Hello everyone,
Last week I told you I had been fasting for a miracle. It
seemed like after I did this we faced a lot of challenges and opposition in our
day to day work but finally last week that miracle came! We were walking to go
teach some friends of ours, when we walked past a trailer where a man came out
and asked us if we were Mormons. I hesitated because I thought he was going to
want to bash with us but we stopped and talked with him, boy was I wrong! He
actually used to meet with missionaries over fifteen years ago and in fact he
almost got baptized. He said that the only thing that stopped him was quitting
smoking, although he told us that he now is ready to quit and pick up where he
had left off. He recognized that God sent us to him; he said it over and over.
How great it was to find this man. We returned to his humble home with our
recent convert, Brother Gun and he did a great job of fellow-shipping and
explaining his newly developed testimony of the church. They hit it off. Kenny
even came to a Mother’s Day social and he came to church with us the next
morning and kept remarking how he felt so comfortable there--truly a miracle
from a loving Heavenly Father. I guess we will see if he gets baptized before I
leave or not (he is currently on date) but I am sure happy to be a part of his
journey back to our Savior.
This week I was able to attend the funeral of a great man
that I used to meet with over a year ago. The funeral was different from what I
am used too. We were a little nervous to go because we were not sure how it
would look if two Mormon missionaries showed up to a funeral but everyone was
so nice to us; it was pretty neat. There was a preacher from a church that
preached at the service. He was a nice man; we had a couple of good laughs with
him. The service started out with a military tribute and that was powerful, but
then the preacher started his thing. It started normal but then he just started
yelling and screaming and a whole different spirit came into the room; the
peaceful calmness of the spirit left. I do not mean to bash the preacher, but I
feel like he failed. He didn't speak words of comfort that the family needed.
He didn't reassure anyone that they could be with their father, husband,
cousin, brother or friend again and while he preached, the spirit was absent.
It really opened my eyes to how impactful the Restored Gospel is. Truly we need
to feel God’s love in such a hard time. I missed that and I feel bad that is
not the message that this preacher decided to talk about. This guy did sing a
really good song though! It was really good so I feel like that left the
funeral service on a peaceful note. I am glad we could go show our
support. I am so thankful for the plan of salvation!
Speaking of the plan of salvation, we had a killer lesson
with Cheryl and Austin, one of the couples we are teaching. We were covering
the plan; Austin has lost his mother not too long ago, so he was down about
that, our lesson really seemed to help. Cheryl is Awesome! We were covering the
Kingdoms of Glory and she made an awesome connection. She said that she has
always wondered what Paul meant in the Bible when he said he was carried up to
the third heaven to dwell with God. And she said it finally made sense what
that meant! It was one of the moments that you really cherish as a missionary.
So I had to talk about enduring to the end in Sacrament
yesterday. I think it was good practice for my homecoming talk coming up. There
was one scripture I quoted that I found a lot of peace with! Has the Savior not
overcome the world? It has already been done. I know in the toughest of times
if we point our hearts back to God we can receive spiritual strength--that will
give us the strength to endure.
John16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation:
but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Have a great week and
Keep the Faith!
- Elder L. Kaleb Bingham
Hello Everyone,
What a week! I don’t think I have had so many
disappointments in one week in a while! I have felt good all week knowing that
we have done all we could. We worked hard all week and it didn't pan out like
we were hoping, but we definitely still saw the Lord’s hand in all that we did.
Well this was pretty sweet! We were trying to contact
someone we had met weeks ago and they were not home. So we were walking away
and I had a simple impression to go knock a trailer that was nearby. So my
companion and I went up to this trailer and tried to teach. A lady answered and
of course told us she was Methodist and that was that. Before she shut the door
I asked who she knew that we could try to teach. She then referred us to a
trailer that was across the street. She said that man’s wife recently passed
away. So we went over there and we knocked on the door and a man in his 50's
answered. I started talking about what we do and he was not really having it;
he was about to turn us away and I said, “Could I please just read you a
scripture?” He said, “Yes, I never turn down a scripture.” So he let us in and
we sat down and met his son that was also there. Well after making small talk
we said a prayer and had a lesson. The scripture that I read was (Alma 40:11).
