7/28/13

Hi friends and family,
This is Amanda. Gavin has been dealing with some bad anxiety and has been sent home from the Philippines. We're unsure of his plans right now, but he can use all the love, support, and prayers you have to offer. Please  keep in mind that he and our family need sensitivity and love the most right now, and please keep Gavin in your prayers. Thank you so much.

Happy P-day! 7/4/13

Hey what up its another great pday! plus its the 4th. so today we get to watch fireworks! kinda. things haven't really changed at all from last week. same schedule. same people kinda.... three weeks ago we got rid of our old Z.L.s they flew out to a hilegayno (heel-a-guy-no) speaking mission.  elder brysen a big ginger kid is our new zone leader. we also got some greenies about two weeks ago and they are okay. one of them reminds me so much of joshua. i kills me and should probly become an actor.

 

I'm so excited to come home and learn all the other languages that my buddies learned. German, tagalog, spanish and portugeese or however you spell it. the language stuff is so cool. I'm killing cebauno. dead with a knife.i don't have much to write about here at the mtc. it doesnt change much. but today is cool though because its the fourth on my pday we get the whole day free pretty much. no temple(actually its closed for a month) and there is big concert with carlie ray at the stadium of fire. but they don't want us listening to the music so we get an extra 2.5 hour fireside...... great huh. How am i ever supposed to call her is i cant listen! LAME. basta(anyways) then we do get to watch sweet fireworks.

 

the one thing about being at the mtc that really makes me sad is the lack of lives some of the missionaries have had. "i just get on facebook all the time." "whats a horse?" "what!? you can shoot guns in utah?" "farm animals are stupid!" me "have you been around them?" "well no but i know all about them." Sad sad day..... i swept. on the other hand some people like my comp have had truly sweet lives. Ferris has traveled so much and its really cool to hear all about his adventures. Elder Lloyd my roomie is a semi pro video gamer. won millions. well kinda more like a couple thousand but still. so mom i know whis imma do when i get home. ill make halo my profession.

 

Brother Pasikala is pretty much the coolest guy ever. yesterday he cut his hear into like a boxed in hawaiian euromullet thing. Elder Ferris and i are going to do it as well they are perfectly mission appropriate. on top of that he pretty much makes my day. like always. he is kind of a quiet speaker but his jokes are loud and his sarcasm is the best. i have a write it down now book filled with his one liners and jokes. he can beat box dubstep and we jam all the time. plus he is super spurchel and teaches really well. I'm gonna miss him lots.

 

Hanna Raine i am sorry i have left you out in my writing. i actually talk about you lots here. the sisters want to know about my sisters. haha. how come girls camp was so long this year? and what did you do while you were there? tell Da and Dum i said hi when you go down to st geezee to chill. youll prolly die of heat. if its been 103 in utah county imagine the south land! yikes. basta(anyways) good luck and has some fun.

TREYSON! keep lifting and maybe by the time i get home you will be a challenge. WAHAHAHAHA evil laugh. actually I'm getting big too. being around someone like ferris makes you believe you can do anything. I'm bigger and i can jump higher too. i can almost get the rim. later today he is teaching me to do gainers. we make a good team. at everything. the other comp wish they could be like us. we are so tight. anyhow keep being studly stud. luf ya

and give ali a treat from me.

MOM and Dad i could stap yall. i though dad was gonna be a G.A. not that there is anything wrong with being a general authority but his son count take that. there just ain't enough time for the things that really matter. fly fishing bass fishing deer shooting, running up and down mountains looking for birds that don't exist. you smell what I'm stepping in? so the next time you get a "Big Stake Calling" just don't mention it. haha no dad i think its really cool though you did freak me out. i hope things keep going sweet there at home. mom make time to write your books. the more i think about it the more i am grateful for your talents and for the GOOD media you put out. there is so much worthless and just plane bad stuff out there.

i lover all y'all super much thanks.

like is a party! live it up!

Elder Hatch

Elder Hatch and Elder Ferris

Elder Ferris at the Salt Lake Temple

All the Elders on Gavin's Hall

Happy P-day! 6/27/13

This letter is Addressed to my Dearest bro hWitman. Knowest thou that i love thee more than.... something big. really though in the adventurous life at the mtc your the only things i really miss, don't pass that on. haha but seriously i wish you were here learning cebuano with me. i'd be fluent. wrestling dont happen much either. cuz we aren't supposed to and because Elder Ferris would probly tie me in a knot, or three. keep praying for me man. i need it.  stay in a bit of trouble for me and keep mom on her toes. slug dad when you see moving VW bugs and make sure Broughton knows hes a slightly loved orphan.

now here is my everything letter. all the stuff i haven't yet told you.

