Week 76- Arachnophobia

Hello! Not too much to report again but hope you enjoyed the wonderful holiday last Tuesday and that Moroni didn't keep you awake all night ;) 

To explain the title, we went to a friend's house for a lesson the other night and they weren't there :( but a GIANT spider was on their door! It was so massive we thought it was a Halloween decoration at first but NOPE--it moved!. My companion who served in Brazil said she hadn't even seen that large of one there. My other companion served in Australia so not for her but still. You know it's been a bit slow when that's the highlight haha. 

Honestly it's been kind of a hard week! When it's slow it's easy to get discouraged. Especially when you spend hours a day making phone calls and sending texts and nothing comes of it. But I know the Lord loves effort! And that as we put our faith and trust in him and do the work anyways, that will bring miracles in unexpected ways. We had two friends we hadn't been able to get in touch with call us back the same day! 

"For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith" Ether 12:12.

Love, Sister Potts 

FUN FACTS:

1. So here's a bit about the other trips to the Hill Cumorah on Sept 22 of subsequent years. 

2. Joseph went every year for 5 years total. From 1823-1827.

3. Each time he'd go, he would be tutored by Moroni and other ancient prophets to prepare him for His prophetic responsibilities.

4. Each year he had more learning and growing to do and so wasn't prepared to receive the plates yet. For instance, one year he had let his mind slip to the value of the plates, or he set them down and let them out of his sight, etc.

5. Finally, on Sept 22, 1827, just as it turned midnight, he and Emma went to the hill to retrieve the plates. 

Week 75- the Lone Ranger

It was 17 months on the 17th of September!

Well folks, the 13th transfer has begun and my mission president has named me the Lone Ranger. What does that mean you may ask? Well you see, my MTC district was the last group to come into the NY Rochester mission (my original call); therefore we were the last group of Sisters to be called to serve at both the Sites and in the NY Syracuse mission (since our missions merged). And since the rest of my MTC district went home this week, I am the last Sister left in the NY Syracuse mission who served at the historic sites. I feel so old! Haha. But I am excited that I have a few more weeks to serve. 

We had to say goodbye to Sister Jenks this week (middle).

We picked up my new companion, Sister Randall, on Tuesday! She is the sweetest. She is from Gilbert, AZ and served for a few months in Australia before coming here. This is going to be a great transfer!

Meet Sister Randall

Not much has happened this week, we only had a few lessons with our friends, but we have been trying to do more member doctrinal visits which has been fun! We also had a virtual stake conference yesterday and they reorganized the Buffalo, NY stake. 

Our Bishop's wife made us an awesome Stake Conference care packet!

I think I mentioned the in-depth Preach my Gospel study that we started this week. We spent the whole weeks studying God is our Loving Heavenly Father, the Gospel blesses Individuals and Families, and Keep the Sabbath Day Holy. These topics really struck me, especially the first one. One of my favorite quotes is by Elder Uchtdorf, and it says, "Think of the purest, most all-consuming love you can imagine. Now multiply that love by an infinite amount—that is the measure of God’s love for you." I know that God's love is not limited by time, space, decisions, race, color, gender, or religion. He loves all of His children perfectly, individually, and infinitely. But he also has high expectations for us! He knows our potential for what we can become. And if we truly love Him back, we will desire to obey His commandments and serve Him. He truly has a perfect plan for us, and if we follow it we will be able to return to Him and live eternally in peace and joy.

Have a great week!

Love, Sister Potts 

Sisters Randall, Lifferth & Potts ready to go to work!

FUN FACTS:

1. Today and tomorrow is a big holiday for Church History! It is the 197th anniversary of the Angel Moroni appearing to Joseph Smith in the log home in Palmyra. 

2. The year is 1823 and Joseph was praying late on the evening of Sep 21st and into the morning of the 22nd. He desired to know what God needed of Him and if he could be forgiven of his sins.

3. As he prayed, an angel appeared and introduced himself as Moroni. He visited Joseph 3 times that night giving him a miraculous message and telling Him about an ancient record buried in a nearby hill. 

4. The next day on Sep 22nd Joseph was able to go to the Hill Cumorah and see the plates for the first time!

5. He would go every year for 4 more years on Sep 22nd to the Hill before he was able to obtain the plates. 

Week 74- the Last transfer call....

Well folks, this is the week! I am entering my very last transfer, my 13th, as a missionary. So bittersweet! We weren't expecting transfer calls until tomorrow but we got them today! Sister Jenks is moving to Syracuse, but Sister Lifferth and I are staying in Lancaster and being joined by Sister Randall! We don't know anything about her but we are excited. 

We had district p-day today and played yard games at a park so I don't have much time--I'm sorry! But nothing much happened except we've been able to have a couple in-person lessons with our friend Carmen and her two daughters. They are so sweet and excited to learn.

We have been studying the Character of Christ this week as a mission. One thing that stood out is that Christ always turned outwards in every situation, when almost anyone else would have turned inwards. Even in the midst of the agony on Golgotha he turned to John and asked him to take care of his mother. That is who we want to be! I want to learn to be more selfless and really focus on serving and helping others. And I have found on my mission that those are the times I feel the most joy. We won't be perfect, but we can always strive to improve! 

Have a wonderful week :)

Love, Sister Potts 

FUN FACTS:

1. Several important events occurred during the organizational meeting of the church. One was the sustaining of Joseph Smith as the first elder of the church and Prophet, seer, and revelator (D&C 21).

2. Second was Oliver Cowdery as the second elder of the church.

3. The 6 baptized members were confirmed and given the Holy Ghost.

4. The sacrament was blessed and passed under proper priesthood authority for the first time in this dispensation.

5. Revelation found in D&C 20 and 21 were given to help govern and run the church.

Week 73- September, Stress, and Sacrifice

Well, I'm afraid there won't be too much of an email this week seeing as I've been sitting here for 10 minutes just trying to think of something to talk about, haha.

Things are starting to feel like fall! The weather is cooling down and the leaves are starting to turn and autumn is in the air!!!! We've been quite excited about it. 

It's been a bit of a slow and stressful week to be honest, a lot of our friends haven't been in contact with us or are having difficulties with things, so it's been hard to be so slow, and Satan definitely was trying to get us down. But we knew we needed to have hope and then the miracles started happening. So we hope things will start to look up this week!

My spiritual thought is about Sacrifice. I love the quote from President Nelson from this last conference that talked about how the Lord loves effort, because it brings rewards that can't come without. It's something I've been thinking about lately, because the Lord does seem to ask some hard things of us sometimes doesn't he? But I think as we sacrifice things for God, whether it be time, money, our heart, or anything else, we show God that we put him above everything else. It shows our faith, and he blesses us even more in return. For example, as we sacrifice an hour of our time to go to church (though it's His time that he has given us, really) we are not only showing him that we love him, but he also then blesses us in return. Double the blessings!!!! Anyways, I guess the point I'm getting at is that as we exercise our faith in God by sacrificing things that may seem important to us, we will always be better off. As we Give Him 5 minutes a day to study the scriptures, 10% of our income as tithing, or we give him our heart and follow something the Prophet has asked, we will find more joy, more peace, and be more prepared to return to meet God. 

Have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Potts

FUN FACTS:

1. On April 26, 1838 Joseph Smith received a revelation from the Lord, now found in section 115 of the Doctrine and Covenants, that instructed the Saints to build the second temple in Far West, Missouri. 

2. On July 4 of that year the temple cornerstones were laid.

3. Not even a month later conflicts erupted that would eventually drive the Saints out of the area leaving the temple  unfinished. 

4. It is still there, you can go and see it :)

5. Then the next temple would be built in Nauvoo........