Boat Loads of Pictures

Levi sent home some 100 plus pictures. I cyphered through them and found some very good ones. Here they are.

His heart is in the right place

I love this one so much!

I love this one more!!!

This has no relevance to Levi at all, but I think he is pretty.

Apparently it flooded.

In case your eyes don't work to well, this is a teeny, tiny frog.

Remember the message of the bus as you go about your day.

August 6

Hello family,

How are things going for you? I haven’t received the package yet, it should come this week. Thanks again. We had that baptism last week, and it was good. Zone conference was fun, and we played football last Monday with the elders in Trinidad. It was great to get out and run for sports, it has been a while since I have done it. I am pretty sure I’m losing weight, but slowly.

We are teaching some great families, and they look really promising. In the mission we are really striving for every companionship to baptize every month, and it is really helping everyone to focus on accomplishing that goal. There were 106 baptisms this last month, and things were really good, and many of our members are helping us with the work.

I am having some tech problems with the speed of the internet. I haven’t read you emails, I know that I have them, but I haven’t had enough time to read them. I will probably send this via hotmail. I hope that everything is going as well as they usually are. I found out last Friday that the mission is trying to get rid of office elders for the most part. They are always at the office, and they don’t have the time to go out and do missionary work, as much as they should. Things are going well for us in the mission though. I could not complain about anything.

So is Billy going to a lacrosse camp this summer or Kristie? I sure hope to have some competition when I return. I need to get back into shape. I not exactly out of shape, but that sounds familiar. I have been saying that for a long time. I hope you have been enjoying the picture that I have been sending home. I have a bundle more, and it is becoming difficult to catch up, maybe I’ll send a package home with a cd of all the pictures with it. I finally caught up to the pictures in Trinidad. So I would probably have more in response, but I haven’t read you emails yet. Thanks again I love ya can’t say I miss ya. well bye bye

July 9, 2007

Things are going well. I received transfer calls this week, and I am staying and not going to the office. I am training this next transfer. that will be fun. I don't think that it will be anything like the last person that I trained, but either way it will be good. I have been keeping incredible track of my food intake, and it has helped me eat better. I am still eating plenty.

Speaking of which. I nearly died last Friday. oh gosh it was the absolute worst food that I have ever had. I have no idea how it was fed to us. it is called choo choo. It was so hard to eat. By far the hardest thing that I have had to eat in my life. the fish, onions, tomatoes were the better part of it. oh gosh I will never forget that meal. I found out some of the families children don't even like it. So we got stuck with it. I ate as much as I could, and I gaged a little bit once. It was a good thing they left a pitcher of Koolaid right in front of us. they are a cool family. it is going to be crazy this Tuesday, we are going to some of the members for Elder Morris, my comp, and we are going to be fed 4 different times in less than7 hours. it is going to be quiet the challenge, because no one feeds us just a little, and even if you just ask for a little they are going to pile it on there.

Yesterday was a cool. president Robinson came to our branch, and joined in for the day. It was cool, and a little odd as well. I almost know that I am going to be an office elder in the nearby future. From what I understand president say that "Elder Balling's fate is sealed." so he knows that I can work with computers, and they are going to send me there in the future. it will be fun. But first I train and what not. it is going well, and let me know if there is anything I can do for the family. oh yeah I ran into someone that sells anime down here. it is about 1.60 for a DVD. so I bought a few. I won't watch them, but I will send them home or something.

I love ya can't say I miss ya.my time is up have a great day.

Sent June 4th

Hello
I'm in trinidad now. It is completely different. There is over a million people in the country. It is really cool. My apartment is a huge improvement. I have a crockpot, popcorn popper, blender, a 6 burner stove, a badet (or whay I call crap shooter), hot water, 4 matresses on my bed now, and I live in a 2 floor apartment. oh goodness things are really different here. it seems that I am back in the states. Though there are a lot of differences it is just such a difference from a 3rd world country.

Well, I read dad's email, thanks for the reminder I nearly forgot. ha ah. Well I can get basically anything in this country when it comes to food. They have grocery stores like Albertson's and stuff. I have one of the coolest areas. We had a baptism the week before I got there, and we will have one by the end of this month. there are some really cool people. My first day i ate by 2 different people. it was cool. I had homeade Ice cream. The members are really nice here, and there is just so much going on. as far as converting the muslims that is a little more difficult now. the first presidency put out a message to everyone that if we are to baptize a muslim convert or someone with parents of that faith we are to receive permission, and they are to not be under any threat of death upon there return home. I think there has been some problems with it. there isn't any fear for me to be here, I have talked with a lot apeople of that faith, and most are very kind, but firm in there beliefs, as far as the bad ones, there used to be one here, but is wanted by the cops here, that is the terrorist. so there isn't to much going on. if they are in guyana, well nothing is in guyana, and there is tons of people that would hate them, and would probably kill the terrorist if he was caught. oh well it isn't much anyway.

