March 29, 2015

Dearest Family and Friends,

Greetings from Melbourne! I have reached civilization again haha! But it's only for a couple of days... Sister Dere and I got here last night for Sister's conference/p-day and will be returning to Wagga on Tuesday night and Griffith on Wednesday. :)

Our week wasn't too bad. We did heaps of finding and didn't really get any new contacts, but that's alright because we got a new investigator this week!!!! His name is Craig, he is in his 20's or 30's, he was baptised as a kid in the Uniting church, he has two sons (four and one) with his ex-girlfriend, and he started praying on his own a few weeks ago! We met him tracting last week and when Mere's appointment fell through this week we went to try and see him instead. He let us in and we talked with him about the Book of Mormon and he committed to read Alma 32 before our next visit! I'm really excited to teach him, he's really great!

Michael is doing alright. This week when we saw him again he said that he went to a Protestant church this week and thinks he might want to join their church. He also hasn't really been reading the Book of Mormon much anymore. I am beginning to question how much real intent he really has because he's been having a really hard time committing to anything recently, but we are still working with him and praying for him.

I am really excited for Easter that is coming up. It is a great time to remember about the resurrection of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. I am grateful that I have this opportunity to proclaim his gospel and be a living witness of Him. If any of you haven't already, you should look up the new Easter video that's been released: helives.mormon.org

Love yous heaps!

Sister Bingham

sorry no new pics for this week so far but I am sure I will have heaps after the next couple of days! :)

March 22, 2015

Dear family and friends,

This week wasn't too bad. A bit slower because of the slow week last week, but still pretty good.

Sister Dere and I also both survived transfers so we will be together for at least the next six weeks. Whoo hoo! My second companion that I will get to be with for more than one transfer!

We had zone interviews on Tuesday so I had another six hours of driving... Three to Shepparton and three back home. Heaps of fun haha!

Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday! It was a good day! Sister Tia, the branch president's wife made me a cake so we went over in the afternoon to see them and sing happy birthday. Sister Dere and I also found a Peruvian lady tracting that day who has been taught by the Elders in Peru before, so I'm really excited to follow up with her soon.

Everyone here is doing pretty good. Slow progress at the moment, but we continue to work hard to help them increase their faith in Christ.

Love yous heaps!

Sister Bingham

1. throwin' up the W's for the Wangaratta Wagga Wagga district

 2. Sister Dere and I

3. my birthday cake!

4. yes I made salsa for myself for my birthday... and yes I have almost practically single-handedly finished it off :)

March 15, 2015

Dear family and friends,

Big, Amazing, Exciting news!!!!! So you remember Kendra Wilkie, my first baptism from Glen Huon? Well I found out last week that her mum Dale is getting baptised on March 29!!!!!!!! Seriously such a miracle!! Dale has been investigating the church for over 29 years now. Her mum, and both of her daughters have been baptised within that time, and now she is finally getting baptised as well. When she began investigating the church she said that she read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it and if she should get baptised and her answer was always 'not yet'. But as the sisters were talking with her the other week they were able to help her recognize that she does indeed have a testimony of the restored gospel and that she is ready to be baptised! I am so excited for her and wish so badly that I could be down in Glen Huon again to see her baptism, but I will be cheering her on from Griffith!

Our week was actually a bit slow for Sister Dere and I. On Tuesday I took Sister Dere to the doctor to have a boil on her leg looked at. The doctor decided to operate on it right then and since then she has been doing her best to recover. We ended up spending most of two days in the flat because the medicine the doctor gave her made her drowsy and nauseous, but it gave me extra time to look through our area book and try and identify some more formers we could go see. Fortunately, on Wednesday night we got the Elders to come over and give Sister Dere a blessing and she has been doing much better since then. I am so grateful for the priesthood!

Now for the fun updates: We have a new progressing investigator! Her name is Stella and she is from Fiji. She is Seventh Day and she came to church yesterday and loved it! We also taught a lesson with her earlier this week (with her less active nephew who showed up to her flat) about temples and family history and she wants to go to the family history class on Tuesday. I love Stella, she is so amazing and has a wonderful heart!

Michael is still praying for a baptism date. He was pretty shocked this week when we taught him about the priesthood and then told him that he could hold the priesthood after he gets baptised, but he'll be right.

Mere came to church again as well. We had a good experience teaching her this week. We started talking with her about faith and she said that after she first started meeting with the sisters that she stopped believing in God, but thanks to some of her friends she started believing again and that's when she started meeting with the sisters again and coming to church. She is great because she feels like she has come back even stronger than the first time!

Last one. We went over to the Soqosoqo's this week and gave them a Fijian copy of the Book of Mormon. I was sitting there listen to Sister Dere and them conversing in Fijian, when out of nowhere Tokasa (wife) looked at her Fijian Book of Mormon and said "I think I really like this book!" Without even opening it up, she could already feel that she was going to enjoy it! I love watching their faith grow! Every time we see them I seriously can just feel that someday they will be baptised!

I'm really grateful to be in Griffith right now. We have a lot of really good work here at the moment and I can just feel that there are heaps more people out there just waiting for an answer to their prayers to hear about the restored gospel. The church is true!

