Insane week

My dearest family,

This week... insane. just to put it all in one word. A lot of interesting things have happened. First off, Sister Kofford is getting transferred tomorrow... it sucks. We are like, bestest friends, and now she has to leave me. I really don't want a new companion. But there's a possibility that she'll get transferred to the other spanish ward that meets in our building, so I could still see her all the time. But maybe not. Transfers stink. I don't like them. But it's been a good 12 weeks with her. I love her to death. I couldn't have asked for a better companion.

Second, every six weeks there is an outgoing missionary fireside. In spanish, we call it the despedida. This is where all the missionaries that are leaving for home share their testimonies, some recent converts or re-activated less actives share testimonies, and there is a musical number. And President and Sister Watkins talk too. :) So one of our dear sisters, Sister Hall, is headed home. She was Sister Raney's trainer, and an STL, so we see her semi often and her and Koffs are good friends. So she asked Koffs to sing at the despedida. So Koffs sang and I accompanied her on the piano. It was so fun! The song was called "I have not seen, yet I believe" a Sally DeFord song. It was awesome! Also, there were like A BAGAZILLION people there. Like, the entire chapel and cultural hall was full... yikes. But it was fun and went really well.

I have a REALLY cool story for all y'all now. Like, really cool. So this week we were going through formers to try to find new investigators, and I came across this family. Missionaries started visiting them in Dec 2007, kept going for like a yearish, maybe more, stopped, and then about a year and a half ago, other missionaries went and visited, and stopped about a year ago. So I decided that we needed to go see them. We decided to go during the hour of power, hoping something good would come out of it. So we head over to their apartment, and knock on the door. I can hear people inside, but no one answers. So we knock again. (Keep in mind that I have a curse... everytime I try to lead a lesson, and do 90% of the talking, lessons fall through, people don't answer.... really, like every single time. It sucks.) So we wait, and then the door opens. This man comes to the door, and I say, "Javier?" and it was him! But here's the weird part... I feel like I know him. I have NEVER seen him before in my life, but I just felt like I knew him! And a couple weeks before Elder Hammond (our zone leader) had been talking about how we made promises to people in the pre-mortal life that we would find them here. And what I'm gathering is that I knew him, and I made a promise to him that I would bring him the gospel. Cool right? So we talked to him for a bit and set up a return appointment for Saturday. So we get there Saturday and started visiting with him, and he just starts bawling. He doesn't have a job right now and last year he was in an accident and broke his neck, and is just having a really really hard time right now. So I told him "Creo que hay un razon que estamos aqui. El evangelio puede ayudarle con todas estas problemas, y queremos compartir como." Or in other words, I think there is a reason that we're here. The gospel can help you with all of these problems, and we want to share how. And he agreed that he thinks there is a reason too. MIssionaries had been visiting for years, but this time was different. We asked him to come to church, and he said he'd try. Which with EVERYBODY else, that means they won't come. So we weren't expecting him. Sad that our trust in the people is so low... it happens. But then he walked into the chapel with his 4 year old son Diego! WOW!! A sister in our ward gave a talk on covenants, and after Javier said that he needs these covenants, and the thinks that this is the way! And it is the way! I've just got a really good feeling about this family. Javier is the dad, and Alejandra is his wife. They have 3 kids, Jared (17), Omar (8) and Diego (4). Pray for them please!

In other news, 21 happened again! But here's the crazy part, after 5 weeks into the transfer, we only had 8 baptisms. This weekend we had 13! Thirteen baptisms in our zone in 2 days. Crazy right! It was a miracle! And Jesse got baptized! We are so so so happy!

I love this gospel. It is so true. The restoration really did happen, and we have the restored gospel on the earth today. I am so grateful for it. I love it, and I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ.

I love you all, have an amazing week.

