Staying in Zapata, TX BUT a new Companion- Elder Vawdrey... May 26, 2015

Its been great. And yeah those are classrooms and if that is a picture of me i never posed for it so quien sabe. Elder Vawdrey is really cool. I get along with him really well. He loves soccer and is really good at it so im learning from him. He is the district leader here so we are working hard with the other elders. THey are both really young so we are helping them out right now. Im currently on exchanges u up in laredo right now with a brand new missionary so it will be fun. Teaching him spanish and stuff haha. So its been good. Got the package haha thanks for the squirt guns we are going to use them on the dogs when we are biking. Lots of Love, Elder Hatfield So another transfer in Zapata. Time to set the changes. My goal right now is to find a family that will stay in the gospel. Get some Melchizedek priesthood here. The men need to step their game up. Satan knows that the man is a huge strength out here so he is working so hard on them. Not scared to show them that they aren't as tough as they think they are in sin. Obviously in a very loving manner and not confrontational. But you have to be bold to call people to repentance and if the word penetrates and they harden their hearts you can pray that they will have another opportunity but move on. We didn't have the Restoration to be terrestrial kingdom dwellers. Its for those willing to pay the price for the fruit higher on the tree. Im jealous of your bike. Mine isn't as nice haha. but it does the job. I also hear i might inherit yours which will be awesome haha. I see you learned a spanish dicho. Lo que cuesta borato sale caro.(What you buy cheap ends up costing more than expected) Glad you get to see the pics. You guys take care out there and ill try to keep myself in good biking shape. We ran an 8k for the community the other day so hopefully that helps haha. Lots of love, Elder Hatfield

May 18, 2015 Still in Zapata, TX area and loving it!

No word on transfers and nobody has been to Mcallen so Ill get it probably tomorrow. We will also know transfers im guessing tonight. Super cool for Mckade! thats a huge blessing. I hope he studies it often. My patriarchal blessing has been one of the biggest supports on my mission. ANd i know it will be for the rest of my life. I hope you guys have fun out in Utah. I know the family misses you guys. Also tell them Hi for me. Your a great Mom so dont worry your kids dont want to just get out and leave you. Also a little time away makes them realize how important their mother is. I mean i have to make my bed in th emornings now. Thats ridiculous! haha. I pray for you guys and hope everything is going well. Ill let you know asap ;) aka in a week haha. You guys take care and thank you for all your prayers for me. Im so grateful for the functional(crazy) family i have. Love, Elder Hatfield This week was a bit of a struggle you could say, Not the attendance at church our efforts deserved but thats the thing with agency. Its an unpredictable thing. So my talk on finishing what we start didnt hit the crowd it was intended for but those who were there got to hear me ramble on in my first english talk on the mission. WE just had our devout english members there. Im not sure exactly why everyone chose yesterday but it was a lot less people than what should have been there. Im extremely pleased to hear about Mckade's Blessing. That will be a firm anchor for him in his life. Im glad he had a good spiritual experience. Im trying to continue and improve. As much as i feel like i have improved i lack so much. Todavia falto mucho. But its good progress. So the experiences may be painful but the rewards eternal. I got my hand on the plow and dont plan on looking back anytime soon. My biggest regret from before my mission was not taking advantage of the spiritual Giants we have back home. You, the busaths, Stake Presidency. And many more. I didnt realize the wisdom that was being shared and I lost those. So thats why im here. Learning to appreciate and repent. Because Today is the day of our repentance. Love your son, Elder Hatfield

Elder Hatfield's email for May 11, 2015

Thanks mom, I was thinking and i see all the problems and trials the families out here have and im so grateful that i dont have to worry about that with my own family. Its a blessing to be able to focus on others and not worry that things are going on back home. Doesnt mean it cant happen but it does mean that the chances are lower. Thank you for your prayers and your thoughts. YOu have been a huge help for me. It was great to talk to you guys. I dont have alot of time today but your input has been helpful. Keep up with the good work out there. And stop feeding tate so much. He is going to be driving by the time i get back. Lots of love! Elder Hatfield

Wonderful email from The Shumway's the senior couple serving with Brayden in Zapata, TX.

