STOLEN BIKE

From Elder Potter:
This week was not as good of a week as last week but it was still a great week. My first week I think we had 28 lessons and didn't have a single lesson cancelled so it's hard to beat that but we still had a bunch of lessons this week. School started up again so it messed up schedules a little bit with some of our investigators but hopefully we'll get that figured out. We had our second baptism this past Saturday and it was an awesome baptism. The guy's name is Travis and he is just an awesome guy. He is a baller too so we've started playing basketball at the church on Tuesday nights and it has been pretty fun. 
We got the chance to do a lot of service this week including for a deaf guy. Luckily my companion knows a decent amount of sign language so at least one of us could communicate with him. He is an awesome guy though and still comes to church pretty much every Sunday. We also got to help this family that's moving to Idaho load their trailer which included moving some furniture that didn't really fit through the door super well so that was interesting. We are going back this week to help with the washer and dryer. 
I've been having some pretty severe headaches the past three weeks or so and they aren't really getting better, but I know that the Lord is with me because I say a little prayer before we go into every lesson for the strength to push past my headaches so I can feel the spirit and help teach those who need to hear his word and he has given me the strength to endure them every time. Hopefully I can get them figured out sooner rather than later though.  We have been trying to help him from afar with these and he is supposed to see a doctor about it this week.  We are wondering if it is either an undetected sinus infection or migraines. He could definitely use some specific prayers for those headaches to stop or a resolution to be found. 
And last but not least, Saturday night my companion and I stopped at one of the bishop's of the 5 wards we cover to check up on a referral (someone who has asked for a missionary contact)  and it was supposed to be really quick but it turned into about 40 minutes and when I came out to get my bike it wasn't there. Yes, my bike got stolen. At first I was pretty mad, but sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches and so now I look at it in a comedic way. It really is pretty funny. Luckily we have an extra bike at my apartment we just need to buy a new tube. Again thanks everyone for their thoughts, prayers, and well wishes. I've already finished one month! Can't believe it but time is flying by and I'm truly loving it out here. I can see the way that our loving Heavenly Father uses his people to help the lost sheep come back into the fold. I can truly testify that our God is a loving God and that the power of prayer is real. Prayer is our greatest tool. Pray as often as you can! It only makes life easier. Thanks again! Also shout out to Ty for joining the Utah crew 😜 Provo is getting a great missionary!  (Ty is his good friend from Seymour who will be leaving on his own mission this fall and was just called to the Provo mission.  Ironically this makes the 4th boy from their group to head to Utah- hence the "Utah crew".)

FIRST WEEK IN THE FIELD

My first week in the field is through and it was a pretty great week. Taught probably close to 30 lessons and we had a baptism Saturday so not a bad first week. I'm living in the basement of some members. It's a pretty big place so it's really nice. We have our own kitchen, study area, a bedroom, bathroom, and a washer and dryer so we have plenty. I love the area I'm serving in. It's a biking area because it is literally 1 square mile. But in that square mile is an entire stake with 5 wards and 3 church buildings so we stay pretty busy. We have another baptism on Saturday and 3 others on date. We are working with some pretty amazing people right now. Some are more frustrating than others but we love them all the same. This week should be a pretty good week. Lots of lessons again. Couple new investigators (someone who is learning about the church) and a baptism so that's exciting. I've definitely been placed where I need to be. Having a companion from Indiana has been super fun. It's really fun to talk about home and about what we miss the most and stuff. We have also listened to the same Disney CD's about 10 times this past week so by the end of this transfer I should pretty well know almost every song ever on a Disney movie word for word. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. I feel so blessed. I'm going to start sharing a scripture that really stood out to me each week. This week was Enos 1:12 which pretty much says after we pray and labor God will grant us all of our righteous desires according to his will. I love that scripture. If we all do our part first, God will do the rest. Until next week!

Elder Potter

Here are some pictures he also sent:

At the Provo Temple What is an LDS temple?

Elder Potter and Elder Greer (His MTC companion)

Elder Potter and Elder Holderness (his cousin) at the MTC

Elder Potter Sighting!

I got a text from a man in Utah tonight who had the opportunity to take Colton and his companion, Elder Tyler (who is from Westfield, IN of all places!) to dinner tonight.  He sent me these pictures which are the first pictures I have received.   He shared that Colton loves and misses us all and got a bike from the mission home so is ready to go! It was very kind of him to take the time to share this and it really made my day.  So often it is the small things that take no more than a few minutes that can uplift and change the lives of others.  I am accepting the challenge to use my technology to greater bless others.  How much better the world would be if we could all take the time to take action when someone crosses our mind and reach out in kindness, apologies, encouragement and celebration as prompted.  Life is as rich as we make it! 

