Talking about Jesus -- September 15, 2014

Hello Everyone,

What a week it has been! I’m not sick anymore which is good. It was hard to tell Elder Kleiman goodbye and help him pack for leaving home! We had a lot of fun before he left. It was hard killing off a missionary but I think I have had the best experiences so far with Elder Kleiman. I look up to him a lot--He was a great trainer and an even better friend. 

The night before he went, we got invited to a college Christian group that has a service every Wednesday night. We went thinking that it would be a calm little church service, but little did we know that it turned into a Christian Rock concert! It was a blast; there was a full on band and it was a good time. Elder Kleiman and I got very Protestant--dancing and singing and all! Haha It was a great way to end the transfer! 

I dropped Kleiman off at the transfer train at like 6:30 in the morning on Thursday, and then spent the day in Blacksburg (where Virginia Tech is) with my District leader and his companion. It was fun; we did a lot of walking because they didn't have a car. 

Around five, later that day, I was able to pick up Elder Williams! My Boy! Hahaha He is awesome! He is also 18 and just graduated from High school. He is from Grantsville, Utah. We have a lot in common and he is very teachable and already so prepared to be out here! I don’t even have to train him, he is already pre trained! He is a great kid and I love him! 

I have been keeping us very busy! We taught ten lessons together last week and we picked up three new investigators.  We started teaching a college girl named Liz Scott. It was a great lesson, She came up to us and wanted to talk about Jesus. Haha That’s what she said! I think she wanted to meet with us to try to prove us wrong but as soon as we started teaching her the Restoration her mindset changed quickly. It was a very Spiritual lesson and you could see the spirit working on her. We were able to get her to commit to reading the Book of Mormon and pray about it so we are excited to meet with her again.  

I saw one of the nastiest things in my life this week. We were mowing Mrs. Maguire’s lawn like we normally do (The old crazy lady we pulled out of the ditch.) And she was telling us how her cat had gone missing for over a week. Well after about ten minutes, I was pushing the lawn mower and saw Elder Kleiman had found the cat and was just staring at it. So I walked over to grab it and take it to Mrs. Maguire and as soon as I saw it, I realized why it had gone missing. We think that some kind of animal attacked it... It had a big bite out of its stomach and the maggots and other bugs had been eating it for a while now! It was disgusting--It looked like something out of the walking dead! And it was still alive and moving around! It was so gross! And we had no idea what to do! So we didn't do anything. Haha We were so disgusted. We told Mrs. Miguire that her cat came home and we left.... I guess we will see what happened to it this week! It was Nasty! I guess that was the weirdest part of my week. Haha 

Training has been really good so far! I have been trying to find some more families to teach. I have a goal that I want to have two more baptisms before I leave Radford. Elder Williams and I prayed that we would find a promising family to teach and we were going throughout our day and nothing really was happening so I decided we would take a break and go to the store and buy groceries. So we went in and we were in the cereal section of the store, taking our time to decide what kind of cereal to buy when a very nice mom with a baby walked by us, I started to talk to her and pulled the "Were Just 18 year olds and just moved away from home" card on her. It worked! It turns out she has more kids and she lives in Radford and invited us over to her house sometime to visit with her husband and her family! It was a huge blessing and a great way to exercise our faith.  

Seeing Elder Williams come in and me training him really opened my eyes and made me realize how much I have progressed in the gospel. I know I'm learning things that I would have never learned if it wasn't for me being on a mission and serving the Lord. I love being a Missionary. I can finally say that I'm happy and loving this. I thank everyone for the prayers and all the support.  I love you all and hope everyone has a great week. 

 Keep the Faith, 

-Elder Bingham

So Kaleb wrote to his grandma Caryl and told her that he is usually “A Fisher of men, but on P-days, he is a Fisher of fish!”  Haha  (I’m glad he still has time to do something that he loves every once in a while!)

