Again, I missed this one too! I forward on to everyone in the contact list but I guess I was forgetting to post. I apologize! This is his report on General Conference October 2012.
October 8, 2012
Hello there everyone!! I really hope you had a chance to watch conference this past weekend!! Holy Smokes can you believe it??? 18 yrs old for boys and 19 for girls!!! When I heard that I seriously was freakin out and didnt know what to think! haha anyway I will talk a little bit more about conference in just a little bit!
So this last week went really well!! So monday and tuesday nothing too exciting happened but on wednesday we had a zone meeting! There were two men that came in from the proselyting division from Salt lake city and talked to the leaders of the mission on how to triple our baptizms!! That was what our zone meeting was about and it was all stuff that was like oh well Duh.... but no one ever thought of it before! haha so that was a good meeting:) After the meeting I went on an exchange with one of the zone leaders to chapel hill:) well instead of going to UNC campus we went to duke and I got to teach a lesson to a guy in the Duke Chapel!! Pretty neat huh?? haha crazy story though.. when we were on our way there we were driving on a small 2 ln highway.(kind of like highway 89) So we were driving and next thing we know we see this car in the distance slowly swerve into our lane and started coming head on with us. We saw that and just got into the right lane but as we did that the car followed... I was for sure we were going to slam head on!! Elder Christiansen (Zone leader) slammed on the breaks and at the very last second this woman swerves out of the way and barely misses us!! Luckily for us there were no other cars on the road, in the middle of the city pretty much in mid day... Wow can you believe that!! The lord was watching over us there, thats for sure!! haha so thats my crazy story of the week! So that night I ended up getting really sick and I got maybe an hour of sleep! I was sweating and had a fever and sore throat and everyting... yea no beuno!! (if your wondering, I have been learning some new languages out here) haha but anyway so that was pretty much all that happened on that exchange!!
The next two days until conference werent too productive cause I was so sick and just feeling like crud! But saturday I was just fine! So saturday was conference day and my favorite talk was Elder Neilsons talk about "if you have a question, ask the Missionaries, they can help you!!" haha oh that was so good I loved it! We went to a members home for dinner that night and he is still really young! married 2 years maybe... haha anyway he is sooo funny he was telling us all of his mission stories and I laughed so hard at them! He took us to Preisthood session afterwords! It was an all around great day!
Now onto sunday!! This day was the highlight of my week... You may be wondering why I waited till last to tell about it... hmmm well I guess I dont have a real answer for it other than its how it fell in order this week... I dunno!! haha anyway so I had a great study on sunay morning! I read in Alma 26 and this is where Ammon is seeing the blessings of being able to bring the lamanites into the gospel! As I read that I pondered my blessings I have in my life and what the lord has done for me! I never realized how much he has done for me until I read this and really pondered my blessings in my life! He then goes on to say in verse 12, "yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all thing; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." This whole chapter hit me hard that I need to be better and give thanks to the lord more for what he has given me! Dont overlook the small blessings in your life because sometimes its the small blessings that mean the most to us! I know that with the power of our Father in Heaven in me, I will be able to accomplish the things that he has sent me here to do in North Carolina!
Now moving on to the later part of the day! Sorry almost done... haha So we went to Brother Mcdonalds house to watch the first session of conference and we watched it with Katharine as well!! Wwwhhooooaaaaa wasnt Elder Holland just amazing as always!! Wow he is so powerful! haha anyway so after conference we taught Katharine the first discussion and invited her to be baptized! As we promised her the blessings that would come from living this gospel and being baptized she smiled and looked at us and said "yes I want to be baptized!!" We were so stoked i was just so happy!! So for now we have the date set with her for Nov 3:):) We are going to be meeting with her 2 times a week till then to get her ready! :) Now not only is that going good but Brother Mcdonald is making a huge turn around in his life as well! He has taken his ear rings out and is beginning to live the gospel righteously again! He told us that he couldnt have done it without us! Just the whole situation of how we can across him and met Katharine... Just an absolute blessing!!! :)
Well I Hope all of you have a great week!!
One of my new favorite qutoes: "Remember, you always stand taller when your on your knees!"
I love and miss all of you!! :)
Elder Betker!! :)
Monday, October 22, 2012
A Solid Investigator...
Hello everyone!!
Mom's Note: Sorry Guys! I didn't realize I had missed one til I posted today's and saw there weren't any others for October! Here is the one from last week and the totally funny pic of him in a top hat?
October 15, 2012
This past week in NC has been really great! It was a little slower week but really nothing to complain about! :) We had two lessons with Katharine at Bro. Mcdonalds house. The first lesson we taught her was on tuesday. We taught her the plan of salvation and she understood that really well! She has been reading everyday and is already on page like 150!! And she is retaining everything that she is reading too so thats great! Thursday we taught her the Doctrine of Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End) She is really excited about getting baptized. And Brother Mcdonald is coming back way strong into the church as well. haha we saw him and Katharine at Stake Conference this past week and he bought himself a new set of scriptures and a new suit! haha he is such a stud! He is actually driving us to durham today for our pday cause its one of the elders bdays in our district and we are limited on miles so we are all going to go and just have a good time today!
We are still working on finding new people to teach! this last week we found quite a few potentials that seemed interested that we are going to go back and see tomorrow and hopfully start to teach them! Although things in our area are kinda slow again we are feeling so blessed for the things that we do have right now! One solid investigator is better than none:) haha so in stake conference our mission president and his wife came and spoke to everyone about missionary work! It was such a solid talk about having the members more involved in missionary work! Believe it or not, well in our mission at least, 83% of our baptisms come from member referrals or part member families so they are continuing to stress the importance of having members involved in missionary work!
Oh my Gosh so this last week I probably had one of the worst meals of my life. Not that the food wasnt good but the environment was just... I cant explain it.. Trashed! So this sweet old lady wanted to feed us from the ward so she had her non member daughter and son in law come pick us up. (i dunno if we were even allowed to ride with them or not...) haha so first of all there car just smelled like smoke and it was nasty. So we got to the house and there was just junk and trash thrown all over the place!!! Then we get inside and the Member had made us chicken pot pie which was really good, but the daughter and son in law were just gross and burping!! haha yea it was just not a very spirit inviting environment! I now know why people stress the importance of getting a good eduction!! So we dont have to live in that kind of an environment!! I felt so bad for the old lady cause the others were just rude and she was a sweet old lady! so elder hansen and I shared a great message with her and brought the spirit into her life again! I know that probably sound rude of me to say that stuff... Oops! haha but yea..
Well thats about all for this last week, it was just a great all around week! Just a quick side note... At stake conference I got to meet Coach Dorince (however you spell his name) He is the head coach for the girls soccer team and UNC and also a former womans USA soccer coach! He coached Mia Hamm and is very famous!! and also Stilman White, the basketball player for UNC.. (ask Bruce if you dont know who he is.) He just got called to the Ogden UT mission!! Pretty neat huh? haha
Love to you all!
Mom's Note: Sorry Guys! I didn't realize I had missed one til I posted today's and saw there weren't any others for October! Here is the one from last week and the totally funny pic of him in a top hat?
