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

A Christmas to Remember

Well, I'll get right to the point. This Christmas was one that I will never forget. I think it was the first Christmas that I truly felt the truespirit of Christmas. Our day wasn't about receiving or new toys but about serving. For Angolans Christmas isn't much different from any other day, they get together as family and eat. It was sad as I asked little Children about Santa and they either didn't know who he was or they said he wasn't coming. So with that in mind our district decided to dedicate the day to "saving Christmas". We all live together in the same house so that made things easy. We practiced some of our favorite Christmas hymns, each companionship picked a few families in their area, and then we hit the road. It was so satisfying, seeing the faces of the members lite up as we sang to them. It wasn't much, but it put smiles on some faces and I was happy! It was an awesome experience, one that I will never forget. The spirit of Christmas truly is the spirit of Christ, I have a testimony of that now. 

Christmas certainly was the highlight of the week but there were many other highlights as well. We have found several new families as we have been knocking doors over the past few weeks and it has been so great teaching them. I have faith that a few of them will make it to baptism. I have mentioned Evandro before, his wife was a less active member and they are preparing for marriage so that he can be baptized as well. They are doing so great! Evandro went home teaching last week with a member! Haha It's sad when you have to take investigators to go visit less actives... haha. But we're so excited for him! I am loving this area so much. It's really small so we are really able to focus in on those that we have to teach. 

The church is SO true! I have no doubt. I spoke yesterday in church about the importance of sacrifice and obedience, and as I did I realized how much my testimony has grown on those principles over the past little while. Their eternal principles that we've got to master in this life or else the next is going to be tough... I love this work and I love these people!

Have the greatest week ever! I love you all.

Elder Hyde

Merry Christmas!

Nothing beats Christmas... There is literally no better time of the year. What a blessing it is to celebrate Christmas in the mission field, serving those that you love. There's no snow, my family is on the other side of the world, yet I am feeling the Christmas spirit more than I think I ever have. It is such a special experience being a representative of Christ this time of year. 

This week flew right by just like the rest. We got back from our trip with President on Tuesday night and then we were back to work in our area. It felt good to be back to work! We knocked a lot of doors this week and saw some major miracles! On 3 different occasions this week we started knocking doors and the first door that we knocked on was a family waiting and willing to hear us. It was so special. On all 3 occasions we went in and taught them the restoration and left with beaming smiles knowing that the Spirit had lead us to those people's houses. I love being a missionary!

Well, I hope that you all have the best Christmas ever as you remember the true meaning behind Christmas and feel of the Savior's love. This is the best time of the year! I love you all so much! Thanks for the love and the support!

Love,

Elder Hyde

Good Times!

What a beautiful week. I know I usually say it was a great or awesome week but I think beautiful is the best way to describe this week. So last Thursday Elder Clifford and I hit the road with President and Sister to go and make some visits to the Elders down in the provinces, Lubango and Huambo, to see how the work is going and to have a little Christmas devotional with them. The drives have been absolutely awing. This country is so beautiful. It is the rainy season so everything is super green and lush. I am currently in Huambo so I will send pictures next week when we are back in Luanda. It was so fun to be back in Lubango. It still feels like I'm coming home everytime that I pull into the city. I love it and its people SO much. We took Elders Dunkley and Money down with us because they are going to be serving in my new area. I took a day to show them around the area and to introduce them to the members in the area. It was so good to see them again! But it was even better to see them still active and living the Gospel. After a few days in Lubango we hit the road again and headed to Huambo. I was there 6 months ago when it was made a branch and it was cool to see the growth that has taken place. They are few in the branch but there was such a special feeling during church on Sunday. We will be having the Christmas devotional with them tonight, and then heading for Luanda tomorrow morning.  We watched the First Presidency Christmad Devotional with Lubango and I loved it! It's so nice to be reminded about the true meaning of Christmas. Christ. Elder Nelson's talk was so good. What a unique opportunity it is to be a representative of Christ during this special season. He has given us so much and has asked for so little in return. I hope that you all have a great week and that you are enjoying the Christmas season! I sure am. The Savior lives!

 

Love,

 

Elder Hyde