My Soul Delighteth ...

Hi everyone!! This week has been soooooooo busy and crazy! Full of running around, changes and the hole shabang. First off my companion Sister Christoffersen went home back to Arkansas. So when I went to drop her off I saw my other two companies - Sister Christiansen and Sister Erickson, who were also going home. I tried to be a big girl and not cry --  but I could hold it in. I was a mess. They all looked so good and I has so happy that they are going to go see their families, but I will miss their huge hugs and smiling faces. Everyone I knew is going home!! So, not cool.... because that means that I am a oldie out here in the mission.

I spent the week with the the Northridge sisters --  was a lot of fun and super busy trying to handle three Ward with lots of appts.   Miracle!! So when I was with the Northridge sisters we went to one of their recent convert houses and I met this guy- Carlos. He is YSA and super cool! I asked if he would want to join us for church on Sunday and he said yes! Sunday comes and one of our awesome members, Zach walked in with Carlos and sits on our bench. He stayed the full time and is going to hang out with some of the members on Monday.... well yesterday! Everything is coming together and it is fun to see. 

Cool highlight about this week was that I got to go to see Kelly's baptism!! I taught Kelly a lot but then found out she lived in the Roseville mission. So we had to have their missionaries take over teaching her. That was super sad!  BUT to see her come out of the water and having her burdens lifted just made my joy meter overflow!! I love her sooooo much!! 

Then Saturday night was General Women's Broadcast. It was amazing!  I felt like Elder Utchdorf's was talking to me. The right guidance at the right time I guess. Cool how the Lord does that, right?! 

Sooo transfers.... I got called to stay completely the same except my new companion is Sister Munk! She served in my last two areas so it is fun to hear how they have changed and such. I know that we are going to have a lot of fun!! She is from Bountiful Utah and one of the sweetest sisters I have ever met! 

I have been studying 2 Nephi chapter 4.  Mostly from verse 15 onward -- 

 I read it before and liked it 

but after studying it more and at the point of life I am living right now I just love it. 

A prayer of faith in the Lord and an example of humility -- 

showing me that I need to see how much the Lord has been there for me me (those tender mercies) 

I just love it ! 

15 And upon these I write the things of my soul, 
and many of the scriptures which are 

engraven upon the plates of brass. 
For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, 

and my heart pondereth them, 
and writeth them for the learning 

and the profit of my children. 

16 Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; 
and my heart pondereth continually 
upon the things which I have seen and heard.

 17 Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, 
in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: 
O wretched man that I am! 

Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; 

my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.

 18 I am encompassed about, 
because of the temptations and 

the sins which do so easily beset me.

 19 And when I desire to rejoice, 
my heart groaneth because of my sins; 

nevertheless, 
I know in whom I have trusted.

 20 My God hath been my support; 
he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; 

and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.

 21 He hath filled me with his love, 
even unto the consuming of my flesh.

 22 He hath confounded mine enemies, 
unto the causing of them to quake before me.

 23 Behold, he hath heard my cry by day,

 and he hath given me knowledge by visions in the night-time.

 24 And by day have I waxed bold in mighty prayer before him;

 yea, my voice have I sent up on high; 

and angels came down and ministered unto me.

 25 And upon the wings of his Spirit hath my body been carried away 

upon exceedingly high mountains. 

And mine eyes have beheld great things, yea, even too great for man; 

therefore I was bidden that I should not write them.

 26 O then, if I have seen so great things, 
if the Lord in his condescension unto the children of men hath visited men in so much mercy, why should my heart weep and my soul linger in the valley of sorrow, and my flesh waste away, and my strength slacken, because of mine afflictions?

 27 And why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? 
Yea, why should I give way to temptations,
that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul?  
Why am I angry because of mine enemy? 

 28 Awake, my soul! 
No longer droop in sin. 

Rejoice, my heart,
 and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.

 29 Do not anger again because of mine enemies. 

Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions.

 30 Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: 

O Lord, I will praise thee forever;

yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation.

 31 O Lord, wilt thou redeem my soul? 

Wilt thou deliver me out of the hands of mine enemies? 