We learned that this man recently lost his wife unexpectedly and he was pretty
torn up by it. He told us he was not sure why he was here. He said he has been
asking God to take him too because he was miserable. Nothing was working in his
life and he was purely angry. After we let him vent we started to teach very
simply little by little he started to listen and we were able to teach him
about some of the plan of salvation. It was amazing from the start of the
lesson to the end of the lesson. I saw
his whole countenance change. He seemed brighter when we left, in-fact his dark
home felt brighter. We were able to leave him with a prayer and a few
commitments that he was determined to keep. It was pretty cool to kneel down and
pray with Clyde and his son. The healing process started with him. Now the
disappointing part of all of this, He texted this morning saying how he was
done with God and no longer wanted to meet. I hope he is just a little
discouraged and down. We sent him a few things but haven't heard back so we
will have to see what happens. Keep him in your prayers!
So Elder Burgener and I got in touch with our inner man
this week. There was a member of the branch whose wife has been in the hospital
and he needed some help around the house. He asked us if we could do a
"little" trim work and I was thinking oh yeah, we can trim around the
house and what not. Well we got there and he showed us the project, he needed
us to trim some massive steep hill sides! It was crazy; we got to use some
pretty nice weed eaters though and we did work--it was fun. It feels good to
serve!
So I had been praying and fasting for a miracle to finish
off the mission. Well at church yesterday, we had a bad turnout-- no one came
and we had like 14 members show up. . So I was a little discouraged but then a
lady walked in that I had never seen before and she sat down and the only thing
she had was a paper back copy of the Book of Mormon. So the branch President came
over and told me she once almost got baptized and used to be taught by the
missionaries. So we welcomed her and sat by her and everything. She even stayed
all three hours and in Gospel Principles class she told us she wanted to be
baptized! I was like wow, “Ask and ye shall receive!” So we set up an
appointment to meet with her then she went to relief society and after that class
came up to us and said, "I think I have changed my mind." I was like,
“What happened?” And she expressed that she had quit smoking but was not
completely sure if she wants to quit forever. I said, “Don’t give up that easy!”
We talked for a minute; then she went home. We will still hopefully meet with
her. I think there is still hope we will see what this week brings!
Amber Griffey lost her dad this last week. He passed away
very young. When I was here last year I taught her father Dennis Tate and had a
lot of good experiences. I remember he even come to church with us and bore his
testimony of the Savior in sacrament meeting. It was sad to hear of his
passing. These times really allow us to reflect on the plan of salvation. There
are many things the Savior can only fix. I really hope Dennis is being worked
on in the Spirit world. It is beautiful how merciful the Lord really is. Please
keep Amber and Chad in your prayers.
Well that is the weeks recap! Things are going good--I
know better than they seem. I love the Lord I am thankful to be a part of this
work!
Keep the Faith!
- ELder L. Kaleb Bingham
Hello Everyone,
So it has officially come to my attention that I only
have one transfer left of the mission. I really hate the reality of this! It
just doesn't seem right to have to prepare to go home. I mean what in the world
happened to those two years?! I have never related so well to John when he
asked if he could be a missionary until the Lord comes back again. But I know
that there is a greater mission and that is based on building a family. But
really, being a missionary has never felt so sincere.
Well last week did go pretty good! I will share some
experiences:
Our friend Chris Harmon is in a sticky spot right now. He
is so close to being ready to get baptized and is on tract but this last week
we had to go over the Law of Chasity with him and I thought it was cool how we
lead into it. He had read 1 Nephi 8 and had a lot of questions about the
chapter known as the Iron Rod. Well we got a piece of paper and drew out the
whole vision and broke down the symbolism of it. We then talked about all the
commandments he would need to keep in order to get baptized, the process of
faith and Repentance. It was really cool to see him recognize the changes he
needed to make but also to see him recognize the progress he has already made.
So in the middle of the lesson I had a very clear impression that we were going
to have to give him a blessing and like five minutes later he broke down not
knowing if he was capable of making so many changes. So I explained the
blessing, how it works, where it comes from and he wanted one. He said he was
really in need of something like that. So I gave him one and it was so specific.
I learned of the love our Heavenly Father had for this man and the potential
that was before him. Needless to say the blessing really gave him the faith he
needed to press on. The power of the priesthood and the workings of the spirit
are beyond us!
For weeks we have been trying to meet with a family that
was a media referral on Mormon.org. We haven't had much luck meeting with them.
