19th Birthday and Baptisms!

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful week! This past week was kinda stressful but it was such a great week! There were so many blessings and great things that happened.

First off I had an amazing birthday! I was really scared because all the missionaries here say they aren't fun, but I really found out that it is what you make it! On Tuesday I opened my presents that came from home and I got three fetching awesome ties, a speaker, corn nuts, balloons, toffee, and pop tarts of which I ate for breakfast that morning (Man it was so good.) Then we went to District Council at the chapel and President and Sister Heid came which was a surprise. They wanted our whole district to bear our testimonies which was pretty tender. (Don't worry I didn't cry.) Then at the end Sister Heid came and talked about how when she looked out at all the empty chairs in the sacrament hall we were in, she couldn't help but think that our ancestors and our loved ones in the spirit world were here to witness our testimonies. So that was where things were really tender and special to me because I could only imagine Carver, Grandpa and Grandpa Ballard, Grandma Searle being there to support me. It also helped me realize that our loved ones are always around us helping us out and protecting us. I love the Plan of Salvation so much.

Then on Wednesday we were able to bake my birthday cake!!! It was so good! It was super sweet and super expensive but it really made my birthday a memorable one because the only cake in this country is basically corn bread. So it was a real treat to have that. My companion was the one who made is so great and I was so grateful for him. He even sang happy birthday to me with the cake and we were able to cook it at a members house and everything. I won't ever forget that birthday, It will be exciting to say "This is on my birthday in Ghana!" Anyways To top the week off, we had two BAPTISMS! One of them is a 9 year old named Theopholus who has an older sister in the church. The other is David a 28 year old who has a cool story. I haven't really talked about him much because I didn't know he would progress so fast! But we were just teaching a 17 year old boy outside a members house. Then he heard us and sat down and listened. At the end of the lesson he had tons of questions about other churches (like about if speaking in crazy tongues is okay, or if pastors should be paid and stuff). That was a really cool experience because we were able to answer all his questions with the bible. It's such an amazing experience to have the spirit work through you. Scriptures that I studied before came into my mind after each question. So it was a fulfillment of the scripture that says that the words of what we will need to say will come as soon as we need them. So it really was a testimony to me that 1. God prepares people to receive us 2. God works through his servants, and 3. We need to obtain his word before we can declare it. As we met with him more, he came to Stake Conference at the Saturday Session which really surprised us along with that young boy we taught in his compound. Then he came to church once. Then this week was the third time, and he was baptized. I was able to baptize both which is always a wonderful experience. After the baptism he was invited to bear his testimony and as he bore it he tried to say the name of the Church but he couldn't remember it! It was kinda funny but cool at the same time. That he hasn't even come to church enough to even know the church's name, but that he knew that it was true. I am so grateful that I am able to be a part of this work. I know that this work is real and that it is of God. Without God this work wouldn't happen. I love this gospel so much.

This last paragraph is off topic but I just wanted to share it.

Last of all, today we went to the Accra Mall again, and we went to a place like Winco and when me and my companion were walking we heard two American talking super fast and so me and my companion looked at each other and were like "What is that?" then we saw them and my companion said "How are you?" But he said it super slow like a Ghanian says it. Then she replied with a super fast "Good!" After that me and Elder Howland just felt so uncomfortable and we didn't know what to do with ourselves. It was just so funny that we don't ever see white girls, and that we don't talk like Americans anymore. Man it will be a huge culture shock to go home. Anyways that was a great experience. I love Ghana so much and I'm so happy to be here! I love all of you and I am so grateful for all your emails! Keep doing your best and everything will pull off in the end! Love you all!

-Elder Ballard

Baptisms David & Theopholus! 

The Lada family on my birthday

Happy 19th Birthday!

Hey All!!! Thanks so much for all of your wonderful emails and especially for your birthday wishes! It means so much to me and I can't believe I'll be nineteen tomorrow! :O This week was flipping awesome though and there was some pretty great adventures we had.

