Every week is amazing...

Every week out here is so amazing! Even though every week we have
somewhat of the same routine, every week is so different and I learn
completely different things, I love it. So this week we were able to
teach Olis about the law of chastity and it was one of my favorite
lessons I have taught so far. We were able to share a Mormon message
called "Watch your step." In the video Jeffery R. Holland talks about
how one decision can have a big impact on our lives, especially when
it comes to the law of chastity. It was a really cool lesson and she
was so happy to know that God has given us that commandment because
she wants the best for her little boy and that is something that will
give him a good home life growing up. She is super ready to be
baptized, she is just talking it over with her husband. She also came
to church and loved it, the gospel of Jesus Christ is really
transforming her life :)

Well we have had a lot of rain this past week and it was fun to
bike while it was pouring but we were able to teach lots of pool
because we went out through the rain so it made it worth it. I don't
have a lot of time this week but I want to share a scripture that I
found that I really love.

"Abstain from all appearance of evil"
(1 Thessalonians 5:22)

I love this scripture because there are so many things that may not be
"bad" in this life but give off an appearance of evil or ungodliness.
We are all children of a loving Heavenly Father and I think for that
reason alone we need to have that higher standard or abstaining from
even the appearance of evil things. As a missionary I have to be extra
cautious of this to gain and keep the trust with members and
investigators. But I know this scripture applies to everyone, so I
invite all of you to follow this scripture and I know as you do you
will have a refreshing sense of the divine purpose that our Heavenly
Father has for us and our potential in this life and in the life to
come. I love you all, keep us the awesome mission work with your
friends, family, and neighbors. I enjoy hearing of all your successes
in sharing the gospel with those around you.

Love,
Elder Hyde

Awesome week...

Hi. This week went by super fast but I guess I will just jump right
into some awesome lessons we had and the awesome changes that I can
see in my investigators. So we were able to teach the Lomeli family a
few times this week and each time we had some awesome experiences. The
first time we taught them about prayer and how they can recognize
their answer that this is the church of Jesus Christ. Elizabeth talked
to us about how she can't go to bed or do anything in the morning or
eat food without praying. She says she just always feels that need to
pray and it was awesome how she feels the Spirit's influence in her
life to have more of a desire to read.


We taught them two other times this week, once about the Atonement
and repentance as they are preparing for baptism and making a lot of
changes in their lives. The other was about the word of wisdom. It was
ironic that people were walking through the middle of out lesson with
tons of beer and some came in late because they were getting coffee.
Elizabeth and Angelina couldn't help but laugh at how many ways we can
see people break the word of wisdom just during a lesson about it.

This week we were able to find Olis again. We hadn't had a lesson
with her in almost two weeks but she was super happy to have us back.
She has a super funny cute little 4 years old named Jared and he is
really shy but has warmed up to me now and tells me all of these
random stories and it's super awesome. He reminds me of Blake and
Berkeley. Olis told us some amazing experiences she has had from our
visits. She has found a love for the Book of Mormon because she used
to have a short temper with her husband but after we had been teaching
her one night she was about to get upset when she had a prompting to
read the Book of Mormon. She did so and told us what peace she felt
and how it really calms her down, even if she doesn't understand a
whole lot of it. She also shared how she has met with all sorts of
religions but never let's them come back. But as we started teaching
her mom Costa she felt drawn to us and feels something different when
we teach, or what we helped her recognize as the Spirit. Her husband
never seems interested when we invite him to join us in the lessons,
but she tells us that every night we teach he always asks what we
taught her and she says it's a good way for her to remember what we
teach her and slowly help her husband to have. Desire to learn more.
But she bore an awesome testimony about how she knows this is Christ's
church on the earth today.

This week we had a zone conference and learned a ton about how we
can be obedient because of our love for our heavenly and not just out
of our duty. It was a sunder cool training. A stake president also
spoke and he reminded me of elder S. Gifford Nielsen that spoke in
last Octobers conference with tons of enthusiasm for missionary work
and having a game plan to hasten the work. Anyways, this stake
president was awesome and really got us all pumped to work more with
members and some really good ideas on how to help the members catch
"the vision." Elder Maughan also got to give a talk in the conference
it was super awesome.

