A wonderful week of some great Christmas miracles! Most of which
came from caroling, and sharing people the He is the Gift video. I
love this time of year to be able to help many people come closer to
Christ and the real meaning of Christmas. I really appreciate the
opportunity to be here in California serving as a full time
missionary. It has filled my soul with great joy serving these
wonderful people whom I have come to love. Even though I am in a new
area and with a new companion, I really do feel the love that our
Savior and our Heavenly Father have for the people here. As we were
able to go caroling a few times this week and it was great how happy a
few simple songs can make somebody.

Our mission is starting something called "Just serve" which is an
initiate to get us out serving a lot more in the community and I'm
really excited for it. We should be doing at least an hour of service
a day with a maximum of 10 hours of service a week. There have been
huge success stories in other missions and while it was hard to find
much service this week I'm really excited for it to get picking up to
show the community that we are here to serve them.

Being able to Skype home was way awesome and I love you so much
family! You guys just make me so happy and it was great to see and
talk to you all. I know that we belong to the the true church of Jesus
Christ and the He is our Savior. I love you all.
Elder Hyde

Merry Christmas!

I am so excited to talk to him, I got emotional just reading this weeks email.... Merry Christmas to All...my your homes be filled with our Saviors Spirit all year!

Hey Family!

I am really excited to skype this Thursday! It will be
great to see your happy smiling faces!

As for this past week it went really well, just a lot of new
changes. Haha missions are full of them. I have been sick with a sinus
infection all week but I got some medicine today so I hope I will be
better by Thursday! :D Santa Ana 10 is an awesome ward thought and I
have never seen such an organized Spanish ward in my life. They are
all very involved with missionary work and know their roles as
members. We had some awesome experiences with some of the members this
week and they are great to take out to lessons.

We are teaching this older lady Estefani and she is really
struggling bad with her testimony of the Book of Mormon and the
restoration but after a gospel principles class taught to her needs
about the Book of Mormon and hearing testimonies of it she said in the
closing prayers that she knows the testimonies of the class were true.
It was a huge answer to prayers and now she is probably going to be
baptized this Sunday.

Christmas time is amazing and last night we went caroling with our
ward mission leader and an area seventy that is in the ward and their
families. It was amazing because we had 2 guitars and were singing fun
Spanish Christmas hymns. It was a great night and we found 5 awesome
families that want us, or missionaries in our district, to come over
and teach them. It was a great night! I love this ward and am super
happy in this district.

I can't wait to see you this Thursday and will tell you more then!


Love you so much!
Elder Hyde

Wedding, Christmas Party, Baptism & Transfers - Santa Ana 10

Hey! So I only have 5 minutes but this week was really awesome and
I have some news about transfers! So after 20 weeks with elder Kemp,
we are being separated right before Christmas. :'(
He is staying in Santa Ana 11 and I'm going to Santa Ana 10. Another
Santa Ana ward? Yes!! :D I have only heard amazing things about this
ward and I'm super excited to serve there. I will continue to be
district leader and I will be greeny breaking(first companion after
training) with Elder Gardner!

He is from St. George and did cross country and track before he
mission. I'm really excited to be serving with him. We also had a
wedding this week for the other elders investigator and less active
member and then she got baptized on Sunday. I got to interview her
before and she is one of the most ready people I have interviewed
before. She has really been changed by the restored gospel and can't
wait to see them blessings for her young children.

We had a Christmas party with half of the missionaries in the
mission and usually we would watch a movie but president Taggart
decided this year we would sing hymns instead. To be honest I was a
little disappointed at first but after we started I was super glad we
had that chance to sing together and feel the spirit which we most
likely wouldn't have had anything close to as good with a movie.

Then on Sunday we had three investigators and church and it was a
great opportunity to see their progress and desire to learn. I was
also asked to share my testimony and it was a great experience to do
so one last time in that ward. I really love that whole ward and am
going to miss them so much. But I know The Lord needs me in other
places. That night we got some other investigators to a stake
Christmas play about the Book of Mormon testifying of Jesus Christ and
His birth and far exceeded expectations. It was awesome and we met
this lady who looked lost with her family. She said she worked with
one of the actors that gave her a Book of Mormon the other day and she
has been reading it and loves it. Long story short missionaries in
Costa Mesa will be visiting her soon. :)

I will see you on skype next week, I love you all!

