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.