Keep on Keepin' On!

Every week I learn a little bit more about the Savior and His atonement. Grace is something I knew very little about before my mission, but now that I have been in dyer need of it almost every day I have come to figure it out a little bit. Christ overcame death so that in the end we can be saved, but He suffered for our sins, pains, and afflictions so that we could make it to the end. The straight and narrow path isn't an easy path to follow. There are so many things trying to force us to fall from the path, but at the same time there are SO many resources available to us if we want to use them. Heavenly Father didn't set us up to fail. Nor did he send us here without purpose. As we teach people the plan of salvation it is so cool to see the light turn on in their minds. So many people think that we are here by chance and that everything bad that there is in the world is thanks to father Adam. If they could only realize that it is thanks to Adam that there is good in this wolrd as well. Everyone always looks at this life and God's plan so synically.. God loves us, I have no doubt. I am so grateful for the knowledge He has given us!

This week was a great one. I was taught once again just how lucky I am to have been given all that I've been given; an incredible family, the knowledge of the restored gospel, and a testimony of the Savior. I have loved so much the working in Huambo. There are so many people here that are prepared for our message. It has been so cool to see Jandira come alive as she has been studying the scriptures. She bore her testimony last week at church and it was so powerful! There is nothing better than seeing someone that you've taught bare testimony. Her family has been changing so much over the past month as they have seen Jandira. Her younger brothers are going to get baptized here in a few weeks. I love that family!  Words can't describe the way I feel about this mission that the Lord has let me serve. It is sacred to me. I love this work!

Thank you all, once again, for all of your prayer and support! I love you!

Love,

Elder Hyde

Joy.

This week was another incredible week full of learning, teaching, and pure joy. 

Our investigator Jandira was baptized on Saturday and it was such a special baptismal service. Her whole family came and the spirit was so strong the entire time. She left the water with the biggest smile I think I've ever seen. That kind of happiness is called joy. Joy is so different from anything else in this world and we are so lucky that we have access to its source, the spirit and the truth.  The only way that we'll ever find true joy is through the gospel and through obedience to the commandments. It's sad that not many people have access to that indescribable feeling of joy. It talks about it quite a bit in the scriptures and it's usually associated with missionary work and repentance. Alma talks about joy a few times, once after being converted and having a mighty change of heart and again upon meeting the sons of Mosiah after serving their missions. But I think one of my favorites is in D&C 18 “And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one asoul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!” Joy, joy, joy. We were sent here to have joy!!! I am so grateful for my upbringing and for the fact that I was born into this incredible gospel.

I had an incredible birthday! The elders did a good job about making sure it was a special day. Good stuff!

I hope you all have an incredible week! I love and appreciate you all!

 

Love,

 

Elder Hyde

Living the good life

Ya know, there is no place on the planet I would rather be right now than here in Huambo, Angola. Our area is progressing great and we're having testimony building experiences. We've seen the Book of Mormon hard at work this week as we've seen some of our key investigators gain testimonies of it. The spiritual progression of anyone in the church, be it investigator or member, is substantialy reliant upon the reading of The Book of Mormon. 

Yesterday was a great Sunday. It was the fifth Sunday so I got to give the lesson for priesthood and relief society. We watched President McConkie´s talk about teaching with power and authority and then discussed it. It was great, I personally learned a ton about the necessity of personal worthiness. If we want the spirit to be with us, especially while we teach, it takes a lot more than just  saying our nightly prayers and going to church on Sunday. We´ve got to practice what we preach. I also gave a talk on faith during sacrament meeting. I talked about the importance of trials in our life and about how God uses them to try us and to see if we're truly converted unto Him. Mosiah 23:21 and Ether 12:6 were kind of the base of it and then I used Abraham as an example. It was great. I learned a lot. 

Once again, I love you all and am so grateful for all of your prayers and support! Have the greatest week of your lives!

Love, 

Elder Hyde

New Chapter!

Well, this week I started a new chapter of my mission! One that I am sure I will never forget. I was sad to leave my last area but at the same time anxious for the adventure ahead of me in Huambo. Early Wednesdaymorning I caught a flight with another Elder, Elder Rigby, and we were on our way. When we landed Elder Fontaine, Tilley, and Tingey were all waiting outside for us. I’m so excited to be serving with Elder Fontaine again, he’s an incredible person. Elder Tilley is also with us until he goes home next week. He’s a great missionary and It’s been great working with him. He has been serving as branch president down here for the last 6 months or so. The branch is very small and is still in its first year of being a branch. Yesterday at church there were a little over 40 in attendance. So President Merrill was down here this weekend to release Elder Tilley and about 30 minutes before sacrament meeting he called me to be the new branch president. I was caught completely by surprise and felt an instant feeling of inadequacy, but minutes after I felt an overwhelming feeling of peace and the words of President Monson once again came into my head, “Whom the Lord calls the Lord qualifies.” I know that this is going to be an incredibly humbling experience for me and that I am going to learn so much. You can guarantee that I will be trusting in the spirit more than ever. I love these people so much already and I am so excited to work with them and truly hasten the work of salvation here in Huambo. This branch needs so badly a local branch president and hopefully in the near future one will be called. It’s possible that in the coming month one is called, but until then I’m going to serve with all I have and am!

