WK71 'Another Week in the Lord!!'

Dear Family and Friends!!

All is well in Stuart!! This week I was pondering on how we as Children of God are able to change. Many people think they need to change there entire personality for God to accept them. But through study and much prayer I discerned that this is not what God wants for us. From the scriptures we learn that we are created in the image of God, so from that we learn that God has given us our individual personalities for a reason. God has given all of us individual spiritual gifts! So what we must do is take our personality and through the Atonement of Christ apply Christlike attributes into our very being. And that is how we "become a Saint through the Atonement of Christ". This is what I will continue to apply in my life and help all those around me apply!

We saw huge miracles here in the amazing area of Stuart South this week! We worked as hard as we can and once again God provided us with another miracle baptism! We definitely had to exercise our faith to be able to get our friend into the waters of baptism, but in Christ's great mercy He made it happen! And as a result my love and understanding of the Atonement has increased even greater!

The Zone is seeing amazing things as well. This week we were able to do a lot of ministering and help our zone more fully catch the vision so thus they can become more converted. This past week we ministered on exercising faith, teaching repentance, and conversion to our purpose.

There is also a part of our June Zone Vision that I wanted to share with ya'll. We use it as missionaries but it can be applied to any aspect of life and I know is inspired from God.

Personal Growth and Conversion

Repent- Recognize area of personal growth and necessary improvement day by day

Study- Learn what you must do to improve. Create an If->Then Statement, which determines what you need to do (IF) and as you do that what God will do for you (THEN).

Pray- Take If->Then Statement to God

Act in Faith- 1 Nephi 3:7

As this formula is applied in our lives, I know we will see personal growth and our conversion unto Christ will continue to grow stronger and stronger day by day.

Well God and Jesus Christ love you and all His children eternally. I personally love ya'll as well. I am also grateful for my companions, Elders Smoot and Rockwood, they are amazing and I love them a lot. Continue to do all you can to show forth your faith in the Savior Jesus Christ!

With Love,

Elder Pond

Stuart Zone... 'The Big Three' - Elder Rockwood, Elder Pond & Elder Smoot 
with Sisters Dougal & Stegelmeier.   Thank you Sisters for the picture!

 

 

 

 

WK70 'Keep Jesus in Your Heart'

Dear Family and Friends!!

Well the rumors are true...Up here in Stuart South we are in a tri-companionship so we can more effectively minister to the amazing Stuart Zion Zone! I love my companions we call ourselves the big three just as LBJ, Dwane Wade, and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat. Their names are Elder Rockwood, from Orem, and Elder Smoot, from Kaysville! We have already seen amazing miracles and will continue to see many mighty miracles ahead! Today I want ya'll to ponder on one word, it's very simple, but powerful! FAITH.

This week I was really able to come to an even greater understanding of the Atonement of Christ. This past Tuesday we baptized a man who only speaks Spanish so I was not able to speak much to him. But I do know that I always showed him and his family and incredible amount of love and always exercised faith! His baptism was one of the most spiritual experiences of my entire mission so far. Even though I didn't fully understand the words at the baptismal service, the Spirit of God was there and I could never deny that. As I was able to witness that amazing ordinance my understanding of the Atonement grew and thus my conversion unto the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! I know this gospel is Christs!

The Zone had an average month in May, we were able to baptize thirteen. We started off the month really strong but then had a weak finish. As we as zone leaders discussed what action needed to take place to fix the problem at hand we discerned that as a zone we needed to always act in faith, and understand greater how to prepare our amazing investigators to be baptized. So we are taking training's to all the missionaries in the Zone this week so therefore they can be converted and thus see more success!

Yesterday we had forty-five minutes to harvest and I asked Elder Grant, who I was on exchanges with, how many blessings he wanted to give. He stated four very half heartily. I then testified of faith and exclaimed we could definitely reach eight blessings. He looked shocked but eventually jumped on board with faith. The first three doors we knocked opened and we harvested. We then began to run from door to door harvesting with fire and faith. Then three of the next five blessings said a resounding yes to baptism and were very excited to come to church. This was a life changing experience for the two of us! I know as we give God everything we have and put fire and faith into it then He will grant us success!

But that's all for this past crazy week! We have been travelin all over the Stake and I have been lovin it! Keep Jesus in your heart always!

With Love,

Elder Pond

WK69 'Time for a Little Change!!'

Dear Family and Friends

Palm Beach and Stuart Zone Conference

I am eternally grateful unto God for this past week and the things He was able to teach me and convert me unto! This past week has changed my life and I would like to highlight some huge principles I was able to be converted to!

