The Bingham6 Missionaries: Miracle Central! December 12, 2013

December 12, 2013

Dear Everyone,

This week has been the coolest week ever! We taught tons of lessons, found some super cool people to teach, and had 5 baptisms. Something super cool happened! I'll give you a run down of my Sunday.

It was 7:30 am, and we (us, the district leaders, and the zone leaders) were standing in the parking lot waiting for the Intanes family to come get baptized. The Chorister, speaker, branch president, and some other people were already there. The Halls, the couple missionaries, were going to go pick up the Intanes family and be at the chapel at 7:00. Losing my patience a little, I said, "Ok. Time for a miracle. Let's pray! I'll say it!" I had just finished giving thanks for the opportunity to have a baptism and barely uttered the words, "Please bless that the Intanes family will get here...." When a huge truck full of people(including the Intanes Family) rolls into the parking lot. We said a hurried "Amen!!!" and started the baptism. So cool! I thought stuff like that only happened in Mormon movies... hahaha I'm so amazed that Heavenly Father is so great at answering our prayers. I think He definitely has a sense of humor.

Then, 5 people got baptized. I think this was the most special baptism I've ever attended! It was so cool, because Brother Intanes got to use his priesthood he got the week before to help his family get salvation. It was so special! We didn't baptize their whole family, just 6/14 members are baptized right now. Most of their kids are moved out and not living here. We have another one of their kids who is 14 that doesn't live with them that is hopefully getting baptized on the 27th! Also, Brother Intanes, who doesn't speak English, is working really hard now to memorize the sacrament prayers in English so he can bless the sacrament this week! He's so golden!

After the baptism and sacrament meeting, I taught Young Women's. It was so cool! I talked about virtue. I don't know why, but I have never taught a more powerful lesson in my entire life. I just really really really felt how special those young women were to the Lord.

We went to work and taught 10 lessons that day. Not too bad! hahaha We were looking for a referral's house which ended up not being home so we taught their neighbors instead. When we got there, there were 4 people. By the time we finished the song and the prayer, there were 20 people listening. It was crazy! People just kept coming in the door. It was a cool experience and just a testimony builder to me how the Lord puts us in situations to share the gospel, even if it wasn't our original plans.

Our last appointment that day was with Gerald, who is 25. His family is inactive, and he's not a member yet. We taught him for the first time and we asked what he expected us to teach him. He said, "I expect you to teach me how to stay away from drugs and help me have peace in my life."

During the lesson we were talking about authority. I asked him that if I showed up to his work and told him to go home, even though his boss wanted him to work overtime, what would he do? He said, "Of course sister, I would tell my boss that I needed to go home and talk to the missionaries and I would work overtime a different day or I quit."

I need to stop using myself in my dumb examples about authority. hahah

After the lesson we committed him to get baptized when he knew that Joseph Smith was a true Prophet. He said, "He is a true prophet! I already know that the Book of Mormon is true." I think my mouth hung open for like 4 minutes. So golden! We have a goal for the 2nd week of January. Hopefully sooner!

I really love Toledo! There are so many cool people here! And so many nice people! People have been feeding us dinner like every single day. Last night we ended up going to 2 on accident. Merry Christmas to us! haha

I'm excited for this month! We have 3 more baptisms. Probably all of them on the 27th. It should be a great Christmas! And one of them, Chucky, who is super prepared who we started teaching 2 weeks ago, told us he knows the BOM is true! yay! I love the Book of Mormon!

This morning I was reading some of the Parables in Mathew 13. There are two that I really like. One is the Parable about the treasure that a man found in a field, then he sold all that he had and bought the field so that he could obtain the treasure. Then next one right after that is about a man who was a pearl merchant. After searching, he found a pearl of great price. He sold all he had, so He could buy the pearl. These two parables have similar themes. Both people had to sell all they had. I think that in our lives today, we don't actually have to sell everything that we own... But I think it's referring more to how well we keep our covenants, repent, spend our time, and keep the commandments. King Lamoni said he would, "give away all of his sins to know Thee."

This personal study was a good reminder to me to be more committed to my mission everyday.

Weekly Challenge: Evaluate your lives, and give away one thing that is keeping you from the Kingdom of Heaven.

Something my mission president said to me earlier today was really interesting. He said, "Sister Bingham, you have to help people realize that this life isn't real life. This life is only a slice out of their eternity. It's like when you go to the testing center to take a test in college. After the test is over, you go home. But, the catch about this test is that depending on the score, these people might not get to go back home."

How true! I know that I really want to go back home when this life is over. And if there's one thing that I learned from my "super typhoon" experience it's that we aren't invincible. Once our time's up, it's up. No more do-overs. So, lets all take advantage of the gift of the atonement so we can feel true peace now, and in the life to come.

Keep on Keepin' on!

Sister Bingham