Wow what a week it has been! It was really hard leaving Radford--I didn't realize how that place had become my home away from home! But I did it; transfers went well. I only had to travel on the transfer train for about two and a half hours, But I got here and my new companion and the Branch President picked me up! My companion’s name is Elder Blaine! He is a cool guy; he has been out for three months, so I am greenie braking him! We graduated the same year, so it’s been fun. He is from the Salt Lake area! The branch President’s name is President Donald Lines; He is from Arizona and a really nice guy. I respect him a lot for what he has been doing and how hard I figured out it is to run a branch.
I guess I will try to describe the area a little better. Richlands is pretty small itself, but has everything you need--all the fast food restaurants and a Walmart and all of that! It’s an old town and has a depressed look to it. It’s kind of sad to see all the poverty that is here. There are a lot of trailer parks and rundown neighborhoods. The big religions here are Baptist and Pentecostal, but the people are mostly friendly! The town used to support a lot of coal miners, but the coal industry isn't doing so good any more... People say the big thing and way to make money here is by way of making moonshine in the hills. So that was kind of funny! I really do like the mountains here. They are a lot bigger and they are more like the ones back home but still really different. I got up into my first hollers on the mission! They are crazy--some of these roads are insane! There are a lot of rivers too! It’s a cool landscape; it has just about everything! It has rained here the last 3 to 4 days, so it’s been really dark and wet. I'm still waiting for the sun to come out!
Well the branch here is like nothing I have ever experienced. My eyes were really opened yesterday when we went to church. They just got a new church, so that is really nice! But there was maybe 15 people there at church and one family was visiting. I have never blessed and passed the sacrament and only used one tray for water and one tray for bread. The members that are active are great, really nice and there are a lot of solid members that come every week, but there are over 100 inactive members. So I guess most of our work will be trying to get these less actives back to the church to re-strengthen it. I haven't been fed by anyone from the ward. Like I said, there is a lot of welfare and stuff going on with the members. So that has been hard to not have dinners, but I'm getting used to it! Maybe my cooking skills will get better!
There are some great investigators here! There are two young couples that we are working with that are amazing! Chad and Amber Griffey are the first ones. They are in their 20s and are really fun, Chad has actually been interviewed and passed for his baptism and is ready to go! The hold-up is that Amber is not okay with it, so he is waiting until he gets her approval. It’s a hard situation, but I think she will come around soon the more we work with her! It’s kind of funny, we went to her church last night to check it out. It was really funny! The preacher jumped on his electric guitar and spread the grace among the congregation. Haha - that's how he put it! People do not know what the Holy Ghost really feels like! It is kind of sad. But we are going to keep working a lot with Amber to get her to come around!
Sam and Tuesday are the other couple! They are so solid. We have been working with and teaching them every single day since I have been here. They love us and the church! They want to get baptized, too, but are waiting on their divorcements from there last marriages before they can get married and baptized, but they are awesome. Sam is really into skateboarding and snowboarding so we connected pretty well!
I'm getting used to it here, please keep sending the prayers this way! I really could use them! We watched the Christmas Devotional last night and it was really amazing. President Erying gave a really nice talk and it was really powerful! I missed not going to it with my family, though! But I'm so grateful for a living prophet and his apostles! Being out here is really testing my faith and it is comforting to know that our church is true and that Heavenly Father still speaks to his children.
I love you all and hope everyone is getting into the Christmas spirit!
Keep the Faith!
-Elder Kaleb Bingham
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