Trust in God and in others: For all of my mission I have always trusted in God and Jesus Christ all the time. I truly love them with every fiber of my being. But I have always struggled to trust in others, whether that is members, other missionaries, or my investigators. I have truly loved them and would do anything for them but I was missing trust. This week Elder Torres and myself were able to counsel more concerning these things and God revealed a lot to us. First that unity with anyone; your companion, spouse, friends, etc.; first comes as you trust them completely. Then that trust leads you to allow others to act in faith as God does. Many times God allows us to do things, we mess it up, but then He helps us to be able to fix it. We must apply this same principle with those that we come in contact with. Because as we apply this principle we will allow others to learn and grow and create lasting conversion in them!

Exact Obedience in the small things matters: I have always done all I can to be exactly obedient. But many times we can get lazy with the small things and thus we lose spiritual power. We need this spiritual power in the world that we live in and especially as we teach God's children and baptize them!

So I am extremely excited to see amazing miracles this upcoming transfer! I have made a covenant with God to apply these two principles and many others that I have learned this past transfer and I know as a result we will do what has never been done before! Thus God is already blessing us because we are baptizing an amazing part-member family today who we were able to marry yesterday! We also got transfer calls last night and Elder Torres will be leaving. I will be getting a new companion up here in Stuart!

But I gotta go peace and get everything ready for the new transfer! I love ya'll and keep up the Lords work!

With Love,

Elder Pond

WK68 'We Have Work To Do!!'

Dear Family and Friends!

Well we had an amazing Mothers Day yesterday full of baptisms! It was definitely an amazing time to reflect on the atoning sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ! We must always center our lives around the Atonement! While I was reading President Anderson's email it stood out to me, it said, "WE HAVE WORK TO DO!!". This is absolutely true! At the beginning of my mission I made a covenant with God that I would serve him with everything I have and I have always strived to live up to that covenant. I know that as I have given the Lord my all, He has blessed us tremendously through His mercy! There were a couple amazing miracles that came to pass this week that showed forth the mercy of Christ:
We have this part-member family who is getting married this Saturday so the husband can get baptized on Sunday and one day have an eternal family!
We were able to baptize two more amazing sons of God!
We were harvesting on P-day and this first two doors we knocked on accepted baptism readily!
I myself was able to become more converted, and help other receivers become more converted as well!
These are just a few of the many mighty miracles that our loving Savior Jesus Christ was able to give to us this week!

The zone is doing amazing as well! We were able to bring seven souls into the waters of baptism this week as a Zone and have many more miracles coming in the Stuart Zone! This week we have Zone Training and we will be training on gaining trust of our investigators, and creating spiritual experiences with the follow-up visit. We as well will be training on helping our missionaries become pro-active game-changers and play-makers. I know this will help our missionaries become more converted children of God and will create lasting conversion.

Lately Elder Torres and I have also been pondering about how we need spiritual power and conviction. This comes through true conversion and is something we want for all of God's children. So we will be doing all we can to help our missionaries, ward, and investigators gain spiritual power! But for those of you reading this, do ALL you can to gain direct spiritual power from God! Your life will change completely as you do so and thus change others lives completely!

But everyone I absolutely love my mission and the work I am doing! This work brings me indescribable joy! Now lets go do HIS work!!

With Love,

Elder Pond

WK67 'Revelation!!'

Dear Family and Friends!

This week has been amazing and full of miracles! This week we had mission leadership counsel and it was an amazing time to receive revelation and enlightenment. We also know that much more revelation will come in the upcoming weeks and along with that even more miracles!

Mission Leadership Counsel

This week we were able to see huge miracles from God. As we exercised our faith in Christ and were proactive we were able to see two of God's children come unto Christ through baptism!

Also another huge miracle that we were able to see was while we were with a member on Saturday. We went to an appointment but they weren't home. As we were walking away I saw a man sitting outside and I was prompted to go speak with him. So we listened and began to approach the man. He accepted the blessing readily and after the blessing he exclaimed how much he felt the Spirit of God. Then as we invited him to be baptized he said, "I've been meaning to be baptized for a while so absolutely! Also where is ya'lls church I wanna come tomorrow!" It was amazing to see God lead us to His children that are extremely elect as we opened our mouths! As we walked away the member exclaimed, "Wow, that was a miracle!"

Well this week it finna be short and sweet! We have been on the computer all morning creating our Zone Vision so we are gonna peace and do some more planning for this upcoming week!

But I love ya'll!

Elder Pond

WK 66 'Miracle Ministerial Week!!'

Dear Family and Friends!!

Today I am extremely grateful for the revelation we are able to receive especially as missionaries! Revelation is key to everything we do. From the Presidents email today, I was able to receive powerful revelation for our area and zone. Concerning having effective studies and ministering with love! There is an excitement thriving throughout the zone at this time and I can promise miracles are coming in the amazing month of May!

