Week 32- P² in Massena

Hello everyone!

We got transfer news yesterday (early due to the holiday week) and Sister Wiese left this morning, but Sister Penrod and I are staying here in Massena! We're going to have a party and a half figuring everything out--it'll be great.  

Things got warmer this week! We had rain and it melted the foot of snow we had.  We also got to drive down & back to Syracuse for MLC which is a 3-hour drive each way! 

MLC this week.  Disciple-like leadership--continuing to master the doctrine in the scriptures. (Sister Wiese who is sitting next to Emily was just transferred out of Massena, and Sister Penrod, who is sitting across from Emily got to stay with Emily for another transfer.

Our friend Jay is still doing great.  We finished teaching the Plan of Salvation to him, and he's still reading the Book of Mormon really well! It has been so cool seeing the change that has taken place in him in the last three weeks. When we first met him he was depressed, so stressed he couldn't sleep, and being evicted. Now he is happier, he just got a job offer, he was cleaning his apartment last time we went over, and he is sleeping better! He attributes it to the Book of Mormon, learning about Jesus Christ, and coming to church. We are really excited for him! I know that by following the plan that our heavenly father has set for us we can find the most joy and peace possible both in this life and the next. I also know that reading the Book of Mormon can change our lives as we feel the spirit,  learn of Christ, and get answers to our questions as we read.  READ IT EVERY DAY!!!

LOVE,  Sister Potts 

FUN FACTS:

1. The first step in embossing the title on the back of the Book of Mormon is painting a black substance called glare on the back in a rectangle.

2. Glare is a substance like shellac that is basically a mixture of ink and glue.

3. Next, they lay a piece of real gold leaf down on the glare.

4. And then take hot embossing dyes with an individual letter that has been heating up over coals and hand press each letter of the title BOOK OF MORMON into the spine.

5. Wipe off the extra gold leaf and voila! The book is ready for selling!

Week 31- Baby it's COLD Outside

Update from Mom:  sounds like Emily tried to send an email last week, but it glitched somehow and was lost.  She was able to send one today, though.  She's been sick for the last 2 weeks and finally got to the doctor today & got some meds, so she should be feeling better from her sinus infection soon:)  From Emily today:

Because no matter how cold it is or how sick you feel,
ice cream is always the answer.

Hello everyone! It's been cold this week! We have over a foot of snow and it has been consistently in the teens and around 0. But the work continues! We have an awesome new friend named Jay. He has a rough life. He's about 30 but is in a hard situation and he feels like it was divine inspiration that we contacted him. He has already read over 100 pages in the Book of Mormon and he came to church Sunday! He says his life has started turning up and he attributes that to reading the Book of Mormon and meeting with us!

I had my first exchange this week! I went to an area called Lake Placid which had the Olympics there in the 80s. It's definitely a tourist town and reminds me of Park City, but it was fun! We saw some miracles and were able to give away several copies of the Book of Mormon. It was awesome! Sister Penrod stayed in Massena with Sister Di Iulio from Italy!

My first exchange!

I also reached my 7 month mark this week. It's kind of crazy! I've had spring, summer, fall, and now winter weather on my mission so far. 

We've been teaching several people the Plan of Salvation lately and it has struck me how blessed we are to have answers to where we came from, why are we here, and where we are going. Those are things people are searching for all over the world and we know! We are so blessed to have that knowledge and the peace that comes with it.

Have a fantastic week and stay warm!

Love, Sister Potts 

FUN FACTS (from the Grandin Print Press continued):

1.  After the pages have been pressed overnight they are taken out and 4 cuts are made in the spine with a hand saw

2.  They are then transferred to a sewing frame, and the women would hand sew all 37 signatures together.

3. Then they would glue the spine for extra stability.

4. They would now cut the book open! A fancy contraption called a plane and plow would slice a small piece off the top of a few pages at a time to get rid of all the folds.

5. Last step is the title! We will go into that next week ;)

Week 30 - Snow! and a Talent Show

Sisters Potts, Wiese, & Penrod styling their winter hats

Well, everyone, not sure what happened this week, but Sister Potts either forgot to send her weekly email or had a technical glitch or something ??!!!  So, Momma Potts gets to post random stuff.  Hehehe!  Thankfully Emily was able to send a cute picture of their trio donning their winter caps now that the snow has set in.  They were expected to get 6-12 inches of white fluffy stuff yesterday, so in Emily's call home, we got to discuss sending extra winter apparel items :).  

