Transfers are today and things are a little crazy because this is
President Bowen's last one and he leaves in 10 days. So Elder Richards
got called to be a Zone leader up north and so he will be leaving and
I'm staying here in Santa Ana 5. Elder Lindsay is coming in with me
and he will be district leader here. I'm gonna miss elder Richards but
I hear elder Lindsay is a stud so I'm really excited for him to come
in here with me. The new assistant to the president is my old
companion elder Arèvalo. I think that will be really good for him but
it was really surprising because he is still really young.
As for the week it was a really cool week. We have a lot of people
we are working with and a lot of good things are happening. The
Gonzalez family(the old couple) accepted a baptismal date for July
20th and are looking really good. The Alegría family that we have been
working with told us they are moving to Mexico this Thursday so that
was disappointing because they are super ready to receive the gospel
and were receiving it so well. But we are sending missionaries to them
once they get down there so I hope that goes well. We got to visit
this members friend from work that was in the hospital and she is a
super nice lady named Eva. She has so much faith and she really wanted
to be healed. We gave her a blessing and shared some scriptures about
the atonement with her and the spirit was so strong. She has been
through a lot in her life and was sad she hadn't made enough time for
God and had worried about too much about work. She was really grateful
we came by and was looking really happy when we left. She had been in
the hospital for a few weeks but later that night she was released to
got back to her house with her family :) it was really awesome!
I don't have a ton of time today because of transfers but everything
is going great here and I love you all a ton. I hope you had a great
birthday momma, and that all the fathers had a great Father's Day!
Love,
Elder Hyde
***NATHAN SENT ME TONS OF PICTURES FOR MY BIRTHDAY*** TOO MANY TO ADD
IT WAS A GREAT BIRTHDAY GIFT***
Monday, June 23, 2014
Monday, June 9, 2014
Another great week of teaching and sharing...
*Missing him more than usual this week. Love Mondays!!!***
Hola! This week was really great :) Most high schools had their prom yesterday and it kind of freaked me out that I went to prom and graduated a whole year ago. Feels like yesterday haha So I guess I will share a quick funny story. Last week when we were shopping right after we emailed, this semi-homeless guy named John came up to us telling us how he loved Mormons and was wondering why Mormon families seem so much closer and more happy than other families. He was so excited to see us and very animated in his actions it was awesome. He
said he wished that his family could be like a Mormon one and so one of the sisters in our district invited him to be baptized. It was pretty awesome.
Tuesday was fantastic. One of those days where you feel so happy and accomplished because you know you did everything that you could do that day to help others come closer to Jesus Christ. I love that feeling. We found this funny older couple, the Gonzales family, that
was just chilling in their garage and they were so nice :) immediately they said they would come to church and they actually did! We also brought over a really old awesome couple, the Cifuentes, from our ward to teach them this week and they got along so well it was sweet.
Hermano Cifuentes even sang a solo for them at the beginning of the lesson. Also found this girl Jasmine who has a brother and sister who are members. She seems super ready to finally receive the gospel. We also got to translate for the Irvine mission assistants to the
president this week. It wasn't too exciting though. We just found out the mom of the kid they are teaching doesn't want anything to do with the church but she said her son could go to whatever church he wanted to.
I went on exchanges with Elder Etchart in my area and it went super well. We found another crazy guy named John :) He said he used to be Mormon when he was baptized in the 1980's but that he lost his Mormon bible. He was super happy when we gave him a Book of Mormon and had no clue that there was a church so close. He was really proud of his old car and had nothing but good things to say about us so it was fun. We taught Lurdes that night and she is doing really well. She is accepting everything really well. It also helped that her brother Noé just got baptized and she wants the same changes she has seen in him. We also got to help a couple ladies in our ward learn some English this week. Like how to pray in English and study for their citizenship interviews. So it also helped me brush up on my history. :)
Sunday we saw how sneaky satan really is. We had a lot of solid people ready and committed to coming to church but after a trip to Disneyland, emergency hospital trip, delayed at work because of a cut foot, most of them couldn't come. On a good note, the Gonzales couple came and really enjoyed it. That was pretty much my week. We found out that president Taggert will arrive June 26th and so he will be here soon! Transfers are next Monday already, and since the Spanish program needs a new AP and 8 new zone leaders within the next 7 weeks there are going to be a ton of changes. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! Especially you Mom, Happy Birthday this week! Happy Fathers Day to the amazing fathers I have you guys are the best!
