Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Everything looked way great! Especially all those 19 pies... I miss those good old Bingham Thanksgivings. Please write down all of the best ones so we can make them next Thanksgiving. Glad everyone had fun in California as well. I think I'd be down for going to Star Wars land some day in my life. 

I actually haven't celebrated Thanksgiving yet... It's kind of difficult to actually do it on a Thursday when you're a missionary. So we're doing it tomorrow, when we usually have dinner with the Warners. I'm pretty dang excited... It should be pretty big. We've got all 9 of us office elders, the Warners, and 4 of the nearby Hermanas coming. I'm going to be attempting to make 2 peanut butter pies, because my bottle of Jif peanut butter that Mom sent me should be exactly enough to make 2. So... Might as well right? Anyway, should be pretty good. The Warners are even going to get turkey, which is like the most expensive kind of meat there is down here besides fish. I'm going to love this holiday season in the office. 

So... This week was pretty great! We were pretty busy this week. It was just the usual kind of work we get, nothing too exciting, but it kept us pretty busy this week. I taught Elder Oveson stuff, we went to the bank and took out a lot of money to pay for things, starting to make our rent payments, blah... Yep. The usual. Elder Oveson's doing way well though... He's learning everything I teach him without a problem. I'll be pretty useless here in a week or two. I really tested him this week though... I had to make a trip to San Luis again with Elder Romero and Elder Benedict. That meant I left Elder Oveson by himself for a day to do work. And he managed just fine! I had to go up to San Luis to make some giant payments for some apartments we were opening up/closing. Elder Benedict had to go to do some legality work again. It was a way fun trip again. I fear I won't have many more of them though.

I'll actually be a real missionary again here soon though, so it's ok :) It's just sad I probably won't be with Elder Benedict and Romero anymore. We're like best friends here... I'll just tell you now that you will probably be seeing Elder Benedict and Romero after the mission. We'll get Elder Romero up here from El Salvador somehow. :D 

Interesting thing I've learned here especially this week, but it's been something I've been learning the whole time I've been in the offices. Sometimes, when you've got a lot of work to do, you make decisions, sometimes poorly, but you make them. And when you make poor decisions, or decisions that the Lord wouldn't want you to make, things don't always end up very well. But when we're obedient, and do his work in the exact way he wants us to, then things will always end up ok! Cause he knows exactly what needs to be done to get his work done. So just follow his lead. :D

Well, I'm going to get off now, cause I've got to go buy stuff to make pies! And I think the grocery store closes here soon, so I'm going to scramble. Happy week!

Elder Bingham

San Luis trip again! 

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm grateful for money. Oh, and my hijo.

We spent Thanksgiving lunch at Burger King. Dope.

Doing work. 

So... We found out the other day that Elder Hollis is an EXTREMELY deep sleeper. One minute I saw him talking to us downstairs, the next minute I saw him sitting like this on his bed sleeping. Like literally... 10-15 minutes. And after much doing funny things with him he woke up screaming at Elder Benedict, who was suddenly right next to him as soon as he woke up. And then 5 minutes later he was back to sleep, just as hard. And he didn't remember anything the next morning. It was HILARIOUS. 

Mi Hijo! And a visit from a General Authority. Dope.

Hello everyone! Happy Fall Break! Sounds like you're having fun at Disneyland. I'm jealous pero mal. Congrats to Jayson on the Sadie's date and also the ACT... Killing it over there. I'm glad to hear everyone's doing well. 

