Welcome Home Elder Ballard!

Elder Ballard returned home on June 13, 2017 after flying from Ghana to Amsterdam, Salt Lake, then from there the quick flight to Idaho Falls, where the family was anxiously waiting! Someone in the Amsterdam airport sent this picture to my phone--what a fun thing to wake up to!

We had anticipated the day for so long--it was so fun to have almost all of our family there for the weekend before so we could be excited together! 

(This was a few days earlier.)  :)

We got to the airport in time to have some fun times while we waited!

Then the big moment came!

Nothing like the joy when you finally get those hugs!!

Keaton had forgotten how soft couches can be. 

Life truly is good!

Departure!

Hey Family! I'm at the mission home waiting for my flight! Everything is ready and set for me to go! So I'll see you tomorrow at 3:00 PM tomorrow! Love you all so much! 

Tell everybody I'm on my way and I just can't wait to be home! With blue skies ahead yes, I'm on my way. With nothing but good times to show!!! I'm on my wayyyy Yes I'm on my way! (Phil Collins will be a member someday.) 

See you soon! 

Elder Ballard Signing off. :D 

Also! We had a baptism on Saturday! What a good way to finish :)

Homeward Bound in Time

Dear Beloved Ones,

I honestly don't know what to say. My mind is just going crazy with everything. All the members are saying "thank you for your service" and stuffing me with food at the same time. Everything just seemed to happen so fast! Most of all I just have a feeling of humility washing over me all the time. I haven't been a perfect missionary by any chance. I've made many mistakes. But I've just been praying that my sacrifice is sufficient for the Lord. But then I remembered a scripture my trainer showed me. that is in JST Hebrews 6:10 which says: "For God is not unrighteous, therefore he will not forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister." Then I also remembered the scripture in Alma 29:9 that says: "I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy."

These are some of my favorite scriptures. They've shown me that even though you can't be perfect. You still give all the glory to God as well as do your best. If you do your best it's enough. If you don't do your best, you can repent and become better. That's the beauty of the gospel.

I've learned so much on this wonderful adventure. Truly God has been the one using me as an instrument. There is no way I could have ever preached the gospel without his help. I would have quit a long time ago. But I kept going because he was always there. I can't even name all the skills I've learned that will help me be a better person in the future. I now know that serving a mission is truly designed by God to help you become more like him. I've gotten closer to all the Christlike Attributes in PMG than I ever have in my life. I've understood the gospel and the scriptures more than ever. My testimony has grown and blossomed and my conversion process has been going forward. I can now testify with no doubts that this church is the only correct church. Jesus Christ is the one who is at the head. I know the Restoration took place, I know the Apostasy happened, I know the Plan of Salvation is God's plan for us. I know that commandments are invitations to become like God. I know the Book of Mormon is true, and that God loves us. That's why Jesus Christ was sent. Because of him, we can be redeemed from our mistakes. We can be clean again. We can always have hope.

I want to express my love to all of you, especially my family who I will hug very soon. Thanks for all of your support. May we all meet together safely is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

- Elder Keaton Ballard 2015-2017

Finishing Up!

Hello Extremely Loved Ones! 

Thanks for all of your belated birthday wishes! As my Great Grandma said: cheese cake always tastes better a week later! (Or was it a day later?)

This week also sped by! People always say time goes slower at the end. But I've seen if you work hard it flies by like nothing. I can't believe it though. I'm at the point of just greeting every little kid I see, and get them to smile (which isn't hard) just to enjoy being with them while I can. These people have really been engraved into my heart. I've come to love their culture, accent, language, food, physical features, and especially their faith in Christ. I'll try to enjoy their company as much as possible these next two weeks.

As for teaching, we received a whole family as a referral to teach! So we're excited to teach them this week! Prince didn't come again... So I won't be able to baptize him before I go. But It's all about when he is ready and not me. :) Sister Mercy who was also a referral came. So that made us way happy. 

I keep forgetting to mention that it is rainy season here. It rains at least every other day or more. So it make huge amounts of mud everywhere! But it's still way fun. 

Something that humbled us/ ticked us off this week was that after a rain storm only our house's power went off. We've had light off for five days now because Ghana's government isn't serious :) But we're okay and still trying to laugh about it. The other elders slept outside one night. But the mosquitoes ate them for breakfast. So it was a good experience. That's the main thing I won't miss when I leave is power outage :) It's always fun to make memories though. 

