Missionary Work

Buenos Dias!!

Hello family! It's going to be a good week. I can just feel it in my bones. This weekend we got to see the baptism of Lidia Perez, the wife of a recent convert. We also set baptismal dates for her son and his wife for March 29th. We are so excited. The baptism was beautiful. We were running around like chickens with our heads cut off before, but all was well. We had some powerful testimonies born, sacred ordinances performed, and lives changed. Awesome right? It was a good day. Unfortunately, due to craziness before, we didn't get to take pictures before the baptism, but we got some after. It was awesome. 

Carlos was supposed to get baptized this weekend, but since he's only been to church once, and they are supposed to go 3 times before they get baptized we had to move it to the 15th. He got stuck at work and couldn't come. He felt so bad though. I've never seen anyone feel so bad for not going to church. He's amazing. He just kept apologizing to us and even though we told him that it was okay since it wasn't his fault, he just kept apologizing over and over. And then when he prayed at the close of the lesson, he actually repented for it? Like, he asked for forgiveness right then and there! And he's working on getting every sunday off. Or at least going into work a little bit later. He's so golden. We had a lesson with him last night in a member's home, and in the middle of the lesson, the wife of this member family looked at her husband and said, "He is so golden!" It was funny. But really. We taught him about the word of wisdom last night, and he just soaks it all in. Like a sponge. The other day he basically taught US the gospel of Jesus Christ. He just takes everything in, he studies everything, he is always asking for a new chapter to read and study in the Book of Mormon... he's just awesome. I am so blessed to have the chance to teach him. He is so amazing. We love him. I'm so excited for him to get baptized here in a couple weeks. He's going to make the best member. He came to the adult session of stake conference this saturday too. He even WALKED! In the dark! Just to get there. He's amazing. 

So like I mentioned, we had stake conference this week. It was awesome. The Saturday night adult session was all about missionary work. I loved one thing that Sister Watkins said. She said, "If we're scared about missionary work, it's because we don't understand it." It's so true. I was TERRIFIED to be a missionary. Some days I still am. It's scary to share something that's so close and tender to you. But just open your mouth. I loved something else she said. She said that the Lord knows who is prepared. We don't have to know. We just have to be willing to open our mouths at any time. Talk to everyone! She also said, "Pray for those experiences (missionary experiences) with the intent to be obedient - that is the single-most powerful thing we can do." I love that. The most powerful thing we can do is pray. It's so true! And then I love something our stake president, President Green said. He said, "There is no spiritual power in living by convenience." So true. The gospel is not convenient. It isn't easy. It's hard, and we have to work for out blessings. But that is where spiritual power comes from. I love it. 

I'm so proud of you mom for finally finding names! That is so cool! When we thought all hope was lost! I'm so excited for you all to be able to go to the temple and do the ordinances for these people! And maybe when I get home I can help you with family history work! Yay! I'm so proud of you all. 

I'm sad to here that Bishop Carrick got released! He sent all the missionaries in the ward a super nice email though. I'm going to miss him as a Bishop. He was the best. But who knows, maybe someday I'll be in his stake! Find out where his boundaries are, and put me in there! Jokes. But only kind of. 

I hope you all have a good week! I love you all, and I'm always praying for you! 

Love,

Hermana Bingham

 Us with Pablo and Lidia

All the missionaries that have taught them! 

Valentine's Day

Yay!!! I get tax money! Yay for 5 dollars! On the bright side, I won't have anything to file taxes for this next year. How nice. :) Thanks for doing that mommy! Also, thanks so much for the package! It came on Valentine's day, so that was a nice surprise! Good timing! I loved it. When we found the peeps, Sister Bench said, "I love peeps! She knows me so well!" It was kind of funny. But we are all enjoying all the treats, and I love the shirt. I wore it on Saturday. Thank you!!!!

What a good looking couple! That's seriously so adorable. I just sent the picture to Amanda. She probably got one from her mom too, but I felt like sharing as well. :) 

Sounds like Bryce's birthday and Valentine's day were really fun! I was thinking about creme-brule all day long, I hope you know. I was like, "man, mom is making creme-brule today. And I won't get any." But then I got a package full of yummy treats, and muddy buddies, which I had been craving. So it was okay. :)

So the Payson temple will be dedicated in the 3rd quarter of 2015 huh? YAY!! That's so exciting!! We'll have to all go to the dedication together. It will be so much fun. I'm so excited. Speaking of the temple, I hear there is a new new temple video. Have you seen it? How is it? Tell me everything!

