A week full of... Well... Stuff.

Well hello everyone! 

It was exciting to hear about your really boring week. I enjoyed every second of it. It was great. I was wondering when Jayson was going on choir tour. They usually do it sooner I thought. Hopefully he's having fun there. 

Well this week was full of... Well... Stuff. Like I said. We didn't spend a lot of time in the area this week it seemed like. Monday was P-day, Tuesday we had to go get flu shots and then interviews with President, and didn't get back to the area until 7 that night. And then on Wednesday night Elder Huaman randomly got sick and started throwing up. That was fun. My hijo can be a little bit pesado when he's sick, I learned. And he was sick until Thursday evening basically, and then we went to do a baptismal interview for some of the elders in the district. That was my first time doing that. I got to ask a 10 year old kid if he had ever committed any type of crime and if he knew what the law of chastity was. Basically I told him: "Get married with a woman when you're older. That's how God wants us to do it." And that's basically all he would understand at that age. It was fun. And then after the interview we went to a priesthood activity at the church. It was a big chorizo fest. Chorizos are sausages basically except they're gigantic and they're way better then the sausage in the states. Unfortunately, they didn't get the chorizos in the oven until really late, so we had to leave before they were done. Fortunately, Ricardo came! He's such a capo. He brought a sprite to share and everything. We left him in good hands. 

And then we went to teach Ricardo on Saturday. We basically just asked him about how he's been feeling about coming to church, reading, praying, etc. We wanted to figure out where his testimony was at. It was honestly one of the best lessons I've ever had. He told us that before we met him he felt like he had something missing in his life, and now he feels he's found it. He is really happy now, and he loves how he feels in the church, he likes how he feels about the Book of Mormon, and we were able to explain to him that all of those feelings he's had are coming from the Holy Ghost. And he's really got a testimony now it seems! We reminded him about the baptismal date we set for the 7th of May and he feels ready! It made me so happy!

So basically he just has to come to church one more time (he came this week!) and we have to finish teaching all the lessons. I'm really excited to teach him about family history temples this week. Based on what he's told us in the past I feel like teaching him this will solidify his testimony even more. We're so close! Keep praying for him!

That's about it. Love you guys!

Elder Bingham

me picking my nose.

Elder Levander gave me a box of mac and cheese last week! I LOVED IT.

I found an Adventure time thing at McDonalds!

So one of the elders in my district had his dad draw this. That's me!

I'm so happy I'm gonna DIE!

Hi guys!

Guys! I had such a good week! It was incredible! I'm going to tell you about it!

Well, to start, it was a pretty good week with Elder Huaman. We didn't really have any problems this week, except that one day he told me that people aren't letting us in after knocking doors because I'm not smiling at all. Which wasn't true at all. But, we quickly got over that one. We talked about it and I the rest of the week after that was pretty golden. So, the week in that sense was pretty great.

On the downer side, we had to drop our investigators Maria and Hugo this week. That was sad. They just weren't really progressing at all, and we just had to tell them that there was only so much that we could do for them as missionaries. They would only really learn if they tried to read the scriptures, pray, and come to church, which they weren't doing. Maria took it okay, Hugo seemed really sad. It made me sad! Cause we were such good friends with them, and really from the point that they were at in their lives they had made a lot of progress since the missionaries started visiting them. But they still weren't doing any of the committments that we left them. So, that was a sad day. 

