Liebe Familie,

Thank you SO much for your letters last week. They were perfect. I laughed - and cried. And it was great. Thank you for the advice and the words of comfort and love.

Last week I got a new pair of shoes. Don't worry, I didn't spend any money. A less active Philippino lady in our ward gave them to me. Haha. She said she had some shoes for me that she thought would fit me, because they didn't fit her, and I was thinking okay... Sister R...... - you are TINY. How could a pair of shoes intended to fit you possibly fit ME? And what on earth are they going to look like?? This woman is 84 years old mind you. And not that 84 year olds can't look good, but usually they don't have the same kind of shoes as 21 year olds... So the next time we went over, she had the shoes out. And they were Clark's - which is the brand of ALL the shoes I bought for my mission. And they were cute! And they fit perfectly. And I'm wearing them right now :)

And speaking of Philippinos... today Sister Stewart and I learned how to make Shanghai rolls (basically egg rolls) with another Philippino sister in our ward. It was super fun. She took us to the Asian grocery store and we mixed the meat and veggies and rolled them and fried them and then ate a TON! It was great. And they are surprisingly easy to make. I'll send a few pictures.

We have a new investigator! His name is Paul. We think his tendencies are possibly the affects of being an alcoholic for many years...? He's been sober for about a year and half though and doing great. He wants to devote his life to Jesus and we are excited to help him in that journey. I think the best way to describe him, is to say that he is childlike. He's hard to keep on target, and to get a straight, simple answer from, but he is completely devoted to God, so definitely worth the struggle of teaching. He calls us all the time. Seriously like 4-5 times a day. But he LOVED church, and he called the other night to say that he knows the Book of Mormon is true! yeah, he's great :)

So... random side note... but have you ever seen frost on the INSIDE of a car?? The other morning, we went out to start the car, and all the inside windows were completely covered in frost. It was the weirdest thing! I didn't know that could happen, but I guess that's what happens when you live in a humid place...

Yes we had our big storm! And it was like the Chicago winter I have been expecting. But then it got warmer again and turned into more of a Boise winter. It has been raining today and most of the snow is melted. Last week it was 8 degrees outside and it snowed all day. We had a Zone Meeting in Joliet on Friday which was when we got hit hard with the snow, so that was an adventure. We got there fine, but by the time we got out of our meeting, there were like 4 inches, and by the end of the night, there were probably 8-10 inches. The weird thing is that the snow is so light! I guess that's what happens when it is SO cold. The snow doesn't stick together at all because it's so frozen that there's no real moisture to it. And then it just blows everywhere. It makes shoveling both easier and harder...

[This is from my letter to President Doll this week, but I decided to just send it to you as well, so that a) you know a few of the things I'm feeling/thinking about right now, and b) I don't have to retype it]

A few "other" concerns: 1) I have been struggling to figure out how to share with people on the doorstep that our doctrine of eternal families is unique. It seems that most people we talk to already believe that they will be with their families again. While I know that we are unique because we actually have the AUTHORITY to make that happen, I don't know how to gracefully share that with people on the doorstep. Any ideas?

2) I feel like I'm not feeling the Spirit as much as I should be - or not following it enough in my teaching. I can't decide if this is because I have gotten "the hang of things" a little more now and so I am falling into the trap of leaning on my own understanding, or if this is because I am used to having the Spirit with me so much now as a missionary, that I just don't realize I'm following it. If that makes sense... In retrospect I can see things that I did and said that were definitelyprompted by the Spirit because it turned out to be exactly what that person needed, but I don't ever FEEL like I'm following a spiritual impression. I'm unsure if the Spirit is guiding my ideas for what to teach next, or if it is just me following what seems most logical.

3) There is so much to pray for!! How can I possibly do it all? I was reading this morning in PMG chapter 4 in the section about praying with faith because I was wondering if perhaps I was trying to pray for too many things for my investigators and our companionship and my family and friends, and I think if anything that made it worse, because then I read about even MORE things I should be praying for. But when do we ever have enough TIME to pray for all that? and still get to bed by 10:30?

Well I think that's about all for now... I LOVE YOU! And miss you - but not in a distracting way.

Vielen, vielen Liebe!

