The Knock Before Midnight - MLK

Hi everyone! I am sending the last two emails together.......its a lot to read, but so interesting to realize the highs and lows of the mission. Remember how excited she was about conference?! Then she experienced the disappointment of not having her investigators attend conference. She was so discouraged she struggled to focus on the talks, even though she needed them more than ever......then she had the moment where the words of a prophet touched her heart and brought her peace. It's so interesting and inspiring to see the pattern of confidence and pure exhilaration followed by dispoointements and sadness. Then look at the next week - she is on Cloud 9 - as they had transfers, and such exciting things happening and such success. After the trial of faith comes the blessings, peace, and joy. In the mission and in our lives, its the same!
Thanks for your love and support.......she feels your prayers in her behalf......and the Ponds love you all SO MUCH!


April 4th, 2011

Family and Friends

It has been a hard week. I truly feel like this transfer has been the hardest I have worked in my mission. We have just been fasting and praying and teaching a ton, but we have no one that is progressing, and it has just been such a let down. I came into this area knowing it would be a bit more difficult, but we just don’t know what to do. I was so excited for conference weekend, and so pumped to tell everyone about it, and invite the world……but none of our investigators could come, and it was just so sad. It just makes me so sad to be out here pleading to these people to change their lives, and come unto Christ, and listen to THE LIVING PROPHET, since this is the only time in 6 months we will be able to, and everyone is too busy or they don’t want to come hear it....

I just felt so confused when it came to Sunday morning, and we were in the streets spending hours in the morning, just searching for people, and we just kept getting rejected house after house, and I was just so sad for these people. We ended up just going to conference and I tried enjoying it, since its what I have been waiting for the past 6 months….. but I was just so distracted, and kept wondering why these things happen. I don’t think it was a coincidence that a lot of the talks this conference were about the Atonement and trials and why we go through them. I really understood that everything happens for a reason and even though we can’t control of a lot of the things we go through…they all make us stronger and we can learn from them.

I like the quote that said when you become the answer to someone else’s prayer, you often are the answer to your own prayer…..that is how God works…..

I also liked how darkness precedes light,…..how the trial of our faith comes before the miracle…..so many good examples of that concept……

There are so many things we can learn from conference and every single message can apply to our lives at that very moment…….and what we are going through. I truly learned that it is just so important to forget yourself and just serve and think of others - and in doing so we will find our own answers to our own prayers and problems. Also – pain teaches us patience and we really should be grateful for the trials and experiences we are given in this life, because they help us get to know Christ better.

Jesus Christ suffered for us that he might know us, so maybe we need to suffer in this life, so we can come to know Him.

I really am grateful for these trials and hard times in the mission, because being a representative of Jesus Christ I feel like I need to experience the things he has, and overcome the hard things so I understand what he did for me. I knew the mission wouldn’t be easy, and for that I am so grateful to be here - I am grateful for the things I am learning every day. I am grateful that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ now me perfectly and love me. In one of the talks at the end - I think it was Eyring - I felt like he was talking directly to me….and I was still so sad and down and distracted - and with simple loving words of a man called of God, I knew that my Heavenly Father was concerned about me and communicating with me...

He said - God knows you personally and loves you. He knows what you are going through right now in this very moment, and the pain and trials that you are feeling. Know He is proud of the work you are doing, and knows of everything you have accomplished and done. Lift up your heart and press forward in hope and faith.

In this moment I truly felt the Lord wrapping his arms around me to comfort me and help me move on. The mission and the work and the people, and especially me are not perfect………but God and Christ are, and with their help I know that I will always overcome any hard day and moment and they will carry me the rest of the way.

I love you all with all of my heart, and know I can literally feel your prayers….. they give me a sense of hope and love and faith that strengthens me and keeps me motivated. Know I love this work and I am truly trying my best and giving it every bit of my heart and soul. Hope you all enjoyed conference and have a good week!!!



Monday April 11th, 2011

TRANSFERS!!!!

Me and my companion, Hermana Ellsworth, totally thought we were staying together for transfers but we are not! I am so sad - she is going to Villa Independencia in the Cierras, and I am staying in Rosedal. But guess who my comp is now...HERMANA BROWN...AGAIN! from Mesa, and we love each other - so we are way excited and we have such a fun district and zone, so it will definitely be good - we are excited.

So this week was good!