But really the reason that I'm so happy right now is because we've got this one investigator named Ricardo that is progressing A FUL! Or a lot! I'm pretty sure I've talked about him before. He's an old guy who talks a TON but he basically agrees with everything we teach him, has been reading the scriptures, praying, and this week he came to church! The funny thing is, he tried to come last week when we invited him. But he got to the street right before the church and turned instead of continuing forward and never found the church last week. We felt really bad, cause he's an old guy and he walked a really long ways by himself to get there. But good old Ricardo was so cheerful about it and committed to coming to church this week. And he came! And I'm even more happy because the members were AWESOME yesterday. They were right there with him the whole time talking to him, and I had to go play the piano so I couldn't sit by him, but 2 members just plopped themselves right next to him. And even better! We're having a priesthood activity this week and we're going to get together at the church and have asado. It was going to be wednesday, but Ricardo couldn't come on Wednesday. So they changed it to Thursday! Just for him! Ricardo really enjoyed church on Sunday. I honestly think that Ricardo is going to be my first baptism in the mission. He's got a baptismal date for May 7th, and if he comes these next two weeks he'll have enough church attendance to get baptized! I'M SO HAPPY I'M GOING TO DIE! It was probably my most favorite day at church in my entire life. 

So it was a good week. Pray for Ricardo. He's doing well so far. We're almost there. 

I love you all! Have a good week!

Elder Bingham

I got a card reader! Wahoo!

Training Day!

The trainers

Me and Elder Huaman

Playing ping pong at general conference

General conference! Gringo room selfie

Zone meeting selfie!

Me chilling in our room. I'm just sending all the photos I have basically even though they're dumb

Me and Elder Huaman

MY TRUNKY PAPERS!!!!

Dearest family:

Happy birthday Jayson! You're like 18! That's like 1 more than you had last year! Congrats!

Well, it's official. I have my trunky papers! That means that I'm old! For reals actually! Like a million other things have happened recently that make me feel old, but now I have the trunky papers. So I'm old now! I need a few things from you guys though:

1) Name and email of our stake president

2) What airport am I flying to? Salt Lake I presume? 

3) Are you guys coming to pick me up? I have to ask, but I feel like there just won't be time, personally. With school and everything. 

And that's all. Yep. 

Well, it was a decent week. I'm learning a lot. This week had a lot of ups and downs. We'll start with the ups I suppose? Had a cool miracle this week. On Monday night we were really tired. It was like 8:30 and we had nobody to visit... That's like the worst time of day to not have anything to do besides lunchtime. But... You've got to keep working right? So we sat down on a bench really fast to think of something. Elder Huaman sees 3 teenagers sitting on a curb like a block from us. And he's like "How about we talk to them?" And I'm like "Dale, go for it. Your idea, you've got it. " And then he told me he was scared to do it and he wanted me to do it. I tried to give some encouraging words, but in the end it was me who went and talked to them. Whatever. And much to my surprise we ended up getting 3 future investigators out of them! I was really happy. 

A few days later we tried to visit one of them, Claudia. Unfortunately when we went by she was home alone, and we can't be in houses with only women. So we didn't go in. But she came out of the house with a list of like 10 questions about basically everything in our religion, from the base of our religion to what "elder" means to our beliefs on divorce and homosexuality to tithing. I was really surprised again at the interest that she actually had! We committed to coming back later that week when she had parents there. 

Unfortunately, this part was a downer. We go back on Saturday, knock 3 times, and then her father comes out, really angry. He's like "We don't want anything! My daughter was mistaken, and now we've got a problem." And he slammed the door. It was really sad... We found someone so golden and now we're definitely not going to be able to go back. But I then realized that might have been all we had to do for now. We did our part, planted the seed, invited her, and maybe in the future when she's older and not living with her parents she'll have the desire to listen to the missionaries again. I don't think it's over with her :)

I had a semi-ok week with my comp. I'm learning stuff. He's learning stuff. He's really not a bad guy. Just sometimes he says little things that get on my nerves. Just really little things! But they just get me really frustrated sometimes. Like yesterday we were going to try and contact some future investigators we had, and I accidentally pass the house we were going to start at, the one we had written in our agendas first and that was closer. So I tell him "Oops we passed the house, got to go back." And he apparently thought we were going somewhere else first. He tells me "You need to follow the spirit. I think we need to go to this other house." And we were going to go there, it was just going to be easier to go to this house first. So we went to my house, and nobody answered. And as we're leaving he tells me "I told you." And OH! It just got to me. I got over it. And I'm still working on being more patient and humble... Having charity, all that. It's definitely not something that comes right after listening to a conference talk. It's a constant effort. 

