Week 5 Letter!!!!

Hello Everyone. I hope you have all had a fantastic week this week has been busy and we have done so much. We have been on so many adventures this week. It has been great.

On Tuesday it was P-day. When we finished with laundry, emailing, and shopping, we hurried up North to have our P-day activities. Because it was Sister Ueno's last day in the field before she flew back to SLC to finish her mission (she is a temple square missionary, so they go somewhere for a few months as a break) we decided to do a BBQ. So we barbequed and had a wonderful picnic with a group of us. Then afterwards we played rugby. Because it was so hot that day, we ended up not playing for the full 4 hours, but we still played for a long time. Afterwards we hurried home and got ready to go out and teach people. We had a lesson with a member named Miguel. He really enjoyed it. Then we went and taught a LA named Marilu. She too liked the lesson. Then we went around and tried to visit deaf people, but didn't have any luck with that.

On Wednesday we went to the Mormon Battalion with the new missionaries who came on Tuesday, because we had not gone to it yet, so they had us go too. That was such a neat experience. It is a little museum about the mormon battalian and their adventures to San Diego. You go through a bunch of rooms that tell the story, then afterwards you can get pictures, and then go "Pan for Gold". After we did that we went to transfer meeting, which is where every missionary in the mission meet together, people who are getting transfered stand up and meet their new companinon, then we have a few spiritual thoughts and go on with our day. Both me and my companion are staying, which is nice. Then afterwards we got a new car. Instead of the "mali-boat" (really malibu) we now have a cruz. Oh and we got a new designated driver....which ends up meaning it was me. So i have taken over the driving. It was weird getting back to driving after not driving for 10 weeks....don't worry though i didnt kill anything or anyone. So we are good. Once we got done with all that we had a lesson with Chad (LA) about the Plan of Salvation. It went really well and he was looking so much better. He was having a great day. Then we went to try to visit people, but they didn't answer.  Then we went back to our apt and had our studies for the day.

Thursday rolled along and we had our usual 4 hours of studies. But to top that off we had our weekly planning for another 2 hours. Luckily we decided to do the computer part of the studies that day. We ended up being able to get out of the apt for a while to do those things. Then we went to district meeting and was sitting inside for another two hours. Then we went to visit Elizabeth our "investigator". She wasn't doing good. We then got a feeling that we needed to drop her and focus on other people that are ready for the gospel. We will continue to visit her, but not like we have. Then we went to branch council for the night and had a good meeting with them all. During branch council we got a call from the Mormon Battallion sisters, saying there were deaf people there, who wanted to meet with us tomorrow, so  we set that up.

After studies on Friday, we went to the Mormon Battalion site again. This time to meet with those deaf people. We met them. The wife, Allysin, is a LA member. Her husband, Steve, is not. So we added him as an investigator. They also have a son named Caleb. The only problem with them is they are currently homeless. But in Oct. they are getting a place and settling down. But for now we are teaching them and helping them get back to church. After that wonderful meeting we went over to Cathy (member) house. We taught her. Then went on to visit Donald. We taught Donald about the Armor of God, so we had our demonstration guy to help us. Donald took the sword (cardboard cutout-not full sized) and tried to kill us. Luckily I had the shield so i got protected. There was no death for me. After that we went to deaf coffee night again and mingled with all the people who came. There was a lot there again, but no one was interested in learing about our church.

On Saturday we spent most of the day trying to visit with people, but we had no luck. Then we went street contacting, and the same results happened. Then we went to Golden Spoon and enjoyed a refreshing treat on a hot day. Then back to trying to visit again. With the same results. Then we went and visited with Juan and Jose. That was once again a very fun time. This time they taught me how to use the brail machine. I learned the alphabet, but i have to still use a key to do it. It's hard to remember the buttons you push for each letter. Because there are only 6 buttons. You push multiple buttons for a letter. The only one i rember is A- thats because it is just the number one. After they taught me how to use the machine, i had to type the message up for them, because they like a copy of what we teach them. I only made 3 mistakes and it only took like 20 minutes to type the paragraph. But is was all good. I loved it.

On Sunday we went to church and Steve, Allysin, and their son came to church. That was so cool to have our investigators there at church. They really enjoyed it. We also taught the gospel doctrine class because the new teacher wont start until the end of october. after church we went to try visting people again, but had not luck with the people we went for. however, at one house we met a phillipino lady who was a LA. We taught her a lesson, and then gave her a book of mormon because she left hers in vegas. Then we gave her the tagolic missionaries number to help her get with them to get a b.o.m. in tagolic.  Then on the way to our car a man who was a christian stopped us and we shared our beliefs with each other. Then we gave him a book of mormon. Then we tried to visit Chad, but he was asleep. Then we went and had dinner. and set up appointments for the week.

