Oh Yeah

(Clark also sent this little tidbit of news in last week's letter.)

This is REALLY big news but doesn't come out till this FRiday. President told us last week. I am sending you the email he sent us. Italian missions are being consolidated again.

Love,
Anziano Hatch

PS This is a secret until the 13th

27 January 2010

President Jeffrey Acerson
Piazza Carnaro, 20
00141 Roma, Italy

Dear President Acerson:

Realigning Boundaries of the Missions in Italy

The First Presidency has determined that the Italy Catania Mission will be dissolved and the boundaries of the Italy Rome and Italy Milan Missions will be realigned to include the area of the discontinued mission. This will take effect 1 July 2010.

This move will not affect the role of the missionaries. It is a positive move as the Church continues to expand throughout the earth and as ward and stake leaders and members take a more active role in missionary work.

This consolidation, together with many others, will be announced in the Church News on 13 February 2010. It is critical that, before that date, you notify your missionaries of this change and the significance of it. It would not be proper for them to receive this information from the media or e-mails from home.

Details on the boundary changes and the steps which must be taken for the merger will be sent to you shortly. Thank you again for your excellent service, which has to a large degree, made this consolidation possible.

Sincerely,

Europe Area Presidency

Erich Kopischke Gérald Caussé José A. Teixeira
Area President First Counselor Second Counselor

c: President James A. Toronto
President J. Scott Dunaway
Elder Alfredo L. Gessati

Surprise

Well this week was a big surprise. As you may or may not know, it is transfer week. And...I am already in Pisa. So the work continues under the shadow of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It is pretty crazy. I received a phone call from President Acerson on Monday, and he told me that I needed to go to Pisa on Tuesday because the person I was replacing was coming back to Rome to be an assistant again. My companion is a good guy, although he has been struggling adjusting to missionary life. So last transfer president pulled one of the assistants to be his companion. And now I am here just me and my new companion working together. He is doing great. His name is Anziano Toniuti. He is from North Italy. Speaks Italian REALLY WELL haha.

Anyway, in other news the sisters in my old district had a baptism last Saturday. That raised the total to four in our district in one transfer. We have another one set to be baptized tomorrow. I hope he makes it. I am completely out of touch with him now, so I won't know for a while.

Julie, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! Wow, you are 16 years old. Sei vecchio tu sai? I hope you birthday was a great one. You didn't get any animals for your birthday did you?

I saw the picture of the girls, Justin. They look great. Sounds like your house get busier and bussier everyday. (I can't spell anymore I know). Sounds like you all have a great trip lined up.

To be honest I am freaking out about being in Pisa because transfer day is not until tomorrow. So I am still trying to adjust and therefore am having a hard time of thinking about what to write. We will keep Chase's dad in our prayers though.

Question, is Todd married yet? When does he do it officially? How are Logan, Andrew, Chase and Brian doing? I hope they are doing good.

Well that is about it for me. Hope that you are all doing great as I know that you are. Have a great day! I appreciate all the prayers and letters!!!

Love,
Anziano Hatch

A Miracle of a Week

So last Wednesday, we went to the Villa Borghese and saw many a classical statue and paintings and stuff. I guess we saw some pretty famous stuff. I didn't know until afterwards. I guess that goes to show how much of a simpleton I am. That was really cool.

Then we had a dynamite Saturday. Remember Riccardo, the really cool referral that we had from Milan? He was baptized. We had two baptisms on Saturday. One was an eternal investigator of the Assistants who decided to take the plunge. Riccardo is amazing. He had had a dream about meeting the missionaries, was baptized in four weeks after meeting them, and he has told us he wants to serve a mission. He is just an amazing guy. He is a sound technician working concerts and stuff, and he is a social butterfly - just talks to everyone and speaks Italian, German, and pretty good English. That was a great experience.

Sunday, we had a lesson with another investigator from Nigeria. He is doing really great and has a date set for the 11th of February. He is a really humble guy. He is doing great.

