The Book of Mormon

Hey everybody! Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes, cards,
and prayers. I feel really blessed to have so many family members and
friends who care about me. You're all amazing!

This week was a little tough physically. I feel like the mission is
finally taking its toll on me. Haha I had a few days this week of
complete exhaustion and it wasn't very fun. But it helped me learn a
lot and I'm really glad I went through it. One of the things that
helped me through it was studying the Book of Mormon. Reading the Book
of Mormon brings us closer to Christ and Christ can help us overcome
anything. This week we had zone conference and learned about the Book
of Mormon and it was amazing. This Saturday we started the Book of
Mormon from the beginning as a mission and are going to read 4 pages a
day so we all finish by Christmas. :) you should all do it too! We are
highlighting specific things such as when it mentions Christ, when He
speaks, His attributes, and when it talks about the gospel principles
in the missionary purpose. Doing so has made me addicted to reading
the Book of Mormon. I don't want to put it down. It's given me
strength, helped me feel the spirit and now I just want everyone to
read it. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. And I know that if we
read it every day we will be happy and everything will work out. We
will still have trials, but we will know that we aren't alone to face
them.

This week it was a lot of fun to focus on the Book of Mormon with
those we taught. We had some amazing miracles finding a handful of
young people this week. One was an investigator that we haven't
visited in a long time because we had to stop teaching her because she
wasn't keeping commitments. But we had some great lessons with her and
she showed some amazing sacrifice of things that she loves to do so
that she could progress in the gospel. We also have a miracle baptism
that is probably going to happen this weekend. A member that came from
Peru doesn't have a record and our Ward has been looking for months.
So he is probably going to get baptized this week. I have been praying
that I could finish by helping one last person to be baptized and hey
it looks like it is going to happen. Maybe not in the way I expected
but the Lord always provides. :)

I know that God loves us. He wants us to be happy. Jesus Christ is
our Savior and by following His gospel is how we will truly be happy.
We learn His gospel best by reading the Book of Mormon. So if you want
to be happy, read it. :) As much as I don't want to leave, it's going
to be great to see you all. But before that I have an amazing week
ahead of me! So hold on a little longer, I will see you next week!


Love,
Elder Hyde

Salvador Got Baptized!!!

Salvador got baptized yesterday and it was super awesome! We met with
him a lot this week and he is so ready to be baptized. His cousin
Pablo baptized him and it was crazy because he just got baptized 4
months ago and then he got to baptize his cousin Sal. It was a great
Sunday leading up to him being baptized. The gospel principles class
was about baptism and she mentioned that leading up to baptism satan
will try and distract you or put trials in your path to prevent you
from getting baptized. After she said that he looked at me and said
"leading up to me baptism I have only felt good and the spirit
confirming what I am doing is right, but I feel like it's just the
warm before the storm. And I'm ready to meet the storm!" Then he
shared his testimony with the class of how he know that God allows
trials into our lives so that we can grow and become who He wants us
to and said that he loves trials because that is how he learns. He is
amazing.

Other than that we are finding new people to teach. Almost everyone
we are teaching isn't keeping their commitments, or has gone on
vacation for over a month. But I know that the Lord is preparing many
people to receive us so I'm excited for a really good week of finding!
This past week we had president interviews and it was a great
experience to sit down one on one with presidente Taggart. He shared
great insight as always but one thing that really stuck out to me is
when he said "By celebrating what's right we find the energy to fix
what's wrong." What amazing council. Our numbers as a mission have
been going down a bunch lately and many missionaries are being really
hard on themselves for the lack of success. So as leaders he has asked
us to be extra positive and focus on the good things that are going
on. Because there are some amazing miracles and life changing
experiences that are happening every day here. If we don't stop to
appreciate the small things in life, I don't think we will appreciate
the big things. Or as nearly as much as we should have. Like Salvador
got baptized this week, that is amazing! We could get down on
ourselves because we didn't teach very much and we don't have any
investigators but then we would have missed the great joy of seeing a
saving ordnance performed and enjoying the wonderful spirit we were
able to have this weekend. No matter how difficult our lives may seem
we can always find something to be grateful for. Then when we
celebrate those small achievements and growth we experience. As we do
so we will be more capable and strengthened to make the changes we
need to and be able to accomplish Gods work. Take some time to focus
on the good things that are happening in your life. I promise it will
help you feel more joyous and happy in this great journey of life we
are all on together. :)

Love,
Elder Hyde

Elder Hyde, Sal, Pablo & Elder Cottle

Exchanges and Learning Patience (1 Fast Sunday left, 28 days left...mom is counting)

This week flew by because we had an exchange with the assistants to
the president on Tuesday and then one on Saturday with some elders in
the zone. I love exchanges to be able to learn so much from other
missionaries and this week I got to go with some great ones. The first
exchange Elder Seegmiller came to my area and we had a really great
day. It didn't go as planned but I feel that we were very led by the
spirit to do what the wanted us to accomplish that day. We found a
recent convert that stopped coming to church basically right after he
got baptized and it was a great lesson. I felt the spirit work through
me as I was impressed to ask certain questions and then had no clue
what scripture I wanted to share but opened it right to a scripture
that answered his question. It was really amazing. Elder Seegmiller
doesn't speak Spanish so I felt bad that I had to teach the whole
lesson but he said it was amazing to sit there and watch the change in
him from the beginning to the end of the lesson. I learned a lot from
Elder Seegmiller about diligence. He diligently does everything that
he can and then the Lord makes up the rest. Luckily we had some
lessons in English at night and it was great to see his knowledge as
he taught.

The second exchange I brought Elder Encinas to my area and it was a
blast. He is a newer missionary and has a lot of greenie fire. We were
both just really excited and tried to teach everyone we could. We
ended up teaching the whole day and it was really good but really
exhausting. At the end of the exchange he told me I reminded him of
his bishop from back at home and said he felt like he had just gone on
an exchange with him all day. Haha I didn't really know what to say to
that. Also that morning we felt an earthquake and it woke us up. The
whole room was just swaying for about 10 long seconds and it woke me
up but I was too tired to do anything so I just laid there. Haha

As far as learning patience this week, I'm still waiting for it...
This week a lot of random things happened that I wasn't really sure
why. Then to top it off, yesterday Adolfo, who was supposed to be
baptized this week, text us after church saying that he think this
church isn't for him and he feels like it was a sign from God telling
him to go to his Christian church that he used to go to a few years
ago. He won't answer our calls or respond to us so we are very worried
about him. On the other hand, Salvador is going to be baptized this
weekend and loved church. Every lesson when we ask him if he has
questions he always asks us if we can teach him more. I'm really
excited for him! :) He even fasted with us and the ward this week for
missionary opportunities. It was really cool.

I'm still trying to learn everything that Heavenly Father wants me
to from the many experiences that have tried my patience this week but
I'm being really humbled as I just take a step back and ask him what
I'm supposed to learn. I know that the adversity that we have in this
life is part of our test to see if we will put our faith in our
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and trust that they will shape us
into who we need to be. As we completely submit our will to Theirs we
can know that everything will work out for the best and that
eventually we will have great blessings because of our adversity. Just
as we learn in D&C 58:2–4

"He that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is
greater in the kingdom of heaven. Ye cannot behold with your natural
eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those
things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow
after much tribulation. For after much tribulation come the blessings.
Sometimes we receive the blessings during our trials and sometime not
until much after. But I know if we trust in the Lord and our Heavenly
Fathers perfect plan then they will always come. Trust that we have
loving Heavenly Father with a perfect plan. Trust that all that seems
unfair in this life will be made right through the Atonement of Jesus
Christ. I love you all and I know that this is Christ's true church on
the earth.