We had tried and tried and nothing was panning out but we stayed persistent
when we thought we should have backed off. Well finally, last week we went to
teach the family and it worked out! We were able to meet with Cheryl and Austin
and teach them and their family in their home. We had a sweet lesson on
repentance and baptism. They committed to coming to church and they did! The
whole family came and stayed all three hours! It was great. The meetings were a
little slow but I definitely think they felt the spirit and had a great warm
welcome there by the members. I am so glad we stayed persistent!
I was reminded of the lesson of trusting the Lord this
last week. Last week our friend Sam and his family ended up having a very rough
experience at church that really offended them and they had the right to be
offended. The whole week we tried everything to repair the damage and I was so
stressed about it. Well Sam and his boy Kyler came back to church and they had
a lot better experience! In fact I think it was a very uplifting one for
them and everything went a whole lot better and it all worked out! It was a
tender mercy for sure. Sometimes we have to remember who the real teacher is
and trust in the Lord to provide a miracle! He always seems to make up the
differences.
My companion and I have felt like Ammon, working at this
food pantry. When we are doing service we are working as hard as we can to just
serve and it has been cool to see the people’s reactions. There are countless
"preachers" who come basically for a free meal and we show up in
suits and ties and out work the crowd! We have been waiting for the opportunity
to be able to really teach and I think it will come soon!
I studied the talk by Sister Marriot in the October
conference it is called "Yielding our hearts to God." I have really
enjoyed her talk, she speaks of a family motto "It will all work out."
I thought this talk was neat because it was a reminder that we always need to
come to the Lord with a broken heart and a contrite spirit so he can heal us!
The motto has brought me a lot of confidence knowing that it will all work out.
What can go wrong if you put the Lord first in your life?
Hope everyone has a great week! Thanks for the
prayers and the support and Keep the Faith!
- Elder L. Kaleb Bingham
Hello Everyone,
This week went good! It went by super fast. I was able to
go on exchange with the Welch, West Virginia Elders. Every time I do, I am
extremely humbled by the experience. That area is the pitt of West Virginia. It
is so poor--it blows my mind. I found myself teaching a man in a shack home--literally
like a shack. I felt like we were in a foreign country and it almost brought me
to tears knowing how thankful I am for what I have. The man we were teaching
couldn't have been happier! It was a humbling experience. Count your many
blessings right? Then your own trials start to not seem as hard.
Speaking of humbling experiences, this one was pretty
cool. Every week we volunteer at a food pantry here in Richlands. It is fun, we
carry boxes of food out to cars for people that need it. Well one of my
favorite people work there. His name is Harold. He is an elderly guy that is
way funny. We have a pretty good relationship with this man and he is one of
the "head honchos." Well people have to qualify for the boxes of food
and they only get an allotted amount. This younger aged mom walked in and you
could tell she wasn't used to being there to get food. Well she hands her
paperwork to Harold and he says one box, so Elder Burgener picks one up and
they start walking. Then Harold pushes a box of food at me and nods like he
wanted me to sneak an extra box of food out for this lady! So I did it. . . and
when the lady realized that all the food was for her and her kids, her
expression was priceless. She teared up
and so did we. Service really does warm the heart!
Man our friend Chris Harmon is doing great! We have been
teaching him a lot lately and he finally came to church this last week! He
really enjoyed it too. He said how one of the talks really stuck out to him. It
was about gratitude. He really enjoyed sacrament meeting and is on his way! It
has been cool to see the gospel really start to change him. He loves the Book
of Mormon and is learning a lot from it. This week we are going to dive into
the commandments. Keep Chris in your prayers please!
Sam and Tuesday came to church yesterday with their kids!
I can just picture them going to the temple. They are such a great family and
they just belong in the church. Their kids are so funny as well. They have been
so good to me on my mission. I love that
family and can’t wait to see the day they get baptized and go to the temple. As
members of the church, we have to be extra careful how we treat visitors that
come on Sunday. It is important to remember this is not "your church."
It is not yours at all. It is the Lord’s church--it is his. That is how we
should treat everyone as they come.
I love the gospel. I feel so converted to it. The mission
is such a good place to change and become better. I feel a night and day
difference in myself and I love it. The Atonement and living the gospel feels
so good! I hope everyone had a good week! I will talk at you again on Monday!