First of all - funny story - I GOT ROBBED. I am SO bitter – my favorite dogeared necklace from Nordstroms - haha – shoot! So anyways, we were walking down the street one day, and were on the side walk and this guy on a moto just drives by and I am thinking - that is funny - why is he going so slow - and then he just sticks out his hand and grabs my necklace and rips it off and drives away! I AM BITTER. So yeah - that was interesting - and that same day 2 elders got robbed at gun point and got their cameras stolen. SO - I have pretty much just been walking around with nothing now because I am nervous for round 2. Its a fun story to tell all the members though...

Also we set a baptism date!.......with this cute old man named Roberto who is so funny - he just got in a little accident so he can’t walk very well, but he loves us and has been taught before and is way positive and already knows a lot - we are excited to be working with him.

Also Diego left - my best friend - on his mission to Chile, and it was sooooo sad……but we are so excited for him. He is going to be the best missionary ever, and while he is gone we really want to work with and teach his family because they are not members except one who is inactive. We have become way close to them and they love us, and we like bond at their house and sing songs together, and the mom feeds us dinner. It was fun bonding with Diego this last week before he left - he worked a lot with us and helped with the work - he is such a star. There is this cute family that lives by him and one day he just said, “Lets go over and visit, so we did, and he introduced us and as missionaries and said, “We have been praying and trying to think of a family that needs to hear the gospel, and I thought of your family“–haha- he is so great - so we are excited to work with them - they seem way nice and positive!

One night we bonded with one of my favorite inactive families that I just love (they truly feel like my family) We made fajitas with them and they loved it - and we are hoping that they will go back to church because they are such a strong family. They also have tons of non-member friends, so it is a great missionary opportunity to share the gospel. Their daughter is already going to seminary so we are happy! The work goes forward slowly but surely !!!

We also were contacting one day and met this cute lady named Elena. She was outside with her daughter and was SO nice and cute and positive! We talked to them for a long time and we sang families can be together forever for her and she said she really felt the spirit! We talked a lot about the plan of salvation and when she was in college she got a Book of Mormon and read it and liked it! She has one little girl and is married and has one more on the way, so we really liked her and were grateful that the spirit was soooo strong as we were talking about families and the gospel and we are excited to visit them again.

There is also this girl named Mira - she is someone we found a while ago and she has just been having so many problems, and truly wants change in her life. One day we passed and she was just so interested in learning how to pray and she really loves the Book of Mormon and was excited about the chapters we gave her to read. She also has a ton of girlfriends that always come over and chat and bond with her and they like loved us, and one called one day - the day we came over - and said she had a feeling she should come by because she felt like the “chicas” (us!) - were going to be there, and she wanted to talk to us and hear about the gospel. It was so cool! So we are hoping she will progress - of course that part is SO hard for everyone - getting to church - but we have faith we will see!

Also there was this like HUGE event with this family in our ward - so their little 8 year old was getting bàptized this weekend, and they invited like 100 people!!!! Half of those that came were not members, so they invited all the missionaries in our zone to come to be impressive, and help and answer questions if people had them. Also the mission president was there, the stake pres, and the area 70! It was so awesome! They played a video about the church and also had a ton of food and mingling after. It was WAY successful - and what they are going to do is the family is going to give out all the references of their friends to the missionaries in their areas to go pass by their houses. The missionaries will give out the presents from the baptism - a DVD about finding faith in Christ, and also pictures from the baptism. BRILLANT YES??!!!

So we are very excited……I love it when the members get so involved and help in the mission work – it is so smart! Social activities, family home evenings, and baptisms are the best!!! If any of you members have things coming up - INVITE EVERYONE - find out what missionaries are in your area and help them OUT!!! So many of our close family and friends are truly ready and waiting to hear about the gospel and we are the ones that can help and be the most effective - we always get afraid to talk to people about it, because we are nervous or afraid of what they will say, but we need to be more BOLD! We need to remember that every person needs the gospel in their lives and we might just be the only person to share it with them. open your mouths! Be excited about the church and your testimonies and just share it all with LOVE! We are so lucky to have this knowledge...WHAT A BLESSING! We need to share it with others!!!

So I pretty much love the mission with all my heart and never want to leave! I feel like I am just learning soooooo much and my testimony is growing daily. I am so excited to start another transfer and just work hard and see tons of miracles!!! I love the people of Argentina and have care SO much for them all. I feel like this place is really becoming my home. And yes my Spanish is definitely getting better! I love you ALL - have a good week!

Hermana Pond

March 28th - More Excitement about Book of Mormon & April Conference

March 28th, 2011

Family and Friends!

