Monday, April 23, 2012

weekly update 4/23/2012

Mis amados hermanos tu hermanas




The lord has truly showered us with blessings. We are now teaching a new Member referral, named Tina. She has expressed a strong desire to be baptised. Right after the lesson we had some time for street contacting, as we were speaking to people we met a lady named Sophie, then taught her the day after with a member. It was definitely no coincidence that we found her at this time in her life. The week before we spoke to her she had a friend die, and previously she had a few others die, including her partner. I know that this message is what she needs, especially at this time.



We taught Tom a couple times this week. On Monday we taught him and he has expressed not only that he wants to be baptised but that he wants to go on a mission! He is 28 so he will need some permission from the stake president, but the desire is still there! On Thursday we taught him again and He told us that he was going to speak to his father to pick a date for his baptism! Exciting things are happening here in Rossendale Valley.



My companion Elder Jensen is doing really great. He is quite knowledgeable about the gospel. I enjoy discussing different things with him. I have learned a lot from him as a missionary and doctrinally. We are really enjoying the time we have together!



Recently I have been reading in the New Testament. The biggest thing that I have recognized is the nature of Jesus Christ, especially the love that he has for us. He says it quite frequently. This morning I was reading in Chapter 10 of St. John which talks about how he is the good shepherd and will lay down his life for us.



With love,

Elder Ballantyne

Monday, April 16, 2012

Please come

Elder Kevin Ballantyne's Homecoming is...
May 13th, 2012 (Mothers Day)

At the Bountiful 24th Ward

He will be speaking @ 12:50 pm


Refreshments after at the Ballantyne's Home

weekly update 4/16/2012

Dear Family,

This was a great week. It started of great we had a lesson with a few new people. We taught a man named Jim who is a less active members Uncle. We had a good lesson. Then we invited him to come to an elder’s quorum curry night. He seemed to enjoy it but the best part was that the rest of the elder’s quorum fellowshipped him like they had known him for awhile.

Before the curry night we had a very powerful lesson with tom. The member we took with us was great! It was Chris McClure who used to teach at the MTC. Tom described the lesson that he understood the most. We have two lessons planned with him for this coming week as opposed to 1 a week.

Rossendale is doing great; the members are still a great strength. And we currently have a few potential referrals. We should be teaching one tomorrow. The ward truly is doing their part in this great work.

The weather has been wonderful! There have been a few showers but nothing to major. Besides without a few showers it just wouldn't be England, right? It still gets pretty cold but it is warming up. Today we will be making the most of the weather by going on a hike with a member from the ward. It should be good.


--
With Love,
Elder Ballantyne

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

weekly update 4/10/2012

Dearest Family and Friends

Things are going great here Sian was confirmed a member on Sunday. She still seems to be excited. The members really have been a great help in her conversion! It was a different experience, we did the teaching the members did the rest.

We were given a lift of all the people who were baptized in the last 3 years and asked to contact them, and give them support. As we were contacting each of these converts, we met a lady named Audry Thomas, who is on the list. I have not seen her at church since I have been here in Rossendale Valley, so I didn’t really know anything about her. Anyway we knocked by and she we had a great conversation. We focused on answering her questions and concerns, and then invited her to church. Then on Sunday Audrey and her son, Mathew, walked through the door! She seemed to have enjoyed it!

Tom is doing really well. We saw him on taught him on Thursday. We had a weekly focus on building faith. And part of it was to study faith. Both Elder Jensen and I felt like would should share with tom a few things about what we learnt from these studies, particularly on taking a leap of faith. During the lesson Tom had told us a bit about his life before we spoke to him on the bus. He was saying that he was on the border line of depression. He said that he was grateful that we spoke to him on the bus because his life has gotten a lot better since then and he has been a lot happier.


--
With Love,
Elder Ballantyne

Monday, April 2, 2012

weekly update 4/2/2012

>
> Dear Family,
>
> I first want to talk about my conversion story; I was brought up in
> the church by goodly parents who love the lord. I never went
> less-active, however, in my Teenage years I start to think and
> unfortunately doubt the things in which I was being taught. The
> decision to serve a mission came; I was either to stay and go to
> university or to go on a mission. I had made my decision that I was
> going to stay and go to university and carry on with my live, mostly
> because I didn’t believe so much. I told my parents what my decision
> was. And they counselled with me. My Dad had told me that I needed to
> pray and ask if I should serve a mission. I not only asked if I should
> go on a mission but I asked if what I was being taught was true. I got
> an answer that I should serve a mission. I don’t recall a straight
> forward answer on if these things were true. But I followed the answer
> that I needed to serve a mission. Since being on my mission I have
> grown a testimony. I can’t say at any specific moment I knew it was
> true, but my answer came line upon line, until now and it is still
> continuing to grow.
>
> This week has been a great week. The highlight was, of course, the
> baptism of Sian Crosbie. The baptism went very well. Sian had planned
> the whole thing. It was a great service including a slideshow that
> Sian and her friends had made, which concluded with her testimony. It
> was powerful! The service was well attended also. The ward really
> showed there support and most of the ward plus more were there to see
> her get baptised. The relief society president spoke to us at general
> conference on Saturday and said that she will do everything to ensure
> that the sisters contact her daily this week.
>
> This was a very eventful week with zone conference and General
> conference. I loved it I feel so spiritually fed! I always love
> watching general conference. The talks were good, but the discussion
> afterwards is when I get dessert.
>


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