A hot chocolate party in no way is very important but God loves all of His children. He cares enough to help 26 missionaries, who are all far away from home, to have an enjoyable Christmas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. I had an awesome weekend. I loved getting to skype my family. I only have one more Skype before I go home! Anyways we had lots of cool miracles that happened this weekend. On Thursday, we got to go caroling through parts of some neighborhoods in Tooele with some other missionaries and that was so awesome. It really helped get me into the holiday spirit. We had a very powerful lesson with a couple, Jacob and Krensa, talking about the power of prayer, scripture study, and going to church. It was a really cool lesson and the spirit was very strong. Krensa was recently baptized and has been struggling a lot and so we were able to testify to her that prayer, scripture study, and going to church are the best things to help her overcome her challenges and grow closer to Jesus Christ. On Saturday, we had the opportunity to go caroling again but this time in a nursing home. It was a really neat experience. We also had the chance to stop and visit with some of the residents who were lonely. It was a lot of fun and definitely a highlight of my Christmas weekend. I want to share a really cool miracle that happened to us as well. So for Christmas Day, all the missionaries in my zone got together for an ugly sweater Christmas party, white elephant gift exchange, and hot chocolate. So Elder Rebarchik and I went to go get the supplies for hot chocolate at Walmart and before we could even get in the door two separate people gave us $20 each. Going into it we didn’t know if we were going to have enough money to pay for all we needed so that was a huge blessing. As we were walking around getting what we needed another man came up to us and gave us $4. It was all he had in his wallet but he insisted on us taking the money. So we finish getting what we needed for the party as well as a couple of things we needed for our apartment and go to check out. In total we had been given $44. Our groceries costed $44.31. It was the coolest thing ever. It wasn’t something huge but I know that God was blessing us. A hot chocolate party in no way is very important but God loves all of His children. He cares enough to help 26 missionaries, who are all far away from home, to have an enjoyable Christmas. I know we have a Heavenly Father who loves us so much. He is interested in all aspects of our lives. He wants us to be happy. I know that’s true without a shadow of a doubt. I am so thankful for my Savior and for the chance I had to celebrate His birth and remember His life and what He has done for me. I love my Heavenly Father and I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. Again I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a have a happy New Year!

I know that God has a plan for us and through our Savior Jesus Christ we can see our loved ones again when they pass on to the next life. I’m so thankful for Christmas and the season of giving.

Well it was a long 10 days between P-days but a great 10 days as well. We had a really good week. We set up a ton of new lessons with people, most of which cancelled but it was still cool to see the Lord bless us for our hard work. I’ve learned so much lately. I have really been focusing on making my personal studies more meaningful. I’ve learned so much about Christ and His Atonement lately and it has been so cool! I’ve also really been enjoying doing the Light the World initiative. Elder Rebarchik and I have been praying for opportunities to accomplish each day’s invitation and we have been pretty good at it. One day the invitation was to mourn with those who mourn and we were really struggling with how to do that one. And so we prayed to find someone who needed us to mourn with them. About three or four days after that we felt prompted to go stop by this family and came to find out that their mother had passed away and it was such a neat opportunity to just be there for a complete stranger who needed someone. Her son, who is in his 50’s and has some special needs, was pretty distraught and we were able to really comfort him and it was a really neat experience. And then on Wednesday, I got to go on exchanges with Elder Griffin, who I’m good friends with, and we had a lesson at temple Square and it went super well! The girl he and his companion are teaching just had her grandmother pass away and we got to comfort her and let her know that she will see her again. I know that’s true. I know that God has a plan for us and through our Savior Jesus Christ we can see our loved ones again when they pass on to the next life. I’m so thankful for Christmas and the season of giving. I’m thankful for the chance I have to be a missionary serving here in Utah right now in my life. Especially during this Christmas season. I hope y’all have a Merry Christmas!

But we also got to visit with some pretty lonely people and that was a pretty cool way to spend our Sunday night.

