Week 17

This was a different kind of week. We taught some lessons to some wonderful people, and Dwight was able to tutor his cousin in accounting again, but other than that everything was different than our normal routine. Dwight was able to go to the temple early Wednesday morning with a friend he's known forever.

Darry and Dwight

Dwight was also able to go help his cousin, Johnny Huggins, stand up Dwight's Uncle Charles' headstone that had been broken for some time.

You can see the headstone to the right of Johnny.

Then one day, Dwight was able to take his childhood friend, Junior, fishing (something Junior used to do regularly with his dad who recently died.) They didn't catch much but had a great time.

While Dwight was off on all his adventures, I stayed home and worked on super secret Christmas presents for our kids and grandkids and on the blankets I'm making for foster children. Don't get too excited kids. 

On Friday we went to Raleigh to visit our family. Anna and her son, Kieran were here from Utah. We met them, Alyssa, her friend, Daniel, and Elayna, and Jake and his family at Hill Ridge Farms.

This slide was one of the highlights. Even the adults couldn't resist. Thankfully, no one had their camera out when I went down. I think everyone was too shocked to think about taking a picture of Nana. ;)

Jake

Von and Kieran

Alyssa, Anna, & Elayna

Crashing at the bottom of the slide!

I had my camera ready for this one! :)

There was another activity that was a favorite of some, but at least one of the kids was not at all impressed. Check out Kieran's expression in the picture below and then in the next one.

It was so fun to see these two together again. Cousin buddies for life!

Elayna was chasing this chicken. When she got too close, she turned around!

The last activity was a tractor ride to a pumpkin patch where we all got to "pick" a pumpkin.

Kieran

Elayna & Sullivan

On Saturday we went to Duck, North Carolina to visit Dwight's brother Kevin and his wife, Tami, at their beach house. We had a great time visiting, laughing, driving on the beach, laughing, looking for wild horses, laughing, bird watching, laughing, playing Phase 10, laughing, watching BYU play football and crying. ;) (Tami thanks for making sure we had some pictures!)

Wild horse!!!

NC and Virginia border

Watching the tear inducing BYU game.

Dwight took the next picture. He's very proud of it, so I have to give him credit. Although, he did have a lot of help from the Creator. We are so blessed to live in this beautiful world.

Sunrise at Duck, NC

Here is another beauty of the earth I saw this week. I kept seeing fields of snowy white cotton. It's just beautiful. One day we saw this field full of cotton, and on the way home it had been picked.

Cotton baled and ready for market

We saw so many beautiful creations of God this week... our family, pumpkins, cotton, seagulls, horses, the ocean, the sunrise, the sunset... I am in awe of the "beauty of the earth" (Hymns #92). Each day when I leave the house I see something that makes my heart swell with appreciation for my Father in Heaven "for [His] bounteous blessings" (Children's Songbook #21b). It may be as simple as a small flower or as grand as a flock of geese in formation or as sensational as an incredible sunset. I am so grateful to "live in this beautiful world Heavenly Father created for me" (Children's Songbook #228). If you can't tell I feel like singing all the time. In the Doctrine and Covenants section 104 verse 17 it says, "For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare..." We have truly been blessed. We have the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives, we have a Savior who has atoned for our sins and sorrows, we know families can be together for eternity, we live in a free country that is beyond beautiful, and we can become more like our Savior every day by caring for each other. 

We love you all!

Week 16 - Dwight

 

President Russel M Nelson, our prophet, stated "In truth, the Savior Himself has made it abundantly clear that while His resurrection assures that every person who ever lived will indeed be resurrected and live forever, much more is required if you want to have the high privilege of exaltation. Salvation is an individual matter, but exaltation is a family matter." 

Y'all, I can't help it.  While we are serving in North Carolina, I am drawn to my roots, to my family. I am drawn to the temple, which focuses on making families eternal.  I am drawn to helping others search out their family history so that they can build those bonds with their families for the eternities.

The picture above was taken this week when we went to the temple with our dear friends, the Faison family, to perform baptisms for their deceased relatives. Aariyah was just baptized herself a few weeks ago!  We all felt a warm spirit and a closeness to family as these sacred ordinances were performed for family members who could not do it for themselves. Here's another picture from the same day with a better view of the temple.

