WK57 'Trust in the Big Man Upstairs!!'

Dear Family and Friends!!

Well first of all, this past transfer has been absolutely amazing! We have seen so many mighty miracles here in Plantation and the District! Now we have a new beginning ahead of us. I am excited to push foreword with faith this next transfer and see huge miracles! With God all things are possible, and this transfer we are always going to trust in God! And this transfer I will be staying here in Plantation and Elder Wardell will be leaving us. It is sad because I truly do love Elder Wardell but I am grateful for the Lord giving me something new to learn and grow from!

This week we definitely saw as we trusted in God, he granted us success. In District Training this week I trained about starting off the week strong to then finish strong! So we all made a commitment to God to not only get eight blessings by Wednesday, but be above average missionaries and get fifteen blessings by Wednesday! So Monday night we set out to harvest and our first couple of blessings were not elect people, we also were facing a lot of adversity with rude people. But we knew as we pushed threw it God would grant us success. That night our fifth and sixth blessing were extremely powerful, they both accepted baptism and church! The Lord gave us a witness of our faith as we put our trust in him. Then as we were walking back to our bikes we contacted this lady on her bike with her dog and got her address to come back the next day. When we came back the next day we left the harvest blessing with her and she began to cry. She exclaimed how she had never felt this kind of peace before in her life. As we testified of baptism and church and how that would bring that kind of peace into her life she readily accepted. God blessed us as we pushed threw adversity, and started off the week strong. I love seeing miracles like this every day and love that here in the FFLM we see them every single day!

But here in Plantation we are a car area but we end up biking a lot because we find amazing finding opportunities while we are on bike. Six of our baptisms last transfer came from contacts on the bike which is amazing!

Always trust in God fellow Brothers and Sisters and I can testify that all will be well. I do need to give a shout out this week to my little Sister Gabbe for her birthday on Saturday! She finna be fourteen and that's crazy!

But I love you all! May God be with you always!

With Love,

Elder Pond

WK56 'Centered in Christ'

Dear Family and Friends!!

This week was another amazing one in the work of the Lord! We had amazing zone conference where Elder Hallik of the seventy went on a mission tour of our mission! President also announced that all of our names will be going in the cornerstone of the Fort Lauderdale Temple and will rest there until the Savior comes again. I felt the Spirit very strongly and learned an incredible amount at this Zone Conference that Elder Wardell and myself have been applying in the work here in Plantation. It has been amazing here I absolutely love it! Here in Plantation I have definitely learned the principle that the Savior taught, "To him that believeth, all things are possible!"Cause generally Plantation has been a tough area to be in, but as we had faith in Christ we have turned that stigma around! We just must have faith centered in the Savior Jesus Christ and all things are possible! I know it!                                      
This past week we worked very hard and saw huge trials of our faith at the end of the week. So we know that God's promises will be fulfilled and this week we will receive a witness of our faith as we continue to press forward with faith! Yesterday we saw huge miracles and got five harvest blessings to start the week out strong. We have a goal to start the week of strong and get fifteen harvest blessings by Wednesday and we know this is possible!
It's amazing to see God lead us to His children that have been prepared, especially when they have been taught by missionaries already. This week we contacted this lady on the street and got her address to go bless her home. When we went over to bless her home we met her Sister and blessed her. She accepted baptism immediately and felt the Spirit of God very strongly. Then when we went back to teach her the next day she expressed how missionaries use to come and visit her. But ever since her family moved she hadn't seen us at all. She knew God sent us back to her and is very excited for baptism!
The district is doing well! We had a little bit of a rough week but are pressing foreword with faith in Christ this week to see miracles! In my district there are fairly young Sisters and no Elder companionship's. Although transfers are coming up next week and I heard through the grapevine that they are opening another Elder area and they will be in my District. So I'm excited! But it's amazing I love my District and am very excited for this next upcoming transfer!

Well I love ya'll back home a lot and continue to press forward in the work back there! A big shout out goes to my Mom for her birthday on Saturday!!

Remember, we must always have our faith centered in Jesus Christ.

With Love,

Elder Pond

WK55 'MIRACLES IN PLANTATION'

Dear Family and Friends!!