Anyways I had a great birthday! A member made Omo tuo (Rice ball) with groundnut soup and chicken! Man it was so nice! Another great present was that we went to our last temple trip on Thursday! Man I'll miss the Ghana temple! It's such a beauty! It was such a pleasure to go there! Afterwards we went to pizza hut which was another birthday celebration :D I even bought a chocolate pizza which was nice! So I'm glad I could enjoy my birthday. It's so weird I'm 20! 

Anyways I love you all, thanks for all the great emails. I know with all my heart that this gospel is true. I know that the temple is an ever present reminder that families are meant to be eternal. I know that commandments are invitations to become like God. I love you so much and hope you have a great week! 

-Elder Ballard IV 

Stake Conference Wisdom

Hello Everyone! Thanks for all of your birthday wishes! I can't believe I'm gonna be a legit 20 year old! Everyone here thinks I'm 25 or sometimes 34. But whenever I tell them I'm 19 they always say, "oh... You're a small boy!" So I'm excited not to be a "small boy" anymore. :)

This week went by super fast yet again! I'm just sitting here amazed that time can feel this fast. Anyways, this week was cool! We got to see Prince and help Ivy to read English again which is always a great experience. Ivy is really improving! I'm sure God pours out the gift of tongues on those faithful saints who have been confirmed with the Gift of the Holy Ghost and are trying their best to learn. English will open so many doors for her.

Prince wasn't able to come to Stake Conference :/ because he's a taxi driver and apparently drives all night and sometimes even until the afternoon time. So by the time we called in the morning he was still driving. So that was a bummer. Stake Conference was wonderful! The Adenta Stake Choir was so amazing! The songs that gave me goosebumps were " If you could Hie to Kolob, Carry On, and Come Come ye saints." MAN I'll miss these people. Our mission president spoke with his wife and talked about how much the Book of Mormon is True. He told a story of how the church invited some clergy students from a bible collage to come to the area office, and my mission president was assigned to speak to them. At the end he offered them a Book of Mormon at their own choice, but he also gave them a warning if they would take it. He said: "If you read this book, the Spirit of God will prompt you to preach its teachings to your congregations. The Spirit will tell you and convince you that these are the words of Christ." He said that he felt that there was someone with a "heart of Alma" in the room. So that was really powerful to me, to feel more of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I'm still striving to fully commit to read it every day till I die. I'll add my witness that it is true. Therefore this church is true and Joseph Smith was a prophet.

Another teaching was on patience which was super interesting to me. The speaker said that "Almost every sin we commit comes because we lack enough patience." As I thought about it, I realized how true it was! If we break the law of chastity it's because of lack of patience. If we steal it's because we don't have enough patience till we can afford that specific thing. If we have a contentious argument, it's because we can't wait until the problem is solved. So that's a thought that really encouraged me to be more patient. I know if we are patient we will receive experience, and through our experience we will receive godliness.

This week we also found three guys from Togo who are laborers in building houses out of cement blocks. Only one of them knows English well enough to talk. But we have members from Togo who will help us speak French or Ewe to them. I always love Togolese people :) So we'll see how that goes this week!

Anyways, I'm kinda just lazy to send pictures because the internet is slow and I'll be able to hug you all in three weeks anyway. Plus I don't want my card to be corrupted right before I come home :) I hope that's okay. I'll agree with Mom that it's crazy I only have two more emails after this one! So I'll try and fill them with good things :)

Thanks for everything everyone! Thanks for the birthday wishes! I'll try and enjoy myself somehow ;) I love you all so much. It's my witness that God lives and loves us. I know if we follow his commandments with patience, we will be happy. It's that simple. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Elder Keaton Ballard IV

Post Mother's Day Phone Call Letter :)

Hey  Everyone!

Well that was a great week and especially a great phone call! It was so good to hear you family! Just like you I don't have much to write but I just want to record some of the great experiences I had this week that I already told my family but I want everyone else to hear.

Prince

When we went back to Prince this week, we gave his wife a priesthood blessing because she was sick then taught him about Joseph Smith. After we were done he didn't have any questions but he just said. "Ever since you guys came last week, I felt something speak to my spirit saying that this is the right channel to tune in to and that I should follow what you guys teach me." So he readily agreed to be baptized in June before he leaves. His birthday is June 12th the day I fly out, and so he said that he wants me to give him a priesthood blessing the day before, which really touched me. That day was a great day. I am so grateful for the Spirit working through us. He didn't feel anything because of what I or my companion said, but he felt what the Spirit of God had to say. What also made us more happy is that he came to church! He said that his wife was even trying to stop him from coming but he came anyway! So it was so cool to see him.

 We also had a baptism yesterday of a 10 year old girl named Bernice who is super smart in the gospel. The rest of her family will follow her soon. This week was just so satisfying and lovely. I am just so grateful to be able to have these experiences.

