I'm getting fat

So this week has been awesome! I have had so many experiences with trying to learn the language as well as trying to enjoy the mission. The life of a missionary is the hardest ever! We have had the hardest time with people and telling us that they don't want to join our church because they were born in another church and we all worship the same God so same God same worship! Oh so hard to hear! But I have to just keep in mind that people haven't gotten ready to accept the gospel so I will wait until they are ready! 

Anyway this week has been SO awesome! We have two investigators on date! I'm so excited! They are so awesome! We just have to wait until they both get married and hope that they make it to church every week so that we can stay on track! I love that they are working hard to receive the blessings of baptism! 

The absolute best story of the week was when Elder Redd decided to walk down a road that seemed like nothing was down there. As we walked further down the road we found a little shack with a woman down there. I was praying the whole time that she spoke Samoan so we could talk to her. We get to her and she spoke Chinese. The best thing was trying to see Elder Redd attempt to talk to her! We gave her a pamphlet and are still searching to find a BoM in Chinese and some pamphlets in Chinese as well. So awesome as we have asked so many people how to ask questions in Chinese and other things. So crazy! Maybe I will learn Chinese!

The best experience this week was when we went to a less actives house and started to talk to her to see why she hasn't come to church. We found out that she was having troubles with smoking. We gave her some ways to help with the temptations, but I had the feeling to share with her the BoM and how it can help. The spirit was soooo strong as I shared how the BoM will help her so much with her temptations. And as she reads the BoM that the temptations will start to become less and less. We haven't talked to her yet to check up so I'm hoping that she has read and will keep it up! 

I love this work and how much it has helped me grow every single day! Thank you everyone for all of the prayers and the love you bring to my day everyday! 

Alofa Atu!

Elder Bethea

Part of email to Tina (mom):

Hey you know about that breast feeding in public. Oh its horrible. The worst part about being here is the kids and being naked. My worst story is I was at a fafaga and one of the kids had just gotten done showering and he just put a big shirt on, and he is like 2 and his sister is 6 so she kept lifting up his shirt and showing me his little weewee. I didnt know how to say dont do that so I kept saying "leai" which means no but she did it the whole night! even while i was eating! It was sooo discusting! But no seriously the kids everywhere are always naked no matter what house there is one kid that is naked no matter what its gross. But yeah that is my story for this week thats all i really have for time next time i will give you a better story! Alofa atu! 

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

First Week In Samoa

I have to say that I am serving in the most amazing place on the earth! It is so amazing out here and even better is that I get to serve the people I love! My area is Pavaiai Second Ward on American Samoa. The people in the ward are the absolute best on the Island! Seriously have the strongest ward and the strongest companion. My trainer is Elder Redd. Yes he is related to the Redds down in Blanding. He loves the work and loves the language. He has been out for about a year now so he knows his way around the mission stuff which is super nice! I currently am between houses and I will be able to tell you about the house when I am in it so that is that.

My experiences this week out weight my experiences in the MTC 10000000000000 to .001. The Mission field is so awesome! I love this place so much.

The first experience I had in the mission field was traveling to American Samoa on a Boat. When I say boat you think of a nice good looking boat oh no this boat was a cargo boat. We slept on the ground on the main deck. We left for American Samoa at around 12am and got there at 10am. The ride was so crazy! I loved it. I got here and I had to take a shower because you know I am a freak about being clean at all times. And everyone had joked about oh no hot showers for you. But I didn't take anyone serious until I hopped in turned on the shower and it was FREEZING!!!!!!!!!!! I got used to it but holy cow I didn't think that anyone was serious!

Next we went and met our Bishop (an amazing man). We get there and start to meet his family and then his nephew tells us that he is not a member! So of course we bust out the first lesson pamphlets and start teaching! (It was in English so I could contribute a little more than normal.) His name is Peter and he loves what we are teaching. He doesn't live in our boundries so we had to refer him to another set of Elders but he absolutely loves our gospel.