First of all can I please let you all know that CONFERENCE is in like 6 days!!! I hope you are all getting pumped up and ready to go!!!! Like it talks about in Mosiah 2, when everyone in the town is setting up their tents and they get all prepared and ready to hear the prophet King Bejamin speak! Let us open our ears, our minds, and our hearts this week to prepare to hear the words of the living prophet of God on the earth today!!! Start thinking of some good questions to have ready to go, and get answered before Saturday!

So this week has been way good! First of all- the funny situations like always-

One night we had a noche day hogar (FHE) and lets be honest my Spanish is
still not perfect, and I was sitting next to Diego and he was helping me with my Spanish. I was trying to tell the hermana -a member- that I liked her shirt, and so I was like yelling......me gustta su ramera – well apparently it is REMERA, so and instead of saying I like your shirt to a member I was saying I like your whore....sooooo I definitely have realized I still have a ways to go on correcting and learning perfect Spanish.

Also we were knocking doors one day, and we got to this one house, and I went to start my contact, but right when they opened the door I had like tripped or had done something awkward and he ended up laughing and thought we were like jokes – haha - but it got us in the door anyway so its okay. So we sit down and start talking to this family and I just look on the table and there are all these Jesus books, and we realized that they are preachers from their church. So the whole time while we were trying to teach them, they would switch it up and try and teach us - it was out of control - then we gave them a Book of Mormon and we challenged them to read it and they bust out some Christian hope book and do the same- it was funny! We got invited to their prayer and study the bible night next Friday, so we will see how that goes..

Also one day we were in the ghetto, and I had to go to the bathroom SO bad, and our appointment wasn’t home, so we went to this other house where we thought we were friends with this girl, and we asked for her and she was like yelling at her husband not to let us in, and so I just asked him if I could just use the bathroom really quick and he let me in…...bad idea! The lady was MAD and like came in and was walking by my comp and ignoring her, and hit her with a block of wood when she walked by her- haha - I felt so bad - all this was happening when I was in the
bathroom - and so we like ran out of the house and my comp said we should not go to the neighborhood again, or she thinks the lady is going to like kill us.

ALSO -best part ever was we went to a baptism of some elders in our zone and it was suppose to be at 5 - the lady didn’t show up until like 730, and had ALL of these problems, and we truly didn’t even think it was going to go down, but we had an investigator there – the deaf friend of Diego - she is way cute - and then ALL of these little kids come to the church that we have taught before to play soccer and Diego
sits them down and like makes them watch the baptism, and finally when
it started the lady getting baptized was like HUGE, and she like wouldn’t even go under because she was afraid of water, and all the kids were SO loud, and it literally was out of control…. but in the end it all ended up working out, and everyone loved it. Such an adventure!

MIRACLES! Soooo, we have some great investigators right now! Eli is totally ready and could get baptized any day, but she always likes get scared the last minute and has tons of work and family problems so she is always giving excuses. But she really does want to get baptized, so we have been working with her a lot, and helping her get over her fears and doubts, and helping her develop more faith and confidence in God and in herself.

Aalso there is this family – it is a mom, Gladis and her 3 cute daughters, and they LOVE us and get emotional every time we come over, because she said she just feels so much peace and comfort when we teach and she knows its the truth and can make her family happy. Her mom is sick in the hospital, and had the nurses read
the Book of Mormon to her, and the pamphlets, and pretty much everyone in the hospital loved it! We are working with them a lot, and just trying to get them to church. We are hoping for a baptism for them after conference weekend!

Also there is Diego (a different Diego) and his cute wife and 3 kids- I love them! They just need to get married and my companion has worked a lot with the wife before, but one day we passed - and I just shared a little something and I actually thought they were members (inactives) - so I just said some little uplifting things and read out of the Book of Mormon - and he said he was in the other room when we came that day, and he heard us, and just felt so happy and peaceful and liked our message. So after we left he has been reading and praying and really wants to change his life, be a better dad, and have more love and unity in the family! We are so excited for them.

Also, there is Tina and Carla, but they are both living with someone, so they need to get married too, but Tina came to church, and they LOVE the Book of Mormon and they are reading and praying.