Well another great week here in Stansbury! On Wednesday I had my ingrown toenail surgery and it went well. Pretty painful but it’s not too bad. It means that I have to wear flip flop/slides for a week or so. So my toes have officially been freezing but oh well. We were able to get a new investigator this week named Quintin so hopefully he is really interested and our lessons with him go well. Easily the best part of the week though was our meeting with Elder Ballard. Elder Ballard It was so cool. I learned so much from what he said and taught us and from what the Spirit taught me as well. I’m excited to put into effect all the things I learned this week. Elder Rebarchik and I also decided to go and visit the local nursing home and just go around and talk to some of the lonely elderly residents. We had some pretty funny run ins including a guy who told us he was looking for the ammunition to get out of the place as well as a lady who told us to look her up anytime we were in town and she would take us around town. But we also got to visit with some pretty lonely people and that was a pretty cool way to spend our Sunday night. Time is going by so fast. I have learned so much over the past 16-17 months and I’m excited to continue to learn these last 7-8 months. Jesus Christ lives and loves us all. I know that to be true. Have a good week!

I know that as we try to follow His example and look for opportunities to serve those around us this Christmas that we will have a great Christmas and our own personal relationship with Christ will increase.

It was another great and busy week here in Stansbury. Elder Rebarchik is super fun to serve with and I’m excited to serve with him for at least the next few weeks. We spent a lot of the days driving from Stansbury to West Valley and back. We had a lot of meetings there this week and so I think we did that drive 5 times this week. And this week we will have to do it a couple of more times. I had an ingrown toenail I didn’t take care of so I get to have surgery on that on Wednesday so that’ll be exciting (not). On Saturday, we get to have a Christmas Devotional for our whole mission and Elder Ballard, one of the leaders of our church, will come and speak to us. I really am super excited for that. Elder Rebarchik and I and a few other missionaries will also get to stay after to have another meeting with Elder Ballard. I’m especially excited for that. I can’t wait to learn from someone who has so much knowledge and is so close to our Heavenly Father. So the first meeting will have close to 200 people and the second will have more like 20 people. With it somehow already being December, Elder Rebarchik and I have tried our best to follow the Light the World movement that our church is putting on this month. We bought a couple of cases of water to donate to a homeless shelter one day and wrote a thank you card to a family who really takes care of us another day. I love being a missionary around this time of year because of how much we get to serve people around us. I’m so thankful for the example of Jesus Christ that I can try to follow in my own life. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that He loves each and every one of us. I know that as we try to follow His example and look for opportunities to serve those around us this Christmas that we will have a great Christmas and our own personal relationship with Christ will increase. I know that’s true. I hope you all have a good week! 

#lighttheworld

I love this time of year because it gives us a chance to reflect on how blessed we are.

It was another great week here in Stansbury! My last Thanksgiving on the mission was awesome. Got to eat two dinners so that’s awesome. I don’t have too much to update on. I got a new companion named Elder Rebarchik. He is super cool and I already knew him from a previous area so I’m excited to serve with him. It was definitely a little sad to send Elder Smith home. He was a really good friend and I’m looking forward to staying in touch with him. I love this time of year because it gives us a chance to reflect on how blessed we are. I am thankful for soooooo much. I’m thankful for my amazing, supportive family. I’m thankful for all of the good friends I’ve made over the last 20 years. I’m thankful to live in this great country where we have the freedoms that we do. I’m thankful for the chance I’ve had to serve here in Utah for the last 16 months and I’m thankful for the next 8 months that i have ahead of me. But most of all I’m thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ and His gospel that I get to try my best to live in my life. With the Christmas season some how upon us already we have the great chance to celebrate the birth of our Savior. Our Church is doing an awesome initiative of service with the #LightTheWorld campaign. I’m excited to do it again this year and will keep you updated on how it goes but I’d also like to challenge everyone else to participate in it as well. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and have a great week!

#LightTheWorld

Elder Potter

I received this text this week. I am so thankful for so many blessings and this wonderful time of year.

He suffered everything that we will ever have to go through.

My week was pretty good. My current companion is going home a week from tomorrow so this week will be very weird. We won’t get as much time proselytizing as we usually do. He has interviews with our mission president on Wednesday in West Valley and then “Trunky Temple Day” on Thursday so I’ll spend all day hanging around in West Valley. But it should still be a good week! Our baptism went really well on Saturday. Myles got baptized by Elder Smith and then I got to confirm him. It was kinda funny, I never realized how small he was until we took that picture. He looks like a 5 year old! But it was an awesome day. Our area is a lot slower right now work wise so hopefully this next few weeks it can really start to pick up. I’ve loved getting to serve with Elder Smith these last 12 weeks but I’m excited to get a new companion this next week as well. I should be staying in Stansbury one more transfer so I should be here for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s! But I’ll find out for sure on Saturday. I wanna share a scripture that really stood out to me this week in my studies. It says talking about Jesus Christ, “11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.” I love this scripture. Jesus Christ loves all of us so much He was willing to die and suffer for all of us. He suffered everything that we will ever have to go through. I love Jesus Christ so much and am so thankful for His sacrifice for me. Hope everyone has a great week!

