The Week We Almost Had a Baptism

My new Mission President

So ya we had kind of a crazy week. Tuesday my comp was like we are going to go see Gretel, an antiguo, that knows the church is true. She just can’t be baptized until she quits rugby. She plays every Sunday and can’t come to church. We went and she told us that this Sunday she could come to church. We were sooo excited. We challenged her to be baptized Saturday and confirmed Sunday. This may seem kind of psycho to you guys especially because I had just met her in this moment, but we totally bonded over our shared love for “Greys Anatomy”. So we were best friends from the moment we met. But really, I have never met such a prepared person. She is great. She reads the Book of Mormon all the time, she prays, she just can’t come to church. We read Alma 32. It’s great. It talks about the poor who can’t go to church. She told us she wants sooo bad to be baptized, she just doesn’t know. So then we told her to pray and ask God and we would come back the next day.

The next day I was in divisions and, of course, I was the one in our area. I was kind of freaking out that I was going to blow it and that we shouldn’t be committing her to baptism. It was a lot of pressure. I was also with a sister who has more time than me, so I felt kind of pressured to be a super leader to help her. Anyway, it was basically one of the hardest days in my whole mission. Literally everyone rejected us. I don’t know if you guys have been to South America, but we don’t really get rejected that much. I mean they always listen and offer us water and food and then kindly say they don’t want the message. But we got really, really rejected, multiple times. One lady was like “Yeah, I talked to my husband and we just don’t want to meet with you guys anymore.” So by 5 I was out of people to go see and ideas. We tried contacting, it didn’t work. No one wanted anything. We tried looking for members I didn’t know, but I don’t know the street names so good to find them. haha I told Heavenly Father in my head that if he sent us anyone, I would talk to them. I saw a group of punk kids. I went and invited them to our English classes. They said some gross stuff. Then I saw an old man. ahah I walked past him at first and then I did a little circle back and we had a good 5 min of testifying to him, but in the end he wasn’t interested. I was bummed and just relying so much on this appointment we had with Gretel at 6:30. I called her and she said she couldn’t meet, but she would come to our classes of English. I was crushed. I went to English classes so bummed. I was trying to just focus on the Hermana and love her but I was pretty sad.

Gretel never showed up to the classes, so I decided to call her. She said we could come by, so we did. We read with her from Alma 32 when there are some pretty poor people and they can’t enter the church. Alma says “Do we just worship God on Sundays?” I told her that she was going to be such a light to her teammates and to her friends. We literally had such a spiritual lesson. Hermana Pineda and I taught great together. I was so grateful that it was her that was with me. We went over the baptismal interview questions with Gretel and she had a couple problems. Really she just has problems from the past and she is scared she is going to get baptized and she will fall after. I told her that she will for sure sin after her baptism, but that’s why we have repentance. Well, and the sacrament, but that was hard because she can’t go to church always. Anyway, the moral was that it went great and the spirit was literally so strong. I could see satan fighting with her doubts. It was so hard. I thought for sure she would say yes, but in the end she was still really unsure. It was hard. We went back the next day with Hermana Austin and she was the same.

But it was a huge faith builder for me. Just that God really sends us when they need us. Hermana Pineda at the end of the day told me that the day we had was just what she needed. I was shocked. She told me my attitude was exactly what she needed. She said they are struggling right now too and she just saw how we should respond when we are struggling. I was so humbled. I was about to have a really mad talk with God about why he didn’t help me out today. haha But instead, I told Him I am so glad He is in charge of everything because he really knows so much better than me. It was a hard week. We had a lot of rejection, but we worked really hard and I am just so grateful to be here in the mission.

Quick story, we found a girl last Monday who was great. We put her with a date and came back to meet her mom and her mom was like “We are Catholic”. haha So then we started teaching them both. I can’t tell you guys how drastic was the change in her mom. She told us she would come to church and they did and afterwards she said she loved it!!! GOD REALLY can change hearts ... but sad news. They moved today, but she said she still wants to come to church next week. We will see.... It’s kind of complicated. I was kind of bugged with God but then I realized at least they got a change to go to the true church and feel the spirit and love. She said that everyone was so welcoming and I just know she felt the spirit. I don’t think they will get baptized with us, but I know that all of that wasn’t for nothing. I am so grateful we just get to be examples every day!!!!

