Last letter from the MTC

Hello Family!!
Holy moley it's finally here... my last Pday in the MTC. This has been the weirdest feeling for me. The first of this week was crazy because waiting for a reassignment has been like waiting to receive my call all over again! The whole district got called down into the Travel Office and they just read all our assignments to us off of a sheet, so it wasn't quite as exciting as my call, but still gave me a rapid heart rate for about 45 minutes :) Houston Texas!! Man how crazy is that! I know it's not the one that Grandma and Grandpa and Darin and Holley live in but still just the fact that it's the same city is crazy to me!! I am SO excited to go there! I've heard rumors that the part we might be in is prodominently spanish speaking... so that scares the heck outta me, but either way I am so excited. I can't speak any spanish but at least I can understand it cuz of Portugese :) It's been such a wierd feeling this week to realize that my schedule for the last 8 weeks is finally going to be cracked and I'll finally be able to start living in the real world again! It's going to be so crazy to actually be considered "special." I remember whenever we'd see missionaries in Rexburg we'd wave and honk and everything, and when you're in the MTC everyone is a missionary so it kinda makes you feel like you're just a normal person. But now, the minute I get off the shuttle to the airport in Salt Lake, EVERYONE is going to be watching me and wondering who I am. I've been praying like crazy to be ready for whoever I'll meet or sit by on the plane or whatever I end up doing, and it has amazed me how much the Spirit and the Lord has helped me learn in preparation for this experience... I'm a little nervous of course but my excitement is completely outweighing any other feelings of being nervous or anything. AH!!! I can't believe my REAL mission is only like 4 days away!!
Alright, I need to hurry and do some replyings before I continue much more. For Aust - It's been snowing here a little bit, not a ton but funny to watch the Elders from New Mexico and California and Sister Hammaker from Texas enjoy even a little bit so much. I'll prolly miss the snow on Christmas I'm assuming, but I don't think it'll be a big deal or anything. I canNOT beleive you're getting married in 40 days!!! I've been out here for like 58 i think... that is outrageous!! SO excited for you two though!! Your metaphor of the mission being a hill was really cool, I read it to my district and everyone else agreed. 22 fast sundays?! AH! That is so insane! I can't believe time out here... Good heavens. laugh about the dream :) SO weird to see her as Taylor Hymas now! What the crazy! To Grandma and Grandpa - I am so excited to be serving in Houston! I don't know how long I'll be there of course because of my visa uncertainty, but that makes me so glad that I'll be able to attend the temple if I'm there long enough, how exciting. Also, can someone specifically tell aunt Denae thank you? She sent me cupcakes a couple weeks ago and it didn't have an address or anything, but just make sure she knows we all split them in the district and loved them :)
Well, this last week totally topped things off with (can you believe it) apostle number 4!!!! Elder Bednar!!!! What are the chances!!! I found out that this next week will be Elder Perry and we'll just miss him, but I have been SO spiritually fed this month. Elder Bednar has SUCH an amazing talk. He talked about how important and effective doctrine is compared to what he called "applications." He explained it basically like: What's going to make a group of Elders change their hometeaching habits? Something like calling them every 1st of the month to remind them? (This is an application) Or making them truly realize and believe in the doctorine that the purpose of home teaching is to watch over, strengthen, and truly care for the members. (This is a doctrine) It was such a simple talk but SO perfect for me as a missionary. This truly was one of those life changing talks because I've realized I can really use that in every part of my life. I made some copies of my notes from it, so I'll be sending those home probably next week or so. Last week was mission conference which was also amazing. The leaders we have here teach with SO much power and it was all so applicable to us. Elder Bednar this tuesday told us that he still has his notes from when he was in the MTC, and amazingly enough, he even STILL refers back to them! SO cool! I can't wait to share all my notes with you all when I get home, I have learned amazing things. I think you'll get a laugh at this though, during the closing song at mission conference, it was a not very well known hymn, and at one point the computer lagged so the next line didn't show up, and the volume of the entire congregation was hilarious. The hymn was going on completely normal and then all the sudden the beautiful singing turned into a quiet groan of mumbled singing and it was hilarious that no one knew the words :) Man though... this whole MTC experience has just been SO amazing to me.
Well, it was so great talking to Dad and Aust and even Shandee this week! Sorry about my portuguese fail Aust :P The fact that I had a single minute left of phone time stressed my brain out and I wasn't saying what I wanted to :P I'll have to redeem myself for sure this Christmas. Well, I leave this Tuesday at 6:00 here, get to Houston at about 5:40ish that evening. My new address will be:

