Last Entry

Hey my lovely family,

It is weird to think that in 3 days I will see you again. It almost feels like a lifetime ago since I have been with you and I feel like I have changed quite a bit. I am very very very Excited to see you and be able to start my Adult life. This past week has been very fun for me being on the Campus of the U of O. Meeting and teaching people my own age. I think God is preparing me for dating and being able to talk to girls and not be totally awkward. But I think it is safe to say that I will still probably be awkward due to the fact that it is part of my sense of humor. I am very excited to catch up with our family and everything.

I have often reflected on my mission and who I was before in 2010. Back before I believed that God and Jesus Christ were real and I felt that the Church was just a good way of regulating the Population to be "Textbook Citizens" and it was nothing else. All I can think about is how much better I feel and how much more peace I feel believing these things and having direction in my life. I have learned that it takes effort to achieve the things you want to happen and you can't just have the desire. I have learned many things from my mission, too many to write without boring you severely. But I am just grateful for the "push" to get me out here and all the support you all have given me. I have enjoyed the experience that I have gained out here. I feel your prayers and your love daily and I just might cry when I see you... we will see.

But we will all have to just suffer for another 3 days and just be soldiers till then.

I love you so much and am HIGHLY ANTICIPATING 7:33pm 3 days from now. May it go by quickly for you.... (and for me too..) 

<3 Elder Ballif <3

Little taste of a singles ward

Hey Family! I hope you guys are doing wonderful. So some wild news for you, I am in Eugene now and will be there until I head home. I am serving for the last 10 days with the Eugene Zone Leaders: Elder Pututua (my #1 love) and Elder Thompson who was on my football team sophomore year at Davis. They cover the Eugene young single adult ward and I am very excited because I have really wanted a chance to serve in a singles ward. And now I get a little taste.

That is awesome that Ryan sent his papers in! It's going to be a great learning experience for him as it has been for me. I am going to make a soft guess that he will be going foreign but I can't put my finger on where. Ryan is a very unique boy, like myself but I think he will grow more in a different country. Maybe he will go to Japan...?

I have been reading the Book of Mormon lately, I stopped reading it for a while and just read church books like Jesus the Christ, but I missed that feeling that comes from reading the BOM so I decided to continue it again, I am in Alma.. I believe it is chapter 25 or so. I love Alma, he is my role model. Him and Shiz from Ether.... good stuff.  

The Church is true, God knows us personally and wants to help us if we but ask and try and help him to help us, he knows what each of us are going through and through our Elder brothers Atonement we can do anything we need to do!

I love you guys, I am excited to see you all and will see you next week!!

<3 Elder Ballif <3

Release letter from President Young

New Part Member Family

Hey, sorry that I could not reply to you earlier. Our Zone Leaders planned this all day event in Bend on Monday and it made it so we had hardly any time to do preparation or relaxing. I was joking about the whole 15th thing, I would be totally fine having it be on that day and definitely not on the 8th. Hopefully that doesn't screw up anything too badly that I am a little late with my message.

And, that would be fine to have a sleepover the night I get back with the boyos. I just hope that you guys have cleared time with the Stake President on the evening of the 5th to release me. That would not be fun to be home and not be able to do anything fun.

I am really excited that I will be back in a few weeks! Elder Mcmakin and I are having fun and working hard. We found a new part member family that just got married by our bishop and they are my age and they are pretty awesome. Ethan and Taylor. And Larry and Cheryl are still away in Salem with their Mother. We will try and call and see how they are doing this evening or tomorrow. Everything is going pretty well and we are excited for the ward.

I got Cameron's letter and to answer him I would love to have AT LEAST 5 sleepovers with you and Carsen. I am glad you love and think I am your best friend. I feel the same way. I love you buddy and I will see you soon!

The only thing I am curious about is the amount of money I will need to send stuff home early which I plan on doing on Saturday. I know I am going to need more money but I was just thinking what the best deal would be. I think I could just send everything in an empty bike box and I believe that costs about 45 dollars for a bike box sized package.. I will check into it but I think just to be save if you could put like 100 dollars in my account and whatever it doesn't take, you will be refunded.

Anyways I love you all and will see you in the same amount of days as the jersey number for META WORLD PEACE!

<3 Elder Ballif <3

The book is blue and the church is true

Hey Family, i love you all! hope you had a fantastic week.

thanks for the info about the flight and all that jazz. At least I know that "I will have plenty of time to pack". (I will be packed about 3 days before the day I leave) But its all good. 

Well we saw the Arnold's last week on Thursday with our ward mission leader and that went great! they are just great people and I will miss them when I leave. I really hope things can work out for them and they can get baptized before I go. I would love to baptize them. But I am just being patient and hoping it will work out no matter what! 

Elder Mcmakin and I are getting along great. He is a # 1 Stunner. We are having fun and working hard and we just hope and pray the Lord will bless us with some wonderful miracles like I know he can and already has with us. We have a lot of appointments set up with people in the next few days so next week should have a lot more information with our investigators but for now I don't have much to tell you other then we have been tracting and trying to contact less actives and part member families all week.. but things feel good here and I love the support we are getting from the ward and all the great people here in Redmond. 

One cool thing was we had interviews with the mission president yesterday and those went great. He told me that we have grown close these several months and he hopes that continues after this mission is over. (I dunno what that even means)

Anyways, 

the book is blue the church is true,

the Savior DOES live and God does answers heartfelt prayers.

Have a good week!

love, Elder Ballif 

New Gators

Hey I am sorry that this is coming to you guys late.

