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