A visit from Elder Ballard!

Hello family. Guess what. Elder Ballard came to our mission and we were able to have a conference with him this week. It was incredible. I will talk about that later in the email but first, Mom´s questions as always. First off we rarely eat with members but we refaccionar with them a lot. That means we ¨snack¨ with them. Just go with it. This means eggs and beans, rolls with beans in it (I know that sounds weird but it´s pretty good), a sandwich which is a piece of ham with mayonaise and ketchup on it with another piece of bread (gross but bearable), and a lot of morcaf (a cereal coffee as it is called which is completely natural and void of caffiene, approved by President Baldwin) with sweet bread. I think it would be called sweet bread I´m not sure. Also the members are mixed. THe members of generations have many sad situations, because since the church wasn´t that strong as they we´re growing up most of them have a small part or more that are inactive, but those that are active are incredible, such as the Gonzalez family. Other than that there are a lot of converts which are really helping the ward grow in our area. THe ward is making a lot of changes that are exciting and the attendance is increasing a lot lately, I have a lot hope for the future of this ward.

Anyways, about Elder Ballard! He was amazing of course and I want to write about a few of his thoughts. He said that in our missions and in our lives, we need to CONSTANTLY have the thought in the back of our mind about how precious one soul is. This just made so much sense to me and would solve so many problems of missionaries who don´t use their time effectively. THis is a constant reminder of what are purpose is, and he told us to be thinking this in member lessons, while tracting, and after our missions while in our daily routines. I think it´s a good reminder of the missionaries we all need to be. He also shared an incredible story of the firm testimony and faithfulness of Hyrum Smith who is a direct ancestor of Elder Ballard. When Joseph and Hyrum were going to a dangerous situation I can´t remember what, Joseph told Hyrum to stay back because he knew that the mob was going to try and kill them. Hyrum responded quite frankly, ¨Joseph, I will not leave you.¨ I don´t really remember the point of the story for Elder Ballard but it reminded me of the close relationships that the gospel provides and made me extremely grateful for the family I have that I know would do the same.

Other than that he gave some incredible advice on how we need to be master teachers and always prepared, and if we´re not ready, then fix that! If the ward is working right, fix it! If something in the area is wrong, fix it! I left that meeting feeling an incredible spirit that I really had heard an apostle of the Lord. THey are so humble yet so smart and down to earth.

So with Jorge and now Dorian (yes he is going to be baptized as well) they are now going to be baptized this Sunday. I feel as if it´s a little fast considering the material we have to cover with both of them, but I can´t really do much about that. We are flying through the teaching and it feels a little uninspired to me, but they understand everything. I just hope they have firm enough testimonies to always be progressing in this gospel. Jorge I´m not worried about but as good as Dorian is he has his girlfriend in the church, so we still have to have a frank discussion with him about the hypothetical situation of if his girlfriend broke up with him, would he still have a desire to stay true to his covenants that he made at baptism. Nevertheless I´m extremely excited for what is going to happen in the end of this week. To answer your question Mom, the dad of Jorge is going to be out of town this Sunday unfortunately, but I really don´t have much control over the date of the baptism as I said because everyone (my companion, district leader, zone leaders) are pushing that they get baptized in this month. I feel as if another week of preparation would be good but I think everything will work out just fine. The gospel is incredible and I hope I am able to see Jorge serve a mission and Dorian still in the church in 3 or 4 years.

Also could someone please send me Ryan Bogg´s address at school? I would love to write that man. I say man because calling him a boy would just be an insult to the true level of his manliness.

Sorry I´m not very funny anymore. I have a hilarious story to tell you from the funniest kid in the world, Elder Richards, but I don´t have time, and the other things are probably more important. It´s hard to be funny with a smug faced companion that doesn´t like to talk. I´m just kidding he´s a good kid, but it´s just hard to laugh about things haha. I love you all and thank for your support always!

-Ben

PS Brad I should get your package this Wednesday at Zone Conference. Also sorry about no pictures, someone borrowed my cable and lost it but I´m going to be sending another CD soon.