First Week as District Leader

Hey family,

I hope you guys are doing good. My first week as District Leader was a little stressful, lets just say I hope things improve quickly. I don't really know what God wants me to learn this transfer with the situation I have been put in... but I guess I will just deal with it.

I hope that you had a great birthday my momma... I sent something but it might not be there until either today or tomorrow, so a little late.. But better late then never has been a motto of mine for a while.

I love you very much and long for July 2012.. especially right now. Well, I don't really have anything else to say this week. I have been reading D&C, I am in the 66th Section I believe. But I might pause that and read the Pearl.

I love you guys,

Elder Ballif

New Companion and New Calling

Hey my wonderful loving family,

It sounds like you guys are doing well and having a good time. Thank you for your insights and thoughts, I love and do take into account what you all have to say. I have been working on being more teachable. I feel like I know that I am not perfect but then again sometimes I feel like I know best.. frankly, I need to break that ego of mine.

So about transfers, Elder Acuna is getting transferred to Bend. And I am getting a companion that is about to go home next month named Elder Redfern.

Also I have been called as a District Leader for the Santa Clara district in Eugene Oregon. I'm a little worried about some things but I have faith that God will help me as I trust him and do my best. He hasn't failed to disappoint yet.. ;)

The work here is going alright, we just got some referrals and we are working with a few investigators and less actives but nothing too dandy to report. My ward is cool too, my Ward Mission Leader is awesome. I like the members, and the area isn't so bad.

Just so you know, I am NOT getting a flu shot. That has not changed nor ever will change. If they got the nose spray I can consider it.

Well I love you guys and I pray for you all, night and day!

Happy Birthday to you all that have just had one, (Kim, and Ellie) and also Momma, You have a great birthday as well on the 22nd! I love you very much and I miss you like Jacob misses Bella................ what?????????!?

have a good week

(yes I just referenced Twilight...)

love,

Elder Ballif

P-Day Switched this Week

Hey family,

Sorry that this email is a bit late... Our p day was switched around due to Elder Koelliker of the 70 coming to our mission for a visit. Which was a good experience, you can just tell from meeting him that he is a man of God.

Well elder Acuna and I are doing well, that is cool that Josh just left. I love you guys and I will write more next week due to transfers!!! We don't know what will happen..


Love, Elder Ballif

He is Alive!

Hey family,


I hope you guys are doing well! Sorry for the inconsistency of my emailing.. our computer access was very faulty, but we have figured it out so it should not be an issue
anymore.


I am glad you guys had fun at Fish lake, that sounded like a blast! unfortunately I don't think I grew up like fishing too much so trying to get me to go with you guys
will be quite a treat. You guys could bribe me... just a thought. ;)


Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed conference! I know I enjoyed all 10 hours of it. I really enjoyed the Saturday afternoon session. I really liked Elder Uchtdorf's talk.
(about potential)


I got to see the end of the BYU v Utah State game which was quite a journey.. I feel like from what I saw that Jake Heaps is still too young, And that Ryley is a better leader for them this year.. but I'm sure they will be playing Jake Heaps as the starter and he will do marginal like he has been I have heard--so whatever.


We are doing well, we are not hurt or anything. We are getting along famously actually, He is a very nice man child. The only thing that is really frustrating me at the moment is that I can't seem to set up Basketball any of the weeks I have been here except the first and we have the biggest zone in the mission, it makes me want to go climb Mount Hood and cry and punch dance my rage on the top of those rigorously treacherous slopes. Or get a an Ice cream cone.. both would work.


I usually get to go play some ball and it gets my mind off of the other things.. but not here. It hurts my soul. Basketball is what balances out my Ying and Yang! and my zen. Sorry I just got done reading the Art of War. Perfect reading for a missionary! ;)


Anyways I love yall and I pray that God is watching over you all.

Elder Ballif!

A message from President Young

1st Week in Eugene

Hello, Family..

I hope you guys are doing well, This week was good.. Eugene is pretty nice. I like the area better then Albany so far.. And my companion is really nice. We will get along famously. He is not an islander.. he is Hispanic. You pronounce his name Acunya but it is spelled Acuna with a ~ over the N.

I am looking forward to the upcoming weeks. We have some good things going on and they just baptized a family the night before I got here so the ward is pretty excited. The only bummer with this area is, we don't have the car on p-day.. and like no one around us does. So that sucks, its hard to organize some bball like this--but we still manage to get the job done.

