My move down the street

Hola! 

So I got transferred somewhere I didn't expect to go; I went to the area right next to where I was! We also white washed! That means both of the hermanas that were serving here got transferred away, so I am here with my new companion who is also new. It's hard to white wash, but we have seen a ton of miracles! I am now serving in the Canyon Lakes ward. There hasn't been a baptism there since last July, but we are committed to change that! We also serve in the Spanish YSA (Young Single Adult), so that's super fun! It is a small branch, but we want to help it grow as well!

Hermana Peña and I on my hammock! 

My new address is:

15125 West Road #733

Houston, TX 

My new companion is Hermana Peña! She only has one transfer left after this one. She is super cool, and I am excited to serve with her! She is from Mexico City, and moved to San Antonio when she was 14. It's fun to be with a native speaker again! I am excited!

This has been a hard week, but we have seen a ton of miracles! We visited a less active, and she said she wants us to teach her ten year old son so he can get baptized! So we set a date with him! We also were visiting former investigators and found a 15 year old boy who has read up to Alma in the time the missionaries haven't been stopping by!

This week I have been reading in 3 Nephi. Jesus Christ died for us, and He completed the atonement and resurrected three days later. He conquered physical death so that we can also live again. In the Bible we read about the experiences of the disciples who had the privilege of interacting with the resurrected Christ. But, Christ didn't visit only them. In John 10 Christ talks about His "other sheep" that will hear his voice. In the Book of Mormon we read about the experiences of some of His other sheep that got to hear His voice and come unto His fold. 

In 3 Nephi 11 we read about the experience of some of these other sheep. The signs of Christ's death appeared in the Americas as well. After days of darkness and terrible storms and disasters the people were gathered at the temple.

3 And it came to pass that while they were thus conversing one with another, they heard a voice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn.

8 And it came to pass, as they understood they cast their eyes up again towards heaven; and behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them; and the eyes of the whole multitude were turned upon him, and they durst not open their mouths, even one to another, and wist not what it meant, for they thought it was an angel that had appeared unto them.

9 And it came to pass that he stretched forth his hand and spake unto the people, saying:

10 Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.

11 And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.

14 Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.

15 And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.

Christ first talked with them and allowed them to experience the proof that it was, in fact, he himself. And He ministered to them one by one. Missionaries today are representatives of Jesus Christ. Our name tags have two names, ours and His. We go around and get to know people one by one. We invite them to learn more about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I think it's interesting to see what Christ told them first thing.

18 And it came to pass that he spake unto Nephi (for Nephi was among the multitude) and he commanded him that he should come forth.

21 And the Lord said unto him: I give unto you power that ye shall baptize this people when I am again ascended into heaven.

23 Verily I say unto you, that whoso repenteth of his sins through your words, and desireth to be baptized in my name, on this wise shall ye baptize them--Behold, ye shall go down and stand in the water, and in my name shall ye baptize them. 

32 And this is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine which the Father hath given unto me; and I bear record of the Father, and the Father beareth record of me, and the Holy Ghost beareth record of the Father and me; and I bear record that the Father commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent and believe in me.

Not just anyone can perform a baptism, it has to be someone who can trace their authority right back to Jesus Christ. Christ gave them that power, and then He invited the, to repent (change) and be baptized. As missionaries we spread the good news that the power and authority of Jesus Christ is back. 

33 And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God.

34 And whoso believeth not in me, and is not baptized, shall be damned.

Here He speaks about the necessity of baptism. He uses strong language, but He does it because He loves them. He doesn't want them to be damned. As missionaries we invite people to be baptized. Some think we are being pushy, but it's all because it's what Christ himself did and would do if He were on the earth. 

38 And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.

39 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.

40 And whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built upon my rock; but he buildeth upon a sandy foundation, and the gates of hell stand open to receive such when the floods come and the winds beat upon them.

41 Therefore, go forth unto this people, and declare the words which I have spoken, unto the ends of the earth.

I know the Bible is the word of God. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It, like the Bible, was written by prophets of God, and it was written around the same time as the Bible. It is a record of another group of people that were living in a different part of the world. I know that as I have studied the Book of Mormon I have been able to gain a deeper relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon is another testament of His divinity. By reading it we can learn more of the things he taught and wants us to know.