This week was pretty exciting. Probably the most exciting thing is that on Tuesday night I got a phone call from the Yerba Buena sisters telling me that Leslie and Aleilee were going to get baptized that friday. Valentine's day. So I got to go up for a baptism! Leslie is 14 and Aleilee is 8. Aide, their mom, still hasn't gotten baptized, but she said soon. I'm not exactly sure what is holding her back. So Sister Smith, a lovely member here drove me all the way to San Jose for their baptism. It was awesome!

We also set a baptismal date for Carlos this week. He will get baptized March 1st. We are so excited for him. It will be awesome. Lidia is getting baptized this Friday, so we're excited for that too. the work is hastening down here! Lots of good stuff. I'm super excited. 

Funny story of the week. Yesterday I met an less active member that is from Japan! I told her that dad served in Japan, and so the member I was on splits with said, "Oh, do you like Japanese food then?" So I said, I LOVE Japanese food! Which is true, I do like it. Well, aparently when you tell that to an old lady from Japan, it means that you LOVE sushi. So immediately she and her sister go into the kitchen and start making sushi. Yuck. It was so cute though. How do you say no? So she sent me home with a big plate of sushi. Lucky for me, Sister Spackman likes sushi, so I brought her a nice treat. :) It was funny. I learned that I need to specify that I like Japanese food, just not sushi. :) 

I love you all! It's been a good week. I've learned a lot this week that even when it feels like no one else is there, the Lord is. He is always there to listen. I had a couple rough days personally this week, but I know that when I pray and ask for help, He will always give it to me. And if we look for the little tender mercies that He sends us, we can feel His love more. I love you all. Have a great week!

With lots of love,

Hermana Bingham

p.s. have fun doing family history tonight!!! :)

At the aquarium last week

Jelly fish!

A clam!!

 The ocean

 Titanic!

 Leslie and Aleilee's baptism: Me, Sister Monical,

Aleilee, Leslie, Sister Bradshaw, Dione, and Aide

 Sister Monical, Leslie and I

 Sister Monical, Aleilee and I

 Me, Aide, Aleilee and Dione

Geisy, Me, Samantha and Michelle. They were at the baptism! 
Michelle hugged me and cried when she saw me 

because she missed me so much.  It was tender! :)

 Happy V-day

Again. We're nuts.

Pebble Beach

Dear family,

Sounds like a lot of fun things are going on over there! YW's (stressful, but fun in the end), Dad's half marathon (GO DAD!!!), Mission papers (YAY BRYCE!!!), Olympics, google-earth stalking my apartment... (good one mom) and all sorts of stuff! Sounds like a party. 

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!! It will be weird not being at home with a fancy dinner from mom and creme-brulee, but I guess I wasn't at home last year either, so that's that. :) Have fun! 

So this week was AWESOME!!! So much stuff happened. First, on Wednesday Sister Bench and I spent all day volunteering at the Pebble Beach golf pro tournament (Sister Spackman was on splits with a member). That was fun. Basically we spent all day driving around in a golf cart, emptying trash cans and watching people practice. It wasn't actually a tournament day, so it was a little more low key, but I'm pretty sure I saw a bunch of famous golf players. Did I have any clue who they were? Nope. Not a single clue. But Sister Bench and I had fun trying to decide who was famous and who wasn't. It was interesting. We got free hats too. YAY! I thought about sending it home to dad, but it barely fits my head, so there is no way it would fit yours dad. :) 

This week we also set a baptismal date for Lidia Mendez. She is the wife of a recent convert named Pablo. She'll get baptized the 22 of Feb, so we're super pumped. Also Carlos will hopefully getting baptized on March 1st. We don't have a date for him yet, but he's praying about the 1st. So if you could pray for them, it would be AWESOME!! Also, pray for Jose Manuel Duenas. He's a recent convert that hasn't been to church since his baptism a month ago... yikes. We're worried. We see him once or twice a week, but he just doesn't come to church, and we can't figure out what to do to help him. Also we have another Jose Manuel, Becky (Pablo and Lidia's daughter), Cristela, Maribel, and Eduardo. There's a list for ya!! :) They need prayers!!! Thanks!

So the other super exciting thing that happened this week, is that Elder Cook of the quorum of the 12 came to our mission! Saturday morning we got up and drove to San Jose in the rain and listened to him speak! It was awesome! We all got to go up and shake his hand, and then he and his wife spoke to us. Then Elder Packer of the 70 spoke to us, and also President and Sister Watkins. Then we had a lunch break and then went back in for a mission conference, which took the place of zone conferences this transfer. It was so cool being right there, 2 rows away from an apostle. He talked a lot about how we are here for a reason. That could be because of the people or the place, or it could be because of the specific mission president. I thought that was interesting. But it's true. I know I needed to be with President and Sister Watkins for a reason. They are amazing. I am so blessed to get to work with them.  But the talk Elder cook gave was amazing. Unfortunately, I left my notes at home, but something that really stuck out to me is that he told us that we should put a lot of emphasis on the restoration. Specifically on Joseph Smith's first vision. Because that is what sets us apart. Because of that moment, we have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ here on the earth again. It was that moment that changed everything. It was really cool He also left an apostolic blessing upon us that we would be blessed as we serve, as well as the people at home. It was a huge comfort and blessing to be able to listen to him speak. It was really cool. 