Love,

Hermana Bingham

 Us with Geisy before his baptism

Koffs and I with Sister Hall, who is going home this week. :( 

 E. Hathcock, Hna. Raney and I. Also E. James (a memeber of my zone)
because we needed another elder in the picture. :)

 Koffs and I with Jared and Marifer Paredes. Our favorite members. We eat at their house every Sunday, and take good care of us. Marifer is standing on a chair. She's super short, so she wanted to be tall like everyone else. :)

 Sister Jensen, me, Elder Vernon, Elder Nielson, Sister Kofford, and Sister Spackman. The Elders and Koffs and I have a secret agent joke. Also we like to play settlers of Catan on pdays. That's how this picture came about.

 The sisters of Yerba Buena. Jensen and Koffs are getting transferred. :(

Koffs and I with Adairis (one of our investigators) and her son Angelo

Flying Spaghetti Monsters

Hey family!!

How's life? Sounds like life is pretty busy, but pretty good! Which is always good. That's what I like to hear.

Sounds like school and work and gym and choir and calander making and everything is going wonderfully for all of you. That makes me so happy! Good work Bryce for getting a 28! Get it up to a 30, that will get you half tuition at BYU. What colleges are you applying to? BYU, BYU, BYU, and BYU right? No but really, where do you want to go? You can't just give me a "I'm appying for colleges right now" and then not tell me where you want to go!

Jayson, how was your campout? I want to hear all about it! Digame todo!!!

Kyla, sounds like gym is going great! With the backhandspring again and fly aways and adding in a twist? Wow! Tell me more! Pictures? Videos? :)

Mom, sounds like you've been keeping busy with activity days and calander making and primary. It sounds like your 10 lost tribes game was a hit! Sounds like fun! And I've never really understood the whole having a testimony of the church and the Book of Mormon but not Joseph Smith thing either. It doesn't make sense. Like, at all. Maybe someday we'll find out what's going on in their brains. But probably even then it won't make sense. And yay for the Calander being faster! Woohoo! Saving time and energy. Booya. Also dineros. That's always good.

And Dad, it sounds like you've also been busy with work and callings and all that good stuff. Keep up the hard work. I've decided that busy is the best way to live life. It goes by faster that way. :) Also, there is never a dull moment. And you learn new things all the time!

Speaking of learning new things: Yesterday while contacting Sister Kofford and I talked to a guy that said he belonged to the Pastastolic church. Or in other words, The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It's real, his friend that was standing right there looked it up because he knew nothing about it either. Basically, this guy claims that he believes that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the earth, and everything in it. Which is just ridiculous, Spaghetti wasn't even created until the 1800s. Also, they can basically do whatever they want. And heaven and hell... well you'll just have to look into it. I don't know if it's appropriate to be writing in a missionary email home that will be going on a blog for everybody to read. Basically, this "church" is ridiculous, and for men that just want to party and don't have to be self concious about commandments or rules or anything like that. But I'm 99 percent positive that no woman would join this church. It's ridiculous. Also, a flying spaghetti monster? Really? Oh well, you learn interesting things being on a mission. Also I learned this week that since I'm from Utah I have the power to make a phone call and make people disappear... yeah. I don't get it either. Crazy people.

We had a better week this week. We found out the Geisy will be able to get baptized this saturday. it's 95% likely to happen. We passed him to the elders though, since he techinically lives in their area. But still pretty cool after all the trouble we went through with him. And Adairis, one of our FAVORITE investigators (is it bad that I'm picking favorites?) and her esposo person Miguel and their baby Angelo CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY!!! I never thought I would be so happy about someone coming to church. But we haven't had an investigator at church for the last 4 weeks, and they have never come to church (except for twice like, 2 years ago) and Kofford has been teaching her most of the time she's been here, which is 4 transfers. They are still difficult in some areas, like seeing why they need to get married, and why baptism is important (we've taught the restoration about 50 times) but they are amazing and we love them and they're trying. So it's good. We also made those sugar cookies that you sent me mom, and then took them a plate and a note and ding dong ditched it. Turns out she wasn't home, but later that night she texted us and we had the sweetest conversation ever. We told her how much she has influenced us for good and that we love her, and she was so sweet. She told us she loves us with all her heart and she never wants us to leave. She said she'll never forget us and we've helped her so much. It was super tender. It's moments like those when you realize that you are making a difference. Even if it seems like NONE of your investigators care at all and you aren't helping anybody, you are. And you may not always see it. But you are helping people change their lives, and just being there for them is so incredibly important. Also, helping them get eternal salvation. It's pretty great. Man I'm lucky.

