New Companion(s)

Elder Hyde's companion got transferred last week and he was placed in a 3-Elder companionship.  Here is what he had to say about it!

They are Elder Tuiluaai straight from Samoa, a couple transfers ago, and Elder Mafi, a Tongan from Sydney. They are both funny and like to joke around so we have a lot of fun, but are able to get a lot of work done also. They were glad because they both can't drive so they had to ride bike but the weather is getting so hot that it would be hard to ride in. But luckily they get to ride in the car now, who knows one day I might accidentally lose the keys to make us ride the bike. Ha. We have been focusing on helping members mostly and helping them receive ordinances and it was cool this week. We had 2 ex-members get rebaptized and 2 baby blessings for less active members this week so the work is continuing to move forward and the Lord is opening the doors for us to bless the lives of his children.

Zone Conference in Adelaide

We had a sweet zone conference this past week in Adelaide. Elder Pearson came, and he just smashed us as a mission, he told us that we could be doing a lot better. He was speaking very bold too, telling us to repent and stuff. I was watching Sister Carter and it looked like she was going to cry for us because he wasn't taking it easy. I reckon that is what we needed though because we were all excited to get out and do the work after that. Another cool thing that we had was a musical fireside with the branch here. We set up for some members to sing and they are mostly islanders so they have way good voices. We had a pretty good turnout to that. Other than that things are still great. I just wanted to send this picture, it is of when we went to Adelaide.There is 4 of us missionaries here in Mildura, we aren't in a 4 some like in Alice Springs but we stay at the same flat and stuff, and we don't have split area. We work the same areas but it is just like whoever finds the person teaches them, so we are motivated to find a lot so that they don't get taken by the others. ha. The other 2 are Elder Mafi and Elder Tuiluaai. Love ya!
Love Elder Hyde

Transferred!!

Last week Elder Hyde wrote to us.  About two sentences.  He said that he couldn't talk long and that he had to catch a plane to Adelaide.  We weren't able to get any more details than that!!  We were excited to talk to him this week and get some more details.  Here is what he said:

Well the info you may have been waiting for. Leaving from Alice was way hard. I got a call from the members up there just a couple days ago. They called the mission office to find out where I was and they got the number from them. They just said they missed me and wished me luck and that I have to go back after the mission. Ha. But anyway after leaving Alice I got to Adelaide and stayed the night there with the assistants waiting for transfer meeting, where I was told that I was heading off to Mildura, it is about 5 hours drive away from Adelaide, in Victoria. There are heaps of islanders so it is good. I have never eaten so much fast food. We have tea dates a lot and sometimes they feel lazy to cook so when we show up they take us to KFC or Maccers or something. Its crazy. I will probably put back on heaps of weight but oh well.

I couldn't ask for a better companion.H name is Elder Ngawaka, from Auckland, New Zealand. He is a mix of Aussie, Maori I think, and Cook Island. He is the man. I just wanted to share this experience with you real quick, probably the most spiritual experiences I have had:

We had a great experience this week with a referral. We were going to have a lesson with her so we were looking for members to go with us, unfortunately the members that can usually come were all busy so we were struggling to find someone. We had a feeling to keep trying and we got ahold of a member that could come. We showed up at her house and she was going through a rough time, family was yelling at each other and it wasn't a good situation so we were thinking that maybe we should leave and set up for another time, but the member said lets wait for just a few minutes and stick it out. She invited us in and she let us know her situation, it turns out the member that the Lord provided knew exactly this situation and had been through it before. He was able to deliver doctrine to her needs and bear testimony of personal experience. This was something as missionaries we probably wouldn't have been able to do as well. During the lesson she broke out in prayer as tears filled her eyes. She felt the spirit strongly and invited us back, we committed her to read and pray. On the follow up visit we went back with the same member and his wife. She came out to greet us as happy as could be, with the light of Christ brightening her face. It was truly amazing to see the change in her. Straight away, before we could ask she told us that she prayed and read the scripture and has never been so happy. And even without us saying anymore she told us she wanted to come to church the next day (which the members jumped on and told her that they would pick her up) she didn't even stop there though, she said that she wants to be baptized without us even discussing that before. It was one of the most amazing experiences. She came to church and it was the primary program, she cried throughout the whole sacrament meeting. Glory be to the Father. If it wasn't for this specific member and his experiences, then I don't believe this would have happened. The Lord provided this member at this time to help this lady. I know the Lord provides the way as long as we try our best and dont give up.
That is a terrible description of what really happened and the efforts that were put into it and there were many more little details that all fit together for this to happen, the Lord provided it to happen though and I am grateful I was a part of it.
I love you all and hope you have a great week. The time is a half hour different I don't know if it is behind or ahead, but yeah.
Love Elder Hyde

Sept 24, Sept 30, Oct 7

Sept 24

We only spent half the week out bush and the rest in town because there was a conference for the whole Northern Territory. President Carter is coming today and we are having a training with him tomorrow. Then he will come out bush the next day so I am a bit nervous but it will be good for him to see the bush and the people out there. The companionship is way fun they are all islanders but only the one has lived in Australia for most his life. The one thing about islanders is that they eat a lot so they smash all the food. I like the tuna now just because we don't have to cook it just eat it straight from the can. I am not as picky anymore. Just eat whatever fills my stomach. When the mob get a kangaroo they let us try the intestines and brain and kidney and stuff. They taste alright. For pday we have the assistants so we are going to a park and having a barby and some sports it should be fun, its not too hot or too cold either so its good.

Man thanks for the advice, where do you get all this from, you always say the right things at the right time. That will help out a lot, that is also something that we have been talking about, just making the time instead of just waiting for it to come because it would probably never come then.
We weren't able to spend much time in Harts Range this week to find priesthood, because we had to come in on the weekend to Alice Springs because there was a district conference from Darwin that we watched. Some of the bush saints came into town to watch it so that was good. The priesthood we have in Mulga Bore is pretty solid, Gary is showing the example its just getting the other men to follow, but also in Harts Range we have found some men that are less active so we may be able to just bring them back and build them up instead of trying to get new ones, so it is coming along. It will happen. Thanks for your prayers, they are helping.
Love you heaps.

Elder Hyde

Sept 30

This week was great, we were able to have the assistants and Pres and Sister Carter come up for a training and that took all day on Tuesday and we had interviews after. President Carter is the man. Then on Wednesday one of the members brought him out bush with us. It was funny to see how Sister Carter reacted when she saw where we lived and how they live and stuff. I think President Carter has a good idea of the work out bush now and he is planning on doing something big to help them out. Some other funny things that happened was that the place that we stay in Harts Range ran out of water so we thought weren't able to take a shower for a few days, but we found a rock hole where we thought we could wash up but it ended up being super dirty with animal poo and stuff so that plan failed so we ended up going to the public toilet in Harts Range and used the shower there, we just didn't look at the dirt around us as we were showering. Ha.
Most importantly, thanks for your prayers about us finding potential priesthood because this week we were able to get 4 new investigators and the best part about that is that they were all men. God answers prayers.

