challenge accepted, challenge Destroyed

the history:

on the today before Garrett left for his mission, we had a special family Home evening with extended family (grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles).   We asked everyone to 1. share a fun memory of Garrett., 2. Give him a piece of advice for his mission, or 3. tell something they admired about him.   It was super fun and lots of wonderful things were said.   Garrett's cousin, Quincey chose to give Garrett a challenge on his mission  "I challenge you to ride a llama while you are in Peru."   "And if you don't take a picture, Then it didn't happen."

we received this picture in our latest email:

and here

is what elder Hyde said about it-

But on a much happier note here is elder hyde with proof that he is fulfilling his promises. We found this little beauty in our area he was all decorated and looking like he hated his life. so what did we to try to bless one more soul so we gave him an apple and a bit of bread. Then we decided to make him hate life again by having fat old me sit on his back and go for a little ride and take a picture. Oh well im sure he will get over it. Also it is very true that llamas spit and they spit a lot. This one had a little bit of a spitting fit when i sat on his back. but hey I said i would ride a llama so i was gonna ride that llama!

Another great week

hello- I am through another wee​k of peru, and still doing great! Again, sorry for last week's letter I tried everything that I could to get it back, and there was no way. I am going to try to do my best to tell you everything I can- but, again,I got a screwy keyboard.... that the space bar only works half the time, and the same with the back space. Big news for peru: we got rain,,, and how sweet it was, haha. But, my week was great! we had a lot of fun, running around. my area is pachecutec (if you want to get really specific with my boundaries) and all the other part is the city of ventanilla, (which is my zone). but our area is actually two regular missions. haha before it was cedros 1,2 and 3 but cedros,my church, more or less is down to two. soElder sanabria and i  have double the area to cover. but, we take it with pride and say that we are the best district, (because we are). our reason being- that there is only four- when usually there are6-8. but, this week was fun- because- we went all over the other area..... and had quite a bit of success. our mission president promised us this week: that if we open our mouths that god will put people in our way -so that they could find us, or we could find them. so,I took it to heart. and tried at nearly every opportunity. so, my first experience was Tuesday, we got off the bus that day and i started talking to a man, who was walking in our direction, and he was happy to reply... and then, we got talking about the gospel- and then walked right up to his door- where, all of a  sudden, 3 more came- out so we taught our lesson to the four people as we were clear out in the middle of no where. then a couple days later we went back and there were two more people at the door to teach .so, just from opening our mouths,  we have 6 new investigators from one simple hello. Then later on that week we had another fun experience, that was fun for me. we knocked on a door, and were talking to a man for a solid 7 min and trying to ask if we could teach.  He was very reluctant, and kind of snide about it. but we asked if he would ask his wife if we could. so, he left, and while he was gone, i asked Elder Sanabria- what he thought- and he said: that it was not gonna work out, and i asked "why?". he said: "because this happens a lot" and then i replied kind of jokingly, but serious too, and I said, "where is your faith, Elder?, and he said, "I have it,, but, I have seen this before. And I said, "well i have faith, and just watch: these people are going to accept the gospel." so. i said my quick little prayer but, not even a little prayer., more so,,,,,, just, "please help them god". well a little later he came back with his wife and asked if we would come in. we taught a fantastic lesson and everything went smooth- and they happily accepted the date for baptism. so after we left, of course, I had to pester Elder Sanabria about it., and tease and joke about it. and he was a little dumbfounded., and said," that that does not happen often, if at all ". So, just goes to show you- even if you have a little, very little, faith- even if it is kind of joking, that God can touch the hearts of his children. Alright, now on to the best- most crazy- part of our week. So, after all of our hard work, came sunday.( now, 'normally' sundays are quite normal).... it is relaxed, we don't have to teach, or do much ,till about 3 but, it was stake conference this week in ventanilla, which is about 30 min away. well, we began at about 730 to gather our investigators for church. (and we rented a bus for them). well with stake conference at 10:00  this sounds early enough right? well,-  you and me were both wrong.     we gathered all of our 16 investigators, 7 children accompanying, also a recent convert, and a membe,r in our bus,  And we left for ventanilla around 10:10 ,with a 30 min ride left, well, thankfully, nothing starts completely on time- so, we were only 20 min late. but, when we got there we walked directly to the front, where the investigators were sitting, because they were asked to, by president stauffer, Because, He promised: who ever came, would be baptized, haha. so, we got there, and all the other elders were sitting there in the front, because there was room,  well, Elder Sanabria and Iwent in, and asked all of them to move, and they all look confused,but they did it.,  then we marched our (26 or so people) into the chapel,  and sat them on the benches., taking up the first 2 and a half rows,  haha. there was no room for us to sit. so, we, and the other missionaries sat outside. where. we listened to our president and the stake president speak., and it was so good. so, later our president came up after the session and congratulated us. because, there has never been 16 investigators in one meeting, let alone- a stake conference 30 min away- so ,it is a little nice, ( not going to lie), seeing some our hard work pay off. Then we rode back with all of them, plus, elder poma, and elder harri,s and their investigators.  and all the missionaries stood on the way there and back. and my shoulders (not lying) hit the roof when i stand but, you still would not have a found a happier camper around. And that smile has pushed me, and will push me, through the rest of this week- haha. 