During the week was pretty average, eating banku, jay walking (Don't worry it's legal here!), and teaching the gospel. It was the end of the week that was most eventful. We managed to get good numbers and everything which was great. All we needed to get the mission standard is five investigators at church. I frankly didn't think we'd get our goal this week because the people we called said they traveled and all that yak. But at sacrament, we met a lady named Jackie who said she would honestly never come to church, and then she did! There was another guy named Abraham (there's a ton of people named that here...) who was awesome! The theme of sacrament was basically the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith so we taught it in the second class where we gave him a Book of Mormon. Then in priesthood we talked about tithing and at the end he said "Where can I pay my tithes? I want to pay them now." These people just amaze me with their faith. So in the end, we achieved mission standard for the first time! We were so happy and satisfied! We didn't even think we would get it! What a blessing. What also made this Sunday fun was that a huge rain storm was coming so we tried to close a little early. But some of the members stayed and so I was able to play the keyboard and sing hymns with them which is super fun. Piano is helping me so much. I can probably play like 20 more hymns than I could at home. It's such a blessing to have God help me that way. Anyways the weather is getting way more wet and rainy which is good and bad. It'll be cooler, but it will also be dang muddy. Also, when it rains in Ghana, it RAINS! It's so loud and fast! I put a big 4 gallon bucket outside of our apartment and it was overflowing in like 10 minutes! Such an adventure!

As for my birthday this week, we went to the Accra Mall today and bought cake mix and some frosting stuff because we found out that one of our members has an actual oven so we'll see how that goes! I'll make sure to take pictures and stuff. I'll also probably eat Mac and Cheese!!! I'm so excited! Also I'll open up those presents my family sent me. So it should be a great birthday!

Thank you all for all of your support and love. I just want you all to know that I know this gospel is true. I know that God loves us and that he wants us to be happy. All we have to do is be obedient to his commandment and precepts. I love this work so much and I am so grateful for this past year of being 18. I know that we are all in the right place and that this is God

's work. I love you so much!

-Elder Ballard

Picture: ME eating chicken sandwiches at the mall! My shirt isn't usually that big. All of mine were drying, so I borrowed another Elder's shirt. :D

Obedience,Prayers and Primary

Hey all!!!

Wow thank you all so much for your wonderful emails! I was just smiling to the point where the guy next to me started smiling too. This week was absolutely amazing! Man it was one of the most satisfying weeks of my mission!

This week we were able to teach enough lessons and everything to get the mission standard of excellence! Except the only thing we didn't get was enough investigators at church. But that one isn't our fault so still felt like we did the best we could this week which is always a great feeling. Our mission president is really trying to push more for obedience and it has really helped us become better. As we've trying to be better in our little mistakes, it has really pulled off and has helped us be successful. I love the scripture that says "I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say. But when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." because it is so true! All we have to do is keep the commandments and we'll be blessed! It's a simple promise!

This week I also went to another area to do a baptismal interview which is always fun. Being District Leader is pretty fun. I interviewed this two kids who knew the gospel so well! I asked this young boy named Simon "Can you tell me a little about Joseph Smith?" then he said "Okay. In the 1820 there was a young boy named Joseph Smith...etc." I just sat there nodding my head in amazement, some kids here are so fetching intelligent. It just showed me how really simple and true the gospel is. 

On Sunday I got to bear my testimony to the primary which was really really fun. All the kids were really well behaved and so cute. I just love African kids. I just bore my testimony that they could invite their friends to church and how primary has helped me so much in my life. Then at the end I said "So you can all invite a friend to church next week okay?" Then they all repeated/screamed "OKAY!!!" It was fun to go back to primary and remember learning all the simple truths that I've known ever since. I love the gospel so much.

One investigator that really touched me this week is a Togolese woman named Eyoko. Those of you who don't know, I've always had a soft spot for Togo people. The reason is because my Mom told me as well as showed me a picture of when I was a baby some of them came for the dance festival and passed me around. They also gave me an African rattle and stuff so I've just known about Togolese people since I was a kid, so I'm glad to be so close to them. Anyways Her name is Eyoko and she's such a humble person. When we first met her we wanted to give her a pamphlet but she said that she couldn't read. But when we came back this week we had a wonderful lesson. We talked about prayer because she thought that she had to read from the bible or know a special verse in order to pray. But it was a cool thing to teach her how to pray and the steps to it. At the end of the lesson we asked her if she was willing to pray. After a couple of example prayers by me, she was willing to try. She then gave one of the most humble, sincere prayers I've ever heard. She basically said "Our Heavenly Father, we thank you... we thank you for our blessings, we thank you for our lesson today... These things we say through Jesus Christ amen." As she was giving the prayer I could feel the spirit so strong. Even though it was a simple prayer I knew that she loved God and wanted to follow him.

I am so grateful for this wonderful work. It is such a privilege to be a full time missionary. I love these people more than I can say. I now know more than ever that this is where I need to be. I know with all my heart that these things are true. I know God lives. I know he loves everyone of his children equally whether "Black or white, bond or free." I know that he loves them. Let us all love those around us a little more. Let us all follow Christ's example. I love you all and I say these things in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Amen.

