June 27th is Emily's 20th Bday! Hooray! and news from her new mission president!

Mom Post:

Thanks to all who have been sending birthday greetings this week through email.  If you'd still like to send a quick birthday message for her birthday this Thursday, June 27, her email is:  emily.potts@missionary.org   

We got to talk to Emily today (Wednesday) on her P-Day, and although she says it's been kind of rough thinking that she won't be with family for her birthday, she says that she's surrounded by lots of pseudo grandparents that will take care of her--haha.  The senior missionary couples are awesome and treat them so well!  She made herself a cream cheese pie with raspberry topping on it to share with the other missionaries she is serving with (it sounds like she is the designated baker in the house :).  Hopefully she receives my package that should have been delivered to the mission home today :)  It can sometimes take a few days to get from the mission home to whichever visitors center she is serving at, but she said that the senior sister in charge of mail & packages has the same birthday as her, so she will most likely get a special delivery tomorrow:)

With her mission changing names on Monday, July 1, and relocating the mission office to Syracuse, I thought people might like to know some more details:

From the mission Facebook page on June 24:

The First Presidency has announced that the name of the consolidated mission will be the New York Syracuse Mission. For those of you who aren’t aware, a new mission home has been purchased in the Fayetteville Ward, Syracuse Stake and the mission office is moving to the Syracuse Stake Center. This will place the Mission President in the geographic center of the mission, close to the airport and at the cross roads of Interstates 81 and 90 enabling easier travel to missionaries, stakes and the temple.

Q&A
What is the consolidated mission?
The Church announced several months ago that effective July 1st the Utica and Rochester Missions would be consolidated together under one mission president.

Who will be the President of the mission?
President and Sister Evans from the New York Rochester Mission will complete their 3 years of service on June 30th and are returning to their home in Idaho. President and Sister Vest from the New York Utica Mission will lead the New York Syracuse Mission.

Does this mean missionaries formerly in the New York Rochester Mission could be assigned to wards and/or branches in what was the New York Utica Mission and vice versa?
Yes, that is going to happen.

Please feel free to share this information with members so that all are aware of the change.

From the outgoing mission president today:

Sister Evans and I would like to express our deep gratitude to you for raising such a wonderful son or daughter and allowing them to serve a mission. It has been one of the greatest privileges of our lives to serve with and learn from such amazing and powerful disciples of Jesus Christ. Our lives will never be the same and we thank you for that. Our mission will complete on June 30^th and President and Sister Vest will lead the newly organized New York Syracuse Mission (the combined New York Rochester Mission and the New York Utica Mission form the New York Syracuse Mission). We have had the privilege to get to know President and Sister Vest over the past year and are thrilled that your precious child will be led by their loving and devoted leadership.

You should have already received a message from Pres Vest about contact information for the new mission.  If not, I have attached it below.  

You can start to send all mail and packages to these new addresses immediately.  Regular mail should go to the PO Box, Package delivery should go to the street address. If you have sent a package to the Rochester Mission Office there will be missionaries to receive them through the month of July and they will be promptly distributed.

Again please accept our most sincere appreciation for allowing your child to serve a mission. They have changed our lives and we love them!

With deepest gratitude,

President and Sister Evans

From the incoming mission president yesterday:

Dear Parents,

As of July 1st, 2019, we will be known as the “New York Syracuse Mission”.  Our missionaries have been praying and preparing for this change to come and they are ready.  We have been experiencing miracles as our missionaries have studied and refined their contacting and teaching skills.  They are the most excellent missionaries.  They are obedient and happy and we love them.  We appreciate all the support from home, family and wards.  The Mission Home and Mission office will be in the Syracuse area.  We want to make sure that you have our current information.

(for normal mail)

New York Syracuse Mission

PO Box 517

Liverpool, NY  13088-517

or

(for packages)

New York Syracuse Mission

4889 Bear Road

Liverpool, NY 13088

I have updated the blog to show her new mission addresses (plus the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center which is closer for right now--at least until her next transfer).

The New York Syracuse Mission President and his wife, Kyle & Kelli Vest.

Week 10- So I've changed missions....

Well we got an email the other day, and apparently when our mission combines with the Utica mission next week (July 1) we will be in the NEW YORK SYRACUSE MISSION! It's kind of weird because they kept telling us it would still be the Rochester mission and so we are all having an identity crisis--LOL. 