Monday we tried to visit Chad again, but he was in his class. Then we tried to visit potentials, but had no success. Then we had a lesson with James W. and that went really well. Then we went street contacting for the last 2 hours of the day. Then during journal writing i kept getting distracted because we got a new ringtone.....which made the journal writing not happen until the next morning.

Well thats what i did this week. I hope each of you had a great week. I hope you continue to have a great week.

-Elder Betts :)

Week 4!!!!

Hey everyone, not a lot happend this week. We spent a lot of our time in meeting with other missionaries for training and instructions from the mission president.

On Tuesday we had the usual p-day routine. We washed our clothes, then wrote home, and went shopping. We then got together with about 26 other missionaries and we went to a bowling alley. We did bowling for an hour and sat and talked with all our missionary friends we only see on p-days usually. When p-day was finished we went out for the night trying to contact people, but no one was home.

On Wednesday we had zone meeting-where about 28 missionaries are all gathered together to recieve instruction from our mission president for the next six weeks. We were there for about 3 1/2 hours talking about the things President asked our zone leaders to discuss with us. After that we hurried down to our area for a lunch meeting at costco with Emillo and Teresa. They bought us costco pizza and we had a lesson with them all while in the costco food court. It was great. Then, because we didn't have studies in the morning because of zone meeting, we did studies. about half way through that we got a text from juan (one of the deaf and blind brothers) asking us to come over for dinner. So of course we did! We went over and had another lesson with them and ate amazing food. Afterwards we went and tried to visit with chad, but he is still not doing so well. he is still sick, and hopefully will get better soon.

For Thurday we had the morning doing weekly planning. Trying to figure out what to do for the next week. Then afterwards we went over to visit with, and do service for Mary and Larry. We helped them move their beds around to vaccuum under and all around the room. Then we helped trim a tree that was out of control. After which we spent the night trying to contact people, but no success because no one was home.

Friday came along and we again tried to visit with chad, but he was asleep because he was still not doing so well. We let him rest and continued on our way. Then we tried to go visit more people, but no one answered. We then went over to Elizabeth- our investigators- house but she was out with her mom. Then back to contacting we went. After which we went to our apt. for dinner. Then we went to "Deaf Coffee Night" where all the deaf people meet up at a coffee shop if they want to and enjoy coffee, or water depending on if lds or not, and just spend three hours talking with other deaf people. Also a lot of people taking asl classes for school came and would practice asl. It was a great experience.

Saturday rolled along and we agin went to visit Emillio. We visited with him and was seeing how he was doing. Then to visit our investigator Elizabeth. We talked to her about having charity and loving all people. She seemed to understand it, but we will see when we visit her again. Then we hurried over to the hospital......because of Lilia. She is doing really well. Her finger is still pretty swollen and not looking super good. Luckily she will not loose her finger. Then we went and tried contacting, but once again no one was home. THen we visited with Donald. He was sick, but he looked a lot better than when we called him and set up the appointment with him. Then we went contacting, where people actually were home. One lady named Derilyn was just too busy to meet with us but said to come back later. Another lady named Margo was just not interested yet....we will bug her in a couple of months. Then we went to Golden Spoon for our weekly trip. It was delicious as always. Then we spent the night street contacting....trying to have success.

Sunday we went to church, and did the usual. Then after we went to visit a man named Rene. He was super busy but gave us his video phone number(a phone for deaf people, its kind of like face time) and told us to come back later. Then we went to visit a less active family, the Hicks, and we found out the reason they were LA. The wife works 2 jobs and is always at work. The Husband has a bunch of illnesses, so he cant get out too much. But they are moving to Utah to live in a cheaper place and then not have to work 2 jobs and get back to church.  Then we tried to visit a man named Aaron, but he was not home.

Monday we did service for 3 hours with Steven. We started with helping him take boxes to the post office to ship to Puerto Rico, where he is going to be vacationing for 3 months. He is going there to visit his parents and wife and to just have a great time. After the Post office, we went to a Buffett where we ate. Then we went to walmart and bummed around while waiting for his prescription to fill. Then back to his house to trim a tree and have a short lesson. Then To the Isais's (the deaf and blind brothers) for a quick lesson before we went to the Macias's for dinner. We had a food called Pho (said fu) and it was really good. Then we visited with James W. and talked about the Plan of Salvation.

