¿successful week?

So this week I'm kind of a proud district leader. My district absolutely killed it this week! Everyone but my area haha. We had a pretty mediocre week. Between the four areas we found 45 new investigators and 21 with a baptismal date!! The sad part is that only 8 of the 45 new investigators and 1 of the 21 with a date our from our area. 

Our area is like really low on investigators since Belen split in two, so we've been trying really hard to find this week, with limited success. Elder Tuares has been really good at working with the area book and with the members. Almost all of the 8 we found came from references from members or the future investigators. Our members are kind of awesome. Theres this one lady in particular named Forinda who literally just goes and contacts all of her neighbors for us and invites them to family home evenings or lessons with us. The only down side to this is that all the neighbors she brings to us are old catholic ladies who don't really want anything to do with another church. But we can work with that. Nobody's taught them the REAL truth yet. Hopefully we should be baptizing some old Catholic ladies soon.

Other than that this week has been pretty boring. Other than the pictures I'll send. Love you guys!!

Elder Bingham

Sorry I kind of ended up just sending photos of dead stuff this week. But hey, I'm in Bolivia.

Someone graffitied black Emma Smith on a wall in our area and I will hear nothing otherwise. Check out the side by side

Mystery animal foot we found in the street. Literally just the foot. I have no idea what animal its from.
Don't get too grossed out.

Hermana Florinda cooked up these little birds for us that they go out and hunt hundreds of.
Pretty delicious despite the fact that they look like tiny pigs

Also Florinda's husband killed and skinned some weird mountain cat

Invisible Me

Hey fam Elder Bingham here. This week has been the cinnamon, once again. You might be noticing a pattern here. I'm really enjoying myself in this area. But sadly, transfers are coming in so I might have to change comps. But I'm really hoping I can train this transfer! I feel slightly pregnant, I think my son is coming to me this transfer. I'm excited.

But this week was awesome! First off we had a conference with Elder Godoy, a general seventy from Brazil and the area president, and it was awesome! Elder Godoy is one of my favorites for a few reasons that don't have too much to do with spiritual things. But he's also a really good speaker and he's inspiriational and all that good stuff. But I also like him because of his weird Spanish with a brasilian accent, all the jokes that he makes, and the fact that he's the only general authority I've seen who wears skinny ties! Style is important kids. But we had a confernce with him that the whole mission came to, including the missionaries in Beni, (they had to fly down here). One thing he talked about that I liked most was the parable of the talents. But he focused in the fact that the guy who only had two talents just made two more, but the master still let him in the house or whatever it says. Basically god knows our potential, and we don't have to do giant things, we just have to do what he asks us. Fufill the purpose that he gives each one of us. If I only have 2 talents, I don't have to make 20. I just have to make 2 more. But everyone has a specific purpose in this life, and we should look to complete that.

Friday we had Denar's baptism!!! It was really spiritual and Denar got cleaned of his sins and stuff and I was really happy. I'll just let the photos do the talking because I can't really put it into words. But it feels SOOO good to have a baptism after so much time. And we should have some more coming up soon!

Saturday and Sunday Elder Carbajal and I did divisions with two other elders who came in from Trinidad for the conference, but stayed here in Santa Cruz after because they have transfers. They're just waiting for tuesday when we get transfer calls, so the asistants stuck them with us. I was with Elder Winger, who started his mission here in Belen, but has been in Beni for 14 MONTHS. He was really happy to come with me and visit members and his old investigators and stuff. And as it turns out, Elder Winger is everyone's favorite missionary here in Belen. I basically turned invisible and everyone just ignored me so they could talk to elder Winger. But I'm not really jealous or anything, don't worry. Elder Winger actually helped out a lot and we had a lot of success these last two days. And he's a pretty cool guy in general. But we finished up the week strong working double here in belen. 

That's all for this week, love you guys!

Elder Bingham

There's a Nacho Libre tex mex restaurant in the ZL's area and I really wan't to go

Hna Gonzales dies this transfer so we had to take a corny pic in the last District meeting.
Sister missionaries like to do everything way too cutesy.

 ¡¡¡¡¡Denar's baptism!!!!!

our freshly dunked convert and my nametag

¡¡¡¡¡Denar's baptism!!!!!

Elder Carbajal and I with Elder Godoy and his stylish tie

 Our house with the guys from Trinidad

The mission is the cinnamon

Elder Carbajal has been teaching me some peruvian slang and my new favorite thing to say is "la canela" (the cinnamon), which basically just means that something is cool/awesome/lit/dope or whatever kids are saying these days. I mostly just like it because thinking about it in English is hilarious. The cinnamon. You can also say "la pitri mitri" and one other thing that I forgot. I love spanish.