Sister Hatch

Pictures: 1) the weird geese statues everyone has here... and a lovely display of the array of clothes they give them. 2) you know you're in a missionary's apartment... when the dresser looks like this :) 3) our deck after the storm. 5) the finished egg rolls

Winter has arrived and God answers prayers

It finally feels like winter in Chicago today. We did have one big "Chicago" style snow last week (where it snowed for literally 13 hours straight), but then it warmed up again, and this morning we went running outside for our exercise. Crazy! I walked outside in shorts and flip flops to do my laundry! This should not be possible. Apparently the weather realized what it had allowed me to do though, because it quickly turned cold and now there are little ice balls falling (though more like being driven - becuase of the wind) through the sky. I suppose I can't really complain about it snowing so much last week, because technically I prayed it in. Cierra's mom and step-dad make most of their money for the year by shoveling snow. We haven't had ANY snow yet worth shoveling for, so last Tuesday night I prayed that enough snow to give them some good work, wouldn't totally mess anyone else's prayers up, could we please have some snow for the Falbo family. Wednesday morning we got a text from the office telling us to be careful driving because a snow storm was expected on Thursday, and Thursday it snowed all day. We had 6 or 7 inches I'm guessing. God Answers Prayers.

Don said that cigarettes have started to have a funny taste to him. Like he hasn't brushed his teeth in 7 years. :) YUK!

Mom, I met that lady again who grew up in the 3rd ward and I got her name this time. Kaaren Nokleby - related to Lee's Candies. She knew RaeAnn too and a bunch of other people whose names I knew from stories from you and Grandma and Grandpa. It was fun talking to her.

Friday night I had my first experience with having my testimony rejected. True, I've had many people turn us away at doors, but I've never had my testimony rejected by someone that I love and care about before. Tom is an inactive member in our ward, and his wife Lynn is not a member. She is studying the Bible THOROUGHLY, but is not ready to accept or read the Book of Mormon, because she doesn't feel that that is what God is telling her to do. We meet with them every week though, hoping that she will accept it soon, and in an effort to strengthen Tom. We have really great discussions with them, but she's still not ready for the BoM. Friday night, I bore a brief testimony about the Book of Mormon, and how it contains the same teachings of Jesus and does the Bible and I said that I knew she wasn't to that point yet, but that when she gets there I know she will feel that too. And then she said, "I love you. But I don't think I'll EVER be there." That really hurt! I shared something with her that means SO much to me and she doesn't want it! And I shared it with her because I love HER so much. But she doesn't want it. And while it hurt to have her say no, I'm not sorry that I shared my testimony of it with her. Because I did it out of love. And this has given me a new conviction that I need to love everyone at EVERY door better than I do, so that when I bear my testimony of these things at their door, they can feel that it truly is out of love for the Savior, for the Book of Mormon, and for them.

You had 7 investigators at church???!!?!!? That's AWESOME! How are they doing it?? The fact that we had THREE this week was a major step up for us.

Another miracle and another answered prayer. Yesterday I was trying to think of who would be a good visit buddy to go to Kasey's tonight when Sister Stewart and I have to do splits. Sister Charles is always a favorite choice just because she's so awesome (seriously this woman is INCREDIBLE) but I wanted to make sure she would be the right one. I prayed about it and felt okay about calling her, and as no one else came to mind, I decided to ask. I made one other call first, and then called Sister Charles. She was at Ikea taking apart a shelf so that she could fit it in her car and then put it back together at her apartment and she desperately needed help. Our morning appointment had been cancelled, so we quickly threw on our shoes and ran over to help her. We finished that up and then helped her put it all back together at her apartment. I told her about what had led to me calling and then she told us a story. When she and her son had moved to Georgia, they had a lot of trouble finding help unloading the moving truck. After working ALL day in the sweltering heat, and only getting halfway done, she expressed that they could not do this alone in that heat. The next day they went back to the storage unit to finish unloading and they realized the work was going much quicker. And then they realized that it was 20 degrees cooler than the day before. She had said they couldn't do it alone in that heat, so Heavenly Father made it cooler for them, so they could finish the job. She was remembering that Ikea, so very specifically prayed that she could not do THIS particular task alone - with no mention of the weather or other conditions. And that's when I called. GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS.

Lots and lots of love!