Love,
Elder Hyde

Ward Conference & the Spirit

Aldo our former ward mission leader

Zone at the temple

I feel the best when I feel the spirit. This weekend I felt
amazing. The spirit was so strong almost all weekend and it gave me a
huge boost going into my last transfer. This weekend we found out that
my last transfer I will be staying here with Elder Cottle in the YSA!
I was really happy to receive that news! I would have gone wherever
the Lord needed me to go, but I'm really glad he needs me right here.
I love this Ward so much and I feel like part of their family. The
past four and a half months here have flown by but I'm glad I get to
stay here for another 6 weeks.

Since I just wrote on Thursday I don't have too much to say but I
did want to tell you about the amazing Ward conference this weekend.
It started on Thursday night with a trip to the temple and prepared
the jovenes spiritually for the next few days of service, dancing,
tacos, movies, more dancing, and then ended with an amazing church
block with the stake presidency. Presidente Villegas, our stake
president is a very inspired man and ever time I her him speak I feel
like he tells me exactly what the Lord would tell me if He was there.
We were really excited to get our investigators there but Adolfo was
out of town, Leo wasn't home in the morning when we went to wake him
up, and the others all had their excuses. But we had really good
success getting recent converts there. Sergio and Alfredo came and
passed the sacrament which was a really cool experience to see them
both in a white shirt and tie passing the sacrament. They have
completely changed! :) Brandon came and loved almost every minute of
it. He even fasted on his own so that he could be spiritually prepared
to be interviewed for a temple recommend and that made me so happy.
Early that week we promised him a change a heart if he read a chapter
a day from king Benjamin's discourse and so he did so and because we
promised it user the spirit it came true. He is changing a ton.
We also had the privilege of eating with the Pablo family
yesterday. They told us their conversion story while we ate their
delicious food and it was incredible. Long story short the son of the
family went to the city and and told the missionaries they should come
teach him family who lived in the middle of nowhere and so they had to
make a few hour trip to get to their house and then spent all day
there the first day teaching them the gospel. They then had to take a
3 hour drive to church on Sunday's to be able to attend. They got
baptized and then moved here. Since then three kids have served
missions and they are preparing to be sealed in the temple. It's a
really amazing story and the spirit was so strong in their house it
was amazing.

Today at transfer meeting we had to say goodbye to so many amazing
missionaries. About 30 missionaries from the mission leave tomorrow
and it was a great meeting to hear their testimonies and then we heard
a musical number that words won't do justice to describe. She sang
Joseph Smith's first prayer with a piano and cello in the background
and it was absolutely beautiful. I don't think anybody could have been
in that chapel and not felt the spirit. The restoration is the most
glorious thing. Joseph Smith did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
They appeared to him to begin the restoration of Christ's church to
the earth once more. What a glorious experience and blessing we have
to know that for ourselves. I know that it happened because I have
received a confirmation from the Holy Ghost to my heart and mind that
it did. Prayer is essential in conversion and just as Joseph smith
received an answer to his humble prayer we can and will receive
answers to ours. Have a wonderful week and I will tell you how
Adolfo's baptism goes this Saturday next week when I email!

Love,
Elder Hyde

Temple, MLC, and Adolfo

The past week and a half have been super packed! I will try and
share as much as I can but I woke up at 5:00am today to go to the
temple so I just fell asleep for a few minutes in accident. Plus we
have a lesson in a few minutes before zone activity so I will try and
share what I can. :)

Today was an amazing trip to the temple and I really needed it. Our
previous wars mission leader named Aldo came with us and it was really
cool to learn some cool things from him while we were there. He is a
really spiritual man that has studied a lot of doctrine. The thing I
loved the most was the spirit. It is so strong inside the Lord's house
and one of my greatest goals is to make my home feel similar to
walking into the temple, where the spirit is just always present. I
can't wait to be able to go more often than once every three months,
even though I am really grateful that I do get to go as a missionary
because that is a great blessing.

We had MLC (mission leadership council) this week with president
Taggart and then we got to take the training that we received to the
zone and it went really well. We focused on commitments and how we can
more clearly and powerfully extend our commitment invitations. The
most important this is the the spirit it there and we bring the spirit
by testifying and promising blessings. Then we just have to follow up
with them daily and make sure they do what they said they would. :)
that's the part most of our investigators struggle with, actually
doing what they say they will.

Last time I wrote I told you about a guy named Adolfo who sent us a
text telling us that he was ready to meet with us. Well he was right
about that. He is going to be baptized on July 18th and he is so
prepared. About a month ago he was doing a school report on the church
because his girlfriend is a member and it met the requirements for his
paper. So he met once with elder pace and another elder when we were
on exchanges and so that's why we didn't recognize who he was when he
text us. But basically ever since that initial contact the spirit has
been stirring in his heart that he needed to find us again. He told us
he feels like it wasn't a coincidence and that God guided him to us.
He told us that he feels like the reason he met his girlfriend was to
find us so he could join Christ's true church's. He is amazing! He
went to a fireside on Sunday night after church and a lady told him
something that really stuck out to him and is his new motto. "If it
isn't eternal, than don't worry about it." He is really looking for
true happiness and so he has changed his whole life to try and achieve
that. With every commandment or lesson we teach him he always thanks
Heavenly Father for providing him a way to more happiness. He teaches
me so much in lessons. When someone has such a desire to learn and
find the truth it is amazing how strong the spirit is in lessons.
Anyways, I'm really excited for him!

Sergio, Alfredo, and Brandon are all planning to do baptisms in the
temple for the first time this weekend and I'm really excited for all
of them. Especially Brandon who is fighting through some really tough
addictions to be able to be clean to enter.
The gospel is true! Jesus Christ is our Savior and this is His
work. It doesn't feel real that my last transfer is starting on Monday
but I pray that I can do everything that the Lord needs me to do here
before I leave.

Love you all!!!
Elder Hyde

I must be doing something good

A week full of trials. To be honest this week was really difficult
for me. As I have learned on the mission, a lot of the time we have
trials because we are ready to grow and progress and so I take it as a
good sign. Although I have learned this on the mission trials are
still really hard. The difference has really been just relying on the
Atonement and not trying to overcome things on my own.
So this week were dropped by a lot of investigators and many just
have lost interest. Some recent converts are really struggling with
addictions and yesterday we had to plead,sing, and read with one of
them for an hour to give us his drugs. We ended up smashing an apple
and he gave us some of his drugs but in the end fell into the
temptation. It is really hard to see those you love go through hard
trials because of disobedience to the commandments. If we follow the
commandments we have Gods promise but when we willingly disobey we
forfeit those blessings.
Not the whole week was as disappointing! During the week we
received a text from a random number that we had in the phone and he
told us that he had told missionaries that he would call them when he
was ready to make time to accept the message. Well I guess he is ready
because he text us and we invited him to church and he came! He is
dating a member and he is really excited to learn about the church. He
grew up catholic but when we talked about making and keeping covenants
to help us progress he told us it just made sense that he will need to
be baptized again. His name is Adolfo and we are going to see him
again tomorrow to set a specific date for him to be baptized.
Leo is still working towards baptism but still wasn't able to come
to church this week. We actually aren't sure what happened. We went in
the morning to wake him up and he got ready to go and wanted to ride
with us to church but we told him we had to send a member to pick him
up. When the member got there he was no where to be found. So we hope
he is doing good.
Sergio and Alfredo came to church and are doing great. The bishop
talked with us about them both receiving the Melchizedek priesthood in
September and I'm really excited for them.
This work is amazing. I am humbled and honored every day for having
is opportunity to be a representative of Jesus Christ and share his
gospel. Sometimes I don't know why I am so blessed to be here. But I
know God has a work for me to do and I'm here to do it. I love you all
and I know God has called all of you to His work as well. He has so
many people for us to bless and so many lives to change. Pray and ask
who He needs you to help and I promise that the spirit will guide you
to those whom are in need of Gods help through you.
Love,
Elder Hyde

Just doing work....

