Week 72- Father's Blessings

Hello friends!  I was going to title this 'The week where nothing happened' but changed my mind haha. We had two in-person lessons with a friend, Stephanie, who lives in a cute little town called Akron, NY. If any of you have watched Gilmore Girls it looks like Stars Hollow! lt felt really good to get out and see some people and it's just what our friend needs too.

The other exciting thing that happened this week is interviews! We got to go yesterday to Buffalo and talk with President Vest. It was so amazing. I have such a strong love and appreciation for the Vests, and I can't imagine anyone else I would rather serve under. They are such strong disciples of Jesus Christ and have so much love for us and each other, but that doesn't detract from their high expectations for us. They have created such a beautiful mission culture of love and exact obedience that has changed my life! I'm not surprised that Elder Bennett of the 70 told us that if he had to pick one mission president in the world to serve under it would be him haha. Anyways, afterwards we asked him for blessings, and he was so excited to give us 'Mission Father's Blessings'. Each of us got exactly what we needed to hear and we were filled with the Love of God and the Spirit so it was a wonderful experience. I am so incredibly grateful for the power of the Priesthood and I don't know what we would do without it! He gave me some wonderful council and comfort for the last 2 months of my mission and the next phase of life.

I hope y'all have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Potts

FUN FACTS:

1. Per my companion's request I thought today I'd talk about the first temple of the Restoration! The first physical literal temple in this dispensation is in Kirtland, Ohio, but I'll just put in here that some apostles and prophets refer to the Sacred Grove as the first temple.

2. Anyways, the first presidency had a vision in Aug of 1833 that His will was for the people to build a temple in Ohio. 

3. The Saints spent 3 years building the  temple and it was dedicated March 27, 1836! An abundance of spiritual blessings poured out upon the Saints during the dedication.

4. "The temple functioned as a center of the Kirtland Saints’ worship, hosting Sabbath, prayer, and fasting meetings. Church leaders and missionaries assembled for study in subjects including reading, writing, history, and geography." (Church history essay)

5. Due to some financial crisis, possession of the temple was lost and still remains owned by the Community of Christ. 

Week 71- Baptism!

Jane was baptized Saturday!

This was such a good week. We ran into some snags that scared us a little bit earlier in the week but we were able to get everything sorted out, and Jane was baptized on Saturday. The spirit was so strong and she was so happy. It was a little weird with social distancing and masks and only 10 people there, but the most important thing is that she was making a covenant with God and was so excited to do so. A little about Jane--she is a feisty, sweet 80 year old lady who has been a student of the Bible and searching for the truth for 60 years  now. And she finally found it! She had a lot of things to overcome but she did it and couldn't be happier. I love Jane!

Other than that, nothing really happened this week. Sister Lifferth gave a really good talk in Sacrament meeting yesterday about personal revelation. I really liked how she talked about how personal revelation comes as we are worthy to receive it and put in the effort. I know that God loves us and wants to speak to us and give us answers to our questions and direction in our lives.  

Have a great week!

Love, Sister Potts 

FUN FACTS:

1. So it is a tradition at the sites to read the Book of Mormon during the last 65 days of your mission and out of order. And since I start tomorrow I thought I'd explain why!

2. Translation of the Book of Mormon that we have now started in early April 1829. Because of the lost manuscript pages that comprised the first portion of the large plates, they actually started in Mosiah. 

3. By early June they had translated through Moroni, but they had to move to the Whitmer farm to finish.

4. During the month of June they translated the small plates of Nephi, which is what we have as First Nephi - Words of Mormon, then the title page was last.

5. Translation took 65 working days! Which is why we read the Book of Mormon starting in Mosiah, then finishing by reading the beginning through Words of Mormon, and then the title page! Now that makes sense haha. 

Week 70- Vi um pilar de luz

Today is 16 months!  Can you believe it?!

Hello! I don't know if you can tell from my title, but I have officially mastered the First Vision in Portuguese. Yayyyyyy! It's so beautiful and now it's hard to say in English haha. 

The biggest thing of the week was preparing for Jane's baptism which is coming up this next week! We took her on a virtual tour of the font area and she's so excited and we are thrilled for her as well. She came to in-person sacrament meeting yesterday so we got to meet her in person! I gave the talk for both sessions of sacrament meeting which was fun. I'll share a thought from it later :)

A mini miracle for the week: on Thursday night from 6-9 pm we had 5 lessons scheduled back to back and every single one worked out! What a miracle!

Now for my thought: I had talked a bit about the Anti-Nephi-Lehis and conversion last week, but I wanted to expound a little more on a fruit of our conversion, which is a desire to share the gospel. After the miraculous conversion of Alma the Younger and the Sons of Mosiah, this was said of them, "Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble."  Once we have experienced a true conversion to Christ and the joy and peace that comes with it, we shouldn't be able to stand the thought that anyone goes without that same joy. I have found that as I have gone throughout my mission, and my conversion to Christ has grown, so has my desire to share the gospel. And sharing the gospel brings even more joy to our lives!

Love, Sister Potts

Sister Lifferth introduced me to fresh papaya! yum!

Still eating healthy!

FUN FACTS: (I don't know if I've shared this story before but I think it's a great example of what happens as we are truly converted.)