My tag! My name and the Savior's

If any of you would like a copy of the Book of Mormon, just send me your address and I would love to send one to you with my personal testimony! You can also read it online or order one for free on mormon.org 

I hope you all have an amazing week!

Love,

Hermana Bettridge

Fotos:

Marvin's family and I!

Me with Hermano Alvarez!

I thought I was getting transferred far away from Krispy Kreme so I went there before transfers. But I can still go back whenever!

Our new district, we didn't get changed that much

"Houston is getting more righteous!" - President Mortensen

Soooo.... 

We got transfer news and I am leaving Bear Creek! I am super surprised because I have only been here for six weeks, but I know I needed to be here and Heavenly Father now needs me elsewhere. So, I'm kind of sad but mostly just excited for a new adventure! Hermana Twitchell is staying here and I will be back for the baptisms of those we found during these last six weeks. 🎉

Me with President and Sister Mortensen

This week was also one of the BEST WEEKS EVER because Hermana Sheirbon (who is now Amanda... still not used to that) my mission mom (trainer) came back to visit! She came with my mission grandma Hermana Lowry! So I got to finally meet her!

Overall we had a great week and saw a lot of miracles! We were visiting people on the ward directory that we didn't know, and we found an inactive man who told us he wants to come back to church! He let us in, and we taught his wife and two kids who aren't members! They were super excited! We taught the Restoration and they asked what they had to do to get baptized. They came to church yesterday and started reading in the Book of Mormon together! We were setting the return appointment and the 15 year old son said that we needed to come back even sooner because he couldn't wait to learn more.

We were also able to set a baptismal date with Cesar Ruiz, from the Ruiz family (the part member family we started working with last week.) He is super pumped! Then we read the story about Ammon chopping off arms and he now loves the Book of Mormon and is excited to read more. (He is an 11 year old boy!)

We spent Saturday helping a family move. (Which made me realize how out of shape I am!) They were super grateful for our help, and it turns out it is another part member family! So, Hermana Twitchell will be back this week to go teach them!

Because this ward is literally the best (I will miss that) we had two parties this week! We had a Father's Day dinner/fiesta and then another party in the park the next day. The park activity was really fun because they grilled up a bunch of carne asada. We ended up having a giant water balloon fight/ confetti egg fight at the end. This member named Marvin brought a bunch of hammocks and his newborn puppies. I was chilling in a hammock, holding a puppy and I mentioned how much I like hammocks, so he gave me one of them! So I am super happy with my hammock straight from Honduras! 🇭🇳

The sad part about this week is that we had our last zone conference with the Mortensens! It was really emotional! President and Sister Mortensen gave us their last trainings. It was so good! I learned so much! Here is just a snippet of what I learned; I literally took pages of notes and nothing I say here will do justice to the Spirit I felt and what I learned. (This is really long so if you don't want to read it all you can just skip to the pictures at the bottom of the email 😉)

