"Sometimes you just gotta chill and go to a Bar man..."

We ate on the ground for the first time so that was different but we also ate LOBSTER!!!!!! 

This is how my Saturday night went. We were heading to our Fafaga (dinner) when a drunk guy started to talk to us. He started to single me out when it started to rain and we hid in a bus stop. He was talking to me and we got on the topic of going to heaven. He was on a rant about how we need to be clean to live with God. But right in the middle of his thoughts he stopped talking to me (I forgot to mention he talked like Jack Sparrow...and used his hands soooo much!) But then he started telling me "Sometimes you just gotta chill and go to a bar man and just drink and live it up ya know man?" It was so funny to see his face as I told him about the Word of Wisdom and how we don't drink or smoke or do anything! He was a very funny drunk man.

Anyway this week was amazing! I was able to have my first baptism! And you would not believe how nervous I was because I had to do it in Samoan! But I kept a cool calm exterior....not. It went really well! We went back the next day to see how they were and it was amazing to see how different they were. They just had a light to them that I can't explain. They just seemed so much brighter and happier! It was amazing to see how much of a difference the gospel can make in peoples lives.

But other than that my week has been hectic! Our district had 8 baptisms and Elder Redd is the District Leader so we had the chance to do all 6 of the other ones. Which meant we were going everywhere to do the interviews! I thought at one point that we were like cops with all of the interviews we were doing! But it was really good for me at least to be there and to see how important this is to some people. I saw how excited they were that they were so close to an amazing ordinance. The gospel is so true and I am so glad that I have the chance to take this gospel to the people of Samoa!

Questions for the week.

1- tell me how your baptisms went? I am so excited for them. What a great day.
-The Baptisms were amazing. The spirit was soo strong and I just knew how happy they were as well as my Heavenly father.

2- How are your other investigators doing?
-Out investigators are either on parole or are waiting for new people to be their sponsers to be in American Samoa so that is hard but we were able to find a part member family and the Dad is super ready and we are hoping that he is going to be baptized here in the near future.

3- Are you enjoying tracting?
-Tracting is amazing! I love to be able to feel the spirit to either prompt me or Elder Redd on where to go and who to talk to! It is nice to get a good sweat on as well.

4- Have you had to kill any giant bugs or rats in your apartment?
- Yes there are cocaroaches in our room all the time and if you leave anything out on the table the rats will eat it. They are smart not to eat the ones on the rat trap tho!!!!!!!!

5- Have you had the chance to drink coconut milk straight from coconuts?
- Indeed I have and I can say that I didn't like it at first but it is growing on me....

6- Does American Samoa celebrate Thanksgiving since they are not on the continent?
- I have no Idea if they do or don't I havent been asking people so.....Sorry

7- Have you had the opportunity to speak in church yet? How did it go with the language?'
- No I haven't thankfully!

8- Are you becoming more fluent in Samoan? or do you speak English some?
- I am progressing as fast as my Heavenly Father wants me to progress in the language. But I am still no where close to being fluent. I do speak a lot of english over here so that kinda stinks.

9- Do you think you will stay on AS when there is a transfer in a few weeks?
- I think that I will be in AS for a couple more months.

Thank you all for your love and support! I love and pray for you all!

Alofa Atu

Elder Bethea

Haters are my Motivators

This week was different. I was sick Monday and Tuesday. I was able to go out on Wednesday so finally got out of the house. The title pertains to a young man who for some odd reason hates me beyond my comprehension. We had dinner at their house and the entire time he would come in and say, "Po oe!" Or punch you! He is a little slower so I could understand but that was my first time meeting him and he hates me. I have no idea why! But oh no even better is the kid loves Elder Redd and is super respectful to him so yeah it was a fun dinner.

Finally out of the house! I was going crazy in that place! This week was mostly full of walking in super hot weather and sweating a butt ton! But it was super awesome because I was able to help fix up my investigators house and got to attend their wedding! They are so awesome! Ilalio and Iastina are both getting baptized! They are on date for the 20th so yeah my first baptism!!!!!! So awesome they are the most humble people I have ever met and love the gospel so much! They truly have made me realize all I take for granted even here on this mission.

