Week 63 - Transferred again? 21?

Wow this was unexpected, but after only a transfer in Pittsford I have been transferred again! They closed my last area and took us both out. I am in Lancaster, NY now, which is just outside of Buffalo! It's really rural and has beautiful farmland. I've thoroughly enjoyed it so far. My new companion is Sister Jenks (from Boise), who has been companions with a couple of my past companions.

Also it was my birthday! Birthdays are really weird on the mission because it's just another day, but I made a key lime pie and we had some dinner delivered and I had a nice package from home ;) Thanks for everyone who sent the nice emails!

It's pretty crazy everyone that we are teaching are having people in their families die so we haven't been able to meet with a lot of people so far, but I like the people we have talked to so far!

Sorry this is kind of short but I'm so grateful I was able to spend my whole 20th year as a missionary. It's not all easy, but I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to be a missionary and to serve the Lord. I know that the Church is true and the Book of Mormon is the word of God. This is the work of the Lord and it will go forward with or without COVID! 

Have a great week!

Love, Sister Potts

Fun facts: Joseph's Brothers 

1. Alvin- Born in  1798  And Joseph's hero. He helped support the family after moving to NY by working as a day laborer, and even payed the entire land payment one year by himself. He was building a home for his future family on the Smith home at the time of his death from (most likely) appendicitis in 1823 at the age of 25.

2. Hyrum- In life they were united and in death they could not be separated. Hyrum stayed by Joseph's side throughout his life as a leader of the church, and took over as patriarch after his father's death. He was about 6 years older than Joseph and died with him in 1844 at Carthage jail.

3. Samuel- Every missionary's dream boy. He was one of the 6 founding members of the church, and was the first missionary of this dispensation. He stayed faithful to the church and his brother and was one of the first on the scene after his brothers deaths. He accompanied his brothers bodies back to Nauvoo, and from some injuries acquired during that day he died soon after.

4. William- Oh william. The problem brother haha. He sort of went off the deep end and had some physical altercations with Joseph when he got mad. After Joseph's death he was excommunicated for taking church funds and ended up joining some apostate factions of the church.

5. Don Carlos- The youngest brother, and greatly under-rated. He was faithful to the gospel throughout his life, but died in 1841 due to pneumonia. Of him Joseph said, "I never knew of any fault in him... from the time that he was born till the time of his death. He was a lovely, a good-natured, a kind-hearted and a virtuos and a faithful, upright child; and where his soul goes, let mine go also." 

Week 62 - Oh Deer . . .

Haha, you know it's quarantine when the most exciting thing that happened this week was that we found a nature trail near our apartment to walk on! It's gorgeous and reminds me a lot of the sacred grove (minus some sacred) with tons of brush and wildflowers and stuff. We have seen a ton of bunnies and even came close to a deer! it made us happy :)

We also had some more miracles this week! We had someone call us on accident, and we just kept talking to him and turns out he's really interested! Yayyyyy.

Also we got a referral from some Elders in North Carolina for a guy who they found online who lives in our area and wants a Book of Mormon and a Bible. Turns out it's the same guy who was one of our self-referrals from the other week who we haven't been able to get in contact with! Glad he's being taught!

Still holding all mission meetings via Zoom!  
No sign of the quarantine letting up anytime soon.  

Also we have had a lot of training this week on helping people say kneeling prayers with us. It's amazing how much more power these prayers are having in their lives. Our friend who's 73 and on date even said one, and it was so sweet because he told God he knows the Book of Mormon is true in it. AND that he was excited to get baptized! Our heart melted a bit :)

But we have also been trying to say more kneeling prayers ourselves. And just more prayers. My favorite quote on prayer is, "Prayer is a supernal gift of our Father in Heaven to every soul. Think of it: the absolute Supreme Being, the most all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful personage, encourages you and me, as insignificant as we are, to converse with Him as our Father ... Don’t worry about your clumsily expressed feelings. Just talk to your compassionate, understanding Father. You are His precious child whom He loves perfectly and wants to help. As you pray, recognize that Father in Heaven is near and He is listening." Richard G Scott

I know he is there, that he loves us, and he is listening. And we can feel that so much more a we pray humbly and respectfully while kneeling! So I invite you to make an increased effort to pray more while kneeling and tell me what you feel :)

Love, Sister Potts

Fun Facts:

1. Let's talk about some church history prayers! Most of the significant events in church history stemmed from a prayer....

2. The first and obvious one : the First Vision. The restoration of the gospel was inaugurated when Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father appeared to Joseph Smith's humble prayer.

3. Joseph Smith was praying fervently for direction when Moroni came and instructed him about the plates in 1823.

4. During translation, Joseph and Oliver would come across passages relating to baptism, which would lead them to pray in the woods concerning the matter. In response, John the Baptist appeared to them and restored the Aaronic Priesthood. 