So... This week was hectic. It really started on Saturday night, as soon as we got transfers. Transfers were really WEIRD this transfer, I thought. First of all, I've got an hijo in the office! His name is Elder Oveson, from West Valley City, Utah. He's got two transfers less than me in the mission, he's super cool, and he's learning his job really well already. I'm teaching him how to do reimbursements and make checks and stuff, and he's handling it really well. Elder Benedict also has an hijo, his name is Elder Ruesch. He's got the same amount of time as Elder Benedict on the mission, which is weird, because that means Elder Ruesch will leave the office with only two transfers left in his mission. It's sort of weird, but it's fine I suppose. Elder Romero also has an hijo, which is the WEIRDEST one. Get this: Elder Romero's hijo is his DAD. Or his trainer, I guess you could say. His name is Elder Yalta, from Perú. He's got the same amount of time as Elder Benedict and Ruesch, but he just came from being zone leader to the office, and plus he's ROMERO'S dad. Also Elder Solomon finally left the office... Sadly. He's replaced by Elder Hollis, the tall skinny guy with brown hair that might be in some of my recent photos. I'm actually in a trio right now with him and Elder Oveson. It's kind of sad I'm not comps with either Romero or Benedict anymore, cause they're like my best friends in the mission, and I was comps with both, but it's my time to get out of here I suppose. It'll be fun. 

So... The craziness started Monday night. All the missionaries from all the far away zones came to Mendoza in buses and we had to rent hotels for them. We had to put the Hermanas in one hotel, and the Elders in another, from BOTH faraway zones. It was chaos... I was speeding (but not really) all over Mendoza Centro making sure all the missionaries got to their hotels with all their baggage. Cause we decided to do transfers on the same day as the meeting with the Genral Authority, meaning all transfers were going to happen after the meeting. I was literally outside of the office until 11:30, and when we came back we had to make sure all the missionaries going home had their documents and things they needed, which kept us in the office until 12:30, and then we made it home. It was CHAOTIC. 

The next day went well though. I prayed really hard that everything would, and God answered my prayer. It was still SUPER stressful, but it went well. We made sure everyone got to the airport and the stake center where the meeting was that morning, and then we had a DOPE meeting with Elder Teixeira from the Area Presidency and President Soares of the Presidency of the Seventy. Elder Soares basically talked to all of us about making goals and how we can actually accomplish them. Our mission has kind of struggled with acheiving our weekly goals, but he taught us well how we can actually accomplish them. I loved it... I'm trying to do my weekly planning here better in the office now as a result, because I don't really plan much here. We just kind of deal with whatever gets thrown at us during the day usually. Anyway though, it was awesome. I was also invited to sing a special musical number at the beginning of the meeting with some other missionaries. We sang a medley of "Be Still my Soul" and "Savior Redeemer of My Soul," translated into Spanish by some brilliant Hermanas, accompanied by the violin and piano by some other super brilliant Hermanas, all thrown together in less than 24 hours. I also basically made up the bass part by myself, cause it was needed, and the Hermanas didn't know how to. So I did, and it was awesome.

Also... The day later we got to watch an Area Broadcast to all the leaders in Argentina, presided by Elder Cook with Elder Soares and the Area Presidency attending. It was also very awesome... It basically focused on doing ward councils and how we should do them, with some cool plans that the Area is making for everyone in Argentina. Elder Cook bore a really powerful testimony at the end that was incredible.  

So... A pretty good week all in all. This week I'm going to just keep focusing on teaching Elder Oveson everything I know. He's a capo. He'll do well. I'm ready to go kick butt in the field again. But I'm checking out now... Have a great week everyone! 😁

So... I got attacked by a tiger last Saturday. It suddenly appeared in the middle of our soccer game and it made me mad so I had to fight it. It got swipe at my face, breaking my glasses, giving me a black eye, and giving me a nice scrape, but in the end I killed it. Actually that's all a lie... I just got hit in the face with a soccer ball. The broken glasses scraped my face. But, I fixed the glasses! Argentines have pretty amazing super glue.

Last pic with my office staff... Elder Solomon left this week.

I payed for a carwash for Jesucristo.... Pretty cool. I guess the guy didn't know how to write my name that he saw on my plaque, so he just wrote Jesus instead.

Just lining up for the photo with Elder Soares and Teixeira!

Photo with Elder Soares! I'm on the stage in the middle. 

Family Home Evening in my new ward! President transferred me from my ward in Godoy Cruz to be with my two new comps, Elder Oveson and Elder Hollis. It's called Trapiche! We share the ward with these Hermanas and the Warners. It's pretty awesome. There's Elder Hollis on the left, and Elder Oveson in the middle.