So that was my crazy week for you all. I hope that you guys all have a great week full of fun things to do.

Love, Elder Betts

Week 3 Letter and Pictures!!

Oh what an adventure this week has been. Watched a blind man wrestle my companion, caught a lizard just because, and went on exchanges and left my companion for 24 hours. But as crazy as the week has been I have enjoyed it.

On Tuesday, We went and played Rugby with the other missionaries. All i have to say about that is: Man the after effects trying to wake up the next morning and go for the morning run....man that was exciting...... Then after we played rugby we went street contacting and we went to a deaf persons house. The person's name is Jennifer. She was busy and told us to come back next week. Hopefully she will want to meet with us.

Then on Wednesday, We went to luch with Elder Felt and Elder Watchmen which are the two biggest dudes i've ever met. They are so friendly and just giant teddy bears. The are so great. Then we went and tried visisiting a less active member. His name is Chad. For the past few months he was super sick. When we saw him, he was looking  a lot better. We shared a scripture thought with him really quickly because a friend was coming over. Then we spent the day trying to contact deaf people. No luck came. Then for dinner the spanish sisters, Sister Diaz and her two companinons, invited us over for dinner. The reason was that she owed Elder Rutland and sandwhich before she leaves next tuesday. It was a good sandwich....even if it was tuna....I am still getting over the fact that i ate fish. Then we visited The Isais's (The blind and deaf guys). Thats where the wrestling match went on. Juan won 3 matches and elder rutland won 2....

Thursday came along and we again spent the day trying to contact the deaf people we know about. We got a refural and tried to check it out. On the way there we met a man who wanted who have missionaries over. He was baptized 2 years ago, but his 2 sons who are 8 and 10 havent been baptized yet. He also had fallen away and wanted to get back on track. We got his information and refered him to the other missionaries, because we can only teach deaf people (If we try to teach others that is called poaching and thats a no no). We shared a spiritual thought with him and then explained of how we are here to find the deaf people. We asked him if he knew where they lived....and turns out he is friends with them. He texted them and they actually werent home....but thats ok because now we have him, who is willing to go over and help us teach them. To reward ourselves for this wonderful experience we went to golden spoon. Free icecream to missionaries because an owner owns it!!! WHOOOHOOO!!! Then  we went contacting more. For dinner we went and had dinner with Ricardo. We had Costco Pizza and man it was good. Then we called people and set up appointments with them. Then we Traveled to the North to drop me off for exchanges.

Then Friday happened. It was the day of exchange. I was with Elder LemMon for the day. We spent the morning at district meeting, where i got to see my companion again. Then We tried to contact the refurals we had. Unfortunately no one was home. We walked to the temple for a quick bathroom and drink break, and we ran into a general authority guy. He is Elder Gordon from the 1st quorm of the 70. It was pretty sweet. Then we went to a members house for dinner. Then after that i got my companion back.

Saturday came along and not alot happened. We did Weekly Planning (normally takes 3-3.5 hours to do but because we have like no investigators it only took 2 hours). Then we went to the hospital to visit a lady named Lilia. She was in the hospital because she cut her finger (When i say cut she sliced that thing open from the top of her finger to the center of her palm). She Didnt think it was bad so she just wrapped it up and hid it from people. it ended up getting infected and she had to have surgery on it. We then shared a message with her and told her we would visit again if she wanted. She said yes. Then we did contacting for a while. Then we visited Donald. We taught him a lesson, then helped him rake his leaves in the back yard. We spent the night street contacting.

For sunday we studied all morning until church. After church we had a ward "Dinner". Then we went and contacted the refurral again to see if they are home. He is interested but was busy. Told us to come back.

Monday finaly came along. We tried to visit elizabeth, but she wasnt home. Then we tried contacting people. Only one person answered the door. Her name was Janet. She was not the happiest person because earlier we had a time set up with her, but things came up and it had to be cancelled. She now doesnt like us because of that. We then contacted a refural but the guy was super busy and said to  come back on sunday. We for sure will. Then at one house we caught a lizard and got pictures with it. Then let it go. Then we finished the night at the Isais's house where we helped them use lds.org. Because jose can see shapes and things like that, he can read the computer when it is magnified by a lot. We helped him translate from english to ASL. We also found this funny sign at a house. i took a picture and that is what it looked like.

