Sunday, January 21, 2018

Week 74: Some Cool Miracles

This week the miracles were coming!

On Monday, after tracting and talking to people for a while, we ran into a guy from Austria that met with missionaries for a long time. It was really cool because he asked us when we could meet with him, instead of us asking him. We are meeting with him tomorrow! 

On Tuesday, we met with Imre, a man we tracted into last week and he politely told us that he does not want to change religions (he is Catholic). We talked a little bit about that and we talked about prophets and modern day prophets. At the end, he still refused to change. We then bore testimony about the Book of Mormon and the church. As we were saying the closing prayer, the spirit was really strong and we saw it in his eyes that he felt it too! At the end of the prayer, he looked down and Elder Hess said that he almost had a tear in his eye. As we left we were disappointed, but then Elder Hess turned toward me and said "lets go get a let-in" and we did! It was super cool! We shared the message we had planned and the man that let us in was in tears at the end of it! It was a great testimony builder to me of the power of faith and diligence! 

We had other great miracles this week as well. As a district, we believe that big things are happening here and we are seeing the results of our efforts! I love you all and thank you so much for the prayers on my behalf! We are seeing great things in Győr and I am grateful for your support!

Love,

Elder Josh Ballard






Week 73: New Years Greetings

So Elder Hess is super awesome! I love him to death! I took him out streeting on his first day which was cool. We have been working hard everyday! I am super grateful for a companion that is willing to work! Already we have found 3 new investigators since Wednesday! It has been a pretty miracle week! 

I was made district leader on Tuesday and what I am hoping is that we work hard and see the results of it this transfer. We have the zone leaders and the Tatabánya elders in our district. 

On Wednesday during transfers, me and Elder Robinson, the zone leader, stayed in Győr to work and we had a good discussion about what we can do to do better and to actually meet the goals we are planning to set this transfer. Both of us saw the opportunity this transfer to work as hard as we can to find those that are prepared. Elder Robinson got Elder Martin, who is a real hard worker, and I got Elder Hess. On Wednesday, I told Elder Hess that we will find someone who will let us in and he was like "yea we will." We went out and we got a let-in! 

We had a discussion at district meeting that if we believe in miracles and believe that we will find those that the Lord has prepared, we will always be successful! 

We have been seeing miracles daily which have been really cool! 

Love, 

Elder Josh Ballard


My mission president

Christmas package from the family!







Week 72: Happy New Year

Transfers is tomorrow, that is why I did not email yesterday but it is going to be good. My new companion is named Elder Hess! I took him out streeting his first day in country and he was really excited to learn and speak to people about the gospel. As of tomorrow I will officially be a bácsi which is super weird. Time is flying so I am trying to use every moment and appreciate it.


We stayed safe during New Years. I got a funny video of a dude dancing his head off on his balcony. There were a ton of fireworks like last year but I gotta say that the Budapest ones were more exciting. I hope you are all doing well! Take care and start your year off strong!

Love, 
Elder Ballard

Week 71: Christmas

Brad was able to talk with Elder Bradshaw a couple of days before Christmas. Elder Bradshaw is a senior missionary who lives right above Joshua and his companion. Elder Bradshaw scheduled a time when we could speak with Joshua. He said to Brad that Joshua was the most obedient missionary he knew. Of course, we felt very grateful and happy to hear such wonderful news regarding our son. We spent an hour talking with Joshua Christmas morning. He seemed happy and grateful to be serving the Lord.



Week 70: Hallejuah

I ran out of time but I will write the main topic of this week!

This week was super good with a lot of productive things happening! We found a new investigator,  Péter! He is Catholic but loves the church. He does not want to change (right now) but the spirit can do wonderful things! We also met with Gábor who shared the Christmas video with his mom!

Yesterday we had a special program at the church and we got to do this musical performance! We had an older member from Germany come down and play the organ! Afterwards, the ward watched the Christmas Devotional! 

I will not be emailing next week because I will be skyping but I wish you all a wonderful and spectacular Christmas! Remember to Light the World and do as the Savior would do! I love you all!