Love,
Elder Hyde
Hola! This week was really great :) Most high schools had their prom yesterday and it kind of freaked me out that I went to prom and graduated a whole year ago. Feels like yesterday haha So I guess I will share a quick funny story. Last week when we were shopping right after we emailed, this semi-homeless guy named John came up to us telling us how he loved Mormons and was wondering why Mormon families seem so much closer and more happy than other families. He was so excited to see us and very animated in his actions it was awesome. He
said he wished that his family could be like a Mormon one and so one of the sisters in our district invited him to be baptized. It was pretty awesome.
Tuesday was fantastic. One of those days where you feel so happy and accomplished because you know you did everything that you could do that day to help others come closer to Jesus Christ. I love that feeling. We found this funny older couple, the Gonzales family, that
was just chilling in their garage and they were so nice :) immediately they said they would come to church and they actually did! We also brought over a really old awesome couple, the Cifuentes, from our ward to teach them this week and they got along so well it was sweet.
Hermano Cifuentes even sang a solo for them at the beginning of the lesson. Also found this girl Jasmine who has a brother and sister who are members. She seems super ready to finally receive the gospel. We also got to translate for the Irvine mission assistants to the
president this week. It wasn't too exciting though. We just found out the mom of the kid they are teaching doesn't want anything to do with the church but she said her son could go to whatever church he wanted to.
I went on exchanges with Elder Etchart in my area and it went super well. We found another crazy guy named John :) He said he used to be Mormon when he was baptized in the 1980's but that he lost his Mormon bible. He was super happy when we gave him a Book of Mormon and had no clue that there was a church so close. He was really proud of his old car and had nothing but good things to say about us so it was fun. We taught Lurdes that night and she is doing really well. She is accepting everything really well. It also helped that her brother Noé just got baptized and she wants the same changes she has seen in him. We also got to help a couple ladies in our ward learn some English this week. Like how to pray in English and study for their citizenship interviews. So it also helped me brush up on my history. :)
Sunday we saw how sneaky satan really is. We had a lot of solid people ready and committed to coming to church but after a trip to Disneyland, emergency hospital trip, delayed at work because of a cut foot, most of them couldn't come. On a good note, the Gonzales couple came and really enjoyed it. That was pretty much my week. We found out that president Taggert will arrive June 26th and so he will be here soon! Transfers are next Monday already, and since the Spanish program needs a new AP and 8 new zone leaders within the next 7 weeks there are going to be a ton of changes. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! Especially you Mom, Happy Birthday this week! Happy Fathers Day to the amazing fathers I have you guys are the best!
Love,
Elder Hyde
Monday, June 2, 2014
Elotada & Miracles
So last Monday was the Elotada! So basically the whole Spanish stake gets together at this huge park and we chat with everyone, play tons of soccer, and eat a lot of food, especially corn on the cob covered in mayo, lime juice, and chili powder :) haha that may sound gross but it's actually super good! It was an exhausting day and a lot of fun seeing all the other missionaries and members from Costa Mesa. Throughout the week you could tell if a missionary was in the Spanish program because we were all super red and burnt. I even got a sunburn where my watch usually is because it's so white. :)
This week was also a really good week for missionary work and we saw miracles often. We found & started out finding this really cool family. We found them out in their front yard playing with their little kids and we mostly taught the father. He was going through a pretty tough day and said that spending time with his family is the most important thing and said it really helped him that we stopped by. Wednesday was our biggest day for miracles because it started out really slow because all of our appointments were falling through and nobody was home. We decided to stop by Orlando, a guy we found street contacting with a member last week, and we had a really cool lesson with him. He wants to be ready to be baptized July 13th and I'm really excited for him! :) He is gonna need a lot of help but he has really good desires. Right after that we were unlocking our bikes and we were trying to figure out how we were going to visit this less active mom and daughter because we needed a member to go into the house but the member that was going to come cancelled. Anyways, so we get this random call and at the same time this guy down the street starts waving his hands at us. Elder Richards is talking on the phone and I am talking to this awesome guy named Jose who had moved here from Guatemala and was looking for the church or missionaries for a long time. The phone call was from a random member who wanted to come out with us and so we had two awesome miracles at the same time. We had a lot of experiences like that this week and we were really blessed.
