Elder Ballard

Kyrstin and Mallory both mentioned Elder Ballard coming to visit their missions.  The seminar for mission presidents was in Santiago.  His grandfather Melvin J Ballard worked hard in South American and dedicated the land for the preaching of the gospel and for the preaching to the Lamanites back in 1925.  Here is part of that original dedication.

“The work (in South America) will go forth slowly for a time just as the oak grows slowly from an acorn. It will not shoot up in a day as does the sunflower that grows quickly and thus dies. Thousands will join here. It will be divided into more than one mission and will be one of the strongest in the Church. The work here is the smallest that it will ever be. The day will come when the Lamanites here in South America will get the chance. The South American Mission will become a power in the Church.”

The ongoing fulfillment of Elder Melvin J. Ballard’s prophecy remains one of the miracles of the restored Church. Today there are some 4.5 million members living in South America. Fourteen temples operate on all ends of the continent — from Caracas to Buenos Aires — and several more are being built.

He also came to dedicate the land of Argentina as that original blessing was dedicating the whole country of South America and every other country and had a later dedication specific to it's country.  Argentina never had, so he did that.  This was a picture taken from Mallory's blog.