Love, Sister Hatch

Losing Lizzie

Hello,

Thanks for the idea to give Rose a Daughters in My Kingdom book, Mom! I think that's a great idea and that she will LOVE it. Did I tell you we are going to get her the Book of Mormon on CD? So that she can listen to it in the car going to and from work. She's excited for them. Don and Rose are doing so well!!!!! They are really working on keeping the Word of Wisdom and and starting to smoke MUCH less than they were. They are also working on giving up coffee, though Rose is a little more hesitant on that one. Seeing how far she has come with everything else though, I'm not too worried about it. She told Brother Anderson and Brother Ioannou (ee-oo-wa-noo) yesterday that she can tell a difference in her week from when she goes to church and when she doesn't. She knows that when she comes to church she'll be able to get through the week no matter what happens. !!!!!! SO EXCITING! Brother Anderson and Ioannou went over yesterday to give them both a blessing because Rose has been having some health problems and Don still has lots of pain from his osteoarthritis (and they are trying to quit smoking) and today Don said that they both felt warm all over when they gave them the blessings. (Happy! Happy! Happy! That's what that makes me.)

We also asked Don if he would cut our hair for us and the other missionaries close by because he was a barber for 41 years but can't work now because of his osteoarthritis and he got so excited! It was awesome to be able to see like that. Sister Stewart came up with the idea as a way to help him feel like he is needed. He also found out what our family crest is apparently. He really likes family history work... He is so funny. I wish you could all meet him.

About Sister Stewart: She is really sweet and very genuine and sincere. She has so much love for our brothers and sisters all around us! She has had some really great insights for our investigators already, and I think she will be a wonderful companion to work with. She is really focused on meeting the needs of everyone we meet and I want to learn from that example.

A crazy tale, which I like to call "Losing Lizzie": Thursday afternoon we decided to stop by Lizzie (I think I told you about the miracle of how we found her, right?) She had to cancel our second appointment, and we never heard from her after that, so when her name came to mind on Thursday, we decided to follow up with the impression. Well Lizzie wasn't there. And neither was her house. I swear it was like Harry Potter and 12 Grimmauld Place. Only there were no missing numbers! Just her missing house! I had written down that it was number 4, but I KNOW it wasn't number 4. Number 1 was abandoned just as I remembered and I am 99.9% positive that it wasn't house number 2 or 3 either. I seriously have no idea what happened to her house! It still boggles my mind.

After feeling a little out of sorts for the whole losing Lizzie incidence on Sister Stewart's first real day of working in Woodridge, in combination with a couple of epically failed stop-by's to some potentials, I was struggling. We had planned to stop by Mario who is the most golden potential (very soon to be current) investigator EVER, but it was still early and we needed more to do before seeing him. We decided to try a less active member in our ward, Jess. She was home! Which was a miracle in itself, and then she let us in. We had a really great discussion with her about how she wants to come back to church and be a better mom and all that good stuff. Sister Stewart had some divine revelation to make a calendar with her to help her set goals to get back on track and she was really excited about doing that. We went back to see her today, but her son was sick, so we said a prayer with them and are going to reschedule. Then we went to see Mario and it was so great! We have an appointment with him tomorrow. He is seriously so awesome! He wants to do what is right SO BADLY! But he just hasn't known where to look, or that there are other people out there like him. We are really excited to finally be able to start teaching him.

Another MIRACLE: On Friday we went to work on Cherokee Dr, and it was my turn to pray. I prayed that we would "find a miracle" and that singular use of the word turned out to be quite significant. (Usually I would have said "miracleS" but this time it just felt like I should be more specific.) We knocked a few doors, and then someone pulled up into the driveway as we were approaching. We waited for her and then told her who we were. We could tell she was having a rough day, so when we showed up she had some groceries to take in we offered to help. She said that she would be alright, but we both just stayed. When she realized we weren't going anywhere, she agreed to let us help. We took them in for her and then she had us sit down. We learned that she had some breathing problems, so the help with the groceries was actually a HUGE blessing to her! Then she told us some of her story and the difficult things she is going through right now. (The crazy part is that as she was telling her story, part of what she said was something that I KNOW I have heard her say before in a dream or something! I know I have some sort of connection with this dear Sister now and the Lord has a work for me and Sister Stewart to do in helping her) We were able to share the Book of Mormon with her and promise her that as she reads she will feel peace and our Heavenly Father's love for her. We set a return appointment as well. She needs us, and we were all able to recognize the Lord's hand in bringing us together. She mentioned that she had been wandering around the store and then decided it was time to come home. If she had come two minutes later, we would have completely missed her.