This awesome member named Noe who was baptized in English a few months ago, who is way more comfortable speaking in Spanish but didn't know there was a Spanish ward...haha, introduced us to his sister, Lurdes, and his friend who are both pretty awesome. They have seen such an amazing change of happiness and hope in Noe and they want it for themselves. He is a way good example of just living the gospel and others will notice and want to learn more. We worked a good amount with less-actives last week and a lot of them came to church so it made me super happy to see them happy to be back. So much happens every week I love it! I hope you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Hyde
This week was also a really good week for missionary work and we saw miracles often. We found & started out finding this really cool family. We found them out in their front yard playing with their little kids and we mostly taught the father. He was going through a pretty tough day and said that spending time with his family is the most important thing and said it really helped him that we stopped by. Wednesday was our biggest day for miracles because it started out really slow because all of our appointments were falling through and nobody was home. We decided to stop by Orlando, a guy we found street contacting with a member last week, and we had a really cool lesson with him. He wants to be ready to be baptized July 13th and I'm really excited for him! :) He is gonna need a lot of help but he has really good desires. Right after that we were unlocking our bikes and we were trying to figure out how we were going to visit this less active mom and daughter because we needed a member to go into the house but the member that was going to come cancelled. Anyways, so we get this random call and at the same time this guy down the street starts waving his hands at us. Elder Richards is talking on the phone and I am talking to this awesome guy named Jose who had moved here from Guatemala and was looking for the church or missionaries for a long time. The phone call was from a random member who wanted to come out with us and so we had two awesome miracles at the same time. We had a lot of experiences like that this week and we were really blessed.
This awesome member named Noe who was baptized in English a few months ago, who is way more comfortable speaking in Spanish but didn't know there was a Spanish ward...haha, introduced us to his sister, Lurdes, and his friend who are both pretty awesome. They have seen such an amazing change of happiness and hope in Noe and they want it for themselves. He is a way good example of just living the gospel and others will notice and want to learn more. We worked a good amount with less-actives last week and a lot of them came to church so it made me super happy to see them happy to be back. So much happens every week I love it! I hope you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Hyde
Monday, May 26, 2014
Elder Hyde - Memorial Day!
This week I feel like I wasn't in my area very much haha We had
exchanges with the other elders in our district and with the zone
leaders so it was a fun week! When I was in my area we were working
with the Lopez family who is less active. They have a special needs
kid named Nacho and he is sooo awesome! He reminds me of Cody from
special needs mutual from home. (Nathan served 2 years in the special needs
youth program before he left for his mission)
He is way funny and always just puts a
smile on my face when I get to spend time with him. Tuesday we had
some miss communication with a member that turned out to be really
good. We asked him to come out with us to a lesson at 8 but he came at
7 and decided to just start talking to people around the appointment.
He found this really awesome guy and we showed up and jumped in the
conversation and it was sweet. Members are so crucial to missionary
work and so many people are more open to listening to someone like
them. I think most of the people that are being prepared right now
will be found by the members through their efforts to reach out to
their coworkers, family and friends.
Cool story. The sisters in our ward had a baptism this week and the
guy, Rufino, who was baptized was found by a member named Nick at his
work. Nick didn't know if the guy spoke any English so he got a
Spanish Book of Mormon and used google translate (Because he didn't
know any Spanish at all haha) to write a brief testimony in Spanish
inside the cover. Then a year and a half later and a lot of tracking
down by the sisters he was able to come and share his experience at
the baptism and someone translated for him. He was so happy that the
small act of giving a coworker he didn't know a copy of the Book of
Mormon gave Rufino a chance to better his life and come closer to
Jesus Christ. We can all do this :) By following the spirit and
continuing to read scriptures and pray for opportunities the find
those people that we can share the gospel with.
This week I went on exchanges with elder Etchart and it was a lot
of fun. He used to run cross country in high school so we got to talk
about running a ton. He has to stop running because of super bad
stomach problems. Kind of what I went through but worse. He is a
really good missionary and is super knowledgable about lots of random
things. I also had exchanges with zone leader elder Gallego. My
highlight of the exchange was teaching this awesome investigator named
Patty. She is working on overcoming her same sex attraction but she
has a lot of faith and I sure she will if she lets her Heavenly Father
help her. She is hilarious and has a really good feeling for the
gospel. We taught her about repentance and how she can be forgiven.
She is awesome!
So this week was really awesome with everything. Today we have a
huge stake party at the park. It's called the Elota and all the wards
are there playing soccer and eating tons of food. We stopped by for a
minute this morning but are heading back right after this. It's been
fun the see all the Costa Mesa members and all the Spanish
missionaries in the mission.