Love yous heaps!

Sister Bingham

1. Dale (Kendra's mum) is in the back behind Kendra

March 8, 2015

Dear family and friends,

First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Dad and Bradley!!!!! Both (almost) one year older and wiser! Dad: Hopefully you haven't gained too many grey hairs this year. Bradley: Don't go too crazy with the dating and driving... haha!

So this week has been really great! We're starting to get pretty busy and have a lot of work going for us at the moment.

Michael didn't go to jail! Yay!!! So we are working on preparing him for baptism hopefully sooner rather than later. He wants to have a fresh start right now, though, and wants to wait until he gets a job, house, etc. so we will see what happens.

Our most progressing right now is Mere. She is fourteen and has been meeting with the missionaries since July of last year. She came to church the last two weeks and committed to start reading the Book of Mormon again! We are hoping to get her on date soon.

We also taught a Fijian couple this week, the Soqosoqo's. All of their children are members. Their daughter went to BYU Hawaii, met a returned missionary, and got married in the temple, one of their sons is a returned missionary, and their other son is on his mission in the Philippines right now. We had such a spiritual lesson with them and I could just feel that they are going to be baptised someday!

We also found a Filipino family this week that we are going to start teaching. They are Roman Catholic and they know one of the Filipino families in our branch.

Heaps of great stuff happening at the moment! Griffith is really great and I enjoy it here. It's nice to be in a branch because I feel like I am able to get to know all the members better. Keep relying on God and I know He will continue to take care of and bless yous!

Love you heaps!

Sister Bingham

1. finally took a pic of my weird-looking feet...

2. look at who we tracted into this week

3. most of the jobs here in Griffith are at the grape vineyards or orange groves

March 1, 2015

Dearest Family and Friends,

This week has seriously been SOOOOOO amazing!!! Get ready for a long, but incredible letter!

So the week actually started off a bit rough. Sister Dere and I had to walk ALL around Griffith for two days because we found out that we weren't being given extra K's for the month and that we were 400 over. No bueno... So even though we didn't get heaps of work done for two days since it took forever to walk everywhere, we still had a good time and I realized how out of shape I am. :/

Thursday was when everything started picking up, though! We had exchanges with the STL's and Sister Dere and I both got to go with our trainers! :) Sister Maughan and I had an awesome day! We started it off teaching Amy, the new contact Sister Dere and I found tracting last week. She is great! We did heaps of finding (two hours and 45 minutes) and found some good new contacts that we will follow up with, taught a couple more lessons, and followed up with a couple more people. One of the biggest miracles we saw was that we were knocking doors on a street waiting for someone to get home and we knocked on this one door where a woman from England came out and started talking to us! Her name is Rebecca and she grew up Catholic, but is atheist now. We sat down outside her house for about thirty minutes and taught her about God and prayer right there. It was really cool because she was the first English person I have met in Griffith and of course we found her when I was with Sister Maughan!

Friday morning we drove to Wagga Wagga where Sister Dere and I dropped off our car and then we went with the STL's to Melbourne. We spent a couple hours in Tarneit and Sister Kruyer and I taught a couple lessons together. We also found a family for them to teach! They have cousins who are members and they went to mutual and church a couple times about a year ago! After our lessons we drove to Wantirna where we went to the temple to see Amber Jury (Glen Huon bishop's daughter) get her endowment!!! She leaves for her mission in Hamilton, New Zealand on March 11. I got to see bishop Jury, his wife Louella, Amber, and Brock and Rae Watson! It was SO great to see them again and I missed Glen Huon SO much! Haha I kept begging them to take me on the plane to Tasmania with them! One day I will be on that plane again though!

After staying the night in the city the BIG day on Saturday came!... ELDER BEDNAR!!!!!!!!!! We had such an amazing meeting with him! I can't even describe how wonderful it was and how much the spirit was in the room from the moment he walked in, until after he left. I didn't get to shake his hand, but I was in an aisle seat (row 5!) and he walked RIGHT past me! I never realized how short he is! He was eye to eye with me! We had a three hour Q and A with him and it was SO great! He asked us questions and we got to ask him questions. One of the biggest things I learned from the meeting is the importance of seeking, asking, and knocking. This is the pattern of revelation that each of us need to implement to gain the spiritual knowledge that we each need. I still have a couple questions that I had going into the meeting and I know that by implementing this pattern into my study that I will be able to find out the answer to those questions that is prevalent directly to me.

Sorry for the long letter, but this week seriously was so incredible! I could feel multiple times the closeness of the Spirit and Heavenly Father's hand directing me and helping me and comforting me. I love this gospel so much and I am looking forward to carrying this spirit with me into my eighth month as a missionary. The church is true! NO DOUBT!

LOVE YOUS HEAPS!

Sister Bingham

1. we wore our lava lavas to bed!

 2. exchanges!

3. wagga!

4. chur bro!

5. at the temple with Rae!

6. at the temple with my favourite bishop!

7. feed #1 last night

8. feed #2 last night