 

This week Elder Torres and myself were able grow and increase our faith in Jesus Christ dramatically.  Overall this week was fairly crazy, we had many things with the zone to accomplish as well as in our own area we had many progressing investigators. So we went out this week and worked as hard as we possible could and knew that God would provide the rest. Throughout the week we saw many mighty miracles. On Monday, we went on a fire exchange with the Royal Palm and Wellington Elders. Elder Neilson and myself were together for the last appointment of the night, to see these kids of the family that they were teaching. We went there but the mom answered the door and said the kids were not home. So we testified, got in and began teaching her. It was amazing to see, as we tied past spiritual experiences, to God sending us there to help her be baptized, a light came on in her eyes. After the lesson she was basically begging us to be baptized. Tuesday, I learned even more to talk with everyone. We were going to an appointment with a member and I saw this teenage boy on the street. So we walked over to him and contacted him. We then went and blessed his home and he accepted everything readily. Wednesday, I learned of the power of the Book of Mormon and of being obedient. We saw this investigator that we have been teaching since I got here and she got antied about the Book of Mormon, by here friend. But we didn't let that stop us, during this lesson as we likened Alma 57:21 to her being an example mother, she felt the Spirit from the Book of Mormon and forgot about everything she had heard. Also, it was seven o'clock and we only had one blessing due to craziness throughout the week. But we had many people that we needed to see. So we looked at each other and decided harvesting to be obedient and get eight by Wednesday was the first priority. So we went out with faith and got seven harvest blessings in one hour. Five of which said yes to baptism! Thursday I was on exchanges in Jupiter South with Elder Free. I was able to learn a lot concerning faith and as we have faith we can overcome all things. Friday, I went on exchanges with Elder Plowman in Fort Lauderdale and I learned an incredible amount. I learned most importantly how we must trust, establish high expectations, and then train and re-train. We saw many miracles through harvesting throughout the day and found many of God's elect children. Then Saturday, I was able to learn of the power of charity and true Christlike love. Elder Rockwood came to interview our investigators, who were preparing to be baptized Sunday. After the interview they were all set to be baptized the next day and I could see a light in them. As I expressed my love for them and most importantly the love that God has for them, I could feel the Spirit very strongly. Then Sunday, we were able to increase our faith in Jesus Christ the most. We saw a miracle of having four people come to church in our area, but had many more that were set to come but did not come. As we were eating lunch after church we were both fairly discouraged, because our baptisms fell through as well. So we had a companionship study, to plan for our investigators. We made specific plans to go follow up with everyone. As we were leaving the apartment Elder Torres offered a prayer that changed my life. Humbly asking God to give us the faith and spiritual power to help our Brothers and Sisters come closer to baptism today. It was amazing to see that as we went to see these children of God after church on Sunday, God filled our mouths with power, authority, and charity. We were able to see huge miracles with helping people prepare for baptism and set 16 baptismal dates this week! We saw as we exercised complete faith in Jesus Christ, he gave us many mighty miracles!

 

The Zone is doing absolutely amazing. These past three weeks it has been amazing to see the conversion of our District Leaders grow. I know the things we have been doing these past three weeks will allow us to see miracles in the month of May! But Elder Torres and myself are in the Stuart Zone, definitely the biggest zone in the mission. We have twenty four amazing missionaries in our zone that I love very much. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity God has given me to serve my fellow Elders and Sisters.

Well God is our Father. Jesus is the Christ. I know these things to be true, and I love both of them!

 

With Love,

Elder Pond

WK65 'Stuart!!'

Dear Family and Friends!

This week was an extremely exciting and unified week here in Stuart South and across the entire Stuart Zone. An excitement is filling the air for the big weekend we will be having on the last week of April. Miracles are coming I can feel it, we just must have faith and always be exactly obedient as you said.

 

This week in our area we saw huge miracles that as we testified of Christ, and brought members over to teach with us, the Spirit was extremely strong. Then we saw a huge miracle at the end of the week, with having eight of our amazing friends come and taste of the Atonement of Christ. Now we will be doing all we can here in Stuart to help these Children of God partake of the Atonement of Christ through baptism this Sunday!

 

I also saw a huge miracle in our area, as I was on exchanges in our area with Elder Fanika. We were going to an appointment that we had, but we turned down the wrong street. Then I looked and saw this man on the side of the street and the Spirit absolutely prompted me to pull over and talk with this man. I kept driving, but then I heard the Spirit tell me the same thing a second time. So we stopped the car, parked, and began heading to this mans house. We knocked on his door, because he had gone inside. Then his whole family came out, we prayed with them, and they explained they had been praying for more peace and strength and this prayer brought that. Then they all accepted baptism! It was amazing to see the Spirit guide us to this amazing family.

 

Sorry today I don't have much time, because Elder Torres and myself are extremely busy today.  We are going down to Wellington, so we can help the District. But, know all is well. We are working extremely hard and thus seeing amazing miracles!

 

With Love,

Elder Pond