July 4th

My loving family,

I hope and pray that you guys are having a good time without me, i know it must be pretty hard considering how wonderful I am.. But lucky for you guys you only have to wait another 367 days for me to return. ; )

Thats awesome that you guys could have another awesome get together! i remember how much i loved those. i probably miss those the most. ;)

Me and my baby have had a good week yesterday we played some good hard nosed basketball and then we went and had a long dinner and little party with one of the member families in our ward. They are pretty awesome.

We have been trying to get these newbs to quit smoking and change their lives but its funny how much people here don't have a sense of responsibility or work ethic. I am gonna have to whip them into the real world!  :) anyways i hope the fireworks were wondrous.

And i hope you have a wonderful week!!!

love, Elder Ballif

The Work is Picking Up

Hey Family,

i trust you guys are doing well. i hope that seaworld was a blast!!

i do wish i could be there with you all but i trust the Lord has important things for me to do here as well.. and i will show you by example as Christ did when i return into your arms.

Elder Hatton and I had a good week, We taught 16 lessons this last week and we are going to be helping some people quit smoking this week so they can get baptized!

I was also asked to teach in combined district meeting this Friday about how to teach members how to do missionary work. And ways to get Referrals by inspiration. I trust that the Lord will help me to prepare a very solid way to teach that.

 I have taught before but i believe that our new mission president will be there so it will be a good opportunity to show off my skills, and my rapid progression. And show that anything is possible with FAITH in God and that he can help you.

Me and my baby are getting a long pretty well. He is a lot like me.. But he dates models... which is not like me.  :)

I hope and pray for your safety and your ability to do what is right and to Read and Pray every day! The most important things in the world.

I am glad that the nephews are remembering their favorite uncle.. no offense to others.. but i am there favorite uncle. Its a fact. We can fight over it later. when i don't have to fully represent the Savior.

My favorite chapters in the book of mormon right now are the last chapters of 2nd nephi, Chapters 26 to 33. Nephi is the bomb--he lays it down on all the other people that are not of God. It clearly states what is NOT of God.

I love you guys, and i cannot wait for the day that i can see you all again so i can help you guys in any way that i can.

I am very grateful of your love and support,

love, Elder Ballif, Aka Alma the Younger.

Letter From President Macdonald

Initial week of Training Going Well

Hey Fam, i don't got much time this week,

but just an update.. Training is going good. I am enjoying it.. its a little weird that i have to do everything.. but its not the first time i have felt this. I give my new companion more breaks than i usually would take but i am going easy on him for the first week--this week is going to suck for him. Plus my allergies were owning me this last week--that is also why we took more breaks.

We have some good stuff going on so i am pretty excited for him.

If you guys could i would like you guys to send me a book called "The Day of Defense" from Melvin Mcdonald.. that would be spectacular.. its so weird how much i like reading now.. i love it! People are making the mistake of calling me a pretty intellectual person. Please send that for me, and the contacts aren't my prescription but they work alright so i guess its all good.

i love you guys,

Elder Ballif

A Trainer in the Making!

Hey, Family!

I trust that your weekend was all that you could ever hope for? not really... thats ok.

Mine was alright... i really like today so far. I went and played soccer with the peeps in corvallis at the practice fields.. then we drove back and i have been shooting hoops until now. In the short time i have been really obedient in my mission my knowledge has grown immensely. Its quite Invigorating, to see how fast i have changed and had a change of heart. I feel like a monk. But way cooler... because i can have hair.

I found out my baby's name is Elder Hatton and he is from American Fork. I hope he can ball.. because if he can't we are gonna have some problems.... i am just kidding. i will still love him no matter his passions. I was told that i was being considered for district leader but they decided to see how well i did with leading a new missionary before i lead others.. but i know that the lord has good things in store for me. And i trust him no matter what decisions are made.

Some pictures from our Zone Conference:

I loved the pictures and the email sent to me from Jennifer, thank you for being a great mommy and showing your baby pictures of me. She needs to know who her favorite person is going to be!! ;)

So i have been thinking... i don't really want to be picked up. I would much rather fly home. And if you guys wanna come back here we can come back for a little vacation.. but yeah, that is my thought.

And just so you know my Mission President's homecoming will be coming up i believe late June if you would want me to get some info for that.. also, My good friend Elder Matthews is going home this week and he said he is going to stop by and meet you guys. he lives in Provo... but he said it would most likely be before the 21st..? but yeah watch out for him. he is pretty awesome. He has taught me alot while i have been here and definitely one of my fav comps. He also taught me how to study and how to learn the scriptures and he is a wise bird.

