Week 1: First Email as a Missionary

 Week One: 08/28/2024


Hi Everyone! It has been a quick week of Home MTC. (the time really flies @Elder Horsly)

 I leave to Provo today, which is very exciting. I love having no more Zoom, it is great.


Spiritual Thought:  Anyone who knows me knows I love mountains. Why? Is it the stunning views or the crisp mountain air? I love mountains for a lot of reasons, and one is that there's something about being on a mountain that helps us feel closer to God. 

This has been true since ancient times, it was on a mountaintop that Moses heard the lord calling to him from a burning bush and where Ether saw God touch the 16 stones to give light to the Jaredites. 

He led them up a mountain. 

I often wonder, why do so many divine experiences happen on a mountaintop. 

While being on the summit of a mountain does put us physically closer to heaven, there must be more to it than that. Maybe it's not the elevation of the peak or the stunning views at the end but all the work it took to get there that brings us closer to god. It's our willingness to climb the mountain that's sacred to the lord.

It can be exhilarating and at times exhausting, just when we think we’ve achieved a worthy goal we look ahead and discover there are more mountains to climb. 

So, we keep climbing, we set goals, and trust that every step moves us closer to fulfilling our potential. 

Perhaps that's why God invited Moses to the mountain because Moses was not the same person at the foot of Sinai as he was at the summit. 

It’s the climb that changes us, and it’s the climb that makes the view from the top seem that much more beautiful. 

Every effort to nurture a relationship, to reach out to someone in need, to learn from our mistakes, to try again, and to do any good, is sacred to the lord. These efforts allow the lord to reach out and help us become the kind, patient, and loving sons and daughters of god he knows us to be. 


Short Version of Email:  Home MTC, Packing, Provo MTC, Eating so much good food, My District is Awesome along with my Teachers!


5 Amazing Things of the Week:

1: Felt the spirit so much this week even over Zoom!

2: Ate sushi before I left

3: I learned the 4 steps to conjugate any verb in Finnish

4: Everything fits in my suitcases

5: My mom and grandma loaded me up with snacks to take to the MTC


Miracle of the Week: I am Companions with the one Elder in my district from Corner Canyon! (Shoutout Elder Osthed). It has been so nice to be comps with someone I already know. 


Where I am Right Now:  Right now I’m still at home and then Provo MTC (This section is mainly for my mom and is boring until I get to Finland)


Scripture of the Week:  1 Nephi 17:7-16 & 18:1-4

My Thoughts: Nephi is commanded to build a ship not after the manner of men but after the manner of god. It works out better for him because he follows God's plan and his designs(literally) than if he would have done it himself. It also shows the order and steps for the lord to work with us to do something hard


Talk of the Week:  Anonymous by Thomas S Monson, April 1983

My Thoughts: This is an awesome talk, about service. “Loving service anonymously given may be unknown to man—but the gift and the giver are known to God.” I love that while our deeds may be unknown to man they are Always known to god. Monson also puts in this little verse some of you might know which I liked. “A bell is no bell till you ring it, A song is no song till you sing it, And love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay, Love isn’t love till you give it away.


That's all for this week, I miss you all already! Please email Me!

  • Elder Balls











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