My comp and I, Sister Hatfield!

My new companion is Sister Hatfield and she's super fun. She has actually lived in Japan for the last year and a half before her mission because her dad's in the Air Force so they're still living there. All the other companionships that are living with us at our house are super fun, two are from Brazil! 

Some of the Sisters we serve with at the Grandin Press Bldg!

We've had some really neat tours this week. There's a guy we've ran into 3 TIMES at the sites this week. He's from China and he's taking the lessons in the Rochester Young Adult ward and so we talked to him for a couple hours and we got to bear our testimonies of why we are here on missions and the spirit was SO STRONG. It's also amazing when people just want to talk to you and they share their testimonies and their conversion stories. It's a little slower because everybody's waiting to come in July for the pageant.

Playing with the Smith Family props (shhhh)

 This week I've been doing studies in 2 Nephi, and it has so many prophesies of the last days! I love all that it talks about the Book of Mormon and the gospel of Jesus Christ. In 2 Nephi 31 vs 12-15 and talks about WHY being baptized and becoming a member of the Church are so important. It is SO CLEAR that that is the only way through which we can be saved and come to live with God again having eternal happiness. We've talked to a couple people this week who have come through that don't understand that and it's really sad. I'm grateful that we have this beautiful knowledge and that all will be given a chance to be taught it eventually.

Palmyra temple!  This is the closest we've been to it so far.
We see it at a distance all the time, but we only get to go about every 6 months (if that).
We're crossing our fingers we get to go next Monday on our P-Day (and yes, it's open on Mondays here).

Other things that happened this week: We had to say goodbye to our Mission president, President Zach Evans, and his wife which was sad, and I saw fireflies for the first time!!!! Also I wrote a 5 verse song, one verse for each of the sites, and we performed it this morning for site meeting. (see lyrics below)

Have a great week everyone!

Love, Sister Potts

FUN FACTS:

1. The Eerie canal made the printing of the Book of Mormon possible, because it brought the printing press it was printed on!

2. Joseph and Emma were married by Zachariah Tarble in his home because they had to elope.

3. Emma accompanied Joseph to the Hill Cumorah when he got the plates but stayed in the wagon.

4. After Joseph got the plates he hid them in a hollowed out rotten log until he brought them home.

5. After Joseph got the plates he went to work in a nearby town of Macedon and Father Smith overheard people saying they had sent for a sorcerer to find the plates, so Emma rode a stray horse over to Joseph to bring him back. 

Song Lyrics I wrote (to the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic):

Joseph Smith was only fourteen when he knelt in fervent prayer;

God the Father and his Son appeared to show the world they care.

The Church of God was lost from earth and this glad truth they shared:

The Gospel will be restored!

New York/ Pennsylvania historic sites

New York/ Pennsylvania historic sites

New York/ Pennsylvania historic sites

And then three years went by...

Then Moroni came and told the boy about an ancient book; 

It was buried in a hill not far so Joseph had a look.

It took him several years, but then the Golden Plates he took--

Translation could begin!

New York/ Pennsylvania historic sites

New York/ Pennsylvania historic sites

New York/ Pennsylvania historic sites

Then came the barrel of beans

There was too much fear in New York so they moved to Harmony;
Joseph knew that he would need a scribe--that’s Oliver Cowdery.

They translated the book and read that Baptism they’d need.

The Priesthood was restored!

New York/ Pennsylvania historic sites

New York/ Pennsylvania historic sites

New York/ Pennsylvania historic sites

Then Egbert was a Bratt

Joseph Smith met EB Grandin and a business deal was made;

They would print 5000 copies and 3000 dollars was paid.

It took 2 years to finish and its truth will never fade.

The Book of Mormon is True!

New York/ Pennsylvania historic sites

New York/ Pennsylvania historic sites

New York/ Pennsylvania historic sites

The plaster of Paris was sown 

When the last 30 percent was left they finished in Fayette;

And the witnesses were shown the plates by an angel they just met.

Then on April 6th of ‘30 every eye present was wet--

The Church was Organized!

New York/ Pennsylvania historic sites

New York/ Pennsylvania historic sites

New York/ Pennsylvania historic sites

The best mission in the world!  

Week 9- Today is 2 months! and I survived a whole transfer!

June 17, 2019 (Happy 2-month mark!)

