Hey everyone!!! So Zandalee got baptized!!!!! YES!!! I know you guys are all ready for me to come home, but honestly im gettin scared!!! What if yall dont love me anymore? hahah just kidding, but i can completely say, i have changed a lot in these two years. A LOT. Alejandro and vilma wont get baptized tay, as some problems came up, but i know they will get baptized in the future!!
So no i cant skype with yall on mothers day, and im not sure if i can email yall, i will be heading to lima tuesday, sunday and monday im in trainings all day. That shall be fun. I love you guys a lot!!!!
Elder Thatcher!!
Love yall, see you soon!!!
Hey guys.. man im tired, not sleeping too good, i think its becasue reality is finally hitting me that im finishing. But everything is ok. Elder Durante unfortunetly left last tuesday. He is in the office resting on it. My new companion is Elder Alfonso. He is from Paraguay. He is a new Zone leader. I have to train him as a new zone leader and show him the whole area in less than two weeks, it will be hard but its ok. Zandalee will be baptized on the 30th. And then alejandro and vilma will get baptized on the 7th, i am so happy for them. Thats them in the photo with me. Well all in all pretty good. Today we are going to a place called bousque dorado, and then y i have to go to huancavelica, and then is the baptism. Will be a fast week im scared. But all is ok. Love you guys
What a week!!! I dont even feel like its time yet! Ive been working so hard!! We now have 5 people with a date! Zandalee whos date is now for next saturday! An old man named jirardo whos date is in may, and a lady as well named lucila as well in may! And then finally... Remember that baptism Elder Bullock and i had with that little girl a long time ago? her name was linda, well ever since then we have been working hard with her parents... but they always have told us no, to baptism, well after 4 hard months of working with them, and lots of prayer, they accepted a date... they will get baptized on the 29th of april!!! Im soooo happy!! I have been blessed to see there progress in these long months!! Im working hard! I aint quiting yet!!
We had our zone conference on tuesday, it was good, we talked about how to be a preach my gospel missionary! It was really good for me, because i realized i had a lot to do still, it motivated me big time while giving the training to the missionaries! On wednesday we went to Huancavelica to see how the area is doing there, and see how the missionaries are doing! It is always a pretty drive, as we go high up into the mountains!! It is really pretty. Then my companion had to get an mri on his knee, his knee isnt doing so good, as it is possible, i might get a new companion this week, which is very sad.. But we will see what happens.
So mom, just to let you know i am giving a lot of things away, to people who need it more than I. just an fyi. Thanks for everything! Until next week!!
Love yall!
Elder Thatcher
1-me in my new sweater a lady in my area made for me
2-a plate of food called ceviche de pollo! sooo good!!
3-me in huancavelica haha
4-my companion and i on the road to huancavelica
Well we had zone leader conferenceay and then interviews for our zone on saturday. First of Happy birthday to everyone!! hahaha, i still remember when i held caden at the hospital and thought how cool it was to have a buddy. Now he is a teenager?! White boy said what!?!? hahaha We have a member in our ward that says that in english when i talk to him hahaha. Zone Leader training was good. President talked about forgiveness! I liked it a lot. We ate calzones! It was sooooo good! And then Saturday we had interviews. It was awesome. It was my last one until i finish my mission. President says he is happy with me, and he expects good things from me when im home. Its been a good week. We will have a baptism the 23rd of this month! Her name is zandalee. It should be good im excited!! Love yall!! Oh and no mom, they arent perscription, they are resting and reading glasses. And i know the hair is thin... what do i do about it!!!! Either way bald or with hair... I will pull it off and look good, dont you worry mommy hahaha.
Love you,
Elder Thatcher
1st photo, me and Elder Rodreguiz and Elder baca (from the ccm group) Love those guys!!
2nd photo, me and my companion at Zone leader conference
Wow.... What a way to finish general conference as my last one in the mission, this one really stuck out to me more than anything!!!! I loved everyone!!
