Miracles Happen

Hello Everyone! The highlight for our week was on Friday. We were having our district meeting and at the same time our mission president was having a meeting with our stake president. Anyways... during our meeting both him and the stake president come in for a second (which was scary). And they talk with us for a little while. Then our mission president came and stood by my companion and i and he puts his hand on my shoulder. He says "Elders you have Becky and Amy with a baptism date for the 31st right?" We reply "Yeah, but we will probably be needing to reschedule the date because she is still working on the Word of Wisdom." President's reply was unsuspected. He said "well what you need to do is go over there today, take away her pack of cigarettes (we never mentioned smoking, just said word of wisdom), and give her a blessing and commit her to that date!" We replied "yes president." and so we did just that.....well almost. She wouldn't let us take her cigarettes she wanted to finish the last few because she was stressed because her mom was in the hospital....anyways we explained she needed to stop the next day and stay stopped.... she said yes. So that was super cool! However...she wont be baptized on saturday. She is having a birthday party for her daughter (Amy) and so she will be the 7th!!! MIRACLES ARE REAL!!!! Other than that...the week has been pretty boring! We have been busy but not anything awesome like above happen. So for my spiritual thought I wanted to share this wonderful mormon message with all of you. It is a wonderful thought!!! So have fun watching it!!! http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/gordon-hinckley-lessons-i-learned-as-a-boy-1 I hope you all have a fantastic week!!! Love you all!!! Love Elder Betts

Shark Tacos!!

Hello Everyone.....so some crazy stuff happened this week. We had 4 great adventures this week that made our mission......oh exciting. drunk guy, 17 yr old showering battery fish tacos The first one was when we went to an appointment with a less active, part member family. We set up the appointment last week, she knew we were coming and she wanted to meet with us. When we get there we walked into a birthday party for some small child in the family. We see the bounce house castle....and we were like "what are we getting ourselves into?" We walked into the yard and they came out. Elizabeth (the member) said "sit down. The food is almost finished." So we sat down. While waiting we tried to talk to this guy....he wasn't the most friendly guy. We asked his name to just say hi..... and he wanted to know why we were asking. We said just small talk. He said I am really busy I don't have time to talk with you.....about 15 minutes later, our bellies full, he comes and talks with us. Beer can in hand and all. Then he tells Elder Weber that he can read people. He "knew Elder Weber had a question", he thought because he was twice our age, he is twice as smart, oh and he thought I was on a water diet because I had a water bottle......silly drunk guy. I had to restrain myself from laughing! eventually we left. The second adventure was when we in Calexico, we tried to visit a less active family. The 17 year old daughter answered and talked with us for a while. Then out of the blue she says, "I haven't showered!" an awkward pause followed, then came the explanation when she realized what was going on. She just went running and hadn't showered yet....super awkward great conversation. The third one happened yesterday. We went and did service for a member.....oh it was the worst service ever. Their shed got infested by mice. There was dead mice everywhere....mouse poop....and an awful smell. We wore pretty great masks though.....so it was fun. We took everything out of the shed, cleaned them up (sanitized them), cleaned the shed, and put them all back in. It was....and adventure for sure...... Then they fed us lunch. But our day gets better. After lunch we go to our car....it wont start. We get the members to try to jumpstart it....that doesn't work. We try cleaning the battery....still nothing. So we take the battery out and then go to pep boys. They do a batter test....lets just say it was time to get a new battery...it was completely dead. So that was our "Happy Martin Luther King Day". To top everything off. Last night we had an adventure after all that fun in the morning. We went to an investigator's house last night to try her fish tacos-she said they were the best. I am not a big fan of fish, in fact you can say I strongly dislike it, but she said they weren't fishy at all. We are always down for trying new things. So....we went there. We ate like 4 tacos each. They were delicious. But that is not even the best part. It turns out they were actually shark tacos. The fish they buy is shark. They never knew that. It was really good....so I can say that I ate shark on my mission. So that was our adventures this week. Also transfers is this week. Luckily for our companionship nothing is happening. We are staying the same. Hope you all have a fantastic week. Love you all!! Love Elder Betts

Service!!!