This is the Lord’s work and we truly are bound to have success if we do it His way. He’s given us that promise. I have no doubt that this is Lord’s church and that now is the time for it here in Angola.

I hope that all is well and that you have a great week! Thanks for the prayers and love!

Elder Hyde

Hey

This work is truly wonderful. I had many experiences this week that confirmed that fact to me. Let me tell you one of them. So last night we had about 45 minutes of free time so we decided to do some contacting. We were walking down a street that we walk down all the time and Elder Clifford felt impressed to knock a certain door. So we did. After knocking a little boy answered the door and we asked him to go and get his dad. His father, Lazerus, came to the door and before we could even say anything he invited us to come in. He walked us to the back of his house where his wife was, sat us down, and then thanked us for coming over. We hadn't said more than good evening at this point. haha. So once we sat down we told them who we were and why we knocked their door, and they just continued to thank us and thank us. During all of this I was sitting there just nodding my head saying, "this work is incredible...". When else would this ever happen? Someone letting complete strangers into their house without saying a word. We were with them for about a half an hour and we were able to teach the restoration and find out a little bit more about them. They asked if they could come to church and we said no. haha just kidding. We told them the directions and they committed to coming. Another family! I love my job so much... What we're selling sells itself, it's great! I truly couldn't be happier. We are seeing great progress with those that we are teaching and we have quite a few people on their way to baptism. Life is good! Let me tell one more story. So this week we didn't have much time for finding since our time was limited due to our trip to Huambo, which went great by the way, so we were kind of worried that our ares would suffer a little bit. But the Lord had our backs. We had 4 consecutive lessons in which the person that we were going to teach had a friend or family member there waiting to hear our message. It's so nice when you're investigators do your finding for you! A phrase that is commonly used here is "God is good". How true is that? He truly is hastening his work and preparing a way for His children to hear his Gospel. I love this work so much and am so grateful for this time the Lord has given me! God is good!

Thank you for your prayers and support! I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Hyde

I love this work.

Well, it was another great week here in Luanda. The Lord continues day after day, week after week to teach and humble me. I love my mission and most of all I love these people. This week was district conference here in Luanda so I got to see a lot of the the people from the past branches that I've served in. It was awesome. Now, I want to tell of an experience that I had yesterday that rocked my world and reminded me of the Love that our Heavenly Father has for his children. So, as we were greeting everyone as they walked into the convention center I shook a familiar hand. I took the hand of a certain man and gave him a good morning and then it hit me and I realized that this man was Kifika from my first area! The drunk man that read the whole Book of Mormon on his own and quit drinking. He had disappeared and no one knew where he was. The missionaries hadn't been in contact with him for over a year. After I left the area the missionaries kept working with him but then he disappeared and no one knew where he went because he has no family. I honestly never thought that I would see this man again! Below is a picture of the last time that I saw him, about a year and half ago, he was going crazy on the roof trying to get his cousin out of his house. The other picture is a picture of him and I from yesterday, he is freshly shaven and looking good. We're not super sure on how he made it to the conference or how he even knew about it. But what's important is that he is back in contact with the missionaries and the church. I love this man with all my heart and I am so grateful for the fact that God has been watching out for him, and that He prepared away for him to come back. 

That was definitely the best highlight of the conference, but it wasn't the only one. Edson and Denise both showed up! They are progressing so well, I haven't seen such desire in an investigator for a long time. Guilherme, the America lover, also came! We're going to hopefully start sitting with his family this week. There were almost 800 people at conference yesterday! We're seeing growth, which is so satisfying. There wasn't a single spare seat in the room. 

We're going to Huambo tomorrow morning until Friday so it's going to be a tight work week, but hopefully we'll still be able to help our investigators to keep progressing. 

I love this work. I love these people. And I love my mission. The church is SO true! 

Thank you all for your prayers and love! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Hyde

Life Is Good

This week was a great one! We had a lot of really cool experiences with our current investigators and with some new investigators that we found this week. 

