Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Trimming Hedges -- April 27, 2014

April 27, 2014

Happy Sunday!

This week has been so so so fast! I can't even believe it's Pday! It blows my mind. But I love this work! I love being a missionary. I'm a tired missionary, but a super happy one!
This week there was a "national service day," So we got up super early and went. It was really really great! I think I loved it so much because I got handed some hedge trimmers. The park we cleaned is mostly hedges... so.. there was a lot of work to do. Interestingly enough, I learned a ton from the experience! That was the first time I've ever trimmed hedges in my life. I think in America that there are so many people at service projects (and so many priesthood) that handling the sharp objects and power tools is never my job. haha But I spent a good hour straight trimming one long row of hedges. After about a half hour it was no longer just a service project, it was a war. I couldn't just stop half way, as exhausted I was, and as Jell-O like my arms were feeling, I couldn't stop. Some members were like yelling at me a little saying, "Just take a break sister Bingham! You are working too much! Just rest!" But it's like I didn't hear them. I just flashed a smile and a nod in their general direction and just kept going. When I was finally done with the long row, and when it was a perfect rectangle, I finally threw down the scissors in victory. I was dripping in sweat. My hair was stuck to my head, and my skin was red (I only know because many people asked why I was red). 

I learned a couple lessons. 1. There is ALWAYS satisfaction from hard work. Always. I will never regret that, even though I think I got carpel tunnel, as ridiculous as that is. haha 
2. God loves us so much. As I was trimming away like a crazy person, some thoughts crossed my mind. I was thinking how this life is like cutting hedges. Before, the hedges were ok, I mean, it was classier than having no hedges at all, but they were wild. They looked sloppy, and I guess they could have been described as "hipster", I saw such a greater potential for them. I worked so hard to make them perfect. 

I know that that is how our Father in Heaven feels about us. He is working hard to make us perfect, and to cut away our sins/ disobedience so that we can become truly beautiful. As I was walking down the aisle of hedges I finished cutting, I felt like I was in a fairy garden. I know, that sounds so stupid. But it's true. 

I know that even though we aren't perfect, our God is not an angry God. He gets true happiness and joy helping us become perfect.

Just now, I finished talking to a man from France who was sitting next to me. He said something like, "You seem really happy. I am happy, but I'm not happy like you. I want to be happy like you are, Sister Bingham." 

As we talked about the Gospel, he asked me if I ever got tired of sharing the same message day after day for over a year now. I told him that I never got tired of it. I told him that I am so happy to share this message so that as many people as possible can know the truth and be happy. He doesn't live in our area, but I just feel like he will love the Gospel. He said he wants to know about his "Afterlife insurance," and boy will he get it! Haha 

This week was great! We might have a baptism next week! Long story. But I really love Catarman! We were walking down the street the other day, and I just got this overwhelming feeling that I was teaching everyone I am supposed to be teaching at this time. These people are changing me so much. I love them! 

I want to share something I read in my personal study from 2 Nephi 26. I love this chapter. I love these verses:  23 For behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you that the Lord God worketh not in darkness. 24 He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation. 25 Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying; Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy miold and honey, without money and without price  28 Behold, hath the Lord commanded any that they should not partake of his goodness? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but all men are pribileged the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden.

I love this. None are forbidden. I love God. I love that he Loves all His children. No matter what. I know that this is true, and I know that whatever problems or challenges any of you might be facing now, is for your good. It will help you come closer to Him who made you, Him who wants you back.

In the sacred name of Jesus Christ,  Amen.

Love,

Sister Bingham

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

The Easter Morn -- April 21, 2014


April 21, 2014
Dear everyone!

Maupay nga Easter! 
I had the greatest week ever! It flew by so fast! I had a great birthday, too! This week we went on exchanges with the Allen sisters, so we weren't in my area for my birthday. That's ok, because the Allen sisters really made it special. We did Zumba in the kitchen for exercise (with some funky style hymns ha ), a lunch with the zone at a cool hipster restaurant (well, as hipster as you can get in the Philippines), and then ice cream for dinner! It was great! I want to share some cool things that happened while we were tracting.

