The World Opens Up to God at Christmas

Well this has been an awesome way to start the Christmas season!
Ashley had an awesome baptism on Saturday and that was super cool! She
is an awesome woman that has simply been looking for where she needs
to be in her life and God has definitely been preparing her to accept
the gospel. It's interesting to see how even small details, small
experiences in people's lives can prepare them and lead them the way
that God needs them to go.
We were also able to go see Joseph when he got baptized. That guy has
come such a long way, and he doing so good now. Seeing the changes
that come into people's lives because of the gospel is one of the best
things about serving a mission.
Probably the next best thing is being a missionary during the
Christmas season. It seems like the world opens up to God a little
bit, even though we do tend to get caught up in the not-so-important
things about Christmas. But because there is an overall shift towards
God, it is so great to be able to simply testify of God and Jesus
Christ practically allllll the time. Cause people that would normally
want to talk about other stuff seem to be a little more willing to
share those things at this time of year.
I hope everyone is getting excited about Christmas, and don't forget
to remember why we really celebrate. Remembering the birth and life of
our Savior Jesus Christ is the most important part of the season. I
know He lives. I know He offered Himself for us so that we can improve
our lives and overcome the obstacles that come up in our lives. I know
He loves every single one of us. May we all remember to have a MERRY
CHRISTMAS!
Take care and God bless,
Elder Hiatt

Spreading Light

So this week was a pretty eventful week. Joseph is doing awesome and moving towards his baptism this week. On the down side, he is moving today so he is gonna have to be baptized in a different ward, that is outside our mission. So that's a bummer, mainly just because we have been able to see such a huge change in him over the past few weeks. It's been awesome to see the growth that has come into his life just by simply adding Christ and living in a way that reflects that. Sara is also doing really well. She is planning on getting baptized soon as well and she is doing awesome. She and her parents live in the area and her parents have 6 horses and several acres of land. Her step dad is needing hip replacements so he can't do a ton of the work around the house so on Saturday we were able to go over there and spend about 4 hours helping them with a lot of the work around the house. It was pretty nice to get out and sweat a little bit. It's crazy what service can do to simply lift your spirits when you are helping those that need it.

Sunday night we had a fireside at ASU. It was so awesome. The main speaker was a lady named Josie Thompson, the creator of the 444 project. She was talking a lot about how she has been able to overcome the darkness that is constantly a part of her life, largely from her bipolar syndrome, which for her is pretty much a constant manic low. She shared some very personal experiences of the times that that darkness surrounding her has been chased away by the feeling of love and peace that she received from turning to Jesus Christ. She still battles with those conditions every day, but has made it her mission to spread light to those in darkness, to help all people to have some glimmer of hope. And that is where the 444 project came from. So if you have a chance, check it out, it can make a huge difference hearing the message of hope that she shares. 

Things are awesome in AZ. 70* days are just about perfect. Anyways, hope all is well back home! Take care and God bless!

Elder Hiatt

An Answer to Her Prayer

Well we have been having a pretty good time in San Marcos Ward. We have suddenly been blessed with several awesome people to teach that are coming along and progressing really well. There have definitely been miracles happening in people's lives to help them be prepared to accept the gospel. There aren't very many things holding them back at this point, so that is awesome. I also had a cool experience on Facebook this week, where I was able to start talking to a sister that I know that is here in the valley, but not in our mission. She had come to her sister in law's house a couple times for lessons while I was in Phoenix but had never ended up going anywhere when the Elders came by her house. So we were talking on Facebook about prayer and how she really doesn't feel like God answers her prayers very often and so after talking to her a little more and having a friend of mine share a testimony with her about prayer and its power, I invited her to pray to know that God loves her, just keep it simple. Two days later when I followed up with her, she said she had prayed to have more faith and then that next day the sister missionaries came by her house wanting to know if she wanted to come closer to Jesus Christ. So she was asking me about that and whether or not it was a coincidence and I was able to help her see that it was probably an answer to her prayer! So that was super cool, and the sisters are going back by tonight for a lesson. So that was a cool miracle I saw this week. 
Arizona is finally cooling down a little bit! It starting to get really nice, like a normal September fall weather back home. I hope everyone is doin well and loving life! Take care and God bless!