It is so awesome to be able to have this technology to help others
come unto Christ. This week we were able to share a few clips from the
prophet and apostles and some Mormon message during lessons. It is way
different but really awesome, especially to help others gain a
testimony that we have a prophet and apostles. Love you all, keep
spreading the gospel :)

Love,
Elder Hyde

Costa Mesa Transfers

Well I should start with transfers. I am going to be staying in Costa Mesa 4th ward and Elder Maughan is headed up north. My new companion is Elder Arévelo. He is awesome! He grew up in Florida, but his parents are from Salvador and so he is fluent in Spanish, which will help me a ton. He is our new district leader and I'm way excited to be serving with him and show him this awesome area we have. He is more quiet than most but has a lot of desire to share the gospel. It's going to be awesome to get to know him.

Elder Maughan and I really worked super hard since we figured it was our last week together and wow we were so blessed. We starting the week with lots of people dropping us and it really stunk. But every time we get dropped we seem to be able to find a lot too. So let me tell you about Jesus. We met him at church when a friend that doesn't live in our area found the ward and told him she wanted him to find the truth. He loved church and told us he was going to look for a new job so he can get Sunday's off to come to church. But a few weeks passed and we couldn't find him again. Well this Tuesday we found him and it was so awesome. We were telling him our purpose for teaching him and asked him what he was expecting from our visits. He asked us if we baptized and if he could be baptized. He was so prepared. It amazes me how when members just share little bits of testimony with their friends how much more prepared they are to hear the gospel. He also asked for a blessing as he is dealing with a divorce and not being able to see him family in Mexico. I got to give him a blessing and it was sweet how much he felt the Spirit. He wanted us to come by the next day and again during the week. We have a baptismal date set for him the 9th of March.

We also got to teach Olis a few times. We are teaching her commandments and it is awesome to see her faith through her actions to obey the commandments. When we taught her the word of wisdom she said that she drank every once in a while and had coffee or tea almost every day but that she wanted to go throw it out right then. She is making some amazing progress, but still is worried about setting a baptismal date until may-ish. This week we found a lot of people who didn't believe in God, but after teaching them at the door they said they really felt like God was there and that He loves them. It is such a precious moment to help others feel the love that our Heavenly Father has for all of us. This week we brought out this awesome young kid in our ward named Andy. He is 17 and getting ready to put him papers in after he graduates this year. He is going to be an amazing missionary. With him we found this awesome girl Rebecca who is Christian and thinks her whole family would be interested in learning more about His restored gospel. I'm excited to go teach her whole family. Another fun thing that happened was we knocked this door and then a guy was walking up the stairs next to the door so Elder Maughan starts contacting him but then the door opens so he got to teach the guy about prophets while I taught the lady at the door about the Book of Mormon and the Bible. Teaching two people at a time :) that's how we do it haha

Well it was a really fun week, but now time for some change which I am really excited for as well. I love the work. I know the church is true and that our Heavenly Father is always there for us. I know Jesus Christ is our Savior and will come again. LOVE, Elder Hyde P.S. My companion is a "tech specialist" so he has an Ipad already and I get trained and start using mine this week! So pumped :)

Thank you for the support and love everyone! Love our missionary!

It's really good to hear from my family and friends and all the support I have. Thanks so much! This week I have received a lot of strength and comfort through all of the prayers and staying focused in the work. I had exchanges again on Tuesday, got to show my District leader around my area and be the senior companion for a day. It was fun, he is a really good missionary and I learned a lot from him. It was Elder Maughan's birthday this week so we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to have a fun lunch with our zone. I made him some birthday cake cookies which were super easy and amazing :)

This week we also met this awesome lady Yolanda. It was super funny, she really loves what we are doing and after 3 minutes of talking with her she ran inside to get money for us, which we had to decline and then she told us to come inside and she introduced us to her 4 daughters that are around our age. It was super funny, she was like trying to pair us off or something. Really funny experience. The family Lomeli is doing awesome! They are praying and reading the Book of Mormon together as a family every single day :) They are almost into second Nephi after just a week of reading. They also have watched like 4 church movies we have given them and they love them and tell us how sad they are that they are short movies. They have a desire to learn more, I love it.

