I Found Zion! -- August 17, 2015

Hello Everyone,

I am convinced that I am in a different mission! Roanoke is so sweet! It is massive. I have never been in a city this big on my mission before--it is so much fun! The population of people in our area is 98,000 people. We can talk to people all day long, it is awesome. I have been having so much fun being here it feels great.

We have been doing a lot of work in down town Roanoke. Basically all we have to do is walk down the street and just talk to people and that is how we have been finding people to teach! It is the greatest; I feel like I'm in New York! I attached a picture of a street we were working last night.

We had a cool experience down town my first day I got here. We were walking and noticed a girl and a few guys moving someone in to a studio apartment. We offered to help them move in and they gladly accepted our service! We got talking while we were moving and once we were done the girl named Kristina told us how thankful she was for our help. It turns out that she just got a job on one of the Virginia news stations, she is a reporter.  It was neat. She invited us back to share a message with her; we were excited about that! It was cool to see how some simple service can really touch someone's life. After we were done helping her move in, one of the guys that were there bought us lunch! It was awesome. There is no better feeling then serving someone--there is so much we can do in our day to day lives. This is something I will always do because I'm addicted to the loving satisfaction that comes from a little service. 

The Roanoke ward is awesome! It feels like I'm out west. It was a good welcoming Sunday! We had a really great lesson in Gospel Principals about Repentance. After church we had a lunch and mingle where everyone had lunch and just talked, it was sweet! I like the ward a lot; it will be a lot of fun to work with them.

We had a good lesson with a 14 year old boy last night named Nasir. He lives in the inner part of the city. What a smart kid! It was a fun lesson; we taught him the Plan of Salvation and invited him to be baptized. After we extended the invitation we asked him, “How long do you think it will take you to come to know this is true?” He replied, “I don't know, probably like three weeks!” It was a powerful response--he has a lot of faith!

I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time in Roanoke! I feel like I am needed here.  I can’t wait to see the miracles that are awaiting me here! I love you all--thanks for all the support and the prayers.

Keep the Faith!

- Elder L. Kaleb Bingham

Goodbye Pembroke, Hello Roanoke -- August 12, 2015

Hello Everyone,

Well what a great week and a half it has been here in Pembroke! I got the word that I will be transferred. .  I was sad about it. We have like three baptisms here that are in the next couple of weeks. But it is what the Lord wanted I guess! The hardest part of leaving is the people here, I have put my whole heart into this area and the people here and now it’s like it is getting ripped out! But I will be okay; I did however have some cool experiences the last week I was here! 

So the six weeks I have been in Pembroke I have loved the Robertson family. The parents haven't really been active in church for a long time but we have been getting them back almost every Sunday of this last month. We have really loved teaching the kids. Autumn is 12 and Lee is 9. We always have a lesson with them and they usually convince us to play a 5 min game with them before every lesson, lately it has been football. But I had my last lesson with them last night after we taught them, I asked if they had any questions. Lee responded and said I do! So I asked him what his question was? He said I'm going to miss you!! and ran up to me and gave me a hug. I teared up--He made me feel like a Super Hero. It was hard saying goodbye, Sister Robertson cried and thanked me for all I have done for her family. It really felt amazing! I felt the impression that I really was needed there. I will miss them; I hope I can make it back for their baptisms. 

Debbie and Jimbo are still doing amazing! I will be seeing them tonight to say goodbye. That one will be hard as well. But they have changed my life! Debbie still has not went back to smoking after that Word of Wisdom lesson we had. She says that the Lord has taken away the craving and the desire. I will never forget that lesson. Jimbo is now considered an active member again after twenty something years of not attending. And he is getting close to becoming an Elder. They have been a miracle in my life. Debbie's baptism is in two weeks and she cannot wait! I'm not looking forward to saying goodbye. . .

My new area is Roanoke! It is the biggest city in our mission! I'm super excited. I have been in the country for so long, I don't know if I will know how to act in a city! We will see how it goes. I'm still a zone leader as well, so we will keep busy. My new companion is Elder Millard. He is from Washington somewhere and is a cool guy. It should be fun!  

