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

February 22, 2015

Dear family and friends,

We had a good week here in the bush! We've met a few good potentials who we will follow up with soon, but other than that not a whole lot has happened, just the usual missionary life and getting to know everyone in the branch here. We have some really good members here who love to feed the missionaries and have us over so that is good for us. :)

Our most progressing investigator is still Michael. We taught him again this week about the Restoration and he said it all makes sense. He is already in 2 Nephi in his Book of Mormon reading and said that it says in the scriptures multiple times as he has read that you have to repent and be baptised so that is what he wants to do. His only obstacle is that he has to go to court in the next couple weeks so we have to wait until after that to see what happens and when he will be able to be baptised.

I'm really excited for this week. I got some really amazing news a couple days ago that Bishop Jury's (Glen Huon bishop) daughter Amber who is going on her mission in March to Hamilton is going through the temple on Friday night and I get to drive down after exchanges with Sister Maughan and our comps to see them! AND the next day, Saturday, will be Elder Bednar!!!!! This week will be great!

Keep 'feasting' on the words of Christ and remember that the church is true!

Love yous!

Sister Bingham

p.s. sorry no new pics this week. More to come next week though!

February 15, 2015

Dear family and friends,

Greetings from the New South Wales bush!!! So much has happened this last week! Tuesday we had transfers and I found out that I was being transferred to Griffith, a small town in New South Wales with a small branch of about 90 active members. I am also still training which I am happy about as well! My new companion is Sister Dere (sounds like Derek without the K) and she is from Fiji. She came out with Sister Tuhod so I am follow up training her. So because it takes six hours to drive from Melbourne to Griffith (and only five from Griffith to Sydney) we drove a couple hours Tuesday night to Wangaratta to stay with a Senior couple and then drove the rest of the four hours home the next day. Then on Friday we had zone conference in Shepparton, which is four hours south of Griffith, so we made the four hour drive there and back that day. So basically I'm really tired from driving over fourteen hours this week!

I don't really know heaps about my area so far. It's a fairly small town with heaps of Polynesian members, so don't worry I won't be losing any weight this transfer! We have two Elders here as well, a Samoan and a Canadian. The people here are nice and we have some good investigators we are working with right now. So far I have met two of them, Michael and Wade. Michael is a 20 or so man who is progressing really well right now. He has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying for a baptism date. He came to a fireside we did last night at the chapel on the Plan of Salvation and really liked it. Wade is a 20 or so man with ADHD and Asperger's, but he is really high functioning. His main concern is just that he feels like God doesn't hear him and show himself to him.

I am really excited to be back in the bush. There's something about small towns that I just love! I have felt really calm this whole transition time and I am really excited to get heaps of work done in Griffith! One more exciting thing. I found out that we still get to go to Elder Bednar in two weeks so I am super stoked for that! Enjoy your cold winter weather and I hope yous all have an awesome week and remember how much God loves each one of yous!

Love ya heaps!

Sister Bingham

1. saying goodbye to mum #2

2. daughter #2

February 8, 2015

Dear family and friends,

First thing's first: TRANSFER NEWS!!!!! So sadly my time in Melton has come to an end after three transfers here and I will be moving on to the next adventure in my mission tomorrow. When I first got here I honestly never thought I would say this, but I think I might actually miss Melton. It really is crazy how Heavenly Father tries to prepare me for every transfer. Sometime in the last week or so I was reflecting on what I have accomplished/learned in Melton and the thought came to me that I had learned what I needed to learn here and it was time for me to move on to have new experiences. I ignored the prompting a bit, still thinking that there was a big chance I would stay one more transfer to finish training Sister Tuhod, but clearly that is not where I am meant to be right now. When we got the callout on Saturday night confirming that I was leaving Melton I got on my knees and prayed and asked Heavenly Father if this is really the right thing for me and if I really have accomplished all I needed to here in Melton. I felt the Spirit really clearly confirming my question, so I am really peaceful about this move and excited for the adventures that lie ahead of me.

Sister Tuhod and I did have a good week. The work here is really finally starting to pick back up again. We had to postpone Mary's baptism for a couple weeks to help her understand everything a little better, but we set a new date for her for February 21. I am hoping that my new area won't be too far so I can get permission to attend her baptism. We had a lesson with Graham, the blind man Sister Stoker and I found on exchanges. He already has the Book of Mormon on audio and he went to the Perth temple open house. We were hoping to set a solid baptism date next week when we see him again. We also saw Rick, another potential Sister Stoker and I found. We had a good lesson with him and discussed some of the Plan of Salvation, specifically life after death. We read Alma 40:11, which is a really good scripture about that. We also saw Kiana this week, a granddaughter of a less active member. Sister Lee and I had given her a Book of Mormon, so we explained more about that and gave her a chapter to read and pray about.

Yesterday at church the topic for the sacrament meeting talks was the Restoration. There was one speaker who recited Joseph Smith's first vision and bore his testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith. I love how much I am able to feel the Spirit every single time I hear those words. I know this church is true with all my heart!

Love yous heaps!

Sister Bingham

1. apparently this means demon baby in Tagolog

2. I feel SO big next to Sister Tuhod and Sister Delos Reyes!

3. I had to take a pic of the wall next to my study desk before I had to take it all down

February 1, 2015

Dear family and friends,

This week was SO amazing! On Wednesday we got to go to the temple and then we had exchanges. I was in Melton with Sister Stoker, which I was really excited about, but it was also really bittersweet because she goes home in just a week now. Our exchange brought miracles, as always! We were able to find a Kiwi (New Zealand) family who has a brother in the Dandenong ward, a blind man named Graham, and an Aussie father named Rick. We had the most new contacts this week than we've had this whole transfer!

We also met a friend of a recent convert at church yesterday named Nashra and we are going to see her as well this week.

Everything is coming together for (little) Mary's baptism this Saturday. I'm really excited for Sister Tuhod to have her first baptism as a missionary.

I love how mindful Heavenly Father is of each of us. When I went to the zone conference with Elder Pearson I had questions answered and last night I had more questions of mine answered when we went to the Mission President Fireside. I set my goal for this week to have more meaningful prayers and when we got to the fireside, President Maxwell addressed his comments on the topic of prayer.

The work is really good here in Melton right now. We've been flat out this last week and we will be flat out this next week as well, but I love it! Today marks seven months for me on my mission and it is so crazy to me how fast the time flies! I don't ever want to leave the mission field, life is so amazing here and I have been able to grow in so many ways that I would have otherwise never been able to. I know without a doubt that this gospel is true and there is no greater joy than sharing it with others!

Love yous heaps!

Sister Bingham

1. Our mission christmas pictures up in the office

2. It's official! Elder Bednar is coming to my stake's conference next month.