Fun fact: It’s still really freakishly cold. I don’t know if you guys know, but I never sleep with pants at home and here I sleep with pants, socks, a long-sleeved shirt and a hoodie and like 3 blankets. It’s insane and our hot water stopped working.We woke up without water so we had to wash our hair with a bucket... good times. I am just loving the mission and my comp. I hope she doesn’t get changed this week. I will cry!!!!!!

I love you all so much. Just enjoy every day and look for the milagros (miracles).

 xooxoxoxoox

Hermana Ball

ROHAYHU PABLO y WANILDA (written July 20, 2015)

It’s been soooo cold this week. Monday and Tuesday just rained and rained and rained. But we just enjoyed it. 

 

 So I would like to tell a story about a little boy named Pedro. His mom accepted a date in a contact and then my comp taught them in divisions and said they were great.  Then I tried to pass by when I was in divisions and the mom wasn’t that great.... so then we kind of started to give up on them but then Sunday a member told us that she knows a lady that’s son is always home alone. She wants him to go to church and my comp was like “is the boy named Pedro” and she was like yes! So we took that as a huge sign that we shouldn’t give up on this little boy. I know that seems like a little thing, but really it was a huge milagro (miracle) for me to see that sometimes we just give up so easily. It’s hard when we aren’t always together when we teach, but still I’m glad God is helping us know who we need to be patient with. 

 

So lately we have found a pattern in the antiguo investigadores aquí (here). They all are sooo great. We have three. I am naming the three doughts because they are sooo great. They have been to church, they have read, they just have doubts. They don’t know if it’s true. We are trying hard to help them but we are really out of ideas. They are some people we feel like God is saying “just be patient”. Our new president told us it took him 6 months to be baptized and now he is a mission president! When he went to Salt Lake he saw his missionary and he said after 20 years this missionary saw the fruit of his mission. So I just realized we just have to keep going with these three, we are going to just be patient. They could use some prayers. Their names are Pilar, Juan, and Ivan.

 

We had interviews with president this week. It was soooo great, mine went so great. I love him so much. He just speaks with so much love. He told me a lot of things I just needed to hear. He is really going to be a great help for the mission, I can tell!

 

So this Sunday, like always, we had rocking plans to get our people to church!! We thought for sure 2 of the 3 doughters would be there, but then we got there and nope they weren’t. Then to put it worse Pablo wasn’t either and we were soooo sad, but then he came in and I just wanted to cry. We also had 3 less active families at church so we were happy, but the best part is Pable received the priesthood!!!! I just was so happy, I forgot about the fact we didn’t have anyone new. We went to their house that night and they told us that they had been fighting and they almost didn’t come. Pablo said I learned my lesson though, satan just didn’t want me there because of the huge blessing I got. haha They told us they had been fighting over who could use the oven to cook us something. haha They love us sooo much. They always call us their daughters and angels. I love them sooo much. He is just a convert that gets it. I’m so grateful that I got to come there and meet him. So just learn from Pablo. If things are really hard it’s probably for a reason. Satan knows that something great is about to happen, just have faith to keep going. I love you all so much. My mom informed me I never explained what Rohayhu means. It’s “I love you” in Guarani. Here, when they want to speak more intimately they speak in Guarani. I love it. I love you all and you’re in my prayers. Just keep looking for the daily milagros. 

 

 

Love,

Hermana Ball 

 

El Papa (written July 13, 2015)

So yes, my title is the Pope because he came to Paraguay this week. For months we have been hearing about this grand coming. It was a little difficult but it was actually kind of great because it was a good way to find all the non-Catholics, but people were definitely a little ruder to us this week. We contacted this reference we got and an old man came out and I asked him his name and he was like “why do you need to know?” haha Then we tried to tell him that God loves him and that we just share a message about Jesus and how we can become better people. He was like haha “ya we are all ready as good as we are going to get, that’s why we have the pope here to visit us.” haha It was just funny. My comp when we left was like “thanks for your friendship” haaha I love her. We were also talking to a girl at her house and her mom came out and was like “just tell them we are Catholics and that’s it. We’re done.” haha It was better in Spanish, but I’m pretty use to rejection by now. It doesn’t even really make me flinch. 

We also met President Wilson this week!!! Our new mission president from Uruguay. He is so great. We had a big zone conference, I loved it. He said a lot of the answers to my prayers. He told us that we aren’t given callings because of what we have done but because of what we are GOING to do. That was such an answer to why I’m a sister leader. I don’t feel like I have done anything good but I guess I’m going to do a lot of good ... I hope. 