Last night we were doing park and talking to some people. We got a few good contacts and taught a lesson/got a new investigator. His name is Vladimir from Russia. He has lived in Italy for 6 years and speaks good Italian. He looks like a pretty promising guy. We have had some really good finding opportunities. Things are really blooming here in Italy.

Sorry for the short letter, but I am going to send a few pictures. I got my birthday packages by the way. Last Friday. I got a letter from Aunt Karen. Thanks for all the letters!

We went to the zoo today. That was really fun.

We saw a peacock with its feathers out. Awesome.

Yes, that chimp IS reading a magazine.

Riccardo at his baptism

Love,

Anziano Hatch

It Has Been One Week...Again

Haha another amazing week. We set a baptismal date with Riccardo for this Saturday. He is amazing. It turns out that he was looking for the church, and he found it and is all aboard. He is one of those miracle stories.

With Ernest, the black man from Nigeria, we set a date for February 6th. He is doing really well too. We had an amazing first lesson with him and he understands the purpose of having a prophet. It is really great to see people understand the gospel through the Spirit.

Giuseppe will receive the Aaronic Priesthood this Sunday. We had a really good lesson with him last night on the importance of the Priesthood and why it is important that we are worthy holders of it and how we can use it.

It has been a really good week. On Monday, one of the Senior couples held their monthly Scone Night. It is really fun to watch Italians try such a delicate American food. They really like it. "Definitely American," they say, though.

We had interviews with president this week, and we chatted for a long time about how new mission presidents are called. It was really interesting. And then we talked about the usual stuff. He is a really amazing man.

Well Julie, that is way exciting that you got asked to Senior Ball. When I was in your position the theme was "Under the Sea." I wonder if they are recycling themes. Keep me updated. Oh, a word of advice. If your dress is not a normal shade of a color like light blue, pink, or red, give your date a good idea of what color it is, so he doesn't have to fret about showing up at the door and not matching your dress. I was scared about that a few times.

Dad, I am afraid that your mouth won't make it to m y 21st birthday at the rate that it is moving. Just kidding. I bet you are excited for those adventures to be over though.

Well everyone sounds like they are healthy and happy. I am too! Everyone keep doing great. As a recent letter from Elder Warden said, "Word hard, pray hard, and prepare to receive blessings."

Love,
Anziano Hatch

Boom Baby!

So this week has been a rather great week. Usually after a baptism, there is a gap between solid investigators that will be ready for baptism soon and the person that was just baptized, because so much time is put into the person that was just baptized. This week however, no. We had a referral - a miracle find and some random people walk into church. The first one was the referral. I think that I told you this about Riccardo. He is 20 and awesome. In our lesson on Sunday (we had it with the mission president) he bore his testimony to us, prayed out loud for the first time in his life, and he prayed for others to learn the truth of the message that we present as missionaries. The only reason he didn't set a date for baptism was he didn't know his work schedule for the next few weeks. So there will be a date set tomorrow when we meet with him.

Next, Ernest is a black man from Nigeria that one of my companions met on the metro. He has come to church twice. Not only has he come to church twice in a row, but he traveled two and a half hours to get there both times. The second time he brought his fiance (future wife for those who can't read the butchered spelling). She is not as interested as Ernest because she hasn't expressed her desire to be baptized after two lessons. But she will come around.

Then last was a man that came to church last week with a friend, and the sisters picked him up. We had a great lesson with him yesterday. He committed to stop smoking and will probably have a date fixed by next week if not later this week.

Last week at Zone Conference, the Assistants presented the goal to the mission of 30 baptisms this transfer. That is 18 above the transfer average for baptisms in our mission. There have been 8 baptisms already. There are 18 dates set so far and more to come. Everyone is really excited about reaching this goal. Really awesome.

Jalayne, that was really hilarious - that letter of that story from school. Things are going great. I am healthy and happy and just lovin life. Keep up the good work in everything you all do! Have a great week.

Love,
Anziano Hatch

P.S. Remember the investigator, Aaron, from Ostia? (This is the part if you don't remember you look it up on the blog). Anyway, he was baptized and confirmed last Sunday! That also made this week really really great!