Keep the Faith,
-
Elder L. Kaleb Bingham
Hello Everyone,
It is hard to explain how this week went! It seemed to go
well for the most part. It got super cold, and dropped below freezing for a
couple of days. That was not fun! I had
put away and packed up all my winter gear and had to break it all back out.
Luckily it is warm again! The area is doing pretty good as well. It has had its
ups and downs but for the most part we are doing great, given the
circumstances. I have talked about how we serve in a very small branch before
and the coolest thing happened at church this week. We had three less active
families show up for church and they stayed all three hours! It was awesome to
see some kids at church--all three families have children and youth. This was
the first time I have seen a primary in the Richlands branch in the six months
that I have served here. It brought an energy that we needed.
Our friend Chris Harmon is doing pretty good right now.
Chris has never been very religious or never really went to church but we have
been meeting with him and he went from being pagan or wicken to now believing
in Jesus Christ! He always has a lot of questions but the man lights up when we
teach him. You can literally see the spirit lighting up his life! This week he
read the Book of Mormon I think every day and he has enjoyed that, he says it
brings him peace. We also taught him the Plan of Salvation and he ate that up
as well. My favorite parts of the lesson have been when we pray and kneel and
he always is willing to say the closing prayer. His prayers are so pure and
powerful. It is fun to see someone pray about the message you teach them. Our
next hurtle is getting him to sacrament more often! Keep him in your prayers
please!
We had a pretty fun lesson earlier this week with some
people we had never really taught much before we got to our appointment and sat
down with this couple, Doug and Tammie. We were about to get started when
someone knocked on the door and it was her sister. She wanted to hear what we
had to say. Then another knock came moments after and it was their parents. They
also wanted to learn. One by one we ended up having a crowd of people to teach
and it was sweet! We taught the Doctrine of Christ and they all loved it. They
all want change and want to get right with God as they said. So we asked the
whole room of people to set a goal to be baptized and they all accepted. It was
amazing. They just poured in out of nowhere, it was pretty funny and well
enjoyed.
When the people we teach experience Anti Mormon material,
it never surprises me. I think everyone I have taught in the last two years has
experienced it in one form or another. This week the Dye family we have been teaching
told us that she told her co-workers that she was meeting with us and they
pretty much roasted her for it. After a lot of discussion with her co-workers,
she boldly told them, "I like meeting with the Mormons, they make the most
sense out of all of you!" I thought this was pretty cool; one thing that
you cannot deny is the spirit and how you feel from hearing our message. I am
thankful for the spirit that is for sure. It amazes me how many "Christian
People" claim to follow Christ but yet will almost crucify someone for
trying to know him and follow him. It is unreal in this area! But that is what
makes it unique. I guess I would have never had the same understanding of the
confusion that Joseph Smith had when he was young if I hadn’t served here. If you want to find out, just take an hour in
the Bible belt!
We had been praying for a miracle to find someone that is
ready to really accept the gospel and we were blessed by one! We received a referral
from Salt Lake saying a lady requested a Book of Mormon in Richlands. So
we went and met this lady and she is incredible. We asked her why she wanted a
Book of Mormon and she said to get closer to Christ because she wants to
change. She had found a copy of the book in jail and read it and agreed with
most of it. Now she and her husband want to investigate the church! It almost
felt too real to be true, but the Lord blesses you for your diligence. I am a
firm believer that you reap what you sow.
I am so thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ. He is
real and I have grown so much closer to him. I know that his greatest desire is that all of
God’s children repent and change. I love him and am so grateful to serve him. I
hope everyone has a good week!
Keep the Faith!
- Elder L. Kaleb Bingham
* We will be back on Monday to email~our transfers this month have been moved around.
Hello Everyone,
Funny story of the week! So we felt prompted to go knock
a few doors in a trailer park so we did and we meet a really nice man! He let
us in his home without hesitation and we sat down and started talking. Out of
the corner of my eye, I saw a giant tom cat and it came over and jumped all
over us. It was a little distracting, not a big fan of cats in the first place,
well a few minutes passed and out of nowhere, the cat started attacking me! It
was crazy! My companion stats laughing and the owner came and grabbed it. It was
a good time. Nice man, we are going back this week!
Well one of the sweetest miracles I have seen in a while.
