update

Dear Family,

Sorry about last week, the Internet place we went to made us get off so they could fix some kind of gas problem. We tried again this week and it turns out the place closed down for good it looks like. so I almost wasn't able to do emails today.

Well this week has been a great week! I got to go on exchange with Elder Winward on Thurs. We went to his area of Wigan. It was nice to see another area. And to see how different it is compared to southport. It is a lot more busy than Southport. During the exchange I learned quite a lot from Elder Winward. Like to be more Bold when I talk to people. Elder Winward is a Great District Leader.

I time when I really noticed the hand of the lord this week was; we had two potentials to go to, but they both fell through unfortunately but we were talking to people around the area of the second potential and we spoke to a man named josh. I know we were Guided to Josh by the spirit. Josh was having many problems with loosing his feonce' and many of his other friends as well as his family, he was feeling alone. We weren't able to set an appointment with him. So we were walking away and Elder Sherrard and I felt promted to run back to josh we didn't have any idea what we were going to say when we caught up to him. We ended up just giving him a book of mormon and a chapter to read. We still had no luck in setting an appointment with him but we felt really good after we did that. We knew that we did what the lord wanted us to do.

Here is the poem that I talked about a couple of weeks ago:
The Oak Tree
by Johnny Ray Ryder, Jr.

A mighty wind blew night and day
It stole the oak tree's leaves away
Then snapped its bough and pulled its bark
until the oak was tired and stark

But still the oak tree held its ground
whlie other trees fell all around
The weary wind gave up and spoke.
How can you still be standing Oak?

The oak tree said, I know that you
can break each branch of mine in two
Carry every leaf away
Shake my limbs, and make me sway

But i have roots stretched in the earth
Growing stronger since my birth
You'll never touch them, for you see
They are the deepest part of me

Until today, I wasn't sure
Oh just how much i could endure
But now I've Found, with thanks to you
I'm stronger than I ever knew
That was perfect for what happened the night before, with the charity workers. What I got from that is, we shouldn't let those winds blow us over, we should endure. We might not realize how strong we are until things push us to our limits. You would be surprised at how strong each of us really are. Satan Knows we are strong so he will send his best to push us to our limits. But We shouldn't give up so easily, because God won't allow anything to happen that we can't over come.

By the way Jamil is doing great he has commited to give up smoking for good and so far he is doing great! Elder Sherrard and I are so proud of him. He has gone so far! If He continues keeping the Word of Wisdom he will beable to get baptised on the 3rd of July! We Know he can do it, We are constantly praying for him.

Anyway I got to go I hope you enjoy this email. I look forward to reading letters and emails from you all! Thanks for all your support it is helping me a lot! I love and miss you all so much!
Love,
Elder Ballantyne