This Sunday I was in the dumps. I was really not motivated to do anything. But the thought popped in my head to fast. So I did. We don't have hardly any investigators so I asked for help in finding some people that our Heavenly Father has prepared for us to teach. The day went on and I didn't think much of my fast. But as we were walking over to the bishops house to talk to him about our baptism on Thursday, we walked passed the first counselors house and his wife called us over. We saw that she was with someone so we walked over and introduced ourselves and Sister Tasi told us that her friend (who was with her) wanted us to visit her and her family during the week and share the gospel with her. I was so amazed that we didn't do anything and she was the one who wanted us to come by! On the outside I was as cool as a cucumber but on the inside I was jumping like a kid on Christmas! I was so thankful for the answer my Heavenly Father gave so quickly!

Questions of the Week!
1- Where did you watch Conference at? The chapel they displayed it on a big screen and had other rooms with it in Samoan and Fijian.

2- Were there many members there at 5am? Almost Everyone was there on sunday morning but not very many on saturday morning. But yeah the members were their so early to get good seats!

3- Have you had the opportunity to give a priesthood blessing yet?
I have had the opportunity to be a part of one. It was my bishops niece and she had been diagnosed with cancer so I got to be a part of it. But the funny part what when she went in for a hug after I kinda freaked out and like akwardly hug/freaked out. Oh and in samoa they do the kiss on the face hug so yeah it was funny to watch.

4- Tell us about the family that you live with. It is the first counselor in the stake presidency his wife and their only son Hinkley who is only 11.

5- Do you ride bikes at all, or just walk as many miles and the island is long? I have the opportunity to walk. Its fun.

6- What is the funniest thing you have seen Elder Redd do/or has happened between the two of you? Everything the kid is hilarious!

7- Tell us about your service project you did last week. Ah we fixed up a house and I just mostly painted so not much to tell.

8- The word on the street is that it rains constantly over there....coming in sideways with wind.... does your umbrella do any good? Or do you just have to be soaked the rest of the day? Yes and no you just have to angle it to where the water is hitting the umbrella and not your body. Mostly just partially soaked.

9- Have you had traditional Samoan food cooked over hot rocks and coals? An umu and yes that is very common over here. It is amazing.

My week has been awesome! Thank you all for your love, support, and prayers! God Bless! And have an amazing week!

Elder Elder Mason Derek Bethea

A funny excerpt from Elder Belnap, an Elder that was in my MTC district and is serving in AS as well........

SexyTie....yah
So we are at the store tryna grub and this guy comes up to us and is like "yo bro, the missionaries in our area #$%^*5233^&*847^#$^%^&@ blankety blankety suck." This naturally caught us off guard so we were like "who are the elders in your area? Why do they suck?"
He goes like "Elder Bethea and Redd or something. bruh they won't come over and play video games with me bruh. Ya'll look cool tho, I can tell because of your tie is sexy bruh. That is a sexy tie." -End Scene-

Hinkley is the one in yellow he is 12.  

My fat face. and yeah. 

Ilalio and Iasinta's wedding!

Living the Life

This week has been full of almost nothing. We had so many people bunt us that we mostly walked around and just found out which houses were okay with hearing our message and the ones that we should probably no go near. So it was a fun filled week of just walking.

We had the opportunity to go and talk to our investigators who are on date for the 20th! We went over there and we started our lesson and in the middle Ilalio (the investigator) yells at his daughter to stop tapping a book and calls her stupid...(I was the stupid one because I didn't know what was going on Elder Redd had to explain it to me.) But Elder Redd got super fired up and ended up teaching about loving one another in every way no matter who they are and what they are doing. Seriously I never thought that I could learn so much from someone else teaching someone else. I learned about how not patient I am with some people and how I have needed to just love them. I tried it out for the rest of the week and it was INSANE to see how many people I was able to love! The tender mercies I saw and the love returned to me!

The hard part about this week is we had to drop some of our investigators. They weren't real investigators. In Samoa it is very disrespectful to turn away any missionary for any church. So when we ask if we can come back they say yes because it is what they have to do. So most of our time is sifting through our investigators to see who is a real one and who is just being nice.

Other than that my week was spent walking in rain, sun, and wind. Im just living the life!

Thank you everyone for your prayers and for the love! God bless you all!

Alofa Atu

Elder Bethea

Lessons from an unexpected sources

This week has been amazing. So crazy how much I took for granted back at home. This week I was able to talk to an investigator who is on parole. He was telling us about his experiences being in jail and how that impacted him to always want to do the right. When he got out he had a job that wasn't the best for him and was always tempting him to do wrong. He then told us how he quit that job just because of the temptations that were there. How powerful that was, for him to quit maybe the only job he could get because it was to much of a temptation for him to go back to his old life. I have never known what it was like to "Pluck out your eye if it offends you" So amazing and so humbling to have to learn that lesson from such an amazing man.

