Funny Story from Elder Hatch

I didn't get this in my letter, but, thankfully, his sister is willing to let me read the letters he sends to her :)

So in Elder Hatch's words:
One day, the other Elders in my district left the apartment and they accidentally left the door open. After I noticed that, I said to my companion, "We gotta make sure we don't leave the door open. I wouldn't want some random African walking in." Not 30 minutes later, someone left the door open and I walk out into the main room and there's some African dude standing there with a propane tank on his head. We both stared at one another,  confused, and then after a bit I said, "Je pense que vous vous êtes trompé" (I think that you made a mistake) to which he replied, "Oui, je me suis trompé" (Yes, I was wrong) and hastily left. After that happened my companion said, "It's like you can see into the future or something..." 

Service is a Quality Thing

This week's letter from Elder Carson Hatch included the following excerpt:

(highlights added)

"So the highlight of this week was going out to the village to teach M. We went out to teach her at our usual time; 4 o'clock. But she wasn't there. Turns out, when we called her to confirm the appointment, she thought we said 1 o'clock. (They use the 24 hour clock here and the French word for thirteen and sixteen are rather close to one another. So it was an understandable mistake.) But anyway, some of the kids were there and they told us she was outworking in the field. So naturally, we wanted to go work in the field! We get out there, apologize for the miscommunication and offer to help! Today, they were harvesting manioc. Manioc is an African root that these people eat a lot of. Imagine a giant sweet potato that has a small, sapling sized tree growing from it. So we grabbed a couple of machetes and started hacking away at this. The little trees are about 6 feet tall, so I felt like I was Indiana Jones cutting my way through the jungle. After you cut the tree, you grab hold of the little bit of base you left and give it a huge pull! *pop* up comes the manioc. So we hacked away at these trees for 30 minutes while all the little kids ran around and help pull up the manioc. Then we hauled all the manioc about half a mile down the road back to their little house. So much fun. I love that family, the little kids are so cute... I'll send you pictures from it. But service is a quality thing! Always look for ways to serve others. Little things go a long way. We talked to her husband at church the next Sunday and he was telling us how much that helped her out. I guess she was pretty exhausted and was really glad to see us and have us help. So that's my little testimony this week."

He's only been a missionary for 3 months, but already I can see growth in this boy. He wasn't fond of service projects while in Scouting/YM, he often grumbled to me about them. He would go do them, but not very willingly. To read these words, "service is a quality thing" from this child brings great joy to my heart. My boy is turning into a man.

Catch the Wave!

In this morning's General Conference session, President Monson stated that as of April 4, 2013 there are 65,534 full-time missionaries serving, with over 20,000 who have received their call but haven't yet entered an MTC, and over 6,000 in the interview process with their bishop/stake president. I'm so happy to know people in each of these stages, and more who are preparing to get to these stages. The spirit of missionary work is strong and brings great blessings!

My missionary son--preparing for Zone Conference (he's the tall skinny one)