Elder Hiatt 

Strengthen the Feeble Knees

So, when you're in a single's ward and don't have a ton of people to teach, what do you do? I'll tell ya, you play frisbee. and softball. and basketball. and go to FHE. and eat out a loooooot cause that's just what everyone does. Doesn't sound like too bad of a life does it? It's been cool to just be able to interact with the members in the ward and their friends that maybe aren't members that they are able to bring to those things, and help them try to feel a little bit more of God's love.

Joscleyn is doing super well after her baptism. she has progressed a lot and has a ton of people in the ward that love her and are looking out for her. It's interesting how different peoples' experiences with church can be when they have people that surround them with love and help them with what they need versus when they aren't taken in as well and aren't kept up with as well. Both people can continue to grow in the gospel and overcome their challenges, but the first one is a lot easier for them. Whether they are spiritual challenges, social challenges, or physical challenges, they are always easier when you attack them with people surrounding you to support you, and that is what we promise to do as Christians, to strengthen the feeble knees, and lift the hands which hang hopelessly down. I hope that is something we can always remember to do. 

I hope all is well at home! I love you and pray for you. Take care and God bless, 

Elder Hiatt

Responsibility

Well that was a great Conference weekend! There were so many great talks and valuable direction we were able to receive from the leaders of the Church. I loved the theme that I noticed of the need for each of us to take responsibility. For ourselves, for our testimony, for the effort we put in to follow Christ and love and serve others. Elder D. Todd Christofferson's talk in particular was huge for me. One of the biggest things he said that stood out to me was the idea that freedom doesn't come from resisting truth, but from accepting it and applying it wisely, and that agency and responsibility go hand in hand. We cannot keep our agency if we try to be loose from the responsibility of our actions. 

We had a pretty good week beside conference. Joscelyn is all set to get baptized tonight! Pretty cool family home evening activity right? Things here are going good. The cooler weather is exciting. We have been willingly driving with the windows down for a while now, although that can still get pretty warm in the heat of the day. But before 12 and after 5 it feels pretty good. 

I hope all is well back home! Love all yall, take care and God bless, 

Elder Hiatt

Well, this week was a pretty exciting week! We had a pretty cool visit on Saturday from Elder Corbridge of the 70, Bishop Davies of the Presiding Bishopric, and Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the 12. They spent about 2 hours visiting just with our mission. Elder Greer who is the area 70 was also there. It was super sweet. Bishop Davies talked a lot about how discouragement is often the beginning of falling away and losing the light of Christ in our lives. But he also said that when we have the light of Christ in our lives we can have such an uplifting influence on everyone around us, simply by having that spirit about us. Elder Corbridge talked about how necessary covenants are to return to live with God. He explained an interesting thing that I hadn't really thought about before: how when we have the Holy Ghost with us we can be living with the presence of God, experiencing a fulness of joy, similar to what we will experience after this life. It allows us to overcome spiritual death while we are here on the earth, allowing us to "have life, and have it more abundantly." Super cool insight I hadn't thought about before. Elder Christofferson talked about a lot of different things, how we can check where we are to God by seeing if we feel more like a stranger, a guest, or a child at home to him. He also talked about how the new millennium was a significant point in the preparation for the return of Christ. Along that same line he said that there is plenty of wickedness in the world for the second coming, what we need now is a significant number of righteous people to welcome the Savior back. Super cool stuff he was talking about. But yeah ,that was a pretty sweet end to the week! Things are pretty good in AZ. It's another transfer week and we don't know yet what the plans are, so I guess it'll be a surprise!

Hope all is well back home. Take care and God bless. 

