Aconcagua!

Hello everyone! And Happy Halloween! And Happy Birthday to Kyla! WAHOO! I'm basically a week late at this point, but I hope you had a happy birthday all the same. I can't believe this is your second birthday during my mission.... And now you're going to be learning how to drive! WUT? Don't die. No pressure.

Sorry in advance, but I'm keeping this letter VERY short this week. Cause guess what? I might be going to the tallest mountain on the American continent today... The Aconcagua! Sorry... The correct term would be American continents... Latins think North and South America are one continent. They're totally wrong. Anyway, hopefully we can make it there with all the potential snow that might be up there. But, that's what I'm doing for P-day today. Unfortunately, that doesn't leave a lot of time for writing letters and stuff. It's okay though, cause not a lot happened this week. So instead, when I get back really late at like 5 o'clock or whatever I'll just send the millions of photos I'm going to take! Cause I'm not going to feel like writing letters then either....

So anyway. I'm about done... It was a great week though. Just so you all know. Nice and busy, just how I like it. I'll try and tell you stuff when I get back this afternoon... If I remember. 

Love you all!

-- 

Elder Bingham

This is the little bus/van thing we took up there... It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive from our office more or less. It was way fun. 

Just some photos from my window driving through the Andes Mountains... The pictures don't do it justice, especially because they were taken through a window, but it's gorgeous.

We made it! Unfortunately it was kind of cloudy today, so we couldn't see the summit (although I'm not sure we would have anyway). But we did walk up the path a little bit and play in the snow!

Oh and by the way I was actually a cow for Halloween... Not a missionary :)

Being Tom Cruise on Aconcagua.... With a cow shirt. I guess.

Dropping cane and airplanes

Well. Where to start this week? There's not really a lot. I've been racking my brain for minutes just trying to think of a subject line. Oh! I just barely thought of one. Alright, let's continue. Doesn't look like much happened at home this week. I suppose it's kind of weird that 1st term ended already... Congrats to everyone who ended up with good grades! I think AP Stats was one of the few classes I got below an A in, so no stress Jayson. Anyway, let's not talk about school. That's boring. 

Looks like I've got to start sending in calendar pics. I might as well have a little input I think. 

So... This week was another kind of demasiado tranquilo week. More or less. There were a couple days this week that were pretty busy. I'll start at the beginning, or at least the beginning of what I can remember. 

Monday: Today was rather sad. You remember my companion Elder Jacobsen from last transfer? He was with me and Elder Benedict. This transfer he got his own comp, but he was still here in the offices. Well, he decided recently that he had done about everything he could do in the office, and that he could probably do more good at home, getting ready for college and marriage and stuff. And he's right, it was kind of his time to go home. He had 20 months anyway. He talked to President about it on Monday and they both decided it would be best if he went home. So, we spent Monday basically helping him get ready to go for Friday. 

Tuesday: EPIC ROAD TRIP! Literally epic, it took the entire day. We had a couple very important things we had to get done that required traveling. Literally only a couple very small things, but they were also really important and had to get done ASAP. Unfortunately, those two things were in two different provinces. So Elder Benedict, Elder Romero, and I left really early in the morning to San Luis. About a two hour drive in car, if you're driving quickly. Elder Benedict had to literally drop of a single piece of paper there. But that piece of paper was about to expire in a couple days and it was necessary for some missionary to become legal. So we had to go. Then, we had to go to this part of Mendoza called Alvear/San Rafael. It's down south a ways from Mendoza. Like a three hour drive. But we took the direct route from San Luis and cut off a bit of time. While we were down there we dropped off a new contract for one of the Hermana pensions, we picked up some Elders that were coming in for tramites(legality work basically) the next day, and dropped off a couple other things for some missionaries down there. Then we SPED back to Mendoza. We got there around 9:45ish at night. It was a fun road trip, but I was exhausted. 

Wednesday: Can't remember. Yep.

Thursday: Not a lot that went on during the day, but we did have a lesson! With Ariel again, our only investigator. We're trying to help him out with the word of wisdom, and we brought a member to help us. This member was a convert that previously had problems with the word of wisdom, so it worked out great! And this member dropped some serious cane! (Do we say that in English? Because we say that all the time here...) The member just flat out told Ariel "Do you want to receive your answer from God? Do you want help with your problems? Well, why do you have these cigarettes then? Why are you drinking still? You won't receive your answer until you stop doing those things." And basically that. It was kind of scary in the moment, but Ariel took it well! I think he has a lot more disposition to do it now. 