Here are a couple of my favorite quotes:
1. Remember who you are and what God expects you to become
2. However far we may wander from the path, the savior invites us to return and walk with him.
3. The real power of the temple is in its ordinances
4. To be worthy does not mean to be perfect
5. Some things can only be learned by faith
6. It is by obedience we gather light into our souls
7. Perhaps the most essential of a father's work is to turn the hearts of his children to their heavenly father
8. May we ever choose the harder right, instead of the easier wrong
9. Are you willing to pray to know how to pray for more power? The Lord will teach you.
10. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever.
These were my favorite quotes. I absolutely loved conference, i felt like they were all talking to me! And how Cool!!! Bishop Waddell!!! I gave him a hug when he came to the mission last year!!!! He is huge!!!! Also another temple in peru!!! WHOOP!!!! Thats what im talking about!!! It was just a great experience!! I was able to watch them all in english!!! Oh by the way!!! I gott my traditional ice cream with my companion after priesthood meeting, i told him it was a must hahaha so there is the photo with the proof!!! Gotta love the ice cream!! Just like holland said!! hahaha
So Elder Bullock did end up getting transfered, he is no longer my companion. He got transferred to huanuco!! He was a little upset that he isnt zone leader anymore, but i know he is doing good work and helping his companion out. He is a great elder!! And a great friend! I will miss him a lot, as he got in the taxi to leave he said "See ya in the states thatch, i will miss you", I bout teared up, we worked so hard together the past two transfers, and it was a sad ending, but i know we will be great friends after the mission. Now my companio is elder Durante, from st. george utah! Another from utah!! Here is the list of my companions:
1. Elder Leonard-Colorado Springs
2. Elder Lopez-Santa Cruz Bolivia
3. Elder Cook-Idaho Falls Idaho
4. Elder Walker-Las Vegas Nevada
5. Elder Schreiner-Spingville Utah
6. Elder Valencia-Pereira Colombia
7. Elder Caceres-Arequipa Peru
8. Elder Recalde-Quito Ecuador
9. Elder Chapeton-Callo Peru
10. Elder Tolman-Logan Utah
11. Elder Peterson-Payson Utah
12. Elder Bullock-Pleasant Grove Utah
13. Elder Durante-St. George Utah
Elder Durante will kill me here in huancayo, meaning as he is my last companion. So pretty good! We had 4 investigators come to conference!! 3 of which has baptismal dates!! One is for the 23 of april! Hermana Zandalee! Im working hard!!!!! WHATS GOOD!!! I put 3 new people with a date!!! My companion has a bad knee right now and cant walk much so we are doing divisions with members! But its all good!! Im working hard! And i plan on finishing that way too!!!! Love you all!
Elder Thatcher
Ist photo- Elder Bullock and I saying goodbye
2nd photo- Elder Durante and I in the plaza after priesthood session
3rd photo- Elder Durante and I with our ice cream!!!
Feliz Pascua!
This Easter didnt really feel like Easter. Im so tired! We are working so hard, yet not so many fruits of the area right now, we have one lady that has a baptism date but its not til may 7th, just because she learns slowly. But she comes to church, she is a 70 year old lady.
Me and my companion were a little sick this week, but we are feeling better now.
We got transfers tomorrow, i think my companion is leaving. We will find out.
Oh and my temple recommend expired, but i got a new one in spanish from my mission President, but its only good for 4 months is what he says.
Sounds like you guys did good at the race!! Congrats!!!
Howdy! This week was tiring! But i absolutely loved it!!! So we had p day!!! Soccer... always.. haha But i played good, we played with all the missionaries in huancayo!!! I scorred 3 times!!! Whats good!!! I think im getting better at soccer than golf. Then we had the multi zone conference...My last one... Sad... But it was really cool! We talk about my favorite talk, beware of pride!!! Such a good talk!!! Read it, learn it, love it. Thats all i got to say about that!! In the conference me and my companion were in charge of the game for everyone to play, we did a scripture chase, but with a kick to it, the companionships had to run to the other side of the room holding a balloon with out using your hands. and then they got to the other side of the room and had to find a scripture in the book of mormon before to go back! It was funny!!!! Everyone enjoyed it!!!