Temporary Happiness -- September 10, 2014

Hello Everyone,

Well my second transfer is complete! I have to say this one was a lot funner then the last. I am really going to miss Elder Kleiman. He has taught me so much and we have had a lot of fun and will always have some good memories. I don't think we argued once in the last six weeks which is pretty impressive! It has been hard killing him off because It’s hard to think about home. But it made me realize how lucky I am to be a missionary!  

We have been sick this last week. It has not been fun being sick my first time away from home. It’s so hard because we want to go out and work but we don't want to make our investigators sick because then it will slow down the work. But we still managed to have a few lessons with some people when we were feeling up to it and over all still had a pretty good week. 

We went to the members, the Morgans, house this week for a bonfire. Bro. Morgan is an awesome guy!  He is a vet and he is the person that cuts our hair. He is actually really good at it (not as good as Makayla! ;) But we had a huge fire and we had a lot of our investigators there which was really fun and very productive for them!  

The biggest thing I learned from this last transfer is, to rely on the Gospel to bring us true happiness. I have always kept myself busy with hobbies all my life that have made me happy. Since I came on a mission, I never realized that those hobbies and activities that brought me happiness were only making me temporarily happy. When you give up everything and give your life to the Lord, that is when you learn to rely on the gospel to bring you a kind of happiness that you cannot find anywhere else.  

So.... I got a call from my mission President this last week with some big news. He asked me to be a trainer!! I am really nervous though. I just finished my own training last week and now I'm turning around and training a brand new missionary.. It’s a lot of pressure, but I hope I can pull it off. President told me he wants me to train him to have the same characteristics that I have because he wants more missionaries that are ready to work hard. I thought that was really cool! We will see how it goes, I guess! Pray for me so I don't mess this kid up! 

Thank you all for all the awesome support I enjoyed getting my packages this week they made me extra happy! I love you all and hope everyone the best! 

Keep The Faith, 

Elder Kaleb Bingham

First Baptism -- September 2, 2014

Hello Everyone,

Well what a great week it has been! On Saturday, we were able to Baptize Elias. We some how pulled through and it was able to happen! My Companion baptized him and he asked me to confirm him, which I did on Sunday. Elias and his wife have three kids and they are all members, as I watched them come into the church the morning of his Baptism, I could see a Light and a big excitement in their faces. It really hit me that morning that I could see the difference it was making to his family. You could see the happiness and the joy that the family had that came from Elias' decision to be baptized; I don't know why I was lucky enough to work with such an elect and prepared man and be able to see him get baptized, but it definitely made me realize why I am here. I will always remember his face when he came out of the water. He was glowing and looked so happy and relieved. 

When I was able to confirm Him on Sunday, I was super nervous. I fasted on Sunday to get help so I could have the spirit there to guide me. It was a great experience; I have never felt the spirit stronger than I did when I told him, "Receive the Holy Ghost." I could feel the comfort and the love Heavenly Father had for Elias and I could feel The Holy Ghost overwhelm him. 

Elder Kleiman and I worked very hard for this baptism and I’m grateful he was able to baptize one more person before he goes home next week. I’m so thankful for Elias and I’m so excited to see him progress in the gospel. His Family is one step closer to being eternal and I know that in a year or two, they will get sealed in the temple. I’m so glad I was able to be a part of this miracle. 

We have probably been having too much fun as missionaries! Elder Kleiman and I are always having a great time. I'm upset that he is going home next week; I really wish that we could have had one more transfer together! We taught a very powerful lesson at the college yesterday to one of our new investigators! Her name is Maya; she is awesome! She found us and told us she wanted to learn about what we believed in. We taught her about the restoration and she liked it a lot. She was really interested. She told us that when she finds out a church is true that is when she will get baptized into that church... So basically we are excited to see her get baptized into our church. ;)  Please Pray for her! We are excited to see what happens. 

I have decided I like teaching and talking to college kids the best because they’re so much nicer than other people and it is cool teaching people my age! Well, I'm grateful for all the prayers and all of the support from my friends and family. I love you all and hope everyone the best! 

Keep the Faith, 

-Elder Kaleb Bingham