One of the most amazing blessings of being a missionary is that you are able to work. Work all day every day in the service of our Heavenly Fathers children, our brothers and sisters. When we work and do all we can to find, teach, and baptism on the mission we will find true happiness and time just flies by. The past few weeks have been really spiritually rewarding for me and a lot of people that I care about and I know it has all happened because I have just been lost in the work. When we truly focus all of our thoughts and actions on our purpose we find that there really isn't enough time in the day to do all that we need to do.

Even thought this week was slightly slower than the past few, Elder Cottle and I have been working the most diligently and effectively that we know how and we have seen great happiness. Alfredo received the Aaronic priesthood yesterday and him and Sergio are doing great. The bishop says he has a goal with them to be able to receive the Melchizedek priesthood in September and both are starting mission funds so that they can be ready to go when that time comes. I love them so much. :) Brandon also made some really great steps this week and the members are really bumping up the support to help him overcome everything.

A ward member named Christian Ortega is driving to his mission tonight. He was set apart yesterday and we got to get pictures with him with his tags because they had previously sent him his tags because he isn't going to the MTC. He is going to be a stud missionary. Just a few weeks ago he used to have super long shaggy hair and rarely came to church with a tie on but yesterday he looked way awesome. All clean cut, tie on, and excitement flowing from his face. He has been coming out with us and is going to be such a good missionary and I'm really excited for him. Plus his non member dad is planning on getting baptized soon and I know he is having a huge impact on the whole family.

I would like to end with an experience that I had yesterday. During the sacrament hymn I saw a scripture at the bottom of the hymn that I felt impressed to read D&C 45:3-5 which says "Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him-- Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified; Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life." It filled me with the spirit and as I partook of the sacrament it was a really beautiful experience. Sometimes it can be discouraging to realize just how short of the glory of God we fall. But this scripture gave me a lot of comfort and hope. I am so grateful to have the sacrament in my life and have access to the amazing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I invite all of you to take some time this week to ponder what the Atonement really means to you. Pray about it. Study the scriptures about it. Then act relying that it will help you go places and do things that you never thought were possible. Jesus Christ loves you. I love you. But most importantly Jesus Christ loves. Have a great week. :)




Love,

Elder Hyde

Afredo's Baptism, Teaching, The Spirit, Middle of June?

Elder Cottle, Alfredo's Baptism, Elder Hyde

Alfredo's Baptism

Alfredo, Mom & Sergio

When did June get here? Yesterday I had a realization that we were in
June. Not only June but we are in the middle of June. For some reason
I thought it was still May. Haha oh well.
Happy Birthday Mom! I love you! Also happy Father's Day to the
wonderful Fathers in my life. :)

This week Alfredo got Baptized! It was really great to see him really
happy and it was a really spiritual baptism. Sergio, his brother that
got baptized two weeks ago, gave one of the talks and did an amazing
job! He was also one of the witnesses because he received the
priesthood last week. It was so awesome and his mom came and is really
excited to start taking lessons from the sisters. President and sister
Taggart also came and it was fun to see them using the Spanish they
know to talk with the members and Alfredo's mom.

President and Sister Taggart also chose to come to our zone training
this week. It was my first one being senior zone leader the first one
for Elder Cottle and it went really well. We prepared really well for
it and then let the spirit guide us and it was a really powerful one
about finding. The whole zone participated a lot and it was very
instructive. President Taggart told us it was one of he most uplifting
and spiritual zone meetings he has ever been in and it really humbled
me because we didn't do anything special. We just did our best to
invite the spirit and that's what made the difference. The Spirit is
everything. Just like that conference talk that says if you can't feel
the spirit, you are lost. So we need to do everything in our power to
invite the spirit into our lives. Whether that is through music,
prayer, scripture study, temple worship, or just keeping our baptismal
covenant of always remembering the Savior. Something that president
Taggart always says is "the Spirit is eager to come when we invite
it."

This week we had some huge miracles, especially at church. Rosi
Loemli, who hasn't come to church in a long time finally came after we
taught her this week and she didn't come alone. She brought a friend
that really liked church and is interested in meeting with us. Also
That morning we went to wake up one of our investigators named Leo
because he has committed to come to church for 3 weeks in a row but
hadn't come. Anyways we got to his house and he had a thousand excuses
why he couldn't come and why he should stay home. We told him that if
he didn't come then he wouldn't be able to be baptized in 2 weeks and
that hit him pretty hard. He sat there and thought about it for a
second and then said okay I'll make it work. He made some arrangements
and came to church for all three hours! It was awesome! Alex, is doing
well and could be baptized any week but is just worried about the
commitment of baptism. She is coming to church and reading and praying
so it is just a matter of time.

Although time may go by fast I am really enjoying every moment of
missionary work right now. It's difficult to see people reject the
gospel but it is by far worth it when you find those few elect that
are. Have a wonderful week and don't forget to review your general
conference notes and watch the talks online. It's super easy and it's
something that has really helped me a lot he past few weeks.
Love you all!

Elder Hyde

First week of transfers with Elder Cottle, Alfredo prepares for baptism and Awesome Experience with the Spirit

This week was an amazing first week of the transfer! So much
happened this week it feels like I haven't emailed in a really long
time. My new companion Elder Cottle is an amazing missionary and I
have already learned a ton from him. He hasn't quite hit his year mark
but he came out into the mission way more prepared than I did and it's
very joyful being companions. He is about 6ft 4 and from Idaho. We
already teach really well together and I believe it's because we are
both really focused on our purpose and following the spirit to know
what to do.

Alfredo, Sergio's brother, is really excited about his baptism this
Saturday. At the beginning of the week he was nervous that he didn't
know enough but we helped him see on his baptismal calendar that he
almost knew everything already and he agreed and after some great
friend present lessons and coming to the activities he is really
excited for his baptism! :)

As for teaching Brandon this
week we had a couple of really
interesting lessons with him and helping him overcome his addictions.
As we read with him in the Book of Mormon it was a big testimony
builder of how true that book is and how inspired and guided by God
were the prophets that wrote it. After everything I have gone through
in the mission there is no way I could ever deny the Book of Mormon
without seriously mocking God. I know that what it teaches is true and
that it has brought me closer to Jesus Christ than any other book.
We had a really cool experience this week following the promptings
of the spirit.