Well that sums up my week in a nutshell i hope you all have a wonderful week!! Until Next time, Take care

Love, Elder Betts

P.S. for a spiritual thought go and watch the mormon message link:  https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-07-006-the-hope-of-gods-light?category=mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2014&lang=eng#2014-07-006-the-hope-of-gods-light?category=mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2014&lang=eng&_suid=141028493812407779580891623374

Week 2 in San Diego!!!!

Well I have conquered yet another week of the mission life. This week was pretty crazy. An it was so much fun. I love it out here in San Diego. Here is what happened this week:

Tuesday, Aug. 26th: My first P-Day in the field. We started the day off by going to the laundry mat. While waiting for the clothes to get cleaned and dried, we studied. After that we went to the library to email you guys. Then we went shopping so we could have food to eat for the week. Then after all that fun and exciting things, we started the real fun. All the missionaries in our area met up at a park. We got our mail and then played games. We started the games off by playing Zombie tag on the playground....just imagine a bunch of misisonaries playing on a playground running away from the zombie....yep things were interesting. After that we played a game of basketball. It was fun. After that we went back to the apartment where we changed and ate dinner. We then at 6 went to go find more people. We got a refural and we checked it out. The guy was hard of hearing, but knew sign language. We talked to him for a while. Got him to want to go to a church.....only problem is he would rather go to a hearing ward then a deaf one. We set him up with the english missionaries....so hopefully good came from that. Then we went and taught a member named James about the BOM. Then went and tried to contact people....where did we go you ask? Right next to the boarder. It is crazy down there. Lots of people there.

Wednesday, Aug. 27th: We went to chech up on a member named Chad. He has been sick for 4 months and finally went to see the doctor and is waiting on the results of that. Then we went street contacting for a while until our next appointment. While doing so...we went to an apt. complex and most of them are locked with a code. You have to type in a code and the gate opens.....anyways i was just playing around with it and the first code i typed in was 1,2,3,4,#. it worked and the gate opened up. IT was super funny and when we tried it again it worked. So if anyone needs in a gate try that code see if it works. the next appointment was with a man name  Miguel. He is a member and super cool. He is hard to understand because he uses half Mexican Sign Language....which i dont know. But i do learn a little bit from our members, they teach us lots. After that we went to the Isais's- The deaf and blind brothers. We were only at there house for 3 1/2 hours. Well......really only 2 1/2 if you take out the hour for dinner with them......anyways they fed us thes amazing mexican food called sopes (which is basicly a mini navajo taco-mexican style) they were really good.....and i only had 6 of them. Then we taught them a lesson and then spent the last hour learning brail-so cool. They have a brail type writer-which is so cool. So basicly we can use brail also.....its hard to understand and read, but i am learning still.

Thursday, Aug 28th: We started the day off with having Lunch with the Macias family. We had spagetti and salad. It was really good. We taught a lesson with them and then went on our way. We went to check on a girl named Elizabeth. Who has had missionaries in the past. She wants to hear (well...be taught) more. We are planning on teaching her more. Only problem is she has very low education.....and is a slow learner. But we will continue to meet with her and see how things work out. After that we went to Golden Spoon (which a member owns and misisonaries get the icecream for free) for only the 3rd time since i been here. It was delicious.

Friday, Aug. 29th: We traded in the old malibu we had (it got sold) and got a temporary malibu until they work our car situations. (all the malibus are being sold so we will get a different car in a few weeks). Then we had a lesson with Donald, his fiance, and his roomate/trailer house compaion personel. It went really well. This was one of the hottest days of the year...and to make it worse we were in a town called El Cajon....which is the hottest place in the area. It was fun and in the high 90's.Later that night we went to a pretty ghetto place. The first people we talked to (two elderly women) said to us "You better not stay around her too late after dark....it's not the best of places to be at night. It's pretty schetchy here!" Well that made us feel like we needed to leave, but we continued our walk around the block.

Saturday, Aug. 30th: we had our district meeting, where we had a fun talk for 2 hours. Then we went and taught the Plan of Salvation to a lady in 10 minutes. It was a great and short lesson. Later that night we went to an area....we now call it muslim country because everyone there was muslim. No luck there. Then we met a lady who wants us to come back on tuesday night...well tonight....so we are going to do that.