Sister Stewart and I have been working really hard this week, and I am exhausted! It's a really good exhaustion though, because I know I'm working hard and we have met some really incredible people. I love you so much!!!!!!

How are Grandma and Grandpa doing? How about Norah? The rest of my wonderful family?

Love YOUS! (apparently it's a Chicago thing to say "yous"...)

Sister Hatch

Hi-ya!

First things first. A Christmas miracle: Sister Worlton gave us some of her homemade jam for Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Strawberry, Peach, Pear and Plum.

Oh my yummy!


Also - how the heck did it get to be 2012 already??? Happy New Year! Where on earth has time gone though?

I got a letter from Tanya. It was great. Tell her thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Would it be possible for anyone to find me some sheet music (for a duet, trio or quartet) for the song "How Can I Keep from Singing?" ? When Dad set me apart he said that I would be able to use my singing voice to help share the Spirit and I have been trying to think of ways to do that, and this is the first idea I've had...

So, about Sunday: CIERRA CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Waaaaahh! I'm still so excited about it! She texted us around 10:15 and said that they were getting ready and we were just giddy the rest of the morning because she would finally be there! She and her mom showed up just before the meeting started, so we didn't have time to introduce them to anyone, but that's alright. They were THERE. Then the opening song was Hymn #291 "Turn Your Hearts" which is all about Malachi... I was mortified. Of ALL the songs they could have chosen. Really? We're going to sing about Malachi today?? Don't they know we have an investigator here for the first time??? yeah... and then it got worse. The youth speaker announced that he had been asked to speak on Temples and Baptisms for the Dead. Awesome... THIS is what Cierra needs her first week at church. To get freaked out because we baptize dead people...

All the speakers actually did a really great job though of explaining that temple work is on behalf of the dead and done in proxy. And they didn't seem to be too freaked out, so that was nice. No, it actually turned out fine and once I calmed down a bit and realized that Heavenly Father must have had a reason for having THAT be the day they talked about Temples, I was okay. Who knows, maybe something from those talks really touched them and was the piece they needed to maintain (in Cierra's case) or gain (in her mom's) interest in the church. God is in charge though, and He'll take care of it. If those talks weren't for them, he at least knew that they would be okay with them. I just have to trust Him. After Sacrament meeting, I was able to have a really good conversation with her mom, Tina, and finally get to know her story a little and bear my testimony to her that despite how hard life has been for her, and the disappointments she has experienced, God does love her. It was pretty cool.

Oh! It was also super awesome, because as soon as the meeting was over, Sister Dodd who was sitting right behind us started talking to Tina and I guess they work at the same place. Then other ward members and the bishop all started coming over to meet them. I LOVE OUR WARD!!! Cierra also recognized a couple of the kids from school, so that was cool too.

Another very exciting part about Sunday was this: I stood up after Sacrament meeting was over, and since Sister Dodd was talking to Cierra and Tina, I was just looking around the chapel. And then I saw Leah Hoogland. !!!!! It was so weird to see someone that I knew from pre-mission life. So much fun though. She is in the 1st ward that now with the time change meets right before we do. She said when she saw the Elders serving in her ward, she grabbed them and wouldn't let them escape until she found out if they knew me and how to get ahold of me. Haha. They told her not to worry and that I would be coming with the next ward. It was so good to see her! They live just outside of my area, but she said she might be able to meet us in our area on a preparation day or something.

Saturday night we got a call telling me that I would be staying here in Woodridge 2 and that my new companion would be Sister Stewart. The ward was so relieved that I would be staying, because apparently the last few times they got Sisters, they didn't stay for very long, and even that was a couple of years ago. It was nice to feel so loved though that they wanted me to stay and didn't want to see Sister Brown go.

