Week 4 July 24-30 Dwight's Perspective

 Greetings from Elder and Sister Potter:

This area holds so many memories for me.  I've lived in 3 different houses in NC (that I was old enough to remember.) 

1. The house I grew up in on HWY 111, one mile south of Albertson crossroads beside the church. That's also the house Susan and I, and kids, lived in when we moved to NC in late 1984.  When I was young, we lived there with my 7 siblings - 10 of us total.  I can't believe how small it is!  How did we (my parents and my siblings) ever fit into that house??  BTW, the bricks used to be red and chimney was brown rocks.  Nice work Richard and Kari (my niece)!

2. The house we built in Mt. Olive on Valley Rd, off of Crest Dr in 1991.  Still a nice neighborhood. The trees we planted in the back yard are huge!

3. The house that was being completed and we bought on Sevendales Dr in Goldsboro when we moved back to NC in 2001.  Such a nice house!  Amazing neighborhood.

We drove by all these places this week and just had a flood of memories.  It's never been more evident that we were called home to serve a mission.

Our biggest job this week, which we've nearly completed, was to organize our new apartment and make it our home.  It's feeling better and better all the time and 98% of everything is put in its place.  Now we can take a bit of a big breath.  Now we can get down to business on what God wants us to do while we're here.

We had our first council meeting with the young missionaries in our district.  That was in the Goldsboro stake center - hasn't changed.  There are (were) 8 young missionaries in our district. Sorry, no picture :(  Susan found (re-found) her favorite place to eat - Pizza Inn in Goldsboro - good thing we don't live too close!

Had our 1st meeting with the ward missionary leaders in Woodington.  Lots of wonderful local members!

Had a great visit with the 2 local young missionaries, Elder Parsons from Idaho and Elder Lopes from Hawaii.  We met at a young couple's house to teach a new member lesson that went well.  Unfortunately, the missionaries are being transferred and not being replaced, at least for the time being.  I'm afraid that Woodington is stuck with just us for a while.

Yesterday we went to a baptism in Albertson.  Wow, seeing people we know and love, but haven't seen for years was a wonderful reunion.  The sister (Judy) being baptized had like 10 members of her family, that are not members of the Church, that attended with her.  It was so good!  They were so happy for her.  As soon as she came up out of the water they started to clap.  It was just so spontaneous and so joyous.  It just made me smile.  We don't often do that - clap at baptisms or other sacred events in the Church.  On this occasion it felt so right!  And why not?  The joy Judy and her family felt that she had made the decision to follow Jesus Christ into the waters of baptism and her desires to always remember Him brought tears of joy.  This beautiful, important step of following Jesus Christ and knowing of His love and His willingness to die and atone for our sins and His Grace - knowing that because of Him we can be forgiven, that because of Him we can find peace and happiness in this life, that because of Him we will live again and be forever with our families - why not clap and shout "hallelujah" knowing that all is possible because of Him!   We know that our Redeemer lives!  We love Him and we love all of you!

Love,

Elder and Sister Potter

ps.  Almost forgot.  Sister Atkins made us this beautiful cake and gave it to us today.  IT IS SO GOOD!  Wish we could share it with you .......... sorry

Week 3

 We took our time going across the country and saw some beautiful sights. Our first stop was Four Corners (because I, Susan, have never been there).

Four Corners

Dwight giving me direction where to 
stand so we're in all four states. :)

We drove 500-600 miles each day and then stopped for the night. The first two days we drove through a lot of scenery that looked like this:

In Texas we stopped at some interesting sites along Route 66. There was the Midpoint Cafe, the Leaning Tower of Texas, and the Cadillac Ranch where old Cadillac bodies have been buried in a row and visitors are invited to graffiti them.

Midpoint on the road--Route 66

Midpoint Cafe

1139 Miles to Los Angeles and to Chicago

Still at Midpoint Cafe

We met a man, his son, and his grandson
 (all from the UK), riding the entire Route 66
from California to Chicago on motorcycles.

The Leaning Tower of Texas... read about it.

Cadillac Ranch

Cadillac Ranch

In Oklahoma we stopped at the Route 66 Museum. You can see from the "Welcome to Oklahoma" sign that the scenery had changed from desert to more grassy.