Busting Crime

Hello everyone! How were your weeks? Mine was okay. I'll tell you about it in a sec. So... It's cool that you guys are headed off to Disneyland this week! You know how I like pics... So make sure to take some! Also I want to hear a little bit more about this show that Charlie is in! Sounds cool. I'd like to hear about that as well. :)

Can I just say I'm way glad that Thanksgiving isn't this week? Thanks for the pie recipes by the way, but if I had to make those pies this week I'd die. :P This next week is going to be crazy busy. Lemme explain. No. It's too much. Lemme sum up. So like a year ago when Elder Christofferson came to our mission? Well that's basically happening again this year, on Tuesday next week. We've got Elder Soares from the Presidency of the Seventy and Elder Teixeira from the Area Presidency coming to visit us. This sounds great! I'm way excited actually. We as the office are a little stressed cause we have to make sure everything runs smoothly and stuff, but there's just one other problem: Tuesday, the day they come, is also TRANSFER DAY. What does this mean? Normally on transfer day any missionary that's switching areas will just take a bus to their new area while their old companion stays with other missionaries. But this transfer will be completely different, because the entire mission is coming to Mendoza! All 200 of us. So... We have to make sure that every missionary gets to Mendoza, and that every missionary leaving to a different area leaves with their luggage. We also have to rent hotels for people coming from far away areas to Mendoza. Also, before the meeting, we have to make sure that all the people going home make it to the airport on time with all their luggage. And we have to go get all the new missionaries that get there that day. So this week is going to be crazy! That was only a brief summary of what I get to do next week. I'm pretty sure I'm leaving a lot out.

So... You might be wondering how I busted crime this week. It's a long story, but it's basically the only thing I did this week. And I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be sharing this exactly, so I'll keep this very vague. If you guys want to know more you can talk to me over Skype on Christmas. I'll probably talk to you guys about it anyway, so don't worry. So... A while back, maybe a month ago, I was just doing my job, like normal. People send me things they need me to pay for, I pay for it. Well, I was doing my job one day, and someone sent me this receipt of something they had paid for, and I needed to reimburse them. Well, here in Argentina, many times the receipts you get from people are just a slip of paper that says whatever you bought or paid for and the amount in really crappy handwriting. The word we use here is "trucho," or fake basically. But many times that's the only kind of receipt that you can get, so we use them. Well I was getting these receipts from someone, and something seemed a little fishy to me. I wasn't sure what, but I decided to show the receipts that I had gotten to President. After much investigation, we decided that there was some fraud involved. These receipts were quite in fact "trucho," but like literally trucho. Like not real. Like this person was trying to steal from us. Upon further investigation, getting the Area Authorities involved, and actually interviewing the person involved, we found out we were right. In total this person had stolen about $6600 pesos from us, something like $715 dollars. Not too much when you think about the kind of money the church has, but still. For now, everything is out of my hands. The church/law has it under control now. But, it was an interesting experience all the same. Moral of the story: Don't steal from God. That includes tithing. Because God will have justice. One does not simply steal from God and get away with it. So don't try it. 

Anyway... If you have other questions you can ask me personally. 

Changing topics. So I'm finishing my third transfer in the offices, and what does that mean? I only have one more left. And what does THAT mean? That means next week I'm going to have a little financiero hijito! Or child. Yep... I'm training someone to take my place next week. I'll find out tonight probably who it is. It's crazy how fast time flies by here. And then in 6 more weeks I'm out of here! Into the field again. It's weird. 

So this is a really long letter. I'm out! Love you all!

-- 

Elder Bingham

First of all... Dogs are pretty disgusting here. Here's a good example.

And that's kind of a cool wine factory. 

Remember that green market pic from a few weeks ago? I liked this pic better... 

I couldn't seem to find the darn straw before we took the picture. 

Happy Argentine Mother's Day! We stormed the Goates' house to wish our Nanny Goates a happy Mother's Day.

 That was back in Octoberish...

All of us just chillin at the Goates' house. Well, I somehow didn't make it into the pic, but whatever. 

I think I was in need of some deodorant... We found this giant can though, so it worked out okay. 

Interviews...Aconcagua...Boredom...

