Got to go to the Temple Again

Hey Family!

 Things are going pretty good here in Bellevue.

We weren't able to see Dan this week but we did see Chan, Robert, Chris and some others.
Chan is so darn hard to understand. There is definitely a language barrier there but I try my hardest to piece things together. He usually just read out of the Book of Mormon and that can be rough sometimes. I think we should look into getting him a copy of it in his native language.

Robert is still atheist/agnostic. He doesn't really know. But we keep working with him and have been reading scriptures with him and leaving chapters for him to read. I don't think he's actually read any of the things we have left
him with. But we're not giving up.

 Chris is awesome. His last name is actually Brosnan. The ward directory says differently but yeah. We taught him the restoration and everything is going great. They came to church and he definitely is ready. September 14th. Hopefully I'll still be here.

We also taught Steve. I don't know if I've mentioned him. Well we basically got to know him. He's a super cool dude. He used to be in the airforce doing maintenance and he mentioned he's worked with Avionics so yeah I
definitely mentioned what you do, Dad. We talked for a good hour and a half haha. Super nice guy and he started reading the Book of Mormon so that is great.

 Another person is this lady we met named Anny. She has Mormon friends and says she wants to start taking the lessons. She seems super friendly and she seems like she could have some potential.

We're actually going to play basketball today and Chris said he'll try to make it. I hope he can.

And as far as reading goes I will probably start reading through Mosiah again and will definitely start the NT.

 We got to go to the temple again this past Friday and I got to see the new video. It's definitely better in my opinion. And that's all I'll say about that.

Well I should probably get going. Sorry for the shortness of email. We'll it's not like any of mine are long but it's kind of hard having to email multiple people in an hour. Some missions you can take as long as you want, but not here.

Oh well. I love you guys! Stay safe everyone. May the Lord be with you!

Love,
Elder Ballif

Taught 12 Lessons and set Baptismal Date for Chris

Hey Family!

My week went pretty well--probably the best week numbers wise here in Bellevue. We had 12 lessons and everything is great with the Brosmans. Chris the husband is the only one of age but he's pretty darn solid. He's actually set for baptism on the 14th of September. He just took everything in and he is really awesome. He is a mechanic for the military and works on Amtracks. Video games helped me out with this one. :) They're the tanks that can float and go into water as well. Thank you Battlefield haha. So yeah I actually knew what he was talking about haha. I have high hopes for him. He is a really cool dude. 

That brings me to Robert. Things are still going well to my knowledge. He continues to meet with us and we'll see tomorrow where he's at. He is a really nice kid. Actually could you guys look into getting this book for me called Reflections of a Scientist. It's by Henry Eyring (not the apostle but he was LDS and a very renown scientist) and it helps connect science and religion very well I hear. Reason I'm asking is I think it would do Robert some good as well. But I think he has great potential he just needs to understand and recognize the Spirit. 

And Dan. Dan is awesome. Arguably my favorite person I've met. It will be a challenge to get him to church seeing how he works on Sundays but Heavenly Father can help out in that aspect. Sorry if this is a short email but I need to get going pretty soon. He showed us one of his AR-15s and boy was it cool. It had a tactical light, a laser sight and a mounted red dot sight. He used to be in the military and actual combat. And don't worry Mom, we're careful. He is really serious about gun safety especially after what happened to his son. We got to watch Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration and it went pretty well. He said he really enjoyed it. I did too haha. 

 I hope everything is going well back home. And yes Tori's birthday is on Thursday and you can do whatever. I'm sure she would appreciate anything you guys got her. I'm working on getting some stuff for her myself. 

And I hope I get to catch some of the BYU season as well. It's all about Adam Hine, Dad ;) I've also been getting really close to a recent convert named Dean Harris. He's actually around your guy's age and he really funny. 

Well I love you guys! I hope everyone is doing good. I haven't heard from/about Austin in a while. 

Have a great week everyone! The Church is true! The Savior lives! Stay safe everyone. Love you guys.

Love,

Elder Ballif

Pictures

Elder Ballif's district. Elder Mendell is to his left.

Elder Ballif titled this picture "my bros". :)

Investigator Activity Picking Up

Hey Family!

Well my week was alright. It was transfer week this week and as you probably could have guessed I am still in Bellevue haha. Which is alright with me. 

Robert the atheist is doing well I think. I didn't get to see him this week because I was on exchanges. But apparently he changed his views to agnostic which is a start. We'll keep working with him and he keeps inviting us over so we must be doing something right. Dan is doing really well. He still is getting more swords and things for us to look at when we go over haha. He said next time he'll have to show us his assault rifles. We won't be shooting any though don't worry ;) We're going to try and watch Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration with him so I hope that works out. We talked to him mostly about the Book of Mormon last time. He's really open to it which is great. He wants to read it all the way through and I think he will because he's read the Bible like twice, which is not all small feat so I have high hopes. 

The weather here has been pretty good the past week. It's like 60 today. Which is great because before it was hot and humid. Last year I heard was awful. I think it hit 118 with something like 80% humidity. But this summer has been better thankfully. 

 We still haven't found an apartment to move into but we haven't given up. The ones we have found that would be good don't have any open but I'm sure it'll all get straightened out. The reason why we have to move is because the apartments we're in now require everybody to go through background checks and stuff and that's just not gonna work with missionaries and what not so yeah that's why. Kind of stupid but whatever. 

Hmm well I'll probably go back through parts of the Book of Mormon but right now I really enjoy reading the Bible Dictionary. A lot of cool information in there. 

Oh and we were just informed and part member family wants to start taking the discussions. The Brosman family. The wife is a member but no one else is and they have 3 kids I think. We have an appointment on Saturday so I'm pretty excited. Oh and we received a referral from some other missionaries and they taught him the first lesson and everything went really well they said but they're going to have to turn him over to us so that should be nice. Hopefully things will start going our way haha. 

