June 14, 2015

Talofa lava!

I will apologize in advance, this email might be a bit long this week, BUT that's because we had a smashing week! So many miracles here in Glenroy!!! :D

We did two different services this week. One was cleaning up a yard for a part member family's house. The only unfortunate thing about it though was that the mum made the Elders do all the outside work and then she dragged us in to do the 'women's work'... I hate that term, but it was all goods cause we got to help her make a really good feed for all of us. The other service we did was for an old Italian lady Sister Delim and I met on my first day here in Glenroy. We saw her outside doing some gardening and she accepted our offer to let us back to help her. Italians know how to maintain their gardens really well so there wasn't really much for us to do, but we gave her our number and she said she would call the next time she has some more service for us!

We picked up a few new investigators this week. One of the most promising is Felicity, a nine year old girl of a recent convert, Marie. We found her in our area book because the Sisters have taught her and her sister before, but they weren't able to get baptised at the time because their father intervened, but Marie told us she doesn't plan on telling him this time, so hopefully everything will be able to work out!

Nova and Alex are doing pretty great! We taught them this week about the Word of Wisdom and the law of chastity. Nova already gave up smoking and she doesn't have issues with anything else. Alex just has to work on quitting smoking and drinking coffee. We also challenged Nova to pray about if she and Alex should be married so that they can get baptised, which we plan on following up with this week. It will take a lot of work for us to help both of them get baptised on July 25, but we're going to do all that we can!

Biggest miracle of my entire mission happened yesterday. During Sunday School there was a new girl, Libby, in the YSA class. None of us really thought much of it because we all assumed at first that she was just a visitor from the other ward. At the end of class we had her introduce herself and found out that she isn't even a member, she just wandered into the chapel. Us missionaries kept talking to her after class and found out that she grew up Baptist, went Buddhist for three years, and through a couple life experiences heard about our church and decided to read the Book of Mormon online. As she read the Book of Mormon her life began to change and she was the happiest she had ever been in her life, not because of any outside circumstances, but just because of the spirit and power that comes from reading the Book of Mormon and changing your life for the better. The more she read, the more her testimony of the Book of Mormon began to grow, until she finally decided to find a church and see what it was all about. Seriously it is just about never that someone wanders into the chapel on a Sunday and tells you that they have already read the Book of Mormon and know it is true!!!!! I can already tell that Libby is going to be one of the best converts ever!

I am so happy to be in Glenroy right now. Seriously I have never had the work so promising in my entire mission! We have twice as many potentials for baptism this next month than I have had the whole span of my mission so far. July is going to be the best month ever! AND I will be here for the whole month with Sister Delim for this next transfer! I've never been so pumped with the progress of the work! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!

 

Love yous heaps!

Sister Bingham

 

1. Most of the Craigieburn zone

2. doing our gardening service :)

3. our ward mission leader made us and the Elders halo halo (Filipino dessert)

4. Sister Delim and I with the Glenroy Elders and brother Brown, the ward mission leader

June 7, 2015

Talofa!!

This week was seriously SO amazing! Heaps of miracles!!

On Wednesday Sister Delim and I taught Stuti, an Indian Hindu lady. She is interested to learn about Christianity and hopefully she will be coming to church on Sunday.

On Thursday we got a referral from our zone leaders. A former investigator, Jenny, called them and wanted the missionaries to stop by again. Sister Delim and I went through our area book and found her. She is an old, stubborn woman who just wants people to visit her and keep her company, but we went and visited her anyway. When we got there it was just the situation that I expected with her, but she had a South African man, Solomon, there cleaning for her. He has a lot of potential so we decided to keep visiting Jenny so we can teach Solomon. :)

Also on Thursday night we had dinner with an investigator couple, Nova and Alex. Nova is half Spanish half African American and she grew up in the Philippines. Alex is Aussie. It was really funny because Nova said that she would cook us some traditional Filipino food, which I was really excited to try, but then when we showed up she gave Sister Delim a plate of Filipino food and then handed me a plate of chicken nuggets and chips (fries) hahaha! We taught them about the Restoration that night too and it went really well. The BIG MIRACLE happened with them on Saturday. They gave us a call in the evening and Nova started telling Sister Delim that that morning she and Alex started feeling that they want to get baptised!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is such an amazing miracle for them and us! We have set a date for them for July 25th for now, right before the next transfer after the one in a week, so we are hoping that neither of us get transferred so we can work hard to help them get baptised! :)

Saturday we had a couple youth come out with us for the whole day on a bit of a mini mission. They got to experience what it is really like to be a missionary and grow in their testimonies. It was a really great experience!

