Christmas Pics, Mid-December Baptism

Elder Hyde sent some pics.  He also had a baptism in the middle of December!

Different Christmas Traditions

Elder Hyde's letter from December 3

I didnt realize how close christmas really was. You asked what traditions are different, um santa wears a speedo and rides a surf board, I don't know how that works with kids sitting on his lap that would be a bit weird with hairy legs or something, but I don't want to think about it too hard. They have the same music and stuff, it has been pretty weird to walk in the shopping centre and hear the christmas music playing for the past couple months. We will have christmas in adelaide, so I will be able to meet up with Elder Nngawaka, he just got sent to Adelaide. And yes the weather is a difference, I thought since I was out of Tennant and Alice that it wouldn't be as hot but I was wrong it was way hot the other day it was hard to breathe because the air was hot.  Keep smiling! Share the joy. Love yas, tell the kids hey for me.
Love Elder Hyde

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