July 28, 2014 Letter

Hola everyone! My tex mes es creciendo and getting mejor cada day! Im getting pretty tan out here and its been alot of fun doing this work. I love the environment. its pretty ghetto and like a dessert out here. We have alot of potential in our branch and we are growing it every day. One of the coolest members i ever met just got called to be the mission leader. it should be awesome! He comes with us all the times to lessons and he has an amazing testimony. The people down here have to deal with alot. the adversary has made a pretty strong foothold here but we are slowly chiseling it away. The work is progressing and the people we are finding are more and more prepared to listen to our message. Im getting a bit better at the language and it is hard alot of times to understand people but ive been able to learn alot and grow up. Its funny because i look at alot of stuff i did or kids our here my age and they have kids and are making alot of bad choices and im realizing im so not ready to be a dad or anything like that. And im alot more mature than they are. Its a bit sad to see all the things that people have to deal with down here. but thats why we are here. we find the problems and help people change who they are. Im going to be getting a new comp so pray that he is easy to get along with ;) haha but i wouldnt want to be anywhere else. I love this work and i wouldnt change any of it for a second. Love, Elder hatfield

July 21, 2014 Chilly in TX!!

Well howdy yall. or Hola! Its been a cool week dropping to the ice cold 101-105 brrrrrr. We have an infestation of BP(border patrol) all over picking up aliens left and right. okay. not that crazy but there is alot of BP. Its been a fun week! we had interviews with The mission president and as scared as i was it was great! He forgot that for my first interview he was going to do it in English halfway through so i had to try to keep up with him haha. I dont even think he realized he did it at first. We found a new part of our area that has alot of potential. and we also went to a richer neighborhood and tracted. It felt wierd after tracting in ghetto areas all my mission. so we went back to the ghetto and i felt better. How weird is that? Well i have a hard time always thinking what to write when im here. maybe think of some questions for us. Im loving it down here. and i dont think id rather by doing any other work. even though its hard. i love it. we work hard cada day and dont go home till the district leader sings. you guys take care! Love, Elder Hatfield

Elder Hatfield's July 14, 2014 Letter!

HOWDY YALL! COMO ESTADO! This has been a great week out here. Ive gained alot of experience in a measly seven days. Ive been humbled, watched one of the beauties of this part of the states and got to talk to the great example that we have out here. So this week we went on exchanges and on exchanges i was able to go with the DL to work for the day. well i was on another elders bike(first mistake) and i went with him to go and help in his area. so we talked to alot of people and i got to see a bearded mexican lady(not nearly as glamorous as it sounds) and she told us she was catholic as usual but we talked about the church for a while. nice lady over all. well when we left my back tire fell off. so i put it back on and we went on our way. And i want to say that to start the day i told the DL he would never see me walk my bike up a hill. well i cursed my self from the get-go. so we went to a few other lessons and it fell of again. well i was a bit frustrated this time but i let it go and we set off again. well towards then end of the day it fell of a third and final time. well i was done with that so i threw the bike on my shoulders and carried it the mile or two back to the truck. with the DL laughing the whole time. Basically the lord said Elder Hatfield needs to be a bit more humble. Ive since learned two important lessons. ride my own bike and dont be stupid and pridefull. the next thing was one of the beauties of south texas. we went to the lookout into mexico and as we were there we saw a bunch of people playing in the river. well i waved to some kids who waved back and called us gringos. and it was pretty funny. as the sun slowly started to set we saw something absolutely amazing. A border crossing... We watched them get the boat out of the truck. put it in the water and scan with binoculars. they looked at us and we waved. then they began the perilous journey of over 30 yds to get to the other side. they swam and pushed the boat but they made it! as they crossed into the land of promise we laughed and laughed. it was a memorable experience for sure. I want to tell you guys everything is great out here and im getting a new camera so expect pics. you guys all take care! Love, Elder Hatfield

Brayden had his first transfer to Roma, Texas. His new companion is Elder Austin from Utah. They seem to get along great and seem to really be having a fun time together doing the Lord's work! There is a wonderful family in the ward that loves to feed the missionaries and of coarse as a mom I am grateful for that. She was able to snap a few photos and send them which has been wonderful. Very thankful for a Missionary Mom's on facebook that I can connect with other mom's that have missionaries in the Texas McAllen area. Through that I was able to get these fun pics of our Brayden!! YAY!!!

Brayden's first area was Weslaco, Texas. He really enjoyed it! His companion was Elder Newland. He is from Utah as well! Brayden talks alot about how much the members feed them and that he eats ALOT of HOT sauce! I worry he will mess up his stomach with so much spicy food! But he is loving it. He says there are dogs everywhere that just wander. They call him the "Dog Whisperer" because of his way with all the dogs. Funny Kid!

Pictures of Elder Hatfield's time in Mexico CCM

Brayden really enjoyed his time at the MTC in Mexico. He loved the mangoes and really picked up learning Spanish. Go figure he hated learning Spanish in school but liked it in the MTC! He was anxious after 6 weeks at the MTC to head to Texas and begin teaching! His companion in the MTC was Elder Pulsipher from Utah. Part of one of Brayden's letters from Mexico

"so i keep finding different bugs in our shower each morning because i wake up ten mins early to shower so we can be early to all our meetings and on my list so far is crickets, and these big spiders that crawl out of our drain which makes me glad that i have those shower sandals. anyways lots of fun stuff to do here and ive also fallen in love. she is so sweet and cute. she even has an exotic kind of name. i call her...mango. ive eaten probably 12 since last week which doesnt include mango juice thats in the gallons. haha anyways you can let everyone read this one. love you guys!" WIth lots of love, Elder Hatfield p.s. the ladies that clean our sheets and stuff gave me a hershey kiss because i already changed my sheets and stuff so good job mom! and in the picture from left to right is Elder Foote, Elder Randalph, Elder Pulsipher, Elder Studmuffin, Elder thorne, Hermana Orton, Elder Thompson,and Hermana coberly