Phone call home, amazing baptism, and bad stomach flu. Crazy fun Mother's day from my side! :D

Well, Sunday sure was a blast. For various reasons as the title shows haha. What an adventure!!
  So firstly with the call home on Sunday, that was a blast. I think one of my favorite parts is just hearing everyone's conversation and laughs. Obviously I don't get in on any of that through the email, so it's always fun hearing how everyone's changing. Man, just hearing the difference from the voices, I'm gunna die when I see the differences in height and all the other stuff that's changed. It sure makes me grateful for my family though. The majority of my comps until now haven't even come close to having a family our size, and so they usually have a phone call a little more calm and 'divided into groups of 10 minutes for every family member' type thing, but I enjoy the confusion of trying to jam 10 conversations into 40 minutes, keeps things interesting :D I forgot to ask you guys, did you guys film this last call as well? I forgot to do it from my side, but I'm just curious about your side. It's kinda weird how I feel like I totally forgot about everything we talked about, but I just remember that it was fun haha.
   It was kinda a funny end to our sunday cuz about 30 minutes after I got off the phone with you guys, me and my comp started feeling a little bit more nauseous, so we swung by the house to use the restroom and get some water. As we went in the house, I dunno if it was stomach flu or food poisoning, but it got us BAD. It was actually kind of humorous cuz everyone always jokes about being united as a companionship, and we both sat in our study room and threw up into buckets together... I couldn't help but laugh cuz as we vommited we talked about how funny the situation was. Throwing up as an adult sure is different than as a kid. Then sunday night on the way home I threw up again in the road at like 9 at night. Poor onlookers haha. We're all better now, but it was kinda funny how much was crammed into one day like that :)
   As I spoke about a little bit on the call, the baptism of Vinícius was incredible. Let's jump back about 3 weeks so that I can explain his story. A couple weeks back, we weren't finding a whole lot of new investigators, which makes a missionary worried. There are SO many people needed this gospel, and when you aren't finding the people who are prepared, you can trust that it's cuz you're not doing everything that you need to. So we were praying and praying for the Lord to guide us, and we received our response in an unexected way. One night we were running home, it was already 9:25 and we were sprinting up a hill to arrive at our house. Lungs almost bursting, throats charred with thirst, and as I finally made those last steps up to the front of our house, there was a guy stopped on a motorcycle in the front of our house. I stopped and he simply said, "Look up Vinicius who lives in Damásco, he's in your area book." And drove off. I was kinda confused and didn't think much of it, and stumbled into the house to plan and sleep. A few days later we decided to go to this neighborhood called Damásco, and arrived at a certain street and started knocking doors. We taught 1 or 2 lessons with nothing. As we climbed the street, we arrived at the house of a guy from the area book, but he wasn't at home, it was just his son. We tried to mark an appointment with his son, and he wasn't interested. We asked him if he knew anyone who was needing to hear about God, and he told us that a certain Vinícius lived in a house across the street, and that a while ago other missionaries were passing there. We went there, and no one was home. We went back a few days later, taught him the 1st lesson, and he accepted SUPER firm. He told us that 2 other groups of missionaries had passed there and taught him, but he just hadn't been able to get that desire to be baptized and follow the gospel. He explained how he'd been reading the Book of Mormon, and as we looked at his progress, he had already finished 2nd Nephi!!! He already realized the difference that the Book of Mormon was making, and later we found out that the week before we arrived there, he randomly told one of his friends when they were at a bar, "As of next week, I'm never coming back here again." We almost couldn't believe our ears through all this... To make a long story short, Vinícius (Vih-KNEE-see-us) who's 33 years old, was a smoker, drinker, addicted to crack, cocaine, and marajuana, and in a matter of 2 weeks (well, us working with him two weeks. I'm not sure how many months he's had the Book of Mormon helping him out) was able to stop and toss ALL of these addictions, and was baptized on sunday. He invited his mom to watch the ordinance, and he told us on monday that as his mom and him were riding the city bus back to their houses, he told his mom this, "Well Mom, you know that I don't have a job, that I'm poor, I live by myself, and that I can't buy you any jewelry or perfume or anything fancy, but this choice that I made today was what I wanted to give you for mother's day. A new me." ..........We were speechless hearing this. Even though I've seen lots of other people have amazing changes during my mission, the change that happened in Vinícius's life was incredible. I can't believe how much the Lord did in his life so fast. I love this work so much.

  Well Mom and all other moms out there, hope Mother's day was great, and hope everyone else is doing well. I'm loving my life as a missionary and am excited to go forth with even more determination and excitement! Hurrah for Israel! Happy end of the school year too!!
   -Elder Ballard



So, my clothes are finally hitting that degration point :D See ya socks.