5. As the translation of the Book of Mormon was nearing completion and three witnesses were chosen, they each took turns praying until the angel appeared to them and showed them the gold plates.

... and many more that I don't have time to relate today haha. 

A little early birthday celebration--can't go wrong with Strawberries & sprinkles:)

Note from Momma Potts:  Emily's 21st B-day is this Saturday, June 27.  No pressure, but feel free to email her at emily.potts@missionary.org if you feel so inclined!
Transfers are this week (either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday), so she may or may not be in Pittsford for it, and cards may or may not reach her.  If anyone wants to send a card, please send it to the mission home address in Syracuse (address is on the web-version of her blog--let me know if you can't find it--the mission office is forwarding all letters/cards right now). 
Emails or voice recordings are always great, too!
Hope you're all having a great summer!

Week 61- Incomprehensible Joy

Mom Here:  Emily didn't send any pictures this week, so I'll share
 a few of my favorites from this week back home. 
We're going to have 2 missionaries serving in 3 weeks!  Crazy!  
Jacob enters the Home MTC July 8.

Hello everyone! We had two exciting things happen this week.

1. ANOTHER MIRACLE SELF-REFERRAL! This one is soooo elect. She was taught about 2 years ago in Palmyra and remembers how much good she felt when she met with the missionaries and read the Book of Mormon, and wants that again! She requested another copy and within less than 24 hours after getting it to her she read 116 pages! We literally went crazy when she told us that. She was so happy and excited to be able to read again! She also expressed a desire to be baptized. 

It reminded me of one of the favorite missionary scriptures, "And this is the account of Ammon and his brethren, their journeyings in the land of Nephi, their sufferings in the land, their sorrows, and their afflictions, and their incomprehensible joy." It's hard! But oh so worth it which I'm reminded in moments like this.

2. We had a zoom meeting with Elder Christofferson! It was really good and so special to hear an apostle of the Lord talking to us just as the New York Syracuse mission. He talked a lot about how faith leads us to be more obedient, and obedience builds our faith, which causes more obedience, and how it spirals upwards like that. I thought that was really interesting, especially since our Mission president has really been emphasizing faith lately, and we have always been passionate about exact obedience. He also made some remarks that answered a question I have had for a couple weeks which was a sweet experience for me!

We've been teaching a lot of people about living prophets lately, and I just want to add my testimony that we are led by a prophet of God, who teaches us God's will, and if we follow him we are following God and we can't go astray!

That was about it, this week we did have the exciting announcement that we can now perform baptisms! But that is the only loosening so far. 

Have a fabulous week!

Love, Sister Potts

(and now some more of Jacob... soon-to-be Elder Potts)

FUN FACTS: Translation of the Book of Mormon as requested by my companion haha

1. When Joseph Smith first obtained the plates, he didn't quite understand exactly how the plates were going to be translated. He probably assumed that they were going to need to enlist the aid of a scholar, as evidenced by Martin Harris's trip to NYC to visit Charles Anthon.

2. It became quickly apparent, however, that there was no one who could translate this record save it be by the gift and power of God.

3. And that is exactly what Joseph would say when asked about the translation, that it was done by the gift and power of God. He never gave any more detail than that, and that should be sufficient for us. We do however, have a little more insight from some of the witnesses of the translation.

4. We do know that the translation occurred with the aid of divine instruments, similar to those used in the bible and the Book of Mormon. The gospel topics essay says, "Joseph placed either the interpreters or the seer stone in a hat, pressed his face into the hat to block out extraneous light, and read aloud the English words that appeared on the instrument."

5. A lot of pictures and movies portray it incorrectly. Joseph never read from the plates to translate, and there is very little evidence that a curtain was ever hung to block him from the scribe. But overall, the translation, which took only 65 working days, was so miraculous that there is no other way that it could have been done save be by the gift and power of God! 

Read the gospel topics essay to learn more!

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/book-of-mormon-translation?lang=eng

Week 60?! Where has the time gone?

Well, the weeks are just flying, and even though we are staying busy in quarantine, because we aren't interacting with as many people there aren't as many exciting things happening.... so sorry y'all, haha.

Two things of note, we had three self-referrals this last week! That is the same amount as I had gotten my whole mission up to this point. There's a line in preach my gospel that says that God will lead us to them or them to us. And since we can't be lead to them as easily right now, he is definitely leading more to us! The first one was a prank unfortunately, but the second was real and the third came in early this morning so we aren't sure yet! But it's still a miracle. 

The other thing was that we were able to have our first ward virtual meeting yesterday! BTW I'm almost used to saying 'ward' and 'stake' rather than 'branch' and 'district' so that's good. Anyways, we had a virtual fast and testimony meeting that was so fun! It was good to see some faces to go with names and also our friend Richard was able to join! He is the one on date for baptism on my birthday June 27. 