Well people I made it to my first transfer call (6 weeks in the mission field)! I will be staying here as a full-site missionary (yay!), but I have a new companion who has never served here before who will be transferring from Buffalo! I'm excited and I'll meet her tomorrow. For just today, I'm in a trio with 2 other sisters until everyone's companions arrive tomorrow.  This week has been more of the same, just meeting lots of people and getting to help strengthen their testimony of the restoration! 

It's really green now!  So beautiful!

We've been getting a lot of bus tours with youth and they are amazing. Most of them just soak it up and are so excited! We have fun talking with them and getting to hear about their plans now that they've graduated high school. There was a group from my home town! Another had this girl who looked pretty down and my companion just went up and hugged her for the longest time while this girl just cried. Apparently later at a testimony meeting she said how she's had a hard week and had been struggling with her testimony but when my companion hugged her she felt like Heavenly Father was hugging her. It was such a testament to me to just love everyone and follow spiritual promptings! 

A youth group from my home town of Highland/American Fork, Utah.  
I didn't know most of them since they are mostly Lone Peak High School kids, but several of them know Jacob and are in our stake or went to Legacy Elementary with Jacob or Mountain Ridge Junior High School with him (note from mom: our neighborhood is split pretty evenly between American Fork High School and Lone Peak High School kids since we live right on the edge of the boundary.)

Today is my comp's birthday, Sister Ramos' (she's 21!).
I got to make cupcakes and help celebrate before transfers.
We'll both still be here at the sites full-time, but we both get new companions.

S'mores!

Have a great week everyone! 

Love, Sister Potts 

FUN FACTS:

1. The church was organized 10 days after the Book of Mormon went for sale.

2. There's a team at the Whitmer Farm right now finding more locations of homes.

3. The book Saints uses the same page format and font as the Harry Potter books.

4. By the time all 5000 copies of the Book of Mormon were finished, Joseph was living in Kirtland, Ohio. 

5. The 8 witnesses saw the plates in the sacred grove.

Week 8- Extra Lucky

Emily's P-day ended up being a day earlier than she thought, so here we go:

  

The Hill Cumorah Monument

Hello everyone, I have officially reached 5 weeks here! Transfers are this next Monday so we'll see where that takes us. This week has been good, just working hard at the sites for 12 hours every day which is kind of exhausting but I'm just grateful we can sit for a minute between tours haha. We've started getting more 'bus tours' which are really fun because you're preaching to the masses on benches and feel like the early missionaries in England. We had one really neat tour yesterday at the Whitmer farm of youth who just graduated High School. We showed the short film on growth of church (which is AMAZING BTW) and then were prompted to bear our testimonies. We were all led on what to say and the spirit was SO strong it was amazing. 

One other cool thing is that we got to give a virtual tour to my companion's mom! She's a nonmember and so my companion was given permission to help teach her and her sister. We called her up and told her about the restoration while we were in the Smith log home. While it was raining really hard, and the tour was in Spanish, the spirit was as thick as the humidity (I thought that was pretty clever hehe). I got to bear my simple testimony and she told me it was great haha. 

A 4-leaf clover!

To explain the caption, apparently the Smith farm is a GOLDMINE for 4-leaf clovers! I've found 7 so far and it's become very entertaining while we're waiting for tours. 

For my spiritual thought, I want to share my testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I was invited to do it for personal progress in testimony meeting on Sunday and so I'll share it here as well. I love the imagery that is in Isaiah 53:5. "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows... But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." Isn't that beautiful? I'm so grateful that the atonement covers not only our sins, but our sorrows. I am a firm believer that no one on earth truly can empathize with us because each person's experiences are so unique, but there is one, Christ, who can completely. Because he suffered for us INDIVIDUALLY! I'm so grateful for that and for his love that has brought me so much peace and happiness.
Know he loves you too!

Love, Sister Potts

FUN FACTS:

1. The bookstore the BOM was first sold in was in the first floor of the printing place, and was called the 'sign of the bible'. 

2. Isaac Merritt Singer, inventor of the Singer Sewing Machine did the original woodwork for the building.

3. The room Moroni appeared in would doubtless have held most of Joseph's 8 siblings, though the girls were in a separate room in the back.

4. Alvin, Joseph's oldest brother, is thought to have died from a burst appendix.

5. At the time of his death, Alvin was engaged and was building them a new house down the street. 

My comp and I all matchy, matchy & sunshiney

Smith Farm views!