Love ya Heaps.

Elder Hyde

Oct 7

I couldn't believe that they changed the age for missionaries, we need more so that is awesome. I still can't believe it though. We didn't get to hear any of it though, they won't even show it in the branch here until the end of the month.  We will probably stay in town when they show it here so I will hopefully hear it sometime.
This week was great. Me and Elder Visesio had the opportunity of going out bush just the two of us for a couple of days. We had heaps of miracles, like this lady in Engawala that we never really talked to, she was praying that we would come on this certain day, and our plans weren't really to go on that day but we changed plans at the last minute because that is what the Lord wanted. When we got there we were teaching her brother and she came to the lesson and said she wanted to learn and told us that she was hoping we would come that day. Then the next day we had church there and straight away when we told her about church she got ready and her kids too. She beat us to where we were going to have church and then as we were setting up she even went back and was picking people of for church because it was too hot for some of them to walk. Great things are happening and the Lord is preparing them. Glory be to the Father. This is just a little experience from the week that I wanted to share with you.

I am already almost out of time but I wanted to share a couple of more miracles that we saw out bush with you. One was a principle that we learned from mom. Never give up.W drove to the community of Harts Range just to find out that the usual family that comes to church wasn't there and some were sick. So we almost had to just cancel church there. But we decided there were still some people that needed church so what we did was find a different place to have it and still invite other families because they would still need the sacrament. We were able to make it happen and many people were uplifted and ourselves especially. It may seem like a simple story but there is a lot of effort that was put into making it happen, we were fasting the whole day. This was our last stop and it was 100 degrees. It would have been easy for us to quit but we didn't. We did what the Lord wanted us to do. As we gave our all, there was a great outcome. This is a great work and I wouldn't trade these experiences.
Another cool thing that happened was that we finally had church in Mulga Bore with one family. Mulga Bore is the strong community where the church pretty much started out here. We had a testimony meeting and they got up straight away to say their testimony, no mucking around. ha. Usually with my experiences we have to help the aboriginals share their testimony but they did it humbly and on their own. They shared their own experiences and the spirit was so strong. I know that God lives and loves us.
Have a great week. Love ya.
Love Elder Hyde

Letters From Sept 9 and Sept 16. . . . And PICTURES!

Sept 9

I can't think of anything that I would need at Christmas yet but, I was thinking about some things we could use for bush now it is starting to get hot and they have been asking for water balloon fights and stuff so maybe some small squirt gun things and water balloons for water balloon volleyball and stuff but that is only if somebody was thinking of sending a package before Christmas, if not then we could probably just get them here. Money in the account is cool then you don't have to pay shipping and stuff but surprises are cool so you can surprise me with what you want to do. I hope I am still around here at Christmas. We got our new companion this week his name is Elder Lacanivalu, from Fiji, he is tall as but has a heart of gold. It was funny to see when we first took him around to see all of our families some of the little kids would get scared and run away because he is so tall and one time he was sitting on the ground and then some people came so he stood up and the look on their faces when they saw how tall he was when he stood up was priceless. I love this companionship. Miracles will happen. We stayed in town this week because Mulga Bore was in the footy grand final in town. So all the communities were in town to see them play. They ended up losing which was sad, but a good thing was that we were able to still have church in town with them at the chapel. Tanya gave a testimony and it was powerful but her voice was gone because she screamed to much at the football game the night before. All the bush elders had to give a talk in the Alice Springs branch yesterday too. We give talks every week out bush but that is only to about 20 people each week, it was cool and weird to give a talk in front of a large group again. And then we did a musical item also. That was funny. We had to move flats in town too this week so it was a pretty full on week. Time has gone quick and I already have to go, but I hope you have a great week, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the truth. Love ya.

Sept 16

The week was pretty good but one of the hardest weeks I have had out bush. We just had a lot of down time where things fell through and people not wanting to act but that was just in one community. Another community is doing great, we were able to teach a lot and heaps of people came to church we might have to start to get more benches there. Dream big.
I have never eaten so much tuna in my life, it is good though. We don't like cooking much so we have been getting canned tuna and bread and that is pretty much all of our meals. Ha. Oh and don't forget the sauce mustard and tomato sauce. 

Just wanted to send a couple photos of the companionship that I thought were pretty cool.
We went out bush this week, it was Elder Lacanivalu first time and he was pretty funny out there. He is excited to do the work, so excited that when we were teaching he invited a less active to be baptized. Ha. The member said I have already been baptized and Elder Lacanivalu just said "oh I was just role playing practicing for when I do it for real." ha. We should have warned him it was a less active.
Man, one of the communities called Harts Range is pumping right now. I love going there, the people are coming to church and they are always happy to see us and have stories. We had heaps of people at church there yesterday and a lot of new faces with investigators and less active. The one problem we have there though is that we can't exactly just baptize because there is no priesthood there at the moment so we want to get priesthood and then Harts Range in going to become Zion. I just can't wait to get back out there.
I don't know if I have ever thanked you enough for raising me in the gospel and being such and example to me, I see the blessings from it now. Thanks heaps.
Love you
Love Elder Hyde

Letters from Aug 26 and Sept 3

September 3

We had a great week out bush. We learned just how committed they really are to the church. We had planned on having church out bush, but the members were not at the community where we have church. So on Saturday night they drove all the way and made it by 1 in the morning. Then they woke up and were ready for church in the early morning. And later that day they had to go back to where they were. The roads are pretty rough and they would have had to pay for petrol and stuff so it just showed to us how much they really love having the gospel.  Good things are happening out here. I am excited to continue the work out here. Oh ya, we also had transfers today and only Elder Yamamoto is leaving. It will be hard because he was our leader and knew a lot about bush, but it will be good because we can bring new ideas to bush also.

Keep enjoying life and "smelling the roses"

Love ya

Elder Hyde

 

 

August 26
Things have just been getting better and better. The weather is warming up which is good. Se saw heaps of miracles this past week, but one in particular; last night we were getting ready to have a lesson at one of the houses and at this house there are heaps of families that live there, they each have their own room, and so when we have stories, we have it in the living room and people that want to come to the living room and there are usually people still left in their rooms especially the men. But this time they made an effort to have everyone there and even young men and older men came it was a great experience to see them want to come closer as a family. I think one thing that may be bringing them closer together is that the father of the community is in the hospital and has been for a long time and he isn't getting much better so that is bringing them closer to the Lord for help. Which also reminds me, could yous remember in your prayers Lyndsay Bird and his family. He is the one in the hospital.

