Monday November 14^th, 2011

Hello lovely world! I don’t even know what to tell you all.....so its been an interesting week. Let me start with last Monday...

So we began to go out and work and I felt sick starting this day, but I didn’t think anything of it. I am in Argentina and I always feel sick...it was mostly a little pain in my head but I thought it would go away. We went out Tuesday and had a LONG day of hard work in the blazing heat, which did not help my head. I thought eating would make me better but I felt even worse. We kept going. We had a ton of appointments that day so we went around teaching people and they kept giving us freaking juice and not water when we were thirsty. Also this lady gave us the weirdest like natural drink that to me tasted like alcohol, and after I drank it my throat hurt SO bad and my head was pounding. We got home and I just collapsed into bed just hoping I would sleep it off. Didn’t work. First of all there was a HUGE thunder and lightening storm all night and so that made it hard to sleep and the power went out so we were just like laying in the pitch dark with one little candle lit - haha - it was great.

Then we get a call from the zone leaders and they are all pumped and tell us that we are going to have ¨Hermana camp 2¨ and they wanted us to go to Villa - the other girls area - for 2 days to work and help them out. We tried acting stoked about it and I didn’t have the heart to tell them no because I felt sick because I truly thought it would go away. Bad idea. So we go to Cosquin the next day and have this huge zone meeting with all this energy and excitement and all the elders were like counting on us to go do miracles over in their area so I kind of just ignored my pounding head ache, stomach ache, and my throat was getting worse. I felt like I was going to puke, so as we left to grab food I was like uhhhh no I cant eat I feel like death and they were all like - uhhh – ok - you should probably eat, but whatever. As we were walking around in more blazing heat I felt like I was going to faint but everyone knows…..I try to be super positive all the time and don’t like to be a buzz kill - especially after this long intense meeting with the zone leaders and everyones all like ¨whooooo hermana camp yayyy!!!¨ haha so I didn’t want to ruin it.

The one hour bus ride to their area did not make matters better....I felt like dying on the bus ride up there and as we waited for our second bus I kept getting the chills and literally felt like death. I tried pushing through but I had just had it - I couldn’t fake my dying state....we go to the apartment and I collapsed on one of the hermanas bed and I just started to cry and cry and my head was SO hot and I seriously thought something bad was happening to me. The hermanas freaked out and called the wife of president and she said to take my temp and my temp was at 102! I felt like I couldn’t breath and then the hermana freaked out and just told the hermanas to take me to the hospital. We rushed in and I just kept my eyes closed and walked around like I was dead because I seriously felt so much pain. As we got in pretty quick to meet with a doctor she took my temp and it was almost to 103 and it was rising fast!!! So she freaked out and told me that I had a terrible fever and that I was dehydrated. She said they needed to hook me up to an IV!!! I got SO scared because I hate needles ONE (I fainted when I got my shots for Africa), and TWO, I have never been in a hospital in my life… let alone in a sketchy little one in Argentina that I don’t even know if i can trust....but as I laid there panicking and just wanted the pain to go away I looked at the doctor and knew I could trust her and they took me in. I lay down and just shut my eyes SO tight because I knew if I looked I would like hyperventilate and scream and precious hermana Masters was with me - love her! She was like my mom and kept squeezing my hand and stroking my arm and told me everything would be alright. Once I got the IV in, my fever started to drop and I felt ALOT better! But that wasn’t the worse part...

So even before they put the dang thing in me, I had to use the bathroom and I told the people that, but she said you can use it later….Cool. So I was laying there all calm and feeling better and i told hermana masters to go to the nurse and ask her if I could please go to the bathroom because I was dying. So she gives me permission like it was nothing and of course chill Argentina hospital doesn’t give me instructions or anything and just hands me my IV bag and is all chill like yeah, just go and you will be fine. NOT! I was so awkward about having this needle in my arm and carrying around this bag of liquid but I didn’t know what else to do - when you have to go you have to go! So I got in the bathroom and locked the door and as I sat down I felt all tingly in my arm first off and then I looked down and my whole IV cord was all red and just blood...I looked at it and panicked and yelled to hermana Masters and asked her if it was normal and she said, “I think so. I ignored it but as I sat there all of a sudden I couldn’t feel MY WHOLE body and I started to black out and I FLIPPED! I started having a panic attack and yelling to hermana Masters ¨oh my gosh I cant see! I can’t see! Help me!!!¨ She sounded so nervous but trying to be calm at the same time and just kept yelling at me ¨open the door open the door!!!¨ I couldn’t move or walk or see or anything, so I started to freak out more and started to cry SO hard and just prayed I would be able to find and get the door open because I could only imagine if I fainted in their alone with the door locked! I prayed and slowly shuffled my feet around and just moved around my hands trying to get the door open. After many prayers from both sides of that locked door I got it open - I have no idea how I swear it was angels - and I just fell into hermana Masters arms like still freaking out and couldn’t see or feel anything. They took me back to the bed and the doctor came running over and saw that all my blood had gone into the tube and hooked it all back up. I was just so happy and relieved to make it out and then when the doctor found out I hadn’t eaten all day she yelled at my comp and told her to go buy me something. I got something in my stomach and calmed down and the other hermanas came to the hospital to comfort me and I felt better. Uhhh - it was the most intense and scary thing that has ever happened to me!

