Hola

Hello!

Ivan got baptized! He told us he was so happy and that he felt the Holy Ghost

This week we ended up dropping everyone, but then it was okay because we found 12 new investigators who are all pretty solid! We met this one cool family on the sidewalk and just gave them an #ILUMINAelMUNDO card because they didn't act interested and then they randomly came to church and brought their four kids! We have a return appointment with them this week.

Us with Santa at the Ward Christmas party. 

Us with Albert at the Mexican, karaoke bar he took us to for dinner

I don't have a ton of time to write today because we are going to the museum with the elders for p day. But, he are some pictures from the week!


Also, here is a video of Hermana Kiser and I practicing for our sacrament meeting performance of "Silent Night." (The performance ended up being 10x better than the video! Which is especially impressive because I taught myself how to play the piano in one week.)

Love you!

Love,

Hermana Bettridge

Six months!!!

HOLA!

Hermana Kiser, Carol and me

Me, Hermana Kiser, Carol and the elder that performed the baptism

This was kind of a hard week for me, but some awesome things happened! The most exciting thing that happened was Carol's baptism! We are so excited she took that step to follow Christ! She was so happy! Also, I will HIT MY SIX MONTH MARK THIS WEEK! I can't believe I am 1/3 done!

This last week Hermana Kiser and I learned how to play the piano so there could be an accompanist at the baptism. It worked out because when Carol was nervous we said "It's okay! We are nervous too! We are playing the piano in public for the first time in our lives and we are nervous too but we're doing it because we love you!" So we played the piano and it wasn't that awful!

Our investigator, Ivan, will be getting baptized this Saturday. He is super excited! His grandma is an active member of the Spanish ward. He is ten and is so cute! A few weeks ago he told us he didn't know if the Book of Mormon was true, so we told him that he needed to pray and ask Heavenly Father. He said he wanted to do it now. He kneeled down and said "Heavenly Father, is the Book of Mormon true? In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." Then he sat in silence for like thirty seconds with his eyes closed and said "It IS true!" Super cute! Yesterday we taught him about missionary work and service and we talked about Ammon (who he thinks is the coolest for the arm chopping) and he asked if he could be a missionary like us one day. We told him "of course!" He said he hopes he gets called to Hawaii. Then I put my tag on him and we learned the song "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission." (See video below)

Natividad, unfortunately, did not get baptized on Saturday because she drank coffee. We are continuing to work with her and we know she can do it!

Houston Spanish North Zone!

We have been loving the #LIGHTtheWORLD initiative! I have loved focusing on serving others in a specific way every day like Christ would! I would encourage everyone to accept the challenge and go to mormon.org to find ideas to serve.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

#ILUMINAelMUNDO

Hola, amigos!

Hermana Kiser and I were both sick this week, so that wasn't fun, but we didn't let it stop us! We had a great week and a great Thanksgiving!

Albert and Carolyn at the grocery store

This week we were handing out cards (about Christmas!) in a Mexican grocery store parking lot and we ran into one of our recent coverts, Albert. We, half joking, asked him if he wanted to hand out cards with us. He handed out more cards than we did because he literally chased people down he was so excited. The next day he texted us and asked us what time we were going to hand out cards because he thought it was so fun! So, if you are in need of some fun this week, go street contacting with the missionaries!

Our awesome investigator, Carol, went to visit her daughter in Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. She lives in a town around three hours from where I live, but my parents drove up to meet her! They loved her and I am so happy they got to meet her. She is getting baptized on Saturday and we cannot wait!!!

Mom and Dad with Carol

One of my favorite parts of the week was black Friday! Not for the shopping, but because we got to help a member decorate her house for Christmas! It got me really in the Christmas spirit! (As if I wasn't already)

We ate Thanksgiving dinner with Ivan and his family

 

Yesterday we were asked to speak at a youth fireside about preparing to serve a mission. So, I gave a whole talk in Spanish and it went well! Everyone always asks us how we know Spanish and I always say "Dios nos ayuda!" (God helps us!) Honestly, that is the only reason I am able to communicate with people. I know that He really does qualify the called.

This week we started contacting using the Christmas initiative. We know Christ is the reason we celebrate Christmas, but what kind of things do you think Christ would want us to do to celebrate? Christ would want us to do what He did, He would want us to help others. We need to serve others and treat them with Christlike love. I would encourage everyone to watch the awesome video below about Christ's life and how we can make Christmas more about Him! (It's only three minutes long... 😉) Also on mormon.org is an advent calendar that gives service ideas for every day in December.

Here is an example of ideas for December 1st:

Thursday, December 1st

Jesus Lifted Others' Burdens and So Can You
Pray and ask Heavenly Father to make you more aware of those around you that need help carrying their burdens
Volunteer to help a friend move
Read Matthew 11: 28-30 and then discuss with others how the Savior can help us through life's most difficult challenges
Snowing outside? Lift up your shovel to clear an elderly neighbor's driveway
Share an experience on social media when prayer helped you carry a burden
Do you know a caregiver for an elderly or disabled adult? Take some time to visit the caregiver. Ask if there are any errands you can run for him or her.
Students: offer to carry someone's backpacks for him or her. Try and think of someone who could really use some kindness.

I am going to do these things every day and I will keep you updated on how we do :) I would encourage you all to follow the link and #LIGHTtheWORLD this Christmas!


I love you all!

Love,



Hermana Bettridge



Video Link:

https://www.mormon.org/christmas/light-the-world

Advent Link:

https://www.mormon.org/christmas/in-25-ways-over-25-days

Hermana Kiser's Birth Week

 

Hello !

Hermana Kiser and I partying at Zone Conference!

This was a fun week because it was Hermana Kiser's birth week! We are also excited because we found out last night that we will be staying together in H3 (the area of Houston we are in) for the next six weeks!