Also this week we found a fun opportunity for service. We got to push this old truck on a super busy street for over a quarter mile and it was a super good workout. I love service so much. This week we have been focusing on how we can use the Book of Mormon more when we knock and to help people build a testimony of it. It has really helped and during our lesson with this lady Guille and her daughter Jasmine. At first they told us old to use scriptures from the bible, but as we explained the Plan of Salvation and taught them about restored truths through the Book of Mormon they opened up way more to our message and accepted the invitation to read and pray about it.

We had a really good lesson with Olis. She talked to her husband about being baptized and said it's something she wants to do in the near future but doesn't want to set a date yet. She wants her husband to be open to doing it too. Angelina and Elizabeth Lomeli are praying about the 9th of March to see if that's when they need to be baptized. This area and people here are awesome! I love the work :) This week we find out what will happen with transfers next week. Elder Maughan and I probably aren't staying together so it will be interested. Love you all, have a great week! Love, Elder Hyde

Baby T - January 23, 2014 - Families are Forever

HUGS AND COOKIES FROM AUNT JULIE

This week was a little hard to be honest. I got a call from my family Friday night letting me know baby T didn't make it. That was a difficult night knowing that I will never see him in this life and just knowing all that my family had to go through made it a tough night. But the power of prayer is real and I know that our Heavenly Fathers loves us and will comfort us in even the most difficult of times. I know that my family will be able to see him again after this life and I can't even imagine having to go through this without the knowledge that I have. That is why this work is so important and I know even though I can't be home to comfort my family right now, our Heavenly Father is taking care of all of you. D&C 137:10 gave me tons of comfort and reassurance that he will be saved in the celestial kingdom and if we can do our part, we will live with him there for eternity. I am amazed at how much strength I have received from my own prayers and from the many others that I know are praying for me and my family. I think there will be some sorrow for the rest of my life, but as I rely on Jesus Christ he can give me the strength to overcome all things. Christ suffered EVERYTHING for us and He knows how to help us. It also gave me a lot of strength talking to a family that is so strong in the gospel and has so much hope and faith in our Heavenly Father's perfect plan for us. I remember the first night I hear he was having a little bit of trouble in the MTC and I was praying for him and I got this big feeling that he might not make it but it was also one of the most peaceful moments I have ever had. I forgot about that experience until Friday night when I was laying in bed. It gave me a lot of peace then to know that the Spirit can bring to our remembrance experiences that have helped us in the past.

Well I was really lucky to have a super busy week to keep my focus on helping others. I have found that the easiest way to overcome trials is just to get to work. Helping others really helps me to be happy and keep going. This week I got to go to the other elders area with elder Wagstaff for exchanges and it was sweet. It was nice to get a taste of a different area and other investigators. This week Angelina Lomeli came to church. The ward was super awesome with her and she really enjoyed it. I also got to do a blessing on their house earlier this week which was a cool experience. She told us starting this week she is going to read a chapter out of the Book of Mormon every night with her family. Yesterday we met this guy Gustavo and he was so happy to see us. He invited us in before we could introduce ourselves haha He told us 6 months ago other missionaries stopped by and gave him a Book of Mormon. He has read out of it 2 to 3 times a week since. He loves it. He is Catholic and goes around helping people who are about to pass away. He helps them have hope in God and Jesus Christ right before they die. He is a way awesome dude who loves helping others. Well it was a challenging week that really strengthened my testimony and helped me really feel the love of our Heavenly Father. Thank you for all the prayers and nice emails of comfort and support I have received.

Love, Elder Hyde

I'm Exhausted....

