New Years Miracles -- January 4, 2016

Hello Everyone,

What a week! Seriously, we saw too many miracles to even report today! The work is going great here in Roanoke! I love it. I even started a daily video update for the rest of my mission--episodes to come!

So this week I went on an exchange with Elder Rawle. What a great missionary--he is on fire. I have never seen a missionary that has been out six months perform at his level; it is so cool! The focus of the exchange was working with members and we brainstormed a lot of ideas to help with that. While on the exchange, we went to contact a man they had met the prior week. We went to the man’s house and we discovered he was not home, but his wife answered and immediately we started teaching. She told us she was Agnostic, just didn't know for certain who God was. Without delay, we bore a strong testimony that she was a daughter of our Heavenly Father, it was powerful.  Because of that entry, we taught a quick lesson all focused on her concern and on the Restoration then we set up a time to come back to teach her and her husband together. What I was reminded of is that people really do need to know who they are. A pure testimony of God’s love always does the trick. 

Well we have been receiving so many media referrals, (people that order a Book of Mormon or Bible online.)  It has been a blessing; these people have been so receptive. I want to share a few experiences we had with them this last week!  

So we went to contact this man named Chris. We set up an appointment the week before and we were not sure if he was going to fall through or not. We got to his house and knocked and he answered and said, “Oh, I am glad you remembered me!” He was excited to see us. He told us his cat was sick and throwing up all over his house so he felt embarrassed to have us in. He asked us if we could meet somewhere else and I was like heck yeah, let’s go to the church! So he followed us to the church. We gave him a church tour and the full nine yards. We taught him the Restoration because his concern was that he didn't know what church was true and we committed him to be baptized! He had to go out of town for a business trip on Sunday, but he will be here this coming Sunday for church. Heavenly Father prepares His children! 

We were asking for referrals from a man we have been teaching He gave us one for a lady down the street. We went and contacted her and she was not interested. She said I am Pentecostal and I do not want to change. It was frustrating. A few days later, we were planning and I received a specific prompting to go back to her house and try again.  I couldn't ignore it, so we went back the next day. My companion was a little apprehensive, but he knew it was inspired. We got to the door and he said, “What are you going to say?” I said, “I have no idea.” Then I knocked. .  Rhonda answered and got all frustrated again and before she could say anything I said, "God told me I needed to come back and talk to you." She went silent and then in a soft voice said, “Please come in.” We got in and she unloaded a ton of concerns about life, God, trials and so on. She couldn't deny that we were sent from God to help her. We had a great lesson full of tears and she thanked us for listening to the spirit. I was so thankful I was obedient. 

This scripture summarizes the experience, D&C 84:85 

85 Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, 
and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that 
shall be melted unto every man.  

We have been trying to see a less active member that has not been coming to church. She has a down syndrome son that I love and she has a hard time with bringing him. I know all about the struggle growing up with my Aunt Beth that had the same disability. We went to go see Angie and it was later she answered the door and made small talk and then I said to her, "Angie my goal is to get you and your family to church before I leave Roanoke." You could tell what I said really softened her heart. I hope to see her at church on Sunday. We have been thinking about how we could make it easier on her to get her family there. 

This work is so great! I really love it. Knowing what I know now, I wish I could have more time to serve. There is so much to be done! It really is so great. I hope everyone makes a goal this New Year to reach out to more people than you ever have before and truly serve and bless lives. There is no greater satisfaction than a pure Christ-like attempt to serve our brothers and sisters.

I love you all--have a good week!

Keep the Faith! 

- Elder L. Kaleb Bingham 

The Ultimate Christmas Experience! -- December 28, 2015

Hello Everyone,

What a great Christmas it was! Thank you for all the Merry Christmas wishes. I learned a lot last week and it was a very bitter sweet Christmas knowing it was my last one as a missionary. I will never forget the two Christmases that I had out here in this great mission. 

I would like to share an experience I had last week that made the Christmas season very special to me. I would appreciate it if you please do not share this first experience with any one in my mission, you will understand in a minute. 

