Hola

I (the mother) somehow managed to erase the letter from July 10 and I am not smart enough to even figure out what happened and how to undo it, so I am therefore reposting it... and it is now out of order. Boo!

Hello family!

So I hope pictures worked this time, it appears that the ones of my district still aren't going through, so I will try one more time. This week was pretty great. We finished teaching Jose, and now we're teaching Ana and Bryan. Jose was actually our teacher Hno. Williams, but we didn't know that until after we got done teaching him. So now we are teaching Ana (hna. Gibson) and Bryan (hno. williams). It's actually really fun. We also started TRC, so we go in and teach 2 volunteer memebers 20 minute lessons each. It's a really good experience, and good Spanish practice. I'm basically fluent now. So fluent in fact, that the other day I said, "Me gusta el Book de Mormon." As in Boo! like a ghost, plus a k. It was embarrasing. And Hermana Kinghorn was eating her chips and salsa one day and said, "Como se dice chip?" So i say, "Chip?" but with a really high voice so it sounded like a bird. "Cheep?". Yeah, I'm that good. We have also been drilling each other on the fact that sins are pecados, not pescados (fish) and charity is caridad, not castidad (chastity). Chastity is not the pure love of Christ people! So to answer your questions, since the temple is closed, and will be the whole time we're here, we don't get to go to the temple at all. Today we did go sit up on the grounds for a hour and wrote letters though. So that was good. We exercise out on a Sand volleyball court in Wyview, so there is grass, sand, 4 square courts on the pavement, and the put up a million basketball hoops so we could play basket ball. We usually play volleyball with the elders though. It's super fun. Actually yesterday, Hermana Vincent (this super tiny girl in our zone) was playing and we don't know exactly what happened, but all of a sudden she was on the ground crying. They took her to get her arm xrayed, and she doesn't have a break or fracture, but her bone didn't look right so they took the xray to a radiologist. We'll find out what happened later today. Crazy right? So you mentioned Sally Field. I don't know who she is, but Hermana Kinghorn filled me in. So that's pretty cool! Sounds like the family reunion was a blast, and the party in Costa Rica is super fun too! I want to hear all about it, so you better tell me everything. Are you going scuba diving? How was the wedding? Well, I guess it hasn't happened yet, so tell me about it when it does! And I want to see pictures too! That would be great! So you guys have to watch the Character of Christ. It's a talk by David A Bednar at an MTC Christmas devo, and it is so good. It would make a good family night activity. It's super deep and really awesome. i hear it's on LDS.org so you'll have to look. You'll also have to look up my new favorite scripture. It's Zechariah 5:1-2. An Elder in my zone found it, and it's pretty great. Look it up. I dare you.

So the 4th here was great. It was normal for the most part but then we had a speical devotional and watched 17 miracles. I love that movie. Mom, was one of our ancestors in that movie? I can't remember for sure. AFter the movie was over they gave us ice cream bars and we watched the fireworks. We were just outside the wyview laundramat, so it was a little hard to see, but it wasn't bad. I twas pretty fun.Last night's devotional was pretty great too. It was about revelation, and the speaker said, "The Lord never uses a floodlight when a flashlight is sufficient." I really like that. We have to listen hard and pay attention to recieve revelation. The spirit truly is a still small voice, and we have to listen for it.  We're not always going to get this massive epiphany when we recieve revelation. Most of the time it's through the quiet whisperings of the spirit that we will recieve guidance.

I love you all, and I hope the rest of your time in Costa Rica is fantastic. Tell everyone hello from me, and tell Beccy and Austin congrats, and good luck with the Bitcoin project!

Love, Hermana Bingham 

Hermana Raney and I watching the fireworks

Sister Ciara Hulet and I at the Tuesday devotional

Elder Findlay and I

Only one week left in the MTC...

Hola Familia!

Como estan? Espero bien!  So first off, I have some really big news! ANA AND BRYAN ARE GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When Hna. Raney and I walked out of those lessons, it waws like we were walking on clouds. Best. Feeling. Ever. We actually got to take Bryan to a baptism, which consisted of us finding a video clip of a baptism from an episode of the District, and taking a laptop into the lesson so that we could pretend like we were really there. It was kind of funny, but sweet! And seeing one made him want one. He saw how happy they were, and he wanted that too! And with Ana, we asked her to keep praying about Joseph Smith to see if he was a prophet of God, so she did. She said she had a feeling that was undescribable, but then immediately after she had one of the worst feelings of her life. Luckily we were guided by the spirit to know what to say. We were able to explain that the bad feeling was Satan, because he knows that she is doing something good with her life. And we were actually able to find a video that we had watched just for kicks earlier, and it explained how Satan knows how to get each and every one of us. He knows us, and he will try to tear us down. She understood, and wanted to be able to overcome that. So, we lead into talking about how through the Atonement, we can over come that. And then BAM! commited her to baptism. It was awesome. I am so grateful that the spirit is able to guide me to know what to say, even to fake investigators. It's super duper asombroso. So, we'll miss their "baptisms" but I'm just happy they want to change their lives. YAY!