So pretty much the rest of the week I was in bed and just drinking A TON of water and gatorade and taking pills and sleeping alot. I hate being sick - it seriously is so depressing just sitting around and not being able to do anything, but that is what I get. I need to take better care of my health..I learned my lesson.

The good news was that Hermana Camp 2 was not completely a bust because they ended up teaching and putting a fecha with this guy and he is progressing and really excited. So I am glad we helped in some way. On our side it definitely ruined our week because we didn’t get to teach or pass for anyone and we had NO ONE IN CHURCH Sunday - there was only 20 people! It was pouring rain so that didn’t help at all but it was a huge bummer. I did get a blessing from some members and I am feeling A LOT better so that is good! We are having a zone get together today and making asado and watching movies in our chapel so I think that will be fun and then hopefully we can go out and start a whole new fresh week and work hard.

Something that has really helped me during this hard and sad and sick week in the mission is the scriptures. It was so hard to just lay in bed and be inside all day and I just felt so bad for people that are constantly sick and cant move or go anywhere. It is seriously terrible! Any time I stepped outside I just took in the air and looked around at the nature and the sun and birds and was just so grateful for God’s creations and the earth. it is seriously such a blessing to have it all around us and to enjoy it daily!

But I truly do love the scriptures so much and there is seriously so much we can learn from them and most of all just feel a deep and profound love from God that he has for us. I love the scripture in 1 Nephi 15:24-25...

24 And I said unto them that it was the ^aword of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would ^bhold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the ^ctemptations and the fiery ^ddarts of the ^eadversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction.

25 Wherefore, I, Nephi, did exhort them to give ^aheed unto the word of the Lord; yea, I did exhort them with all the energies of my soul, and with all the ^bfaculty which I possessed, that they would give heed to the word of God and remember to keep his commandments always in all things.

I know with all of my heart that the scriptures are given to us for our benefit to bless and help us during hard times so we can learn and grow. During this past week I have never felt so down but every time I would open up the scriptures and feast upon its profound words, I would feel the love of God so powerfully all around me and I would know that he cared for me and was there to comfort and help me. It’s like the scripture in 1 Nephi 11:22-23...

22 And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheds itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things.

23 And he spake unto me, saying: Yea, and the most ^ajoyous to the soul.

Through searching and studying the scriptures this week I have found that most joyous feeling to the soul and embraced the love that God has for me. I promise and testify to each of you that if you are sick, going through a rough time, feel alone, or troubled, you can open up your scriptures and learn from their holy pages and feel of that most desirous feeling that god has to offer you. Even if it is a page a day, it will bless your life and feel those dark times with heavens light and love. As much as the mission has its extreme highs and dark and very low lows, I am so grateful for the things I am learning for my life and I feel blessed to have the opportunity to share it with others. I love the mission and love every experience I have been through because each one has come to me for a specific reason to help me grow and learn. I love you all and I cant thank you enough for your prayers. I can feel them daily! Hope you have a good week!

Love, Hermana Pond

November 7th, 2011

Adventures in La Falda!

Hello! So it’s been a good few days – haha - since we have had a short week with all the weird changes and such.

-Chick fight…OH MY GOSH. So one night we were walking home from an appointment with a family and we were kind of in a sketchy neighborhood and as we were like hiking up this hill we see these four like 14 year old girls and they are on the floor like killing each other! They were screaming and cursing, pulling out each others hair, and scratching each others faces. We freaked out and didn’t know if we should help or just walk away but this older guy saw and tried splitting them up. As we walked higher up the hill we heard someone saying that it was Brenda from down the street that started the whole thing…our investigator! I about died. Lets just say we still haven’t been able to pass for her house. I am little nervous to upset her.