So this week hermana austin and I were really trying to be better in everything. We were looking for new investigators, new ways to find people. We changed just how we were doing things because what we were doing before wasn’t working. We had a lot more success this week and we are just getting really excited. We found some really great people this week, but... no one came to church. That was hard but I really thing Heavenly Father is trying to help us learn something so we are going to try and learn this fast so we can start having people at church again. 

I just wanted to say a little thing about how great my companion is. I don’t know if you all know but every Thursday we do weekly planning and at the end you do an inventory of how you are doing in your relationship and she and I are always like “we are good”. then we start complementing the other and then the last two weeks we were just really open about our feelings and as we talked we found that we had things we could work on individually and together. I just love that we are just so in tune to how we can be better. The only hard part is that we aren’t together every day because of splits with the sisters so it’s always so sad. But honestly she is just so great I am learning so much from her. We are a really good team. She just knows how to finish my thoughts perfectly in every lesson. BEST COMPANIONSHIP EVER. I hope she doesn’t get transferred in two weeks. I will cry like a baby.

Last thought, Pablo is doing great. He came to church Sunday and we had a lesson with him. I love teaching him because he just gets everything. He loves us so much. In the night he called us and he was just like “how are you”, then his wife took the phone and said he was worried about us and couldn’t be settled until he called. He is seriously the best. We taught about the priesthood and he is going to start preparing to get it! I love them soooo much!!! 

That’s all. We taught a lot of lessons, I gave a talk Sunday. Overall it was just another cold week in Paraguay but with the difference that the Pope was here, haha but he is gone now ... how sad.

Love you,

Hasta ver,

Hermana Ball

The whole mission at President's goodbye party.

America (written July 6, 2015)

Pablo's baptism

Happy 4th of July!!!! I was a little trunky for America on Saturday! But it was so fun being with an American. We talk all about our family traditions, and we made a way good meal!!! I will send pictures. Other than that, it was a pretty normal day. But I thought a lot about all of you. I think maybe I was just trunky this whole week. I don’t know why. Well, I think I do because Monday in the night we got a call saying that we needed to be in Asuncion Tuesday for a big goodbye party for president. We knew he was leaving, but we didn’t know about the party. It was soooo fun because it was the whole mission! I saw all my companions that are still on the mission (which is all of them except for my trainer), poor hermnana paredes, when she saw me she just fell into my arms crying. She had good news. A reference we got together got baptized!!!! It was such a miracle. Lots of people who are now in my areas told me stories like that. I saw the fruits of what happened when I left my old areas. I really made more of a difference then I thought. The one thing was somewhere in all the excitement I started speaking English and then this whole week I was just really bad at getting back on the Spanish train. I’m going to be so much better this week. This reunion just really threw us all out of whack. I also traveled twice this week. Wednesday and Friday I worked in different areas with the sisters while my comp was in our area with their companions. Both sisters I was with were Americans and maybe that’s why my bad English spree continued. Anyway it was really great. I love seeing new parts of Paraguay. It’s crazy how you can go 20 minutes in one direction and its soooo different! The split on Wednesday was one of my friends from the MTC so that was way cool being with her!!! We found some way cool miracles. I’m excited for our follow up with her to see how things went.

So wait, I’m being confusing. Tuesday was crazy because we went to the reunion and then Wednesday we got up and went strait to Ytororo to visit hermana richards from my group. I came home Thursday.  In the morning we did planning and worked in our area then Friday we got up and went to Lucerito which is where my MTC comp, hermana rosa, started her mission. So that was cool to be in her area. The sister there now is named hermana lilly from weber county and she is sooo cool, we got along way good, we had so much fun. In the night we started talking and she just let out a lot of stuff I think had been bothering her but it was good but also bad because I basically didn’t sleep. Then we had to get up early the next day and go to Guarambare to do suprise studies. It was way fun. I was with hermana badger, she is also an American. I shared lots of stuff with her and in the end she said thanks hermana that really helped me. I don’t know, it’s kind of crazy right now and I feel like I am never in my area and that’s hard. But I think I’m really helping the sisters or at least I’m really trying to!