October 15, 2012
This past week in NC has been really great! It was a little slower week but really nothing to complain about! :) We had two lessons with Katharine at Bro. Mcdonalds house. The first lesson we taught her was on tuesday. We taught her the plan of salvation and she understood that really well! She has been reading everyday and is already on page like 150!! And she is retaining everything that she is reading too so thats great! Thursday we taught her the Doctrine of Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End) She is really excited about getting baptized. And Brother Mcdonald is coming back way strong into the church as well. haha we saw him and Katharine at Stake Conference this past week and he bought himself a new set of scriptures and a new suit! haha he is such a stud! He is actually driving us to durham today for our pday cause its one of the elders bdays in our district and we are limited on miles so we are all going to go and just have a good time today!
We are still working on finding new people to teach! this last week we found quite a few potentials that seemed interested that we are going to go back and see tomorrow and hopfully start to teach them! Although things in our area are kinda slow again we are feeling so blessed for the things that we do have right now! One solid investigator is better than none:) haha so in stake conference our mission president and his wife came and spoke to everyone about missionary work! It was such a solid talk about having the members more involved in missionary work! Believe it or not, well in our mission at least, 83% of our baptisms come from member referrals or part member families so they are continuing to stress the importance of having members involved in missionary work!
Oh my Gosh so this last week I probably had one of the worst meals of my life. Not that the food wasnt good but the environment was just... I cant explain it.. Trashed! So this sweet old lady wanted to feed us from the ward so she had her non member daughter and son in law come pick us up. (i dunno if we were even allowed to ride with them or not...) haha so first of all there car just smelled like smoke and it was nasty. So we got to the house and there was just junk and trash thrown all over the place!!! Then we get inside and the Member had made us chicken pot pie which was really good, but the daughter and son in law were just gross and burping!! haha yea it was just not a very spirit inviting environment! I now know why people stress the importance of getting a good eduction!! So we dont have to live in that kind of an environment!! I felt so bad for the old lady cause the others were just rude and she was a sweet old lady! so elder hansen and I shared a great message with her and brought the spirit into her life again! I know that probably sound rude of me to say that stuff... Oops! haha but yea..
Well thats about all for this last week, it was just a great all around week! Just a quick side note... At stake conference I got to meet Coach Dorince (however you spell his name) He is the head coach for the girls soccer team and UNC and also a former womans USA soccer coach! He coached Mia Hamm and is very famous!! and also Stilman White, the basketball player for UNC.. (ask Bruce if you dont know who he is.) He just got called to the Ogden UT mission!! Pretty neat huh? haha
Love to you all!
Christ is EVERYWHERE!
From Mom: As you will read... Spence is doing great and enjoying the work! These are just a couple of the pics he sent this week. :)
Support him by sending letters to the Mission address and then he'll receive them at different times. He loves getting mail!
Hello everyone!!
So I dont really know where to start with this letter so I guess I will start with last monday after I wrote! So Brother Mcdonald picked us up on monday and we went shopping at the mall in Durham cause we dont really have much here in mebane and he bought elder hansen and I new ties! Then he bought us dinner at a way good burger place kind of like 5 guys and was really really good!
We had two lessons with Katharine this week and she is doing really well! still wanting to be baptized onthe 3rd so thats good:) I had the joyous opportunity of teaching her the Law of Chastity:) haha oh that was fun! haha jk it wasnt really as bad as I had thought! :) She has definitely been being prepared by the lord for us! She had pretty much been living all the commandments other than drinking tea and not doing things on sunday and now she is doing really well with them so she has been a huge blessing in our lives! We are teaching Brother Mcdonalds 9 yr old daughter and wants to be baptized as well so we are going to set a date with her this week when we see her! :)
On wednesday we had an exchange with the Durham 4th ward elders! i went to durham for the night and we had service planned for ALL DAY LONG!! now your probably thinking, hey service is always a good thing right.. ahah I thought so too till I was taking off and reshingling a roof for 7 hours! haha oh that was a fun day! that is pretty much all that we did that day cause the service took all day long! :) Gotta love service! But I learned how to re shingle a roof properly so that was good! :) now I know how to take one off and put it back on:) Im set;)
So saturday and sunday were really good days for us! This is when the miracles of the week started to come into play! So saturday Elder hansen and I were just out and about and we got a call from a self referral we had been trying to contact for a few weeks and he said that he wanted to be taught the lessons so we are going to see him tomorrow:) Then at church after sacrament meeting there was a little girl who is 9 yrs old and cousins of some girls in the ward and she came up to us and said "can you teach me what I need to know so I can be baptized?" So that was a huge blessing and we are going to start teaching her next week as well! Then after church we were talking with some ward members and they saw some former investigators that were being taught a long time ago in our area by some other elders, and they had a baptismal date and everything but it just didnt happen... the members were friends with them and they talked to them and they want to get taught again so we will be teaching them next week as well! :) Just the past few days have been filled with blessings! :) The Lord is blessing us and our area!
So just a quick few funny things that happened to me this week, so monday i got slobbered on by brother mcdonalds huge dog that weighs 150 lbs! (In the picture!) We picked her up from somewhere in durham and she rode in the back on the way home after p-day last week and I got the honors of sitting in back with her! Then we were out on an exchange with brother Nelson and we were in the backwoods of flippin no where... He needed to turn around and got stuck in the mud so elder hansen and I got out and pushed him in the mud and we got filthy! And last but not least, we had a member deliver pizza to us for dinner one night and I was looking at the sticker on the front of the box and it said, "your pizza experience was managed by christ!" haha (in the picture)
So yea pretty much thats how my week went and I am looking forward to another great week here in the mission!! I love you and miss you all! :)
"When God speaks and the man obeys, the man will always be right!" - President Monson
Love you!
Elder Betker!!
Monday, October 1, 2012
Smiling again!
From Mom: Oh what a difference a week makes! I'm grateful my sweet boy has an amazing attitude to pull him through the rough spots. Thanks for all your prayers, love and support... they paid off!
Hellllllooooo everyone! :)
This week has been a much better week than last! Although we did have to drop all of our investigators we had from before because they werent progressing or keeping appts, we have a new solid investigator named Katharine! So the story with her is actually I think a miracle that we have been waiting for. So Brother Mcdonald (Huge burley guy with massive black beard and bald) is the less active we found the other week if you remember me talking about him. So we invited him out to church and he came but he brought a young lady with him.... This is when we first met Katharine. So for the past three weeks we have had a meal with them every week and they have been coming to church every week since. Katharine told us yesterday that she is wanting to take the discussions!!! :) We were so excited when she said that cause we hadnt taught her up to this point but she had been coming to church every week for the past 3 weeks! So we have dinner then an appt with her and Bro Mcdonald this week:)
That was the main event of the week pretty much but there was alot of other pretty cool miracles that we had throughout the week as well. So we had an exchange with a member of the ward this past week and we went to see this lady who was a referral. She lived about 20 min in the middle of flippin no where!!! Dont ask me how we found the house cause the gps couldnt even recognize the address but we found it. haha so we got there and the house looked abandoned.. and this man walked up to us from the shed behind us and scared us half to death!! We asked if the lady we were looking for was home and he said she had moved to Colorado! We then started talking to him and we shared with him about our message and everything and he wanted us to come back and teach him so that was a blessing as well!