It has been one of the best weeks out bush. More people are coming to church. They are being more excited about the gospel. We are getting new investigators from hard work and it is getting warmer. Couldn't ask for anything better.  We don't really know when we will know if bush will be shut or not. President said that the Lord may take a year or more or earlier. He just needs to find out more about what is going on out there and then take it to the Lord and find out what He wants.  He said he is not in a rush.  President Carter is the man. It is always great to have him up here.  All my companions and I are still getting along.  It is a good companionship, we all balance each other out. 
Love Yas,
Elder Hyde

Church in Angkula

Had a great week this week.  It started out with President and Sister Carter coming up for a zone training.  Then afterwards we had a bush meeting with him to let him know more about what is happening out bush. There is a lot of discussion on whether they should shut down the bush or not and it is President Carter's decision. So we had to let him know the work we are doing and if it is working. So that really motivated us this week to make it the best week and prove that the people out bush are progressing and that the gospel is  helping them.  We saw a lot of miracles this week.  They were more keen for stories and lessons, we actually had church in one of the communities that hasn't had a church service for a few months now.
Here is more about the this experienced in another letter from Elder Hyde:
Had a sweet experience out bush this week where we had church in Angkula for the first time since I have been here, because it is the community where most of the people have been staying in town. It is also the one where the strongest priesthood leaders are. We were over at where we were holding church just getting ready for them to come over, when I looked up I saw these 3 guys wearing white shirts and ties walking in a line together coming to church, it was a cool sight. I just imagined it in slow motion like in the movies. Their hair was all slicked back and they were ready. Wearing clean shirts and pants. Awesome as. Then at church they conducted and did most of the things. Felt the spirit strong.

Just a couple of things that happened.  They showed their love to us by inviting us to have a bit of kangaroo with them that they caught.  They usually just eat it themselves but by inviting us it showed their trust and love to us. It is pretty crazy how they eat it. They put the whole thing in the ground in the fire to cook.  Then when it is cooked they take it out and cut the thighs and heaps of blood comes out and they catch it in a cup and pass it around to drink.  Then they chop it up and get the parts that they like. 

Love yas,
Elder Hyde

Priesthood Power

I still love it here, this week I had a trade off with the zone leader in town though so I didn't go out bush.  But it was cool to meet some of the members here in town. We are trying to connect the town and the bush together, because one of the problems that we have is that the bush members don't really have an example to look for how members of the church should act and stuff because they don't see the members in town much and we are the only people of the church that they really come in contact with. So maybe with the members that I have met we can bring them closer together, and we will be able to accomplish a lot with the members being an example for the bush saints. My trade off was with Elder Taukafa, he is a giant islander from Sydney. He plays pro rugby but he is humble and very spiritual. I learned a lot from him. It was good.

I had the privilege of going on trade off with Elder Taukafa, he is one of the town elders and I was able to learn a lot from him about using our priesthood and the authority that we have as missionaries and not being afraid to be bold about it and using it. We had one experience especially where we were asked to give a blessing to a member from far away out bush where there is no church, but she was in town for the weekend to go to the hospital. after we gave the blessing she just started crying and bearing her testimony. She said she could still feel hands on her head even when we took ours off. Amazing experience.
Keep smiling. Make the best of this week. Love ya.
Love Elder Hyde

A stop sign in Alice Springs "STOP-Hammer Time"

Letter from August 5th

This is a picture when President Carter came up for zone conference a little while ago.  I can't think of anything else you could tell people besides good maybe great or fantastic. Ha. One of the priesthood holders out in Angkula, named Adrian, wanted me to tell you that Elvis Presley is still alive, he is just hiding. But you can't tell anybody because it is a secret. He is obsessed with Elvis and has heaps of Elvis stuff. He wants you to take a picture of him if you ever see him around. Some of the members from Mulga Bore took a horse to the horse races in Harts Range and they just caught wild horses and took them but we saw them getting them ready to take to Harts Range. It was kind of funny because the horses didn't want to be ridden on but they were supposed to be racing in the next couple of days. I realized what the saying "peeing like a race horse" meant because I saw it, yuck. Like a fire hydrant. Anyways, something cool that happened this week, we had a little family home evening thing with some of the bush saints and we used flour in a cup then tipped it over so that the flour was just standing on its own, and then put a skittle on it. Then with a knife you go around and cut the flour and whoever makes the skittle fall has to eat some plain flour. It was showing that we need to build on Jesus Christ, on solid ground. If we don't then we fall down and have to taste the yuck. Then the kids had a flour war after that and they were all white. ha. Those are some cool things that happened this week. I just learned that I will be staying in town this week with one of the zone leaders because the other one is going to go out bush and see how the work is going out there. Yeah. Everything is still awesome here. I hope your still enjoying life as much as you can. Keep smiling. Love ya.
Love Elder Hyde

Letter from July 22nd and 29th

July 22
-Are there any of the aboriginal communities you visit that have become your favorite? 

 I came in an interesting situation because one of the communities that we visit, all of the people are in town, so I haven't seen them out there, but the times I have stayed in town we visit them at their houses here. I have really grown to love them, they are probably the most progressed in the gospel at this point, they have a few worthy priesthood leaders. Then I also really like the other 2, Engawala has quite a few members so that one is cool to visit. And Harts Range there is not many members but it is still cool there.
-Are there any that don't seem to welcome you as well? 

There are just a couple families in Engawala and Harts Range that don't really like talking to us but they aren't hostile towards us.
-Is it mostly the women that will listen to you? 

Yes. Mostly women and kids but there are a few men that are good.
-Do they have a lot of domestic dogs or are there just dingos that run around? 

They have heaps of domestic dogs butIi don't know if I would call them domestic. They are pretty dingy. Missing fur or skinny. But yeah. There are dingos also but they don't really come into the communities, just if you camp outside them. And that is also why they have dogs to fight off the dingos. Like the community that our shed is in, we can hear dingos but then our dog Mcnight fights them off.
-It seems like I read a story of a baby that got carried away by dingos there. 

That is a true story, I heard there was a big debate whether the mom killed the baby or not, but they finally decided it was a dingo. interesting.
-How is your new President? 

New president is awesome!
-Have you had much chance to spend some time with him? 

We got to have a personal interview with him and that lasted 15 minutes then we had a training the next day for the whole day so we spent some good time with him.
-Are there any of the aboriginal women that like to mother the missionaries (sometimes to the point of spoiling) or do they just think you should be men and take care of yourselves? 

They think we are men and can take care of ourselves and they are right. ha.
-Are you happy with the missionaries you are working with? 

Yes, we all have different backgrounds that help the work a lot, but unfortunately we just found out that my comp Elder Hepworth and Elder Teeples are leaving, me and Yamamoto are staying.

Keep smiling. One of my favorite scriptures- 2 Nephi 2:25 We are here to have joy, keep enjoying life. Love you heaps!

Elder Hyde


July 29
-Tell us about your new comp?