So this morning we went to transfers and I met Sister Stewart. She is really tall, which means that together we will be the tallest companionship of Sisters in the mission! haha. It also means that I won't be the giant companion any more! Because even though I'm really not that big, next to Sister Brown, (and Sister Kearnes, and just MANY of my roommates...) I'm tired of being the giant. Perhaps this is one reason Juliette and I are such good friends?? ;)

Sister Stewart seems really great and I think we are going to get along just fine. I'm excited to be staying in the area, and it will be fun to learn some new styles of doing missionary work as I learn from her. I'll tell you more about her next week, when I actually know a little more. I can tell you though that she is from Oregon, though her family lives in Utah now. Both of her parents are from Idaho (Rigby and Hunt) Wasn't Grandpa born in Rigby?

In an appointment with Don the other day he said that he and Rose were talking about it, and they determined that Sister Brown and I would "make great wives". Hahaha! I love that they were talking about that. It was a really nice compliment, but it was just funny. Especially since he told us that in the middle of the lesson. Oh Don...

Well I think that's all for now.

I love you lots and lots and lots!

Love, Sister Hatch

Pictures:

• Sister Stewart!
• the park at the end of Don's street.
• bundled up for winter - the first day of the big puffy coat.
• pants that match the bulletin board at church. Thank you for sending me new PJ's! those ones were getting a little old...

December 28, 2011

Dearest Familia,

It was wonderful to talk to you and see you on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Starting January 9th our preparation day will be moved to Mondays. So I have one more Wednesday (the one where Sister Brown goes home and I get a new companion) and then I will be writing on Mondays. So get your letters in by then!

Have you ever heard of having chili with noodles?? Because a couple of weeks ago, someone mentioned it "spaghetti chili" and then TWICE this week, we had chili with noodles. It sounds super weird, but it's actually pretty good.

STORIES

Friday I went on an exchange with the Wheaton Sisters. Sister Fossett came to Woodridge to work with Sister Brown, and I went up to Wheaton to work with Sister Nielson. IT WAS SO COOL!! We had an awesome day together and had a really cool miracle. We were working in a little neighborhood, not having much success, but so is life. We got to the end of the second streeet and turned around to work the other side, rather than continuing around the corner. When we completely finished both of those streets, we decided to start working on the next street at the top of where we had started from originally. At the first house of this circle, we met a teenage boy who told us that they weren't interested and so, as was our practice, we left a Joy to the World card, and continued onward.

As we were finishing our loop, a man came out of one of the houses we had already knocked on and asked us if he could offer us anything warm to drink and said that he was interested to know more. We didn't recognize the man, and realized that it was because we had never met him, but had only talked to his son. He invited us in and we sat down with him and his wife and ended up having a 40 minute discussion with them about the Book of Mormon, why we are here on missions, prophets, and what it means to truly follow Christ. IT WAS AWESOME!!!! Sister Nielson and I were both able to bear powerful testimony about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and why they are so important to us, but that we do not worship them.

Sister Nielson, who is also going home next week, said afterward that she has been waiting her whole mission for one of those experiences where someone calls them back because they have decided they want to know more. They were both really nice, and it was a great experience to be able to answer so many of their questions, and to be able to do so by bearing testimony.

A while ago, we had planned to teach Don about obedience, and following the Prophet, but that lesson never actually turned in that direction, so we didn't give him the Book of Mormon Ensign we had planned on giving him. Yesterday we met with him, and were finally able to teach that lesson. Sister Brown still wasn't talking much, so it was mostly on me - a little intimidating I admit. I felt impressed to ask him about church on Sunday and dig a little deeper into his feelings about that, and we had a really good discussion about that and what going to church is meaning for him and Rose. From that discussion I was able to discern further some concerns that I previously knew about, but hadn't connected to this topic of following church leaders, which I was then able to use in talking about following the Prophet. Then, after we gave him the Ensign (which, by the way he totally loved and thinks is the coolest thing ever - he loves when we give him new things to read and new ways to research and learn about the church) and he had looked through it briefly, he said "You know, this is really what I needed today..." AH! And then I realized why we hadn't been able to give it to him two weeks ago like we had planned - because the Lord knows him, and knew that he would need it more today.

