The rains came down and the muds came up

It rained EVERY DAY this week. There were a few days that it rained a lot and other days when it rained for like 10 or 15 minutes, but it still rained every day. And in my area, that means there's a lot of muddy streets. The worst part was that every time after it rained, the sun came out strong and made everything really hot and humid and then the mosquitos came out full force. I've actually gotten really good at killing mosquitos. We're at a constant war. But they normally win honestly. I hate mosquitos with a perfect hate.

But this week wasn't super eventful other than that. I did have an intercambio with the Zone Leaders. I went to the area Estacion with Elder Hunt from Arizona. He's super chill. His area is basically the center of Montero, which feels about like my area in Belen. Brought me some memories. But I had some fun with Elder Hunt and some decent lessons. 

On Friday we did a zone activity where we gave out some cold maracuya juice so we could contact people for the whole zone. That was pretty fun and we talked to some nice people.

Sunday was special because it was the first time this transfer where we've had investigators come to church this transfer! Sad, I know.  But we're teaching this less active family called the Familia Montero Pimentel, and they have a 10 year old and 8 year old who haven't been baptized yet. They're a really cool family and the reactivation process is going pretty well, they stayed in church for 2 hours, but they still feel a little uncomfortable there since they haven't been in so long. But the goal is that we can get the dad ordained to the priesthood so he can baptize his kids on the 24th of November!

Thats about it for this week. Love you guys!

Elder Bingham

in our area we found a palm tree growing inside of another tree. Like what the heck

Elder Miller's cow head bottle he bought. It feels really weird staring into its eyes when you drink

 a member somehow got an ostrich egg. Its gigantic. 

I like Prophets

So the highlight of this week was that we got two South America exclusive sessions of general conference since President Nelson is taking a tour through the South America Northwest area. Today he should be headed to Chile to dedicate the new temple. This week my testimony was strengthened by like 1000% that Russell M Nelson is a prophet of God. Let me tell you a little bit of what went down. The rest of the week wasn't too exciting honestly.

So Saturday there was a devotional for just the missionaries of the South America Northwest area that was held in Lima. We watched it in the stake center in Montero. Present were Elder Falabella, the area president, Elder Gary E Stevensen of the 12, and President Nelson, all with their wives. They all took turns giving messages, but I most enjoyed President Nelson's message. He basically just gave a 25 minute summary of all of Christ's ministry in 3 Nephi, explaining us the importance of every chapter from 11 to 30. I got super learned. He talked about things I had never even thought about before, like how America is the land of Joseph's inheritance because he didn't get any in the holy land, and how many times Christ mentioned the word "repentance" in all of 3 Nephi. Someday I hope to know as much doctrine as that guy.

Then on Sunday President Nelson traveled to Bolivia with the same crew! There was a special broadcast just for everyone in Bolivia that was held in La Paz. And it was even cooler. There was a decent choir that they kept calling the "Bolivia Tabernacle Choir". Sister Nelson gave a message where she basically just told everyone stories about President Nelson receiving revelation as a prophet, which was pretty dope. And then President Nelson got up. He first asked all the Primary children to stand up and sing "Soy un hijo de Dios" for him and it was really tender. The love you saw in his face looked about like what I imagine the Savior's face was like when he was blessing the children. And then he started giving his message. It started out pretty normal, but then he was like "con su permiso, quisiera dirigirles in Español". And then he GAVE THE REST OF HIS TALK IN SPANISH. Granted, he had a really thick American accent and he read it off of a paper, but it was still awesome. It sounded just like a new missionary coming into the mission in Bolivia but the spirit was turned on 100% so you could understand everything just fine. 

President Nelson is a pretty cool guy.

Elder Bingham

the giant sugar factory in our area from a distance

Elder Tuares and I with Kevin, our pension's son who's super cool and who always greets us with "suh dude"

 giant snail we found in intercambio friday

This morning it rained like CRAZY and our whole house got flooded.
We were moving water for like 2 hours.
This is just the back

Elder Bingham gets back with his ex

Don't worry it isn't what it sounds like.

So after 8 months, Elder Bingham was finally blessed with a transfer!! And it definetly wasn't what I was expecting. I am now in the area Guabira, which is a little town in the middle of nowhere close to the city of Montero, which is a smaller city in the department of Santa Cruz. Basically, I'm really far away from most of the rest of the mission that isn't in Beni. And my companion... Elder Tuares! You might remember I was with him for one transfer a while back in Belen. I'm back with my ex comp. Its a party. I'm also no longer District leader, but thats fine. Elder Tuares and I get along really well and we're working hard, I'm happy to be with the guy again. This could potentialy be my last area in the mission, so good thing its super cool.

So Guabira is a little town known for its giant sugar factory thats always burning sugar cane. If you're close to the factory you have to deal with the constant odor of the burning cane, which is a pretty nasty smell. Like all the men work in the sugar factory during sugar season, seems like it pays pretty well. But other than that Guabira is a lot of humble farm land. There's some parts of our area where theres only houses like every 100 meters and a bunch of grass and cows in between. Its pretty wild. My area almost couldn't be any more different from Belen. On Saturday Elder Tuares and I got super lost looking for the house of this contact we did the other day and we were just wandering around for like 40 minutes in the middle of nowhere looking for the place. And when we finally got there she wasn't home! It was pretty fun though. I'll send a video I took if I can.