My new comp is Elder Visesio, its a tongue twister. He is fairly new in the mission but is already a great missionary. He is an islander with Samoan blood born in New Zealand but lives in Brisbane. He has 4 siblings and he is the oldest. He is very humble and funny. The other new comp is not a new companion for me. He is Elder Sie. The one I served with in Elisabeth. He is even funnier and more focused then before so he is great. It was sad to see the others go, but we are going to accomplish miracles with these elders.

-Have you had any funny experiences with the aboriginals there?

Um well, one that was kind of weird but funny was Elder Sie got peed on by one of the kids in Engawala. There are heaps of little things that are funny that happen and I tend to notice them more when I am looking for them so I will look for more of them so that I can write you more.

-Do they play rugby or do anything like that you could join in on for P day?

Right now it is their footy season so they play that but their practice isn't on Monday so we can't play with them but we go on the other days and talk with them just to build the relationship, because there are some potentials on the team also.

Thanks for writing. Just thinking, we have this vision that we want some of the aboriginal families to make it to the temple by October because that is when the branch is going down to Adelaide to go. Could you include them in your prayers that this may be possible. Thanks. Love yous heaps.
Love Elder Hyde

Another Week

Elder Hyde skipped out on his weekly the last couple weeks.  He responded to ours but didn't write one of his own so we are going to have to get after him for that.  Here is some of what he had to say:

From July 8:
"This week has been good. This time it was just me and Elder Yamamoto that went out to bush and we were only there for three days, because there was a show her in Alice so all the communities came in for that. So we didn't do church out bush this week.  It was weird going to an actual organized branch for church. I haven't been to one for the past like 8 months, just got to sit back and relax. For church out bush we hurry to all the communities and do sacrament at all of them. We give talks and conduct and preside, so we do the whole lot. Its way fun-you get to learn a lot that way.  We do have something planned for p-day today. .  . . CLEANING! We want everything to look the best for when President Carter comes up. We have interviews with him tomorrow and then training on Wednesday.  We do have some investigators, more of our focus is developing the priesthood so they can run the show, and strengthening the members to do their own missionary work."

From today:
When asked how his week was and how it went meeting his new mission president:
"The week has been good. We didn't go out bush at all we just stayed in town because some of the bush saints were here so we had to stay in and look after them.  The meeting with President Carter was good. He is awesome.  We did get everything clean but he didn't even look at any of it. Ha. They are really going to help us get things moving more quickly here. At the end of the interview it was pretty funny because we were kneeling down to pray, and I got a cramp in my leg because we had done some service for some people and I didn't drink much water during or after it.  So I had to stand up and stretch and then we could say the prayer. Ha."

When asked if they have many investigators in the areas they go to:
"When we are in town we pretty much have to just go finding tracting and stuff all day and then give who we find to the town elders so we meet heaps of people and we have been running into a lot of Americans lately. There is a secret base here that they work at.  We do have investigators, not very many but there are some and a lot of potentials we are trying to start teaching. It is interesting how it works because they have to come to church 2 times before we can count them as new investigators and when we start teaching them."

Here is a part of his letter our dad:
"I can't think of anything that I really need here yet. Transfers is this week and there is a lot of talk in the air so I don't know. It has gone by so quick though. All of the aboriginals in those communities pretty much know us, even if we really don't know them. Actually last time there were some that told us that we need to visit them because they knew us and saw us going around but we never went to their house.
Yeah the whites own the cattle stations, we never see or talk to them although I want to try to hook up with them and see if their wife would cook us food or something. ha. but they aren't really our focus. The aboriginals are our focus. 
Well love you. Stay happy.
Love Elder Hyde"

 

Just Pictures This Week

This week Elder Hyde just sent a few pictures along with some responses to some questions that we asked him.  Here are the pictures:

Elder Hepworth, Elder Hyde

Gate to the Aboriginal community

Here is how Elder Hyde descibed this gate: "There is this gate that we have to go through because there are cattle so we have to get out of the ute and open it up, but directly under the gate there is an ant hill.  But they are not normal ants. They chase you! So you either have to be really fast to open the gate or do a little dance to stay away from them. It is especially hard at night!"

Another side note: "Our new mission president came in last night so we will meet him on July 10th when he comes to Alice."

Great News!

Hey family,
I recieved some great news this week from Tennant Creek. Noeleen the lady that I was working with for the past 4 months to baptize actually got baptized. Flipping exciting. Can't wait to hear how they did it. I don't know how the week could get better after hearing that.
Time flys like crazy here. We get up in the morning get ready pack up the ute, go out and teach til night then we unpack, eat, and sleep. I wish I had more time to explain it also but the time also flys while I am emailing so it is hard to write a whole lot.
Love ya.
Love Elder Hyde

Learning More About the Bush

G'day family,
Great week! Learned more ways about the bush. We went out bush on Wednesday. It ended up being just me and Elder Hepworth because 2 of the communities that we go to, all of the people were in town so 2 missionaries stayed here to look after them. We went to the other 2 communities. It is pretty cold out there. The shed we stay in is tinny, it has a bathroom in it, to have a warm shower when we wake up one person has to start a fire under the water heater thing and it heats up the water. i will send a picture of it.
I could try and describe the bush and the people and how we do the work but it is pretty hard sometimes, and you cant quite get the full picture until you experience it.
We drive quite a bit in the utes between the communities. They love the missionaries out there. The communities are pretty small only like maybe 200 people or less. The main focus is building priesthood leaders because we pretty much run the show for church and stuff, but there are a couple of good men out there that help a lot with the church, soon we will be able to make the switch to them running the programs. We do a lot of activities and movie nights and family home evenings. We collect a lot of fire wood for them so they can keep warm. I love it out there.
Love you all heaps. Keep smiling :)
Love Elder Hyde

The Water Heater

Packing Up!!

Hello family,
I guess I will start out with the information that you will probably really want to know. It was transfers this weekend. We were planning on going up to Elliott for the weekend but when we called to ask permission they told us that we couldn't. That seemed weird. Then we realized it was transfers, so we knew that one of us was gone and that we would have to be in Alice Springs. They later told us that. . . I was packing. :( I wasn't expecting that. But fortunately they didnt say that I was packing 23 kg because that would mean that I was leaving the Alice Springs zone. I got my new companion yesterday. His name is Elder Hepworth from Utah. And my new area is called "Bushland Water". We are basically in a companionship of 4. We travel out to the aboriginal communities around Alice Springs to help bring the gospel to them. We will be leaving tomorrow and coming back in to town on Mondays for pdays then we go back out each week like that. I was pretty sad when I heard that I was leaving a big aboriginal community in Tennant but now I am going to where there will be even more. It is also way colder down here than in Tennant Creek, there is frost on the ground in the morning when we go play soccer. Love you all. Have a great week.
Love Elder Hyde