The senior couples are so funny. And buy us ice cream haha. 

Random Pictures from Family, Friends, & Strangers!

Warning, this is a total Mom Post 😉!

Emily has only been in New York for a little over a month now, but I've been surprised by how many people are kind enough to take the time to take pictures of my sweet daughter after she's taken them on a tour or run into her in the visitors centers.  They write special little comments and text them to me (or someone in my family), and what a thrill each one is to receive randomly throughout my week!  

Just this morning, our family was sitting in my brother's ward in Cedar Hills, listening to my niece speak at her mission farewell, when Jacob received this text and picture from a high school friend: 

The Smarts' other daughter, Catherine, was a good friend of Emily's from her years in Orchestra at AFHS.  Catherine is serving a mission in Virginia right now so wasn't with them, but how fun to connect with the family!

It's so gratifying to see something instantaneous and know what she's doing, what she's wearing, which site she's at that day, etc.  

I thought it would be fun to share what I've received so far.  Each one is like a ray of sunshine to me!!


This next one was one of the first ones we received from Emily's "other mother," Marianne Jenson.  Emily had roomed with her bestie Emylee Jenson and her sister, Jessica, her freshman year at BYU, and Jessica then married Tanner this past year, whose grandparents are serving at the sites.  The grandparents texted this to Jessica who texted it to her Mom who texted it to me!  Did you follow all that?  It's a wonderful crazy world!

A great couple from our stake, Grant & Chris Ellingson,
 texted us on May 20 to say they were in Fayette and had met our daughter there.  

My brother, Brian, sent this May 25.  One of his high school friends, Sarah Archibald Wilford, had been visiting the sites, and Pocatello, Idaho, came up.  Emily said her mom had grown up there and she had grandparents still there.  Come to find out, she knew Brian quite well, so she sent this to him, along with the picture of her "in action" below :)

This was from a random stranger on May 28.  No idea who she is, but such a gift nonetheless!

May 31 from another total stranger.  She didn't say her name or where she is from, but she said "Look who we were just with.  She is darling and a powerful missionary you should be proud."  

My heart just fills with joy to see my daughter smiling--just radiating her pure goodness and love for the restored gospel!  Bless all these people for sharing!  I am so blessed to be Emily's mom!  

Week 7- First Mission Conference!

Note from Mom:  Emily wrote this on her last Preparation Day Monday 6/3/19, but I'm just getting around to posting it (sorry--first week of summer piano teaching and planning:).  She didn't have much time to write this past week, but I'm so grateful she still sent something to share with us all!  Her next p-day is this coming Wednesday.  

From Emily:

Hey everyone since our p-day rotates it's only been like 5 days but here we go! This last Friday we had our first mission conference with all the site missionaries! Our Area 70, Elder Bennett, is really amazing and he took time to testify to us site sisters about how amazing the work is that we are doing. I guess he brought his family here last year and his grandson who wasn't planning on going on a mission changed his mind because of us and now has a call to West Africa! Then a roommate of his daughter was a Lutheran and they convinced her to come out here and was touched and now is baptized! It was really neat. 

This is a  picture one of the sweet senior missionaries posted
on the Facebook site for parents right after the meeting with Elder Bennett.

We switched on June 1 to a 9 am - 9 pm schedule. It's really long, but we'll survive :). Also on the 7th I reach 1 month in the field! Crazy. 

We've had some really neat tours with families and the spirit is really strong as we testify and they can feel the spirit of these sites. It's fun when we can just connect instantly with certain families or individuals.  We had one family who came to the log home one evening right before closing and was just sitting outside looking like they were trying to decide what to do.  We approached them after a tour and asked if they'd like us to take them around, and they said they'd probably just come back the next day since it was getting late.  They just didn't want to make us late, but we connected with them pretty quickly and convinced them to let us take them through the log home.  Their recently returned missionary son recited the first vision in the log home with his whole family, and they were super moved--it was great!  It's pretty awesome to be a part of this.

Not a whole lot more to report, but just know the church is true, the Book of Mormon is SO amazing, and the Lord is in every details of our lives.

Love, Sister Potts

Fun Facts:

1.  The next owners of the Frame home (after Joseph Smith's family) added on to the home, but the church was able to remove them to reveal the original structure.

2.  The next owners also cleared some land but didn't touch the sacred grove!

I'm out of time i'll add more next week!