There is a family here I love to death, Chad and Amber--some of the greatest
people I have met on the mission over the course of a year and a half or so. I
have known them and have always wanted the very best for them! Amber has always
had a hard time accepting the Book of Mormon because she was raised very
distant from anything besides the Bible. She had never read it nor committed to
read it. After a very lengthy discussion about the restoration, she finally
agreed to reading through the book and highlighting all the times it speaks of
our Savior. I was so happy when she agreed in doing this, I almost cried
because I know they want nothing more than for their family to be happy and I
know with all my heart that a family can only be happy in this world when they
are built on the gospel and not just any gospel, but the restored gospel with
divine power to bind families together. Although this is just a start for Amber,
I know it is going to bless both of them richly and abundantly. I cannot wait
to see the day when she receives a witness that this is true and can feel the
blessings that lie ahead for her and her family.
This last week I was not feeling as successful as I have
in the past, I decided to read the definition of a successful missionary in
PMG. I did and it comforted me. One of the points says you can feel that you
are a successful missionary when you can feel the spirit working through you.
Later that week, we went and tried to teach a man. He was not home so we started
working around his home. We were about to give up, nothing was working, so we
started the walk back to the car. A vivid picture came into my mind, so clearly
of a trailer that I had barley seen and I glanced back in the trailer park that
was near. So I said lets go back, we need to find someone. We walked back to
the exact trailer that had came into my mind prompted by the Holy Ghost and
found a lady on her porch cleaning out her parent’s house that had passed away
recently. She was going through old family pictures and stories. She was happy
to see us. She had told us that she lived in Tennessee, but was here doing some
work and cleaning up. We had a powerful discussion on the Plan of Salvation and
how she can live with her family forever. We gave her information on how to
find missionaries where she lives and she was determined to find them and speak
with them more. Walking away, I felt a total peace that was from God saying
"Thanks for listening." Planting seeds and honoring your commitments
is what success is often about.
We have been seeing a lot of success from working with
our members! This last week we were with one of our recent converts and we
decided to go stop by and see a sister from the ward, share a message and ask
for a referal. We went to Sister Stewart's and the visit went great. She told
us she had a friend of her grandsons that she had been working on for years and
he was coming over that evening for dinner. We made a game plan. She was going
to text us when he arrived there at her place so we could come and try to teach
this young man. Sure enough, it worked wonderfully. We met this man, Chase, who
we had actually talked to days previously in the library and we were able to
teach him the restoration and he loved it. We kept contact with him throughout
the week to help him read the Book of Mormon daily and he has been, but the
best part of all, he came to conference with Sister Stewart from the Branch and
he loved it! He really enjoyed the talk from Elder Stevenson about priesthood
keys. We are seeing a great load of miracles from working with the members here
in Richlands!
Conference is a blessing! If the world would watch
conference, everyone would be converted. I was truly uplifted and inspired by
the words of living Prophets and Apostles. What a great weekend it was. I
loved every minute of it and am no longer scared to "face tomorrow."
Have a good week! I love you all!
Keep the Faith!
-Elder L. Kaleb Bingham
Pictures
of the coolest sun rise ever:
Hello Everyone,
So funny story from this week! We were walking to go
teach someone and the Branch President’s son, who is thirteen, rolled up on his
bike and started talking to us and telling us how excited he is to serve a
mission when he is old enough--great kid. Well we were talking and this red car
rolls up to us and this old lady yells, “Are you Mormons?” We said, “Yeah, we
are missionaries.” She then proceeds to start yelling at us and trying to yell
at Conner to run away and not get brain washed. She was horrible! She said they
sound good and look good, but they really are of the devil. She kept cussing us
out and we were just looking at her like she was a loon and then she doesn't
realize that she took her foot off the brake and is now rolling into oncoming
traffic! So I said, “Lady, watch the road!” She barely avoided an accident and
drove off. It was something else. Some people!
This last week we had a follow up lesson with some of our
friends, Danny and Suzie. If you remember, last week they were found by some
members in the branch taking us to their home. Well, this week the members
invited then to their home for a dinner and a lesson. We were in the Newton’s
home kind of giving the layout of what would happen when they got to their home
and what we would teach. They were a little late getting there but when they
pulled in, Brother Newton yelled they are here and excitement from the members
and us filled the room. They came in, we had some small talk, then jumped into
the lesson and started out by asking an inspired question, "What do you
want most in this life". They responded and said peace and direction. We
had a great lesson on the Restoration and they continued to love it. We were
reading the introduction to the Book of Mormon and we asked Danny to read and
he declined the offer saying he had a hard time reading and it was hard to see.
