Winging It

Hello family!

First off, I don't have any clue on the skyping thing. Hopefully we'll get it figured out this week. Also, tell Julia congrats for me! That's so exciting! And crazy!  Tell Janet hi, and that I'm excited to work for her again. :) Also, Bryce looked so handsome at prom! That's awesome. Rocking the light gray tux. Nice. Also, you look like a little hipster! You're growing up!! Also, that was a beautiful picture of Kyla. You're getting so so big! The spring break pic looked fun too! And dad, I loved that picture. Man, I'm glad I can spell daughter better now. :) But that's pretty cute. I'm going to see if I can print it out. It can go on my wall. :) Sounds like the new carpet is a hit! Does the house look completely different now? Will I recognize it? Jokes, I'm sure I will. :)

So this week was pretty good! I got to speak in sacrament meeting yesterday. That was fun. I was so nervous. I had written a whole talk, and then Saturday morning decided that I didn't want to do that, took some basic ideas from it, and then just kind of winged it. Not really, I was prepared, but I had nothing written. But good news, I didn't pass out!! :) So that was fun. I felt like it went pretty well. It was on love and missionary work, using President Monson's talk from this last conference called "Love- The Essence of the Gospel." I had a member ask me for a copy of my talk when I was done. Problem is that I didn't actually write it. So I told her I would try to write it out for her. Wish me luck. But I learned a lot this week. People always say that the best way to teach is by example. But I really learned that this week. As we go about serving and loving others, our light shines, and they can see that there is something different about us. By loving others, we are naturally sharing our testimonies in a way. We are "[letting our] light so shine before men, that they may see [our] good works, and glorify their father, which is in heaven." And that my dear friends, is missionary work. Just sharing our love with others. Also Dad, I do love getting your talks. They are awesome. I've only gotten one though... it was the one about conference.

We saw some awesome miracles this week. Cheryl, one of our investigators, is preparing to be baptized on May 17th. So we've almost taught her everything, but we haven't taught the law of chastity yet, or tithing. But at church yesterday, we happened to look over as she was handing the bishop a tithing envelope! So we asked the bishop if she just paid tithing, and he said, "I guess so!" Later her roommate that is a member told us that she had paid. Which is awesome, because we haven't even taught it to her yet!! She is so cool! We're super excited for her. 

We also found 9 new investigators this week! What a miracle! One named Enner Garcia wants to be baptized, and he accepted a date for May 25th (yay!) But the problem is he only gets a day off of work every 2 weeks. So he can only come to church every other week. So we have to pick a different date. He's really cool though. 

So Bryce's papers are SUBMITTED!!! YAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYAY! A week from Thursday huh? Does that mean in time for Mother's day? Or is that like a week before? I don't know, I can't keep track. :) I'm excited. I honestly have no clue where he'll go. Let's see... state side: CA, but speaking Spanish. Like me. :) Or maybe New York. I could see him there. But for foreign, I would have to guess England. Or Ireland. I just feel like he would do well over there. But to be safe, I'll just guess Europe. Too general? :) 

Well, I love you all. I hope you have an fantastic week. Challenge for everyone: open preach my gospel, turn to chapter 6, and take the Christlike attributes quiz at the end. Then pick on to work on and focus your studies on this week. It's super humbling, but super fun. It makes for some good studies too. We challenged a member to do it last night, and I thought it would be fun for ya'll as well. Love you! Have an awesome week!

Love,

Hermana Bingham

Happy Easter

Hey everybody!

Happy Easter! What an amazing day it was yesterday! We loved it. What an amazing time of year, to celebrate our Savior's triumph over death. Dad, I have seen the Because of Him video. It is fantastic. We've been showing it to people all week. Hermana Bench and I have been showing it to all our members, less actives, EVERYONE! And we've been inviting lots of people to check it out too. I love the way the church put that together. And how popular it's been. Someone told me that it's all over youtube. That's awesome! So many people remembering the miracle of this easter season. 

Thanks so much for the package. It was awesome. Thanks for the sockies too. They were needed. :) And your eggs turned out quite nicely! I've been telling people about them, last night a member told me she was going to try them next year. Spreading the best tradition ever! Woohoo! 