Christ has helped me through so many trials in my life, often times without even realizing it.

Well I had a pretty good week. We got a couple of new people to teach so I’m excited to continue working with them. We have another baptism this week for a 9 year old kid named Myles we are teaching so that will be really awesome. Maybe it’s just because I have only had Facebook for a month but I feel like there have been so many crazy tragedies happen in the past few months. With all the hurricanes, earthquakes, shootings there is just so much evil in the world. This past week has been filled with lots of tragedies and I know at times it can seem like there isn’t a whole lot of hope in the world. But I know that when we go through hard times that as we turn to Jesus Christ, He can help us through the hard times. I have been studying a lot in the New Testament lately and I just love to read about how many people seek out Christ. People came from all over to listen to Him speak and to witness His miracles. Although Christ isn’t on the earth today it’s so easy to seek Him out. All we have to do is turn to scripture and prayer. If we all turned to Christ to help us through our trials this world would be such a better place. I know that’s true. Christ has helped me through so many trials in my life, often times without even realizing it. Always look to Christ!

Miracles happen around us all the time. We just have to notice them!

George got a very nice text and this picture from Mr. Russell over the weekend. He said that Colton said his mission is a challenge but a good challenge and that he is doing well. We have been very fortunate to have so many positive adults play a role in our children’s lives. 

I had a pretty good week. We had another zone conference this week and it went really well. It was really focused towards how we can better use technology to spread positive uplifting messages about Jesus Christ. It was a pretty cool meeting. In our world today we are always being bombarded with negative messages. There is so much good in the world it’s just often times hidden behind the media showing us all the evil and terrible things that are going on in the world. Something I want to start doing is sharing positive things on Facebook every day. I probably won’t accomplish it because I forget a lot but I’m going to try! I got to catch lunch and catch up with Mr. Russell which was really cool. It’s always good to see a familiar face from home and he was easily one of my favorite teachers. We had a good teaching week as well. We started teaching a new family! It’s a single mom with two sons, one who is 13 and one who is 10. It’s really fun to teach them. So hopefully it continues to go well. Bella is going to be having her baptism this week so we have been busy trying to get that organized but we are really excited and so is she! It should be another great week. Something that has been on my mind recently is how miracles still exist today. God is never changing and I still believe that miracles exist. Maybe they aren’t as noticeable as when Moses parted the Red Sea but they are still there. When we show our faith in the Lord, He will reward us. Faith is so important and is something that is easy to have when things are going well but much harder when things aren’t going the way we want. But it is so important we continue to have faith when trials come. Our faith will be rewarded and we will be able to see just how much God loves us. Miracles happen around us all the time. We just have to notice them! I hope everyone has a good week and notice all the miracles around us!

I’ve noticed that the more I follow the will of the Lord rather than try to do my own thing the more successful I am and the more happy I am.

So I had a pretty crazy and very busy week. We had a lot of change go on this week. On Thursday, we had a meeting we had to go to with about 20 other missionaries where we got trained on how to use Facebook to help us with missionary work. So as of this past Thursday we have had Facebook and have been allowed to start using it to teach others about Jesus Christ. It’s been kind of interesting for sure. But I am really excited to see how the Lord uses Facebook to help us see some miracles. If you ever have any questions feel free to send me a message anytime and I’d love to answer them! Also on Thursday, we got a smartphone. That was really weird to. For the past 15 months I’ve been using a crappy slide phone that hardly works half the time but now we have a Samsung Galaxy J3 so that’s been nice. I’m really excited to use these different to help with the work. Besides that we had a really good teaching week! Bella is progressing very quickly and should be ready to get baptized on the 28th. The Browns are still doing awesome as well. We have some really promising new people to teach this week as well so I’ll keep you updated with what comes from that! Lately I’ve been studying a lot about the importance of prayer. I’ve come to realize over the last 15 months how important prayer is. It really is the way we unlock the greatest blessings we can receive that God is just waiting for us to ask for so He can pour them out upon us. However it is very important that when we pray, we are praying seeking to figure out what God’s will for us to do is. I’ve noticed that the more I follow the will of the Lord rather than try to do my own thing the more successful I am and the more happy I am. Prayer is so powerful. I hope you all have a great week! 