Friday: Elder Jacobsen went home! It was kind of sad. Losing someone from the offices is like losing a family member. Kind of. We dropped him off at the airport that morning in his wheelchair and said goodbye. He's probably back in Washington already. Or just getting there. I don't know. 

Speaking of airplanes. Kind of crazy news. Elder Benedict gets to go to Buenos Aires! This new elder in our mission came to Argentina with a misspelled passport. And the only place they can fix it is in the American embassy in Buenos Aires, because there are no American embassies in Mendoza. So, he's going there next week. And he's bringing me super cool souvenirs :) 

Well that's about it for this week. I'll leave you guys with my ponderize scripture of the week! Or "meditizar" scripture, in spanish. (Meditar y memorizar) It's Romans 12:17-21:  

17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.

 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

So basically it says we can overcome all our problems by doing good things! I really liked it. 

Love you all! 

-- 

Elder Bingham

Secretario de Finanzas

Misión Argentina Mendoza

2012677@ldschurch.org

Just traveling from Mendoza to San Luis to Alvear to San Rafael to Mendoza! Fun trip. Enjoy the pics.

Enjoying our last week with Elder Jacobsen! 

Kind of random, but I think I have this ingrown hair on my belly button. This is us trying many different ways to draw it out! None of them successful. Namely, putting egg membrane on top of it, warming up milk and dipping bread in it and putting it on top of it, and a vacuum. I thought the pictures were funny. 

My bed is too soft

Hello guys!

I don't have like anything in mind I feel like writing about this week... This week was quite boring actually. But we'll start with your guys' week! That's weird that all the missionaries in the ward are coming home already... That makes me feel like I'm next. But I've still got a yearish left. Isn't Hailey in Russia now? That's so exciting! It's crazy how fast she went through the MTC. I can't to see her letter next week. 

So remember my incredibly stressful week last week? I decided I liked it better than this week. This week was just so BORING! Last week I was running around everywhere trying to get everything done, and this week I had a surprising difference in things I had to do. Like nothing. I felt like a war veteran maybe... My bed is too soft. Monday was a holiday and everything was closed, basically making my job impossible to do. I got out to proselyte that night at least. On Tuesday it was basically normal, but there was slight problem. This week President Goates had a conference thing with all the mission presidents in the area, and it was clear the heck over in Uruguay. What did that mean for me? I had to give President all the checks and payments I had to make on Tuesday and hope it lasted for the rest of the week. Any check I make he has to sign, and any payment I make he has to approve. So I had to do that all Tuesday, and then he left for the rest of the week. So that was fun. It was actually incredibly boring. I did lots of very minor things for the rest of the week, like answering missionaries' phone calls and telling them how much money they had on their cards. The weirdest part was, it was still really hard to get out and work this week. There wasn't a lot to do during the ciesta, but then after the ciesta ended around 5 or 6 we all of a sudden had a few more things to do that took the rest of the night. It was a little weird. But we've got appointments scheduled for tonight and tomorrow at least. 

One nice part of this week was that I actually got to hang out with Elder Benedict. I feel like for the last month we've both been running around all over the place and we haven't really been together at all, even though we're comps. And I don't know if I've ever mentioned this in letters before, but me and Elder Benedict are like BEST friends. I don't know why I haven't, I guess I just get caught up with things that happen in the week. Anyway, he's like my most favorite comp I've ever had. He's one of the few comps I can definitely say I'm hanging out with a ton after the mission. So don't be surprised or annoyed when I get home if he's hanging out with me a bunch for the short bit I'm home. He gets home a transfer before me, and if I go home early for school he'll get home like a month before me. Unfortunately we're not both going to BYU... He's going to be a the U. We have many plans to hang out though, para que sepan.

Oh by the way I totally saw uncle Austin in the new Mormon message like the day it came out :) That was way cool. Kind of blew my mind a little bit.

