WEEK 3 - Q&A

1. I've heard you're not allowed to use your camera at the CCM. Did they totally confiscate your cameras? Are you allowed to take pics outside of the CCM, like when you go to the temple? 

Yep they took them away. Nope we have no cameras.

2. Did they cut your hair when you got there? How often do you get it cut while in the CCM?

Yes, they cut my hair right when we got here. And we get it cut every two weeks if we need to. Which I do. Cause my hair grows like weeds.

3. Do you do your own laundry? How often?

Yes, we do our own laundry every Monday and Friday.

4. Are you able to listen to music at the CCM? Have you used your iPod yet?

Nope, they took all that too. We have zero electronics.

5. What have you learned so far about keeping healthy and safe while in Guatemala and Honduras? Is the CCM water safe to drink? Do you have to take pills every day like Ren did?

Umm I learned that nothing is safe basically. We have to practice not using tap water here. It is safe in the CCM but we have to practice.

WEEK 3 - Third Week in el CCM: Over the Hump

Hello everyone. We are over the hump now. Halfway done. Woohoo. I realized after I sent my last email, that it was really bad so I have a bunch of stuff to put in this one.

Last week we started teaching less active people. A couple came in on Saturdays and we teach them a lesson. The first guy we taught was super duper weird and gave us his address and stuff. So awk. So they pulled us out of the room cause it was so awkward and they were a little scared for us, so we had to leave. Then we taught another lady and it was awesome cause we saw her at the temple the next week so... fantastic. And then last Saturday we taught this guy and he needed help having the companionship of the Holy Ghost. So I like out of nowhere committed him to read a chapter in el LDM and I think he really felt the Spirit and stuff. Then last Sunday we had a lovely health meeting where they basically told us we were going to die. It was splendid. We got two new investigadores this week. Gabriel and Freddy. We teach really really well together and the language is coming along a lot better. Our morning teacher switched from Hermana Cuque to Hermano Jimenez. Which I'm sad about. He's good but I loved Hermana Cuque.

We got a new District Leader, Elder Wright. He's awesome. A bunch of new guys got here last week. They are alright. Most of them are kinda annoying but it is packed now. A day last week we did T25, which is like P90X, it was awful. I was sore for like 5 days. We've seen a couple car crashes because everyone here are such crazy drivers. My electric razor got stolen so that is fantastic. A day last week we were all laying in bed and then heard running in the hallway. Then we heard a loud bang and some more running. We locked the door and all said prayers. Don't worry mom, it was nothing too bad. We think it was just someone dropping something.

We made a goal to read el LDM by the time we leave el CCM and it's going great. I'm in Alma right now. We also memorize stuff. A lot. I have memorized, in Spanish of course, Missionary Objective, Baptism Invitation, Primera Vision, y D Y C 4. It is sooo hard to memorize stuff but we have to. Last thing, we have had two General Authorities come. Last tuesday we had Elder Ochoa and yesterday we had Elder Filabela. They were both really awesome. Elder Filabela spoke in Spanish and I was able to understand almost all of it.

Love you all so so much. Miss you all so much.
Elder Baller

WEEK 2 - Q&A

Mom note: One of my mission mom friends gave me the idea to ask a few questions each week that Elder Baller could answer for the blog. I LOVE how much his personality shows through in his responses. So, here are the questions from his second week in the CCM:

1. Tell me a little more about Elder Speth - where is he from, what's his first name, how old is he, is he going to your mission too?

He's from Logan. His first name is Jordan. He's 18. His mission is Guatemala City South. He is awesome. We sing together cause we sound really good together. Everyone tells us that. We wore the matching ties from Danielle's wedding today because you packed Andrew's and we have the same suit.

2. What is your favorite thing you've eaten at the CCM? What's your least favorite thing? 

The best thing was probably this pasta stuff. So good. The worst thing was the first breakfast right when we got there. Beans and red bell pepper eggs. I was ready to go home.

3. Who are your roommates? Where are they from, etc?

They are all from Utah except for one from Idaho. One went to Westlake so we know a ton of the same people. They are all hilarious.

4. Do you have "culture" class to learn about Honduras?

Nope, I'll just get thrown right into the murder capital of the world. All the teachers kinda cringe and say buena suerte when I tell them I'm going to Hondo. Just made up Hondo. Not a real thing.

5. Besides the temple, what else do you do on P Day?

We do activities outside el CCM and play sports.

WEEK 2 - Segunda Semana En El CCM

Hey guys!