On Friday we had a really packed day and ended up
having to spend two hours helping some elders in the zone take their
bike to get fixed and so we didn't get to eat dinner because we had
appointments right when we finished helping them. So anyways we taught
two awesome lessons with this member named Milton and when we finished
the second one at 8:30 he told us he wants to take us out to eat
because we hadn't eaten yet. We were starving and wanted to go but we
felt a strong impression that we had one more person to visit. We
graciously declined and got in the car not knowing who needed our
help. The first person that came to my mind was an assignment from the
bishop to go visit a girl that came home early from her mission and
was struggling. We went looking for her and when we got to her house
she wasn't there but something didn't seem right with her parents. Her
dad had a stoke the day before and looked really bad. They said that
we were the Angels that God had sent to them to give him a blessing.
It was a really sweet moment as we gave him a blessing and then left
them by singing a hymn. I know we were guided to the house for a
reason we didn't fully understand but because we followed the spirit
we were able to bless one of our brothers that was in need. God really
does know us and He wants to bless each one of us. Most times He will
use others to be the means of bringing that assistance. As we live
worthy to receiving the promptings of the spirit and then have the
faith to act on those promptings, I promise that we will be
instruments in the hands of the Lord.
Love,

Elder Hyde

Hey family! So I don't have time to write today because but it was an
amazing week! Sergio got baptized and confirmed and at his baptism
even shared his testimony of how the gospel has changed his life.
Sorry for the lack of words but i am alive and well and loving the
mission! Elder Pace goes home tomorrow and my new companion is Elder
Cottle. He is from Idaho and I'm really excited to be his companion.

Sergio's baptism! (PICTURES SAW IT ALL!)

New Companion Elder Cottle - Lunch courtesy of member

Elder Hyde holding Elder Pace before he goes home

Group Picture @ Sergio's baptism

Segio, Elder Hyde, Boy?

Elder Pace, Sergio, Elder Hyde

Elder Pace, Sergio, Elder Hyde

Sister missionaries, Elder Pace & Hyde

Brandon's Baptism...Sergio Singing

Brandon's Baptism

Sergio Singing

Well the highlight of the week was definitely Brandon's baptism!
The first time I met him about 10 months ago I lacked a lot of faith
because I thought he might never get baptized. But God has been
preparing him for such a long time and I was so happy to see that he
was finally ready to make that huge decision in his life. He is a
great missionary and spent all week inviting his friends, family,
lawyers, and every person that he knew to come to the baptism. It
worked because almost 20 non members showed up and there was also a
good Ward assistance and so it was packed. These two older white
ladies (his lawyers) showed up and literally screamed in the parking
lot they were so excited for him and couldn't believe all of the
changes that he has made. The baptism went smoothly and then after we
spent an hour and a half talking to all of his friends and family and
gave them a church tour. Most of them don't have any interest in the
church right now but it was really impactful on his step mom, sister,
and two or three friends that either us or other missionaries will be
teaching this week. On Sunday he was confirmed and then later he
received the Aaronic priesthood and was given a temple recommend for
baptisms. He will be passing the sacrament next week! He was so full
of happiness and light and was practically swarmed with members for
those two days congratulating him. He is a great example to me and
really built my faith. If he can do it, anybody can.

Another great miracle that happened this week was the progress that
Sergio has made. Our former Ward mission leader is pretty much his
best friend now and when he picked him up he gave him a white shirt,
tie and slacks and so he came to church looking like a member and we
hardly recognized him. Haha Then later that night we sang in the stake
priesthood meeting as a Ward and Sergio and Brandon both sang in it
and said it made then feel part of a family. It was awesome! Sergio is
going on the Ward camp out this weekend so he decided that he would
feel better doing his baptism May 30th but he is so excited for it, it
makes me excited just thinking about it. It's amazing because as soon
as we started teaching him a week ago he has been tried a lot with
ridicule from his friends and family and being present for a really
deep institute class after only being taught twice. But none of that
has fazes him at all. He said it has made him stronger. He told us
that he already refers to himself as a member of the church and tells
them "we Mormons don't actually believe that" or "if the whole world
was a member of the church we would have world peace" or many of his
other great comments that always make me laugh. Miracles are happening
and I feel so happy and honored to be an instrument in the Lords hands
to find the elect and help them come closer to Christ.

Love,
Elder Hyde

Mother's Day 2015

Hi mom and family! I hope your Mother's Day was fantastic, it was
so great to see you all. :)
And mom I hope that the card comes really soon because it's pretty great.

Well you know most of the week but after I told you about our plans
yesterday I need to let you know how it went. So after the call we
went to a members house named Daisy and ate the hot dog pizza
thingys.They tasted delicious and so I ate 4 of them. During dinner we
got to talk to her grandma and she is probably the boldest grandma I
have ever met. She told us story after story of her sharing the gospel
with others and how she would do it so boldly. She has a ton of faith
and because of that she really speaks with power and it really
strengthened me. After dinner we went to our appointment with Sergio
and he was still really excited about the awesome day he had at
church. He was passed to us from the family Ward sisters that felt
that he would progress better in the YSA and they were right. He told
the sisters that he wasn't ready for baptism yet but after that
amazing church experience he said yes to being baptized five times
before I could even finish my sentence to invite him. Haha he said he
will be baptized May 23 and so we are going to meet with him almost
every day until then to make sure he is ready. He is so prepared to
receive the gospel and he has a huge family of 9 that he is having a
huge impact on because of his righteous decisions.

This week I got to go on exchanges with one of my old companions
Elder Arevalo! It was really good. He is really good at teaching to
the needs of the investigators and he was really happy to be back on
his old area. It was on the exchange that we got passed Sergio and we
had a church tour with a recent converts cousin and he also said he
wants to be baptized and came to the first hour of church and loved
it. The week was great and it made me really happy to be able to see
and talk to my wonderful family. I am so grateful for all of the moms
in my life and especially for my momma who is always the most
supportive and loving person ever. Love you mom!

-Elder Hyde

Filling my life with light and happiness...

To be honest this week was really long and full of some less
exciting experiences. But I know that we must have weeks like that to
be able to more fully enjoy the really great weeks. We still saw
miracles and I was happy for most of the week but I really learned the
power of filling my life with light and happiness.

We had an emergency with the Costa Mesa sisters and ended up
spending a good chunk of the day moving them to a new apartment and it
was one of the longest days of my mission because of the things we had
to do. They spent the next few days in the hospital but all should be
fine because they are in a new place now. :) It was also a really long
week because we had apartment checks and one of the elders grandma
passed away so we went by to make sure he was doing okay. I just love
the gospel because it helps us through everything we go through.
Especially on a mission because it will prepare us for how we face
trials and tribulations later on in life.

I got to go on exchanges with Elder Wagstaff this week. He is one
of the assistants to president Taggart right now and it was a lot of
fun being in their area for a day. They are part of an English Ward
but have a Spanish group in it so we were able to teach both and it
was a blast. I feel like English sometimes get a more wide variety of
people to teach. Because most people we teach in Spanish are catholic
and don't have much time to listen, but just in one day in English we
taught so many different people it was a lot of fun. Plus he is an
amazing missionaries and I learned a lot about studying techniques and
planning while we were together.

Brandon is doing really well and is pumped for his baptism. He
talks with everyone in his neighborhood and so took some time to walk
around with him and talk to all of his neighbors to share the gospel
with them and invite them to his baptism. Everyone is really happy for
him and we even taught some of his friends at his house this week and
it went awesome. Now that he has left drugs and is changing his life
his friends want to do the same. It's awesome! So back to filling your
life with light. As we invite the spirit into our lives we will fill
our lives with light. Something I have been doing this week is singing
and reciting scriptures a lot to take away any feelings that I don't
want in my life. It has helped me a ton and I know that as we live a
life worthy for the spirit to help and guide us will give us the light
that we look for. I am really excited to skype you in 6 days!!! :) :)
:)

Week full of MIRACLES!

