Email from Fullwood family

I though this would be really neat to share with everyone
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Hi Folks, having had a son on a mission and having craved for any snippets of information about his progress, we decided that we would write to the families of all missionaries in our ward and give them a brief update from time to time. Elder Ballantyne is a wonderful missionary, hard working and conscientious. He conducts himself with a quiet dignity that makes him real credit to his parents. We hope you are very proud of him as he dilligently serves the Lord to the best of his ability. Attached is a picture we took at our home with our family last week when he and his companion came round for a dinner appointment.

Scott and Debbie Fullwood

Weekly update 9/20

Hi Everybody,

This was a tough week. we had a lot of finding and it wasn't very effective finding either. But instead of letting it bring us down, we Discussed why our finding wasn't effective and what we can change to use our finding time more effectively. We came to the conclusion that we need to be more prayerful in our nightly planning sessions.

This week Hayley Hurst was Baptised in the wigan ward. We had the chance to go to wigan and meet her, for her baptismal interview. Just by getting to know her i know without a doubt that she was prepared for her baptism. Which took place on the 18 Sept. She has such a great spirit with her!

On Sunday we had a coordination meeting with the new ward mission leader. I am excited to beable to be coordinating with the ward through him! He will help the work move forward in southport!

It has been a great experiance working with Elder Jolliffe I have learned a lot from him! And We are excited to Finish the transfer strong!

Thanks for the support! I love you all! Sorry it's so short.
Love,
Elder Ballantyne

Pictuers from Kevin

At least we know he is eating

(well maybe)

I have no idea what they are doing!

Elder Jolliffe, Julie, and Elder Ballantyne

A birthday package from home!

weelky update 9/13

HI FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!

I was able to see Elder Chad Mecham at Zone conference this week, he is serving in South Ribble ward. I am praying that He will become a senior companion and that i will get sent there next transfer! It would be so amazing! But, do any of you have any guesses where I will go next transfer? It would be fun to here what you all say. :~)

Elder Mecham wasn't the only one i saw a zone conference, I saw everyone that came out on the same day as me, but one. I saw Elder Blackburn, Elder Jin, Sister Kullick, and Sister Babbel. It was a great ruinion! I still would like to have seen Elder Feith, who is with my last companion Elder Sherrard.

Zone Conference was amazing! I really enjoyed Sister Bullocks talk on loving the people. It couldn't have been at a better time, because recently i have been getting frustrated with people just instantly rejecting us. It really has helped to realize that they are children of god. So instead of feeling frustrated I feel love for them and i hope that some day they will have another chance to hear the gospel, and then accept it.

I also really enjoyed Pres. Bullocks talk on miracles. I just confirmed to me that we need to Expect miracles, or have faith that miracles can a do happen everyday. It has helped me have a better attitude towards finding. Even when we have hours of straight finding.

Something that has also helped me during long periods of finding is Jumbling up all the pass along cards. It helps me stay on the ball, and also keeps things interesting. Elder Jolliffe and I put it to the test right away. We have experienced a lot more joy during our finding as we use the new pass along cards

I really appreciate the prayers and the support! I love you all!!!
Love
Elder Ballantyne

A new Weekly Update

Hi Family and Friends!!!!!

This week was fantastic! I was able to work in Liverpool for 3 days with Elder Smart. Liverpool is a fantastic area! The people are way nice! apparently there was a Beatles festival the weekend before i went there. Everyone was asking if we went. The people Expressed that we should have, so it sounds like it was a fun experience.

Being able to work with Elder Smart In Liverpool for the three day was an amazing experience and full of miracles! Elder Smart is a fantastic Missionary! Our three day exchange started on Wednesday and we had Elder Wayment with us for that one day. I learned a lot from him! I learned that I need to ask for the peoples names earlier. So that I can be more personable to the people I speak with, this also shows that we care about the people and not numbers. so this week I have made the goal to get the persons name right at the first of the conversation.