I hope everything continues to go great. I love you all, and you're always in my prayers. Have a great week!

I love you!!

Love,

Hermana Bingham

p.s. I'm still lovin the perm. :)

Surprise Pictures!

Two more pictures showed up today! That never happens! These two are so cute!

Curly Hair

Hey family!

So first things first. The temple is beautiful! I'm so excited to see it when I get home! I love love love it! Definitely thinking that's where I'll be getting married now. It is goregeous... gorgeous... gorgous... goregus? English is hard. :( This lady in my ward Hna Plata lived in Springville for a few years so last night she told me that angel Moroni was on, because she knew I would want to know. Yay!

Sounds like fall break was a nice break and time to relax. That's always nice. Also, dad, I have heard some about the whole government thing. There is this guy in our ward that works for the government so we asked him about it, and he told us a little. Basically Sister Kofford and I decided that the Lord is putting the United States into bondage because of our wickness...So there's that. It's the whole pride cycle in the Book of Mormon thing. But then again I don't know very much about it, only that it sucks and I'm glad I'm on a mission right now so I don't have to worry about it. :)

So I have some kind of big news for y'all this week. Yesterday Sister Kofford and I decided that we were going to get perms. So we did. We went and got perms from two little Vietemese ladies and now your daughter has curly hair. Sending some pics soon. I was super nervous and thought I was crazy, but so far I like it. It's a lot easier to do. I can just put some Mousse in it and let it dry. Woohoo! So that's my exciting news of the week. Other than that this week was disappointment after disappointment. All 3 of our bap dates fell through, even our 9 almost 10 year old girl who's parents are members. And semi-active. They just come up with excuse after excuse and none of it makes any sense. 12 year old Geisy's (Jesse, just spelled completely weird) mom said no (even though he doesn't live with her and he's been coming to church for years), and Maria Cristina (our old lady from Nicaragua that is golden) has gone missing. We don't know where she went. Also Gilberta, our little 10 year old girl that was so excited to get baptized and had a date, and her mom LOVED us went to Mexico a few weeks ago so she didn't come to church. She's been back for a weekish and we havent' been able to find her so finally on Sunday we went by her house again, and her father yelled at us and told us to never come back. He was super rude about it. He was like, "If your catholic come in, but if not go away and never come back! My daughter will not listen to you!!!" And we were super sad. She is adorable and her mom really liked us too. So now we can't even talk to her. But if there is one thing I've learned it's that missions are hard, but we just have to keep pushing through. Things will get better in the end. I love the quote you sent me from Elder Holland this week mom. It's so true. Even when EVERYTHING is going wrong, our Father in Heaven loves us SO much, we can't even imagine how much. And I'm lucky. As a missionary I can experience just a tiny bit of that love for everyone I come in contact with. It's overwhelming at times. There are people I don't even know and I just feel this love for them. It's pretty incredible. I love this gospel, and I love you all. I think you are all amazing and I am so blessed to have you as a family, and to anyone else that may read this at a later point in time, I am so glad I have you in my life in whatever way that is. I am so blessed to be surrounded by a loving family, loving friends, and people I know I can always count on. Thanks so much for your examples.

I love you! I hope your week is amazing, and if I could ask a favor of you it would be to pray for 21! So far we're at 5 baptisms this transfer, and we need 16 more in two weeks. Yikes. But it's totally possible with the help of the Lord. Pray for us! I love you!

Love,

Hermana Bingham

(This was the quote from Elder Holland: "Above all, never lose faith in your Father in Heaven, who loves you more than you can comprehend."  Elder Holland)

 Contacting... oh wait, that's a mannequin.

After contacting my mannequin.