The other reason I think we were trunky this week was because it was soooo cold. I feel like it was the coldest it’s been. One day I slept in 2 pairs of pants, a long sleeved shirt with a hoodie and gloves and socks. I never sleep like that in Utah, but it’s just such a humid cold and our house has no insulation and I only have like 2 blankets but with all that I was perfectly fine. It’s just sooo hard to get up in the morning and take a shower in our luke-warm shower or sometimes our shower is so hot you can’t put your whole body in, but I’m not complaining. I’m really so happy!!!!!!

The worst part of being a sister leader is not being with hermana austin all the time so when we are together we just want to talk and its bad because we don’t sleep sometimes and we are always getting up early. But whatever, I can sleep after the mission. The other thing was I started talking about my CNA job this week so I was kind of missing all my old patients so much. I think Heavenly Father caught on because Saturday we found 3 really sweet old people. One of them is named Ana. She is a less active member and she doesn’t have a leg. I love her so much, I just wanted to live with her and take care of her because she doesn’t have anyone to clean her up. We passed by in the night and I was talking to her through her window because it was just a sheet. This night was sooo cold, she was trembling and I asked if she needed another blanket. She said haha its so funny in guarani but I don’t know how to explain it well in English but she just said like que piko va hacer, haha (just like what are you going to do about it) basically haha. So then I just promised her I was going to come back with something to help her. so I left and honestly I didn’t know what we were going to do, but we thought of a member we could ask. Honestly, this was just a testimony builder to me that if we just tell God we are going to do something and then ask him how, he will help. The member was so great and she gave us one and we ran back to her. I told her we had the blanket and she was like just come in. Her door doesn’t even lock. It was sad, she didn’t have lights so we used our phone to find her and I put the blanket on her. I felt like such a huge wave of love for her. I could feel it doesn’t matter that she lives in this old dusty house that smells bad. God still is aware of her needs and we have to help her. I tried to get some members to help her but they all said she is just crazy and they had tried in the past to help, she will just sell that blanket you gave her. It bugged me. Why should we stop trying to help people?  I just felt so close to Jesus Christ. In that moment I felt like I was really his representative to these people, doing what he would do if he was here. I didn’t do anything special. It was just what he would have done, love them. haha I rubbed her arms with the blanket and she was like ahhh that’s so nice, thank you. Then she was like, are you trying to flirt with me? haahha We passed her house the next day and she was like “I slept so good last night all warm in my bed, but this sister is kind of crazy. She was flirting with me in the night” hahaha I love her so much. I also tried to rub her little nub with the blanket because it was so cold. I was like “where is your other leg?” She was like ahhh ya where is it? hahaha She doesn’t have one. haha She was like “It’s gone” haaha She is kind of crazy, but I love her and I know God doesn’t stop loving us when we go a little crazy.

But ya, we are just trying to find new people right now to teach. It’s kind of hard. We do have one man that’s great, Juan Jose. He knows everything. He just doesn’t get that the Church of Jesus Christ is the only church that has the power to baptize. So we have been trying to help him with that. When we taught him yesterday I felt like we were teaching like the Book of Mormon says “with power and authority”. I felt like it was really the spirit teaching not me. Honestly, Heavenly Father is helping me so much be everything I am. I had so many great moments during splits when I just knew that I wasn’t the one giving this counsel to the sisters, it was Heavenly Father. I feel like I’m finally learning to be a tool in his hands. I’m still not perfect. Sometimes I don’t listen well enough but I feel like it’s happening a lot more often than it used to. I know that it’s just a result of faith, really we just have to have faith and put all our confidence in Him and watch Him work the miracles through us. I love you all and I hope you all have a great warm week while I’m here freezing.

ROHAYHU 

Hermana Ball

4th of July!!!  Soooo cold I couldn't take my gloves off.  I was so cold!!!

Our churchie meal for the 4th. I was in heaven.  It's been forever since
I ate a pork chop and mashed potatoes. The only thing better would be
green beans, but they don't have that here.

Pablo and Wanilda

This is Rita, a really awesome member. She hates
pictures so she was trying to get away. But I got one.
She is so great!

VAYANSE AHORA (leave now)

Hola Familia!!!

Another week has gone by! This last Tuesday I was still at home with the sister who couldn’t walk, it was the worst. Oh, but before that I forget, the whole mission had an emergency drill. We got a call that said VÁYANSE AHORA!!!!(Go now) So we had to leave our house with our emergency kits and instead of taking a bus to our weekly district meeting, we had to walk. It was to see if we could do it if there was a real emergency. It took us an hour carrying 4 liters de water, but it’s ok. Haha In the district meeting we were in charge of the practice and normally I’m so nervous for that type of thing, but I can really see that God is helping me to have confidence in myself and my Spanish. I ended up talking more than Hermana Austin. So that was kind of a moment for me that helped me feel like maybe I can do this whole sister training leader thing. 

