Well this week I don't think that I am going to send a group email and just send one to you because I haven't done that in a while.  This week was awesome! Me and Elder Vele walked a butt ton! We were able to go and teach a lesson with the Zone Leaders to our golden family. They walked out of that lesson telling me and Elder Vele, "You guys are so going to have seven baptisms this month, that is just a guarantee." So that was really nice especially because the lesson was in Samoan and sad to say my samoan is not at its finest so going into the lesson I felt really unconfident about the whole lesson but when we started I just really decided to focus really on helping the family understanding why we use the Book of Mormon. The lesson wasn't long, I didn't say very much. But all went amazing. He and his family accepted the Book of Mormon and now we are going back tonight to commit them all to a specific date. It was amazing to see how the Lord just worked through the two of us to get his message across even if we weren't able to say a lot of stuff, we were able to say exactly what they needed to hear.

We also got a lot of good news about how our investigators who are waiting to be married. We may be able to get them married in the next week as well as baptized. You should of seen how much joy was in their faces when we told them that they could be baptized in the next couple of weeks. I have never really understood why baptism was so important until I saw their faces and realized that this is probably the most important thing in their lives other than going to the temple to be sealed as a family. I love the idea of giving them the news that the lock that was on the gate that leads them to the strait and narrow path that Jesus talks about can soon be unlocked and that they can now start on that path and receive the Eternal Live that everyone is looking for.

This week is GENERAL CONFERENCE AND I AM MORE EXCITED FOR THIS WEEKEND THAN I WAS TO GO ON A MISSION! I LOVE HEARING FROM THE PROPHET AND HEARING WHAT IT IS THAT WE NEED TO DO IN THESE NEXT FEW MONTHS TO PREPARE OURSELVES FOR MORE BLESSINGS! WHAT A GREATER JOY THAN TO KNOW HOW WE CAN RECEIVE MORE BLESSINGS! Sorry I am really excited for this weekend.

Other than that this week was full of sweat, smelly bums, and happy investigators. I am loving it out here and there is no greater joy in this world than to bring others closer to Christ, whether you are a missionary or you are just sharing the gospel because you really want to. I love this opportunity to see the blessings that come from opening my mouth....I WILL NEVER STOP!

God loves all of us! Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer! I love this Gospel and know without a speck of doubt that it is true! Thomas S. Monson is a prophet and does receive current revelation for this world. I love my Savior and thank Him everyday for the gifts and blessings He gives me every day!

Alofa atu

Elder Bethea

God Answers Prayers

This week I was able to receive a new companion, Elder Vele. He is an amazing Elder and has brought so much fire back into this area....that I am still in. But this week was full of blessings left and right! I don't have a bunch of time but I will share this experience that truly touched me and my companion. 

So me and Elder Vele were having a really tough few days because a lot of our investigators were no longer interested and the one's that were progressing were not coming to church. So one of the days we were proselyting, no one was home and a lot of people told us they were not interested. Literally, all of our plans and back up plans fell through so we had a lot of time before our fafaga (dinner) and we had no plans or set appointments for the next couple hours. Tala'i tuitui (Door to door proselyting) was fa'asa (banned) by our mission president because 99% of the people turn us down every time and it wasn't an efficient use of our time, so we had no clue what to do. We were literally sitting on the sidewalk, sweating like crazy because it was super humid, trying to figure out what to do and who to contact. It was at this moment that I received a prompting for us to say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father what we should do and who we should contact. So we said a prayer on the sidewalk and right after we said the prayer, I felt a prompting to visit a family I haven't contacted in 6 weeks because they were always busy and didn't have time for us to visit them. Long story short, we went there and it was a coincidence (not really, it was the Lord obviously) because it was their day off. So we talked with them and it was an amazing spiritual experience. They said that they were so grateful that we came because they have been going though some tough times and that the message we shared with them was something they needed to hear (they were literally crying telling us this). They even told us to come back anytime and teach them some more. And the crazy thing was, when I visited them last time, they were kind of rude to us and seemed disinterested. And not long after that lesson, we found another family of 6 who were super interested in our message. They are a family of 8. I had taught him before and hadn't been able to contact him in a very long time. But we decided to go over. We went over and he told us right after the prayer that he has not stopped reading the lesson pamphlet we gave him last time. And he believes without a doubt that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. He told us to come back again so we can teach his whole family so they can all convert together. We believe we can baptize in the next couple weeks. It just goes to show that God never abandons his children and that if we ALWAYS put our trust in him, he will bless us with whatever we stand in need of.

I have a testimony of this gospel and know without a doubt in my mind that God is always working with us. We just have to realize what lesson he needs us to learn, then the trials, temptations, hard times will become amazing testimony builders that will help us become the person our Heavenly Father wants us to be.

My blessings and love go out to all of you this week!

Alofa atu

Elder Bethea

No time

No time today I am alive with new companions my Trainee got sent to upolu so now I am waiting for transfers. Living the life.

So that must of been an awesome experience! Love to hear that all is going well. Haha man this week was full of literally me sitting in my house because my companion was sick. Fun week! love to hear that you all are doing awesome! Keep the boys working so they know what hard work is like! Love you!

Alofa atu

Elder Bethea