Bryce! Your papers are almost done>?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? I'm so excited for you! Your mission mug shot looks good. When did you grow up? But really, I'm so excited for you. How are you feeling? Excited? Nervous? Where do you think you'll go? any hopes, dreams? Guesses? Too scared to say? But really, tell me everything! I hope you get to open it over skype with me. But if you don't, just send me a video. I"ll probably cry while I watch it. I'll be so happy. I'm super excited for you Bryce! 

And Jayson, you got your license! That's so exciting! Don't do anything too crazy with it! 

Kyla, flash mob? What the heck? Why didn't you tell us?!?! Somehow I just can't picture that. Weird. But awesome. Good work kid. Good work. 

So it has been a good week. I sent Sister Craig home, Hermana Spackman got transfered, so now it's just Hermana Bench and I again. So we're basically combining two areas, so we have SO much work to do. It's awesome. We have 4 baptismal dates for May 17th. One we just met and found this week. His name is Jose Ramirez. He is a referral from a less active member, So he came to church a few weeks ago, and told Bro. Contreras (another member of our ward) that he wanted to get baptized. After one time at church. But we hadn't been able to get a hold of him for like a month after that. We finally got ahold of him on Friday, and met with him on Saturday. So we show up, and basically he tells us that he wants to get baptized. So before we even taught him anything, we set a date for May 17th. Then later he told us that he felt something he had never felt before at our church. A peace and this comforting feeling that was completely new to him. He went to Mexico for a while after that (that's why we couldn't get a hold of him) and he said usually when he goes to Mexico he's all stressed, but this time he wasn't. And he said he used to drink and smoke, but he came to church, and after that hasn't even had a desire to drink or smoke. He's been clean for about a month. It's such a miracle! We told him that that was the Holy Ghost giving him those feelings and helping him with drinking and smoking, and that he could have that with him all the time after he gets baptized. He's so prepared and excited for his baptism. Only problem is that we're not sure if he and his "wife" are married. Nothing we haven't dealt with before though. :) 

I hope you all have a wonderful week. Remember that because of our Savior and His atonement and resurrection, ALL is possible. We can be a forever family, and return to our Heavenly Father one day. It's a miracle, and a blessing. I love you all. Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Hermana Bingham

  Sweet Pea circle and Buttercup Blvd. Yup. We had to take a picture

About to crack confetti eggs on our heads at the Heatons

Confetti eggs!

After the eggs!

The Hair

Hello family! 

So I'm not really sure how much I cut off... He didn't tell me, and I didn't really measure. :) So it's short now, but I'll grow it out so when I get home it's long again. I just needed a cut because it was so gross and dead and unhealthy. So now it's healthy, and I'll grow it long again! I loved it long. So it will get there someday! 

Sounds like ya'll had a fun week. I'm down for going to Zion and hiking and stuff. Let's do it! I'm glad you had fun, and were all safe. I'm so glad you had that experience in the temple. That's amazing. I love the temple. It's the best place on earth. :)

You're right, transfers is this week. Sister Craig is going home, I'm staying, Spackman is getting transferred, and Bench is staying here. Apparently there is a shortage of Spanish sisters (none are coming in this transfer...) So we think that Sister Bench and I will just take over down here and be companions, so there will only be one companionship down here. But we aren't really sure, so we'll find out soon. Tomorrow morning actually. 

It really has been a great transfer. I was really worried (because of everything I told you before), but it ended up being great. It was exhausting, but when is missionary work not exhausting? What made it worse though is because she doesn't' speak Spanish, so I was teaching by myself, all day every day. And it's exhausting. It's mentally, physically, and spiritually draining. There is a reason they call us to preach two by two. Sometimes three by three. Because teaching by yourself sucks. It really does. Luckily for me I got some heaven sent help with the language and my teaching ability. :) I don't know what it was this transfer, but Satan was really working on me. Giving me feelings of inadequacy, frustration, stress... but I've learned so much through it all. I've learned that yep, I am inadequate for this job. But guess what? The Lord is always there to help. Only He can heal us. He can take away our frustration, stress, sorrow, guilt, shame, anything that comes. And sometimes He doesn't necessarily take it away, but He helps us bear it. He helps us get through anything and everything. Sure, there were times where I was driven up the wall. I was frustrated, confused, tired... but I know the only way I got through that is through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Because He suffered for us, we don't have to. We can choose to be happy. Choose a positive attitude. I remember in Jr. High they always did announcements over the intercom, and every day they said, "Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours." I thought it was stupid. But how true that statement is. We can choose to dwell in our misery, or we can choose to apply the atonement and be happy! That is what I'm grateful for this Easter season. This weekend is Easter Sunday. I love Easter. It's the reason we celebrate Christmas! It's the reason that our families can be together forever someday. Because Christ suffered and died for us, and because He was resurrected on the third day. What a miracle. I just want to share my testimony with you that I know that Christ lives. I know that He is our Savior and Redeemer, and that because of Him, we too will live again. Because of Him, we can have eternal happiness. It's been amazing. This week I've been studying the atonement, resurrection, judgement, and kingdoms of glory. I want to challenge you all to open up to Preach My Gospel, Chapter 3, lesson 2 this week and study the plan of salvation. Look up the scriptures: they are amazing! That's what I've been doing and it's so uplifting to read all these scriptures and see everything that Christ has done for us. It's a miracle. He loved us enough so suffer and die. He overcame death so that we could too. And through Him, we can have eternal life. I love this gospel so much. I love my Savior with all my heart, and I am so grateful for Him. 

