Hermana Bingham's Adventures in San Jose: Prepare For Conference!

Dearest family,

Sounds like you all had a good week! Kyla, I'm sorry the judges robbed you. That sucks. I would beat them up for you, but I don't know how much good that would do... :) But I'm sure I would've been really mad too! Well, I kind of am. And I hope you get to move up too! Dad, good work on the talks. Mom said you did a really nice job. I'm not sure if you usually write your talks out, or just kind of make notes and then speak, but if you have them all written out, I would love to get a copy! I would love to see what you're learning and stuff! Mom, sounds like camp will be fun! Olympics, good idea! And I bet your authentic Australian cookies were yummy. Bryce, I want to see lots of pictures from choir tour. I LOVE choir tour! And disneyland is the best one. You'll love it! Enjoy yourself, and don't do anything I wouldn't do. Here's my advice: get to the big rides first, fast pass one, get in line for the other, and keep doing all that until you hit the big rides with long lines. Charlie's recommendation is Fast Pass Splash Mountain first, then go to Indiana Jones while you wait for your fast pass time.! Or, Uncle Josh has good Disneyland tips and tricks. :) Also, food is killer. But I can't remember if you can take stuff in. Huh... Jayson, I haven't heard anything from you, but I hope your scout camp was fun and you had a good time! I hope school is going awesome!

I don't know what has been going on with me lately. This week was full of stress and meltdowns. Not really for any good reason. But I learned lots and lots of important lessons, and now I feel fine! WOOHOO! Get ready for this!

So on Thursday my companion felt sick, so we dropped her off with a member and I hung out with Sister Bench and Sister Spackman for the morning. We had district meeting, which was really good. It was on Chapter 4 of PMG- how to recognize and understand the spirit. It was awesome! Then we came back and ate lunch, and while I took a power nap, Sister Spackman had this awesome study. As she was telling us about it while we were doing service, I realized that my studies the past little while just hadn't been very good. Every day I pray that I'll learn something, but I"m reading the Old Testament right now in Leviticus, and it's really hard to understand sometimes. So I just haven't gotten a lot out of my personal studies. And then I had a lot of time to think, and I just realized that I really didn't feel like I was learning. Or progressing. And I had been feeling kind of out of it for a while. I got my companion that afternoon, and we finished up the day. When we got home that night, I was just feeling really really down. I didn't know what was going on, but I didn't like it. Sister Bench took one glance at me and knew something was wrong, so she asked if I was okay. Now normally in these moments I just say, yes, I'm fine, and go on with life. Because I hate crying and stuff, but this time I just broke down and started crying. So all four of us were in a little puddle on the floor, cuddling and just talking about everything. Everyone was trying to make me feel better and it was great, but it didn't really work. What did work was this: I knelt down to pray that night and begged, pleaded with my Heavenly Father to help me fix whatever it was that I needed to fix. I told Him that I want to learn, I want to progress, I want to be better, but I just didn't know how. And I prayed that I would have a good study the next morning. And immediately I felt better. I knew that I would receive an answer in my personal study the next morning.

So Friday morning I woke up and got ready, and then I said I really long prayer before my personal study. I got up and sat at my desk, and there was a talk, and a sticky note from my companion with a little note. The talk was called "A Personal Relationship with the Savior" by James E. Faust. It was awesome! I received so much guidance and help! Then I read one that Sister Spackman gave me called "Bread or Stones: Understanding the God we Pray to" by S. Michael Wilcox. SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even explain. You just have to read them. And then it hit me. As I was learning so much. They key to progressing in the gospel is not only studying the scriptures, but also our modern scripture! and then, keeping a study journal! And just in the last few days, my studies have improved so much. So as well all prepare for General conference, study the words of the living prophets. Read talks, study them, search them, come up with questions you want answered! And you will receive! It's a miracle! We get to listen to the prophet and the apostles speak to us! Take advantage, PREPARE!!!!!!!! I'm so excited for conference. Also, I'm asking a little favor. Please start sending me talks. Send me some of your favorite ones. I want to start studying them more, but I don't know where to start! Help!!!

I love you all, and I hope you have a fantastic week.

Love you bunches,

Hermana Bingham