Missionary Moto Washing Squad

Well this week was fun. And it wasn't that bad for proselyting either. We actually did really good, just splitting our numbers up in two areas. But lots of spiritual experiences and I learned a ton!

We also did about a thousand intercambios this week. Tuesday Elder Selinger came to Riberalta/forestal 2 with Elder Wadsworth and I. Which when you have three gringos together it usually involves talking about home a lot in english and you get a little trunky. But it was good. 

Wednesday I had and intercambio with Elder Marispini (one of the zone leaders) in his area thats freaking filled with golden investigators. We had one contact in the night that invited us in after I flawlessly asked them if they had ever thought about their purpose in life and then we had like the most perfect lesson I've had in the mission. They accepted everything we said, said they were looking for the right church to get baptized in, that they wanted to get married, and that they've been trying to stop drinking and stuff. And then accepted a baptismal date. I'm kind of jealous that I don't get to teach them. But I learned a lot that day because Elder Marispini is a stud of a missionary. But I was happy to learn a little from a more experienced missionary and then apply it in my area.

Thursday I had two intercambios and worked in three different areas, but thats a long story that I don't feel like explaining.

Saturday we had our activity from the subject line, washing motos for free. we used the footsal court in the church , and then went out in the street and yelled at people to come get their moto washed for free. Which I enjoyed a lot. Then they would drive in, we would take their moto, and while we washed it, they sat down to talk with other missionaries so they could contact them and give us new people to teach! It was really fun, and really successful. We were there for 3 or 4 hours, and I cant even remember how many motos I washed. And I got my neck burned really bad, but ni modo. So this next week (if I don't get transfered) we should have lots of references to contact, I'm excited about it.

Also this morning we went to help someone clean out/deepen their well. I got down in there and dug out some really hard clay and got really dirty. But the problem was I'm kind of a big dude in a kind of small space, and it was kind of hard to dig without bending my back a lot. Which kind of hurt. But it was worth it. Every man likes to dig a hole.

But I think that's about it for this week. Next week will be a new transfer. So possibly new comp, new area, etc. We'll see how that goes.

Love you all!

Elder Bingham

beach volleyball squad last pday

the zone leaders bought asai for the last district meeting and it was freaking delicious as always

the best zone in the world

view of Rio Beni from a tower in Elder Wadsworth's area

lavada de motos!

I get married in crocs

Well after waiting literally half an hour I the internet finally loaded and I can write a letter. so here goes trying to explain my weird subject line.

So the past few weeks ive had a really bad ingrown toenail. Again. Don't really know how it got there this time. But it was hurting bad enough that i finally got the guts to go to the really sketchy clinic here to get it taken out. So the nurse just stuck a needle with the numbing agent right in there and it hurt like crap. and then cut the toenail out. Had like a centimeter of toenail growing inward. it sucked. But then she told me I couldn't use closed toed shoes for 15 days. so i had to go and buy some crocs to wear proselyting. So for just a few days, because my toe already feels fine, I was wearing crocs everywhere. Because i'm a styling missionary.

And then I got married! or in other words, we're now working in a trio. Elder Wadsworth, one of the other gringos in this zone, has a comp who was really sick. so he had to go to Santa Cruz to heal up because the medcare here sucks. So we went ot live i his house. i say i got married because he's now helping me raise my son Elder Gonzales. but he's the wife in this relationship because two husbands is a sin. So now we're working with him in two areas and having a lot of fun. the other great thing is that his house has freaking air conditioning and its amazing.  The downside to this is that we can't work 100% in either area. We've barely done anything in my area this week cause we were mostly working in the other area. But we had a few really good visits in both areas, and this week we should be spending a little more time in Forestal.

Think that's all for this week. mulit-zone conference and interviews with president happened, but i can't remember too many details. And I'm about out of time here. But love you all!!

Elder Bingham

Multi zone conference in Riberalta

us sucking some pineapple. "chupando la piña" is a phrase in the mission that basically means "making out". So we found this quite funny. Also Elder Selinger (the gringo in the back) hit his one year mark and I think he might be thinking about girls at home. If you zoom in on his face

So I asked Elder Selinger to take a photo of me crouching down so you can see my styling shoes but it accidentally turned into the most attractive photo of me that's ever been taken. Enjoy, ladies

our happy little trio, yo, E' Gonzales, and E' Wadsworth

E' Bingham helps kill a Chileano

This week was really awesome. But not because we accomplished anything in my area. Cause we basically did nothing. But that's because Elder Gonzales and I had to go to Trinidad to do immigrations and stuff. And if you're in Beni, Trinidad is the only city you can do that stuff in, so you have to fly down to Trinidad for a few days if you're still relatively new. So we took a trip to a different area from wednesday to saturday and it was awesome.