It was pretty awesome to see just how much he wants to follow Jesus Christ.

We received this message this week❤️

My name is Kim Brown. I live in Sandy Utah. Today my in-laws were baptized due to your missionary sons! We/my family will be forever grateful! 

This week just flew by and so did this transfer! Elder Smith and I are both staying for this next transfer so I officially get to kill him off. I'm super excited to do that but it will be really sad to send a good friend home. This week was kind of crazy to be honest. We had a bunch of exchanges that happened this week, had to coordinate baptismal interviews, had to reschedule lessons because we accidentally double booked appointments. It just was kind of a nonstop go, go, go kind of a week. But as always, the Lord definitely showed His hand in the work this week and we saw some miracles. Bill and Christine got baptized on Saturday and it was awesome. Their family made the trip to watch them get baptized and it was a special day. We had our first lesson with Bella and it went really well. She is scheduled to get baptized at the end of the month so that was really exciting! There is another kid named Jordan who is 16 that has been taught by the missionaries for a long time and we still visit him every week. He really wants to get baptized but his mom won't let him and so he can't because he is only 16. Recently he found out he is getting emancipated because he is enlisting in the national guard or something like that. So he is going to be able to get baptized in a few weeks! He was so excited to tell us and it was pretty awesome to see just how much he wants to follow Jesus Christ. That's really all I have to share for this week except one funny story! So on Sunday Bill and Christine got confirmed in church. To start the confirmation prayer you state the person's full name. So the guy Bill asked to do it was his neighbor who also baptized him. Bill's full name is William Donald Brown and so the neighbor goes to say the prayer and accidentally says "William Donald Trump" instead of Brown. It was right in the microphone at church and it was so funny. So people came up to us and said congratulations on baptizing Donald Trump. It was hilarious. Well here is to another week! Love and miss y'all!

With all the recent natural disasters and with the shootings and terrorist attacks going on all around us it is so important we fight the evil in the world with love.

It was just a pretty normal Pday. We went golfing this morning and then hung out at a member's house while we did some laundry. About to go get some dinner because our dinner cancelled for tonight. I'm really sad about the shootings as well. We were watching it a little bit at the members house. It is just so evil and messed up. 

So believe it or not it is the last week of the transfer. We will get transfer calls on Saturday. In interviews this past week with our mission president he told Elder Smith and I that we will probably be staying together which was exciting. If so it would be my first time "killing off" a companion, meaning I would be his last companion before he goes home. This week we had my third of four General Conferences on the mission. I always love General Conference and I always learn so much. There were a lot of really great messages shared but I think a lot really were geared towards how important it is to love everyone and to serve those around you, especially the less fortunate. GENERAL CONFERENCE MESSAGES

With all the recent natural disasters and with the shootings and terrorist attacks going on all around us it is so important we fight the evil in the world with love. It will make a difference. I got to attend the Saturday Afternoon session of conference with Bill and Christine, an older married couple we are teaching. They are going to get baptized this Saturday so we are looking forward to that! So about a month ago I found out that our mission is now going to be what is called a "social media mission." What that means is starting in two weeks I will have Facebook and twitter and will be able to use those tools to help share the gospel. However, I won't be able to use it like I did at home. I'll only be able to use it to help share messages about Jesus Christ. I don't know too many details yet but once I found out more I'll let y'all know. But I'm excited to try different methods of helping people learn more about Jesus Christ. The weather is starting to turn here. Some days it's nice and other days it is way too cold but that's the way it goes. I'm now down to less than 10 months left on my mission which is pretty unreal. It doesn't really seem like I've been gone for that long at times. I love Jesus Christ and I love teaching others about Him. I hope everyone has a great week! I love and miss you all!

If we truly love Jesus Christ, we will be able to do hard things that we are asked to do.

