WK40 'HARRRVEST!!'

Dear Family and Friends!

Well this Wednesday we had transfer meeting and it was very sad to leave all of my amazing friends down in Fort Lauderdale, but I knew the Lord had bigger and better things in store for me and he defientely did! I was called to serve in the Cypress Creek Branch which is just North of Fort Lauderdale. I absolutely know that this was a call inspired from God because I have already learned so much. Elder Lee from Kaysville is my companion and we were actually companions in the MTC so its really amazing to see how much each of us have grown. The work is progressing very quickly here and the branch is excited to very soon become a ward threw hard work in the Lords vineyard. When I got here the work was very slow so we knew that we had to get out, work hard, and find those children of God that have been prepared for this gospel. So this week was a huge finding week for Elder Lee and I that we saw many mighty miracles come from!

I truly gained an even stronger testimony of Ether 12:6 and how the witness always comes after the trial of our faith. The first couple of days we were working very hard and harvesting a lot in order to find the elect. During the morning before we came out we felt very inspired to pray to find families that need this gospel in their lives. About half way threw a day we felt very prompted to bike up to the very northern part of our area and visit two potentials. When we knocked on the first potential they immediately let us in, we blessed their home and their family of three accepted baptism almost immediately. Then when we went and visited the second potential she opened her door and expressed how much that blessing that we left with her helped the past couple of days. She then introduced us to her family of four and as we were doing How To Begin Teaching they all exclaimed a huge desire to come to church and be baptized. That family came to church yesterday and couldn't be more excited for their baptism this upcoming Sunday. I am eternally greatfull that the Lord heard our prayer in the morning to lead us to families as well as he gave us a witness after we worked as hard as we possibly could! This is absolutely His work!

We also saw a miracle while harvesting. We were knocking around eleven and we knocked into Kenny. Right away he expressed how he "goes to Church by the Glades". But we testified that Jesus Christ sent us to his door to leave a blessing and we were doing our best to invision Kenny in white getting baptized and he accepted the blessing. Immediately after we said amen his entire face changed and he expressed how much peace that blessing brought into our lives. We followed up Sunday after church and testified how much peace baptism will bring into his life. Him and his wife are now preparing to be baptized on the 11th because of the harvest blessing. I absolutely love harvesting!

Miracles are happening every single day here in Cypress Creek and I am eternally greatful for them! This week I definetely learned that without faith all is lost. We MUST have faith in all things and focus on the future not on the past!

I love ya'll soo much and yes I got your package thank you!

El Bell tear it up out there big man I love ya!!

With Love,

Elder Pond

Pictures 'Elder Pond'

MISSIONARY COMPANIONS

September 18, District

September 18, Pond & Hall

October 24, Pond & Lee

October 27, Ft Lauderdale Temple Moroni

October 27, Ft. Lauderdale Temple construction

WK39 'Many Mighty Miracles'

Dear Family and Friends!!
So last night we got a transfer call and the news was shocking! I am
leaving Fort Laud South.. I am excited for whatever the Lord has in
store for me for sure, but can't help but to be sad because of all the
people I have grown very close to here in the amazing city of Fort
Lauderdale. I know that wherever the Lord sends me there are some of
His children waiting for the Lord to guide me to bring the Gospel of
Jesus Christ to!
President Anderson gave us an amazing announcement in our email this
week. "We just got word last week that the Florida Fort Lauderdale
Mission is the highest baptizing Mission in the United States and
Canada. This hasn’t happened out of the Utah Missions in a long time I
am told. What an honor to know that you missionaries are working so
hard and reaping such great miracles in finding the elect of God. I
wasn’t going to announce this because we shouldn’t compare with
others, but General Authorities are telling other leaders and I rather
you hear it from me. Remember God’s hand is in this work and he has
poured out his Spirit to make us instruments in His hands. You are
amazing missionaries and I couldn’t be prouder to be a part of your
Mission." Once again I was reminded of Ammon in Alma 26:12 when I read
that we are the highest baptizing mission in the US and Canada
missions. It is only because of the Lord and our faith that this has
been made possible. But it truly is a mighty miracle which we have
received from God! I am eternally grateful for the blessings from God
in this work. It has truly shown me that with him ALL things are
possible!
This week I definitely learned how much revelation comes threw church
attendance and how we must never give up on God's children. When I
first got to Fort Lauderdale South we found an amazing man who had
heavy troubles with the Word of Wisdom. We helped him overcome those
problems and he was preparing to be baptized but two days before his
baptism we lost contact with him for about four weeks. Those four
weeks were extremely hard because I knew that our friend needed the
blessings of baptism in his life. So every day for those four weeks we
called him and went to knock on his door at least twice a week. He
just ignored us time and time again. Then about a week ago we finally
got back in contact with him and the reason he was ignoring us was
because he relapsed with drinking and smoking and felt very guilty. We
testified to him that there was hope ahead and that no matter what
happened or will happen we will always love him. This week we got this
child of God to come to church to see his daughters baptism even
though he was drinking the night before. It was amazing to see the
change in this man just in a mere couple of hours. He was overcome
with the love and happiness that he felt during Stake Conference and
then after when he saw his daughter get baptized he said that he saw
his life flash before his eyes. He saw all those mistakes he had made
and he felt God speak to him that he NEEDS to be baptized. Then he
envisioned himself dressed in white on his baptism day and announced
to us that he will be quitting drinking and baptized next Sunday!
We also saw a miracle happen with one of our baptisms this week. She
came to Stake Conference all ready for her baptism and for some reason
got very afraid and started making excuses on how she isn't ready for
baptism. So we took the training into action and kept our faith and
began testifying to this daughter of God on how much God needs her to
be baptized and follow Jesus Christ. While we were testifying she
finally brought up her true concern and we overcame that and she was
baptized. We must keep faith with everyone and testify boldly always!
There was another miracle that we saw this week with the Book of
Mormon! We were eating dinner with a member family and she invited her
nonmember sister who we have been teaching. The member invited her to
read Moroni 10:4 and this nonmember got half way threw and then began
weeping. She said that a feeling involuntarily came into her from God
and that she knew it was the Spirit. The Book of Mormon carries the
Spirit like nothing else.
I am very excited for transfers and can't wait for what lies ahead. I
know that the Lord has even bigger things in store for our mission
just as we trust in him fully! I absolutely know that this is the
Lords work! Miracles happen every single day! I love ya'll and
continue to send letters to the mission office!
With Love,
Elder Pond

