WK44 'Trust in the Lord!!'

Dear Family and Friends!

This week especially I am extremely grateful for the guidance of the Lord and the Spirit! Once again we say many mighty miracles here in Cypress Creek! The Lord blessed us to be able to help four souls access the amazing gift of the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. Baptisms are amazing here too cause the Branch gets very excited and we actually do it in a swimming pool at a members home right off of the intercostal. Because the chapel that we are in isn't a LDS chapel we are renting it so it doesn't have a baptismal font. So yesterday I was able to baptize in a swimming pool so I thought that was pretty cool!

But on Saturday I was exchanges with Elder Torres, our zone leader, so he could do interviews for us. We left the apartment at 10 AM and went straight to work. We were biking everywhere, finding while we teach, teaching while we find, testifying with boldness, and just working as hard as we possibly could! But unfortunately all of our interviews that we had scheduled fell threw. We just knew that the Lord was ready to bless us with something amazing and he did! At 8:15 the Spirit prompted us to go see a family that has been waiting to get baptized for a long time but hasn't been able to (the kids could be baptized whenever but they were determined to wait for their mom to get permission). We knocked on their door and no one answered. I heard the Spirit say very clearly to knock again just louder. So I listened and they all answered the door. Immediately the kids exclaimed, "We need to get baptized tomorrow!" We testified of that's why Christ sent us here, they were interviewed, and baptized yesterday! I learned so much from this experience. First that we must ALWAYS listen to the Spirit because that comes directly from God. And second, that after all we could do and working extremely hard, the Lord provided souls for us to baptize. This work will continue as we trust in the Lord and work hard! That's the same in anything in life as well. If we TRUST in the LORD then all will be well!

We also saw a miracle with the Spirit softening many souls hearts. The first experience that we had in Cypress Creek was last Sunday we were biking up to the top of our area and as we were biking we ran into an investigator that before then had no desire to be baptized and didn't come to church. We started talking and we testified of the amazing Spirit that she missed at church that day. I looked her straight in the eyes and said, "Sister Williams, the Spirit told me very clearly at church that God NEEDS you to be baptized!" The Spirit was extremely strong and she accepted! We saw her every day this past week and every time we came over she felt the Spirit more and more. She came to church yesterday and was baptized after church! Then Sunday night we visited her and she gave us three referrals and said she's gonna go around to her neighbors tomorrow and then bring us over to them to baptize them! The Spirit is by which children of God are converted!

There was also a family that we went and saw and immediately they all started complaining on how God is putting too much on them and they don't feel like he loves them. We started with a prayer and then began testifying of the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. As we began doing so the Spirit got stronger and stronger and the expression on everyones faces completely changed. At the end of the lesson when we invited them to be baptized they readily accepted and were very excited. The Spirit once again worked a mighty change in them and gave them that amazing desire to enter into the waters of baptism!

I love you all from here in Cypress Creek! I are excited for the work to continue to progress in this Branch we continue to see miracles after miracles every single day.

And this week is transfers once again! I truly cannot believe how fast this transfer has flown. They just keep going faster and faster. But once again I am extremely excited for whatever the Lord has in store for me!

Tomorrow is my birthday and I plan for it to be the most successful day of my mission thus far! We won't go anywhere for dinner cause we just work threw dinners here so we can get more done. But I am excited for this to be the most amazing birthday in the world because I will be bringing God's children unto Christ!

I love you all and make sure you always trust in the Lord.

With Christlike Love,

Elder Pond

Mission Pictures

Pictures from  Cypress Creek!



A look at the city of Fort Laud from the fishin pier by our house!





Baptism this week



Writing in the Sky

Sister Williams singing her gospel songs for us!



Baptism time off of the intercoastal!




Goin Fishin



 

WK43 'MANY MIGHTY MIRACLES!!'

Dear Family and Friends!!

Ah I cannot express to you how amazing this week was! We worked incrediably hard and I know here in Cypress Creek and throughout the mission we have huge amounts of gratitude for what the Lord has done for us this week! I was very excited to see the mission get 290 MPL's, another thing that has never been done before! I have definetely seen here in Cypress Creek that because of our obedience, dilligence, and faith the Lord always grants unto us success.