So it sounds like you have all had pretty good weeks. Awesome that you got a new salad bowl mom, I like wooden salad bowls. And who knew we needed a new thermostat. But I guess that's nice, because you can turn it off when you leave for a while, but then turn it back on to cool the house before you get home! That's nice. Saving money on air conditioning! Especially because it's super hot, como un horno. I'm just grateful I'm in a skirt, and not pants. Me gusta. But it's super hot. And the AC in these classrooms, stinks. No bueno. Thanks for sending me Lauren's address. And also, thanks for the package. The treats were delious, we ate them super fast. We like treats over here. And the picture did come in one piece. Also, my debit card got to me safely, and the other pictures, including the one from Kaydee Bailey. Thanks for getting that to me. Also, I just recieve an envelope from Sister Chambers with some recipies and starbursts. Please tell her thank you very much for me!  

In other news, I got my travel plans!!!! I fly out on Wednesday, so this is my last pday until for like a week and a half I think. Anyways, I report to the travel office here at 4:30 in the am, and then our flight is at 8:31 am. So I'll call you sometime early that morning. Probably around 7ish. Maybe 6:30? but I'll use quarters to call you and make sure you're up, and then my phone card for the legit phone call. And then we land in San Jose at 9:35 am. I'm super pumped! One more week! I can't wait. LIke honestly, so stoked. In a week I'll be in el campo, teaching real people and doing awesome stuff. YAY! I am super excited. Nervous, but excited. So it will be super dee duper fun! YAY!

I'm glad Kyla had fun at girls camp. I don't have a ton of time to write you all seperately this week, but maybe on the plane I'll have a bit of time. But tell Kyla that I wish I could've gone with her too. It would've been so fun. But in a couple years we'll go on a sister's camping trip or something. Who knows. Tell Jayson I'm glad he had fun at scout camp, and I hope he has a blast at EFY. And Bryce, well, tell him that he's pretty awesome. I don't know what's going on in his life though. :) I love you all, I hope you're week is fantastic. And I'll talk to you on Wednesday! be awake!!! Love you!

Con amor,

Hermana Amaya Bingham

we tired to make pizza bagels with an iron... didn't work out so well

Hermana Kinghorn and I matched one day. The creep thing is, we only planned to match the top. The rest was completely coincidental.

all the hermanas in our zone

Selfie with hermanas Kinghorn y Izu on my last devotional walk with them.

Hermana Raney y yo on our walk to the devotional. Aren't we cute?

super cliche picture with the statue of Samuel Smith. Next to the tree that smells like cream soda! (it's in the back. I think)

HOLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hola familia!!

So this week has been pretty great. Nothing different really, but it's been good! I really have enjoyed all the letters. For a second there I was offended that Jayson hadn't written me, but then I remembered he was at camp and EFY so his life has been a bit hectic. I can't believe he's driving!! That's insane. Good thing I'm headed to Cali in 2 weeks! 2 FREAKING WEEKS!!!!! I'M ALMOST DONE WITH THE MTC, WHICH IS TOTALLY INSANE!! I'm a bit excited, but also nervous. It's kind of crazy mixed feelings. We should get our travel plans sometime in this next week (possibly) so that's just insane. Like what the... Anyways, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!! I know it isn't until Saturday, but I can't email on Saturday so I'm telling you now! I hope you have a fantastic day, and that you have a lot of fun. You deserve it for being such a great mom. Because you're the best mom! So, Feliz Cumpleaños Madre!!

So I forgot to tell you last week, but a couple of weeks ago in devotional someone totally talked about (John?) Stucki who ate the buffalo hide off the wheels during the handcart trek. Cool right? I was like, I'm related to him!!!! I felt super special. Oh, and before I forget, could someone please find me dear Lauren's address? I forgot to get it from Hailey before I left... whoops. It would be much appreciated! Thanks!

Sounds like the wedding was awesome, I'm so happy for Beccy and Austin! Pictures didn't work for some reason, but hopefully I'll see some of Costa Rica and stuff in the package that you sent. Thanks for sending that again... you're the best! And I sure hope what Brother Craig said is true too. That would be so amazing. I hope he's right. The spirit is awesome right? And the temple is the greatest. ME GUSTA!

