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