This week is the last week of the transfer! Fast huh? Well i got a new camera!!! It cost me about 960 soles which is about 300 dollars, it is really nice! And i dont know how its so cheap!! Its called a canon t3. A elder told me those cost about 600 dollars back home, im not really sure, all i know is it takes great photos!!! I really like it.
About byu idaho... i have no idea, i cant remember all of the classes i took, and im not sure, Larson said he found some good apartments, i would ask him and contact him again, im not sure what i want to do... like i have an idea but not sure.
Love you all!
Elder Thatcher
Hey guys!!! This was a good week! Elder Bullock and I finally found a bunch of new investigators!!! A Gold Mine!!!!! We found this place up in the mountain that were old investigators a while back! And they are interested now!!! Pretty cool!!! So it has been raining a ton recently. Pouring actually!! But it has been good! Today we only have time for internet, on thursday we are going to do a multizone p day and then friday a training. It is going to be really cool!!
Sooo I have been really good in working hard! We got 25 lessons this week! The most me and Elder Bullock have ever gotten. But yesterday at church, one of the members reminded me i only had 7 more sundays in that ward... and that really freaked me out!!!! So it hasnt hit me until now, i have been trying to stay focused in what i need to be doing as zone leader and all that, so that way I could not remind myself that im almost done, i still feel like i have 8 or 9 months left, i dont feel old at all yet. But i have been working hard.
I love this place!!! It is literally one of the most beautiful places on earth!!! Yesterday as a multizone p day we went to Waytapallana!!! Look it up on Google!!! It is a hike we did here in huancayo!! It it 18,200 feet high!!! And I did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW Hahaha it was one of the most peaceful places on earth!! It took almost 7 hours to get up there!! Yjays why i didnt email yesterday!!!
And now today we have to give our zone meeting, they arent letting us write for very much time so sorry!!!! Hope you enjoy the photos!!!! My lungs are strong!!!!! I did it!!!!!! I was so happy to make it to the top!!!!
Hey everyone!! This week was very tiring! We had dennis's baptism on saturday! Everything turned out well for that.
I am super tired, but i learned some interesting things during my personal study this week. For some odd reason i decided to read the book of Ether. Mainly because i didnt understand the purpose of it before. Now I caught some cool things out of it. One, the brother of jared was highly favored by God, but why? He didnt even pray to god for four years, yet he says that his faith was perfect! So that is one, the next thing is about those boats they made, they had to of been made very well, which obviously means they were shown how to make them. But then something cool is, the brother of jared asks about how they will be able to breath, and Jesus tells him to make a whole... just easy like that. But then when he asks him about how they will have light, Jesus responds "well what do you want me to do so you have light"? Interesting. He required a little bit of thinking on the second question. I think its the same with us. we cant just always be asking for every thing so broadly. What is it that we want him to do half the time that we ask for things in our prayers. Maybe we arent being very specific to him, so why would he be specific back?
Thats what i learned so far in my study. This week we have transfers. but its pretty positive that im staying here. I love you guys!!!
Elder Thatcher
This was a very tiring week!!!! So just so yall know, Dennis didnt get baptized because we didnt get back in time. But he will get baptized this saturday! So that is good!!!
Elder Godoy is very cool!!! I enjoyed a lot of what he said. We talked about the blessings of being a member and one of the things that came to mind was the blessing we have to take the sacrament. And in that exact moment i thought of 3rd nephi ch 20. About being filled with the spirit. It is something that we take for granted most times.
Well i am super tired!!! My pension had her baby yesterday!!!! That made me happy!!!
Well i love you guys, sorry i have to send inform and numbers right now!!! Love yall!!!
Elder Thatcher
This past week has been hard, lots of traveling, our zone is big, and we have to travel 3 hours to the elders in huancavelica for there baptism interviews. My toe is fine dont worry mom, no problems.