So the Wednesday i came in was supposededly the craziest day the mtc has ever seen, remember how we were talking about how many missionaries that mtc get every day. we guessed 150 or 200. that Wednesday there were over 1000. senior missionaries included. there weren't many of them though. like 50. then i met elder Ferris we went to an orientation meeting and another kid got put in our companionship. then elder Ferris disappeared. i didn't know this then but he gets bloody noses from the heat of something so he just took off. i couldn't find him for like 2 hrs. all this happened on top of how lost i was because it was the first day and everything was so unfermilior. wow thats terble speling. i dont care though,

so our district consists of 5 companionships. elder Ferris and i are the only elders and we try to keep the manliness alive in the sea of emotions and woman tears. the sister are actually pretty chill most of the time. they just don't understand out need of mud and blood and food. with a little bit of singing, dancing, and man jokes thrown in. our teachers have been a bit of help there. our first week we only had one teacher his name is brother Dee jay Pasikala. he is a hecka funny hawiian that has been home for about 9 months. he went to cebu and tells us all about it. he says prez schmutz said like schmoots its the coolest gut ever. and that he is all about having a good time. the third day we were here we had to give a discussion in cebuano to a girl named Ediline. ill tell you later about the whole progressive investigator thing but she turned out to be our other teacher. Sister Claire Ormsby turns out to be a regular girl that is going to byu and got home from cebu a year and a half ago. anyway they both realize more than the sisters do the importance of having fun while learning to that livens things up. my schedule at the mtc goes as follows. Monday mornings at 5:45 we have service in another appartment building cleaning and taking out the garbage. it is amazing how much messier that building is than ours. its sickening. then breakfast is always at 8. the food here is really good and there is lots of it. they always give three main options and there is a leftover bar that occassionally has good stuff on it. this last week however the mtc has been hosting the new mission presidents and they got the nice cafeteria, so we were in the make shift one that had one option and cereal. that lasted for four days. then some of the elders including our district got assigned to miss gym and clean up everything. it was actually pretty fun except for some of the people who were in charge were stupid and mad at the world. something else to note about the church, the people who were for the church are either super awesome or super terrible. most are good but i cant believe they hire some people. back to my schedule we have instructed class for 6 hrs 4 days a week. Sunday Tuesday and Thursday/pday we don't. every Sunday and Tuesday we have a devotional the first week they were at the mtc but now they are down at the marriot center. after the devotionals we have a "how did you feel about the devo" meeting that can be pretty good. we always have a member of the branch presidency of their wives sit in on that meeting too. we would have one of the three brothers come in but we have a big branch/zone that covers cebuano hilegino and cantaneese speakers. its pretty chill.
On the regular days of the week we get lunch at 1 and more class and study till 6 which is dinner. after dinner it vball time. elder Ferris and i go nuts for the hour they give for gym. its so fun we always play with the same members of our zone and is so funny. we laugh so hard we cant play sometimes. elder lloyd one of our roomies is the funniest personI'ive ever met. after gym we either go to bed or go back to class for an hour. our gym time switches an hour every other day. idk.... elder Ferris and I also go lift almost everyday. they have a weights gym too. 

Dad idk what you did when you were here at the mtc for three weeks but i know it has changes. this is my explanation of our class time. the teachers speak to us only in cebuano while we are learning language. the first day we didn't understand anything. they do teach the gospel principles in English though so we are sure to understand them. while each teacher is here we do three things: progressive investigator, language instruction, and gospel principles. progressive investigator is where we teach someone our two investigators are Ediline and Ruel. our teachers act like people they taught in the field and we have to teach them in complete cebuano. we had to do that our second day. it didn't go well. but now I'm ballin this language and can say whatever i want... ish. we teach to or three times a week. language is self explanatory. learn works and grammar. gospel principles is fun we learn about how to teach and what to teach. the teachers know really well how to use the scriptures and other material. we also study lots from i book called "my mtc experience" and pmg. we get personal, comp and language study each day as well which is noce to do what i need. we have two other programs called "tall" and TRC. tall is on the computers and it helps with language and pronunciation. we learn vocab and grammar. its a lot like computer flash cards. TRC is once a week where other people from the community/returned missionaries come in and we talk to them in cebuano. its super cool. its good to just hear different people that speak the language. they just laugh and correct us.

Tha'ts my MTC experience thus far. I'm really sorry i didn't write last week. i slept on pday cuz i was super sick. i feel mostly better now though. i had a head cold so its kinda lingering.

thanks for all the love, prayers, and letters. i miss you all and think about you so much. ESPECIALLY YOU TREY!!!! luv you bud. and i miss ALI. please sent pics of everyone. especially the four legged one.