This week just seemed to fly by. We had some pretty cool miracles happen this week. We had Zone Conference this past week and it went really well. What stood out to me the most was a training given about how to keep going when you hit a wall. Sometimes in Mission life things get a little repetitive and it's hard to find the desire to keep working, even if you really want to. So we talked a lot about how we are out here on a mission because we love Jesus Christ. If we truly love Jesus Christ, we will be able to do hard things that we are asked to do. So that was one thing that really stood out to me. Something else that really stood out to me was something in the Bible I read. It was the story of Peter and John in Acts 5 and I love it so much. So basically they get arrested for preaching about Christ and get beaten up pretty good. So I wanna share verses 40-42 from that chapter. They say:

"40 And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ."

Basically they rejoiced that they get to be beaten for Christ! I thought that was so cool and is a great example of how we should stand up for our faith in today's world. We should be proud to be ridiculed because we bear Christ's name. That's something I want to do better at. We also had some cool miracles this week. So I had to start going to the chiropractor again and while I was there a lady working there told us about a 12 year old girl that has some interest in getting baptized and so that was pretty cool. Pretty crazy how God uses other people to help get his children to come closer to him. We also got an email from one of our bishops telling us about another 13 year old girl that, like Jordan, has been coming to church and has a strong desire to get baptized. So we are hopefully going to start teaching both of them this week. Jordan's baptism on Saturday was super awesome. She asked me to confirm her on Sunday so that was a cool experience. She is just so much fun to teach and has just such a strong testimony and belief in Christ it is so awesome. The last thing I want to share this week is an experience I had on Friday. We went to this church devotional where a magician came and did a magic show and then shared a spiritual message. I'll be honest I was mostly going for the magic show and it was really good! His tricks were awesome. But his message he shared at the end was powerful. He talked about how we can't rely on our sight, hearing, or touch all the time because they can easily be deceived just like they were with his magic tricks. The sense we have to rely on is that we are a loved child of God. God loves you so much. He is going to do everything He can to get you back home. He loved you so much He sent His own Son, Jesus Christ to die for you. Never forget that, its powerful. I hope everyone has a good week! General Conference should be awesome this weekend. I always learn so much. Thanks for all your prayers and support!

So whenever we are going through something instead of holding it inside and letting it build up until we can not take it anymore, if we would just give it to Christ and let Him help us through it life would be so much easier.

I had another pretty good week. We weren't quite as busy this week but things are still going really well in the area. Jordan is still continuing to progress and everything looks as if it will be a go for her baptism this Saturday so we are really excited about that. This week we spent a decent amount of time preparing for our training in zone conference tomorrow so hopefully that goes well. Our stake that we are covering had something called Stake conference this weekend. A stake is complied of wards, or congregations, and twice a year all the wards in that stake meet together for one big church meeting. On Saturday nights, it's an hour and a half session for adults 18 and up and then the Sunday morning session is for everyone. There were some really awesome talks given in both sessions but one really stood out to me. The Stake President spoke on suicide and really just focused on how much God loves all his children. There has been probably 10 kids commit suicide in Stansbury in the last year so it is an especially touchy subject here. Today I got to watch the movie, The Shack, and was again reminded of just how much God loves all his children. God loves you so much and he loves me so much. Enough He was willing to send His Son, Jesus Christ to die for us. Christ suffered for our sins but not only for our sins but also for all of our pains and sufferings and afflictions. So whenever we are going through something instead of holding it inside and letting it build up until we can't take it anymore, if we would just give it to Christ and let Him help us through it life would be so much easier. When we hold onto anger, sadness or guilt it fills up the space in us that should be filled with joy. It pushes happiness out of our life. I can testify of the power of my Savior. He can help us overcome anything and everything if we would just trust in Him. Hope y'all have another great week!

Getting to spend 24 hours a day 7 days a week devoted to serving God has been just an amazing experience.

Colton fell for the quarter tracing prank....:)