Well I love you guys! I am really excited to see how BYU does as well. Keep me posted. Oh and I bought the King Kong soundtrack. Last one I promise haha. But seriously it will be. That was the last one I wanted to get. Well that and Star Wars but I think I can live without it. 

I love you guys! Have a great week everyone. 

Happy birthday Jenn!

Love,

Elder Ballif

New Car and Working with Investigators and Splits in Omaha

Hey Family!

My week was pretty good. We don't have any new investigators but we got a car (2013 Toyota Corolla), that was exciting. 

Anyways things have gone pretty well. We didn't get the see Robert the one we gave a blessing, but I'm hoping that we will be able to this week. Holy cow this week is transfer week. Time flies haha. The person I'm still the most excited about it Dan. We watched the Doors of Death talked given in 1992 by Russell M Nielson. He really liked it. He also could start coming to church and he wanted to take us out to lunch and stuff. And not to mention he has a ton of guns and swords that he lets us look at haha. And these aren't cheapo swords either. They're the term that he used "battle ready" so they're super sharp and sturdy. Really really sharp. I was holding one and he said "Yeah that could chop your head off" haha. Yeah anyways we watched that talk and he really enjoyed it. On his teaching records it says he told the missionaries we wasn't interested in converting but I have high hopes. 

And Robert the atheist we have been seeing every Tuesday and he always enjoys having us over but I just hope he can stop thinking everything in terms of science. Well as Bruce R McConkie stated "True science is true religion" I don't think a lot of people understand that. But anyways, we've been seeing him and and he hasn't shut us down or anything. Hopefully we can get to him. Well hopefully the Spirit can. We're seeing him again tomorrow. Well actually I won't be able to since I'm going to Rockbrook (basically central-almost downtown Omaha) on exchanges tonight so that should be fun. Hopefully the meeting with him will go well when I'm not there haha. And Omaha is pretty darn big. Mostly because it's sucked in all of the surrounding places. But yeah the population of it is about 500,000 so it's good in size. 

And yeah the gorilla was awesome. He only charges if you wear a white shirt (silver back) and turn your back (silver back) to him. So yeah if we ever come through here as a family we will have to wear white shirts if we go to the zoo. 

This Pday we're playing basketball again so I'm pretty excited. I love playing basketball and you definitely get a good workout. I need to get a basketball pump at Walmart though but they should be pretty cheap so I think I shouldn't go over. And Dad before I spend money I always check at an atm first now. 

I love you guys. I hope Kim is doing well. I can't wait to meet Clara in 1.5 years. 

And about selling the boat I don't know. It's a fun thing to do but it's not used a whole lot and it is a lot of money. But here's something you guys can do. Pray about it! 

Well I need to get going. Sorry my emails aren't too long. But I don't know at least I get them to you every week ;) I love you guys and can't wait to see you again! Have a great week everybody! 

Oh and one more thing. I finished the Book of Mormon. It's true that's all I know. Love you!

Love,

Elder Ballif

Funny video of the Elders at the zoo

Zoo Aftermath and Teaching Experiences

Hey Family!

I am doing pretty well. The Zoo was pretty fun last week. Spending 15 bucks to look at animals was a little much for a missionary but whatever I figured it was something I should do at least once on a mission. The gorilla was awesome though. 

The work is getting better slowly but surely. The lesson with Robert the atheist alright. We got a return appointment for tomorrow so something good must have happened. It was hard though because he didn't have any questions or anything. But whatever we'll be seeing him tomorrow so hopefully he's thought about what we told him. 

Anyways the kid I arm wrestled. He lives in the Bellevue 1st boundaries so we don't get to teach him :( I was excited. But things will work out I'm sure. His name is Joshua but he's native so I guess it's pronounced or maybe even spelled Jesooah. I have no idea. 

But things are going well with Dan. He is in his 40's maybe 50's and we read with him out of the Book of Mormon on Friday. And this Thursday we're going to see him and we're probably going to teach him the Plan of Salvation. He has a lot of questions about seeing loved ones again and it's hard to show him scripturally because it's not mentioned often. 

Speaking of scriptures I am now in Moroni. I'll be finished by next week. 

Anyways I think Dan could have some great potential. I think his wife is Catholic and isn't too fond of Mormons but she's nice to us and everything but she doesn't sit in on lessons. But maybe that'll change. I don't understand how Catholics can say they believe in the Bible when their doctrine has so many contradicting things with it. But whatever people who are religious by tradition probably don't care. 

Oh and we also started teaching this Sudanese guy named Chan Wol Majok. He is super nice but a bit hard to understand. There are a lot of Sudanese people in Nebraska. Chan has been taught before but he kind of fell off the map but we got in touch with him and retaught the Restoration. We also soft set him for baptism so we'll see how that works out. 

And about the guy who we gave the blessing. His name is Robert. He is probably in his 50's and he's awesome. On the night we gave him a blessing he talked to us for like 2 hours haha. He's pretty funny. Anyways he told his Sister who is a member that he really enjoyed and I mean REALLY enjoyed talking to us and wants to talk to us again. So he's coming back to Nebraska (he's doesn't live here I don't think) and is going to see us. 

And Mom thanks for the offer with money and everything. Maybe I'll go buy a soundtrack today if that's alright with you. So just keep an eye out for that. Hopefully there is something good at Walmart haha. I already got the Man of Steel soundtrack so don't you worry about that haha. Well I hope you guys are doing great. 

Things are getting better and I'm definitely getting more comfortable with everything. I love you guys! I'm going to play basketball today so I'm excited! Take care and have a great week everybody!

Love,

Elder Ballif