Well by small and simple things are amazing things brought to pass. I have never really thought of that as something that would happen to me on my mission. But while we were teaching one of our investigators he had some questions about Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the gospel. Apparently it was getting pretty tense in the room(I wouldn't know I don't speak perfect Samoan) and Elder Redd just decided to have me bear my testimony about Joseph Smith and the Restoration. I was maybe able to mumble out four sentences about what I knew and some promised blessings before I ran out of things to say. After the lesson was over I asked Elder Redd what happened in the lesson (because I'm not perfect in Samoan yet.) He told me that it was getting very intense and by me bearing my testimony even as simple as it was, brought the spirit back into the room and Aloni was able to accept the message and was willing to read the BOM. Such an awesome experience that I had no idea was happening.

The craziest thing was I had to wake up at 4am to go to conference over here. It was such a testimony builder for me to see how many people were willing to wake up that early to go and hear the word of the prophet. I had always taken advantage of being able to wake up five minutes before and just heading up stairs when these people were waking up at four so they could make it to the chapel on time for conference. I love these people and how every day they are able to teach me how to be humble and how to be grateful for all I had back at home and for all I have now!

Thank you everyone for all of the love and support you send! You are truly a blessing in my life!

Alofa Atu

Elder Elder Mason Derek Bethea

1- You told B that you ate Cat.... how was it and how was it cooked?
2- Are the baptismal fonts there indoors, outdoors, or in the ocean?
3- Can you get regular cows milk at the grocery store? How expensive is it?
4- Do you spend any of your pday playing sports with the other missionaries?
5- How many sets of Elders and Sisters are in your District? Zone?
6- Does it rain very often?
7- Do you get the opportunity to do service projects?

So here are the answers to your questions
1- It was weird and it was cooked by some chinese lady in a Fast Food place it was very different.
2- They are outside. Although Elder Redd was able to baptize someone in a waterfall so idk yet.
3- Yes. It is like at the cheepest 3.45$
4- No we mostly are on a beach chilling and just hanging out.
5- We have 2 sets of sisters and 3 sets of Elders. I have no idea about my zone.
6- ALL THE TIME!
7- Not yet but tomorrow we will be able to go help our bishop.

 we had to wake up at 4 am for conference

And the little guy is Landon he is a psycho and is the son of the family we live with

Elder Sa'u our zone leader

Half Naked Members and Drug Deals and Mean Samoans...

So the story behind the title is when me and Elder Redd went to one of our investigators houses and he lives with members. As we walk up we notice one of the kids running inside...nothing new but as we get closer we see that the Tina of the house or the Mother of the house is also showering (keep in mind the shower is outside) and lucky for us she had an Ia on and so she wasnt fully naked but she also wasn't too concerned about us being there...nice to know the Samoan ways.

Drug deals never thought I would see one, but I did. Elder Redd and I decided to go onto the golf course late at night before heading into the house just to see the stars. As we walk out a man starts to talk to us (I'm thinking one of those cool right place right time stories) but turns out he is a member. So we get to talking, then I notice a young man walking into where we just came out. As soon as the young man walks in the man we were talking to asks if we were going to leave now...we said yeah we should be going. So we see him look at us and watch us walk away then speed walks into the golf course. We didn't stick around long enough to see what was going down so that was good.

Now Samoa is known for its amazing people and how loving they are right? This one family didn't get the memo. Elder Redd and I were looking for a family so we decided to take a road and ask the people if they knew them. Wrong choice of a road. We started walking down the road and the family started yelling at us! We couldn't understand what they were saying because their dogs were barking and trying to eat us. Finally I understood a man and he said, "Get out of here before I let the dogs eat ya!" I didn't think twice so yeah they weren't quite ready for our message.

This week we were able to find some young boys by the names of Aaron, Laurance, and Nate. 10, 13, 8. All are Fijian, Samoan, and Indian mixed. Yes they can speak all three as well as English. So we have started to teach them, and they are super receptive to what we have to say! It was awesome they have kept up on every commitment! The only problem is that we only have permission to teach them and we have no idea if we have permission to ask them to be baptized. Its hard but they are all soooo awesome and love the gospel!

Questions that have been requested that I answer by the one who decides my fate in life.

1- what is your favorite food so far? Tell us about it.
2- Have you been attacked by any dogs yet?
3- What is the most spiritual experience from this last week?
4- What is the funniest experience from this last week?
5- How many lessons are you teaching a week?
6- How is the ward? Do you have a favorite family?
7- What is the strangest food you have eaten?
8- Is the mat you sleep on comfortable?
9- Do you have a grocery store near by?
10- How is the language coming?