16623 Hafer Road
Houston, TX 77090

I love you all family!! You are amazing!! I'm so excited to go to Houston!!! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!! (pictures in the maikl)

-Elder Ballard

November 5th

(Elder Melvin J. Ballard and Elder Ballard)


Hi Family!
I'll respond first like i usually do. Thanks for writing me some in portuguese! That was so awesome to be able to understand! Mom-That would be awesome to do a blog!! Then my friends could see pictures and my letters and stuff. Also put on there that I really like hand written letters from people :) Cuz... i got one letter this week haha. And i don't NEED letters to live, but with it being the 8th week, anything to break the monotany is very VERY appreciated.
Alrighty, now I'll actually talk about other stuff. So firstly, last Sunday an elder (actually from Idaho Falls) sand a song called something like "My Kindness Shall Not Depart from Thee" and you should see if it's on iTunes or something because it is AMAZING. It's about when Joseph was in liberty jail and I just know you'll love it if you can find it. This weeks, believe it or not, we had ELDER BALLARD come!!! 3 in a row?! What are the chances!! Plenty of people were asking me if I was related which was entertaining. But man, I never cease to be amazed at how powerful of speakers apostles are. He talked about becoming a master communicator and just like the other apostles, it got me SO excited for the field!! Especially with my departure date being 10 days from today I am getting SOO ready for it!! We'll see if this week has another apostle in store or not :) During this week I was studying and had some points hit me really hard about member missionary work. As I read it it made me think of you all a lot, and looks like it's pretty similar to what Bishop is talking about to. I found some points in PMG about it, after reading the Tree of Life vision that Lehi had. That vision really made me realize that once we've tasted this gospel, it's our DUTY to share it with other people. We need to have that desire to share it because if not, the Lord isn't going to want to give us more because He will know we won't share it. One of the coolest things it said was something to the effect of "The Lord pormises to help members know what to say and do AS THEY SHARE THE GOSPEL." This kinda of point has been hitting me really hard lately, a lot of the times we need faith in the Lord and to do works BEFORE we receive the blessings. It also said something like "We need to be praying for the opportunities to share the gospel and do missionary work." It made me think of the people that live in the Yellow house and of Ellises. I know that I NEVER prayed for opportunities to teach people before the mission, and maybe this is why I never had opportunities. I just challenge you all to start praying for things like this, I and know the Lord really will give you all opportunities. Whether it's just to do service or actually share the gospel or invite them to hear the gospel, the Lord will give opportunities. My testimony grows every day out here family. The Lord loves us so so so very much. Thank you all for helping me so much before the mission to get to this point where I'm at. I couldn't be more grateful for the Lord leading me the way He has, and I can't wait to serve Him more wether it be in Brazil or stateside or wherever. I love you all family!!

-Elder Ballard

PS - Btw, next time i write, I'll have my reassignment! (or visa maybe haha) We'll receive it next wednesday so I'll tell you soon! And also, sorry for my horrible english. I spelled "deep" as "deek" this week so... down hill from here :P

October 29, 2010

Provo temple, Elder Ballard and companion Elder Alexandre























Absolutely Awesome District 33A, from top left to right: Elders Bitner, Hilton, Hansen, Christensen, Holliday Bottom: Elder Helsten (Elder Russel M. Nelson's grandson), Elders Ison, Sisters Woodland and Hamaker, Elder Bushnell, Alexandre and Ballard!


