Oh, I also have 4 fans in this apartment, and AC, but the ac doesn't work.another weird thing is I am in an internet cafe, and they have a big picture of some anime that I liked back at home. it is just weird, but they do have anime down here, and I found out that the recent convert, watches it from time to time. My companion hates it too. he is cool about it though. He wants to go into a architech career field, and he may design a house for me. it is weird downhere, and I could be in one area, and call into houses for hours, and not get into one. then go to a next area, and everyone lets us in. well, will stay in one part.

It works better as far as a package is concerned, I probably doesn't need to much; just a stick of body glide would be nice, I don't walk as much here, and the temperature is cooler. it has rained everyday since I have been here, there is no chance of flooding here. they have a mountian, yeah, I'm having fun, and the work is going well. I share the same church with the office elders, and theAssisants.

Well, I love ya can't say I miss ya. I am getting comfortable, here my comp is cool, works very effectively andsmart, which is a good difference from my last comp, this one is really quiet. really quiet, but we have some good conversations. well bye bye I didn't say to much about the baby. I'm looking forward to seeing hinata. there is one down, now ted needs to get on the ball. bye

Father's Day

I know there are pictures to go with this but I was asked to watch the phones while one of my coworkers is at a meeting. I thought it would be too presumptuous to save pictures to here computer.

Anyway here is Levi's letter. Thanks for reading

Things are going great. I had a really good day yesterday. It is great to work with members. the pictures of hinata looks good, yeah it is fun here, there are only the 2 of using the apartment it is cool. The address is the usual address they have a slip that they can use, I'm not to sure how it is all ran. in the picture riley senthe looks really tired and out of it. it all works so chris leaves in a week fun. oh well I'll see him in 2 years. that is good,1 down and 2 to go. yeah my comp is really fun, he has a different sense ofhumor. he talks cars a lot, and he hates japanese cars, and anime. I am goingto get a japanese dictionary here. it is really cheap about 12-13 dollars US. it will all work out. I have know Idea how to budet with so many things to buy, it is horrible. especially since my comp doesn't buy anything in the store, sohe eats at the really tasty street vendors, and places. we have a credit cardso I can swipe it, it is bad. I don't think that I need anything else other that what I have said, and Idon't even know what I say. so it works out alright. so kayla is getting readyfor school this next year, riley just had a kid, ted in china, billy workingwith dad, kristie don't know what she is doing. I think she is working for dada little, that is cool. I am sending a bunch of pictures. I uploaded apicture of a mouse. my zone leaders found a mouse in there apartment, and ithad eaten poison so it was dieing in pain, so they humanily put it in a jar, andfilled it with water. hmm. then the following week, I kill a mouse with acutlass it was fun. I got it on camera, sort of. it was fun.well I love ya can't say I miss ya. there is so much for me to do, and solittle time. healthy eating is becoming more and more of me. it is a goodthing. I made up some goals for the next year. it will be fun. to reach them. bye bye happy father's day dad.cool that was fun.

April Something or Other

hello once again yeah I have been thinking a bit of lacrosse, but there are reasons for that. don't worry i have just recieved some reading material, and I spent 2 hrs.reading it last night, Joseph Fielding Smith was a really smart guy, and what I am reading will motivate me to strive to be as perfect as I can, what the purposes of it are. it is good, merciless to my companion you don't even know. ha ha ha ha. I feel that I have acomplish my goal. my companion is still here so that was the greatest accomplishment that I could do. in short, he had a good case of homesickness. that is in the past, and now he is going to the islands, and receive a little more medical treatment, but is doing fine. this is the last week of the transfers, and I beleive that I will be staying in this mission, and then move to some where else. I do plan on refocusing my efforts as a missionary this next transfer. I have been told that I will have a self-relible companion. That will take a good load of my back, and focus a bit more. Mother don't worry I know how to buget my money. I am just carefull. I would hate to go over. I still have plenty of money for food for the rest of this transfer that I don't know what I should do with it. I am doing ok when it comes to eating well. I just eat little to well. I havealso seen the importance of taking care of your body to receive spiritualtruthes in the world. and that when near to perfection after the resurrection, the closer one to perfection is going to have to wait on the other companion. So father and mother, hmmm I wonder who will be waiting on who. ha ha hah ah jk.I wonder if that joke made to much sense. I thought it was funny. well yeah there is a great family that we are teaching, and we are preparinganother person to recieve to preisthood, and some one that I have been teachingthe last 4 monthes recieve the higher preisthood last sunday, so it has beengood. I had something on my mind that would have like to be sent. So far I thinkthat I would mainly like to have the conference CDs, and perhaps the hymns, andchildren primary songs. I may order them this next transfer. If I order thingsfrom the church here, I receive a half off discount. Well I will tell you who my new comp is this next transfer is and where Ishould be I think that I will be here, but I don't know yet. If I stay I shouldbe leaving after the next transfer. I have been in guyana for a while. well Ilove ya can't say I miss ya.things are going well here, have fun and I still think of lacrosse, but I viewit as a future thing, for example I think that i may be a High school physicsteacher, and own a lacrosse store to proved more of an income for my family. Ihave also been talking with some of the couples down here, and they have workedup in idaho for schooling, and they have told me that I could have a job therein a heart beat. so, it is the same with montana. the land value in montana isa lot less than utah at this point, and it would be nice to be able to afford areasonable home for a family, but I am still just a simple missionary, andthings are to be done in wisdom and in order. bye bye family