Earlier in the week we had a wonderful temple preparation discussion with Lorie, our friend that's preparing to go to the temple for herself and wants so badly to be sealed to her parents.  We also spent one evening in the home of Betty Jo and James Jones, along with Judy and Mary Lou, all wonderful friends that we were able to study and discuss the New Testament with.

Wednesday was Susan's birthday!  We had district council that day so all the Elders and Sisters were able to join in the celebration with the "Birthday Girl." Happy birthday Sister Potter!

We continued with teaching our star 10-year old Claire. She's getting baptized on November 12th and is pretty excited.  Her great-grandfather is going to perform the baptism and Denise, her grandmother from Pennsylvania is going to play the piano. Other family members are participating as well. We may be more excited than she is! Claire and her family as well as the Faisons were at church today.  Our good friend JD came as well, but fell out of his wheelchair when Angie was taking him home, so we had to go help her get him back in - scary!

Saturday was a  cool day - as in groovy! I met my 1st cousin, twice removed, Durward, Potter, in the great town of Magnolia, North Carolina.  All the time that I've lived in North Carolina, I've never been to my Grandma Potter's grave site.  She's not buried by Granddaddy, who's in the Potter Family Cemetery, but she's buried by her parents in Magnolia.  My oldest uncle, Benagy Potter is also buried there.  Benagy was my grandfather's oldest child and was the son of his 1st wife (not my grandma). It was great to see, for the 1st time, grave stones of people I've heard about all my life, but never knew in person.  It was such a good feeling being there.  Durward and I also visited the site where Granddaddy used to live, where the old church building used to be, where the old church is now located and used as a barn, and the Potter Family Cemetery. 

My cousin, Durward Potter at what's left of the church my grandfather helped build in 1907

My oldest uncle, Benagy Potter

My Great-grandparents - Magnolia, NC

My Grandma, Lillian Bessie Merritt Potter - Magnolia

Sorry these posts often turn to family.  Our family is so important to us and we love them very much, on this side of the veil and those that have passed.  We know you feel the same way about your families.  We are so blessed to know that God's plan is all about eternal families.  We love the Savior Jesus Christ and thank Him for His Atonement that makes it all possible.  Love you all!

Week 15

 This week, like all of them recently, flew by. We taught lessons, had lessons cancelled and rescheduled, visited friends, did lots of family history, tried to teach a young friend how to serve a volleyball :), took some young missionaries to the temple, went to a funeral, did a little tutoring and crocheting, watched a horrendous BYU game (which I will not elaborate on), and put hundreds of miles on Dwight's truck.

The lessons given were great. Claire gave us permission to make her the "star" of our blog this week. At her lesson, we first reviewed what she learned last week. To show that she didn't need much of a review, she took our magnetic white board and put the pieces of the Plan of Salvation in the correct order. She was quite pleased with herself.

Then she got cozy for this weeks lesson.

After the lesson was over, we went outside to visit her best friend, Thor!

One of the friends we visited this week was Claire's great-grandfather. He is the one that has the amazing old store in his backyard. Dwight feels very comfortable at his house. We got to his house, back door no less (we are really good friends), and Dwight knocked on the door and opened the door, stepped in and called out, "Hello, anyone home." I was relieved when Brother Huggins appeared before Dwight started walking around his house. ;) We had a nice visit with him and his wife.

The volleyball serving lesson happened after a new member lesson for Jay and Aariyah. We met at the church for just that purpose. We always have a lot of fun with those two. I wish I had remembered to take some pictures. They are amazing kids. Tuesday, we plan to take Aariyah, her grandma, and her cousin to the temple to do baptisms. Jay is seriously disappointed that he is not old enough to go.

Yesterday, we visited Dwight's cousin Melissa again, so he could help her with her accounting homework. She says she hates to ask for his help. We've tried to let her know that Dwight loves to teach accounting. Our daughter, Alyssa and her college accounting buddies used to have him help them all the time. While Dwight was helping Melissa, I had a chance to crochet. I'm making blankets for foster kids. (And bonus, my Apple watch gives me steps when I crochet. In an hour and a half, I got 2800 steps. Teehee!)

We had a surprise today! Jake and Anna and their kids came for a visit! The kids and I played outside, and I think we made more noise than I've heard in this complex the whole time we've lived here. I think we wore them out! Ha!

