SAMOA

This is the week of just plain awesomeness! I have had some of the funniest and most spiritual experiences of my life. I have been able to grow so much from this past week that I may need new spiritual pants! 

This week Elder Redd and I were able to go out and find some of the investigators in the area. We weren't able to find one persons house so we kept walking down that road. We ended up being at a house where they weren't members. (Score!) I couldn't understand hardly anything that was said the entire conversation. But we started to teach her, I thought it was going good but apparently she thought differently. She ended up giving us a huge spill about what she believed and that our samoan sucks. Great way to start off the week. 

Next we were able to go and visit another house. Let me remind you that I am in American Samoa so we all sit on chars when we teach. We walk into this house and guess what they don't have. Thats right chairs. So I had the opportunity to sit on the ground and give a spiritual thought. It was going super well until my foot started going numb. I thought nothing of it and that it wasn't that bad. They are some of our investigators who are not yet baptized because they haven't gotten married and have been slacking on going to church. So I was able to share a scripture about keeping the commandments and the blessings that come from it. (Mosiah 2:41) Oh the spirit was so strong and helped me through the whole thing. After we stand up (it has been about a good 25 minutes of sitting cross legged.) and my entire leg goes numb. Oh my goodness they were trying so badly not to laugh but it didn't work. You should've seen it I looked like a pirate trying to walk out of the house. 

This week was one to grow from. A lot of challenges with the language, as well as with accepting my Heavenly Fathers will. I was able to read a talk by Elder Bednar about accepting the Lords will not matter what it was. It is in the Liahona August 2016. I learned that faith is not believing that the lord will help me learn the language no but having faith that if he doesn't want me to learn the language until I have been out for 22 months then there is a reason for it. That talk changed me entire out look on how I want my mission to go. I love this work, more importantly I love that my Heavenly Father will answer my prayers in ways that I never thought he would.

Thank you everyone for your love and support. 

Alofa Atu

Elder Bethea