Spritual Lessons January 26, 2009

It's good to hear that you are all doing good. That is really cool that
Dallin Craven is going to South Africa. Hopefully he is ready for the heat.
My week went really well. I don’t have to much time I think I might have enough time to write and tell you about spiritual lessons that we had throughout the week.

It all started with a reference from one of the members in our ward. We
contacted her and set up an appointment. We visited her and she had called her cousin to come listen to us. These last two weeks we have been visiting them frequently. Every time we go we can feel the spirit so strong. They don’t asked stupid questions either, they are very good questions that we can answer simply with a scripture or two. They are keeping their commitments to read and pray. They know that it is true. One of them was having a hard time accepting a baptismal date because his family is Catholic and he doesn’t know what they will think. He also thinks that it is really fast to accept a fetcha. (baptism date)

We talked to him one day this week and we read Mosiah 18:8-10 (the
part where it says "mourn with those that mourn and stand with those that stand in need of comfort.") and he said that he wants to do these things. then we read verse 10 and it says then what is stopping you from being baptized. It was amazing the spirit was so strong and then the three of us prayed. then we sat in silence for about 2 min. He said yes I want to get baptized.

They are going to Lima this week and won't return till after changes so I kind of want to stay here for another change. He says that every time he prays he feels peace and calm.(answer from God Galations 5:22-23)

This was a good week and my eyes are better. My health is good. The weather here is off and on rain and after the rain it is really, really HOT. We are thankful for the rain, but the bad thing is the mud. Well, my time is almost up. I just want to say I love ya´ll very much. I hope you all have a great week this week.
Sorry if this letter isn't very long or very good. The time limit is killing us.

Juan Carlos is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. January 19, 2009

There was a case of disobedience in the mission so the rules have gotten tighter. Now we are limited to 30 minutes at the computer and we can only write to parents.

Last Monday we went to the nature park. It was awesome and we had lots of fun. There were lots of different animals and different artifacts to look at.

On Tuesday I sent some cds with my pictures on them. I hope you get them soon.

Wednesday, satan was working hard on us this week. First with all the rain, then today I woke up with pink eye, in both of my eyes. It kinda sucks and it hurts when the light and wind enters them. We bought some heavy duty eye drops. We got a reference from a member and she is really interested in the gospel. She has a baptism date for this week.

Thursday, we have a baptism this week for Juan Carlos. We passed by to go over the interview questions and set up the appointment for his baptism.

On Friday Juan Carlos passed his interview with flying colors. His baptism is set for Saturday and he wants ME to do it.

Saturday we prepared for the baptism, filled the font, then went to work until 6 pm. We gathered all our stuff and went to the baptism. It was a really good service and we felt the spirit really strong.

Well my time is about up, sorry it is so short, I will try to type faster.
Love you all todos,
Love Elder Hyde

Transfers and Commitments January 12, 2009

The beginning of my week was a little difficult, just getting used to the change. Every missionary works a little differently or in this case a lot differently. My Companion is Elder Garnica and he is also from Bolivia. He is from a different area than my last companion. We get along really good the only thing is he works really differently. One way that he is different is that he is kinda pushy with the investigators.
This week it has rained a lot. Not quite as bad as last Sunday and just so you know I have not fallen in any more crap holes.

We worked on Monday because of transfers. Elder Garnica flew in and we picked him up at the airport. We spent most of the day visiting members and investigators to say adios. (to elder Torrejan)

Early Tuesday morning we sent the other elders off that were leaving the area then we had p day. We did play soccer and volleyball again. It was fun. We then got lazy we ate and slept. When we got back to work we went to visit the people whose baptism fell through the last week in December. This was Tereza Y Sergio, She wanted a sign from the heavens. This day they were more than ready to accept a new date and the have chosen January 17th.

On Wednesday we visited Juan Carlos, he is the 14 year old that we have been working with. He has every thing he needs to be taught and we are just waiting for his father to sign the permission slip. I actually got to talk to his father for the first time. It went better than I expected because elder Torrejan said that he was really bad and doesn’t want him to be baptized. I did not see that side of him today. We asked him to sign the paper and he did so we have another fetcha (baptism date) for January 17th. Juan Carlos is really excited and ready to be baptized.
I am running out of time but some other things that happened. Tereza wants more time to think about her baptism. I don’t know why she is changing her mind a lot, I guess it is part of life. I think her son wants to get baptized, he just doesn’t want to disappoint his mom.

Sunday we gave talks again in sacrament.

Today we are going to a nature park and I hope to get some cds to make copies of my pictures so I can send them home. (he has been saying this since Christmas!)