Sunday Aug. 31st: Went to church...tactiled(signing for the deaf and blind brothers) like a boss. Then with second hour interpreted for the deaf girl. Then during the 3 hour we had a rootbeer float party with the whole branch. It was super fun and relaxing. Then all the people we had lessons with decided not to have us come over because they had other plans so instead we went to find new people. That night we helped our new neighbor move in. It was great service opportunity. Then Juan (one of the deaf & blind brothers) texted (him through his email/ brail hooky up thingy-super cool) us. He told us he was eating chocolate icecream and asked if we craved his icecream i replied "We crave icecream, but Elder Betts says, never that discusting chocolate crap, But yes icecream is wonderful" ( He knows i hate icecream and makes fun of it. not nice. His reply is "you are crazy. You vanilla white face boy" i told him he was going to get it next time i saw him. He said i was fired and couldnt come over for 5 years. But then later texted and said he was kidding and i could still come over. He is the funniest person ever.

Monday, Sept. 1st: We had a labor day bruch with all 40 missionaries in our area at a members house. We ate food and then had a couple of spirtitual thoughts. Then we taught members emillio and estella. Then we went contacting where we found a deaf boy whos family is catholic. they were not interested. bummer. then on the way back to our car a mexican man came up to us and talked with us and applauded us for sharing the gospel with others. Then that night we went to find a deaf man. Half way there the gps died....so we had to go back to the apt to get the charger cause we forgot it. Then we find the house and we get out. There were two black ladies there who the older one was crying. We talk to her and she told us what was happening. We had an hour conversation with her and her daughter. They were southern baptist, and the nicest ladies. They also had a family language....completley made up based on different languages. refered them then went home

Thats all this week. Take Care.
Love Elder Betts

First Week in San Diego!!!

This email will be very long. I am sorry in advance. I have so much to talk about, but not a lot of time to write. A lot of goodbyes and new beginnings. Anyways, I'm going to back it up to the last days in the mtc...then move forward from there.

Friday Aug. 15th: This was my last p-day in the mtc. We did final laundry and packed all morning along with write emails. Then after lunch we went to the temple. After the temple we ran and ate dinner and set up for the goodbye/birthday party for my district. Man that was fun. We had balloons hanging from the walls. Cake. And decorations all over. That was a great way to end our last P-day together.

Saturday Aug. 16th: Because my companion decided to get sick, I spent the day studying by myself while he slept. It was a long, but semi-preductive day.

Sunday Aug. 17th: We went to our church for the last time. The did a special meeting. All 22 of us ASL missionaries bore our tesimonies in sign. Then for the closing number we did a special number. We signed the efy medley. It was amazing. Then because the companion was sick, we ended up going to the urgent care center. We got to see the real world for the first time in 6 weeks. It was very different, people weren't dressed up and wearing nametags.....it was wierd. For the devotional Elder Oaks.....well his daughter came. She did a wonderful devotional with her muscial abilities.

Monday Aug. 18th: This day was full of class, as well as picture moments. Everyone said their goodbyes.....and we said bye to our amazing teachers....it was a long day full of goodbyes.

Tuesday Aug. 19th: Well for starters, i will never wake up at 3:00 in the morning. I dont care if i will miss the bus. That was way to early. Hahahaha... What made it worse was we then also had California time, so instead of it being 3 it was really 2. That made for a very long day. We loaded the bus at 4:30 and headed off the the airport. When we got there we had to wait for the luggage truck to come and drop off our luggage. Then we headed into the airport to start making phone calls with family before we had to depart. Oh man departure....that was one for the books. We took of soaring at like 200 mph (ok i dont know exactly but that was about how fast it felt). Then we were asending (dont know how to spell that) into the air. Higher and higher we went. When we were finally above the clouds we got pretzels and drinks, and enjoyed the nice 1 1/2 hours of flight. Then came decencion (also dont know how to spell that) and we all know how that goes. Then we were landed and ready to get off that flying metal death trap. Although it may be that it was actually not bad. I kind of enjoyed it a little. anyways we landed and got off. Then we walked to the baggage claim area where our mission president was waiting. He, his wife, and the other two ASL missionaries were waiting there for us. We got our bags and headed to the mission home. Once there we had lunch, get to know you interviews, and activities. Then picture taking time. And off we went. We went and parked by the temple and did what is called street contacting, where bascily we just walk around where lots of people are and talk to people. We ran into (well actually she came running up to us) a lady who was a recent convert. She was baptized a year ago and she just moved down to San Diego. She had been looking everywhere for missionaries. We talked with her, and then gave her a book of mormon, because she left hers in Florida. Then we continued to contact people. When it was time for us to go we went to our nightly home (because we only stayed there overnight) where we relaxed and went to bed.