One pair of shoes is definitely on it's "last leg"

4 Weeks of challenges finally pays off!!

'Tis crazy to think that Mother's Day is already isn't it? Does anyone else remember last mother's day when I said something to the effect of, "Man, it's weird that it'll be 8 months til the next call, then 4 months til the next call, then 4 months till I'm home?! It's gunna go fast!" Yeah, good heavens is all I have to say. It's almost unbelievable from my side haha...

I'll be really quick today cuz we're a little behind schedule, but this week was incredible!!! This last sunday we were privileged with the opportunity to baptize a lady named Meire!! We've been teaching her for like 4 weeks or so, and just cuz of complications on sundays and stuff she hadn't been able to make it to the sacrament meetings like she needed to. It was so cool seeing her grow though, she had so many blessings that the Lord gave her up until now, and we can't wait to see what else the Lord has in store for here now that she's passed through the step of baptism!! It was definitely a challenge to have so many road blocks come up, with family problems and emergencies and other crazy stuff, but it was just the best feeling ever to finally see her go down into the water and come up with a totally different look :) It was really touching as well cuz the newly called Relief Society President welcomed her after he baptizm and Meire started tearing up... The Spirit was SO strong and it's just the best feeling in the world to know not only that they are finally baptized, but that the branch is gunna hold them and help them stay firm. These last two days we went to Belo Horizonte for some training, and man... Definitely one of the highlights of my mission until now. I'm seriously so excited and stoked to just work my tail off till the end. President Parrella told us a personal experience about a few days back when he was saying his personal prayers. He said that he was feeling a little sorry for himself and expressing to the Lord how he doesn't want to end his mission (Pres. Parrella will end his mission on the 30th of June) and the Spirit basically told him "This isn't your work. It's mine. Go to work, and do what you know you need to." Him telling us that, the spirit basically relayed the power of that same message to me. This isn't my work. Even though I want it to just keep going on, it's not me that's making any of this happen, it's our Lord. So now I'm just trying my hardest to focus in with all I've got and become the type of tool that the Lord needs me to be. Thanks everyone for your prayers and support with this, and thanks for not being a trunky family that's always focused on the end of my mission haha. Obviously it will be exciting and fun to be home,  and we have a lot of fun plans and stuff that'll happen, but I need to focus on the now, and these next months that I still have covenanted to dedicate to the Lord. I love this work. I love you guys, and I'm so happy and proud to be a missionary. Hurrah for Israel and we'll talk on Sunday, 1:10 pm mountain time!!!    -Elder Ballard

One year without English, and the Portuguese has no end in sight!

Start of another month already... Started out with the first actual cold that I've felt in what feels like years! I slept using a sweater, a blanket, and long pj's, and still was a little chilly! My hands are even a little slow moving cuz of the cold haha, how awesome is that?!! Also, the 30th of April marked my one year mark of not having english companions! It's literally been an entire year since I've had a full blown english conversation at my apartment... How insane is that? I'm kinda concerned about how my english conversation skills are going to be later on :D Ah well though, it'll surely be the subject of many a chuckle. We had transfers this week, and I think this was the first time in my whole mission when President left me in the same area with the same comp :D So, if there aren't any emergency transfers, I'll be here for another 6 weeks at least!
 
     Well, this last week was yet another great one here in Varginha. We've found a couple people who are really prepared for the gospel and it's been awesome the blessings that these people have already recieved. One's named Meire (May-Ree) and she's a single mom with a 3 year old daughter. She works like crazy and has had a super hectic life until now. Last week her daughter got really sick so she had to stay home from work for a few days, and then the boss was a bum and fired her cuz she said it was unacceptable for her to miss work. Instead of losing her head and getting all worried, she prayed for help, and then literally the next day already found a better job that fits her schedule better :) It's amazing how the Lord helps in ALL aspects of these people's lives. We're teaching another lady named Luciana who was really troubled when we first found her cuz her son was put in jail recently cuz of drugs, and she didn't even know when he'd be able to get out. We were teacher her and all was going great, she loves to read so she's learning a TON. We were all praying for her son and her, and then out of nowhere, last thursday she got a call saying her son was being released cuz of his good behavior! I felt almost bad cuz I had quite honestly not had the faith that he would be released so soon, I was just doing the lame, pray-for-his-safety deal :/ Lesson learned with that one. We taught her son yesterday and he understood really well about the restoration, and shows HUGE desire to be free from his addictions. I'm really excited to see how things go with him.
  Not a whole lot of specifics to share this week I must say. These past few days have been pretty miraculous cuz my comp and I have both been having a little bit of knee pain cuz this area is full of hills, and some days when we're behind schedule we have to run to get back home, but we did our studies and stuff, both with our knees bugging us. Then we said a companionship prayer and asked for help, and the pain stopped... It was incredible. I was all concerned about if it was gunna bug-up the work or something, and all it needed was a little prayer :) Man this gospel is miraculous, I love it. Just like Mom said, this gospel just brings so much happiness, there's seriously nothing that we should worry about :)