-Sandals…not such a good idea after all - so we were walking out after lunch to go out and teach people and I was just super excited and had tons of energy, just ready to teach! We only get like a few feet from out apartment and somehow I was like distracted pointing at something for my comp to look and I tripped way hard not thinking anything of it because I am just clumsy and awk. We keep walking and all of the sudden my comp looks down and she’s like oh my GOSH you’re dying – haha - and I look down and there is blood everywhere and I had broken open the front of my toe. I just looked down at it and was like oh it didn’t hurt that bad….so I am like hobbling back the apt with a bloody foot and this toothless homeless Indian looking guy who is always on the corner says ¨mamita que te pasa…¨ I just throw up my poor blood foot and tell him I am a wreck and dying pretty much…..haha - it was great. We got home and argentine bandaged it up - wrapped scotch tape around my big toe-and we headed out to preach. My toe still hurts…

-We were in another town this week and went into a tourist office to get a map so we could find our way around. She was súper nice and was explaining everything so well, and was super helpful. As we sat there and chatted with her I just got this feeling to give her something to read about the church and right when I bent down to my bag to pull something out she asked us who we were and what we did! We were in her office for like an hour telling her about the gospel and testifying of its truth. She seemed super interested and said she would call us and also invite other people that would seem to have interest! She is super cute and young and her name is Maggie, so we are just waiting for her to call us so we can have an appointment with her!
-A member called us this week and was like - hey hermanas, I got a reference for you! She said she was talking to her neighbor - who is an older lady that lives with her handicapped daughter - and asked why she was always so happy - MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK! WHOOO! And so she taught a little about the gospel and said she would come over with the missionaries the next day and teach them. Legit! So we went and they loved it and the spirit was SO strong and they have a ton of interest!!!! We set a baptism date for the end of this month and they both came to church Sunday but the only problem is both don’t walk very well at ALL -so its a lot of work to get them to church but we have faith and the members said they will help out a lot. Their names are Ofelia and Christina so pray for them - they are super special and ready for the blessings of the gospel!

-The zone leaders - who I idolize and worship - I am not kidding they are the most intense and best missionaries EVER - came and did a splash in our area to help us find new people to teach and work with the people we are teaching right now. We had plans for all of us to go to a different town but for some reason Elder Snack felt we should stay in La Falda and work with some people here. We were a little down about it because all the people we were working with in La Falda were not progressing that much, but we trusted in the leaders and went around passing for all the people together. We got to this lady’s house – Lorena - and I thought nothing of it. It is usually really loud because she has 2 kids and she is always distracted but we all sat down and at first it was just her dad. We chatted with him but once she showed up the elders just sat her down and drilled her!!! (In a good way), but they taught her the most amazing lesson I have ever been in. The spirit was SO intense and I just kept looking at her and thinking – ahhh - I hope she is feeling this! They tried talking to her about baptism and she rejected. They taught more doctrine out of the Book of Mormon and shared their testimonies. She pondered on the things they said and as they asked if she could imagine what it would be like to experience never ending happiness as a family - she got all quiet and told us because of her experiences - had a drinker abusive husband and left him and is struggling with 2 kids alone financially - she doesn’t think she knows what true happiness is. We promised and testified to her the blessings and happiness of the gospel and the spirit was just piercing all of us and we were all way emotional and then my comp committed her to be baptized! It was probably one of my favorite lessons in my missión. With both us and the elders and such a prepared investigator who was just in the moment of really needing all this for her life and for her kids and accepted it! There was tons of opposition but with the help and strength of the lord through our fasts and prayers she came to church on Sunday for all three hours! I couldn’t believe how much the Lord has been blessing us this week and it just really gave me the testimony that with faith - ANYTHING is possible.

Also this new couple moved into the ward this week and the girl is a member but the guy is not and he wants to get baptized! He pretty much is already learning a lot and strengthening his testimony and in the principles of the gospel class he gave his cool story and journey to the true church. I was giving the class on faith and as all these investigators were there I just bore my testimony of my conversión with all my heart and I just knew, in that moment looking at all them and their desire and faith to find the truth and happiness, that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and through obeying and living its principles we can be happy. It was such a blessing. It was such a good week.