But that same day we had a super faith building experience! We have been praying like all week to be able to find a family to teach. A mom, a dad, and kids. And then right after we escaped from all the jungle farmland, our prayers were answered! We started contacting after our cita fell through, and at the first house we went to, a nice guy named Julio and his wife (and they are actually married, halleluia!!) let us talk to them for a bit! they have three kids and one of them is of baptizeable age! They are really interested and I'm excited to teach them in the future. The people in Guabira are really humble and receptive, and I think we should have a lot of success here. Wish me luck! Or just pray for me, that works better than luck-wishing.

Elder Bingham

The members are going to jinx me super hard

Well, this was quite possibly the last week I'll have in Barrio Belen. Or it could not be. You know, going a 7th transfer in one area wouldn't be that ridiculous. (jk yeah it would) I feel like there's like a 95 percent chance that I leave my area, but you know, I haven't had the best luck in the past. But the members here are honestly setting me up for failure. I'll explain in a second.

This week the most eventful thing that happened was general conference (duh). We didn't manage to get any investigators to come, but at least one of them watched it in their house with some members, so that works out fine. But what can I say about conference that you don't already know? I liked it a lot. I felt very inspired and I felt the spirit abundantly. 2 hour church will be dope. Also one of the Singers in the tabernacle choir looks like Benedict Cumberbatch.

So this week from the members around here I heard a lot of jokes about the upcoming transfers. Most of them telling me I'm just going to stay here until I die. Like I haven't heard those jokes for like 2 transfers already. Most of them just seem to be mourning my probable departure. But I feel like they might be jinxing me and I'm getting super anxious for the transfers. Yesterday all the YSA of the ward invited us to dinner, I guess as a send-off for me. I had to give a little thank you speech and one last "hasta la vista, baby" in my terminator voice. It was kind of sad honestly. If I do end up leaving this transfer, I'll be excited but also I little sad. I've put a lot of work into this area and I love the ward members here. These have honestly been the best times of my mission so far. But whatever happens, I'll be glad to keep serving as a missionary. Wish me luck

Elder Bingham

me and Elder Anderson rode to general conference in the trunk of a member's car yesterday. The open trunk. It was scary

We went to a crossfit place for a pday activity last monday. This was the bathroom that I thought was pretty funny.
Also I'm really out of shape

... and then we went to TGI Friday's as a zone right after. Cajun shrimp and chicken pasta.

a funny sign on some camba's door. nice people

district #5 in Belen, district #8 in total as a District leader. Proud of my district

the zone 

Suffer the children to come to me

This week we had a surprise baptism! Maybe you'll remember from a few weeks ago when I mentioned that we started teaching a kid named Andres. A few appointments had fallen through with him so we thought we were just going to have to baptize him the next transfer. But once when we visited him this week, he still seemed really excited for his baptism on the 29th. He had already gone to church a couple times, so we just thought "why don't we just go over the baptismal interview questions with him?" Tried that out, and as it turns out, the kid knows his stuff pretty well! We felt like he was ready, so we made the arrangements and got him baptized this Saturday along with another kid that was getting baptized from Belen 2. Baptisms of little kids are sometimes a little too easy. But I also had the oportunity to confirm Andres on Sunday, which was a cool experience. Always refreshing to perform a saving ordinance.

Another highlight from this week was an intercambio with Elder Anderson in his area. Thinking about it, I'm pretty sure thats the first time in my whole mission where I've proselyted with a fellow Utahn. (is that really a word?) We basically had nothing the whole day until 8:00, but then from 8 to 9 we ended up having two lessons and three new investigators! It was pretty cool. We also had a really spiritual experience visiting a member. Elder Kam had the idea at the beginning of the transfer of looking at the ward directory and putting a reminder in the phone when it was a member's birthday so we could send them a nice little text. I didn't think much of it at first, but the morning of an intercambio we got a reminder that it was a member's bday that lived in Belen 2, so I figured I could take advantage and stop by in person to visit her. When we were close by Elder Anderson and I gave her a little visit and wished her happy birthday. She let us in for a little bit to visit, and when Elder Anderson asked her "¿como está?" she responded with "un poco triste elder", and then just opened up to us. She started telling us about a lot of rough problems she was having with her family at the moment and we were able to bring her some comfort with a couple scriptures and a priesthood blessing. It felt really nice to do that service for someone. And then she also invited us dinner. Go ministering!!

Elder Bingham

Conference with Elder Dale G Renlund of the twelve

Snagged some dope pics at the zoo last Monday. Enjoy!

Andres' baptism!

