Week 59

Happy 42nd Anniversary to us! :) On our anniversary we took a Haitian friend to Raleigh to take care of some residency/legal stuff. While we were in Raleigh, we went to see Jake and his family and Alyssa. We took Clara a way-over-due birthday present. We hadn't seen them in way too long and had a fun but short visit. While we were there Jake mentioned that his dad needed a haircut... so he got out his clippers and gave Dwight a haircut! I think we'll go to Jake's every time Dwight gets a little shaggy, so I don't have to ever play barber again!!!

Dwight's new haircut :)

We taught a 17-year-old girl and her two little sisters this week. We had a great lesson with them. We discovered that the 9-year-old girl can't read; so tomorrow when we go see them, we will teach them a gospel lesson. Then we will do some reading practice. I bought some of my favorite easy readers, and we're going to have some fun. All the girls came to church today and waved and smiled when they saw us. Little things like that make my heart swell!

We also taught Monica. She's our adorable 12-year-old friend. She set a baptismal date on Wednesday, but when we went to see her on Saturday, she told us her dad wants her to wait until she learns more. I'm good with that. I love spending time with her teaching her about Jesus Christ. We have also been teaching her and her step sister English.

D & S and Monica

Dwight took on another challenge... teaching Sandeline (Monica's stepsister) how to drive. I sat in the back seat. She did pretty well. I was only scared a couple of times. :)

We visited Jimmy and Penny Holmes this week. When our daughter Alyssa was a little, Penny would hold her during church. She'd give her gum. She constantly doted over her. When we moved to Utah, we gave Penny a framed picture of Alyssa. While we were at her house, Penny went and got that picture that is still on display. I showed Alyssa the picture I took of Penny (below) and she said, "I remember her. She gave me gum. I think it was Doublemint." It was! 

We love our young missionaries. We always talk about the Elders we work with, but we have some amazing sisters as well. We leave Otter Pops in our outside freezer for the Albertson sisters, so they can cool down whenever they want. They sometimes get Otter Pops and then sit at our picnic table in the shade. We're usually not home when they come by, but sometimes we catch them!

This is a picture from our district group chat. Sister Memea's face makes me laugh every time I look at it. The post said, "Your ward can't agree on what their ward boundaries are, so they give you a map."

I'm not sure if the red or the blue is
the official Albertson Ward boundary.

Speaking of Albertson... here is something I saw this week right outside our house. Ewwww. I had to look it up to see what it was. It's a red velvet ant (it's really a wasp) the females are wingless. The one in the picture was about an inch long. They are also called cow killers... not because they can kill a cow, but because the sting of one feels like it can kill a cow. The venom is not very dangerous. Wow! Aren't you glad, if you didn't already know, that you've learned something about a scary looking bug?

Also, I thought this was interesting to anyone that hasn't experienced NC backroads. Some of them are very skinny! We were following this hay hauler, and it was a little scary passing it.

With all the rain we've had, the Neuse River got pretty high. It's starting to come down some now. This picture was taken on Tuesday.

We had our last temple prep lesson with Judy. She'll be ready to go to the temple soon! We've visited the Lafortunes, the Pierre Louis', Alex, and so many others. Dwight helped put up closet bars and tried to put up some more blinds in one of our friend's houses. The wall were made out of block and he hit metal and a black widow came out of the wall. I'm sure the details of that are wrong, but when he was telling me about it, all I heard was black widow. Ewwww again!

A highlight this week was the baptism of James and Makendy. They are awesome young men!

Tonight we had our senior missionary devotional. My sister Karen invited her friends Elder Evan and Sister Cindy Schmutz. Elder Schmutz served a mission in North Carolina as a young missionary. He told a story from when he was a mission president in the Philippines about a family with several children and their conversion. He played a clip of the older daughters singing a primary song that I remember singing with my sisters. It was beautiful. I felt a love that I can't explain for this family I've never met. What I can try to explain is that as we serve others and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ through word and example our love grows for the people that we serve. And somehow our love grows for people we don't even know.

We love you all!

Sister and Elder Potter

Week 58 - Dwight

 It's official - our mission has been extended until June 30, 2025!

Our 18 month mission was supposed to end in January 2025, but that date is coming way too fast, so we requested an extension for 5 more months and we got it!  We'll now be here through the month of June and are really excited that we don't even need to think about going home yet.

We had our stake president, President Frankie Jones, at church today.  He interviewed three of our new Haitian members to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood in two weeks at our stake conference.  Exciting!

This week has been a week of teaching and a bunch of social work while Tropical Storm Debbie blew through dumping a lot of water and causing flooding in some areas.  We have a lot of Haitian brothers here without their wives and children, who are still in Haiti.  That country continues to be a mess.  The social work piece has been helping several of our members make applications to help get their families here to be with their husbands/fathers.  We've also tried to help several friends find a home to rent and I helped 3 with their job interviews at the Butterball turkey plant near Mt. Olive.