Last night we had dinner with Sister Beyler (her kids are all out of town with their dad this week, so she has the house to herself). Sister Brown was exhausted from being sick, so again, the lesson would be pretty much on me. I was thinking about it all morning, but I was struggling to know what we could share with her. It would be different because all the kids wouldn't be there, and we really wanted to share something that would help strengthen and uplift her. As I was pondering on the matter, and praying to know what on earth we could share with her, I had the thought to look at a letter from President and Sister Doll which they had given us for Christmas with some quotes by Elder Holland. I got out the page and began reading the quotes. The Third one seemed like it would be a good direction, and Sister Brown agreed, so we decided to share that with her. In the quote, he talks about how the best missionary work we can do, is to just be a good example of a happy and faithful Latter-day Saint life. And that's TOTALLY Sister Beyler. She is incredible.

Anyway, we got to her house, and she had invited her mother over for dinner as well, who is not a member. I got a little nervous, because our message was directed very specifically at Sister Beyler and the awesome example she is of "happy and faithful Latter-day Saint life", and not geared at all toward having a nonmember present. Sister Brown didn't seem to concerned though, and I didn't know what else to share, so we just went forward with it. As we were driving home, Sister Brown said she was glad we had still shared the quote, and I was too, because it led to a really great discussion, and it was nice to let Sister Beyler know how great we think she is and what a good job she is doing, even though things are really difficult for her family right now. And then as Sister Brown and I talked about it, I realized that as we had talked about earlier, we don't need to worry - the Lord has it all under control. I shouldn't have been nervous just because her mom was there, becasue the Lord guided me to that quote, and HE knew that her mom would be there, even if I didn't. And if we had known, we probably would have shared a completely different message.

I love you all so very much! And thank you for your prayers.

The Lord is in control. He is watching over all, and we just have to trust him and give our worries over to Him.

Love, Sister Hatch

December 21, 2011

Dear family,

Some updates of

how things are going:

The big thing out here is not ice cream, but custard. It's EVERYWHERE! Seriously. Have you ever heard of Culver's? It's a fast food place out here that has a different flavor of the day every day of different things they mix in the custard. It's delicious :)

I finally went into a Menards. What the heck?? That store is crazy! It's a hardware store mostly, but then you're walking through, and suddenly you're in the middle of a cereal isle. Continue walking, past the Ranch dressing and tuna fish, and you will soon come upon clothing. And toys. And who knows what else because that place has EVERYTHING! It's crazy.

And now to the more serious things (though ice cream/custard is quite serious in itself): Our ward is awesome. In addition to all the food they gave us, they have now given us tons of Christmas presents! Our "tree" actually kind of looks like a tree now it has so many things under it! And once again, our counter is beginning to overflow with goodies and treats. Apparently everyone has the same train of thought, which goes a little something like this: "I have WAY too much of this food and these Christmas treats... I know, I'll give it to the missionaries! We had to freeze some of it we have so much. And some of it might still go bad before we can eat all the leftovers, becuase the ward feeds us every night! It's awesome.

Have you ever been to christmas.mormon.org? You should go. It's cool.

About investigators: Jasmine (have I told you about her?) is doing great. She is so cute! She is 12 years old, and has such a strong desire to follow God! She really is incredible. And we were finally able to meet her mom! We tried to schedule times that she would be home, but then things kept coming up, and it would only be the grandma home, who doesn't actually speak English... (She is from Haiti, so she speaks French Creole). Then on Monday, her mom came home right as we were getting ready to leave. She was so nice and thanked us for teaching her daughter about God. It was really cool. English is her second language, so she said she struggles sometimes knowing how to teach Jasmine about Him, but she seems to be doing a pretty good job so far. We talked to Jasmine about prayer on Monday, and she said that they say their prayers every night before bed, AND they have family prayers. umm... AWESOME!

We also just started teaching a girl named Nathalice (sounds like Natalice). She is 16 and has a 6 month old baby, andwants to be a better person. We found her because she had ordered a Bible from mormon.org after she heard people talking about the Second Coming and she wanted to know more because she was kind of scared about it. She said we could come back, and we were able to talk to her about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. We have our third appointment with her on Friday. She is so sweet. It was actually really sad (turned into a good thing) too, because she said that she didn't feel like she could pray or that God would listen because she hadn't been to church in a while (her family is Catholic, but I don't know how strong they are) so when we told her she could pray to know about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, she was really happy to know God would still listen to her and that He would answer her prayer. The next time we went back, she said she had been having a really bad day, so she decided to pray, and afterward she felt really good and things started to get better. It was so cool! She's great and I am so excited for her to learn more about the gospel and be able to turn her life around.

