Kamusta!
My new years was sooooooooo great!! We had a party with our zone and another zone, and we had a gift exchange and we watched Monsters University and Wreck it Ralf! It was so good! They didn't want us to be out because of the many many many drunk people... Hahaha Our mission president said we could stay up until 12:30 and sleep in this morning! Merry Christmas! Haha
Last week we had 2 baptisms!! yay!! Jeno Intanes and Rosalie got baptized. It was such a great experience. Rosalie has been an investigator for about 6 months now, and she was finally ready to make serious covenants through baptism. She was soooooo happy! And now the rest of her family wants to start taking the lessons! Yay!
It's so cool to be on a mission! I've helped 11 people into the waters of baptism. I've never had such an amazing year as 2013. I've never been able to say I've helped anyone get baptized before. I love missionary work!!
We had an ok week with teaching! Not the best because it is the holidays and lots of people were either drunk or not home... so we couldn't teach them. Bummer! Also, transfers are tomorrow. I'm staying in Toledo, and my companion is transferring. I will get my new companion tomorrow, Sister Garner. I've met her at a zone conference, she's really nice! I'm excited!
So, confession, I can't remember what the word, "restitution" means... I just used it because it sounded good in the tittle. I'll probably remember what it means in like an hour or so... Sorry if it doesn't really work with my message today... #trilingual probs
Anyway, Happy New Year!! I hope that this new years you have fewer regrets than past years, and you have found, like I have, that happiness has come from serving the Lord.
Usually I have like, "New years resolutions..." Some of mine from past years have been like: No more sugar for a year, Spending less money on dumb things, getting a new job, running a half marathon, being nicer to my family... etc. Let's be real. How long do our New Years resolutions actually last? Last year, one of my friends worked at a gym. And we were having a hard time trying to find time for us to go to lunch or something before I left on my mission. In January, she barely had a day off because the gym was so so busy! She said, "I can't wait until February when it goes back to just the usual people there." I thought that was funny, and it's so true! People are really really good at forgetting their goals.
As I was contemplating what my new goals would be, I stumbled upon a scripture in Moroni 10. It's so good! It's verse 32. It says, "Yeah, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind, and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God."
What I like about this scripture is that it is a perfect New Years resolution. Or maybe just a New Life resolution. What I love about this scripture is the use of the word "deny." If we look at the first part, it talks about Denying ourselves of all ungodliness. Such as..... basically everything the world has to offer us. Movies, Music, Behaviors, Jokes, attitudes, how we treat each other, the clothes we wear, the way we honor our covenants, the way we keep or fail to keep the commandments, and the way we show our love to each other. Let's be real. There are many many ways we could fail at keeping the Commandment of denying ourselves of ungodliness. But the interesting thing about this scripture that I never really caught before is that if we are not denying ourselves of ungodliness, then we are denying the power of God. We are denying Him the chance of changing us into perfect people. We are denying Him the opportunity to bless us with Eternal Life, and we are denying him the power to comfort us and refine us and sanctify us. And we are denying ourselves a happy life.
We are commanded here to Love God with all of our might, mind, and strength. I was so happy to have read this because it helped me evaluate myself and helped me evaluate the things that I'm doing now as a missionary to distract myself from His work.
This year let's start trying to really Love God with everything we have. We have a special truth and an amazing message to share with everyone we know. Let's not be afraid to do it! And let's not waste the days of our probation by doing nothing.
I love all of you! I'm so happy for all of the support and love that all of you give me! I know that this church is true, and that Christ lives. I also know that as He wants us to hasten his work, he will help us in our efforts to save souls.
I love all of you! I'm so happy for all of the support and love that all of you give me! I know that this church is true, and that Christ lives. I also know that as He wants us to hasten his work, he will help us in our efforts to save souls.
Happy Holidays,
Sister Bingham
Baptisms!
Investigators and Members
New Year's Pizza Party!
Ginormous Pizzas!
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