I really like our ward mission leader, he is a younger guy named Brother Baird.. and we like a lot of the same things, so we are pretty much best friends.. he just doesn't know it yet. ;)

Unfortunately I haven't been reading as much of the Book of Mormon as I was... I was really on a tear there for a while. but I am on chapter 59 or so... so almost done with the wars and contentions of the days of Captain Moroni... he is a stud. What a Strategist. Reminds me of myself..... just kidding.

Anyways, Eugene is really green. A lot of hippies. And a lot of LOVE--almost as much love as I have for yall.

Have a good week, I love you guys

Elder Ballif

Getting Transferred to Eugene

Hey Family, 

I hope everything is going well back in good old Kaysville. Its going pretty well here in Albany but I am more concerned about my new area that I am going to TOMORROW!! I am going to Eugene.

My address is going to be:

1800 River Rd Apt. 2-B

Eugene, OR 97404

I will be serving in the Santa Clara 2nd Ward which is a pretty tiny area from what I hear and my companion is the District Leader and his name is Elder Acuna (a-coon-yuh). President Young told me that it is going to be a very important transfer for me and him because he wants to make me a leader (this is what he told me). Its pretty exciting. Its going to be a pretty crazy transfer! I am up for it though.

Well, the work in Albany is going a little slowly now... Lacy is on a lengthy vacation in Salem. And we haven't seen her in 2 weeks but thats alright I feel that she will be back tonight hopefully. 

I will make sure to get pictures with all my favorite families. I got a picture with a little boy that reminds me a lot of Carsen. So I had to get a picture with him! 

God has definitely blessed me in this work and helped me grow when I needed to and I feel like the more effort I put in the more he blesses me. And that is why I am excited to get a new area and go to work. 

Well family, I don't really have much to tell you, I love you and I bought some huge duffle bags instead of suitcases.. WAY CHEAPER. I love you all and I hope you have a magnifico week! 

Love,

Elder Ballif

Faith and Things

Hey Family,


I hope you guys are doing well, that is pretty crazy that Brock is home.. That feels like not that long ago.. but then again it doesn't really feel like I have been out for a year already. I feel like you guys should put a count down on the blog to when I come home.. which will be around July 5th or so of 2012. So that is pretty exciting, I hope people will actually be at my Homecoming. But I tend not to think about stuff like this right now... Just sometimes. I feel like I have accepted the fact that me thinking about home and the things I want to do when I return will not help anything right now and just make it worse. I just hope and pray that you guys are alright and I hope that I can be better than I was when I get back.. Because you truly "don't know what you got till it's gone" And I feel like I owe a lot of love to you guys for helping me grow up and helping me get out here so I can mature.


Everything is going alright, I feel as though I will be transferred this upcoming week so you guys will know next Monday If that comes to fruition. I am currently on alma 46 right now right after Alma the Younger (my favorite Prophet) gets taken up into Heaven. I really enjoy his teachings and all that he did for the people of the Church. I really like Ammon too he was a man of great faith and confidence in God that he did great things by Faith. Faith is definitely a key factor in anything in life.. It motivates us to do things.. Like I wouldn't read the scriptures if I didn't have faith that I would learn more and become more spiritual. I wouldn't pray if I didn't have Faith that God would help me with the current problems or good things going in life. I wouldn't work a job if I didn't have faith that I would get payed some $$$. etc.. etc.. 


Faith is a very big thing that we all need to have. And that is why the first principle of the Gospel of Christ is Faith on him. That will lead you to experiment on his words and try to be like him and follow his example. Which in turn makes you happier and makes the world a little bit better. If everyone was truly seeking the kingdom of God then the world would be a lot better than it is. But Satan has a great grasp on many people. As he is reigning on the Earth. But luckily that reign of the evil one will soon end. And the Savior will come and redeem his people, I feel sooner then we realize. I am not going to put a number on it because NO ONE knows except the Father, (take that Judgment Day on October 21st 2011- LAME) But we just need to make sure we are trying to be like the savior and constantly praying for forgiveness and help because we sure as heck need it. This world has become a terrible place, and the true saints of God are few in number. But that is where I come in! we have two people that have baptismal dates, Lacy and Peter. And we are also going to be setting a third possibly today. We are working with 3 main people right now that are non members, they are great people and they want to know how to go by God. And I am grateful to God for helping me find them. And helping me teach them. I have been very blessed as I have been out here to learn and develop quickly. As long as I have cast aside my stubbornness... :(