1. Soon after the church was organized and the Book of Mormon was published, Father Smith took ill. The same day, an acquaintance showed up and demanded a payment for a $14 debt that was owed. 

2. The man had a constable waiting in the yard to haul Father Smith off to debtor's prison if he couldn't pay. 

3. All Father Smith had was $6 in his pocket, but that didn't satisfy the debt. Not even Mother Smith's gold bead necklace would satisfy him. But he did give Father Smith another option. he said, "Immediately thou shall go to the jail, unless thou will burn up those Books of Mormon for it thee will throw them into the fire and burn them up I will forgive thee the whole debt." Father Smith replied decidedly with "that I shall not do." 

4. They took the sick man to debtor's prison and tried to convince him to renounce the Book of Mormon the whole 11 miles there and stuck him in a cell with no food.

5. He was able to arrange to work as a cooper to pay back his debt, but his conversion didn't let him stop there. While he was there for 1-2 months he taught the gospel, and baptized two people when he was released! 

Week 69- Miracles and a bit of Luck

        Transfer calls came, and we are all staying in Lancaster!

It has been quite the week!  Last Tuesday we had our first in-person lesson, and it was great but also awkward! Who knows that 5 months without in-person interaction would make us socially awkward right? Haha. Also yesterday we had our first in-person sacrament meeting! It was so amazing. The spirit was so strong as we listened to the hymns even though we couldn't sing them. We also had our new returning member friend I mentioned last week come and she loved it. 

Yesterday we had a really great lesson with our friend Jane! She has been working towards baptism for a while but has had a hang up that she has needed to conquer first. She is pretty stubborn and wouldn't accept any help or anything--she said that one day she'd just 'do it'. Well this week she did and she has been living the Word of Wisdom for a week! She is so excited that she can be baptized now and we are shooting for the 22nd of this month! We are so incredibly happy for her, and we screamed and jumped up and down a lot when we found out. 

Random side note, we found a patch of 4-leaf clovers in our backyard! In 10 minutes we found 80 or so, and 8 5-leaf clovers! I guess we are pretty lucky.

This week in my Book of Mormon reading I have been reading about the conversion of the anti-nephi-lehies. It never ceases to amaze me the level of conversion that they achieved. They were so converted they completely gave up their old lives and despised what they had done. They wanted to follow the Savior so completely and perfectly that they were willing to give up their lives rather that break their covenants. Elder Renlund said, "Being “converted unto the Lord” means leaving one course of action, directed by an old belief system, and adopting a new one based on faith in Heavenly Father’s plan and in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. This change is more than an intellectual acceptance of gospel teachings. It shapes our identity, transforms our understanding of life’s meaning, and leads to unchanging fidelity to God."

This is the kind of conversion that I want to obtain throughout my life!

Love, Sister Potts

FUN FACTS:

1. Have you ever seen the paintings of Mormon and Moroni, or the one of Moroni appearing to Joseph Smith? These were done by artist Tom Lovell. 

2. Tom Lovell is actually not a member of the church, but has done a number of paintings for the church! 

3. Another well known picture is the one of Christ visiting the Americas, found in every single copy of the book of Mormon. This was painted by John Scott.

4. John Scott isn't a member of the Church either, and he painted himself into the portrait several times. 

5. Another popular artist is CCA Christensen. He was studying art in Copenhagen when he joined the church, and he left art school to serve a mission to Norway. That is why his characters have an interesting style while his landscapes are beautiful. 

Week 68 - Fishers of.... fish?

Sorry this is going to be a short one because I am running behind as usual. No surprise I'm sure. But it has been a good week! We took a pretty hike this morning to a waterfall.  And this week we also discovered a pond near our backyard with lots of fish in it, and apparently if you feed them they will follow you around! There are  some turtles too so it has been quite enjoyable. 

We also had 2 miracles yesterday.  We got a self-referral of a woman who is wanting to make her way back into the church and she just kept saying, "will they let me come back?" It melted our hearts. Christ truly is a God of second chances. Or more. Anyone who has a broken heart and a contrite spirit can be forgiven! And we should always welcome them back. We also got a call from an Elder in Colorado who is actually from here, and he has started teaching a friend in our area! So that will be exciting.

We also had our first in-person district council since March, which was a mess because we got lost in downtown Buffalo and were 20  minutes late, haha. But we know how to get there now! I can't even describe how strange it was seeing other missionaries for the first time in basically 4 1/2 months. 

Tomorrow we get transfer calls, and then I start my 12th transfer.  That means I just have this coming transfer and 1 more left!  Isn't that crazy? I want to use the last 3 months I have left to work as hard as I can. It's only once in a lifetime that I can serve the Lord like this for so long.

Love, Sister Potts

FUN FACTS:  Receiving the Gold Plates

1. Just past midnight on Sept 21, 1827, Joseph and Emma made their way to the Hill Cumorah on a borrowed horse and buggy. 

2. They went so late so that they would avoid suspicious parties who knew that Joseph would be there that night and try to stop him.

3. As Joseph went to the hill and got the plates from Moroni, Emma stayed in the buggy and waited in a riding dress and bonnet. 

4. Just in case, Joseph first hid them in a rotten log and covered them up until he could get them somewhere safe. 

5. But he did bring home the urim and thummim and the breastplate and would retrieve them later.