Update on Don and Rose: Rose had a crazy weekend working, so she wasn't going to be able to make it to church. Because she wouldn't be coming, neither would Don. But, the Spirit was working on him, and on Friday he told us that he was going to try to come even if she couldn't! And even though it would be far for him to drive alone. Sunday morning it was really foggy outside and we weren't sure if we would see Don or not. But he still came!!!! Without Rose, driving far by himself, and driving through the FOG! It was a miracle. Then yesterday we had lunch with Don and Rose and it was really great. We were able to explain a little more about the Restoration to Rose and answer some of her other questions. And we were able to give her a Book of Mormon and she said she would read from it!!!!!

Things are really moving forward here in Woody 2 and I am so blessed to be a part of it!

I love you all so much! I can't wait to talk to you on Christmas.

Love, Sister Ali Hatch

Pictures:

• 1) eating my first Chicago Dog
• 2) this is from the Live Nativity that we had on Sunday. I guess they've been doing it for 20 years now! Our ward and the other ward in our building do it together, and people from all over the area come. It was REALLY awesome.
• 3) the Picture that Hailey Smith sent me and told me to color to look like myself. Please share this with them.

• 4) some of my Christmas decorations :)
• 5) our Christmas "tree" - it's the fireplace... and the best we could do.
• 6) the Chicago Dog.

The Christmas card: I can't believe you actually did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahahahahahahahah! I was cracking up when I opened it.

Thursday was our Zone Conference, and it wasn't super Christmas-y as Sister Brown had predicted, but it was still really good. Every ZC, President sends out an assignment to everyone for a 5 minute talk (all the same topic) and then at the conference a few people are asked to come up and give their talk. I was one of those chosen. Our assignment was 3 Nephi 5:13 about being a disciple of Christ. I focused on the last line that talks about how we do these things that they might have everlasting life. That line describes how selfless our calling as missionaries is, and how Sister Brown put in context for me the saying that "we're not here for ourselves". For some reason I was SUPER nervous the whole time I was speaking and I could hear my voice cracking and everything, but everyone said I did a really nice job, so that was comforting.

Exciting news relating to discoveries concerning my distant past: One of the Elders that meets in our same building is named Elder Hibbard. On Sunday we discovered that Katie Hibbard, the same Katie Hibbard who shares my birthday and was my best friend until I think I was 4? when they moved to Meridian, is his cousin. SMALL WORLD.

Yesterday we had two appointments in the same neighborhood (Don and Cierra) so we decided tha in between them, we would just keep working in that area. We've already done a bunch of it, so soon we'll have the whole section tracted out! It was not only convenient, but turned out to be inspired. We knocked on a door and this man, Jermaine, came outside. Sister Brown introduced herself, and I followed suit. Jermaine was SHOCKED. He told us that his god-father had just died a few days ago. His god-father's name was Robert Brown. And Robert Brown's best friend (and Pastor) was Pastor Hatch. None of us could believe it! I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering that the name Poplar is what led us to find Don and Rose, and Cierra. But I truly believe that Jermaine really needed a Hatch and a Brown yesterday to grab his attention so he would listen. We had a really good talk with him, and then Sister Brown asked him to read from the Book of Mormon in Moroni 10:3-5. He read that, and then he just kept reading for a while after that. I felt the Spirit so strongly and I could tell that he definitely did. It was really cool. We set up an appointment to meet with him next week.

After our appointment with Cierra yesterday, we saw that we had a voicemail. It was from Don, who had seen our car across the street. He told us to come over for a minute when we were done. We went over and Rose had just gotten home from work. She had brought us a poinsettia for Christmas! It was so sweet and so perfect! They were wanting to do something for us for Christmas, but they don't have much, so it turned out perfectly that she was able to bring one home from work to share with us. I also LOVE them of course. Well anything that has to do with Christmas really... Each week we make goals, and we decided to make a few fun goals this week and one of them was to Christmasify our apartment. I had already made a few snowflakes and a paper chain, but we thought the place could still use a bit more. And it's been awesome because people have just been giving us stuff this week! We got another Poinsettia from Sister Andrews later that night, and on Friday, a sweet old Philippino lady gave us some bells to hang on our door.

I love you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!