With love,

elder Hyde

first apartment

This is the apartment garrett is sharing with five other elders the Ventenilla/pachacutec area.really not clear where he is.

Field update

Hello Hello another week to go, 

Well this week was fairly different and full of firsts. This week I went through my first earthquake, very small, and I thought- very fun.we were in our apartment, and all I did was look at Elder Sanabria as it happened, to see what he would do. and he just looked at me with a smile on his face: waiting for me to panic, etc. Haha!-  little does he know: I live for that excitement.    I also had my first baptism fall through, My first lesson that I kind of understood, my first conversation with someone that lasted longer than three seconds, my first encounter with the stomach flu,  the first time I have had pizza in like three months, my very first companion exchange, my first time being offered alcohol,  my first door slammed in my face, my first time riding in a motor taxi, and first time trying the street-food (of sorts), which included:  corn and cheese ice cream, their bread, and some other snacks, my first fast and testimony meeting, in which- I had to bear my poor testimony in Spanish haha, and last, but not least, my first family accepting my invitation to be baptized, So I felt I had a quite eventful week, I have tried to be much more accepting of people, and starting up conversations with everyone i meet. and turns out that Elder Sanabria and I make a pretty dang good team. i think it is mostly because I am a gringo and people are way more reluctant to listen to thethings that I say, but are anxious to hear a little spoken English at the same time. most of the people i pass by say "hello" or "hi ","how are you?", and then I respond with a little bit of English. and thenI try to  start the conversation. in which later, Elder Sanabria jumps in and either translates for me or continues the conversation. So this week Elder Harris told me that we had a tremendous week. that on average to have 7 people with fechas (or baptsimal dates) was good. and 2-3 in sacrament meeting is goodalso. wel,l we put up 19 people with fechas  and had 7 people in sacrament meeting.  haha. So, we did really good. Elder Harris sounded quite suprised with our numbers and our success. So that was super nice to hear. Secondly, my spanish is becoming better and better. And what i have come to learn is this mission is souley based on your attitude, along with the rest of your life. This week I found that God works in very mysterious ways,  and uses our afflictions to help us. This week i think i came down with some type of flu that basically knocked me off my feet, and made me wish i could take a nap.,  But Elder Sanabria demanded we push forward. and reluctantly, and kind of spitefully, I did. for the first two hours, I kept telling elder sanabria that my insides were exploding, and my legs were going to fall off,  and that I was pretty sure I was dying. But every investigator or person we were about to pass, I would put on a smile (that was fake), But, I always feel like a smile to these people is rare. we continued to knock doors with little success, and i continued to murmur. Then i decided to have a little change of heart as i remembered- thanks to Elder Sanabria- that Jesus Christ's atonement was not easy either and this, right now, is my own personal atonement. So the next hours we proceeded with smiles, the whole time,and much less murmuring on my part. we then had much more success... in which we had what we cal,l "miracles" (which is when we find the parents are baptized and tthe children are of age, and are willing to be baptized. And then also, because of my aching legs, we saw a bus that would take us home., and normally we would run to catch it but for some reason I felt like we shouldn't i dont know if that was my legs, or the spirit talking-  haha. but we didn't then, on the next bus- which took somewhere around 15 min. and it was getting close to the time we were supposed to be back- almost regretting not taking the other bus another bus showed, and the man who takes the money got talking to us and sai,d that he met elders a long time ago and has not seen them since. But,  he is willing and ready to take the lessons, and wants to be baptized. Therefore, it is proven- like it says in alma 26- I believe that if we bear our afflictions with patience, and with good attitude, we will be blessed. Entonces (so) always, always, remember that sometimes our life isn't easy and will not be easy because the Savior's life was not easy either, and His atonement is crazy, powerful, and is a great example of patience and endurance. I love the idea of aunt kaci and Raleigh on starting at Mosiah,  because that means that you arrive to the alma chapters that much quicker. They are the next best answer of enduring with patience, and with all hope in mind. They were as alma says: 

 put through their own hell and they were in the depths of despair ,but afterwards,  they bore all manner of afflictions with patience.,  and by their examples they baptized "miles" of people as it says.