Thanks so much for all that you all have done for me. I was reading in Mathew recently in chapter 14, where Peter is walking on water facing the Savior and as soon as he took his eyes off the Savior and worried about the winds and the sea, he started to sink and panic, but immediately the Savior rescued him and asked him why he doubted. I hope we can all stay focused on the Savior and his gospel and not on the things that could potentially harm us. And if you do start to sink, the Savior will immediately rescue you if you reach for Him. I know this is true!

Keep the Faith! 

Elder L. Kaleb Bingham 

P.S. the pictures are the Robertson family and a giant chair I found. 

Here is my new Address: 
5007 Polly Hill Lane
Roanoke, VA 24019

Goodbye July -- August 3, 2015

Hello Everyone,

Well summer is almost over and that scared me because I will be home next summer. . Not really sure how I feel about that. It is a bitter sweet moment. It will be really interesting to see how the "new" me fits into the old world. But thank goodness I don't have to worry about that yet! Even though everyone seems to be talking about that these days. . .  It is good to be in Virginia though! We had such a great week! It was stressful but it pushed us a lot and we had a good turn out!  

Elder Wilkinson and I decided to get creative this week. We are sick of knocking on doors, It is fun sometimes but most of the time it is tasking and can be dull. So we got a hold of a Mormon version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire! So we are getting a TV and a laptop and we got permission to set up a booth at the local Walmart for a day! We will see how that goes--hopefully we can find some people that are interested! I will send pictures next week. 

This week we had some awesome people we are teaching take us to a place called Cabo Fish Taco in Blacksburg. It was so good! Jen and Steve are so nice. We found them by tracting and they said they have had plenty of missionaries knock on their door but they felt drawn to us. They are so sweet! They are learning slowly but they came to church one week and really enjoyed it. They are so interested in our lives--it feels good to see someone look at you as a normal person and not just as a white shirt and tag. I was really appreciative of them and I love being able to share the gospel with them!

Debbie and Jimbo are doing amazing. They really do strengthen my testimony. I have never had to face the challenges they have and I hope I never have to, but they have put so much faith in the Savior. They were at church yesterday and Jimbo bore his testimony about his path back. It was powerful! He always tells Elder Wilkinson and I how much of a difference we have made to them. Knowing that I have helped them come this far and hearing them tell me how we have changed their lives makes me feel like a million bucks. Every night I am about in tears when I thank God for them and for the blessing it is to know and serve them. I can’t wait for Debbie's baptism coming up. I hope I am here for it! 

Wow the lessons I have learned this week. I had a mission leadership training with my mission president. He invited us to ask God to know where we stand with Him. I did that this week and I caught a bigger glimpse of how much He loves me and much more of how much He loves each of His children. I know in His eyes he cares so much more about where we are going then where we have been. I’m so grateful for the Atonement to know that whatever you have done or whoever you are, the Atonement can heal you. We have to TRUST in it. I have learned that is where faith comes in. Through Him, all things are possible if we only choose to believe. How amazing this Gospel is. I love it. I would be nothing without it! 

Keep the Faith! 

- Elder Kaleb Bingham 

P.S. the picture is part of our zone after a Zone meeting this last week--we taught and it was great. Props to the selfie stick! Love you all!

Pembroke Zone

I Love Pembroke -- July 27, 2015

Hello Everyone,

Wow it has been a week! A week of very mixed emotions. But it has been so good. We saw some awesome things and had some life changing lessons.  

So there are two amazing people I have had the privilege of meeting and being able to work with. There is a man named Jim and His wife Debbie who is not a member. They are some of the most pure hearted people I have meet on my mission. Jim has been a member his whole life but he has struggled with different addictions that have kept him away from the church for a long time. His wife Debbie is a sweet heart and they have been married for five years now; they are getting ready to retire I think. But they have changed so much since I have been here. They have been at church the last three weeks in a row and they are coming closer to our Savior. Debbie made a goal for herself that she wanted to be baptized in September. 