I also have a few things i would love from you guys... 1st. I need some contacts for sports and when i am not feeling the glasses. 2nd. I would like "the Great Apostasy" from Talmage. That is what i would like to read after i am done with the JS book. so if you guys could fufill my wishes that would be wonderous.

Family, not much has changed here, i am building up my spirit so i can own people with it. (in a good way) I feel the spirit all the time now, And I can tell what is right and wrong. I love it.. God is such a good spiritual Daddy.. i love him very much and i love you guys very much as well.

I am trying to be a good person and through that a good missionary..

i love you,

Elder Ballif

Hoorahhhh for Israel!

Hoorahhhh for Israel!!! (punch in the air)

Hey People, i hope you had a fantastic week..

my week went by really fast but we didn't do as much as we thought we did. We had like 7 lessons fall through! It was very frustrating... Satan is owning our investigators because they are not praying for protection.. or maybe they just aren't praying at all. But we are working on it.

I am feeling the spirit a lot more now and i love it. One thing that does suck is i took the Christlike attributes quiz and my patience needs some repairs. I am not very patient at times with other people.. and myself with wanting to change. I just don't like that i have the strong desires and i have to hold off on them.

I am going to be having my baby in like 8 days from now! Its crazy, i hope he likes sports.. because i play ball very ferociously :)  I am getting a lot better at Basketball and enjoy expanding my Gospel Knowledge.. those are like my favorite things.. besides movies. But oh well.. some movies are a waste of time. I never thought i would think that..

there isn't anything new to tell you guys, i am feeling a little better in terms of frustration and my heart is becoming more and more soft. ITs the bomb!!!!

i love you guys dearly,

Your Son, Brother, Uncle, and Lurp.

~Elder Ballif~

The Work Goes On

Hey Fam,

Our week went pretty good, we found 3 possible new investigators and we taught our normal investigators and a few of them came to church!!!!!! i was very happy. But as i have been gaining a powerful testimony of truth. I must admit i feel as though i suffer when others are ignorant and not willing to learn at all. It just makes me very frustrated with Satan and his influence. He has all of these people fooled and not even willing to feel the true spirit of God. He fools them into thinking that they are right and everyone else is wrong...when we have the real authority from God--very frustrating sometimes. But i know that i am clear in my message and they are just getting PWNED by Satan (for those who may not understand this urban slang term--it means:to conquer or to gain ownerniship over someone else), but when people are willing to listen it goes very well. I just need to pray and ask for patience with these people.

I have felt the spirit in my work and i am happy i am am being blessed with the Lord's spirit. Heavenly Father definitely leads my comp and I to people.. and he uses wasting time by talking to weenys to lead us to sincere peeps.

Make sure you guys are reading every night and praying as a fam and individually! or i will make you guys suffer when i get home. Ryan needs to be prepared more then i was. I got owned for a long time... but Ry Ry has a chance to Pwn Satan.. he should take that opportunity. he needs to do it for me... i dislike Satan and his followers... and whoever can own him--the happier i am.

i love you guys and hope you have a wonderful time in the promised land.

your son!
 -Elder Austin Jeffery Ballif-

Preparing to be a Trainer

Hey family,

Hope you guys had a fantastic week.. My week was alright..... We are doing really well as a companionship work wise and we have a lot of people we are working with but most of them smoke and they are too scared or busy to come to church. I read an excerpt out of the "Teachings of the Prophets: Joseph Smith" with a less active member that we are trying to reactivate. I felt the spirit very strongly when i read that to her.. probably more then i have ever in a lesson so far.. I really love Joseph Smith. I am really jealous of all the stuff that happened to him and how much strength he drew from the Grace of God. He was almost Illiterate and then all the sudden he was one of the smartest men that has lived on the earth. But i think that i will learn all that i will need to know for my time on the Earth.

I am really getting frustrated because all i want to do now is study like crazy and learn as much as God will allow me. My follow up trainer Elder Matthews is teaching me a lot, he knows more then he should for how old he is. The only thing he was missing in his life was sincere prayer and that is what i am good at. So we have taught each other a thing or two :)

We went and took pictures at Oregon State stadium today on the field.. and we saw Jaquizz Rodgers there doing his workouts in prep for the Falcons. He's got quite a bit of meat on those bones. Too bad he is like 5'7.. But the sister missionaries with us went red because he took his shirt off. it was pretty funny.

