Caitlin's Chronicles (Sister Bingham in the Philippines)

Maayong aga! I LOVE THE PHILIPPINES! I hope everyone can have a chance to visit :P The people are amazing and they'd love you and you'd love them immediately. This week was kinda rough on our bodies. My companion and I both got sick two different days from some bad food probably. My companion looked like someone had done the crucio curse on her, I did my best to take care of her. I just threw up when I got sick.  We had exchanges this week so Sister Arnold and I got to work together. It was a good experience and I learned a lot from her. It was kind of weird to have an American as my companion for the first time ever. We talked to each other in like a weird mix of English and Ilonggo. The tricycle drivers were so confused haha. Elder Willis and Sister Willis were with us on Saturday again and we had another really good Restoration lesson with our investigator, Luke. The Spirit was super strong and we really stressed about how he can receive personal revelation ...

Magandang umaga! That's Tagalog. Anyway, this week had a lot of ups and downs. Here's some: Tatay Bosyo: Literally can he just come home with me as my adopted grandfather? maybe great grandfather? He asked if he could come with me to America. We're trying to find all the death/marriage certificates he needs so work can be done for his wife and then they can be sealed when he goes to the temple. We talked to his son about it and they were super nice and supportive even though they are a different religion. Crator kids: Joepel and GL were baptized last week and their sister JM who was baptized in May. They were excited to share with us how they are living the gospel in their lives and I am so proud of them. Joepel told us how he was offered alcohol and cigarettes (he's 14) but he refused because he knows the Word of Wisdom. JM's classmates believe Jesus is the Father so she explained to them how Jesus is our brother and we have a Father in Heaven who is al...

Maayong aga sa inyo! This week was kinda crazy but in a good way. I learned a lot. I think the biggest thing I learned this week is despite my weaknesses and faults, Christ really is at the helm of His work and if I'm trying my best, He will accept it and help me out. Sometimes I feel alone and it's difficult but if I press forward then something amazingly crazy happens. For instance, we went out finding one morning and all I had for an idea was to go to a young girl who was baptized a earlier this year who I met once and try to meet her family. So we went off into the maze of houses and got lost and started asking directions. Eventually we found the young girl who was baptized and found out most of her older siblings are also baptized so we taught them and invited them back to church and met her father who is not a member. But crazy thing the uncle of the father is a member I knew in Binalbagan! Small world. He said we could come back and teach them next time :)  A...

This post contains the pictures that go with Sister Bingham's week 36 letter.   She wasn't able to send them that day so here they are now! Kristel's 18th debut. It's kinda like a sweet 16 but not really. 18 boys, one at a time, give her a rose and then they slow dance and then the boy says something nice about her. It's super sweet a 53 year old woman (member) climbed the tree when we visited and gave us mangoes (you can see her near the top of the picture)  FHE activity. the penalty when you lose a game is you get coal wiped on your face

Maayong gabi! Super late today sorry! We had a transfer day and a mission devotional. President told us all "see you later" and gave us some last training and we played some games and ate some food :) It was tons of fun to have all the missionaries in the mission there! It was also cool to see that I have been here long enough to know people and I don't feel totally out of place :)  My new companion is Sister Nanlabi and she's been here since March. This will be her second area (same as me haha) and I will be the Senior Companion. A little nervous but it's about Christ and the work not about me. Sorry for the short update but enjoy the pictures. One is of a FHE we had with some members on Sunday it was tons of fun and we talked about how to be prepared for the Second Coming. What would you do if Christ came tomorrow? What things would you stop doing? What would you start doing? Who would you forgive? What would you confess? I encourage you all to start...