WK 35 'BIG Thinks Happening!'

Dear Family and Friends!!

It was amazing to hear from ya'll and feel of the Spirit that came from the temple dedication this week! Everything is going amazing out here in the mission field we are pushing to hit 150 baptisms as a mission this month! I cannot wait and know it will only come as we are faithfully obedient and always diligent! This week I also was pondering on how excited I am for the future of this mission and where we are going as we continue to do things that have not been done! I love missionary work!

Once again this week the Lord prepared the way for Elder Hall and I to baptize one soul unto Christ. Five weeks in a row He has allowed us to baptize this truly is a miracle that came from the Lord especially after seeing where this area was before! I know that this only came because of Christ's strength as Ammon states in Alma 26.

A huge miracle we have been seeing lately has been with the power of Book of Mormon study as a family and family prayer. There is this amazing family that Elder Hall and I have been working with for a while now that have amazing desires to get baptized, but are not married and living together. So they have been preparing for their marriage on October 5th but have been facing heavy opposition where Satan has been trying to tear their family apart. So we met with them and this day they were just yelling at each other and you could just feel the contention in their home. But we felt very prompted by the Spirit that every night if they read from the Book of Mormon and pray as a family that the Lord would bring their family closer together. They all committed to do so that night and what was really cool is what happened the next day. We came over and everything was picture perfect! Everyone was getting along and the house was filled with the Spirit because they were showing that Christlike love towards each other. When we asked what they did differently and they said they just did what we asked, read and prayed as a family and the Lord sent a miracle! There is power in reading the Book of Mormon and communicating with God!

This week we also saw how obedience in harvest brings indirect blessings. Last week we didn't quite get all the blessings that the Lord wanted us to get so this week we set out to get eight by Wednesday, and fifteen at the end of the week (the standard that President Anderson has set). While harvesting we didn't really find a ton of people who were really solid but the Lord saw our hearts and definetely blessed us indirectly by getting nine referrals of amazing people who are excited to be baptized! I will always be exactly obedient in all things not only to get the direct blessings, but the indirect blessings as well.

Big things are happening out here in the mission field and I truly cannot wait! We are baptizing more than this mission or almost any mission stateside has in a long time. We have a temple that will be dedicated in less than a year. And the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored! I love it! But yea the temples dedication date is set for 2013 Labor Day Weekend so we pray every day that the temple will be open by that date! It's been eight months since I've been to the House of the Lord and I really miss it. I'm proud of you as well El Bell you finna tear it up in the mission field! Love ya man!

Grandma Ruby-Thank you soo much for your advice in your letters. I can really feel the Spirit when I read them and they help me go out every day and work as hard as I possibly can! I love you!

That's really it for this week. Thanks for the packages and you should get a letter with the SD Card in it! Love ya'll make sure ya write this week!

With Love and Trust in the Lord,

Elder Pond

 Elder Pond and Elder Hall

 

WK 34 'Three Hour Baptism!!'

Dear Family and Friends!!

Ah I can't wait to tell y'all what's been happening this week cause it has been full of miracles!! Right now we are actually sitting in McKay Peirs grandparents home because they are serving a senior mission here in Fort Laud! I'm actually on Sister Peirs iPad right now! It's crazy for sure!

The words of the prophets always gets me pumped for doing missionary work! I love it! Last night we actually got the transfer call and both Elder Hall and I are staying here in Fort Laud South! I'm very excited to stay here in Fort Lauderdale South for at least one more transfer with my amazing companion Elder Hall! We have a lot of exciting things happening here in our area and are definitely seeing the Lord labor along side us every single day. The miracles we are seeing here by the hand of the Lord make me stand in aw all the time!

Last week was amazing but ended on a sour note due to most of our baptisms falling threw. But we pressed foreword with faith knowing that the Lord was along our side always! We also set out to be even more obedient this week by reaching eight blessings by Wednesday as well as getting home at nine every night. For we knew that by being exacltly obedient we would recieve even more blessings from on high and we definitely did! On Wednesday we only had one blessing and we set out and the Lord preparing seven homes for us to bless. Then we saw the indirect blessing flow in on Sunday! The family that was suppose to be baptized last week overcame a lot of trials this week and entered into the waters of baptism. They all exclaimed that they felt relieved of all of their burdens when they came out of that water and can't wait to recieve the gift of the holy ghost next week! We also had a part member family where the son was set to be baptized. We had been teaching him for a while and his desires have always been sky high. We also always heard about the other son but never met him until they brought him to church this Sunday. But we had thirteen non members at church so we were super busy and didn't really get to talk to him much. Then after church everyone was sitting in the chapel waiting for the baptismal service to start when I felt very prompted to invite the other so to be baptized today with his brother! We first met him three hours ago and never even taught him but I couldn't argue with the Spirit and invited him right there! He accepted and was baptized with his brother and it was amazing! We always must be exactly obedient and listen to the Spirit and by doing so miracles always come forth!! Not only in missionary work but in ALL things in life! This week we had a total of seven baptisms and I know that we can see miracles like this in our individual lives as we are exactly obedient and always listen to the Spirit in all things!

I love this work and am very excited to see even more miracles here in Fort Lauderdale South! When ya send mail to the mission office they just transfer it to our apartment and it only takes an extra day so you're good to send mail! I love y'all and can't wait to see more miracles in y'alls lives as well as in the mission field!

Return With Honor!!

Elder Pond

WK 33 'The Change of the Gospel!!'

Dear Family and Friends!!

