This week I feel like I wasn't in my area very much haha We had
exchanges with the other elders in our district and with the zone
leaders so it was a fun week! When I was in my area we were working
with the Lopez family who is less active. They have a special needs
kid named Nacho and he is sooo awesome! He reminds me of Cody from
special needs mutual from home. (Nathan served 2 years in the special needs
youth program before he left for his mission)
He is way funny and always just puts a
smile on my face when I get to spend time with him. Tuesday we had
some miss communication with a member that turned out to be really
good. We asked him to come out with us to a lesson at 8 but he came at
7 and decided to just start talking to people around the appointment.
He found this really awesome guy and we showed up and jumped in the
conversation and it was sweet. Members are so crucial to missionary
work and so many people are more open to listening to someone like
them. I think most of the people that are being prepared right now
will be found by the members through their efforts to reach out to
their coworkers, family and friends.
Cool story. The sisters in our ward had a baptism this week and the
guy, Rufino, who was baptized was found by a member named Nick at his
work. Nick didn't know if the guy spoke any English so he got a
Spanish Book of Mormon and used google translate (Because he didn't
know any Spanish at all haha) to write a brief testimony in Spanish
inside the cover. Then a year and a half later and a lot of tracking
down by the sisters he was able to come and share his experience at
the baptism and someone translated for him. He was so happy that the
small act of giving a coworker he didn't know a copy of the Book of
Mormon gave Rufino a chance to better his life and come closer to
Jesus Christ. We can all do this :) By following the spirit and
continuing to read scriptures and pray for opportunities the find
those people that we can share the gospel with.
This week I went on exchanges with elder Etchart and it was a lot
of fun. He used to run cross country in high school so we got to talk
about running a ton. He has to stop running because of super bad
stomach problems. Kind of what I went through but worse. He is a
really good missionary and is super knowledgable about lots of random
things. I also had exchanges with zone leader elder Gallego. My
highlight of the exchange was teaching this awesome investigator named
Patty. She is working on overcoming her same sex attraction but she
has a lot of faith and I sure she will if she lets her Heavenly Father
help her. She is hilarious and has a really good feeling for the
gospel. We taught her about repentance and how she can be forgiven.
She is awesome!
So this week was really awesome with everything. Today we have a
huge stake party at the park. It's called the Elota and all the wards
are there playing soccer and eating tons of food. We stopped by for a
minute this morning but are heading back right after this. It's been
fun the see all the Costa Mesa members and all the Spanish
missionaries in the mission.
Love,
Elder Hyde
Monday, May 26, 2014
Monday, May 19, 2014
more from Santa Ana...
Hola!
This week was actually pretty long. Last P-day we found this lady
that is learning Hebrew and reads the bible in Hebrew with her family.
They believe Jesus Christ's real name is Joshua because that's what it
is in Hebrew. We had a really interesting conversation but I don't
remember what religion she is. Haha. We also taught this less active
and they haven't been able to come to church because someone stole his
identity and spent thousands and he is worried so he is working every
hour that he can just in case he has to somehow try and pay it. We are
trying to help them work everything out with the court system because
they don't speak English.
Our last zone conference with President Bowen was this week. The
Spirit is so strong when he speaks and testifies, he is an amazing
president but I'm also excited to meet the new one. President Taggert
will be here in 4 weeks and I think things are going to change quite a
bit. That night she we found this lady Ruby who almost broke down
crying because she told us she felt like we were sent just for her. I
have a lot of hope for her and she wants us to meet her family, who
really needs what we share. I went on exchanges with Elder Sorensen
this week. He is 6' 8" and it was fun being with someone tall again.
He is a big little kid. Haha. We had a really good exchange and found
some really awesome, elect, people. This lady told us she had been
searching everywhere for which church was true but hadn't been able to
find it. She loved everything we taught her about restored truths.
It was a really hot the first half of the week, got into the 100's 3
days and it was fun being on bike :) with the heat I have been trying
to teach the Lomeli girls and their cousin on Facebook which is going
pretty well. We have been given orders from our stake president and
President Bowen to get all members on Mormon.org so we have been going
to members helping them get on and make a profile so we can show them
to people we meet and to our investigators. So if you aren't on
Mormon.org yet you should make a profile! :)
Saturday we were knocking and were trying to teach a lady at the
door that didn't seem very interested but as we were teaching and
testifying of our loving Heavenly Father a lady in the back seemed to
just be mesmerized by us at the door but she was really interested and
was one of the most engaged door lessons I have ever had. She told us
she has tried to follow what God wants her to do. That night we had a
Mother's Day party with the ward. Our investigators didn't show up but
we got two less active families there that also came to church the
next day so it was a success. :) I love the Spanish culture because
during the party they read poems about their moms and sang karaoke to
some sweet old Spanish songs haha. This week we are planning on a lot
of finding because the investigators we have aren't progressing very
much so next week I should have a lot of new people to talk about. I'm
excited :) Also our mission nurse told us we have been gaining a lot
of weight as a mission so we are going on a get healthy plan, so we
are running every day this week and I just bought some good fruits and
veggies :) time to get healthy haha
Love,
Elder Hyde
This week was actually pretty long. Last P-day we found this lady
that is learning Hebrew and reads the bible in Hebrew with her family.