But for real the mission this week has been la canela.  It all started out on Tuesday, when we found SEVEN new investigators in one day, and they all have solid potential. The only problem is six of the seven are couples who aren't married but have kids. People really need to figure out the law of chastity here. But luckily missionaries are pretty good wedding planners. I hope. But they kind of have to get a testimony of the Book of Mormon and the gospel and have a desire to be baptized before they have any reason to get married. But it's a work in progress.

On Wednesday we were shut in the house because Bolivia is protesting against their government and hates their president. Typical.

Thursday we had a multi-zone conference that was also the cinnamon. We learned a lot about how to use the Book of Mormon with investigators and how to help them gain a testimony of it. We tried out the advice they gave us in a couple lessons and it really is amazing the power that the Book of Mormon has. Also turns out that counsel from mission leaders is inspired and stuff. Who knew right? The Book of Mormon is the cinnamon.

And then on Sunday miracles happened! None of our investigators came two church, but members brought two new guys to church, Oscar and Deinar. Deinar has been going to church with his girlfriend for like four months now, but in a different ward. But he wants to get baptized, so they told him he has to go to the ward he lives in to get baptized! We went and taught him after church and the kid is super prepared. He's 21 years old and he already knows the church is true. He committed to a baptismal date for March 10th!! If everything goes well, it should be the fastest baptism of my mission. Just two weeks! It's gonna be the pitri mitri. We also went and taught Oscar after church and he's a 22 year old who moved into the same place as some members, and they brought him to church! But he has some doubts about if God really exists, because he studies science way too much. I knew there was a reason I hated science class. But we gave him a Book of Mormon, and he really really wants to know if its true, and if God is there. He tells us he's willing to do anything, even get baptized, if god answers his prayers.  I'm so excited for our area! things are going awesome. pray for our investigators

The mission is the cinnamon.

Elder Bingham 

last monday we went to some super fancy italian ice cream place as a zone called "coure di latte" or something. And I got a giant New York Cheescake ice cream bowl. And like all of their ice cream specialties look as fancy or fancier than what I got. The city is awesome

pic one testifies of the truth of this inspired quote in the ice cream place

selfie with a goat because Bolivia

Carnavaleando

Wow it's been a while since i've emailed. But it was a pretty eventfull week and two days, strap yourselves in.

First off this last weekend, as I explained, we were on house arrest while the rest of Bolivia was partying. Apparently we can't leave for multiple reasons, more than anything drunk people and because people throw paint on each other in the street. Like if you're just walking by yourself, someone will come and attack you with a bottle of paint, or I've even heard they paint you in car oil or throw you in a puddle or stuff like that. Nice people, Bolivians. So just imagine the color festival back home, but with paint instead of chalk, and more violence and drunk people. And lots of Reggaetón. So instead of that fun stuff, we just stayed in the house reading the Book of Mormon. in the four days, I only managed to get to like Alma 5. Because I am very easily distracted and it's hard to read for that long. But we also ended up ordering Papa John's, watching the Testaments and the Joseph Smith movie, and playing soccer tennis. It was a good time, we enjoyed the little break.

And then we just got back to proselyting like normal. We've had some pretty cool experiences. This week we had 4 investigators in church, which I think is more than I ever had in one week in Riberalta! Oh Riberalta. Cuan difícil eras. We are also teaching two jovenes named Miguel and Junior, who are both 15, but Miguel is Junior's uncle. Kind of weird. But they're both really excited to learn, and they also like playing soccer, which is something they do in the church every Wednesday night, luckily. They've come to that twice and even brought friends, so we ended up finding even more people to teach! Soccer is awesome. It brings Bolivans together. Also brings the Bolivians and the missionaries together so we can teach them.

Also the members in this ward are awesome! Especially our young men's president, named Luigi. In church on Sunday, he got his young men really excited because we have investigators their age that could potentially get baptized. So this army of like 12 young men and their president decided to go to Miguel and Junior's house Sunday afternoon to talk to them and invite them to the activities this week. We passed by in the bus and just saw this horde of white shirts and ties outside of this house, it was awesome. The members are the key to missionary work!!!

Love you guys! And I actually have some pics to send this week, don't worry. And lots of them!

Elder Bingham

¡¡¡te amo osito buh!!!

I found these little guys on top of our lunch pension's toilet and it made me laugh

my new favorite street in Bolivia

carnaval pizza party!

my killer carnaval BOM reading station. I bought that hammock in Riberalta and it was the best 120 Bs I've ever spent

my kind of underwhelming 4 day carnaval beard. It was good not shaving while it lasted

 what a krap name for a candy

SURPRISE IT'S CARNAVAL BABY

Oh hey we're in internet on a Saturday. Weird. But like I told you guys last week, we're going to be shut in the house for four days while the rest of Bolivia is partying, so since we won't be able to on Monday, we're getting to write today. After lunch today we just have to head back into the house and shut ourselves in. So this morning we went to the supermarket and bought food for the next four days. Should be interesting. I also should get a little trunky, but that's not important.