Then we went to our first Fafaga (dinner appointment.) We get there and the mother who knows that I am new and doesn't know all of the samoan culture just yet thank heavens brings out a bowl before we eat and tells us to wash our hands. Of course Elder Redd is going to let me go first but it didn't click in my head to wash my hands in the bowl. So I scoop some water out and bring it to the side and start washing. Oh my word the face that Elder Redd had was of pure discust I was so ashamed of what I had just done. Luckly she understood and just laughed and said at least it was here instead of in Savaii.

Those are the main experiences I have had thus far. We are white washing (both Elders are new to the area) so we are just getting to know all of our investigators so I will have better stories to tell about the work next week.

Alofa Atu

Elder Bethea

P.S My favorite samoan foods are Tarro, oka, lu'au, fa'i. My second fafaga consisted of McDonalds. So yeah Im living large baby.

******And some snip its from our email chat back and forth:

The flight was awesome! I loved it because I slept 95% of the time so I didn't mind it too much

apparently this place is super modern but to me it is so rual. the houses are shacks. metal peiced together. not huts, shacks.

Yeah he is! His grandma is Sheri Redd and Buddy Redd. Well Im not in Pagopago Im actually serving in the Pavaiai second ward and it is so amazing! We have a new Stake Presidency and a new Bishopric all two months into their calling so we all have some amazing ideas how to push the work forward. I love you mom! We will be on around this time every week so I will see if I can catch you!

Ou te alofa ia te oe!

From a message sent by his MTC (Elder Barton) Soa's mom while we were waiting to hear from Elder Bethea this week:

Let me know if you do hear from him! Brock said he is in the other ward, but was happy they are close. Apparently, those that went to AS left 2 days after they got there, so they had 2 days of 12 hour's of study in a small room. They took the boat at midnight and traveled for 8hrs. The Mission office gave them all sea sick pills, and said to take 2 every four hours. Very little sleep, but they made it! As you can see on my fb post, they are living very humble. Brock said their place was a mess, and they are cleaning up today! I sure hope you hear something soon, this has been awesome to keep in touch with parents, I didn't do this with my first two!

The Last MTC P-Day

So this is the last time you will receive an Email from me on Friday!!!!!!! I am leaving to Samoa on Sunday and will not get there until Tuesday! (Monday for everyone not going to Samoa.) I am SO EXCITED TO BE OUT OF THE MTC!!!!!!!!!!! Oh I just know that it will be so hard to understand the people out there but I am so ready to be out in the field finally!!!

This past week has been one to remember. Most of it included me and my other Elders freaking out about actually leaving each other. My Soa and I have gotten so close that I have no idea how I will be able to leave him. I love all of my Eldas and I hope they love me. 

The week started off amazing, with me being able to sit in on one of my fellow Eldas blessings. He is having a very hard time leaving so we decided to give him a blessing and now he is right beside me packing away. It was amazing how strong the spirit was there, you could literally feel our Father in Heaven in the room and him telling Elder Fano what to say. I know for a fact there was at least one angel in the room. I have never felt the spirit so strongly then I did in that moment. 

The language has been going super well. I have been able to go into the lessons without looking at anything other than the PMG lesson outline then I go in and just teach! It has been so amazing to see how the Lord has been blessing be with the Gift of Tongues. Oh did I forget to tell you that we got one of our Investigators to COMMIT TO BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!! Oh yeah you better believe that we did it in all Samoan! Oh my goodness she has promised to stop smoking as well! Oh my word I was so excited!!!!! She is such an amazing young woman! She has made so much progress! I know she is my teacher but when I teach I feel as if she is another person. I love it! 

So as the week goes on I feel the love our Savior has for us, but I have never felt more love then when one of our sisters shared that her mother has breast cancer. My entire world was shattered when she told us. I could not understand how I could be so selfish and look so inward when she was looking out for us as she received this horrible news. I was able to be in the circle when she received a blessing of comfort. I honestly knew that there were angels in the room hugging her and are now continuously around her. The Lord testified to me there that Sista Dodd is going to be the best missionary to ever leave the MTC. I have no doubt in my mind that what she is going through is going to make her an amazing missionary. 