Welcome to Oklahoma

Route 66 Museum

The only thing we did in Arkansas
was drive and stop at a gas station. :)

Crossing the Mississippi River

We went through the Smokey Mountains to get to North Carolina and looked and looked for a "Welcome to North Carolina" sign but never saw one. We crossed from Tennessee into NC somewhere in the Smokies. We went through Pigeon Forge (hometown of Dolly Parton) and Gatlinburg. Then we drove through some beautiful mountains looking for bears. However, the bears must have heard about the flash flood warning and were nowhere to be found. I was seriously disappointed, but because of all the rain the river was amazing. These photos don't do it justice. And as a consolation prize for not seeing the bears, there were elk in abundance. 

Because we missed the "Welcome to North Carolina" sign, this is the sign that welcomed us. This is the first place we went when we got to Raleigh. We got the keys for our new residence and a little bit of instruction. Then we went and exchanged cars with Alyssa (She had our truck. We had her car.) We were both happy for the exchange. Then we all met my sister, Karen, and her husband, Erwin, and some of his family for dinner, Then we had a lovely trip to the temple. We saw friends there we haven't seen in years. At 9:49 pm we pulled up in front of our new home. 

NCRM Office

Erwin, Karen, Susan, and Dwight at the
Raleigh Temple

Susan Ave... the street right before
our "new" townhome.

Our travelling week is over, now it's time to settle in and get to work. We are so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ. The verse that has touched me deeply during the last couple weeks is 1Nephi 19:9 "And the world, because of the their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men." Every time I read this verse I get choked up because of my love for Jesus Christ and my gratitude for what He has done for you and me. I want to live my life to become more like Him.

We love you all!

Sister and Elder Potter 

Mission Week 2 July 10-16, 2023

Dear Family and Friends: 

We finished up our missionary training this week at the MTC in Provo, UT.  During the 2 weeks we made many friends and had excellent young teachers!  But on Friday, we had to say goodbye to them all.  We learned so much from our instructors Sisters Bramwell and Hanamaikai and Brother Nelson.  We fell in love with the Olsens, Worthens, McReakens, Findlays the Rhineharts, and others and we learned so much from all of them.  They are headed to all parts of the world and we look forward to hearing about their experiences.  We're grateful for their examples of faith in Jesus Christ and their willingness to serve Him at this time in their lives.

Best district 2nd week with Sister Bramwell

Just another day at the MTC and its beautiful grounds!

Sometimes the lunch lines get long!

On the way to do laundry.

Farewell and God speed to our new friends - Yes, that painting behind us used to be in the Washington DC temple

Thursday evening we discovered something amazing.  We are heading to the Woodington Ward in Deep Run - so close to home but not (we thought) in our home stake where the other wards we've lived in are (Albertson, Mt Olive and Goldsboro II.) I looked up the bishop (Bishop Tuller) online so I could send him a message and let him know we're on our way, but what to my surprise, the stake boundaries have changed and the Woodington Ward IS in the Goldsboro stake, with the other people we know and love!  Looking so forward to seeing everyone.

This weekend we came home to make final preparations for our trip to NC and to say goodbye to Josh & Cari, Jordan & Mandy and Kyle & Anna and their families.  We saw Caroline in Prove on our way out.  That was not easy, but there is Zoom and FaceTime and so we'll be able to see them and talk to them regularly.  

Family pic from farewell party June 17.

Tomorrow morning we are going to hit the road to NC bright and early!  We plan to take our time and see a few sites along the way, arriving in NC on Friday July 21.  Next stop: Four Corners Monument!

First Week at the MTC

We've had a great first week. Caroline met us before we entered the MTC--only fair since we said good-bye to her in the same place a few years ago. 

This is the group of seniors that entered with us that day. We're in the back in the middle, just to the left of the number 4 on the wall. Update: Many of these people taught us so much and became friends that we may not see again until the other side of the veil.

Physically it's been a rest compared to our last month at home. Spiritually we've had an awesome work out! We've had great teachers and met some wonderful friends... some that will be life long friends. We even met an old friend.

We saw Sage the first day we were there! Side note: Dwight is still learning how to take selfies. :) 

Of course, we had to take a picture at "the map." I was so tired that first day I could barely get my arm up there to North Carolina... Argentina would have been a nice mission call at that moment. :)

This is our first week district and our teachers. I love all of them so much. The couple on the left in the first picture (Findlay) is going to Scotland. The couple to the right of the teacher (Olsen) is going to Costa Rica, and the couple on the far right (McReaken) is going to Chicago. 

This is the couple we were assigned to work with on several activities. Before we met them our teacher said to our district, "You are going to love, love, love the couple you are assigned to. I promise." She was right. We love, love, love the Rhineharts.

We love you all! We love our Savior Jesus Christ and feel so blessed to be able to serve this mission.

Love,

Elder and Sister Potter