Also last night we passed for Diego’s house – (my best friend pretty much)
- who is about to go on his mission, and he is my idol. We wanted to talk about his
sister’s baptism because she is getting baptized before he leaves, but he wasn’t home, so we just ended up talking to his little brother, Gaston. He is inactive and 14 years old. I love him sooooo much, and I truly just look to him like my little brother, and it makes me sooo sad, because he is so inactive and doesn’t believe in ANYTHING and has no faith or beliefs. Last night we just sat him down and read some scriptures about faith, and truly I don’t think I have ever had such a powerful
lesson in my mission. We told him the story in Alma 5 about Alma’s son and his conversion - because Gaston said he wants to see God to believe anything is true-and we taught about how it was the feelings and power of the holy ghost that Alma felt in his heart to know the truth – not because he saw an angel. I just expressed with all my love and heart to this kid my testimony, and how I came to know of the truth of the church and told him my story, and the spirit was just SO intense! It
was definitely a tender mercy of the night.

Truly the mission is such a blessing! Every day we are seeing people change their lives and find the joy peace and happiness through Christ and the teachings of his gospel. I just LOVE the Book of Mormon and the power and role it has in the conversion process. You can find any answer in life that you are looking for if you read the Book of Mormon. I was reading the story in Alma 56, and I truly am just sooo inspired and impressed by their FIRE!!!, their faith, and love and desire, and COURAGE in themselves and in God! Why would we ever think we are inadequate or incapable to not receive the help of God in anything we do......I love when Helaman says that he has never seen such courage in anyone in his life. We need to put our trust in God and NOT DOUBT - and just go forward everyday with god by our side and he will be with us and help us. We truly can do anything with this kind of faith. I challenge anyone who reads this to open your Book of Mormon tonight
and read in Alma 56, and I promise you will be inspired beyond measure
and learn something new.

I hope everyone has a good week and know I am HAPPY and loving the mission and I am sooo excited for conference!!!!! Love you ALLLLLL – I think and pray for all of my family and friends often…..I miss you!!!!

Love,

Hermana Pond

March 20th - BOM excitement!

Monday March 20th, 2011

Family and Friends!

I feel like I have been so weak with my emails lately…..I have just been so busy! But we have truly seen miracles here in my new area and I love my companion!

So funny awkward stories first - so this week we did intercambios with these other sister missionaries in a close area. Hermana Lopez from Buenos Aires came to my area, and it was honestly the most amazing day ever! She is such a solid missionary and has the most amazing testimony!!! We were hitting doors looking for people to teach and this one guy comes to the window to talk to us and he is PANTLESS...and I didn’t even notice until like after 5 minutes talking to him, and I like looked at my companion - soooo awkward - and we just walked away like crying laughing it was soooo funny……awk pantless encounters!

Also we were contacting this guy in his door and he was way good and way interested, and wanted to learn more about Joseph Smith, and my comp is like talking to him all about it, and his little dog like runs up to me and jumps INTO my skirt, and my skirt is stretchy and like pretty much pulls it all the way down; it was soooo awkward, and my comp was like trying not to laugh...yeah - way to ruin the spirit!

Also, we were helping the Relief Society set up for an activity, and they asked me to do the glasses of course - dumb me - like gets the smart idea, “hey this would look way cool if I stacked these”....MALO! So I am stacking like all these glasses and my comp is saying – don’t do it - and I was like, “Hey hermana, where is your faith?”
Right when I say that one small glass slips and ALL of them fall literally just like in the movies and the tower of glasses just goes crashing to the floor, as I was trying to like catch them...it was terrible...apparently my face was the best part. Me and my comp like cried and laughed together after, and lets just say the sisters told us they didn’t need anymore help after that...shoooot.

Also there is this poor area we work in - I call it trash land because the first time we were walking to it my comp literally pointed down this road of TRASH - that we had to walk through to get to it - I honestly thought it was a joke...ANYWAYS so we found this lady one day in the road and her name is ENAY....we ran into her in the streets twice, and she was so tender, like in overalls and a little hat and she invited us in and like everything we said she would just repeat, and I have no idea why but it was like the funniest lesson ever - me and my comp were laughing so hard we were crying...I was trying to teach her the actions of OLA, which is pray read and assist the church, and she like couldn’t do it - I have no idea - I guess you just had to be there, but we love Enay - I don’t think she will progress, but we pass a lot since we are always in the area. One day we passed and she was laying on a bed outside and literally looked like a dead person....it was out of control.

Also - I still haven’t talked about DIEGO!!! Oh my gosh - he is a member, and is going on a mission to Chile in like 2 weeks - and he is honestly the most amazing person I have ever met!!! He works with us like every day and is such a good missionary, and we are best friends. His story is soooo cool - he is so great…….I will have to tell it sometime when I can tell it in person, but anyway his little sister is getting baptized next week! Whoooo! -and yesterday was her interview and it was sooo chill haha like we just sat in the backyard as they had the interview, we all bonded and ate pomegranates, because they have a tree of them, and we got to talk to Lucas who is Diego’s brother, and his cute girlfriend who is deaf…….it is so sad, but she is a gem and I love her and feel we will teach her someday as well.

