Another General Authority Visit

Hey Family!

 

I hope everyone's week has been great! My week was pretty good, and it went by really fast so that was great. We had another General Authority come though. His name was Elder Martino. He said some pretty awesome things, and let me tell ya, we have our work cut out for us. He really pushed working with the ward council, and having the ward council find investigators. Being here on a mission (now I don't know how it was in Utah because I never paid attention) I've noticed the member missionary work needs a lot of work. Members are supposed to be the finders, but they don't do anything here (Nebraska) so it has been difficult. But we are excited to make a push to get something going. Some also that was really cool, is that the Church is launching a Christmas initiative called "He is the Gift". I'm sure you can imagine what that's talking about. Anyways they made a ton of cards to pass out and made a video and some other things. It should be really cool. You can visit christmas.mormon.org to check some stuff out. The video is super awesome.

 

Well Mom to answer your question on Christmas presents, I can wait for most of the stuff. I just would really like some money to go to GNC or something and buy some stuff before I get home. I'll let you know if anything changes. A care package would be nice as well haha.

 

So as far as investigators go things have been great. We had an appointment with Chloe but that didn't work out, but the person I'm most excited about is Nealia (I'm pretty sure now, that's how you spell her name). He took her to the Trail Center, and showed her all of the Gingerbreads. I got a lot of pictures for when I get home so don't worry haha ;) Oh what the heck, I'll be nice and send you guys a couple of pictures today haha. Nealia said she "found her place" and that "this is where she wants to be". She'll be getting baptized sometime likely in December. Austin has shown improvement as well. He has been coming to Church regularly, with some member families picking him up, and yesterday we went over, and he was paying attention a lot more. I do thing he has ADD. But we'll work through that.

 

Just really quick, I'm glad Carsen had a great birthday. Happy Birthday, man! I love you. We'll have to have some wrestling matches when I get home.

 

Well I need to get going. I love you guys! Have a great week everyone!

 

Love,

Elder Ballif

Mission Tour and Investigators Doing Well

Hey Family!

 

Well this past week has been one of the fastest of my mission. We were super busy and didn't spend a whole lot of time in the area but we still worked hard and had a good time. We actually put up the Christmas lights at the Mormon Trail Center (the pioneer museum) which took us quite some time. So if you were to drive by and look at the building at night, Elder Pierce and I, were the ones that put them up, so that's pretty neat.

 

Well as far as investigators go, things are still going well, but not on fire. Neila didn't make it to church yesterday, because it was icy outside and she didn't want to fall and hurt her knee. She felt really bad though. She called and was asking us not to be mad at her, and she was crying. So yeah, I'm not really concerned as to whether she takes this seriously or not. She really is awesome. She is so accepting of everything we tell her. We actually got her baptismal date on the 30th of this month, but since she didn't make it to Church we'll have to figure something else out. 

So moving onto Austin, he is quite the puzzling case. I would never let my kids act the way he does. Sorry for saying this but he is a little punk. His grandparents who are members want him to get baptized on Friday the 21st but there is no way he is ready. I'll get into that in a second, but basically that's not going to happen. I think we can shoot for the 29th but he'll need to make some changes. I went over with Elder Markert, a new elder in the Zone that I was on exchanges with and we get along famously. We're super tight now... Anyways, we went over and he was being super disrespectful. When we would ask him if he wants to be baptized he would say yes and then a little while later he would say no, and we then asked him if he would like to go to Heaven and he said no. And then he ripped out the title page of the Book of Mormon and crumpled it up. Yeah we weren't too thrilled to see that. We took it and told him he needs to start taking this stuff more seriously or else he won't be able to be baptized. Obviously that is condensed but that was the jist of it. Hopefully he can get his act together soon. I mean I understand he's 9 but normal 9 year olds don't act like that. So anyways that's what's going on with that. 

Remember that super solid family I talked about a few weeks ago? Chloe was the name of the mom. Well anyways we lost all contact with them. And just when we were about the give up hope, she texted us yesterday and told us that there were some family friends that died recently and that these past few weeks have been crazy, but that she wanted to have us come over this week. I was really happy to hear that. I've been a bit worried because they seemed so awesome.

 

The Mission Tour was pretty dang awesome. Elder Nielson is a stud. He talked about a lot of different things but something that really stuck out to me is him talking about how the "ground always comes". He talked about the law of gravity and no matter how many times you jump out of a building, the ground will always come. Let's say it was a 5 story building, once you get to the 4th story, you're still feeling pretty good, and actually may think it's kind of cool, and so on with the 3rd. When you get to the 2nd story, you may have realized you've made a mistake, and then you realize that you've really done something stupid, and then the ground comes. He related that too how when we step off the building of chastity or the building of the word of wisdom, or whatever commandment it may be, we think we're fine. And then the ground keeps getting closer and closer, until we eventually hit it. Well anyways it was a great meeting. 

The leaders of the mission got to have dinner with him which was awesome. There are some nice perks to being in leadership haha. But anyways that was a great experience that I was very happy to be a part of.