I was with Sister Smith and we went finding for the last hour of the day. We passed by a very large house, and started talking to some teenage girls in the front yard. We asked if we could meet their parents. Then this huge guy comes to the door (huge, scary, tattoos, with a cig) and asks us what we want. We tell him that we are missionaries and he smiled real big and asked us to come in! Then we talked with him for a minute and found out that he knew a lot of people that are Mormon, and that his 4th grade teacher gave him a Book of Mormon when he was in 4th grade because he had a question about heaven. He said he never read it, and didn't keep the book, but he wanted another one. Luckily, we had one on us. He asked when we could come back, and told us to visit the rest of his family in the city. It was crazy! The whole time in the back of my head I was like, "Is this guy for real?" People usually don't accept us that quickly. 

When we left brother Ricky's house, we were walking on clouds. In my head I was like, "Who’s a servant of the Lord? THIS birthday girl!! yeah!! Go missionary work!!!" Then we walked past a huge huge house. Sister Smith said, "That's the mayor's house!!" We looked at each other and both said, “Lets do it!" so we rang the doorbell. The house help came out and told us to go to the other gate at the back of the house. She met us there, and then told us to just, "go on up!" the stairs to the pool room ... so we did! When we got there, the mayor of Allen was drinking with some of his friends. We asked if there were any service projects that needed to be done because there is a big service day coming up, and he told us the options. He asked for our number, so we handed him a pamphlet with the number on it. He looked at the front of it and then asked if we could come back next week and tell him about our church. We told him, "Why yes! We definitely can!" So we scheduled an appointment. Then he said, "Sisters! I have a lot of friends that would like to hear your message, too!"
BIRTHDAY MIRACLE!! It wasn't in my area... but that's ok! 

I was teaching Sister Regina yesterday and we were talking about the purpose of life and the spirit world, because she had a lot of questions about where all the people that died in Tacloban went. She stopped me mid sentence and said, "OH! I get it now sister Bingham! I have a lot of faith in Jesus Christ, but because I don't act on it, it's basically useless! Thank you so much for explaining that!" Then we talked about getting her marriage papers started so she can get married and baptized in May.  Super great!

The Palo family all came to church again yesterday!!! Actually we had 8 people come! It's an Easter miracle! The Palo family is on their way to get baptized on May 17th.

Easter sacrament meeting was really cool. Me and the other missionaries sang, "That Easter Morn," and me and my companion gave talks. At the beginning of my talk, there was a brown out, so the microphone and the lights turned off. Even though it was kind of dark (it was raining so it was dark outside too) and the microphone was off (not a problem, I'm a loud person) the spirit was so strong. The ward was just listening to me. Usually, it's loud and not a lot of people pay attention to the speakers. But, they did yesterday. I got to testify/yell of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was the most powerful talk I've ever given in my life. Right as I ended, the electricity returned. It was really cool. It reminded me how simple the gospel is. We don't need fancy anything to feel the spirit. Just talking about truth. 
I'm so happy that because of the crucifixion and resurrection of our Savior, we can have hope to be resurrected with perfect, celestial bodies. Free from the pain of this mortal frame now. We can be called forth to arise on resurrection morning knowing that we are worthy to enter his kingdom. "for we will be like him." I know that this is true. And if we do our best, and we dedicate more time to our father in Heaven than we do to the world, it is possible to become perfect--Slowly but surely.

In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love,
Sister Bingham

Weekly challenge: Share your testimony about Jesus Christ with 4 people this week. :)
 Birthday and Exchanges! 





 

Monday, April 14, 2014

Agents that Act -- April 13, 2014

April 13, 2014

Hello everyone!

Wow! I was so happy when I got on and saw sooo many birthday wishes! It was like having a Facebook! Thanks so much everyone! 

This week was General Conference, which was the best birthday present ever! I really loved the talks. I think my favorite one was Gary E. Stevens, who talked about the Olympic medalist, and how her event is only four minutes long. I think more than anything, it reminded me how little time I have left on my mission. My companion, Sister Campbell, goes home at the same time as me. We really just want to do some awesome things before we go home. We are working to get involved with the community to really find some professionals to teach, through service projects that can help build the church. 

