WK 21 FL 'Mighty Prayer ALWAYS Works' 6/26/12

Dear Family and Friends,

I'm staying in Wellington South no transfer for me!! That means I'll at least be six months here and hopefully more! I'm pumped  to be able to stay here and that makes me honored that the Lord trust me enough to stay in Wellington because we have a lot of AMAZING people that we are teaching and are preparing to be baptized in the month of July!! Elder Shaffer will be leaving us here in Wellington South and I'm actually really sad.. He's been here seven and a half months and has a sever case of jungle fever so it definetely is his time to go! We have a prophecy here in Wellington that Elder Shaffer baptized his wife and he is gonna come marry her after the mission and become Bishop of the Wellington Ward! I'm super pumped to meet my new companion, hit the pavement, and get to work! He'll love the area and I can't wait to baptize the entire city of Wellington! Just wait it's gonna happen I pray for it all the time! But transfer meeting is tomorrow so we are driving down to plantation early in the morning and Elder Burt and I are both gonna get new companions! Elder Shaffer is leaving to white wash, and train so pray for him for sure!!

But this week was full of hard work! Elder Shaffer and I always go to work hard and it's always our goal to at night when our head hits the pillow we are dead tired. That's when you know that you didn't waste any second of the Lords time, because this is His work! That is one of the two main things I learned this week, is there is no substitute for good old fashioned hard work! Of course you need major amounts of faith as well, but you MUST work hard on a mission! That is something that Elder Shaffer and I did very well together. The other thing I learned is that mighty prayer for investigators always works! We have been praying for this two twins that really wanna be baptized they are just scared to leave their Holliness Church. We have been praying very hard for them during every single prayer to our Father in Heaven and it has been working soo well! Every time we go over there the Spirit is undeniably there testifying of every word that comes out of our mouth, they fill it and are preaparing to be baptized this weekend!

I also went on exchanges with Elder Webb in South Bay and it was great to meet there investigators and even find some new people for them to teach! It was an amazing exchange and great to be able to learn from each other and see the work go forth.

This week I wanna give a shout out to my home boy Skyler Pond up in Logan Utah as well as Grandma Ruby! I love you guys and appreciate your prayers we can definetly feel them here in the Lords work! Zac I love ya man and appreciate you for bein an amazing bro to me man. Gabbe thanks for the pictures of hawk and remember to always work hard at softball! I'll be back before ya know it and still have that same passion for the game of baseball don't worry!! And mom and dad thanks for raising me in this gospel. It truly does mean a lot! But hope all is well back home, I'm still at the same address for at least for six more weeks and can't wait to hear from ya'll back home! Miracles are coming forth in the Lords work!!

With Love,

Elder Pond

WK 20 FL 'Work, work and WORK!!' 6/18/12

Hello Family and Friends!!

P-Day has rolled around the corner once again!! This week was absolutely insane and I can't wait to tell ya'll about it. But it is getting extremely hot and humid here in Florida! And this week I get to go to Belle Glade on exchanges I am super pumped. Don't look up Belle Glade on Google cause it might scare you, but I promise we are safe there! It actually has the highest amount of shootings per capita in the US. But the community out there absolutely love Jesus Christ, so obviously they absolutely love us as representitives of Jesus Christ!! And trasfers once again so beware where you send mail. And yea dad they will forword it to me if ya send it to the wrong place it just might take a little bit. But I am PUMPED for transfers!! If I get transfered I might cry though so pray for me to stay in Wellington I love it here!! Just kiddin, "I'll go where the Lord wants me to go"!

But this week on Tuesday we were leavin are apartment and biking along and all of the sudden Elder Shaffer flew over his handlebars and hit the sidewalk! He slowly got up and the whole left side of his face was full of blood. We walked home, cleaned him up, and called the North Elders to take us to the emergancy room. Elder Shaffer got nine stitches above his left eye it was insane!! And dad you even told us to not get in any accidents this week so hopefully that doesn't mess up with what you're workin on with the Missionary Medical program. So Elder Shaffer spent this week up in Wellington North cause he couldn't ride a bike and I tore it up down here with Elder Burt and Elder Owens. One amazing experience we had this week was when we gave one of our recent converts a preisthood blessing. The adversary has been working very hard on her since she has been baptized. She has gotten very sick and fell twice in the past week! So we went over there and gave her a preisthood blessing and all of the sudden she was honestly healed. She started walking around like nothing ever happened. And we went over there last night and she was totally fine. It was a miracle shown to me and helped me know even more that the preisthood truly is the power to act in Gods name! How blessed we are to be able to live in a time where the preisthood has been restored once again on Earth. But, the preisthood can only be used upon the powers of righteousness!