Elder Hiatt

DO and BE

Well another week is in the books in the South Mountain YSA Ward. It's been a pretty fun week, being able to get to know more of the members here and help a couple of our investigators. Patrick got baptized this week and he is such a solid guy. He definitely has a testimony of Christ and of the restored gospel and how it will bless his life. It's been fun to work with him for the last couple of weeks. This Saturday we also had a visit from Elder Robbins and Elder Greer of the 70. They gave a training to the leadership in the mission, combined with the leadership of the Gilbert Mission, which was split out from our mission last July. So that was cool being able to see some of the guys that I was in the MTC with and hang out with them for a little bit. Elder Robbins' training was super good. He talked a lot about the importance of Being, not just Doing, and how when our hearts are really in the right place, when we ARE what we need to be, then we will DO the things we need to do. Too many times people have the DO without the BE, which looks good, but makes us hypocrites. Or on the other end, we have the BE but not the DO, which makes it null and void. We have to have both together to really become the people that God wants us to be, and when we do that, we will really be in control of our lives.

  I hope all is well! take care and God bless, 

Elder Hiatt

A Cool Lady with Awesome Daughters!

Well this week was a pretty great one in Gilbert. We were able to meet
and talk with Gary a few times. He is a cool guy who is simply going
through a hard time with his girlfriend and the choices she has been
making around their kids and he was really struggling. But it was
great to see his humility and willingness to come closer to God and
how that helped him just in the couple of days we got to meet with
him. Unfortunately, it's transfer week and we are both leaving the
area so we won't be able to see how he continues progressing. But he
has some good friends in the church so hopefully they will be able to
help him make the transition. This week we were also able to have
Kerri's baptism! It was so sweet. It has been a blast to be able to
teach her and help her understand the gospel more and how it can help
her in her life. She is one cool lady, and her daughters are awesome.
Addie is 7 and has too much energy! She is always bouncing off the
walls and jumping as high as she can and everything, it is really
funny.
There have been so many great people I have met here in Gilbert and it
is sad having to leave people behind. But there are always new
challenges and new joys and blessings when there is a change. I hope
everyone is doing well back there! Love you all and God bless!
Elder Hiatt

Crazy in a Good Way!

Sorry it has been a couple weeks! Things have been a little crazy here
in Gilbert recently. But crazy in a good way, I guess. We have been
working with a lady named Kerri who has been progressing really well!
She quit smoking a couple weeks ago and is looking super solid for
baptism this week! She is a perfect example of someone who has simply
found more joy from accepting the gospel in her life. We also had the
chance to see a lady's re-baptism, and that was super cool. She bore
her testimony on Sunday about how much God loves each one of us, and
how important the Holy Spirit is to help us get through life and feel
Heavenly Father's love for us. She has a really powerful testimony and
it was awesome.
Our wards got realigned this weekend, so we got a new bishop in one of
them and the other one got realigned into the other ward. It's going
to be super cool to see how things go with the new areas, new families
working together, and new families we are able to serve and serve
with. Things are going great in Arizona! Hopefully summer is almost
over! Maybe in a couple months. Love you all. Take care and God bless,
Elder Hiatt

Raining Mud

Well this was a pretty interesting week. It was rough saying goodbye to everyone in Maryvale. There are a lot of good friends there that I will definitely miss. Even just leaving that side of town will be tough. I got transferred this week to the east side of Chandler, close to Gilbert. So now I am about as far east as you can go in our mission! Which means I have hit almost every far corner of the mission, from the farthest southwest in Yuma, the far north in Phoenix, and now the most east in Gilbert. So that has been pretty cool getting to see all around the area.

 

 This area is quite a bit different than the areas I have been before. It is infinitely more wealthy than where I was on the west side, which makes finding people to teach a little more interesting. It also makes serving people a little different than before because the people that can't do things themselves can pay people to have it done. So you rarely see people outside (especially in the summer time), rarely see open garages, and rarely have opportunities to talk to just random people on the street. But the members in the wards here are awesome. They are definitely the key to missionary work here in an area as reserved and closed off from us as this is. So that is what we have been focusing on; trying to really strengthen the members so that they will be able to reach out to those around them. Which really is the importance of the gospel right? Find the truth for yourself, gain your own testimony to begin living it, and then help others find out the truth also. So yeah, things are going pretty good.