 A General Conference Miracle happened! We had eight new investigators this week, and six of them came to conference!! Woooo!! And most of them are really professional. We are teaching a brother, his name is Jimmy, which is a lawyer (so our lessons are in English). We just knocked on his door the other day and got to know him. I am super excited about him! He is such a good person. He helps so many people. Since he doesn’t have a family, he lets lots of people stay in his house. On our first lesson with him, there happened to be a lady and her family there. The lady, Cheryl, had just moved to Catarman a few months ago. As we were teaching the lesson, we found out that she is actually a member who was baptized when she was a child, and had never really come back to church since then. Her husband isn't a member, so he is our new investigator as well. It was soooo cool! The whole lesson she was crying and just saying how she wants the gospel back in her life. 

We are teaching a woman, named Regina, who has been an investigator for over a year now. Actually, she was in the former investigators pile until the last sisters that were here decided to contact her again. She is best friends with the relief society secretary. Me and my companion were on splits the day we found her. My lesson was just about trusting God, and I was prompted to use an Isaiah verse from the Book of Mormon that I had studied that morning. I was a little bit afraid to use it, because I didn't even really understand it the first time I read it.

It is 2 Nephi 7: 10-11 It says: 

"10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light?

11 Behold all ye that kindle fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks which ye have kindled, This shall ye have of mine hand- ye shall lie down in sorrow."

Sister Regina lives right on the side of a basketball court. To explain what this scripture meant, I had her imagine that there was a black out, and no one could see anything on the court. Some people would use lighters or matches or sparks to try to find their way around. Others wouldn't even try to make their own light, they would just follow the voice of the Lord guiding them through. At this point of the discussion, she said, "I get it Sister Bingham. I need to just follow what God wants me to do."

Then I told her that I knew that she knew that the church was true. I knew that she knew that the Book of Mormon was true. And I knew that she knew that she needed to be baptized. She told me I was right. And she is going to get baptized in May. She also came to General Conference! She said she loved it. She speaks English because she's a teacher, so she really understood the talks. 

I just want to share about one more family, the Palo Family! They are so great! The mom is related to someone on the stake presidency. She was taught by the missionaries a long time ago. We didn't know that until we started our first lesson with her. She shared with us that she has 4 kids (2 of which walked to church with us last week) and one died last November. He was a baby, and was only 3 days old when he passed away. She told us that she knows the church is true; she just didn't want to be baptized before because her husband wasn't interested in the church. She thought it wasn't a good idea to be baptized if they couldn't all be baptized. We shared about Lehi's dream. We read it together, and we focused on how Lehi first went to the tree and said to his family, "Come to me!" and not, "oh! Go there!" We helped her realize that she needed to set the example for her husband. And once he sees that she is serious about the church, he will want to join as well. It was a really powerful lesson. We set a date for their family to get baptized in May, as well. We haven't had the opportunity to teach her husband yet, but hopefully today!

This week has been full of miracles. And full of amazing spiritual experiences. I learned this week that we can no longer afford to stay still. We need to trust the Lord, go to work, and then the miracles happen. As President Monson said, "We need to become an agent that acts! Not an object that gets acted upon."

I know that as we take little steps of faith, get rid of little disobediences, and start acting, our Savior will empower us to accomplish our goals. I love that the spirit won’t push us. Sometimes I'm walking on the street, feeling a little shy, and the spirit will prompt me super softly to do something. Then it's my choice to act on it. Sometimes I think, "hmmm if I feel that again, then I'll know it's important, and I'll do it." Which is ridiculous. I am trying to work on following all promptings that I receive as soon as I receive them. I pray that we can all learn to do the same, and become examples for the people in our lives who may be struggling. 

 In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

 Love,

Sister Bingham
 
 
 
This was while we were on exchanges in Leyte.  A girl's records got lost, so she had to be rebaptized.  It was super cool! The bamboo bridge lasted about a five minute walk to get to this super beautiful beach!

 

This is Sister Rhea.  She works with us.  She always calls us Barbies, so that is why we are acting like Barbies.  Haha

 
Catarman!  Yeah, the little boys are playing with crabs they found.  That is what a lot of the kids here use for toys. . . they find spiders, crabs, and large bugs and tie strings to them and make them fight.  Haha
 
 
 
 

 

 
Mission Leadership Council--There are no sisters assigned in Tacloban yet, so President Andaya let us stay in a fancy hotel! 

 
More Mission Leadership Council
 
 
Loving the Mission!
 
