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Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
This story appears here courtesy of TheChurchNews.com. It is not for use by other media.
By Joel Randall, Church News
The three Hatch brothers and their companions figured they’d all serve senior missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but they had no idea they’d leave on their assignments the same week.
And they know it wasn’t a coincidence.
“The three of us really weren’t planning to be here at the same time,” said Elder Robert Hatch.
The six submitted their mission papers at different times across four months. Yet because of retirement timing, delayed Peruvian visas and God’s guiding hand, they joined one another at the Provo Missionary Training Center before a departure of October 10-11, 2024.
Two couples went to Mexico, the country of personal ties and deep ancestral roots. Originally from the Church’s colonies in Colonia Juárez, Chihuahua, these Hatch brothers also lived in the Mexico City Stake — the second stake in Mexico and the Church’s first Spanish-speaking stake, which was created in 1961.
The third couple went to Peru, not too far from Argentina, where they spent three years working with the Church’s AgReserves commercial farms.
Taking part in the mission work of Mexico is a privilege and a blessing, said Elder John Hatch. “The best way to work with people is just to love them, and you can’t help but love these people. They’re just the salt of the earth.”

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From left: Elder Robert Hatch and Sister Sharon Hatch; Elder John Hatch and Sister Sandra Hatch; and Sister Janice Hatch and Elder Paul Hatch stand in front of a map of the world at the Provo Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on Tuesday, October 8, 2024. The three brothers and their wives started senior missions on the same week. Photo by Kristin Murphy, courtesy of Church News.Copyright 2025 Deseret News Publishing Company.Meet the Hatches
Elder John Hatch and Sister Sandra Hatch, from Mesa, Arizona, are member and leader support missionaries in the México Guadalajara East Mission.
The two knew each other growing up in Mexico, were married after Elder John Hatch’s mission, graduated from BYU then lived in Mexico until moving to the U.S. in 2021. They have six children, 23 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Elder Paul Hatch and Sister Janice Hatch, from San Tan Valley, Arizona, are member and leader support missionaries in the México Mérida Mission.
He met his wife, originally from California, in Provo, Utah, and they got married less than a year later. Then they lived in Texas and Arizona until moving to Mexico in 2000 and back to Arizona in 2006. They have five children and 13 grandchildren.
Elder Robert Hatch and Sister Sharon Hatch, from Gilbert, Arizona, are serving in the Perú Lima North Mission office.
Sister Sharon Hatch is the first member of the Church from her family in British Columbia, Canada, and met her husband at BYU. The couple spent 25 years together in Mexico, in addition to visiting various countries for work, and returned to the U.S. in 2018. They have six children, 23 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

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From right, Elder Paul Hatch, Sister Janice Hatch, Sister Sandra Hatch and Elder John Hatch study the missionary manual “Preach My Gospel” in a class at the Provo Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on Tuesday, October 8, 2024. Photo by Kristin Murphy, courtesy of Church News.Copyright 2025 Deseret News Publishing Company.Missionary Service Is ‘in Our Blood’
The Hatch brothers can’t help but think fondly of their parents as they’ve come to adore those of Mexico.
“Our parents taught us a lot of respect and love for the whole country,” said Elder Robert Hatch. Elder Paul Hatch added: “Both of them were extremely proud and grateful for their heritage and taught us to be the same.”
The three brothers’ parents, Ernest LeRoy Hatch and Marza Lunt Hatch, served as mission leaders of the Mexican Mission from 1962 to 1965. After Marza Hatch died in 1972, Ernest Hatch married Crenna O’Donnal Alvarez. When she passed away, he married Jeanne Larson in 1978. Together they opened Mexico City’s first missionary training center in February 1980, serving until July 1982.
The family’s devoted missionary service hasn’t just rubbed off on the Hatch brothers; it’s who they are through and through. “It’s in our blood,” said Elder Robert Hatch, “because all of our uncles and aunts and grandparents and parents have served a lot of missions.”

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Brother Connor Steanson teaches Elder Robert Hatch in a financial secretary class at the Provo Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on Tuesday, October 8, 2024. Photo by Kristin Murphy, courtesy of Church News.Copyright 2025 Deseret News Publishing Company.Their three sisters, who live in Utah, add to this valiant collage of missionary service — having served 11 missions among the three of them, from Guatemala to Germany.
“We’re trying to catch up,” joked Elder Paul Hatch.
The Hatches have another brother, who is serving beyond the veil. As a young man, Bruce Hatch had received a mission call but died in a car accident along with his mother on the way to the Mesa Arizona Temple.
“So there are four brothers serving right now,” said Sister Janice Hatch.