So this week was the most exhausting week I have had on my mission so far. We were biking like crazy, about 100miles, teaching like crazy, 23 lessons, and finding new people everywhere, 11 new investigators. Wow I am super blessed in this mission! Tuesday was awesome, after Paniagua dropped us last week we were ready to get out and teach. So we didn't know where we should go, but we were guided by the Spirit to this hidden street that we never knew existed. We taught this really old lady named Costa. She loved everything we had to say but we had to because it a little short because she looked like she was going to fall over haha Then we found a lady, Yolanda Mesa. Yeah I know we taught a Costa and an Hermana Mesa in the city of Costa Mesa, California all in the same day. We were able to just keep teaching all day, it was awesome. Our last lesson was with this awesome less-active lady who really wants to come back to church and was wondering what she needed to do. Her husband isn't a member and had lots of questions and her son is 8 and is autistic. He is so funny and awesome. He loves hawks, has a pet snake that he carries around everywhere and can draw amazing animals. He watches youtube videos and then draws them how he sees someone else draw them he is awesome. He wanted to say the closing prayer and wow, it was the one of the most heartfelt prayers I have ever heard. He prayed to see more birds and blessed all the birds even though some birds would have to be eaten. He also told Heavenly Father that if he ever needs someone that he is always there for Him and that he loves Him, and he know that Heavenly Father loves him too. Such an awesome family, we are going to bring over the English sisters to pass them to them this Tuesday.

Wednesday we had an awesome zone meeting with our AP's. We got to do teaching practices with AP Elder Barnes and he is way awesome. It's way fun to teach with him. Later that day we found a new family. The Lomeli's. They are so awesome. They don't look like they would be interested but wow they want to change and have better lives. They have kind of been confused about God and religion because of the leaders in their other churches. The parents were baptized Catholic and then Christian but they haven't been to church for years. The mom is about 40's maybe almost 50, they have a son who is about 25, then daughters 23, 21, and 18 years old and another son who is 15. The daughters are the most interested and really want to find out for themselves if what we taught is true. It can be hard for them to focus and understand what we are teaching but they really enjoy it. Rosi is 21 and has a 3 year old kid and she is the most open. Her and her brother are awesome. After the lesson the mom wanted us to pray for the dad because his mind is really messed up from dark magic stuff and he always hears voices and weird stuff. We offered to give a blessing and he really wanted one. After we gave him one, Rosi asked for one because she told us she was trying to overcome some bad thoughts she had been having. I was able to give her a blessing and wow it was awesome. It is interesting giving someone a blessing that you just met an hour ago but it was an awesome experience. After her sister and her just looked at me and asked how I knew all of that stuff about her and how I knew exactly what she needed. We explained blessings again and wow it was a huge testimony builder to me of the power of the Priesthood. God knew what she needed and I feel so honored to be an instrument in His hands. Our Heavenly Father knows us and knows what we need.

Thursday we found this awesome guy named Manny. We actually knocked into a sober living housing complex and the first door was the manager. Way awesome dude who told us he didn't want anything to do with us but that we should knock the other doors there and he told us who speaks Spanish. So then we found Manny. We started talking to him and he told us about how he has been shot dozens of times and stabbed all over. He showed us tons of scars and wow it was crazy. He told us he went to prison for 10 years got out for a little bit. Went back for 27months and now he is really ready to change. He hasn't had a drink or smoke for over 90 days or so and so he received the privilege of living it the sober living home. Awesome dude that wants to learn more and even told us he is trying to get his tattoos removed. He wants to change for his 3 girls and be a part of their life. Really nice guy, and man does he have some stories. Friday we talked to this really nice Christian lady who was interested in the Book of Mormon. We also had ward volleyball again finally and got Rosi to come with her brother and 2 cousins. It was awesome and we got to talk to her more about blessings and prayer and the Book of Mormon.

Saturday the Vazquez family invited us to have breakfast with them and then do some service. We made crepes for them and it was way fun. Then Hermano Vazquez took us to a Swap Meet for a few minutes and it was super fun and crazy. Sunday we had Ward Conference and it was way fun to hear from the awesome Stake President that we have. We also got to watch Finding Faith in Christ with this awesome non-member family that just got back from Mexico. The kids loved it because they knew who Christ was before but didn't really understand His importance. After they seemed to have a lot better understanding. Well a lot of other sweet things happened but I don't have time to write all of it. Love you guys. Thanks for all that you do for me :) Love, Elder Hyde

Hurt companion, baptismal date, saying goodbye to Paniagua Family, Everything always works out