Sister Mortensen gave a really good training about enduring to the end. She talked about how in order to expect someone to endure to the end they have to understand the why. She talked about how we spend a lot of time in this mission explaining to why to people (why of church, why of the Book of Mormon, why of commandments etc.) because she and President want to make sure we understand the why so that we do these things for the rest of our lives. She talked about the importance of teaching the why to our kids. She talked about how she saw a teenager take a selfie in the chapel. Their parent told them not to do that, and the teenager asked why. Instead of actually explaining why it wasn't appropriate the parent just said "we don't do that in here." She then contrasted that story with a mission in the South Pacific several years ago. The missionaries in that mission kept bringing food into the chapel and leaving a mess. The mission president told them to stop, but the problem persisted. The mission president reminded them at a zone conference that it was not okay to do that, but the problem persisted. Then the mission president had interview with one of the missionaries and took him inside a chapel. He said "Elder, in about five years you will be standing in a chapel like this in a circle with your priesthood mentors. What will you be doing?" The missionary answered that he would be blessing his baby. Then the mission president pointed to the front and said "and eight years after that you will stand in a chapel like this in a circle with your priesthood mentors again. What will you be doing?" The mission president talked about how he would be confirming that child a member of the church and would bestow upon his child the sacred Gift of the Holy Ghost. Then the mission President talked about how four years after that he would be sitting in a chapel like this and he would watch his son, newly ordained to the priesthood, pass the sacrament for the first time. Four years after, in a chapel, he would watch his son worthily bless the emblems of the sacrament. Then the mission president asked him "now do you understand why we need to keep our chapels sacred? These chapels will bless your life and the lives of your posterity forever." After he helped the missionaries understand they why, the problem stopped. There was never a problem again with food because even when new missionaries came in the older ones would explain the importance of keeping chapels sacred. She talked about a lot of other good things too, but I loved that story! I have spent my entire mission reading Luke 22 with people and explaining why we have to go to church every week, Revelation 12 and explaining why we have to keep the commandments, etc. But, by teaching the why so much I now understand. I will now partake of the sacrament every week for the rest of my life, I will keep the commandments because I understand they protect my agency, I will never go another day in my life without reading in the Book of Mormon. Because I understand, I will make sure my children understand too.

For President's training he talked about how we need to teach our children about agency. President told us when he got set apart he was told that his success as a mission president would not be manifested in the number of baptisms in the mission while he was here, but that it would be manifested by if the children and grandchildren of the missionaries he watched over grow up in the safety of covenants. He told us in his many years serving in the church he has heard parents say they will not force their kids to go to church, go on a mission etc. because their kids "have their agency." President said people who say that do not understand agency.

In Moses 7 we read about how the Lord wept because of the sins of the world. In verse 32 we read:

The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency;

The Lord gave us our knowledge and our agency (freewill.) In verse 33 He tells us why.

33 And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood;

The reason he gave us agency is so that we will choose Him. A perfect plan is in place. The Creation happened so that we can prove ourselves and show that we will do all things He commands us. The Fall is part of the plan because it had to happen; we were in a perfect state perfore the Fall. Physical and spiritual death are a result of the Fall. Physical death has an endpoint; the resurrection will come to pass. Spiritual death (separation from God) does not necessarily have an endpoint; if we do not choose God we remain dead spiritually. We are already cut off from His presence; The only choice we have to make is if we want to live. God gave us agency to choose Him because we love Him. The only way to overcome spiritual death is through the Atonement by using our agency the way it was designed. The reason we have agency is so that we can love Him and choose Him. The point of agency is so that we are able to overcome spiritual death and live forever. The way to overcome spiritual death is to be baptized, receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and retain it through the sacrament. In a leadership conference with General Authorities once someone said that they could choose to pay their tithing or not and Elder Bednar said no, the choice was if they wanted to choose to brake their covenants, which leads to death. They only thing we can choose is to remain alive. We can cancel our covenants, but all else leads to death. We are born dead; the gospel gives us life.

In 2 Nephi 2:14 we read:

And now, my sons, I speak unto you these things for your profit and learning; for there is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon.

All of God's creations are either something to act or something to be acted upon. We were created to be a thing to act, but we often aren't. Sometimes we let things act upon us: permissiveness, technology, the world (great and spacious building,) our body, our emotions, our circumstances etc. If we ever aren't happy it is because we have allowed something to act upon us. We are agents to act and not objects to be acted upon. God gave Adam dominion over ALL things. He did that so the test would be worthwhile and agency would work. If He had given Adam dominion over 99.9% things it wouldn't work. In verse 16 we read:

Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other.

We can do nothing of ourselves unless we are enticed by one or the other, God or Satan. They both have to exist. We have agency to love and choose God. Opposition (made up of "opposing enticers") are the conditions that have to exist. A parent is an opposing enticer (hopefully on God's side.) If a parent says they "will not force" their kids the destiny of that child will be Satan; if a parent sits on the sidelines and does nothing there is only one opposing enticer at work, the world (Satan's side.)