I had a super good week. The Lord is really blessing this area so much right now. We have so many amazing people we are teaching just falling into our lap. This week we got a text from a member telling us about a 13 year old girl that has been coming to church for a few months and about how she wants to get baptized. So we went to her home to meet her and to talk to her about setting up lessons and she is just awesome. She told us she wants to get baptized as soon a she can so we put her on date for September 23rd. We had our first lesson with her the next day and she is just so excited to learn more and to strengthen her relationship with Christ. She told us she has been going to the temple with her friends and just waiting in the waiting room while they are in the temple. So that was a pretty cool miracle that happened this week. We had a really fun lesson with this 9 year old boy named Myles and his family. Myles is pretty hilarious and so during the lesson he kept assuring us that he met Jesus Christ when he was on the earth and that he has lived for over 2,000 years. It was pretty funny but he is a really sweet kid and is going to get baptized in October. We had another really good lesson this week with Paige and also with the Browns. The work is just really progressing and we are seeing a lot of success right now. 
I've seen so many blessings over the past 13-14 months of being on a mission. I love the people here so much and I love getting to serve them. This week we got to spend four hours shoveling top soil into wheelbarrows and dumping them and spreading the top soil over someone's yard for them. I had never even met the guy but he needed help so we helped him. Getting to spend 24 hours a day 7 days a week devoted to serving God has been just an amazing experience. I've truly come to understand the gospel of Christ and how important it is to follow Christ in our lives. All it does is bring us true happiness. It replaces temporary pleasure with true lasting happiness. I hope everyone has a good week!

I love this area so much already. There are some pretty awesome people out here.

Well my first week in Stansbury was very different then serving in West Valley. Colton was transferred and moved to a new area. West Valley is much more of a city life whereas Stansbury is kinda in the boonies and much, much more laid back. Nobody is home from 9-5 because they are all working in Salt Lake but I love this area so much already. There are some pretty awesome people out here. 
We had a very successful week teaching wise. We had quite a few lessons and found two new investigators and put three new people on date for baptism. I still don't know a ton of the people we are teaching yet very well but we did have a really cool thing happen this last week. So my last week in Taylorsville this girl named Paige came to church and turns out she was actually from Stansbury and was coming to church all the way in Taylorsville which is easily an hour drive. So I introduced myself to her and then Elder Smith and I had a lesson with her on Wednesday this past week in Stansbury and she came to church here this past week. So that was pretty cool. Also I found out my cousin goes to one of the wards I cover so he walked in and we started talking and stuff and he invited me and Smith over for dinner so we went. Pretty funny it just happened to be my cousin, Brittany's birthday so my whole family was basically there which was pretty awesome. I got to see Kyrie, and my grandparents and a ton of cousins so it was a really good day. Kyrie flew in on Saturday and was spending the weekend with her grandparents.  They stopped by for the family birthday dinner and were super surprised to see Elder Potter there! It made me smile to think that they had that little bit of time where their paths crossed again. It ended a really good first week in Stansbury. I hope everyone had a great week and a great Labor Day! Love y'all!

I have seen it countless times where people are ready to give up but try one last time and then Jesus steps in and helps them see just how much He is there ready and waiting to help them in their life.

My week was again a week full of ups and downs. But the ups always seem to outweigh the downs which is nice. God's pretty great. We had a couple really good lessons this week though. We met with Valentin and he is still doing awesome since his baptism last week. We were supposed to go to the temple with him on Saturday but he had to cancel pretty last minute so that kinda sucked. But we got someone new to teach this week! Her name is Andrea and she seems like she will be interesting to teach. She's kind of different in a lot of ways but that's what is so great about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is literally for everyone. Different isn't bad at all because we are all the same in Christ. He puts us all on equal ground. She came to church this past Sunday and loved it so we will be teaching her starting this week. Church yesterday was honestly something I really needed this week. I think everyone has a week where they just aren't all in it for some reason or another but I was out of it for a portion of the week and just couldn't seem to get out of it but we had a pretty awesome church service that got me out of it. Both Ram and Andrew were asked to speak to share their conversion stories and to share their testimonies and it was so powerful. It was really cool to hear their conversion stories from themselves and to hear them talk about how I was apart of it and helping them come closer to Jesus Christ. For some reason I just needed to hear that and it was pretty awesome. We also got to go to temple square a couple of times this week and they were some pretty spiritual experiences for the people we took there. I just want to bear my testimony to y'all that Jesus Christ lives and loves you. He is aware of you and of your needs. I have seen it countless times where people are ready to give up but try one last time and then Jesus steps in and helps them see just how much He is there ready and waiting to help them in their life. It's pretty cool to witness and to be apart of it all. I hope everyone has a great week and enjoyed the eclipse today! Remember God loves you all! 

It's hard to make changes in our life but when we make the decision to follow Christ it is always worth it.

