Dear Family and Friends!
As
always another amazing week in the beautiful land of Opa-Locka!
Something President Anderson shared in his email today touched me and I
really wanted to share it with ya'll:
"My
Father is a convert to the Church. It was a small miracle when he was
baptized; he knew that he would never be the same again. He knew that he
wanted to be with his family for eternity. Later he and my mother knelt
at the altars of the Temple, to realize their dream to be sealed for
time and eternity as a family. Their five sons, including myself,
dressed in white were ushered into that same sealing room to kneel at
the altar by their sides, to have that sealing power and miracle made
complete. Direction of lives changed, advanced and improved in an incredible, eternal way. All
five of their sons and ten of their grandchildren have served full time
missions throughout the world where hundreds of souls have come to the
Gospel and ordinances of the Temple. To those souls, direction of lives also were changed, advanced and improved in an incredible, eternal way. It
started with the small miracle of my Father feeling the Spirit and
progressing to baptism. It has progressed currently as huge miracles to
all of those that have embraced the Truth and have been blessed because
of the Gospel. This great miracle is eternal; it will not end, but
become greater as we gain Eternal Life with our families in the presence
of God. You will encounter many “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” miracles in your mission."
As I
pondered on this inspiring experience I began to ponder on a family that
I taught and baptized in Wellington who will be entering the temple
this month to be sealed together as a family. I remember finding them,
and how it was a little small miracle of following the Spirit to a
family who was praying for us. I remember teaching them with members and
the family feeling the Spirit. I remember the magnificent day of their
families baptism and truly how all the small and simple things led up to
something huge! Then onto them receiving the priesthood and callings in
the ward. Now to this day where they are about to qualify for
exaltation one day with their Heavenly Father. By small and simple
things truly are great things brought to pass!
This past week
we saw huge miracles. On Monday as we set out to work hard and
unfortunately an appointment fell through. As we were about to go to our
back-up appointment the Spirit told us to harvest. So we set out to
knock a couple of doors really quickly. We knocked and met this lady
who's apartment was just broken into. She felt the Spirit immediately
and began to cry. She accepted baptism and church and anything we told
her! Then we kept pressing foreword with faith and the next door we
knocked on was a complete miracle. We knocked and this family opened
immediately. They began talking about how they prayed to be able to go
to church just yesterday and now here we were on there doorstep. They
said after the blessing that they finally felt the peace they have been
searching for and couldn't of been more set on coming to church and
getting baptized. After that blessing then walking away to our next
appointment, I couldn't help but express how grateful I was for the
amazing tender mercies of the Lord!
It was also a
huge tender mercy of the Lord to baptize once again this past Sunday.
One huge thing that impacted me was the light that came into their
countenances as I brought them up out of the waters. There was a glow
that I had not seen in either of them before and I could definitely see
and feel the difference within them.
An experience
that actually happened yesterday that made me smile I wanted to share! I
was out with my new companion Elder Harris and we were following up
with people in this super ghetto apartment complex who unfortunately did
not make it to church. Elder Harris just randomly decided to ask them
what our street names are. They came up with amazing ones which we will
now be called! Mine is "Low Key Dawg" and Elder Harris' "Hot Boy
Harris". They loved it and most importantly it was amazing to see us
build that relationship with them.
September
was definitely a month to remember! The two months of September I
baptized more than any other months of my mission. But a huge scripture
that I am going to face this transfer around is Mosiah 4:11-12. I invite
ya'll to read it and ponder how you can apply the teaching of King
Benjamin more fully.
With Love,
Low Key Dawg
AKA Elder Pond
