A Concert at the MTC

What's up everyone!

This week was incredible! It started out magnificent and ended even better! On Monday I had the great opportunity to do initiatories at the temple and do a session after! It was such a blessing to be reminded of the promises we are given if we are true and faithful to the covenants we make with God in the temple! 

Tuesday was a little interesting because my tooth kind of almost got knocked out lol. We were playing basketball and one of the elders elbowed me in the mouth which didn't feel to good but I'm good now. My lip is healed and my tooth is almost back to normal. What did happen that was cool was that me and my comp had a fantastic lesson with our investigator and the spirit was really strong between us both! 

Wednesday was a rough day for me because I couldn't remember a lot of the language. We had a lesson and I just couldn't remember what to say or what the correct grammar was and it was just hard to learn on that day. However, Thursday was a lot better considering I remembered a lot more with the language and I personally did better with the lesson we had with one of our investigators. 

Our TRC lessons went pretty well! We taught someone we taught last week and it was cool to just talk about how we was doing and stuff like that. What I began to notice while I was teaching was that as I listened to what the investigator was saying instead of thinking about what I was going to say next helped me form sentences a lot better! I think that's associated with turning outward. As I focus on what the investigator's needs are instead of mine the spirit will help me in what I say! 

Saturday we had our service project which was pretty cool. We ended up making an assembly line with our district and another district and we just tossed blankets from the top floor to the bottom floor to the janitor's room which was a brilliant idea lol. 

Sunday was super awesome first because it was Pioneer Day and second we had a band play! The devotional was something I will never forget! We had the Nashville Tribute Band play and they played some fantastic music about Christ, the scriptures, and the church! It turns out that all are members from the church and that most if not all (I can't remember) served missions! It turns out that the lead singer served in Las Vegas and just hearing him talking about the Las Vegas temple brought back great memories! Our zone talked with him a little bit before the devotional but I didn't know he served there! The whole MTC choir (which was the largest in history with around 1,400 missionaries) sang as the backup choir to three of their songs. The songs I remember we sang with were "I was Born," "John's Song," and "When Jesus Comes Again" in case if you want to search those up! The spirit was incredibly strong during that devotional and just feeling the power during that devotional I can proclaim that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and that he did see God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove! 

I am forever grateful for the sacrifices that the pioneers gave to establish this church! Because of them, we are able to preach the gospel across the entire world!

Szeretek vagytok!

Elder Ballard

A Month Down/Half Way Done!

What's up!!

So on Saturday was officially our half way point in the MTC!!! I can't believe I'm already a month done and half way with the MTC! We partied it up with Sparkling Cider ;) courtesy of my wonderful parents! I don't feel like I'm ready to go out into the field just because there is so much I need to learn about the language that we haven't covered yet but it's all good!

Update on my fake investigator Eszter, Fisher Elder and I (that's how we pronounce names in Hungarian) have been teaching her about the commandments the Lord has set for us. Learning the vocab for each lesson has been tough but the spirit definitely helps me learn it faster! Some lessons we teach are definitely better than others but that's okay because we can't expect a perfect lesson each time; however, with the Lord's help we can teach with the spirit! 

I got to host again on Wednesday for the third time! There were almost 700 missionaries that arrived that day so it was insane! I hosted around 4 missionaries! We also had all the new Dutch missionaries come on Wednesday!!! I had the fantastic opportunity to welcome them and help them with their first day at the MTC! Remembering how loved I felt on my first day at the MTC, I really tried to make sure they felt the same way! Being a zone leader is hard but I love serving and helping the missionaries have a great MTC experience! 

On Tuesday we had a fantastic devotional on having faith and charity in our investigators. I truly felt that in order to teach with the spirit, I have to love the people I am teaching.

Yesterday because of all the new missionaries, we had 2100 missionaries at our MTC choir practice! I have never seen so many at choir before!

Okay so this awesome experience happened yesterday at the devotional. So for the ​​​​​​​​devotional, the MTC President and his wife (it turns out both of them are from Fisher Elder's ward so I kind of know them now) told us that for our Sunday devotional we would be re-watching  "The Character of Christ" by Elder Bednar (the talk I told you all about in my first letter) because there was so many new missionaries. After watching the talk, ELDER BEDNAR HIMSELF came into the room!!!! I started flipping out and everyone stood up as he and his wife and an area seventy from Europe all came in!!! The spirit was incredibly strong when he came in and I was completely shocked! He had a question and answer session with all of us about the character of Christ and how we can all become more like Christ! One thing that Elder Bednar said that was kind of like that "drop the mic quote" was that "Charity isn't something that we do, it's who we become!" That struck me hard because that's who Jesus Christ was. He was charity! I'll never forget that feeling and experience!

Those were pretty much the highlights of this week! We will be having the Nashville Tribute Band performing on Pioneer Day and we will be singing with them so I can't wait to email you on that! 

Szeretek vagytok!

Elder Ballard

Experiencing The Gift Of Tongues

Hey everyone!

This week was a great one! Monday was the 4th of July but it was just a normal day in the life of a MTC missionary but it's all good! I'm realizing that what I'm doing now is way more important than what I would do if I wasn't serving a mission! 

Tuesday we had our first lesson with Eszther (my other teacher). It actually went pretty well! With the help of the spirit I'm actually forming phrases and applying the grammar in more of what I say instead of going baby talk on the investigators. Also on Tuesday we had choir which we sang in front of Elder Jensen of the seventy! He talked about faith which was funny because that was what I studied during personal study that day! 

Wednesday we had our second lesson with Eszther which didn't go as well as the first for me personally but life is still good! However, what was awesome on Wednesday was that I got to host Elder Clayton as he came to the MTC!!! It was such an awesome feeling helping him and making sure he was set for the MTC! I helped out a total of three missionaries that day.