 

 Monsoon season is here and that brings on the dust storms. Those things can get pretty crazy sometimes. The first one of the season rolled through the valley this week and it was intense! It got to where you couldn't see even 20 or 30 feet in front of you because of all the dust in the air. We got to see it rolling towards town over the reservation and it looked exactly like the dust storms you see in the movies, just a giant wall of brown moving towards you going super high. Then the rain started, and it was basically like it was raining mud. It got over everything and the cars that weren't in garages got filthy from the mix of water and dirt falling from the sky. But that is about all the excitement from this week! I'm glad to hear things are going well back home! Take care and God bless.

Elder Hiatt

Arizona Bedrock

                                                  The fence project

                                          Patriotism!

                                          Tyrone's Baptism Day

Well this was a pretty exciting week! The last full week in Maryvale and it has been a blast! We got quite a few people to begin teaching and a few of them are progressing really well. We did some good service for Humberto. We helped him build a fence around his front yard and that was a blast. Something about this time of year seems to make people want to get missionaries to help them dig through the Arizona bedrock. Last year it was a hole for a trampoline, this year it was about 10 post holes. Definitely reminded me of some good projects back home!

Then on Sunday we hurried and got everything squared away for him to come with us to the Mesa Temple! It was a blast. Even though he speaks Spanish and we watched the movie about Joseph Smith in Spanish, the spirit was still super strong. It has definitely been a great chance to struggle doing some of the work in Spanish the last little while. You definitely have to learn to rely on someone more than yourself. So all in all, a great experience serving in the Spanish ward here. I am definitely looking forward to a new area, new lessons learned, and lots of great new people!
Hope all is well back home! Love you all and God bless,
Elder Hiatt

Something as Simple as Passing on a Referral

 This week was pretty great as well. We were able to get everything ready for the boys to be baptized and that was super cool. Each of them wanted someone different to baptize them, so there were 8 of us wearing all white that morning. Then Saturday evening we were able to go to Tyrone and Salina's wedding, and that was pretty awesome too. Tyrone is planning on being baptized this week! So things keep on going pretty well. Then yesterday we got to go with the Garcia family to the Mesa Temple Visitor's center, and that was amazing. We walked around a little and took a ton of pictures and then we went to the visitor's center and talked with one of the missionaries there at the Christus statue which was pretty neat. Then we watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration and they loved it and felt the spirit super strong. Then we were able to get them in contact with the sister missionary that Alfredo had talked to when he first got to Arizona who sent the referral out to us and that was pretty neat, I think, for her to see what had come of just simply passing a referral on. Things are going really well for that family, even with other problems creeping up that seem like they're trying to push them back. The two older boys came out with us to make some visits yesterday after they got confirmed in church and that was pretty great. Things are going really well. Elder Penaia Teo is part of an emergency transfer happening today so we are going to lose our trio, but hopefully we will be able to keep things moving pretty strong.

I hope you are doin' good!  love you, take care.