Elder Lee and I started off the week with a lot of fire working hard as always! We knew if we started off strong after the trial of our faith we would receive many mighty miracles, and Friday night the Lord definetely gave us those miracles. We were biking to an appointment that the Branch President was meeting us at to How to Begin Teach this referral and we got a text from a member. He said, "Elders my fiance is flying in from Brazil tomorrow and is ready to be baptized on Sunday." It was such a testimony builder to me to know that the Lord blessed us indirectly at that time! She was baptized on Sunday and it was an amazing, powerful baptismal service. Then we went to the appointment and we walk in to meet a huge family of 13. They all wanted prayer from Jesus Christ and we testified that Jesus Christ sent us there to bless their lives. We left the harvest blessing again with the entire family and the Spirit was extremely strong. The Branch President then testified of the Spirit and so did we. We invited them to be baptized right on the spot and they all accepted right away. At the end one of the ladies said, "You know we can definetely tell that ya'll are representitives of Christ. You just have a glow around you right now. I know Christ wants this baptism for me." Two MIGHTY miracles after the trial of our faith! I love this work!

I gained an even stronger testimony that the trainings we receive in district, zone, and mission conferences are very inspired from God himself! President Anderson gave a training on the why and how to teach repentance really helped us with many of our investigators. After Zone Conference we went to go see an investigator that just "doesn't feel quite ready for baptism yet." But we took the inspired training into action and went into a lesson with her with full faith that she will accept to be baptized this Sunday. At the beginning of the lesson she wasn't even thinking about it, but as we testified of repentance and how baptism is the last step of repentance we saw the Spirit hit her very strong. At the end of the lesson we committed her to prepare to be baptized this Sunday and to be interviewed the next day! Then we went to another lesson with a family that we recently found, are pumped for their baptism, but have Law of Chasity problems. We took a member with us and began testifying of repentance and the cleansing power of the Atonement. We testified that Christ needs him to get married to repent and to finish that process threw baptism and I will never forget the words that came out of his mouth. He said, "I know this is what Christ wants for me. You lead and I promise I'll follow." The member was then able to bear powerful testimony of his own family and how this gospel has strengthened his family! They are now preparing to get married and be baptized. I know that the Lord is in all that we do, especially in the missionary meetings that we have!

We will be having quite a few baptisms here in Cypress Creek and we are very excited to see the work continue to go forth in our amazing branch!

Something that has been on my mind is that I know as we live more Christlike lives every single day those around us with be able to feel of and see that "glow" around us. This is how we can be perfected threw Christ! We must always strive to live as Christlike life as possible that one day we may reign in the mansions above!

I love ya'll soo much and hope all is well back home! For the Band of Brothers all over the world I pray for ya'll every day! Invite everyone to partake of this gospel threw baptism!

With Christlike Love,

Elder Pond

Mission Pictures





 





November Birthdays!



WK42 'Time to BAPTIZE!!'

Dear Family and Friends!

Man Elder Lee and I have been working extremely hard with the strength that God has been giving us every single day! He's definetely intrusted us with many of His precious children and we are about to link those souls that we have harvested to baptism and definetely will be seeing even more miracles here in Cypress Creek very soon!

This week we were harvesting this street and we knocked into Pauline. She first cracked the door open and tried shoving us off but we continued to testify that Christ sent us to her home to bless her life! After testifying over and over the expression on her face completely changed and you could see that the Spirit hit her. She let us right and and we left the blessing with her. After the blessing tears were streaming down her face and she expressed how the night before she prayed and asked God to send His representitives to her. She also felt from God the night before that she needed to be baptized again. We then testified boldly that God sent us there to help her be baptized! With tears streaming down her face she accepted readily!