Oi familia!!
Firstly i'll reply to everying :)
Aust- Speaking of Jimmy Stuart accents, one night when we were getting ready for bed I asked some elders in my district if they'd seen Wonderful Life, and then entertained them with some MARY!!! and MISTER GOWER!!!ing, quite enjoyable. Me and some elders were talking about land before time and how sad it is that Ducky had to go ruin Spike's life and make him retarded by opening his shell prematurely... mwahaha. Thanks for the letter
Mom- The rest of the district didn't get that great of seats for that devotional but because we knew where Elder Helsten was we watched and all got a little teary eyed. Elder Ison (his companion) about flipped his lid though, I would have too standing that close and watching your companion hug an Apostle!!
Alright, this week was aaaaamazing. On monday night, my teacher Brother James got really serious at the end and told us all that he needed our help. He's getting engaged soon and is going to get married next june. Then he told us how his dad isn't active and that he want's to reactivate him so he can be there when he gets married in the temple. So he asked us all for imput or ideas on how he could talk to him. It was so touching that he had the trust in all of us to help him with something this personal and special. After this night the Lord made me realize that there are SUCH important reasons that my visa hasn't come yet. I know I've felt the spirit a lot here and everything but the Lord really showed me why that night. This was the first real "investigator" we've had and the Spirit has been so strong as I've tried to find out how I can help him with this situation. As if this wasn't good enough, on Tuesday who should speak but Elder Scott!!!! What are the chances of two in a row!!! Over the summer I remember specifically listening to some of his talks and I got so excited to hear him. He talked about ways we could obtain the Spirit in our lives which was perfect because it was something I'd been praying to learn better, and from some of his other talks I knew that this was one aspect of the gospel he was extremely "pro" on. The talk was absolutely amazing, I'll try and get you a copy of the handout he gave us with it because it is amazing. The coolest part of the whole talk though was at the end. As he was closing up, he stopped and said something to the effect of, "I don't say this as Elder Scott, I say this as an Apostle ordained of God who holds all the keys of the kingdom of God: To you elders that are learning a language, I invoke upon you the Gift of Tongues." He then went on to explain that words, phrases, grammer, everything would come faster. As if this wasn't amazing enough, he then invoked upon us a gift of confidence in this gift and in our potential. I've NEVER felt the Spirit so strongly testify to me that an apostle of God was talking to us. This was EXACTLY what I, along with everyone in the district, needed to hear. At the very end he testified of the reality of Christ and I literally felt a wave of warmth come over me and my heart, and afterwards I literally felt the Lord wrap his arms around me. I've never ever ever felt so close to Christ as I did that night. He literally does know and love us. He is real. I know that Christ lives. That night as the district discussed all this, we decided that because of this renewed blessing of the Gift of Tongues, we would speak Portuguese from here on out. So as of today, this is the 3rd day straight of speaking only portuguese. Is this a miracle or what? I've begun reading my scriptures in portuguese only and I've felt the gift of tongues SO powerfully. I was reading and couldn't figure out these 3 huge words, and after a couple minutes of thinking I just "knew" that they were "cursed, sore, and curse" How amazing is that? I cannot even explain how amazing these past few days have been. There is a reason why my visa hasn't come yet. I'm so thankful to the Lord that He has worked on my even though I haven't known the entire reasons why. God loves us and works SO intimately in our lives. He has led my life so much up to this point and all I can do is continue to strive to be the kind of servant that He can trust to recieve promptings and go where He wants me to. The Church is true family!!! I love this gospel sooooo much. Never doubt that God loves us all SO much. I love you family!! Thank you some much for all you do! I pray for you all every night! Until next week!

