April 14, 2014 Transferred to San Leon

TRANSFERS!

Well this was a very different transfer week for me because something actually happened.     

I transferred! Yes, for the first time. haha. I am not too far away from my first area. I am in the Rosales Zone in the San Leon area. It is East of Rosales which is South of Urdaneta. 

My new Comp is way awesome!! His name is Elder Bigelow and he is from Arizona! He is white. Haha.  My first white companion. So far I am liking the area and my area has the biggest and nicest mall in the whole mission.  That is where we go for P- Day every week. It is like an American mall haha. I saw the iphone 5s came out and I heard the iphone 6 came out but I don't know if that is true. It will probably be the iphone 10 when I get home, haha.

This was also Conference weekend for me and I loved it. The talks in the Priesthood and Saturday sessions were so bold and straightforward. I really liked it. It’s probably because I actually watch conference now that I am on my mission. But, I can just feel the urgency in the talks about missionary work and about preparing ourselves for the second coming. Some pretty crazy stuff is happening in the world right now and that means the Second Coming is close. I liked all of the talks and learned stuff from all of them. I hope you all learned from conference. Katie and Matthew, watch and listen to conference.  It really is awesome and you will receive help in everything.

There wasn't much work because of the transfers, but I am excited for the transfer and for the work we will do.

Dad marami kayong mga tanong ( you have a lot of questions) haha

My comp is from Phoenix. He has been out since March of last year. I am in a Branch now. We are actually pretty far away from other missionaries, haha.

Hey in my Easter box can you but in Jim Bean sunflower seeds and Sour patch kids?  :) But don't send clothes or ties. I can get all that kind of stuff here. :)

(Leaving Easter candy in his Easter baskets) Haha.  Sometimes I let the candy sit to let the flavor really set in....:)

I LOVE YOU MOM!!!!!:)  AND DAD!!!!:)

MOM DAD KATIE AND MATTHEW! YALL are GREAT!:)  I love you!!!!

Elder Ball

April 6, 2014

WE HAD A Baptism shout HURRRRAY:)

This week was a good one! I learned a lot! And we had a Baptism! Her name is Shane and she is 10. Her father has been in Dubai for 6 years working and hasn't been able to come home. But he was able to get time off and a flight and make it here for his daughters Baptism. He is way cool actually fluent in English.  Because he works at a bar where a lot of Americans go he has this like Filipino/American/ Hipster accent.  It is pretty funny but he is really good. Anyway she was baptized on the 5th and Confirmed on the 6th which is pretty cool!:) 

I also learned some very good Personal lessons. Something I kind of noticed this week is right now another batch of missionaries are finishing their missions and go home tomorrow and people always say "hey you are almost in the real world" Or "Welcome to the real world". But what I noticed is that being a Full Time Missionary is as close to the real world as we can get. This is as real as it will gets. I am involved in the work of Salvation of the people here in the Philippines. There are people who don't know it but are depending on Missionaries so that they can make it to the Celestial Kingdom! It was kind of like "should've had a V8" moment. I gained a greater desire to work even harder and even when all you want to do is take a break from walking in the sun, to keep going and talking with people to find that next person who is ready to receive this Gospel! I had a good week this week and am looking forward to seeing where I will transfer.....If I transfer haha. I have been in this area for so long but I absolutely love it here so I actually don't want to leave but we will see:)

I love You Family!:)

Elder Ball

March 31,2014

Well I am at 8 Months now!!  Angbilis ng panahon!!!

Wow This week was pretty good the highlight was we found a family in the farthest reaches of our area out in the rice fields! The father does not have a religion because he can't find a church with the same teachings as Jesus Christ and the Bible, until we met him and started teaching him and his family!!

The first lesson we taught the Restoration and then invited them to be baptized! They all accepted right away.  The father knows that this is the truth.  They will hopefully be baptized on May 17 but probably sooner than that because they are way awesome. It was a testimony to me that there are people looking for the truth but just don't know where to find it. They are an Elect family and will be baptized.  Hopefully I am here to see it but I will probably transfer on April 11^th, the next transfer. Conference is this week for you guys but 2 weeks for me and Elder Newton.  I am way excited and hope you all enjoy it!  Hope you have a great week I love you Family!:)

Oh and It is like 7 Billion degrees here! I want dad to come here so he can see that I sweat a ton here haha!:) Since before he didn't think I sweat!!!

NO WAY DAMON GOT HIS CALLLLLLLL!!! THAT IS so AWESOME!!  It is also weird to think that a year ago I was doing the same thing. Time sure does fly!!! Tell him he is a stud and that I am way excited for him!!!!:) 

Tell Katie again Happy Birthday for me!!!! Yeah I got the fluoride and was like ...."yay.....More fluoride" haha sounds good thanks. Also, I do need a new pair of pants. One pair got a big stain in them:(  Tell grandpa I love him and miss him!!

Love you all!!!!!!

Elder Ball