Love you all.  stay true to the gospel.  i know it is the only thing that brings me true happiness right now, except of course-the occasional ice cream sandwich,  and Inka kola which always brings a little longer pleasure in life down here. Remember patience, and that Elder Hyde believes you can be strong, and with the Savior, even stronger than you can imagine.

Espero que ustedes tengan una buena semana

con mucho amor,

Elder Hyde

OUT in the field

Hello Family, 

Well it was a crazy week. we left the CCM (Peru M T C ), finally, and went out into the field it was about an hour and a half bus ride to my area, where we went with president stauffer to teach in the park right next to the area chapel. Then, we had our meetings- where we talked with everyone in our mission- and learned about them. then, found out who our companions were.

 Hopefully you saw the photo of elder Sinabria.

He is a latino from Brazil and has been on his mission for just over a year. He is a very dedicated worker, fun to be around, knows the gospel through and through, is a good soccer player (who would have guessed that that would be his favorite sport) and lastly, is   kind of a lot of hard to understand. haha. But i learned quite quickly that this language is very different from English (again,who could have guessed)but, I pick up on it quite well. they have a lot of odd phrases they use. that don't make sense. for example,  "tiene sentido", which means "does it have sense ",roughly. but elder Sinabria says I speak pretty good as far as how many words I speak. but, my sentences don't always make complete sense, cause  they don't have phrases like us. (I know you all are thinking- "well duh elder Hyde" everybody else knew that, why didnt you? and all I gotta say to that is: " Yo sé que debía entender pero estoy" un poco lento, lo siento por mis faltas!) But, you have to think completely different. it is almost as if i threw out all my English, and am like a little kid again.
 Anyways, this week was crazy as far as trying to listen to all the lessons going on.   all  the crazy traffic, all of the crazy people, street vendor,s dog,s etc. But I will try to explain as much as i can. Well, first off after the meeting with my entire zone, we left to our areas. Elder Pond is in my area, but a different district. But, I still see him every once in a while- so that is good. But, we drove for forever and they were talking in Spanish. And i was tired, so, I fell asleep in the back of the car.    sounds like I have not changed much, yet. then we arrived at our appartment, which is the nicest in our area, as far as what Elder Sinabria says. it is pretty nice. We don't have a pensionista exactly. she is not our maid but, we stay in part of the house she owns, and she cooks us lunch. and that is about it. Then we went to the church and we met the other elders in our district. which is Elder Poma, also from Brazil and ElderHarris, who is from Beaver, Utah. so that was kind of fun. He is a good elder and has helped me to understand my companion more and more. Then we went back home and went to sleep.
 The next day, we went proselyting. and i got more familiar with the area and everything inside of it. this city is huge, different, still beautiful,( in its own little way), but different. We got a lot of new investigators and we taught a lot about the first lesson.-and just got to know people. The next day, we had a district and zone meeting. so, I got to see everybody and talk and try to learn names it is in the area of  ventanilla in lima. it is a pretty big area. but, the crazy part is the bus rides getting there. They are about 25 minutes in a bus all the way down.- in sand., with speedbumps every 50 yards or so. the buses are really small, And, when I don't have a seat, and have to stand, my shoulders hit the ceiling. so, I have to crouch for thirty minutes on the way to a city.   And it feels like we try to hit every nook and cranny there is on the road "ugh". Anyways, there is a family that we have been teaching.
And we were able to bring them to church with us, which was way fun. Now, a little bit about church.
 We had to go pick up the family so, we were about 20 min late to Sacrament meeting. and, I  kid you not, within the first thirty seconds of walking into the room, I heard my name over the pulpit. andI was asked to go to the front,... and talk for 5 min. about Where I was from, my mission, and bear my testimony! so, talk about baptism by fire. I think it went fine. but, it was still a little nerve wracking. Then, inthe meeting we had babies crying and running all over the place, cell phones going off, And, we had a fire alarm go off during the sacrament so that was really interesting- as well- But, all in al,l it was quite spiritually uplifting. the bishop is a really nice man. and the people there are really nice also. then, in priesthood all the elders were asked to give talks... which I was unaware of. so, I was helping out with the lesson also, and bearing my testimony.  so, I had quite the experience yesterday. After that we had noche de hogar or family home evening with 17 people in one house, including our investigating family, So that was crazy also. We played Black Magic with the family. so, it was like i had the spirit. haha.   if you don't know what that game is- ask Grant.
 Also, today was my first p day with everyone and because it was after a transfer it was a zone p day so that was quite fun we played soccer, andI destroyed. i am apparenttly one of the fastest here.    i can't shoot very well. still, but,  I  can take the ball away, and pass and run really good haha. Also, I had my first encounter with a dog. I got bit on the heal it didn't draw blood or anything.but, you better believe,I carried a rock with me for the rest of the day. haha.
 don't worry about me though. it was just kind of funny because we hadtalked about if i had been bitten, the night before, and I said "no" haha. anyways that was my week in a nutshell. but, there is always more to tell- it is hard with only an hour to talk about everything. I hope  I answered all of your questions. if not, I   will try to answer more next week., sorry again. love you all a lot. hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Love you.