Wilt thou make me that I may shake at the appearance of sin?

 32 May the gates of hell be shut continually before me, 

because that my heart is broken and my spirit is contrite! 

O Lord, wilt thou not shut the gates of thy righteousness before me, 

that I may walk in the path of the low valley, 
that I may be strict in the plain road!

 33 O Lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness! 

O Lord, wilt thou make a way for mine escape before mine enemies! 

Wilt thou make my path straight before me! 

Wilt thou not place a stumbling block in my way—

but that thou wouldst clear my way before me, 

and hedge not up my way, but the ways of mine enemy.

 34 O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. 

I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; 

for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. 

Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm.

 35 Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, 

if I ask not amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; 

yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. 

Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen.

Oh! We went to the Temple today and I loved it sooooooo much.

 Every time I go I feel peace and love. 

I got to see some members in the previous wards I served in and it was so nice! 

We also "contacted" this guy on a motorcycle and gave him a Book of Mormon. 

Hope you all have a great week!

Hurrah for Israel!

My Zone

What takes 20 minutes, 2 recent converts and 6 missionaries?

Hi everyone!! 

It has been six week already! 

Time really does fly by! 

My companion Sister Christoffersen, 

is going home this Saturday.  

We had a lot of 

fun fun fun fun fun 

times together. 

I am going to miss her so much! 

So, missionaries have all of these really weird terms. When you have one transfer or six weeks left on your mission you are dying. The companion that is with you those last six weeks is "killing" them. I am " killing" Sister Christoffersen... with a nerf bullet gun, foam sword, fake snake and the best of all --  death by chocolate cake. 

Two of my old companions are going home as well-Sister Christensen and Sister Erickson! 

I hope they all do well with their new life!
Love them oh so very much!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This week was really busy with teaching those who haven't come to church in a long time and our recent converts! Some of them are doing really well. Aron got Sunday's off so now he can go to all three hours of church. Ron is going to get the priesthood really so he can go to the temple, Bryce has decided to go on a mission, Greg is such a wonderful little kid who loves sharing about the story of Jospeh Smith and the first vision. Greg's older brother Skylar wants to be baptized too -- He even bore his testimony two weeks ago saying... "I am so glad that God kept me on his earth for ten years with my family". His is a really funny ten year old boy. Maria is still in the hospital but is doing a great great of reading the Book of Mormon every day and understanding it. I hope she gets out soon! 

We weren't able to meet with a lot of people over these past couple of weeks because of last minute vacations before school starts, then school starting and sports. 

BUT this week we were able to see a lot of them by just 

"happening to stop by" 

which normally doesn't work out that well or that much. 

So, those were small miracles throughout the week.

Deshaun
got baptized 
and 
confirmed last weekend. 

HE had one of the 
biggest smiles in the whole room.

The missionaries from the Roseville mission got permission to come and baptize him. 

It was a really great baptism except that after everyone went home we have to drain the font and we couldn't find a way to unplug it EXCEPT for someone to actually go into the full font and pull it out. 

So how many missionaries does it take 

to pull the plug of a baptismal font?... 

... about six missionaries, 
two recent converts and twenty minutes

Oh! so there are questions about the whole thing of being a Facebook missionary. It just means that as missionaries we are now allowed / privileged to use Facebook as a tool to be in contact with our investigators. Either by messaging them, sharing special events, uplifting posts and etc. it also allows us to be in better contact with the wards we serve. And a great way for us to keep in contact with that we meet on the street. I don't get to look through the news feed or like anything because that is not my purpose with that tool. It is an amazing thing we get to do to strength those around us and those we teach. 

So, Sister Christoffersen and I,  get teased a lot about road kill ---since we are both from the South. I am very sad to tell that I killed a duck, possum and almost a squirrel this week. But the car wash today took care of that. 

We had a great zone activity today playing queen of the court volleyball. I was on a team with Elder Jenkins and Elder Kenning. We were pretty good -- not going to lie. It was so much fun. 

Note to everyone: don't do that jelly bean weird flavor game... barf, skunk and dead fish are nasty.