I think that's all the major stuff for this week. I am really enjoying Glenroy and I love being with Sister Delim! We get along so well, which is why I think the work is accelerating so quickly with us right now!

Love yous!

Sister Bingham

1. We digress a bit during our weekly planning...

2. buffet lunch with the Papali'i family (their girls are the ones who came out with us on Saturday)

3. We have the best comp unity :)

May 31, 2015

Dear family and friends,

My apologies for not writing yous last week. I can explain. Last Thursday Sister Dere and I got a call from President Maxwell telling us that he needed to move me, even though it is only half way through the transfer. I was pretty sad to leave Griffith, but ready to move on at the same time. They had a situation down here where they needed to get a sister who can drive, so President decided to transfer me. That weekend I said all my last goodbyes to everyone in Griffith, and then Monday right after I finally got to Skype my family we drove down to Shepparton where we were having our zone p-day to meet my new companion.

So my new companion is Sister Delim. She came out the same transfer as Sister Tuhod and Sister Dere, she is from the Phillippines, she is 23 and only 4' 11'', and she's a total crack up! We've only been together for a week now, but it already feels like we've been best friends for ages. I love it! :)

Our area is Glenroy, right next to the Melbourne airport. And NO they did not move me here because I am almost going home! I still have over six months. That's ages! :)

Glenroy is a fun area so far! The ward is about half Samoan, half palagi (pronounced bahlangee) so I'm happy that I still get to be around islanders. Legit I feel weird now visiting members that aren't islander. I just feel so comfortable around them now.

We have the option of walking, biking, training, or taking the car. It's pretty great! This week we even rode our bikes for a day because we were staying close, but I must say it is a VERY difficult task to accomplish in a skirt! I think the whole day I was pedalling really slow holding the handlebars with one hand and trying to keep my skirt down with the other haha! But it was still a fun experience. Glenroy is also great because there are heaps of suburbs that we cover that we can go tracting, and there's also a few really great shopping areas/train stations that we can GQ.

We have a few investigators that we are working with at the moment, but not heaps. I think the biggest downside of being in Glenroy is that people are always really busy with work or school or family. Our most progressing investigator at the moment is Stephanie. She is Sri Lankan and from a part member family. We were able to stop by and see her briefly this week and answer some questions she had about the Great Apostasy. We are trying to prepare her for baptism on June 27, so we are hoping that everything will work out for that.

That's about all the change/news for this week. Love yous heaps and I hope you have an amazing week! The gospel is true!!!

 

Sister Bingham

 

1. my old district in Griffith

2. Sister Tia taught us how to make cocoa Samoa!!

3. This is our favourite ysa Anome. She came out with us heaps because she is preparing to serve her mission when she turns 19.

4. The Tamala's, the Tia's, and the Saipele's

5. Sister Delim and I at President Maxwell's birthday party this week

6. Sister Delim and I at a park in Moone Ponds

May 24, 2015

Maegan did not email today because we were able to skype with her today!  She waited a couple weeks after mother's day so that Grandma Angle, Kelsey and Isaac would all be here when we talked to her.  It was great.  She looks happy and sounds Australian!  She is being transferred to Glenroy, VIC.  Back to the city, near the Melbourne Airport.  We are looking forward to her email next week that will hopefully tell us more about her new area and companion.  

May 17, 2015

Talofa lava!

This week has been a long one... I've had a few ups, but also quite a few downs. It's just been one of those weeks that I am happy is over now!

Sister Dere and I still stayed more busy than usual, which I enjoyed. We saw Mere on Tuesday and invited her to come to mutual on Wednesday. She agreed, but when we went to confirm on Wednesday she told us that she had math homework she had to do instead. Stella is also doing alright. Slow progress at the moment, but at least it's progress. We were able to see her this week and teach her the Plan of Salvation. (finally) The only other update as far as investigators goes for this week would probably be Craig. He's the guy we tracted into like two months ago and then taught him about the Book of Mormon. After that we started having some trouble getting a fellowship to come with us so we could teach him again. Sister Dere and I finally stopped by just the two of us a couple weeks ago and talked to him about the possibility of getting the Elders out to teach him, but afterwards it just didn't feel right. So instead we decided to set out to find someone to come teach him with us, and we did! Sister Tia, the branch president's wife agreed and she came with us about twice in the past week, but those times he wasn't home. Sister Dere and I tried again on Saturday to go by ourselves and set up an appointment with him first, but again he wasn't home. Heavenly Father has truly been trying my patience with this one. I want nothing more than to be able to teach him, because I know he needs it right now. Btw when we followed up with him a couple weeks ago he said that he is already to Alma in his Book of Mormon reading and I can see that he is starting to feel the Spirit. He needs to be taught!