1- Tarro with pe'epe'e and fa'i. Tarro is a normal plant that is very common among the Samoans. Pe'epe'e is a coconut sauce that they pour over the top of either Tarro or Fa'i (boiled green bananas).
2- No mostly Elder Redd manly kicks them while I'm behind him screaming.
3- My reading in Mormon, about the Nephites and how they were left to rely on their own strength because the Gospel had been taken off of the earth because of their wickedness. After I had read about it I literally told myself that I would never allow anyone in Samoa have to rely on themselves because I wasn't able to share the Gospel with them. It's kinda funny to see a Palagi try to talk to a Samoan when he has no idea what he is saying 99% of the time.
4-Refer to top stories
5-Ummmmmmmmm like 900000000000000000000 no just kidding like 11
6-Very strong and missionary minded. No all families are created Equal.
7-Lu'au and monkey balls
8-Its just a foam pad and a Fala so yeah kinda i guess
9-Quite a few.
10-It's going well but I mean I can't expect myself to be fluent quite yet.

Love you all and Thank you so much for the support!

Alofa Atu

Elder Elder Mason Derek Bethea

And a clarification from moms email chat:

M: Were the actual balls from a monkey????? come on!!!!!

EB: They are like pickled plums. But bright red and fuzzy so they call them monkey balls.

Just Another Week in Paradise

Elder Barton, my MTC Soa, and Elder Belnap, from MTC district.

This week was amazing. Nothing better then getting pushed to your limits, and then growing from it. I have loved the experiences I have been able to obtain while out here teaching everyone. Some have been hard for me to realize, some have made me realize that not everything is fairy dust and unicorns. But in every occasion the spirit was able to testify to me that everything will work out. Love it.

Anyway this week we had the opportunity to teach two of our investigators who are on date (YAY) but we taught them about the Word of Wisdom. We taught them both, the lesson was going super well, until Ilalio our investigator told us that he has a problem with smoking and with coffee. That hit me like a ton of bricks. It made me realize that not everything was going to just workout and that I wasn't going to be able to walk a paved road with the investigator to baptism. He is working on it but we visited him to check up and see how he was doing, then he told us that he has arthritis and it is extremely painful for him to walk. I was wondering why all this was happening to such an awesome man. He is working so hard to not smoke and now this. I realized that some obstacles are put in our path because we need to learn something from it. So we will see how this week goes.

Okay now a funny story, we were walking to one of our appointments and we ran into a man walking along the road. He started the conversation with, "Did you know that heaven is a big spaceship in the sky?" Then went on about how heaven is a physical place and how we have to be physically living to get to heaven! So most of it was him sharing how he is looking for the tree of life and how he plans to live until we all go to heaven! So we just sat there told him what we know and then left. The man was a hoot I couldn't stop laughing after we had left it was so funny to see what he was eating to "live forever".

Other than that my week has been full of just teaching and learning the language every day. It has been awesome I have reached the part of the BoM where Jesus is visiting the Nephites and is teaching to all of them about what they should be doing. I have never wanted to keep reading and studying so much except when I started reading 3 Nephi 11. So awesome! I love this work and the opportunities that I have every single day to teach about my Savior and all He has done for me.

Thank you everyone for your love and support! I love you all until next time!

Alofa Atu

Elder Elder Mason Derek Bethea

And now a tid bit from Mom's email:

Elder Bethea: Oh yeah my story this week is about breastfeeding and nudity! Fun I know but we were at a lesson with one of our investigators Aloni, he has a little boy who is about two and he loves us missionaries! But he has just gotten out of the shower so he is dripping wet and butt naked! So awesome to be teaching a lesson while the little boy is climbing all over his dad but naked, literally climbing on is dad. GROSSS!!!!! but then he moves over to his mom who is like a foot away and starts to complain a little I didnt know what about until she just wipped it out and started to breastfeed him for the rest of the lesson! It was discusting! I hated the whole thing! But the lesson went well.

Mom: are you being fed fast food very often?

EB: No but My face is fat like really fat

M: So do you sleep on a mat on the floor? Does your fagagla (?) have a stove or fridge?

EB: Yes just a mat on the floor. Yes our FALE (house) does have both of them

M: How often do you have to cook for yourself?

Are you speaking mostly Samoan? or English?

EB: English mostly but in lessons samoan. I like cook for breakfast and lunch but other than that no.

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!