Oh man I am so close! It is making me anxious as well as nervous! I have no idea how to speak the language even though I try hard! I can not even wait to head out! But anyway back to the main reason you are reading this....The highlights of the week!

Most of the week consited of me studying, stressing, freaking out, laughing, and feeling the spirit more than I ever had in my entire life.

Friday night we had an elder who was having some ear problems so i asked him if he wanted a blessing, and he said yes! He asked me to say it and I was so nervous. But as soon as i started i couldnt feel my body, it felt like i was sitting outside of the circle listening to someone else talk through me. I never have felt love for another person in my life then i did at that moment. I couldnt hold back the tears and i barley could finish the blessing. When i finished all of my roomates were in tears. I have never felt the spirit so strong that i couldnt feel myself standing. 

The next day I was able to say the prayer in samoan during sacrament meeting. I was so nervous you know the feeling when you are climbing up the roller coaster and you just want to scream. Yeah that wasnt me. I was calm cool and ready to pee myself. I got up there and started the prayer and The spirit just fell over me I knew everything that I was supposed to say and again i wanted to scream but this time for joy. 

We had the opportunity to teach Ane an investigator we had just recieved. When we went in i totally forgot what i was supposed to say and all i said was that the book of mormon was true and that it testifies of jesus christ. I was furious and gave up for the rest of the day. Until an elder told me that i am a representative of christ and that all we need to do is ask him for help and he will bless us I was immediatlely overcome with the spirit and realized i was in need for a good humbling moment. 

Finally the best moment of the week was when i went back to teach Ane. She had some questions for us and we were prepared, until she told us that she didnt know how to pray. We were not prepared for that. We gave our little spill and then i felt prompted to teach her how to pray. I made the sentences up as i went along. I normally have to memorize what im going to share in the lesson before i go in, and for me to make the sentences on the spot made me so happy! I knew that it was because of my heavenly father that i was able to teach her how to pray on the spot! I love it all and all of the things i get to experience here! I LOVE IT! 

Alofa atu! Fafatai for all of the love and support!

Elder Bethea

Elder Barton my Soa (companion)




Elder Kyle Burgman....Friend from Blanding


MTC District






It is my second week at the MTC and I am loving it! I got a card reader finally so i can now send you guys some awesome pictures of my boring life in paradise! I have had so many awesome experiences that Idk if i will be able to fit them all into one email for the week. But i for sure will try to let it all out!

We started off my week with learning that we were going to teach out investigator Faletui, (which by the way is not even close to easy to do in the samoan language!) but anyway this time me and Elder Barton were super prepared going into the lesson. We got in there and Idk what happened but when we went in he started to say his prayer and i could pick out some of the things that he was saying! IN SAMOAN!!!!!!!!  I never knew how much the lord has helped me with learning the language until i had that lesson. 

That sunday was amazing. I got to watch the movie Character of Christ by elder bednar and oh my word, the spirit was so strong that all i wanted to do after that was go out to samoa because after that i knew that the lord would have my back 1000% of the time no matter what came in my way. But wait there's more! After the movie ended out walks elder bednar with his wife and family and he gives a devotional to us! did i mention that i was only two rows from where he was speaking! we literally were breathing the same air. you could say that he practically knows me.... not really but it was amazing i love the way he explained love to us and how to have a character of chirst in every thing we do. I loved hearing from him. I had made a goal after that to try to forget myself and go to work! 

That is exactly what happened the next day I went into teach Faletui and i totally forgot about worrying how dumb i was going to look trying to speak the language and it was the absolute best lesson that we have had yet. He is so receptive of everything that we say and he is really working on all of the commitments that we give him including reading the Tusi a Mamona. He is so loving but that day he walks into our class wearing a name tag and it says Uso Haws and he is actually one of our teachers and that kinda hurt but only slightly because well  you know you cant hurt STEEL! 

But anyways i have loved teaching him even more now that i know he is willing to listen to me and my Soa attempt and i do mean attempt to speak such an amazing language. The last miracle for the week was when me and my Soa had the opportunity to have Companion Inventory. I have never been so close of friends than i have been with my soa. The lord told me that everything that i am going through is nothing compared to what my fellow elders are experiencing. 

I had to take a step back and forget about my homesickness, forget about my struggles learning the language, forget about myself. I learned to love the people more than myself. I know now that the trials that i went through this past year was only training me for what i am able to help these missionaries get through. I am so humbled with the opportunity to be a District Leader for these Elders and Sisters. They are my family and I cant imagine leaving them, ever. Sorry mom. ;) I love this work and hope that all is well back at home place area! 

Alofa Atu

Elder Bethea




P.S "Don't get hit by a truck" -Elder Mouga

Elder Henrie

 my dear Elder Vest

Sister Fakahuko

Sister Dodd

Elder Hugo

Elder Barton (my Soa)





Elder Hugo


Elder Maugo from Tonga





Lunch time


So Elder Bethea's first laundry experience...... After taking his whites out of the washers everything was fine.... When he pulled them out of the dryer they were covered in Black Marks..... apparently a marker or something was left in the dryer.  Mason was left with only 4 pairs of garments and 3 white shirts.