-Elder Ballard

Oct. 22nd

First companion, Elder Alexandre

Samuel Smith and Redge Ballard

Hello family!
This past week has been soooo awesome... As always I guess :) First of all thanks for the letters, glad mine made it there without any problems. Thanks for getting my ipod figured out, still no music allowed but I'm glad to at least have that talk on there for later. So I'm curious, how legit do you think that rumor about the calls in Brazil is? I told my companion about it and we're really curious now. Because we were thinking that if that is the case, we'll be some of the last English missionaries to go into there, so especially by the end we'll only have mostly native companions there. Hmm, super interesting. By the way Mom, that'd be great if you could keep the announcements from the newspaper for marriages and what not. Also, would you look over the missionary announcements every once in a while to see if anyone I know is heading out soon or anything? I keep running into random people here at the MTC and I had no idea they were coming, like Kris Toll from the old burton ward, I didn't get to talk to him yet but I'm impressed that he's out here. I'm excited to see what the garage is gunna look like by the time i get back Dad, it'll be kinda like how the basement was the thing that got maxed out for Austin's mission, the garage will be what I see change :D That's crazy about the snow plowing too... I can't even remember the last winter that you didn't do that.
So, some random bits of stuff from this week. A random memory I missed: we were singing in class or something, and for some reason I started thinking about singing and sitting by you all at church, and I miss that! You'll all have to put in some extra singing for me :) We sing a lot here and I really enjoy it. So, we've been playing volleyball a lot still, and I've kinda even figured out a jump serve, crazy eh? I'm so glad they let you do volleyball here. Every week we have these awesome meetings with basically all the missionaries we came in with (i think) and the teacher is a spitting image of Bill Murray!!! His voice even sounds like it and it's so funny to just watch him as we learn. Yesterday we had our first ENGLISH FAST!!! I never thought we would do one so early! It was so crazy... There was a lot of silence and non intelligent conversation but it was so cool to see how much we all already know. I had the worst head ache by the end of the day haha :D I can't wait to learn more of this language!!! Today the last elder is getting a haircut so we're hoping that will let us get our visa finally hah. So one of the coolest things happened earlier this week, our speaker for the devotional was Elder Nelson!! This is super cool in itself, but even better is Elder Helston in our district is his grandson! So we were able to find out like a while before, and none of the district got cool seats or anything but it was one of the coolest things to watch Elder Nelson give him a hug and a kiss and everything. It really made me realize how real the Brethren are. They always seem like un-human or legends or something, and see his face light up when he saw Elder Helston was so touching. During his talk I had the coolest testimony to me of how real and important the apostles and prophet are. In the first lesson we always teach about that being restored and it just hit me SO hard about how true and amazing it is that we have them on the earth! So awesome!! This brings me to another subject that I realized a couple weeks ago but forgot to tell you all about. So one time we learned about how important it is that we represent a lot more than ourselves out here and 5 specific things that I think are really cool about our tags. First of all, our tags have the name Elder on them. The only people that have this as a title are missionaries, and the Brethren themselves. This alone shows how important our calling is, and also shows the examples we should be striving to follow. Next, it has the name of the Church on it. It's not just implied that we're representatives of the church, we flat out tell people that that's who we are. Elder Nelson's wife told us about how we have the prayers of 14 million church members backing us up out here, and it really puts a big responisibility on us to fullfil those prayers and truly represent what the church is about. Third, the tag only has my last name on it. Now it puts responsibility on me to honor my family instead of myself. And even though we aren't related, the last name Ballard has quite the weight as well :D Fourth, the tag DOESN"T have my first name on it. When I became a missionary, I feel like it was kinda like fulfilling the scripture that says, Whoever loses his life shall find it. That's kinda what it felt like I did. I gave up my old like to have a new life as a missionary. Fifth and most importantly, my first name was in effect replaced with Christ's name. I am now a representative of Christ. His glory, which is bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man, is now my work and my glory. If I can fully capture this, this is when I will truly be a servant of the Lord. I am so grateful for this call, and I WILL continutally strive to bring honor to the Church, you guys, and most importantly JEsus Christ. I love you all family!! Thank you for your prayers! Have a great week!

