God Loves All His Children

So lately me and my companions (plural) hahah. We've been talking about how the more diligent we are and the more we align our will with the Lord's and show him we're willing to sacrifice things etc... then will he entrust us with more of his children (more people to teach)... And so we've been trying to do that lately to be more diligent and this week we saw some major results!!! So just some background.... M... he's a super golden investigator we met a month ago and we committed him to baptism the first lesson.. but the next week he went to Melbourne for travel and we lost contact with him for about a month.... Then another investigator J..  left to Korea  last week..... But this week we got a call from M after a month of no contact and he said he was back and wanted to meet with us still! And we met up with him and he was still KEEN AS! He remembered everything we taught him the 1st lesson, he was praying.. and still wanted to be baptized!!!#Miracle.... Then during our English Class we got a call from an unknown number... so I stepped out for a sec to take it and it turns out... J... right before he left... he told his friend if she could do anything for him... it was to call us and go to our church... And so here we were on the phone with her! And she was Korean so I gave the phone to my companion Elder J... and he was confused like "Do you want to learn about English?"... And she replied "English?!... What English?! I want to learn about the church!"... Hahahah it was so insane!!! And along with her we met another guy named D and set baptismal dates with both of them that same night!.... The Lord's been pouring out blessings upon us.... But like anything in life... Sacrifice brings blessings... In football.. that guy who stays after practice doing sprints and reviewing plays etc. will prosper in gameday... such is the same in missionary work... as we've been diligent and sacrificing some necessary things we've been prospering in the Lord's work... And nothing left is to say but..... WOOOOOOO! Haha.

Usually we have baptisms every Saturday night but the branch changed it so it's only twice a month now...So now we have nothing to do on Saturday nights... So we go finding!!! It's super sketch cause all the drunk people are out... But we convinced my companion Elder O (the one on crutches) to come with me and Elder J to go finding at Belmore Park.  But anyways... I was finding and started talking to this homeless guy.... He first asked me for the time so I told him "6:45" or whatever and was walking away... but then I felt impressed to talk with him and at first I was like... What the heck I don't wanna talk to a bogan hahaha. But that morning I read a talk "Be Anxiously Engaged" And "Consider the Blessings" in the last general conference and so the first talk said every day we should ask ourselves "Have I done any good in the world today?" "Have I helped anyone in need" And "Consider the Blessings" talked about being an answer to other peoples prayers... And so I prayed that morning to help someone... so as I went back to talk to him, he opened up like crazy and said how his life has been a failure and he's an alcoholic etc.. And I taught him the plan of salvation right there and he just stopped for a second and smiled and was like "Thank you.... thank you so much!! I really needed this!" And I gave him my number and invited him to church and left... And so I left the park that day with such a good feeling... And being able to answer "yes" to those questions at the end of the day.... God loves all his children... even if they are bogans... haha.  

A lot of good things happening

This week was swell... A lot of good things happening... This past Wednesday I went on Trade-Offs with this fresh as missionary.. He's only been out 3 weeks, but it was super fun! Our theme for our trade-off was setting inspired goals... And so we set the goal of pulling 2 people off of the street to show them the church (equivalent to tracting and having 2 people let you in to teach)... So we were busy the whole morning and we had little finding time... but it was getting near the end of the day.. And we had 1 hour left to pull 2 people off.... So we said a prayer and the moment we walked outside the Teaching Center we saw this Japanese guy looking a bit lost so we went and talked to him.. and turns out he had heard about our Church that we teach Free English here and wanted to learn more about it... AND... he was waiting outside for his friend to come with him!!!.... So we talked to him and his friend came and we showed them around church and taught them and accomplished our goal!!!! That testified to me that God has a will.... and if we align our will with His having faith to accomplish it... it shall be done... So it was a really cool experience especially for him as well... a brand new missionary... and now he learned the importance of setting goals in faith! 
Now for story time... So this Saturday J... was baptized!!! But it was so funny for real... because he was so nervous I was just using that to my advantage hahaha, cause obviously if you're sympathetic in this situation it's going to make it worse... so I would just make random comments... Like we were entering the chapel and there was a black cat... I was like "Ohhh J... you know what that means?..." What?... "That's bad luck, maybe we should go home!"... And he just started laughing out of nervousness hahah. And I told him "Ohh J... did you know... last year someone died in this baptismal font.." Hahaha. But he got over his nerves and was fine... But it was really cool... our Elders Quorum President gave a talk saying 13 years ago he was baptized and the missionaries were 40 minutes late so the water was freezing cold.. and he related it to Wilford Woodruff when he was baptized... They broke open a frozen river and he was baptized in there and he hugged the other person and said "I don't feel the cold brother... I don't feel the cold"... And he said when he was baptized he felt immediately warm when he went into the water.... and the spirit of promise confirmed to him that the ordinance was true.... And the same happened to J!!.... Before we entered the water I read him Alma 7:15, And that was so cool because that's one of the scriptures that helped him get over his fear... and then we actually did what it said at the end!.... and we entered the water and it was COLD AS!!!..... But once he was baptized and we went into the changing room he just started laughing and hugged me and was like "I feel so hot!!!! I'm so happy!!!!" And he got down and started doing push ups and was just laughing and was seriously on a happy high hahaha, he even told me he wished he never postponed his baptism because this feeling was so incredible!.... It was such a great experience though to witness!!!.... He's a such a good guy! 