So this last month we have been sharing a house with four elders. It has been a ball--It couldn't be more fun! It is exciting to receive things in the mail as a missionary, especially for the Christmas holiday. I had noticed that one of the Elders had not been receiving anything in the mail for Christmas and if he had before we moved in, it must have been pretty small. I was starting to worry for this missionary as Christmas got closer. We kept our fingers crossed that something would come in the mail for this young missionary. Well Christmas Eve came and the mail came and there was nothing for him. My companion and I knew we needed to do something for this missionary, our dear friend. We couldn't imagine being in his shoes! So as soon as they were gone, we made a trip to the post office, only to find out they closed early. We then ran to FedEx. I told the workers that I needed a box that looked like it was coming from Utah with these addresses on it! They looked at us like we were crazy, but they did it. We then took the box all dressed up like it had been shipped, and we threw it on the ground and wore it down a little bit to make it look like it had made the 2000 mile journey. After we got that accomplished, we rushed to Walmart in the holiday madness and grabbed a cart and started to find things to fill our package. After some rushed shopping, we managed to fill this package with plenty of gifts that would make his Christmas special. I paid the price on my home debit card. After looking at the cost, I panicked a little bit, but new it would all be worth it--every penny! We hurried and rushed home and speed-wrapped all the gifts and trust me, we are not good wrappers! Haha We got everything in the box and got it sealed up and put it under the mail boxes. Literally only five minutes later, the Elders came home and discovered the package. This elder was thrilled (and never discovered who actually left the package.) He lit up--he was so happy the next morning! We all opened gifts together going around in a circle taking turns. There were times I had to hold back my tears when seeing how big of a difference this little thing made in this missionary’s eyes. I will never forget the spirit I felt as I was able to feel the true meaning of Christmas.  I’m also grateful that the Lord gave me the means to make this possible. I now have a goal for every Christmas to find that same feeling of the pure Joy of Giving every year for the rest of my life.  

I hope we can all feel the spirit of Christ in our lives. There is so much good to do and so many opportunities to bless lives all around us. We can find these opportunities only as we seek after them! 

I love you all and hope you had a Merry Christmas!

Keep the Faith,

- Elder L. Kaleb Bingham

Luke 2:20  
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

Merry Christmas! -- December 21, 2015

Hello Everyone,

Can you imagine a world without a Savior? I was asked to ponder that yesterday in church in a Sunday school class. I really cannot imagine. I am so thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of God! Without Him, we really could have nothing. Not a single Gift of any sort. It is such a great week to know and serve Him. I love sharing the message of the Restoration that teaches everyone that he is still here and He has a great work to fulfill and he trusts us to help him with it.  

Our Christmas miracle came early this year. Last night we had a return appointment with a couple we didn't really know a lot about. Their names are Omark and Dowanda. They found the church online, they ordered a Book of Moron off the church’s website to find out what it was and what it said. Omark is a very spiritual man, he is definitely searching for truth. They live in a rundown part of Roanoke where we would never have thought of going tracting or finding. When we got to their house, we were expecting that it might be kind of dirty and a rough environment. When we knocked on the door and he welcomed us in, we were hit by the spirit! Their house was so clean and they explained how they like to keep it that way so they can feel the holy spirit in their home. As soon as we walked in, I knew that the Lord had been there, that they have been prepared for this lesson. The lesson went amazing! Omark was like a kid in the candy store learning about the restoration. He loved it and he recognized the truth. They even asked us if they could come to church with us before we could invite them. It was the most powerful lesson Elder Kropushek and I have had. It was truly a miracle. They accepted an invitation to be baptized and asked us if there were things we could leave them to learn more. I have never seen so much excitement from a man responding to our message. It builds my testimony that the Lord is truly hastening his work!   

It reminds me of a Scripture in D&C 84:88:

“88 And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your 
right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about 
you, to bear you up.” 

We truly felt that last night as we visited with Omark and his wife. This really is the Lord’s work, I have such a testimony of that. 

So this week has been fun--the move and all the transfer stuff is finally done! We have been putting in the work in our area. We pretty much had to start fresh, but we have been seeing miracles as we find people to teach. It has also been a blast serving and living with three other missionaries that has been fun. It blows my mind that I am the oldest in the mission out of the bunch, when a year ago I was the youngest in a very similar situation. It is all smiles in Roanoke. 

In one of my packages, there was a cool nativity from my mom to give to a family we are teaching. We had a lesson with the Vogel family and we built the nativity and shared the Christmas story. We tied in the Atonement as well. It was fun and the kids seemed to really enjoy it, especially their six year old girl. It was a blast!

I hope everyone has a great Christmas! I know we are looking forward to it. I love you all, please do something for the Savior on his day! Have a good week and Keep the Faith! 