The transfer continued, On Thursday morning Elder smart and I found a lady that had been going through a really hard time with her step brother. She told us that just that same morning she was saying her prayers that her life would get better. And we told her that this wasn't a coincidence that we met her, and that her prayer were answered. We shared the restoration with her. She expressed that she had never felt so happy in her life. I was reading in PMG About speaking to everyone. And it hit me, If we weren't speaking to everyone chances are we wouldn't have spoken to her. How can we find those that are ready to hear the message of the restored gospel if we're not speaking to everyone? The answer is we can't. So we need to be speaking to everyone so that we can be the answers to peoples prayers.

Friday Evening when we got back from Liverpool, we had a lesson with one of our investigators. So we went and it turns out his friend was there and we had a strong restoration lesson with them the spirit was so strong, we recommitted Luke to be baptized and he accepted immediately! We Also committed Tony, Lukes friend, but he was a little unsure. We will be seeing them both today so hopefully we can resolve any concerns he has.

The area is great! the members are so nice and supportive! I'm grateful to be able to serve with Elder Jolliffe here in Southport! I know that I was called here for a reason. Actually being here has helped me understand that more fully.

Thanks for the birthday cards and the love and support you have all showed me! I had a fantastic birthday, so thank you all!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!
Love
Elder Ballantyne
P.S. GO BYU!!!!

WEEKLY UPDATE

Hello Everyone!

This week started out pretty slow. We were talking to a lot of great people. But not having much success with setting up appointments. On Wednesday night just after planning Elder Jolliffe and I discussed what we were doing wrong. We decided it was because we weren't talking to everyone in our path. So that evening we recommitted ourselves to speak with everyone. That Thursday morning we doubled our appointments and taught a lesson on the spot in the one hour of finding we had before weekly planning, and we kept setting appointments up through out the day. So I have gained a strong testimony of speaking to everyone. We may pray that we will be guided to those that are prepared to receive the gospel. How will you know if they are prepared unless you've spoken to them. The people that pass by us could be the ones that the lord has prepared for us.

I am grateful to be staying in Southport! The ward is fantastic, and very helpful! I can see how building the members trust can help us out a lot, In fact it's impossible to do missionary work without the help of the members. We just started "Ask in faith" with one of the families and I can't wait to see how effective this tool can be! I have really grown to know how important members are in missionary work.

Elder Jolliffe and I are still getting along great! We are constantly trying to help each other become better missionaries. We are constantly helping each other out, whether it be serving each other or just giving each other tips to be more effective instruments in the hands of the lord. I am grateful to be serving with Elder Jolliffe and I'm grateful to be learning so much from him.

Thanks for the support and the letters of encouragement! I really enjoy hearing from everyone! Feel free to send me letters whenever you want. :D
Love,
Elder Ballantyne

weekly update

Hi Family and Friends,

Things are going great! The ward members are really nice to us! This Sunday they gave us a Cantaloupe! It is making our flat kind of smelly we need to eat it soon. Another Lady gave us Penguins which are like a chocolate Cookie with Chocolate cream in the middle, and the whole thing is covered in milk chocolate. They are delicious! Another lady gave us grape Tomatoes from her garden! I'm excited about it!

This week was pretty slow. We talked to a lot of good people but not many were interested. We decided that the reason we were getting much success is because we didn't have faith in our own area. We kept saying how it's easier in other areas, and I feel that that is the main reason we weren't seeing success. I know that we need to have more faith in our area, and if we do have that faith I know that we will be able to see miracles. This is true for any area we go to. If we have faith and expect great things from our areas I know that we can expect great success.

Something i have been working on is being able to recognize and act upon the promptings of the spirit. Every time i think about it I am always reminded of Elder Bednar said, "Quit worrying about it." Sometimes we worry about whether we will be able to listen to the promptings of the spirit. I have learned, from Elder Bednars Talk, that we shouldn't worry so much about it. We will know it when it comes.

I am excited for this transfer, now that Elder Jolliffe is a District leader I need to do everything I can to make it easier for him because he has a lot of stuff to do, Like plan for district meetings and other things.
With love,
Elder Ballantyne

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELDER BALLANTYNE!

Love, Your Family

Missionsite.net

I made Kevin a thing on the missionsite.net it pretty much the same as this blog.

But if you go in the links (found on the side of the page) you can see other missionaries in the same Mission as Kevin.

You can go to the Mission Site's home page you can find missionaries all over the world.

It's really kind of neat.

www.missionsite.net/elderkevinballantyne