So this week was a pretty hectic week. We had a lot of things going on and not so much time to get them done. But the week turned out pretty awesome. Both Dalton and Valentin got baptized on Saturday which was really special. Baptisms are seriously the most rewarding things ever. As a missionary, I spend a lot of time thinking about and praying for people to make the changes in their life to come unto Christ. We spend basically all day doing what we can to help people take those necessary steps and helping them anyway we can. At the end of the day I'm always dead tired and just mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted. But when the time comes around for someone we have been working with to get baptized it makes it all worth it. And the same goes for the people we teach. They all have to make changes in their life to "take up the cross" and follow Christ. It's hard to make changes in our life but when we make the decision to follow Christ it is always worth it. It'll never be easy but it'll always be worth it. One of my favorite quotes is to "choose the harder right rather than the easier wrong." That is so true. It's always easier to do what is wrong. But doing what is right is always the most rewarding because it brings us true happiness. We are already coming up on the end of the transfer which is crazy. My very first companion, Elder Tyler, goes home at the end of this transfer which will be really weird. He will be my first companion I've had to go home which means I'm starting to get closer and closer to when I go home. This week should be another good one. We have a lot of temple Square lessons set up. It is always pretty refreshing to go downtown and just feel of the spirit that is present there. That's all I have for this week. I hope everyone has a great week. Love and miss you all!

Happy 20th Birthday Elder Potter!

Colton had the good fortune of his birthday falling on P-Day.  So he was able to fit in some golfing and taken to both lunch and dinner to celebrate.  But we didn't get an official update. He said it was a fantastic birthday.

I just can't stress enough to anyone the importance of trusting God. He truly loves you and wants what is best for you and it is so important we never forget that.

     
What a crazy, awesome week. First, we got transfer calls and Elder Greer and I will both be staying in the same area again so we are super excited about that. We have a lot of fun together and a lot of good work going right now. We also have birthdays the same week and will get to celebrate them as companions this transfer. We also got to celebrate our last birthday as companions so that doesn't happen very often. But this week was a great week. 
      On Tuesday, I got to go with one of my old companions, Elder Muse, to the temple with Amanda, someone we taught. It was such a special experience. She and her whole family had changed so much over the past 9 months since I started teaching her. On Friday we got to go to the temple with Ram to do baptisms for the dead and did the same thing on Saturday with Andrew. I'm sure that probably sounds a little weird so if you have questions about it, ask and I'll explain. What are baptisms for the dead?
     We also put our investigator from Chile on date for baptism for August 5 so that'll be exciting. He is a professional table tennis player and we got to play him before church yesterday and he absolutely destroyed us. He's a super cool guy. 
     Something that I learned this week has to do with God's Plan. Sometimes, we as God's children, think we know what's best for us and what our plan needs to be. We sometimes forget that God knows best. I know I've had some struggles in life where I looked to God and asked why he was putting me through that trial or if he was even there. Looking back on my life from where I am now it is so easy to see just how much He has been involved in my every day life and how He has used me to help fulfill His plan. I just can't stress enough to anyone the importance of trusting God. He truly loves you and wants what is best for you and it is so important we never forget that. That's all I have for the week. Hope you all have a great week!

I had probably the best week of my whole mission so far.

Elder Potter and his good friend Logan

He did get very sunburned at a baseball game last P-Day.

4th of July P-Day Fun

Watching the Bees

I had probably the best week of my whole mission so far. Seriously everything that seemed to happen was something good. Andrew and Ram were so prepared for their baptisms and their services were so awesome. The spirit was very strong there and you could tell Heavenly Father was happy with the choices they were making to follow Him. They got confirmed  (What is Confirmation?) on Sunday and Ram asked me to be the one to do that for him so that was a really cool experience. I also found out about a recently reactivated lady, Amanda, I taught a while ago is going to the temple for the first time tomorrow so I get to go with her and I'm so excited. She has come so far since I met her in November. On Saturday night we had a really great Temple Square lesson with a cool guy named Tre that we are teaching and his girlfriend. They really opened up to us and we have built a super good relationship with them and they want to start going to Temple Square with us weekly. So that'll be really fun. We ended the week by going to a recent convert/returning member devotional put on by some missionaries. Andrew was asked to speak at it and did an awesome job. It was pretty emotional. I was also asked to sing at it so that was pretty cool. It was a pretty awesome week. This is already the last week of the transfer so transfer calls are coming up. I'm not sure what will happen with me so we will have to see! Hope everyone has an awesome week!