Parents should be the principle enticers for righteousness. In Doctrine and Covenants 68:25 we read:

And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents.

The commandment of the Lord is that parents must teach their children to understand. Kids need to understand the why. If parents do not teach their kids, nothing will happen. When someone understands they will act. In order for understanding to happen there has to be an enticer.

Both President and Sister Mortensen talked about how idleness is a Spirit killer. It's easier for parents to not check their kids' phones or listen to what is playing through their headphones, but, this is about life and death. The enticement for righteousness has to be just as strong as the opposite. The world will not take a break, in fact, there is an active interest to destroy. President told us that, thankfully, the enticement for righteousness prevailed in our lives because we are here on missions. But, no one can choose without being enticed. That's why parents must push their kids to go to church, go on missions, and be baptized. That's why we as missionaries have to badger people to go to church, get baptized etc. We have to badger, they are dying. Captain Moroni didn't care if he was bothering people. If we aren't enticers of righteousness we are doing nothing to help the kingdom of God.

President talked to us a lot about permissiveness and how we can never be permissive. We must expect our kids to do great things, and we have to help them. If we ever aren't encouraging good we are allowing evil.

President reminded us how Satan wants to keep us from making covenants because covenants are safety. Just how Satan attacked us really hard right before we went to the temple and missions, Satan will try his hardest to destroy us right before we get married. President told us once we enter into the new and everlasting covenant and continue living the gospel the influence of Satan will dramatically decrease. Satan was only able to entice Adam and Eve when they weren't together; when we find the right person and are ready to get married in the right place we must not unnecessarily delay it. President gave a really powerful testimony and ended by saying, "I am a disciple of Jesus Christ and will be forever. I expect no less of you."

So, I will really miss them! We ended Zone Conference by going out the door one by one so they could all hug us, take a picture with us, and give us some final words individually. On June 30th President Peterson will get here. President will show him how to do some office things, and then he will give him the phone, keys, and will take off the same day. President Peterson will get set apart by an Apostle the night before and once the wheels of his plane touch down in Houston he will be our new mission president. I will miss the Mortensens, but I already love the Petersons and have been praying for them!

I hope you all have a great week! I will let you know next week where I went and who my new companion is!


Love,




Hermana Bettridge


Fotos:

Amanda and I! I love that she still wears mission appropriate dresses even though she doesn't have to anymore 😉 

Mission grandma, mom, and daughter! (All dramatic blondes) 

  

I got to see Hermana Barrera! ❤️ 

Last district meeting (they are holding up Elder Jones because he is going home)

Last district meeting (they are holding up Elder Jones because he is going home)
Chilling in hammocks with puppies

La Bicicleta 🚴🏼‍♀️ 👗👑

Hola, Hola!!

I woke up to the BEST SURPRISE EVER. MY TRAINER/MOM HERMANA SHEIRBON IS HERE VISITING AND SURPRISED ME!!! I love her so much and am so happy!! So, that pretty much made my entire week. Also this week I had my last interview with President before he goes back to California and the new president comes. It was really good and he talked to us about planning and working more with part member families. Also this week I HIT MY YEAR MARK! I can't believe I have been out a year! I will be coming home in four transfers, which is nothing!

Bikes

This week we were on bikes! No, I'm not as cool as my bff Hermana Calderon, but we spent a day on bikes. We serve in this ward with a set of elders; we have a car but they have bikes. They needed to drive down to eight week follow up, so we were nice and traded them for the day. It was REALLY HOT and REALLY HARD! We were super sore and sweaty after. I am super grateful we have a car! I have a ton of respect for missionaries on bikes! 

Bikes

and more bikes!

This ward is just the best! We planned a noche de hogar with Uvaldo and his family. We told our ward mission leader and invited him and his wife. They brought treats, and they mentioned to the bishop that we were going over there. So the bishopric also showed up last minute because this ward is just that awesome! We taught a fun lesson about prayer. Uvaldo's kids have a hard time praying; they always forget what to say and freeze in the middle. So, we made them this fun dry erase prayer book where they could write out what they wanted to say in their prayer beforehand. It worked and Yulieth said her first prayer all by herself! We were super proud! Later in the week we had another noche de hogar with a less active and her two little girls. We talked to them about prayer too. They are from El Salvador and made us these good frozen, chocolate bananas. 

