This week was a crazy one! We have made some big changes here in Radford. Our mission President put two more Elders in our area! Elder Hewlett and Elder Higgins are now our new roommates! President assigned them as official Radford University Elders and they are working through the singles ward. It’s pretty fun--we have had a good time and are learning a lot from each other! It was hard to hand over the university. I was kind of bummed that we no longer get to work it. But the cool thing is that I have been working so hard and built up the university so much that now we were able to create a new area there for the mission. It’s rewarding to see the progress my companions and I made there at that university. Although it’s hard to hand over all our college investigators and all our potentials, I am also excited to get to spend more time finding families to teach. It’s going to be a lot harder, but I know Elder Williams and I are going to see some big miracles.
This week something
big and unexpected happened. Our investigator, Marcus Cunningham, is the one
that has been waiting for months to get permission from the church to be able
to be baptized. M. had a heart attack and was admitted to the hospital. They caught it early and found out he had
clogged arteries in his heart. He needed to have surgery and he did. He went in
for a triple bypass and during the surgery his body had a hard time handling it
and they had to stop the surgery and put him on life support and his body went
into a coma. Now this is the crazy part, two years ago Marcus was in a coma from
drug abuse and during his coma, he said the Lord came to him and told him he
needed to change. From that experience, Marcus changed his life and came to our
church. He told me that story at least three times. I knew it was a very
special experience for him that did change his life. So now he has been waiting
to receive this answer from the twelve for months and no one knew why it was
taking so long. Even our mission president didn't know what was taking so long.
This has really confused me and when we got the news that Marcus went into a coma
last week, I was very confused and frustrated. So my comp and I did much prayer
and we asked the Lord what was going on and why this was happening. We then
talked to our Mission President about it and got permission to travel two hours
to go see him and give his lifeless body a blessing. We did and the ward
mission leader and his son, the Bishop (Richard Fisher), took us down there. We
got there late and came into the room to minister to him. We agreed because
Richard Fisher, the mission leader, has known him the longest, he would give the
blessing. I stood in on it with Brother Fisher while he gave the blessing. It was a very powerful blessing and I can
hardly describe the spirit that was in the room--it was so strong. When the
blessing was done we all looked at each other and then looked at Marcus as He
laid in this bed hooked up to a handful of different machines. We all knew and
we all felt the presence of his spirit there and the confirming answer from
Heavenly Father that told us that He is there and that this is all part of His
plan. We felt His love, confidence and peace that everything was going to work
out fine, and that this is happening for a reason. I’m not sure what is going
to happen from here, but what I do know is that it’s going to be okay and that
Marcus Cunningham has changed my life from this experience. Heavenly Father
knows us and He has a plan for us that is perfect. My testimony of the Plan of
Salvation has grown so much. Like it says in the Book of Mormon, (once we die we
will be brought back to the God that gave us life.) Whatever is going on with
Marcus, I know he is with his Father in Heaven.
I love you all and I
want you to know that I love this Gospel and this church and I know with all my
heart that Jesus Christ is our Savior. And Heaven is a lot closer than we think
and realize. I hope everyone has a good week. Keep us and Marcus in your prayers please.
Keep the Faith,
-Elder Kaleb Bingham
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