I spent the rest of the day with the sister and it was so hard because her and her companion aren’t getting along and its way sad. She was just venting to me the whole time. Hermana Austin and I feel bad because they are in our same ward and we are always so happy and we get along so great and they are both miserable. For one of them, this is her last transfer, so it’s way sad. She told Hermana Austin she just wants to go home. She doesn’t want to try and make it work. So we had that to think about. We were like, NO!!! Just try and make it work. 

Friday I had my first splits with a sister who is in training. She is in the same group as Hermana Paredes. It was so great, I loved it. I didn’t really feel like I was the sister leader but I think it went really well. She told me that my spiritual thought was an answer to her prayers. That was great because I had been praying so hard to know what she needed. 

Saturday we went straight from splits to the sisters in our ward that are having problems and we basically had a huge girl session. There were tears and lots of rude remarks. We read with them why we have companions and I felt like we did our job well but I don’t know if they are better. Saturday I hugged the one that’s has a hurt foot and whispered, “Are things better?” and she said kind of. There really isn’t much more we can do than to try and get them to talk things out. 

So I will just talk about Pablo for a second. He is just so great. He had his baptism Saturday and he was just literally so happy. He bore his testimony and the whole time he kept saying how happy he is to find the true church. His story is so great, I wish I had more time to tell you the whole thing but really he just made me realize that there really are people who are prepared and waiting for the gospel. His wife is a member and she had been less active for a year.  She said that she went through the temple, her husband was baptized, she got her patriarchal blessing and her blessing said she would be sealed in the temple, but her husband never got to that point and then they separated. Then she found Pablo and now she is active and he is a member and their goal is to go to the temple. I know I didn’t do anything, he was literally just waiting for the gospel to make his life complete. He is so great. I love this family so much!!!! 

I am the happiest I have ever been. I am working harder than I ever have. I’m more obedient than I ever have been because now I’m the example. But really I am just so happy to be here in the mission. I’m starting to really understand the atonement. I am so grateful that we have it. Christ didn’t just suffer for our sins, he suffered for our pain. We never ever have to be in pain, he can literally take it away. We just have to let him. Let him change our life. So if you’re going through a hard time, if you’re stressed, ask God to literally just take it away, to help you learn the lesson. He won’t take the circumstances away, but he will send you happiness. Things will still be hard, but you will have the strength to endure!!

Love you. Have a great week.

xooxoxox

Hermana Ball

Cambios (transfers)

Last Sunday we were eating lunch and we got a call. I answered and it was a man that said “who am I talking to?” I said, “Hermana Ball” and then I asked, “and who am I talking to?”

“Presedente Agazzani”. 

“ What!!!” haha

 He told me to leave my companion so I could talk to him in private. He told me that I wouldn’t be finishing Hermana Paredes’ training. I was going to be a Sister Training Leader. I don’t know if you are familiar with this, so I will explain. There are only 6 Sister Training Leaders in the mission. Basically, we are kind of like Zone Leaders but for the sisters. We go on splits with them and we study with them. Anyway I was kind of freaking out and immediately began to cry because I didn’t want to leave Hermana Paredes. President told me that for a while he had been feeling like I needed to be a Sister Leader and he said that he thought, no, she is training, but the thought kept coming back so finally accepted the thought. Then he told me I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone: my family, my converts, my companion, no one until Tuesday in the night. Then he said Hermana Ball, I love you and I know you can do this. Ugh So then, of course, my companion was like “What did President say!!?” I’m like, uhhh nothing really. We finished lunch and went home to study and I was literally just crying during my whole personal study time and so she kind of caught on and said tell me the truth, haha, so I told her, I’m not so good at lying, but I didn’t tell anyone else and it was way hard. We basically just cried forever, ahah Monday we had family home evening like always but it was so sad because I knew it was my last one. They didn’t know and I hugged each one so tight and just said “I love you” and they were like “I love you too, Hermana Ball”. Ya, it was so sad. The longest three days of my life, I was just so nervous the whole time. But I read Moroni 7:33 which basically says if we have faith we can do anything God asks of us. So I just started to have more faith and that helped a little. But pretty much up until I was at the terminal I didn’t believe that I was really going to be a sister leader. But I guess that’s what Heavenly Father wants.