This computer is much much better, but I am the last one to start writing because I let everyone go before me. Soooo that was a mistake cause I don't know how much time I'll have. But this week was really really great.

Since my last email didn't really say much about your questions cause I was kinda flustered I figured I would try and answer some now. In a typical day, we wake up at 6:30 and then have personal study for half an hour. Then breakfast. Then personal study for another half an hour. Then we have personal study for an hour. Then we have class until lunch. Either grammar or gospel. Then lunch. Then more class. Then dinner. Then more class. Then at 7:30 we have personal study. Then at 8:15 we go and do language study on the computers. Then we plan for the next day. We finished teaching our "investigator" this week. That was pretty good. We are getting better and one of the times we practiced with latinos they told us we did perfecto. We are getting more comfortable with our spanish and it is really good. It is still super frustrating cause we will get promptings to say something and I'm like, "uhhhh thanks for the inspiration but I don't know how to say that."

Anyways I love it here. It rains way too much and way too hard. It's insane. It will come out of nowhere and it will be crazy.

We got two new investigators that are our teachers. Erika and Gabriel. Gabriel is really really hard. It's fantastic. Erika was super easy and we rocked that lesson.

Today was P Day was awesome. I can't speak English. We went to the temple this morning which was great. It was honestly so great. I felt the spirit so strong today. Then we went to a market and bought some stuff. It was interesting because it is not like America at all.

All the latinos and the oldest people left this morning. There was like no one here today. It's weird but tomorrow we get 35 new people. 33 elders and only 2 hermanas. I don't really have anything else to say. This week was great. We sing tons because we love it. This experience has grown my testimony so much and I love it.

Love,
Elder Baller

WEEK 1 - First Week En El CCM

Hey everyone. So this computer is terrible and doesn't have stuff so this email will be very poorly punctuated and very poorly written because my ingles is muy mal. It's hard to speak English words so sorry in advance if some of my words are en español. Also it doesn't have an enter key so this will be one paragraph.

This week has been amazing. The plane ride was awful awful awful. It was so long and sooooo hot. We basically flew all through the night. But there was about 35 of us so that was really, really cool. My district is awesome. We are all so close and getting closer. Mi compañero, Elder Speth, is wonderful. We get along so well and we teach together so well. 

We basically got thrown right into everything and we are teach an 'investigador'. It's really our teacher, Hermano Morales, just pretending to be an investigador. But it feels so real and we have to teach in Spanish so that is super fun cause we basically can't speak it. jk jk. We are actually all really, really good. The older Nortes said that we are the best district at speaking Spanish. I hope that made sense. I sorta forget how to speak English..... cause EVERYONE speaks Spanish. Todo el tiempo. All the time.

The food was awful. The first day when we ate breakfast, I was thinking. Oh boy. What did I get myself into. But then, after that it got a lot a lot better. But they give you so much food and it is like impossible to eat it all, but you have to cause they don't want you to waste any of it. They have the best fruit ever. It tastes so fresh.

Ummmmm... I don't know what else to say. The days are so long and the weeks go by so fast. I've been here for a week. what. a week. what. We got back from the temple literally about 5 minutes ago. The temple is amazing. It is such a good expierience wherever you go. Not spelled right, but I don't know how to spell it... Awkward... Anyways it has been amazing here. Our P Day was supposed to be yesterday and then it got switched to hoy . que en el mundo. We have taught los latinos all these american frases that they don't say here. Like que en el mundo, which means what in the world. Santa vaca, which means holy cow. And nuncamente, which means nevermind.

Our teachers are awesome. Hermano Morales en la tarde y Hermana Cuque en la mañana. They are so spiritual. Hermana Cuque was gone for a little while cause she is going to the US so we had a substitute, Hermano Romero, and there was one time where he asked us to pay really close attention and then bore his testimony is Spanish. We all understood perfectly, it was amazing. And then when he finished he said, the gift of tongues is awesome right. I don't know how to do question marks on this keyboard so there you go.

Anyways, this email has been all over the place but my week was awesome. I miss you all so so so so much. I love you all con toda mi corazón. Yo se que la iglesia es verdadera.

OH, last things. They say that when you go on a mission, your testimony will be strengthened and I was like, yeah yeah whatever. It's true. My testimony has grown so much. I got the chance to bear it to some of you before I left, but the ones that I didn't get to, I want to now really quick. I know that this church is true. I KNOW that the BOM es la palabra de Dios. I love this gospel. I'm so excited to preach it. I cannot wait to get out en el campo. It is the coolest feeling in the world to put on that nametag every day. I am a representative of Jesucristo and that is amazing.