We had an amazing zone conference this week! President talked to us about the importance of commandments.

(More pictures from the mission presidents blog can be found by clicking HERE)

I hope everyone has an amazing dia del acción de gracias!

Love,



Hermana Bettridge

Us with Carol! She is getting baptized next week!

 Us with Natividad

Hermana Kiser and I at Zone Conference

Our district at Hermana Kiser's birthday party!

Us at the ward Thanksgiving party with Natividad's son (he wanted to keep the party hat on) (we accidentally broke the turkey table decoration)


Here are a few more pictures of Carolyn from another blog:

(More pictures from Carolyn's mission president's blog can be found by clicking HERE)

"God will make America great again." - A church sign

Hello!

This was an awesome week for us because we got to go to the temple! This week we also had a big service project and a Spanish fireside. This upcoming week will be awesome too because we have Zone Conference and we have the service project again. And it is Hermana Kiser's birthday tomorrow!

Hermana Kiser and I!

Hermana Sheirbon and I (My mom!) 🎉 

My district at the temple

The week started out with the service project. The Houston Health Department and Project Saving Smiles teamed up to provide dental care to at risk second graders. Hermana Kiser and I got to teach the kids about dental sealants and how to take care of their teeth before they saw the dentist. I was surprised by the number of kids who had just moved here and did not speak English yet. (Thankfully we speak Spanish! 😉) We are going back this week too!

Natividad and Carol are doing great and came to church this week! Natividad's kids loved primary. We also started teaching a nine year old named Ivan. His grandma is a member. He came to church on Sunday and loved primary! He is excited to get baptized.

We had a Spanish fireside which is the coolest thing ever! All of the Spanish missionaries in the mission get together (so I got to see all of my friends!) along with our investigators, recent converts, and whoever wants to come! Recent converts bear their testimonies and talk about their conversion and the missionaries all sing. It was so powerful! President Mortensen also spoke (he served a mission in Puerto Rico and he still speaks really well!) He talked about finding peace. I know that the peace we seek comes from having a relationship with our Heavenly Father. We are children of God and He loves us. He truly hears and answers our prayers.

My old district at the Spanish fireside

Que tengan una buena semana!

❤️ Hermana Bettridge

Five Months

We decorated pumpkins with Deysi's kids

Happy November!

It's crazy that I have been a missionary for five months now! I absolutely love it though and the time has gone by so fast!

Us with Destiny and her siblings. We made day of the dead cookies my family sent us

My favorite moment of the week happened while I was on an exchange. I was with another hermana and we went to teach Carol. She asked Carol how she met the missionaries. Carol said, "They came and knocked on my door. They found me!" It was so cute! It made the 100s of doors I've knocked with no success worth it! Carol is doing amazing! She finished 1 Nephi this week and loves the Book of Mormon! She also came to church for the first time on Sunday and loved it! She cannot wait for her baptism on December 3rd! She is also super excited to go to the temple and be baptized for her mom and grandma.


Destiny and Natividad are also doing awesome and are preparing for baptism. We are also still working with Deysi and her family. I would appreciate if you would keep Deysi in your prayers. We fasted with her this week that her husband's heart would be softened so that she and the kids can come to church and be baptized.


We are continuing to teach our investigators, build the wards here, find new people to teach, and teach English classes. And we jam out to Christmas songs in the car in between all of that. I really hope Hermana Kiser and I stay together next transfer because we both like Christmas more than the average person and want to spend it together.


Today we are going downtown to go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, so that should be fun! This is going to be a great week because we get to go to the temple and we have zone conference! We are helping with a big service project over the next two weeks. We will be spending several days working with the Houston Health Department and Project Saving Smiles to provide at risk elementary school students with dental care. Hermana Kiser is a nursing student, so maybe we will get to do something cooler than everyone else too! :)



Have a great week!




Love,




Hermana Bettridge

Our zone! (Texas Houston North Spanish!) We talked about how we are all the pistons of the engine at zone meeting.

Dia de Halloween

Hola and Happy Halloween!

Today was fun because it was dia de preparación and Halloween! Our P-day lasted until 4 today, we proselyted from 4-7, and now we are in our apartments.

This was a crazy week! We taught 23 lessons! (Which is a lot for us!) This week we saw a miracle with a new investigator, Carol. We found her knocking last week and taught her the Restoration on Monday. She loved it! When we came back she had read 1 Nephi 1 six times! So, we set a date with her to be baptized December 3rd! She is super excited to get baptized! We are working with lots of other awesome people right now too!

We were also able to set a baptismal date with our investigator, Natividad! She came to church this week with her kids and they loved it!

I know I talk about temples a lot and many of my non Mormon friends do not understand, so I will explain one purpose of temples. 

We read in the New Testament in 1 Peter 3: 18-19 what Christ did during the three

days between his death and resurrection.

18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the

unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the

flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

We read in this scripture that Christ went and preached to those who did not have the opportunity to learn about Him and His gospel during their lifetime. Everyone will have the chance to learn about Him! But, we read in John 3:5 that baptism is the key to living with God again.

These people do not have bodies. They are dead and are in the world of spirits. They can not be baptized.

In 1 Corinthians 15:29 we read about what Christ's original church did for these people.

29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the

dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?

They were performing baptisms for the dead. Christ's church has been restored on the Earth today, and the temple is where these baptisms are performed. In the temple we can be baptized in place of our ancestors that did not get the chance to learn about Christ. They then can accept or reject the baptism after they learn about Him. I am so grateful for the knowledge that those who have passed on without ever hearing about Jesus Christ can learn about Him and accept Him.

I hope you all have a great week and a fun Halloween!

Love,

Hermana Bettridge


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