Setting Up for the Circus

Hello family,
Something funny that happened this week was we helped set up and cook food for the circus that was in town again. They did the show outside this time because they were using fire in the show. \We helped set up some mesh fencing stuff around where they were having the show kind of like a backdrop but on the side. During one of the acts the clown had a whip that was on fire. When he would whip it would make a little explosion of fire. One time he did this a little bit of gas flew off and got on the fence. All the sudden it went up in flame. The Tennant Creek crowd likes entertainment, when that happened everybody was cheering. Then they put it out and people cheered some more. ha. Then they continued the fire show. Good stuff.
It has actually started to get pretty cold. Not really, but I got used to the hot. It gets like 60 degrees in the morning and at night which feels pretty cold. And there is a wind that blows constantly too. I remember Elder Tomadakis telling me that it actually got cold here and I didnt believe him. I couldn't see how somewhere so hot could actually get cold.
Keep your heads high. Love you all.
Love Elder Hyde

Special Sacrament Meeting Visitor

G'day family,
This week has been great. We drove down to Alice for p-day. When we got there we had our last interview with President Poulton and Sister Poulton. Then for the next 2 days we had trainings from him. I think they only have like 6 weeks left. They have been focusing a lot on how we can change ourselves to change the world. This time they talked a lot about how we decide if we are happy or not, by thinking positive about everything. I guess our brain works better when we are happy also.
Whenever me and my comp think that something is going wrong we try to look on the bright side. When someone shuts the door, we do a fist pump and say yes! Not really. At the end of the training they gave us our leavers interview even though they are leaving.
I met somebody in Alice Springs from Roy this past week, e had tea with their family. I couldn't understand her last name but her father is a chiropractor and is in the 28th ward in Roy.
We were only in Tennant Creek for 2 days. We held church here and then went straight to Elliott after so that we could have sacrament up there. It has been a while since I have been up there. I love going up there. We always have unexpected visitors at sacrament up there, this time it was a big black pig. All the kids started to chase it away during Elder Tollis' talk. Then we camped at the lake and we just barely got back not to long ago.
Take it easy, love yas.
Elder Hyde

Big Black Pig visiting for Sacrament

Alden splitting the big Red Rock!

New Comp and First Taste of Goanna

G'day family,
Far out. It has been a full on week. Our P-day was changed to Tuesday due to a public holiday on Monday. Unfortunately on Tuesday the internet was down for Tennant Creek, the landline phone and even our mobile phones didn't work. We didn't have any communication with anyone for a day, then the internet still didn't work for another day, so now I am writing today. Anyway, I will get off my soap box now.
Now I will tell you the info that you have been waiting for. My new companion in elder Tollis. You will never guess where he is from. . . another Tahitian. ha. He also has a quarter french in him. He has been on his mission about 18 months now. He is pretty funny. He doesn't have his driver's license so I have to drive the whole way. 5 hours. Ha
I ate my first goanna this past week. It tastes like chicken and fish mixed together. They cook it in the ground.
On sunday the N.T. district president was down for church. He brought his wife and a kid. That was cool to have him down. Someone else presiding at the meeting besides ourself, ha.
We are still making progress with the baptismal candidate, she was able to have her interview for baptism and passed, yeah! So it will happen soon. I wish I could say a solid date, but we will just have to see when the time is right and everthing works out.
Love yas heaps. Keep smiling.
Love Elder Hyde

Alden with a Goanna (not the one he ate, obviously)

Somebody is Leaving. . . .

Hey Family,
This week was like a roller coaster-it has been full of ups and downs.
We weren't able to baptize our investigator because she wasn't quite ready, but she is still looking forward to being baptized in the next couple of weeks. She is still coming to church and we also had a few new investigators at church also, it's growing!
We helped cook a meal as a service for a kids activity in Tennant Creek. These people from the circus came and were teaching the kids how to do circus tricks and then they put a show on at the end where the kids did the circus show. So we cooked the meals for their practices. The clowns got us to do a few tricks. Like riding unicycle, juggling. etc.
We found out transfer information this time and . . . somebody is leaving . . . Elder T is leaving and I am staying. We are in Alice Springs right now and I will pick up my new companion this afternoon. That's another up and down, it is sad to see Elder T leave but it will be good to have a new person in Tennant Creek. It's been a good 6 months. We will drop him off at the airport then get the new guys.
Well love you all. Have a fantastic week.
Love Elder Hyde

Trolley Accident (be sure to read the Aussie Term of the Week)

Hey Family,
You said last week that the weather can't decide if it wants to be hot or cold. I know how you feel now. Last week I said it got cold, this week it was as hot as ever. Now it is raining again so it is getting cold again. The only thing is I have been waiting for the cold and you are waiting for the warm probably.
We witnessed one of the funniest things this week. We saw a shopping trolley accident. I wont be able to describe it to make it sound as funny as it was but here goes... we have this one investigator that everytime we see her driving her car and we are on the bikes we make sure we get out of the way because she is just learning how to drive. So she was one trolley driver that was involved. I guess she is learning how to drive a trolley also. The other crash victim was a lady that just woke up. It was a head on crash. I think this lady fell asleep at the wheel because after it happened she was rubbing her eyes bloodshot eyes and saying, "I just woke up."  Ha. Everyone in the shop started laughing. It was hilarious. Anyway that was the entertainment of the week.
Our bikes get a lot of use and there is not a bike shop up here so we try to take the best care of them that we can. But the tread on Elder T's tyre was getting pretty low. The tube started to show through the tyre, we realized that was bad but we were in the furthest camp away from town. We were riding and all of the sudden {= poof =} his tyre blew. We walked the rest of the way home. Good times.
Our investigator that is looking forward to being baptized has now come to church enough and has shown her desire to be baptized that we might have a baptism this weekend. I say might because I have learned that nothing is for sure in missionary work especially in Tennant Creek and especially with the aboriginals. We have the faith that it will happen though. We are looking forward to it. It is also the last week before transfers so we are banking on it even more.
Well, Love yas.
Love Elder Hyde

AUSSIE TERM OF THE WEEK:
trolley = shopping cart

Sign of Protection

Hello family,
We actually did a little bit of something for pday last week. We played some golf. The course is just dirt. Heaps of flys too. The green is just dirt too so they have like a roller and rake and you make your own little track to the hole. I would like to see Tiger Woods play on that course. Ha.
I have had an increase of dogs peeing on my bike lately, just the tyres so that is okay. The aboriginals say that it is a sign of protection from them. Something else happened this week though, there was a little boy that peed on my bike. I dont know if that means anything in their culture. Whats next to pee on it?
The weather is getting cold now. On wednesday it actually got down to 70 degrees, we almost had to put a jumper on and actually had to take a warm shower too. The smell of fires is starting to fill the air. That is how everyone in town keeps warm.
I hope you all start feeling better from the flu. Love ya.
Love Elder Hyde