This week was full of miracles, why? Because President Taggart has
been focusing his remarks to us on praying for miracles and then
expecting that they will happen. So that's exactly what we have been
doing and they are happening all over the place. One of the biggest
was finding a family of brothers that all want to be baptized. They
are all part of la familia Cruz and most of them will be coming to the
YSA with us. This week when we taught them about baptism they
responded "yeah that's something I feel really to do" and are really
excited to be baptized the 23 of May together. The most excited, Edgar
and Jessie, have both started reading and praying and love everything,
especially the word of wisdom.


Can I tell you how amazing it is to have recently returned
missionaries coming into your Ward almost every week for the past 5
weeks? Because this Ward is getting ready for something really big.
The Lord is preparing so many people right now. At church we had at
least 7 people come to church because of the members just inviting
friends to church and them saying yes. Everyone is really excited! One
of the returned missionaries named Jenny Acosta who just got back from
Mérida, Mexico where my friend Megan Manning is serving and they were
really good friends down there so it just shows how small this world
is when you're a member of the church. Haha


Brandon is doing really good but relapsed this week. He is really
hard on himself so we just have to give him a lot of praise and
realize that he can do it. He said one of the most heartfelt prayers
this week that I won't ever forget. I really felt like he was talking
to our Heavenly Father as if he was standing right in front of Him and
the spirit was really powerful. I know that as he realizes his
dependance on the Lord he will be able to overcome his addictions. And
he needs to quickly because he has to be completely clean from May 2
and on.


I found out today that I have a sinus infection and pink eye after
I was suffering this weekend with lots of congestion and a really sore
throat. But I got medicine today and should be fine soon. :) I want
you all to know that miracles are possible and because of Jesus Christ
we can reach new heights and see things that we never really thought
were possible. Gods ways are really higher than our ways and if we
have faith in Him and His Son Jesus Christ we can do all things.


Love,
Elder Hyde

YSA testimonies, I love Missionary work

I love missionary work! It makes me really happy to share the
gospel. So I'm going to have to be quick again but we saw some great
miracles this week. Brandon is really overcoming his addictions
amazingly and is on his 7th day without any smoking or drinking and he
even bore his testimony at church yesterday. He said he can finally
say that he knows that the Book of Mormon is true! Now we are just
waiting for his probation to end in May 15 so he can be baptized! He
has been talking all week about how he is going to have to save his
money so he can serve a mission and go to college and then get married
and make sure his kids don't get into the bad addictions that he did.
It makes me happy to see him progressing.

We also have some really great new investigators that members have
given to us. One guy named Raul told us in our first lesson with him
that he wants to learn more about the church because he is strongly
considering joining it. He is awesome! A little strange, but he just
really needs good friends like he can find here at he church and he
feels super welcomed at the couple activities he has already come to.

We went on two exchanges this week and I got to meet a newer
missionary named Elder Cottam who is really excited about the work and
we learned a lot together about contacting everyone and how to
contact. Then I got to bring Elder Kemp to the YSA for a day and it
was glorious to be able to have another day to serve with him. He has
grown so much and his Spanish has improved a ton since I trained him.
He has had 18 weeks with a companion from Peru so I'm sure that has
helped him. It was a really happy day.

Some cool things that happened during conference that I forgot to
mention. First off, President Bowen, my first mission president, was
called to be an area seventy. That was cool. Then our area seventy in
the mission was called to be a member of the first quorum of the
seventy. Elder Brent H. Nielson, who visited us a few weeks ago, gave
a a amazing talk and it was cool to see him teach with the same type
of power in conference as he does in person.

Today we went on a 10 mile hike in the wilderness and at the top we
climbed into a waterfall and it was really awesome. The best part of
the hike was when at the top of the hike we gathered together and
shared our testimonies as a zone. It was really spiritual and amazing
out in the wilderness without any other noises or distractions.
Something I have missed. I love nature and it really testifies to me
that God really lives and loves us and all of his creations. The
gospel really brings me more joy that anything else and I know it's
the only joy in this life that will last forever. The church is true.


LOVE,
Elder Hyde

Temple Day

This morning we were given the privilege to go to the temple. :) it
really is the house of the Lord and received a lot of revelation as I
followed President Taggarts advice to focus on accountability in the
temple and I really felt the spirit very often. I had a few seconds in
a sealing room and I just felt how great of a blessing it is for us to
be able to have eternal families. I couldn't imagine going through
life without that knowledge. We are really blessed to have the gospel.

Last week we had a lot of really good lessons and a lot of drama.
Being in the YSA they love to tell you everything that is going on but
as missionaries we aren't supposed to counsel others. So this week we
have had a huge focus on directing all of our recent converts and
members to the bishop to receive counsel because we really don't know
how to help them. :)

I really love all of the young adults in this Ward and am so happy
to be here with them. We had a mission leadership council yesterday.
That is when we have a 6 hour council with President and Sister
Taggart, the assistants, and all of the zone leaders and sister
training leaders. Wow, there are so many great missionaries and
leaders here it was a great learning experience to counsel with them
and try to add what I have learned and what impressions came to me
from the spirit as we discussed the needs of the mission. The day
before Elder Pace and I sent a really long letter to President on how
we felt we could improve our leadership council meetings and how we
could improve our vision and desire as a mission and it was great to
see him address our concerns with the whole council.

Brandon is doing really good and is making big progress with his
officers so he can be eligible to be baptized by May 15th. We also
made some big jumps with Maria Garcia and some of the new members and
their conversion. I am so excited for general conference and helping
others get excited about it has really made me even more prepared to
receive their guidance and direction this weekend. Make sure to
prayerfully have questions ready for conference and be ready to write
down spiritual promptings as you listen to their words. I want to end
with a promise from preach my gospel.

"Those who listen to and follow the counsel of living prophets and
apostles will not go astray. The teachings of living prophets provide
an anchor of eternal truth in a world of shifting values and help us
avoid misery and sorrow. The confusion and strife of the world will
not overwhelm us, and we can enjoy the assurance of being in harmony
with God’s will."

I know that as we follow their counsel we won't be led astray but we
will be able to stay on the path to return to live with our Heavenly
Father.

Love,
Elder Hyde

http://www.lds.org/manual/preach-my-gospel-a-guide-to-missionary-service/what-do-i-study-and-teach/lesson-4-the-commandments?lang=eng
Pictures: 1. Our zone at the temple! 2. Elder Pace and I :)

SPECIAL GUEST...

Hi family! I'm really sorry but this is going to be really short because of a special activity we had today. President Taggart said we were going to have a mission wide p-day activity today... We were really curious of what it was going to be because he told us we couldn't bring our iPads, phones, recorders, or cameras. We got gathered together and he announced a new mission presidency which was cool and then he told us the guest speaker was coming in. Kelsee, you are going to be jealous. Brother David Archuleta came in and we had basically 2 straight hours of hearing him speak, sing, answer questions, and take pictures with us. He is a really respectable guy and sings really good in person. I got to shake his hand and chat for a second, he speaks really good Spanish!

So that was super fun and then the week was the fastest week of my life. Activities, teaching members, and worrying about these jovenes. I feel like it is so easy to connect with them but they have many problems and struggles in their lives and so we have to be careful not to get down because we have to be there to cheer them up. :D It has been a great experience and I'm learning a ton. Plus the members are awesome and bring their friends to institute all the time. So we are able to teach them there and then invite them to the many activities. I am learning little by little what God wants me to learn in this area, which is a lot, and I am just happy in the service of the Lord. I know that He lives and is guiding His church today! Love you all!