So we went to have a lesson with them on Saturday and we needed to teach the Word of Wisdom. It was going to be a make or break lesson. When we got to their house they had been studying and reading out of the Book of Mormon to prepare for the lesson. The spirit was there automatically. We knew it would be a good one. We talked about what we needed to do to get Debbie ready for her baptism and then we taught the Word of Wisdom and read (Alma 34:31) and talked about Repentance. The spirit was so powerful. We were all in tears. We committed them to stop smoking cold turkey and they felt that that was right thing to do. They even held hands and said the strongest prayer to Heavenly Father I have ever heard pleading for help that they can overcome some of their addictions. The room filled with the love of our Savior and they had us take the three jumbo packs of cigarettes with us as we left. It was a lesson I will never forget. The Spirit and God worked a very mighty miracle. Please keep them in your prayers! They are such a blessing to me--I love them! 

I'm pretty sure that was the highlight of our week. We still had five of our friends at sacrament on Sunday; all of them are still planning on being baptized in August and September. The blessings of Missionary work are real! We have some great people that we are blessed enough to teach! 

I was on an exchange with one of the district Leaders in our Zone, Elder Poyfair. We were in Blacksburg, their area is in the YSA area that covers Virginia Tech. It was fun! It’s a cool place. I could really come back and live in Blacksburg--it is sweet! But we talked to a linebacker that was on the football team. He was a big guy! It was funny; he answered questions like we were interviewing him on ESPN. It was funny. It was cool to see how much gratitude he had for God and for our Savior. I thought it was cool; he was not shy about his beliefs. He didn't really except to learn more about the church but it is always awesome to see how much faith people still have in our world today. 

Great things are happening here in Pembroke! I love it here, the ward is awesome and there are so many that want to come to know our Savior. I'm very blessed to be here! I love you all thanks for the prayers and the support.

Keep the Faith! 

 - Elder Kaleb Bingham 

Higher than the trees!

Word of Wisdom success!

Virginia Tech University

Pembroke Miracles -- July 20, 2015

Hello Everyone,

This week was so good! I can’t even express how happy we have been from all the great things we have been seeing. I have learned that when you are obedient to God you are able to call down the blessings from heaven that you need. And if it is right, according to His will, He will bless you with them! Elder Wilkinson and I have been seeing this!  

We have really made a focus on teaching people how to keep the Sabbath Day holy. This is something I have truly gained a testimony of. Everyone we teach we always promise them the blessings of keeping this special day holy and giving it back to the Lord. We have been bolder in committing people to come to church and living this commandment. Because it is so important!  

After much prayer for those that we have been meeting with and those we love, we did everything we could to get our friends to church. And they came! We had six nonmembers at sacrament meeting yesterday! And five of them have goals of being baptized in the near future. We were ecstatic. The more impressive part is that they all stayed for the whole three hour block and enjoyed all of church! What a blessing! 

I love finding this kind of joy in the work! These are the best times of the mission. When you work hard and work effectively, you see amazing results. Sometimes I hear missionaries say that we may only plant seeds, indeed we do plant seeds as missionaries but the Lord has promised us that it is time to harvest souls to bring them unto Him. When you serve with all your Heart, Might, Mind, and Strength, you can feel that “This is the time to Harvest.” 

The ward here is pretty awesome. They take really good care of the missionaries. I have loved serving here so far. We have a great ward mission leader and their family. They fasted for us that we could find a family to teach and that the work would improve. I thought that was really cool. I have never had a family fast for me as a missionary.  It made us feel really special.  I also think this is why we have been seeing so many miracles. When members get involved in the work amazing things happen! 

I love this work!  I'm so happy I am here. It is changing my life!!! I love the people I get to work with so much; I'm so grateful for them. I hope everyone is keeping the faith. I gave a talk in sacrament yesterday. I talked on Lehi’s vision, One question I asked the ward is, "Have you tasted the fruit? and If you have, who do YOU desire to share it with?"
(1 Nephi 8) 

I love you all! Have a good week! 

 - Elder Kaleb Bingham.  

P.S. the pictures are from a snow cone break we took and when we had to do dishes. . . Elder Wilkinson loves using his selfie stick!