Love, 
Elder Ballard










Week 69: Mikulás party

I will go right into it, 

This week, we had a Santa Clause party in English and we got to go on a horse carriage. But that was not the best part. One of the members brought her neighbor to the activity and she LOVES the church! She came to church yesterday and participated in Sunday School. She even shared some incredible stories she had in her life. We had a short history lesson about how horrible the Communist regime was to the people in Hungary and how God helped this woman in her trials! We will be working with the member to meet with her!

I am not sure how many of you know but we are doing the Self Reliance My Foundations course! We finished learning about how to persevere and how to have integrity. There are several conference talks about that. This week we learned about how valuable knowledge is and how important it is to obtain knowledge consistently. We will be doing the last lesson this week as well as several service projects to help LIGHT THE WORLD. I challenge all of you to follow the Advent calendar! You will be so happy this Christmas! I love you all!

#légyavilágvilágossága


Elder Josh Ballard




Horse carriage

Week 68: Snow!!

So, the Light the World initative is in full swing and the weather has been changing dramatically. It snowed in Győr this morning and also on Thursday! 

We got to meet with a member family this week and that went really well. The father is one of the translators in the translating department of the church in Győr. He is also one of the high counselors in the stake. He shared a wonderful message about the power of the Book of Mormon and why it is important that all of us read it EVERYDAY. He referenced President Ezra Taft Benson in that reading the Book of  Mormon will help wards grow and spirits flourish. I have been trying to read the Book of Mormon everyday and ponder and there is power in the book! 

We also helped a less active with service this week and we did a lot more finding this week. I invite you all to follow the Christmas initative schedule and by doing something kind each day! I love you all!

Love, 

Elder Josh Ballard







We got to go to a YSA activity at the Bradshaws and we got to do a service opportunity.



The pictures of me and Elder Mckim shows a man in a chair. His story is super cool! A couple of months ago he was TOTALLY against the church. He and his wife would get into heated arguments. Then, he decided to take his wife to stake conference because his wife is the Relief Society president. He was waiting in the foyer while his wife was in the chapel and Elder Bradshaw came out and saw him. Elder Bradshaw got someone to translate and Elder Bradshaw offered to give him a blessing. The spirit was super strong during the blessing and his heart completely changed! He now is meeting with the missionaries!






Week 67: Thanksgiving and a Surprise visit to Szombathely! #légyavilágvilágossága

Boldog Késő Hálaadás napját!

So this week the ward put together a Thanksgiving party and a lot of less actives came! Me and Elder Robinson on splits met with a less active couple before the party on Saturday and it turns out that they have not been to church in over a year. We invited them to the party and called them the same day and they came! We were thrilled to see them there! They said that it was really good to come back and talk with the older members (they got baptized in the 90s). That was a great miracle!

Also, we got to go to this city on the west side of Hungary called Szombathely (Saturday Place). The Szombathely branch was going to have their primary program on Sunday and there was no one that could play because the branch pianist is also the primary chorister so she needed to lead the children. President called me and asked me to play for the primary program. So, on Friday we traveled over to practice and we returned this Sunday! The members there are super solid and it was a cool experience!

This week we also had zone conferences! The light the world campaign is back at again and we are super stoked! We are putting ideas together to help light up Győr! Yesterday we got permission to help pack donated foods! We are trying to find more service opportunities! I encourage you all to WATCH THE VIDEO at mormon.org!!! SHARE IT on Facebook and share it with others personally! You will be blessed!

On closing note, the AP's mentioned the following in their letter today for the missionaries, I thought it was really cool:

"During Elder Homer's visit here this past weekend he explained that as Elder Ballard left Europe a few weeks ago, in his meeting with all the area seventies he said that throughout his whole trip he felt "Now is the time to grow the church in Europe. We will strengthen it as it grows, but it is time to make it bigger!" Homer elder then shared Doctrine and Covenants 88:73 "Behold, I will hasten my work in its time." This is the Lords time for the church to grow in Europe, so plan well, find constantly, and teach repentance through extending commitments and helping Investigators find a reason to change."

Light the world everyone!

Love,

Elder Ballard


Zone Conference
Szombathely





Light the World




Service


Setting up for Thanksgiving




Thanksgiving











We are full!

The Bradshaws, the senior couple missionary who live above my companion and I.