Love,
Elder Hyde
exchanges with the other elders in our district and with the zone
leaders so it was a fun week! When I was in my area we were working
with the Lopez family who is less active. They have a special needs
kid named Nacho and he is sooo awesome! He reminds me of Cody from
special needs mutual from home. (Nathan served 2 years in the special needs
youth program before he left for his mission)
He is way funny and always just puts a
smile on my face when I get to spend time with him. Tuesday we had
some miss communication with a member that turned out to be really
good. We asked him to come out with us to a lesson at 8 but he came at
7 and decided to just start talking to people around the appointment.
He found this really awesome guy and we showed up and jumped in the
conversation and it was sweet. Members are so crucial to missionary
work and so many people are more open to listening to someone like
them. I think most of the people that are being prepared right now
will be found by the members through their efforts to reach out to
their coworkers, family and friends.
Cool story. The sisters in our ward had a baptism this week and the
guy, Rufino, who was baptized was found by a member named Nick at his
work. Nick didn't know if the guy spoke any English so he got a
Spanish Book of Mormon and used google translate (Because he didn't
know any Spanish at all haha) to write a brief testimony in Spanish
inside the cover. Then a year and a half later and a lot of tracking
down by the sisters he was able to come and share his experience at
the baptism and someone translated for him. He was so happy that the
small act of giving a coworker he didn't know a copy of the Book of
Mormon gave Rufino a chance to better his life and come closer to
Jesus Christ. We can all do this :) By following the spirit and
continuing to read scriptures and pray for opportunities the find
those people that we can share the gospel with.
This week I went on exchanges with elder Etchart and it was a lot
of fun. He used to run cross country in high school so we got to talk
about running a ton. He has to stop running because of super bad
stomach problems. Kind of what I went through but worse. He is a
really good missionary and is super knowledgable about lots of random
things. I also had exchanges with zone leader elder Gallego. My
highlight of the exchange was teaching this awesome investigator named
Patty. She is working on overcoming her same sex attraction but she
has a lot of faith and I sure she will if she lets her Heavenly Father
help her. She is hilarious and has a really good feeling for the
gospel. We taught her about repentance and how she can be forgiven.
She is awesome!
So this week was really awesome with everything. Today we have a
huge stake party at the park. It's called the Elota and all the wards
are there playing soccer and eating tons of food. We stopped by for a
minute this morning but are heading back right after this. It's been
fun the see all the Costa Mesa members and all the Spanish
missionaries in the mission.
Love,
Elder Hyde
Monday, May 19, 2014
more from Santa Ana...
Hola!
This week was actually pretty long. Last P-day we found this lady
that is learning Hebrew and reads the bible in Hebrew with her family.
They believe Jesus Christ's real name is Joshua because that's what it
is in Hebrew. We had a really interesting conversation but I don't
remember what religion she is. Haha. We also taught this less active
and they haven't been able to come to church because someone stole his
identity and spent thousands and he is worried so he is working every
hour that he can just in case he has to somehow try and pay it. We are
trying to help them work everything out with the court system because
they don't speak English.
Our last zone conference with President Bowen was this week. The
Spirit is so strong when he speaks and testifies, he is an amazing
president but I'm also excited to meet the new one. President Taggert
will be here in 4 weeks and I think things are going to change quite a
bit. That night she we found this lady Ruby who almost broke down
crying because she told us she felt like we were sent just for her. I
have a lot of hope for her and she wants us to meet her family, who
really needs what we share. I went on exchanges with Elder Sorensen
this week. He is 6' 8" and it was fun being with someone tall again.
He is a big little kid. Haha. We had a really good exchange and found
some really awesome, elect, people. This lady told us she had been
searching everywhere for which church was true but hadn't been able to
find it. She loved everything we taught her about restored truths.
It was a really hot the first half of the week, got into the 100's 3
days and it was fun being on bike :) with the heat I have been trying
to teach the Lomeli girls and their cousin on Facebook which is going
pretty well. We have been given orders from our stake president and
President Bowen to get all members on Mormon.org so we have been going
to members helping them get on and make a profile so we can show them
to people we meet and to our investigators. So if you aren't on
Mormon.org yet you should make a profile! :)
Saturday we were knocking and were trying to teach a lady at the
door that didn't seem very interested but as we were teaching and
testifying of our loving Heavenly Father a lady in the back seemed to
just be mesmerized by us at the door but she was really interested and
was one of the most engaged door lessons I have ever had. She told us
she has tried to follow what God wants her to do. That night we had a
Mother's Day party with the ward. Our investigators didn't show up but
we got two less active families there that also came to church the
next day so it was a success. :) I love the Spanish culture because
during the party they read poems about their moms and sang karaoke to
some sweet old Spanish songs haha. This week we are planning on a lot
of finding because the investigators we have aren't progressing very
much so next week I should have a lot of new people to talk about. I'm
excited :) Also our mission nurse told us we have been gaining a lot
of weight as a mission so we are going on a get healthy plan, so we
are running every day this week and I just bought some good fruits and
veggies :) time to get healthy haha
Love,
Elder Hyde
This week was actually pretty long. Last P-day we found this lady
that is learning Hebrew and reads the bible in Hebrew with her family.