Also, Emily is truly loving her companions, Sister Wiese and Sister Penrod.  They all get along fabulously and have a lot of fun and laughter together.  Emily is so happy! and she is loving the different change of pace that proselyting brings.  It is so rewarding (and inherently at times frustrating) to be able to follow people's journeys as they investigate the church.  They have been praying for miracles and working so hard to help a special lady in Massena who knows the church is true and wants to be baptized, but has to work out issues with other people currently in the branch.  There always seems to be drama in small branches with everybody knowing everybody's business in this small town and having a hard time putting past things behind them.  Anyways, pray for a miracle for Emily's special investigator so that people's hearts can mend and allow this baptism!

The other thing that happened this week if a fun talent show that the YW in the branch put on.  The missionaries weren't able to attend, but they evidently pre-recorded themselves doing special talents, which were then shown.  I found the video below on a blog that an awesome senior couple keeps who are serving in Massena.  Mark & Karen Spear are amazing second parents to Emily!  They have the sister missionaries over all the time as well as members and investigators, and that is where Emily goes to use the internet and call home from.  Sister Spear is Kevin Worthen's sister (the President of BYU), and she and her husband serve the members of the branch and community in countless ways, trying to help build them up and provide assistance.  Love them!

Mark & Karen Spear

Hopefully this shows up ok on the blog.  If not, you may have to copy & paste it in your browser.  It's Emily at her finest--can she do it?  She's going to attempt saying all 50 states in alphabetical order in just ONE breath.  This girl of mine is just filled with talents I didn't even know existed.  Haha!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhNO7djolF0#action=share

Week 29- A Witch, a drunk, and three Sister Missionaries

A man named Everette (in the branch) creates these fun masterpieces to welcome new people to the branch.  Sister Potts is officially welcomed into the branch! 

Well there's no dull moment here in Massena! Tuesday we had quite the experience at a lesson. When we came up to the apartment, the man was there but his girlfriend wasn't. Thankfully he had a lady friend helping him with some paperwork so we could go in. It was quite obvious from the very beginning that he was DRUNK. But we went in and he wanted to talk to us because "it makes him feel good." The woman asked if we're Mormon and we of course said we're missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and she says "cool, I'm pagan, a witch!" Wow, okay cool! So we get talking and he promises to come to church but then finds out it's earlier than he thinks he can get up, and the witch offers to put a hex on him so he'll wake up on time (which he thankfully declined). Then before we left he said, "Wait, what are you girls doing with the rest of my life?"  Awkward pause--what?!  The witch said, "Jimmy you can't marry all 3 of them!" Then her eyes get really big, and she looks at us and says "WAIT you're Mormon, yes you can!" To which we all shout in unison, "NOOOOOOO!"  Haha it was sooo funny we ran out of there hardly containing ourselves. 

We had Zone Conference this last week in Syracuse (3 hours away)--
we're multi-tasking eating our lunch and listening

Lining up for the Hurrah for  Israel shout at the end of Zone Conference.

On a more serious note we also had a really hard lesson with a guy who was supposed to be baptized a while ago who has gotten into some anti material and was asking us about all these outrageous things that he's watched on YouTube. It's so frustrating that he refuses so spend any time reading the actual Book of Mormon, but will spend hours on YouTube watching things that he can't even begin to comprehend. In a leadership conference a couple weeks ago our mission president told us that the iron rod is a three stranded cable consisting of the words of the living prophets, the standard works, and the spirit. If you rely on anything but that to answer your questions you will be led astray into strange paths. I know that if we spend our time on the word of god that we can find answers to all our questions, no matter if they are expressly answered or if the spirit leads us to the answer. The Book of Mormon is the answer! It is true!

Love, Sister Potts 

In our trusty truck :)

Planning!

FUN FACTS: 

1.  After the printing of the Book of Mormon was complete, binding could begin! It took place on the second floor of the Grandin Building!

2.  The pages would be lowered down using a pulley from the printing shop, and they would cut each page in half so there were 8 pages of the Book of Mormon on the front and 8 on the back.

3.  They would have to hand fold 185,000+ pieces of paper 3x into groupings called signatures.

4.  Each signature contained 16 pages of the Book of Mormon, and it would take 37 signatures to complete a copy of the Book of Mormon.

5.  The signatures would be put in a standing screw press overnight (pictures below) to flatten the signatures.