This week is going to be a very hard week...
Today we have to play zone pday
Tuesday we have to give a zone conference
Thursday Elder Goodoy is coming to give a multizone
Friday, all leaders have to travel to huanuco for a leader training, (8 hours traveling)
Saturday i will come back and that night is the baptism of dennis!
Sunday, zone leaders have to have a training from the stake to help get the converts records all ready..
LONG WEEK!!! I am so not ready!!
So something really cool happened to me and my companion this past week. Tuesday we had a zone leader meeting with all the zone leaders in the mission. Then right after, President came up to us and said "Elders, is it all right if i come to your area for a day tomorrow?" President came with us and taught in our lessons, he stayed the night with us, and he studied with us!!! Cool huh!!! I was nervous but it was actually awesome!! He told me i have changed a lot in my mission, and there was a reason he called me as zone leader, (i still dont see why though). He helped me feel like my purpose was even greater, and that i am getting stronger and stronger in my mission!! I really enjoyed it!!
Well i love you guys!!!
Elder Thatcher
Photos from the zone and sister leader conference!!
Wow im tired!!!! This week has been weird! We had interviews on thursday! Which was really good!!! On saturday i had to get an in-grown toe nail takin out. So that kinda hurt, but all good now! We have just been working hard, We have another baptism on the 13th, a 24 year old guy named denis! He is awesome, just wants to follow christs example so much and he is changing her life a ton!
Me and my companion go in the morning to play basketball! But now i will have to wait a couple weeks! Im likin it here in huancayo! Hey so i got an email from Elder Kidd! My buddy from cerro! He is getting married next saturday! How crazy is that!!!!!
Well not much more is going on, i read in helaman 11 about the pride circle. Very interesting how pride can just take over our acts. So that is super dumb. I read that chapter and was just like, wow... everyone gets prideful! So how do we change that? I think we can change that by not changing and following the advesary? Anyways all good here! Love yall!!
Elder Thatcher
Congrats to Theodore Elias Thatcher! Im happy to be called your uncle! Number 13 eh? Wow.... I now have 4 nephews and nieces I have never met yet!!!! Guysss hold on!!!!!!! Im almost there!!!! Congrats to Josh and Ainsley!
So this week was tiring. We had the Baptism for Linda this saturday! She is so smart, she new everything about the gospel and the lessons! And her family came, which is nice!!!
I honestly dont have too much news for you. On wednesday there was a worldwide missionary broadcast that was pretty cool! Waddel spoke! Which is cool because last july he came to our mission and spoke to us!!! The spirit he brings is unreal!!
Im super tired, the mission is taking the energy out of me now.... We have some good investigators which is good!!
Love yall!!
Elder thatcher
Hey everyone!!! Well everything went well with the baptism
and transfers!
So on tuesday it rained all day in satipo,
which isnt good because when it rains the water system shuts down which means
there was no water to fill the font in church. I was upset because it was
almost time to start at around 6:30, yet there was no water. So i just
thought the baptism wasnt gonna take place, but then the whole ward said
vamos!!! Vamos al rio!!! Lets go to the river!!! So we all walked 30 minutes to
the river, it was pitch black and I baptized him in the river!!! So cool
huh!!!! I was so happy, it was a great night!!!
So on monday right after internet email time,
President called me to ask if i would be a zone leader in huancayo, and that my
companion would be Elder Bullock! I said sure. Elder Bullock was in Cerro when
i was in Cerro! I am good friends with him.
Being Zone Leader is hard, i have to do a lot
of stuff, but its not bad, i have 15 missionaries in my zone, its stressful,
but im doing good, just sleeping even less now. I will most likely end my
mission here, which is weird. We have a baptism this week of a 11 year old
girl, who all her family are less actives, but are coming back to
church.!°
So everything good!!!