This is a picture of Trevor? Who ever that is. Levi just forwarded it to us. Its in the Azores

Hello? Is It Me You're Looking For?

Apparently the only reason I keep posting on the blog is I get some weird intrinsic motivation. I came to this conclusion when after last week when I begged and pleaded for comments I got none. This could be for one of three reasons. One-nobody reads this blog; this is sad, but probably true. Two-You do not know how to leave a comment. Let me answer this for you. First you double click where it says comment at the bottom of each entry. You will be asked to fill in some information, this is so no spam or random people leave mass advertisements. It will ask for your email and to identify some funny looking letters. Now you have no excuse and the joy you will bring me is totally worth the effort. Three-you are just a random blog surfer and you have no clue who I am, why I blog, and what the weird pictures are all about. If this is the case I invite you to leave a comment, because heaven knows none of my family and friends are.

In hopes to entice people to visit I Jazzed up the blog a bit. I got rid of the scrolly boring blog and came up with a happy blog. yippee for me!!!

I was going through some random pictures and I thought the following were note worthy.

Levi is having a hard time uploading his pictures to the internet, apparently it isn't that reliable. Here are a couple of pictures Sister Robison sent.


This a rare golden tree frog seen at Kaieteur Falls, I thought it was an awesome photo.

I don't know about you but I think this would be a good ad to join our church. I think this is beautiful and inspiring and all of that good stuff.

Yellowstone ain't got nothin' on this place

Daddy, I want to go there.

Sorry, My Bad (January 29-March 28)

Okay for all four of you who regularly read this blog I'm sorry I haven't been updating it as often as I could. What can I say, I'm a busy girl. (In case you didn't know I, Kayla am the one who tries to keep this updated). Levi is actually really good at writing every week, I'm just bad at posting them. So to save you from reading all of his emails I'm going to give you the highlights.

Levi has another companion to wake up in the morning, an Elder Camden from San Diego. He plans on gaining all of the weight he lost in his last area. For those who don't know Levi isn't allowed to eat at members houses very often and gets to make his own food. He is always asking his mom to send him recipe books. He is really enjoying pancake mix and Cinnamon rolls right now. I'm curious as to how those are turning out. He says they are "tastie."

He is getting quite skilled at dominoes, cracking open coconuts and climbing trees. His apartment was also attacked by ants. Levi the warrior took charge of that situation and needless to say ants will think twice about invading his territory again.

Guyana is growing fast, the country is baptising 30-40 people a month, is opening a new branch every two months and a temple has just been announced. He has an investigator that calls him every night to check up. A nice change of pace.

The West Indies Mission will be split on July 1, 2007. After that Levi will then be serving in the Puerto Rico East Mission or the Trinidad and Tobago Mission, either way he gets to stay in paradise.

With his brother Ted in China Levi only wants one of those Chinese hats. I think its one of the pointed kind that you picture people wearing in the rice patties. I'm sure he'll get a lot of use from one when he gets home, Mom will just have to make him do yard work.

During Mash (similar to Carnival) Levi got to go watch the Festival bowl. The whole time he was itchin' to play La Cross. I think he misses it, a lot. I picked up on this when he subtly wrote that he missed it, a lot. I am nothing if not intuitive. Pres. Robison gave him permission to email his former coach for a workout schedule so he could get back into shape.

Pres. Robison reminds the missionaries at every conference to write to their families. Levi noticed that he has never missed yet his family has. Also if you are one of his friends reading this and Levi has written to you and you haven't written back, DO IT, he made a lot of threats to you that he plans to carry out upon his return. Okay, that's a lie, but I'm sure he would really enjoy a note from anyone who wants to send him one.