My new companion is named Hermana Austin from Springville, UTAH!!! POR FIN!!! (finally)  I’m with an American and we are assigned to labor in San Lorenzo. Right now we have 7 companionships of hermanas that we are in charge of, but we think that may change. We will probably get more this week.

So basically President doesn’t want to hear the problems the sisters are having, he wants us to find them and then find the solution and then we tell him that there was a problem but we fixed it. I don’t know if that makes sense, but basically we are like counselors, haha.

Anyway our life is so freaking crazy. I never really understood what the sister leaders did, but basically every Wednesday and Friday and Saturday we go to other areas and one of us stays with one sister and the other comes back to our area to work. we went to Ytororo Saturday to have studies with a sister from my group, hermana richards. She is in training right now, so it was super fun. I studied with her. I had been praying super hard to know what she needed and how we could help her. This was my first official act as a sister leader and I talked to her about the authority that she has and the responsibility. We both cried. haha I think I said what she needed, but it was the best seeing her. I just kept thinking how much we have grown these past months that we have been apart. Anyway, when we left their house we got a call saying that an hermana had sprained her ankle and they need us to have splits with them. so Saturday I sat at the house with her all day while my companion and her companion worked in both of our areas. It was loco. It was so hard just being in the house all day. I haven’t had so much free time in a long time. It was nice. I slept a little because honestly I haven’t really slept much since I got transferred. We always have to get up early for some reason or other and stay up late.  Sunday I went back to our area and worked and my comp stayed home but this time I was with a member and the other sister was with a member. The good news is my member knows our area super well so it was no big deal ahah. Hopefully this sister gets better soon because hermana austin really doesn’t like doing this ahah.

Hermana Austin and I are already super amigas, like from the first second I was with her. We were like, this is going to be the best. haha But we have been super good and we really don’t ever speak English, so that’s good. I’m really excited to be in this area. It’s way more city then my last area, but I have a lot of hope.

The last thing I wanted to share is we have a super miracle. Our area is the sister leaders’ right, so you would think it has tons of converts. The past 5 months there hasn’t been any baptisms. so the last Sunday hermana austin and her comp were praying way hard because it was raining and they just wanted a miracle in the church. They got there and there was a man and woman in the front row. Come to find out she is a member from Brazil. They just got married and guess what … he isn’t a member!!!! His name is Pablo. The sisters passed by his house the last Sunday and put him on a date. Then Thursday I went and we taught him for the first time together. Oh my gosh, he is seriously the most prepared person ever!!!!!! He said he prayed about Jose Smith with his wife and then he was just waiting for the answer. He opened his wife’s Book of Mormon in Portuguese  and he opened toAalma 5:38. Seriously, you should read it. I opened my Book of Mormon and I was like, oh my gosh. Basically it says that God is calling your name and if you don’t follow you’re not the sheep of God. Pablo didn’t understand in Portuguese because he is Paraguayo so he looked up the translation and he was like wow thanks. haha He said he got his answer and he knows that everything we share is true. We were like what!ª!! We gave him his own Book of Mormon and he was like, thank you hermanas!!! He is so great. Aanyway we had an appointment with him Sunday and hermana austin was like ahhh you get to go to the appointment without me. ahhh ahah I felt bad, but we made him a present for Father’s day because he doesn’t have kids. We wrote him a note and gave him a picture of the temple. He literally almost started crying. He was like, thank you so much. This is our goal, hermana, we want to be a family forever!!!! What! Really, our lessons with him are like the lessons from the district. He asks all the right questions and doesn’t have any problems. He is married and follows the law of chastity. He is just golden, really golden. So ya, he is going to be baptized Saturday, no big deal. We are super stoked!!!! Also, his wife’s son has his mission call. He is going to go to Argentina, but ya, We are super happy about Pablo. We also have some other really awesome people that I feel will get baptized. 

So ya, my life is a little different right now. We have a little more responsibility than before, but basically it’s the same. haha I don’t know what I’m doing, but we have a manual of how to be a sister leader and inside it says our main purpose is to love the sisters and serve by example. I know I’m not like the best missionary, but I know I can love the sisters and I’m just going to try and serve them. I loved being hermana paredes momma, but now I get to be the mom of like 14 sisters. So I guess that’s cool.

