April 25, 2016 - Bengaluru, Whitefield

Well another week down.  Time flies right??  This week was okay.  Not too bad and not great either.  We managed to find a couple of new investigators, but they didn't seem all that interested.  We will see if they call us back.  

Other than that we have just been teaching pretty much the same people.  We basically dropped Babitha this week because we have taught her everything and don't know what else to do.  So we are taking our foot off the gas pedal with her, and i guess that was the right decision because she finally came to church this week.  So that was good.

The best news is about Prathapan and Shanthi.  We FINALLY got them to commit to a date.  On May 8 they will be baptized as well as with two of their friends who are great as well.  So that is really exciting.  That took awhile and was a very slow process, but I think it will work out in the end.  

This week is Mission Conference so we will get to learn from President Berrett and President Funk.  We have a couple potentials that we are also going to be working with this week, so hopefully that will work out as well.  This area is really hard.  Very hard.  But we are diligent and hoping that a breakthrough will happen soon.  

Today for P-day, we played cricket.  Man that game is fun.  So awesome.  Definitely one of my favorite sports.  Such a fun sport.  We are trying to eat good.  Elder Basil is dieting so....haha, at least attempting to;) We always eat out.  It takes way too long to prepare food inside, and also we can find some decent and cheap options outside.

Not much on our agenda upcoming except for our zone conference on Friday, MLC on Thursday and then next week we have a couple Zone Leader exchanges.  Then the week after is transfers...

Yes mom we have milk.  It isn't bad.  Not anything like the milk at home, but i guess i have just gotten used to it.  Our apartment is okay.  Pretty spacious for only two elders.  Yes it is getting hot.  Like everyone in Bangalore is telling us that Bangalore has never been this hot...lucky me, haha.  

So basically does that mean that my 1st year (at BYU), i won't have to take as many classes??? That would be good!  Well not sure what else to say...my emails are getting lame i know.  But i don't know what to say anymore.  Running out of things to say, so sorry if my last 14 emails are all short...
Love you!

Elder Ball

April 18, 2016 - Goa, Pictures

The Goa open house...

Grundy's

 Sister Susanna

President Kalra

April 18, 2016 - Goa

Happy Birthday TY!!!!!!! Man that kid is getting old.  Blows my mind that he is 17 now....how did that happen???

Well this week i will TRY to describe....It was probably the hardest, most exhausting, fun, incredible, rigorous and stressful week of my mission....but it was probably the best.  Goa is such an awesome place.  We really had a good time.  The only thing is that we had like 0 time to relax so we didn't even get to ever relax on the beach;) Most people here probably thought we went there to basically vacation but they couldn't have been more wrong. 

We worked soooo hard this week.  And throughout the week we were hoping and praying that a lot of people would come to the open house.  We wanted it to be successful for their sake because of how great of members they are and how excited they were for it.  It was actually quite sad to leave them and to leave Goa.  But what happened is that about 25 people came!! Definitely more than everyone was expecting.  Definitely a miracle.  And it went really well.  We taught lots of people and showed them around, and from our work throughout the week we found about 5 potential baptisms for Goa and a baptism for another ward here in Bangalore!!!! It was super cool.  And Allen was awesome.  Such a cool guy.  He came to church after being inactive for months on months.  So that was way cool.  It really was an awesome time and experience.

As far as things here in Bangalore, we were told that Babitha and Teja didn't come but Prathapan and Shanthi came which was good.  Anyways, so we are now back in Bangalore.  No, we won't be travelling with President Berrett actually (mission tour prior to finishing as mission President).  Yeah i got to speak and meet with Elder Thompson and will have quite a bit of interaction with him because he is a zone leader.  The others...Elder Bandi goes home in 9 weeks.  And Elder Bunga leaves in 3 weeks.  And then me in 15 weeks...what?????

Well words can't really describe the week so I'll send some pics for you:)

Elder Ball

April 11, 2016 - Goa, Pictures

Church in Chennai (Tamil)

Member Allen with us on P-day in Goa

April 11, 2016 - Chennai & Goa

Hey everyone!
Livin' the Goa life!  This week was quite the busy week!!!

We got some good work in the only three days we were in our area.  On Wednesday we had a good MLC with all the Zone Leaders and President Berrett.  Elder Basil and I gave a couple trainings at it.  It ended up pretty good actually.  Our investigators are doing okay.  It will be interesting to see how they do this week without us visiting them at all.

We did go to Chennai on Thursday and Friday, and boy is that place HUMID! The heat isn't that bad actually, but the humidity is what kills you!!! But Chennai is a pretty awesome place.  I really liked it actually.  I went on exchange with Elder Parks who is the Zone Leader there so that was good.  Also Elder Singh is in that zone so i got to see him again as well.  

So at this moment i am in a member's house emailing you guys from GOA!!!! This place is dang cool.  We are actually staying for a few days with a couple of members from the US who live here in Goa permanently.  They are a pretty cool family.  The members here in Goa are incredible.  They are like the nicest people i have ever met.  I have never had so many invitations over for dinner on my whole mission.  They are so cool.  Every last member.  We are planning to work with the less actives here and also go through the old list of investigators to try meeting with them all and inviting them to the open house.  One of less actives named Allen came and chilled with us on our P-day today.  He is a way cool guy.  He is about our age and hasn't been to church for a while.  But we taught him yesterday, and he hung out with us today and he is sooooo cool.  We really enjoyed with him today.  Goa is very tropical and yes it is still pretty hot.  But it is like a villagy area with a european (portuguese) twist to it.  It is way cool.  We really love this place already.  So yeah we are having a good time here in Goa.  We are going to work hard this week to see if we can get the Branch to have a good turn out for the open house and bring back some members.  The Branch only has about 40-50 members and about 20 turn up for church, so it's a very small branch, but every member is super nice and welcoming and fun.  We are very excited for what will happen this week.

Love you guys! Here are some pics!

Elder Ball

April 4, 2016 - Bangalore, Whitefield

Well we are now into another month and another month of summer here at that.  India is super hot.  And everyone here in Bangalore is saying that this is pretty much the hottest year in Bangalore.  They are saying it usually doesn't get this hot....very uplifting....haha, not.  But despite the weather we are still pressing on and doing our best.  We had an okay week.  

Teja is doing okay.  He might have found a solution to his money problem and he still wants to be baptized so that is good.  We weren't able to meet Reshmi so we aren't sure what will happen with her.  Babitha finally came to church again, and one of our members helped us with her this week.  His name is Sandeep Barre.  He was less active about a month ago.  We have been working with him for a couple months, and now he has been back for the last four weeks in a row and has really been excited about helping other people at church as well.  It was pretty awesome.  The Prathapans are still the same...slow but sure.  Prabhakar is so awesome.  We are only able to teach him on Sundays which is difficult for progress, but he is so willing to learn and is awesome.  

That's about it as far as this week.  We head off to Goa on Saturday and just before that on Thursday we are going to see Chennai, so it will be a super busy week.  So next week when i email you i will be in Goa!! 

So Elder Basil and I are enjoying together and working hard and hoping to find some success.  The Philippines missionaries are really glad to be back.

Not a lot of time this week.  We have had a really busy P-day!!! Talk to you next week!!!
Elder Ball