Love
Elder Thatcher
First of all, I want to say how grateful i am for my package that yall sent me!!! It was amazing!! The christmas tree was definetly the best!!! Thank yall so much!!
This week has been good! Jonathan passed his baptismal interview and will get baptized tomorrow at 6 at night!!! Yayyy!!!
This week has been very tiiring as we are still working hard. I finished Elder Petersons training yesterday and now transfers are wednesday.... im most likely out of here, but who knows, transfers are weird!! If I do get transfered i will truly miss this paradise! It has truly been amazing! Not easy though, but has been amazing! Something that my patriarchal blessing tells is i will gain a testimony of gods creations, and let me tell ya, I sure do have a testimony that is strong, about gods creations. This is a beautiful place, and God created it!
Last monday, me and my companion went to a waterfall with a less active named moses. He is a good guy! The waterfall we went to is called gallito de los rocas, which is a waterfall named after the national bird of peru! It was super pretty and the water was so clean. It is incredible to go and to witness these creations made by our father, and to even think that i might be able to do that!!
Its good to hear that Wendy got a new calling as primary president! I have learned that callings help the person more than it helps the others that are involved! Being district leader has really helped me over time, catch and strive to catch and imitate the christlike attributes, i feel like in every calling, if we strive to magnify it, we will be guided in how to do it!
Well love you all and have a great week!!
Chau,
Elder Thatcher
This has been one of the most spiritual weeks I have had, and definetly one of the biggest testimony builders ever!!! So as you all know... I still havent baptized here in satipo! It has been really hard for me here, because we teach so many people, but I guess i was just getting prideful? or something would permit our ivestigators to get baptized, so thats where im at so far, and well, next tuesday there are transfers, and im most likely out of here, because i am finishing Elder Peterson's training. So a friend of mine, sent me an email a while back ago, about the mission and everything and about the purpose of missionaries, because i have been getting upset with myself for the lack of success in my mission. And I was truly grateful for that letter. This week, we have been working hard, trying hard not to get distracted in anything other than working. And we have this investigator named Yonathan, he is a guy that is about 22 years old, that has just had so many problems in his life. His wife and kid left him, his parents dont care for him, hes had a lot of problems. And we have been teaching him for awhile, and he has been coming to church every week recently, but didnt feel worthy for baptism, for all the things he did before.. These past two months... i have just kept praying for him, and well, me and my companion were about to give up on him because he didnt want to get baptized... but then I got this letter from my friend and i thought of what i was doing wrong, so that yonathan could get baptized. Was it something I was doing wrong? And I prayed again with my companion, and we asked how we could do better, so that yonathan could progress. And the answer was we werent treating him like a person, but more of a baptism.... Which is wrong.. We then started being more his friend and not pressuring him into baptism. Well, this week, he called us to visit him, and we went and he said he wanted me to baptize him, that he recieved his answer. Me and my companion were shocked!!! He is truly a great person. We gave him a baptism date for the 12th, transfers are on the 13th. He is ready, and im glad God answered our persistent prayers for him. Its not about baptisms as i have learned, its about these people... its about caring for them, loving them, working for THEM! Doing everything we can to show that they are children of God just like us. Thats our purpose, that i learned from my friends letter, its not about the baptism, its about working, following the rules, the commandments, showing the love!!! Yonathan is a great guy and friend, i talk to him daily even though we dont have lessons daily, because he is now my friend, and thats what my father wants, for us to be our brothers keeper. Miracles do happen!!! If we put our part. That means mentally as well! Striving to follow Christ in every aspect possible, im a huge believer in following the example of Christ, as yall can see in some of my last letters, i have been striving and studying hard to find these attributes of christ to help me be better. They are there in the scriptures!
I am pleased to here there is a new ward now in the stake, congragulations dad on all the hard work you have put in the stake. I still havent gotten my package... thats sad, but it is what it is, I have faith it will show up eventually! I love yall!!! The photos are me and my district and then, the huge photo the elders bought me for christmas!!! Pretty funny huh!??
Love yall
Elder Thatcher