 International night ward activity! So fun, and SUCH a good turn out!

 Dance from El Salvador at the ward activity.

 Koffs and I and Hna. Teresa Guardado. A recent convert that is seriously, super amazing. She was baptized while I was here. And yes, there was totally a fingerprint on my lens.

Our display at the ward activity. The other sisters made it. Why is it in english? No clue.

 Before the perms. And yes, I have como a bagazillion chins... Stupid Spanish Program 

 A few hours after the perms!

Today with my perm. Also, I have a gargantuan sized headache right now from the stench of perm chemicals that my hair reaks of. But I like the curls. Yay!

General Conference

Dear Family,

I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE TOO! Man, it was so good this year! And conference as a missionary is even better! Of course my favorites were Uchtdorf's, Holland's and Monson's as well, but I also really enjoyed Elder Bednar's talk on tithing. And Elder Dube's. I don't know. It was just SO good! I can't wait for the Conference Ensign. I don't think I've ever been more excited for one. I can't wait!

Also, the other exciting thing of the week is that I got to do a session at the Oakland temple on Tuesday to prepare for General Conference. We can do a session once every six months before General Conference. So we had a member drive us up, and then we were able to do a session. THE NEW VIDEO IS SO GOOD! Wow, how incredible. I think my jaw was hanging open the whole time. :) It opened my eyes up to things I hadn't understood before, and I learned so much. Dad, you're right. Eve should get Best Actress. :) It was just so good. I loved it. I just love the temple. It was an incredible experience, and it makes me even more excited for conference next year because I'll get to go again! Also, the Oakland temple is beautiful. I loved it. Wow. Probably the highlight of my week. It really made me want to get my investigators there. It was just a reminder that the temple is where we want to be. Baptism is important and essential, but the temple is the ultimate goal. Well, the Celestial Kingdom is, but for right now, here on this earth, the temple. Does that make sense? That's where we want to see our investigators go. That's why we're here. To help them get to the temple ultimately.

I can't believe Chin is home! That is SO crazy. I feel like we just went to his farewell too. If you ever see him around, tell him hi for me. I miss that kid. He's awesome.

Thank you so much for the package. I got it last Monday, right after we emailed, so I couldn't tell you thanks last week. but I loved it! The watch is wonderful, I love the pillowcase, the mummy was so cute, and I loved the quote thingy. I opened it in the office because the senior sister in charge of the mail and stuff in the office wanted to see what it was, and she loved the quote thing so much she made a copy of it so she could send it to her grandson who's on his mission right now. And the treats were delicious. I've almost pounded everything in that box, because when there are two of you, and you go home at night and just need to snack and all you have is the goodies from mom, they get eaten fast. We enjoyed them thouroughly. We still haven't made the sugar cookies, we're waiting until closer to halloween to make them. But thank you so much! And for sending those cd's. Did you know that Maddie Wilson is singing on the EFY cd? Charlie informed me of that fact, and every time we listen to it, I'm like, "I'm friends with her older sister!!" I feel pretty cool. :)

So a highlight for conference for me was the focus on memeber missionary work. It is SO incredibly important for members everywhere to get involved. There is so much that we as missionaries just can't do. It's hard to find solid investigators, but memebers can help us by inviting their friends! I want to rechallenge you all to pray for missionary experiences. Follow the prophet's counsel, and the counsel of his apostles. All their asking is for people to pray. And if you pray with real intent, Heavenly Father will give you experiences, and lead you to helping someone come into the fold. I can testify of that. And there is no greater joy than the joy that comes from watching a dear friend or family member enter into the waters of baptism. Especially when you helped them get there.

I love you all, have a fantastic week. I hope everything is great for you all. Love you, and remember, EVERY MEMEBER A MISSIONARY! HELP THE MISSIONARIES!!!!

Love,

Hermana Bingham

 Koffs and I after we washed the Buick. Yes, we're still driving that beast. 

Only for like another week though:(

 Sister Kofford, me, Sister Jensen and Sister Spackman at the Oakland temple.