"Father, please bless Elder Bingham to leave Belén"

This week Elder Anderson and Elder Medina showed their charity by praying every night in their companionship prayer that I get a transfer here in a couple weeks. It went something like "heavenly father, please bless our district leader Elder Bingham so that he can leave Belén this transfer, so that he can get to know more of Bolivia, so that his mission doesn't just become the Bolivia Belén mission" It made me feel special.

Today I learned that I should not tell President that things are going well in my area after 6 transfers, because he responded back to me and said he thought he was going to have to take me out, but now he's going to ask the Lord again. Hopefully the prayers of my faithful companions will persuade God to take me out of here for my last three transfers.

Don't get me wrong, I've loved my time here, but I really could use a new area. another 6 weeks would drive me insane. But all things considered, this week has been pretty good. We started teaching a lady I contacted like 6 months ago with Elder Tuares (how the time flies), but recently we found her in a member's house, so we took advantage and taught her a lesson. She's a nice old catholic lady named Olga who also works in cleaning at the local catholic church. Seems like a dead end right? But I think hearing about the Plan of Salvation really inspired her. Poor lady has had a rough life. She has had 2 kids and her husband die, and a few days ago she got diagnosed with diabetes, which was a bit of a shocker for her. So she decided to listen to our message just in case it can help. Turns out it can.(obvio puej) Her member friend took her to church on Sunday and she love sacrament meeting! Says she's going to pray to know if she can get baptized again!!

But other than that cool experience this week was pretty basic. But things are going well! Love you guys!

Elder Bingham

pic 1: I learned how to solve a 4x4 rubiks cube all by myself. I felt really proud. I swear I didn't use internet how-to guides. Just a little help at first from another Elder

pic 2: In Bolivia you'll always find "inspiring" religious quotes spray painted on the walls. Here's a gem we found recently

pic 3: Its mango season baby! 

I learned how to solve a 4x4 rubiks cube all by myself. I felt really proud. I swear I didn't use internet how-to guides.
Just a little help at first from another Elder

 In Bolivia you'll always find "inspiring" religious quotes spray painted on the walls. Here's a gem we found recently

It's mango season baby! 

What language do we teach in?

This week was actually an awesome week. Lots of great spiritual experiences. On the top of the list would be the conference we had with Elder Dale G Renlund of the twelve! He was accompanied by Elder Enrique Fallavela, the president of the south america north west area or wherever we are in the world. To sum it up it was an awesome conference and I learned a lot, but it would take way too long to write it all down here. Don't worry, I wrote it down in my journal, so I can just tell you when I get back. Maybe I'll save it for the homecoming talk.

But this week has been a week of miracles and great experiences. We had interviews with President Cabezas which made me stop complaining about my 6th transfer here in Belen. A little fire from the Presi is always refreshing. He was also present in my district meeting on Thursday, which was a little intimidating. But luckily he loved my little class. Pretty sure Alma 18 has to be one of President Cabezas' favorite chapters in the LDM. Multiple times he raised his hand, "can I say something?" And then would talk very excitedly about how he loved that verse and explain how it applies to us. Its actually pretty funny how excited President Cabezas gets reading the Book of Mormon. It's an adventure.

Thursday I went on intercambio with Elder Sauceda Leon. That day we decided to take a little trip to Urubó, which is part of his area that's on the other side of the rio piraí. So Urubó is basically this super luxurious city they're building on the other side of the river that is full of giant condos, luxurious resorts and hotels, a world trade center under construction, and the 2nd largest manmade ocean/beach in the world called la Playa Turquesa! Who knew Bolivia had that much money right? Go look us Urubó on google, you'll be amazed. Its actually ridiculously nice. But as soon as you get past all the rich people stuff, you get to the houses of normal, humble, bolivian people that work in all the condos and stuff. Its actually a gorgeous place, I'll send some photos. It just feels like a little paradise in the middle of the jungle. Its really strange thing to have here considering the poverty they have in other parts of the country.

The other day we had a weird experience. We knocked on a door and a nice lady came out and talked to us, nothing special though. But then her 22 year old daughter saw us in the door and basically butted in front of her mom to talk to us. her name is Varinia and she's looking for some direction in her life and is actually super interested. She said she was really curious in learning about the purpose of life. So we happily set an appointment to return, and as we were about to leave, she asked "Ustedes hablan ingles?" to which Elder Kam responded "Yes, we do speak English". And then, to our great shock, she got really excited and started speaking to us in perfect English. Without an accent or anything. Turns out her family moved to Maryland when she was 3 and she basically grew up in the US, but a few years ago they moved back to Bolivia.  It was really weird, I'm way to accustomed to speaking in spanish. We speak English all the time in the house, but it feels a lot different when you do it out in the street with someone who isn't your comp. When we came back for the appointment, she said "Hi guys, come on in" and I have to admit it was a really strange experience. I've never taught the gospel in English before. I wasn't sure if I should speak to her in Spanish or in English so it just kind of came out as a sloppy mix of both. I was not prepared for that. On the bright side, she actually has a lot of potential for baptism! So it went well.

Wow long email. Lots of stuff happened this week, that wasn't even the end of it. But I don't have too much time. Love you guys!

Elder Bingham