- Elder L. Kaleb Bingham 

Area Swap! -- December 16, 2015

Hello Everyone,

Well this last week almost undid me! I have not been that stressed in a really long time!  So we switched areas with the Sister Missionaries here is Roanoke. We had to find a new apartment that could host four sets of missionaries and we did--it is a great place! We then had to move and close out the old sister’s apartment for them and close out one more apartment in the valley and move and set up everything in the new Grandin house! It was crazy stressful, and to top it off, we moved in last Saturday and they didn't get the power on until Monday morning. It was something else. But like always, it all worked out! Now it is great--South Roanoke is a sweet area! Elder Kropushek and I are still Zone Leaders here.  

The new address to our place is:     226 Maiden Lane #5
                                                               Southwest Roanoke VA 24015 

So with the transition, we have been busy trying to know the area and see the people that the sisters before us were teaching. It has been fun--it is a blast to get doubled into an area! I am going to miss a lot of people in the North area though. . . But I will still get to see a lot of them! 

After this next Sunday, we will have helped reactivate seven members. Or should I say the Lord reactivated seven members, we just prayed and helped them where we could. It has truly been a blessing to see these members come back to Christ. I find so much satisfaction in seeing them start to love and appreciate covenants and commandments. 

The Crosse family is doing so wonderful! We are going to have to pass them off to the sisters. Last night they told us how much they have been loving church and have enjoyed our visits. It almost brought me to tears seeing a family that used to not say their prayers or come to church together make a change and to start doing these things. You can literally see a difference. The spirit has magnified their family and I love them. I am so blessed I have been able to work with this wonderful family. The gospel truly does make all the difference. I know with all my heart it blesses the family. 

Last week at the Dickens Festival Elder Kropushek and I were leaving and we were stuck in a crowd and out of the corner of my eye I could see a teenage boy probably 16 or 17 just eyeing my name tag. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of it. So I turned and offered to give him a card. It turns out he was being a missionary for a nondenominational church. He was with a group of teenagers and they were handing out pamphlets and stuff. This kid knew a bunch of Anti and I think he was trying to defend his faith in his eyes by trying to confront us about it. Needless to say, I think it was a humbling experience for him. . . by the end, after we shut down all his claims, you could tell the spirit worked on him and he said maybe you should go online and see what people say about your church. I said no, that is a waste of time, you need to simply ask your God to know the truth. He agreed he would look up Mormon.org. What a good group of kids trying their best with what they knew!  It was an exciting experience to have such a deep discussion in such a busy place one I will never forget! It goes to show that there are many kept from the truth because they know not where to find it!  

Pray for me this next week! We need all the help we can get! I love you all Keep the Faith! 

- Elder L. Kaleb Bingham 

The picture is from our new Christmas swag my wonderful Mother sent us :) 

It's Great to Be a Missionary in December! -- December 7, 2015

Hello Everyone,

What a great week it has been! I love this time of year.  It is the greatest to be a missionary during the Christmas season. There are so many great opportunities!

I was able to go on an awesome exchange this week with Elder Williams in Charleston. It was such a good time; I have missed serving with him. It had almost been a year to the day since we were serving together in Radford as new missionaries. It was remarkable to see and compare the changes and the progression we have both made in the year that we haven't served with each other. I found so much satisfaction in seeing the ripple effect of what my trainers taught me and what I passed down and taught Elder Williams when I was his trainer and how much he is blessing our mission with some of those things. That was cool to see. It was a great exchange and one that I really valued!


On the exchange we were able to find three new investigators in that area. It was neat; we just started teaching with everyone we talked too. We taught a sixteen year old boy the Restoration and he loved it! He especially loved the story of the first vision. Later that night, we were tracting a street before dinner and it was a great time to be tracting--people were coming home from work and it was very successful. We knocked into a home where two men answered and they were foreign. They were so nice; they let us in and we started to teach. We got to know them by asking a few questions--they are both temporally living in town because they are contractors for a company in Charleston. We did our best to personalize our message to them. One comment one of the men made was outstanding. He said he does not belong to a religion because he is searching all of them and trying to take the good he finds and apply it to his life. There are so many prepared for our message. He loved the Book of Mormon and committed to read it with excitement!

We worked with the city of Roanoke this last week. They had a big Dickens of a Christmas festival. It is a big deal here! It is a three night thing, the first three Fridays of the month. The missionaries helped run and do little things for them. It was great; we had about ten companionships come and help with it. We passed out a ton of cards advertising the church’s Christmas Indicative video. It was a great way to share that with others.