With the state of things in New York we still haven't been able to loosen up yet, and they honestly don't know when it will be.  It could be a while still, so we are grateful for the miracles that we have seen and what we have been able to accomplish so far. Just like the standard of truth says:

"No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, (and COVID may spread) but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear; till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done."

This is His work, and He will prepare a way for it to continue! Even if we can't leave our apartments. 

Love, Sister Potts

FUN FACTS: 

1. In 1842, Joseph Smith posted an article in the Chicago Democrat that was titled the 'Wentworth letter'.

2. Here's the intro: " March 1, 1842.—At the request of Mr. John Wentworth, editor and proprietor of the Chicago Democrat, I have written the following sketch of the rise, progress, persecution, and faith of the Latter-day Saints, of which I have the honor, under God, of being the founder."

3. He outlined the history of the church from the beginning, and this is where the 1842 account of the first vision comes from.

4. He talked about the various persecution experienced in Missouri, and the efforts of missionaries to share the gospel. He said, "Persecution has not stopped the progress of truth, but has only added fuel to the flame." This is where the standard of truth I just quoted came from!

5. The last part of the letter is the articles of faith! if you've ever wondered where they came from, now you know ;)  

Bonus points if you read it! It can be found here:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2002/07/the-wentworth-letter?lang=eng

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Week 59 - Walking in great places

Hello everyone! I don't think too much happened this week..... I think the only thing of note is that we were able to re-set Richard's baptismal date to June 27th! We're going on faith because we don't actually know when baptisms will be allowed to be performed again here in NY. But we have high hopes!

Then we had some exciting things happen today! We not only got Mexican food for the first time on my mission so far, but we also took a little drive down to Mendon (totally in our area)! That is where all the events from my email last week took place. So pretty cool. I may have been fan-girling hard, and the people passing were probably really confused why we were taking pictures of random houses, but you know, they are the ones missing out. To think that I, as a missionary, was standing right next to the place where  the first missionary preached was so special. I'm in a pretty cool mission I guess.... ;). 

Brigham Young's home in Mendon, NY

There was also a little cemetery nearby that we knew Brigham Young's first wife was buried in, so we stopped by, and turns out that Heber C Kimball's dad was also buried there! So that was pretty cool. 

Thought:  As a mission we have been studying a devotional given last month by Elder and Sister Gay to the young adults. It was really powerful, and so here's a favorite quote: 

   "Faith is a principle of action, and faith is a choice. Faith is not measured by how many meetings we attend or rituals we keep. Faith is not even the acknowledgment that God and Jesus Christ live. Your faith is the extent of your trust in and complete reliance on God and your Savior, Jesus Christ. We all endure or crumble according to the degree of our personal trust and reliance on Them."

    "To build faith in Them you will need to eliminate from your life any self-justifying behaviors. You need to own your life and not let others dictate your actions and choices. Your perspectives, attitudes, reactions, feelings, thoughts, and beliefs are all things that you control. Being offended and turning away are not of God. His voice always invites us to “follow Me!” God is prepared to answer any question, comfort any struggle, and redeem any and all individuals. There is no mistake or struggle that cannot be healed through Him. All the internet searches in this world across the web’s nearly billion and a half sites cannot tell you if this Church is true or if Jesus Christ lives; only God can reveal that to you. And the bottom line is this: God will not tell you one truth and tell me another. We will all get the same answers as we inquire and seek after Him with sincerity, faith, and real intent."

I love this because it is something that we have been facing a lot lately. Faith is just so hard for some people, and so is getting answers to questions. But just like he said, the only true source of truth that is undeniable is our Heavenly Father. Always turn to him for answers!

Love, Sister Potts

FUN FACTS:

1. I thought I'd do a bit more about Brigham Young since it's on the brain.....

2. After Brigham's brother and sister introduced him to the Book of Mormon, Brigham was not immediately converted. It took him about 2 years of study to accept the gospel (gives me a lot of hope for the people we have been teaching for a while btw)

3. In autumn of 1831 a group of missionaries came to Mendon and began to preach in Phineas Young's home. Brigham Young and Heber C Kimball were among those who attended and became increasingly converted to the gospel as they listened. 

4. In April 1832, the two were finally baptized, and the Mendon branch of the church held meetings in the Tomlinson Inn. 

5. By 1833 the Mendon branch was no longer, as most had moved on to Kirtland, Ohio. Brigham's wife (headstone pictured) died of Tuberculosis in 1832.

The Tomlinson Inn where Samuel Smith (first missionary of this dispensation) gave a Book of Mormon to Brigham Young's brother.