So I am sorry if I made anyone think that I died last week. I failed to write a mass email. But I remembered this week! Things are going pretty great this week. We are doing such great work. We were busy this week giving lots of service. We did service for our LA member Sandy Johnson (who her husband passed away on Dec. 28th). We have been working a lot with her helping her out with what we can. We did service for her 2 time this week. Helping her around the yard. We also helped to tear down a part of a house. A Recent convert Thomas K. bought a house at an auction and we helped destroy part of it so he can rebuild it. We are also helping him rebuild it. So we got to go get dirty for a while with him. It was really fun. We also helped the senior couple move apartments. We helped them for part of the day on Friday and then we went on a walking adventure afterwards. Our investigators are doing well. Becky and Amy are most likely going to be baptized on the 31st of January. Ben is super ready for his baptism on the 7th of February. The other we are working on getting a date. Also this week I am having the "Opportunity of a Lifetime"........also known as teaching the young women a little bit of ASL....so that will be an adventure for sure. It will be exciting to do that. My spiritual thought this week comes from a talk entitled "What Manner of Men ought ye to be". in it it says "One of the most important questions ever asked to mortal men was asked by the Son of God himself, the Savior of the world. To a group of disciples in the New World, a group anxious to be taught by him and even more anxious because he would soon be leaving them, he asked, “What manner of men ought ye to be?” Then in the same breath he gave this answer: “Even as I am” (3 Ne. 27:27)." Let us try to be like to savior. Love you all. hope you all have a fantastic week. Love Elder Betts. A email from the sweet Senior Missionaries. Greetings to the Betts Family, We have enjoyed having Elder Betts and his companion in our home (apartment) this morning. They helped us move from our former apartment to this one last week. We are the Senior couple serving here in Imperial Valley. We are from Idaho Falls, and have been in El Centro for one month, starting our mission at the MTC on December 1, 2014. The weather is great and we love the missionaries. Elder Betts and Elder Weber are our 'first official visitors'. They came to do their laundry, and Elder Reilly fixed us all breakfast. Your son is a great missionary! Love, Elder and Sister Reilly

Happy News Year!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was quite different than what I was used to. Instead of snow being on the ground when we woke up we had to sun and the grass to look at. So it was a different experience for sure. This last week has been really slow due to the Holidays, so nothing too exciting happened. We did add a new investigator last night. His name is Josue. He is really awesome and he really is interested. We helped clear up some questions he had, taught the restoration, and committed him to read and pray about it. He accepted and he also wants to bring his cousins to the lesson next week. So things are going great. Other than that not anything too exciting has happened. The message I am sharing today deals with the new year and setting goals. First, take time to honestly reflect on the past year and then determine what you desire to achieve and, more importantly, what you desire to become in 2015. President Monson has taught: "When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported back, the rate of improvement accelerates." In other words, your goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. The best way to achieve your goals is to seek the help of Heaven and then work with all diligence – resolve that you will not return home until you have met your goals that day. As we set goals for the upcoming year lets keep this in mind. We can do anything with the lord's help. This video is about setting goals and the new year. http://www.mormonchannel.org/mormon-channel-daily/385?v=910930409001 I know that setting goals is important and it helps us to accomplish the things we want to accomplish. Love you all. Love Elder Betts

Merry Christmas!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope you all have a great week!!!! Time is short so I will be brief: Because everyone is out of town for the holidays, this week has been really slow. We met Elder Nielson of the 70 on Friday. We also had a mission wide christmas Devotional yesterday, meaning we went to San Diego two times this week. We had to wake up at 4 both times to be able to get there....so that was really fun. Other than that this week has been good!!! Christmas message this week: What shall We give him? http://www.mormonchannel.org/christmas-videos?v=2919740155001&cid=HPMO122214579 Our loving heavenly father has given us everything we have!!! What can we give back to him? Let's give back to him what we can!!! Love you all!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!

Happy Holidays!!

Happy Holidays everyone!!! This week has been a good week. We were able to have a few adventures this week. One of which was the ward Christmas party. We went at 5 to help set up and we didn't get done until about 8:45. The party started at 6:30 and it was a great party. We were able to have 4 investigators come to it and they had a great time. We had great food and wonderful entertainment. Everyone participated in the sing along program. They even made us missionaries do a special number....Feliz navidad. And of course it was the most white thing ever. It was so funny. My companion and I sang it....and it went surprisingly well. We had fun. Our investigators are continually preparing for baptism, however we are probably going to have to push the ones with dates for next week back a month or so. We haven't been able to meet with one. The others, the mom, is a coffee drinker. She said she cant give up coffee....so we are working on that. But we will see what will happen. I am loving it out here in the valley. It is such a fun place....except it is cold at night....but luckily we have our sweaters we wear. Hahaha. I hope you all have a great week. I have to go now because I have 2 minutes left until the library kicks me off. We had to use the library this week because the church wasn't working, so peace out. Love you all. Have amazing weeks. Love Elder Betts