I can't believe the scouts played dead fish tag. That is the most repulsive thing I've heard of. Doesn't that give you disease? Nasty. Boys will be boys I suppose! But oh well. Just as long as I'm not getting hit by a dead fish, I'm good. And it sounds like Kyla's gymnastics is going great too! I'm so proud of her! Way to finally get that back handspring back, and that series! Sounds awesome! If at all possible, I would love to see videos! I'm not sure if it would work, but it's worth a shot right?

Oh, and if you try attaching the pictures a different way it might work better. I just couldn't get them to load this time. But if Bryce gets swollen at all, I want to see pictures. And if  you could try sending those another way I would love it. Also, our ward is totally the missionary factory. It's crazy how many people we have out right now! I love it! And how many more will go out! should our goal be 2 display cases? I think yes! And President Quesenbery is super nice to say that about me. It was a confidence boost that I needed. He's way too kind though, I honestly couldn't do anything without the help of the Lord. He's the one guiding me through every day of my life. He helps me learn and teach, and if it wasn't for the spirit, nothing would be going anywhere. Spanish wouldn't be coming at all, my investigators wouldn't be progressing, nothing. So I am sure thankful for the guidance of the spirit every day. Our investigators are doing better! Ana is opening up, and she went to church and loved it! She is also reading the Book of Mormon and studying concepts that she wants to learn about. She's usually super closed off, but she has been opening up more and more lately and she even gave us hugs at the end of our last couple of lessons. YAY!!! And Bryan also went to church and loved it. He's been praying for a desire to read the Book of Mormon, and he's been doing a little personal study as well. He's even thinking about baptism. Hopefully after our next lesson he'll know it's right for him. But none of this would be possible without the spirit. The spirit is one heck of a powerful thing. I love it so much. I love this gospel, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve the Lord for the next 18 (or now 17) months of my life. And I want to continue serving Him for all eternity. He's given me so much, this is the least I can do.

I love you all, and I hope you have a fantastic week. Keep reading the scriptures every day in personal study and family time, and say family prayers. You have no idea how big of a blessing that was in my life. I love you guys!!

Hermana Bingham

p.s. No pictures this week... lo siento! but next week I'll most likely have some!

Hola familia!

Hola familia!

So first off, I have some funny stories for you! I have to tell them to you now before I forget. So remember how in my last letter, I told you I was so fluent that I called the Book of Mormon "El Book de Mormon"? Well guess what I totally did in a lesson? Yeah, we were sitting there with Bryan our investigator, and we had been teaching him the restoration. So I started talking about the Book of Mormon, and explaining what it was. Well apparently, I totally said, "en el Book de Mormon..." and didn't even realize it. Hermana Raney told me later and I was shocked. I didn't even notice the fact that Bryan started laughing at me and covered his mouth with his hand and Hna. Raney tried to correct me. I was oblivious. Oh well. At least I didn't mix up caridad and castidad like Hermana Kinghorn did... haha. Cucha cuchar hijo. (Sucks to suck son- except that means like, suck on a lollipop. oh fake slang, it kills me.) And on day, we were all introducing ourselves to a fake investigator in the middle of a lesson, and all of us hermanas introduced ourselves first, and then it was Elder Philpotts turn. Well he said, "Soy la hermana Philpott" and we all started laughing. He corrected himself. But later in the same day in a prayer, he said, "gracias por tu hija Jesucristo" so that was pretty good, and then he said he and his companion were amigas. The masculine vs. feminine thing is killing him. And the last two times he didn't catch himself either. It was pretty great. So, I want to hear all about Costa Rica! Mostly about the wedding, how was it? Did you finally find an outfit mom? I'm sorry you all got sick, that's no fun. I caught a cold last week, so that was fun, but not as bad as having the flu I suppose. Oh and Kyla, Missy told me that Savannah and Sofie love going over for gymnastics. She said Savannah keeps saying how fun it is. So good work! How's it going for you? Do you like doing it? Oh guess what I did in class this week? I crocheted! Hermano Williams totally brought in some yarn and hooks, and told us to go to town. He wanted us to do chains, single and double stitches (what does that even mean?) And I learned that I cannot crochet. But it was a really good object lesson on how we have to be there with our investigators every step of the way, or our investigators will feel just as confused and frustrated as we did. I liked it. We also had an awesome devotional last night. It was Elder Richard Hinkley, President Hinkley's son. He talked about the steps for being a successful missionary, like using the area book and helping the Bishops and Stake presidents, and being bold, but not overbearing. I really liked that. Be bold, but not overbearing. We have to be bold in our attempts to spread the gospel, but we can't do that in a forceful way. We have to be brave and step out of our shells, and say bold things, but do it lovingly. We have to love the people we're teaching, and truly care for their needs. It's incredible how much the work changes when we do that. I love this work, and I'm so grateful for the opportuntiy I have to be out here. It truly is the greatest thing for me to be doing at this pint in my life. I love the gospel, and I love you all. I hope you have an awesome week, and get feeling better soon! You are all always in my prayers. Oh, and keep Sister Semadini in your prayers. Her dad is in the Flint's ward and he passed away this last week. I'm sure she could use a little extra love right now. Love you guys!

