searching the gospel, their are some really hard times but keep that faith. Investigators are coming but still none progressing as much as we would like. We have 9 kids who are really excited to be baptized but one of their parents won't allow it or isn't willing to commit to what they have to do. We are still working with them but it's hard to see their smiling faces and their excitement when we teach them about the gospel and know they won't have the chance for several years to really feel of the blessings that the Gospel can offer them. We pray that their parents hearts will be soften and will know that they will get the chance when the time is right. We have two weeks left in the transfer and I will most likely be moved since I will have been in this area for 4 1/2 months. Never know, though. 

Thanks to everyone and hope you all have a good week:)