 

Things are going well with Pierce and I. We are having a lot of fun. It's weird to think that he's probably my last companion haha. Well I hope everyone has a great day today, and a great week. I love all of you guys. Stay safe!

 

Love,

Elder Ballif

Short and Sweet.

Hey Family!

I hope everyone has had a great week! Our week was pretty great. We went on exchanges with a struggling companionship and they said they now want to make some changes and I have already seen improvement so that was really cool. 

We should have a great week this week. Brent H. Nielson is going to be here on Friday. 

Things are going really well with Neila. She twisted her knee so she couldn't make it to church but we went and saw her after church. She was so sad she couldn't come. We hard set her for baptism on December 20th so we're excited about that. 

Also Austin is set for baptism on November 21st but we'll see if he makes it. He's being kind of a punk but that alright haha. 

Hey Mom don't worry about sending me Hillsong. I got it taken care of haha. I did use 17 bucks on the home card so watch that ;) 

Well guys I need to get going. Sorry this is so short, but I'll make up for it next week! I love you guys!

Love,

Elder Ballif

New Companion Elder Pierce from Ogden

Hey Family!

Well I hope everyone had a great Halloween. My Halloween was pretty meh. Transfer stuff all day. I got to hang out with Elder French a bit though. Man that guy is easily one of the funniest guys I've ever met. But also one who isn't the best example. But I still love him. 

So my new companion is Elder Pierce. He is from Ogden Utah. He is a pretty cool dude. We have a lot more in common than Edwards and I did. We're are getting along great. I'm training him as a new Zone Leader which is a pretty overwhelming, because I myself don't know what I'm doing. I hope he turns out ok haha. 

Well this week as far as missionary work goes, was just a lot of mission business. I wasn't in the area until Friday night, because I was floating around with some other missionaries since Edwards was gone. But we still got to see Neila and Sheila. Neila is doing great. We had a super good lesson with them. We talked about Joseph Smith and the Great Apostasy. We committed her to come to church next week. She said she was going to go for sure. I was really happy about that because I saw that as a big obstacle. We are coordinating with the ward to find her a ride. 

Since Dad is asking and I forgot, the process for highlight the Book of Mormon is highlighting anything that is related to the atonement and highlighting anytime it mentions a member of the Godhead and circling or highlighting the word heart. Any color. I'm doing blue, yellow, and purple. And I restarted so I'm super far behind. 

And Mom it's up to you if you want to get me a Hillsong CD. I heard they have like 9 albums. Another missionary in the Zone had his sister send him a CD, and she sent the one called United. It has that song Ocean you were talking about. If you feel so inclined, you can research and find out what is accepted as their best album and send it to me. If you don't it doesn't matter to me. You can surprise me haha. 

Things should pick up soon. Elder Pierce is a great guy and a great missionary. Well I need to get going. I love you guys! Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Elder Ballif

Bed Bugs Arghhhhh!!!

Hey there Family!

 

Well I don't have a whole lot of time so I'll just start of by saying Happy Birthday Mom! And Kim and Ellie! I forgot to say that last week. I always forget about that stuff, even with the calendar you guys sent me haha. Sorry.

 

Things have been good this week. We went on 3 exchanges this week so we were pretty darn busy. One with the AP's so that was fun. Elder Scott, my MTC companion is an AP so I went with him. It was a lot of fun to be back together. The low light of the week was that we got bed bugs. Gosh dang it. We have no idea how, but we've been cleaning like crazy and I think, and hope we got it all taken care of. I had no idea those things even existed until I came to Nebraska. They're really gross. To make matters worse, our bishop helped us out by buying mattress covers and what not which is good, but he ended up telling everybody in ward council about it, and then they people of ward council told everyone in the ward so now everyone in the ward knows, and doesn't want us over right now. We're like a couple of lepers. But oh well. 

We weren't able to see Big Mike this last week, but we did see Neila and Sheila. They're doing really well. They're set for baptism in December, which I know Neila will make if her health allows it. She is so solid. She's such a nice old black lady haha. Austin came to church again. I don't really know what's going to happen with him. His family is really broken and just does not a have a good mom. But that family that is helping us out with them is awesome.

 

Things are getting better and better as a Zone Leader. I'm adjusting better and Elder Edwards has been good for me. He has helped me improve a lot. There have been some growing pains though haha. I am really glad I am able to experience this. It has been stressful, but I'm becoming a better missionary. This week should be good. We're going to see Meet the Mormons again tomorrow with a less active and his girlfriend. Actually that reminds me. There was a preview for a new movie coming out about a Christian Rock band called Hillsong. If you guys could, could you please, pretty please send me their CD. I'm getting tired of the Christian Rock all of the other missionaries have. PLEASE! Hillsong....Well I need to get going. I need to fill out a survey on LDS.org. We have a general authority doing a mission tour next month so I guess this is in preparation. I love you guys! Have a great week everyone!

 

Love,

Elder Ballif

New Shoes and New Investigators :)

Well hey there family.

