Communication and Humility

Hey family!

Wow, what a crazy week. Sounds like you had fun too with school starting and everything. That's so crazy, everybody is growing up! Jayson driving to school, Kyla is wearing makeup (you look beautiful by the way hermanita!), Bryce isn't even IN school... crazy! 

So there was an earthquake here a couple nights ago, you're right. I unfortunately didn't feel it. I've always wanted to feel a small one. And every time one has happened at home, or here, I'm always sleeping. Just my luck right? Just as long as I'm not in a big one though. :)

Afton is engaged? To Brandon Taylor? Wow. Tell them congrats for me if you see them! It's super crazy to see everyone getting engaged right and left. We like to keep up on the missionary gossip out here, and when a missionary that served here goes home and gets engaged, we all find out. People get married super fast. Remember Sister Craig? She got home, got engaged 3 weeks later, and got married less than 9 weeks after that. So less than two transfers after being home, she was married. Weird right? Especially since she didn't really date the guy before. but they knew each other. It was interesting! But they're happy, and that's all that matters right?

Sounds like education week was fun too. I love quinoa. It's delicious. But yeah, expensive. They also make quinoa pasta. I saw it at grocery outlet last week. So that's fun!

So I know you all want to know what happened with transfers, so I'll cut to the chase. I stayed companions with hermana G-G and we're staying in our area, and Hermana Boyd got a new companion-- Hermana Quintana (I served with her in Monterey! She's awesome), and they are taking over on the the elders areas, while the elders are in a trio. It's fun. The poor hermanas are so stressed and so tired, but they are working really hard, and I know that things will get figured out soon. That means that there are 4 of us in our 1 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment though, which always makes things fun. We got a bunk bed, and had to rearrange all of our furniture, but it was really fun. And now our apartment is dejunked of all the former missionary clutter, and it's clean and fresh! Yay!

So the most exciting news of the week is that Amada and Bernardo decided to get baptized this Saturday the 30th of August. We are SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited! They are both progressing so much. We had a little scare though. Bernardo didn't understand the whole word of wisdom thing. He didn't get why we can't drink coffee since it's natural and from the earth and everything. So that first lesson didn't go super well because of a few different things. But we met with him the next morning, and focused on faith, and blessings that come from our obedience. He agreed to stop drinking coffee, or at least try his best. That's all we can ask right? But he was totally good with tithing, and now we just have to teach the small things. It will be an exciting, exhausting week. :)

Something that I've been thinking a lot about this week is communication and humility. Sometimes, having a companion is hard. Really hard. And my companion and I have a bit of a struggle communicating. There are a lot of times where we have a slight disagreement or something, and she just stops talking. And I try to talk to her about it, and she won't really talk. Or she just justifies her actions, her point of view. Now to solve the problem, I have to apologize for whatever it is that I did wrong. But I haven't gotten a single apology this week, even though I try to be open and tell her that when she does x, it makes me feel sad, or I don't really appreciate it, or whatever. And sometimes it's hard to be the bigger person. But I think Heavenly Father is teaching me patience. And how to communicate. In Relief Society yesterday the lesson was on marriage. And the sisters were talking about communication, and how it takes tolerance, and humilty. Obviously we aren't perfect, and neither is our spouse/companion. Sometimes we have to apologize, even if we didn't do anything wrong. Even though it's hard. We have to be the bigger person, and step up to the plate. Lead by example. communicate with them, even if they don't communicate with you. I have my weaknesses, so does she, but if I want the companionship to work, I have to do my best. Even when it's hard. It may sound like something I should've learned a long time ago, but it's been on my mind, and I'm having to relearn it. :)

Thanks for all the love and support. I love you all, and I hope you have a fantastic week! 

lots of love,

Hermana Bingham

Here are the pictures are of our early morning hike today. 8.77 miles! I'm exhausted. :)

Begin With The End In Mind

Hello family!

It's been an amazing week. Wow. First off, I'm so excited that Bryce went to the temple. What an awesome experience. Before we know it Jayson and Kyla will be there too. That's crazy. I miss going to the temple every week. I honestly think that is one of the hardest things about a mission--we don't get to go to the temple very often. And we are some of the luckier ones, we get to go do a session before general conference, and we can take investigators up to the outside! Oh, and if someone we taught and baptized gets sealed or receives their endowments while we're still here, we can get permission to go. We're so blessed. But every time I go, I get really homesick when I leave. Especially because I know I won't go for another 6 months. So take advantage of it. Go often! Enjoy the blessings of living so close to so many temples!!

