Going Into the Straight Away

No I am not talking about the straight away in a race where the finish is near. (We don't talk about that.) I am talking about the one straight piece of track on a hotwheels set where there are those foam rollers that boost the car around the track. We are in the final days of preparation for the zone conferences next week. There will be two per week until the end of the transfer - mixed with various and sundry assignments. So it will be quite busy.

So this week I completed my travels of all the places where Paul preached on his journey to Rome with this week's visit to Malta (Melita in the scripture). For those that didn't know, Malta is the most southern part of our mission, and we got to go there this week to do exchanges with the missionaries there. We have some really amazing missionaries there in Malta. They are doing some hard work on an island that can fit inside the freeway that circles Rome. We were impressed with the things that they were doing there. We saw various things and taught their investigators, and in the end I bought an "I heart" Malta t-shirt. It was a really good trip.

Easter was great. It was the first time in our ward this transfer. The bishop gave a smack-down talk about the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Way good day at church. The rest of the day was spent planning and finishing our training and whatnot. We were also invited over to the mission home to eat Easter dinner with President and Sister Kelly and their son and his family. It was good. And delicious!

Love you all. Talk to you next Wednesday and on Mother's Day!

Anziano Hatch

Pictures of me in Malta and the buses in Malta. I thought I was in "Remember the Titans."

A Little Time To Relax

Well after a heck-tic week, and also a fun one, we had a somewhat more normal one with less to do but good all the same. Things started with a spirit-filled zone leader council. We brought in all the zone leaders from around the mission, and that gets a little tricky. You have those arriving on a plane, in a boat, by car or train, and so on and so on. Coordination of traveling skills have definitely been increased in the last six months. It is always a little stressful with misisonaries coming in and having their own things they want to get done while at the mission office and trying to make sure everyone is over at the mission home in time to start lunch. But everything went well. We had a good meeting and also a surprise visit from Elder Wright who was at the district conference in Napoli. And an ex-mission president, Brother Pasta, came just in time to catch all the missionaries that were leaving. So with guest speakers and all, everything went great, and I think we got our message out. Right now we are working on inspired questions and member work. Both things we are hitting pretty hard to be more effective missionaries. After the conference, let's just say getting everyone back to where they needed to go was pretty crazy, and I probably lost some hairs off of my head, but everyone caught their planes, trains, and automobiles...and boats.

Things after the conference cooled off. We took President and his wife to the airport to go to a conference in Calabria on Saturday and picked them up Sunday night. I enjoy the time spent with President and Sister Kelly. It is like being with mom and dad in the car and drinking from their fountains of wisdom. Needless to say, Anziano Rappleye and I learn a lot from them together.

Then yesterday, President's family came to town, or one of his sons and his family. We got to help bring them back from the airport and drove them past the Colosseum and what not. Still, that building never ceases to amaze me. It is great. After that, we did some of the basic things like planning for conference and stuff.

One thing I was wondering is if you could get another copy of my Patriarchal Blessing, because mine is a little worn out. And also, I somehow ended up with the mistaken copy that has grandpa's name on it instead of mine. My blessing but his name, so if you could somehow procure a new one that would be great.

Love you all!
Anziano Hatch

Two in One

WOW! That is all I have to say when I say, "WOW." What a busy time it has been. It started last week around Monday morning as we prepared for new missionaries to arrive - something that didn't happen last transfer. So we were really excited to have new life blood in the mission. We welcomed three native missionaries and one missionary from Uruguay on Tuesday. They were so excited to be here in the mission. We fed them at the mission home and then sent them out with a couple of companionships in Rome for the night. The next day we prepared for Anziano Sapio to go home. Then we went to the airport to pick up six new missionaries from Provo. Everything went great there, and then we met the four that arrived the day before at the mission home. We ate and we trained the greenies, and then President Kelly gave them their assignments.

The next morning, we started shuttling missionaries around Rome from station to station, making sure they got to where they needed to be. In the afternoon I got my new companion, Anziano Rappleye from Wyoming, and we drove one missionary to the airport to get him on a plane for Malta and then continued from there to take two new missionaries to the ferry in Civitavecchia. Then, in time to go to bed, we returned to the mission home with the missionaries who had finished and were preparing to go home. We slept at the villa so we could take missionaries to the airport early in the morning. Then we returned back, and we did some various chores real quick - whatever we could get done before we had to go back to the airport again.

At the airport, we picked up an Area Seventy from England who got it approved to come with his family. So we picked up the entire family there at the airport. We brought them back into Rome, and they stayed the night at the villa. The next morning, we went to the store to buy food to make a nice big breakfast, because we did not have any food. We ate nicely and enjoyed a little time to relax. It didn't last long, because then we went to the villa to prepare to take Elder Wright (Area Seventy) and his family to Napoli for a District Conference.

We got there in time to get President Kelly and Elder Wright to the church for the first set of meetings. Then we went on a failed attempt to procure some food. We had to return and take Sister Kelly and Sister Wright from the hotel to the church. We settled with some McDonald's. We ate with the Wright's family and then took them down to the church. It was a good Saturday session of conference. I enjoyed it a lot. Sunday was just as good and such a sweet time as most of the members from Castellammare and Battipaglia were there. It was a sweet reunion to see them. After the conference, we took the Wrights back to Rome. By that time we were best friends, and the ride home was great. We made a stop at St. Paul's Cathedral outside the walls. It was cool. Big church. Then we ate dinner with them at the villa with President and Sister Kelly.

The next day, we had to say goodbye to our new friends, as we took them to a hotel. They will be in Rome for the rest of the week. It was a really, really, REALLY busy weekend. But what would life be like if it weren't filled with fun things to do, right? Today we went to the Villa Borghese and rode around on Segways. It was great!

So things are sounding great at home. I saw my flight itinerary today also. YIKES. I can't believe that that time is just around the corner. So much to do, so little time. We still have a lot of things ahead of us. Zone Leader Conference is tomorrow. That will be great. I love you, Anziano Hatch

After eating our McDonald's that we brought back for the family

The Wright Family

Preparation day activity in the Villa Borghese on Segways. Really fun!