AUSSIE TERM OF THE WEEK:
jumper = sweater

Happy Easter

Biliyi angi nyinta family, (pronounced, "billy oggi ninda")
That is "How you going" in the local aboriginal language here. We have had a great week. Easter was good. We had our zone leaders from Alice come up for a tradeoff. It is always good to have new people up here to give us new ideas on how to do the work up here. One of the zone leaders has been working with the aboriginals in Alice Springs for over a year now, so he knows how to work well with them. He taught us some new things. We learned heaps.
The easter bunny only comes to about half of the town.
I did end up getting the package you sent about 5 minutes before the post office closed, they must have been pretty busy getting all the stuff sorted. The package was great. The kids love the seats that you sent. They work good.They are a good insentive to get them to pray. They get to sit on it if they say the prayer. ha. That is a picture of one of the kids using the chair.
I also got a package from Trena and John.
Love ya-have a great week,
Love,  Elder Hyde

Dad sent Alden these "Pocket Chairs". They fold down small enough to fit in your pocket

Highlight of our P-days

G'day Family,

Everything has been going well. We haven't really been able to find much to do on p-days so we bought a few puzzles and we work on them.That is the highlight of p-days now. Ha. I thought that I was going to get your package this morning because the office in Adelaide said they sent it up on Wednesday, but our post office switched owners so I think they are being a bit slow. As I checked the mail this morning I heard them sorting it so hopefully it will be there a bit later. The suspense is killing me. Ha. We weren't able to see  conference this weekend. Hopefully in a couple of weeks we will or maybe never. We are excited for Easter though. We may have an Easter egg hunt for the kids at where we hold church. I did look after the traditions of our fathers and burnt a shirt for my year mark. It was a dirty one though so that is okay. Well I love you all hope you have a great week. Love ya.

Love Elder Hyde

AUSSIE TERM OF THE WEEK:

feral = wild, all the dogs and children in Tennant Creek are feral.

4 Year Old Aboriginal Girl.  She calls out "twobolla elders" whenever she sees them.
We'll have to find out what that means!

BUGS (Barkly Ukulele Group)

Elder Hyde sent us an email that had a link to a newspaper article.  He prefaced it by saying that they have been trying to get involved in the community different ways so they could find people to teach.  To my surprise our Alden has joined a Ukulele group. But not just any ukulele group! Here's what the newspaper says about this group, "serenades locals with a funny, twangy, virtuosic and foot-stomping rendition of popular tunes." ?!  We will be looking forward to some ukulele serenading when he comes home!
Here is the link: http://tennantcreek.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/bugs-to-debut-as-tennants-dukes-of-uke/2506297.aspx

Transfer calls. . . . . . drum roll please. . . . .

Hello family,
We actually got official transfer calls after we emailed on Monday. And......... we are both staying another 6 weeks in Tennant Creek. Speaking about transfers, I heard that that Elder Brown from Boise Idaho is being trained in Alice Springs so I will be able to see him when we go down next time. I don't  know when that will be. Pres and Sister Poulton said they would only come up one more time to Alice before they are done with their mission so I don't know if that will be this transfer or next.
My comp doesn't believe that blue darts are real and I havent been able to prove to him yet so I might need Derek or Joe to send a video of one of them doing it. Ha.
We were talking to an aboriginal member this week and she said she was working on a book at a culture center. She said it was putting together a book of birds that symbolize things in their culture. I asked what kinds of things that birds can symbolize and she said like protection, death, and some other things. I just thought that that was interesting. I haven't seen the book or anything but it would be interesting to see.
Well I hope all continues to go well. I love you all.
Love, Elder Hyde

Another Great Week

G'day family,
Had another great week. It started out in Alice Springs for the mission tour of Elder Hamula. There are actually things to do for p-day down there especially since there are heaps more missionarys. So we went to what they call Simpsons Gap which is a canyon with a little creek going through it. We kicked a footy around and a volleyball. Had a little barbecue, no shrimp! ha. That was a good time. We met these nice people down there as well that decided they wanted to feed us a couple nights while we were down there. They are greek so she cooked us some good greek food. One night she cooked us some authentic lamb and chicken yiros. I think they spell it gyros in America. But I asked them and the correct greek spelling is yiro.

We had a great training with Elder Hamula. He is a powerhouse. He taught us to think of why we do things and help others to realize why we do things. Such as it is easy enough to know what and how to pray, but it is harder to understand why we pray, even though knowing why is one of the most important parts. He explained it more elegantly and more in depth than I did but it makes a lot of sense. You are more likely to follow Jesus Christ if you know why you are supposed to follow Him.

This was our first real week of taking over church. I think we will be able to handle it, we have some other good sisters that help out a lot as much as they can.

I had more that I wanted to say but I forgot my planner that I wrote everything in at the flat so I guess that will have to wait til next week.

I love you all. Remember that God loves you and have a fantastic week.
Love Elder Hyde

AUSSIE TERM OF THE WEEK:
a footy = either like a football or rugby ball

Poor Goanna

Hello Family,
I heard that you just had daylight savings so this is probably getting to you later than usual. But anyway, our week has been great. We actually had district conference with the whole Northern Territory, so we got coverage of that on the internet. It was held in Darwin. We actually had like 20 people at church too for the conference. Elder Hamula of the Seventy was there and he is coming down to Alice today. So we made the trip down here to Alice Springs yesterday. We are going to have a zone conference with him and President Poulton will be here as well.
On the way down I accidentally hit a goanna. Elder Tomadakis reckoned it wasn't worth bringing with us so we just left it, I'm sure some aboriginals can make a good meal of it. Ha. Just a couple kilometres down the road there was an eagle that swooped down and grabbed a lizard right in front of us so we had to swirve to the other lane. It was massive. We usually find a few birds in our grill by the end of the trip anyway but im sure that eagle would have done some major damage.
The root beer was awesome, I forgot how good it was. The candy is a hit. The kids always make funny faces when you give them the sour ones or hot ones but they always ask for more. Ha. They call the atomic fire ball the chilli one. They always ask us now when we give them a lolly if it is a chilli one.
Well I love yall. Have a great week.
Love Elder Hyde

Sweet Sacrament Meeting

G'day family,

We have had a great week. We topped it off with a sweet sacrament meeting. This Sunday was the last day for the 2 priesthood leaders in our branch, they are both moving. Pres Dawes is going to Darwin, and Janusz, our other active priesthood, is going to Tasmania. They gave powerful testimonies. We were able to get our best investigator at the moment there as well. We have a baptism date with her and she enjoyed church so lets hope that continues to go well. We are going to have to replace these priesthood somehow as well. Church will be interesting trying to fill up all the time, I think me and Elder T will be talking a lot.

We came over to Pres Dawes house for district meeting the other day and there was a knock on the door so we answered it. There was a lady that was asking for pasta. We were thinking that was something strange to ask for. But then we realized she was asking for pastor, asking for Pres Dawes. He always gets humbugged by people to give them stuff because they know he is a good guy.

