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!

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