So - MIRACLES!!!! The day we were on intercambios with Hermana Lopez we knocked on this door, and it was this guy named Victor, and we were looking for his daughter, but she was sleeping, so we ended up talking to him. We talked about the gospel, and he started to get emotional, because he is looking for more peace, and a change in his life……and we committed him to be baptized! I looked him in the eyes and with all the Spanish I know promised him so much change and blessings through the gospel, and he just cried so much, and it was such a tender experience. The spirit is truly so amazing - how much we can communicate with people just through feeling the spirit. I just felt so much love for this man I had just met, and knew his situation, and I just testified with all my heart.

Also we were knocking doors one day, and found this girl named Carla and her mom Tina, and we have been teaching them, and its such a miracle, because they have been reading and praying and have really felt the spirit and know its true and want to go to church!!!

There is also this girl named Debra that I LOVE! She is the cutest thing- she is like 18, and has soooo many questions, and just loves to pray and loves when we sing her hymns, and we gave her a Book of Mormon, and she really wants to read it and go to church- but, she just started school, and never has time and is way busy, but we are praying for her and hope she can find the time. I love her! We bond - she reminds me of Camille’s friend Berlin.

So pretty much the mission is amazing - we truly see miracles every day - we are working sooooo hard, and even though this area is a little harder - we have faith and we know that if we do our part, God will do his. I love the mission so much and love teaching people about Christ. It is so hard for people to follow up on their commitments and I never realized how hard it is for people to do ANYTHING, and make changes, but I know that when we make sacrifices, and we make promises that we are going to do our part and find the time, and work hard and have faith, God will do his part and help us out and bless us!!!

I LOVE reading the Book of Mormon and can promise every single person that is reading this email that if you just take 10 minutes a day to read the Book of Mormon - you will be happier and find the answers to the questions you are looking for in life!! A quote I like is:

“We pray to God when we want to ask questions, and we read the Book of Mormon when we want to find answers.”

I LOVE YOU ALL WITH ALL MY HEART!!!!
Miss Youuuuuuuuuuu! Have a good week!

Monday March 5th - "I am never coming home"

Monday March 7th

Family and Friends!!!!

All is well! I love my new area and I love my comp – its definitely different now that I am in the city -a bigger area with a lot of people, so it’s a little harder, but I love the ward and love the people and I am excited to work!

So it has been an AMAZING week!!!!! We have been working sooo hard and have seen tons of miracles. First of all this area has been working with this cute man named Vicente and he is truly such a great guy! He is like 70, lives with his son, and his wife died a few years ago, so he is way lonely……but he loves the gospel. He stopped smoking and goes to church, and he listens to the Book of Mormon CD’s every day because he cant read. He was planning on getting baptized this weekend, the 5th, and we were so excited, and passing everyday to help and prepare him.

One night he got all these doubts and was saying how he changed his mind and didn’t want to get baptized, and we were so sad, and my comp was so sad and crying, because she has worked with him and taught him, and this has happened to her like 3 times where people are all ready and then bail the last minute, and its been way hard for her. It was kind of awkward, and she was all sad, and he was just sitting there, and I felt bad because I didn’t know him that well. I just tried staying positive, and I looked at him and told him how much his Heavenly Father loves him and how He is ready and so excited for him to be baptized in His church. I truly was just pouring out with all sincerity of my heart all the Spanish I knew, and my testimony, because I truly know Satan was just working on him, and that he just needed to have faith and overcome this trial of faith. So I told him about prayer, and I talked about how personal it is and how he needed to have a conversation with his Father in Heaven and ask if he could get baptized on the 5th, and he said he would.

The next day-the day before the baptism - we passed and he was just GLOWING - so happy and content and said everything is okay, and he prayed and got an answer and he was ready to be baptized!!! We were SO happy and all just beaming and we watched the movie Faith in Christ, and we were all so emotional and just content! It was truly a miracle. So of course it was stressful in one day trying to tell all the members and investigators about this baptism and organize it, and it was a little stressful, but we had the baptism and everything ended up being perfect!!! I truly am full of joy, and love Vicente so much! He is just such a gem, and SO happy to be in the church! He was the first one to his baptism like soooo excited and ready it was so cute. He was very emotional in church too when he got confirmed, he loved it!