So I said, “It’s okay, I will read it.” I read it and after he got teary eyed
and said, “You know what, as you were reading, God opened my eyes and I could
follow along perfectly.”
We were all in tears and the spirit was so strong! They
accepted a few commitments and it was overall a great success. The dinner afterwards
was great as well, getting to know each other and continuing to answer
questions. Elder Burgener and I agreed that there is no better
opportunity then teaching with members in their homes.
We have been having a hard time getting one of our
friends, Chris, to come to church. We always have killer lessons with him at his
home but he suffers from social anxiety, so it is scary for him to commit to
coming to church. We had a lesson purely on how coming to church would bless
his life and we could tell he was feeling the power from it so we asked, “Will
you come to church with us this Sunday?” He said he would try and then we came
back and said, “What are you doing tonight, in an hour?” He had nothing going
on, so we arranged for him to come to an Easter fireside that we had planned
and were putting on. So he agreed to come and came! A member gave him a tour
while we were setting up and he enjoyed the program. It was a big start for him;
we are excited.
The Easter program we put on in our eyes was a train
wreck. . . nothing seemed to work out how we had planned and it was rocky and
we were stressing about it the whole time and it was not fun for us. But then
people were coming up to us and saying it was great and they loved it and how
they felt the spirit and had a good time. We were like really? You really think so? I guess sometimes we
forget that the spirit really does the talking and the teaching and when you
put forth your best effort the spirit does the rest!
We had a cool experience with a girl that is learning
about the church in North Carolina but was down here for the Easter holiday
visiting family. She came to church and came to Gospel Principles and loved it;
we were teaching about the Priesthood and organizations. After we were done
with the lesson, she asked if she could have a blessing to quit smoking and
help her prepare to get baptized so of course we gave her one. I was the voice
of the blessing and it was really cool. I have never given a more simple
blessing in my life that was that strong. I really felt the love Heavenly
Father had for this girl and he talked through me to her so clearly. I loved
the experience, it was a top off to a great Easter Sunday!
Don’t worry Mom, the Earp family had us over for dinner
last night. It was a good time and we got stuffed with great food! Hope
everyone had a great Easter and enjoyed remembering our Savior, I love Him!
Keep the Faith!
- Elder L. Kaleb Bingham
Hello Everyone,
Well this week went pretty well. I have found my new
favorite word in my redneck vocabulary! So normally you would say follow me, I
followed him. Well not in Virginia, it is now I fall'erd him home HaHa. When a
lady said that multiple times, I was laughing pretty hard; I have never heard
that one before!
So we have been undertaking a lot of service lately! Last
week a man that just moved into the branch needed someone to hang a door for
him, frame and all. I was like, “That is no big deal, I have hung hundreds of
doors growing up building homes.” He showed us the door and we started working.
Then he handed me a hammer and a nail. . . . I have only ever used a nail gun
when hanging doors and I now know why I have only used a nail gun! It was a
disaster! I was so stressed, but by the grace of God we got it hung and it
looked good and it opened and shut! So I then decided that I would never again
take on a project like that on my mission again. Well a week later someone
asked us to help them install a bath tub. . . haha and I said, “We will
help, but you will need to call a plumber to help!” So we did and we helped put
a tub in, it was a lot less stressful :)
We have been teaching a family and after multiple lessons
we were realizing that this family did not understand the restoration. So we
thought of everything we could do, and then were thinking how we could teach
it. We resulted in building a pyramid out of cups and built Christ’s church. We
even put pictures of the Apostles on the cups and all. Then we tore down the
pyramid and explained the Great Apostasy and all that, then we restored the
church and they loved it! They finally understood it! And they had a ball with
the lessons--it was great, we were able to bare testimony and have a powerful
ending to the lesson. It was awesome! Now they are back on track, so that is
good.
One of our favorite sisters from the branch, Sister
Marshall, has been in the hospital all week. She hasn't been able to attend
church for a while because of health reasons. So last p-day, we went and
visited and brought her some of her favorite candy. Her faith has blown me
away. She has perfect faith with no doubts and was happy and not worried. It
really opened my eyes that we can be happy in our trials. That no matter what happens,
we can have perfect absolute faith in our Savior. Luckily she is getting
released today. One life lesson learned.