I had an exchange with Elder Cole and Elder Lopez on friday this last week just for the day because the leaders had a leadership meeting! So we rode our bikes around in chapel hill and we placed 3 copies of the book of mormon and got 2 return appointments for later this week! Unfortunately it wasnt in my area but hey, at least I can say I did something right? haha But yea Chapel Hill is amazing! I love riding on campus and talking to the college students there! I actually had my first bike accident that day! We were riding back to the Apartment and we were cruisin down this HUGE hill!! Elder Cole decides to slam on his breaks to talk to this lady and as he was doing that i realized what was going on so i slammed on mine and stopped but Elder Lopez wasnt to cautious of what was going on and slammed right into the side of me at the bottom of the hill!! Luckily I wasnt hurt and my bike was okay so were all good there! haha
Church on sunday was so good! The spirit from the testimonies was absolutely amazing!! I am really thinking that the spirit that was felt in sacrament meeting is what made Katharine want to take the discussions! It was just overwhelming I loved it so much! So after church we went to the kitchen at our building cause some members said they left some left overs for us in the fridge. We got there and I kid you not, probably a 2 weeks suply in sandwiches, 6 gallon size bags of fruit, a 54 piece box of rice crispys, a box of oreos and then some other goodies as well!! we are stalked for a good 3 more weeks!! :) haha it was great!
Well there is really no other news here from last week! things are really starting to pick up again! I will be sure to let you know what happens with katharine!!
I miss you and love you all!
Elder Betker! :)
Hellllllooooo everyone! :)
This week has been a much better week than last! Although we did have to drop all of our investigators we had from before because they werent progressing or keeping appts, we have a new solid investigator named Katharine! So the story with her is actually I think a miracle that we have been waiting for. So Brother Mcdonald (Huge burley guy with massive black beard and bald) is the less active we found the other week if you remember me talking about him. So we invited him out to church and he came but he brought a young lady with him.... This is when we first met Katharine. So for the past three weeks we have had a meal with them every week and they have been coming to church every week since. Katharine told us yesterday that she is wanting to take the discussions!!! :) We were so excited when she said that cause we hadnt taught her up to this point but she had been coming to church every week for the past 3 weeks! So we have dinner then an appt with her and Bro Mcdonald this week:)
That was the main event of the week pretty much but there was alot of other pretty cool miracles that we had throughout the week as well. So we had an exchange with a member of the ward this past week and we went to see this lady who was a referral. She lived about 20 min in the middle of flippin no where!!! Dont ask me how we found the house cause the gps couldnt even recognize the address but we found it. haha so we got there and the house looked abandoned.. and this man walked up to us from the shed behind us and scared us half to death!! We asked if the lady we were looking for was home and he said she had moved to Colorado! We then started talking to him and we shared with him about our message and everything and he wanted us to come back and teach him so that was a blessing as well!
I had an exchange with Elder Cole and Elder Lopez on friday this last week just for the day because the leaders had a leadership meeting! So we rode our bikes around in chapel hill and we placed 3 copies of the book of mormon and got 2 return appointments for later this week! Unfortunately it wasnt in my area but hey, at least I can say I did something right? haha But yea Chapel Hill is amazing! I love riding on campus and talking to the college students there! I actually had my first bike accident that day! We were riding back to the Apartment and we were cruisin down this HUGE hill!! Elder Cole decides to slam on his breaks to talk to this lady and as he was doing that i realized what was going on so i slammed on mine and stopped but Elder Lopez wasnt to cautious of what was going on and slammed right into the side of me at the bottom of the hill!! Luckily I wasnt hurt and my bike was okay so were all good there! haha
Church on sunday was so good! The spirit from the testimonies was absolutely amazing!! I am really thinking that the spirit that was felt in sacrament meeting is what made Katharine want to take the discussions! It was just overwhelming I loved it so much! So after church we went to the kitchen at our building cause some members said they left some left overs for us in the fridge. We got there and I kid you not, probably a 2 weeks suply in sandwiches, 6 gallon size bags of fruit, a 54 piece box of rice crispys, a box of oreos and then some other goodies as well!! we are stalked for a good 3 more weeks!! :) haha it was great!
Well there is really no other news here from last week! things are really starting to pick up again! I will be sure to let you know what happens with katharine!!
I miss you and love you all!
Elder Betker! :)
Monday, September 24, 2012
A Little Discouraged... :(
From Mom: It finally hit him. This has been a rough week for my boy and he is struggling. Please send him letters with words of encouragement.
He sent a package with a fresh SD card full of pics, which should arrive today. As soon as I have some fun new ones to put up, I will and then notify on FB when they are added. Have a great week friends and please write Spence! :)
9.24.2012
Wow this week has been something else... I dont really know how to explain everything that has happened.. haha well wednesday was the temple trip and i think i explained a little about that! Temple here is beautiful but it is really small! literally the size of a church building! ha So anyway I think i explained why i wrote so late last week, because our rides car broke and I am pretty sure that is what triggered the chain of event of what happened this week!....
So this week we had several appointments set up with our investigators and with people we had met and gotten return appointments with! We should have had 6 appointments this week but every single one of them fell through... :( Pam was sick and Tabitha's husband she is going through a divorce with got put in jail for trying to steal a TV from walmart!!! haha yea pretty stupid if you ask me! But anyway so that was discouraging for us. Then it seemed like every house we stopped by or everyone we talked to just shut us down in a way that it wasnt just saying no thank you, it was them telling us we were worshippers of satin and just slammed the door in our face! ha yea so its been a pretty brutal week! We have been praying to know what we need to do differently to find those who are ready for our message but nothing has come to us yet but it will! we just need to be patient with things:) Its not like we arent trying new things and working hard though and thats what is frustrating about it... We feel like we are doing all we know how to do.. The Bible Belt is an extrememly hard place to serve!! Maybe things will pick up this week though:) I just gotta keep my head up! :)
Well on the up side of things, i gave my first blessing in the mission field this past week! :) We had dinner at a memebers home and their daughter had just had surgery and they asked if we would give them a blessing! I was nervous at first cause it was my first blessing but it was really really good! the spirit took over and the words just flowed right out of my mouth:) And also we have been working alot with our less acitives and they all came to church on sunday so we had 6 less active families there on sunday and they are all wanting to get back in the swing of things and get their temple recommends again:) YAY!
Ugh I wish I had more to write this week but its really just been a discouraging week for us it seems like! :( We will keep our heads up and continue to work to the best of our abilities! :) Elder hansen and I are going to play some long toss with a baseball today so I am really looking forward to that! Keep us in your prayers:)
i love you all! :) Miss you a ton! :)
Elder "javelin" Betker
He sent a package with a fresh SD card full of pics, which should arrive today. As soon as I have some fun new ones to put up, I will and then notify on FB when they are added. Have a great week friends and please write Spence! :)
9.24.2012
Wow this week has been something else... I dont really know how to explain everything that has happened.. haha well wednesday was the temple trip and i think i explained a little about that! Temple here is beautiful but it is really small! literally the size of a church building! ha So anyway I think i explained why i wrote so late last week, because our rides car broke and I am pretty sure that is what triggered the chain of event of what happened this week!....