Much love,
Elder Baller

Made It Safely To Guatemala!

We got our first email from Aidan this morning. He had just gotten to the Guatemala CCM (MTC). It was so nice to hear from him and know he got there safely. Miss him so much. <3

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Subject: Here!
We got here safely! We are all super super tired, really long flight. Everyone speaks only spanish here. Write on Sundays, they said. I couldn't figure out the email and thats why this is so short! Love you!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again

Aidan's mission call said he would be reporting to the Mexico MTC on Wednesday, July 8 2015. We had heard that some missionaries in his mission have their MTC assignment changed to the Guatemala MTC. We were expecting his travel arrangements to come 3-5 weeks prior to July 8. As of June 30, we were still waiting. Finally, that afternoon, the email came through with his flight info and - SURPRISE! - he was flying into Guatemala instead of Mexico. He was SO happy about that!

This email made everything VERY real all of a sudden!

Tuesday, July 7 came and Aidan went to work in the morning (no, seriously, he did). He loves his job and LOVES the people he works with, so wanted to go and see them one more time to say good-bye. He came home and we did the final luggage checklist. 

Then, we went to lunch at Olive Garden with our family and Shane's family. Aidan was starting to feel nervous for the first time, and wasn't really hungry.

Brooke and Aidan walking into the restaurant. I can't even imagine how much bigger Brooke will be when he's home. She'll be 8!

After lunch, we went shopping (again) to get a few final things for Aidan to have in his carry-on bag on the plane. Then we went home to change and wait for President Yadon to come and set Aidan apart.

While we were waiting for President Yadon, Cole asked Aidan to "ratch his back". Aidan loves his little siblings so much!

President Yadon came and set Aidan apart. He is such an amazing and humble man. We LOVE our stake president and are so glad he was the one who came to do it. It was an amazing blessing with lots of promises and reminders to Aidan to be obedient. It helped to calm my nervous mom heart.

Elder Baller (officially!) and President Yadon

After the setting apart, we had about 45 minutes to kill before leaving for the airport. Aidan sat in a chair and, at first, I was worried that he was feeling anxious and overwhelmed. Later, I realized he was just tired and had fallen asleep. This kid is cool as a cucumber through and through -- something I think will benefit him on his mission greatly!

Catching some zzzz's because he and his brother stayed up late the night before

Soon, it was time to head to the airport.

Love seeing my boys together... next time will be July 2017 (unless Andrew leaves before that for his own mission)

The airport was an interesting experience. We know what the Provo MTC is like since we dropped off all three of Rob's kids there for their missions. Several people have asked which one is "better." There are definite pros and cons to both. However, after being through both, I would say that the airport was harder. At the Provo MTC, someone greets them, and immediately takes them in to get started and settled. They don't have time to "think" about leaving their family. At the airport, they have long flights and time in the airport ahead of them, and lots of time to think about things. And it's hard for the parents, not knowing who they'll be with and hoping they'll get to where they're supposed to go safely. Waiting for that first email that lets us know they made it safely is torturous. Also, at the airport, they don't whisk them away like they do at the Provo MTC. So, you have to decide to let them go. Hard to finally let them walk away.

We were so relieved to quickly see that there were lots of missionaries on Aidan's flight with him. Lots and lots of missionaries and crying families around. We still haven't heard how many were with him for sure (we think about eight) and we have heard they met up with even more in LA to go to Guatemala. So glad they had each other!

Pics from the airport:

When did he turn into a man? Wasn't he just a little boy yesterday??

Checking in for his flight

Passing the luggage weight test - phew!

Elder Bryson Anderson and Elder Aidan Baller (these two met on Instagram and I've become friends with Bryson's mom...it was fun to meet them both in person)

Shane's family

Our family

Brooke and Aidan holding hands on the way up to security

Brothers and BEST friends

Oh my heart... I'll miss this missionary SO much

Poor Brooke was SO upset and kept begging Aidan not to leave

My oldest and my youngest - love love love them

Aidan is the BEST brother to his little siblings. They will miss him so much, but I'm so glad they have him as an example.

Hardest thing I've ever done - watching him walk away. But SO proud of him and know he will be amazing!