Elder Hyde

Share the Gift

This week was all about sharing The Gift of Jesus Christ with
everybody. So I hear that you guys received some cards about sharing
The Gift in he Ensign. Well we as missionaries got 10 each day for the
month of December and wow we have seen some amazing miracles from
doing that. It has been a great blessing to have iPads to be able to
share the video right at the door. Almost every single door we knock
will at least let us show the video with them and most are way most
open to the restoration because of it. So go watch it if you haven't
yet! :) christmas.mormon.org

We got some rain this week and surprisingly it helped us to get into
even more houses because they didn't want us to be out in the rain. :)
We got soaked but it was a lot of fun and we had a lot of success.
This week I got to interview one of the sisters investigators named
Ricardo. He has been taught the entire time I have been in this area
and have overcome drinking, smoking, and a lot of others things and it
was amazing to see him finally be ready to be baptized. As we finished
the interview he acted surprised that we were done and he wanted me to
keep asking him questions. So we sat there and talked about his
testimony of Jesus Christ. He is awesome! President and sister Taggart
came to the baptism and it went great. Except that the water heater
wouldn't turn on and so they had freezing water walking into the
baptismal font and their faces were priceless.

Zone meeting was really great this week and president even came to
that as well. We saw president a lot this week which was a great
surprise. This month we are focusing on helping our investigators
understand the importance of church attendance and I'm really excited
for it! Next week is going to be packed with a Christmas celebration,
district meeting, a wedding for the other elders investigator and less
active member, transfer calls, leadership calls, and continuing to
share the gift!

I'm sorry that my letter is so short this week but I am love the
work and am really happy! Thank you for the really awesome package
last week. Everyday Elder Kemp and I have been enjoying a new little
gift and hopefully this week or next week we will be having a
"snowball" fight. :D I love you much and hope you have a wonderful
week and don't forget to share The Gift.

Love,
Elder Hyde

Thanksgiving

Happy thanksgiving! Or more like happy December! I hope you all had a wonderful week of lots of Turkey and wonderful food. I ate way too much. But it was a great week and we have a lot of exciting news for the holidays.

I will start from the beginning. Last Monday night we had two set family home evenings set up but both of the member families had to cancel last minute and we weren't sure what to do. So what evened up happening was we had a family home evening with the investigator families and then they became friends! :) It was a lot of fun to teach them all together and it was a great night. Tuesday basically everything fell through and then Wednesday everything and more went through and it was good to learn from both. This week for district meeting I had to come up with the whole thing myself and as I sought revelation for my district it was a great learning experience. It took a lot of effort and I felt like almost nothing was coming. Most of what I felt was right wouldn't come until the last 5 minutes of my personal studies each day and then 2 days before I changed the whole thing but as the meeting came and I could share that experience with the district I really felt like it was what the district needed. We went over the power of the spirit in conversion and how sharing our testimonies and how we came to know things are true can help our investigators know how they can receive their answers. It was a really good meeting and I really enjoyed it.

Thanksgiving was awesome! We had planned a huge service project but last minute it felt through. So we ended up spending the morning surprising two families that couldn't afford a turkey and gave them one. They were very grateful for it and I felt really good helping them out. Later we went to the Honda center in Anaheim where the Anaheim Ducks hockey team plays and we helped clean up from a thanksgiving service they did there feeding thousands of people. It was huge and there a ton of other volunteers that helped us missionaries as well. After that service we went to the house of the family Granja, who is the old bishop, and they had a feast for us. Not turkey, but ribs! :) Ribs, mash potatoes, rolls, brussel sprouts with asparagus covered in greasy onions, and avocado pie! The first time they made avocado pie I guess I looked like I loved it a lot and so every time I eat with them they make it for me. :D they are so nice! That night we went to visit some people that didn't have their family to be with and we had some really good lessons just sharing what we are grateful for. One family shared a really touching experience of how they met. She had been really sick for many years and lost her hair but her family wouldn't take her to the doctor. They met on a bus and then she invited him to a party and after she explained her sickness he asked her to be his girlfriend so that he could take care of her and help her become healthy. They are the sweetest young couple ever and now they have been married for about 4 years or so and her hair is starting to grow. She still needs a liver transplant and is working with doctors to see if she will be available for a transplant soon. It was a really touching story and they are so awesome. They don't have very much but they give everything they have to each other and to everyone else.

