Tender Mercies

Short week this week with my P Day  being moved to Tuesday last week but still a great week. I've been doing really well and have really gotten to the point where I feel comfortable taking the lead with anything including how to get places. Our area is tiny. It is actually the smallest geographical stake in the entire church which is pretty crazy but it makes it interesting. 

We had some really powerful, amazing lessons this week and it was cool to see how the spirit led us to know exactly what they needed us to teach them. I got to share some really personal experiences with one guy we are teaching and it was cool to see how much they touched him and helped him relate them to his own life. 

We had this thing called a mini mission where we had a couple of high schoolers follow us around all day. Unfortunately we had no lessons set up that day so it was not the most exciting day but hopefully they enjoyed it. One of the kids who was with us is about to serve a mission in Finland which was cool.

And then Saturday night we had an amazing baptism. The lady who was baptized had been working towards this for a very long time and had some big challenges to overcome so that was really cool. 

Sunday, I got to speak in church about what it means to be a disciple of Christ and it was a nice refresher of my purpose as a missionary. I think it was probably a bigger help to me than the congregation but that's okay. 

Luckily I got a new bike from the mission office so I didn't have to buy a whole new one which would have sucked. We also bought a bike lock so this one shouldn't get stolen. 

Another great blessing has been my headaches. I have only had one in the last two weeks which has been such an amazing tender mercy from God. He's pretty great. Thanks for all your prayers. Missing everyone so much! Until next week!

-Elder Potter

"I can't describe how much I've learned about myself, about loving everyone, and about Jesus Christ."

This week was a little bit of a slower week. We had a lot more contacting than usual so that is never as effective or as fun as having our time filled up with lessons. We have a couple of awesome investigators right now though. We have one who decided on his own that it was more important to follow the commandments of God than it was to act on his attractions towards other men and wants to get baptized and it is super cool to see how much people are willing to give up in their life to follow Jesus Christ. We also started teaching a guy who wants to give up drinking and smoking so he can be a better example to his kids and so he moved from San Diego to Utah to get away from all of that and is homeless and doesn't have a job. It's so cool to see the change it has made in his life and how religion is now becoming very important in his life. The people here are amazing and I love everyone I meet. I can't describe how much I've learned about myself, about loving everyone, and about Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ's atonement reaches everyone and you are never alone. When you feel completely alone just know that Jesus Christ is there holding you up. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. Miss you all!

"I HAVE GROWN TO TRULY LOVE SERVING OTHERS."

      This week was a good week. Taught a lot of lessons and did a lot of service. Just this week alone I helped people move a steel plated refrigerator, a washer, a dryer, two trailer loads of boxes and stuff, and a couple couches. We also helped a guy with some painting. Those were on multiple occasions and with multiple people but they feed us most of the time so it's worth it. Saturday I got to take a lady and her two sons we are teaching to temple square and it was an amazing experience.   It was really cool to go through all the cool historical stuff and videos. They loved it. What is Temple Square?

Elder Potter and Elder Tyler

This is an 11 foot amazing statue of Jesus Christ with outstretched arms that is one of our favorite places to visit at Temple Square. 

I've noticed there are ton of Polynesians in this area and they love the missionaries so
we get invited to all their social events and feed us so much food. We have already been to a Luau and a wedding and all we do is eat the whole time. They just keep bringing us more plates and it's pretty
awesome but it sucks once I'm full. In other news, a member gave us a tandem bike and my companion and I have been riding one all week. We get some really weird looks but it's pretty fun.

Today (Monday) is a full P day (day to work on their preparations)and so my zone went on a 6 mile hike up to some lakes up in the mountains and that was super cool. It was a long hike but it was worth it. It was so beautiful.

This is a moose they saw today.

They actually saw two moose!

And then tonight we are going to have a zone barbecue and football game so I'm really excited. Should be a good time. Thanks so much for everyone's prayers. It means a lot to
me. I can really feel them. My headaches have gotten better so I'm thankful. I feel so blessed to have the people in my life that I do. It's an amazing feeling to have so much support from so many people, some of which I've never met. It's great so thanks so much. If there is ever anything I can do for anyone just let me know! I have grown to
truly love serving others. It is awesome to see the joy it brings into their lives. Until next week! 

He also sent a note that he may be having his  P-day moved to Tuesday next week since he will be going to the temple that day so you may not hear from him Monday next week.