Stand for Right

This past week i haven't too many adventures, but overall it was a really great week. To start off the week, on Wednesday we went down to Calexico to have an appointment with a deaf man named Javier. We went to his house, we met up with the spanish sisters, because they found him. We said a quick prayer, then we rang the doorbell. He came to the door, the sisters were like "that is him". they said hi and did a quick wave and Javier made it clear he was deaf. That is when i stepped into play. I started a conversation with him and we had a great time. I interpreted for everyone and it went well. We asked him if he was interested in us talking to him about Christ and his gospel, but he said he was really sorry, but he is a Jehovah Witness and he is not interested. We said it was all good. We also asked him if he had any deaf friends who we could see if they were interested. He gave us a name and address of one of his friends. We later checked that out after we finished with Javier, and no one was home, but we are going to keep trying. Other than that, nothing exciting has happened for me. We have had a few appointments with investigators, but most of our solid investigators were either super busy, sick, or out of town this week. So not a lot happened. We did have the Christmas Devotional on Sunday that we went to. We were able to watch it at a member's house. It was such an uplifting and wonder messages. It is available on lds.org if you missed it. So go check it out. And during this Christmas season, let's remember the true meaning of Christmas and how Christ is the Gift. This past week as i was reading the Book of Mormon, I came to chapter 44. This is a big battle scene with Zerahemnah. This is a scene where Moroni stands up for the truth. Because of this God made if so that they were victorious. Later on in chapter 48 it says of how if we were to be like Moroni, then Satan would have no power over us. How are we able to be like Moroni and stop Satan? We need to put on the full armor of God. As we do so we will be protected from the dangers of Satan. We will be victorious over him. We need to put on that armor and stand for the right. I know that is true and that as we do so, we can stop the temptations of Satan. Hope you all have a fantastic week!! Love you lots, Love Elder Betts

Thanksgiving!!!

Hello Everyone!!!

What a wonderful week i have had this past week!  I hope that you all have had an amazing week as well. After P-day last week we went to our ward Thanksgiving party. We had amazing food and we had such a great time. We were able to meet a lot of our members, and also we had a few non-members and investigators come. It was such a success. We are also working on re activating a less active family that we met with on tuesday, and we were able to have a wonderful meeting with them and we are now working closely with them.

On Wednesday, we had a few meetings. One with Kayla (less active who is working on now getting to the temple). Then we wrote thank you cards for the people we have been working with these last few weeks. Then we spent the day delivering them and expressing our gratitude for them. We also had dinner with a member so that was great.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. We spent our day doing weekly planning because it was thursday. We also met with a recent convert and had a great lesson with her. We Then went over to a members house for Thanksgiving. We had really great food and just a really good time.

Friday we did service for the Carrolls because they are leaving us soon ;( but we helped them clean up their apartment to be able to help them get ready for them to leave. We also had district meeting and then a lesson with Becky and Amy (our investigators). We had a great lesson with them and we were able to continue to prepare them for baptism the 27th of December. Then we had dinner with Savannah (A recent convert) and her family (who are not members, but should be). That went really well we had really great food!

On Saturday we did service for a less active family. Then we walked around a section of our area trying to visit with members and less actives.

Sunday we went to church, the Carrolls gave a farewell talk (Because they leave the 13th of December). We also taught 5th sunday on the "He is the Gift" program that is going on.  You should all go to christmas.mormon.org and check it out!! It is wonderful!! We walked around our area again and had dinner with the Burt family. Then we ended the night by going to FHE.

Yesterday we also walked around our area. We visited with a few people. Then we had a lesson with the Villalobo family (investigators). We also had dinner with the Brockwell family (The less active family we are working closely with to re activate.) Then we visited with another less active family.

So that was my week.

Spiritual thought this week is about "He is the Gift." Visit the website christmas.mormon.org to watch the coolest Christmas video about Christ!  I urge you all to always keep Christ in your hearts during the Christmas season.  Even after Christmas is over.  This time of year is a special time to celebrate His birth because "He is the Gift!"  We may receive anything to nothing this Christmas but ALL have been given something.  That something is Jesus Christ!  Christmas time is a great way to share your belief of Christ and how he means everything.  Share this video through your social media with your friends and family and remind them what Christmas really is about.  Visit the website above and check it out! :)

Love you all!! Hope you have a fantastic week!!!