I think it has rained everyday this week. Its great for the temperature, but it makes it harder to teach people because they dont want to sit on the wet ground and learn. This week has been the first time that it has been below 95 degrees I swear. It feels to good. We haven't seen the sun for a few days but I'm not complaining because when the sun comes out after rain it just gets humid and makes it worse. I actually had to turn on the warm water a little bit in the shower because it was a bit chilly. Anyway enough about the weather.

I love you all. Have a great week.

AUSSIE TERM OF THE WEEK:

humbugged = the act of someone trying to get something off you for free

How Many Dogs Attend Your Church Meetings?

Hello family,

My week has been great. Sorry I didn't email yesterday though. Something was wrong with the internet here in Tennant Creek so nobody had internet.

We got a sweet new aboriginal investigator and she committed to a baptism date, it is very hard to get them to do this and she is reading from the Book of Mormon daily and praying. She is moving along well.

We had a sweet trip up to Elliott this weekend. We just hold church under a tree at a members home so we had a total of 16 people, 10 dogs, 1 sleeping cat, and 1 dead rat with its head off hanging by strands made an appearance for a little bit until someone chucked their thong (flip flop) at the dog who brought it in. So all in all a great success. Ha.  Something great happened as well, we had some aboriginal men with the priesthood help us out with the sacrament. It is usually pretty hard to get participation in those kinds of things but their hearts have been changed and they want to help.

We weren't able to take a shower up there though because where we usually shower they say it is only for staff members now, so I guess we kind of fit in a little more. That's probably bad to say.  It was also way to hot to sleep in the tent so we slept outside with the dingos, mossies (mosquitos), and other ravenous animals. Ha.

Well I love you all and hope you have a great week!

AUSSIE TERM OF THE WEEK:
yakka = work we did some hard yakka this week

Elliot- Population 600 602

Standing on a cliff-kind of hard to tell

This is where they hold Sacrament Meeting for the 16 people, 10 dogs, sleeping cats, etc

Painting

This is Elder Hyde with a little boy that painted this picture for him.

Breath of Fresh Air

G'day Family,
I hope Tyson and Chloee have good birthdays.
We had our zone leaders up this week. Luckily we had enough people to see with leftovers. It is sweet to have other people to talk to. When there are new people that come into Tennant Creek to talk with it is like being in a room where somebody passed gas and then you get some fresh air. Ha, anyway.
I can't remember if I told you this before but you sent some root beer concentrate and we were trying to make some. We made some with this guy that has a soda stream which carbonates water, so we just made it in water then put it on that machine and it carbonated it. Its just not the same without dry ice though. We were looking for dry ice though so we went to a few shops here and asked for it. The people that we asked just looked at us like we were stupid and they said "no but we sell wet ice". So they obviously don't have dry ice here. I might have to wait til we go to Alice or just use soda water.
I don't know if you would be able to tell me but do you know if that Elder Brown kid from Idaho has come into the mission yet. It is one of Gordon and Kendra's friends. They use to send us a letter of who has recently come into the mission but we dont get them anymore so I was wondering if you would know at all?
Everything is going well. Love you all, keep smiling, have fun, be happy, enjoy life, thats all I can think of.
AUSSIE TERM OF THE WEEK:
dink = give someone a ride on your bike

The ute (truck) we get to drive with our zone leaders

Obstacle Course

G'day family,

Had a good week. We had a pretty funny fireside this week. Usually we get a lot of kids to our weekly fireside so we planned and set up an obstacle course for them to do. We had a prize at the end so we compared it to life, that even when we have challenges we need to keep our eyes on the prize at the end which is eternal life. Unfortunately there were no kids that showed up, only older people, luckily they had a good attitude about it and it was hilarious to see them do the obstacle course. We strapped planks of wood to their feet and had them going through nets and over tables and stuff.

Our zone leaders are coming up for tomorrow for a trade off. It gets a little crazy when they come up because we have to be creative with things to do because there is barely enough people to see as is but with extra people it gets a little difficult to stay occupied, we'll figure it out though.

We had 12 people at church this week, it was awesome.

Is dad getting excited for his adventure?

I hope you all have a great week. Love yas

Love Elder Hyde

AUSSIE TERM OF THE WEEK:

my shout = buy someone something, we have some new members that shout us dinner now.

Elder Hyde, Elder Tomadakis, and Sheila with thier hats

 

Fart Bombs :)

Hello Family,

This week has been pretty good. It was transfer week so we were supposed to be getting a call letting us know what was going to happen... and we didn't get a call saying that we were staying... but we also didn't get a call saying that we were leaving either. So I think we are just forgotten about, so we will stay and hopefully that is what we are supposed to do. Ha.

We had 2 new members move into our ward this week from Alice Springs. I think that they will be able to help us a lot.

Somebody was telling us to look up this video on You Tube called "aboriginal chooky dancers comedy gala 2009". Look it up and tell me if it is funny. 

When we have testimony meeting here, we have one talk still and i gave the talk yesterday and then instead of a second talk we turn the time over for testimonies and yes you bear testimony to only a few other people but it is just as powerful.

We were teaching some lessons this week and we usually teach outside just sitting in the dirt or on a chair, and this lady's grandkids had little packages that they were hitting and then throwing them next to us. They would explode and then stink. They were fart bombs. I don't know if they have any over there but I am going to try and get a hold of some. I was going to send some for the kids birthday but I don't know if it would be safe in the mail or if they would explode in it. 

I'm still doing good and loving the work.

I love you all and have a great week.

Love Elder Hyde

AUSSIE TERM OF THE WEEK:

yonks = a very long time,  i haven't had a good five guys burger in yonks

Sliding down the old mine shafts

Going off a bike jump

Happy Thoughts

Here are some happy thoughts that Elder Hyde sent home.  We were able to share this for him at our mother's funeral:

Mom has taught me many things, it's hard to narrow down, but as most of us know she has been in a battle with cancer for nearly half my life. This would be a massive trial for anyone to bear. I was lucky enough to be able to spend a lot of time with her during this time, and I never heard her mention anything about "why me" or anything negative the whole time, she just endured through it and made the best of it. So I guess you could say that she taught me how to happily persevere through trials. She always kept a positive attitude towards life and she expressed it through her humor. She would always say or do something funny that would make those around her smile or laugh. Although, she would blame the chemo and drugs for her silliness but I'm not too sure about that. She was the perfect example to me of being happy when life doesn't exactly go your way, and making the best of it.

No Time to Write

These past few weeks Elder Hyde hasn't had much time to write.  This is because we have been Skyping with him twice a week (YAY!).  It is so good to see him and know that he is well.  We are grateful for the people there helping him along-his mission president, branch president, companion, etc.  His companion has given him a hug for us upon request several times which I'm sure is not the easiest thing for a young, tough man to do.  We are all grateful and bear testimony of the power of our Savior, through the Holy Ghost, to comfort and heal us.  We trust that the Lord is taking care of our brother and son and sending tender mercies to him and all of us.  Here are a few pictures Elder Hyde was able to send.

