Thanksgiving!

It was another really awesome week down here in Lubango! It is crazy that I have already been here for a month.

This week my man Leonel was baptized, he was so excited.  Iºll try to send a picture today if the internet permits. He is a 25 year old guy that is going to be a great leader for the church here in Lubango.  Funny story. So yesterday when he was getting the Holy Ghost, President Marques said `Receive the Holy Ghost` and Leonel under his breath said, ´Received´. I guess he really felt it! So cool!

I got a call from Elder Hobbs this week telling me that this guy named Dani was baptized last week. I am not sure if I already told you all about him. One day Elder Hobbs and I were walking down the street and this guy with gnarly dred locks stopped us and asked us for something to read, we gave him a pamphlet and 2 weeks later we saw him again and he said he wanted to talk more about what he read. The guy is so calm and chill. Totally Rastafarian. Elder Hobbs said it was pretty funny baptizing him with his huge dreds. So cool!

Thanksgiving was an awesome day! We worked all morning and then went over to the Violins for dinner. Sister Violin cooked all of the meat and then we each cooked our only little something, with my wide span of cooking skills I whipped up some rice. Haha. While we were there she also told me about Camille´s mission call!!!! WOOT!!!! Long Beach is one lucky place!

It is going to be another really good week. Toní is getting baptized on Saturday and couldn´t be more excited. If anything is ever happening at the church he is there without fail. He is about 25 as well. He has a friend named Felix who usually is in the lessons with us that should be getting baptized here in few weeks as well.

I love it down here in Lubango! The field is so white!! The church is true!

I love you all! And hope that you all had an amazing Thanksgiving!

Love,

Elder Hyde

Con, Holla at the shred yo. I hope youre using my board. Do it. Lamar aint got nothing.

Sam, I always love getting your emails! Go cats!

Syd, I hope youºve enjoyed your break from dance yo.

Luke, I love you so much buddy! Im thankful for you!!!

LUBANGO

It was a really super good week! A lot of awesome things happened. Let me tell ya about them!

 

President Kretly was here with us until Thursday so we had him come with us a to a few lessons. I'm so glad that we did! I learned a ton of really awesome things. We took him to a lesson with one of our investigators name Leonel, and it was so cool. Leonel has been being taught for about 2 months now and has been progressing really well, just for some reason we hadn't set a Baptismal date with him. President Kretly changed that. haha. Elder Kelsey's teaching style is one where you teach very slowly and in depth to make sure they understand, where Presdinet's is more of boom, boom, boom, boom style. He says teach what Preach My Gospel says and then move on, there is no need for more detail at this point of conversion. I agree with him. So basically in that lesson we taught Leonel the Word of Wisdom, Chastity, and Tithing which usually would have taken us 3 lessons, and now he is getting Baptized on Saturday! Woot! He is super excited! He will definitely be a leader here in Lubango. (I think he was in that video I sent)

 

We also had an awesome opportunity to just sit and chat with President for a few hours the night before he left. It was really cool. I have a lot of respect for that man.

 

Last week I told you about our investigator Toni, he is doing awesome! We see him twice a week and every time he is so receptive and just loves it. Haha it's funny last few times he's come he's brought us something, one time he brought us some bread and this last time he brought a bunch of chalk for the church. He's such a champ. He should be getting baptized here in the next few weeks.

 

 Yesterday at church we watched a big Africa wide Stake/District conference. It was super cool! The Prophet spoke along with Elder Christopherson and a few other people. We had a solid 9 investigators there and 80 people in total! It is always good for the members here to be able to see and hear the Prophet, everyone always is so happy after. As of right now I think our branch here has about 40 or 50 members here. I don't know the exact number.

 

Oh yeah another really cool thing! One of the members down here got his mission call this last week! He's going to Mozambique! He will be the first missionary out of Lubango. It is so cool/inspiring to see all of these people down here so willing to serve the lord so soon after baptism. They get it!

 

I 'm not sure what it is but I have kind of been under the weather this past week or so. It's not too bad, I can still go out and work and stuff but it's just annoying cuase my nose is constantly running. Good thing there are tons of huge African leaves around to blow it:)

 

I love this work so extremely much and I am so glad that I have the opportunity serve in this part of the Lord's vineyard. My testimony is streangthened every single day as I see all of these people changing their lives. The Savior knows and loves every single one of us. I know it.

 

Congrats to Alex and Morgan!!!