Humbled

This week was really good!! Transfers were yesterday, I keep on dodging bullets, I'm still in the city with Elder J and Elder O. So I'll have been in the city 7 1/2 months after this one so I'm pretty sure this is my last transfer here so I'm gonna try to work hard as. And something I thought was pretty cool, in the 6 months I've been in the city I counted all the lessons I've had with different nationalities.... And these statistics alone will prove to you that I got sent to Asia... not Australia hahaha. Chinese:114/ Thai:105/ Korean:49/ Aussie:38/ Vietnamese:18/ Russian:6/ Taiwanese:4/ English:4/ French:4/ Peruvian:4/ Indonesian:4/ Italian:3/ Brazilian:3/ Japanese:3/ Filipino:3/ Canadian:1/ Hong Kongese:1/ Norwegian:1/ Kiwi:1..... With a total number of lessons to 366. So only 38/366 lessons have been with Aussies.... so if Ashley or anyone is expecting me to have a "hot Aussie accent"... expect more like broken English when I come back hahaha.

So we have this investigator named J from Korea... And he was supposed to be baptized 2 or 3 weeks ago but got scared and backed out.... We set another date for January 12th and have been preparing him.... until he said AGAIN he was scared and didn't want to.... So we had a lesson with him and we spent the WHOLE lesson... like 45 minutes just trying to resolve his concern... and I don't exactly remember what was said... but I know the Lord put in our mouths what we needed to share with him... And mind you we have done this a few times before.... and I shared with him again Alma 7:15... (that scripture smashed him) He said he knew God was speaking to him and the spirit testified to him that he needed to be baptized and he was ready.... And finally he accepted!!!! And it was so funny, one of our recent converts L.... he yelled out "FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!" And in between our conversations with him L was smashing him!!! He was so funny, he was so frustrated just yelling at him "OH MY GOODNESS! YOU'RE NOT GOD! YOU'RE HUMAN BEING, YOU AREN'T PERFECT!!! JUST GET BAPTIZED, GOODNESS!!" hahahah, and he even added in this which came out of nowhere..... "COME ON!!! DO YOU WATCH MODERN FAMILY?! THE COLOMBIAN MOM? SHE'S HOT GIRL!" And I was just like.... WHAT?!?!?! hahahahaha.... and even though it may sound funny and not really spiritual.... everything together just mixed together so well.... like the whole lesson wasn't just serious and us being stern.... And that testifies the quote by Richard G Scott "A sense of humor is an escape valve to the pressures of life and will invite revelation" And so even with the laughing... it invited a spirit of peace... not contention... we never contended with him... we just showed our love to him and our desire for his salvation.....  and finally he was humble enough to act on the answer that he received.... That is what 'Real Intent' is! When you act on the answer you receive! And so it was such a good lesson! And so now this weekend Saturday! J will FINALLY be baptized!! :)