We did lots of family history this week with people we are teaching and other friends. Dwight found out he was third cousins with two of the people we are teaching... super cool. Helping other people find their ancestors, makes us want to come home and explore our own family. I read a lot about my family this week finding stories I'd never heard before about great and great-great grandparents. There is a special spirit associated with getting to know the people that made your life possible. I also looked at a lot of pictures. I've always been told I look like my mom, which I do; but I found a picture of my dad's mom that I can see myself in. This is how I remember my Grandma and Grandpa Richardson:

This is a picture of the same grandparents on their honeymoon in 1920 at the Great Salt Lake. I can totally see myself in this picture of my grandma.

This is a picture of me at the same age as my grandma was in the above picture. Can you see it, or is it just me?

I love getting to know my ancestors and feeling a connection to them. "And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers..." (Malachi 4:6) My heart has turned.

We love sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and serving his children in anyway we are able.

We love you all!

Week 14 - Dwight October 2-8, 2023

 It's hard to believe, but we started the 2nd quarter (3-month period) of our mission this week.  1/6 of our mission is done!  Time is flying and we're having a blast!

This week I took a trip down memory lane.  The young missionaries in our zone won an extra p-day and decided to spend the afternoon on Monday at Eagles Nest Camp near Dudley, NC.  Eagles Nest is owned by the Church and is a 104 acre campground, used mostly for Church youth and other groups camping activities.  When I was a young man, it was called Camp Tuscarora (named after the Tuscarora Indians) and was where I went to Scout camp!  I remember, swimming and canoeing in the lake, eating in the dining hall, playing games and doing skits in the amphitheater and running all over those woods.  No, I never became an Eagle Scout, but all our boys did! It was fun, playing with the young missionaries at a camp where I played as a Boy Scout more than 50 years ago!

Elder Potter bravely crosses a "lava flow" on a log

Goldsboro Zone in the dining hall - same wood floor!

Sister Potter hanging with the "sistas," mostly.

Later that night we went to my cousin, Melissa Wiggins' house to help her with her accounting home work.  I can't believe I still remember that stuff!

Midweek, we had dinner with Darry Hargrove and his wife Shelby.  Was so good to catch up with someone we've been friends with for as long as I can remember.  Did a lot of family history and discovered some interesting things - including that someone has relations with the McCoy's, as in the Hatfield and McCoy's.  Thirty years of active feuding and still bad blood between the two families!

During the week we visited with the Ward family and taught a lesson to Claire and Denise.  Denise lost her husband and we had a touching discussion about the spirit world and life after death.  Steve gave us venison to take home (starving missionaries and all!)  I guess it's hunting season everywhere.  

I got to use a little bit of my French when we went with the Albertson sisters to teach a man from Haiti.  Was a lot of fun, but realized that I'm picking up my native southern language a lot quicker than I am my mission language.  

We visited my cousin Johnny Huggins and his wife Linda again.  Always a treat to talk about family and the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

My Aunt Teenie (Rosella Barnett) lived to be over 100 years old, but passed away a couple of years ago.  We took a few minutes and visited with her son Joe and granddaughter Lynetta while we were in the area and got to look for some old family pictures and journals.  Apparently she kept a daily journal for years.  Anytime we visited Aunt Teenie, she would ask about each of our 7 kids, by name.  I can hardly remember their names! She was an amazing person with so much love for family and friends.

Today we had a busy day for a Sunday.  We spoke in the Goldsboro 2nd Ward sacrament meeting.  Aaron Sanders, a member of the bishopric, conducted the meeting.  Aaron used to come to our house when he was in high school and would eat anything we had in the fridge.  He's our son Jacob's age and got quite emotional talking about our family as he was growing up.  We got emotional seeing all the friends that we haven't seen for years.  We then went to church in Greenville with our dear friend Lorie and later had dinner with Bishop Smith's (Goldsboro 2nd Ward) mother and family.  Menu: Chicken and "dumplins," collard greens w/ham hock, fresh corn, butter beans (with essential oils - bacon grease!), sweet potato casserole, hush puppies, banana "puddin" and chocolate pie.  I can testify that the Plan of Salvation, that we teach about, is real, because today I died and went to Heaven!!! We finished the day off with our friend J.D. Robinson and his caregiver Melissa actually talking about God's plan of Salvation (the real one).

Seems like we're having more and more to do and more and more fun!  Time is flying and we're so happy to be here.  Looking forward to another week of testifying of our Savior Jesus Christ and His restored gospel.  Love you all!