I also saw a dinosaur this week at the Del Campo talent show.  It laid its head on my shoulder and I freaked out! I hopped over the chair and booked it for the door. The members said that was the funniest reaction ever. 
I don't like dinosaurs. 
Sorry Leavitt. 

Hope you all are having a great day and week! 

Thanks for those who emailed me! 

Love you all! ~~Sister Hyde

Oh, I got to see Sister Tupou at Jumbo Juice!! 

 It has been six months since I saw her!

Hurrah for Isreal!

A MOUSE and A KIND HEART

Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody

This week has been crazy!! In a good way! We had prep for zone conference, zone conference, exchanges with the Northridge sisters (Sister Beck and Sister Hudson) , recent converts that have decided to serve missionaries, baptism coming up this week for DeShaun, bike tire that totally popped off, and trying to prepare a talk for the YSA Ward for Sunday. I really don't now where to begin.

First - we wanted to start biking because we need to talk to more people and save miles since we only have 900 miles this transfer and we are going to cut it short. Sister Christoffersen's tire was flat so went home to pump it up. Thirty minutes later my chain comes off- my fault put it in the wrong gear. Then knocked on a few peoples doors

then we turn on the road and POP! My back bike tire blew. So we walked home put it on the back of our car and the elders fixed it that night while we prepped our training for zone conference.

Zone conference was amazing !! It focus on the Worth of Souls. D&C 18:10.  It was amazing ! I loved it! We all have the capacities and the blessing to become like our Heavenly Father. He sees our worth and gives us opportunities for it each day. It is our choice to make the right decisions that bring us closer to be like him. So for a missionary view we have the opportunity to help others make those choices to become like him. To literally become like him!!  I already knew this but for some reason the light bulb grew a lot brighter as President Jardine, spoke more on the subject. My heart was burning with fire from the spirit. I learned so much more but so little time!  Can't share it all. Sorry!  I really like this and I wanted to share it with the YSA so I spoke on that for my talk during sacrament meeting. I think I did a o.k. job.

Ron is going to receive the Aaronic priesthood next Sunday! He is so excited because he really wanted to go to the temple for his dad!  Then another recent convert says that he knows what to do for his sacrifice- to serve a mission! What!! It was awesome when he said that. We are really looking forward to DeShaun's baptism this Saturday! He is awesome !!

We had a great zone activity today with scripture mastery and it was sooo much fun.

Weather is getting colder... That's nice!

This transfer has gone by so fast

I love fancy grilled cheeses now.. My companion is really good at that.

Learned not to mess around with the chicken's at Village Park.

Found this cool story.  I used it in my talk about how we can't expect 

that someone else will do missionary work...

Hurrah for Israel!

EXCHANGING Blessings

Hi everyone!! This week has been crazy!!!! I got called to be a STL and so I have to go to meetings and go on exchanges with other sisters who I serve. So this week we went to Mission Leadership meeting to set the September goal for baptisms --- . The goal is 26!

Just in the first week we have had so many miracles and I am sooo excited!!

We also went on two exchanges this week.  The first one- I stayed here in my area with Sister Lalomanu. I got lost quite a few times because we cover the stake -YSA for two weeks and yup that explains it.

We had a great time!  

The second exchange I went to Ashton Park ( I used to serve there) with Sister Kaufusi. She is a ball of sunshine, love her and had a great time! 

They are both great missionaries.

We also did a team up with the Eastern Ave. sisters. Love them!

While I was in Ashton Park, I used to teach Chris and Bonnie-- but they haven't been in contact with the missionaries.  But as I was biking on Sister Munk's little bike -- I saw Chris and I grabbed my brakes and had on one of my biggest smiles.  We set up a appointment for them to come by sometime next week.  It was one of the things that made my day.

 We were teaching Kelly but then found out that she just moved to Roseville.

We couldn't have any contact with her because we cant contact outside mission boundaries.

Any way there was some miscommunication here and over there about who is teaching her and where she is going to be baptized. So we got it all taken care of with Presidents Jardine's help and now she is being taught the last lesson with the missionaries where she lives.