So this week we had several appointments set up with our investigators and with people we had met and gotten return appointments with! We should have had 6 appointments this week but every single one of them fell through... :( Pam was sick and Tabitha's husband she is going through a divorce with got put in jail for trying to steal a TV from walmart!!! haha yea pretty stupid if you ask me! But anyway so that was discouraging for us. Then it seemed like every house we stopped by or everyone we talked to just shut us down in a way that it wasnt just saying no thank you, it was them telling us we were worshippers of satin and just slammed the door in our face! ha yea so its been a pretty brutal week! We have been praying to know what we need to do differently to find those who are ready for our message but nothing has come to us yet but it will! we just need to be patient with things:) Its not like we arent trying new things and working hard though and thats what is frustrating about it... We feel like we are doing all we know how to do.. The Bible Belt is an extrememly hard place to serve!! Maybe things will pick up this week though:) I just gotta keep my head up! :)
Well on the up side of things, i gave my first blessing in the mission field this past week! :) We had dinner at a memebers home and their daughter had just had surgery and they asked if we would give them a blessing! I was nervous at first cause it was my first blessing but it was really really good! the spirit took over and the words just flowed right out of my mouth:) And also we have been working alot with our less acitives and they all came to church on sunday so we had 6 less active families there on sunday and they are all wanting to get back in the swing of things and get their temple recommends again:) YAY!
Ugh I wish I had more to write this week but its really just been a discouraging week for us it seems like! :( We will keep our heads up and continue to work to the best of our abilities! :) Elder hansen and I are going to play some long toss with a baseball today so I am really looking forward to that! Keep us in your prayers:)
i love you all! :) Miss you a ton! :)
Elder "javelin" Betker
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Elder Javelin... LOL
From Mom: I apologize this is so late but I only just got the email yesterday! You will read about the excursion which bumped his PDay and continued happiness from the Atlantic!
Hello everyone!! Elder Betker here...
So first of all I am sorry for the late letter this week! We had a temple trip today so we didnt have pday on monday! So the temple is an hour away and our rides car broke down as he was coming back to get us so that set us back a few hours as well:( So anyway yea thats why this is such a late letter!!
Well I guess let me start with the beginning of the week last week... So Elder Hansen and I were out on our bikes and we saw a woman in her driveway watering her flowers.. so we stopped and introduced ourselves and she seemed so happy to talk to us!! Well let me tell you, we were wrong! After about 5 minutes of us talking to her she told us that she was a Bornagain and she began telling us all of her experiences! So she starts out by saying that early in her life (maybe 20's) she had an experience where Jesus came and took her out of her body and took her into heaven and she saw the power of God! Then she said she saw satin blow up in heaven and jesus took 10 demons out of her! So she then goes on to talk about how when she was put back into her body that when she opened up the bible, God took her hand and flipped it through every page and everything she had just experienced was glowing! Let me tell you, this woman was Crazy!!!! haha so anyway we went on to say that we believed in the Bible as well as she did and then introduced the Book of Mormon to her! At first she was saying that she read the book and was almost denying that there was a God because of it and she burned it!! ha we explained to her that those were evil spirits telling her that the book wasnt true and we invited her to read it and pray about it to know from the "Spirit that she knew from her past experiences" that it was a true book! She then goes on to say that we were decieved and we couldnt determine a good spirit from and evil spirit and she looked E. Hansen and I right in the eyes and said "When I look at myself I see the spirit in me, when I look at you two I dont see any form of spirit in you!!" hahaha let me tell you she was DECIEVED!!! Well I could go on and on and on about this woman and our HOUR AND A FREAKING HALF discussion with her but I got much more to write! But just know that Elder Hansen and I worked our miracles and read some powerful scriptures from the BOM with her and she actually took another copy of it! haha that woman gave me such a headache! If only you were there to experience it!! She was out of her mind!
So there is really no new news with Tabitha and Pam... They are still reading and praying and meeting with us but no baptismal date yet! :( That will come soon though:) Oh and we have another new investigator! Her name is sister riley! E. Hansen and I were out contacting some less actives and stuff and we still had an hour before we had to be home so we were trying to figure out what to do and this womans name popped into our heads from our area book so we went and stopped by! So we knocked and she answered the door and she let us right in and we taught her the restoration and read from the BOM with her! She is coming to church Sunday as well! :) Whoo! haha before we left she said "Yall are lucky I wasnt at the football game tonight!" haha as if God didnt have a hand in that one!! :)
So one more cool story for the week! Elder Hansen and I were driving through a neighborhood by our appt. complex and as we turned the corner a HUGE bald guy with a massive beard driving a convertable waves and says hey elders how are you! We thought it was weird that he was able to recogonize us that fast so we parked the car and went to his house and he was actually standing outside waiting for us... We didnt know whether to be scetched out or what cause he was such a scary lookin guy!! Well come to find out he was a less active who served a mission, just recently got divorced, and just moved into the ward boundries a month ago and was wanting to come back to church!! So he came to church on sunday and actually is wanting to come on exchanges with us and he took us to Cracker Barrel for lunch the other day too!!
So the area I am serving in is just the ward boundries! It is alot different than back in Utah where 4 blocks covers a ward! From one end of our ward boundries to the other is a 45 min drive! its a very large area we have to cover! haha oh so I dont remember which member told me this but we were at church the other day and none of the members can remember my last name so they just call me "Elder Javelin" haha and they were telling me that when the young men found out that I threw the javelin they were all sayin like "Oh you better not get on his bad side & if you are, you better hope your at least 200 yards away from him!!" hahahah I laughed pretty hard when I heard that!
So other than that things here are going wonderful! I will actually get to write home monday too so be on the lookout ;)
I love and Miss you all! :)
Love Elder Betker!
Hello everyone!! Elder Betker here...
So first of all I am sorry for the late letter this week! We had a temple trip today so we didnt have pday on monday! So the temple is an hour away and our rides car broke down as he was coming back to get us so that set us back a few hours as well:( So anyway yea thats why this is such a late letter!!
Well I guess let me start with the beginning of the week last week... So Elder Hansen and I were out on our bikes and we saw a woman in her driveway watering her flowers.. so we stopped and introduced ourselves and she seemed so happy to talk to us!! Well let me tell you, we were wrong! After about 5 minutes of us talking to her she told us that she was a Bornagain and she began telling us all of her experiences! So she starts out by saying that early in her life (maybe 20's) she had an experience where Jesus came and took her out of her body and took her into heaven and she saw the power of God! Then she said she saw satin blow up in heaven and jesus took 10 demons out of her! So she then goes on to talk about how when she was put back into her body that when she opened up the bible, God took her hand and flipped it through every page and everything she had just experienced was glowing! Let me tell you, this woman was Crazy!!!! haha so anyway we went on to say that we believed in the Bible as well as she did and then introduced the Book of Mormon to her! At first she was saying that she read the book and was almost denying that there was a God because of it and she burned it!! ha we explained to her that those were evil spirits telling her that the book wasnt true and we invited her to read it and pray about it to know from the "Spirit that she knew from her past experiences" that it was a true book! She then goes on to say that we were decieved and we couldnt determine a good spirit from and evil spirit and she looked E. Hansen and I right in the eyes and said "When I look at myself I see the spirit in me, when I look at you two I dont see any form of spirit in you!!" hahaha let me tell you she was DECIEVED!!! Well I could go on and on and on about this woman and our HOUR AND A FREAKING HALF discussion with her but I got much more to write! But just know that Elder Hansen and I worked our miracles and read some powerful scriptures from the BOM with her and she actually took another copy of it! haha that woman gave me such a headache! If only you were there to experience it!! She was out of her mind!