Although it was a week of pure miracles and joy there was also times of a lot of opposition and trials of my faith personally. As we were fasting the night before Sunday we had just had a really hard day and no one was home and we were completely unsure of who was going to be at church the next day and had a ton of pressure from leaders and the missión to get investigators in church. I did doubt a lot. I did struggle internally and at one point of the night I was just so overwhelmed, with the missión, the church, responsibility, work, sacrifice, and faith. I felt like I personally couldn’t do it and handle it anymore. I felt annoyed and frustrated with people’s agency and opposition and thinking how unfair a lot of things were. Our last appointment with this man at the end of the night during our fast I was so tired and over it and I kind of tuned out to what the guy was saying. As I tuned in for a second, I realized that he was really thanking us for our dedication and Heart to the work we were doing and he said ¨someone really needs to not just be convinced to do the things you are both doing but to really be CONVERTED.¨
As we got home at night and I collapsed into bed thinking about all the stress that was above our heads, the work and worry we had to deal with in the morning, and the disappointment we might have to face after a week of true dedication I just wanted to quit. I wondered why I do it all and why I keep going each day. I wondered if it was all worth it and as I laid there in the dark just super restless and weak, I just kept going back to that comment from the shirtless old man minutes before that although had no interest in what we had to share with him could comment and tell us that he KNEW that we were not just convinced of what we did but TRULY CONVERTED. What does it mean to be truly converted and why is it important not just in the missión but as members of this church to be truly converted…

This week I studied a talk written by my companion’s grandfather that he wrote when he was a missión president. He talked about the importance of conversion, and he shares the story of Peter the apostle of Christ. After many experiences of witnessing, testifying, receiving, preaching, teaching, and bearing all things with Christ in his ministry, Peter still heard the words from Christ himself after these experiences that ¨when thou are converted, strengthen they brethren¨ (Luke 22:22).

Is conversión then more than just having a testimony of Christ and not just promising the Lord to do something for him, but it is much more. True conversión really is what it talks about in Alma chapter 5, that ¨mighty change of heart¨ and in Mosiah 3 verse 19 how we must yield to the enticings of the holy spirit and put off the natural man and submit to the will of God forever. After letting down the Lord and rejecting him three times before his death, Peter had let down the Lord, feeling inadequate to do his work or will again. He had felt that he had tried his very best and tried to serve the Lord but must have lacked something. After deciding to go back to his old life and ¨go fishing¨(John 21:3), it must have felt good to take that break and relieve that burden of responsibility. As Christ called to them and Peter jumped in the water to run to the Lord and after asking him three times if he loved him, Peter, precious faithful and faithless peter who had let the Lord down, but did love him with all his heart and did want to prove his love to him, with tears in his eyes and a shaky voice declared ¨Lord thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.¨ (John 21:17). And in this precious moment of forgiveness and love and actual declaration to the dedication and willingness of Peter to his Lord to literally give up anything and do anything for the Lord, the Lord was able to then see this true change of heart in Peter and invite him to ¨feed his sheep¨ and was ready to ¨strengthen his brethren.¨

What was this difference in Peter? After this statement peter never failed his master again and went out and did wonders for the church was a powerful leader of the church and teaching and testifying of the gospel bringing many souls to the fold of the good shepherd.

There are three key things we can learn from this story of Peter and his conversión. As disciples of Jesús Christ and his church he has asked us personally to do the same. When we are truly converted we must go out and feed his sheep and strengthen his brethren. But how do we show to the Lord we are willing and how do we know that we are truly converted?
*First is commitment - we must ask ourselves personally if we have been converted and made the commitment - if we truly have experienced this mighty change in our hearts and we are willing to yield to the spirit and submit to the will of God whatever the personal cost and earthly sacrifice is required of us - Scriptures-Mosiah 3:19, 27:28, Alma 5:7
*Second is sacrifice - we need to literally imagine if Christ was with us and he was pointing to something or he had something of the world in his hands and he asked us ¨love me more than these.¨ (John 21:15) what are those things that hold us back and keep us from doing his work as he would do it? Scriptures- Luke 9:62, Matt 19:16-22, D & C 59:8
*Third is covenant or promise - what of the sacred covenants we have to obey his commandments to sacrifice for the building up of his church, to love and serve him by loving and serving others, and to consecrate our lives FULLY to him and his work and where have I failed or fallen short and what is required of me now…? Mosiah 18:8-10, d and c 20:37, 77, 79
When we fully understand our duties in the church and we come to comprehend the importance of full conversión to have that strong and unmovable testimony and to LIVE for the Lord and do everything for him regardless of what happens - that is when miracles happen and that is when we can be useful tools in the Lord’s precious work and help build up his kingdom with our own converting power. I testify to you all, that like Peter, we must be completely and fully converted to Christ to do miracles in his church. It takes a lot more that just saying we would give anything for the Lord but when the hard times, like Peter fall short and end up rejecting the Lord. We are all very imperfect in this work and gospel but I know that Christ is merciful and he will invite us to the shore, put his hand on our shoulders with all his love and concern, and AGAIN invite us to go feed his sheep and strengthen his brethren.