Love Elder Betts

El Centro

This last week we were able to add two more investigators. Their names are Becky and Amy. Becky is the mom and Amy is the daughter. We taught them the restoration on Tuesday night and then at the end of it we asked them to be baptized and they both said yes. Their date is the 27th of December. Also Tuesday night we got Drew with the same date of Dec. 27th. Wednesday i went on exchanges with Elder Oakley and we had a fun time in his area. On Thursday we met with a Less Active member, named Kayla, and we discussed about patriarchal blessings and we also talked about preparing to enter the temple. She got super excited and is getting he patriarchal blessing soon. Friday we had all our set appointments end up cancelling by the end of personal study....so we recreated plans and had a good day. Saturday we had district meeting and had a great time. We met and had a great lesson with a recent convert, Savannah. We also visited with some more less actives. Sunday we gave talks in church and that went really well. For dinner we went to the bishop's house and had a great time. We also went to family home evening and that was a great time. Monday we talked with Tom, our baptism last week, and we helped him understand the priesthood. We helped him know what to expect and he is really excited to get it on sunday. Then we had lunch with President Jimenez, a counselor to the stake president. and then a meeting with our mission president. Then we went out and visited with some less actives. We had a really great week filled with lots of spiritual moments. Love you all Have an amazing week Love Elder Betts

Weekly Email!!!

Hey Everyone,

This last week has been a very good week. We have had a lot of success this last week.

I think that last time I talked about our lesson with Drew, but just in case I didn't here it is. On Tuesday night we met with Drew. He is a 17 yr old. He is friends with one of the youth in our ward. They invited him to take the lessons and he said yes. He has been coming with the Sanders family to church off and on since 8th grade, and he finally wants to know the truth and accept it. When the lesson was finished, we invited him to baptism, and he said yes if the answer he get from his prayers is yes. So our Tuesday night was a success!!!

We started our Wednesday off by going to the food bank and helping them bag up food to take to those in need. After we did this we met with our ward mission leader and planned the program for Tom's baptism. After that we met with some of the members still trying to get to know them and see if they have anyone who is wanting to learn about the gospel. After all of that we went down to Calexico to have a lesson with Ben. Ben is another one of our investigators who we added last week. He works with a member and asked the member to learn more about the church. Once we met with him, the lesson went well. Then during this 2nd lesson with him, when we challenged him to baptism, he said once he knows for sure he will. So that went super well!

On Thursday we went and had a lesson with a LA member, who wants to get back to church. Right now she is preparing to get a patriarchal blessing. After her lesson we had a lesson with a recent convert and his non-member son. That went really well and we invited him to church. He accepted and we hope that we will see success from him. Then we most of the day weekly planning. After all that we had a few more lessons with a few people.

On Friday, we met with Tom and explained everything for the baptism. We showed him around the font and helped answer any questions about what will happen. We also went over the program with him and he liked what we planned.

On Saturday we had the baptism and it went so good!!! The service was so nice and such a spiritual experience. Tom really enjoyed it and it was a success. After his baptism we had a lesson with a recent convert. We also talked about patriarchal blessings because she also wants one. Then we met with an investigator named Angel. Him and his mom were the only ones who were at the lesson, but normally their whole family joins. Angel has already received an answer about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. When we invited them to baptism, Angel said yes and we set a date to have that happen. His mom said that she wanted to learn more and when she got an answer it was true, she would be baptized as well.

Sunday we confirmed Tom in church and it was really cool to stand in the circle and be a part of that. It was such a great experience. Then we went to Seeley, which is where a few members and potential investigators live.

And Monday we walked around our area and stopped at less active members on the route. We were able to talk with a few of them and help them want to come back to church. We also met with Hector and Gylda- who are a couple who both are in wheelchairs. They are the most humble people. They look at the good side of this experience instead of the negative. They are the best example of humility.

So that is the highlights of the week.

I hope that you all have an amazing week!!! Love you all!!

Love Elder Betts

New Area!!

This last week has been a really good week.

On Tuesday, for p-day we just played basketball at the church building, because there is not anything to do out here....so just sports we get to play. After P-day was finished we went over to our bishop's house for dinner and a lesson/get to know them. It went really well!!!

On Wednesday we did service for the food bank. We help them bag up a whole bunch of food and get ready to be shipped to local areas in need. Then we did service for a family in the ward. We helped them mow their lawn, and do yard work for them. Then we met with another family in the ward and got to know them. Then we had a ward activity at night- "Carne Asada"- where we ate carne asada, and mingled with the ward. We had to leave the party early, because we had to travel down to Calexico to go meet with a guy. His name is Ben Horton. He works with a member, and wanted to know more about the church. He wanted to meet with us. He is super humble....and he is going to make a great ward member.

On Thursday we had weekly planning.....that was fun as usual. Then we had dinner with a member- the Bank's.