But family I hope you are doing well, I love you guys with all my heart. And I cannot wait for the day I can see you all again.


love,
Elder Ballif

Pray for Lacy

Hey Fam,

I hope you guys are doing well and enjoying life. Life is definitely an interesting thing to me.. it feels like everything is good at one point, then comes a trial. And that tests your faith and obedience and in turn if you suffer it well your faith grows and your happiness grows. And when that trial goes and everything is good again, we start to forget God and grow prideful, This has happened to me many times in my life. And then God has to send another trial in your path to humble you again, and so on and so forth. Its a continual cycle, the reason I share this is because I read Alma chapter 5 yesterday. And that really kind of makes you feel unworthy.. even when you are content in life and you feel like you are not doing anything wrong. I feel like if your not trying to improve something to grow closer to God and if your thinking that your relationship is good enough, THEN IT ISN'T. We need to make sure we have God before anything else. Now, this is a hard task. And we have so many things going on in our lives that we constantly forget. I hate it. Because even for me serving God at this time. I forget that I am his servant at all times.. But the most beautiful part about us being imperfect is Gods Grace. In the church we don't really mention God's Grace too much. But we need to realize that we are not perfect and nor can we be perfect until the resurrection. As long as we are constantly repenting and striving to be better.

Sorry, you just got another Tangent of mine.. But things are going pretty well here. I cannot say that I am really happy being in this area for this long. I need a change but I am still trying to keep my composure. We set up a Baptismal date with Lacy, she is awesome and she is trying to quit smoking right now. We set a date with her for the 10th of September so if she gets baptized then I will not get to be the one to do it so I am trying to get her ready so she can get baptized on the 3rd because she wants to get baptized in the river and that would be sweet for me to do that. Especially because I have been working with her for a long time even like 6 months and I do truly care about her. Which I feel is rare for me. I have a hard time caring about people.... but I am praying for that to change a little. I am on Alma 6 in the book of mormon, I have been re-reading it.. I also wish I had more time to study because I love learning and growing now. I can't wait to get home so I can go to college. It is a weird thing that I used to hate school with a passion and now I am looking forward to it.. I am still unsure of what I would like to do with my life, but I have been thinking that I want to go into psychology or Business, or if I was to go to BYU there is a double masters program for the two. So I might want to try that... I dunno... But I am excited to get home to see you all... So I can catch some "gatas" with Cam and Carsen that video was pretty funny but you got to sneak video them catching them. I need the realism. But very cute non the less.

I love you guys and I hope you have a fantastic week. Pray for me and pray for Lacy and her baptism if you could. I need help. And I will do the same for yall.

Just to add to my email, Our mission had the privilege to have Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles come and speak with us on Saturday morning and that was pretty cool we learned some cool things and I got to shake his hand.. so yeah it was pretty cool. Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Ballif

When Ryan should Go

Hey Familohla,

It is good to hear from you guys ;) ... and by you guys I mean 2 of you.....

Whatever, I see how it is. I hope you guys are having a good week, my week was alright. Not much has changed.. except that we are going to be baptizing a 8 year old kid named Colby soon, it might be right after I get transferred.. Which is most likely going to occur on September 6th or 7th. I am not 100% sure on that but I have a feeling I need to go somewhere else.. because I have been here for a long time.

But for the most part things are going good for me.. I cannot say that doing this work is very easy for me, but I am very thankful that I came out here so I could grow. Because without coming out here I really would have been a foolish 21 year old next year instead of what I am now.. which is 10x better... and then some?

  Concerning Ryan's Mission or lack their of... I think he should think about it and decide what he should do.. its his life. But on the other hand, I would definitely like to see him for a little while. And help him better prepare... I would not be mad if Ryan even decided he did not want to go on a mission at all.. But that would be a very bad mistake if he chose not to. Ryan, from the feelings that I have gathered is acting a lot like I was before I came out here. And the only reason I am different and BETTER now is because I came out here and I stayed. Its not always fun or easy to be here and sometimes I wish I was home. But I am still growing and learning every single day I am out here and that growth would not have come without being here at all. So with that said, I would enjoy spending some time with Ry guy when I get back.. but it is his choice whither he goes before I get back or if he waits till I come home.

I love you guys a lot, I cannot wait to see you guys and hold you each very dearly. Especially MOM. She needs the lovin.

I don't know if I need anything.. I am doing well enough off.  I love you guys and I hope you have a magnificent week!

~Elder Ballif~