Half Way Through October -- October 19, 2015

Hello Everyone,

This week was an outstanding one! Elder Millard and I are working really well together; our lessons have been very powerful.  I think we have been teaching the best lessons either of us have ever taught. We have noticed that we have really emphasized teaching people not lessons. We have been really trying to tailor-fit everything we do to help our friends build their faith in Jesus Christ.

We had an example of this last night. We attended a planning meeting to think of ways we could better get involved in the community in the upcoming and busy months. We came up with some great plans that we are looking forward to. When we got done with our meeting, we had about 30 minutes until our curfew.  We thought about who we could see to finish out the night with little time. We felt prompted to go see a man named Chris that we have been trying to work with for weeks. We figured at least we could share a thought and get a solid return appointment for this week. We went with our member over there and we knocked on the door and Chris was super excited to see us! He invited us to sit down and talk. He opened up with many of his family’s concerns and needs. We shared what came into our hearts. He was blessed and then he, on his own, set up a solid return appointment for us this week. He thanked us for caring about him. He said he has been impressed with our persistence and is thrilled to have us teach him and his family. We always follow the Spirit! 

Well I think my companion and I made mission history this week. We taught a Skype lesson!! But no, we do not have Ipads. Our friend, Mcquesha, asked us if we could do a Skype visit out of convenience, so we did! It was super cool! We had a harder time meeting with her this week but this Skype lesson was so great! We followed up on what she liked about church and she absolutely loved it! She said that she felt so welcomed and involved. It was a blessing. And she came out and said how excited she is to get baptized in the coming month! She is doing so great. When she said the closing prayer it was so humble and powerful. She even came to church yesterday and also enjoyed it. Next week is the ward primary program and I can’t wait to see how she loves that. One of her concerns is she wants her son to live a good life and have a good influence--next week will be great!

One more miracle!

So this week we had to do some work at the library for our zone. When we left to go get lunch, we were driving home and passed a section of town homes that were fairly new. I felt an immediate impression to stop and go knock on  a few of them, so we did! We met a few people but nothing too promising, then we knocked on one more door and met a man named Joseph. We ended up teaching him the whole restoration. He accepted a commitment from us and we had a killer lesson. He said he wanted to stay on a straight path to God, not a wavy one. In my head I was like, “Oh have we got a story for you!” (The Iron Rod) haha But he was sweet. We have been blessed with so many of these miracles lately.

My testimony just keeps on growing and growing and my love for Jesus Christ continues to get deeper and deeper. I love it. I especially have reminded myself lately of the blessings of reading the Book of Mormon and other great scriptures.  It has really expanded my faith in the last few weeks. Roanoke is great and there are great things happening!

I found this promise in the scriptures this week: D&C 6: 33

33 Fear not‍ to do good, my sons, for whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap; therefore, if ye sow good‍ ye shall also reap good for your reward.

This is so true! 

Keep the Faith,

-Elder Kaleb Bingham

Fall Miracles -- October 12, 2015

Hello Everyone,

This week was great!  The Vogel family we have been working with is doing awesome. They have been a family that has been returning back to the gospel.  About a month ago, we were able to teach and baptize one of their daughters, Rorri, and this last week we were able to help one of their sons, Joey, do the same! It has been a blessing working with them. Joey was so excited to get baptized and when it came down to it, he was terrified of doing it in front of the ward. It took us twenty minutes to calm him down enough to get in the water and preform the ordinance. It was so worth it though! He was happy as could be after the baptism. I love the Vogels; they are one more family coming closer to being together for eternity. 

We have been teaching our friends Angela and Dominic. We stopped by last night and had a short lesson with them and then invited them to a baptism that was happening a few hours later than the time we were visiting with them. After promising them the blessings of coming to the baptism, we extended the commitment for them to come. I have to admit I had little faith in them, in my mind I did not think they would put forth the effort to come. Later at the service, we were visiting in the hallway when I turned around and saw both of them all dressed up and ready to be there! The words echoed in my mind, "Thou of little faith." I learned a great deal, as so did they while being there. I learned we need to have absolute faith in our fellow brothers and sisters and see them as our Heavenly Father sees them with that kind of perfect potential. They loved the baptism and are planning on attending church next week!