The Philipino guy is a member who just left for a mission to Milan today. We went on a lot of exchanges with him. He will be a great missionary. It was really exciting to see him off.

Alrighty!

Well first of all BAM! Giuseppe got baptized on the 9th of 2010! Then he got the Holy Ghost on the 10th. So it has been a rather great week. He is a more quiet guy, keeping to himself. It has been fun to watch him open up more and more as he got closer to his baptism. He is doing great and has an interview for the priesthood tonight.

Giuseppe is in the blue coat. We forgot to take a picture when he was in white. Shame on us, we know.

Other investigators - we got a referral from another district of an amazing young man named Riccardo. He lookes like he is 35, but he is 20. All of the members at church were so surprised. But Riccardo acted like a natural at church. We had our first lesson with him last Saturday, and then on Sunday he was just talking up a storm to everyone. It was really awesome. He is a champ.

In other news - birthdays presents are good. You can maybe send a couple of Reese's Fast Breaks if you want. Other than that, I am good. I bought myself an early gift today. We went to a Dick's-like sporting goods store called Decathlon and I found some protein powder. My morning workouts have meaning again!!! That was awesome.

Yesterday we did some finding work at some parks. It was kinda cold out, but it was an amazing park. I will be sending some pictures of that. There weren't a ton of people out, but in the few we talked to we gave away a few BOMs.

The cool park. It had all sorts of museums and stuff. We'll probably go back for a P-day activity.

Another cool picture from the park.

It was a Phillipino member's birthday last Friday, so we went to help her celebrate and meet her family. Her family is cool, and at their restaurant they sell root beer!!! YES, great stuff. I don't think A&W Root Beer has ever tasted so good. That was great.

As far as a weather update, it has rained every day for the past week and a half except for yesterday. It is pretty out of control. But that rain jacket we got from the Men's Wearhouse works just like the guy who sold it to us said it would. I would have to fall in a pool to get wet. It keeps me very dry, and it is like a space blanket. It reflects heat very well.

Well that is about it for me. Tomorrow is Zone Conference. Living with the assistants, it sounds like it is going to be really good. I will send some pictures. Thanks for all of the letters and prayers. Love you all!

Love,

Anziano Hatch

First Week of 2010

Well, as this is the first week of two thousand and ten, I will not do anything special and just write a normal email as usual! Ha got you didn't I? Well, things here are doing great. We have a baptism this week of Guiseppe. We had some doubts on whether or not he was ready, but he told us his story of why he started investigating the church and there is no doubt in my mind that he is ready. Basically he said that he realized he could no longer live his life like that anymore and he wanted to change. He is amazing and we are excited for his baptism on Saturday.

Other than that we have met some cool families on the bus that we hope to teach. They are interested in the FHE program, so we are hoping to go over to their houses and fix something up. We are also excited about that.

I am sending some pictures of this transfer so far. That should be fun for you all.

My new companions Elder Billings on the left and Elder Morris on the right

Banana bread that I made. It was good. The bananas could have been riper.

And the last one. Even though I am a missionary, I still change into shorts when we get home for lunch. ;-)

I can't believe that Todd is engaged. That is sick (awesome). I think I know the girl, but I am not sure. Ok, who am I kidding? I have no idea who it is. Also Caitie, wow that is wow. It sounded like the cabin trip was quite fun save dad's sinus thing, but what can you do? Just come what may and love it.

That is a crazy amount of snow in IF for a week. That should be prety fun for the paper boys. Haha Oh paper route days...good days. Oh and Julie, that picture that you sent is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Jalayne, got your package. Pictures, music, candy - awesome. My companions are questioning your sanity of sending me a recorder. Haha Thanks a lot!

Birthday ideas. First, I don't know why but I have become an even bigger Idaho patriot on the mission, so I would like a full-size Idaho State flag (not the college but like the State). Second, a football. Third, athletes foot medication. Medication here is like gold. Like 25+ Euro for medication like that. It is not urgent. I am just out. So I would like some for a preventative measure. I am sure there is one more thing I wanted, but I cannot remember - so pending.

Well, that is about it. Love you all. Life is great!!!

Love,

Anziano Hatch