I also realized this week how much power comes from consistant church attendance. A family that we have been teaching for a while came to church this week for the third time. Sunday after church we went over with a member to follow up with how church went and her testimony struck me. She said, "Every single week I look foreword to coming to Church. It's the highlight of my week and without it my week would be incomplete. It gives me strength to push foreword threw any trials. I can't imagine another week without coming to church!" Another family that came this Sunday, but for the first time, and they definetely felt that same Spirit as well. She said, "I felt that God was there for sure. There was so much kindness and love. I felt a peace that I knew was from God." We must get our investigators to Church so they can feel of this amazing Spirit! And as member of Christ Church we must always appreciate the Spirit that is felt at Church!

We also saw a miracle late Saturday night. The miracles always comes after the trial of our faith and I love it! We worked very hard Saturday and were reaching the end of the day when Elder Lee and I felt very impressed to go see this referral from other missionaries. We went searching for the house number but could not find it. We called the other missionaries and no one answered so we started walking away thinking we would have to see her later. But I felt the Spirit whisper to me very strongly that we really needed to see her. As we were driving away we got a call from the other missionaries and they exclaimed how they gave us the wrong address. So we immediately turned back around and heading to the correct address. We knocked on Tati's door and she let us in right away. After the harvest blessing the Spirit was extremely strong and we invited her to be baptized right there. She accepted and expressed to us how she has been praying to get closer to God and knows this is the way. We received the witness of our faith and the Lord also prepared the way for us to see her that night because He knew she needed it! I love Cypress Creek and know miracles are going to come threw our trust in the Lord!

But all is well here in Oakland Park/Pompano Florida! I love all of you soo much and appreciate all you have ever done for me to get me to where I am today! I am greatful that many of you answered the Lords call to help me threw whatever I was going threw at the time. This week the shout out goes to my Aunt and Uncle Tam and Clair for takin my family to Mexico! Remember, always trust in the Lord and all will be well in the end!

With Love,

Elder Pond

WK41 'Testify, testify, TESTIFY!!'

Dear Family and Friends!

Ah it was amazing to hear from ya'll this week! Cypress Creek is booming like it never has before! The Lord gave us 76 homes to bless which is incredible and we are soo greatful for all that the Lord has been doing for us in this area. Cypress Creek is just like five miles north of my old area so it is very close! And yea our apartment is a couple of blocks off of the beach and so is the chapel so it's pretty cool!But right now we're especially looking foreword to continue to do what has never been done before! This week we blessed quite a few homes once again and saw miracles come from always testifying.

We started to harvest this apartment complex and the third door answered. Immediately he said, "No I already have good faith in Christ thank you, goodbye.." But we didn't give up, as the door was almost closed we testified very boldly that we know God sent us here to leave this blessing. And that we know we are representitives of Jesus Christ himself! Then something amazing happened. He opened the door and allowed us to leave the blessing. Afterwords the Spirit was extremely strong and we invited him to be baptized on the spot. Immediately he said, "No I'm sorry guys but I have already been baptized." Once again we didn't give up and we testified that Jesus Christ sent us there to invite him to be baptized again and to come to church to prepare for that baptism, never giving up faith and hope. Then his face changed and he said, "Yes I'll be baptized and I want my family to as well. I'm going to bring them all to church this Sunday!" I am so glad that the Lord gave us the strength to testify even when the door was almost closed. We must never give up because "the worth of every soul is great in the eyes of God"!

God always continues to lead and guide us to those souls searching for baptism but not knowing where to find it. We were harvesting on this street and we came to the door of Angela. Right when she opened the door she looked suprised but happy at the same time. We left the harvest blessing and invited her to be baptized right away! She looked at us and said, "I actually missed the baptism at my church and I felt horrible. Ever since then I've been looking for a new church so I can get baptized." We testified that God sent us here for that very reason and she accepted to be baptized on the 11th!

We are praying very hard down here in Cypress Creek to be able to link these precious souls that we have harvested to baptism! I know that miracles are on the way!

Continue to pray for the missionaries out here in Fort Lauderdale. Miracles are occuring daily! And I wanna hear about everyones missionary experiences from home so lemme know for sure!

With Love,

Elder Pond