This work is sometimes disappointing and it has its hard times but I know that if we are PURELY CONVERTED to Christ Jesús and we have had that change of heart and committed our lives to serving him until the end, even when it gets hard and if we just go a little more, we will see and experience the blessings. We can all get offended or upset with others or even un ourselves but in this church, for that reason, we must stay strong and always keep going because the Lord is counting on us and he needs us to keep this work pressing forward. I invite each of you to ¨taste of this love of God…which causes such exceedingly great joy in our souls¨ (mosiah 4:11), ¨Experiment upon my words¨ (alma 32:27), and ¨If you have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel it now?¨ I promise as Alma does that ¨the good shepherd doth call after YOU¨ (alma 5:60) and once you are TRULY CONVERTED, strengthen your brothers and your sisters. I love this gospel and although times can we difficult I am grateful for a loving and understanding Savior who has given me such a strong and never ending testimony of his life and truth and light to continue in the work and feed his lost sheep. Hope you all have a good week!!

Love Hermana Pond

Hello America...

I don’t have much time so I am going to give you all a quick over view of what has gone down in ¨the skirt¨ LA FALDA this week!

- News from Arroyito- CARMEN my favorite convert ever just got called to be relief society president....YAY! she is going to do awesome!

-Cat lady - we were contacting people in the streets and knocking doors and we pass this one house and visibly there were over 20 cats just in the front of the house...I like screamed - haha - I was so excited! We found out its a really old lady and she’s super protective of her cats so we got in trouble for even like looking at them - haha - I wanted to take pics but they wouldn’t let me...it was my dream I loved it...I am the creepy cat lady! We later found out she has over 60...

-Officially Argentine - I have now lived in Argentina for over a year....whoooo! I am old. I still get sad though when people ask me where I am from when I begin to talk - haha – my freaking gringa accent holds me back from becoming the ethnic true raw argentine I want...and my blonde roots are coming in so its a little obvious.

-Blanca y Nieve - so we found Nemecio - homeless guy - in the streets again this week and taught him and invited him to church. Like usual he is carrying his piece of foam bed around and has his dog Blanca y Nieve following him around. We took pics and bonded and he thanked us for being his friend. He is a gem.

-We taught this 16 year old kid this week that just got in the scariest motor cycling accident ever. When we found him he was outside on his porch and just looked so sad and freaked out. He had a head on crash with a car and literally almost lost his life. He is out for like 6 months and cant walk and has this huge metal bar going down his leg to hold his bones in place. It was so hard looking into this lost and scared face of a teenage kid who barely almost lost his life and had no idea why it had to happen to him. We gave him the plan of salvation and promised him it would give him comfort and purpose. I have been praying for him all week. His name is Juliano.

-Like usual we find the most odd people to teach. Normally kids running in the streets, homeless, or crippled people because they are all looking for help and love and ¨have time¨ to listen. That is why it is so important for members to work with the missionaries in the ward because they can help them find people to teach. This guy we found was homeless, crippled, and a little drunk and very alone. We got chatting with him and as I looked at this precious old man I just knew that Christ loved him. He smelled so bad, had really messed up burnt hands, and was cross eyed but as we spoke to him you could feel the sincerity of his heart and the humility he had in life. He meant no harm and truly just wanted to be happy. He smiled a lot and after teaching him a little we gave him a little pass along card with a picture of Jesus on it and he held it close to his heart and said he is going to keep it with him forever. I thought about how in society it would be so normal to look upon this man and judge, hate, discriminate, abandon, or ignore and I just felt so blessed to find him in that moment, feel of the love that God had from him, and testify to him of that love and to not let anyone let him forget it. I knew if Christ were with us in that very moment he would be moved with compassion like it states in the scriptures and immediately heal this mans infirmities because he truly did have so much faith and hope. This is one of the reasons I love the mission - the tender mercies we experience each day in the mission.

-We are teaching this little girl named Milagros and she has grandparents that are inactive members and she is SO epic. She wants to get baptized so bad and every time we come over she is so ready to pray and tell us about what she studied. She went to church on Sunday and LOVED IT! She has a date for the 12th of November so we are crossing out fingers. Her little sister is 4 and SO cute and we are best friends. One night we were walking to her house and she looked out the car window and with these big eyes she mouthed with so much excitement...¨Jeni!!!¨ haha - She cant say Hermana Pond so I told her my name was Jami and she says Yeni - its SO cute. We love their family and work with them every other day.