To the parents Elder Hatfield: We are Elder and Sister Shumway currently serving in Zapata, Texas, with your wonderful son. We want you to know that Elder Hatfield is one super missionary. We have grown close to these four Elders here and have been able to observe them in their work; we are extremely impressed with all of them. On this Mother’s Day, we want you to know that Elder Hatfield is bringing great honor to your name, that he is on task, is very thoughtful, and extremely insightful. Rejoice that you have such a wonderful son. We know whereof we speak, as we have raised 8 children, are the grandparents of 27, and are now on our third mission. We have never been more impressed than by these young Elders.

May 4, 2015

So told mom i will be calling at about 3 my time and about 4 your time. I think so. So thats the plan. Its been a very real battle this week. We got the people to church though. we set a record a believe for amount of people at church. 42 It was a very animated and busy day at church making sure classes are being taught. correct doctrine is being taught. All those things. ITs been a great blessing to have the shumways here. The other senior couple is amazing. When i first moved into the area i thought they were going to be like parents always wanting to know where we are at and things like that but I know that without them here in zapata we wouldnt be able to do the work. THey give us guidance and structure. ITs alot like the parable of the young crow and the old one given in conference a few years back about how the young one can fly ahead and do circles around the old crow but he doesnt know the path to travel. And so he can never get too far. We can work as hard as we want but the give us structure and are capable of doing missionary work in manners that are simply impossible for us. I had a few questions about ways that Nestle makes goals and plans to see if i would be able to implement any of that out here in the field. Thanks for continually being a source of wisdom and strength. Thanks for being my "old crow" or old man. Haha Keep Kilee and Mckade out of trouble. Im keeping this front and I know your keeping the home front. Lots of love, Elder Hatfield So its been alot of fun in zapata. We broke the record with 42 people at church this week. We are really getting the work done here. its been great to see. How our hard work is making a difference. Lots of fun and changes are happening. it just seems like hearts are softening. so we will see what happenes this next little bit. Looks like mckade had fun at the prom! He is looking good! Kilee looks really pretty there. Looks like things are going good. So i just herd that spencer Staheli is about to leave on his mission soon. so Jordan wont see him for 4 years! That is a bit crazy! Things are good here Ill probably skype you on sunday at 3 my time so i think 4 your time. after church. If that works for you guys. So thats what the big plans are. ANd no not anything i can really think about in a package. So nothing too crazy happening here. We are hoping to help those kids get baptized on the 17th so we will see what happens. Lots of love! Elder Hatfield

April 27, 2015

Thanks for the answer and also for all you guys do. I couldn't imagine serving without the support of my family. It would be pretty difficult. I know a few missionaries who are in that situation and its impressive to me. Once being a missionary and seeing the church through the eyes of a missionary its hard to comprehend being less active or not keeping your covenants. We live at such a high standard its hard to relate sometimes. So this week was really good. We have seen alot of great miracles here this past little while. Sunday we had a full house and a great service. A few people that were pretty closed or not wanting to do anything with us had their hearts opened. which was a huge blessing. We have been working hard and we are hoping to baptize may 17th. We will see what happens. Ive been thinking about a few terms in spanish in the scriptures that have helped my understanding of the scriptures. THe first one being llevar a cabo- this means to literally carry or bring it to completion. So its by our efforts that we take the task to an end. the next is llegar a ser- to arrive at to be is the direct translation but it means to become. meaning arriving at a point or achieving a change. to become clean or arrive at cleanliness. Just a few little things that have opened my eyes in the study of the scriptures in spanish. Con mucho amor, Elder Hatfield haha as long as i get to practice spanish on the cruise. Thats exciting about the kitchen. Hope it looks the way you wanted it to look! And that blows my mind with Caleb. It seems like you get to a certain age when everyone starts to get married. Its weird. A few missionaries i served with got married. That is super fast. So we had all those kids we have been playing soccer with finally come to church. And a less active family. It was pretty cool. The building was looking pretty full. Thats about 37 people to church. Our goal is 40 so we are close. Glad that grandma and grandpa got the letter. i wrote it and then i took forever to send it. So im glad they got it. Not too much else going on out here. Just working hard. Lots of love!