Wednesday Aug. 20th: We woke up bright and early (6:30) and went for our morning run...well more of a walk. We ran into a few hobos waking up for the morning and walked past them as we said good morning. then we went back to our apt and got ready for the day. We then went out our our apt. to go to the mission office and we ran into a lady signing....her boy with her was deaf and she wanted him to go to church, but because we are not in that area anymore we cant teach her. Thats up to the other 3 misisonaries. Then we went to the mission office where we help move people around, then move ourselves into our new apt. We went shopping and got food, cause you know me...must have food. And plus we didnt have any. Then later that night we visited two members. The first was the Isais Brothers- the both are deaf and blind. So we have to use what is called tactile to communicate. they place their hands over your hands and you sign normally. it was cool. Then after we met them we went to the macias's. They are really cool. Then we went out to get my first real california burrito. It was more delicious than the one i made....go figure!!! Then back to apt. to go to bed

Thurdsday Aug. 21st: We went to a members house named Steven. (we mostly visit members because its hard to get new deaf investigators...so currently we have none). He gave us some orange juice which he calls his "alchohol" because he loves it. Then we visited a few more members, Ricardo, Donald, and the Beaton Family. Donald has cerial palsley...so its hard to see him sign...but it was so cool how awesome he is. Then with the beatons the took us to round table pizza...which was delicious. and that sums up thursday.

Friday Aug. 22nd: We had our first district meeting. Went tracting to find new deaf people to teach, few lessons cancelled. Then back to tracting. What an interesting day.

Saturday Aug. 23rd: We visited Cathy, who at first was asleep so we went back and visited her. Went to do more tracting. Met a really old lady named Bonnie...who just sat and told us her life story for 2 hours. Then we visited the McClellan family. And to top of the night...we met an atheist guy who wouldnt join our church because "we dont keep the 10 commandments because we have sunday as the sabbath" what a crazy old man....well we probably wont go back there. Then we met a guy named aaron. and our neighbor who is a military guy...yeah we shared a lesson with him on the walk to our apt. he seemed interested so we'll see how that goes.

Sunday Aug 24th: My 1st ever deaf church meeting. Because we only have like 50 deaf members, we are combined with a hearing ward, which means we have lots of opportunities to interpret. Then we helped out during second hour to translate. Then priesthood meeting is where you truely know your skills. That is the one hour where its just deaf, or asl knowers, that meet. IT was cool to see.

Monday Aug. 25th: We went to visit a trailor park.....there is a lot of them here in san diego. but the lady wasn't home. We turned around and walked towards our car, where we ran into a Phillipino lady. She was a member and was wanting to visit missionaries. She needed a blessing and we were there for her. We gave her a blessing, shared a message. Then left. Also that day we met a member who had been for a year he said. I don't know if he just fell away or what...because he was not in the best of shape. We talked to him and shared a message and refurred him to the other missionaries. Then went on with our tracting. We went to a deaf group home where a bunch of deaf people live. and we met a girl named Jessica who seemed interested so we will hope she becomes our new investigator. Hopefully!!!

Well that sums up my week in a nutshell. Pretty exciting stuff happened. But now i have to go cause im running out of time. Love you all,

Love, Elder Betts

P.S. just a little spiritual thought.....read 2 Nephi 27:26 or Alma 29:22 or maybe James 1:12....they all are amazing so read them!!!!

First email in San Diego!!!

Hey everyone. Just a quick shout out. I made it safely to San Diego. No worries. The plane ride was such a great adventure. I loved it. Here is a picture of us ASL missionaries with our Mission President and his wife. The two elders without the suit are our trainers. The one with glasses is my new companion. The other one got the other two. So until next Tuesday. Love you all have a wonderful week.

Off to Sunny San Diego!!!!

   

Elder Betts has arrived safely to San Diego.

Here is a picture of Elder Betts, his mission President Brother Schmitt, Sister Schmitt, Elder Phillips, Elder Pierce and their new companions, ASL Elders Gerber and Rutland.

Last week in the MTC!!!

Well everyone, this will be the last time I email you guys from the computers at the MTC. It's a sad day. This has been my home for the last 5 1/2 weeks, but soon I will be off to bigger and more important things. Not too many things happened this week. We had an amazing Tuesday Night Devotional where the speaker talked on repentance. I took some amazing notes, however I forgot to bring them with me so I will have to share them next time. 