-Argentine ice cream man - one day we are walking to our apartment for lunch and we see this really small funny looking man and he is carrying this huge white box over his shoulder and we wondered what he was doing. After a few minutes we just hear him like screaming so much - and we were so confused as to what was going on, and finally we figured out he was yelling HELADOOOOOO....no cool van with pretty pictures of all different ice creams to buy and pretty music filling the neighborhoods but a argentine midget man pacing so intensely up the streets screaming at the top of his lungs HELADO....love Argentina.

-Argentine children gone wild - so we are teaching this girl Gisel and she has a son that is 4 and his name is Fernando. Every time we are at their house he is like running around crazy but this week we passed and he was literally out of control. He had a hammer and was like going around shirtless just hitting everything with this hammer and somehow got coal all over his face so he looked like some Indian or warrior. For some reason he got mad at his mom and so he went in the house and one by one he was coming out and throwing different things at all of us. It started out little but then it turned into chairs and boxes of his toys and like a stove iron sitch, and his mom was just like laughing and it was nuts. He finally comes out with like the heaviest thing and as he is doing all this he is like screaming PAPEEE! and has tears running down his face making the war paint like run everywhere and then he comes super close to his mom and screams at the top of his lungs and is like threatening her with a chair above his head about to chuck it at her. I was so amused - I just sat there like struck dumb –haha- because I couldn’t believe what was going down - psycho indio child, gone crazy, and the mom is just sitting there laughing. The kid got over it and just ended up climbing on the roof and chucking things off it but lucky this time it wasn’t at us……this whole thing made me terrified to be a mother some day!

Service - one night its late and we are walking home and we pass this old lady in the street and just with the biggest smile on my face I say hi to her and she is so struck by it she like stops and asks how she knows me – haha - we explained to her we are missionaries and we like to say hi to everyone and offered her help with her bags. We ended up like listening to her life story and carrying the heaviest bags for miles – haha - it was funny because she was just going and going and my comp and I just laughed because it seriously felt like bricks were in her bags and i could barely make it up the hill. She was cute. Love service.

-One of my favorite inactives that we are working with is named Sonia, and we had a family home evening with her and her 4 cute girls. Her husband is not a member and so he wasn’t really interested in listening and when we invited him over he like awkwardly pretended he didn’t hear- haha- shoot. But we had a really good lesson about the story of the tree of life and Sonia really liked it and I feel like it really helped her because on Sunday we saw her and all of her girls show up to church with bright faces after like months not going. She is so cute and we definitely want to work with them more.

I read a talk by Eyring this week that I really enjoyed. It talks about spiritual preparedness and how we must always make the right choices before the hard times come. I like the part when he said...

¨However much faith to obey god we now have, we will need to strengthen it continually and keep it refreshed constantly. We can do that by deciding now to be more quick to obey and more determined to endure. Learning to start early and to be steady are the keys to spiritual preparation. Procrastination and inconsistency are its mortal enemies.¨

¨A loving Heavenly Father and his beloved son have given us all the help they can to pass the test of life set before us. But we must decide to obey and then do it. We build the faith to pass the tests of obedience over time and through our daily choices. We can decide now to do quickly whatever God asks of us. We can decide to be steady in the small tests of obedience which build the faith to carry us through the great tests, which will surely come.¨

It is so important to make the choice today to follow God and be obedient to the things he has given us so we can increase our faith and enjoy blessings and so when those tough times come we are spiritually firm and ready to always choose God and his side, we can never give up and always press forward and choose to follow God. He is the only one that can help us and it is through simple obedience to his laws and commandments that make us stronger and prepare us always for the tests and trials of life. We can never give up. We must always go forward and work on our faith and confidence in him daily. Using our agency correctly is so key. We have so much responsibility to do good and we can with the help of God. Remember who you are - a child of God - trust in the direction he has given you - go forward-and you will make it. Always choose the right. Be strong enough to do so. Stand up for what you believe in. Don’t fear and keep the faith. You have a ton of help and support. Don’t ever doubt. I love the mission and love being a missionary. Time goes by fast…..in life and in the mission. Let us enjoy every experience we have. Cherish it all. Learn and grow. Take it in. Embrace life. LOVE YOU ALL!

Love Hermana Pond