The thing I was most excited about going to Trinidad was that my good buddy Elder Bastias is there. I lived with him my second transfer and he's one of my favorite people in the mission. He's from Chile, you might remember some photos I have with him. But sadly, he's dying this transfer. So I was lucky enough to be able to go proselyting with him and help to kill him a little bit. Also I went with my good buddy Elder Buhler from my group, (yes, we made plenty of Ferris Buhler's day off references, don't worry), so I had a fantastic time. 

Wednesday night when we got there I went proselyting with Elder Bastias while his companion was in the hospital. He had been stressing out a ton trying to plan a wedding for some investigators, so we walked around a ton trying to help out with that, and I was glad to give moral support even though I have no idea how wedding papers and stuff work. Thursday morning was the only time we had to do anything for immigrations, just waiting in the government building for things to happen for a couple hours. But the rest of the time was spent basically proselyting like normal while we waited for our flight on Saturday.  But I'm kind of jealous of trinidad. Seriously they just have pure golden investigators. Its like the District. Elder Bastias has 2 weddings and 5 baptisms planned for the rest of this transfer, and I don't think the other areas are that much different. Also Trinidad is just a really cool city. And really wealthy in some parts. Also less hot than Riberalta, which sounds nice. But I've got a gut feeling that I'll probably get transfered over there some time before I complete one year in the mission. But thats probably just my brain wanting to go there because its really cool. But I learned a lot from Elder Bastias and had a great time because he's hilarious. Also Elder Buhler. I'll send some photos of them, but like an idiot I didn't actually take photos of the city.

But next week should be exciting too, we've got a mulit-zone conference and interviews with president coming up, so look forward to some spiritual huazcas.

Love you all, thanks for the letters and support!

Elder Bingham

me with elder Buhler and Bastias in the district meeting

If I could describe the personality of Elder Buhler with one photo, it would be this one

I found peanut butter in Trinidad and it made me really happy so I took this disgusting picture.

Right before I left Elder Bastias to die and go back to Riberalta. I'll miss the guy when he goes home. But he's planning on going to Utah to study, so if everything goes as he plans, I should be able to hang out with him again.

Te odio Elder

So I have the grand pleasure of living with Elder Cerna, this chubby peruvian who's super hilarious. Last week he started hanging up the phone after talking with other missionaries, then pretend like he was still talking, and say "oh, y elder Bingham dice que te odie". or "Elder Bingham says he hates you". But I had no idea that he had already hung up, so I started telling other missionaries that elder Cerna hates them. And thats kind of the joke now. We just all tell each other that we hate one another. Like all good representatives of jesus christ. Elder Cerna also likes to say things like "i want to stab you" or "suffocate you while you sleep", which makes it extra hilarious since he's learning english. But don't worry we actually all love each other.

As far as proselyting goes, this week has been really frustrating. We basically spent all our time looking for new investigators, since we don't really have too many, with little success. We've found a few really good ones. One of them is named Emar, this 15 year old kid who lives with our branch mission leader. He's really shy but really interested, so we should make some progress there. We found one investigator last week named Hernán, taught one lesson, and then he came to church last Sunday! so we got super excited, but then we couldn`t find him at a good time the next few days. So we called him and he basically told us "no pueden visitarme todos los dias" and hung up. So we're kind of scared to go back there if he's really mad at us for some reason. But we`re still working hard, but satan is kind of working hard too. He has the upper hand for now with some of these people, but we've still got some juice left. and the priesthood. So we should be good. Little by little you make progress in the mission, even in the hard times.

So recently I was feeling really frustrated about all this and felt like I'm kind of failing at my job, both training and opening the area. But this morning I found an answer to my prayers. Elder Cerna was messing around writing random things in my agenda like usual, so I was just expecting some laughs. But when I looked at what he wrote, he left a scripture on a sticky note that was just what I needed. Hebrews 10: 35, 36, and 39.

35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.

36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, 

ye might receive the promise.

39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition;but of them that believe to the 

 saving of the soul.

 I don't know why he felt inspired to leave that scripture, but I'm extremely grateful. In our hard times or when we feel like we're not doing enough, we cant lose confidence. Just have patience and do the will of good, and then we will receive the promised blessings. Becuase we're not the type to draw back or turn back.

Thats the spiritual thought I'll leave with you guys this week. New favorite scripture. But I know the gospel is true, and I'm happy to be here sharing it, even when times our hard. 

Love you all!!

Elder Bingham

I found a bird and put it on my shoulder with a corny smile. I'm not sure which one looks closest to the photo Amaya and Bryce took, so you can take your pick. But you should send me a photo with those three put together.

 this is me with elder Gonzales in the airport day one of this transfer, but I just stole this photo from him now.

Our pensionista for lunch has fishes.

 Elder Cerna likes to send things like this from our cell phone to other missionaries and we have to explain later 

For some reason there was 2400 extra pesos in my bank account so I had to take it out and give it to the zone leaders. But I enjoyed holding a whole bunch of money at least