Elder Hyde

(We sent him an Easter (Spring) countdown package and asked him to send us a picture of it hung up. Love the weights!)

I love YSA!

What a week it has been and it was amazing because we didn't have even a single normal day the entire week. Something really great about the Ward is that we have activities all the time. Every Monday we have an FHE with a spiritual thought, food, and lots of social conversion for investigators, recent converts, and for us to get to know everyone! :) Then on Wednesday we have institute and have a class from some awesome teachers. This last week we watched the best two years, with President Taggert's permission of course, and it was great! Rosi Lomeli, from Costa Mesa came and also our investigator named Brandon. He has overcome some of his huge problems with the word of wisdom and still has some stuff to overcome but he is awesome and comes to everything! He has a baptismal date for May 16 for some other reasons that are going on but he will for sure be baptized!

Then every Thursday we have a Ward activity. This past week we went to the temple, the members went in to do baptisms and we gave a temple tour to investigators. It was a really spiritual experience and it was the first time that I have given a temple tour but it went really great. This week we are having a spiritual thought and then playing sports. I'm excited because it changes every week. Then we have church on Sunday! Four planned activities every single week! It is amazing and investigators progress so fast here because they have so much time with the members not only learning about the gospel but also having fun! I absolutely love how open and willing the young adults are here. They are so amazing and make me really happy! I have been on exchanges in the Ward many times and I have met a lot of the Ward members before from their family wards and so it is great to already know so many of them and also get to know the rest.

My companion Elder Pace is really great! He is from Highland Utah and is a really smart and has been a zone leader for 6 transfers so he really knows what he is doing. He really loves basketball and kind of reminds me of the Marchants, he is really great! Our week was really crazy with all of the activities, trying to find some more jóvenes to teach, and also fulfilling our responsibilities. We are the elders closest to the airport and got a call during lunch this week that we needed to get to the airport ASAP to find a missing elder. It took a few hours but he was found, loved, and is happy to be back to normal missionary work, but wow it was a crazy day. We have a great zone and it is interesting to know that our Ward boundaries are way bigger than the mission boundaries. Good thing there are sisters in the Ward that cover the north half and we cover the south half. We still have to drive a ton but it's great because I have served in every single family Ward that we cover right now so I know their families and now I am meeting their kids that they talked about so much. We also have over 20 Ward members serving missions right now and there will be a constant flow of missionaries coming home in the next few months which is really going to strengthen the Ward.

About a year and a half ago the Ward was really struggling with only about 6-10 jóvenes coming each Sunday to church but yesterday we had 49 and it is growing so I'm really excited to be here in this Ward at this time. I know this is where I need to be and I feel super prepared that my past experiences in life and in the mission have prepared me to be here. I love it so much. This week Elder Pace and I also made some amazing plans and goals. After much prayer and planning we came up with what we call "6 weeks to conversion" which is a program that will help the members become more converted while bringing a friend to the waters of baptism. It focuses on the members reading and praying every day, and helping them learn how to extend commitment invitations to friends. We will be having the members extend the invitations to read, pray, come to church, and to be baptized. It's going to be awesome and have a huge lasting effect on not only the members but also the people they invite to hear the restored gospel. We are staring with the bishopric and prayerfully selected about 5 other members that we have stared on the program. I'm excited to see the miracles!

I love you all so much and I want you to know how much joy and happiness comes to those that share the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is something that has completely changed my life and I know it will change yours as well. If you are ever looking for more purpose, happiness or fulfillment in your lives you will find it as you share the wonderful truths of the gospel with those in your life. I love you all, I know that God trusts all of us in the places that He has placed us and that He is always there to help us. President told us something this week that really helped me. "You know enough right now to do all that the Lord expects of you today." I know that is true and I have seen it on the mission.

Love,

Elder Hyde

A new week and a new beginning...WOW!!!

This week was one of beginning anew a getting ready for change. On
Tuesday we had an entire mission technology conference with Elder
Nelson of the first quorum of the seventy and brother Heaton from the
Provo MTC. Wow, it's such a great privilege to have the entire mission
all together at once. It was a really great training about how we are
going to turn a new page with the technology phase. They told us we
were one of the test missions of 33 and they had no idea what they
were doing when they gave us iPads and Facebook. A year later, now we
have training guides and we know how to and how not to use this tool
to bless missionary work. I am really excited for all of the new
things we learned and for the guideline and help that they are giving
us to help everybody stay safe and be productive online and with the
iPads. We were basically told to forget everything we did before and
re-train our brains. So that happened Tuesday, we left Facebook and
then got new iPads on Thursday. Which I learned that I will be part of
the first group that gets to take their iPads home. I am really
grateful for he privilege I have been given to use it and I know it
will be something that I will be able to take and teach to many others
even after the mission. It's not just going to bless our lives now but
so many in the near future.

For that it was a crazy week along with a new trainers meeting
because Elder Gardner will be training!, and I got a call from
President asking me to be a zone leader. Later on Saturday I learned I
will be going to the barrio de los jóvenes adultos solteros (young
singles adult ward)((YSA)). I feel like I just got here and I'm kind
of sad to have to leave so many wonderful members and investigators. I
love this ward so much! But I know the Lord needs me elsewhere and I'm
excited for the new opportunity. My new companion is Elder Pace, an
awesome leader and I'm really excited to learn from him.

As for the week, Elder Garner and I had an amazing last week
together as we had a lot of members come out with us and really
friendship our investigators. Lorena is doing great and as we read in
the Ten Commandments about keeping the sabbath day holy she told us
that she wants to stop washing and shopping on Sunday before we even
had taught her about it. I know it's because the spirit was really
strong there and the spirit is by far the best teacher. I also know
that when we learn the gospel of Jesus Christ we automatically want to
follow his teachings and become better. I am really excited for this
transfer and for the opportunity to work with the young adults. My
area will now be bigger than half the mission so we will be driving
while the other is texting all of the awesome youth. There is so much
to learn and I am just looking toward the future with faith that the
Lord will guide us and help us know what to do. Have a blessed week!

:)
Love,
Elder Hyde

Elder Gardner and Elder Hyde

Elder Maughan, Elder Hyde and Elder Kemp

District Elders

New Members of Santa Ana 10

Teaching Families :)

His spirit inspires mine each week but this one was a tear jerker for me! Prayer works! ~Cindee


Hi family!

I feel like I just email you so I'm not sure what to say.
Elder Gardner and I have been so blessed the past few weeks and we are
seeing so much progress with our investigators it makes me really
happy! Lorena has had a pretty tough week but her testimony of the
power of prayer grew a lot. One day she was just really down when we
went over because of some things that had happened that day. She
prayed earlier and said that helped her but by the end of the lesson
she told us about an unexplainable joy that had come over her. It made
me feel so great as the spirit was able to comfort her and give her
joy. Then another day she was excited to see us to tell her of a
miracle. Her husband lost his wallet and they hadn't been able to find
it for three days. She and her husband had been praying(he never
prays) so that they could find it. Then somebody knocked on their door
and returned it without wanting anything in return. They were so happy
that God had answered their prayer and the husband acknowledged that
it was an answer to his prayer. He even told us he was happy to see us
and joined us for the first few minutes of the lesson before he went
to work. He is changing so much! :)


