weekly update 11/24/2011

100th post

HI EVERYBODY!!!!

This week has just flown by! We took a long journey to a member’s house on Monday. The long trip was worth it, it was really good to get to know this member better. He told us about a lot of great miracles that had happened in his life.

On Tuesday, I went on exchanges with Elder Francis. He was born in South africa but has been living from Eissex, England. Like myselft Elder Francis was trained in Southport. He is a very good missionary, of course, only the best are trained in southport! He is such a great strength to the district! A strength I saw in him was his personality. When he introduces his family, he goes into detail. That was something that I hope to apply.

Something I realized is how vital the daily planner is. On accident I left mine in the library last Monday after emails. And I didn’t get it back until Thursday because I was on exchanges. If it wasn’t for sticky notes I would have been completely lost. The daily planners make a big difference in the work.

We had tea with bishop yesterday. He is a very inspired man! It was so good to get to know him and his family. He really respects the lords time. We offered to do service for them and he kept saying that he doesn’t want to cut into our time. We told him that we were encouraged to serve the members and he said there might be some service that we can do in the future.

Elder Van Tonder is a great missionary I’m always amazed at his faith and exact obedience. He is a “member work missionary,” he is always looking to teach members. Sometimes we do what we call member contacting were if we’re in the area we stop by a member’s home just to offer our help.

Things are going great here in stoke!

--
With Love,
Elder Ballantyne

weekly update 10/17/2011

HELLO EVERYONE

This week has been a great week it started out to be pretty slow from Monday to about Wednesday then really picked up on Thursday through the rest of the week.

We found a new investigator this week. Her name is Ajeni. She is from Nigeria. She studies Business at Staffordshire University. She has a strong believe in Jesus Christ. She ended up coming to church yesterday. She said she really enjoyed it. She has a few questions that we will answer but she is doing great.

A great miracle happened this week. We are teaching someone named Charlotte, who is 17. Her mom was not going to let her get baptised until she turned 18, when she could make the decision herself. Last week we felt impressed to promise her that if she would continue to pray about it, not only would her mom’s heart would be softened but that she would be a great example to her mom. After much prayer and fasting, her Mom’s heart was softened, so much that she even wants to attend Charlotte’s Baptism! Part of the promise has already come true. I have faith that the other part will come true in the near future.

Elder Van Tonder is doing great. He is such a strong companion to a district leader. He helps ease the load by making sure that everything is being kept to date, especially the area book, and other administration.

I love it here in stoke! We are blessed all the time.

--
With Love,
Elder Ballantyne

new pictures

weekly update 10/10/2011

Hello Family,

Things are going great her in stoke! We have been seeing a lot of success already. The only problem is I have a goal a leaving an area better than when I got there. In stoke it’s going to be a bit more difficult to achieve but that just means I’m going to have to work that much harder. We are looking forward to a great transfer here in stoke.

I have been able to get to know a lot of members this past week. The members here are absolutely great! One of the goals I have while I’m here in Stoke is to increase the member present lessons. I know that having a member present is the best way to teach. But the first step is to build the member trust.

Elder Van Tonder is a great missionary. He is a really hard working missionary. He seems to really know the area. Something that I have noticed in Elder Van Tonder is that he is always looking at the positives. As soon as I arrived here he was telling me about each investigator in the most positive way. I still don’t think he has said anything negative about anything.

Thanks for everything that you do!


--
With Love,
Elder Ballantyne

P.S. my new address is:
Flat 1, Hartshill House
St andrews Square
Stoke-on-Trent, England
STAFFS
United Kingdom, ST4 7GD

weekly update 10/6/2011

Bonjour Famille!!!! (French this time)

I have been transfered to Stoke-on-Trent with Elder Van Tonder from France (that's why the greeting is in french). It is in the Newcastle Stake/Zone, which is the furthest south zone in the mission. The district consists of Crew, Newcastle, and Congleton. In Crew it is Elder Francis, from England, and Elder Baker, from Northern Ireland. In Newcastle it is Elder Jones, from Salt lake city, UT, and Elder Ashcraft, also from Salt lake City, UT. Last but not least in Congleton it is Sister Alison, from Leicester, England, and Sister Bibb, from St. George, UT.

This week has been pretty unsuccessful with the number of lessons in preston. But the lessons we have had were very good lessons. I was on exchanges with Elder Diaz when Elder Schmid and Webb had a lesson with Alan. They taught about sacrament, and committed Alan and his friends to come to church this coming Sunday, they expressed that it was a really good lesson. They also had a really good lesson with a new investigator.

This week I was able to go on exchange with Elder Diaz. Elder Diaz is a very inspired missionary. Some strengths that I noticed in Elder Diaz are not only just during the exchange but throughout the transfer. They had a rough patch in the beginning of the transfer with no one to teach but because of their diligence they now have 2 dated investigators. One of which will be baptised this coming sat.

This Monday we found a man named Bryan. We tried to teach him in his home twice in the same day, but we kept being interrupted by friends and such. We had an appointment with a member couple that same evening, after some thinking we decided to ask this family if we could teach Bryan in their home, they agreed and we finally had a good lesson with him, 3rd times the charm. Teaching in members homes is so good.

I am grateful to be here in Stoke. I have only been here for less than a day and I have been able to meet a few of the members. This should be a very good transfer. The members that I have met so far are really nice!

--
With Love,
Elder Ballantyne