Elder Ethan E Ball

  Hey, hopefully your week was great! Thanksgiving was different on the mission. It was cool to still call and see everyone at home for Thanksgiving dinner, but besides that it was different. We had dinner at the Billmans and the Hulls. Both are from Utah and moved out to Mississippi later in life. It's cool - actually it seems like most of the branch just felt drawn here. Also Sister Hulls son's wife was at the dinner and she is Elder Suarez's daughter which was kinda wack.      We also did a lot of service this week. Me and my trainer are doing really well and we are super close so even though every teaching appointment except one fell through he have been able to just pick ourselves up and keep trudging.       Ah sorry for the late email, Pday just never seems to have enough time. It's been an amazing week. I'm continuing to learn so much and realize how to have joy in the work. I love you all and I can really feel the love and prayers you all ...

       Whoo what a week. It has been so fun. Thank you all SO MUCH for all the letters, packages and emails. If I've missed you in a call or didn't send you something back, I promise it's not that it went unappreciated, its just that there is so much to do and I'm sorry. I have felt so loved, please don't stop sending anything, I just have learned that I need to actually read through them slowly throughout the week and be able to respond in some small way. Don't worry when you send them because I'll read them when I have time.       I had so much growth this week, It was my first exchange with the Zone Leaders which is super fun. They are in Olive Branch, which is awesome. I got a letter from Uncle Jim and Aunt DeAnne in the mail and my companion said "Oh my gosh, I know them." They were my next door neighbors for years and they are still in our ward. So that WAS an amazing tender mercy.       This week was interesting with mir...

 Hey Yall,       Hopefully you've all been growing and hopefully everyone got this email, a few people were having issues getting my emails. If anyone says that make sure they check their spam because sometimes it blocks me lol. But anyways, this has been quite a week. I won't lie it's been a fairly difficult week. There were a lot of appointments that fell through and some really hard appointments with bashers but it was still worth it. We met Roxanne and taught her the restoration, the spirit was so strong it was physically tangible. We all cried when she said she had wondered more than 50 years if Jesus was God and that she knew they were two separate beings. That lesson was phenomenal and she HAS BEEN READING THE BOOK OF MORMON!! There a cute video in my Google photos link of Elder Cullimore dancing to it haha.       I went on my first exchange on Tuesday. That was really fun, I went down to Oxford which is essentially just Ole Miss which...

Hey Ya'll, first week in the Arkansas Little Rock Mission.      I was assigned to Holly Springs, Mississippi. Our address is 3018 HWY-178, Holly Springs, MS 38635.  I should be here for the next 12 weeks so if ya'll wanna send me anything that would be lovely. We don't get much mail. You can look it up on Google Street view but I'll also add a picture. It's a really amazing area. The people definitely speak a different form of English lol. They mostly just don't speak clearly or say the whole word. Hence Missipi. That's how everyone pronounces it here. I love it.      I got to the mission home and got some very minimal sleep then we had more training specific to our mission. Our mission is really strict and very focused and consecrated. There is almost no way to be distracted if you are following the rules. My companion is Elder Cullimore and he is so Amazing. He is extremely obedient and knowledgeable, he reminds me constantly of Reagan. They hav...

  Phew, it's been quite the last few days. I said a lot of goodbyes to new friends. But it was so comforting to have both of us know in each one that it's not a goodbye it's a till next time. Even if that next time is on the other side it will happen. I've had a lot of emotions that I'm not really sure how ti process, right now I'm on the front runner on our way to the Salt Lake Airport. I'm listening to the youth album and watching the mountains go by, it's wack it seems like a movie. I didn't finish packing last night until 1am. Shout out to my District Leader Elder Dahl definitely made the packing go way faster and better. I had a couple experiences that were really cool this week. We watched a devotional from Elder Holland talking to the missionaries about what we are doing. He said this is as close as you get for most people to real life. That we shouldn't view this as a break from the real world. This is the experience that makes your world...

  This week was so Amazing. Sorry I didn't get my email out yesterday I went to the temple with all missionaries then did a choir practice and had a devotional by Bishop budge of the presiding bishopric. But I found a computer lab today so lets go.  This week I experienced so many miracles and tender mercies and I have a few really cool concepts to share. When I got dropped off it was a little hard but I was mostly excited. Last Wednesday as like the first physical step toward adventure even though I have had so much preparation. A soon as I stepped out of the car the missionary behind me was a friend from band (Elder Tanner, I had a pic but it got erased when I reset my phone) From that point on I kept seeing people I knew around campus. I haven't gone a single day without seeing someone new that I know pics 1-6. The person who escorted me to my room was Elder Thomas Olds which was so cool. It was so comforting to know my district and a lot of other people coming in. I l...

  It’s Wednesday morning and I just checked the last thing off my list to be prepared for my mission. Interesting feeling, it seems like I am completely ready and excited but at the same time so many things feel unfinished or abruptly ended. Relationships with friends, using this computer, my room is all empty. It’s weird it seems like there should always be more time but at some point it has to be over. I'm so happy that this is just a new adventure and I will be able to come back. I feel like the hobbit though I will come back. I'm not sure what I’ll come back to. Which by the way was the biggest problem with the movies is that they skipped the conflict at home which is probably one of the most interesting morals of the book is that wherever you are you're not where you were and therefore that place you aren't can turn to chaos. But as I leave good old Kaysville, I have faith it will be just fine. Well I suppose this would be a hello, I enter the Provo MTC in 4 hrs an...