Elmena A. Bethell was born in the Turks & Caicos Islands and is one of the siblings of the large LIGHTBOURNE CLAN to the parentage of Mr. & Mrs. Claudius Lightbourne of South Caicos.

She attended primary and high schools in Turks Island and in 1967 she continued her College education at the Kingston College and subsequently Kingston Commercial College, where she graduated in 1971 with Distinction.

She returned to the Bahamas in 1971 and was employed in the Hospitality industry serving in various managerial positions, with extensive training in the area of “Service”, until her retirement in 1999.

She is a committed, dedicated and proud Methodist who was active in the life of the church since her early child-hood years to the present time. She humbly thanks God for choosing her to serve in every area of ministry and life of the church and uses the personal phrase “from the door to the pulpit” She, along with her husband, Rev. Godfrey Bethell, served in the Central Eleuthera Region from 1999 to 2009 and during that time were instrumental in the birthing of the ministry in Eleuthera called “The Celebrate Recovery Center.” Her focus and joy is in the ministry of Evangelism, Outreach & Missions with emphasis on helping single and teenage mothers with the hope of bringing them to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Desiring to be more equipped to serve the people of God, Elmena enrolled in continuous church leadership training opportunities, eventually leading to the Diaconal Training Programme of the Bahamas Conference of The Methodist Church, from which she graduated on September 25th, 2010. She currently serves as Vice President of the BCMC, being elected in 2008 for a three-year term.

Her ecumenical and religious affiliation over the years included Secretary and Vice President of the Grand Bahama Christian Council. She furthered this involvement after moving to Eleuthera and served as Secretary of The Eleuthera Christian Council.

Elmena believes that service is the best work of life and works tirelessly to support civic and community affiliated groups such as The Grand Bahama Red Cross; the Eleuthera Branch of the Red Cross; the Toastmistress Club; The Jaycees International and the Eleuthera Drug Council just to name a few.

She is married to Rev. Godfrey Bethell and together they have nine (9) children and seven (7) grand-children.

Elmena is an avid walker - she sees this as an opportunity to “Pray, walk and witness”. Her spiritual gifts are many but the dominant ones are: "Encouragement and Intercession"