Week 1 - First Week in the Mission

Hello everyone. (Or for where I'm from, "hola")

First week in the MTC has been really amazing. I got here and just was hit by this incredible spirit. This is exactly where the Lord wants me to be!

I'm going to try to keep this brief (and might fail miserably), because, like in the MTC, I know y'all are busy peeps.

And by busy I mean it's crazy around here. We're constantly running around and going to classes and now it's time to eat and okay wrap it up it's bedtime and on and on. We have little time to ourselves, which is awesome. All the time we have here is the Lord's.

I have two companions! Elder Carter (D.C.) and Elder Dalton (Mona). They are both really great people, along with our district. (Gah I just wish y'all could meet them. Such incredible spirits!)

Our district has four companionships, Elder McCarney being our district leader. He is really chill. Friendly. His companion is Elder Mortenson. Then we have Elder Grigor and Elder Hill in another companionship (Elder Grigor is the funny one and Elder Hill is basically a native Spanish speaker already). Then the Hermanas: Ahsmus (I do not know how to spell it), Winterton and Olsen. I actually had no idea trio companionships existed until I first arrived, and our district has TWO! Anyway, there is never not someone laughing anytime we're all together. We invite the spirit really well anywhere, but we also know how to have fun. (:

I have seen two apostles of the Lord within the past four days. (I love this gospel) I'm actually part of the MTC choir, which is incredible. We sing for broadcasts that go out to all the other MTC's! And then we hear from a representative of the Lord.. LIVE! No screens! No broadcast! They're right there. Such an inspired opportunity we all have to listen intently to the words directly from God. Love it.
(We saw M. Russell Ballard first, and last night is was Neil L. Anderson)

The Spanish is definitely coming along. I'm working really hard to qualify for the Gift of Tongues (we talk about that 24/7). I hope that the grace of God will pull me the rest of the way.

I've never had so much faith. (If you haven't come through the MTC for a tour, DO IT. PLEASE. The spirit here is so so powerful and I want all of you to feel it!) (:

Anyway, I just want to testify of the truthfulness of this work. I know it's going to get tough at times, but I know I will be strengthened through the love our Lord has for me.

Love you all!

-Elder (Anj) Baller

MTC

After lunch, Aidan drove Andrew down to the MTC to drop him off. These two have always been the best of friends and I am so glad they had this experience together. Aidan was very obedient and took lots of pictures for me.

Handsome brothers - so glad they got to have almost two months together

Andrew blowing a kiss good-bye

And he's off... and will do amazing things

Farewell and Farewell

Andrew spoke in church on July 30, 2017. He did an amazing job! His talk was funny, spiritual, interesting and extremely well done. He has always been a good speaker. He never gets nervous! What a great trait for a missionary, right?

We were inundated with visitors after church, which made me so happy for Andrew! I think our entire YW/YM skipped church to come - ha! I wish I had gotten pictures of everyone here, but I was so busy with refreshments and visiting, I didn't get around to snapping ANY photos until we had a break in between our post-sacrament meeting and post-church blocks visitors. 

Andrew has worked at Swig for the last year and loves it! So, it was only fitting to do a drink bar for his open house. It was so fun, and Andrew loved mixing custom drinks for anyone willing to try them!

Lots of cookies!

The next couple of weeks were spent with the farewells of the other kind - the hard kind. Everyone is thrilled that Andrew is serving a mission and EVERYONE comments that he'll be an incredible missionary (I realize everyone says this about every missionary... but Andrew has always been so outgoing and fun). It's still hard to say goodbye to him. He is such a huge part of our home. His HUGE personality will be missed every single day.

Saying goodbye to Derek

Grandma Orgill

 I failed again on photos... I didn't even think to get photos of him saying goodbye to everyone else. Too busy crying, I guess.

Tuesday, August 8 at 9pm, President Heninger came to our house to set Andrew apart as a missionary. His blessing was AMAZING. The spirit was so strong in our home, and it filled all of us with such happiness and peace. Bishop Vera also came that night and gave Andrew a very nice blessing after President Heninger left.