So there is really no new news with Tabitha and Pam... They are still reading and praying and meeting with us but no baptismal date yet! :( That will come soon though:) Oh and we have another new investigator! Her name is sister riley! E. Hansen and I were out contacting some less actives and stuff and we still had an hour before we had to be home so we were trying to figure out what to do and this womans name popped into our heads from our area book so we went and stopped by! So we knocked and she answered the door and she let us right in and we taught her the restoration and read from the BOM with her! She is coming to church Sunday as well! :) Whoo! haha before we left she said "Yall are lucky I wasnt at the football game tonight!" haha as if God didnt have a hand in that one!! :)
So one more cool story for the week! Elder Hansen and I were driving through a neighborhood by our appt. complex and as we turned the corner a HUGE bald guy with a massive beard driving a convertable waves and says hey elders how are you! We thought it was weird that he was able to recogonize us that fast so we parked the car and went to his house and he was actually standing outside waiting for us... We didnt know whether to be scetched out or what cause he was such a scary lookin guy!! Well come to find out he was a less active who served a mission, just recently got divorced, and just moved into the ward boundries a month ago and was wanting to come back to church!! So he came to church on sunday and actually is wanting to come on exchanges with us and he took us to Cracker Barrel for lunch the other day too!!
So the area I am serving in is just the ward boundries! It is alot different than back in Utah where 4 blocks covers a ward! From one end of our ward boundries to the other is a 45 min drive! its a very large area we have to cover! haha oh so I dont remember which member told me this but we were at church the other day and none of the members can remember my last name so they just call me "Elder Javelin" haha and they were telling me that when the young men found out that I threw the javelin they were all sayin like "Oh you better not get on his bad side & if you are, you better hope your at least 200 yards away from him!!" hahahah I laughed pretty hard when I heard that!
So other than that things here are going wonderful! I will actually get to write home monday too so be on the lookout ;)
I love and Miss you all! :)
Love Elder Betker!
Monday, September 10, 2012
Elder Betker... in charge? :)
Message from Mom: The physical address was confirmed as correct last week. He received the 2nd day envelope stuffed with Peanut Butter Bars just fine! LOL... I love that my boy is having fun while he serves all the people in his area! Check FB for more goofy pictures! He mentions that it is frustrating to have so many people reject his message, but he tries to keep his spirits up while he searches for those who are searching... that makes me so happy! I couldn't be more proud of this boy, truly...
9-10-2012 - The right end is Spencer's Compaion, Elder Hanson and the other 2 are there for a split.
This past week has been pretty slow but we feel like we are working our tails off! We have been working alot with less actives and then with Tabitha and Pam! We had 4 less active families at church the past two weeks and are starting to come back to church! We have been working with the "Gourley" family alot lately though. They were baptized a few years ago and were really strong in the church then about a year ago he got injured and hasnt been able to find a job since. The wife is working and providing but Brother Gourley is being so hard on himself cause he wants to be the one to do it. So they have been inactive for about a year and Elder Hansen and I have been stopping by every wednesday night and we read scruptures with them and just help them feel the spirit that they had felt before. It seems to be working cause they are wanting us to continually come back and they have come to church the past two weeks! Brother Gourley is also giving a talk in the next few weeks as well so hopefully they will continue to find that light again. We are also working with the "Terry Family." they are less actives and sister terry is wanting so badly to come back to church but is bi polar so anytime she has a breakdown, her husband will take away her keys from her and she cant go anywhere! It is really frustrating cause he is controlling her life! I dont remember if I told you about them in my last letter but he is 34 and she is 46!! yea crazy right! When they got married they were strong in the church then all of a sudden he turned his back on the church and hasnt come for years! sister terry is wanting that to change so we go over twice a week and just share a spiritual thought with them to help her day be brightened and hopefully help Brother Terry find that spark again too.
Now with Tabitha and Pam!!! They are doing soo good but the only problem we are having with them is getting them to church!! :( This last week we had a great lesson with them about faith! We read Alma 32 with them and explained how faith is like a seed and how we can strengthen our faith! So before the lesson started Pams Son (Chris) and his pregnant GF(Tracy) walked in and they started asking us questions! Tracy had told us all these things she thought were true about the mormons and what was funny is we didnt have to answer any of the questions because Tabitha and Pam answered almost all the questions about us!! They are getting pretty smart! haha so anyway Tracy wanted to sit in on our lesson and so we gave her a Book of Mormon and we had a very spiritual discussion!! At the end we were getting ready to give them things to read and study for next time we came over but they beat us to the punch! Pam started by asking "What do you want me to read for next time?" then tracy and tabitha were both like "hey we want something to read too" haha so we now have a new investigator and they are all reading and praying about the book of mormon! They are solid!! Now we just need to get them to church!
So on Thursday we had an exchange with Elder Bingham and Elder Powell! Elder Bingham came to mebane with me for the night so I was in charge of the area!! I was nervous at first but it all ended well!! We rode our bikes about 2.5 miles to contact a referral and when we got over there it began to get stormy out! We contacted her and she wasnt interested so we knocked some doors in the neighborhood and no luck either!:( We rode back to our appt and right as we got back it began to POUR!!!!! It was coming down so hard I was so happy we werent riding our bikes in it!! haha but later that night we went on an exchange with a member of the ward and contacted some less actives! We were able to get one of them to commit to come to church next suday so hopefully he will come! haha After that man we went to contact another lady who lived in the middle of nowhere and it was getting dark and she lived in this run down house and everything so it was sketchy!! We get to her house and get out of the car and this lady is looking at us through the side door so we go over and knock, and no answer! (we could see her in her kitchen through the window) so we knock again and no answer... so we go to the front of the house and knock on the front door and she still doesnt come... during this time she walks right past us to her bedroom and keeps ignoring us... Finally we ring the doorbell and she comes to the window and she freaks out at us!!! she is cussin and screamin and threatening to send her dogs on us and everything!!! haha yea I was freaking out! the reason we had to keep knockin is cause we had to find out if a certain person lived there for the church records and everything but unfortunately we never got that info!! :(
Just a quick wrap up, I have been doing so good out here and am loving the people so much every day! Because everyone here belongs to a church already it is so hard to talk to them about the gospel cause they already feel like they are satisfied with what they have. It is tough to see so many people reject the gospel but all we can do is continue to search for those who are ready for it. They are all pretty nice for the most part, they just dont want to hear our message! :( I have been staying fit and working out daily so I still am under 170 lbs.... I dunno how long that will last though! haha
well I hope all is well back at home and I will write you all next week! Enjoy the pictrues!
I love you and miss you all!!!! :)
Love
Elder Betker!!! :)
9-10-2012 - The right end is Spencer's Compaion, Elder Hanson and the other 2 are there for a split.
