Week 27- Sister Potts in POTSdam!

Another trio--this time in Massena, New York!
(left is Sister Penrod, center is Sister Wiese, and me on right)

Well everyone I'm in Canada! Just kidding, but really I'm as close as I can get.  I'm in Massena NY, which is the northern most part of New York on the Canadian border.  It was a four hour car ride from Palmyra! I'm in a trio with Sister Wiese (pronounced "we-see") from West Point, Utah, and Sister Penrod from Lindon, Utah, who are the STLs for the zone which is fun. I'm in one of the last 6 surviving districts of the church (the Potsdam district) left in the United States because it's too small to be a stake! It's been busy and fun and lots of ups and downs. We were supposed to have a baptism Saturday, but there's tons of drama so that fell through but there's a lot of amazing people being taught that I've fallen in love with. 

There's one woman named Ellie who is the daughter of a less active member who we've been meeting with. She just got out of a rough situation and has a big important meeting today so she was worried. We talked to her about prayer and faith and testified over and over how God helps us through hard times. Well, she came to church! And she was so excited to tell us that she prayed and it helped her find a wallet haha. Well she was really nervous after church so we were able to ask her if she wanted a Priesthood blessing and afterwards she said how peaceful she felt and how she knew it was the Lord. It was so sweet. 

Wow everyone this experience has just blown me away with how blessed I am. Even though my life isn't perfect, the fact that I have a home, a family who loves me and supports me, the gospel which anchors me, and all my teeth has made me SO grateful for what I have.  We can all find joy and good times regardless of our circumstances when we're centered on Christ!

Love Sister Potts 

Meet my Rotweiler friend, Sadie! 
(from Mom:  those who know Emily well will recognize that this picture is a miracle with her sitting this close to a dog, smiling and petting it.  She overcame her phobia of cats & dogs during high school through sheer determination and the help of  some special kitties in her life, but she is usually pretty cautious around big dogs.  She sent a cute video of her petting the dog and smiling, laughing, and talking to him.  She said "My parents are going to drop dead when they see this."  So proud of her!  :)

FUN FACTS (I've only scratched the surface of fun facts from the Palmyra sites, so I'll continue these even though I'm not there anymore):

1. The roughly 12 printers for the Book of Mormon would work 12 hour days, 6 days a week, for about 7 months to print the book of Mormon.

2. The typesetter for the Book of Mormon was John H Gilbert, and he also added in all the punctuation.

3. A man named Abner Cole, under the pseudonym of Obadiah Dogberry, printed some passages from the Book of Mormon in his sarcastic newspaper The Reflector.

4. Abner Cole was a former judge so he should have known better, but Hyrum and Oliver couldn't  convince him to stop despite the fact that Joseph had a copyright.

5. When Joseph confronted him, he wanted a fight, but Joseph was able to convince him to stop peacefully.