Wow. Levi already has another new companion (it seems like only seven paragraphs ago he got a new one.) He is training this one. He is a hunter from Springville, Utah, is a big soft teddy bear of a man and the only thing I got by way of a name is Elder C. Since Elder C. has been with Levi he has gone from 250 to 230. I think this is because Levi is dragging him to all of his work outs.

Well gang we did it. you are now updated two months in one email isn't bad. If you did read this leave a comment. I've told a ton of people about the site and want to know which ones actually visit.

Remember Levi loves ya, he just can't say he misses ya.

January 22nd

Hello familiy.
Things are going great. I finally have some time to pick up some things to send home for the family. I'll probably just buy a few bags today. Let me know how big Kristie's shoes are. they have some pretty cool things down here. so that is that. things are going great here. I know that I didn't send the pictures yet. I am going to today. we had a baptism this last week. I was really pushing for the father to perform the baptism, but as it turns out they had me do it for them. it was a 8 year old. cool family they are the ones that we got the duck from. well it is up to you if you want to come and pick me up. you could just waitfor winter, and then we could all come down. I am extremely familular with guyana. So far I think there are some amazing places in the Islands. I'll let you know about them when it comes. this week is transfer week, I will be staying in the same place, and my new companion is elder Camdem. He came out with me, and we have always gotten along really well. I know he will be a great help to the area. right now my comp likes to sleep a lot still, but he is getting better. I hope you can find the place where the sister Robinson is posting abundle of pictures. If not let me know, and I can show you some pretty cool things. well sister Robinson actually returned to slc, she had an allergic reaction to medicine for streap throwt. she is better now. It sounds like things are going great at home. we had zone conference, and it was good. we have one lady that we are teaching. she managed to read 400 pages in 2 weeks. I couldn't beleive it, I had to ask her a couple of times how much she read. it is good. We are planning on having another baptism this week, but of course it depends on if they can get married. Everyone needs to be married. It is crazy no one does it. I think that we would have around 10-12 baptisms if they were all married. It is crazy. I love ya can't say I miss ya.
There are some really cool islands in this mission.
barbados is cool, but Ireally like the islands with the mountians.
bye bye bye

January 15th

Well family I hope that everything is going well. It sounds really cold, thatis a shame that I missed the coldest season yet. Well for now it is a clearblue warm day, and as we walk next to the stream, and through the forest. I cansee the pleasantly warm sun show through the trees. Oh yeah it is on the waythe an appointment. Only if you could see where we walk, it is pretty cool. Well. I hope your enjoying the freezing weather. Ha ha ha. Here is a littlestory. There are a lot of puppies here. Well a family we’re teaching had apuppy, and it was one of the softest cuties puppies you could ever see. Wevisited them at there home yesterday, and they told us that they had alligatorsin the back yard and it ate the puppy. So now I want to see the alligators. It is a great time to be in the mission. Miss mother’s email, but thingshappen. Hope your having as much fun as me. It was a shame yesterday, we had11 people that had hoped to come to church, but none showed. There were avariety of reasons, but I wasn’t to sure about them. Either way the areaI’m in now is becoming more and more filled with appointments. The elderbefore left nothing for me, absolutely no appointments/investigators. We have avariety now, it is pleasant. I fear that I don’t have any more news for you. It is good to know I will have a good niece to be friends with Sakura andSasuke. I will be looking forward to meeting Hinata we I return. Well I guessnow the pressure is on Ted and Aundi. Ha ha ha. That is right. Well I willtry and get a package sent home soon. I know I will have to send one home whenI leave Guyana. Let me know if I should send home anything in specific. Suchas a bralcet, bag, keychain, I don’t know. A hammock maybe. They are a lotcheaper here. It is nice. Well. I love ya can’t say I miss ya. I will begoing now, and I wish the best in the cold weather your having. Oh that is nicea warm breeze came. Yup a warm breeze came into the computer café. Ahhh. Byebye.