Now with Tabitha and Pam!!! They are doing soo good but the only problem we are having with them is getting them to church!! :( This last week we had a great lesson with them about faith! We read Alma 32 with them and explained how faith is like a seed and how we can strengthen our faith! So before the lesson started Pams Son (Chris) and his pregnant GF(Tracy) walked in and they started asking us questions! Tracy had told us all these things she thought were true about the mormons and what was funny is we didnt have to answer any of the questions because Tabitha and Pam answered almost all the questions about us!! They are getting pretty smart! haha so anyway Tracy wanted to sit in on our lesson and so we gave her a Book of Mormon and we had a very spiritual discussion!! At the end we were getting ready to give them things to read and study for next time we came over but they beat us to the punch! Pam started by asking "What do you want me to read for next time?" then tracy and tabitha were both like "hey we want something to read too" haha so we now have a new investigator and they are all reading and praying about the book of mormon! They are solid!! Now we just need to get them to church!
So on Thursday we had an exchange with Elder Bingham and Elder Powell! Elder Bingham came to mebane with me for the night so I was in charge of the area!! I was nervous at first but it all ended well!! We rode our bikes about 2.5 miles to contact a referral and when we got over there it began to get stormy out! We contacted her and she wasnt interested so we knocked some doors in the neighborhood and no luck either!:( We rode back to our appt and right as we got back it began to POUR!!!!! It was coming down so hard I was so happy we werent riding our bikes in it!! haha but later that night we went on an exchange with a member of the ward and contacted some less actives! We were able to get one of them to commit to come to church next suday so hopefully he will come! haha After that man we went to contact another lady who lived in the middle of nowhere and it was getting dark and she lived in this run down house and everything so it was sketchy!! We get to her house and get out of the car and this lady is looking at us through the side door so we go over and knock, and no answer! (we could see her in her kitchen through the window) so we knock again and no answer... so we go to the front of the house and knock on the front door and she still doesnt come... during this time she walks right past us to her bedroom and keeps ignoring us... Finally we ring the doorbell and she comes to the window and she freaks out at us!!! she is cussin and screamin and threatening to send her dogs on us and everything!!! haha yea I was freaking out! the reason we had to keep knockin is cause we had to find out if a certain person lived there for the church records and everything but unfortunately we never got that info!! :(
Just a quick wrap up, I have been doing so good out here and am loving the people so much every day! Because everyone here belongs to a church already it is so hard to talk to them about the gospel cause they already feel like they are satisfied with what they have. It is tough to see so many people reject the gospel but all we can do is continue to search for those who are ready for it. They are all pretty nice for the most part, they just dont want to hear our message! :( I have been staying fit and working out daily so I still am under 170 lbs.... I dunno how long that will last though! haha
well I hope all is well back at home and I will write you all next week! Enjoy the pictrues!
I love you and miss you all!!!! :)
Love
Elder Betker!!! :)
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
The Miracle Worker
Mom's Note: It was agony waiting til today to receive Spencer's email! :) He gave me his physical address, but aparently the mission home likes everything to go through there first in case of transfers? I will leave the mission address posted, but add the current address too.
This photo is the North Carolina Raleigh Mission LOGO, if you will... Cheeze would be so proud... for all-a you Shaners out there ;)
September 4, 2012
Hello everything!! sorry for the day late letter and update!! It was labor day and the library wasnt open:( This past week has been great!! The past few months here have been very slow but they are slowly picking back up. I have finally adjusted to the time change and dont fall asleep in my study time anymore!! haha So we have been teaching Tabitha and Pam, if you remember them from the last letter, and they are doing pretty good! the things they are going through right now is making it harder for us to meet with them but we make contact with them everyday and give them things to read from the book of mormon. Taitha is going through a NASTY divorce right now and its really taking a toll on her and her family. They keep telling us that we are helping them out so much and they know that we were sent to them from God to help them. They have been reading the BOM everyday and Tabitha told us the other night that she began to cry cause she felt so at peace! She is really trying hard to rely on the lord to help her through this and she is on the right track! We are trying to get them to come to church this weekend so hopefully they will. We have a lesson tonight with the two of them so we will ask them then. The other night we offered to give them a blessing of comfort and explained to them the preisthood power that we hold and what a blessing was and they said they would love one so we plan on giving them one when we go over tonight as well. So all in all I am seeing the gospel and BOM work miracles in peoples lives!!
On thursday I went on an exchange with my Zone Leader in chapel hill. He told me we were going to be contacting on the Campus at UNC and I was pretty excited- then he said dont get to excited cause everyone is usually always in a rush... So we got there and I kid you not.. the first 6 people we talked to, stopped and talked to us and either gave us their info for a return appointment or we gave out a BOM or something... After we left Elder Wade said "Elder Betker your like a miracle worker, thats the first time anything like that has ever happened to us here!!" haha yea I felt pretty special! During the exchange elder hansen and christiansen (the other Zone Leader) found us a new lady to teach and her son! Her name is shannon and her sons name is Roosevelt and is 20 yrs old! We went over on saturday to teach them and from what I had understood from Elder hansen when he was explaining her to me, she seemed way solid and had the same beliefs as us! haha yea lets just say when we got there, we werent able to leave for two hours and when we finally did we both had headaches!!! She researched our religion from some random website and tried goin off on all these crazy tangents about us and how we dont believe in God and all this stuff! So Elder Hansen and I simply explained to her that it wasnt true and she needed to go to our church website to learn about our religion! So we finally got into the lesson portion of it and they were very receptive to what we had to say but they believed in the trinity (believes that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the HG are one being) so we simply had to explain that they are 3 separate beings with one purpose! haha The lady was crazy and we were both just testifying of what we know to be true and everyting and she had such a hard time understand at this point cause she kept referring back to the things which she read on the internet... So we are going to try and keep teaching her and everything but I guess we will have to see how that goes!
Yesterday Elder Hansen and I had the bright Idea to go to the batting cages!!! I was so stoked and I also found a wood bat in the Appt. so we took that! I go into the cage and my second hit with the bat.... Busted it!! hahaha it was great!! The bats there at the place were aweful, they didnt have any our size so we ended up hitting with a little softball bat but it was still great fun! I have also bought a few new ties and traded a few new ones as well! people look at my ties and they think im sitting on a gold mine! everyone here wants to trade with me!! :) haha yea its great! :)
The rest of the week we have just been out trying to find people to teach and contact referrals we have and everything! we have gotten a few return appointments so hopefully those will work out! The mission is definitely a roller coaster but in a good way! My studies and knowledge in the book of mormon has grown so much to the point where I can finally feel confident using it in contacts and lessons and stuff! Elder Hansen has been a great trainer and has taught me so much and I just keep continuing to learn!
Well everyone I have got to get going:( I love you all and Keep you in my prayers! I hope everyone is doing amazing and I will write you next week:)
Love Elder Betker!! :)
ps i will send home pics next week too.. I forgot my cord to sent them with:( sorry!!
MISS YOU!
