Potential Baptism

Yeah, i heard about the byu game.. most of the members here are byu fans and they sort of fill me in. its hard when my companion hates them and loves Utah and shoves it in my face every saturday... :)  oh well,  in 2 years, they will destroy Utah so i am not too worried about it. 

It looks like i will have my first baptism on the 23rd of October, so that is pretty snazzy. His name is Austin and his friend is in the ward and he started coming and we are teaching him now. i have a good feeling about it--i'm not the best teacher but i'm slowly getting better at it. Austin and his friend both like football so i just play catch with them after visits to improve our friendship. i cannot wait till the turkey bowl on thanksgiving. i think i'm gonna have to play tackle--it will be awesome. 

 anyways i love you dad and i am working pretty hard and i am reading and understanding new things everyday. and i know God is helping me out because i am terrible at alot of spiritual things but its getting easier for me.

love you, Elder Ballif

Learning the Developing Missionary Skills

thanks for the advice dad. yeah i heard about byu--they are kind of frustrating me, and my companion is a hardcore Utah fan and he is a weiner about it. he frustrates me sometimes but he is a pretty good missionary and other then the utah thing he isn't too bad--he just rubs it in way too often. oh well i won't get sent home for punching him that is the good news :). 

i am working on my talking skills. i used to have them but now i just don't. kind of frustrating but God is gonna have to help me a little and im sure he will give me the opportunities to work on it and i just need to be ready to do it--which i will do. 

i am reading the book of mormon alot and i challenged ryan to read it, you should not let him play video games until he reads a chapter a day and you quiz him about the chapter. i think that would be good for him and after he reads it enough he will understand how important it is... just a thought. 

i am going to need to steal your shaver... my neck is hurting and shaving this much sucks!!!! just a few strokes with the electric and it feels tons better.. i need it. and i am going to buy a football.. today.. i really have the urge to get good and try out for snow college as qb...but those are just my immature hopes and dreams :) . but i do plan to get buff when i get home because doing it on a mission is too hard. but the good thing is, i am not really focusing on those things and i am mainly focusing on the gospel so that is good. 

i am progressing with my knowledge and understanding of the plan of salvation and all that good stuff and i realized that i didn't actually know a whole lot before i came, but now i do. so i am not too worried about it. now i just gotta become a master talker and teacher and then i will baptize everyone :) !!!!!!!

anyways i will talk to you next week, i love you dad--thank you for your wonderful example as a father. i didn't really realize it till i got here and i do love you guys and i realized how much you have done for me, just so you know. 

i don't have alot to tell you about interactions with investigators our area is like the one with all the members and it is tiny so its been tracted many many times. we are working with some stragglers that have made some wrong choices and we are trying to get them back to church and i have to teach family home evening to a family tonight--so that should be fun!!!! NOT  :) !

i love you, Elder Ballif

Elder Bednar visits the mission

Its Good to Be Tall. See Austin's head above his Mission President!

To Dad:

Hey Daddy, i hope things are going pretty good over there, the work here is going pretty well. i am working on becoming a good missionary and when that happens i will know for a fact that it is the lord not me--because i am really terrible at most the stuff we do. but i am getting a little better each week. now i can hold a conversation with someone that i do not know very well :) -- so that is good. 

That thing with the ward sounds nice. you guys definitely do need to attend the stake center because that new one was not really working out. but oh well, you guys should be fine now. 

Well yeah, i did hear about The Cougars and i was quite suprised... it definitely saddened me on saturday but that was after i heard from Elder Bednar for 3 hours! that was awesome. He definitely taught me a thing or two to say the least. he talked for about an hour then he switched it up to a 2 hour q and a.. so any missionary asked him a spiritual question and he and Elder Ringwood and Elder Maum answered the questions and they told us some awesome experiences. you probably would have loved that and would have got alot more out of it then me -- he pretty much melted my brain. but i think i got out of it what i needed to and that is all that really matters to me so i can help others from it. 

Anyways, dad i love you and i know that the Church is true and that the work i am doing right now is going to bless lives.. i dont really know how many or in what ways but it will and i have nothing to do with it, because the lord has given me everything.. and i owe him 2 years.. at the least.