 

I love you all so much! Keep on keepin on!! Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Love,

 

Elder Hyde

 

Con- Sounds like you had a blast! Plan on doing that again here in about a year and a half!

Syd- I hope you had an awesome week! Love ya!

Sam- Glad to hear that school is keepin ya busy! Keep it up!

Luke- I'm rootin for ya buddy! Pop some 3's for me!

What's Up?!

Life is good down here in Lubango! I had a really great week, full of teaching and learning.

 

Our area had a baptism on Saturday! His name is Henrique, Elder Kelsey and his old companion had been teaching him for the past few months. He is a very cool guy, he bore his testimony in Fast and Testimony Meeting last week just saying how excited he is to be baptized. So cool. He brought a lot of his family to the baptism and they all really enjoyed it. We are hoping to start teaching them as well:) It was so cool to see him come out of the water with tears in his eyes, full of the spirit.

 

Elder Kelsey and I have a lot of investigators that are really coming along and progressing very well. We should be having quite a few baptisms here shortly. We have one investigator named Toni who is so cool. He's about 23. We have been teaching him for about 2 weeks now and he is still yet to miss an appointment with us. (Rare). We always teach him in the chapel and he is always prompt and ready to go. Last night we taught him about the Priesthood and it got him really excited about the opportunity he has to be baptized. At the end of the lesson we asked him how he was feeling and he went off for abou 5 minutes telling how much he enjoys being with us. We explained to him that it isn't us, it's the spirit. He's so awesome.

 

President Kretly has been here for the last 4 days or so, it has been so good to be able to learn from him. He's a wise man. He alse brought with him Elder and Sister Hartman who are serving a mission helping missionaries with their mental health. They cover like half of Africa. Elder Hartman is the guy that came up witht the whole personality color thing, and he gave us a super cool training on how we can be our best selves. He is an awesome man. President Kretly also gave us another motivating training on the necessary things we need to do in order to build the church here in Angola, but most specifically Lubango. It was an awesome opportunity that the 4 of us had down here.  President Kretly also did a seminar thing for anybody that wanted to come on Sunday Night. The seminar was on "The 7 Habits of an highly effective person". He was the CEO of FranklinCovey in Brazil so he incorporates a lot of that stuff into our trainings. It was such an awesome thing that he did. We had about 30 people come and they all loved it. He talked to them about how they can be more effective/successful in every aspect of their lives, professional and spiritual. It was very cool. He also spoke on Sunday about the importance of living the Culture of the Gospel and not the crazy African culture. It was really good for them to hear because there are some crazy traditions that people have down here.. I am so blessed to have been raised in the Culture of the Gospel!

 

Every Monday we play soccer with Elder Violin and a few of the members in the ward, but this Monday was a Holiday so we had about 20 people show up to play. It was so much fun! President Kretly was also there with us which was fun cause he played professionaly for a while in Brazil. I may or may not have scored a goal on him... Not sure if that was a good idea or not. haha. It was so good to get everyone together though and have a good time. We also got quite a few investigators there, which was awesome.

 

I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to serve here in Lubango. The church is still so new here. I get to see such joy in these people's lives as they make changes in their lives and start living the Gospel. I love it!

 

Thanks for everything everyone! Shout out to Jim and Michelle I got their letter this week:) Thank you!

 

I love you all!

 

Com amor,

 

Elder Hyde

 

Sam It sounds like your thing was blast! That's so cool that you put that together!

Syd: Love you yo! Keep workin hard!

Con: Have a fun trip! So cool

Luke" I love you buddy! Keep on being cool!

Week Two in Lubango!

 It was a really awesome week! I am getting adjusted to life here in Lubango.

It was nice the other day Elder Hobbs gave me a call and updated me on all of my old investigators. Kifika is a champ! He said that he hasn't drunk since the day I left. I asked Elder Hobbs to call me next time he's with him so I can chat with him. He said that everyone else is still kind of where they were at, but that there should be a few baptisms in the next few weeks. Woo!

Elder Kelsey and I have some really awesome investigators that we are teaching. We have a guy named Henrique who they had been teaching for a few months but then he went out of town for about 3 weeks and we got to sit with him this week. We had a really awesome lesson with him and he is going to be being baptized on Saturday, he is more than ready. That will be the first baptism in Lubango for the past 3 months. We also have a fellow named Antonio who is a way cool guy. We have sat with hime about 4 times since last week. He is about 30 years old and found the church by seeing someone with The Book of Mormon and asking them for our number. He should be being baptized the first part of December. We also made a lot of good contacts this week. We have a thing that President Kretly started called "Qualified Contacts", it basically helps us narrow down the people that are really going to help the church grow. Priesthood holders and families. A few of the contacts that we made throughout the week even showed up to church yesterday without us even sitting with them yet. Super cool.