But this week was actually a really good week in regards to finding people who NEED the gospel.... We found 2 people in particular.... I'll start with C... she's an older Korean lady.. around her 40 or 50's.... and she's actually getting abused by her partner we reckon... she hasn't told us specifically but she strongly implied it... So she's turning to God at this time because she needs comfort and so we've taught her twice and she's so good and so sincere! And another is this 16 year old Aussie named J... When we approached them on the street... he was with this older guy in his 30's that was drinking and smoking and J was just sitting there... So we talked to him and turned out that guy was his uncle... But we talked to J and he was a genuinely nice kid... he just had SUPER BAD influences obviously... and he had the best questions... because his Granny died and he had been wondering where she is... why do bad things happen to good people and which church was true! And we read with him some answers out of the Book of Mormon right there on the street! And he opened up to us how he needed this because he had been depressed and showed us his wrists and he had been cutting himself trying to feel happiness he said... And so we'll meet with him later this week hopefully.. But it really humbled me that there are TONS of people out there in need... and I have the opportunity to go and help them with the gospel of Jesus Christ which after all brings true happiness.... But I shallst keep you updated on them as we continue to teach them.

Look Forward With Hope!

 But Christmas I learned a really valuable lesson hahaha.... So first off it rained the WHOLE day.. so we stayed inside the church and the Branch BBQ ended around 3.... from 3-9.... I kid you not.... I played a little ninja and ping pong for about an hour... so actually 4-9.... I just watched mormon messages..... We had nothing to do so I watched those all day.... And I could care less how unproductive my Christmas was.... but I realized the best gift I had.... (obviously besides all of you, family, friends etc.)... And that was a testimony of this gospel... as I watched each one I felt the spirit confirm to me what I was hearing was true... So It was a pretty sweet Christmas I would say.
Now let me tell you about my New Years Eve..... So I remembered I was thinking... What did I do this time 1 year ago?... And we were in the house in Cashmere playing farkle and I remember mom and dad kissed and Jared was like "gross" Or something mean and I laughed super hard...... And now.... let me tell you about my lovely new years eve for the finishing of 2012 :) .... We had to be back at our flat at 4pm and once we got in... we were told to make the flat "Temple Clean"..... And so me and Elder J live in a 4 man flat.... so me and Elder J had to clean a huge flat with the 2 of us.... we cleaned 5 hours straight until 9.... planned for tomorrow for like 5 minutes and then cleaned til 10:30... we didn't even have dinner..... And then this morning we cleaned another 3 hours!!!!!!!!!!!! So we finished the new year cleaning and started the new year cleaning.... I kid you not... we were in a state of wearyness where you're laughing for no apparent reason and yet you still wanted to just hit someone.... And there were tons of party people (we live by a ton of clubs) and I was so angry hahah.. we were just yelling "REPENT! REPENT!".... oh my goodness.... I was thinking the whole time... "this is so dumb.. I didn't come on a mission to clean... I hate my life".... pretty dramatic right? hahah but if you would've seen how dirty it was, you would've said the same hahah. And so this morning for personal study I came across some revelation that slapped me in the face... First I'll give you some background... My zone leader Elder A... always has the most intense and revelation flowing studies in the world... and he says every morning he prays for it and opens up the scriptures randomly... and comes to his revelation... so this morning I did the same.... I prayed and opened up randomly.... I was in a pretty bad mood due to the most stupid new years eve I've ever had and it just so happened I landed in the bible.... where it speaks of the first and great commandment... Love one another... And I thought... "love one another?... more like hit someone".... And as I read it said a phrase with Jesus speaking "Because I live.. ye shall live also..." And it popped in my mind the talk given in General Conference which was titled that... So I flipped that open... and read.... and there's this little strand of light that comes from my window.... and it landed exactly.... perfectly..... on this sentence in the story.... "look forward with hope, rather than look backward with despair"... And that just dumbfounded me for real.... I was so shocked that I underlined and marked it and even took a picture that you can see..... With such simple words.... brought a great peace to my mind... mostly because I was pretty angry I had cleaned my whole new years eve hahah and started off the new year stupid as well... So I thought to myself.... from now on... I'm not going to dwell on the bad things this past year such as yesterday.... instead I'm going to look forward with hope.... And I think the same can apply with EVERYONE.... often when the new year comes everyone thinks about all the bad things that happened to them and just hope for a better year.... so what better way to live by... than to look forward with hope, rather than looking backward with despair.... (there's my over exaggerated story for you hahaha) So now I've typed too much and I shallst be on my way now... Just remember that and have a happy 2013!