Miracles Upon Miracles

Well this was a pretty exciting week! Being in a trio with a Spanish missionary, covering part of a Spanish ward and part of an English ward is pretty nuts. We definitely have lots to keep us busy though, so that is good. We had a couple pretty awesome miracles this week too. We were able to help a sister move into the ward on Friday, with her nonmember fiance with her, and they came to church on Sunday and met with Bishop. They are planning on getting married this Friday. Also, Tyrone is already reading the Book of Mormon and is in Mosiah. And he loved church. Also there was this family that we were teaching that the parents can't get baptized yet cause there is a divorce issue there but the kids Alfredo Jr., Damian, Florencio, and Isaiah really want to be baptized and so we talked about it and the kids are going to be baptized this Saturday. Alfredo Jr., the oldest brother, was a little more hesitant than the others, but we asked him to kneel down and pray this weekend and ask God what he needed to do, and Sunday he told us he had done that and wanted to be baptized now! Its gonna be pretty awesome. But probably the coolest thing that happened for me, was Saturday night we went to one of the Spanish investigators house, Damaris, and she asked for a blessing as she is trying to quit smoking. Then her member mom asked for a blessing and I was able to give her a blessing, but when I was starting it I couldn't think of how to say it in English. The only thing I could think of was en "el nombre de Jesucristo" and then I just kinda kept going. There were some things I knew I was saying wrong, but I just couldn't remember exactly how to say what I wanted, so I just did the best I could. Then I got to a point where I really just didn't know how to say what I wanted to say in Spanish, so I just said it in English, but as I was saying it I just knew that she understood it anyways. I felt something helping me to know that she really did understand it. She knew what I was meaning even though it wasn't in her language. That was definitely a miracle for me to be able to be a part of. So we have a lot of great things going on here in Maryvale! The Lord is definitely hastening His work, and we have an opportunity to be a part of it!

I hope everyone is doing well back home! Take care and God bless!

Love ya,

Elder Hiatt

A Pretty Crazy Week!

This week we had a pretty crazy week. I ended up on splits with some Spanish missionaries and had to practice my Spanish a little. There were a couple other Spanish baptisms that one of them had to be at on Saturday and so we ended up basically being back and forth to baptisms all day on Saturday, ending it with Jermaine's baptism in the evening. It was a pretty cool baptism and it has been really fun to teach Jermaine.

This week we got another new set of Elders, so there are now 6 missionaries in our ward.  Unfortunately, they got the area that Jermaine lives in so we won't be able to go see him quite as much. But its all good. We are now going to be able to focus a lot more on a little bit smaller area and that will be cool to be able to see how that will change the work here. It can definitely use it, that's for sure. Yeah, things are goin' pretty good. I hope you had a great weekend!

Elder Baker's Graffiti

                                         Biviy's baptism day

                             The Elders who helped prepare Biviy

            Awesome cobbler and cookies--to help me gain weight!

Round 4

Well it looks like I've got another transfer in Maryvale! It's been great to be around here and see so many people progress and come closer to Christ. This week was an especially good week. A lady we have been working with for as long as I have been here, and even before I came, finally made the decision and was able to be baptized this week! Biviy is an awesome lady who has come a long way to being able to accept the gospel in her life. The baptismal service was evidence of the power of the Atonement working in her life. It is real! Forgiveness for our mistakes is real, and necessary. We can receive that forgiveness by accepting the Gospel of Jesus Christ into our lives.

Elder Baker and I are doing really well and are excited to keep working together and helping the people here. It's gonna be awesome! I hope all is going well for everyone back home. I love you all and pray for the best for you. Take care, and God bless.

Elder Hiatt

Emergency Transfer Again

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope all you mother's out there have had a happy Mother's Day. It was great to be able to call home and see everybody. That was probably the highlight of the week. I'm glad things are going well. This week was a pretty crazy week. Mid week we get a call that there is going to be an emergency transfer, and now I have Elder Baker with me! He's a pretty cool guy from Colorado and he was actually at college the same time I was. But he stayed a little longer than I did. So that threw our schedule of a little bit last week, but now we are back on track and good to go. We were able to help out with a baptism that the sister missionaries had going on, so that was pretty sweet, like always. We have a few people and one giant family that we are hoping to have working towards their baptisms pretty soon. It is great to see them keep changing and progressing. I love you all! Take care and God bless!

Elder Hiatt

More Pictures!

                 This is Sister Faulk and I mashing potatoes.

             Here Elder Burgess and I are at the temple with a great view of  Moroni, too.

The Gilbert Temple with Linda

Dillon asked me to write his blog this week:
The highlight of this week has to be going through the newly opened Gilbert temple with Linda, a lady he taught and baptized while he was in Maricopa last year. He said it was a "pretty sweet experience to see her there and talk with her in the Celestial Room for a bit." He really enjoyed seeing some of his old friends from that ward, too.