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Sister Sharon Hatch studies to become a mission office secretary with the help of Sister Sheila Draper, at the Provo Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on Tuesday, October 8, 2024. Photo by Kristin Murphy, courtesy of Church News.Copyright 2025 Deseret News Publishing Company.Fourth-Generation Ties to Mexico Pioneers
The family’s ties to Mexico pioneers start with great-grandparents Henry Lunt and Sarah Ann Lunt.
Henry Lunt, an England native born in 1824, learned about the restored gospel in his early 20s. “His parents said that if he joined the Church, they’d disinherit him. And he did, and they did,” said Elder Robert Hatch. Yet clinging to his testimony and faith in God’s promises, Henry Lunt traveled to the U.S. to gather with the Saints.
He later led two pioneer companies to Utah and founded Cedar City in November 1851. He would eventually return to England twice to serve two missions, in 1854 and 1886, between which he married Sarah Ann Lunt in 1878 in St. George, Utah.

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From left: Elder Robert Hatch and Sister Sharon Hatch; Sister Sandra Hatch and Elder John Hatch; and Sister Janice Hatch and Elder Paul Hatch stand outside the Provo Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on Tuesday, October 8, 2024. The three brothers and their wives started senior missions on the same week. Photo by Kristin Murphy, courtesy of Church News.Copyright 2025 Deseret News Publishing Company.At the time, Church leaders sent missionaries and later pioneers to settle Mexico, starting with Brigham Young sending the first missionaries to the country in 1875. After Brigham Young’s death in 1877, Church President John Taylor sent hundreds of Saints to Mexico in 1886 to flee antipolygamy legislation.
Sarah Ann Lunt and Henry Lunt were among those asked to travel south in 1887. The Church in these colonies, then small in size, would eventually expand across the nation with the 1.5 million members, 230 stakes and 14 dedicated temples of today.
“Latin America has been immensely blessed by Brigham Young asking the people to go south,” said Elder Robert Hatch.

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Elder John Hatch and Sister Sandra Hatch study the missionary manual “Preach My Gospel” in a class at the Provo Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on Tuesday, October 8, 2024. Photo by Kristin Murphy, courtesy of Church News.Copyright 2025 Deseret News Publishing Company.Sarah Ann Lunt remained in Mexico with her nine sons after her husband’s death in 1902 in Chihuahua, Mexico. The Mexican Revolution, which began in 1910 and continued for almost a decade, halted much of the Church’s progress, causing most of the Saints to leave the country in 1912.
Only a quarter of these Saints later returned to Mexico, including Sarah Lunt and her youngest son, to build up the kingdom of God locally.
Said Sister Sandra Hatch: “I feel like the reason that they went back is because their posterity needed to be in Mexico and learn the Latin culture and the Spanish language to be able to serve the Lord there. And so I’m grateful that we’re able to continue on with that legacy.”

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Elder Paul Hatch studies 3 Nephi at the Provo Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on Tuesday, October 8, 2024. Photo by Kristin Murphy, courtesy of Church News.Copyright 2025 Deseret News Publishing Company.Seeing the Growth of the Church in Mexico
In his dedicatory prayer on the Colonia Juárez Chihuahua Mexico Temple in 1999, President Gordon B. Hinckley pleaded, “May there be constant peace between the cultures, and may they dwell together with love and respect one for another.”
And that’s just what Sister Sandra Hatch saw as she and Elder John Hatch served as temple president and matron there from 2012 to 2015. “There was no ‘Mexican’ or ‘American,’” she said. “There were just members of the Church loving each other.”
Elder John Hatch said that when the Hatch brothers graduated high school at the Church’s Juárez Stake Academy, about 85% of the 180 students came from homes where English was their first language.
“And now there are about 500 students there attending the school, and only 5% come from homes where English is their first language,” he said. “So that shows you how much the Church has grown there.”
Added Sister Janice Hatch: “Watching the Lord’s hand in the colonies has been incredible. There are miracles every time you turn around.”

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Sister Janice Hatch and Elder Paul Hatch answer interview questions at the Provo Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on Tuesday, October 8, 2024. Photo by Kristin Murphy, courtesy of Church News.Copyright 2025 Deseret News Publishing Company.Sister Sharon Hatch and Elder Robert Hatch were recently impressed by the “wonderful local members” who administered ordinances while they attended the Lima Peru Temple. “At that moment,” said Elder Robert Hatch, “I thought of how proud Father Lehi must be of his descendants.”
Elder Paul Hatch is serving as branch president in Yucatán, Mexico, where he served as a young missionary.
Elder John Hatch was recently called to serve as branch president in a small town he was assigned to visit 53 years ago as a young missionary. “It is wonderful to see the growth that has taken place,” he said.
Sister Sandra Hatch fondly remembers a promise President Hinckley gave in 1997 about Mexico’s future.
“‘Mexico’s best days are ahead of her,’” she recalled. “And I still hold on to that.”
Copyright 2025 Deseret News Publishing Company.