Tuesday rolled along and we taught our last lesson with Sharon. It was a wonderful lesson about the priesthood and the Doctrine of Christ. She committed to baptism, but only if she receives a definite answer to her prayers where she knows that this church is true. We have enjoyed teaching her for these last 3 weeks. She has indeed came unto Christ more, even though she is a strong Christian. 

Wednesday came and went. Fresh meat (Missionaries) came in. We enjoyed the ice cream bar where we decided to make root beer floats. They were delicious. But other than that we didn't have an exciting day.

Then came Thursday. That was the longest day known to mankind. We went to breakfast then headed to In-Field-Orientation. We learned about life in the field and the basic principles to becoming wonderful missionaries, which includes actually talking to people. Who knew that was an important thing? Not me. I always was like, that's why I have a senior companion right? Well i guess i got proved wrong. I am going to actually have to talk to people. This will be an adventure of it's own. Cant wait to see how that rolls out. 

Now I am enjoying my last p-day at the mtc. Writing to you guys, getting ready to celebrate a birthday later tonight after we go to the temple. These next couple of days will be the bomb.com if you know what i am saying.

Anyways, Since i have left my spiritual thoughts back in the room, i will just share a joke with you guys instead.

Here it goes:

Question: Who is the best doctor in the Bible?

Answer: Some say it is Job because he had so much patience (PATIENTS),

But in all honesty it is Moses. Why because he DELIVERED all the children of Egypt. hahahhahaha. 

Ok fine how about another one?

Here we go:

A man and had left the winter streets of Chicago for a vacation in Florida. His wife was to leave a day later and was planning to meet him there. When he reached his hotel, he decided to send his wife a quick email to let her know he arrived. Unable to find the scrap of paper on which he had written her email address, he did his best to type it in from memory. Unfortunately, he missed one letter and his note was directed to an elderly woman whose husband had passed away only the day before. When the grieving widow checked her email, she took one look at the monitor, let out a piercing scream, and fell to the floor. At the sound, her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen:
DEAREST WIFE: JUST GOT CHECKED IN. EVERYTHING PREPARED FOR YOUR ARRIVAL TOMORROW.
-YOUR LOVING HUSBAND
P.S. SURE IS HOT DOWN HERE!

Well now that I made you laugh, it is time for me to go. I love you all. Peace out.

Love always,
Elder Betts #SmileyFace :)

Week 5 Pictures!!!!

Stripping Warriors Selfie

Selfie as District Leader

Stripping Warriors 

Week 5!!

So I have survived yet another week. This week however was a little different. On Monday night Brother McLay, one of the members from the Branch Presidency of mine, came up to our room. He usually always walks around our residency hall every Monday night. This Monday night he came for a purpose. That was to take me out and talk to me in the gathering center where we have a bunch of sofas. Anyways he talked to me and he was like, "It has been decided. Elder Reeve is no longer your district leader." At that point I was thinking cool I hope that he has found a new district leader and I couldn't wait to find out who it was. I thought he was going to talk to each of our district member and tell them the news. I was wrong. The reason he wanted to meet with me was because they had chosen me to be the new district leader. Out of all the people they could have chosen from, they picked me. I was shocked at first, but now I know that I can do it. It has been these last couple of days. I feel so powerful. Hahaha. No but really I just focus on being a missionary to the other missionaries. Other than that we had just a normal week. We are teaching the same investigators and they are progressing each time.

This week we also started a thing called MAPI. It is just more practice teaching different people. Along with MAPI we have TRC. TRC is where people from the outside world come in as volunteers and we basically home teach them. They are all members for our language. Other languages may have actual investigators come, but with us, ours are all members. During this last TRC my companion and I were with a couple. We got talking and I asked them if they were married. They said they were engaged and getting married in two weeks. My companion didn't catch on that we discussed that they were engaged, so he asked them if they had children. WOW!!!! The laughter coming from that room was off the chart. It was so funny. He then realized what was going on. They explained to him that their church, which is the same church as us, believes in Marriage first. After that the lady said (well signed it I should say), "We should have said that yes we have two children and one on the way. Oh and we are getting married in two weeks!!!!" It was so much fun. We laugh about that all the time.