The Contreras family that is living with a recent convert is doing
really good even though they have their doubts they are reading the
Book of Mormon. If they continue to do that and pray, all of their
doubts will go away. They are a great family and we really became a
lot closer to the dad Eduardo this week. He even wants to be baptized
and accepted a baptismal date for March 29th. He and his wife will
need to get married before then but I have faith that he can make it.
The other two families we are working with are the Perez family and
the Gonzalez family. They are the two families that both lost a
daughters in a car accident last October. They are progressing very
well! One family is on date for the 29th of March and the other knows
that we were sent from God to teach them His gospel. I can't even
express how happy these families make me. It is such a privilege to be
a missionary, I know that it not only is completely changing my life
but the lives of many others. I am but an instrument in the hands of
the Lord, but I know that each one of us can do much good! :)


I have an Esteban quote again for this week. Somehow we were
talking about cavemen and we asked Esteban if he knew what that was
and he told us "yeah, a caveman is like a bear but it's not a bear and
it comes out of a cave and eats meat." Haha I love that kid. Have a
wonderful week and always remember who you are and that I love you.
And even more importantly you have a Heavenly Father that loves you.
:D


-Elder Hyde
P.S. I won't be on Facebook for a few months. We are having a big
meeting tomorrow for new technology training. I'm excited!
P.P.S. I almost saw Elder Holland this week. He came to speak at a
Chapman University that is in my ward boundaries but the investigator
that was going to come with us cancelled last minute so we didn't go.
But a lot of the ward members went and they said it was great! :)

Week of Conferences!

Hey family! We had a lot going on this week and it went by really
fast. We had an amazing zone conference with President Taggart on
Wednesday. We mainly reviewed all of the training that we received in
the specialized leadership training with the brethren from Salt Lake.
It was really good and there is so much that I feel like we will be
using that training we received for the rest of the trainings this
year. I really love it! It really is helping us teach simply and to
their understanding.

This week I got to go on exchanges with a new elder in the
district, Elder Valenzuela. He is sooo awesome! He just came from
Guatemala three weeks ago and it was so much fun being with a native.
He has great english because his school growing up is a bilingual
school, but he hasn't had to speak it in much conversation so it's a
lot of fun to help him learn, but I learned way more Spanish than he
probably learned English. My Spanish has come a long way. But he is a
great missionary and had prepared a lot with his two older returned
missionary brothers and dad so he already knows a lot of great
teaching and finding techniques. Plus he is contagiously happy and so
it was a really fun exchange. We taught a part member family, found
some families, saw the spirit work on a guy during a door contact that
was really great, and just taught with Elder Valenzuela and his
"greeny fire" for missionary work.

I also met one of the happiest kids I have met in my life this
week. Two weeks ago we heard a mom and daughter arguing about cleaning
the back porch so we poked our heads over a fence and asked if we
could help. They declined but said if we came back the next week they
would find something for us to do and that they would be interested in
listening to our message. So we went back and the daughter and her
little brother Jaime were waiting for us to come. They had finished
their project already but the kids knew we were coming so they had a
bag of trash ready for us so that we could take it out. They were
awesome! The whole time Jaime just had the biggest smile and he had so
many questions. It just made me so happy teaching them and I can't
wait to teach their whole family this week.

On Saturday and Sunday we had stake conference and had the
privilege of one of the seventy named Elder Packer to speak to us. He
still has very good Spanish from serving a Spanish speaking mission.
We also had the temple president, our mission president, Elder
Acosta(the area 70 in our ward), and another leader that spoke. All,
except for Elder Acosta, being very white and it was very interested
to hear them all speak Spanish. They did great though! Also all of
their wives spoke and some of them had never said a word in Spanish
before. I really loved it! Hearing them was amazing and at one point
he had all of us missionaries stand up and made us a promise that came
completely from the spirit. Elder Packer is an amazing speaker and it
was powerful when he testified of how the Book of Mormon came from
their ancestors. A young couple about to get married also spoke, and a
recent convert in our ward that has a rock solid testimony. We also
hear from a loving bold stake president that really knows the people
in the stake. He is an inspired man. What a great week and weekend to
hear from such wonderful leaders and members from the stake. It really
strengthened my testimony to hear so much testimony being shared. I
think there were only about 4 scriptures shared in the 4 hours that we
attended, and that shows how much was pure testimony sharing. I almost
felt like it was a stake fast and testimony meeting.

In the spirit of sharing testimony I would like to share mine about
Jesus Christ. I know that He is our perfect example, He did everything
that our Father in Heaven asked of Him. I know that He suffered a
perfect Atonement so that we could not only return to live with Him
but that we could also receive strength and help throughout our
journey here on this earth. I know that He gives us the power to
change and become clean when we accept Him into our lives. He gives us
peace in a world of trouble and hope in even the hardest of times. He
will always lead you to where you need to go. I love you all, have a
blessed week.

Love,
Elder Hyde

Menudo....

I finally ate menudo! I have heard a lot about this dish but I have
never had the pleasure of eating it. Menudo is a wonderful soup with
cow stomach, intestines, and hoof. It was surprisingly tasty and my
favorite part was the intestine. The hoof just didn't please my throat
going down. Now I wouldn't eat menudo from just anybody but it was
made from our loving Ward mission leaders wife. (You met them on the
Skype call on Christmas) So I trusted it because she is a really good
cook.

Now to some missionary work. :) This week we had a surprise 2 hour
district leaders meeting and it went really well. We are having some
changes in the way we conduct our district meetings which I really
like. We come up everything we share every single week. They used to
sometimes give us outlines but those will stop. Which is really good,
it makes us rely on the spirit while we plan and conduct the meetings
in stead of following an outline.

I would like to close by sharing a personal insight from my study
this week. I was reading in Mosiah 26 and thought it was amazing what
alma did when he was confronted with a problem. He wasn't sure how to
deal with discipline in the church and went to king Mosiah for the
answer. In verse 13 it says "And now the spirit of Alma was again
troubled; and he went and inquired of the Lord what he should do
concerning this matter, for he feared that he should do wrong in the
sight of God." Alma was confronted with a problem so he went to the
Lord. He ended up receiving a huge answer from the Lord from verses
15-32 but before he received an answer he did something really
important in verse 14 it says that he "poured out his whole soul to
God" I know that that is a key to receiving personal revelation. If we
really want God to speak to us and help us we must pray pouring out
out whole souls to God. That has been a huge blessing on the mission.
The prayers when I have poured out my whole heart have been some of
the most spiritually uplifting experiences in the mission. I know that
God loves us and will answer our prayers. Maybe we won't be faced with
how to lead the church like alma was but we are faced with other
challenges like how to lead our families, or give guidance and correct
to our children, family and friends. We may even face trials that we
don't feel strong enough to bear. But I know that if can pour out our
whole souls unto God in prayer, service, and sharing the gospel we
will find the happiness and direction that we are searching for. You
are all loved and prayed for every day!

Love,
Elder Hyde

In case you want to read more :D
http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/26?lang=eng

Happy Groundhog Day!

Hola familia!

Well things are quite different from last week. Last week was transfers and Elder Gardner and I get another transfer together! :) I am really excited about that! Another area opened up in our Ward and so now we have a van and get to travel around us 6 elders everywhere. It takes a really long time to go anywhere and so I don't have much time today.

This week was a little difficult because we had to drop(stop visiting) a big chunk of our investigators. They just haven't been willing to act on the message and so they need some time. Because of that we had a lot of time to visit some of our other investigators and we had a some great lessons. One guy named Ricardo is really sincere. We brought this awesome newly returned missionary with us and we all were just so happy after the lesson I couldn't stop smiling the whole night. The gospel really makes me happy, and seeing others accept it makes me even more happy.

