NEW RECORD!!!!!

Imagine that subject line in the voice of the announcer in super smash brothers for those of you who have played that game as much as I have.

Sorry everyone for not writing anything last week, that was the fault of me being lazy and also that I had a really boring, kind of uneventful week. But this week was cooler!

Well, Thursday was Thanksgiving, which means absolutely nothing to anyone here. But its like one of my favorite holidays, so I made sure we were going to celebrate at least a little bit. I told our lunch pensionista about it and what we eat normally, and she tried her best. But instead of turkey, which she couldn't find, we just had chicken, but with mashed potatoes and corn. So I guess that works. But she also made us a delicious lime pie, so I was very happy about that. And in district meeting I made sure we sang the hymns that had to do with giving thanks. You do what you can here in the mission.  But this thanksgiving made me really grateful for how awesome the holidays are in the United States. I hope you all enjoyed hanging out with your families and gorging yourselves like the wonderful Americans you are.

So as far as the missionary work goes, we're finally seeing progress in our area! This week we broke my mission record for most new investigators found in one week by finding THIRTEEN. We were pretty happy about that. And most of these investigators are pretty solid. In particular we found a family of 5 (three of baptize-able age) named the Lucia-Ramos family, and the Guise-Chavez family. Who are both really interested to learn more, and both accepted a baptismal invitation! (if they get an answer and find out that it's true, of course) We'll be working with them a little more this week, hopefully we can get them to cumplir compromisos and go to church and stuff. 

But other than that there's not much to tell, hope you're all doing great and enjoying that it's probably getting cold over there. Here its heating up again. and it was already really hot.

love you all, say hi to somebody for me.

Elder Bingham

our attempt at thanksgiving lunch. it works

Key Lime Pie

Elder Quintana is still obsessed with ducklings

I wanted to put a sign here that says "Tree-huggers beware" but I don't think anyone here would get it.

So my first transfer here we found the two friendliest dogs in the world outside of an old investigator's house (but never actually the investigator). But I like to stop by that house when we have a rough day and they make me happier. The other day these dogs were outside of their house and I tried to take a picture while they were jumping up and trying to lick me and stuff. It kind of worked out

hope just pics is fine

So this week was actually kind of crap, to be honest. Dont really have too many good things to talk about. So I hope just a few photos is fine Don't want people to get worried. But I'll make sure to have stuff to tell next week. Also I needed to send some personal responses to people who needed a pick me up. But don't worry mom, I'm doing fine. Here's some photos

update on Tincho the monkey: he likes crackers. and is still my favorite

I made a discount version of Fantonio with my crappy hat

 I stepped in mud after it rained. It did not look that deep at first

these birds were just sitting with their wings open and it reminded me of that guy in Hercules who opened up his coat real wide and said "do you wanna buy a sundial?"

(lack of) transfers

Well this is the first new transfer of my mission where literally nothing happened to me. Transfer calls came, and i'm staying in this area, staying with Elder Quintana for my companion, and staying district leader. So that was a little underwhelming. The sad part was that they took some of my best gringo friends from me this transfer and stuck them in different zones, including Elder Selinger, Elder Buhler, and Elder McClune. Which I guess I've really only talked about Selinger. But whatever, you guys don't care too much about that I'm sure. On to the other stuff.

When transfers came and they took Elder Selinger from me, a new Elder came in from another zone named Elder Jorge. (yes, his last name is Jorge) He's this really studly Peruvian who's also a stud of a missionary. But when he came here he just cleaned the crap out of our house and also got his comp, who was Elder Selinger's trainee, way more excited about everything and they're seeing a lot of progress in their area now. Really our whole zone is just getting a lot more excited, I think everyone's going to kill it this transfer. Including us maybe.

We found a family of 7 this week!! and 5 of those 7 are of baptize-able age. They're the familia Paja-Crespo, and all of them are awesome and interested. Except the dad kind of, he just kind of likes listening to us. His name is Hector, and he has a really hard time believing that god calls prophets in our day. Also he's convinced the the true church should be the one that does the most humanitarian aid in the world. Which would be the Catholic church, because they obviously have the most money for multiple apostate reasons. So that's a little rough, even though the true church's humanitarian efforts are actually amazing. But he doesn't really get that yet. He told us (but in spanish) "if the mormons opened up an orphanage here to help all the little kids I would get baptized tomorrow and take all my family with me."  So for now he's kind of a stumbling block in the progress of his family. But with lots of prayers and faith I think he can come to realize the truth with the rest of his family. 

Also yesterday we found an amazing older couple named Luis and Marcela who don't know that much about the bible and get really confused  about all the different churches and beliefs and stuff. Which is sad, but like exactly what us missionaries are looking for. So we got excited about that. But after we talked about the restoration, the husband  said the most sincere prayer I've heard in my life, saying maybe he's a little confused, and he just wants to know what path he should take. That really strengthened my testimony that the lord prepares people for the restored gospel! Unfortunately, he's going to travel to La Paz for two weeks. So I'll get back to you then and let you know how things go.