We are loving life here in Rosedal, and we are excited to see tons of miracles - all of March! We found of family of 4 and they are married (shocking) whoooo! We are hoping to teach them this week and get them to church Sunday. We also have some other good investigators we are hoping to get baptized this month. I love my comp-she is such a hard worker and we are both just soooo ready and willing to work - I love it - we are seriously fasting and just praying and working pdays – haha - we are just going to rely SO much and trust in the Lord and do anything it takes to have success and see miracles this transfer together! My Spanish is still doing pretty good even though I am now with a gringa…people understand me better than her -haha - its funny she gets sad and says I have to help her with her accent.

Well know that I am happy and I LOVE the mission…I am never coming home! Haha I love you all with all my heart and think about you all!!!

Love,

Hermana pond

Monday February 28th - Finally made it to Cordoba!

Monday Feb 28th, 2011

Family and Friends!!!

I don’t have much time to write since today was transfers, so this will probably be quick and I hope I can sum up all the good things that happened this past week.

So I completed my 6 months in the mission this week!! Whooo Hooooo! And my companion did as well - we have the same time in the mission, so it was fun to celebrate that together and we had our first baptism in the mission together!!! It was the best day of my life!!!!! It was Nico, and he is 13 and the most amazing kid ever, so faithful and has such a strong testimony. He is so stoked to be a member and serve a mission some day and he is just great! His mom and sister are going to get baptized this next weekend so we are so happy! I love their family so much - we bond - and every time we are all together there is just so much love, and I feel like I have known them forever! The baptism was so perfect……Nico was just beaming and the talks and the service were just so spiritual! I have never seen a happier kid, and after he was baptized he just kept looking over at me and smiling, and couldn’t stop talking about how happy and clean and content he felt! He always talks about how he can imagine when Christ will come with all the angels in the sky, and how beautiful it will be, and so I gave him a picture of Christ with all the angels in the sky…. and he loved it and put it in his school folder.

I cant even express how much I love this family! I feel so blessed to be able to know them. In church they all were there for his confirmation, and he loved his blessing and talked about how warm like a fire he felt right when the hands were placed on his head when he received the Holy Ghost, and he feels so protected. It was so precious!

Also another miracle that happened - Erwin came to church!! He was waiting for us all ready to go in the morning and it was such a miracle that he was even awake, let alone ready to go, and he loved it. Also - Osvualdo came to church! He moved out of the apartment with the lady he was living with and wants to prepare for baptism! He is so precious. When I told him I was leaving he started to cry and said he would never forget me and thanked me - it was so precious - I love him so much. Also we passed for Laura and Nico and their family last night before I left and it was SO fun- and right before we left Laura just hugged me really tight and looked at me and started to cry and said thank you for bringing her the gospel, and thanked me for teaching and helping her family. I just started to cry and said I would never forget them. Awe! It was so emotional and so tender.

So I am now in CORDOBA the city and my area is ROEDAL and my comp is Hermana ELLSWORTH- I am sooooooo excited - I already love it here, and I feel like we will have so much success and see tons of miracles together - we are like already best friends - I love her! I am sad I won’t be able to see the baptisms of the people I taught and prepared in Bellville or in Arroyito as well...but that’s how it goes in the mission, and I am just SO truly happy that I got to work with them and know them! What a blessing this work is! I love the mission so much and I can’t believe how much I am learning every day! Once again, it is another area for me, new companion, new people, new change, and new beginnings, but I am excited - and I am going to work as hard as possible and I have so much faith! I love you all and have a good week!!!!

Love, Hermana Pond

First Talk

Tuesday Feb 15th, 2011

Friends and Family

So I gave my first talk this Sunday in the mission! It was SO great - it took awhile to write, and my comp edited it like 5 times- haha - but it was good. I love giving and preparing talks SO much - I just learn so much about the gospel and it such a neat experience!

So not too many funny things went down this week - well probably, but I can’t remember any of them, but we have had tons of miracles!