While we were there, Elder Kropushek and I were walking and one of our favorite families, the Vogels stopped us and were in a big panic. They told us they lost their keys at the festival and they couldn't find them. There were thousands of people there. They wanted us to say a prayer for them that they could find their car keys. So we prayed with them! After, we had the impression to ask a local police man if he found anything and they radioed in and found the keys! The principle of faith and prayer really work! It was a fun miracle.

The Crosse family came to church again last week! They also had us over for a party for one of the kids. There was some real Mexican food! Carna asada and a bunch of other stuff I didn't know what it was, but it tasted good! Haha It was a blast--we love that family so much! They are making some big steps.

Okay so here is my funny story of the week. This month I have been really getting tired of paying for haircuts. . so I got confident and thought, you know, I could do this on my own. Well, I bought some fifteen dollar clippers and last night finally worked up the confidence to cut my hair. Bad Idea! My companion of course backed me, I started to cut my hair and I lost it and pretty much freaked out. Haha So Elder Kropushek stepped up to the plate and tried his best. After an hour of blood, sweat, and tears, we pulled through. Let’s just say my hair is a lot shorter now. . . Never doing that again!!!

Lately I have really been sinking into Preach My Gospel and trying to apply every little aspect of its teachings to my missionary work. I often ask myself, Am I that missionary that does that? I am finding ways to improve every day! Chapter one of Preach my Gospel really helps me feel the importance of our message. I am so thankful for this work! Another thing I have been working on is developing more charity. This is something I received through my sacrament experience recently, a prompting took me back to a verse you shared with us (Moroni 7: 48.) I have felt a big difference as I have been praying for that pure love of Christ. One day I truly want to be ready so when He appears I can be like Him. What a blessing that is.

I love you all have a great week!! Keep the Faith.

- Elder L. Kaleb Bingham

https://www.mormon.org/christmas

Thanksgiving Week -- November 30, 2015

Hello Everyone,

Well Thanksgiving was a blast! I really have never eaten so much in my life! I was almost beyond my breaking point! Let’s see, we had three dinners thanks to the Blevins, Richardson's and Daliro families. We spaced it out, we had a dinner appointment every two hours-- it was so much food! We had a great Thanksgiving though, it was a huge success. Our last dinner appointment was with almost all nonmembers, it was super fun! It is sad that it was my last Thanksgiving on the mission. :(

Our week went good, we had a lot to accomplish, with the meetings we had and the exchanges we went on. This transfer we have had a tough time getting our friends to attend church. It has been hard because we do all we can to prepare and make plans to get them there--what it has come down to is their personal agency. That is what we are working on here, we know if they came, it would bless them tremendously!
   
We have been working with a few less active families in the ward. We have had some great lessons with them. One family, specifically, we have really grown to love. The Crosse family is from Mexico, they are converts to the church and the mom and dad have four kids. We had a powerful lesson with them just teaching the basics, family prayer and church attendance. They were so accepting to our commitments--we promised the parents, especially, that if they taught their children to do these things they would know to do them for the rest of their lives. We all knelt down to pray after our lesson; the father gave the prayer and we left. The next morning they came to church! All of them; it was so exciting. You could see how the gospel is already blessing their family. I can’t wait to go visit them this week.

Okay, so here is a funny slash disturbing story! So at church we received a phone call from a less active member that I had never met before. She wanted us to bring her the sacrament. So we talked to the Bishop and he thought it would be nice for us to do that, so we did. We took a member with us and we drove over, knocked on the door and as we were waiting, we smelled something awful. . she opened the door and rushed us in and it hit us like a wall. The stench of this place was horrendous! It was probably the worst condition I have ever been in. IT was bad! But we endured, gave her the sacrament had a brief, I mean Brief thought, then we dashed. It was so bad that we went home, ripped off our clothes and burned them. Just kidding, we threw them in the washer.  But we had to shower to get the smell off. It was quiet the experience! Next time we will let the young men's go! Haha

I found a scripture I recently learned a lot from, (Moses 7:26)

26 And he beheld Satan; and he had a great chain‍ in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness; and he looked up and laughed, and his angels‍ rejoiced.

I have noticed more than ever how hard Satan is trying to tear apart families and individuals from finding the joy in the gospel. It is a hard world we live in, but do we look at what a great opportunity we have? It is transparent that Satan throws everything at us to try to put these chains on us. We need to know this! We need to realize how we shake these chains and overcome this kind of mocking.