-Elder Ballard

Pics!

Love you all! Have a great week!

Me and my comp splurged and got Cinnamon Toast Crunch at the American store in our area! (The perks of the city areas!)

I got highlights! Just kidding that's the sun.

A pink chicken!

Mother's Day

Hey All!

Man this was a wonderful week! The highlight of course was to skype my amazing Fam and Mother last night! I couldn't have asked for anything better! It was just fun to hear everyone's voices and see all of your faces! Man I love my family.

The next biggest thing that happened was that we moved from our hobbithole unto a way better apartment that's in my area! So that was a huge blessing! Our recent convert even bought us KFC chicken sandwiches and fries for mothers day because she knows how special of a day it is for us :) It was delicious! Those things are so expensive too! So it meant a lot for us! Her name is Bernice. She rejected the church for like 4 years then finally got baptized. She lives in our compound and is such a great person! She even speaks Ga so I can great her in it. That's something about this area that is amazing, the members! I just feel so at home in this area and I love my companion as well! I just love being in Ghana as well.

Other than that, we were able to to bring a new investigator to church which was a blessing. Now that our apartment is closer we can try and pick up investigators which helps a lot. At the beginning of the week, it was hard for us to find people and to teach because it seemed like everyone was busy! But as the week went on it went better and we got more lessons.

Well, this week's letter is a little short but I kinda said lots of stuff in the call yesterday. :) I can bear my testimony that we are all in the right place and that The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I know that God loves us all so much and that families are ordained of him. I know that Mothers are indeed special and I am so grateful for my Mom :D I couldn't be here without her and I am also grateful for my Dad and my brothers and sisters for their great examples to me. I love you all so much and I just want you to know that I am fine, that the work is going forward, and that God loves us. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Pics: My really nice shirt collar

Rhoda the Explora

Love you lots!

-Elder Ballard

Sand Storm

Hello America! Africa says hello!

Thank you all for your wonderful emails! I almost cried! Oh never mind that's just sweat. I hope that everyone had a wonderful week! My week was pretty eventful and went fast as always! We were also able to have really nice lessons with investigators this week! I'll start by sharing a short story.

It all started on a clear Wednesday morning. We both had a nice breakfast comprised of Elder Howland's famous scones, which are probably the finest scones on this side of The Nile. After we were satisfied, we set out. I took the lead as we were walking out of our apartment with our bikes. As I came out of the gate I slowly looked to my right. "Holly Hanna" I muttered with a surprised expression. "What?" said my companion who was still buckling his helmet. I then looked at him and said, looking off into the distance, "Dust storm." We then took off our helmets and got on the roof of our compound and saw this huge orange cloud coming towards us. As we watched the dark cloud we could feel the strong wind and the crunchy dust in our teeth. Then my companion looked at me and said. "Well, I guess we'll have to make fries." and so that's what we did.

That was the most intense part of the story so I'll just spoil the rest. After the dust came there was rain so we just fried up some fries for lunch. But it was a fun little time to get to know my companion more and to just laugh.

Later in the week we were able to go and visit an investigator named Issabela. It was a really sweet lesson. We talked about baptism and how it needs to be done correctly, because she was baptized three times at once (which is normal in some churches.) But after we taught her my companion began to ask her if she would be willing to be baptized if she came to know if these things are true. Before he finished she already said yes. It was a really cool lesson and the spirit was so strong. I love so much to invite others to come unto Christ. We also had another investigator named Yoshi who's half Ghanaian and half Japanese! He's a cool kid who was really excited about the Book of Mormon. The final serious investigator is David. He was just a random guy who sat in another lesson we had with three other investigators. So we were just teaching like a small group of people which was really fun. We were able to answer all of their questions with the bible which is always a neat experience. I'm really a witness that the spirit really can put words in your mouth and things to your remembrance.

This week was a sweet one. The reason I couldn't email yesterday was because we had a activity where the Polynesian Elders killed and roasted a pig for us! It was so nice to have meat again. We all just sat around a table with big pieces of paper on it. Then they brought the chunks of meat of rice and just put it on there where we ate it all with our hands! It was super fun.

I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for letting me come on this mission. I am so grateful to have this gospel in my life. I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week! I am so excited to call home next week and see all your faces! Until then!

-Elder Ballard

Martha and Rhoda