Best Christmas Present EVER!

This week was seriously fair dinkum aussie!... aka sweet as. We did a TON of teaching and found a TON of new investigators... To put it in short we saw miracles for days!.. We went from our area being pretty close to dead... to setting 4 baptismal dates this week alone!... It was INSANE!... And I found a Brazilian!!!!!... It's been my goal to baptize a Brazilian on my mission hahah, and he came in for a lesson and is keen as!.. He's gonna get baptized for sure. But really the most craziest thing was when we went on trade offs with the assistants... I went with Elder U..  He is seriously the definition of a machine.... And he shared an experience where him and his companion made a promise to the Lord.... They weren't going to care about food, sleep, or anything.. They were just going to dedicate their time to work... And he said it was seriously the most borderline thing between hard working and just absolutely crazy... And they set a pretty high baptismal goal for the next 3 months.... and at the end of that 3 months they had achieved it all except 1... And they were pretty pumped but they still knew this goal was inspired of God... And the week before reporting ended... one of their investigators ran out of Sacrament meeting crying.... and they got a text a little later saying "I felt the spirit so strong.. can I be baptized next Saturday?"... And so she was baptized and they reached their goal for baptisms in that 3 months!... And he said "I could honestly tell you Elder Ball... I couldn't of gave any more in that time than what I gave.."... And then he asked me to think about a question but I want to change it a little.... "At the end of my mission... How do I want to account to God?"... And think of that question as you read Alma 26.... This is Alma's homecoming talk after his 13 year mission.... So that definitely boosted me up another gear to work harder.
At the beginning of my mission maybe when I was out like 3 months.. I was having trouble finding.. like I could get phone numbers from people easy... but finding solid people was hard.... So I prayed real hard one night... and the next day I found this Chinese guy named L.... who will be getting baptized this week!!!! Best Christmas present EVER!... And then that same week I found this Japanese girl named N.. she was for real hard hearted hahaha... Like she straight up told us she didn't want to learn about God at first... but then she started opening up about her past and how her grandma died recently... and she wanted to know where she was now.... And so then she softened up to learn about the gospel which is miracle as!!... And something even cooler... my Zone Leader Elder H.. in his Patriarchal Blessing it says he will serve in his native tongue.... yet on his mission he barely has spoken Japanese... and so now he sees it being fulfilled.... and so he'll be teaching her now and I'm sure she'll get baptized soon :D... MIRACLES!

BOOM! ...SPIRIT IN YOUR FACE!

But this week was pretty crazy hahah...  I'm still in the City.. just different Area and different district.... Oh my goodness though... It broke my heart... all my investigators... I won't teach them anymore..  :'( ... But it's algood we've had some miracles this week....The area was basically dead when I came Friday.. like no investigators... but one night I just sat down and made a billion calls and we set up seriously like SO MANY lessons with potential investigators for this week.... EVEN!.... This girl named M from Mexico....  And I met her 2 months ago but she never answered... but that night she answered and we were on the phone like 10 minutes just trying to convince her to come in... cause I still remember she told me all the churches are corrupt because there's no authority on the earth anymore... And I almost had a heart attack... (RESTORATION)... So finally she agreed to come in and listen to what we have to say... So Wednesday shallst be our make or break lesson... I'm scared as hahah.
This morning for about 4 hours we moved 7 girls' stuff to their new apartment.... K so just imagine how much stuff 1 girl has.... and times that by..... 7!.... It was so heavy hahah. But it was AWESOME!.
This week was sweeet as... I'll share one really cool experience... So we were teaching one of our investigators... (she'll be baptized this week).. And at the end of our lesson she just bore her testimony to us and basically shared her conversion story with us and just started crying... For real the spirit was so strong... like... the only description would be like BOOM!... SPIRIT IN YOUR FACE!...  She's got a super cool conversion story too... but I'll tell that when I get pictures of her baptism as well :)
And another super cool thing... It was an Arizona invasion this Sunday!!! A ton of guys from Arizona came for business and 2 of them went to Mesa High.. and 1 of them grew up in Kingsborough Park ward (which was 52nd ward at the time).. And he knew everyone... Pyles, Robinsons, Favreuas etc... But unfortunately... I didn't catch his name -_-... so sorry bout dat hahaha. But he was super cool. 