Well, it's short this week, but I know that God lives and loves us too. Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful Mom, Grandma, Karen, and Nat :) I love you all for your great sacrifice and love :D Have a great week!     -Elder Ballard 

a guy in our ward that carves wood

A Good Week

Hello everyone! I just want to tell you all that I love you, I've been so blessed to have all of you in my life and I can't believe how privileged I am. I love you! 

This week also flew by as fast as Natalee's cabbage salad on a fast Sunday. I thought my time would slow down as I was going home but nope! It keeps going without fail. Just as the hymn says "Time flies on wings of lightning, we cannot call it back! It goes and passes forward, right to it's onward track. We can not bid the sun beams to lengthen out their stay, nor can we bid the shadows to ever stay away." 

I honestly can't remember much that happened this week, except two key things: 

1. Me and my companion were walking with Wisdom who is a new convert and went contacting. We found this younger boy named Joshua who allowed us to come see his sister and brother-in-law and they were super receptive! The mom already believed in the Apostasy. She said "There's no way Christ's church is still on the earth, look at all the different churches we have, with different teachings!" at the end of the lesson the Dad (his name is Prince) asked "So does that mean that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints is the Church Jesus Christ established on the earth?" we all paused and smiled. Then I said "I can honestly tell you... that it is. It's true." Then they asked how? I then explained how I prayed and received and answer and that they could too. It was a great lesson :) I hope and pray they'll progress before I go home. I love seeing prepared people!

2. We visited a recent convert named Ivy. She was just called as a ward missionary, but she doesn't know English too well. She is also around my age and has her own baby, but I don't know where her husband is. But something we told her that we'd do is read the Book of Mormon stories with her every evening so her English will get better and she will be able to know the Book of Mormon better as well. I tell you what, there's nothing more humbling than teaching someone your age how to read. It was such a cool experience to serve that way. God wants us to be educated and to learn of him and know him more. So I'm excited for more of those humbling experiences this week. 

I was also able to go to visit and call some of my recent converts which was a blast. My favorite recent convert Robert Vedgador was divorced when he was baptized but after a couple of months he called and said he got back together with his wife and now she's going to church with him every week. :) The gospel really does change lives for eternity. I am so humbled to be here. I feel like I don't deserve all these spiritual lessons and experiences. Something I've really seen on my mission is the Love of God for all people. "For every soul is great in the sight of God." Every feeling of love, joy, peace, and every other good feeling comes from Christ. This is the love I have for all of you. I can't wait to call some of you on Sunday and see all of you in a month. Once again I love you, I pray for you, and I know that this gospel... is true, and I can't deny it. Hope you all have a great week. 

In the name of Jesus Christ our Savior Amen.

-Elder Ballard

(Sorry for no pictures again) :) 

Be home next MONTH!

part of the Adente area

with Mimi from primary

Hello Everyone!!! Thanks for all of your great emails! I'm so grateful for all of your support and love. :)

This week was awesome! We worked our tails off! :) But yeah this week flew by! I can't believe it's May already! This week was full of failed appointments but we just kept going and laughing together. I'm glad I have a good companion :) Me and Elder Effiom already have some good inside jokes that keep us going throughout the day. We did find some good new investigators that we'll follow up with this week. I'm starting to like this area even more. The members are way nice and give us really nice food :)  We are using bikes a lot now which is fun because our area is like a swamp in places so it feels like the bush. We were able to teach Wisdom how to tie a tie which was cool. He also brought his older sister to church, they just didn't stay the whole time. But hopefully next week! We're also trying to get two more baptisms this week or next so that will keep us busy.

I'm running out of stuff to say! :O Our sacrament meeting was focused on service which was cool. One of the speakers said that "Love is the greatest gift God has given to us, and Service is how we give that gift to his children." So that was really inspiring.

As I went out this week I was already starting to miss Ghana! Even though I haven't gone yet! But I'm really glad that I still have 6 weeks to work hard and to run to the finish line. I'm just trying my best to serve and savor this opportunity to be a full time missionary. I love this place so much, and I love the people ten times more. But I know everything has a purpose and time under heaven and that God knows best. My companion shared a scripture with me in Ecclesiastes 9:10 which says "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." I love this scripture because it reminds me of the slogan of my favorite lawn mower dealership Brent's Lawn and Leisure. Which is "When you want it done right." So on a mission you can't half job anything, you have to things the right way, not just on mission but in life. I know this gospel is true and that if we learn how to master all of the attributes of Christ, we will become more like him.