Mission Shopping and Packing

When Aidan got his call, one of the first things we did was look at what he would need to take and start shopping. Luckily, we had over four months to do our shopping. But, just like Christmas shopping, we ended up doing quite a bit of it last minute. It was interesting to see how much he needed to take in comparison to what Ren had to take to Angola. Their clothing requirements were almost identical, but Ren had to take two years' worth of toiletries and Aidan only had to take enough for his MTC stay since it sounds like he'll be able to buy most of those things in Honduras. One interesting thing to note as well is that just the week before Aidan left, the church changed the suit requirement for his mission (and others in warm climates) and no longer require the missionary to take a suit jacket. Because we already had Aidan's, he reported in it (as did all of the other missionaries we saw in the airport) and I'm actually glad. I think he looked sharp and I'm glad it would have kept him warm on the long plane trip.

I joined an AWESOME Facebook group of Honduras Tegucigalpa Mission moms and they were extremely helpful in deciding what specific things to buy and especially what things to send that weren't on the list in his mission call (like a mosquito net, shoe dryers, etc). It was (and continues to be) and invaluable resource!

Here are some pics of our shopping and packing adventures. Enjoy!

We did most of our main shopping at Missionary Mall. We did this for Ren and after I price matched after the fact, I found I could have gotten things for less. So, I haggled a bit at Missionary Mall this time and felt like we got the best price and you can't beat the convenience of getting it all at one place. Score.

Oh, my cute Aidan. I miss him so much.

Most of my last minute shopping happened online. But here is one of a few impromptu shopping trips to get some of the things we needed at the end.

The weekend before Aidan left, we spread all of his stuff all over the family room floor and sorted it to decide the best way to pack it. It looked like quite a disorganized mess (okay, let's be honest... it was a disorganized mess).

Within a day, though, I had ironed all of his shirts...

And packed most of the stuff in his suitcases...

And by the morning the day of his flight, it was all packed nicely in his suitcases, and they weren't even bulging....

We weighed them to make sure they were under the limit, but I wasn't sure how accurate our luggage scale was. When we got to the airport, they weighed them (and would have charged us if they were over 50 pounds each)...and.... drumrollll......

Phew!! We all laughed how close we came to the limit. (Technically, he was supposed to leave about 12 pounds in his luggage for training materials he'd get at the MTC, but I figured he could carry those in his carry-on when he travels for Honduras.)

FHE and Orgill Family Good-Byes

The day before Aidan left, we invited our Orgill family over for dinner and an FHE lesson on missionaries. It was fun to have them and was all fun and games until Aidan had to say good-bye to everyone. He held it together great. Everyone else? Not so much. Luckily, I didn't get pictures of all of the good-byes.

Some of the cousins chatting around the table. (I'm not sure when--or if--I'll take down Aidan's farewell open house decorations. It's too hard now that he's gone.)

Love my cute missionary.

These boys were all born within three months and have been best friends since they were born.

Karen, Diane and I and our firstborn sons. These three will all be missionaries within a year. So crazy and exciting! Love these boys!

My mom and eight of her first 10 grandsons. Our family had a lot of boys before any girls came around. I love love LOVE this picture!

Aidan and his proud grandma. Aidan is the first missionary on both sides of his family. He's such a great example for all of his cousins!

Countdown

When there were 50 days left before Aidan left on his mission, Brooke and I made this countdown chain. The kids had a fun time cutting a link off each day. It was so much fun! (Until it got too short for mom's liking...)

The chain on the last day (sob)

Temple with Aidan

On Tuesday, June 9, 2015, Aidan went through the temple for his endowment. He chose the Draper Temple. It was such an amazing experience! I remember hearing from other parents that being with your kids in the temple is one of the best feelings you can have on earth and I have to agree. It was incredible!

This year for Mother's Day, I told Rob and the kids that what I wanted was a date with each of them individually, planned by them. Originally, Aidan gave me a certificate for a movie and dinner. However, after going through the temple, he asked if he could change our date to be a temple date. Of course! He wanted to go back to the Draper Temple to do baptisms since he could perform the baptisms as an endowed Elder. 

So, on Thursday, July 2, we headed to lunch at Zupa's and then headed to the temple. Unfortunately, because we didn't bring our own family names, they turned us away as they reserve temple names for the youth who come to do baptisms. But it was nice to sit at the temple with Aidan anyway. (As an interesting side note, we found out later that about an hour after we were turned away, our ward's Young Women arrived at the same temple to do baptisms. They brought their own family names, but because they didn't have a baptizer available at the temple right then, they were turned away as well. Crazy! Had we gotten there at the same time, it would have worked out perfectly.)