Friday we had a big long meeting with the mission president- called MTE (missionary training exchange). We met for a while, got training, then we added a companion for the next 24 hours. He went with us and taught us how we can become better missionaries. and what we can work on to improve the work in our area. We met with Tom and got him even more ready for baptism on the 15th.  We went and had dinner with a family in Calexico.

Saturday we had MTE follow up. Where we just talked about some of the miracles that we had happen during the MTE. We had Lunch with a Less Active member who wants back to church. We also had a lesson with Savannah (who is a recent convert). We had choir practice because we had to sing at stake conference at the adult session. We went to the adult session and we sang....Stake conference was a great time.

Sunday we went to the church early so that Tom can have his baptism interview...which he passed. And then enjoyed stake conference. Two general authorities came and talked to us/reorganized the stake presidency. They were Elder Lawrence and Elder Bassett. After conference we had dinner with members.

Monday we had zone meeting for 3 hours, then zone lunch afterwards. Then we tried to visit with some more members and get to know them.

Tuesday we had p-day and we played volleyball and basketball. After p-day was over we met with the Sander's Family (who ended up making us dinner-so we had double dinner because we ate before meeting with them), and the had a friend named Drew who want the missionary lessons and that is why we met with them. He is really wanting to learn about our church. He has gone to church with the sanders many times. He is ready to be a member.

So that is my week in a nutshell....

With the upcoming holiday of Thanksgiving we need to remember to continually be thankful. I suggest watching this Mormon Message about thanks. http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=910930407001

In a talk by Elder Russell M. Nelson he says: How much better it would be if all could be more aware of God’s providence and love and express that gratitude to Him.

Let us all be thankful for everything we have.

Love you all

Love Elder Betts

Transfers!!!

Update:

So my companion, his name is Elder Weber (He is from Enterprise Utah, which is near St. George area. He has been out for 1 1/2 years. He is English missionary-not ASL) , and I got "white washed" (means thrown into an area, without one of us there before) into and area. The previous missionaries left us some notes, but this last week consisted of us scrambling to get to know the area and the people in it. It has been such fun and a wonderful adventure.

As you might guess I am doing English work now (for the next little while) however, I have authorization to teach deaf people out here. We have heard there are deaf people out here, so I can teach them and baptize them :)

Oh, I forgot to say where I am at..............well I am in the middle of nowhere. We are closer to Arizona than we are San Diego. We are about a 2 hour drive to the mission office right in San Diego. We are in a place called "The Valley". We had to venture over mountains and dessert to get here. We are in a place called El Centro. If you look on the attached picture of our map you can see its out in the middle of nowhere. We also cover Calexico (which is right on the boarder of mexico). The average temperature out here in the summer is only 125!!!! Luckily in the winter time it cools down to 90's. We have perfect whether here. Actually last night....it was kind of nippy at 6 (where it is now dark) when we were out and about. We decided to put on our sweaters!!!! :) it was funny!!! We were matchy matchy!!! Our ward is the best. We are the Imerial Valley 2nd ward and the members are so great!!!! We get fed like every other night!!! Its great!!!!

So that is just a quick update on where I am!!!!

This week has been fun!!! We are working with an investigator who has a baptism date for Nov. 15th.... He is super ready and we cannot wait for his baptism in a few weeks!!!! Other than that we have just been visiting with people and getting to know them and the area.

Now for a quick spiritual thought that I read from the Book of Mormon. (I have a goal to read/study it within 3 months)

In the vision of the tree of life there are 4 different groups of people shown.

The first was immediately turned away from the tree and wanted the worldly things, like the great and spacious building.

The second group started on the path, but when the mist of darkness came, the got lost and fell away.

The third group "Clinged" to the iron rod, but then were mocked by other and fell away.

The fourth group "held fast to the iron rod" and made it to the tree of life.

So what does the Iron Rod represent? It represents the word of God-meaning scriptures and words of the prophet etc.

So what is the difference of clinging and holding fast? Well Elder David A Bednar in a talk entitled: Lehi's Dream: Holding fast to the iron rod in the October 2011 Liahona Explains it really well. He says," holding fast to the iron rod entails, in large measure, the prayerful, consistent, and earnest use of the holy scriptures as a sure source of revealed truth and as a reliable guide for the journey along the strait and narrow path to the tree of life—even to the Lord Jesus Christ."

The third group only occasionally read there scriptures, and thus fell away form the tree, but the fourth group read there scriptures often.

We need to continually Study the scriptures.

Well, I love you all and hope you all have a wonderful week.

Love, Elder Betts  :)

Elder Reger and I (the sign is chihuahua and they called me that after the haircut....so that is why the sign)

Elder Rutland and I