We spent a lot of this week visiting less actives, former investigators, and part member families. We had a lot of success! Four of the new investigators we found this week came to church! Things are really starting to pick up here!

This week I got to go on an exchange with Hermana Fernandez, who is one of the coolest people ever. This is my fourth exchange with her, and probably my second favorite exchange ever! (my first favorite involved her and Hermana Calderon, but that's another story.) We found some really less actives and a part member family that came to church on Sunday! I love her so much! She is an awesome teacher, and everyone we talked to loved her too! ❤️

This week I was reading in Jeremiah 31. I loved these verses.

31 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:

33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

This prophecy is still unfulfilled, we are now responsible for hastening the work and sharing the gospel with everyone. But, the days will come when everyone will know the Lord.


I was reading a talk by Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone Of the Seventy and he quoted these verses and talked about a training that President Packer gave to General Authorities about how this prophecy will come to pass. He said this training changed his life. He said "President Packer’s message was that we must live worthy to have the Holy Ghost with us 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the rest of our lives. This was not a message for us only; it is a message for every member of the Church. Can you imagine what would happen if every man, woman, youth, and child lived in such a way as to qualify? We would startle the world."


I know that our lives will be blessed as we live worthy to have the Spirit with us ALWAYS! We can do that by testifying every day, not just when we're called on to speak once a year. We can study and ponder the scriptures every day. And we can pray always!

Que tengan una buena semana!


Love,



Hermana Bettridge



Fotos: 

Me with Presidente 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Noche de hogar 🏡 

Hermana Fernandez "La reina de Mexico" (jk, that's what people call la virgen de Guadalupe)

El Bautismo de Yulieth y Lysandra!

Hola, hola!


This week was great because Yulieth and Lysandra got baptized! (They are ten and eight! Super adorable!) And their dad, Uvaldo, got to baptize them! It was a very happy day! We have been working with Uvaldo the whole time I've been here to help him prepare to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. He was super nervous to baptize them, but everything turned out great and they were so happy! He got to stand in the circle for their confirmations the next day too.

La familia Coronel! Yulieth wore the dress I wore when I was baptized twelve years ago! Uvaldo's other kids are 6 and 7, so they will be getting baptized soon too. Aren't they all adorable? Another cute thing about them is that they speak more Spanish than English. 

Another random highlight from the week was that a member drove an hour to H3 to buy tacos from her favorite taco stand, and then shared them with us! 

We did a lot of finding this week and only managed to find two new investigators, but they are pretty cool! It is a mom and daughter we found knocking doors. Their names are Alberta and Lesley. We had a lot of luck with the last Lesley, so we will see what happens! 😊


Yesterday President Mortensen invited us all to fast only for gratitude and not to ask for anything. I became a little more aware of how much I have been blessed with! Even though life can be hard sometimes, I have so much to be thankful for! If any of you are ever feeling sad this week, I would invite you to think of all of the awesome things in your lives! I love this scripture in 2 Nephi 9:52, "remember the words of your God; pray unto him continually by day, and give thanks unto his holy name by night. Let your hearts rejoice."

Have an awesome week!!!


Love,




Hermana Bettridge (who will be officially out for one year this Thursday!!!)




Fotos:

This is Giselle and she left for her mission today! She got baptized around two years ago and is awesome! She's going to kill it down in the Houston South Mission. This is me at her party pretending she already has a tag 😜 

Here's everyone in the ward that came to her party! 🎉 

This is one of my favorite members, Hermana Ferreyra. She is from Argentina and makes the best empañadas I have ever eaten. 

And here's her dog, Lady. 🐶 

Here's the district at district meeting. There was this whole problem where the elders' car keys got stolen so we ended up having district meeting in the conference room of their apartment complex. It was super fancy and we got hot chocolate and cookies. 🍪 

Here's me reading the Book of Mormon to a cat that was following us around while we were tracting 🐱