On Saturday I went on exchanges with Elder Wagstaff one of my zone leaders in the YSA. He is such an amazing elder and I learned so much from him. We went on two exchanges back when we were both in Costa Mesa and it was amazing to share all the many changes we have seen in each other since our first exchanges together. It was a great confidence booster and also a very spiritual exchange. I loved it. And YSA is so great, we spent the whole day teaching less active and recent converts. Young people have a lot of tough trials but wow they are so ready for the gospel.

Oh yeah I forgot to tell you that the church has a worldwide Christmas initiative of "He is the gift" using the hashtag of #ShareTheGift or #ComparteLaDàdiva in Spanish. We get special pass along cards that we use and need to give out at least 10 a day to get it going. Also on the 7th of December the church bought out all of the adds on the Facebook homepage to promote the video. So if you haven't seen it go check it out on Christmas.mormon.org or lds.org or even on YouTube. It's a great video and we have shared it about 20 times in the past 3 days, it's really helping bring people closer to Christ. As you watch it think about what the greatest gift that Christ has given you personally and then post it on Facebook! :) Share Christ with everybody! #ShareTheGift




Love,

Elder Hyde

My week of Thankfulness

PDAY HIKE

I am so grateful for my wonderful family and friends and so this week
for my email I would like to follow an inspired idea I saw my friend
Elder Vierkant do a few weeks ago and just write an email of
gratitude. I am grateful for my family and their much love and
support. Im grateful for the the great privilege and blessing I have
to serve The Lord and the wonderful children of our Heavenly Father
with his infinite love that He has for each of them.

I am grateful for the investigators that we have to teach and the
willingness of the members to come out with us. This week we had a lot
of help from members coming to visit investigators and just be their
friends and be there for them to help them. I am also grateful for the
many people that allow us to come over and share this great message of
the restoration and fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This week
it was heartwarming to receive a message from an investigator for
thanking her for what we had taught her. She was humbled and wanting
to repent after she realized that she hadn't always kept the
commandments earlier in her life. We shared Mosiah 26:29-30 focusing
on
"...if he confess his sins before thee and me, and repenteth in the
sincerity of his heart, him shall ye forgive, and I will forgive him
also. Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their
trespasses against me."
I am grateful for repentance. For the ability to be forgiven for our
errors in the life is such an amazing gift and as we testified of the
Saviors Atonement and the power of repentance to this investigator the
spirit testified to us and her that we can be forgiven and that the
Savior wants to forgive.

I am grateful for my companion and for the many things that he
teaches me every day. Elder Kemp and I are very different but it has
been a great learning experience to be with him for almost 4 months
now and be able to learn his strengths and how to use them in
missionary work.

I am grateful for my health and for the life that I have been given.
There are so many people that we teach that have poor health or have
problems with being happy with their lives or being positive and so
I'm very grateful for the growing up with the gospel in my life. I
have been so blessed in my life and taken most of it for granted.

I am most grateful for my Heavenly Father and for His great love for
us by sending His Son Jesus Christ to suffer the penalty for all of us
and gives us the strength to overcome our challenges and trials in
this life. I love you all and I am very grateful for YOU!

Love,
Elder Hyde

Elder Cardon is a very inspired man...

Sorry that I am writing two days late. Our Pday got changed because
we have Zone Conference with Elder Cardon from the first quorum of the
70 on Monday so our Pday is today. I will get more to that later but
it was an amazing conference.