That's about it for now. Sorry for venting. But I needed to. Anyway though, TRUNKY PAPERS! That's exciting at least. I love you all. Have a great week!

Elder Bingham

I have a pic! Still don't have a card reader, cause there's nowhere in my area to buy one. But Elder Levander sent me this.

This was before he gave birth to Elder Huaman. 

So this is what I've heard from President in the past: He's required to tell us that the Church doesn't recommend that the parents come to pick up their children. But also they have their agency and can decide. If you wanted to, he just has to send you some form or something that explains why the church doesn't recommend it. But if you came, he wouldn't have a problem with it. Either way though, I don't think we'd have much time for that :/

The official date for my group is September 13, but I think President still has to change my actual release date for school. It should be August 25. 

Charity never faileth!

Hello family! Happy spring break! Sounds like you guys had a fun time. Loved the pics and everything.

So... It's been a crazy week! As I said last week I got my hijito this week. His name is Elder Huaman from Perú. He's 18 years old... and yeah! Like you guys saw on Facebook we got to the training meeting that day, had our little training sessions, and then after lunch more or less we all took off our ties and our hijitos had to come find us. I knew about just as much as who my kid was going to be as he knew whose tie he was holding. I was sitting there like "who's going to get my TIE????" And then they gave it to him. It was fun. 

And then we got back to the area... Cause our area is like a ten minute bus ride from the offices/stake center where we all just were. And so that night we went out and taught! And one of the first things you're supposed to be able to do your first week of training is be able to invite investigators to be baptized, and that's what I had Elder Huaman do. And the investigator accepted the invitation! So... Killing it there. First day in the mission and he's already inviting people to be baptized. Nice. 

So he's a great kid. But I'll be completely honest: Training is not quite as awesome as I thought it would be. Yet... at least. I don't know what it is... But I just don't click with him very well! I don't know why. It's been a really hard few days. I imagined this being a lot easier. And I don't think I'm going to tell you any specifics on why I think that way, because I don't think it will help, and because I'm trying to focus on the positive. He's just testing my patience a lot. I'm always really good at getting along with anybody, and I especially don't fight with anybody. But this is proving to be more difficult for me. I've been doing a lot of praying these last few days, trying to figure out what I should do. Because that's part of the problem! Me. I've thought about it, and I really shouldn't have anything to complain about. He's got a drive to work, he's obedient as far as he understands (he still has to learn some of the rules and stuff) and I think he's pretty converted to the gospel! And even though he had a super serious back injury a few years ago that left him in his bed for months, he hasn't showed any signs of weakness in that regard yet. I think I'm just getting frustrated, impatient, and I might have a little bit of pride. Obviously I've got to teach him a lot of things, and it's also only been less than a week. But I'm still already impatient. 

And then conference happened! And I received the exact answer I was looking for in priesthood session. President Uchtdorf talked about how we can save our families and marriages, but in this case I took it in terms of my companionship in the misison as well. And something he said caught me more powerfully than it ever has before, even though I've heard it a million times in my life. "Charity never faileth." I don't even think I knew what that meant until I heard him say it. But if I have charity, and if I show him charity, it won't not work. Talk about answers to prayers right? I've never understood that phrase until now. Kind of interesting :)

So it's going to take some patience and humility, but especially charity. I've got until June with him, so I hope I can figure this out before that :) That's about it for this week though. I love you all! 

Elder Bingham

I don't know the next time I'm going to be able to send you guys pics... Because I left my card reader and my camera's memory card with all my mission pictures on it in the Cyber last week. And they don't have it anymore :( :( :( 

On the bright side I already bought a new memory card, and I had backed up all my photos up to November on a pen drive. I'm only missing like 4 months of photos. :)