There is this kid, Nico, and before I came to this area, I heard that he was probably going to be baptized either this month or the next, but he would be out of town so it would take a while but he came back early! He is SO funny - I love him - we are like best friends and we get along so well. He is 13 and such a gem - he loves church, and just told us that he wants to get baptized, and he reads the Book of Mormon with his family. The hard thing has been working with his mom Laura - she normally works Sundays and is not as committed, but recently she has been having problems, and has been reading in the Book of Mormon and is more interested. We taught her about the Atonement and that is her problem - she has some things she feels like she cant forgive herself for and can’t forgive others in her life, so she wants time. I shared an experience in my life with her about forgiving others, and it was so cool because it was her exact situation, and I talked about the healing power of the Atonement and Christ, and how he can help us forgive others and ourselves, and it was so amazing. So we are hoping she will be baptized next month and Nico this month. They are so cute - I love them and they all came to church this Sunday by themselves and loved it!

Osvualdo - our favorite ever! He is so tender and just loves the church and like cries every time he talks about how he received an answer and wants to be baptized and change his life - the problem is we found out he is not married to the lady he is living with...and she is still married to her husband, and its just a mess! But he wants to move out because they have had problems for so long, and he wants to start a new life so we just have to wait till he gets that all figured out - but he is so great and faithful - he is always so busy with work, but if he gets one free moment he will meet us at the church, so we can teach him - he loves learning so much about the gospel and is excited to get baptized!

There are also these kids we are working with from Bolivia and they are the best. One is 15 and one is 16 and they are so smart and love going to church activities and love the members and they love learning about the gospel - they have so many questions its so great! So we are hoping they can be baptized this month as well. I love working with pre missionaries - I always just imagine them preaching the gospel someday! This work is so amazing.

We have some great strong investigators and we are really just trying to work hard with them and help them prepare for baptism. We are also trying to find new investigators like crazy for march so we can always have tons of options and always be finding. We will see what happens!

I loved our gospel principles class this Sunday - it was so powerful. We had a good amount of investigators in for it, and the lesson was on baptism - what they all needed to hear! The teacher was just so great - I love her! She talked about the power of the spirit of conversion and how that is our drive to act and obey and do the things the Lord wants for us in our lives. At the end she talked about how we were all chosen to be put in this generation for a reason - how we were chosen because we are all so strong and have strong faith and testimonies and have tons of work to do. She talked about how when we heard about the plan before we came to this life we were just so excited and ready to come to the earth, and receive a body and learn and progress and grow in our families and experiences, but Heavenly Father said wait - these specific spirits - we need to save you all for the end. It was so powerful and it just really made me think - we all have such a purpose here on this earth and especially in this time. It is so important daily to remember this and be willing and have that desire that faith and excitement to serve our Lord and do our part to not only have happiness for ourselves, but for the people around us and for God. Each one of us are at the end of the race - we are the fastest and strongest and we have a goal - we have a light and a reward at the end and all we need to do is see it in our lives – every day open our eyes and see the glory and love and light and beautiful plan of happiness that our Heavenly Father has for us and then we need to do our part - we need to prepare every day! Every day we need to wake up and think - what can I do to serve the Lord today? How can I be more useful in his work-to help build up and strengthen his kingdom - so when we get to the end of that race and we finish and we are so exhausted and warn out and tired - our Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ can embrace us with their every lasting and unconditional love, and thank us for everything we have done, and crown us with our reward.

What a responsibility……but what an honor it is - how great is our calling......we have such a great reason to rejoice daily. We are so blessed! Continue in service daily - in prayer - in studying and learning more about this plan, and our purpose in the scriptures, and by going to church - Heavenly Father is anxiously awaiting us daily to open up the windows of heaven and pour out these promised blessings and answers all we need to do is our part - come unto him in faith - ask- and act! We need to do our part. Sometimes its a sacrifice and sometimes we don’t think its possible or its too much time or its too hard, but I promise you all like it says in the scriptures and I always say in my emails…….

With God…….all things are possible!

Never forget that God lives and loves us! He is waiting…...come unto him and ask what you can do to help serve him and fulfill your purpose on this earth and in doing so.......

he that loseth his life for me shall find it......

We will find happiness…...we will find and understand who we are! And more importantly every day we will understand more and more who God and Jesus Christ are and we will become more and more like them - daily coming closer and closer to the end of the race and receiving our reward.

Know I love this work. Know that I have a testimony that if we live the principles of this gospel - we will be happy. I love being a missionary and I love sharing this message daily with every person we come in contact with!!!!

Love you allll!!!

Three Weeks in Bellville

Monday Feb 7^th, 2011

Parents!!!

I hope you know how much your emails help and inspire me. Even if it is a few sentences, I always getting something out of it that gets me really pumped. Thanks for being such good parents, seriously I think you both are the most inspired people ever…… you are both my heroes!!!