We were pretty busy these last 2 days so I just wanted to write a quick email to you guys just to let you guys know that I love you and lets just say I am very excited to come and see you all again pretty soon!

The work is going good, we have found some new gators this last week and are excited to start teaching them this week and we have been doing a lot of work to motivate the ward to do some missionary work so that has been pretty fun as well.

Anyways, bike is working pretty well now. The only issue now is the pedal.. it is just crooked because the part that attaches to the pedal got stripped or something so I had to just brute force the pedal into the socket and it is pretty ghetto but it works for the most part. I love you guys very much and I can't fathom coming back!

The gospel is true!

see ya soon!

<3 Elder Ballif <3

PUT IN SOME WORK!!

Hey Family, I hope you all had a good week!

Our week was pretty good. We found some new investigators, and Elder Mcmakin was actually sick saturday night and yesterday throwing up so that was pretty cray.

I wish I could have gone to the cabin with you guys... I am looking forward to getting to spend some good old fashion family time with all of you! It will be pretty Fetch. 

This last week we were challenged to work really hard this last stretch of our missions and we agreed to step up and PUT IN SOME WORK! 

We haven't been able to see the Arnolds for a while so we are going to have to try and see them this Thurs evening. My goal for the end of my mission is to have 3 baptisms before I head out and I am determined to get those! 

We just helped a non member family move out and they were really nice and bought us some pizza for helping them and they told us a cool story about their 5 year old son when he was a baby that is very similar to what happened to me when Dad gave me a blessing for my head. But it was his lungs that were having problems and the mothers brother had the Priesthood and gave him a blessing and he was instantly fine. It was a neat experience to hear them talk about it because they said it was because of the church that her son was alive. 

I just wanna let you all know that I love you very much and I am very excited for July!!!!! 

see you then! 

<3 Elder Ballif

P.s.- I asked my Mission President what specific day I would be getting home so I can let you know and he didn't answer my question at all............. he just said "sure".... which tells me that he didn't even pay attention to what I asked. 

Sick and Things

Hey Family, I hope everything is going very well for all of you.

So about last week... ha ha the honest truth is that I was typing an email to you guys and I had to go do something but it took a long time and I couldn't remember if I finished and sent the email. And I didn't finish it.. so I will just have to make it up to you by being extra wonderful when you see me on Skype next Sunday at around 4:15-4:30pm.

Anyways, this week was a little slow... Larry and Cheryl are out of town until around Thursday this week so we haven't been able to meet with them at all. And I was sick for last Saturday and Sunday.. But I got a lot of reading done. I read the rest of Alma and now on to the less battle-filled Helaman.

I can't wait to see all of you on Sunday, that will be a very special time for me because I have been thinking about all of you a lot lately due to being sick and having more time on my hands than the usual. I can't wait to see all of you and to see Ellie and Brynlee and Cam and Carsen! we are going to have a five-way huge when I get back. I will even consider doing some free babysitting for a while when I get back! hehe not really I think I will do it for free from now on. But I don't really know what else to tell you. I just wish I could have teleported to Saint George so I could have spent my time with you guys. But whatever.. there will be plenty of time for that.

I love you guys! I will talk to you guys for about an Hr or 2 on Mother's day!

Larry and Cheryl Still Coming Along

Hey family! you guys are so Number 1!

This week was really good, Larry and Cheryl are doing fantastic and they are progressing like a G6. (you might not understand my reference.. it is a stupid song I heard earlier on in my mission that has just placed itself in my brain forever) But we had a great lesson with them this week and we actually invited them to be baptized but they said they need more time to read and find that it is true. But all signs are pointing UP. And my Ex-con Brotha Richard has agreed to let us come over some more and teach him despite being very busy with school. So we shall see him on Saturday.

But the work here is going good, I am really enjoying my Deathbed. Its a cushy spot. I just hope that I can see Larry and Cheryl get baptized before I come home. That would be my Teenage Dream. Even better then Katy Perry's.

Some cool things that have happened... I am driving a 2012 Subaru Legacy which is super nice. The nicest car I will drive for 20 years. It's "my precious".

Oh and thank you very much for wiring some money to my account! I got some good food for once. muchos gracious!!!! How are the Jazz doing??? I need my fix....

Anyways... Not much else to say this week!! but in 3 weeks I will be able to skype you guys for MOTHERS DAY!!! and then only like a month and a half and I will be returning into your loving arms.


<3 yall! have an EPIC week!

Elder Ballif

Larry and Cheryl still doing well

Hey Family, I hope all is well in Kaysville!

Cameron, Happy Birthday my little man! 6 years old! woohoo.

Thank you for all the Easter eggs full of love. I have already eaten them.

To answer a few questions, No I haven't been keeping a journal. The moments that are needed to be remembered will be remembered. And the camera you sent me out with pretty much stinks... sorry to say and I am not ungrateful but Fuji film is not a good company if you ask me.. every time I try and take a picture it tells me that the battery is not in the camera, but it sure is in there. So sufficeth to say I have not been a happy camper about "storing my memories".

Larry and Cheryl are doing awesome, they came to the Adult session of Stake Conference and they really enjoyed it. We stopped by to see them last night and they gave us a bunch of really good food!!!! (Salmon and Homemade Summer Sausage) I also gave Larry and Cheryl the Book of Mormon that you guys put your testimony and picture in and they really liked that. So thank you.

That is weird to hear that Quinn is leaving.. it will be sad to get back and not see his luscious locks.

Not much else has happened this week though.. Me and Elder Mcmakin get along really well.. he is part native american from Montana and he grew up on a reservation he is really cool.

I love you guys and CANNOT wait to see you.

<3 : ELDER BALLIF