-Elder Ballard

October 15, 2010

Hello Family!
Man.... day 30 out here. Time is the weirdest thing now because it feels like it was sooo long ago that I said by to everyone, but at the same time every day here seems the same so it feels like no time has passed. Then I think about how much I've learned and how different I am already and realize it's definitely been a while. Thanks everyone for the letters! It's seriously the best to walk into the class after lunch or dinner and see an envelope sitting on my desk :) Also, thank you so much for the packages! Those cookies reminded me so much of home and were delicious. And that jacket came at the perfect time too because it has not been very warm lately... some mornings are so lame. I don't think I would even mind that much except for the fact that I was expecting to go into a hot brazilian spring. I sure hope that my one suit lasts ok, ha, luckily my gray slacks match enough to where I can at least rotate a little bit between them instead of just always using my suit pants. By the way Mom, the penguin tooth brush is a big hit with all the other elders in the district :D
Well, a little bit on Visa news. From what I've heard, there hasn't been any other visas recieved besides those 25 or 30 last week, but earlier this week our district leader told us that the zone leaders were advising us to get our hair cuts because they were assuming we'd be getting our visas soon. So I don't know if they were thinking that for a certain reason or if it was inspiration or what, but we're all crossing our fingers. Also on that they told us we needed to have 200$ in our travel funds... and I can't remember how much is on my card. So Dad or Mom could you check that balance and then if you do have to add some, just make a note and then refund yourselves with my tax return or something :) I doubt we'll have to use that much or anything but I figure the Lord is more likely to answer our prayers for our visas if we're all willing to follow His suggestions for preparation 100%. I'll of course keep you all posted with anymore news or anything on that subject.
So I have to share a funny story that happened this week. Earlier this week I got a letter in the mail from Grandma. I opened it up and it was a card and I wondered if she had put anything inside of it (probably instinct from all the monies I received when I was little) and a news paper clipping came out. I'm not sure if she told you about sending me this at all but it was the announcement of that sister in my district from Texas (the one that was in Holly and Darin's homeward) going on her mission. So in the classroom I sit right next to Sister Hammaker, so I pulled it out and saw that it was her so I just turned to her and handed it to her for her to look at. I guess since we hadn't talked about Holly or anything much she had forgotten that I was related to her, so she got really confused at why in the world I had been sent a newspaper clipping of her in the mail :D So after a minute I finally understood what was going on and realized that she had forgotten that I was related to "Sister Bratsman" so for a second she probably was worried I was creeping on her or something... The whole district got a pretty good laugh out of all that :) After she realized we talked about Andrew and Holly and everything and it was really fun to hear about them from the angle of a fellow wardie. It's still pretty crazy to me that this world is so dang small... crazy stuff.
Alright so my little spiritual thought this week was shared with me by Elder Alexandre. He explained to me about how the parable of the talents applies to really all of us. Specifically with me, I am definitely categorized in the 10 talent servant box. Think about it, I was born in the church, amazing parents, big strong family, lived in super Mormon Rexburg, the things the Lord has given me go on and on and on. At this point I feel like I've lived my life and increased my blessings, and now I feel like this point (being on my mission) is really where the Lord is adding more and more blessing upon me like in the parable. It's such a hopeful and optimistic story for us! All of us have been blessed with so much; I think that even just the fact that we have the Gospel is one of the biggest blessings we could ever ask for. But in the story the Lord added EVEN MORE blessings to those that increased their talents. So that's really been a great thing for me to realize out here because as I've been working hard and being obedient, I'm learning so much faster than I ever could have normally and it's been a huge testimony to me of how the Lord blesses us when we do what He asks and expects of us. Another cool testimony of God's love was earlier this week, a member of my district, Elder Bitner, had to get surgery done. It was the first time he'd ever had surgery so he was really worried of course, but everyone in the district prayed for him and we all helped give him a blessing and stuff. Anyways, now it's like 3 days after his surgery, and he's sitting in this room im typing in, and he walked up the stairs to get here. His recovery has been amazing, it's so cool the kind of blessing and care the Lord gives to his missionaries. Last night I lost my wallet during study, so Elder Alexandre and I knelt down in our room and asked that I could find it (cuz if I didn't have it, we couldn't go to the temple today) and we ran back over to the building, looked in a couple rooms, walked into a classroom, I picked up a picture that was laying on the table and there was my wallet! The Lord is so amazing! Never forget that he loves us all SO much :) He really does and I testify that he answers our prayers and really does guide our lives in every aspect if we listen and pay attention to him.
Thank you all so much for everything my dear family! I really can feel the help of your prayers and your faith. I get a good chuckle (as does my companion) that I fooled all of you with my last email :) Don't worry about that stuff. I'm getting better and better at staying focused and I think the only thing that has been a problem with missing is just stuff like being able to draw more often, but like I've already learned, if I'm willing to sacrifice, the Lord will do his part and make it all good for me.
Eu amo voces muito! Tchau!
-Elder Ballard

