Elder Ballard's Challenge

Do you remember Elder Ballard's talk from April Conference of 2006? We had the missionaries to dinner about 10 days ago and at the end of their visit they asked us if we'd ever taken Elder Ballard's challenge to set a date to have someone prepared to meet with the missionaries. We told them that unfortunately we had not yet taken the challenge. They asked us if we would start the challenge that night with them and we said Yes! After joking around about setting a date 6-12 months away, we decided for the day of June 22nd, three weeks from the night we would begin the challenge. Pray for us, - We're praying for ourselves!

We offered a prayer with the missionaries and asked for help in finding someone who would be ready to meet with the missionaries. 30 seconds later as we walked the Elders outside we met a new neighbor who was coming down the stairs (Larisa, they moved into your old place!). We have tried to invite them over so far without success but they are very nice and they're in our possibility pool for people to ask.

A couple of days later in my new attempt to go for a walk with the kids every morning after breakfast, we were walking around the man-made lake that is in our ward. It is beautiful and is a place we like to walk often. (See Sarah's pic)

A man was in his driveway and after seeing Gracie walk by said, "Hold on, let me get my granddaughter." His wife and granddaughter came outside and we started talking. She was really nice and we found out her granddaughter was born just 14 days after Grace. The two girls both were shy for a minute and then started warming up to the idea of meeting someone new. After we had talked for about 10 minutes, Elana, the grandmother invited us to their neighborhood party with bounce houses for the kids, on Saturday, just a few days away. I said Thank you, and as we walked away I thought about Elder Ballard's challenge. I had told the Elders that my sphere for meeting people who were not members of the Church was pretty small - the store or the park, most of the time!

On Saturday I decided to try to be brave and find Elana and her granddaughter, Mia at the party. We drove over to the park where she said the party was, with me trying to figure out howI was going to some how invite her to meet with the missionaries. I looked all over for her at the party with my heart a little bit in my throat (preparing for those senior missions, right!) and did not see her (The party was from 10-2 so maybe we came at a time other than when they were there). We ended up going home without finding them but we hope to meet someone soon or ask someone we already know. Do you have any referrals for us? Wish us luck!