We know the only one to break these chains is indeed our Savior.  In fact, he has already broken them. Unfortunately, we sometimes put the chains back on. Ponder this scripture out of the Book of Mormon. (2Nephi 1:13 & 15) 

13 O that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains‍ by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf‍ of misery and woe.

15 But behold, the Lord hath redeemed‍ my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms‍ of his love.

There has never been a greater need to do all you can to access the power of the Atonement. This is where we are set free. I know that, I will always do all I can to live that.

Keep the Faith!

- Elder L. Kaleb Bingham

Happy Thanksgiving! -- November 23, 2015

Hello Everyone,

It has been a successful week! I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is already here. . It will be a fun one! We have plans to go eat with some members and go see a lot of people that will be alone on that holiday.

This Thanksgiving I am so most grateful for such a great family. I have the best family in the world! We know it is true that we feel God’s love the strongest in the realm of our family unit. How grateful I am for the Gospel that blesses families!

This week was fun; we had a really funny experience. We got a new phone number, so Elder Kropushek and I have been calling the people in our old phone that we didn't know. We called this Spanish lady and she answered and said she speaks no English! So we paused for a minute, hurried and grabbed a Spanish Restoration pamphlet and tried reading it in Spanish. . .needless to say, we failed miserably. . . haha But it was really funny and a good try! :)

We saw one of the promises from Elder Kopischke be fulfilled! This week we spent an hour knocking on some doors in a neighborhood not too far away from our church that we were not familiar with. The first door we knocked on a man answered and without any hesitation we just started to teach and to testify, (instead of asking if we could share a message). After a few minutes of this, we became aware that the man we were attempting to teach has been a Preacher at a large Baptist church in Roanoke for seventeen years! He asked us to come inside his house so he could hear our message out. We taught and kept testifying and guided him with questions we felt inspired to ask. We watched this Preacher go from being not interested in the Book of Mormon to committing Himself to read it. There is so much power in Testifying and teaching, I will never ask someone if I could share a message with themagain!   

We started teaching a man named Ben Martin. Brother Martin referred himself on Mormon.org to have a Bible delivered to him. We went to contact him with one of our members and we couldn't get a hold of him by phone, so we decided to go stop by his house that was also close to our church building. He answered his door and was super happy to see us. We gave him a Bible and after teaching off the bat about what missionaries do, he asked how he could get a copy of the Book of Mormon. Of course we gave him one and we taught him about it. Our member friend did great at testifying what the Book of Mormon has done for him then we set up a return appointment two days later. When we came back he was very prepared to receive us and is doing great. He couldn't make it to church with us Sunday, but he wants to attend with us in the coming weeks. Heavenly Father truly prepares his children. Like it says in Preach my Gospel, you will find those that are prepared or they will be lead to you but we must have faith! 

Great things are happening here! I keep learning more and more every day. I love that about the gospel that we always learn and progress. I pray everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving and that it is a good one. Hit the slopes for me!

Keep the Faith,

-Elder Kaleb Bingham

P.S. I attached a link--We made the news from that food drive a while back on the church newsroom and also on the local news, pretty sweet stuff!

http://www.roanoke.com/community/sosalem/church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-makes-donation/article_4e2a55e1-eec2-5ee8-94d1-466c7c4e826d.html

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints makes donation to Feeding America Southwest Virginia

Mayor Randy Foley of Salem, state Sen. Ralph Smith and other dignitaries were in attendance at the Feeding America Southwest Virginia location in Salem, where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donated over 30,000 pounds of food.

Each year, the church donates to food banks across the country as part of their Day to Serve project.
 
"A donation of this size equals $28,000, and will provide over 25,000 meals" in our region, said Jenny Doud, VP of external affairs for Feeding America Southwest Virginia.


"This donation is particularly timely," said Pamela Irvine, president and CEO of Feeding America Southwest Virginia. "We are nearing crisis-shortages of food to help feed the region's food insecure who are unable to adequately feed their families. Far too many of our neighbors, including children, are still having to go to bed hungry.

"We so appreciate the efforts of so many volunteers that are collecting food and making donations to help us in our mission of alleviating hunger. We are especially grateful for this large scale donation at this time from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."