October 8, in which Redge tries to fake us out in the first of the letter

Hello everyone,

This past week has been kinda a toughy for me. For some reason i've just been having a hard time and really missing everyone. I dont know why but i've just been getting random urges to do stuff like play computer or hang out with my friends or go on dates, stuff like that. It's been really hard to stay focused and stuff and I dunno... I've tried to re-zone in on my purpose and everything but it just isn't working for some reason. Blarg.. I don't know what to do. NOOOOTTT!!! Haha! Totally joking about every bit of that :D Sorry I just felt in the mood to mess with you all a little bit, probably isn't that funny :P This has actually been my best week so far! Last monday was a little tough on portuguese because I went basically all of General Conference without talking in portuguese so it was taking me a while to get back into it. Tuesday night we had a devotional about becoming a better missionary, and that night we had a district review where we all just talked about our favorite parts and stuff like that. I just love my district because the Spirit became SOO strong as we did this. It made me realize that there were some minor things i needed to change. For instance, i wasn't being completely obedient on the 10:15 to 10:30 quiet time, just some stuff like that. Anyways that night I prayed for probably 25 minutes or something and thanked and prayed for each person in my district by name, and that was probably one of the most spiritual experiences I've had in the MTC so far. It made me refocus in SO much and ever since then I've been growing even faster than before. I learn SO much from the Book of Mormon now, it leads me so much more than it did before. It's beginning to guide me in so many aspects of my life and I love reading it. After refocusing I've been able to do a lot more with portuguese as well. It's been coming a lot faster and even my teacher says she noticed a big difference in my progress over the past week. Yup, I am loving it here and am so happy to be able to serve the Lord.

Before I talk more about myself, there's a few things I need to make sure I get said.
-Could you somehow print out some little 4x6's of some of my artworks that I did? Just stuff like the wizard i did and the heck horse, that kind of stuff. A elder in my district is big on art too and I wanted to show him some of my stuff I used to do.
-So this is a long stretch, but I had this friend I met on facebook (weird i know) that lives in California, and i remember her mentioning that she heard about missionaries a long time ago, but that's all she ever said. Could you go on my facebook and look up Victoria Samuelson and see if she has an address posted or something? I really want to write her and just bear my testimony or something. I dunno, like i said, its a long shot for sure.
-Austin, i was writing a talk in portuguese and had a smell-induced dejavu because i was laying on my stomach and writing with a Bic pen, you should try doing that and see if it takes you back to WAY WAY WAY young years when we had tablets and stuff. It was so weird to have that memory come back so vividly... i never realized how unique of a smell the ink from those pens have.
-I thought you all might laugh to know that the songs that been getting stuck in my head are totally ridiculous. A few have been pop songs or whatever but i try to replace thiose with hymns. But besides that i've been getting the stupidest songs like : Run the twelve.... oh dear haha. Goodnight ladies (from the singing bush on 3 amigos) and the elementary multiplication songs from Mrs. Poole's class (four eight twelve sixteen tweeeeenty.... twenty-four-twenty-eight-thirty-two-thirty-six foouuurdyyyy, fouuurrrddyy) they crack me up so bad every time.... So random.
-Dad, your letter made me laugh so hard multiple times... thank you :D

Alright now onto some other mission related stuff. Concerning my Visa, I have found out some stuff. We found out from a Brazilian that right now they are having elections in Brazil, so it's totally messing up the visas because they're so busy with elections. So the elections are over october 30th, so that'll prolly be about when I get it. BUT, just yesterday, somehow 25 PEOPLE got visas!!! So i honestly don't even know what to expect. No one from my district or anything but still that's a pretty big number. I'll get 5 minutes to call you and tell you when I do get it, so I guess we'll find out when it happens soon maybe? Who knows. Concerning the Priesthood choir, i probably missed getting into that by like less than a week... I was so angry that I couldn't get in... You had to try out and stuff and knowing my luck I could have right as I got here and just didn't hear about it or something. Ah well... It's all good I guess.
Well, like I said the Spirit is just continuously getting stronger and stronger as I go. The other day in class we had a 35 minute personal prayer... and it was so amazing. I did the praying for people specifically again, but this time with all of you :) And let me tell you, you are all amazing. Every single one of you. Brig, Teag, Shand, Tan, Keat, Nat, Aust, Mom, Dad, you are amazing. Thank you for your prayers and letters and support. I'm trying my best to become who you all and who the Lord wants me to be. Thank you all so much, I couldn't ask for a better family. The church is true!!!