They believe Jesus Christ's real name is Joshua because that's what it
is in Hebrew. We had a really interesting conversation but I don't
remember what religion she is. Haha. We also taught this less active
and they haven't been able to come to church because someone stole his
identity and spent thousands and he is worried so he is working every
hour that he can just in case he has to somehow try and pay it. We are
trying to help them work everything out with the court system because
they don't speak English.
Our last zone conference with President Bowen was this week. The
Spirit is so strong when he speaks and testifies, he is an amazing
president but I'm also excited to meet the new one. President Taggert
will be here in 4 weeks and I think things are going to change quite a
bit. That night she we found this lady Ruby who almost broke down
crying because she told us she felt like we were sent just for her. I
have a lot of hope for her and she wants us to meet her family, who
really needs what we share. I went on exchanges with Elder Sorensen
this week. He is 6' 8" and it was fun being with someone tall again.
He is a big little kid. Haha. We had a really good exchange and found
some really awesome, elect, people. This lady told us she had been
searching everywhere for which church was true but hadn't been able to
find it. She loved everything we taught her about restored truths.
It was a really hot the first half of the week, got into the 100's 3
days and it was fun being on bike :) with the heat I have been trying
to teach the Lomeli girls and their cousin on Facebook which is going
pretty well. We have been given orders from our stake president and
President Bowen to get all members on Mormon.org so we have been going
to members helping them get on and make a profile so we can show them
to people we meet and to our investigators. So if you aren't on
Mormon.org yet you should make a profile! :)
Saturday we were knocking and were trying to teach a lady at the
door that didn't seem very interested but as we were teaching and
testifying of our loving Heavenly Father a lady in the back seemed to
just be mesmerized by us at the door but she was really interested and
was one of the most engaged door lessons I have ever had. She told us
she has tried to follow what God wants her to do. That night we had a
Mother's Day party with the ward. Our investigators didn't show up but
we got two less active families there that also came to church the
next day so it was a success. :) I love the Spanish culture because
during the party they read poems about their moms and sang karaoke to
some sweet old Spanish songs haha. This week we are planning on a lot
of finding because the investigators we have aren't progressing very
much so next week I should have a lot of new people to talk about. I'm
excited :) Also our mission nurse told us we have been gaining a lot
of weight as a mission so we are going on a get healthy plan, so we
are running every day this week and I just bought some good fruits and
veggies :) time to get healthy haha
Love,
Elder Hyde
Monday, May 12, 2014
Mother's Day, Santa Ana & Elder Richards
This week went by super fast with all the new changes. My new area hasn't seen much success and hasn't had a baptism in forever so my companion and I are really excited to get this area going. There is tons of potential and as we have been working with the members this week we have been able to find some cool new investigators. It was amazing to Skype with you guys and see that you are all doing great! Sorry the Skype cut out haha but I will try to go somewhere with better wifi next time. But that will be in 7 and a half months so I have some time to find a better place haha :) There is a cool less-active family that we met this week. The dad has been less-active because he was in prison for 5 years but he is super excited to come back to church and bring his whole family. He got out this last Saturday so we went over to his welcome home party and he is pretty awesome. I will have a lot more to say next week but thank you for the support in this great opportunity to serve the Lord.
Love,
Elder Hyde
Love,
Elder Hyde
Monday, May 5, 2014
First Transfer - Santa Ana, RATS!, Mother's Day
This has been a crazy week because of transfers. I left Costa Mesa and now I am in Santa Ana. About 2 miles away from my last apartment. Not very far but hey, a new area, new ward, new zone, and new companion so it will be nice to have some change :) my new companion is Elder Richards. He was last companions with Elder Maughan so it's pretty funny that I took his place. Elder Richards is District leader and it will be cool to learn from him. Fun stuff! :) my first move has been pretty crazy but it's been a lot of fun. I hope Alan has an amazing birthday this week and I'm super stoked to skype on Sunday so I'm sorry that this is a short email but I will see you on Sunday!
Love,
Elder Hyde
Love,
Elder Hyde
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