This photo is the North Carolina Raleigh Mission LOGO, if you will... Cheeze would be so proud... for all-a you Shaners out there ;)
Hello everything!! sorry for the day late letter and update!! It was labor day and the library wasnt open:( This past week has been great!! The past few months here have been very slow but they are slowly picking back up. I have finally adjusted to the time change and dont fall asleep in my study time anymore!! haha So we have been teaching Tabitha and Pam, if you remember them from the last letter, and they are doing pretty good! the things they are going through right now is making it harder for us to meet with them but we make contact with them everyday and give them things to read from the book of mormon. Taitha is going through a NASTY divorce right now and its really taking a toll on her and her family. They keep telling us that we are helping them out so much and they know that we were sent to them from God to help them. They have been reading the BOM everyday and Tabitha told us the other night that she began to cry cause she felt so at peace! She is really trying hard to rely on the lord to help her through this and she is on the right track! We are trying to get them to come to church this weekend so hopefully they will. We have a lesson tonight with the two of them so we will ask them then. The other night we offered to give them a blessing of comfort and explained to them the preisthood power that we hold and what a blessing was and they said they would love one so we plan on giving them one when we go over tonight as well. So all in all I am seeing the gospel and BOM work miracles in peoples lives!!
On thursday I went on an exchange with my Zone Leader in chapel hill. He told me we were going to be contacting on the Campus at UNC and I was pretty excited- then he said dont get to excited cause everyone is usually always in a rush... So we got there and I kid you not.. the first 6 people we talked to, stopped and talked to us and either gave us their info for a return appointment or we gave out a BOM or something... After we left Elder Wade said "Elder Betker your like a miracle worker, thats the first time anything like that has ever happened to us here!!" haha yea I felt pretty special! During the exchange elder hansen and christiansen (the other Zone Leader) found us a new lady to teach and her son! Her name is shannon and her sons name is Roosevelt and is 20 yrs old! We went over on saturday to teach them and from what I had understood from Elder hansen when he was explaining her to me, she seemed way solid and had the same beliefs as us! haha yea lets just say when we got there, we werent able to leave for two hours and when we finally did we both had headaches!!! She researched our religion from some random website and tried goin off on all these crazy tangents about us and how we dont believe in God and all this stuff! So Elder Hansen and I simply explained to her that it wasnt true and she needed to go to our church website to learn about our religion! So we finally got into the lesson portion of it and they were very receptive to what we had to say but they believed in the trinity (believes that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the HG are one being) so we simply had to explain that they are 3 separate beings with one purpose! haha The lady was crazy and we were both just testifying of what we know to be true and everyting and she had such a hard time understand at this point cause she kept referring back to the things which she read on the internet... So we are going to try and keep teaching her and everything but I guess we will have to see how that goes!
Yesterday Elder Hansen and I had the bright Idea to go to the batting cages!!! I was so stoked and I also found a wood bat in the Appt. so we took that! I go into the cage and my second hit with the bat.... Busted it!! hahaha it was great!! The bats there at the place were aweful, they didnt have any our size so we ended up hitting with a little softball bat but it was still great fun! I have also bought a few new ties and traded a few new ones as well! people look at my ties and they think im sitting on a gold mine! everyone here wants to trade with me!! :) haha yea its great! :)
The rest of the week we have just been out trying to find people to teach and contact referrals we have and everything! we have gotten a few return appointments so hopefully those will work out! The mission is definitely a roller coaster but in a good way! My studies and knowledge in the book of mormon has grown so much to the point where I can finally feel confident using it in contacts and lessons and stuff! Elder Hansen has been a great trainer and has taught me so much and I just keep continuing to learn!
Well everyone I have got to get going:( I love you all and Keep you in my prayers! I hope everyone is doing amazing and I will write you next week:)
Love Elder Betker!! :)
ps i will send home pics next week too.. I forgot my cord to sent them with:( sorry!!
MISS YOU!
Monday, August 27, 2012
Week One in Raleigh!
From Mom: My thought process was to do the back posts and then start publishing new, but I can't seem to get to the back ones yet and life it moving on! Here is the letter from August 27, 2012. First week in NC. He is happy and excited!
Reminder: I will put pictures in the Mission File on his FB page for those of you who are his connections there. :)
Heyyy my family i fanally made it to North Carolina!!! This week has been wonderful! on Tuesday I got my new companion and area I will be serving! my comps name is Elder Hansen!! He is from Idaho and Loves baseball!!! Perfect match! The area I am serving in is called Mebane... its pernounced (me-ban) the me making the men sound if that makes sense... ahha I dunno! Mebane is very beautiful and green!! lots of country and lots of good people!! Our apartment is right by a mini airport.. the runway is a big open field of grass so its pretty sweet!!! :) and our apartment is really nice! :) I love it! Every morning this past week during study i have fallen asleep.... :/ opps! haha but today is the first day I didnt do that so thats a bonus! :) haha
So on wednesday we went to go teach a lesson to someone elder hansen had contacted earlier before I got there. We got to her house and we knocked and no one answered but we heard a little girl inside! so we were writing on a card to leave to have them call us and as we were doing that the mom (pam) drove up into the driveway... We started talking to her for a while and she had soooo many questions about our church so we started to answer them for her but she wanted her daughter (tabitha) to be a part of it as well so they both came out and we taught them! Tabitha is looking for a good church to raise her family in and invited herself to come to church this sunday and pam has alot of our same beliefs so we are now teaching them!
Our area was closed until one transfer before i got here so we are still trying to find people to teach and everything cause its pretty much a new area! So on friday I went on an exchange while Elder Hansen (our district leader) went to a meeting back in Raleigh! I went out with Elder Cole in Chapel hill and we went and contacted and taught some lessons on the Campus at UNC!! Soooooo awesome there!!! The people are so kind and it is all just a historic campus! its sweet!! haha so anyway that day while we were contacting we saw a lady sitting on the ground waiting for the bus! so elder cole and I went up to talk to her and we introduced ourselves and everything and she said "oh I have heard alot about you mormons... get out of here.." so we asked her what she had heard and she said "I heard the women in your church arent allowed to wear shorts or pants..." hahahahah i almost begun to laught and we explained to her that wasnt true.. it is just so funny to see what people think about our religion!! But that day alone I placed a few Books of Mormon and got several contacts to go teach for the other district! On the exchange Elder cole and I also got to teach two young girls named Pa and Eh-tu! they are from somewhere by Thiland... They speak a language called Keren or Koren... something like that! They speak pretty good english though they just have a hard time reading and understanding it! There faith and knowledge of the gospel is amazing and they want to be baptized but they are having a hard time understanding the book of mormon cause they dont have it in their language.. we tried calling to see if they have a BOM in their language to give but the church hasnt had it translated in their language yet!! :(
The names of people out here are unreal!!!! There is a woman named Watermellonesha!! no lie its a real name!! haha oh on saturday I had a chance to do some service for a Recent Convert! her name is Lisa Fraizer and a very nice lady! she lives in the middle of flippin no where and had so much crap and stuff everywhere in her shed and yard so Elder Hansen and I went to help her clean it out!! Now you know how people say "Everythings bigger in Texas?" well I beg to differ... Everything is bigger in North Carolina!!!! The bugs and spiders and cockoroches and bees....They are all HUGEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they seriously freak me out!! haha
Well I hope you enjoy some of the pictures I send out and feel free to email me back cause I will have time to respond to most of them! :) I love you and miss you all! :) Be safe!