Starstruck!

And to answer your question haha... I'm still in the City.... still with Elder A.  But this week was a super exciting... yet sad week :( We lost a lot of great missionaries!... Even Sister Wolfgramm :( But they will all do great in their new areas... But enough sad news... now for the exciting stories!

 

But anywho.... Brace yourself.... for the most insane things ever....... are you ready?!>...... MUTE SPITTAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FAIRFRIGGINDINKUM!!!! I MET HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..... And not only him.... but a bunch of those dudes from those youtube videos!!!!!!!! AND!!!!!!!!.... Victor Kim!!!!!!!!..... He's from Quest Crew that won ABDC in season 3!!.... I was so hyped!!.... We just finished finding and I was standing on the corner of world square and I was waiting for my companion and I saw this huge as group of people that looked familiar walk by from a distance.... and then it clicked and I was like OH SNAP!!!!!!!!! and I ran them down and talked to them for a little bit... it was so crazy!!... I tried to get a picture with all of them but they had a dinner reservation so I only got one with Victor.

 

... My goodness.... It sucked though... I was so starstruck I couldn't focus on missionary work the rest of the night hahaha, but I'm algood now.

 

 AND!..... It was super cray.... We were on trade offs and we were just doing daily planning then all of a sudden (FVDFGDRBHGSDFGAAAAAAAAAAAAFSEDFSARFSF).... This LOUD AS noise came by and our windows were shaking like crazyyy!,... So we ran over to the balcony to see what was happening and this military helicopter flew by our window... I kid you not... like 100 feet from our window( on the 27th floor) ... and started lowering like 30 guys onto this building across from us!! Then a 2nd one came and lowered another 30 and then the flew off.... and it was quiet for a bit... and we couldn't see much... then all of sudden we saw inside the building like 30 lasers all pointing at one way... We were like OH SNAP! CALL OF DUTY@ SHOOT! SHOOT! Fair dinkum... It was sweet as though... had a lot of action this week haha.

 

So I think I told you last week about the Chinese investigator that texted us wanting to meet.... So we had a 2nd lesson with him the beginning of this week... and we just finished teaching him the First Vision and we were about to finish the lesson... then he was like "Guys... I have some good and bad news....".... And so we were kinda skeptic... not sure what he was going to say hahah... But we told him to say bad news first... "I can't come to church this Sunday cause I have to study for my exams..." Then we were like.. ahhh alrighhttt :/ ... Then I was like... well whats the good news?... "I have been praying and I got an answer... I want to be baptized...".... I was like....Uhm... Excuse me?... hahaha, I wasn't even expecting that at all... But I was super excited!!!.. WOO!.... So we set a date for December 29th! He's so prepared though.. it was ridiculous!... 

So we were on trade offs and it was a complete opposite... me and Elder S were teaching most the day... and Elder A and Elder Sh did finding the entire day!.... So at the very end of the day they were coming back... And probably quite discouraged cause I don't think they had much success.... But along the way.. some guy stopped them and asked where an ATM was... then they turned around and he saw 'Jesus Christ' on the badge and was like WHOAAAAAAA!!!..... Then just explained to them that before he came out... He was praying for guidance in his life and needed someone to turn to and when we was praying he felt this warm tingly sensation come over him and he got freaked out by this feeling hahah, so he was like... "I'm hungry... I'm gonna get some food".... And then that's when he met them!.... And then the next day we had a lesson with him and he has had SO MANY spiritual experiences and is so super prepared.... And it's miracle enough for you to find someone to teach.... but even more when they pray and find you to teach them...! Miracles! But yeah it was a super good week!

We even had an American Thanksgiving on p-day last week with the senior couple Elder and Sister B from Washington State.... IT WAS SO GOOD!!!.