January 8th

Hello family
how are things going at home.Things are going great here, I am having problems with the computer again. So Ihope I can get this email to you on the 8th well. Yeah I fixed the problem. Iguess business first. Well I realized something that would help if you sent it. It would be razors. Yeah it would be nice to have some new razors. I am stillusing the ones you bought me. Don’t send to many, cause I don’t know yet ifI will take them to Trinidad. I am not going there yet, but just in case. Iwould say send about 100, just kidding. Around 10 to 14 something like that. I just emailed pace so things are going well. It is one of the first emails inlike a month, and it is cause he couldn’t sleep. Sounds like something Iwould do. Well the monkey jack is a really cool monkey. We are teaching thisguy with the monkey, really excited to get the book of mormon we had a greatlesson with him. His sons are SDA that’s ok father of the house that works. Well the monkey is cool probably get some pics with it next Sunday. The onlytime we can meet the guy is around 8:00 at night, they work people to deathdown here. I just read dad’s letter. It sounds like your really busy, wellat the first of this transfer we had absolutely nothing. Now we are really busyeveryday. It is a lot better. I notice how to do some finishing touches tomissionary work, besides work. It is really nice yesterday we had aninvestigator at church, first for the transfer, but this next week we areexpecting at least 4 more. It will be really cool to see. I am getting thehang of being senior companion. I still wake up before he does. He likes tosleep a bit. So I exercise in the morning, and get ready then he wakes up. Hestill studies which is really good. I found out you haven’t seen any of thepictures I have taken well there is a lot more. You will really like them. Iput them on snap fish, but I have to email them to you. I haven’t done thatyet. Well there are a lot of pictures to look at. Some 100 to 200 I am stilltrying to catch up with some of the older pictures. Well I just read mother’semail. Yeah the dieting thing is going well. I just stopped using the protein,for a short time. I also stopped consuming such large meals at a time. I juststick to what is good and reasonable. I don’t really diet, I just am watchingwhat I eat. Right now I am eating oatmeal everyday, they call it pourage. Things are good, do have a sweet drink from time to time. Well I am runningout of time. I am not sure what else I need from home, there isn’t much ofanything. I just need to get to work on sending that package. I will do itbefore I leave Guyana. I love ya can’t say I miss ya. Hope your enjoying thesnow, and hope kristie gets well so she can play again. Yeah yeah yeah. Bye bye
elder balling

January 2, 2007

Well things have been great lately. The mission managed to double the baptisms, and we had a 111 baptisms in december. It was cool. well to tell you about what we did on new year's eve's eve we had a bunch of baptisms, and we went the the couples missionary's home after, and we watched pirates of the carribean 1. did you know those movie's are flimed in parts of my mission. $40 dollars for 3 min. that is a rip off. don't ever pay it. it is about 20 dollars for a minute here. but that is equal to 10 cents. well we managed to teach a family where they have a monkey. guess what the monkey's name is Jack. just like the movie. so I am going to try and get it to like me, and get a picture with it on my sholder. yesterday, my companion and I were chased down by a bunch of children. it was fun. they really like to chase us. we are doing great. I still need to send off that package. I hope to do it by the end of the month. well what I am reading right now. I mainly read the Book of Mormon. I was in 2 nephi at the beginning of december , and I should finish alma by the end of the week. I read Jesus the Christ from time to time, but I haven't really focused on it to much. It has helped more to read about the book of mormon at this time, so I will probably go back to it in a little while. I don't know what else I really need. I finished off the candy yesterday. I am now trying to diet. I realize that for next christmas you could send a bag of trailmix. You can't find anything like that out here. Sound like you manage to get a Playstation 2 for the younger ones. that is really cool. I don't think I will get to much time to play, I will be to busy, upon my return. I guess they are having a lot of fun with it. I have lost a lot of desire for video games. they are very unproductive. well I love ya can't say I miss ya. have a happy new year. I am almost 7 months out, what happen to that time aah.

This was sent on December 27, 2006

how are you doing, no how are you doing. well things are great. I am trying to put up some pictures on snapfish again. It is being a little difficult, but I will try to work with it. I will sendhome a short video on this email. With my comp. trying to catch a duck. it isreally funny. I don't know what to put in this email. things are moving along. time is flying by. well talk about business.I don't know if I really need the body glide. from what I understand thechaffing will come back. so I'll leave that up to you. I hope to send home a package again. I am grateful for the journal. I was inneed of that bad. I am going to upload as many as I can. I don't know where Ican find the pictures that you have uploaded to the internet.I am uploading some more pictures. It is a nice program, but I have to do it ina certain manner. I will try to find out how, but I am not sure how. I amsorry if this email. is a little shorter. well I think I have found out how toview the ones you have send me. let me know if you can see the ones I have puton. I will be playing with a pictures a little bit today. things are goinggreat here. as well as safe ha ha.We are teaching some new people in a really cool area. the man doesn't drink. he is perfect. well not really, but he is really promising. so things arelooking good. love ya can't say I miss ya. there is a lot of work to be donein my area, and it is going great. It was a lot of fun caroling too. theorphanage was great fun. I will have to get the picture from it. well time isrunning short as usual so bye bye black sheep.