The Summit

It is absolutely insane to think that one year ago today I was getting set apart and that this journey was beginning. It's seems like it was just yesterday... I am so grateful for this past year that I have had, I have learned so much about myself and about my Savior. There is no doubt that this past year has been the hardest year of my life but I am so grateful for it. The Lord has taught me so much through my trials, I feel like a totally different person. I wish I could express through email all that I have learned and all that has happened but it truly isn't possible. I love my mission so much, and am so excited for this coming year that I have to give it all that I have!  

So this past weekend the four of us took a long bus ride up to Huambo for Zone Conference with President Kretly. It was quite the trip. The bus was exactly as you would picture it. Chickens on the floor. Angolans sitting in the isle. The emergency escape hatch missing from the cieling (that gave a nice breeze the whole ride). It was an experience. The trip in total to Huambo from Lubango was about 8 hours. It's really not that far away, but only half of the road on the way there is paved. BUMPY. When we finally got to Huambo it was nice to see the other Elders and catch up. There are also 4 elders in Huambo. The other reason we were there was to see Huambo become a branch, they have only been a group for the past year or so. It was so cool to see how happy the members were to see all of their hard work pay off. President Kretly made all of the callings and now they are ready to go! After church President pulled us all in to one of the classrooms and gave us a little pep talk and told us that the rest of the day we would be out contacting looking for the next branch president (an Elder was made branch president). So we all divided up and were on our way, I worked with an Elder named Elder Ferguson. It was a super good time. We found some super cool people. We knocked on this one families door and they insisted that we would come in and tell them a little about the message, so that we did! They loved it. It was fun to spend a whole day out contacting. Tiring, but fun. The next day we had our Zone Conference. President Kretly killed it! It was so motivating! He based it off of Elder Hollan'ds talk from conference. He is an incredible man and we are really going to miss him. It was sad to say goodbye to him and his wife. Tuesday morning we were already back on the bus on our way home. It took a little longer on the way back... 10 hours.. Woot! 

A few weeks ago I mentioned a family that we started teaching called Team Lito. It's a big family of cousins, uncles, and so on. Lito's the oldest so we gave him the honor. They are so cool! So far we have 4 of them committed to be baptized on the 22nd and the other we have them committed to get married so that they can too. They are all so willing and excited. I love teaching them cause I feel like a preacher with a big congregation. The last time we were there I think I counted 16 people. haha. So much fun!

Have a great week! The work goes on!

Love,

Elder Hyde