until next week -

Elder hyde

one month mark

Hello Family and Friends,

ALright well this week was quite fun. and I'm stilll loving every minute of it. This week we started our twelve days of zChristmas. cause elder pond's mom got gifts for him., and for me.  and quite hilariously for the first day. i was the only one to get a gift. i let Elder pond open with me.  but, he kept ranting about how they were gonna get quite an email back from him....   about   how they love me, more than him. so, i had a good time doing that... Also, best part of my week- Elder pond has been making fun of me because i have sneezed so many times in the past two days. well, it just so happened ,that he got kicked in soccer by one of the other missionaries.  and his foot is a little inflamed. Well, I decided to take him to Hermana Moore, the CCM president's wife. and anyways, long story short- they made a big deal about his big toe, and how it is swollen and that a tendon is sprained or strained. idk the difference. but, he is now on crutches. and I have been relentlous with the teasing. I feel like God answers prayers, when you ask for your companion to be more humble!!!!  I have basically carried his food trays back and forth carried his bag for him, etc. you guys were definitely right when you said this was training me  to be married.  ha ha. But, he's been a good sport about it. but, it really has lifted my spirits. and actually it has  kind of strengthened our relationship as a copanionship. But, probably the coolest most exciting part of the mission so far, was that me and elder pond were able to go out of the walls and teach with a little Ketchawan elder named, Elder Anguya and an elder who looked and sounded like a latino. And, if you would have asked anybody they would have said the same thing well, it  turns out he was taught by my same teacher, and she said he struggled with the language, a lot. and now, 5 months in. he is pretty much fluent so, my spirits are pretty much through the roof right now. well they played a joke on us. the other Elder's name is Elder Uta´. and they told us he was from Brazil. and the whole time, we were trying to talk to him in Spanish. and he messed up our names .so, we were thouroughly convinced . well, lit turns out- he is from Farmington, Utah. complete American: through and through, and we sounded like idiots. but, it was worth the laugh. Well, they put me and elder pond with these two stellar missionaries, and we went out procelyting for two hours. and the streets here are crazy, all sand, I think there were only  like two paved roads. And then the houses.... most of them didn't have rooves. but, they all had smiles on their faces. but, i kid you not,t in two hours  I think we saw close to 100 wild dogs. in the street. They are everywhere .it was the craziest thing i think i have ever seen in my life!!!! We started handing out little things to go watch movies. and then Elder pondand I   tried.  we gave it to them said our little shpeal. and then he rapid fired all the spanish he knew. and we had no idea. so,  the other elders came and saved us. i wish i had pictures to show you, but the look on our faces had to be:  absolute horror, cause we had no idea what we should say, or anything. so that was quite the experience. Then we started knocking on doors, and we actually got to give a lesson to one of the investigators. and at the end of those missionaries' lessons,  they asked elder pond and I to bare our testimonies. so, we bore our testimonies in Spanish. and it was probably th'e coolest thing to have him listening, so intently, to two 18 year old boys, who have practiced spanish for 3 and a half weeks. And, had no clue what they were doing. but, after we were done, he said, "wow- that was powerful. It looks like i really do need the Holy Ghost, huh", but in Spanish. and it was just the funnest experience here yet.  I dont' know if anything will top that until we go out- bu,t  somehow they keep managing to find ways to suprise us!!!!!! but, the elders said we did good., and were so proud of us.  And it was way fun. except, for the bus ride there and back.-  i'm pretty sure we went no further than 5 miles  and it took us an hour and a half to get the..e and an hour and a half to getf back .it was crazy!!! but yeah- other than that- so much volleyball and soccer that i'm pretty much a professional now. not even kidding. and, you should see me at goalie. not gonna lie, I kinda look like Tim Howard out there. no one scores on me., But, 'ive handed it to a lot of those Latinos   haha!!! anyways love all of you and hope everything is going swell and that you all are getting better without me. i'll let you know if i get your gifts, but idk how packages work here so..... any ways last thing i will have 30 min to call, not skype, on christmas and 'im pretty sure it will be somewhere close to 5:30 in the tarde or afternoon. i will have more info next week good luck and feliz navidad!!!!