We are still serving at the soup kitchen and are getting to know the people now. The volunteers love us and the homeless people love to tell us stories and jokes and tell us all the "deep Mormon doctrine" they have heard before. It's a blast. Service can cure any sadness and really helps me feel the Saviors love. So go find someone to serve! :D

Love,

Elder Hyde

Mission Leadership Council with the Proselyting department

This wonderful week had some ups and downs but looking back on it I
sure did learn a lot. We had three family home evenings within the
past week and those have been some of the greatest blessing for some
of our investigators. I really love this Ward and their desire to
bring souls unto Christ. We also starting teaching a members
girlfriend named Kimberly this week and she is really interest in the
gospel. Plus her boyfriends mom is a ward missionary and so she has
already been reading from the Book of Mormon and has some general
knowledge about what we believe. I love teaching people that want to
learn and are willing to change. She doesn't have much of a religious
background and seems worried about all that she is going to change,
but after just a week and a half of knowing her she has changed so
much it's amazing. The spirit is really working inside of her.

So also this week we had the wonderful privilege of having some
guys from Salk Lake from the Proselyting department come and share
some insightful tips and insights on how we can improve. A while back
all of the missionaries in the mission took a basic missionary survey
about teaching, learning, and a lot of random things. They also went
out to teaching appointments and finding opportunities with selected
companionships. Then they compiled the results from the survey and
proselyting, prayed and studied about what they should share and came
with a mountain of information, spirit, and great ideas on how we can
improve. They were very straight forward on some things that we aren't
doing very good as a mission and then gave us great feed back and
ideas on how to improve it. I loved it so much. Their names were
brother Jackman and brother Donaldson and they are great men. Brother
Donaldson was a missionary president in the San Diego mission when
they filmed the well know missionary footage of "The District 2" and
wow he sure knows his scriptures.

It was really fun to hear all of his stories about the behind the
scenes action of what happened during the filming of it all and what
he learned from the whole experience. Oh by the way, the meting we had
was 7 hours long... With a really short lunch break because they were
running behind on everything they wanted to go over. Some of the most
important things he shared with us was that our investigators can't
access the power of the Atonement without us. We receive the power of
the Atonement through the covenants we make with the correct authority
of God. Like baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, the sacrament,
priesthood ordinances and temple ordinances are how we can receive the
power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives. Without these
ordinances we can't unlock the power of the Atonement. It really
touched me with how important our work is as missionaries, we are
literally helping other access the power of the Atonement in their
lives. I can't think of a better thing we could be doing. The point of
the restoration was to bring the fullness of the gospel back to the
earth, we cannot receive the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ
without the Atonement, and it's through the ordinances we make that we
are about the unlock the power of His sacrifice for us.

There are many things he shared especially about how us, and all
missionaries share way too much information with our investigators. We
aren't there to teach them just information, we are there to help them
feel the spirit, and know why they need to be baptized. After baptism
and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost they will be able to learn
the doctrine a lot easier. They shared a new way to teach using the
pamphlets by basically just using the pictures. You can teach a simple
restoration with a baptismal invite in about 6 minutes that will be
way more productive and engaging for the investigators than a long
restoration lesson where they are filled with information and are left
confused. We use the pattern of when the angel visited Nefi in chapter
11 of first Nefi. We ask them to look at the picture, ask them some
inspired questions and then teach and testify of simple and true
doctrine. I really love teaching that way from the pamphlets and we
have seen a lot of success from applying it. When we do it, they
understand restored authority, and the need to be baptized. We haven't
had a lesson with a pamphlet since without inviting the investigator
to be baptized and so far they have all said yes.

I love this work, I know that our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus
Christ live. They know us, and love us and They want us to be happy
through obedience to the gospel.

I would like to leave you will an amazing quote from Elder Scott
"Don’t yield to Satan’s lie that you don’t have time to study the
scriptures. Choose to take time to study them. Feasting on the word of
God each day is more important than sleep, school, work, television
shows, video games, or social media. You may need to reorganize your
priorities to provide time for the study of the word of God. If so, do
it!"

Make time to study the scriptures! I love you all! :)
Èlder Hyde

The last 3 days...

So I know I just wrote Friday so I will keep this short and sweet.
:) I would like to start with an experience that I had last week that
I forgot to share. We didn't know where to go so we prayed for
guidance. We saw a big complex and decided to knock it as we were
knocking in this big complex we came upon a family that looked really
tired and wore out. We share the He is the Gift video and by the end
the mom was crying and the 4 younger girls were filled with emotion.
We testified of Jesus Christ and asked them what how they felt. They
explained to us that they were going through a tough trial and didn't
know where to turn. They felt the peace and comfort as we shared the
video and our testimonies with them and they said we were an answer to
their prayers. We gave them our information and tried to help them out
as much as we could but they didn't tell us very much about what they
were going through. The next day we received a phone call and they
wanted us to come by again. They had been advised that they would have
to leave their apartment in 2 days and would be homeless. The husband
lost his job and they had nowhere to turn. We worked with ward leaders
and we were put I change of finding a place for them to live. We
worked with other ward members and their family to move their
furniture and find them a place to live and there were a plethora of
miracles that weekend as we helped them out. We found them a place in
my old area where Elder Kemp is and now they are teaching the family!
:) it was great to feel of the love and appreciation that they had and
for Heavenly Father sending us to them. Prayers answered.

We have been really busy these past few days setting new ward
mission plans, working a lot with members, and just loving the work. I
know that God is looking over us, He feels sorrow when we pass through
difficulties, and He also feels joy when we are happy. I love you
family!

Elder Hyde

Just Serve! Finding Families and the Holiest Place on Earth

Well today is Friday, not Monday but it has been a glorious day
because we got to go to the Newport Beach temple today. It really is
the holiest place on earth. Today I really strengthened my testimony
of personal revelation at the temple. It really is the house of The
Lord. President Taggart has asked us to take our new mission motto
(Covenant keepers bringing a souls to Christ) to the temple and help
us relate the covenants we make in the temple to missionary work. It
was a very insightful trip to the temple and I know that God will give
us personal revelation and guidance if we truly seek Him.

Yesterday Elder Lindsay, my old companion in Santa Ana 5, and I got
to go on exchanges and we had a good day up until 8 but didn't feel
like anything miraculous had happened. We really tried to focus in on
where Heavenly Father wanted us to go and a family came to mind that
we haven't been able to teach since I have come to the area. We found
them home and they expressed some amazing miracles that had been
happening in their family and how prepared they have been by our
Heavenly Father. The mom said her son in Mexico has now read the
entire Book of Mormon and invited her family to read it. Then the
daughter told us how her really good friend just got married in the
temple. Then they just started asking us questions about the
difference between the Book of Mormon and the Bible and who Mormon
was. Then they taught themselves as we read the introduction together
and it was a great lesson. I'm really excited to work more with them.

Another great success we has was trying to put more emphasis in
service. We went and picked up trash around a neighborhood and right
when I was lacking faith that nothing good was coming from it a guy
came up to us telling us he was less active. He asked for a copy of
the Book of Mormon, asked us where the church was, and asked us to
come by to teach his part member family. What a miracle! The other
good service opportunity came from the sisters in our district. They
found a soup kitchen in our area and we are now going to be going
Tuesday's and Thursday's for 3 hours each day. I am really excited to
have more service and the people at the soup kitchen are wonderful. It
makes me so happy to serve! :)

It was another crazy preparation day and so that's all the time I
have but I hope that all is well. I love this work and I know that
Jesus Christ is our Savior.

Love,
Elder Hyde