Hanging out with General Authorities and Such -- November 16, 2015

Hello Everyone,

This week has been mind blowing! We were able to be with a General Authority for a lot of the week. I learned more from him than I could tell you. It was stressful, because we hosted 100 missionaries in our area at our stake center for the meeting. It took a lot of time to prepare, but it was so worth it! It was Elder Kopischke from the seventy. We had a personal meeting with him, all the Zone Leaders were invited too. He got so personal with us; there is nothing better than hanging out with a General Authority. Two things I learned from him that really hit me:

1. No matter what your approach may be as a missionary, you always have to teach the Atonement through the Restoration.

2. We must walk with those we teach every step of the way to bring them to Christ.

We planned and hosted a Stake Missionary Fireside last night for the whole Roanoke Stake. It was a lot of planning for my companion and I. We worked closely with the stake leaders on how to make this easy and effective and also a great time for whoever could make it! We tried not to put too much effort and time into it, just enough to make it run smoothly. I would say it only took about a half hour to an hour to do the hard planning for this, although that was not including the follow up for all the assignments. It worked out great! Last night we had an outstanding turn out, this being the first missionary fireside to be thrown. We had about 150 people show up, a lot of which were nonmembers and our friends being taught. At the end of the program, as everyone was in the gym, my companion and I stood back and examined the crowd and felt a great feeling of accomplishment as we saw all of our brothers and sisters coming unto Jesus Christ through this Fire Side we orchestrated. It felt amazing to see the results. It will be done again in a few months. Things like this all start with an initial idea, followed by the promptings of the spirit. 

A very spiritual experience I had this week,

We got a phone call to go to the hospital and give a member a blessing. This member was pretty much on his death bed. Elder Kropushek and I got there and found the whole family around him devastated. Just then, the doctor walks in and tells the family he is not going to make it.  She tried to be sincere but she did a terrible job, especially trying to comfort them. Finally Elder Kropushek and I couldn't take this doctor much longer so we told everyone we would give him a blessing and we prayed to invite the spirit and then went to give him a blessing. I was the voice, my companion and I on each side of the bed around all these machines managed to give the blessing. The whole doctor team was watching us and all the family was doing the same.  In my heart and mind, I was praying for the revelation and the power to heal this man and to take him off his death bed. I put my hands on his head and started giving the blessing and the spirit told me different.  .  . My will was not my father’s will for this man and I had to listen. But immediately as I listened, I was over powered with the Love God had for this man and it translated through the blessing. He was truly ready to come home. I learned that our Heavenly Father has a plan and all we can do is abide. I finished the blessing and the spirit in the room calmed the family; it even impacted the doctors watching and we left soon after. The man passed away the next morning, but it was my experience that I needed and the lesson I learned. It was a blessing to us to lift that family in that capacity. I will never forget that.

A scripture Elder Kopischke reminded me of, D&C 82:3:

3 For of him unto whom much‍ is given‍ much is required; and he who sins‍ against the greater light‍ shall receive‍ the greater condemnation.

How true that is, we would all do well to never forget that scripture! I love you all hope you have a great week! Keep the Faith!

- Elder Kaleb Bingham

We are His Servants -- November 9, 2015

Hello Everyone,

We have had so much fun this week. Elder Kropushek is the man! He is such a good missionary; we have the same style of teaching and doing things. It has been so much fun. He truly does have such a strong testimony of the gospel and the Atonement. He has made so many sacrifices to be here, I love Him! The first night we had, we stayed up and talked until really late just because we had so much to talk about. He is all around just such a great guy!

While with Brother Winkler from the ward this last week, we were driving and he felt like we should go see a part member family that was close to the area we were working in. We agreed that we should; we drove to their place and noticed that the sister’s car was not home although we remembered that this less-active sister had a daughter and her granddaughter that lived with them. So we decided to knock on the door and see if they were home anyway. They answered and told us that the Grandma (member) was not home that she was out for the night, they expected us to say we will come back a different time but instead we asked them how they felt about the church. They answered and said they liked the church, but have never been taught much about it. Being so excited with their response, we then asked them if we could share a message. They let us in and we started teaching. We taught the Restoration and gave them a commitment to read the Book of Mormon. We taught in less than twenty minutes, they even offered us to come back to share more on Tuesday night. It was such a good experience it built my testimony in following the spirit and always finding and always teaching. 