MTC District

First Email from MTC

These past few days have been the best in the world! I love my mission and the people I get to associate with every single day! My soa (companion) is Elder Barton! He is an Elder from Springville Utah and he loves the work almost as much as I do! I am rooming with five other Elders. Elder Barton my Soa, Elder Vest, Elder Matthew, Elder Monga, Elder Fata. They are all amazing elders! All of them are from in the states except for Elder Monga who is strait from Tonga and he served over there for a couple of months before coming to the MTC. The language is hard to understand but easy to pick up if you know what I mean. But that is really it I'm just going to go over the week now!

Wednesday- My first day in the MTC! So overwhelming at times but I got the hang of it! I started off the day after dropping off all of my stuff in my resident and headed strait to my Samoan class. I was the only one int here for like 10 minutes and my teacher started going off in Samoan and I had no idea what she was talking about! So the first ten minutes of my class was me looking at her with huge eyes and hoping that my guessing skills were as good as my normal skills! Finally after an excruciating time my companion Elder Barton came in and she turned her focus on him! It was so nice! But as the other Elders and sisters came walking in she kept turning to me and Soa to help teach them what we had learned so far to catch them up which was super sketchy but it was so awesome to help myself learn to speak and teach the language. After that we went to the welcoming conference and holy cow if you didn't know what the spirit feels like and then walk into our room of new elders and sisters then it was so beautiful to hear all of us sing! We went to lunch next and I found Elder Burgman! He is so happy with life and being on the mission it is awesome! Next we went and talked with a couple of investigators that was an amazing experience! WE first talked with a woman named Marabell. She is so awesome she moved here from Mexico a couple of years ago and she has some questions on how to get her 23 year old daughter to believe that Christ is real. So many missionaries tried to get to her but finally one Elder asked if he could pray for her and after he did she was in tears and she said that she will definitely want to know about what she was feeling at that moment. The room was so full of the spirit I loved every moment of that meeting. Next we met with a man named Bubba. He was a gang member that needed to know what we believed. The whole time it was hard to get through to him because he knew how some of the members of our religion were super judge mental and that was hard for him to join because everyone was so judge mental towards him. He wasn't super receptive of our message and that was hard to understand. Then we had a district meeting.

Thursday- Today started my very first full day int he MTC. It was crazy waking up and slapping on a name tag! I love this work and love the idea of doing this for the next two years! We started the day like any other day by doing our P.C.L.'s. It was very different studying with a companion. But the funny thing was is we got in trouble  because I had no idea we couldn't study in our residents! So our zone leaders told us to move back to either outside or in the classroom. So that was crazy! Anyway we learned last night that today we would be finding out who our district leader would be in the conference tonight with the zone. But anyway after our P.C.L.'s we had an online course had to do. But we had no idea where we were supossed to go. So we spent so long just looking for the computer room and just jumped in one and hopped on a course and did it. We ended up just doing it in the classroom because there was a mix up in the arrangments. So me and Elder Barton ended up falling asleep during that because we had already done the right one. Finally we got to samoan class and that led up to the huge bomb of we were teaching an investigator in the language we were supposed to learn in the mtc and that is all he understands and that is so scary! Finally after stressing over what to teach I ended up in the Zone conference and had an interview and now im the District leader over District 14 F. So humbling and I love the idea of helping my elders and sisters and learning to love them. 

Thank you for all of the love. Pictures will be coming next week I still have to get a Card reader because i dont have a usb cord yet! 

Alofa Atu!

Elder Bethea

Saying Goodbye at the MTC July 13, 2016

Right before we dropped Layton off at the MTC three years ago, we ate at JCW's in Provo.   My family isn't really used to much fast food.... an unbeknownst to us, Branten was sick.  Needless to say, he ended up losing his lunch on the grounds of the MTC and no one else felt very good from the fast food.  When we went to eat before dropping Mason off, Derek saw JCW's and insisted we stop there because he loves going there with his brothers.  We all tried to tell him that it was the same place that we vowed not to go back to after eating there with Layton.  Derek wouldn't believe us so we went in, ordered and while we were waiting for our food, I pulled up pictures from that time.  It, indeed, was JCW's....we all had a good laugh at Derek. This trip was better, and B did not share his lunch on the grounds of the MTC....(he waited two days and got sick in Florida for two days).  

Walking the grounds of the temple and MTC.  Laughing, joking, watching all the other missionaries getting dropped off and their families.

Saying goodbye is never easy.   

"My Hero"

The best quote from the day before:

Branten:  "Mom, I think me and you are going to miss Mason the most."  

Farewell Luncheon

Singing "How Can I Be" for Mason's Farewell.

Elder Dunn and Elder Noble

Loved FaceTiming Gisele