North Carolina Is the Greatest Mission On Earth! :)
Love
Elder Betker
PS... Feel free to send me pics in email cause I can see them through my email! :)
Reminder: I will put pictures in the Mission File on his FB page for those of you who are his connections there. :)
Heyyy my family i fanally made it to North Carolina!!! This week has been wonderful! on Tuesday I got my new companion and area I will be serving! my comps name is Elder Hansen!! He is from Idaho and Loves baseball!!! Perfect match! The area I am serving in is called Mebane... its pernounced (me-ban) the me making the men sound if that makes sense... ahha I dunno! Mebane is very beautiful and green!! lots of country and lots of good people!! Our apartment is right by a mini airport.. the runway is a big open field of grass so its pretty sweet!!! :) and our apartment is really nice! :) I love it! Every morning this past week during study i have fallen asleep.... :/ opps! haha but today is the first day I didnt do that so thats a bonus! :) haha
So on wednesday we went to go teach a lesson to someone elder hansen had contacted earlier before I got there. We got to her house and we knocked and no one answered but we heard a little girl inside! so we were writing on a card to leave to have them call us and as we were doing that the mom (pam) drove up into the driveway... We started talking to her for a while and she had soooo many questions about our church so we started to answer them for her but she wanted her daughter (tabitha) to be a part of it as well so they both came out and we taught them! Tabitha is looking for a good church to raise her family in and invited herself to come to church this sunday and pam has alot of our same beliefs so we are now teaching them!
Our area was closed until one transfer before i got here so we are still trying to find people to teach and everything cause its pretty much a new area! So on friday I went on an exchange while Elder Hansen (our district leader) went to a meeting back in Raleigh! I went out with Elder Cole in Chapel hill and we went and contacted and taught some lessons on the Campus at UNC!! Soooooo awesome there!!! The people are so kind and it is all just a historic campus! its sweet!! haha so anyway that day while we were contacting we saw a lady sitting on the ground waiting for the bus! so elder cole and I went up to talk to her and we introduced ourselves and everything and she said "oh I have heard alot about you mormons... get out of here.." so we asked her what she had heard and she said "I heard the women in your church arent allowed to wear shorts or pants..." hahahahah i almost begun to laught and we explained to her that wasnt true.. it is just so funny to see what people think about our religion!! But that day alone I placed a few Books of Mormon and got several contacts to go teach for the other district! On the exchange Elder cole and I also got to teach two young girls named Pa and Eh-tu! they are from somewhere by Thiland... They speak a language called Keren or Koren... something like that! They speak pretty good english though they just have a hard time reading and understanding it! There faith and knowledge of the gospel is amazing and they want to be baptized but they are having a hard time understanding the book of mormon cause they dont have it in their language.. we tried calling to see if they have a BOM in their language to give but the church hasnt had it translated in their language yet!! :(
The names of people out here are unreal!!!! There is a woman named Watermellonesha!! no lie its a real name!! haha oh on saturday I had a chance to do some service for a Recent Convert! her name is Lisa Fraizer and a very nice lady! she lives in the middle of flippin no where and had so much crap and stuff everywhere in her shed and yard so Elder Hansen and I went to help her clean it out!! Now you know how people say "Everythings bigger in Texas?" well I beg to differ... Everything is bigger in North Carolina!!!! The bugs and spiders and cockoroches and bees....They are all HUGEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they seriously freak me out!! haha
Well I hope you enjoy some of the pictures I send out and feel free to email me back cause I will have time to respond to most of them! :) I love you and miss you all! :) Be safe!
North Carolina Is the Greatest Mission On Earth! :)
Love
Elder Betker
PS... Feel free to send me pics in email cause I can see them through my email! :)
Thursday, August 16, 2012
A NOTE FROM SPENCER'S MOM...
To all of Elder Betker's Friends and Family-
I'm sorry this is so late getting posted! My life is sooooo busy right now with getting kids ready for school, fundraising efforts for Jack and working full-time, but it should cool off here in the next week. :) Anticipate his weekly recap letter posted here and I will also be creating other posts about the journey leading up to his entry to the MTC on August 1, 2012.
A special THANK YOU to my wonderful sister Kim Borchert for creating this blog for me to maintain for my sweet Spence. She is amazing in this arena and I know she'll help me keep it real for all of you! Feel free to COMMENT as you want to. I will be creating a book for him upon his return with all the posts, including the pictures and comments. Should be a fun way to note his journey...
The pic in the headline with the missionary tag was sent FROM the MTC! Yep, it's official folks! My intention is to make a "Mission Pictures" folder on Spencer's FB for the ones he sends home. Some will be attached in the blog posts, but all will be there so you can follow his excitement on his mission path! Additionally, I will post on his FB and also send an email to the group when there is a new entry to read.
We'll add Spencer's email and I'll keep his address current on the homepage of the blog so you always know how to reach him. :) To the side you'll see a scripture reference. Currently this is Spencer's favorite scripture. As he sends new references home in his letters, I will share them there.
I have a special boy, working hard for the things he believes in. I am so proud of his strength, his sweetness and his ability to see the good in everyone and love unconditionally. I think it will help him be an amazing missionary. Willing to search for those who are looking and share from his heart, the things he loves- but also willing to accept when they may not want what he offers, and love them anyway. I can't wait to see how his next 2 years unfold...
I am grateful for each of you and the support you've been for Spencer over the last several years. Please let it continue as he is far from home. Remember him in your prayers, send him letters and emails and I'm sure the occasional care package wouldn't hurt either, lol. His email posts will follow later today...
Love to all...
Cristin
I'm sorry this is so late getting posted! My life is sooooo busy right now with getting kids ready for school, fundraising efforts for Jack and working full-time, but it should cool off here in the next week. :) Anticipate his weekly recap letter posted here and I will also be creating other posts about the journey leading up to his entry to the MTC on August 1, 2012.
A special THANK YOU to my wonderful sister Kim Borchert for creating this blog for me to maintain for my sweet Spence. She is amazing in this arena and I know she'll help me keep it real for all of you! Feel free to COMMENT as you want to. I will be creating a book for him upon his return with all the posts, including the pictures and comments. Should be a fun way to note his journey...
The pic in the headline with the missionary tag was sent FROM the MTC! Yep, it's official folks! My intention is to make a "Mission Pictures" folder on Spencer's FB for the ones he sends home. Some will be attached in the blog posts, but all will be there so you can follow his excitement on his mission path! Additionally, I will post on his FB and also send an email to the group when there is a new entry to read.
We'll add Spencer's email and I'll keep his address current on the homepage of the blog so you always know how to reach him. :) To the side you'll see a scripture reference. Currently this is Spencer's favorite scripture. As he sends new references home in his letters, I will share them there.
I have a special boy, working hard for the things he believes in. I am so proud of his strength, his sweetness and his ability to see the good in everyone and love unconditionally. I think it will help him be an amazing missionary. Willing to search for those who are looking and share from his heart, the things he loves- but also willing to accept when they may not want what he offers, and love them anyway. I can't wait to see how his next 2 years unfold...
I am grateful for each of you and the support you've been for Spencer over the last several years. Please let it continue as he is far from home. Remember him in your prayers, send him letters and emails and I'm sure the occasional care package wouldn't hurt either, lol. His email posts will follow later today...
Love to all...
Cristin
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)