Thursday was probably the roughest day this week. Sister Dere and I had to just get out, take a break, get some ice cream, and relax for a bit. After we got our ice cream we stopped by Judith's shop (less active that recently moved to town and opened up a plus size women's clothes store) and she gave us both a bunch of clothes that she had ordered online in plus sizes, but when they came they were really skinny. I felt even better after that. There's nothing more therapeutic than some shopping. Blessings!!

I think that's about it for this week. I'm just doing my best to get over my cold that I've had for a couple weeks now and keep up with the work here. I have the faith that everything will start to settle in soon.

Love yous heaps!

Sister Bingham

1. Thursday taking a break at the lookout

2. can you spot the chapel??

May 10, 2015

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MUM!!!!!!!!!! I hope the family spoiled you heaps! Sorry we have to wait a couple weeks to Skype, but it will be worth the wait! :) I am SO grateful for you this day and for all the many things you have done for me throughout my life like driving me to after school sports, cooking all my food, doing my laundry, and most importantly for raising me in this gospel. I would not be anywhere near the person I am today without you! LOVE YOU HEAPS!!!!!

Also, a happy mother's day to all the other motherly figures I have had in my life, be it grandma's, teachers, young women's leaders, etc.

Last but not least, happy mother's day to the mother-to-be: my sister Kelsey! I am excited that you and Isaac have FINALLY made the righteous decision to start giving me nieces and nephews! :)

Back to the missionary work now. So this week wasn't too bad of a first week of the transfer. I have started to feel a cold coming, so I haven't been going too hard out, but we've still done our best to work effectively in the changing weather.

We had a zone meeting in Finley on Friday (two hour drive one way), but it was worth the drive! We had trainings on all the things I needed to hear! It's crazy how much those meetings can boost my spirits and give me enough strength to go back out and go hard!

We saw the Soqosoqo's this week. They are doing pretty good, but we are still working with them to try and get them to start reading the Book of Mormon again and to come to church.

Stella is also doing pretty good. The Jehovah's Witnesses came to her door this week and gave her some stuff, so I just hope that she can see clearly enough through their rubbish. But other than that she is doing well. We will go see her again later this week when she gets back from Sydney again.

Mere might be postponing her baptism for May 23. She told us that she has mid-term exams coming up in May for school so it just might not be the right timing. But we will still visit her and help her to be able to be baptised as soon as possible because she is absolutely golden! We went over the baptism interview questions with her and she can answer everything no problem!

Funny story of the week: Sister Dere and I were tracting earlier this week and there was this one door we knocked on. A man answered the door and started talking to us. He was friendly, but there was just one problem... His pants zipper was down. We could tell that he had absolutely no idea, and apparently had forgotten to check that before he answered the door, so we just did our best to remain eye contact and not to bust up laughing haha!

Love yous heaps!

Sister Bingham

1. Sister Tia with all her Cheetos her auntie in Utah sent her! (yes they are all already gone)

2. Some of us at the mother's day breakfast Saturday morning (I'm in my jumper because we went at 6:30 to help start cooking)

3. this is cocoa rice. It is a Samoan dish you make by combining rice, coconut cream, and cocoa Samoa

4. Lollies we helped prepare with the Primary presidency for Mother's Day

5. This is the Huntsman that somehow made its way into our flat. Mum, I have a really great video of Sister Dere and I killing it coming your way soon. :)

May 3, 2015

Dear family and friends,

This week was a pretty good last week of the transfer. And even better, we got the news on Saturday night that Sister Dere and I are both staying in Griffith. She is now my longest companion... Three transfers! It will be interesting to see how it goes! I just hope I don't get stuck up here for too long. I do love the bush but sometimes I do miss civilization haha!

Stella is still doing well. We saw her this week and answered some more of her questions about the Book of Mormon. She wasn't able to come to church this week because she went to Sydney, but we will keep working on that!

We taught Grace and Rino as well this week. It was actually pretty funny because as I was teaching the Restoration briefly, right before I was about to start talking about Joseph Smith, Grace started telling this story about how her vacuum died and they had to go buy a new one haha! So I suppose Heavenly Father knew that the timing just wasn't right. But after that they did invite us to stay for dinner and we had a great time with them!

Mere is also doing great! We re-taught her the Plan of Salvation yesterday and she said that it all makes sense to her! The only thing we are worried about for her baptism now is how on-board her parents will be with it because we aren't sure if she's talked about it much with them.

That's all the updates for this week. Hope yous have a good one!

Love ya heaps!

Sister Bingham

p.s. sorry the computer doesn't want to upload any pictures today. It doesn't seem to be working properly.