Hola! Well this week starting with my companion, Elder Maughan hurting his ankle way bad playing basketball on P-day. He was being a little too aggressive and stuffed this kid against the backboard but when he came down he landed on his ankle and after a couple minutes it looked like a baby alien had hatched inside of his ankle. So that night we weren't able to go out because he couldn't walk on it. I also got a package from my dad with lots of random awesome stuff in it :) Tuesday was awesome. Even though Elder Maughan couldn't walk very well, he was able to bike slowly without very much pain. So we got to at least get out of the apartment :) On our way to our first appointment the AP's called me to see if I was done being trained. So I guess there is going to be a change in 5 weeks and they started figuring out transfers early or something because the AP's never call people so it made me super curious haha Anyways, none of the people we had set up for lessons were there and with my companions ankle we weren't sure how many doors we were going to be able to knock. But Heavenly Father was looking out for us because we only had to knock 2 doors and we taught 45min lessons at both and found some really cool investigators. Then we had a lesson with Efrain who we met on the street about 8 weeks ago and he has kept rescheduling our appointments. Well we went to teach him and he was super happy to see us. We taught him the Restoration and he loved everything we said. We set a baptismal date with him for Feb. 9th and he is just awesome. He told us this is what he has been looking for. He is really hard to reach at times but he is super awesome. He told us about this amazing experience he had about 14 years ago. He said he was super wasted and on lots of different types of drugs and was basically passed out on the bathroom floor when he saw a light and he felt like God was telling him to stop drinking and doing drugs. Well, he said he hasn't had a sip of alcohol since and hasn't touched any drugs either. It was super awesome. New Years day was really interesting. We found out Victor, the guy who asked us if we were Mormons and wanted to change, is in prison for who knows what. Yeah that was sad. Then we taught a group of drunk guys who had tons of questions but were surprisingly pretty respectful. One guy named Mario wanted us to come back when he wasn't drinking and teach more so that was cool. A day filled with drunk people and not very much success. Thursday we helped this older Asian lady get her suitcase up to her apartment and she was super funny and awesome. It's a rule that we can't teach people in our complex which really stinks sometimes because there is a lot of potential but after we talked to her about God and Jesus Christ a little bit she said she would be way interested in other missionaries coming over. She was super funny and made us laugh a lot. As we were walking back to our apartment a different guy stopped us and asked us if we were Mormons. He said both of his parents are Mormon but he is Catholic/Christian. He asked us to say a prayer with/for him and just said he is looking for more because his life is pretty hard right now. He was just visiting a friend there so he actually lives in the other elders area but he was really nice. Friday we taught a member and this guy that lives in her house isn't a member. We taught him too and he seemed way interested. He told us he has come to church before and really likes it. Friday we saw this lady trying to move by herself so we offered to help he and man did she need it. A single lady trying to move all of her stuff we felt way bad. So we spend 2 hours and hurry and packed up a U Haul full of her stuff. She was a super nice lady moving to Idaho to go to medical school. She kept trying to pay us a lot of money for helping but our mission rule is to not accept any money of any kind so it was funny. Saturday we taught Luis and his dad Enrique and when we got there one of our other investigators Andres was there visiting. They are friends, super small world haha So we were ended up teaching about 6 people in the house and we brought our zone leaders to pass off Luis to them because he is 21 and would fit better in the young single adult ward. It was a packed house and we had an amazing lesson. Sunday nobody came to church again :( dang. Every week people tell us they are going to come. We offer them rides from members, reminder texts in the morning, everything to help them and yet this is 4 straight weeks without a member coming. To start of the morning even better we went to the Paniagua's to remind them of the time change of church and make sure they were going to come since they were finally back from Las Vegas and not sick anymore. But Carolina told us her family wants to take a break from us for a while to debate whether this is right for her family or not. It was a terrible feeling having our awesome family drop us but after a nice fast Sunday at church we felt re-energized and ready to find some new. We found out that this awesome family just got back from Mexico that we taught once about 4 weeks ago and they are interested so we will see them this week :) We also found some awesome new investigators named Juan and Martin. One of them said his whole family would be interested and the other had never really thought about God and was wondering if he was even there. Really cool lessons, awesome new people. It was what we needed after a disappointing Sunday morning. Love you all, have a great week! Love, Elder Hyde