Right after his visit at the temple he headed off to a baptism the Sister Missionaries had prepared. It was for Peter. He is a "cool guy" that Elder Hiatt had interviewed for baptism. He said he has come such a long way in understanding the Gospel, and it is go great to see it!

CJ, in investigator from a part member family is still progressing, and Dillon hopes his baptism will be soon.

He sends his love to everyone!

          This is Elder Burgess and Elder Hiatt at the Gilbert Temple.

Conference Weekend is Awesome!

Conference weekend is such an awesome weekend! It is such an amazing opportunity to be able to listen to our prophet and apostles speak to us! there were so many great talks, it's hard to pick a favorite one, but the messages were all meaningful. Elder Holland and Elder Andersen's talks on Saturday really rang true to me. We can't be ashamed or scared to bear the name of Christ. All of us as disciples of Christ will be called upon to defend His name at one point or another. We have to have the testimony and commitment necessary to really stand up for the things we believe in. I also loved Elder Uchtdorf's talk in the Sunday morning session about gratitude. It's true that no matter what we are going through, if we don't have gratitude we will never be happy. One of my favorite things he said was that gratitude is the catalyst for all Christlike attributes. As we are grateful, even through our hardest times, we will be peaceful and joyful and come to be more like of Savior. I am grateful for all the many things I have been blessed with, and all of the lessons I have learned, particularly through my struggles. I know my Savior Jesus Christ lives and loves each one of us, and that through Him we can return to live with our Heavenly Father and with our families eternally.

  I hope all is well for everyone back home. Take care and God bless, 

Elder Hiatt

                                Elder Hiatt, Brian, and Elder Jenson




                           

                                 Demitri, Paul and Keira

Hastening the Work

Hola! Sorry it has been a while! I'll try to play a little bit of catch up this week. A couple of weeks ago we were able to see the Garcia family enter the waters of baptism. That was super sweet, and they are an awesome family. They had been in the other ward before the boundaries got rearranged but they came into our ward just in time. Then last week Brian was able to get baptized. He was a super chill, old biker dude, that has made some pretty legit changes in his life. He has definitely come a long way from where he was --- when he was baptized, I'm pretty sure he was glowing. Such an awesome experience. JThen this week, Keira and Demitri got baptized by their dad. They are a family we have been working with for a while, and things just hadn't worked out for them to be baptized until now. Those kids are pretty crazy, and super fun to teach. Its been cool seeing how things have progressed in the work over the past little while, and you never know how things are going to work out, but the Lord definitely provides a way. We have found so many incredible people over the last little while that are so prepared for the gospel, it is definitely apparent that the Lord is hastening his work. So many people are looking for something better, that they can find through the gospel of Christ.

In other news, it's heating up here in the desert. Broke 90° today. It's going to be a warm summer, that's for sure. Hope all is well back home. Take care and God bless. 

Elder Hiatt

Phoenix, A Place So Awesome...

Well, this week was a pretty decent week. My comp, Elder Jenson, is a such a goof. He turned 18 in November and he's still in his second transfer of his mission, so I am already older than he will be when he goes home....but he's a lot of fun, definitely keeps us laughin'. Recently we have been working with a 9 year old girl, Keira and her little brother, Demitri. They are the youngest kids in their freakin' awesome family, and its been a lot of fun teaching them. It can get a little crazy though, for sure. There are a couple of families that we are working with that are slowly getting closer to baptism. ane there is a real priority in this ward on strengthening those members that are a little less active, or who never really come to church. It's been cool going out and finding those people who maybe have forgotten what joy the gospel brings into their lives, but are found at just the right time when they are ready to start coming back, and remembering all the good things it has brought into their lives. Seeing those people change and have a desire to feel the love of God that they had forgotten about is just as amazing as seeing people experiencing it for the first time. Definitely makes things exciting.

Anyways, things are good here in Phoenix. A place so awesome they named a city, a bird, and a mission after us. That's how we do it! Hope all is well for everyone back home. Take care and God bless, 

Elder Hiatt

Asphalt is Hard and Cars are Dangerous

Just so everyone knows, asphalt is hard. And cars are dangerous. Especially when you're on a bike...that's probably the most excitement I've had in a while out here. Getting thrown off your bike by a car isn't the most fun thing in the world, but its pretty high up there.