So the highlight of this week is that Amada and Bernardo got married on Friday! It was such an incredible experience. They were so happy, and glowing, and we can already see the difference it has made in their lives. They've changed so much, and it's all from repenting and keeping the law of chastity! And they have the goal of the temple. For their wedding gift from us, we printed out some of the pictures from our day at the temple and bought a frame to put them in, and displayed it at the wedding. They were so happy. They told their family about it, and it was a great teaching opportunity. Even though they aren't members, they both sat and talked with us and their family about eternal families, and how that is their goal. It was like teaching a member present lesson without a member. It was awesome! But really, the change in them is incredible. And on Saturday the came to a baptism, and then we taught them a lesson afterwords, and they are just so happy! And they were talking about having us come back and visit after we all go home, and we told them we would for sure be back for their sealing, and they got so excited. :) And yesterday Amada told us that they are thinking about August 31st for their baptism. That's so soon! They are making so much progress. I'm so excited for them. Really, they are the greatest! they just make my week, every week. I feel so blessed to be able to work with them. They are amazing, and I know the Lord has prepared them. I just feel grateful to have the chance to know them. And I am so grateful that they are progressing towards the temple. Presdient Mella has been really wanting us to "Begin with the end in mind." (there is a talk about that from the mission presidents seminar.) With the Chavez family, I really truly believe that we are beginning with the end in mind. Our goal is the temple. And they are going to get there. 

In other news, we will be picking up a 4th sister tomorrow, and splitting into two companionships. I can't tell you much more than that, because I don't know anything. But it will be super fun. I hope you all have a fantastic week. I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Bingham

The Chavez family!

us and the happy couple! 

The Spirit and the Temple

Hello family!

Thanks for all the letters this week! It's crazy that school is starting so soon! The summer flew by! I'm excited that summer is over, because that means less people will be on vacation. :) Which means more people will be at home for us to teach! 

Bryce is going to the temple on Friday! That is so exciting! Don't worry Bryce, you'll love it. You go in not knowing much, but you'll figure it all out, and you'll understand the sacredness of the temple. It's my favorite place in the whole world.

This week has been a great one. Wow. Speaking of the temple, we got to go yesterday! We took Amada and Bernardo and their daughters. They are getting married on Friday, so this was PERFECT for them. Really, it was a game changer. Amada is ready to get baptized. But Bernardo has been a little more hesitant. But he felt the spirit so strongly while we were there. It was incredible. And now he understands the spirit, and how this gospel is what he wants. And he actually wants to work towards baptism now. I'm so excited for them. Hopefully they'll get baptized here soon. We're working really hard with them. It was so incredible to see the change that took place in him while we were at church, and then at the temple. It was amazing. It really testified to me that the spirit changes people. And of the spirit that is there at the temple. We didn't even have to go inside to feel something incredibly different. And I appreciate it a lot more now since I don't get to go to the temple as often. But wow, it was amazing. We basically took their engagement pictures for them outside the temple. It was so fun. I'll send home some of my favorites. 

At the Visitor's Center we were able to watch the hour long Joseph Smith movie. And as I was watching it, it was amazing to feel how tangible the spirit is. We were watching the part about the first vision, and Joseph was in the grove praying, and Satan comes and tries to overtake him. And it was dark. Like, the cinematography didn't have much light, but the spirit wasn't really there either. I didn't like the feeling. But then, as soon as I saw the pillar of light burst through the darkness, I was overcome with this feeling of peace. It was so interesting to see how the spirit works. Throughout the rest of the movie, when there was a scene with yelling, or the scenes with persecution, the spirit wasn't there. When Joseph was in Liberty jail, you hear the voice of Satan talking to him, and it's just dark. But as soon as the voice of the Lord jumps in, there is an overwhelming spirit of peace. After that, my companions and I were talking about how the spirit is driven away so quickly when there is contention or loudness. That's something I really want to always have. I want to be sensitive to the spirit, and be able to feel him leave, so that I know what I need to do to have it back. It was an incredible experience, and I'm so grateful I had it. I'm grateful for the constant guidance of the spirit, and the heightened sensitivity I have as a missionary. I'm learning a lot. 

I love you all, and I hope you have a fantastic week. Always remember to live so that the spirit can be where ever you are. :)

Love you!

Hermana Bingham

 last monday. We made yummy lunch!

 last monday. piggy backs!

 some deal, huh?

 Matching in blue, dinner at a pupusaria

Youth from the Menlo Park Stake. We helped them with their youth conference

 and they came on splits with me!

Chavez family - Bernardo, Diana, Nicole and Amada

 All of us in front of the Christus

 Selfie!

The Chavez familia

 I caught this precious moment... So cute!

