Hermana Bingham en España: A great first week in B8 and BYU basketball game :)‏

Family and Friends!

There is a lot to share, being in a new area now. Barrio 8 is in the southeastern part of Madrid, Vallecas is our main part but it covers much more as well. The area seems a lot bigger than my last. We take buses and metro on a daily basis, and the renfe train sometimes as well. My companion, Hermana Vilariño, is from Alicante, Spain. We have worked well together this week. Yesterday I met a lot of members, who are great and really nice. I think I'll be eating with members more here, we did 3 times last week, more than Alcobendas.

We had some lessons this past week with some investigators. My first lesson in this area was with Leo. He's only 19 and has gone through a lot in his life. I'm amazed at his positive attitude still. We also taught a lady, Trinidad, and her family. They're really awesome. Her 8 year old son is so smart and had awesome responses to all the questions, and really understood the scriptures. It's amazing what little kids can understand. Unfortunately they are moving out of our area this week. One of the other awesome lessons we had was with a new that the hermanas contacted in the streets the other day, Jose. He told us his son was on a mission in El Salvador, and we were thinking probably a different type of mission but he pulled out his phone with Facebook and showed pictures. His son is a member! The only one of the family. Jose never listened to the lessons with the missionaries before, but seems open now. He even had a friend there, Angelo, who gave us his information and we are teaching him again as well. We also taught a 14-year-old girl Winny. She's really cute and understands a lot, just needs permission to be baptized.

The beginning of the week I was exhausted because I got little sleep Sunday through Wednesday nights. All for good reasons though, but I'm happy I'm finally back to normal. I couldn't sleep as long because of packing, getting up early to help other hermanas catch their trains to the north, an early temple session, and a BYU basketball game on the other side of Madrid. The BYU basketball team was here last week and President Pack told all the missionaries in Madrid we could watch them play Wednesday night if we brought investigators or less-actives. It was so fun. I will admit I had a bit of a "trunky" moment wanting to be back at BYU. We brought Leo and Claudio. I think they enjoyed it. And I got to see a bunch of people from Alcobendas that came. It was a great night.

I still have a lot to learn in the area but I'm enjoying it. There is a lot of work to do here and I'm excited to be part of it! I've already seen great miracles here and I know they'll continue. Love you all.

Love,

Hermana Bingham

My new district – barrios 8 y 6