I love you all. I hope you have a good Valentine's day, and that you have a fantastic week! Also, 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYCE!!!!! Have a fantastic day!! Love you!

Love,

Hermana Bingham

 Hermana Bench and I at Pebble Beach

 Me driving the golf cart around

Us at the mission conference on Saturday. After Elder Cook!

Sister Raney, Sister Kofford, and I. They are companions now. Tender!!!!

In the Tribune?!

Dearest family,

I was in the Salt Lake Tribune? Um, what?!?!?! I had no clue that was going to happen. I remember the service that it's talking about... I think, but I honestly don't know how it got in there. There were never reporters or anything. Who knows. Some of the people in charge took pictures, but oh well. Who knows. But I'm famous! Cool! :)

To answer your questions, I am in a car this time. Thank goodness. This used to be a bike area for sisters, but we cover two wards, and it would be WAY to hard. It's super hilly here. So I am luckily back in a car! yay! Our teaching pool is awesome! We've been finding so many new investigators that have a lot of potential, and we're hoping to set two baptismal dates this week. Hopefully they'll happen. For service we do different things. We help out in this community garden once a week, we help at meals on wheels and habitat for humanity, and salvation army, so that's all fun. And we're doing a special service this week. We are helping out at the AT&T golf pro tournament here at Pebble Beach golf course and Monterey peninsula course. Unfortunately, I won't be located at Pebble Beach: I hear it's BEAUTIFUL! But I'll be at the Monterey Peninsula course meeting (okay probably just seeing) famous people that I have NO CLUE who they are. Fun right? Maybe I'll recognize someone and tell you all about it. :) 

So you asked if I have any great experiences... of course I do! We always have great experiences as missionaries! This week... hum. I left my planner in the car. Whoopsie! I guess one of the highlights of the week has been the amount of work we were able to do! We got 32 lessons, with 11 of those being with a member present. Which is a mission high for me. Our goal for this next week is to get 15 member present lessons.  We've just been killing ourselves with the work, coming home every night completely exhausted, and wanting to pass out in our beds. And then still having to plan and update the area book and all that stuff. We also have found a few new investigators this week. 7 I think... It's hard to keep track. One of them is this guy named Carlos. I guess before I got here, Hna. Spackman and her companion contacted him at Mi Pueblo (speaking of, do they have those in Utah? They should...), and then a week ago he was at a less active and his nonmember "wife's" house. So we taught him too, and he was pretty cool. Seemed interested, but didn't think a ton about it. Then we got a referral from the MTC  for a guy named Carlos. It's the SAME GUY. He called the number on a card for a Book of Mormon. Hna. Bench and Hna. Spackman met with him while I was on splits with someone else, and he had read all of 2 Nephi 31 and memorized the chapter headings, and had read a whole bunch of other stuff, so yeah. He's super prepared. And Heavenly Father knows that, and knew that we needed a push, so he put him in our path 3 different times. Yup. Thanks. :)

So we were reading the talk called "Hastening the Lord's Game Plan" by Gifford... that really animated guy. It's so good! I invite you all to read it for family home evening tonight, and then put the plan he has into action. Remember that that is basically scripture for us, and we need to be doing it. So talk about it for FHE, and then do it! Do those three steps he talks about. 1-praying for missionary experiences, 2-praying for the missionaries in your area and their investigators by name, and 3-invite someone to an activity in our out of your home. Or just invite someone to do something. Post a link to a mormon message on your facebook, I don't know... it can be so simple! So will you do it? Good! We need the help of members. Every missionary does. Even in Utah where they cover like, 8 billion wards. We all need help and prayers and action. The Lord's work is hastening, and he needs every player.

I love you all! I hope you have a fantastic week!

Love you lots,

Hermana Bingham

Sister Bench and I at the butterfly garden. There were NO butterflies. 

Well, like one. And one dead one... :)

The three of us at the wharf last pday. 

Here is the Salt Lake Tribune article:

Photo from the Tribune article

Mormon missionaries ditching suits, donning jeans to do more service

LDS » Bay Area elders and sisters are spending their days helping area nonprofits.

