WK46 'Focus on the Atonement!!'

Dear Family and Friends!!

It is absolutely amazing to hear from ya'll as always! Everything is amazing here in the mission field! Last Wednesday we had our Transfer Meeting and it was extremely revelatory for me especially! Of course as always it is amazing to feel of the spirit of missionary work when missionaries gather together. It was very exciting to receive the call from the Lord to serve my district as District Leader as well as to see where our above average mission is heading! Many changes are happening in the leadership of the mission because these next two transfers because most of the mission leadership go home and in January alone we get 27 new missionaries! So very exciting things are happening here in the amazing Fort Lauderdale mission! I also got a new companion. His name is Elder Wood and he was actually in my MTC district as well! He is from Overton, Nevada and is a hard working Elder! During the closing song "We'll Bring the World His Truth", the Spirit was undeniably strong. I felt it, and I felt God directly giving me the strength that I need to do His work. God absolutely works along our side every single day as we are exactly obedient. This is a work of miracles as we rely upon our loving Savior Jesus Christ for His strength that we definetly felt here in Cypress Creek this week!

This Sunday President and Sister Anderson came to visit our little branch, that I must saying is growing extremely fast! Yesterday we had another baptism and we had 110 people total come to service Sunday! Which is a miracle because a year ago they had an average of 35 people show up.This Sunday our friend Charles got baptized and he was a HUGE miracle brought forth by the Lord for sure! We met Charles walking on the streets and we taught him right there about how God loves him and desires him to follow Christ and be baptized. He said that baptism isn't something that he wants but he would think about coming to church. So we got his address and told him that we would stop by and bless his home. The next day we went to the address that he gave us and it was the wrong address. So we prayed and told God if it is His will to help us be led to find Charles again. Well the next day we were walking down the street and sure enough our friend Charles was there! We gave him a hug and then he took us to his home to bless it. That Sunday he came to church and at church we invited him to be baptized. He accepted a soft date because he felt "strength from Christ" at church. But his baptismal day came and Charles didn't feel ready so he wasn't baptized. We then lost contact with Charles and his roommate told us that he went to the hospital. Then this Saturday we felt prompted to go over to Charles home with a member that fellowshiped him at church when he came. Charles was there and out of the hospital! Charles explained to us that he was standing at the bus stop and didn't feel well and then he passed out and fell down! They called an ambulance and took him to Plantation Hospital. He was there for over a week and they did a whole bunch of tests and couldn't find anything wrong with him. Charles told us that while he was in the hospital he felt like he was going to die, but he prayed and asked God to give him life because he needs the baptism. We then at the drop of a hat invited him to be baptized! I will never forget his reply, "I will never say no to what Jesus wants me to do again!" Charles was then baptized on Sunday and after his baptism he was giving everyone hugs. He came up to me and said, "I feel different. I like this a lot!" Jesus Christ led him to us that first day on the street, he then helped us get back in contact, helped Charles come to church to increase his desires to be baptized, had to humble him by going to the hospital, led us to him that Saturday, and gave him the strength to be baptized Sunday! This work is only possible threw Christ who strengthens us!!

We also saw a miracle threw Christ while biking Sunday night! Of course it was 8:15 at the end of the night and we were pushing threw till the end working hard to continue to see miracles from Christ! We biked past this lady sitting by her car and I felt the Spirit prompt me to talk with her and leave the harvest blessing. But I kept going and we went to our appointment. He wasn't home so I told Elder Wood that we needed to go talk with this lady. We biked up to her, introduced ourselves as representitives of our Savior Jesus Christ, and told her that the Spirit prompted us to stop and leave this blessing with her. She readily accepted. I offered the harvest blessing and remember having specific promptings from the Spirit to say certain things. After I said Amen a peace fell over us all from the Spirit. She said, "Thank you. I really needed that because of all that I have been going threw. Sometimes I feel like giving up and I need more of this peace in my life." Tears began to come to my eyes because the Spirit was extremely strong. We then testified that Christ sent us there to bring this more into her life threw following Christ. She then was very excited for baptism and church next Sunday! We must ALWAYS listen to where the Spirit is guiding us!

It has been very exciting to serve as district leader! I gave my first district training this week and also did my first baptismal interviews! I'm pumped to help the CoCo Creek District do what has not been done before!