Flooded Streets and Surprises January 5, 2009

P Day we played soccer and volleyball as a zone and then my companion and I went to central to buy some cool stuff. On the way there we passed a shoe store, inside the shoe store there was a women without a shirt on, but that was not all she didn’t have a bra on either. That was a little bit of culture shock for me I have to admit.
Elder Torrejon bought a backscratcher and I bought this thing that hangs on the wall and says "Feliz AAO Nuevo Pucallpa". It is awesome

Tuesday it rained like crazy. I like it when it rains for two reasons. One because it is not as hot and the other is the people feel bad for us and let us in their houses. This time of year is kinda bad here because of all the drinking. Here is an example, we have taught a lady named Noami and her children. They sell beer and it is really distracting when you have drunk people outside. Everyone is getting drunk.

Wednesday we sent Pol, one of the members of the bishopric to buy fireworks for us tonight. We gave him thirty soles, some of the fireworks he bought looked like they were homemade. I am sure some of them were. He bought one that was really cool but pretty illegal in Utah.
We had to be at our house not later than 8 pm. It was hard to find people home. We found a few and spent a little time with some members. We went to bed at 10:30 pm. We set our alarm for five minutes to midnight so we could light our fireworks. It was fun but I felt the effects of it the next day even though it was only like 20 minutes.

Thursday we only went to member’s homes because a lot of people were sleeping and drunk. and all that not so good stuff. Loud music is a distraction too and almost every street has a bar type place, so every street has drunks.

Friday it rained again but not as bad as Tuesday. People are starting to go back to work and there are not as many drunks. Holidays and weekends are their drinking days.

I think my Spanish is getting better everyday. Well I hope it is.

I found out that I am staying and my companion is leaving to Lima because he is going to die, which means he is ending his mission this month. I am kinda bummed that he is leaving but I think I will survive. My new Companion is Elder Garnica from Bolivia and he will be senior companion. I don’t think I am ready to be senior. For the first few days I will act as senior until he gets to know the area. Elder Layton is also staying and his companion is leaving.

We started our fast on Saturday, I was very tempted by all the goodies in the fridge, but I made it. The president said that we are able to drink water if we need to. At first I thought it was weird but now I think I would die if I didn’t.

It didn’t start raining on Sunday until about 8:30 while we were walking home from the bishop’s house. It was raining so hard that the street we were walking down was flooded. The water was almost to our knees. It was actually kind of fun. Suddenly something horrible happened. I fell into a big hole that I didn’t see because of all the water. The water was up to my chest and it smelled really bad. It was so bad that when I got home I took off my clothes and showered really well. It was a septic thing that I fell in. It was funny but really stunk.
THAT WAS BASICALLY MY WEEK.
love you all mucho (tons) love elder Hyde

My Christmas Week December 29, 2008

Monday, December 22, we played Lucha Libre and watched a movie. My companion and I slept. We had FHE and watched “Joy To The World”. I think I watched this movie 10 times this week. It is a good one for the Christmas season.

Tuesday we worked until 7 pm then we went to a place called Plaza De Almas. The missionaries and ward members sang Christmas hymns, it was fun. We actually sounded good, I was surprised.

Wednesday we did service for one of the members of the bishopric at his house. We mowed his lawn and did it with shovels and machetes. It was fun, except it was really hot and I felt like I was going to die. After that we got ready for the day and went to lunch. We ate with the former bishop and we took pictures with his family. We took pictures with other families That night we made our pre-calls home.

In the night it was not easy to sleep because of all the firecrackers. I could have sworn they were lighting them off in our room, it was so loud.

On Christmas day we studied the scriptures that were attached to the gifts as we opened them. It wasn’t much of a study but it was fun to see which ones made sense in Spanish. In the phone call home I said “QUE” a lot, it is because it is habitual, everytime I don’t understand something that is what I say. We also got new beds and we spent the morning getting them up. We went to lunch and it was good but we had eaten a lot of sweets and could not eat much more. After our phone calls home we decided we are going to go on a shopping spree this week with the 300 soles that grandma gave me ;)

Friday we found out that our baptisms fell thru. They want to be baptized but they think that it is too soon. We had other interviews that we had to go to for the other missionaries in the district.
I had been falling behind in my journal writing, so Friday I caught myself up and it is up to date now. We walked around a lot today and then we found an investigator home and we taught them. We also had another interview.

We have an investigator named Juan Carlos, he is 14 years old. He is really interested and wants to get baptized. He is basically a member the only thing stopping him from getting baptized are his parents. They made a deal with him, that if he exercises everyday and losses weight and he needs to wait for his birthday which is January 18th.
We have a calendar that has a picture on each month of the coordinating season. It is odd for me….January has a sun and July has a snowman. I found that really weird and at the same time really funny.

THIS IS MY REPORT. ALL IS WELL, ALL IS WELL

LOTS OF LOVE FROM A SMALL PLACE CALLED PUCALLPA
LOVE ELDER HYDE