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

With all my love,

Hermana Bingham

p.s. Happy Easter!

   

 Me with Elder and Sister Clayton last night at the outgoing devotional. They are headed home this transfer. They are a senior couple that works in the office. My favorite people ever!

Sister Craig and I at the aquarium

All of us roomies after ZTM

All the hermanas in the zone

 Spacks and I with memebers of our old zone at ZTM. E. Alvarez is headed home this transfer! 

He was my first District leader

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAYSON!!!

I know it was yesterday, but I hope you had an awesome day. Conference on your birthday?!?!?! LUCKY!!! I hope you had a wonderful day, and that being 16 is everything you thought it would be. :)

Sounds like you are all having fun in St. George this week! Have lots of fun, be safe, and do something crazy for me. :) 

I did get a surprise this week! Flowers and some cookies and a cute little card! What was Anna in Monterey for? It was super weird to think she had been to my apartment. But it was a super sweet surprise. It came right when I needed it. I had been having a kind of off day, but that made everything better. Thanks so much. And tell Anna thank you from the bottom of my heart! 

Highlights of this week: TEMPLE AND CONFERENCE! I didn't get to see the new new video, but I got to see the old new one again, and I love that one so much. I was slightly disappointed that it wasn't the new new one, but I got over it after a minute. I just LOVE the temple. Seriously, the greatest place on earth. I learned so much this time around. It was awesome. And then conference. Wow. Is it just me, or does conference get better and better every time. I can't even pick a favorite talk this time. They were all SOOOOOOOOOOOOO good! Man. I really loved Elder Cook's talk. It was a confirmation to an answer to a prayer. A few weeks ago I had been praying about what I needed to do to continually progress, even after the mission (sometimes you just have to think about that) and I got a really strong impression that I needed to do family history work. So I took it to conference, just to get the confirmation, and BAM. The whole time I was listening I knew that that is what I need to do. I loved how he talked about how we needed to be connected to both our branches AND our roots. We have an obligation to find those people, and help them receive those saving ordinances! I loved how he said that we can hasten the work of salvation in every area that a saving ordinance is involved. Which means missionary work, and family history and temple work. It's awesome. I feel like a lot of people talked about that this conference. It was really cool. It's hard to find missionary work to do in Utah. But temple work and family history work IS missionary work! Just a different kind! It's kind of cool. :) 

I also LOVED Elder Ballard's talk. How often does a general authority follow up on previous conference talks? I don't think I've ever noticed it. I loved how he talked about how we should each have a copy of Preach My Gospel, and study them. So I want to challenge you all to do something. Make Preach My Gospel a part of your family home evening study. Each week study a chapter from PMG, or a lesson out of chapter 3. Make home a mini MTC! Preach My Gospel is not just for full time missionaries. It can bless EVERYONE, if we seek for how to apply it in our lives. So will you do it? I'm going to follow up (one of the things I need to work on... :) ). 

Oh man. All the talks were so good. The Sunday morning session was my favorite. It never ceases to fail me! I'm so excited to study the words of the prophets. To go back and read all these amazing talks! I can't wait! And, I can't wait to read the Priesthood session... woohoo!

I love you all, and I hope you have a fantastic spring break!

Love,

Hermana Bingham

I had fun with my hair last week... Before

 After

Temple!

 Sister Craig and I

 Close up

  My surprise!! After we had eaten some of the cookies!

 We decided to take a picture every day. So this was the result of yesterday

Sister Craig and I