Anyway, that's about it for this week. Have a good one ya'll :)

-- 

Elder Bingham

Secretario de Finanzas

Misión Argentina Mendoza

2012677@ldschurch.org

So there's this thing that happens here every once in awhile called the Green Market. It's like way close to our office and it's just this big kind of fair where they sell lots of cool weird authentic foods. I think it's way cool :)

More pics of the Green Market

I'm ready for a siesta

Guys... I am TIRED. I've been waiting for the end of this week for like A WEEK. I'm really glad it's P-day now. I'll tell you about my week in a minute though. So what's with so much crap happening to our car? Like driving off a tiny cliff/curb and getting our tire punctured by a five inch spike... I've had better luck driving here in Argentina on one-way streets and roads without lanes and driving stick-shift. My odds aren't great, but yours were less it seems like. 😛 Anyway, the Hamideh's came to Argentina this week! Meaning I got THE COOLEST PACKAGE IN THE WORLD. Mom, you like nailed that package. I can't believe you thought of cookie butter, that surprised me the most. And I'm also probably enjoying that the most :) And the cow shirt and ties and socks were all pretty dope. Thanks a bunches! 

This week really was great. I just got no sleep at all. That's kind of how our life is here in the office. Especially on transfer week. If you don't feel like reading everything just read Tuesday and Friday. They were the best days. I'll start on day 1: 

Monday: The most tranquilo day of the week. I had time to go make a bunch of rent payments that day at least. The rest of the week I didn't. However, Monday is the night when all the dying missionaries get to the office, because they leave the next morning. 

Tuesday: Our day started at 3 in the morning. Oh, and did I mention that we were up until like 1 the night before? We had to get everything ready for the dying missionaries so they could actually get on their planes. Anyway, we were leaving the offices at 3 in the morning to take everyone to the airport. Due to the airport doing maintenance/construction and stuff like that, we had to be there 3 hours early. It was awful. We dropped them off and then came back to the office to sleep. Later that morning the Hamideh's showed up to pick up their son and dropped off that super cool package :) That brightened the day up a little. We continued doing our jobs until about 5 that day when Elder Benedict and I had to go to the airport to help pick up the new missionaries! It was way cool. They seemed like a way cool group. We got all their bags and dropped them off at the hotel where they were staying while they all went to dinner with President. My shoulders were pretty sore after lifting the suitcases of 15 missionaries up the stairs of the hotel. Then we helped all the missionaries get to their hotel after dinner. It was fun. Probably my favorite day of the week actually :)

Wednesday: I spent the whole day with the newbies basically! For every group of new missionaries I do a presentation on Finances work here in the mission. Later we split up into groups and I helped all the newbies learn how to do Abrir la Boca (open the mouth) while the other group went with the assistants to Cerro de la Gloria (that's where I went on my birthday in February, I believe there's pictures) and also the temple grounds? I don't think I've told you guys before but the church has bought grounds for a temple here in Mendoza. Nothing has ever been announced for a temple here yet, but I think they just bought them because it's a really cool spot for a temple and there'll be a temple here someday apparently. It's like up in the mountains and apparently you'd be able to see it for miles around. So that's some cool trivia for you guys. 

Thursday: Transfer day. This was a stressful/not fun morning. My morning was spent with Elder Benedict in the bus terminal making sure missionaries made it on their buses on time and getting them to their new companions. Then after all the newbies got their trainers we had to take them to the terminal as well to get them to their areas. It was an awful day, to be completely honest. 

Friday: Today's the day when all the people who trained last transfer come to Mendoza for another traning/conference thing. In other words, MORE people in the offices. I get stressed out when there's a lot of missionaries here. They all start making demands of things they want me to do and receipts they want me to reimburse and stuff like that, and it's very stressful. Anyway, I had a cool experience though. I WAS WAY STRESSED OUT. I had just gone to the bank to cash a couple checks to make a few payments I had to do. I get back to my office and start to separate the checks out so I can make the payments I need to make. Cash is used a lot here in Argentina, so when I need to make payments I very commonly combine payments into one check. Then when I take it out I just have to separate the cash into where it needs to go. I was so stressed out on Friday that I could literally not count the money in my hands. There were piles of cash all over my desk and I couldn't remember where they went. It had just gotten all jumbled together and I was completely frustrated, confused, and tired. So I decided to pray! I basically said this: "God, I've had a really crappy week. And I'm really stressed. So stressed I don't know how to do my job. Please just help me know how I can get this money where it needs to go." I finished my prayer, got up, and just sat there, listening. It gave me a minute to calm myself down a little bit. Then I was prompted to combine all the cash together, and then just separate the parts that I at least KNEW what to do with. So I started doing that. I don't know how much sense this is making so I'll just skip to the end. I got it done. And I felt just so much LESS stressed afterwards. So moral of the story? God is way cool. And he's always there to help us when we just ask. Even if it's something as simple as counting money. 

