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
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