Other than that, this week was pretty standard. we are teaching a family where most of them are members, but the youngest two kids haven't been baptized. Keira and Dmitri are some pretty cool kids, and they have an awesome family. They are so fun to teach, even though 5 kids can get a little distracting. I'm sure you have no idea what that's like, Mom. We have also been trying to find some people that are members of the church but that no one really knows who they are. That has been interesting, and definitely leads to some interesting stories. But its cool seeing those that either are trying to come closer to God or who don't realize they are trying to come closer to God until we get there. That's definitely fun.
I hope no one is going too crazy back home!
Get that house all ready for the baby.

 I love and miss you all,

Elder Hiatt

Another New Area!

Well another new area and another new companion. I'm now in Phoenix, right on the edge of the mission boundaries. We share the ward with a companionship of sister missionaries so it's nice to not cover the whole ward. There is a lot of work to do here for sure, and things have been pretty busy. A lot of people here seem to want changes in their lives and are sincerely looking for something more. We have a couple people who are wanting to be baptized in mid February so it will be cool to see how they progress over the next few weeks.

Something I guess I've realized recently is just how much God is in the details of our lives. He truly does know us and knows what is best for us. Everything that I have learned and experienced over the last couple of months has kinda paved the way for what I'm doing right now: things that make me better able to help Him accomplish His purposes here and to help me serve those around me. It all comes from turning our will over to His. When we learn to see what He sees and to do what He wants us to do, I know we can feel His approval in our lives. We can know that we are on the right path and that He really does love each of us, individually. 

I want you all to know that I love each of you, individually. I know God loves each of you and knows what is best for you. I know He will tell you what is best for you, if you take the time to listen and find out what He wants for your life. 

I hope everything is going well for y'all. Take care and God bless, 

Elder Hiatt

Happy New Year!

Happy New Years! I hope everyone has had an amazing start to the new year! Its a great time to refocus anew and set some goals on what we want to accomplish this coming year. 365 days is a long time to get a lot of good done, and when we set goals we are able to focus on what we want to accomplish.

Something I've been thinking about quite a bit recently is why trials come into our life. That is something people ask us about the most it, seems like. Why do bad things happen? Or maybe not even bad things, but difficult things. I was thinking about that during church this Sunday and I guess   these were my thoughts: God won't allow us to be tempted above that which we are able to bear. But that only happens if we are staying close to Him. When we break commandments and draw farther from Him, it's easier for us to make bigger mistakes. I think it goes the same way with trials. When we stay close to God and rely on Him, there is no trial that will come our way that we can't overcome. No matter what it is, He will make us able to bear it. But when we start trying to do things on our own and forget how we got through our other trials, we will eventually be confronted with something that we can't overcome on our own. God wants to help us and to support us through our trials, but its only when we stay close to Him that He is able to do that. Just some of the thoughts I had. I know our Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to succeed. I know that when we rely on Him, He will help us overcome every trial we face. I hope everyone has a blessed New Years!

 Love you all and God bless, 

Elder Hiatt

Elder Wright's Visit

Well another week down in Chandler! This week we had the great opportunity to hear from Elder Wright of the 70. We were gathered with 2 other missions, the Phoenix mission and the Tuscon mission. We learned a lot about how when we really become converted, we are willing to make sacrifices in order to serve our Lord and Savior. When we really come to know God and develop that relationship with him, we want to help him by serving our brothers and sisters here. It can be a difficult thing sometimes, but we have faith that the blessings we receive will be greater than the sacrifices we make. We are promised this as well. God always gives us more than we can give to Him.

  I hope everyone has had a great week! I was thinking about you when I heard is got down under 10 degrees....thinking how nice it was to be in 70 degrees. I hope everyone survived all right. Take care and God bless you in all you do, 

Elder Hiatt