 Us and the girlies

 Us and the whole family

 Cool name tag picture

 So CUTE! I love them!!

 The whole group again

 Beautiful sunset

One more selfie

August Already!

Holy Crap! It's August!

Wow, I cannot believe how fast time is flying! July just FLEW by! It sounds like you all are feeling it too. I mean, Bryce is giving his farewell talk on the 31st! He only has tw omonths left! That's crazy! Jayson and Kyla are starting school again soon! Wow, I can't believe it. Life is coming fast people. Really fast. 

I'm so glad you got to see Myley this week! I'm glad she's going to come over too. It will help you get a little bit of an idea of what to expect, and it will get her out of the house. It will be good for everyone. :) And Bryce can get some pre-mission pump up stories! 

That's crazy that all those sacrament meetings will be missionary speakers again. I guess it makes sense, people left, now they're coming back. But I didn't think Matt and Conner left that long before I did. I guess they did though. I just have a really terrible memory. Wow, that's crazy. We're all old now. WEIRD!

Anyways, this week was a really good week. We had a really good MLC (Mission leadership council) and we got to talk a lot about consecration. And it really made me just want to be better. I want to be even more consecrated, and just give EVERYTHING to the Lord. I would say throughout my mission, I've given a very good chunk of my all, but honestly I haven't been completely 100% consecrated. I've had the desire to be, but sometimes I think about home, sometimes I worry about things that I don't really need to waste my time with. I worry about the past, when really, I need to look at what I'm doing right now, and devote 110% of it to the Lord. That is what I want. I'm in my last area, and I want nothing more than to give my all to Him. I want to work harder than I've ever worked before, and be more obedient than I ever have before. I want to testify with more power, I want to be more bold, I want to do my all to bring others to Christ. So that's what I'm going to do. consecrate myself. And I know that if I do, I'll see miracles here. In Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21 it says "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated--and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." As we are obedient, and consecrate ourselves to the Lord, we will see blessings. I know that is true. With all my heart. 

I love you all. I hope you have a fantastic week!

Love,

hermana Bingham

p.s. Just in case you would like to go, President and Sister Watkins will be giving there homecoming talk (finally) Sunday, August 10th at 11 a.m. The address is 1125 E. Alpine Blvd. 

Alpine, UT

Zone Conference

Hello family!

I can't believe you already got my trunky papers... Ay! That's still MONTHS away! Good thing I'm not trunky! haha. But for reals. Does San Jose do flights into Provo? If not, I don't think they'll take me up to San Francisco, so it will probably be SLC. We'll see. 

Happy Birthday Mommy! I'm glad you had a good day! Bacon wrapped meatloaf? sounds yummy. anything with bacon is good! Sounds and looks like the reunion was a blast! I loved the pictures, thanks Daddy! I'm excited to be able to go to those again next year. Sad I had to miss it! But it sounds like it was a blast. 

This week has been so good! We had an incredible zone conference on Thursday. President Mella talked about how his first day here, Elder Packer (our area 70) asked why we couldn't double or triple the number of baptisms we had in this mission. Right now we're on track to get about 500 baptisms this year. So that means like, 1000-1500 would be double or triple that. That's A TON of baptisms! But we talked about changing the way we do missionary work. He talked and said how the definition of insanity is doing things in the same way, and expecting better results. He said that we have to change the way we do missionary work if we want to see more baptisms. We have to up our game too. We have to get more investigators at church, and find more investigators. So we have to change the way we contact. We have to start teaching immediately, testify with power, get to know other people's beliefs. It was really inspiring. He showed us numbers and statistics, and we learned that basically, any investigator that comes to church regularly will most likely get baptized. That's so cool! So if we work hard, and the wards fellowship, every investigator we get to church will be baptized! So cool! So we're working really really hard on getting EVERYONE to church. It's going to be awesome. Really. 

We've been shaping up on the obedience. Every week we get a little better. Progress! I'm really grateful for that! Also, I've decided that I'm changing my studies to only in Spanish. I finally finished the Old Testament, and now I want to do EVERYTHING in spanish. So I'm going to send home a package sometime next week probably with my English Preach My Gospel in it. You're more than welcome to look through it, but save it for me because I'll do more with it when I get home. :) But for now I'm focusing on Spanish. :) 

I got to go on exchanges with another sister in our zone this week, Sister Wheeler. she's great. But we got to eat dinner with their investigators who are Russian! Problem is, they don't speak a ton of english. The wife does, but the husband doesn't understand much. We had a member there translating, but it was still interesting. I've never had the experience on my mission of being "out of the loop" with the language. Usually I understand what's going on, because I've only been in Spanish and English. It was fun though. We had fish (complete with tails and heads), and chicken with wild mushrooms... I'm still alive though, so I don't think they were poisonous. That's good. :) It was fun. 

