Santa Clara!

Hello family!

First off, it sounds like you all had a fun week! Golfing, meat, girls camp. Sorry it was a little frustrating mom, but it's sounds like it was lots of fun. Oh, and a rocket launcher, fun! 

So I know you all really just want to know where I'm at, so I'll talk about that later. Just kidding. I'll tell you now. Right now I am serving in the El Camino ward, here in Santa Clara, CA. Our ward actually covers Santa Clara, Mountain View, and Sunnyvale, but our area is Santa Clara. Which is a 3rd of the stake. The other two elders cover the other two thirds. So far it's been really fun. This is one of the more "coveted" spanish areas in the mission, so I'm super excited. It's a big ward, the bishop is great, the members are really strong... it's great. There is so much potential here! I'm excited. This will be my last area, which is a little weird to think about, so I don't. But it's been fun. I'm in another trio, so that puts a whole new spin on things. my companions are Hermana Garcia-Gomez (or Hermana G-G) and Hermana Boyd. Hermana G-G is from Veracruz, Mexico (NATIVE!!) but raised in San Diego. She goes home in October. Hermana Boyd if from Flower Mound, Texas (close to Dallas), and she goes home in November. And then me in December. Yes, we are all dying here. :) I love them both. They are super great. They are both really hard working, excellent missionaries, and I'm excited to get to know them even more. We've had a lot of fun already. And I actually have some pictures to show ya'll. And I never have pictures on week one! That's pretty impressive. 

Oh yeah, our address is:

3480 Granada Ave #147

Santa Clara, CA 95051

This week I've learned a lot about obedience. I've been noticing that this area has some problems with disobedience. Not huge problems, but just disobedience in the little things. Like staying too long and hanging out at members homes, or being out past 9, even when we're not in a lesson, or morning schedule problems. Or even just what does and doesn't count as a lesson or a member present lesson. Even just effective planning. And I'm not saying that I was always exactly 100% perfect in my obedience before, but I tried my best. And most days that best is pretty good. And I have a really firm testimony of being exactly obedient. Obviously we are all human, and we make mistakes, but this week has been really hard. I want to change these things, but trying to figure out how I can help the missionaries around me without making them feel like I'm attacking them is hard. This area has so much potential, but I know that we can only reach that potential by being exactly obedient. And sometimes that's hard. When no one around you is being obedient, it's hard to stand alone. But it's something you have to do. Always keep the commandments, and we receive blessings. If we don't, we don't get blessings. And blessings are so important, especially in missionary work. We have NO room to afford being disobedient. Really we have no room anywhere in life to be even just the slightest bit disobedient. It's been a really big learning experience for me, and I'm determined to be EXACTLY obedient this week. No matter what. and don't worry, it's nothing big, just little things. and I'm doing my best. Sometimes we just have to fix tiny things. :) That's why we have the atonement right? :)

I love you all! Have so much fun this week, and have fun at the family reunion! I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Bingham

The Andersen's and I (back in Seaside)

Dinner with the elders one night, since no one wanted to feed us. It was a little chilly

We matched on Sunday!