 



Our investigator had her baby.  Her name is Mary Ann and her baby's name is Ray Hannah May. Cute baby!



 
 
General Conference!  Gotta have some good snacks at conference, right?  Including rice.  That's important here!



 

 
More Catarman --Investigators . . .
 

 
 
 
 
Zone Conference!




 
 
 
 






 

 

 

 
 

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Like a Child -- April 7, 2014

April 7, 2014
 
Maupay nga Confrence tanan!! (Happy Conference everyone!)

I'm kind of jealous that all of you have already gotten to watch conference! But it's this weekend! I feel like I'm 6 waiting for Santa to come on Christmas Eve! Like for reals! I think I've really really grown to cherish conference as the Words of God on my mission... I know... It's like, "duh Sister Bingham, of course God talks to his prophets and this is all inspired of Him for your benefit..." But that's just sooooooooo cool that Heavenly Father loves us, His imperfect children, so much that he will give us an opportunity to hear His voice and receive His instruction 2 times a year. I think it's also taken me an earthquake and two devastating typhoons to realize that conference isn't just like helpful optional suggestions for our lives to have a little more happiness in them. They are instructions from the most perfect and powerful being in the universe in order for us to receive eternal life.... Better than Christmas?! Yes! I would definitely think that eternal life is way better than a Barbie dream house any day of the year. 
 
Speaking of children, me and my companion have started teaching quite a few of them. We are really trying to focus on families... it just so happens that the parents aren't really interested yet while we had 7 investigators (all between the ages of 10-12) walk two miles to get to church yesterday. I really love these children. 2 of them, who are the nieces of a member of our stake presidency have a baptismal date. They are so great. They read their Book of Mormon every day, they go to church every week (most of the time they walk), and they pray. They were even in the primary program a couple weeks ago. We are taking it really slow with these children because we want to make sure that they actually like church and not just like the cool white sisters teaching them the gospel. But, we have an appointment with one of the girls, Jean Kaye, and her whole family (miracle!!) this week. I'm super excited about it! We actually met her dad the first day we were here. He helped us get our luggage through the door/Narnia hole in our front gate. 

I really really enjoyed the women's broadcast on Saturday! I know this is like all old news to all of you, but it was soooo good! The coolest part, though, is that we walked with our little girls to the session (sometimes running so we wouldn't be late) (People might have thought we were violating the hand book and kidnapping them....ooops....). They all loved it sooooo much! And they don't even understand English! But when we were walking up to the front gate of the church, one little girl we were with was like, "Oh look! It's the true church! I used to be Catholic, but now I'm Mormon. Now I'm happy!" She's like seven. Haha it was really cute! 

I think my favorite thing that was talked about during the women's conference was that the only boundaries we have with people are the ones we make up in our mind. I know, that was such a horrible paraphrasing...that's why I didn't put quotation marks... Haha. But, it's so true! I tell people all the time that even though I look different than them, and am from a different country, that we are all children of God. We really do have more things in common than different. 

This week has also been super great because me and my companion have been going on member splits so we can get to know our area, and teach more lessons, and do more finding. We really didn't have much of an investigator pool (besides all of our kids...) But we have been finding some super cool people!

There is one lady, Sister Mary Ann, who is due this week with her first child. She was an investigator of the last sisters that were here, but she is sooooo golden! She lives with her boyfriend, so now they have a date to get married in May! I'm so excited for them! And this week, her boyfriend wanted to listen, too! We just so happened to be talking about the Plan of Salvation. He liked it, and agreed that they needed to get married. It was such a powerful lesson. 

I really love Catarman! And I'm super excited to start doing exchanges next week with the sisters in my zone! Since Catarman zone is so far away from everything else in the mission, we are the STLs for this zone only, and that is only four companionships. But, I'm soooooo happy that I still have the opportunity to Be an STL and have a really progressing area! To me, this was an answer to my prayers. 

I love Catarman! I know that the work really is progressing in this little corner of the Philippines. Thanks for all your love and prayers!

I know that this church is true, and through our obedience to instructions we receive at General Conference, we can live with our Father in Heaven once again. I also know that more than anything, He wants us back there. Because we are His Children.

In the name of our Savior, and brother, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love, 
 
Sister Bingham

Weekly Challenge: Go back and watch at least one talk, then set some goals to apply it to your life. :D