Week 5 MTC

Ayeeee what up crew! I have made it 5 weeks in the mtc!!! I am like 4.5% done with my mission Haha this is crazy. I don’t have a ton of time to write a big letter this week. But I am surviving! I have a week left until I am in the field!!! Holy cow. I couldn’t be more stoned to serve the lord. But today on my mission portal it says that i have been reassigned to the Tempe, Arizona mission. I dont have my visa but I already have my flight plans to Bolivia so I dont know how it is going to go down. But either way!!! I could not be more excited to serve the lord, If I serve in Bolivia or Arizona, I feel so privileged to do so. 
I hope you find peace in the temple, the book of mormon, and daily personal prayer this week. I will keep you all posted next week on where I am going! I love you all thank you for supporting me!!!! ♡♡♡♡
All love, Elder Ballard 

1. Elder T lily is leaving this week 😦 2. Stacked 3. General Conference 4. Happy Elders

Week 4 MTC

It was so good to hear from Dallin this week, he is starting to really enjoy his MTC experience.  His companion is turning out to be alot of fun and he gets along great with his district.  He says that even though it is so hard, he is having such a great time.  Yahoo!  He leaves on October 20th and we are praying his visa arrives in time.  He would LOVE to hear from you!  His email is dallin.ballard@missionary.org
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Hi my friends!!!! This week we started teaching longer lessons to people, in Spanish. Like, 20 minutes lessons!! So sick Haha it is kind of scary but then you remember that you have the spirit with you and he helps you stay calm so it all works out. 
For this email I just want to share a couple journal entries that were recorded from this week, just to show you really the rollercoaster of emotions a missionary experiences: 
9/29/19 -“I can feel the spirit. The spirit is real. There are Angel’s present. My future kids are present. The grace of God is incredible. 8:15-9:00 PM”
“The power of the priesthood is indescribable. God can quite literally talk through us. Tonight I gave a departing hermana a blessing. The whole time, I was shaking because the spirit was so strong. The gospel is undeniable. I love the Lord. 9:30-9:45 PM”
Oct. 2 Day whatever it doesn’t matter -“Today, not even lying to you was the first day of the mission that I cried. I did it. Spanish is so difficult right now. The whole day I have just wanted to call my mom and cuss out the whole world for being so hard.” (Haha of course I didnt end up doing this, instead I went outside for a while a prayed with all the intent of my heart to god) then “I had a lot of down to earth elders give me advice and it helped a lot. I just need to speak the language more which I haven’t been doing that much. I had Elder Steele, a French elder give me a priesthood blessing. He assured me that I am a son of God and that is with me in all things. He is the dopest elder. After we had a mini devotional, we will be speaking a lot more in Spanish now. I love the lord, he is my strength. I love the gospel. <3”
Oct. 3 Thursday -“God is real. I love the Lord. I love the spirit in my life. I am forever grateful for the companionship of the holy ghost. The gift of tongues is real. The lord is with me. I just talked with elder alvey outside for 20 minutes without realizing it. I can see the improvements in my companions confidence in Spanish. The lord works miracles. I prayed so hard last night for the miracle of peace in a moment where it seemed like there could be NONE, but I recieved peace. God is powerful. Dios es cariñoso, te ama el senor siempre. <3” 
You will experience so much emotion on your mission. But all in all, I have learned that I NEED the guidance and strength of the holy ghost in my life. I bare simple testimony that the lord is waiting with open arms for us to come unto Him. He loves us and gave us the commandments to keep us safe. I love the gospel, I know it to be true, digas estas cosas, en el hombre de jesucristo, amen. ♡♡♡
little PS I am headed off the Bolivia in 2 weeks!!! I am so stoked!!!!
All love, Elder Ballard  Couple bro picsLanguage learning is so hard but so much funGod is REALThe Lord’s work cannot fail! It is His work! 

Week 3 – MTC

¡Hola mis amigos!
On Monday we will have 3 weeks left in the MTC. Classes fill our entire day but when we get back to the residence the day seemed to go by so quick. 
Coming to the MTC has definately been an adjustment but I love the lifestyle here now. With all of the other elders we just have a ball lol. Every night some of the guys prepare a poem or a rap and we go out to this couch area and just have poetry night, it goes so hard Haha. We’ve has topics of, rainy day, sentimental bars (of course ya boi snapped on those), and fortnight poems. It’s been so good to just die laughing with all the bros lol. 
 But more importantly I want to share an experience that happened this week that really was an unexpected tender mercy, here was my journal entry:
Today some of the district went to the back, hidden part of the MTC. There was some shade and a couple rocks grouped in a circle to sit on. There were trees plants bushes and a couple elders there. It was so peaceful. After about an hour of scripture study, I began to say a prayer. The prayer was so long in fact, I stood up and walked around for a little bit. I pray for all of my friends. I prayed for all of my family. I prayed for all of the missionaries. I prayed for the people of Bolivia as well as the gift of tongues. I prayed for the spirit to be with me. I prayed for those who have passed on to the spirit world to be with me, specifically my passed relatives. I prayed and thanked Jesus Christ for letting me be a representative of Him. After my prayer I found myself on the ground next to a rock. As I opened my eyes, almost immediately a leaf fell right in front of me. I looked up at the gigantic tree that was towering over me. I admired its elegance, structure, variety of leaves and its beauty. And then it was shown into me. Angel’s, the Godhead, and our passed family members are always with us if we are following the path of righteousness in our lives. Every single leaf on this huge tree represented an angel on our side in the spirit world. There seemed to be an innumorous amount of leaves, meaning a countless number of angels in heaven rooting for us. Then I payed a particular amount of attention to the trunk of the tree. This represented Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ’s plan of happiness we will be together with our families forever. They are always looking out for us. As we started walking back to our residence I was picking up trash along the way. As I was about to throw the trash away in my room, I noticed a little crumpled piece of paper I had picked up. I uncrumpled the paper which turned out to be 2 little notes folded together. They something along the lines of “God is our loving Heavenly father. He loves and cares for all of this children. Through the gospel of Jesus Christ our families are forever.” As I pondered by myself for a minute and was almost brought to tears. The next day at like 10:30 my district had a quick devotional and went over the day. After it was pretty late but I felt a distinct prompting to go tell another district about my tree story. I went into there residence and I just broke down explaining how families are forever and we have endless amounts of Angel’s on our side in heaven. After I was done everyone came up and hugged me, and I later found out that everyone in that room (everyone is usually super energetic and funny) was crying because they felt either homesick or felt alone. To add, one of the elders just found out his mom has cancer that is getting worse and worse.
You never know what acting on a prompting will bring. We need to strive to consistantly keep the commandments and have faith Jesus Christ daily. Christ is standing with open arms waiting to help and comfort all of his children. 
I thank all of you for writing and praying for missionaries. It means so much. 
Yo testifico que la inglesia de jesucristo es verdadaro. Yo sé que josé Smith fue primero profeta de la inglesia do jesucristo. Yo sé que dios es neustro padre celestial. Yo sé que a traves el expiacíon de jesucristo, puedo ser perdonado por mis pecados. Sé que a traves el evangelio mi familia es eterna. Yo amo nuestro amoroso padre celestial y su hijo, jesucristo y espiritú Santo. Yo digo estas cosas, en el hombre de jesucristo amen. 
All love, elder Ballard. 