They believe Jesus Christ's real name is Joshua because that's what it
is in Hebrew. We had a really interesting conversation but I don't
remember what religion she is. Haha. We also taught this less active
and they haven't been able to come to church because someone stole his
identity and spent thousands and he is worried so he is working every
hour that he can just in case he has to somehow try and pay it. We are
trying to help them work everything out with the court system because
they don't speak English.
Our last zone conference with President Bowen was this week. The
Spirit is so strong when he speaks and testifies, he is an amazing
president but I'm also excited to meet the new one. President Taggert
will be here in 4 weeks and I think things are going to change quite a
bit. That night she we found this lady Ruby who almost broke down
crying because she told us she felt like we were sent just for her. I
have a lot of hope for her and she wants us to meet her family, who
really needs what we share. I went on exchanges with Elder Sorensen
this week. He is 6' 8" and it was fun being with someone tall again.
He is a big little kid. Haha. We had a really good exchange and found
some really awesome, elect, people. This lady told us she had been
searching everywhere for which church was true but hadn't been able to
find it. She loved everything we taught her about restored truths.
It was a really hot the first half of the week, got into the 100's 3
days and it was fun being on bike :) with the heat I have been trying
to teach the Lomeli girls and their cousin on Facebook which is going
pretty well. We have been given orders from our stake president and
President Bowen to get all members on Mormon.org so we have been going
to members helping them get on and make a profile so we can show them
to people we meet and to our investigators. So if you aren't on
Mormon.org yet you should make a profile! :)
Saturday we were knocking and were trying to teach a lady at the
door that didn't seem very interested but as we were teaching and
testifying of our loving Heavenly Father a lady in the back seemed to
just be mesmerized by us at the door but she was really interested and
was one of the most engaged door lessons I have ever had. She told us
she has tried to follow what God wants her to do. That night we had a
Mother's Day party with the ward. Our investigators didn't show up but
we got two less active families there that also came to church the
next day so it was a success. :) I love the Spanish culture because
during the party they read poems about their moms and sang karaoke to
some sweet old Spanish songs haha. This week we are planning on a lot
of finding because the investigators we have aren't progressing very
much so next week I should have a lot of new people to talk about. I'm
excited :) Also our mission nurse told us we have been gaining a lot
of weight as a mission so we are going on a get healthy plan, so we
are running every day this week and I just bought some good fruits and
veggies :) time to get healthy haha
Love,
Elder Hyde
Monday, May 12, 2014
Mother's Day, Santa Ana & Elder Richards
This week went by super fast with all the new changes. My new area hasn't seen much success and hasn't had a baptism in forever so my companion and I are really excited to get this area going. There is tons of potential and as we have been working with the members this week we have been able to find some cool new investigators. It was amazing to Skype with you guys and see that you are all doing great! Sorry the Skype cut out haha but I will try to go somewhere with better wifi next time. But that will be in 7 and a half months so I have some time to find a better place haha :) There is a cool less-active family that we met this week. The dad has been less-active because he was in prison for 5 years but he is super excited to come back to church and bring his whole family. He got out this last Saturday so we went over to his welcome home party and he is pretty awesome. I will have a lot more to say next week but thank you for the support in this great opportunity to serve the Lord.
Love,
Elder Hyde
Love,
Elder Hyde
Monday, May 5, 2014
First Transfer - Santa Ana, RATS!, Mother's Day
This has been a crazy week because of transfers. I left Costa Mesa and now I am in Santa Ana. About 2 miles away from my last apartment. Not very far but hey, a new area, new ward, new zone, and new companion so it will be nice to have some change :) my new companion is Elder Richards. He was last companions with Elder Maughan so it's pretty funny that I took his place. Elder Richards is District leader and it will be cool to learn from him. Fun stuff! :) my first move has been pretty crazy but it's been a lot of fun. I hope Alan has an amazing birthday this week and I'm super stoked to skype on Sunday so I'm sorry that this is a short email but I will see you on Sunday!
Love,
Elder Hyde
Love,
Elder Hyde
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