Week 19 - Las tres hermanitas

Hey everyone! This has been one of the craziest weeks so far, but it's all good! Some things had to be switched around and so I am in a trio for the rest of the transfer! My new companions are Sister Robinson from St. George who leaves in October, and Sister Michael from Forest Grove, OR who has been out a month longer than me. They are a party so it's great! We've had some neat tours together so I'm excited for the next week!

Las tres hermanitas! 

I don't have a ton of time so I just want to share an experience/ thought. I was serving at the Hill Cumorah the other day and we had a TON of nonmembers come in. It was crazy, usually it's like 5% but that day I swear it was close to 40%. Even a family from HUNGARY. But there was a man who is in the area every summer and always brings his family and friends but is of another faith. I overheard a conversation he had with a senior Elder about what he believes and it made me SO SAD. He was saying our faiths have a lot of similarities, but his doesn't believe in all that 'mercy stuff'. In his own words, "if you join this faith and know what you're getting into and then go against it you're knowingly sinning and we don't want you in our church anymore." Ugh how sad! I am so glad to know that our God is a God of second chances. He knew that we are all mortal and would make mistakes that would keep us from returning to his presence, but he also loves us enough that he wants us back. So he sent his only begotten son to make up the difference, and who will give us infinite chances as long as we truly have the desire to change and be different. No matter what we do or what has happened to us the Savior will always be with us and desiring us to come to him and find peace and solace in his Atonement. I love him so much and have felt that love in my own life! 

Have a great week and remember that there's always someone who knows you perfectly.

Love, Sister Potts

The Whitmer Team

Last photo with Sister Hatfield and my site president and wife the Neff's!

FUN FACTS:

1. The Smith family log home was 18x30 ft and had 11 PEOPLE LIVING IN IT!

2. The log home originally had only two rooms on the ground floor, but a sawn-slash wing was added on in 1821 in anticipation of the birth of baby Lucy.

3. Mother Smith was known as being a skilled herbalist doctoring her family and neighbors.

4. Joseph did not immediately tell his family about the First Vision, and told them for the first time after Moroni appeared to him 3 years later.

5. Alvin, Joseph's oldest brother, passed away 2 months after Joseph saw the Angel Moroni for the first time. 

Week 18 - 1/4 done!

Hey everyone! I've reached my 4 month mark, and by the way transfers are looking, I'm nearly a quarter of the way done which is crazy. It simultaneously feels like I've been here for forever and also feels like it flew.  Mission time is weird. Not much has happened this week to be honest.  It's gotten really slow here so the hardest thing is finding productive things to do that fulfill the missionary purpose. So I'll just share a spiritual thought and go from there!

I've been out 4 months!

The big excitement in the mission is a baptism we had Saturday! I talked about him in my week 10 email, but he started learning and being taught in the Rochester YSA and has come to the sites 2-3 times per week since. It's amazing to see the change and how many great questions he had with a sincere desire to learn. He's definitely going to be a leader in the church and help open up China--I just know it ;) I'll include a picture below. 

JUNDA! The most golden and prepared soul I've ever met. 

We've started up Sunday devotionals for the full-site sisters, and our Site President, President Neff, talked to us about Sheep and all the parables about sheep in the New Testament. I guess back then they would keep all the sheep in a community fold surrounded by a rock fence and one gate. The shepherd would come and call to his sheep, and the sheep in his pen that were his would recognize his voice and run to him. In the same way, Jesus Christ calls to all of his children, or sheep, but only those who have come to know him, or recognize his voice, will come. He wants us all to learn to recognize his voice so he can encircle us all in the arms of his love. How beautiful is that?

I hope everyone has a great week, do all you can to come to know the Savior!

Love, 

Sister Potts

P-day fixins w/ Sister Hatfield

Only took this long to hike 2 minutes to see Alvin's grave.....
(Emily has been wanting to visit Alvin's grave at the little cemetary behind the 4 church area of Palmyra, and they finally got to do it today on their P-Day!.  She couldn't believe it took her so long.  She said that Alvin has become one of her favorite people she has learned about.  He did so much for the Smith Family to help them financially so that they could purchase the Smith property and build the frame home.  He was building the frame home at the time of his death--for his upcoming wedding as well as to take care of his parents in their old age. All the Smith children looked up to him.  His death shook the family, and several later revelations we now find in the Doctrine & Covenants came because Joseph asked the Lord questions about his brother's welfare in the world to come.  Emily said that she has read so much about Alvin that she almost feels he's part of her own family's ancestry.  She said it felt like going to visit one of her own ancestors' graves.  Pretty special!)

FUN FACTS: 

1. A number of the trees in the Sacred Grove at the time of the First Vision were 350-400 years old.

2. The Sacred Grove had as many as 100 trees/acre.

3. There are maple, beech, nornbeam, cherry, ash, oak, hickory, and elm trees in the grove.

4. There were so many religious revivals in the area from 1816-1821 that it became known as the 'burned-over district."

5. As Joseph would be living in Palmyra, he would have encountered preaching on street corners, prayer circles, group singing, camp meetings, halls, school houses, you name it and there was a religion there trying to convince others that they were right.