So, I'm glad it's p-day now, if you couldn't tell by this point. I really do love my job, just some weeks it's very stressful. Even though I don't get out to proselyte very much, I feel like I'm doing great work here. And it's a good feeling. But I've written a lot already, so I think I'm going to end the letter now. 

-- 

Elder Bingham

Secretario de Finanzas

Misión Argentina Mendoza

2012677@ldschurch.org

Hee hee hee :) I have no idea why we waxed our chests... It was a terrible idea. The worst part was that we didn't know how to do it. So we put the hot wax on all of our chests at the same time, put the paper on, and then waited, not knowing that we had to pull it off quickly. So when we pulled off the wax band, none of the wax came off. It was still on our chests. So we spent the next 15 minutes picking off tiny pieces of wax off our chests. It was awful. Anyway, just thought you might want that image in your brain :)

The newbies! Qué capos.

We were bored at the bus terminal on thursday, so we got our shoes shined! 

Me getting my shoes shined! I felt like a king. 

This is how the terminal looks on transfer day. Watch out for the missionaries....

Una semana de locura

 Hello everyone again! How were your weeks? I had a fantastically crazy one. I'll tell you about it later. Anyway, YAY FOR PACKAGES! I'm so happy they can carry it! I was sad to hear that the other package never made it... But I'm glad that they didn't steal anything from it. But I was sad to see that (I think?) you were going to send me 10 TIES? I kind of saw it in the photo... I think. So I'm way bummed I won't see any of those ties in awhile. Maybe you guys can send it with the group of missionaries that comes home in December. There's like 4 families coming to pick up their missionaries, so it might be a possibility. Also, YAY FOR WEDDING PHOTOS! I was waiting for the giant family wedding photo for a very long time. Me gustó PERO BIEN. And I also want to congratulate Jayson on the hot date... Everyone in the offices thinks so at least. So you can clap yourself on the back for that one. 

I'll be completely honest... I don't feel like writing much this week. It's kind of proving to be difficult today anyway cause of conference. Missionaries are just walking in and out of my office and it's annoying me a lot and I'm trying to listen to the prophets. So I'm keeping this short. I can't focus very well either. 

This week was crazy! Elder Benedict had to do SUPER TRAMITES again (getting a lot of people legal) and he went over to the San Luis province again. He left on Monday morning at the butt crack of dawn and got there with like 16 other missionaries. The problem was that he got there and there was a million Chinese people also doing tramites. And they're way hard to do tramites for. So they clogged up the place and they couldn't do their tramites for a couple days. And it made the rest of the week crazy. Everyone had to change their plans completely! But it turned out alright. He just went back on Thursday and Friday. And the craziness doesn't end there.. This week we've got transfers and RENT PAYMENTS. Two things that don't usually go together... But should be fun. I honestly love this job, if I've never said it before. It's stressful, but I've decided that I honestly like a little bit of stress. It feels so fulfilling when I get stuff done! And I've also decided recently that the time I've got in the offices is some of the best preparation I'll have in the mission for real life. I've got a job, I have to learn how to balance my time to study the scriptures, make lunch, blah. You get the idea. But I love it here, if I haven't expressed it before :)

I don't feel like writing anymore. So have a good week! And enjoy conference! :D

-- 

Elder Bingham

Secretario de Finanzas

Misión Argentina Mendoza

2012677@ldschurch.org

Just getting my haircut by Elder Solomon... It actually turned out better than this. 

Me and Elder Romero are pretending to be Mexicans with this Mexican Hermana. :D

I have no idea why we wanted to do this... GETTING OUR CHEST HAIR WAXED. It was one of the stupider things I've ever done in my life. It hurt a lot. Possible video to come?

Going and installing water filters! With our cute little water bottles. 

SAN LUIS! The third province of the mission that I just barely went to this week. It's way pretty... I don't think I've ever been so far away from mountains before. It's way flat and way pretty.

More san luis.... 

WE FOUND COWS! It's funny... Being in Argentina and all, and I believe this is the first time I've seen cows here! They must all be in La Rioja or something.