So for my fast yesterday one of the things I fasted for was for a girl named McQuesha. I fasted that she would start to progress in the gospel.  We found her by knocking on her door. We have been working with her for a few weeks and I see a lot of potential with her. She has a very rough past. She talks about how she grew up going from different shelters and being homeless with her mom, even though you would never tell. She has a 1 month old baby boy and all she wants is the best for him. She wants to raise him right so he will know God and make good choices. We invited her to church and she was excited to come! We found her a member friend and they both showed up to church. We planned ahead and asked different members to go and introduce themselves and they did. MaQuesha loved it. She loved church and now she wants to be baptized! Although there is still a lot of work to do, it never fails that God prepares people for his gospel and prepares them to accept it. The miracles of the fast!

I love the gospel. It is so great to know our Savior and be part of His work. I am so grateful that I have had such great parents that raised me in this gospel. I have never not known and loved my Savior and my Heavenly Father, I have always known them and I owe that to my parents! I love this work--It is the greatest!

Virginia is exploding with color! I will send pictures next week. I love you all!

Remember to Keep the Faith!

- Elder Kaleb Bingham

General Conference Week Miracles -- October 5, 2015

Hello Everyone,

This week was crazy!

We started out the week with having to go to Charleston for a leadership council. We do it every month. But we pick up other Zone leaders in our minivan and carpool down there. It is an all-day event that we have to wake up at 4:00 in the morning for. But it is always worth it! I loved this one, I'm so grateful for my mission president. I learn so much from him! 

We attended a media event for the church. It was hosted at a food bank called Feeding America. The church donated $165,000 dollars of food and trucked it down here to Roanoke all the way from Salt Lake. Pretty sweet! We took a lot of pictures with us and the Stake President and also the Church Media people that speak for the church. We sure felt fancy, it was fun. What other church spends that kind of money in donating food to places around the world every week? God’s true church does, that is for sure. It was cool to see people’s reaction to that here. It was a fun event.

We were there with our sister missionaries, as well, and after the media event, we were talking and decided that we needed to do more than show up and take pictures. So we went and helped for a few hours in the food bank. People were astonished as to how we were dressed and how hard we were working. The looks we got were priceless. It was a great experience. You always serve where you stand. 

We are still waiting to hear about when our news interview will be. It has to pass through some people and get approved. I hope it happens soon, we are excited for that!

I loved conference! We were able to share conference with many people! We had 5 or 6 of our friends watch some of the General Conference.  I love how the words of living prophets change our lives! The spirit is so strong in their words, you can know for a surety that indeed they are prophets and that God speaks to them. Elder Holland’s message was very personal and interesting. The greatest example of Pure Christ Like Love is through our Mother’s examples. I know that to be true. That talk hit a cord for me! How grateful I am for my mother! 

I was able to go on an exchange with  Elder Barnett this last week. He has been out two transfers and is currently assigned to be a District leader and a Trainer. I was so impressed by him. I was able to reflect on my mission with him. I have been in his shoes and just thought how amazing the Atonement really is. I think it is great to look back sometimes and recognize how much we have grown and have changed for the better. I have learned so much on my mission and I'm so excited to work even harder the last tail end of my mission. There is nothing greater than being in the works of God. I love this Gospel. This weekend I was reminded over and over again of why I love it so much.

I love you all! Hope you have an awesome week.

Keep the Faith!

- Elder Kaleb Bingham

Rain, Rain, and More Rain -- September 28, 2015

September 28, 2015

Hello Everyone,

This week was a wet one! It rained a lot. . . .  But my companion and I were determined to not let it slow us down. On one of the rainy days some of our plans fell through. We wanted to stay effective so we prayed and decided that we would work the area we were in. The rain was pouring down and we were getting soaked through our rain gear. It seemed like every door we knocked was slammed in our face but we felt in our hearts that we needed to keep going. Right when we were just about to head to the car my companion was inspired and said let’s try one more house down the street. So we did and we found a young family in their car port watching the rain storm. As we approached them, they looked surprised to see us. We told them who we were and who we were representing. The young father got our names and kindly told us that right now was not a good time for them but they gave us a time to come back the following day. We followed up and went to their house the next day and they were ready for us! They even made hot chocolate for us. We had a great discussion and this man already owned a Book of Mormon. He ordered one online and had read some in the past. When you work for the Miracles they do come! You just have to want them bad enough.

Let’s see, our Albanian family isn't doing as good as we would like them to be. The mother doesn't think she can change from being a Muslim; she is scared to offend or hurt her family. She loves the church, loves what we teach, but she said that she can’t convert, it would be too hard. The daughters don't want to upset there mom, so we are in a standstill. . They are still learning and coming to activities, so there is hope in the future, we will see. This made me pretty sad when you grow to love the people you serve all you want is for them to experience the full happiness of the gospel. 

