In The Jungle, The Mighty Jungle..........November 24,2008

I am in the jungle and loving every minute of it!! My trip to Pucallpa was good, it was not too long only about an hour. I sat next to a young woman, 17 years old. We talked almost the whole flight. I was surprised that I understood her and was able to talk to her. I got her name, address and even her phone number. So you know father, it is only a reference for other missionaries, nothing more! :) When we got off the plane it was sooooo hot. It was even worse in a suit. I think they said it was only about 89 degrees.

Elder Layton was in the same plane and he is in the same district. He even has the same pensionista.

I loved the package from home. I finished off the M&Ms and popcorn on Wednesday before I left Collique. The popcorn was excellent. I loved it. One reason we had a microwave in that area is because we didn’t have a pension. We cooked our own food. We also had a rice cooker. Towards the end of the change we found a pension and they cooked dinner for us. We still made our own breakfast. A few things that they made us were weird, like cow intestines and fish with the scales still on it. That was in Collique.

Here the Pensionista is the bomb. We have had nothing but good food. But I didn’t say it wasn’t weird. We have had alligator. It was really good, it tasted better than some of the chicken I have had here. That is the weirdest thing that I have eaten.
The Jungle is very beautiful and very, very, very hot!!!!!. It is a lot different than Collique. I am actually thankful for the cold showers. Our shower consists of a bucket of cold water. It feels so good because it is so hot in these neck of the woods. My apartment is a small little thing. We have one room to sleep, one room to study, a little tiny bathroom and a small kitchen with a sink. It is not much of a kitchen though just a sink.

My new companion is Elder Torrejan. He is from Bolivia, Santa Cruz. He is really funny. It is funny to hear him try to speak English. One night we had a salamander in our room , we caught it then in got loose in Elder Torrejan’s hand, he freaked out. The best part is that I got it all on video. It was awesome.
The language here is not much different, they just talk different it is like they are singing. It may actually be a little easier to understand.

On Saturday we contacted a family that was sitting on their porch. We taught them a lesson and invited them to church. LO and behold they showed up. It was really cool!

On P days we go to a small house that has a bunch of computers. It cost about one sol for an hour. That is about 40 cents an hour.

I love you tons,
Elder Hyde

Jungle Here I Come, Make Room for Elder Hyde November 17, 2008

I found out this morning that I am going to the jungle. The area is called Pucallpa. I hear it is beautiful. I hope I am ready. I heard it is harder to understand (language) there but I will get better fast I hope.

Monday our zone played soccer and had a lot of fun. I got my hair cut and then we cleaned our house for the rest of the day. We had inspections the next day.

On Tuesday we had interviews and the assistants talked to us for a while. It was good. We worked the rest of the day, nothing exciting happened.

Wednesday we were talking to a guy that we were contacting.
We were pretty much arguing because he was saying that all churches have something wrong with them. Elder Maldonado wanted to prove him wrong, after about 45 minutes I reached my hand up to him, said thanks for you time and started walking off. My companion had no option but to follow. Elder Maldonado said thanks for helping to get him out of that situation. After stuff like that I just feel so spiritually drained.
We talked to another young man in the Miguel family that wants to get baptized, so now that is five in this family. We will baptize two this week, well I won’t but my companion will. They are a really good family.

Thursday we went to an appointment and the lady was there, she opened the door and asked us to hold on one minute. A minute later she came back with her bible in hand. My first thought was that she was ready to bash. We taught her the first lesson and then she started asking questions. One was “Why can’t women hold the Priesthood” and another, “Where did black people come from if God created one race.”

Friday I got your package and did a lot of work. I have already eaten one bag of the M&M’s and the Swedish fish, I love the picture of Alden and I have read one of the talks. Thanks I love it. I can’t wait for the next package.

Saturday we did service again and if you want to send me some gloves I will probably use them in a future service project.

Sunday was another normal Sunday. They asked the missionaries to help pass the sacrament. It was a good week.

Funny language story….I was trying to make a contact and I wanted to say “have you talked with missionaries like us before.” But I said “Have you talked with us like us before”. My mind was working faster than my tongue.

Tell Michael Drago and Logan Child that the eagle projects sound cool. Tell them great job and congrats for me.
Tell everyone hello from me.
Sending my love from Peru to you. love Elder Hyde.
Next time I send love it will be from the jungle.

Teaching Families November 10, 2008

We are teaching the Familia Miguel. This family consists of a lot of people. The Grandpa is not a member, two of his daughters are, and right now we are working with the granddaughters. We have their dates set for November 22nd. They are really good people.
We are teaching a young man named Gabriel Alejandro, he also has a baptism date for November 22nd.

Food I Ate This Week November 10, 2008

I am trying to get used to the food. Yesterday for dinner we had Cau-Cau. What is it you probably are asking???? Cow intestines! It was not that great, but I ate as much as I could. I hove not felt the effects of it yet but I am sure it is coming. We also had fish this week, it still had the skin on it, I ate a little and it was ok, but not the best.

Children's Primary Program November 10, 2008

This Sunday was great. The primary program was this week. It was very different than what I am used to. The children had the choir robes that the choirs wear when they dance. I thought the kids were going to start dancing to "I Love to See the Temple”. In the front of the chapel there was a big picture of the kids. It was weird.

Power of the Priesthood and Hard Work November 10, 2008

Friday: We went to the church to use the bathroom and ran into a mother with her daughter in her arms. The daughter was not feeling good and she asked for a blessing. We gave her a Priesthood blessing and within five munutes the girl was playing and running around. The power of the priesthood is real. The cool part of this experience is that we had asked another man to go with us to a room where we gave the blessing, This guy was is not a member, but he was able to see the power of the priesthood that we hold. It was awesome.
Saturday we did service. We are digging trenches for water pipes. It is difficult, we are digging straight rock with a little bit of dirt in between. It is hard work, but it is good because we are helping some recent converts.

Dog Bites? Kid Bites?? November 10, 2008

Wednesday, like all days, we run into dogs in the streets. We went into a house and the little kid there is worse than some of the dogs. I have not been bitten by a dog. But this kid has bit me twice.

The Temple is amazing November 10, 2008

Last Monday was a little rushed because we worked so we could go to the temple. I went through my journal last night and wrote on a sticky note the things I wanted to share from this week.

Tuesday
The temple was amazing. Like always, I understood most of what was going on, but the guy helping me at the end kind of just mumbled so I didn’t understand to much of that. I made it through and it is a beautiful temple. They actually had carpet, it felt so good on my feet.

Teaching Young Women and Earthquakes November 3 2008

We have a few young women who have accepted baptism. Their date is going to be the 15th of November. Their names are Susan and Ibeth. We hope to talk to their parents and get them baptized also. Their aunts are members but less active. They are really a nice family.

We had another earthquake this week. We were walking and didn’t feel it, we heard it and saw everybody running out of their houses. I thought it was funny because it didn’t seem bad. Peru has earthquakes every few weeks. I have felt three earthquakes.

Holloween 2008

Halloween is different here, the kids have cheap little masks and go to the little stores that are everywhere. They don’t go house to house. They don’t go all out on the costume thing like we do.

This is Connor and Chloee, Derek's nephew and neice.

This is Tyson, Derek's other nephew.