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.
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