Week 17 - Chillin with the Beans

Hello my friends! This week has been a great one, just living at the sites giving tours and feeling the spirit! There was one cool experience that I thought I'd share. So I don't know if anyone has heard about the Bean family or seen the new movie about them, The Fighting Preacher, but they were a family who lived here in Palmyra for 25 years doing missionary work and establishing a better relationship between the church and the city. They lived in the frame house here at the Smith farm during that time, and this week we got to give a tour to one of their granddaughters! When we got to the frame house we all sat around the kitchen, and they played an audio recording of Rebecca Bean, the wife, telling some experiences that she had in that house. Rebecca had to take care for the missionaries, and with a young family that was really hard. But one day she even had a vision where the Savior appeared and thanked her for caring for the missionaries, his representatives on this earth. That was really cool to hear as a missionary, knowing that I truly am representing the Savior, and that he is aware of me and my efforts here. 

Old Stafford with the Frame home in the background

My favorite fun moment of the week: one night after a harder day I came home, made a bowl of queso, sat with my companion on my bed, and we ate two Popsicles and the whole bowl of queso and candy while watching Days of Harmony (a movie we show here). It was the best haha. 

This week I've changed my Book of Mormon study a bit and WOW THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD. I literally love it with my entire heart, and I'm so grateful I get to share that with people a couple times a week at the Book of Mormon Publication site. I know that it has answers to all of life's questions, even if not directly, it brings the spirit so strongly into your life that you are in-tune to receiving revelation about your questions. I hope you all read it every single day and I promise that your life will change if you will allow it to!

Have a great week!

Love, Sister Potts

P.S. Pictures:  Soooo apparently I only took one picture this week, awkward (the one below). So included one from last week too (up above)!

Some sisters with the Turpins, a senior couple who is feeding us Brunch today #blessed

FUN FACTS:

1. While saving up for the Palmyra land, Father Smith and the older boys would hire out as day laborers on other farms haying, gardening, diggin wells, building fences, clearing land, etc.

2. When the Smiths purchased their 100 acre land, they had to make 5 annual payments of $100, the last being made in December of 1825. 

3. The Palmyra/Manchester line is in between the Smith property!  So if you read about the family's move to Manchester it was just a couple hundred yards down the street.

4. The log home is actually built a couple feet over from the 100 acres, and at first historians thought it was a mistake, but then they actually figured out that Hyrum Smith ended up buying 80 acres to the North of the Property where the home was built so it's on his land.

5. The Smith family land had about 100 trees/acre, so they had about 10,000 trees on their land!

Week 16- Church In Fayette!

From Wednesday Aug 7.  Next P-day is Tuesday!

I love NY!  A fun place to visit:  Seneca Lake near Fayette!

Hey y'all! Nothing too exciting has happened this week, but there are a couple cool stories that I want to share! We gave a tour to a family from french speaking Switzerland! They were so cool but then we got talking to them after and the mom told us the story of how her family joined the church. He was at a hotel and found a Book of Mormon in the drawer. He read a bit and thought that was interesting and wanted to get one, but the bookstores didn't sell any. Later he was walking down the street in Zurich and missionaries had a little display set up and so he was able to get his own copy but never got around to reading it. Then a missionary asked him, If God gives you time, will you read it? and he agreed thinking nothing of it, but then his boss just happened to give him a week of vacation in a beach house in Italy and he brought the book and read the ENTIRE thing. So he met with the missionaries and got baptized! And his family too. And it's incredible thinking whoever left that copy of the Book of Mormon probably has no idea that there are 3+ generations of faithful members from that small act. Imagine what we can do!

The Swiss family in Grandin Print Bldg.

The Whitmer Farm in Fayette where the church was organized.

We also got to go to church in Fayette. How incredible that I got to attend a sacrament meeting on the very same property where the very first meeting of the church was held? I could hardly believe it. Then afterwards the senior couple took us on a picnic to Seneca Lake and it was SO fun. 

Seneca Lake!

For my spiritual thought of the week: LOVE! In the Christus room we often get to testify of Christ's love for all of us. To imagine the amount of Love required to be willing to experience the most amount of pain anyone had ever experienced x every single human that has every lived upon the earth is crazy. And through it all he was so willing. In that way I want to strive to show Love for the people in my life. For my family, my friends, the guests at the sites, my companions, those I teach, my leaders, it's amazing how powerful Love is. I know as we come to Love those around us as Christ would that we have the potential to change the world. It's amazing how far a sticky note, or a smile, or a compliment can go. I invite all of you do show a small act of Love to someone today!

Some of the amazing sisters I serve with:

Have a great week!

Love, Sister Potts

FUN FACTS: 

1. At the time the Smiths moved into Palmyra there were about 600 citizens.

2. Because Palmyra was along the projected route for the Eerie Canal, it was expected to become a flourishing community, but it never really did.

3. Mother Smith was known for making oilcloth coverings and was able to set up a successful business doing it that payed for the family's provisions and furniture.

4. The Smith family had a 'cake and beer shop' in Palmyra where the younger kids would help to make pastries, root beer, gingerbread, boiled eggs, and other refreshments. 

5. Joseph Jr had a small cart where he'd sell these goods during events like the 4th of July.