Hermana Amaya

The 1st Email, Week 1

Hola mi familia!

First off, I just want to apologize for taking so long to write you. My p-days are on Wednesday, so I haven't had a chance to write before now! But I appreciate the emails, and the package. You should see the pile of food in our apartment, it's insane. Like, super huge. We have all gotten packages full of food, and we're not allowed to eat in the classrooms, so it sits in the apartment and sometimes at night we pig out. It's pretty great. Of course then we're on a sugar high when we go to sleep, but esta bien (my accent button isn't working. Que triste). Oh and before I forget, please tell Brother and Sister McKee thanks for the cinnamon rolls. They sent me some and they were delicious. So tell them thanks a bagazillion. :) Oh! Jayson, the password for the voicemail is the last 4 digits of the phone number, which is 3541. And el baño is down the hall from where I´m sitting right now actually.

So the first day was pretty crazy. My brain felt like it was about to explode, especially when we met our teacher. She only speaks to us in Spanish, which is awesome, but sometimes hard. But now I understand 99% of what she´s saying. She served her mission in Malaga, crazy right? Her name is Hermana Gibson, and we love her. My district is awesome too. Hna. Raney (my companion) and I are both going to San Jose along with 2 of our elders, and then we have 2 hermanas and 2 elders going to Chicago. We have a great zone as well. Love them all.

So the first two days were pretty overwheming. There is a lot of Spanish to learn, and lots of everthing to learn. And to make matters worse, we were informed that we had to teach an investiagor on Friday in all Spanish. yeah, i figured that was coming, but it was still super freaky. And our first lesson went awful. We didn't know what he was saying and life was just frustrating. We taught him again on Saturday, and it was a lot better, but when we taught him again on Monday it was awesome. The spirit was actually there and we were communicating better with him. Hna. Raney has taken no spanish, so it's hard and I tend to dominate the lesson and talk the whole time. But we spread out more evenly on the lesson on Monday. It was good. COOL STORY! So we were talking about prayer, and it was almost time for us to leave, and I felt like I needed to find a scripture on prayer so I started looking while Hna. Raney was bearing her testimony. I had like a minute tops, and all I was able to do before she was done was flip to prayer in the index. So I asked Jose to read the first scripture I saw- 1 Nephi 18. He asked me why and I told him it was a good story about prayer and God hearing our prayers, praying that it was. So we left and I looked and guess what story it is? Nephi on the boat praying for the sea to be calm, and the sea and storm is calmed. It was so cool! I was definitely being guided by the spirit, and I am super grateful for that. So hopefully he gets something out of it and when we go back tonight he'll have read it and we can teach him something good. I have definitely learned to trust in the Lord and rely on the Holy Ghost, otherwise I will never make it through this place, let alone my mission. I do love it here though.

So I love being in Wyview. They kept the bunkbeds like the ones that were in Katrina and Kelsie's room, and that one's basically the same, and then in the single room they put bunk beds that stack directly on top of each other. So it's not bad. There are just four of us in an apartment, and no, I'm not in the same one that I was in at BYU. oh well. There are totally moving people from the main campus into mine today though. I was kind of jealous. Classes are in Raintree, ours is in a living room and other districts are in the old bedrooms. But it's pretty great. I like it. We eat in the pool house at Raintree. We only have one option for dinner, and since my first time eating at the main campus cafeteria was today (we can go there on pdays) it's fine because I don't know any better!

Well, my time is short, but I'll try to write you guys a letter. I hope you have fun at the family reunion and in Costa Rica! I love you so so much! Thanks for being so supportive of me! Love you guys!

Love,

Hermana Bingham

p.s. Oh yeah, I've seen Amanda Smith, pictured, Ciara, a couple guys from BYU, Tom Whitlock, Cody Pritchett, and Hazael Finkenthal. It's always nice to see a familiar face! I still need to see Skyler Flint and Craig Findlay though! hopefully soon!

Hna Raney and I

Me, Hna. Raney, Hna. Izu and Hna. Kinghorn (Chicago sisters)

Me, Hna. Raney, Hna. Izu and Hna. Kinghorn (Chicago sisters)