On Sunday we had fast and testimony meeting. After that we went to a mission conference where the MTC Presidency talked to us. One of my favorite things that was said was by Sister Hacking. She said, "Give it everything you have got. Talk to everyone you see. Don't jude anyone. They are all children of God. You will be amazed by who you find. Have faith and patience." That hit me hard. I am not one to like hobos, but now I guess I will just have to talk to one. Also I decided a couple of weeks ago that my goal on the plane ride to Cali is to 1. not freak out because the planes are scary and they could possibly crash and i could get hurt or die. No i am not worried about that. I have the Lord on my side. but the next one is my main goal. 2. to place a Book of Mormon to at least one person on the way to Cali. I am going to do it.

Have you guys ever wondered what happens when there is a rain storm at the MTC?? Included is a picture of us enjoying the rain storm. Because as missionaries don't dance, we are walking in the rain and enjoying life. Spiritual thought from that anyone? I'm thinking along the lines of "No matter what goes on in your life, it's the small thins that matter."

A few funnies from the past week are:

1.Everyone in our district thinks that Elder Phillips will be the first one to be married. Rumor has it that he will propose once he walks off the plane.

2.In a certain district gathering we were discussing how we feel about each other, always good things all good things. Anyways it was my turn to talk about Sister Abeling. And the district leader signed to me-keep it short and simple we are almost out of time. So I did. I said. "I'm going to keep this short and simple, just like you Sister Abeling." everyone laughed so hard it was great.

3."The MTC is like EFY on steroids" general authority.

4. "If you don't look once, you are not a man (or woman), but if you look twice you are not a missionary.

Well that is all for this week love you all!!

Love always, Elder Betts

Week 4 Pictures!!!

This is how we do class work!!!

Read the Sticker, it says" Fragile, Handle with Care"

ALS District being Crazy

 ALS District being Crazy

Blursday!! 

Week 4!! HUMP DAY CELEBRATION!!!

Well guys....we are officially halfway done with the mtc. Now onto bigger and better things.

This week was jam packed full of amazing things. For starters, every Sunday night and Tuesday nights we have devotionals, and for this last Tuesday night one we had Brother John H. Groberg come and speak to us. Brother Groberg is the guys of which the movie The Other Side of Heaven is made after. That missionary was him. Those were his experiences he had. He is and amazing guy. In his talk to us he talked about testimonies. "Hoorah" for Israel. That was one of the main points in his talk. He challenged us "to go out on our missions yelling Hoorah for Israel. Go out and testify to all you see. Throughout all the years of the church sending out missionaries there is only thing that has been unchanged: sharing your testimony with others. Your testimony is the greatest gift you can ever give someone. When you share your testimony it strengthens theirs. Your influence and service to them will make a difference in all you meet. There are many ways to share your testimony (6 is what he talked about). 1. what you say 2. what you do. 3. what we sing. 4 how we pray. 5. what we write. 6. who we are." in  his movie there is a scene where they are trying to get to an appoint with a family. The only way was a long journey on a sail boat. The wind was stopped and the elders prayed to receive a tail wind. They didn't get the answer to their prayer, but they never lost their faith in God. Instead of not doing anything or get mad because of this, they realized that maybe someone else needed a head wind and that was why they couldn't receive a tail wind. They decided to get on the row boat and become the Lord's wind. We too may at times have to be the Lord's wind.

Other than going to devotionals what have i done? Well we taught lessons to our investigator, one of which was 1 hour long because she needed to have that message. I love teaching our investigators they are so amazing.

Also this week we have been condemning each other to Heaven. Why? Well my mom sent us a bible version of Go Fish......so lets just say things got crazy and everyone got upset when someone (Elder Pierce) stole your card you needed. He stole mine like every time. It was unfair!!!

Our room has decided to make a missionary melody of frozen songs. We are changing the lyrics to almost every song. Our goal is to finish perform it before we leave the mtc in 3 weeks. It is coming along wonderfully. My favorite one is to the tune of "Do you want to build a snowman?" The title of it is "Do You Want a Book of Mormon" it goes like so: Do you want a Book of Mormon? Come on let's go to church. We never see you anymore. You've shut the door. It's like you've gone inactive. You used to have a calling. In the primary. What are we going to do? Do you want a Book of Mormon? It's just a Book of Mormon. (Investigator: Go away Elders/Sisters) We'll be back.

Aren't we just the best!!!! Credit to the sisters for help on that song.

Well that is all i have to say about this week Love you all

Love Elder Betts

P.S. Hump day celebration Picture for all you guys!!!!