First of all I just want to tell ya'll that I love you soo much and thank you for your support! Ya'll mean the world to me! But this week was definetely a very eventfull week! Elder Hall and I have been extremely busy in helping all who we possibly can come unto Christ threw baptism! It was amazing to have personal interviews this week with President Anderson I always look foreword to them. It's always amazing to see President and Sister Anderson and feel of their amazing spirit that they carry with them! But this week we definetely saw some miracles come for sure.
We had another baptism which is amazing! This man made an incrediable amount of changes in his life and truly desired to come unto Christ threw baptism no matter what. We had a couple of lessons with him this week where the spirit were amazingly strong and definetely increased his desires to change his life and what he has been doing. I am eternally grateful for the Spirit in the work for without it we shall not teach.
Another miracle that we saw this week is finding many people who have been waiting for the gospel in their lives. Right now in Fort Lauderdale South the Lord is leading Elder Hall and I to those who truly need us! We have been led to both families and individuals who the gospel is changing their lives! I've definetely seen that this gospel brings true happyness to those who are searching and in need of that happyness. It feels that void that we all have in life until we fully embrace the restored gospel of Jesus Christ fully! Anyone that needs that void filled, or just more happyness, I know that the restored gospel will fill that void!
We also got extremely blessed by helping sixteen nonmembers come to church this week to feel of the Spirit. I realized this week what a blessing it is to go to church and get away from the world. All of the people we helped come to church this week felt that Spirit and their desires to be baptized increased tremendously. Getting everyone to church helps increase everyones desires almost more than anything, thus it is extremely important that they come to church!

I also realized this week that the reason we invite people to do things and act, like pray, read, come to church, and be baptized, truly comes down to because we love them! All of these things have blessed our lives and will bless their lives. Therefore it is an act of love when we invite people to act for it will bless their lives! Charity is very important in the work. Probably one of the most important attributes that we can have!

Elder Hall and I also saw a lot of adversity this week from the adversary in the work. I learned so much and am grateful for that because it truly helped me grow. But we are seeing miracles threw our zeal and hard work here in Fort Lauderdale South!
I definetely am very excited for this transfer and to see what the Lord has in store for me, Fort Lauderdale South, as well as the entire mission! We are about to do what has not been done before. For this next transfer I trust fully wherever the Lord wants me to go and whatever he wants me to do. I kinda feel that the Lord is gonna switch Elder Hall and I up but you never know. I know Elder Hall so I would defientely be pumped if he allowed us to stay together but we'll see what the Lord has in store and I'll know next week for sure!

And I am feeling much better this week! It was amazing to see how the Lord gave me the strength to still do what we needed to do this week. Every day Elder Hall and I still got out and worked just as hard as we always do. It was amazing cause when I was in the apartment I felt very sick, but I put that trust in the Lord and he gave me the strength to still work just as hard!

Brezzy Brew-Dude thanks for the email! You can go ahead and email me and I'll send ya letters in the mail just due to mission rules. But it's amazing to hear that everything is well. I expect ya to go out and be the top salesperson in Sniagrab this year. I'll write ya a letter today though bro and I truly do love ya man!

I love this work and even though it can be very stressful at times, it definetely is worth it! The worth of EVERY soul is great in the eyes of God! Love ya'll!!
With Christlike Love,
Elder Pond

WK 32 'A Transfer & Week Full of Miracles'

Dear Family and Friends!
It was so amazing to hear from ya this week!! But unfortunately this
letter is going to be a little shorter than normal because I am not
feeling well and need to rest so we can go out and work hard the rest
of the week! Don't worry I'll be fine though I just need some rest!
Lately around the mission there has been this Spirit that is really
amazing! We have been pushing to do what had not been done before as
an area and a mission like this week! We saw many miracles in the area
and I know they came as we "fully immersed ourselves in obedience" and
hard work! This transfer so far has been absolutely amazing! We have
been lead to many souls that have been searching for the gospel just
know not where to find it. This week we have twenty three souls who
have a baptismal date and are preparing to be baptized! It truly
brings me soo much happyness to know that we are instruments in the
Lords hands in bringing them that happyness that comes from the gospel
of Jesus Christ!
I'll share a few of the many miracles that have been happening before
Elder Hall and mine eyes! When I first got to the area there was an
amazing lady that had been meeting with the missionaries for a very
long time, had amazing desires and knew everything was true, it was
just really hard for her to put works with her amazing faith due to
hard times. But we always had complete faith in her and showed her the
upmost love and eventually that rubbed off on her and she came to
church. The next week with the Lords help she was able to enter into
the waters of baptism and follow our Savior Jesus Christ. Then this
past Sunday when she was confirmed she bore powerful testimony of the
change that the gospel of Jesus Christ has taken place in her life. It
almost brought tears to my eyes. She was up there pounding the pulpit
and now I call her the "Pulpit Pounder"! She has a very strong
testimony and we love her very much! She's probably eventually going
to read this on my blog so I just wanna let her know that she is
amazing and as long as she continues in the gospel of Jesus Christ
everything will work out in her life! This experience showed me that
LOVE is one of the single most powerful forces in the entire world.
The scriptures say all the time that charity never faileth and without
charity you are nothing. We must have charity towards all men no
matter what! It's a comandment from God! It will also allow miracles
to happen!
I love it when the Lord leads us to those people who are ready and
prepared to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. This week we were
harvesting in a new area and we knocked on the door of this amazing
lady. She let us right in and introduced her to her family of seven
that lives there. We left the harvest blessing and immediately after
the blessing she said "We need to change our lives"! We were able to
testify that threw following Jesus Christ and being baptized they
would be able to. They all came to church this week and now are
preparing to be baptized this week!
The work is amazing I love it so much! I can't believe transfers are
soo close already, two weeks away! We'll see what happens. Write me
letters and I'll talk to ya'll soon!
God Be With You Till We E-Mail Again!
With Love,
Elder Pond