The one thing that broke my heart was when she said that she wanted us two at her baptism but we cant because it is outside the mission boundaries.

Broke my heart -- but we are going to have dinner with her that night.  Love her!   

So we sent her record over to the missionaries and thirty minutes later we get a referral about this guy who has been taught all the lessons and has a baptismal date on the 17 of September and well ................. I love the Lord!!!!

 Ron - our recent convert is doing amazing!!!! He really wants to start his family history and do baptisms for the dead for them too. The Lord prepared him so much!!   We are also teaching Maria and she is such a sweet girl!  

Sister Christoffersen and I also participated in our zone training this week too -- THAT was an event.

We are officially Facebook proselyting!

It is amazing how we can keep in contact with our investigators and seeing them progress so much 

more. One of our investigators even picked up a member for his own lesson!! I love this tool!!

I started to pick up my reading in the new testament again.  I love our Savior so much.

As I was reading this one story --  some of the Redeemer songs came up in my head and made it more real. I really liked those songs. 

Anyway,

I hope that everyone had a great week

 and 

I hope you all the best! 

Love ya! 

It's an EVERYDAY thing...

This week was super busy and really really nice.  Tuesday we had a four hour training on the use of Facebook & iPads on the mission. We are one of the 15 missions picked to relaunch this in the mission field. What a blessing 

and a big responsibility! 

Just by watching the training videos 

and hearing from President Jardine, 

I see so many great possibilities!  

One of them is to be in contact every day with our investigators. 

On Wednesday we had 

6 back to back appointments.!  

One of the longest days in my life! 

On Thursday, we went to the temple, 

here in Sacramento! 

It is so beautiful!  

Ron and Justin- (both investigators) with 

Aron and Zach (who are new-members) came as well. 

Elder Terry gave them a tour and it was amazing!  

We were all able 

to sit in the waiting room

INSIDE the temple! 

Of all the places in the world  -- the place 

where you can feel 

the most love from our Heavenly Father 

and a feeling of peace -- is at the temple!

We started reading the Book of Mormon with Zach C.,  from the beginning.   

I love reading the Book of Mormon! 

Each time I read it I find new things and always a sense of peace. 

I like how Nephi told us ~~ as we read this book 

we will see many tender mercies from the Lord. 

Then Moroni, who was the last Nephite prophet,  said, 

 remember the tender mercies that the Lord gave these people.

Super cool how the first and last prophet, 

who had a lot of reasons to complain,  didn't ~~

 and recorded that the Lord gives us tender mercies all the time, 

we just can't or haven't see them. 

I love the example they gave me ~~

They were able to recognize the tender mercies so often that 

when they went through trails  -- they never doubted their faith.

We were teaching Aron -- The Gospel of Jesus Christ,

 for his new member lessons.  

When we got to enduring to the end, we taught ... 

Read your scriptures, obey the commandments, pray often, go to church. 

As my companion was teaching, I got an impression -- 

 enduring to the end is more than just that...   

it is every day we are alive  -- relying on the atonement 

for strength to conquer our trails and the strength to repent. 

Enduring to the end ~~ is doing all we can 

every day

to be like our Savior

As these impressions filled my mind and heart, my mouth started to move and I was sharing the thoughts -- things I didn't realize before,

 but by the end of our lesson -- I did!  The light bulb came on. 

I am so thankful for the Holy Ghost!  

One of the best things 

this week was to see 

Ron get Baptized!! 

He was nervous but excited. 

He is awesome! 

Then on Sunday, he was confirmed a member of

The Church of Jesus Christ 

of Latter- Day Saints 

and received 

the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

He sat by us and said that 

he feels amazing and 

knows that his new life is just beginning 

  on the right path.  

Hey, everyone, I need to say that even though I am on Facebook now, 

I need your help to stay focused on

 my purpose as a missionary 

which is to invite others 

to come unto Christ 

by receiving the restored gospel by having faith in Jesus Christ,

 repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost 

and enduring to the end. 

I love all of you all. 

Hope you have a great week!  Hurrah for Israel!