Love you all oxoxooxoxoxoxo enjoy your week and give a hug to your dad’s because I can’t hug men. It’s way sad. Pablo’s wife’s name is Wanilda and in her city there are only elder.s haha She said she always wanted to hug them and it was terrible, but now she can hug us and she loves it. Pablo said, but I can. haha He was so sad. Sunday he just wanted to give me a big hug. I feel so blessed I have so many wonderful men in my life. I love ya Daddy, Grandpa Ogden, Blake, Cade, Sterling, Bran, Dan, Mar, and Ethan. ok I think that’s all in my family haha but I have so many. Really, I’m so blessed. 

xooxoxo

Hermana Ball 

Hermana Austin

Yo se que esta iglesia verdadera (quote from Maria) June 15, 2015

This week was another week of huge milagros! We found some really really prepared people! Wednesday we had our verification meeting for training, which is a test, but really it’s just an excuse for president to see how we are doing as trainers. He took us into a separate room and well, pretty much all of us were just saying our frustrations as trainers. It was like a little therapy session. He was so patient with all of us. The truth is, after this, I felt so much better. The only thing that worried me was when we were leaving president told us to enjoy this week because a few of us won’t be with our companions after this change. I thought that training was si o si you get 12 weeks together. I guess there is a possibility that I will leave Villa Elisa this week. I really hope not because I love Villa Elisa and I love my companion. I have never been in a more open companionship. We literally can correct the littlest things without the other getting mad. It’s great because literally every day I feel like I am growing so much, not only in my Spanish but in my teaching. She helps me so much. I feel like I don’t help her with anything, but then she told me today that I am always so positive and that my example of obedience really helps her. That made me feel like I am actually doing something as a trainer. Let’s just hope I don’t leave Villa Elisa. 

We have literally been finding people like crazy. We have more investigators right now then time to teach them. It’s so frustrating. We don’t get to them all. Then we feel so bad that we didn’t pass by their house all week. But we found literally the perfect family this week. We asked if we could come in and the dad was watching soccer, which is a huge thing here, and he had his jersey on and everything and we asked if he could turn it off and he said of course. The whole family sat and listened to us and they are just literally so prepared, it’s not even funny. They are the family Lesman, so look for them in future baptismal photos. hah Oh, also when we gave them the Book of Mormon the dad said I am going to start reading tonight, thank you so much. It was seriously such a miracle. But this is just one example. We have been finding soooo many great people this week. We had sooo many people with baptism dates, more than I have had in my whole mission. And they were all pretty solid, but then no one came to church. That was a huge bummer. It was raining way hard. So I will try and forgive them all this week as we put them all back on date.

Something else awesome happened this week. Everyone has begun to think that I’m Brazilian, wahooo. haha I no longer speak like an American trying to learn Spanish. I speak like a Brazilian trying to learn Spanish... which still isn’t quite what I want, but I think it’s a step up. Also, everyone thinks Hermana Paredes and I are sisters, literally. haha They always say, what? you look so much alike. How is it you’re from different countries? haha Literally everyone says that about all my companions so I think it’s just because we spend a lot of time together. The thing is I am just learning a lot. I literally can feel the atonement in my life daily because no matter how many times we ask ourselves what we can do better, we always, always, always come up short. I just have to repent and repent and repent until I finally get to where I need to be in a certain area. Then I find another area that I lack, so it’s just endless haha. Sunday was so sweet because Maria bore her testimony and she said that it’s been a slow process but there were always things in the Bible that she didn’t understand and now it’s like a light in her head with the Book of Mormon. She told us in private that she knows that we are in the only true church. This was huge because she wasn’t there when she got baptized, nowhere near there. Now she is the president of the relief society!!!! Her son, Cristobal, bore his testimony too. I cried. He is so much like Ethan. He told them if you haven’t been baptized, do it because you will change and will feel something amazing. It was great. The other miracle is the daughter-in-law of Maria, Mirian. She is so great. She use to have so many problems. She drank, but now she has changed so much and wants to be baptized. She told us this week too that she knew the church was true!!! I have never seen people so converted to the gospel in my whole mission. It was so great. It’s just hard because her boyfriend doesn’t want to get married. ugh We are going to keep praying that his heart will change. Love you all so much. Just when you feel like God isn’t answering your prayers, I think you should maybe stop for a few minutes and think, because I can testify that he is indeed in the very details of our lives. 

Hasta Ver!!!!!  (Til I See You)

Hermana Ball