LOVE ELDER HATCH

life is a party! live it up. Karon adlow(every day)

Missionary March

This is a neat video of something Gavin was able to do during his first week at the MTC! I wish I could have been there to see thousands of young men and women in God's army preparing to go out into the world!

Missionary March

Happy P-day! 6/13/13

We finally got an email from Gavin at the MTC! I'm going to do a few edits if I can, but we'll probably just end up leaving the emails as they came. :) A few things to explain though...Cebuano is the language he is learning, Bryan is a college roommate, Josh is a friend from high school, and Whitman is Trey. :)

what up,

things are awesome here at the mtc. my comp is Elder Ferris hes from new Zealand and is a huge rugby playa and a flipper in a dance crew. he loves music and is a good singer and exceptional beat boxer. he is good at everything he does, and is our district leader. he eats pretty much like a horse. he puts down like 3 times as me and I've started eating a lot. he was asked to be in a natural body building comp before he got his call and hes super cut. its nice though i kinda have a personal trainer for free 5 days a week.  there are only girls in our district, and they can be super chill but also very annoying. i already know what Bryan and Josh were talking about when they talked about sister missionaries. for the most part though im trying to keep a good attitude.

Cebuano is 2 legit. its hard but its fun. i kind of missed the first days lesson, and we taught our first investigator the second day in Cebuano. the first lesson was terrible but things have gotten much better since. we have taught 4 lessons total and 2 went really well. we email our branch prez once a week to tell him about everything including our investigator. he is an old cowboy/war vet/college bballer/scary guy. no joke he scares everyone. his name is mike capik and he is just a strict old guy with one eyebrow. simple.

the MTC has been great not what i expected at all but good. we sit in the same chair for almost 10 hrs a day which got old a week ago but we try to make it a good time. Elder Ferris likes to have a good time as much as i do so its all good. idk what I'm gonna do when i get a strict comp. I've seen a few of them in my district and even though they aren't my comp they crush any hope of fun. like a grape.

my pday is on thursday and they didn't give us one the second day so its been more than a week. it seems like its been three. anyhow that's what took so long to respond to all the letters tell people i will try to write them but time is short because of studying and class. its good to hear from everyone tell Whitman I'm sorry about his leg thinger. that does stink up a summer.

I love you all and have other letters in the mail.

Elder Hatch hugging his mom goodbye at the MTC

Bye Elder!

Elder Hatch with the world map at the MTC. 

I guess nobody told him he's supposed to point to the place he's going!

Roomies

Gavin's District :)

Farewell pictures!

Oops! I realized that I forgot to post a few pictures from Gavin's farewell on May 26th! He had a lot of family and close friends that came to support him, and he did a great job on his talk!

Gavin and Amanda

Gavin, Trey, Hanna, and Amanda

Gavin and Hanna

Gavin and Trey

Gavin and his strong little brothers: Trey, Broughton, and Carter

Gavin and his best buddies

A typical moment with these brothers

Gavin and all the men

Gavin and his dad

Off to the MTC!

Well, Elder Hatch was set apart last night and reported to the MTC today! He'll be in the MTC until July 18th, and then will travel to the Philippines where he'll be serving the rest of his mission. Please keep him in your prayers!

His MTC mailing address is:
Elder Gavin Dale Hatch
JUL18  PHI-CEB
2007 N 900 E Unit 52Provo UT 84602


You can send hand written letter, or you can also send a letter via dearelder.com that will be printed out the same day that it is written and delivered to Gavin. 

The MTC Presidency has also asked that he and his family observe these guidelines while he's in the MTC:
  1. Your service begins the day you check into the MTC.  Remind your family that complete separation from loved ones is part of the sacrifice that families and missionaries contribute to the work.  For this reason, you should ask your family and friends not to attempt to see or visit with you while you are at the MTC, not even during your temple walks or at other places near the MTC.
  2. All missionary mail must come through the US Mail or commercial delivery services.  These services should not be used to send pizzas, fast foods, ice-cream, or any items that will spoil if they are not refrigerated within 24 hours.  Missionaries are not called out of class to receive packages, nor do they have access to a refrigerator.  For security reasons, we cannot accept any items delivered by hand.
  3. Communication with family can be done through your missionary email account on your weekly Preparation Day. We cannot accept telephone calls for missionaries.  
  4. Families and friends should not visit missionaries as they depart to their field of labor, whether at the MTC or at the airport.

Thanks for supporting Elder Hatch!