Speechless -- February 9, 2015

Hello Everyone,

This week was awesome! It is warming up like spring out here in the WVCM! We were without a car so we did a lot of walking this week. A few months ago, someone backed into us and we had to get the car fixed. But cool story, we are actually starting to teach the family that hit our car! God works in mysterious ways! I have been excited about that! We have a lesson tonight with them, we are very excited! 

I think the most we walked one day was about twelve miles. . And we didn't teach a single lesson. It was one of the hardest days I have seen in my nine months of experience! It was a trial, but I have learned the lesson a long time ago that the Lord will bring us down before He can lift us back up! 

The next day, our friend Sam and one of the families we have been teaching and working with picked us up and took us over to his place for dinner. We had to stop at the grocery store and get a few things on our way. When we went in, people were just giving us the worst stares, even the workers. When we went to check out, this younger gal asked us how many wives Elder Powell and I have.  We get this almost every day, so it didn't bother us much! But Sam was pretty upset and he told her off and stuck up for us and then taught her what we believe! I was speechless; It was so cool to see him do that. He is the greatest and practically a member! I can’t wait to see him and his wife get baptized when they can! It was a special experience!  

Please keep Dennis in your prayers! He had to go to a hospital in Johnson City, Tennessee, this last week because of some medical reasons. He should be back soon, but we sent the missionaries after him up there! :)  

We had a good church meeting this week. The numbers were a lot fewer than normal. I only counted eighteen this week. There has been so much sickness, it’s unreal! But Sam and Tuesday both showed up to sacrament so we were very excited! It’s been weird I haven't gave a sacrament talk in like three weeks! Something I am not used too! It was a good meeting though and we had a good lesson in Priesthood about our own agency. 

We did some service for an older couple in the branch this week.  We split wood for a few hours! It was a blast!  We had a legit wood splitter so it wasn't too bad. It was weird and kind of nice to actually do some physical work! Something we haven't done in a while! Service always feels so good to do! It reminded me of all the times we split wood for older couples back home in Young Men's. 

I have to say that I'm so glad that I am a missionary! I never would have thought that I could experience this much joy and happiness from preaching the restored gospel. It is so true that the Lord takes care of his servants because he really does! I have never felt closer to my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ. They are so sweet and caring and when you pay enough attention, you can feel their hands in your life. I love this gospel and I'm very proud of it and very proud of the restoration.  What a blessing it is.  I love you all and hope everyone has a great week! 

Keep the Faith! 

- Elder Kaleb Bingham 

February -- February 2, 2015

Hello Everyone,

Well this last week was a weird one! I actually got sick this last week and was out for of couple days. It isn’t anything too bad, but just enough to where I didn't feel well enough to go out and work. And that was miserable! Hopefully this week I will get feeling better so things will go smoother! 

Before I got sick we had a really good few days though! We had extra miles on the car so we were able to go out and work parts of our area that hardly get touched. We went to see a former investigator and ended up teaching her Son named Marcus. Turns out he is some preacher at a church that he is starting up. As soon as he told us that, I knew we were in for a long discussion! 

Elder Powell and I started teaching and we talked just on the Apostasy for well over an hour. I think this preacher was impressed on how much I actually knew about the Great Apostasy. It was a great discussion and we talked more and got into the Restoration and taught that too. It was one of the best discussions I have had in a while! We even got him to commit to read the Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson, Marcus offered us a job to come and preach at His church. . . ha, so I said, “Yes, we will come preach. We would LOVE too!” So we will see where that takes us. I was excited that he was impressed enough with us to offer us to come and preach! It will be interesting! :)  

I think the next greatest thing that we had happen to us this week was with Our friend Dennis Tate. We went over Saturday evening and had a lesson. We hadn't seen him in a while and it was a great lesson. We basically just listened to him and he told us that he has been praying for guidance to know if our church is true. So we told him that we would fast on Sunday for him to receive his answer and we committed him to come to church. The next morning, we got up and I was sick still, but we started fasting. He called us up a few hours later and told us that he was going to come to church! We were thrilled. And it being the first of the month and being fast Sunday with testimony meeting, we were a little nervous! But we prayed and put our trust in the Lord. He came for the first time and he sat down and halfway through the meeting he stood up and went and bore his testimony! He said that He had a lot of gratitude for the missionaries and when we told him we would fast for him, he said that his heart was touched and softened by our sacrifice. He also said that he is trying to learn to know if this is true and that it feels good. It was an amazing experience! It was such a miracle caused by a little faith!  

My Testimony has definitely been strengthened this week and I know that this life is full of ups and downs, missionary work has a lot of downs, but when you get these kinds of ups, it makes it all worth your while! What a blessing it is to have a Heavenly Father that hears and will answer our prayers! I know that He loves us and that He has a plan that is perfect, and when we put our trust in that plan, the possibilities are endless!

I love you all and hope everyone has a good week and stays safe!

Keep the Faith!  

- Elder Bingham 

The Mile Run -- January 26, 2015

Hello Everyone,

Well it has been an interesting week! Elder Powell and I have been doing great. We had a good turn out this week; The Lord is blessing us with so many lessons! I have never taught so much in my entire mission! We almost don't have time to go out knocking doors! What a blessing! ;)

I think one of the highlights of my week was when Sam, one of our investigators, but really like one of my new best friends, decided to take the leap of faith and finally quit smoking! It was cool! He was at work and he felt really impressed that he needed to start keeping all of the commandants. It was a miracle, for sure! He said that God has just asked him to do some simple things, keep the commandments!

We sat down and we taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Faith, Repentance, Baptism , Holy Ghost, Enduring to the End. And he said in the middle of the lesson that he knows what he needs to do to live the gospel. It’s great as a missionary when you don't have to commit someone to live a commandment when they already commit themselves! It was a blessing and a great lesson; it was filled with the spirit!

After that, we got talking about how he would go about quitting smoking and we were making some goals and a game plan. I thought to myself and was impressed that there was something I could do to support Sam in this. So we got talking about things that Elder Powell and I could work on, while Sam is quitting smoking. After thinking about it, we decided that of course we would help him with the spiritual strength as we teach him about the gospel. But we decided that since I hate going running, and I needed to be better at morning work outs, I would run one mile every morning right at 6:30 am. I figured since Sam is doing something very hard, we can do something hard as well to help support him.

So this week we have run every day, except Sunday, of course.  We haven't missed a day yet—it’s been in the rain and in the snow and the cold. But it has been worth it. Really a mile isn’t anything big at all, nothing compared to what he is going through, but that mile gives him encouragement and helps him come closer to meeting his goals! It has been a neat experience. 

We saw some success at church again yesterday! We had a family come that hasn’t been in over a year! It was great to see them there and it was rewarding to see them show up after really working with them and praying for them!

My Testimony has grown so much while being in Rich-lands. I have developed way more patience with a number of things. My Testimony was really strengthened this week as we were able to see slow, but big changes in those we are teaching. It feels good to make a difference and help people come closer to Christ. It’s an amazing time to be a missionary and I'm so thankful that I am a part of this work and coming closer to my Savior and My Heavenly Father. :) I love you all!

Keep the Faith!

Elder Kaleb Bingham