This week we did A LOT of teaching!! We taught a total of 47 lessons. It was amazing to share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with so many people this week. During Gospel Principles class this week Brother Gordon asked me what the message we share with the world is. And of course I stated that the gospel has once again been restored on this Earth today prepartory for the second coming of the Messiah. I just thought to myself, what a truly remarkable message we have to share!! Think about it, to truly know that the same church and gospel that Jesus Christ himself had on this Earth 2000 years ago is once again on this Earth! We are so blessed once again to be a part of this true, living, and restored Church! That's why we go out to all the ends of the Earth and proclaim it to the entire world! I am personally so greatful for the amazing opportunity that I have to share this unique, but amazing message with the people in Wellington!

I've seen on my mission the key to missionary work is actually getting out there, hitting the pavement, and working hard! There is no substitute for good old fashioned hard work! Elder Shaffer and I have definetly been doing that here in Wellington South. We had another miracle this week as well! And we have seen how people can get revelation threw Church Attendance. Elder Burt and I were talking with some of our recent converts and they brought up an issue they have with Thomas S. Monson being a living prophet. So we asked them how they recieved an answer about Joseph Smith being a prophet and I never heard this before so it was amazing to be able to find out. She said she sincerely prayed and in church one Sunday and she felt a peace come over here from the Spirit! So we commited her to do the same for our living prophet today and I know she will have a similar experience! But it was just amazing for me to know that revalation comes very strongly threw coming to church. Because church houses are dedicated buildings to the Lord and a place where the Spirit of the Lord can be felt in abundance. There is one investigator that feels that true Spirit very strongly when she comes to church. She came to church a while ago and absolutely loved it, she is just to attached to her Holliness Church. But she decided to come a week ago and said to us, "But I'm goin to my church the week after that" which was this week. We went and visited her on Friday and she exclaimed how she wanted to feel more of that Spirit and is coming to church again this week!! As missionaries for Jesus Christ we just must go out into the streets and compell people to be baptized and come feel of the Spirit in church and specifically sacrament meeting.

But that's all for this week. I love ya'll and can't wait to here from everyone!!

With Love,

Elder Pond

Wk 19 FL 'Stand Firm with Nothing Wavering' 6/11/12

Hello Family and Friends!!
It was soo amazing to hear from ya'll this week!! Even though this
week I hardly had any time at all to relax cause we were honestly SOO
BUSY all week long!! I know I use to work super hard at baseball, but
Elder Shaffer and I are working harder than I have ever worked!! And
now it's a bike week and I am not looking foreword to that.. But we
will work hard either way! Things here in Wellington are amazing!!
Transfers are already comin up again and they will be here in two
weeks now so be careful with mail. You will be good if you send it
within the next week or so but when it gets close just send mail to
the mission office and they will send it to me whether I get
transfered or stay here in Wellington!! I hope and pray that I stay
here in Wellington cause we have some amazing people that we are
working with that I cannot wait to see them recieve the blessings and
happyness that comes threw baptism! I cannot wait for after the
mission to take ya'll out here to meet the amazing people that I have
met already, and I know throughout my two years here I will meet many
more amazing people!
This week Elder Shaffer and I stood strong with our faith knowing if
we worked hard miracles would come forth, and they did!! One night a
couple of appointments fell threw, so we were going to see a potential
that we have lost contact with and while we were we saw a couple of
the street. So of course we decided to contact them and offer a
blessing from Jesus Christ! As we began talking with them they loved
the doctrine we were sharing, accepted a blessing, eventually accepted
a baptisimal date, and came to church this week! We defientely saw the
blessings of talking to absolutely everyone this week and the Lord led
us to that couple!
We also had a very inspirational lesson with a family that we are
teaching! She absolutely loves how the church and gospel is always
centered around families because she raised twelve kids herself! They
love church and are progressing very well to be baptized. But we
showed them some mormon.org profiles and a mormon message on families
and the Spirit was there without a doubt. We testified and by the end
of the lesson they were even testifying to a friend that was just
visiting for the day. It was amazing to see how they felt, recognized,
and then acted upon the Spirit. It was also amazing to see how we
could apply mormon.org into our teaching and use it as another
"companion".
Ah it is truly amazing to see how the Spirit can work within people. I
have noticed that most of the time people might not even know what we
are talking about, but they can recognize how they feel when we teach
and testify of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We have this
Haitan sister that we are teaching who is amazing, she just doesn't
speak very much English so doesn't understand a lot of what we say.
Imagine how hard it would be to teach someone like that right, but it
isn't cause the Spirit really does the true teaching! She explained to
us that when we left a blessing on her home, she felt a peace and
happyness come over her and every single time we come over she feels
that same peace and happyness. She accepted to be baptized just
because of the Spirit and how she felt and came to church this week!
The Spirit is the real teacher in the gospel!
But I hope and pray all is going well back in the good old 801! The
day I get back in Febuary 2014 I am pumped to go shred the slopes all
day long so be preapred!! But Zac you might be a worse driver than me
big man! Hope ball is goin well and you're tearin it up. I'm excited
I'll be back for your senior year and tell your coach to save me an
assistant coaching job! I am excited for you guys back home to find a
family that the missionaries can teach and baptize! I promise and
testify that is where true happyness and joy comes. But other than
that just workin hard here in Wellington bringing souls closer to
Jesus Christ. And I do get your letters and packages don't worry! El
Bell I wanna hear from ya soon man! I'm waitin to here what has been
goin on and how the ladies are! You as well Breezy!! Love ya'll and
may the Spirit be with you!
Mobbin for life!!
Elder Pond