To Mom:

My Dear Mother,

It is like Christmas morning this morning as i have recieved your email this Monday! haha i love you mom, my mission is going pretty well.. i am trying to just learn learn learn and trying to gain the ability to talk to anyone.. and be comfortable. that is probably my biggest issue.. but i know the lord is helping me not feel awkward or AS awkward and helping me start to open up and hop out of my shell.. so that is good, i still don't think i can talk to females though :) -- they are just scary. 

To answer your questions, i go to the family history center in the nearest stake center to do my email, and i haven't really wrote any letters because your the only one who has sent me any i believe and i am pretty sure that you can still dear elder me?? but oh well, i feel the love from my emails and that is good for me.. i mean the suprises letters do make me happy though. 

i got the money from your friend from work, tell her i said thank you, and that it means alot to me that she doesn't know me and she is willing to help me out--very Christlike. 

My shoes are pretty nice i think they will last for awhile.. i will tell you when they run outta of steam. hmmm i don't really think i need anything.... i mean i would love some letters and some healthy drinks or some slimfast or something like that.. and if you could get some really pretty girls to write me.. but those are just wants... im just kidding. i do not want girls to write me. i would be scared. anyways the only ladies i need writing me are the four i love the most. 

I had the privilege to be taught by Elder Bednar and all i know is.. he is probably going to be the Prophet in the future.. so that is cool. he taught me quite a bit but it was like a brain overload so we will see if i can recall anything later. the spirit was so strong in that room and him and his Companions elder Ringwood and Elder Maum both did a very good job. i think i liked Elder Ringwood more then Bednar.. but that is because i am weird like that, they taught me tons of things and Elder Ringwood stood on the stand and said to everyone, "Elder Bednar and Maum and I could be talking to you about the kitchen sink the whole time and the spirit is still going to teach you something if you try to listen" and i thought that was awesome and of course we didn't talk about kitchen sinks or anything but the spirit did teach me things that were completely different then what they were talking about and that is exactly what he was saying.. and that was pretty cool. well mom i love you, i am trying to make you proud as i serve, i miss you, but i know that you guys are being blessed because i am away.. so that is good.

I love you, Elder Ballif (aka) your eldest son.

Work with Less Active Members

Hello father, i did have a pretty good week...and i did go and pick up some ankle weights on one of our lunch hours last week so yeah, my legs are getting HUGE! no no they aren't but oh well. i realized i can already barely not dunk it though. so not much longer and i will be the D-wade of Oregon. but white and not very athletic :)

i loved the package very much.. but instead of candy and sweets i really want some jello packages so i can eat that and maybe some low calorie drinks like that stuff ryan drinks. just alot more healthy for my cause. i try to bust out with the AB Lounge almost every night, but its the diet i need to change. so i would much appreciate just for future reference.

i did hear about the Cougars winning and boy was i excited about that. i did see a little bit of the end of the 1st quarter at a members home, the safety and the botched return. anyways, things here are going very well. i don't really have a ton of investigators but we are trying to get less actives more active in our ward. our ward has alot of members but about 200 or so are less active. so we try to encourage them to come to church and to help them endure to the end!!! -- which they must do to return to heavenly father and all. 

i miss you guys alot and i am kinda feeling a little bit homesick now but i think i will get through it. i just really miss the munchkins... no one here calls me there best friend--but i did meet an awesome less active family and all there kids love me because i let them "beat me up" and i lift them up and one of them has me lift him up and he just turns and knees me in the stomach. so that is pretty fun--they are awesome.

i am just trying to learn the scriptures better and pray alot better. i started the book of mormon over again like 5 days ago and i am already in jacob. so i am proud of myself because i am a really slow reader--oh well. Preach my gospel is definitely helping too. Make sure you have ry guy read the book of mormon every night before he plays video games--a chapter a night.

Anyways i gotta email the rest of the fam, but i love you dad, and i love the rest of our family and you did a good job raising us up and i think it was good we grew up in utah.. i love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and i just wanna say i have felt the power of God and i know that what i am doing is the right thing and reading the book of mormon is the key and if we read it and try our best to live its teachings we will be blessed and return to heaven.

-Elder Ballif OUT!!!!!!!!!