It's Ghana Be a Great Two Years!: A great week..and PICTURES!

Hello Everyone!! Thank you for all of your emails and love!

This week was so great!!! First off we went to a zone conference so i got to see the Ghana MTC and all of my MTC buddies which was great! Secondly i got two packages from home!!! Thank you so much for everything you sent! I was so happy to get those flip flops and many other things back! (haha) So i hope you enjoy the pictures! Nothing makes a missionaries day than to get a package or letters!

When you guys were talking about the reunion I automatically thought of the time where Redge accidentally flinged a bee into Austin's neck! It made me laugh so hard!

On a mission it's really weird sometimes because it feels like you are all of a sudden living in a whole different life but still have distant memories of home. :) I love hearing from all of you, and enjoy hearing your experiences and insights! It helps me a lot!

Anyways we are having another baptism on Saturday! His name is Steven and his story is very sweet. We were on our bikes and he came up to us and stopped us and said that "something touched his heart" to talk to us. From our first visit he came to church every Sunday! It is so cool that God prepares people to receive the gospel so plainly sometimes! He is a really humble guy and is excited to get baptized. We also have another investigator, whose name is Grace. She has been through "centuries" of missionaries but said that she will still listen to us. She has done some serious sins that she needs to have an interview with the mission president this week. We hope that she will soften her heart and listen to the spirit. If you put her in your prayers that would be so helpful! It rained for the first time I've been here this week and holy cow does it rain! Luckily we were inside when it happened but afterwards we had to bike where there were huge puddles and lots of mud. It has been such an adventure! I love serving a mission so much! There are so many people looking for this gospel and I get to be a part of sharing it to them! :D Something I realized this week is that the gospel truly is "Everlasting." Just like you said in your email Mom, that the gospel has so many layers to it! You can study the gospel for your whole life and still can't learn everything about the gospel! This gospel is truly everlasting and eternal.

Sorry for the short letter today, but I hope you enjoy the random pictures! I just want all of you to know that serving a mission has been one of the best decisions I have made in my life, I didn't ever think I could grow and learn so much. I didn't realize that I could gain so much spiritual strength and knowledge in such a short time. I hope you know, that I know, that this church is true, and that we are so privileged to have it in our lives! We need to do everything we can to share it! In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Culture Fact: People here call people "Fat" to describe someone all the time without taking offense! People just say "oh yeah that fat man, I remember him!"

Comments to emails:

Shand: I'm glad you are taking care of my Wii U and that you are having fun with it :) It is so cool you are doing Choir!

Redge: What?!? That is so cool you got a job there Redge! Congrats! What a cool Picture!

Nat: Thanks for the email sis! That is so fun about your Native American night! Glad you are having fun :)

Dad: I love moody meadows! I miss those days of teacher quorum campouts.

Thanks so much everyone! Just know that I am fine and trying to work hard! Have a great week!!!

-Elder Ballard

Obed's baptism

Me and Elder Sewell at a zone conference! We were in the same economics class a couple of months ago! It's crazy!

Us while we were unknowingly getting robbed!

This is fufu with groundnut soup! My favorite!

A family that we always go to for dinner on Sundays, The Grandma in the middle is a member and is the one who cooks for us. We just call her "Mama Mensie" Because she's like our mom!