I'll tell you about a new couple that we found while knocking doors last week. Their names are Edson and Denise. So last Sunday we went to knock the door of  a contact that we had made a few days prior and when we knocked the door her neighbor answered the door, Edson. (You may be wondering why her neighbor answered her door, haha, well here there are usually about 3 houses that share the same gate and courtyard area). The girl that we had contacted a few days earlier had mentioned that her neighbor had taken her pamphlet and was reading it. So when Edson answered the door we asked if we could go in and talk with him for a little about our church and about the pamphlet he was reading. He accepted. So we sat down with him and realized quickly that this guy was the real deal. As we talked a little about families he opened up and expressed how badly he wants to get married to his "wife" that he's been living with for 3 years now. Their parents just won't accept it because they say they need to be in better conditions before marriage... But he went on to say how he knows that God doesn't like it and that he knows that he's living in sin. We told him that we were there to help him and that our message would help him understand a lot more about God's plan and the importance of his family. He was really excited. They have a baby girl and about a year ago they lost their year old son. So we marked with him to come back and meet with him and his wife a few days later. Last Friday we sat with them and had the coolest lesson! His wife basically opened right up and said everything that her husband had said and that she really wants to know the truth and that she's willing to do whatever it takes to find it. They were asking all the right questions and saying all the right things. She asked us if we had a plan for them or if we were just going to pass by and teach them. She wanted to know if baptism was part of the plan. haha. We enthusiastically said that it was. But this isn't even the best part. The best part is that they came to church yesterday and loved it! I am so excited for this couple! They have the desire so I have no doubt that the Lord will help them. 

Beto didn't end up getting baptized this week. We decided that we were going to wait a little bit to help him be more prepared. He’s a champ so I’m sure he’ll be baptized here in a few weeks.

Things are going so well here in Angola! I am happy and loving my mission. Thank you for all you your prayers! I love you all!

Elder Hyde

Shots of Adrenaline

This week was very rewarding and uplifting one. Every so often the Lord is kind enough to give us spiritually exhilarating experiences to keep us going. I guess you could say their kind of like little shots of adrenaline that keep us giving the work our all. This week I got a few of those shots. Let me tell you about a few of them. Luckily this week we were able to really just focus on our area and get it back to where it should be. 

First, do you remember Swing? He was baptized about 4 months ago. Well he is on fire! Elder Clifford and I are now working backing in the branch that I was in before (our area is the same, there was just confusion as to which branch our area belonged to). Anyways, Swing has already received the Melchizedek Priesthood and is currently serving as the Branch Mission Leader. He is so excited about it and is already doing an exceptional job. He walked with us on Friday and it was so special to hear him bear testimony to our current investigators about his spectacular conversion that happened just 4 months ago. He's my hero. He just got a new job and is hoping to be able to have his wife here from South Africa in just a few months. 

I'll keep this story short. We have an investigator named Beto that we have been preparing for baptism that last couple of weeks and he has been progressing wonderfully. His baptismal date is this coming Saturday. After church yesterday we went to his house to talk to him and see if we was ready to seal the deal or not and he opened up and said that it's a big step that he's not sure if he's ready to take. It was really cool because he truly realizes the gravity of covenants and how serious the really are. We talked to him about the two paths that he has before him at the moment and where each of them will take him. In the beginning of the lesson he was leaning towards postponing the baptism but by the end we asked him what he was thinking and he said that he's going to give it his all so that he can make it to this Saturday. We told him that it's not the end of the world if it doesn't happen this Saturday, that there are still plenty of Saturdays. But he's determined. Anyways, it was so cool to see the Spirit work inside him and help him decide what he wants to do in his life right now. He has  ton of potential to help the church here. We warned him that Satan would be fighting against him big time this week but that it won't be anything that he can't handle. We'll see what happens! I know he'll be baptized, hopefully this week. 

So about a month and a half ago we contacted a guy named Guilherme. He has one of the biggest houses in our area and we decided to give it a knock and see if we couldn't get in. Long story short, his guard opened the gate door asked what we wanted, we told him, he called up to Guilherme, I talked to him on the phone and gave him our schpeel, and for some reason felt impressed to tell him that we were Americans, and from there he said he'd give us 5 minutes and that we could come up onto his balcony to talk with him. We got up there and he just so happened to be the biggest America fan I've ever met. He had a US polo shirt on and his iPhone case was an American flag. But that's irrelevant. We talked with him about our message and he told us how important his family is to him. He's about 50 years old and already retired, and has 3 little kids. He told us that he waited so long to have kids cause he wanted to get married first. That was a surprise! I'd never heard that before... Anyways, he asked to come back and that he and his family would really like to hear our message. He told us that they were going to Brazil for the holidays but that we could come by the 13th of January to meet with them. So on the 13th we called and he said that right when they got back his wife's father died and that it wasn't going to work to sit with them for awhile. But we were persistent and called him every week and he just kept saying next week. So this week we were finally able to sit with him and had an incredible lesson with him and his wife. At first it was just him and as I was giving a little into to the message and talking about the importance of families he stopped me mid sentence and called his wife, he said that she had to hear it. She is still going through a really tough time with the loss of her father. We talked to them about families and the Plan of Salvation and they loved it. I loved it. It was so special to find a family that has good Christian standards and that believes in the importance of the family. We are going back this week to keep teaching them and I am so excited. Could this be the family I've been waiting for my whole mission? I hope so! Pray for Guilherme and Isabel! 