Well, above all else, this church is true!! This work is guided by the Lord, and I'm so happy to be here. Love you all, and miss you all, but there's not place I'd rather be in or thing I'd rather be doing :) Hurrah for Israel!!!
    -Elder Ballard

Miracle an entire year in the making!!

We don't have a real washing machine in this area,

 so these pants are so dirt-caked that you

 can 'draw' on them with your fingernail haha

Isn't life great? Haha, I think that's one thing I love most about the gospel is when you just step back and realize how immensely blessed we all are. Seriously, I don't think any of us should ever complain about anything haha. And no that comment wasn't sparked as a result of anything... Just thinking out loud :D

  Well, this last week was incredible to say the least. A couple weeks back a member gave us a reference to a lady named Eni (eh-knEE) who's daughter had been baptized about 6 months ago, and who'd been receiving visits from the missionaries for about a year up until now. The member (her name's Vera) is one of Eni's neighbors and has been mentioning the Church and inviting her to activites for about the last 10 years, but nothing has happened. Eni was going to church for a few months straight a while back, but she didn't get baptized cuz she was dating and basically living with this other guy for like 18 years. When Vera told us about this lady, she told us that she felt like now was the time that she'd be baptized. I don't know what it was, but when she told this, I as well felt that it was her time.
  We started teaching her and she accepted the visits but was giving the same type of answer. "Nah, I'm fine going to church every week but I still have this problem with the Law of Chastity, so with baptism.... We'll see." We taught her and taught her, and then during one lesson the Spirit put a scripture into my head that I'd read about 2 or 3 months ago in Sete Lagoas (I don't have my scriptures with me, but it's the one in Alma when he's talking to his son and says basically, "Bridleth thy passions, so that you might be filled with love."). This scripture was one that I'd randomly used in a baptismal interview that I'd done back in 7 Lagoas to help this other guy with some doubts he had about chastity. Anyways, I read the scripture and helped her understand it, and there was this moment when it just clicked, and without us saying anything or asking her anything, she just said, "What you both just told me is true... Even though I've been dating this guy for 18 years, I'm not happy." When that moment hit, she started crying and it was just so visible that the Spirit had finally opened up her understanding and she realized why baptism was so important. She accepted the baptismal invite and decided that she'd do what needed to be done with her boyfriend. This was 2 weeks ago, and she originally was going to be baptized on the 15th, but 2 days before she randomly called us up, cancelled her baptismal interview, and said she'd wait longer to make the decision. Honestly we were both crushed cuz we knew that the Spirit had touched and taught her. She didn't even go to church on sunday, so monday we headed back to see what happened. During the week before the baptism she told us that she'd been feeling great and super spiritual during the whole week, but on friday randomly she started having some doubts, and these doubts basically just snuffed out the Spirit. Without those good feelings, she started to be confused, and ended up opting to not get baptized. As we taught her and talked through things, she started crying again realizing yet again why she needed to be baptized. At one point she said, "You know what, last week I was feeling something that I haven't felt since the day of my marriage 35 years ago, or the days when my 2 children were born... And I need  that feeling. Mark my baptism for this week and I will be baptized." Man, it's been a while since I've cried out here, but man... Just feeling just how bad the Lord wants here to feel that hope and love was incredible.

   To make a long story short, she was interviewed the next day, and last friday, she was baptized as the opener for a Relief Society Dinner. Almost all the Relief Society was there, and the support was just amazing. It was just so incredible seeing how the Lord was working with this lady basically over the last 10 years so that that day could finally happen. Man, it's hard to even explain the feeling that comes after one of these experiences. I went into the bathroom to change out of my wet clothes and I just couldn't stop smiling... It was like this uncontrollable desire to just start laughing haha :) So, that was the highlight of my week, and man I love this work. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement. Just hearing how things are doing makes me happy and excited haha. Love you all, have a great week, and soon we'll already be on mother's day won't we? Hurrah for Israel!!!!
    -Elder Ballard

Obedience is the best thing ever! :D

Really great hearing from everyone this week! Glad to hear that all's well.