This week was another amazing one in the service of our God! I cannot express the gratitude I have for my loving Father in Heaven this week. He gave Elder Wardell and I so many mighty miracles. The biggest one was our baptisms! This week we worked very hard and had huge miracles happen with this Brazilian family. Ten days ago we were biking down a street that we felt inspired to bike down and saw this lady walking out of her house. We contacted her and blessed her home right then. The Spirit was very strong and she told us that was exactly what she needed at that time. Then we testified of Christ and invited her to be baptized and she expressed very little desire to do so. She told us of how she lived in Utah for six years and has many Mormon friends, met with missionaries for a long time and that we wouldn't be able to get her because she's Catholic. But we continued to testify and she committed to come to church. Then the next day when we followed up with her we solidified her coming to church and as we were leaving her cousin Carlos walked out and was leaving but very quickly we invited him to come to church. Then that Sunday they both came to church! After Gospel Principles we testified and set both of them with very soft dates for the next Sunday. But the next time we saw them was Tuesday and Lucia said, "What do we need to do to get baptized on Sunday?" They both had a complete change of heart threw the Spirit of God. They were baptized yesterday and as we put our trust in God, he allowed all to work out.

We also had another family that we were able to baptize and it was a huge miracle as well. We had the 22 year old daughter of a family who was set for baptism but her mom and two brothers were set on going up to Georgia and getting baptized in their home church. But after church on Sunday the mom came up to us and exclaimed that they wanted to be baptized today in God's church! We quickly got her to the interview with President Anderson and got her and the kids dressed in white. While all this was happening I had to bust out all the hymns I could and just play for an hour until the baptism could happen. Cause the mom's daughter who was for sure getting baptized had no idea the rest of her family finna get baptized and was waiting for the baptismal service to start. When her mom and two brothers walked in all dressed in white she began to cry. They were all baptized and it was absolutely amazing! Everyone this work is God's, without a doubt. He is one hundred percent laboring along side us every step of the way! I love my Father in Heaven, President Anderson as my mission father, and my earthly father as well!

The District is seeing huge miracles as well! For two weeks in a row every companionship baptized and we are on pace to do what has never been done before! My district is compiled of Elder Wardell and myselft, two Sisters serving in Davie, and two other Sisters serving in the Stake YSA Branch. They are amazing and I love them a lot!

Continue to press foreword in all that you do!

With Love,

Elder Pond

WK54 'Faith in Jesus Christ!!"

Dear Family and Friends!!

This past week has been absolutely amazing and full of miracles straight from our loving Father in Heaven! Every single week I grow an 

even greater love for the work that we do as representatives of Jesus Christ. I know that He sends us to God's children to bring them salvation!

We saw HUGE miracles with rounding up this week. What rounding up means is Sunday morning before church starts we go knock on every ones door and wake them up and commit them to come to church one last time. It is extremely effective and I have seen miracles from it! But when I got here to Plantation they hadn't really been doing it so we have been putting it into action and this week proved the miracles that come from it! Sunday morning we went to go round up a family who committed to come to church on Monday but then disappeared the rest of the week. We knocked on their door and the mom rolled out of bed and answered the door. We then blew her away with our energy and faith and began telling her how excited God is for her family to come to church at nine. Then she explained how she had way to much to do so she wouldn't be able to make it. But then Elder Wardell and I began to testify of Christ and how much strength He will give to her by making the sacrifice to come! You could see this daughter of God's face change as her heart began to soften. Then finally she said, "Well kids, you wanna go?" They exclaimed they did! "Well go get ready then," she said. Then an hour later their entire family walked into church, felt the Spirit, and are now preparing to be baptized next Sunday all because we rounded them up for Church. We must use all of our tools as a missionary to be what the Lord expects us to be! The same principle applies to anything in life as well. As we use every single tool that God has given us, He WILL grant us success!

Saturday was one of the most powerful days of my entire mission thus far! Elder Wardell and myself had an amazing converting companionship study in the morning and spiritually created through role-playing that started off our day strong. Then we left the apartment on time and were exactly obedient and went off to see our first appointment. It was with a part-member family. The daughter was baptized three years ago and the mom has been taught by twelve different missionaries and was set on reading the entire Book of Mormon before she even considered to be baptized. But we went in that lesson with full faith that she was going to be baptized Sunday. As we taught her we showed her lots of charity and testified of the reality of the Atonement of Christ. Her heart was softened and she committed and was baptized Sunday! Huge miracles from the Spirit of God! As Elder Wardell and myself walked away from her house we both looked at each other and were amazing once again at the power of God!

Every single week out here as a representative of Jesus Christ I am blessed to learn and grow even more! I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ more than anything. And I would encourage absolutely everyone to show that love that you have for God by doing what he would have you do. And I promise therein lies eternal happiness!

Let us all PRESS FOREWORD WITH FAITH IN CHRIST!

Love ya'll!

Elder Pond