Thanks for all the updates on people mom! sounds like all is well. I will definitely keep you all in my prayers always, and for specifics people and situations. One day this week was reallllly hard for me and I was way homesick and mad and annoyed with my companion and was over it, but of course I overcame it and learned from it and the Lord gave me strength. The mission is like that - I can’t even tell you - every day I am learning new things about myself and about life……. it is amazing.

That is so fun dad did a video of the pictures I sent…..you guys are the best – I bet its soooo great!

Well I love you all with all my heart…..everyday I give thanks to God for the wonderful family I have been blessed with - out here I see so much sadness and problems in the home and with parents. It crushes my heart for the poor youth of the next generation - thanks for always being a good example and raising me in a healthy happy home with the gospel always in my life. What a blessing. The other day we heard two kids about 13 years old talking about how their dads would hit their moms and what they would do and when they try to stop it they would get hit and its just so sad. It is so crucial to always remember how blessed we are with our family. I am so excited to be with you guys for eternity!!!! LOVE YOU""""

Hermana Pond

Mon Jan 31st

Family!

This week was great – at first it was rough, but in the end it got better. It is crazy how I cannot speak this language very well, but can communicate and understand people, and they can understand me though our spirits and souls and light. I love it. One night I broke down to my comp in tears because I was a little down, and she understood me and gave me advice and it was great! I was so afraid having a latin comp I wouldn’t be able to vent or talk about things but the Lord knows me- haha- and knows I need healthy communication every day to help me feel better, and somehow it works out. I always end up feeling lifted up and lighter and refreshed because I know the Lord is taking care of me in this time.

It is so awesome here…..I LOVE this area even more than Arroyito. Even though I liked the little town for a while, a bigger town is more exciting! I hope I serve in the city one day…..I know I would love that too! For pday today me and my comp went to this little quiet park with a blanket and took pics and listened to church music on the IPOD! We just bonded in nature and it was so much fun. We are getting along sooo well, which is such a blessing. I was worried because this girl is known in the mission for problems……..like everyone who has been her comp has had problems, and I was so nervous to be with her, but we get along great and everything is okay right now.

I truly wish I could tell you every detail of my life! I wish I could tell you every emotion, experience, story of every person, but this timing thing is hard. Someday you will know all in person! The members here are soooo great! There is a story of a member that just made me like weep……but I will tell you about it next time, but we were both like crying sooo hard when he told me his conversion story. This church is so true, it is ridiculous.

I love you guys! Love, Hermana Pond

Monday January 24th

Oh my gosh I love you my family so much and miss you all. Sometimes it is so hard with a latin comp, because I feel a little lonely because its hard to communicate, but I feel so much strength and help from the Lord - it helps a lot. Mom - I got your cute Christmas package!! Thanks soooo much! And tell Grandma Pond I got hers too!! And I got the IPOD!!! Yayyy – finally - sooo happy and content with everything. You are the best!

Ahhh - its taking forever to get the mission calls - I am dyingggg to know. Glad to hear all is well - you all seem so happy and doing great things! I got tons of letters, so please thank people on the blog - I feel sooo bad, that I can only email family, and the mail system is terrible here, so as always give everyone my love and I really do love and appreciate the letters – they are like heaven for me. I am glad you like the pics! I want to send another disc soon there are sooo many better pics on it

So as you all know I am just a little discouraged, because I haven’t had any baptisms yet, and I just want to do whatever it takes to see these miracles and have this success. Its hard when I read other friends letters and hear about their missions and they are having tons of baptisms. But I have a good feeling about this transfer. I sat my comp down and I said I am literally willing to do whatever it takes to see tons of miracles and have baptisms this transfer, and she is as willing as I am to work sooo hard - if we need to give up P-days or fast once a week, we will do whatever it takes so we are both pumped. She has the same time as me, so we are both fresh new in the mission and just ready to go raising the bar.

I had an interview with the mission president this week, and he seriously is so great and my inspiration - I love him - he has so much passion for the work. In my interview I wanted to just cry because he said he is not worried about me at all, and has had so much faith, and sees so much promise in me since the day I entered the field, and he put me and my comp together for a reason, so I can learn the language faster so I can get to work. He looked me right in the eyes and he said, I promise you - you will have tons of success in your mission - I just know it.

So although it is hard I am happy and content and just patient, but working hard to we can have miracles this transfer.

But know that I am happy and all is well! Thanks for all the stuff you send I finally got it all- haha – thanks for all those prayers and angels have a good week!!!!