   Dad - So the other day I was randomly walking down the street heading to an appointment and started chuckling out loud, my comp asked what it was, and I was laughing cuz I randomly remembered that ChristmasEve talent show where you conducted that Big Band sound file :D Haha, even though it's a good 8 months away, I'm excited for the good old Ballard Christmas Eve. It's funny cuz I think every companion that I talk to about you, every one of them says they want to meet you. Another really good memory, remember that one sunday when my belt broke? So I ended up grabbing one of those black tie down straps in the garage and used it, and that day at church it just happened to be the day when the Priesthood lesson was about personal appearance and we both just looked at each other and I tried to hide the "belt"? Hahahaha... man that was classic.

  Family - I was thinking the other day, remember how funny Austin's farewell was in the IF airport? The way that we all stood there with our faces against the glass just sobbing completely uncontrollably :D Hahahahaha... so funny. I'm glad that mine wasn't so painful and tearful haha. Goooood times.

  So this last week President Parrella, as he was doing interviews with all the missionaries on the mission, started finding some slackage in some of the rules, little stuff like leaving the house at 10:03 instead of 10:00, staying at a member's house for an hour and 5 minutes for lunch instead of just an hour, and he advised everyone to just buck up and keep ALL the rules with exactness, and it was such a cool wakeup call. Not that we were having any major problems, but it was just so cool seeing the difference that a more conscious effort is making. Just as the scriptures say, little things bring about huge differences. The Spirit is way more present in our work, we're seeing amazing changes and miracles in the lives of our investigators, and this week is going to be wonderful. I don't have a lot of specifics to report this week, but man... I just love obedience. I'm learning so many important lessons out here. Me and my comp were talking about rules where we don't understand the purpose, and I realized that many times the Lord will give us commandments that we won't understand the "why", simply because He doesn't want us to have any way of justifying! In 1 Nephi 3:7, Nephi never used the word why. He isn't worried about the "why", he's just worried about him doing his part and fulfilling the commandment. If the Lord clearly explains the 'why', yes it can be a big motive for us to obey. But, if we aren't needing that motive at the moment, we'll justify and not obey! We all know that temple attendance will help our families be more united and happy, but if we think, "Ah, my family is doing really well right now. Everyone's firm in the chruch, everyone's getting along, so... I think I'll go to the temple next week, cuz we're doing ok ourselves." Ehhhnt (<- imitating a buzzer sound), wrong. It all makes a lot more sense doesn't it? Obedience isn't just to gain blessings, it's to follow the Lord. Thanks for your prayers everyone, things are great here. Sorry to not have a lot more to report, but HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!! -Elder Ballard

BLESSing of an Easter, and celebrating with a BBQ :)

If you look at last year's easter, I had a big old chocolate easter egg, but this year our lack of funds and lack of time, we ended up these little egg-lets (ovinhos de Páscoa), but they were good too :)

Happy Easter this last week! 'Twas the best here in Sion... I couldn't be more grateful :)

    So like 2 hours after I sent my email last pday we already had an incredible miracle. We got a call a few days before about a guy who asked the other 2 missionaries who work on the other side of the city, for a Book of Mormon. He said he'd studied with some sisters that had been here a while before, but had lent his BoM out and never got it back. So we went there last pday night, and this guy, named Odair (Oh-die-ear) told us about a few addictions that he still had, but remembered basically perfectly the story about Joseph Smith and the BoM. When we gave him the book and told him the invite to read and ponder and pray, he accepted and said that that was what he hadn't done the other time when he'd been studying. We marked his baptism for sunday, and he had worries that he wouldn't be ready so fast, cuz of his addictions, but we testified that the Lord would help him and that the Book of Mormon truly had the power to help him. It was amazing how the Spirit testified cuz when we told him that sunday being Easter when we commemorate the resurrection of Christ, we explained how his baptism would be like a resurrection for his new life. The Spirit was super strong and he accepted the date. We came back the next day and he had read like 4 or 5 chapters even though we'd only left 1 chapter for him to read, and he showed us 2 or 3 verses that had called his attention that were super powerful about baptism and repentance. He told us that he had also stopped smoking and didn't even have any more desire to smoke, which was a direct blessing from his reading. Over the next few days he kept reading, kept progressing, stopped drinking, and on Sunday, Odair was baptized!!! There were a bunch of members who remembered him from the time when he had been going to church a while back, and the support that the members gave him was amazing. Odair is a really sarcastic and kinda impatient type of guy, but it was such an amazing thing to see him come up out of the water and just, wait. He stood there for just a few seconds and it was just like you could see the reality of what had just happened sink in, and he realized that he was finally free from the problems he had had before. Man it was an amazing moment. Elder Leite de Sousa was able to baptize him, and since it was the first person that he has baptized, it just made it all the more special. I think this is one of the parts I love the most about my mission is seeing the change that happens to someone from the first day up until the baptism. With him it was just like 5 days, but the Lord can make anything possible. It made it more real to me the why I was called to this area. Man I love the mission :)
  This week is going really well as well, we've been putting our focus on families and we're praying and working as much as we can to find families who are ready for this gospel. Today we decided to do something a little special, and we did a hamburger roast! The house here has an open area out back that's just overgrowth and trees and stuff, so we made a little firepit out of cinderblocks and ceramic tiles, bought some charcoal, and roasted up some american burgers :) We even found bbq sauce today, so it was a good old American Favorite. Really, the smell of smoke and the taste of barbeque sauce sure put me back in time... Not with homesickness or anything, but just like an extreme fondness for the good old days of camping in moody meadows and whatnot. Good times eh? And good times in the future as well! I sure am just loving every minute out here. It's kinda annoying cuz everyone I talk to and tell how much time I have on the mission, always says, "Oh, so you're time is basically out..." And I always retort that NO! There's SO much more that needs to be done!! It scares me cuz every day that passes I feel the reality of my time closing in... I just want to burn myself out to the last minute and do everything that the Lord has for me to do. Keep me in your prayers everyone, cuz I just desperately want to do all that I can. I love you all, things are wonderful here, have a splendid week and I hope to bring more good tidings next week :) Hurrah for Israel!!!!!
      -Elder Ballard