Well overall, the work is going pretty well here, thanks for all the prayers and emails, I love you all!

Elder Bingham

when we changed houses temporarily last week I just had to stand up and basically street surf in the motocar (basically a motorbike with a trailer) and it was awesome. also terrifying sometimes

When we were in trio we ate lunch with some Peruvian members who cooked us
awesome peruvian food in bamboo shoots.  

Also the missionary with me in this pic is Elder Maccerhua, not my comp

cooking with bamboo shoots

nobody paid attention when I took a selfie at the district conference

You ever get that feeling of deja-vu?

So you remember last transfer when an Elder got really sick, so he had to go to the hospital in Santa Cruz and Elder Gonzales and I had to work in a trio with his companion? Well, that happened again. In almost exactly the same way.  There was one missionary in the Riberalta area named Elder Maccerhua, and he was training a new missionary, Elder Smit. Elder Smit got sick. Like REALLY sick. I'm pretty sure he had salmonella and amebas (don't know what that is in English), and a urinary tract infection, and diarrhea. So they had to send him to the good medical care in Santa Cruz. And since Saturday, Elder Quintana and I had to change houses and go work in trio in two areas until the end of the transfer. Which we get transfer calls tomorrow night. Its kind of weird that another transfer is over already. So next week I could possibly be in a new area, and possibly with a new companion! We'll see what happens.

But this week I've actually worked in two trios. The fist couple days this week Elder Selinger's companion traveled to Trinidad to to his papers, so we were with him until thursday afternoon. and then one day like normal, and then back to a new trio. I've worked with a lot of different missionaries. But for that reason, we couldn't get too much work done in our area this week. Our numbers were lower than they've been all transfer, which kind of sucked. Our investigators aren't progressing much and we're struggling to find new ones. So like normal. I was getting a little frustrated with myself for not doing things right or not being as good as other missionaries. But I had a nice little spiritual experience Sunday that helped me out.

In sacrament meeting Sunday morning, for the opening hymn, we sang "cuenta tus bendiciones" (count your blessings). I didn't really thing too much about it at first. But sense it was fast/testimony meeting, I was thinking about what I could share my testimony about, which has honestly been a little difficult for me lately. Usually when I get frustrated and stuff I can't think of what to share or what's actually going well in my life, which is a problem I need to work on. But then I thought about that song, and thought about all the blessings I have. and then I realized again just how much God loves me. And how much he loves every one of us.  He's given us so much, and he created us with so much potential. He's already made me into a much more effective missionary than I ever thought I could be, so I should never really feel frustrated with myself. God sent me here for a reason and he's given me a whole lot of blessings and help so I can fulfill my calling. So I got up and bore my testimony about all that, and I felt a lot better that day. So I hope you can all try to remember how much God loves you and all the blessings he's given you when you have rough times. Just keep going, and never forget who you are. Love you all!

Elder Bingham

PS: I kind of forgot to bring my camera with me today, so I don't have photos to send. Sorry :(

the dreaded man-cold

You remember last week how I said it was actually pleasantly cold here in Riberalta? Turns out that cold was the downfall of my companion. He came in with what I think Marianne once called a "man-cold". Which is basically just when a guy gets a cold, but then that cold is bad enough that he thinks he's dying and he can't do anything. And also complains about his cold excessively.  So this week has been full of my companion coughing and doing everything really slowly. Which has been a little frustrating. But lots of good things also happened this week, don't worry.

Those good things include interviews with President, zone conference, and a baptism this saturday! In interviews, President basically gave me the huazca and said I need more to have more faith in myself. Which is very much true. I will be working on that. Basically in every interview I've had with President Cabezas I've come out half inspired and half humiliated (or humbled, how does english work?) half humillado. I think that's humbled. Zone conferences you usually just come out full inspired. This zone conference I learned that we need to have more faith here in the mission field. Sometimes we have a tendency to just get annoyed or frustrated when appointments fall through or people lie to us or investigators don't come to church, so then we lower our expectations. But when that happens in the mission, we just need to work harder and have faith that the Lord will put the prepared people in our path. This week I've seen a little bit of that. We started teaching a funny old lady named Magdalena who has a lot of potential, and this older fellow named Antonio Mora, who's been recovering from a surgery. Antonio is really poor and he can't walk well, so I thought he wouldn't be able to make it to church if we didn't have a member pick him up. But this Sunday, nobody in our branch could make it over there to help him. But I was super surprised to see him show up to church anyway! He had enough faith and desires to sacrifice 4 pesos to take a taxi to church. Which is like nothing for us, (like 50 cents) but this guy has almost nothing. He can't work because he's still recovering, so he doesn't have much money. But he can see the blessings that come with the gospel and I'm happy about it.

Also we had two baptisms this Saturday! I baptized this 9 year old named Aaron, who's parents are both members, but he never got baptized when he was 8 because his dad had to go work in the field. Which happens a lot here in Riberalta. So we had to teach him the lessons, which we were happy to do. He's an awesome kid. We also baptized a 16 year old named Emar who we've been teaching for a while. So that day was also happy.