Yesterday some members of our ward hosted a Peruvian party to help our investigators Amada and Bernardo (who are Peruvian) feel fellowshipped. Some other members from Palo Alto and San Jose came too, and it was fun. BUT, the cool part was is that some members from Palo Alto brought their family from Davis, and we were talking to the lady from Davis, and she has two kids. We asked their names, and get this, one of them is named Amaya! Spelled the same and everything! It was really cool. I finally met someone with my name. Spelled the same! It was fun. the little girl is 6, so her mom looked at her and said, "Amaya, guess what this missionary's first name is? Amaya!" And the girl was so surprised! It was adorable. And then I asked her, "Amaya, how old are you?" Yeah, I felt like I was talking to myself. Never had that problem before! It was funny. 

I love you all. I hope you all have a fantastic week. You're always in my prayers. :) Love you!

Love,

Hermana Bingham

Zone conference: we like to match. :)

Miracles Are Happening!

Howdy Y'all!

My companion is from Texas... I say y'all now. Especially because this is my second comp from Texas. 

First off, sorry I'm emailing a bit later today. We went lazer tagging this morning with our zone. It was super fun. I definitely ran around like a crazy person. But lazer tag is totally different when you have to stay within sight and sound of your companion at all times. Not to mention your TWO companions! But it was really fun. So now we're back, and I'm emailing. super late. But that's alright! I'm here now, and that's all that matters. :)

So to answer some of your questions mom, yes, I did get the package. Thanks for the shirt and the candy. :) It got here, even without the apartment number. Second, yes, it's a Spanish ward, and it's on FIRE! Like seriously, the members are really strong, and really supportive of missionary work. Which honestly isn't super typical for Spanish wards since most of the people are recent converts. But here everyone knows what they are doing, all the auxiliaries are really strongly formed, and have really solid people in the leadership positions. It's really nice. And there are a lot of miracles happening right now. More details on that later. Third, I am still an STL, even though neither of my companions are. The other STL is in a different companionship, so now exchanges will be a little different. We'll have to figure that out. 

Having a native companion is really nice, because my Spanish does get corrected. The hard part however, is that she points them out ALL the time, so it's put a damper on my self confidence. And they are like, really tiny things, but every time I say it wrong she kind of jumps on me. So that's hard, but good. I'll get used to it. My struggle now is that I'm almost nervous to speak Spanish. Oh, and since there are 4 natives in this ward, I've been learning more bad words. Yikes. I had a goal not to learn any of those. And I had been doing good. they will just say it in a joking way, but it's not the greatest thing. But we do have a goal to speak more Spanish. 

So MIRACLES ARE HAPPENING! We've seen a couple big ones this week! We have this investigator named Amada. She is currently living with her "esposo" that she's not really married to, and their two children. She had been learning, but he wasn't super interested. But this week he started listening to us, and they decided on a date to get married! August 15th! Which is a huge step for them! That means they can get baptized soon! They are praying about that date right now! And it will be their family! Amada and Bernardo, and their daughter Nicole. We're so excited! 

The other big miracle that we saw this week is with Andres. Andres is the "esposo" guy of one of our active members named Adriana. He had been taking the lessons from missionaries a couple of years ago, but since then has wanted nothing to do with the church or us. But he's been warming up. The bishop has been visiting him, and last night he told the bishop that he wants to marry Adriana in November, and then get baptized on their daughter Genesis's birthday in December. SWEET!  It's progress. So we're going to go start meeting with him soon. 

The obedience thing has been getting better. Lucky for me, hermana Boyd and I are on the same page. So we're able to help set goals that will help us be better in the little things. So it got a little better this week, and we have more goals this next week to help us get even better. But as we've been increasing our obedience and the quality of our missionary work, we are really seeing those miracles. It's amazing. I'm so grateful for all the Lord does for us. And I know that it's by our obedience that we receive blessings. Even in the small things that seem insignificant. They are great in the eyes of the Lord. And it's worth it, because we show our Father how much we love Him, and then He blesses us, more than we can possibly imagine. I'm so grateful for this time I have to be a missionary. I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. I love you all. Have a fantastic week at the family reunion! 

lots of love,

hermana Bingham

p.s. address update since I sent it wrong last week!

3480 Granada Ave #147

Santa Clara, CA 95051

p.p.s  Big shout out to the Ashcroft clan at the reunion this week! love you all!

Cute kitties!

 We decided to match the elders... So this is us and elder Barbosa and elder Fernandez

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!