The MTC has guided me to the spirit, and now that I have found it I will never be able to let go, I will never let go, the spirit is my constant companion and he has given me strength when I am down, and has guided me when I am lost, he is a messenger from our Heavenly Father, he shows me the love our Father has for us every single day. I will never lose sight of what I am to go and do these next 23 months. I love the lord and cannot wait to leave to Samoa and share the spirit with them. I have no doubt that I will struggle, and I will want to go home. But as I have the spirit with me and as I rely on the Lord all things will work out. I love this gospel and cannot wait to show my Heavenly Father what I can do. Alofa Atu uma tagata.

Elder Bethea

Great Adventures of Elda Bethea

TALOFA! 

Oh my goodness this week was absolutely amazing. I have been able to feel my Saviors love so strong. I have had so many ups but I also had my fill of downs. But the blessings of a mission still surprise me every single day. 

The miracles of the week have been absolutely amazing. I was able to have the opportunity to teach my "investigator" Ane three times this week. The first time was good and the spirit was there, but Elder Barton and I were just going through the motions and weren't really into the lesson as we should've been. When we taught her the second time we had to get our lesson together in a very short amount of time. We were stressed and quite agitated that we had to get a lesson together in that amount of time. When we went into the lesson I had prayed so hard that we would have the spirit to be with us. We went in and she looked at us and I immediately knew this lesson was going to be awesome. We went in and taught her about prophets and how they are still on this earth today and how they receive revelation in today's world. Elder Barton and I were both able to  teach her without going from script. 

WE TAUGHT HER BY OURSELVES!!!!!! We made sentences on the spot we made commitments! The spirit was so strong and I couldn't help but jump for joy after we got out of the lesson. She is now praying about baptism. And we are teaching her why she needs to be baptized again. She was baptized in the Catholic church and was baptized in there. 

Oh this work is amazing. Even if it's just teaching my teacher. I also had the opportunity to hear from Neil L. Anderson on Tuesday. He gave an amazing devotional about how a mission isn't complex but it's not easy. The message was so amazing. I loved hearing his testimony, and how he constantly used how he witnesses of our Savior. I loved it.

This week has been amazing! Thank you all for the love and support you send me. Even by reading this I feel the love and spirit you provide. You are all amazing and I love you all!

Alofa Atu 

Elda Bethea

IM GOING TO SAMOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TRAVEL PLANS GOT HERE TODAY!!!! WE LEAVE THE MTC ON SUNDAY AT 12:45 PM. OUR FLIGHT OUT OF SALT LAKE IS 4:15 PM!!!! WE HAVE A 4 HOUR LAYOVER IN SAN FRANCISCO. SO I WILL CALL YOU AROUND 5:25 PM- 9:10 PM. MOM..........IM GOING TO SAMOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness this week has gone by so fast its hard to remember that I have to email every week! Thank you everyone for your prayers and love! I feel it every single day! This last week was full of amazing experiences as well as some hard experiences. 

This last week was probably the hardest week for my Eldas ma Sistas. We had to say goodbye to everyone in our zone that didn't come in with us. That was so hard to see all of them leave and realize that we had to be the mature ones! After we said goodbye me and Elda Barton went strait to class and had forgotten to prepare our lesson for our investigator Ane! We prepared a lesson in five minutes and I was so unprepared for it. I just knew that for some reason I was going to completely mess up the entire lesson. We got in there and sat down and immediately the sentences and words came out and was just filling both of our mouths. We were answering some of her questions she had last week. They were "How do you know that God hears and answers you?" ma "Why do we need to pray?" We gave the lesson and after (because our investigator is our teacher) she told us that that was the best lesson we have ever given! Oh my word! I was literally jumping as we left the room to go back to class! Oh man for sure this church is true! This happened to me twice last week with the same investigator! Oh my word i loved every single second of it. I love this work.

This week was absolutely amazing I love this work and all the blessings that come from them! Now pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Soisifa Moungo opening his package from us.