Our Catholic couple is going to be watching conference this week! They are doing great; we are really changing some perspective there. We owe a lot to the Blueprint of Christ's church talk, thank you Elder Callister.  We have had some great lessons with them.

So guess what! Yesterday I got briefed by one of the churche’s public affairs regional reps. The man that briefed us is a close friend to Mitt Romney and worked for and spoke for the church during his campaign. (He was actually a missionary companion with Mitt Romney in Italy, that is how they met.) But he taught us how to be on camera and how to answer questions while being interviewed on the news. BECAUSE I’M GOING TO BE ON THE NEWS! Hopefully this week, we are not sure what time it is for sure. But it will be on the same channel that the reporters got shot on. . . but that is okay, I will give you all the details when it happens so you can look it up. 

So my mission president sent this out last week but I wanted to share it! The Refiners fire is real and we are all in the Refiners fire! The Refiner is Christ our Savior. He refines us to become like him.

 Malachi 3:3

·         The purpose of purification is so that we can give a better offering to Heavenly Father.
·         Even the purist of the pure people on earth still need to be purified.
·         When gold is refined, imperfections rise to the surface so they can be taken away.
·         When our weaknesses rise to the surface, it is a good thing - not only because it means we have come closer to Christ (as we learn in Ether 12:27), but because it means that our weaknesses are ready to be scooped out.
·         The refiner knows the exact temperature that causes our weaknesses to surface so they can be taken out. That temperature is just hot enough to allow the imperfections to be removed without losing any fraction of the gold. It is just cool enough so that the gold is not ruined. 
·         The refiner sits—because it takes a while to complete the process. 
·         When the refiner can see his own reflection, He knows the process is done.

My favorite part is the end, "When the refiner can see his own reflection, he knows the process is done." My question as I studied this was Can the Savior see His reflection in me? Am I reflecting His image to those around me and will I allow him to scoop out the impurities? These are great questions to ask. I love the opportunity we have in this life. I hate when I talk to someone and they tell me there is no purpose in this life. That bothers me because there is such a purpose and it is so simple to know, a child can understand it.

I hope everyone has a good week keep me in your prayers please! I love you all.

Keep the Faith!

Elder Kaleb Bingham

I'm Staying in Roanoke -- September 23, 2015

Hello Everyone,

The last week and a half have been awesome! We had so many great things happen! I love my mission in the fall time, things are starting to cool off and the Virginia colors are starting to come out. It is a great time of year to be a missionary.

We have been teaching a Jamaican man named Austin. We had been trying to get him to church for the last couple weeks and he always gives us the excuse that he has to work. We went to a lesson with him and we were thinking that we would have to start seeing him less because we could not get him to church and we could not force him to go. So we got there and we sat down and he said "Elders I have thought a lot about what you said and I need to sacrifice some things and come to church so God can bless me."  We were so excited! The spirit really does work on people; This is the Lords work! Austin came to church and stayed all three hours and loved it. We can’t wait to see how his sacrifices will bless his life.

Our Albanian family is doing okay. ..  The Mother of the family is worried that she can’t convert from being a Muslim, which is sad, but we have to be sensitive of that. The girls, Mira and Medina are loving the church! They have been involved in young women's and Mira went to a dance last weekend that was a multi stake dance, the young woman's leader said she loved it. And on the way back she told the leader and the girls, "don't tell my Mom I danced with that many boys!" I thought that was funny. We will see what happens with the family. I know the girls will join the church one day, hopefully that day is soon, but if not it will be to come. :) 

The Catholic couple we have been teaching has really taken off. We felt prompted to give him a talk called the Blueprint of Christ's Church. It is a great talk by Tadd R. Callister (who I think will be one of the new Apostles,) but he loved the talk we have been breaking it down for him. Things are going really well with them.

We had three of our friends we are teaching come to church--it was a blast. I'm so grateful for the revelation we receive at church and the answers we receive from our prayers as we listen to the spirit in our church meetings. It is awesome. I love seeing people come to church for the first time and be enlightened. It is great. 

We have been doing a lot of biking this week. We pack the bikes around in the minivan that we drive and then we unload them when we are in the city and we will bike around and talk to people. It has been really cool and really fun! I have loved it!

Well that is my update for the week! I love you all and I love this Gospel!

Keep the faith!

Elder L.  Kaleb Bingham