week three summary

Helloooooo from the land down under. Week three is now over . which means we are the top dogs here. but not really, caus,e now all the new latinos got into our area and they are already making us look like fools.   

the only thing we have on them is time in the CCM. anyways this week was fairly good, quite norma,l in the way of the CCM we had a bunch of soccer tournament,s hard volleyball games

elder Pond after I knocked him on his butt for trying to show me up in volleyball.

, some pretty dang good chips and guac, some normal food when we went to the temple

 and we again raided all of their Doritos, and Coke they still always look quite excited when we all start walking down into the court yard. well, 'im glad that you all are doing fine without me, and are just living life like I'm not there pretending like nothing has changed. whateve,r 'im not all that hurt over it or anything. But, I guess  i'ts fine, cause i am having the best two years of my life filled with hard work, and the struggles of learning a new language. this weekElder Pond and I

decided to wrestle and it was a pretty even match.so, we are setting up a fight night, to see who the real champ is.   and it's going down sometime this week. tune in to the show at garrett.hyde@mylds.org for updates. a week later and no to see how it goes. but these guys I'm here with are quite rambunctious !and we are quite the crew of individuals. we love to sing, jam out to the piano, tell all of our many stories together, and be able to just get along with each other, like we have been the best of friends for like 9 years. I don't know if it is because we are all jammed in the same place for 6 straight weeks just enjoying the fact that everyone elsearound speaks a different language and can actually process the food all right or whatever. but we are probably the tightest group at the CCM. (it might also help that we are the only group without hermanas.  Guys nights are definitely the best!!!!) Anyways life is so good the classes are getting better.  the days seem to be endles,s but the weeks fly by, and that is definitely the only way to explain it. pretty much we feel like all we ever do is star,e eyes glazed over, at our teachers acting like we understand., Because our brains literally just hurt 90% of the time because we are trying to process everything so fast. I think i finally understand what my mom means when she says her brain gets tired. Cause that is now how i feel all da,y everyday. ButIi still love it, our teachers are grea.t but probably the saddest news this week was that everyone was leaving. our teache,r hermano vasquez, probably one of the funnest guys here :

is leaving to cuzco and he just so happened to pack up, and leave, the exact same day as the avensados did. but we decided to get back at him for leaving us. so, we grabbed somewhere close to 60 of the butter 

and jam packages they give you to put on your toast. and we hid them in various parts of the room,     

in the air conditioners, pinned to the walls, under erasers, in the ceiling tiles (notice in the above pictur)e., and behind the posters. the best part was, that He didn't notice for like 30 min that they were everywhere.Then he just laughed, and shook his head at us, and then we had a good laugh watching him move post,ers and having butter just hit the ground. Anyways, we are all gonna miss him. and his little spray he would spray everywhere because we "stunk". so what if some of us  don't showe,r or wear deodorant. you don't have to say that to our face. ha ha. and then of cou,rse we had fast sunday this week. and all of the older guys bore ttheir testimonies and it was a pretty emotional sacrament meeting. most of the girls were crying. and a lot of the guys just looked like they couldn't smile because they were gonna miss us .,cause our group that came, was the best. but it was just nice to able to hear how they fel,t and why they decided to come out and we actually get to understand what they are saying because it is English. Sundays are so good. definitle,y the best day out here. They have all diferent classes, where the teachers just go back and forth between scriptures and the doctorine and it is so in depth, and so fun. but Sundays do seem to last like three days., but nobody minds, caus,e its English and your brain doesn'tneed to work very hard. but then Monday was the day they actually packed up. and it was quite depressing.we sang in the hall,s  




"Called to Serve". and " 'til we meet again" and it was so cool to heare 50 guys with stupendous voices, I might add ,sing these songs with gusto and authority.    I do'nt know about the rest of the people in my district, but i'm going to misss those guys. wel,l sorry if not all of you got this ,but next week P-day will for sure be on wednesday and i dont know what time, maybe not as early, cause our schedules will change cause we are now the oldest ,but just stay tuned and maybe we can actually chat back and forth.... love you all

 elder hyde