I am starting to gain a fast testimony of member
missionary work. My whole mission I have been able to go and find people to
teach on my own. Well recently, no matter how hard we are trying, we are not
finding by tracting. It has been kind of hard, but I realized that there are
many ways to find. So last week we asked a member to take us out to see some
people. Brother Newton picked us up and said he had a friend he wanted us to
meet. Of course we said yeah, let’s go meet them. We meet a couple named Susie
and Donny and we sat down and the member introduced us and we started to teach.
We asked, “Have you ever wondered why there are so many churches?” They both
have had that question and we answered it! It was a great lesson and they
wanted more so we were able to set up a return appointment for this week.
Member missionary work is powerful!
I hope everyone has a good Easter. I think the
Resurrection is my favorite part of the New Testament. I find a lot of hope in
the Resurrection and in the fact that Christ broke the bands of death.
Please reflect on it and please fall'er Him!
Love you all--Keep the Faith!
- Elder L. Kaleb Bingham
Hello Everyone,
This week went pretty well, it was hard to see Elder
Mickelsen go to Vinton, but we had a good time before he left. Our friend Sam
took us on a jeep ride through the mountains last p-day, that was super fun and
we made the rounds saying goodbye to everyone.
My new companion is Elder Burgener, he is from Reno
Nevada, so that is pretty cool. He reminds me a lot of myself when I was first being
trained, so that is pretty funny. We are off to a pretty good start.
On Thursday, when we got back into our area from
transfers, we had a lesson with a younger aged man that went really well. We
found this guy through a referral that we got from some of our other friends
that we had been teaching. We taught him at the church and gave him a tour and
everything. We had a really good lesson and after we asked him how he felt and
he said that he felt "comfortable." It was a sweet lesson; we were
really excited to start teaching this man.
There was one other miracle we saw this last week. We
were staying pretty busy and we got a call from some of our friends and they
asked us if we had a few minutes to come over and pray for them and give them a
blessing because they had decided on their own to quit smoking. So we said of
course! We went over and gave them a blessing and they started the quitting
process and are doing awesome. We have been super proud of them. It is cool how
the spirit works on people; we were planning on going over the word of wisdom
in our next couple of lessons. It was a big testimony builder to me just on how
the Lord really is in his work and many miracles go seen and unseen.
So also something cool that happened at church yesterday.
Our recent convert, Brother Gunn, received the Aaronic Priesthood. He was
pretty excited; he said it was hard for him to decide if he was ready because
he recognized how special it is. I think partially he was under the impression
he would have to do as much as the missionaries do, but then after we taught
him about the responsibilities of the Aaronic Priesthood, he seemed to be
pretty excited about it. It was powerful; he said it felt like electricity was
running through him. He is doing very well and should be on his way to the
temple pretty soon!
Well that is about it for this week. There is an
outstanding brother in the branch named Brother McClure. He had us over for
dinner last night and we rode with him out to his place. When we were traveling,
I asked him a question. I said, "You
have to be one of the most positive people I have ever met, what is the
secret?" He replied and kind of laughed and said, "You have to always
see the glass half full. It takes practice, but you learn that people like to
be around other happy people. There is always someone that has it harder than
you do." That is the truth! I am learning being positive goes a
really long ways.
I love you all and hope you keep the Faith!
- Elder L. Kaleb Bingham
Hello Everyone,
Well transfers are here again. So this last transfer I
had been training Elder Mickelsen in his first six weeks. He has been having
some medical complications and he needs better care, so our mission president
is transferring him to Roanoke to be around better doctors. Well, I was asked
again to train a new missionary straight out of the MTC. This makes number
four. It will be a sweet way to end the mission, though; I will finish out
training the next 12 weeks. I am going to miss Elder Mickelsen. He is so humble
and has been through a lot in his life; it really showed me that you can serve
no matter what is thrown your way. I am also going to miss his sense of humor,
we had some good laughs. He will do great things in his next area.