Anyways not much has changed.. i am doing really well.. i need to lose a little bit of weight.. and my goal is to be able to slam a basketball pretty good by the time my mission is over. And to be able to memorize where all the important verses are in the scriptures. I am excited to see the progression!

Well.. i love you guys and i hope you have an excellent week. I will try to have the same. I just need to stick this last 3 weeks out with this work horse then i get to have a baby!

love ya,

Elder Ballif

Growing Testimony

Hey Family, i hope and pray that you all had a good week.

I like that Ryan is doing some missionary work of his own.

I have seen a pretty huge testimony builder for me this morning actually. but as for the specifics you will have to wait until i return home. lets just say i now know and have a testimony of the reality of spirits, and they are in fact real. But i know that God is really there and he can only bless us with what we ask of him and having faith that we will receive it. I know that there are many scriptures that point that out but i never realized the reality of that fact. I have been focusing on being very specific in my prayers and asking for things. I have already been blessed with more light and understanding on several matters... i have started to thirst for knowledge and have noticed the way that God works and the way that the Prince of darkness works. Being personally influenced by both in my life. I, like Alma the younger had to be reborn of the spirit.. now i did not fall into a deep sleep and wake up changed. But i did have my heart broken by God and he is rebuilding it in his way.

This might not make sense to you guys because you haven't been around me for almost a year.. but i testify that i know that these things are real and i know that the priesthood is a real thing. And that most people stay in the basic knowledge where they stay until they die, because they do not have believing hearts. But as i have been reborn of the spirit i now know that God can do anything he deems necessary, and because of that i am glad. Because we have truly found Christs gospel on the earth. Not some church that thinks they have the truth. I am 100% positive that Joseph Smith was the Prophet to open up this last dispensation and that the gospel truths had to be restored. I am also positive i am a true disciple of Christ and this work is the work of my father in heaven. Although i do wish i could be home with you guys so i could serve you in any way i can, because i have a true love for you. I know that God sent me here for a reason and that it is necessary for me to stay until my time is complete. But i promise that i will work hard and brings souls unto salvation and that i may shine as the stars in heaven when my life has ended. (i have been reading the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith and it is rubbing off on me a little bit) I love you guys and i will continue to keep you all in my prayers. Ryan needs to make sure that he is praying--that is how he can have the spirit guide him.

Have a great week,

Elder Ballif

Not Feeling Well - Getting New Companion

Hey,
this week is very sad. I was sick, my wonderful companion Elder Russon left me. I'm scared of my next companion. He is a real go getter i hear.. i have not had to be like that yet. So i guess it will be a good experience for me. Get me up to my full potential.

 I got to bear my testimony at church yesterday, in both wards.. it was a little nerve racking for a minute but then i started to get some confidence and i think i did alright. At least a few people told me they enjoyed it. So i am fine with that.

I hate being sick. Its pretty much not fun whatsoever.. especially when i had my last week to learn the area and spend time with a very good companion.. and i spent it laying down and throwing up a few times. And my throat is still sore. i hate it!

Unfortunately, Brother Afalava is leaving for Indianaoplis Colts training camp today so i won't be able to teach him the importance of going to the temple and the lovely covenants that are associated with that blessing. But hopefully i will somehow get to help him reach his full potential as well as me.

We taught a Lady and her daughter this week as well.. her son kind of too, but he was watching TV. They were pretty cool, their names are Kary, Destiny and Daymon.. i was feeling like crap when we taught them and they were super hyper because they were drinking coffee! Oh well, we will teach them about that soon enough. We are also going to be teaching a family of four next Saturday.. They are the Story family, Jennifer, Aubrey, Serina, and Bailey.. they are pretty cool too, except that one of them saw ghosts so we came over and blessed their home and gave her a blessing and now she says she doesn't see the ghost anymore.

I just wanna let you all know that i am sorry i have been not always been doing things to the best of my ability and i think that is going to drastically change in the next short while and i will become a full fledged messenger of Christ.. not that i wasn't before but i don't think my whole heart was in the right place, and although i am worried and scared even, i will be ok if i continue to do the things i know i should. I love you all and i will be a different person when i get home. a BETTER person. But still have the same Personality... maybe just a little refined.. we will see.

you guys have a good week i will pray for you all, just be the baller people that you are already and you will be fine! Keep up that reading with Ryan, he doesn't like it right now, but when he gets out here and that is all he does read, he will thank you guys for it.



love,


Your Loving Son


Elder Austin Jeffery Ballif