weekly update 6/20/2011

> Hello Family!!!!!
>
> First of, We were tracting last night and we came accross a fellow
> Ballantyne. She said it was spelled the same way and everthing. She
> was probably the first Ballantyne that i have found since I've been
> here. We set up an appointment with her. I thought that was pretty
> exciting!
>
> Something hilarious happened on wednesday. In the evening after we had
> gotten back from a meeting in chorley, we went to the flat and drop a
> few things off and headed back out to tract. We have a door that locks
> itself as soon as you shut it. and we had forgotten the key. So that
> night we were calling the land lord and anyone that could possibly
> help us. No one could so we ended up staying at the zone leaders flat
> for the night. First thing in the morning we ended up having to pay a
> lock smith £42 to pick the lock. And now we don't want that to happen
> again. So we each have a key plus we each carry a back up key. It
> shouldn't happen again with 4 keys coming out with us each day.
>
> Along with locking the key in the flat this whole week was pretty
> trying. There were a few things that just didn't seem to go right.
> Both, Elder Cofone and I agree that this week will be a lot better. We
> discussed the process that preceeds something great. It's noticable
> from the start of this dispensation, when Joseph Smith is ceased upon
> while he was praying just before the first vision. So were looking
> forward to a good week.
>
> This week wasn't all to bad. Early in the week we saw the miracle of
> teaching Matt and Compton, an on the spot lesson. They actually
> grabbed our attention and started asking us questions. We asked if
> they had time for us to share a message, and they agreed. They were
> very good we were able to answer a lot of their questions. But because
> they are busy salesman they said we wouldn't beable to catch them in
> and wouldn't give us their information except for a phone number. We
> will call them and make arrangements. I was greatful for the
> opportunity to answer their questions about the church and also about
> religion as a whole.
>
> We had another round of trainings this week. It was great! This was
> president Bullock's last training. There was so much to take in. It's
> a good thing we got sheets of some of the things that were discussed.
> We have been keeping the commitments we made by doing the role plays.
> Elder Cofone and I both like the questions role play that the
> assistants left us. It is very challanging and helps us to think of
> effective questions.
>
> Thanks again for everything!
>
> --
> With Love,
> Elder Ballantyne
>

weekly update 6/13/2011

Hello Family!
>
> First off, things in preston are going great. The weather has been a
> bit 50-50 lately. Sometimes it can be pretty sunny but still be cold.
> Atleast this week there hasn't been a great deal of rain, until
> yesterday. Today looks a bit wet too.
>
> This has been a great week, again we have taught a few on the spot
> lessons. So we have been blessed with a few new investigators.
> Unfortunately the people we teach on the spot don't progress. That
> could either be the effect of not effectively following up, or it
> could just be the agency of the people. Either way we are in a sifting
> process to find the gold nuggets.
>
> Elder Cofone is doing great! He is a very obedient missionary. He is
> not only confident in himself but much more importantly he is
> confident in the lord and his message. Some other strengths are; he is
> personable. When he plans for the investigator, he plans specifically
> to teach to their needs, and he truly applies what he learns in his
> personal study.
>
> Things are going great here in Preston; again it truly is a blessed
> land. Thanks for everything each of you do. I just want to say I can
> feel each of your prayers pushing me forward and I greatly appreciate
> each one. Also know that I pray for each of you everynight before I go
> to bed.

>
>
> --
> With Love,
> Elder Ballantyne

weekly update 6/6/2011

> Hello Everyone!!!!
>
> Preston is truly a blessed land! People here are so receptive! The
> Spirit has truly softened the hearts of the people here! Since I've
> been here I have seen some church history places. We went street
> contacting in Avenham park. And I remember going there for the MTC
> church history tour. We saw the place where the trees were planted in
> honor of those that were baptised in the river ribble. Just today we
> walked past the monument where the first missionaries preached from.
> Preston is such a great place.
>
> In the past few days we have been blessed abundantly! We had 3 on the
> spot lessons with people in the space of two days! Not to mention they
> were all on the same road! I think faith was the reason. Despite the empty
> teaching pool at first we decided that we are going to see great
> miracles this transfer. We have already seen multiple!
>
> Elder Cofone is a great missionary. He understands the law of
> consecration really well. He understands that sacrifice brings forth
> the blessings of heaven, when is comes to time at lunch and tea.
>
> By the way for those who care my new adress is:
>
> Elder Ballantyne
> 171 Kent St.
> Preston, England
> PR1 1PH
> --

> With Love,
> Elder Ballantyne

Lots of new pictures

Time for a bath

Elder Sanders and

Elder Ballantyne's dinner

P-day Baptism
Jordana Baptism

The food

HINT HINT!!!
Elder Mecham

Elder Ballantyne

Weekly update 6/1/2011

Kevin has a new Adress.

Elder Kevin James Ballantyne
171 Kent Street,
Preston, England
PR1 1PH



Hello from Preston!!!!
>
> As you can tell I got transferred to Preston, England! And I’m serving
> with Elder Cofone (Ka-phone-ay), from Trinidad and Tobago. It's going
> to be a good transfer!
>
> This has been a great week! The members have really replied to the
> "Call of Duty." We were able to get a lot of the members out teaching
> with us. I have been out teaching with some of these members until
> this week. I think after building the relationship with them, they
> were more comfortable coming out with us.
>
> This week I went on exchanges with Elder Misbach. A strength I saw in
> him was he was always smiling, he is exactly obedient and, along with
> smiling, he was very personable. We saw great miracles while on
> exchange. One of those was when we were street contacting, we saw a
> man carrying a package of some sort. We went over and offered our
> services and he accepted and as we were carrying this package we were
> speaking to him and he told us that he doesn't usually speak to people
> like us, he then said, “The spirit told me to listen to you." He then
> told us that our message was better than gold. From that we were able
> to set up an appointment with him.
>
> I’m really excited to be serving in Preston. What a blessing to be in
> a place that has so much church history! It's a Chinese speaking area.
> (no i don't know Chinese) The Chinese students are all going home for
> the summer. With all the Chinese going home we have an mostly empty
> teaching pool. We got some work cut out for us to replenish the
> teaching pool. Elder Cofone is a great companion we are going to see a
> great transfer here in Preston.
>
> With love,
> Elder Ballantyne