No matter who we are, what we have done He will always love us.

I had an awesome week. We are still experiencing a lot of success finding more people to teach. We have tried doing a little more fun approaches to finding people to teach and it has worked so far. Both Elder Greer and I love sports so we have been playing basketball every Tuesday night, football every Saturday morning, and are going to start playing softball every Wednesday night. It's a lot of fun and we have built some good relationships with people who we want to start teaching. But one of the new people we started teaching this week is a guy named Valentin. He is a baller. He just moved here from Chile and is wanting to learn more. He was a professional table tennis player there and he only has one leg. Super cool dude. We had our first lesson with him this week and he had some really good questions. It's always so cool to see how talking to someone about Jesus Christ can change them. By the end of our lesson with him he had this huge smile on his face and was just so happy. It's amazing to help bring the light of Christ into the lives of others. We also had Zone Conference this week and Greer and I did our training on the name of Christ and it was so powerful. The whole meeting was powerful. We shared some personal experiences of the power of Christ's Atonement in our lives. I was really touched during it and may or not have started to cry a little bit. It was a pretty awesome meeting. Another one of the trainings was done on hope and that one in particular touched me. It's so important that we have hope. Hard times are going to come to us in life but if we have hope in Christ we can get through anything that can come our way. I love Jesus Christ. He lives and He loves us. No matter who we are, what we have done He will always love us. His Atonement is there for us to use in our lives so we can come back to Him when we have dug ourselves into a pit of despair. His arms outstretched waiting for each of us. The scripture I want to share this week says this, "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." That's all I have for this week. Love y'all! Have a good week! 

"After the trial of our faith comes the conversion."

These are the Memorial Day Shirts they picked up at Walmart.  Classic Colton. 

I had a super eventful week this week. Ram is doing really well. He is really progressing and accepting Jesus Christ and it is so cool to see the changes in him. He hasn't missed church since we started teaching with him and he is loving it. We are still in a long process of finding more people to teach but I know the Lord will bless us for our efforts. 
I got to try waffle love for the first time ever and it was so good. I had heard lots of good things about it and it truly lived up to the hype. 

But easily the craziest experience I've had on my mission happened this week and probably the coolest as well. I was on exchanges with Elder Quinnelly to do some baptismal interviews for him. We were headed to the first one and all of a sudden we saw a pretty big cloud of smoke go up in the air and we thought somebody had just burnt some leaves or something but as we kept driving it became pretty obvious it was a house fire. As we approached the street of the guy I was going to interview, Jake, we figured out the house was on the same street as Jake's. As we pulled up we could smell it and saw the house just up in flames. We were one of the first 10 people on the scene and so we parked and sprinted to the house. We saw people just hysterical. Screaming and crying and wailing. It was crazy. We ran up to them and asked if everyone was out of the house and they said yes which was good. Afterwards Elder Quinnelly and I talked and we were both prepared to run into that house to try and get someone out if we needed to. Luckily we didn't have to do that otherwise it may have been an even crazier story. The fire trucks got there probably 5 minutes after we did and so we got to watch the whole process which was pretty cool but the house was completely destroyed. About 15 minutes after we got there a lady motioned us over and asked to give one of the residents and her daughter a blessing and so we did. Before the blessings, they both were bawling uncontrollably but by the end of the blessings the tears had stopped and they were very calm. Super powerful moment for me. We found out it was the daughter's 14th birthday which was really sad. But what was sad was seeing this family with no hope. They kept saying we have lost everything. All they could see was the negative. And for good reasons too. They literally lost all of their belongings in the fire. Nothing was salvaged. But no one was even hurt. God protected their family. Why did their house have to burn down? I don't know but I do know that God can use it for their benefit in the long run. We got to explain that to them and just offer them comfort and counsel and it was a super cool moment. I love being able to be an instrument in the Lord's hands and bring hope into people's lives. Easily one of the best part's about being a missionary. The scripture I want to share this week says, "And after their temptations, and much tribulation, behold, I, the Lord, will feel after them, and if they harden not their hearts, and stiffen not their necks against me, they shall be converted, and I will heal them." For us to become truly converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ we must go through trials. After the trial of our faith comes the conversion. Christ lives and loves us and I know that to be true. I hope you all have a great week! Happy Memorial Day!

They went on a long hike in the mountains for Memorial Day.