 Today's bbq. Nothing compares with the smoky smell of open-fire cooked patties.

Oh Sion, dear Sion! Wow conference was great.

Crazy how this was my last general conference on the mission... These moments are kinda rough cuz it makes it all hit home that I'm not gunna be able to stay our here forever :/ But, let us all rejoice either way alright?
So, conference was amazing wasn't it? Sadly on saturday we spent the time during the sessions running after people who had accepted and marked to go with us to conference, but to no avail, they ended up not being able to. Kinda a bummer, but I end up learning more in my studies of the Liahona afterwards when it's in english haha. The sunday sessions were incredible though. Like you said Mom, it was so SO focused on families!! I loved that. On the sunday sessions we only were able to take a few investigators, but as the Prophet was ending his talk, I got this super strong feeling of how much people outside of the church are missing out. This city that we're in has roughly 150,000 people that live here, and our side of the city should have at least 70,000 that out area covers. With the 50 or 60 people that went to these sessions I just couldn't get it out of my head just how many families could evade all the problems that families have nowadays. All the children born without parents... All the marriages that don't last, all the abuse and sadness and heartbreak, the answers are ALL right in front of our faces!!! It's so sad that we invited so many people to come and only a handful took the decision to just use 2 hours of their saturday or sunday to hear those priceless words. It was honestly really sad how that was my last conference on the mission... I remember last year as well as last conference thinking, next year I'm gunna take like 30 people to conference so that they can know that there is such thing as a true prophet!!! And now I can't say that "next time" thing :( Man... talk about a killer feeling.
   Even though the missionary aspect of the conferences didn't go quite as I'd planned it, Monday we had a Leadership Council in BH (we left here 1:45 am, got back here 7:45 pm... haha, kill me) and wow... Talk about an eye opening experience. We've received a lot of new missionaries these last few months so President has opened a lot of new areas and even new zones, and there were so many good ideas discussed there. It was amazing how it all happened, cuz we all just discussed our difficulties in the work and what is holding us all back from finding and helping more families and people in our zones, and the Spirit just turned it into an incredible learning experience. At the end and since monday I've just had this like, renewed fire inside of me. Even though it scares the heck outta me that time is going so fast, I feel like I've been able to take hold of my original excitement and fire that I had when I was brand new, and I just feel like the Lord is so ready to make SO many miracles happen, and now it just relies on my effort and focus!! I'm hitting that point where I'm realizing that there's just no time left to lose, and I just need to give it every single bit that I have. I just regret not catching this vision earlier, but either way I'm just stoked and ready to give it all I can. I'm realizing just how much more I truly can give, how much more focused I can be, how much more I can sacrifice, and I'm just... Excited haha. More than ever before I know that this is God's work. I know that missionaries are truly representatives of Jesus Christ, and that I just need to be the type of instrument that will allow the Lord's hand to be manifested just as much as He is wanting it to. Happy anniversary Mom and Dad, happy birthday Brigham and Austin, and happy Easter to all. Hurrah for Israel!!! Thanks and love you all!!    -Elder Ballard