Hermana Bingham's Adventures in San Jose: 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