Thursday was pretty chill. Since the Dutch and the Turks leave today and tomorrow, they had their in-field orientation session so it was just us (the Huns) studying that day. However, I saw a bunch of my friends from BYU that came in on Wednesday which was super coooooool!!! That evening we taught Eszther about the Atonement and there was a moment where I just wanted to pour out my love and care for the Atonement and how much it affected my life! The atonement has had such a huge role in my life that my words cannot give it justice on just how much it means to me!

Friday was where my awesome title came from. So of course TRC is on Friday and we got to teach two lessons; this week it was on service. The first lesson was to a member named Dallin who worked at the BYU IT department. I felt that I spoke really well during that lesson but I wasn't sure if we met his needs at that time. The second lesson was to Tim, the member me and Elder Fisher taught last week!! It turns out he proposed and is getting married!! (it was weird trying to figure that out in Hungarian haha) Afterwards the lesson was just fantastic! Literally when I spoke, words just came in my head and I was able to communicate freely to him! We talked about how service will bless his future family and that as a husband and a father it is a part of our priesthood duty to serve our family and wife. I honestly have never felt so happy after teaching a lesson to someone! After the lesson he just gave us huge hugs and the spirit was super strong!

Saturday we pretty much studied all day but Sunday was super fun! Me and my companion were recognized as the new zone leaders and I'm honestly super excited to meet the new Dutch missionaries this coming Wednesday! All the Dutch left today which was super sad but they are off to do bigger and better things and I'm so happy for them! I can't believe that'll be me in a couple of weeks! We had choir in the North Chapel and it turns out the MTC choir is singing as sort of a backup choir for the Christian band: Nashville Tribute Band for Pioneer Day! I'm super excited!! The devotional was also super good! The speaker was President Hansen who works at the MTC and he talked about charity and the pure love of Christ and how it is so important for us as missionaries to love the people we teach! After all Christ did love everyone! I hope you all have a super great week!!

Tisztelettel,

Elder Ballard​

Welcoming Elder Jared Clayton to the MTC

Studying with my district

My Zone

Emailing my family

Teaching a Native!

Hey Everyone!

This week was super cool! On Monday we got to work in the Provo Temple by helping tear apart the carpet and such. Oh, I forgot to tell you about one of the elders in my district! His name is Elder Gentry and he is committed to playing BYU football once he gets back! He's super huge! He was the elder in the middle in the picture I took on the first week! While we were working on the temple, he literally by himself like ripped apart the entire carpet in one of the rooms! It was insane! Needless to say without him we probably wouldn't even get half of what we did that day! 

On Tuesday we had our first lesson with a new fake investigator (my teacher) and it didn't go as well as I hoped. But I did get to sing in the largest choir in the world on Tuesday! The MTC choir had almost a thousand missionaries singing for the Tuesday Devotional and it was fantastic! We sang "Hurrah to Israel" to Elder Arnold of the Seventy! He gave a great talk about the Godhead and forgetting past sins and transgressions! 

On Wednesday I got to host the new missionaries! I don't know why but I felt super happy! I guess just two weeks ago I was going through what they were going through so I just tried to help them in any way I could!

We had a lot better lesson with our investigator on Thursday on Friday! I felt the spirit a lot stronger in the lesson and we helped her commit to reading the Mormon Könyve (Book of Mormon)! Cool thing that happened on Thursday was that I ran into Elder Reis from The District!! He looked a lot older than he was in the videos but he was super nice! 

We had our first TRC lessons on Friday! TRC is when we teach lessons to actual members in Hungarian! The first lesson we taught was super spiritual! The member was a student at BYU and we taught about prophets and revelation! I was super nervous at first to just express my feelings without looking at my notes but as the lesson went on I got enough courage to just say what I felt was right! The lesson went a whole lot better! Sometimes we just need to just forget how scared we are to do something and do what Nike and Shia Labeouf say: "Just Do It!" 

The second lesson is where the title comes in. We got to teach a Hungarian Native who was also a student at BYU. I'm telling you, she spoke the fastest Hungarian I have ever heard! I did pick out several words and phrases but it was so intense! The lesson wasn't as spiritual as the first but I learned a lot from it! It turns out that Hungarian people express what they like by expressing how they feel when they do it instead of just labeling it like how we do it in English. Instead of saying "it was fun" they say "I was happy doing it!" Fun fact haha. 

On Saturday we had a special July 4th devotional and we got to watch the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire! We got to stay up until 11:30 which felt really weird.

Yesterday we had fast Sunday! Me and my comp are becoming zone leaders this next Sunday so my branch president instructed me and my comp as to what our responsibilities are! I'm super excited to welcome all the new missionaries in our district next week! All the Albanians, Dutch, and Turks will be gone by next week so we'll be the vets!

Cool/spiritual thing of this week: I found out from the Turks and other missionaries that the Istanbol aiport was bombed last week which was super sad!! There are only three missionaries in the MTC that are going to Turkey and as I mentioned earlier they are in my zone! (Elder Grover is one of them) What was incredible to me was seeing how unshaken they were when they found out! Next week they are heading to that same Istanbol airport and going out to preach the word of God to those people! They mentioned to me that just as long as they remain obedient they will be safe! Obedience after all is the first law of heaven and as we all stay obedient the Lord will bless us and be by our left and our right!

Sziasztok,

Elder Ballard

She was one of our investigators who served a mission in Hungary!

Enjoying the Fourth of July!

He was one of the Albanian missionaries. He is from UK and even had a British accent!

He was another Albanian missionary from New Zealand. He was my zone leader!