But I'm super excited for these next few days, because President Cabezas has given the whole mission the assignment of reading the ENTIRE BOM in these four days. So that's what we'll be doing for a while. Pray that I don't fall asleep reading so I can get it all done. I should get pretty learned spiritually.

Carnaval also means that I don't have to shave for 4 days!!!! I'm excited to grow a beard for the first time in a while. Hopefully it turns out good.

But I don't really know what else to write about for now. Our areas doing pretty decent, we're finding lots of people, and its freaking hot. Like normal here in the mission. hope you all have a good week!

Elder Bingham

Oh giant rich town of Bethlehem

So transfers happened! and for the first time in a while, there were actually transfers that happened to Elder Bingham! I came back to Santa Cruz, and things could not be more different from my time in Riberalta. I came to the zone Equipetrol, which is closer to the center of the city and famous for being one of the richer zones in the mission. I'm in the area Belen (Bethlehem in spanish), and my companion is Elder Carbajal. My third Peruvian in a row. But he's super cool. He's 23, and has a little over a year in the mission. Also he's a solid DL and missionary, and a really funny guy. I'm happy to be with him. But I am also completely lost in the city.

Like this area is way too wealthy. All of the streets are paved, and like over half of the houses have at least one air conditioning unit. The bigger houses have air conditioning in like every room. Some of the wards we walk through are just filled with giant super nice two or three story houses, but we tend to proselyte more in the slightly poorer areas, surprise surprise. the people are a little more humble in those areas. But our area is also HUGE. like triple or quadruple the size of my old area. I am so lost.  But I'm slowly figuring it out. We have a few solid investigators and really awesome members, including two returned missionaries who served in Argentina with Bryce! Small world. But I honestly can't remember their names. but I'm excited for the new experiences and challenges that will come in my new first world area. Wish me luck, I'm completely lost here.

Elder Bingham

hopefully I can get some pics sent in next week, I kind of forgot to take pictures this week 

PS: So this weekend, (saturday, sunday, monday and tuesday) Carnaval is happening, which means we will be closed in our houses for the whole time. I think that means we might not get to email next monday. I'm not sure. It's going to suck.  But talk to you guys in two weeks!

Elder Bingham 

Riberalta Cripple-Transport Service

Hello family. And friends. And any strangers that for some reason read my emails. Thanks for tuning in to my mission. It's certainly an interesting one, hope you're enjoying the broadcast. This week's email is brought to you by the Riberalta Cripple-Transport Service, helping cojos go to church since 2018

Which was something we've done frequently recently. We have this really funny investigator named Ruben, who had an accident a few months ago in work where a truck basically crushed his leg. He had surgeries and was in recovery for months, but thanks to the miracles of modern medicine, even modern Bolivan medicine, they were able to repair his leg with some nails and stuff. also taking flesh from his upper leg and attaching it to the damaged part so it could all heal up nicely. But he still has a couple months before he can walk again. he's going around on crutches for now. But he's super excited to learn and go to church, and he has a baptismal date for the 24th of february! The only problem is that he can't get himself to church. So our ward mission leader has been a stud and has been taking him to church, a baptismal service, and a branch activity in his motocar. He's also taking a recent convert to church named Carlos, an old guy who can't really walk too well.

But this sunday, everything almost went wrong, because our mission leader called in sick. So Elder Quintana and I decided to just go to Carlos' house and pay for a taxi for him, since the guy has like no money. We headed to Ruben's house, planning to do the same thing, but he wasn't there! So we just headed over to the chapel, and we were surprised to find that Ruben was already there! He told us he only had 5 pesos, and he used 4 of them to take a taxi to church. We were pleasantly surprised, didn't think he was going to go by himself. The kid has a lot of faith, knowing that even if he doesn't have much money, its really important to go to church on Sundays. So I would invite all of you to take a moment and say a thankful prayer that you have cars and stuff to comfortably go to church every sunday without having to worry about the money to pay for a taxi.

Also this week we were temporarily stressing out about the fact that we might have Hepatitis A. One Elder in the zone has been super sick, and hadn't gone to the bathroom in like 5 days. His eyes were also yellowish. So everyone thought he had hepatitis, and Hermana Cabezas told us that we had to go to the hospital to get a blood analysis, since we eat dinner at the same house as said sick elder.  So everyone was freaking out about the prospect of this Elder and his companion going home, since they were both really sick. And we were obviously also worried about getting sick ourselves.  But luckily, the test results came back, and it turns out that nobody has Hepatitis. Not even yellow-eyed elder. Not sure what he has, but it isn't hepatitis at least.  I was very thankful that got still wants me to continue my mission and not be sick.

Love you guys, help a cripple cross the street or go to church this week yeah?

Elder Bingham