Final count down?! o.O That sure scares me...



My comp got a giant hershey kiss in his package, and I was excited as well, luckily he shared haha. I miss american chocolate, it's SO expensive here.

Loved the emails this week everyone. Now that the whole pday idea has become second nature, email's like on of the only parts that's still entertaining haha. I took an hour nap today and it's funny how now I hardly even notice the difference :) The body must do some crazy adjustments during a mission.

  Well, in relation to the title of this email, the other day as I was writing down the happenings of the day and looking at the Christmas calendar from this year, I did a quick day count, and this past monday was my... uh... 100-days-left mark.... Are you kidding me?! I about blew a gasket when I realized that!!! It scared the yeast outta me!!!! (I was gunna say heck, but yeast fits better) There's this certain attitude that I've gotten on the mission where as I grow and learn more, I always have this huge feeling of excitement and anxiousness to put everything into practice and become better and better, but I got really scared realizing this whole 100 day thing because basically I'm not gunna have 'forever' to put this stuff into practice... It's just now that I have!! Man oh man the mission is unexplainable. I'm just feeling so much urgency to help these people! I know that this work isn't mine and that the work will go on whether I'm part of it or now, but I just can't imagine what my life as a not missionary would be like. I love this mission so much... I love being able to find people who are needing the gospel and have the authority and calling to be able to help them. I don't even know exactly what I'm trying to say, but basically just that I need to work my tail off even more haha.
  We had a weird repeat week where the same thing happened, lots of people to take to church, and at the last minute a bunch of lame stuff came up. Like I was saying with this whole time deal, I just can't lose any more time haha, these people need the gospel so bad!!! But, even with this downer, we've been able to find some awesome people this week so far. People that the Lord has truly prepared and who already recognize the fact that the Gospel is what they need. I just love everything about this mission... I don't even know what to say :) We're gunna head to zone conference tomorrow, so I'm excited and anxious to learn even more and more. Sadly tomorrow is gunna be the last Zone Conference with President Parrella, but it'll surely be a good one obviously. Thanks for your support everyone, your prayers are so needed and I'm so grateful for them. Love you all! Hurrah for Israel!!!
  -Elder Ballard

I feel like I'm sending these pics every week, but this was our lunch today. If you look close, the guaraná is 3.3 liters :D It's huge. Austin'll prolly remember the delicious cachorro quentes here. Obviously it's not the same as the street vendor, but with the fried potato crisps, (batata palha) it sure hits the spot.