Alright so this week we got some squad pics, some scriptures I liked in my studies, and finally here at the MTC you are given a language sticker (mine was Spanish obviously) to show people what language you speak but I started to trade with other people to see how many languages I could get, I had a bunch then it got boring so I started plugging other people, then I made my own with the AYO tag by mixing up Malay and Tongan lol 


Week Two – MTC

Hello my friends!! God is real, he is forever involved in our lives, beautifully orchestrating from up above. I am so thankful for him and his spirit!
This week was just filled with bars of the spirit, here are some of my favorite quotes from the past lil bit:
– faith and doubt cannot exist together – allowing darkness in our life creates an imbalance in our spirit – we cannot put a schedule on the lords time table – in prayer ask God to help you help other people- make it priority to repent daily – obey today, and understand tomorrow 
And lastly an hermana in our zone shared this quote that really resonated with me: Apply this to mission life, “I hope you get a door slammed in your face, I hope you rip your pants, I hope you sweat all the sweat out of your body, I hope you fall in the mud, I hope you feel alone. At this point, you will feel exactly as the savior felt. You will literally be walking in his footsteps. Use this as hope!” 
Jesus Christ died for all of us, he suffered every pain that we go through in our lives. He once stood alone and ultimately was crucified. As members of the church of jesus christ, we need to have enough faith to STAND ALONE if it is necessary. As a missionary of Jesus Christ I have now experienced how real the gift of tongues, and the gift of the holy ghost is. I need him with me! I have no desire to stray away because I love the lord and peace the lord gives. 
This week we started to teach real investigators about the church and it was a little intimidating at first, and then I found out next week we have to do that but in Spanish and suddenly this weeks, meetings didn’t seem so bad. The spirit really helps guide me and my companion as we prepare for lessons. 
Hug your family and friends a little tighter today. Express your gratitud for your loved ones. Family is the most important part in our lives. Support them, support your friends, support individuals that you do not know, go out and meet people. Tell God how happy you are with life, tell God your concerns, tell him everything, I KNOW that he is listening. 
I am so grateful for the mountains, I am grateful for Utah, I am grateful for my bed, I am grateful for cereal. Tell God! He will further your knowledge and blessings as you talk and Express your gratitude to him. I love this gospel and the peace it brings, I’ll end this email with the little Spanish I know. 
Yo testifico que la inglesia de jesucristo de Los Santos de Los ultimos dias Es verdad. El hijo de dios encantas todos Los personas en el mundo. Yo se que el espiritu de dios es en mi corazon y mi vida. 
Christ loves you! I bare testimony he is present if we allow him to be. And remember to floss this week!! 
All love, elder Ballard 

The MTC for Elder Ballard

Querido todos mi familia y amigos!
I don’t know where to start, so much has gone down the last couple days. I’ll just start with how much I love the Lord. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be a missionary. BUTTTT they literally just dump stuff on you the first week you are here, I saw my boy t lily the first day and he said to just hold on till Sunday and it gets better from there, so hopefully he ain’t lyin. 
Each day we have 2 three hour classes which is hard but I feel like they are good for me so it’s whatever. I am so stoked to be learning Spanish, it is super intimidating if you look at the end goal of being fluent but I’ve really been taught to take it one day at a time, and just learn a little bit more each day and you will be good. 
My companions name is Elder Bartholomew, he’s from Saint George and is the dopest. His energy is super strong but he always keeps it relaxed, he’s fun to be around. We have 6 elders in my dorm which people say is really packed but we don’t mind everyone is cool.
This email is probably super dry for the first mission email I send out but know I am having so much fun here, this truly is a special place. I want everyone who is thinking about a mission to experience it, the spirit and testimony building opportunities here are unreal. SERVE A MISSION I can tell this adventure is going to be the most mentally, physically, and spiritually challenging journey of my life but I am ready for it. I love the Lord and this Gospel! Estoy agradeido por mi familia, mis amigos, todos los flores y animales en el mundo, las montanas, y to iglesia de jesucristo!
All love, Elder Ballard