Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Week 18: A Day in the Life of Kispest

Boldog Karacsonyt!!!!

Heyo!!! So Kispest is super fun! We have three awesome investigators! Lili, a 9 year old, is getting baptized this transfer and Ilona, a néni whose son is a member, we are committing to baptism this week! The last we will be working towards baptism this transfer if we can meet up with him. His name is Robi and he has been meeting with the missionaries for the past 20 years! So we will work with him haha

I live in a 10 story which is cool! We live on the 8th floor so we have a sweet view of all the ten stories in Kispest haha. The Kispest boundaries consist of actual Kispest and the downtown area of Pest so we have all the beautiful parts of Pest! Me and Elder Gajdos are in charge of actual Kispest which are all the ten stories but it's all good because that means we get to talk to lots of people! 

This past week we had several Christmas programs! President allowed us to go see the Christmas concert the stake was putting on at the stake center in Pest and it was super good! I can't believe how much talent the Budapest stake has! 

On Saturday the Kispest ward put on a talent show and we as a district performed an act it was awesome! I shared a video on my google account so you can all see it. We did the act again in our Christmas zone conference so that is the video but we did the same act both times haha. 

And that is why I was not able to email yesterday. We had our Christmas zone conference and it was literally the best! We got to watch President's favorite movie "The Little Prince!" If you haven't seen it you should watch it! It is super good! We had a white elephant game and I got this sowing kit box and a chicken toy thingy. The AP's and the secretaries put on this sweet program. Elder Heaps, one of the AP's was Santa  and each gave us a Christmas card and a pen which had our name engrave on it! 

And of course today was my birthday!!!! The big 20!!!! Thank you for all the birthday wishes you are all the best!! I wish you all the best and a happy and a Merry Christmas!! Remember Christ and His birth and don't forget to serve others!!

With love,

Elder Ballard
Here are some pics from transfers with my MTC group!!!




This is our investigator Andi in Debrecen before I left! She is super awesome and I hope she gets baptized soon!

We ordered a super large pizza for our last day as a district it was sweet!!


Me and Elder Smith's comp item: Fancy socks!

First day in Kispest-toilet gets clogged and Elder Gajdos makes a plastic plunger...


View from the apartment

Zone conference peeps


Some missionaries in their natural habitat 

White elephant gift

What do you want for Christmas?

Santa aka Elder Heaps 

Santa telling Rudolph what he wants for Christmas 

Even President had something he wanted for Christmas 

Office squad #goals

Playing musical chairs

Dance off


My birthday gift from home: Reese's cake, peanut butter, happy birthday crown, balloon, candles, blow horns, glow sticks




Birthday luncheon




My new companion! Elder Gajdos



More zone conference pictures








Week 17: Going to BUDAPEST!!!

Mi Zu!!!!!!!
So I am going to the big city!!! I am going to a part of Budapest called Kispest which is on the Pest side but a little more east! Kispest's literal translation is Little Pest! My new companion is going to be Elder Gajdos! He was in my group in the MTC so it is going to be a blast next transfer! Elder Smith is going to train here in Debrecen again!
I have grown to love Debrecen and especially the members so much! The branch president Joci and his wife invited us over last night to watch the Christmas Devotional! It was so much fun! It turns out they invited other members in the branch as well and we celebrated one of the member's birthdays! I love them so much and I will miss them!
Anyways, unfortunately, I ran out of time to talk a lot but also yesterday we got two let-ins! We taught this 40 year old man who is a super good guitarist (his name is János) and this báci (older man) who goes to the Roman Catholic church. János is now officially investigating the church and Elder Smith will visit the older man sometime this week!
Christmas is coming and I encourage you to be that light for someone who is in need of it this Christmas season! Let us all strive to become like Christ and follow His perfect example by helping others! I pray that we may all feel His peace and help! I wish you all a fantastic week and I will provide more details about Kispest next Monday!
Sok Szeretettel,

Elder Ballard

It got super foggy/frosty earlier this week. It is so weird walking in fog being a kid from Vegas. 





The Branch held a Mikúlás party (Santa Clause Party)


Elder Smith hit his year mark so we burned his shirt 


We visited Hajdusámson, a village outside of Debrecen on Sunday! Super rendés!


We visited the Katiék again with the Sisters!


Our awesome Branch President Joci leading the choir. 

The fam!