Church was awesome yesterday. I love getting to know all of the members here. Yesterday we had about 70 people at church, it was awesome. Funny/Embarrasing story.. So I was giving the closing prayer in sacrament meeting and at one point during the prayer I said "Tambem" (also) and a few people thaught I said "Amen", so like half the congregation said amen and I looked up wondering what was going on and then just went back to my prayer. haha. It was super funny. I don't think I 'm going to use that word in my prayers for the next little while.

 It rains a ton down here in Lubango, I have gotten some good use out of my rain jacket. As we speak it is raining so hard that I can barely hear from the rain hitting the roof. Haha.

It was a very spiritual week this week. We saw some major tender mercies. For instance, the cell service was down so we couldn't call the guy we were meeting and we had to find his house on some random street and we were literally guided right to the guys house. The spirit is such a powerful tool, if we use it. The Lord truly is mindful of each and everyone of us. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve these people and help them realize that they have a loving Savior.

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Hyde

Luke: I love you big guy! I hope you're shooting those 3's!

Sam:That is so cool about what your doing with World Joy! I hope the event goes well!

Syd: You're almost to High School! haha. You're awesome.

Con: KONY 2012. Have fun on the cruise ya turkey.

1. Elder Kelsey hiding from the rain.

2. Nossa Casa (garage)

3. LUBANGO 

LUBANGO!

I have a new home now! This place is so awesome/beautiful. Let me tell you about my week.

 

Tuesday was a really good day. Elder Hobbs and I went around to all of our awesome investigators/members to say goodbye to them. I am so glad that I had a day to do that. It was kind of a bitter sweet day, because I was so excited to go down to Lubango but then at the same time I was very sad to say goodbye to all of our awesome investigators. They'll be taken care of:) I'm excited to hear about their progress from the other Elders.

 

Then Wednesday was the big transfer day. We had spent quite a bit of time getting all of my things together and things like that making sure that I would be able to fit it all into my suitcases. Slightly typical of our house the power was out so I was only able to wash half my clothes:) But, it's all good, I just put the gross/stinky ones in a plastic bag and it was all good. One of the Senior Couples (the Abdo's from Brazil) came and picked me up at about 9 to take me to the airport. It was nice as I was getting checked in and everything we didn't have any problems, they didn't even care that my bags were over weight. Then I waited for a bit before I went through security because President Thompson was coming to give me some stuff to take down with me. Also some Elders came and said bye to me. It was really sweet. Then it was time to go through security... They gave me grief at about every place they had to see my passport (we only care around a notarized copy just to be safe) but they weren't stopping me. I usually just sat there for a few seconds and pulled the missionary card and then they all let me through:) I won't lie it was super wierd being alone! But I made it safe and sound. The flight was only about an hour long and when I landed Elder Violin (Senior Couple down here) and my new companion Elder Kelsy were waiting for me. It was awesome. Elder Kelsy has been out for about 18 months now and is super experienced. He is in the Marine corp which is really cool. He works like he's in the Marine corp. haha. It will be really good for me. We are working HARD. This place is really awesome! It was so nice to fly in and see green mountains! So epic. I feel like I'm actually in Africa now! (Scenery wise).

 

This Sunday was really good! They played conference this week instead of last week so I got to doses! Basically, just another try to try and understand. Haha. It was really great. The chapel here is tiny! Our house is basically the garage of the chapel. It's awesome. We are in the process of finding a new chapel because it doesn't really fit all of the people here. We'll see what happens.

 

This place is awesome and from the few days that I have had to work here I am very confident that we are going to find lots of success! Sorry this email isn't incredibly uplifting... I'm lovin' life! Thanks for all of your support!! I love you all!

 

Love,

 

Elder Hyde

PICTURES:

1. Me in the rain here in Lubango. It rained a ton!

2-3. Elder Kelsy and I and Elder Montgomery and I.

4. Us watchin conference in our cute little chapel.

5. Me saying goodbye to Luanda.

6. President Thompson and I.

Transfer Week

I think I say this every week, but this week was absolutely incredible! I'm a fan of this whole Missionary thing. 