WK38 'Picture the World'

Dear Family and Friends!!

This week was absolutely amazing! We had a marriage from a family that we have been teaching since I've been here in Fort Laud South and they got baptized yesterday! Another amazing marriage and baptism combo! We also baptized another lady that was super prepared and I love her soo much!

One of my favorite stories by President Monson in this past Conference was, "In one particular meeting, N. Eldon Tanner, who was then an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve, had just returned from his initial experience of presiding over the missions in Great Britain and western Europe. He told of a missionary who had been the most successful missionary whom he had met in all of the interviews he had conducted. He said that as he interviewed that missionary, he said to him, ‘I suppose that all of the people whom you baptized came into the Church by way of referrals.’ The young man answered, ‘No, we found them all by tracting.’ Brother Tanner asked him what was different about his approach—why he had such phenomenal success when others didn’t. The young man said that he attempted to baptize every person whom he met. He said that if he knocked on the door and saw a man smoking a cigar and dressed in old clothes and seemingly uninterested in anything—particularly religion—the missionary would picture in his own mind what that man would look like under a different set of circumstances. In his mind he would look at him as clean-shaven and wearing a white shirt and white trousers. And the missionary could see himself leading that man into the waters of baptism. He said, ‘When I look at someone that way, I have the capacity to bear my testimony to him in a way that can touch his heart.’… We have the responsibility to see individuals not as they are but rather as they can become. I would plead with you to think of them in this way." I've been trying to do that in the work Elder Hall and I are doing and it has been amazing! I love seeing how your faith in the Savior and in them rubs off and they can feel of the love that you have for them. Jesus Christ loves all of us and as representitives of Him we must do the same!

We saw some huge miracles here in Fort Lauderdale South this week! On Wednesday morning we had two blessings so that day we set out to be exactly obedient by getting eight by the end of the day. We went out to harvest and blessed five homes before we had to go to meetings with Bishop that night. We got done with the meetings at 8:30 and had a lady to go and visit but we knew being exactly obedient would bring forth the most blessings. So we set out to knock in the dark and at 8:55 we knocked one last door and Leroy answered the door. At first Leroy kept putting it off and saying no but I felt the Lord testify so strongly threw us and he accepted a blessing. We got to eight on the very last door of the night! Then the blessings that came the next day due to exact obedience was amazing. In the morning we got a call randomly from one of our dates that has been super busy saying the Spirit told her that we need to come over today. We were able to go over and solidify her date for Sunday. We got a call from a former investigator to come back over. Then we also got a call from an amazing family that got offended the first time they came to church. They stated that they would love for us to come back over. We did and they even came to church and loved it! All these blessings came due to exact obedience by getting eight blessings on Wednesday. I turned to Elder Hall Thursday night and said, "We must always be obedient by getting eight blessings by Wednesday!"

I am very excited for transfers this upcoming week and cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store! This week we have some baptisms for the Zone baptism at Stake Conference this Sunday so we are excited for another amazing week!

Another amazing week here in South Florida! I love ya'll soo much and love our Savior Jesus Christ as well! I really need some short sleeve white shirts so yea. But other than that, that's all! Love ya and BAPTIZE THE WORLD!!

With Love,

Elder Pond

WK37 'Listen to the Spirit ALWAYS!'

Dear Family and Friends!