By Peggy Fletcher Stack

| The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published Jan 31 2014 09:23 am • Last Updated Feb 01 2014 02:42 pm

In Northern California, the image of Mormon missionaries in dark suits and white shirts, knocking on doors at inconvenient times, is being replaced by the sight of these name-tag-wearing twosomes in blue jeans and T-shirts, hoeing gardens, scrubbing off graffiti, dishing out food in homeless shelters and reading with refugees.

It’s part of the LDS Church’s recognition that its long-held practice of "tracting," going door to door handing out church materials and delivering religious messages, is no longer effective. Now few people are home during the late morning and early afternoon, and those who are may not want to be disturbed.

"The world has changed," LDS apostle L. Tom Perry said in June 2013. "The nature of missionary work must change if the Lord will accomplish his work."

People today, he added, are often "less willing to let strangers into their homes."

The LDS San Jose Mission already had discontinued tracting. Mission leaders got the word three years ago from church headquarters in Salt Lake City: Find something else for these eager, young full-time missionaries to do.

And it’s not about baptizing.

So San Jose leaders proposed that missionaries provide two hours of nonproselytizing community service every day, five days a week — up from the normal four or so hours a week. This meant that Mormons would have to build partnerships with charitable organizations in their area that might need regular volunteers.

With the help of Web designers in Utah, LDS public-affairs officials in San Jose created a website called justserve.org,which lists organizations with service opportunities.

"We met with a lot of nonprofit organizations," explains Randy Mack, an accountant and regional LDS public-affairs co-director with his wife, Pat. "We said, ‘Here’s what we are doing. If you have anything we could do, let us put these projects on our website.’ "

The Mormon missionaries have taken to their new assignments with relish, he says. "Because of their being involved with service, people love the missionaries. They are welcomed and get very positive responses — a much different response than knocking on doors."

On top of that, they have more meaningful ways to fill those daytime hours, Mack says. In addition, missionaries are less likely to have health problems or depression, and relationships between the pairs known as "companionships" have improved.

"It’s all been very positive," he says. "The mission president is really excited about it."

The San Jose initiative was a pilot program, but was followed about a year ago in Dallas and Denver.Others are urging that all Mormon missionaries perform extra community service.

Elder Chad Le Beau,18, of Peoria, Ariz., has been in the Bay Area for about seven months, as an American Sign Language missionary (both his parents are deaf). He and his companion spend a lot of his service hours helping out at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont.

"We volunteer at homecoming events, set up parking, cook hamburgers for everybody and help out at basketball games — keeping score, working the shot clock and interpreting for the refs," Le Beau says in a phone interview. "I love service. It builds friendships and love that cannot be obtained through any other means."

Le Beau enjoys this part of his mission a lot.

"Being able to help someone and noticing that you’ve made a difference," he says, "I don’t see how you could not feel good about that."

Other missionaries are helping with an after-school program in a low-income area in East San Jose, which serves kids who are at high risk for joining gangs, says September Higham, an LDS Relief Society president in Mountain View, Calif. They "hang out with the kids, play handball, help with homework and provide other mentoring services."

This organization reached out to the missionaries in particular, Higham says, "because they had trouble finding volunteers who were available between 3 and 5 in the afternoon."

These young Mormons also help a neighborhood association clean up trash around the so-called "Jungle," a large homeless encampment in San Jose and one of the biggest in the nation.

About six to 12 missionaries clean out cow stalls and chicken coops, put in irrigation systems, and weed and mulch once a week at Hidden Villa, a nonprofit educational organization, Higham says. Another 15 missionaries work several times a week for a wildlife-habitat-restoration group called Acterra, removing invasive plants, planting native species and providing other services.

"The missionaries were recently honored at the [Acterra] organization’s volunteer dinner as the ‘largest core group’ of volunteers," she says.

Each pair of missionaries has to find its own service opportunities, which fit within established guidelines:

• The service has to be within or near their assigned areas.

• Missionaries are not allowed to use power tools and can go only four steps up a ladder.

• Missionaries are not allowed to work directly with children in most cases. (Exceptions are where there are lots of adults around and the service is in a public area.)

• Missionaries always must be within sight and sound of their companions.

• Missionaries always have to wear their name tags.

When evaluating service prospects, missionaries are told "to use good judgment and protect the name of Christ."

Higham celebrates this move toward putting more service in Mormon missions.

"We’re sending a whole generation of young missionaries back home with the awareness and the experience to engage in service in their own communities," she says. "Some of these missionaries will become community leaders and the experience they gained at age 19 or 20 working with the homeless, at-risk youth, disabled individuals and other disadvantaged populations will become invaluable."