Week full of MIRACLES!

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


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


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


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


Love,
Elder Hyde

YSA testimonies, I love Missionary work

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

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

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

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

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


LOVE,
Elder Hyde

Temple Day

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love,
Elder Hyde

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

SPECIAL GUEST...

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

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

Elder Hyde

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

I love YSA!

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

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

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

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

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

Love,

Elder Hyde

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

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

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

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

:)
Love,
Elder Hyde

Elder Gardner and Elder Hyde

Elder Maughan, Elder Hyde and Elder Kemp

District Elders

New Members of Santa Ana 10

Teaching Families :)

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


Hi family!

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


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


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


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