 

I hope everyone is doing great! My week was pretty good. We got some new investigators and had some good lessons. Zone training was this past week. That was fun. It was basically District Meeting but with a lot more people. And we have a lot more leeway on the trainings was give. We ended up talking about a plethora of things. Desire, hope, potential, acting, and not procrastinating, and tied it back to goal setting. It was fun. And then we went to Huhot after, which is a really good Mongolian grill buffet place. This is random, but I just looked over at this whiteboard here in the library, and it says movie night, waffles and soda. Man this place is confirming all the stereotypes of black people. Everything is true hahaha ;) EVERYTHING.

 

Well as far as missionary work goes things have been picking up :) We got a new investigator who goes by Big Mike. He's is pretty cool. He was outside working on his truck and we went up and offered to help him. We just talked a little bit and then he asked what we actually do, and then we got into a big discussion on religion, and we talked about prophets and he wants us to come back and show him stuff from Thomas S Monson. Apparently Edwards has talked to him before but he has shown no interest so it's pretty cool to hear how that has changed. We are still working with Neila and Sheila. Neila is progressing a ton. She is gobbling up everything we tell her. We got a large print BoM so she can start reading. I don't know if I've mention him, but we're also working with a 9 year old named Austin. His mom is an excommunicated member and it just a super broken home, but he has been coming to church with a family who we're getting pretty tight with. We actually taught their FHE lesson last night and had dinner. It was homemade lasagna and it was awesome :) Yeah I heard about BYU. That's too bad, but oh well haha. That's awesome about the Jazz. That's actually some great news. How does Exum look?

 

Hmmm responsibilities? Well if there are any announcements we are the ones to get them out to the Zone. Also if there are any companionships struggling we need to take care of it. Apparently it's pretty common in this Zone. There's some specific missionaries, that even argue at church. It's pretty ridiculous. And one of them has like 5 months left and is kind of giving up, so we're going on exchanges with them, and I'm going to talk to him. We get along pretty well actually. We go on a ton of exchanges. We're going on 3 this week with the average being 2. We also make sure everyone is doing what they should. We stay pretty darn busy, which has been great.

 

Oh so I bought some new shoes. Not crocodile skin. I decided that I wasn't black so yeah. They're some really nice lighter brown shoes with a nice design. I also got a belt that matches, all for a total of 52 bucks. I hope that wasn't too much. I got them at Burlington Coat Factory. I'm still going to check that Leflore's place out to see if there anything. If so Burlington has a 30 day return policy.

 

Well I should get going. I hope everyone has a great day! Things have been going really well here. Still a little uncomfortable being in the minority with all the beautiful people of color here but I'm getting there hahaha. The gospel is true!

 

Love,

Elder Ballif

Adjusting to New Area and Calling

Hey there family!

Well this past week was pretty good. I'm learning the area quite a bit better, and I'm starting to grasp being a Zone Leader a little bit. It is a lot different. But it has been a good learning experience so far. 

Well I'm glad everyone is ok with my going home in January. I just felt bad because all the nieces and nephews and everyone really was looking forward to having me home around Christmas and celebrating it together. Oh well, we'll have plenty of those in the future. 

Elder Edwards and I are still getting along fantastically. He's really into hunting and outdoorsy stuff so that's neat haha. He also looks like a model for Abercrombie or Hanes underwear haha. I tease him about it all the time hahaha. 

Things are going good in the ghetto. It's a rarity to see a white person here. I literally can count on 1 hand the amount of white people I've seen in our area the past week. Our apartment is on 49th and Ames. 30th and Ames is considered the most dangerous place in Omaha. I'll wait till after my mission to give you details so I don't worry Mom too much ;) 

Some old black dude, yesterday who lives in an apartment on 30th and Ames, started yelling at us when we walked in the building to knock on someone's door. He said in a really hateful tone of voice "Get out of my gosh dang house! I'll shoot you if I have to!" That was my rated G version. He sounded really angry. That was fun. We left pretty quickly after knocking the door haha. Ok sorry I just had to tell you guys about that, sorry for worrying you ;) 

We found this super cool dude, that lives in this random neighborhood called Miami Heights. It's on a hill, and there are like 8 houses that are super, super nice. Everything around it is dump, but that place is really nice. We talked to him for a good 30 minutes and he is super cool and invited us to come back. 

Well I need to get going. People are waiting on me. Oh hey so I got a question. I've had to throw away all of my shoes except one pair pretty recently. And this pair is little to big on me. So basically what I'm suggesting, is I am going to go the Goodwill today to look for shoes, but if I don't find any (I don't really want to, I'm tired of wearing old shoes) I was wondering if it'd be alright to buy some new shoes somewhere. I would love to get some nice ecco's but they're pretty darn expensive. But they last forever. Those dockers you guys got me before I came out got trashed in 2 months. I'll keep my eye out though. 

There is this ghetto dress shop here called Leflore's that I hear has sick shoes. Like light brown crocodile skin. I may have to get some just before I go home haha ;) 

Take care everyone! I love you guys! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Ballif