Dear Family,

Sounds like this week was pretty good for everyone! I enjoyed the Halloween pics... Dad did well, although I think a Buddy the Elf costume would have looked a lot better on him. It's a shame you didn't wear that one. If you were wondering where I got that cow mask... We were walking through Walmart a weekish before Halloween and since it's Walmart, they had a nice little tiny Halloween part. And I just happened to find that cow mask! So it was a good Halloween for me. Plus Elder and Sister Warner bought us Halloween candy. It was the first Snickers bar I had had in a really long time... And plus I was at Aconcagua. So it was pretty great. By the way Dad... There is a nice lake on the way to Aconcagua. You COULD probably go fishing there if you wanted to. 

So... What has happened these last two weeks? Since I didn't really write anything last week. Well... I can't really remember what happened last week at all. It must have been a pretty boring week. Honestly the most exciting part was Aconcagua... The rest of the week I just did my job, which is like answering my cell phone and telling people how much money they have on their cards, and giving people money they need. That was what my job was like last week. And then we went to Aconcagua. I guess I'll tell you guys a little bit more about that trip. We left in a rented bus thing at 10 o'clock, and made the 2 1/2 hour drive up to Aconcagua. It was a beautiful drive, I decided to just post all the photos in my dropbox, so you guys can pull out the cool ones. We made it up there at around 1ish, and played around in the snow for a bit. I hadn't touched snow for like a year! As you can see in some of the photos, I literally embraced that opportunity. After a bit we went down a little ways to El Puente del Inca, this natural land bridge made out of this weirdly colored mineral rock that the Incas supposedly walked on. I think there are photos of that in the drop box as well. Then I bought a ton of cool souvenirs, because how could you not buy souvenirs while up at the tallest mountain in America? And then we made the drive back. It was way fun... I'd go back there someday if anyone at home is down. 

This week... We had interviews with President Goates on Monday! This one was one of my most favorite that I've had with him. It started off a little weird, he randomly told me this story about a returned missionary from our mission who was having job troubles at the moment because he yelled at his boss and got fired... And that conversation proceeded to advice about jobs, like not yelling at your bosses and stuff. It was interesting. Then we proceeded to talk about the only investigator me and Elder Benedict have right now, Ariel. It's been a little tricky to visit him lately, and I'm not sure why, cause we haven't even been super busy in the office lately. President gave me some useful advice on how we could help him. We've had Ariel for a really long time, and he hasn't progressed an awful lot. He has progressed, because he's reading the scriptures and praying and coming to church, although not every week consistently. But I wasn't sure if it was because he's just not progressing and we need to leave him, because his time will come later, or if it's because we're office elders and can't get out to proselyte like normal missionaries. But he gave me some useful advice there that we're going to try. And then lastly we talked about school again, because I've made a decision on that! I decided that the Lord isn't going to just tell me what to do, because that's not how he works. He wants us to make a decision first, and then if it's not a good one then he'll tell us otherwise. So I decided that I'm going to go to the Fall 2016 semester! Which means coming home a couple weeks early. But to me it sounded like the best option. The pros are higher than the cons, in my opinion. So I told President this, and we looked at the details, and we'll just say that my life is going to be super crazy when I come home. The earliest I can leave the mission is on August 25, a Thursday. I'll get home Friday, have the weekend, and then school starts on Monday. Crazy right? But even so I think it still sounds like a better option for me. So, we'll see if the Lord tells me otherwise. 

That was really the most exciting part of this week. I kind of got stuck in the office a little bit, because people left to go do work in far away parts of the mission, and not me, and we've got a new sick/injured person in the office. And when that happens, it means their companion can't leave to go to anything. His name is Elder Tejada, and he's got back problems right now and has to rest here in the office. So I got stuck here doing nothing a lot this week... It was really boring. But other than that I'm paying people's rent again. It's fun. 

I love you all though! I hope everyone has a good week!

Elder Bingham

The local Godoy Cruz Hermanas came and made Mexican food for lunch! There's like 3 Mexican sisters, so that helps. I like Mexican food. 

I made it out proselyting this week! We thought we'd take a picture to celebrate the moment.