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