But P-days have been different in every area I have been in and it depends on the Elders that you serve around. It is different here in Cypress Creek because we don't have a car. So we wake up, study till ten, then go email, get shopping at Publix done, and start our laundry. Then we normally go get something to eat at a restaurant by the beach and go to some of the local shops with some cool stuff. Then relax because after a long weeks work you definitely need it! So nothing really too special. We also look for any opportunity as always to share the gospel, even on P-days! The P-day before my birthday was basically the same. Haha. But then at five thirty we go out and invite people to Christ and proselyte.

Today and always I am extremely grateful for the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. That is the power that cleansed me from mistakes I may have made and allowed me to be who I am today! There is always hope and you are NEVER too far gone! God always loves you! Always strive to share the Atonement of Christ threw baptism!

I love ya'll and hope this week goes well!

With Love,

Elder Pond

WK45 'Be Ye Therefore Perfect, Even as I Am!'

Dear Family and Friends!

So last night Elder Lee and I got a transfer call and...... Elder Lee is leaving and I will be staying and getting a new companion tomorrow here in Cypress Creek! I am extremely excited to be staying here in Cypress Creek and continue to see the work progress! It's my goal to turn this branch into a ward and miracles are happening daily from the Lord that are allowing this to come forth! This is absolutely and fully the Lords work and he gives me strength every single day to be able to bring to pass his holy purposes!

This week we really saw the power of contacting people on the streets. We bike a lot so we set a goal this week to contact everyone we saw while we were biking. It was amazing to see that we got 21 blessings and we didn't knock on anyones door all week. I know that the Lord puts people in our path as we are walking, biking, or even driving. We must just ALWAYS open our mouths to everyone!

Lately Elder Lee and I have been focusing on developing a different attribute of Christ every single day and we have been seeing miracles come from that!

Faith in Jesus Christ: We must show everyone that we come in contact with that we have complete faith that they will accept the gospel. Christ said, "To him that believeth, all things are possible!" Sometimes we limit ourself but we must have the faith in Christ sufficient to produce miracles!

Hope: We definitely noticed that hope eventually turns into faith when acted upon. When we invite people to be baptized and they accept they hope this things will truly bless their lives. It turns into faith when they keep commitments and eventually get baptized.

Charity: For me one of the most important Christlike attributes. As we show everyone charity they will feel it and be able to tell that we want these things for them not for a number, but because we truly love them.

Virtue: There are so many things in the world today that Satan uses to try and make us unclean. As we have virtue and keep our thoughts clean, then our actions will be clean as well!

Knowledge: As we seek to obtain God's word, then our mouth will be loosed and we will speak from the Spirit. We must obtain the knowledge first though!

Patience: The Lord knows all things. By being patient threw all things we are showing our trust that we have in the Lord. When times get tough as we patiently endure it, then the Lord always gives us a miracle!

Humility: We always must stay humble and as Ammon said know that it's only threw God's strength that we can accomplish anything!

Diligence: As we consistently work hard the Lord always blesses us! Work is the key to any situation, especially in missionary WORK!

Obedience: This is the first law of heaven. If we want blessings from God we must always be exactly obedient in ALL  things!

My favorite experience that we had this week in Cypress Creek happened on Saturday! Saturday is always our big day where we go see everyone we are teaching and make sure they are solid for church on the next day. This Saturday we were coming out of an investigators home around five at the top of our area and my bikes back tire was completely flat. But we didn't let that slow us down and immediately we began calling people to find a ride as we were walking swiftly to our next appointment. As we were walking this lady stopped us, expressed a huge desire to change her life, and accepted a baptismal date! Then we continued on and finally found a ride down to the bottom of our area. Then we began running in proslyting clothes from one investigators house to another rounding up as many investigators for church the next day as possible. We saw many miracles and were able to round up many people because of our diligence. We didn't let any adversity stop us, but we continued to push foreword with faith in Christ!

We are very excited for transfer meeting tomorrow as well as to here you and Sister Anderson speak in Cypress Creek on Sunday!

I don't have too much more time so next Sunday I'll write the personal notes dad. But I got the package and thank you it came on my Birthday! I love ya'll and can't wait to here from ya threw letters during the week!

With Love,

Elder Pond

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