First Assignment to West Valley

I got a quick text from Colton today telling me he made it safely to the mission home, and he will be serving in West Valley in the Hunter South Stake.   What is a stake? 
He says his companion is also from Indiana which he is super excited about!

Leaving the MTC

 I can't believe it but I head for the field today. It's been an awesome three weeks at the MTC. I've met so many amazing people and have a couple of people who I'm going to email with about our missions so that will be really fun. I've been so lucky to have had the district I did. I loved them so much. I'm going to really miss my companion, Elder Greer. He is an awesome missionary and a great guy too. We really taught well together but I am excited to meet my trainer today and be faced with a new challenge. It'll be interesting for sure. This past Tuesday, Elder Anderson came and spoke to us and gave us missionaries some amazing promises and that was really cool. The spirit that I felt when he walked into the room was amazing. One of the things he said that I thought was really cool was that just like him we are called to be Jesus Christ's apostles, just with a little "a" instead of a big "A." I really liked that a lot. I can't even tell you the number of people I have ran into here that I knew and they knew me. It's really cool! I learned so much this week and am so excited to apply it to the field. To end I'd like to share something funny that happened this week. I went to open this door for some missionaries and thought it was a pull but it was push door from the side I was on. So when I realized that I pushed it open but as I did I ran straight into a pole and busted my eye open. It started bleeding but my pride was hurt more. Hopefully that made everyone's week. Thanks again everyone for all the support and wishes! I'm excited for the new challenge of entering the field this week! You're all in my prayers!

Elder Potter

Last Week at the MTC

Today I was able to email Colton back and forth as we were both online at the same time and chat a little bit.  It was really nice and he sounds really happy!  Our friends from church here, the Boyces also told me that their daughter Renae saw Colton at the MTC one day. It is fun to make those connections! He will send pictures soon and he asked me to share this: 

This week I definitely had an eventful week for sure. The devotionals we have had so far have been awesome. Last Sunday Elder Holland's son came and spoke to us and I got to participate in the largest MTC Choir they have ever had in the history of the MTC. There were 1,557 missionaries in the choir. We had 300 missionaries leave last Tuesday and then 814 enter on Wednesday so that was crazy.  This past Sunday I was asked to be the District Leader so naturally I lost the binder and a set of missionaries on my first day but luckily I found them both. I finally saw Brian (his cousin) on Sunday and it was awesome. We got two new TRC's on Monday and Elder Greer and I got both of them to commit to being baptized so that was really neat. Thank you to everyone who sent my stuff for my birthday. That was so nice and made me so so grateful for all the people supporting me from home and throughout the country. I'm heading into my last week at the MTC and it is definitely bitter sweet. I can't wait to enter the field (he will be heading to the west side of the Salt Lake Valley - we will learn the specifics later) but I am loving it here. My companion and my district is so sweet and I have loved getting to know them. Tomorrow is going to be interesting because we are hosts so we have to try and act like we know where everything is and what we are doing for the new missionaries. But I am doing really well! Thanks for all the love and support and if you are sending me mail don't send anything after tomorrow to the MTC please because it takes forever to get here and I'll probably be gone by the time it gets here. (We will update his mailing address as soon as we know what it is). Also you might not hear from me for two weeks because I head out into the field on Tuesday so I don't know if I will get email time. I'm hoping I do. Thanks again! Love and miss you all!

Elder Potter

OLD FRIENDS AND NEW FRIENDS

We received this letter today.

August 1

Dear Family,
Hopefully you got my first letter.  I just got yours tonight but I love the MTC and my district so much.  I have learned so much already and my testimony has grown so much.  We are all serving in Utah and so none of us are from Utah so we all have this cool bond.  Brian (his cousin from Utah who will be serving in Taiwan) should get here on Wednesday.  My companion's birthday is tomorrow and today we had to go to the dentist so his fillings could get fixed.  I've seen two kids from EFY (Especially For Youth church camp he went to the last four summers) as well as Riley Buckles (a church friend from Indianapolis area) so that's cool.  By the way all 8 elders in my district (this link explains districts and other MTC details  www.lds.org/new-era/2007/03/inside-the-mtc) are going to my mission and two of the sisters are going to Salt Lake South and the other two are going to Orem.  One elder, Elder Blackem had to go home from my branch because he found out he has cancer.  So please keep him in your prayers.  Thank you so much for the letters and Ella you can keep my headphones.  Ella had borrowed Colton's headphones and forgot to return them so wrote to ask him what to do with them.  Miss and love you all. 

Love,
Elder Potter