Aidan brought home an unused mission badge and the bishop said he didn't see any reason Andrew couldn't wear it. So cool!

Rob and Aidan goofing off after the setting apart. Love these guys

My DARLING missionary!

The next morning, while we waiting for the time for Andrew to go to the MTC, they all hung out in my bed. Love having all four of my kids together.

All ready to go.

 Andrew had decided that he wanted to go and say goodbye to his Dad's family in the morning, then go to lunch with our family, then have Aidan drop him at the MTC. It ended up being the perfect plan and I was glad Andrew had the day go as he wanted it.

This little girl has been Andrew's shadow for the last two years and LOVES him so much. She will miss him, but I'm so glad she has him as an example.

Andrew took each of us outside separately and talked to us and told us what he loved about us. He is the sweetest kid ever.

Cole and Andrew

Andrew and Cole doing their "monkey/koala hug"

Oh, this poor little sister... they will miss each other so much

So grateful for this guy in Andrew's life - I couldn't ask for a better stepdad or role model for him

Brothers

Saying goodbye - oh, my heart

Farewell, Elder Baller. Until we see you again! We love you so much! Make each day count!

Mission Shopping

I'm sort of sad that this is the only picture I have of Andrew's mission shopping. We only had seven weeks to prepare and shop for his mission (as opposed to the four months we had for Aidan), so it was a bit of a whirlwind. I did a lot of it online, so most of the shopping pictures would be of Andrew trying on clothes in our kitchen - ha! We were able to get everything he needed and he was all set to go, with some time to spare. Interestingly, his mission supplies were more expensive than Aidan's, which surprised me. Andrew had to buy a tablet and had to take two suits, which made the biggest differences in cost.

Andrew was WONDERFUL to shop with and, as always, was so fun to spend time with. He was happy with whatever we got. The only thing he had a strong opinion on was ties. :)

Temple

Andrew chose to receive his endowment at the Provo City Center Temple. He asked that his dad, Aidan, Rob, his Grandma Orgill and I accompany him through the session. Aidan was his escort, which was really cool for both of them.

Getting the call to serve

For Andrew's entire senior year, he was unsure if he would serve a mission or not. He applied for college and was offered a scholarship at Southern Utah University. For awhile, he had decided that he would just go to college the fall after graduation and make his decision about a mission later. Then, he got his patriarchal blessing, and that all changed. His decision was made to serve a mission immediately after high school, and he never again strayed from that decision.

He worked on his papers and submitted them...and waited. His older brother, Aidan, was arriving home from his mission in Honduras on June 15, and it started to look like he would get his mission call right around the time that Aidan got home.

What we didn't know is that it would get here...

on the same day. And... Andrew wasn't home. We had arranged for Andrew to fly to Atlanta to surprise Aidan during a layover during his flight home from Honduras. When I told Andrew his call had arrived, at first he wanted to wait until he was home, and have a call opening party with family and friends. He texted me later and asked me to bring it to the airport when we picked him and Aidan up, in case he changed his mind and wanted to open it then.

Aidan's flight was delayed about five hours and didn't end up getting in until about 2am on June 16 (side note: it was a HUGE blessing that we had Andrew in Atlanta with Aidan and Elder Anderson as they traveled home as we and the Andersons had no other way to get in touch with our missionaries and get updates about the flight delays).

After our family greeted Aidan, Andrew decided he wanted to open his call right there in the Salt Lake City Airport. It was so cool!

June 16 @ about 2:30am in the SLC Airport

Andrew was able to open his call with his brother, who was still a missionary - pretty awesome! He was so excited to open his call and see California Anaheim, Spanish-speaking. He, his brother, his stepdad Rob and his stepsister Danielle all spoke Spanish on their missions.

So proud of Andrew for his decision to serve and so excited to hear about his experiences over the next two years! We love you, Andrew!