Elder Ballard!

Csaladom!!!!

How is everyone doing? I can't believe I am already halfway through the MTC already! Only 3 more wednesdays left! Crazy! Last Friday was our halfway point through the MTC so we decided to celebrate....we had chips and salsa. We finished all the chips but had a lot more salsa so we decided to play rock, paper, scissors to see who had to chug all the salsa that was left. Sister Broadhead was the lucky one who lost - she always loses in that game! and so she the lucky one to chug it! Then sister Fresh decided that she wanted to do something crazy so we found some snickerdoodle cookies and she played chubby bunny with them. She had like 4 cookies in her mouth and looked like she was ready to explode and then sister Broadhead decided to pour some chocolate in with the cookies. Bad, bad idea! haha! Food went everywhere! It was so funny! It was nice to have a good laugh! My companions are awesome!

The highlight of my week was last night's devotional! ELDER BALLARD came! And we got awesome seats! They don't tell us who is coming beforehand and so we were just going to go to the overflow but at the very last minute seats opened up on the 3rd row back right by the door the speakers come in and leave at. It was such an amazing talk and one that I really needed. A couple of things he said was that the greatest missionaries are those that really come to know Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and His Atonement. He said the more we focus on the Atonement as missionaries, our power to do the work will increase. He said as we come to know the Savior that we will not shirk one minute from our work even thought it may be very difficult at times - which is exactly what I needed to hear! It just made me realize how important the Atonement really is in every aspect of our lives, not just as missionaries. He also said that he believed there were 2 reasons for the missionary age change 1 - the world desperately needs the message that we have to share 2- that the Lord is preparing this generation to lead the church for generations ahead. He said that we would face trials an temptations that they never had and we were really going to need a solid foundation. It was such a great talk! Then he left us with an apostolic blessing that was really cool. When he was leaving, we were watching him go out the doors and we couldn't see him very well, so I and my companions moved out to the little isle and peeked our heads out to get a better look. He had already finished waving to everyone but I think he saw us out of the corner of his eye move so he turned back around and laughed and waved to us. It was awesome! We knew it was to us because no one else was in the little aisle way. It was awesome! I love the apostles!

Something that also really stuck out to me was that I know enough. Too be honest, this week I was really ready to come home. I have never been so mentally exhausted. Hungarian is a beast! But I am not going on a mission to learn Hungarian. I am going on a mission to testify of my Savior, Jesus Christ and for the sacrifice that He made for each and every one of us here on this earth. Only through Him can we return to live with our Heavenly Father and enjoy the blessings that He has. I know that my Savior lives and that the Atonement is real. It provides us with the chance to start over each and every day. Sister Fowers - she's in my district came up with a really cool analogy. We have started doing csak magyarul - only Hungarian language all day. The other class has the Hungarian flag underneath their name tags and every time they use English, they have to hole punch their flag -the hole of shame - showing that they messed up. Sister Fowers likened that to the Atonement - you start the day off with a clean paper and then you make mistakes and get hole's punched in it. At the end of the day you have all these holes of shame covering your flag and there is no way possible that you can make it whole again. You cannot take those holes away. But the Savior can. He can provide us with a clean piece of paper and a chance to start over again. He gives us that opportunity and we have to be willing to take it and do the best that we can with it.

Another one of my favorite moments this week was watching the new Mormon message by President Eyring called Mountains to Climb. It is awesome! I would definitely recommend watching it! At the end of the video, he said: each day our challenge is to access the power of the atonement so that we can truly change. That is the power of the atonement, helping us progress and become better that we were yesterday. To try a little harder to be a little better and try to become more like the Savior. He also said: if the foundation of faith is not embedded in our hearts the power to endure will crumble. this is fontos - important!!!! I have found that faith really does have a short shelf life - you have to constantly be refilling and strengthening your faith each and every day.

I know that the Savior lives. I know that He loves us more than we can even comprehend. I know that He is always there with His arms opened and extended towards us - He just wants us to come towards Him and feel of His love towards us. I truly believe that it is through the hardest of times that you really come to know more about the Savior and how vital He is to each and every person on the earth. I can't believe I will be in Hungary in less than a month! It will be a great opportunity! I am so excited for it! I love you all and I hope everything is going well back home! Remember who you are and who you stand for!

Falslev Nover