What an amazing week we had and we were able to top it off by listening to inspired Prophets of God! I received so many answers to my prayers and was uplifted to the fullest! My favorite talk was Elder Holland when he challenged the entire world very boldly to always love God! It inspired me to do even more to show my deep love for my Father in Heaven and my Savior Jesus Christ! If we truly love God it will be evident in everything that we do. We must always love God especially as members of His restored church!

This week we saw a huge miracle! We were going to visit one of our baptismal dates and while walking over there we saw a family walking up the steps in a complex next door and I felt the Spirit whisper to me to go knock on their door. I set it aside and our baptismal date ended up not being home. As we were about to get back in the car I felt the Spirit whisper it to me once again. So I couldn't deny what the Spirit was telling me and we went to go harvest that complex. The fourth door we knocked on was that family that we saw and they immediately let us in. They accepted baptism almost before we could even invite them! Then the next day when we went to go follow up she exclaimed, "Ya'll were definetly sent from Jesus Christ. I've been searching for a job for months now and yesterday a half an hour after you left that blessing I got a call for an interview." It was a miracle and then she exclaimed how she desires so badly to change her life and be baptized. The Spirit led us to her home and because we headed to the promptings of the Spirit and put off the natural man her entire family will now have the gospel of Jesus Christ!

We had quite a few investigators come to Conference this weekend and they definetly received inspiration on decisions that they have to make in their individual lives right now! We also have nine baptismal dates for this Sunday so it should be an exciting upcoming week as always FULL of miracles!

But not much has changed out here in the mission field. Elder Hall and I are working hard as always and transfers are coming up on October 24th. Hopefully Elder Hall and I stay together but we'll see what the Lord has in store for us!

I love the Lord. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. It means everything to me and we must do all things in our individual lives to follow our Savior Jesus Christ. He has sacrificed everything for us, can we not sacrifice a little for Him?

With Love,

Elder Pond

WK36 'OBEDIENCE in ALL Things'

Dearest Family and Friends,

Ah this week I have soo many blessings and miracles that the Lord has blessed us with! We are eternally greatful here in Fort Lauderdale South for all that the Lord has given us this month! We had the honor and priveledge to bring twelve souls unto Christ by baptism this month. It truly is amazing what the Lord can do with that full faith and trust in Him. Faith is a HUGE principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ that I have definetely grown over my mission thus far. Christ pronounced to all of God's children, all things are possible to him who believeth! Elder Hall and I definetely exhibiting a lot of faith this month and worked as hard as we can and the Lord granted unto us success!
This week the Lord especially blessed us with miracles especially as we were exactly obedient. We have a lot of investigators here but know we need to find the time to harvest in order to find more as well as solidify our current investigators with those indirect blessings. We set out to get eight blessings by Wednesday and fifteen blessings by the end of the week and definetely saw the indirect blessings. We have an amazing investigator that was suppose to get baptized last Sunday but got scared and all the sudden didn't think she needed to be baptized again. So this week we set out to help her recognize that she definetely needed this baptism and this is what God would have for her. Everything we testified of this week the Spirit testified of very strongly and pierced her to the very soul. She felt it and was baptized this Sunday! We know this was because of our exact obedience in all things.
Then we also saw direct blessings at the same time. We were out seeing some people Friday morning and all our appointments fell threw. So we prayed and asked our Father in Heaven to tell us where we should go and what we should do. We felt very inspired to go harvest this street that had been recently knocked but we didn't doubt the Lord at all. The first couple of complex's no one answered and then we got to the house that I know our Father in Heaven was leading us to. She opened the door and right away she asked what church we were from. We told her that we were from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and that Christ sent us to her home. She exclaimed that she knew Christ sent us there because on Monday she was talking with a lady that told her she needs to stop us next time she sees us. As well as she was just laying in the bed wondering how she is going to deal with all the stress she's going threw and then we knock on her door. As she is looking up to the sky she said, "I know that God sent you two to me!" We then blessed her and she now cannot wait till her baptism day.
We also saw the blessings with our Recent Converts who we love very much! We went and saw an amazing new member who was baptized a couple of weeks ago and he told us something amazing! He said, "Last night I was pondering on everything ya'll have taught me. And while I was doing so God put it on my mind that I need to go out and serve a mission as well!" We then tesitfied that he can do missionary work here and one day he can serve a senior mission! He has already found three solid referrals for us and is now preparing to one day go out and serve as a senior missionary!
I know that all these blessings came to us threw obedience! We MUST be obedient in ALL things in order to recieve the blessings of heaven! This work is amazing and I know that we will see even more and greater miracles as we are continually obedient in all things!

Transfers aren't till October 25th so we have a little bit but time just flies by when you are out serving the Lord. I just wish it could slow down!! Haha. But I guess ya'll will just have to guess who the pictures are of on the SD Card if they are of just us with normal people they are either Recent Converts or people that I have grown really close to.

Todays message is that the Lord is in ALL things, so ALWAYS trust Him! Love ya'll!!

With Love,

Elder Pond

Elder Pond Emailing Ya'll!