Things have been kind of moderate. We had a fireside that
we put together finally last week. The theme was "Who are you?" It
was geared towards the fact that we are God’s children and what he expects from
us. Doing something like this in a branch that consists on average of twenty or
so people, we actually had a really good turnout. We even had friends that have
not been to church in a while come and bear testimony. Our friend Sam, who is
not a member of the church yet, but is pretty much family, gave the closing
prayer; it was sweet. We are now trying to pull together an Easter Celebration
in a few weeks.
The Weather has been so much nicer! People have been
nicer too! This last week we started teaching a man who we found by talking to
him at the library. We went over to his home and we taught him the Restoration.
We were closing by talking about prayer and this man was unsure of how to pray,
so we kneeled down and taught him. We said some prayers to kind of be an
example, then he prayed and it was so heart felt it blew me away! It was really
powerful--so simple but so great. If nothing else, we just helped a man pray to
his Heavenly Father; could you imagine how excited our Father in Heaven must
have been? It is so fun to be a missionary.
I have really noticed and reflected a lot on the quote,
"We answer the questions that they should have asked." I have found a
lot of truth with this. I think it is cool how the Savior taught. He did that
very thing. I have noticed a lot of the time people ask the wrong questions,
looking for the right answers. Missionaries really are guides. I have learned
to be a guide, to guide people to the source and that is asking our Heavenly
Father if what we teach is true and then ACTING in FAITH. It is so fun when you
see someone really searching for the truth and discover it.
When is the last time you asked for a reaffirming witness
of the truthfulness of the Gospel?
I love you all and thank you for the prayers and the
support.
Keep the faith, talk to you on Monday!
-Elder L. Kaleb Bingham
Hello Everyone,
It has been an awesome week; Things seem to be lining up
for us here in Richlands. It has been amazing to see the Lord’s hand in our
work. I am feeling that you reap what you sow!
So this week we went on exchanges with the Welch Elders. I was able to go to
Welch, a very poor area, but the people there are gold! I was with a great
missionary--I could tell this Elder had been around some missionaries that may
have nudged him in the wrong direction a few times. We had some great talks on
the way down and I was determined to show him how obedience and a positive
attitude can truly create miracles and also just to be a friend and help where
I could. We started working and with many prayers in my heart we started seeing
success. We taught two people, had great lessons, and then one after the other
we found three new people for them to teach. Two of them accepted a baptism
invite and it was a blast. We were so pumped! We had run out of Book of Mormons
that they had in their truck.
I have never seen a missionary so astonished. I
bought him dinner and we had a great discussion on setting goals for yourself
and how being obedient is really the only way to receive power to call down
blessings from heaven. This Elder was so inspired to change and to find out for
himself who he wants to become when his mission is over. I was exhausted when
the exchange was over, we worked very hard and it was one of the best ones I
have been on. It doesn't matter where you are, God Loves His children
everywhere!
Yesterday we had one of the coolest things happen! We
went to give the sacrament to a Sister in the Branch who has been too sick to
come. She is good friends with our Recent Convert, Jim Gunn, and he was
also there with us. We walked in and were about to get started and she said, “Wait,
I have a friend who wants to meet with you. Let me text him.” I was like, sweet,
this will be awesome. Then this man, Tim, walks in and as soon as he was in the
door the spirit hit the room. We sat down and in his eyes you could see that he
had been searching for something for a long time and was desperate to find
answers. So we started teaching, we were a little rocky because we were so
excited, but we taught a good Restoration lesson and he received it well. It
truly filled his soul; it was like I watched a giant weight being lifted off of
him and he was fighting back tears. I told him that God wanted him to prepare
to be baptized and he accepted a baptismal date. We all together kneeled and
prayed at the end of our lesson and we were all in tears it was so powerful. It
was beyond us, completely my jaw was pretty much dropped and I could not
believe the spirit that generated from our lesson and lingered with us in this
home. We got in the car and I was like, “Did that really just happen?” My
trainee being stoked out of his mind was also gazed; it took a while to get
back into reality!
I have been so scared to face the last part of my
mission. I can’t imagine not being a missionary! I never would have thought I
would be more nervous to go home than I was to come out. Thankfully, like I
still have two transfers to give it my all. I will finish strong but boy am I
starting to get tired. I have really been feeling it but I guess that is a good
sign. I love this work, it is so cool,
it has been incomparable to anything I have ever done.
Keep the Faith-- I hope everyone has a great week!
- Elder L. Kaleb Bingham