I'll start with the big news. I am being transfered down to a provinice called Huila! The main city is called Lubango. It is located in the center of Angola (about an hour and half plane ride away). I am so excited! The area is still fairly new and as of right now the branch has around 50 members. I should be flying down there on Thursday to meet up with the other 3 Elders that are there. From what I hear it is absolutely beautiful, and not nearly as hot as Luanda. Thank heavens! It is starting to get very hot... To be honest, I thought that I would be staying here in my area for sure and that Elder Hobbs would be leaving, but I was wrong! There is a little sadness that I will be leaving behind all of my awesome investigators but I'm sure they will be taken care of. Woo!!

This week was really awesome. All of our investigators never cease to amaze me. We have an investigator named Orlando who found the church through Mormon.org. He is an incredible guy. He saught out the church because he realized that he needs a change in his life. He is about 45 and has been separated from his wife for about a year and wants to make the changes necessary to go back to her and his two little kids. We taught him the Restoration about 2 weeks ago and ever since he has been progressing like a champ. This week we taught him The Plan of Salvation and he really loved it. It all clicked really well for him. He expressed to us that ever since we had started seeing him and ever since he has been reading The Book of Mormon he has been feeling a real change in his life, he says he feels something different inside him (the spirit). I am some what bummed that I have to leave him but at the end of the day it isn't me doing the work it is the spirit so it really doesn't matter who is there teaching him. 

We got to see General Conference this week! It was so awesome! How it works here is that the branch aks as if Conference was this week and plays Conference on Sunday instead of usual meetings. We had 131 people there on Sunday! New record! And everyone of them got to hear the words of their Prophet. So cool. We had a lot of investigators show up and they all really enjoyed it. It was all in Portuguese, so to be honest I didn't understand a ton but the things I did understand were awesome! It seemed like it was focused a lot on Families. They must be important or something.... Also, Aunt Meg had some nice shots! That made me so happy to see!

This week was probably one of the best since I have been here. I love this work so much! The church is true! This Gospel is a very powerful thing.

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Hyde

Syd- Get that U up sista! Thanks for the email!

Sam- You're a champ! It sounds like you had an awesome week.

Con- Holla at Crimson Nights. Thats dope that youre so involved.

Luke- You're the man bro! I love you so much! Have a good game this week!

Weekly Letter

This week was awesome! Life is so good here in Luanda.

I'll start with a Kifika update. This guy is changing his life. I mentioned in last weeks email that he had relapsed a few times but that we weren't giving up on him. After emailing you all last week we went over to his house to chat with him, it was really good but he told us that he had had a little wine in the morning, and as we were walking away he told us how he also had a problem with weed. We told him that it wasn't a problem and that we would just focus on one of them at a time. As we walked back to the house that night, Elder Hobbs and I decided that it would be good for us to start passing his house daily, he has hardly none support, so we need to be that support. On Tuesday we told that we would start passing by every day, under the stipulation that we would only pass by if he hadn't drank at all that day. It has now been 7 days since Kifika has touched both Alcohol or Weed. Miracle. Everyday that we pass he tells us about the temptations that he had and the strength that he had to turn away from them. This man is a testament of the veracity of the Gospel! Yestarday he said something that really hit me, he said "I don't have food to eat and I'm hungry but that doesn't matter because I have God." Boom. How true is that. Does anything else really matter in this life? If we have that faith in God, that he truly does love us and know us, we can get through anything. 

This upcoming week we have two baptisms planned but as of right now I'm not really sure if they are going to happen. Their names are Carlos and Nice, Carlos is dating Nice's sister. They are both super ready but realize how big of a decision it is and want to make sure their making the right one. I talked to Carlos yesterday at church and he expressed his feelings about it all with me. He'll be baptized, it's just a matter of when. He speaks really good English which I love! We're good friends, he's the man. 

We have water! It was a rough last few weeks for all of Luanda but it seems to be better for the most part now. Energy still is off and on but we get by:)

Go Woods Cross! That is so sweet! I wish you could have all seen my reaction in this cyber cafe. haha. 

Also, shout out to Grandma on her Mission call! That is so cool! You will be awesome Grandma!

Thanks for everything! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Hyde


Lukey!! Dude!! Im so proud of you!, it sounds like you had a killer game! Please tell me that at least one of the tds was for me:)
Sam! You are an inspiration!
Con! Get better you. Thanks for the pic!
Syd! I love you sis!