John Nelson “Praying” Hyde was an American Missionary who worked in the punjab region of India. From a Presbyterian minister’s family, his father prayed that God would raise up more ministers. John had not been initially planning to become a missionary, but changed his mind through God’s providential workings and the death of his brother. He left for India in 1892. On the way there, he read a letter from a friend who spoke of praying that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit. This initially angered John, but he later realized God was speaking through his friend, and he seriously sought for God’s help. It wasn’t easy for John to be a missionary because he was deaf and had difficulty learning the language. At first there were few converts and much persecution. To change the spiritual tide, John began praying for God’s blessings to come upon the missionaries, including spending entire nights in prayer for the mission. He attended the first Sialkot missionary conference in 1904. Afterwards he also started up the Punjab Prayer Union, in which members agreed to pray for thirty minutes each day for spiritual revival in India. It was while praying that he felt impressed that one convert would be won each day. Later he prayed for two converts each day. Eventually he felt impressed to pray for four converts each day. At the end of his life he returned to America where he died in 1912.