Small Roo in a Nappy

Hey family,

Its been a pretty full on week as you know.  But its been good though. I think I told you a bit already about our P-day. Where we had some people take us out bush bashing around to all of the old mines around town. Most of them were gold mines.  The landscape makes me think that we are in Africa, because there is heaps of tall grass and then some trees every once in a while. After bush bashing, they took us to some locals in town that we haven't met before, one breeds snakes and the other raises kangaroo. It was funny to see a small roo in a nappy (diaper), and there were a couple more just jumping around in the house. I asked if she potty trained them and she said kind of.  After we held them she put the small one in a pillow case and hanged it on a chair.

 

We had a training in alice springs. We always learn a lot there. President Poulton went super in depth on the plan of salvation during the training, possibly for my sake.  We also stayed with senior couple down there. They are from Las Vegas. It was nice to stay with them because they cooked us heaps of food.  When we got back from Alice, we floored it. Which is a saying we have in the mission which is kind of like putting the pedal to the medal. just working as hard as you can.

I'm glad I was able to watch the funeral, you all did a very nice job. I know she is proud of us all right now. Stay strong, and remember when you are down to nothing, God is up to something.  Love you all. Have a great week.

 

 

AUSSIE TERM OF THE WEEK:

bush bashin' = kind of like off roading, just going on the dirt trails around town in a big ute.

It Helps to do Some Work

Hello family,

Sorry about emailing last week. we were supposed to have pday on Tuesday but sometimes information doesn't get passed along to us or it gets mixed up in translation, so we accidentally had it on Monday. oops. ha.

I was glad to be able to talk to you on skype.  I am doing fine here. It helps that I was able to get out and do some work and have some laughs. We had some entertainment yesterday, there were 2 dogs that were barking really loud so we went over to see what was going on and they were fighting a blue tongue lizard. It was very entertaining. There was actually only one dog barking at it and then another one came in and had no fears it just started jumping on the lizard, it probably got bit a few times. ha. Good fun.  We also had some funny people offer for us to come over for dinner, they made a lamb roast that was good.

I love you, hugs and kisses. I hope all goes well. I dont know if I have told you guys how much I appreciate that you are my family, I couldnt have asked for a better one.

Love Elder Hyde

 

AUSSIE TERM OF THE WEEK:

torch = flashlight

Eternal Family

Hi all!  This is Britney, Elder Hyde's sister.  On Friday, January 6, 2012 our angel mother was admitted to the hospital.  She had been on chemo and it had really taken a toll on her.  She was very weak and tired and was having a harder time breathing.  My dad took her to the hospital with the intention of getting her fluids, rest, and maybe a blood transfusion.  When they arrived her heart rate was very high and they couldn't get it to come down.  They ordered scans and tests.  The doctor came in with the results and had taken the time to look over 8 years of mom's cancer history.  He told her that she was a miracle. He said there was mass around her heart and that the tumors had taken over her lungs to the point that it was hard to see healthy lung tissue in the scans.  He told her that they could take heroic measures- meaning pounding her chest and putting a breathing tube in- if she wanted them to, but he told her that he wouldn't feel right doing this.  He said that she had fought heroically and deserved to rest. Our mother accepted this and was at peace with her decision.
On Saturday morning my father and I started contacting everyone.  We tried, and with the help of many friends, were able to contact Alden's mission president.  He called Elder Hyde and told him to get to his Branch president's house where he could Skype.  Elder Hyde knew what this meant.  Elder Hyde and my mother parted at the MTC knowing that it could possibly be their last earthly meeting.  He was able to skype with my mother on Saturday evening (Sunday morning Australia time).  What a blessing modern technology is!  They expressed their love to each other.  My mom told him how proud she was of him and that she wanted him to stay there.  She told him that the mission is where the Lord and his mother wanted him to be.  She told him that he will be able to bear an undeniable testimony of the Plan of Salvation.  She said that he will touch people that no one else could because of his experience.  He expressed excitement that she will not have to wait for an email every Sunday to hear how he is doing and what he is up to because she will be there watching over him.  She promised him that she would be there.
Over the next couple days my mom's health declined quickly.  Elder Hyde called on Monday morning and expressed a desire to skype with her again that afternoon. She overheard this conversation and got so excited to see him again.  She asked for her water so she could get "hydrated". It was hard to tell her that she would have to wait nearly 6 hours because they were driving. She had declined to where she was barely able to speak or stay awake.  He did most of the talking.  He also, along with his companion, sang to her.  This is something she had been trying to get him to do for a long time-sing.  She lit up when we told her he was going to sing.  He was able to visit for a little more than an hour.   We are thankful for a kind and understanding mission president that allowed Elder Hyde to visit with his mother one last time.
Early Tuesday morning (12:30a.m. January 10) our beautiful angel mother returned to her Heavenly Home. Elder Hyde was also able to watch and listen to the funeral services via skype.  We will  miss her immensely but are so happy for her.  She is having a grand reunion with many loved ones and is free from any pain and suffering.  We are so grateful for the knowledge that ours is an eternal family.  We will see our sweet mother again and that knowledge provides comfort and peace.  Please keep Elder Hyde in your prayers.

Here is a link to our mother's obituary if you are interested: Theresa Hyde Obituary

Happy New Year

Hey family,
For p day we went out to the Mary Ann Dam, which is just a little lake. It was pretty cool to see water but we cant do anything with it so we just took some pictures and stuff.
This week was a bit hard for teaching people or even seeing people because everyone went out of town for the holidays. They are pretty much over now though so they should start coming back. They have to get away while they can, while they don’t have to work and the aboriginals go out bush and visit family and stuff.
I gave out some of the Twinkies this week and I have never seen a Twinkie consumed so quickly in my life. They love them. Thanks for sending them.
You had asked about aboriginals so I thought of a few things that I could tell you. One thing that I thought was cool was with the older aboriginals eyes, they have a green ring around the colored part of the eye and all of their eyes that I have seen have been brown. I thought the green ring was just part of what they were born with and I thought it was cool but I guess it is actually cataracts or something, but it looks cool. Another thing that is kind of funny is that they point with their lips. If they say like over there, they will stick out their lips in that direction. They have houses here but most of them have bed frames outside and if it isn’t raining then they sleep outside.
Just as weird as driving a car on the other side of the road is having the brakes on your bike opposite, the right brake is the front here and the left is the back. Just some weird little thing that I noticed.
Well, I wanted to let yous know that I love yall and Happy New Year!
Love Elder Hyde
AUSSIE TERM OF THE WEEK:
tucker (pronounced "tucka") = food, the aboriginals say bush tucker and it means food that they hunt or find out in the bush, and the bush is just anywhere not in the city.