 Koffs and I with the view from the temple

Sister Kofford and I

Sickness and Meeting Goals

Dearest family,

First off, Richard and Zac know Sister Barker? Well, she's moving back to Provo (she had to go home because she was super sick. it was sad), so maybe they can be friends with her! That would be pretty cool. Small world. Especially when you're at BYU. So I would see if she knows Richard, but she's back at home. So maybe I'll just see if she recognizes the name. :) Cool beans.

Bryce, you looked beautiful at homecoming. Okay, you looked handsome, and you are one lucky guy. MaKenzie looked BEAUTIFUL! I hope you realize how lucky you are. Also, she's a pretty lucky girl. I mean, she got to go to homecoming with my brother! Also, the Fohawk is nice. Different, and I little weird to see you with, but I like it!

So not alot happened this week. It was a weird week, but just not a whole lot happened. But I'm still gonna tell you all a story. So this story starts last Sunday night, when our zone leaders announced that we were going to double our 21 goals. So that means last week we had to get 10 new investies, 10 bap invites, fast twice, read the Book of Mormon for 42 minutes every day, and get 42 contacts every day. It was CRAZY! So then Monday we had pday, got all our contacts, and didn't have time to do much else due to a dinner appointment. Then Tuesday we had all day, and we got a couple new investigators. So we're at 2 for the week. Good start right? Well Tuesday night Hna. Kofford starts feeling super sick, and when we wake up Wednesday morning she looks like death. She said she felt like crap, and fevery and nautious, but when I asked her if she wanted to stay home for a little bit, she said that we didn't have time, and she wanted to go to work, so off we went. Well at around 1 that day we were at the mission office to meat one of our recent converts for a lesson. He ended up not showing, but while we were there, Kofford died on the bathroom floor. She threw up. The poor girl. So I took her home, and she was SO sick, so we didn't get much done that day. Later Hnas. Packer (Koffs old comp), Hall (STL) and Raney (my MTC comp) came over. Hall and Packer stayed with Kofford, and Hna. Raney and I took off, together again. It was our mission to find new investigators. So that night I learned I really DO know Spanish, because we got all our contacts, plus 2 new investigators. And we met with a less active family that just moved into our ward a couple of months ago (there was definitely a can of beer on their kitchen table, and no one lives there besides this couple). So that was fun. Then I get a call on our way home from Sister Hall that says Sister Kofford is too sick to move, so Hna. Raney and I are going to do overnight exchanges. So then Thursday morning Hall and Packs bring Koffs back, and Hall takes Raney and I to the Sisters retreat (spirtually uplifting day for sisters. awesome.) and Packer stayed with Kofford. Then after the sister's retreat I sat at home with them after going out and getting 42 contacts with Hna. Raney, and then on Friday I got to go to one appointment with the sisters, and get some contacts. Basically I was at home all day: Couldn't find anyone to go out with. So it's Friday night and we still only have 4 new investies. Yeah, not good. Then on Saturday Hna. Kofford was still sick, and I couldn't find anyone to go out with for the longest time, but I finally got out for a couple hours with another sister and got one more new investigator, and then we went to the Relief Society Broadcast. Koffs was feeling a tiny bit better by that point so we took her. The broadcast was AWESOME! I loved it. I just love conference. It's the greatest. So Saturday night I'm talking to our district leader, and he informs me that he, (Elder Watanabe from Japan) and his companion Elder Yanez had gotten us 3 new investigators, and our zone leader Elder Hammond and his companion Elder Jones got us 1. Yanez speaks spanish so it made sense, but they are both english speaking companionships. So it was CRAZY! I was almost in tears because that just took away so much stress, and helped us so much. It was a miracle and a blessing. So by Sunday Koffs was better and we were able to get two more investigators. I truly saw the hand of the Lord this week in everything. Even though I only got to get out for a couple of hours every day, We were able to get all of our 21 goals. It was amazing. Also, I'm not sick. WOOHOO! Hopefully it will stay that way, I can't afford to get sick. There is no time for that.