That would be all for this week I think. Love you all!

Elder Bingham

Look what I found outside of the meat market!

(It is a decapitated cow head)

Our branch secretary, Alexander lended me his sunglasses and I look like an extremely well dressed Terminator

Baptism!! I'm the really tall one in the back (surprise)

I took an awesome photo of Elder Steve Erwin messing with Tincho the pet monkey trying to take his pen

Elder Steve Erwin

So you guys remember the crocodile hunter Steve Erwin? Of course you do. shame on you if you don't. But I decided Elder Quintana is the reincarnated form of the crocodile hunter. Except not with crocodiles. So far he's kind of obsessed with ducks and ants. Yes, you heard that right. I'll explain a little more with the photos I send.

But as far as everything else goes, this week has been kind of awesome but also really frustrating. Awesome because it was "cold" here in Riberalta. Rainy season has started, and I'm loving it. there's been a couple storms recently and I haven't felt nearly as hot or sweaty. Last night I broke new ground and slept with a blanket. And I didn't even use the fan. But I did have the window open blowing nice cold air in. We're still enjoying the nice weather today. So i'm praying that keeps up for a while 

But as far as the work goes, we're finding that nobody has real intent here. Or in other words, we ask them to pray to know if the church is true, or the book of mormon is the word of god or whatever, and they say they'll do it. We come the next appointment, ask them if they prayed. They usually say yes, so we ask them what they prayed about. And it is has never been even close to what we asked them to pray about. Just for health and protection and stuff. And then we ask them, "if god told you to do ______, would you do it?" which they always respond in the affirmative without hesitation. And then we ask "if god told you the church is true and you need to get baptized, would you do it?" and then they always say "i don't know" or "maybe". So if anyone has advice about how to help people have real intent, I would love to hear it.

But other than that the work here is going alright. We're making little bits of progress here and there. we found an awesome family, la familia Aguilar-Hurtado, and they were really interested. We went to a lesson with them on Wednesday when I had an intercambio with my good buddy and zone leader Elder Croft, and I'm pretty sure we taught the best lesson 1 of my entire mission. They understood everything really well and we taught really well together even though I've never worked with Elder Croft before. but I have lots of hopes for this family. But other than all that, its been a pretty normal, boring week this week. 

Love you all, thanks for the emails and the support. Pray for the Bolivians, they need some Gospel in their lives (real, restored church Gospel, that is)    

Elder Bingham

intercambio with elder Croft. bonus points if you can figure out how we made our hats magically float there.

 I came up with the trick myself. It's really handy

Elder Quintana is in love with one of our investigator's baby ducks

he also spent like 15 minutes looking at these giant ants and trying to get this picture.

Triscodekophobia

Well this week included Friday the thirteenth in October, and Elder Selinger decided to celebrate. Because supposedly "triscodekophobia" (no idea if I spelled that right,) is the fear of friday the thirteenth or something and that's like his favorite word. And when we all got back to the house friday night, the power had gone out. It was too perfect. So we shot a couple horror movies. We'll see if I can get them to send. Also a few other cool things happened this week so here you go.

One funny/spiritual (?) experience happened a couple days ago. An appointment had fell through and we didn't know what to do, so my comp suggested we say a prayer and ask what to do. Right after I finished the prayer, literally within half a second, our phone rang. It was the zone leaders, and they told us they had our new beds and they needed help getting into our house and moving the old beds and stuff. So not exactly the answer we were looking for, but it was still cool and it gave us something to do.

The other experience that stood out this week was a family we started teaching, the Olmos family. Or basically just the mom and her 21ish year old daughter. They're super friendly, but also super active in their church. But we talked to them about the restauration and invited them to read the Book of mormon, and they had a bunch of questions and it was an awesome lesson. When we came back to visit them, the daughter Alejandra had read some of the Book of Mormon, which was cool, but she started telling us that we had basically put doubts in their minds about their church. They seemed really stressed about it, I almost felt bad. But we testified that if they read the book of mormon and prayed about it, they would know our church is true, even if it would be a hard change. And then Alejandra turned to her mom and said "creo que vamos a hacer una semana de oracion y ayuno" (or, they're going to be fasting and praying this week to find out). So we obviously got really excited about that. If they get an answer, they'll be some awesome members with awesome testimonies. So I hope you can all help us out in praying that they get that answer. We'll let you know how that goes next week.

But thats all for now, love you all! I also have some good pics this week, don't worry.

Elder Bingham

you better watch out or this Jayson (me, not the horror movie one) 

will be coming to haunt you the next Friday the thirteenth

Remember that pet monkey I sent a pic of like a month ago? We started teaching the owner so i could take a pic a little closer up. But I can't remember his name

Elder Quintana was playing with an investigator's ducks and one of the baby ones pooped on his hand. it was hilarious.