A funny story from last night! We were tracting some apartments and we knocked on one and an Indian man from India answered. We talked briefly and he then invited us in. We met his family; they have been living in the US for medical reasons because there son needs a kidney transplant. They were so sweet; they offered us some funny looking food that they called "sweet." We couldn't turn them down, so we took a big bite. . . It tasted like sand with exotic seeds! Haha Elder Kropushek waited until they were not looking then shoved it in his coat pocket! But I didn't have my coat so I had to man up and put it down. So to get back at him, I was like, “You know what I have never had, a real Indian food dinner.” They were pumped; they want to feed us, so we are going back on Saturday. haha It should be a good time :)

I taught a man early this week and I thought it was cool what I learned from him. In the lesson I asked him what he wants most from meeting with us. He came back and told us that he wants to be an example and help people. I was amazed by his response. It reminded me that the lord does build his church through his elect. It reminds me of some scriptures in Mosiah 26.

20 Thou art my servant; and I covenant with thee that thou shalt have eternal life; and thou shalt serve me and go forth in my name, and shalt gather together my sheep.

21 And he that will hear my voice shall be my sheep; and him shall ye receive into the church, and him will I also receive.

We truly have an opportunity to be a light to the world; everyone in the church has been called to help and deliver the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How great it is to be a missionary and do it all the time-- I love the work so much, it is what will bring you joy, pure Christ like service.  Keep the Faith!!

I hope everyone has a good week. I love you all thanks for the prayers and the support!

- Elder Kaleb Bingham

Staying in Roanoke -- November 4, 2015

Hello Everyone!

What a week and a half it has been. Transfer weeks are always hard, they go sometimes really slow and it throws everything off. But the good news is, I will be staying in Roanoke for at least one more transfer. The Bad news is Elder Millard is getting transferred. . .  I am going to miss him; at first we had a harder time learning how to work with each other, but now things have been clicking. I have taught the best lessons with him and I am going to miss the good times that we have had. He is way funny; there was never a dull moment! 

My new companion is pretty sweet! His name is Elder Kropushek. I was his Zone Leader a few months back and now I get to show him the ropes of being a Zone Leader. It should be really fun. I'm looking forward to this transfer; I cannot remember where he is from.

Well Elder Millard and I did have a pretty tough week. The last few days have been better but we hit a rough patch! My whole mission I have always known what to do and where to go by following the spirit. Last week for some reason it felt like the switch of inspiration got flipped off. I was getting a little frustrated by it. I couldn't figure out why all of our plans were falling apart.

So in sacrament, I was thinking about what was going on and as I was listening, the words came to my mind, "Have you asked?" I realized that I had stopped praying for direction and for the spirit; I got comfortable. I immediately repented and begged and asked the Lord to be led to those that needed us that day.

After church we were driving down a busy part of Roanoke and we passed a street. And as I saw it, I knew that was exactly where we needed to be. I whipped the car around and we parked and started talking and knocking on a few doors. It took a while but then we found a man that wanted to listen to what we had to say, we had an awesome lesson! He was excited to read the Book of Mormon. We finished that lesson and then knocked a few more. Less than five minutes later we found a very nice man that invited us in and we taught him as well. They were both awesome people that had been prepared for us on the same block. It was the miracle we petitioned for.

The lesson I learned is WE NEED TO ASK. There is a practice of humility in asking for blessings we need. I learned this lesson this week for sure, it is a promise found in D&C 4: 7 “Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen.”

We later had a great prompting to go visit someone we knew of months ago. Elder Millard had two converts that got baptized before I got here and they got Anti Mormon material and stopped coming to church because they doubted the faith they had. We went over so he could say goodbye, and we actually had a great lesson; they were humbled. The wife especially; we addressed many concerns and brought every one of them back to the restoration. We helped her not just look at the negative and the mistakes of the early church leaders, but to look at the positive and the fruit that came from the restoration. She directly looked at me and said "What is the biggest fruit you have seen?" I told her that I was raised in a loving gospel home where I was taught and I have never not known the love of my Savior or my Heavenly Father, I have never had to wander on strange roads. Then through my tears, I asked her a question back.  I said, “Isn't that what you want for your kids?” The gospel truly does bless families. This family will hopefully be back to church soon. 

I love the Gospel!  I’m so thankful for it. I am learning so much while being here. Keep the Faith! Talk to you all Monday.

 - Elder Kaleb Bingham

P.S. The pictures are of Elder Trujillo, a former companion that I was able to meet up with at the Roanoke Airport and of the beautiful Virginia fall colors.