Right now it's raining super hard and water is dripping from the ceiling onto my keyboard :) What an adventure! I love you all, thanks for all your support. I hope you all have a good week, and I'll see you all next month.

Love, Elder Ballard

Baptism of Wisdom

Hello Dear People!!!

Thanks for all of your wonderful emails! They make me so happy and loved :) Well this week went by 10 times faster than last week! I finally know the area more and getting to know the names of people. This week was so happy, 

Wisdom is the tallest one.

We finally got to baptize Wisdom who has been investigating the church for a long time and is 23 years old. This was the first baptism I've seen from an outdoor font which was cool. The sun was shining on them as he went in the water :) After the baptism we had him share his testimony. He said in his very gentle and quiet tenor voice. "I know that what the missionaries are teaching is true, and I'm so grateful to be apart of this wonderful family." I love how his testimony wasn't in people at all but it was on total faith in the gospel of Christ. After we were done he asked if he could bear his testimony the next day at church :) So we explained to him that he could on fast Sunday haha. He is so converted. This week I was grateful to see another conversion take place. Few things are as satisfying as seeing someone you teach accept the gospel. So I'm grateful that I get to experience that here. 

This P-day was also fun! We went to the top of the mountain to a craft village and bought some souvenirs! So I'm so excited to show you guys! Africa is just sweet :) I won't spoil what I got you but I'm sure you'll love it. 

Someone told me that I have 7 weeks left or something, and so I slapped the person... Just kidding, I'm not one to do that :) I can't believe it though. Time is crazy. When it's May people will ask me when I go and I'll say "next month." :O crazy stuff. 

Also I want to give another belated shout out to my Momma! She turned... 33 years old on Saturday the day of the baptism! I love you Mom! :D 

Well ladies and giraffes, on a serious note. I know this gospel is true. I literally couldn't be this happy unless I knew my family could be together forever and that I'm where God wants me to be. This church is the Church of Jesus Christ. It's only through this church that we can find true happiness. I've witnessed it over and over, at home as well as in this great place. :) I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Ballard IV

The outdoor baptismal font!

Me and my girlfriend... Her name is Fufu and Light soup. 

I ate chocolate cake!!! It was so sugary though! I hope I'll adjust to home food fast! 

Me in my everyday uniform and bike :D 

First Week in Adenta

So apparently in Ghana they celebrate Easter Monday...? Which made it so all the internet cafe's were closed. So I get to email on a Tuesday! 

Thanks for all of your great emails! You make me feel so loved :) I love you all so much. Honestly, this week was so slow, good night Irene. Getting used to an area is weird. But I think I'll really like it here, and it's a really cool place to finish. Church on Sunday was cool, we had it in our nice rental house/chapel and 10 people were there when sacrament started, then 88 were there when it was done :D haha. But it was great. On Saturday the Elders Quorum cooked for the Relief Society which was fun to help out with. When I met my bishop he was slicing carrots for the soup in his normal clothes. So I told him "If you need anyone to play keyboard I can do it." then he stopped cutting and said "Hallelujah!" over and over and told all the members that I could play haha. I'm always grateful to help out the best I can with what I have to offer. :) So yeah the members were really cool. There's lots of RMs here. We are also having another baptism this week which will be fun. I didn't teach him much but yeah! His name is Wisdom and is a super cool guy who's 23. 

On Easter Monday my companion took me to a really nice outdoor "chop bar" and we bought a ton of fufu with light soup and beef :) There was old country music playing on the radio which reminded me of home, like Randy Travis and Alabama. So we really enjoyed the holiday, I got to know my companion more. He's a really cool guy. He's very humble and loves to laugh. 

Today our mission president came to our district council and taught us. Man I love President Heid. I'm so glad I was able to have him for 2 years as a President. He interviewed us all and in my interview he just showed me the departure list and the group I'd be going with home and the time of my flight and stuff. Then he said "It's not fair that your going home before me, what is that?" haha He is also going home on July 1st. Anyways, I'm trying my best this week to just find where the members live, and then keep trying to strengthen the branch and get more baptisms! But it's not easy to not think of home when everyone around you reminds you :D 

But I know everything will be cool. I know I'm in the right place and that God knows why I'm here. I love this gospel and I know It's true. This mission has made me a way better man than I was before. 

I love you guys! :D Thanks for the support! Have a great week!   -Elder Ballard

A rhinoceros beetle off of bugs life :) 

Me and Elder Effiom in egg form

Frogger! He's a cute little frog that says hi to us when we're washing
 our clothes in the back yard. (whenever I talk to him I use my Kermit voice.)