This week was incredible. We found a lot of new people that have been prepared for our message. I love this work, there is no place that I would rather be. I love the Lord and His church! Thank you for your prayers and support!

Love,

Elder Hyde

One More In The Books

Well this week just flew right by... Time really needs to start slowing down. I'll warn you ahead of time that this email is going to be a little shorter than usual, time is short. Not that they are ever very long anyways. haha. 

I'll tell you about a really special experience that we had this week while working in our area. We were walking down a road that I had never been down before contacting around and looking for people to teach and we ran into a group of 3 young men and started talking to them. We walked right by them and the Spirit yelled at us and told us to go back and talk to them so we akwerdly stopped and went back to talk with them. We ended up sitting down with them and then taught the restoration to them. Soon after they asked us to follow them home so that we knew where they lived and could come back to teach them more. One of them, Emanuel, was especially interested and was really excited about learning more. We went back the next day to give them some copies of the Book of Mormon and to talk a little more with them. Emanuel said he had been reading the pamphlet all morning and wanted more. So that we gave! He is eating it all up. Then yesterday he came to church and had a great experience. I'm looking forward to working with them more. I am so grateful for the Spirit in this work! It would be awfully hard alone... 

Well, my week was great! Sorry that you only get an experience or two each week... Thank you all for the love and support! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Hyde

Life on the front lines

Howdy hey everybody! This week flew right by... What I would do to have more time in the day... This week was a busy one... We were running around non-stop. From keeping up our proselyting area to getting things ready for the new Elders that are coming this week. We are all so excited that we are finally getting some more missionaries here! We're running low on troops... But it looks like the visa issues have been resolved so we should start to receive missionaries more frequently. 

It truly is a battle out here and we need all of the help we can get. (Put on your metaphoric ears). Sadly Satan has such a strong force here fighting against us, the immorality and overall desensitivity of the people is quite depressing. But the Lord has been helping us recruit more and more soldiers every week. It is so cool to see when somebody decides that they don't want to fight for the other side anymore and they decide to come fight with us. We have all the weapons and strategies necessary to beat the enemy, we've just got to know how to use them. Our general, Christ, knows exactly what to do in every situation, because he's already been there, and he weeps when we're wounded, because he's already felt the pain that it causes. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have been given to fight on the front lines of this battle that we know will soon end and that we know we will come out victorious. Satan is fighting hard! But, the armor of righteousness that he has given his troops in impenetrable. I'm so glad that I'm fighting for this side!

Well I hope that made a little sense... Long story short I am excited for the new missionaries to get here. 

My week was great! Things are really progressing here in Angola and I am content to say the least. Thank you for all of you prayers and support! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Hyde

It's A New Year!

It's a new year and I am looking so forward to it. The time around new years is always a good time to stop and reflect on the past year, see progress, need for improvement, and the hand of the Lord in our lives. This past year was one that I will never forget, I was taught so much from those I served with, the people whom I served and from the Lord. This past year I gained a strong testimony of the promise found in Ether 12:27. The Lord truly does give us weaknesses to help us to be humble, and then once we've showed our humility an desire He will help us to become better and stronger. 

This week was miraculous. I keep saying it over and over that the experiences that we have never get old. Just last night we had quite the experience as we were closing off our week with knocking doors. We walked to apart of our area that we had never been to before and were guided to the house of a family very in need of the message of the restoration. After giving our door approach, the man at the door invited us in with a smile and introduced us to his cousin, who lives with him. They had just been sitting out together reflecting on their week. There are 3 of them that live together, the are all cousins and about 30 years old. As we chatted with them about the religious life they explained to us how they had given up on church, that they don't feel like they can trust any of them. They openly expressed their sincere desire to rejuvenate their faith that had been put to the side and opened up their hearts and ears as we taught them the restoration. The spirit was strong and I know that the Lord wanted us to find them last night.

I am cringe at the thought that I only 5 months left... But I am going to give these last few months all that I have. It's a new year and it's time to keep on keepin' on! Thanks for all of your prayers, love, and support! I love you all!

Elder Hyde