Last Monday we were invited to family home evening and a newer family
in the ward had invited a part member family whom we have been trying
to contact for months. The family came and they shared a great lesson
about faith and we got to meet a great part member family. The next
day we had to go to the doctors with one of the elders in our district
who has been having back problems. Then we received a text from other
elders in the mission telling us that a less active member needed a
blessing in our ward. We went and found her and she called us Angels
sent from heaven and was amazed that we had come right when she was in
need of a blessing. Her husband isn't a member but after the blessing
he said the missionaries could come by to teach his whole family. She
is the only member so I'm excited for the sisters to go teach them. It
was a great experience to give a blessing to someone I had never met
before and just feel the spirit work through me. The whole day was
very guided by the spirit as we tried to put our training of relying
on the spirit into play. I can tell you that the Holy Ghost will guide
us if we listen. That night we were completely guided where to go and
found some great people. We were also guided to a part member family
we have been working with and just stopped to see how they were doing.
We just started testifying of the Savior and the wife opened up
telling us she had been reading about repentance in the Book of
Mormon. It led in perfectly to baptism and we invited her to be
baptized. She thought about it and then with a reassuring husband at
her side said she would. It was a great lesson and I'm really excited
for Maria Muñoz. In our past lessons we had focused on temples, and
families being sealed and so she said she really wants that. A
wonderful night of miracles.

The following day we had a meeting with all the district leaders in
the mission and we could tell right away that it was going to be a
different meeting than usual. Usually the assistants take half an hour
to go over some attributes of a good leader and then president has
twenty or so minutes to share some thoughts. This time the assistants
went through their part in less than ten minutes and left the rest to
President Taggart. He got up with tear filled eyes and talked about a
group of 5 missionaries that he had to send home that morning and how
much it broke his heart. He told us his tolerance level is at zero and
that we needed to let all missionaries know that if they leave mission
boundaries, they are on the next plane home. Also if anybody is
involved with secret groups on Facebook they will be sent home. Normally we
want to keep those things quiet but this time he told us to let people
know. It was a powerful meeting and the spirit was really strong. I
came out of that never wanting to ever even think about being
disobedient.

Our whole district has been pretty sick this past week. I think I am
the only one who didn't get sick. So almost everybody in the district
needed a blessing at different times this week and so it was a good
opportunity to serve. But we had a few more trips to the doctors and
so that wasn't too fun. We also were involved with about 6 hours of
service at a community center this week planning and decorating for a
big fundraiser event to help out the community. It was a lot of fun
and good to get out and do service. Soon we will have to be putting
service hours in as part of key indicators(numbers that we report each
week). As part of the "just-serve" project that will be starting in
the next few weeks.

We had some amazing experiences this week, including an early
thanksgiving feast, giving more blessings, teaching some amazing
people, and another great family home evening with the same part
member family and one of the bishopric members family. So I wish I had
more time but I probably can only talk about the Zone Conference to
finish off.

So to start we also had a meeting Sunday night with all recent
converts/less active members that could come and we had two families
that came. The Marin family and the De Leon family(the one who lost
their mom to cancer a few weeks ago). Elder Cardon had some recent
converts share their testimonies and then he gave an amazing discourse
of the restoration and how to know if what we share is true. The next
day we had a 6 hour zone conference generally based on recognizing the
spirit. He started by going over some amazing information about the
Abrahamic covenant and really just made the scriptures come alive. He
shared some amazing experiences of working with the twelve and first
presidency. His testimony is really powerful about their callings as
prophets, seers, and revelators. He meets with them and all of the
quorums of the seventies every Thursday in the Salt lake Temple to
discuss many wonderful and great things. They also have their own fast
and testimony meeting every first Thursday of the month in case some
of them don't have the chance to partake of the sacrament with so much
travel, which has to be so amazing. In one of the stories he shared,
an apostle was selecting where missionaries were supposed to be called
and one he just couldn't quite pinpoint where the missionary should
serve so he said he would come back to it and in the beginning of the
next application he just blurted out a mission and said that it was
for the previous missionary. Then he turned to Elder Cardon and said
"Sometimes it's as important to know when God isn't speaking as it is
to know when He is speaking." Wow. What a wonderful saying, especially
when recognizing the spirit. Then we went on with how the training has
been going and then he shared something else that I really liked. He
said "you are all here more for what you have felt than what you
know." And it's so true, we can have all the knowledge in the world
but if we haven't received a witness from the Holy Ghost then it means
nothing.

I have run out of time but I love you and know that The Lord loves
us, knows us, and will give us comfort, guidance, and confirmation of
the truth through His spirit.
Although I may be far away, I feel all your love every single day.

Love,
Elder Hyde