So the RS broadcast-- can I just say amazing? I loved it! Especially President Monson's talk. I just love him. And he's right. We are NEVER left alone. Sometimes we don't recieve answers right away, but we will recieve them. Maybe not in the way we think is best, but in a way that is best for us. Our Heavenly Father loves us so much. More than we can possible imagine. It's incredible.

I love you all so much. I hope you have a wonderful week, and all is well. Love you so much!

Love,

Hermana Bingham

I made tortillas. What's up.

Our living room. Looks pretty good. Because we had just cleaned it hardcore. :)

Life in San Jose

Dear Family,

I have realized I haven't been very informative (thanks to Mom) about my whereabouts and situation. Just that I'm happy and I love it here! So let me do a little explaining...

Once upon a time there was this girl named Sister Bingham (because that's always been my name.) and she was on a mission in San Jose California. Well, she spent about 6 weeks in the MTC and then got to California, and forgot to tell her family what it was like. So after spending about 7 weeks in California, she decided to tell her family what her life in California was like.

Done with that... anyways, I am in the San Jose zone, which is right in the heart of San Jose. Obviously. We are one of two zones in the San Jose stake. And then my ward/area is the Yerba Buena ward, which is a Spanish speaking ward. Yeah, we have a whole ward. There are a lot of Mexicans here. :) Also, we like baptizing them. There are currently 7 missionaries in the Yerba Buena ward: Sister Kofford and I, Sisters Spackman and Jensen, and Elders, Alvarez, Phillips, and James. We love it. We are very blessed to have so many missionaries in our ward. Our ward it great too. The Bishop is amazing, and works really well with us. He is always trying to make sure we have the help we need and is wonderful. He also has decided to do this new thing: we are going to just plan to have a baptismal service every two weeks and plan it out and everything. His philosophy is, "If we fill it they will come." (Yes, my Uruguayan bishop quoted Field of Dreams while presenting this plan. It was awesome). Our zone consists of English, Spanish, and Vietnemese speaking missionaries. We have 1 spanish ward, 3 english wards and a Viet branch. It's awesome. Also, we do 21 here, so it's the greatest. We have a lot of cool people here in our ward too. It's great.

So service: Yes, we do have a lot of service opportunities here. Our mission president has asked us to get about 10 service hours a week: but not more than that. So every week, Sister Kofford and I average about 4 acts, with 8 hours. We teach an English class every week for an hour, and my favorite is park service. We go to this park every week called Guadalupe River park, that is completely run by volunteer work, and we sometimes pick fruit, sometimes we weed, mulch, prune, and one time we even made apple cider. It's fun. It's nice to be outdoors and be with lots of missionaries doing stuff. I like it. We also play the piano in Primary every week, which counts as 2 hours of service, since there are definitely other meetings we could be in. :) that's fun too. And then we usually try to find something else to do. Lately we've been going to this place called Veggielution, which is a volunteer based organic farm. We weed, harvest, and do all that kind of stuff, and every week after there is a potluck lunch, which consists of veggies grown there made into yummy stuff, so we help prepare that too. It's super fun.

Sister Kofford and I live in a little one bed room apartment, that is kind of a dump. Well, ours is because missionaries have lived in there for who knows how long. We have some memebers that live in the same complex, and their's is nice, but ours just isn't super great. And it's not super dumpy. Just... missionary like. Lets just put it this way: Elders have lived in it for a really long time, and sisters just started living there a little while ago. But I like it. It's fun. We're really close to all the other Yerba Buena missionaries (as in we're all in the same complex) so sometimes we do breakfast or dinner together. It's fun.

Does that answer all your questions? I hope so! I"ll send more pictures.. I just have to take some first. I'll send a  couple though. Love you all, Hope you're week is fantastic! The gospel is true, and missionary work is amazing!

Love,
Hermana Bingham

 We contacted a guy with a parrot a few weeks ago. I got to hold it. Then it bit my finger... So I have had a parrot bite my finger. How many other people can say that? Cool right?

Sister Kofford and I with Sister Barker