-Elder Ballard

October 1st, 2010

Hello again family!
Thanks Austin and Nat for the Dear Elder mails, I got one from Grandma Bratsman as well and that was a huge pick me up to have hard copies to read :) And Mom it looks like yours aren't going through on Dear Elder, but I guess you should just ask Aust and Nat how they did it because theres went through fine. That story about the bat totally cracked me up by the way... aww man I can't wait to see that movie, sounds awesome. Tell Brigham that's so cool that he's learning to read! It's weird that he's learning to read and I'm here trying to learn to read and speak portuguese. All those verbs you gave examples of I've been trying to solidify for myself here, how awesome. So funny little fact for you older three, I went to the temple last pday as well as earlier today and what a surprise, I still haven't seen the brunette Eve. So if I'm counting right that's 11 times in a row now :D Oh well, I still love going there. We have such a cool district and it's super unifying to all go together and feel that spirit together. So for some reason I can't figure out how to do the stupid pictures on the computers here so I guess I'll just send home hard copies with the letter I'm writing you all. That just reminded me of another funny thing here, our mission president talked to us the first sunday we got here, and told us to use the term: "Elders and Sisters" rather than using terms like dude or guys because it'll make us sound more like missionaries and less like teenagers. But let me tell you, it is SO hard to change a habit like that... It's kinda drving me crazy just because I keep catching myself saying it without thinking.
Firstly I remembered I never answered your question about Titan last week. The day he was leaving he actually talked to someone to let me come and chat with him before he left. Luckily he seemed to be in really good shape, didn't seem like he was being too hard on himself or anything like that so that was good. I guess you're right about the OCD stuff or whatever, I sure just hope he can maybe get some counciling or something and hopefully come back out because I know he would do great if he could get that sorted out.
Well, life here at the MTC is going really good. I've seen my friends Elder Kiser (poor kids been in here 14 WEEKS because his visa didn't come and right before it came he got pneumonia... such a bummer) Elder Berry, Elder Davis, Elder Powell, Elder Burgener, Sister Remmington, plus about four or five from my provo ward. It's really cool to watch and see how many people from rexburg end up here. I really like noticing how all of us combined are going to end up all over the world, super exciting. The food here is already getting a little old which is pretty annoying... I use the bathroom about 7 or 8 times a day... and usually half of those arent number 1 if you know what I mean. Austin will laugh to hear that a phrase I've made popular among the elders in the districts is "minho bunda!!!" because really, none of ours are feeling all that great :P The Spirit just continues to be amazingly strong here though, last sunday we got to watch the Joseph Smith movie after devotional and it was SO good. That show makes me cry a ton... The whole family should really really try to go and watch it down in IF or something because it seriously is such a huge testimony builder about Joseph Smith. It's one of those movies where you walk out at the end and just wonder how anyone could deny the church. EVER. Another really cool part I realized on that show was as I watched it, certain parts that would show family or little kids or something would remind me of you guys, and after being sad for a minute or two I realized that those feelings of missing you all can actually be extremely benificial, because I realize the joy of having such an amazing family and then I redirect that into my wanting to share that with the families in Brazil. The Lord works in such interesting ways and I just see it more and more every day here. So and time I say I miss you guys, just take that as: I miss you guys, but love you and know we're going to be together forever. And since we get that privilege, I need to share that with the people down there that the Lord is preparing for me to teach. I can already tell that the Lord has shaped my testimony of families to be one of the strong points of me being a teacher out here.
I'm in the process of writing you guys a hard letter which I'll probably send out tonight or tomorrow, but while I'm thinking about it, I just want to double check to make sure my mailing address is right on facebook. No friends have written me which doesn't mean much but I just wanted to double check to make sure that's not the problem. My actual address is
Elder Redge Ballard
MTC Mailbox #263
Bra-Bel 1115
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793
I'm assuming that's what i put on facebook but just double check for me if you wouldn't mind. By the way, I have realized there are some things I might need soon, so I'll just write those down in my letter. Times up here but now I'll just get to work on the letter. Thanks again for the letters and I'll have better responses soon!

Miss you all and love you all so much! The Church is absolutely true and the Lord loves each and every one of us so so very much. Always strive to strengthen your testimonies in EVERYTHING you do :) Love you family! Talk to you again soon!
-Elder Ballard