Wk 18 FL 'Families Can Be Together Forever' - 6/4/12

Dear Family and Friends,

Guess what!? Half way threw this transfer already I cannot believe how fast this transfer is really going it's crazy!! I absolutely love getting lost in the work of the Lord! But it is getting super hot out here in Wellington. On Saturday Elder Shaffer and I had a lot of work to do because we had to make sure everyone was coming to church, and we biked soo much in the heat! At the end of our day we both went home absolutely exhausted, which is exactly how you should come home every single night on the mission.

This week we had a baptism of the most amazing family in the entire world. They are the reason that missionaries come out on missions, to bring the gospel to people like them! But their family was a refferal, and the transformation that has happened with their family is a miracle from the heavens. When we first met them they were struggling as a family, with happiness, peace, and even health. Now seeing them that they are baptized they are so much more happier! Their family is now preparing to be sealed in the San Diego temple in a year and when I get back home in Utah they said they wanna visit so just be prepared!! But at the baptism we sung Families Can Be Together Forever as the closing hymn and the Spirit just hit me like a brick wall. It was such a strong and powerful spiritual moment for me and everyone there. The Spirit was testifying to me of a whole bunch of things. First of all, that the work we are doing out here as missionaries is the Lords work. That the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints absolutely is the Lords kingdom in these latter days. That the steps this family has been making will allow them to live together forever as a family. That I am preparing now, and one day will go to the temple and that will be one of the most amazing days of my life! But the Spirit was there without a doubt testifying of everything! If there is one thing I have learned on my mission it truly is that we cannot do anything as missionaries without the Spirit, and as we strive to always have the Spirit with us people will recognize us as servants of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Just like this week we just got out of a teaching appointment we got called off of the street to talk with this guy. As we got closer we noticed that we knew him and was teaching his cousin a while ago, but he wasn't really interested. He pulled us off of the street and basically told us his whole life story and how much he truly needed God in his life right now. We then testified that is exactly why Jesus Christ sent us here. So we went in and left a blessing with his family and on his home. The Spirit was soo strong and powerful! We testified, invited them to be baptized and they are excited to be baptized on the 17th, because of the Spirit that they felt. We then went back two days later and he told us about how that blessing truly did work!  The next day he got a call for an interview and things have been working out and falling into place in his life. It gave me a testimony that as we truly strive to have the Spirit with us, we will be recognized as servants of the Lord and MIRACLES will come forth! It also showed me that with faith, anything is possible!

But other than that we have just been working hard here in Wellington South! Trying to dunk the world and bring everyone to the fold of God! Oh and I want to know by next week what you guys have done back home to help the missionaries out or do some missionary work or share the gospel! I expect it to be done and I love you all!! Can't wait to recieve mail from ya'll!!

With Love,

Elder Pond