Mackendy, Frantz, Luz (Butterball recruiter), Dwight, Saindelene

As a side note, the company I worked for in NC and Utah for 32 years, Smithfield Foods, used to own 49% of Butterball.  You'd think that would give me an "in" with them in helping people get jobs - but it doesn't.  Luckily, I met Luz early on and she has been great helping me set up interviews and get people hired.  It's a little bit of work to help them get started, but they are becoming very self-sufficient once they have jobs.

With everything we have going on, we've tried to divide and conquer a bit with the Young missionaries, Elders Bates and Hansen.  They have been trying to learn Haitian Creole and up until this week it's been pretty slow and they have relied on me, and others on the phone, to help them a lot with their teaching.  Last Sunday we gave them a priesthood blessing and promised them they would have the gift of tongues and be able to hear what was being said and speak the words needed.  The blessings were very powerful.  This week as I've been with them in person or on a video call, it's been remarkable the improvement they are making, a little miracle!  They still have a ways to go, but they are progressing at an accelerated rate and soon will not need any help at all!  We're starting to teach more separately and that will be a great relief for the work and allow us to be in more homes teaching and testifying of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

In some of the home we teach a gospel lesson and then an English lesson.  This is working great.

Saindelene and her step sister Monica during an English lesson

While life has gotten a lot more busy recently, we couldn't be happier, with the exception of a lingering sickness Susan has been struggling with this week - but doing much better today.  We feel like we have renewed friendships with people we've known for decades, but have now restored those friendships and made many new friends as well.  I happen to believe that in our pre-earth life, we knew each other there, family and friends.  I also believe that the bonds of friendship we have here will be a special connection we have throughout the eternities as we reminisce on the challenges, good times and bad times we shared together here. Here, in this life, so important to our eternal existence, we share some of our best and most challenging times together.  As we learn to meet those life's struggles together, we develop a special bond of friendship that will last forever.  One of the great purposes of life is to, with God's help, become something more than the natural man by choosing to follow the Savior. We need His help, but we need each other too!  You, along with family members and friends that have passed, have blessed our lives so much and we will be eternally grateful!

Week 57

The best part of this week for me was seeing a few people we haven't seen for a while. We were able to visit with Gregory Harper (a friend that grew up in the Albertson Ward who we had been visiting regularly until we got really busy with the Haitian community.) We also got to see Steve and Sheila Ward and their granddaughter Claire. They had just gotten back from the beach with a boatload (literally--like 600 pounds) of shrimp and fish. They had us stay for a fresh seafood dinner! I love seeing Claire! We challenged her to memorize the Articles of Faith... she looked skeptical... I asked her what she wanted for a prize for learning them all... Outback Steakhouse... Done!!! She's no longer skeptical but excited. Then the highlight for me was reconnecting with Lorrie Ann (JD Robinson's daughter). She had a bunch of stuff going on with her family, so we hadn't seen her in months. It was soooo good to visit with her again and make plans for another visit soon. And of course we visited Judy. She's getting excited about going to the temple.

We also taught some lessons. One of the really fun ones was with Monika (a new member's 12-year-old step sister) We actually taught her twice this week. We teach a gospel lesson and an English lesson. During the latter there is always lots of laughing.

Sandeline, Susan, Monika

Speaking of English lessons. They are always fun whether at someone's house or at the church. Here's a picture from our English class after church today.

I love these people!

So this week the young missionaries stole my companion... A LOT! They taught 30 lessons! Here's a picture with one of our friends, Mackenzie, who is being baptized later this month.

Elder Bates, Mackenzie, 
Elder Hansen, Elder Potter

The other day we were driving to an appointment, and Dwight asked, "Do Crepe Mrytle grow in Hurricane?" There are lots of Crepe Mrytle trees/bushes here. Dwight loves them because they bloom for three or four months. His question spurred a very scientific experiment where I discovered that a person can drive through the backroads of Duplin and Wayne Counties North Carolina and see an average of 70 Crepe Mrytles every five minutes. And, yes, Crepe Mrytle grows in Hurricane, Utah.

Crepe Mrytle

Here are some other natural beauties of summer from North Carolina. These pictures were both taken from a moving vehicle and are still beautiful:

Sunflowers on the side of the highway

Little white flowers on cotton plants

Speaking of sunflowers. We have a friend that's been feeling down. Dwight was out with the young missionaries and called me on his way home and asked what he could take to our friend. I told him to take him something happy like a sunflower and a little treat. This is what he ended up taking to him:

Sunflowers, bananas, and yellow cupcakes...
I love that he went with a yellow theme.
Dwight had a great visit with our friend and
lifted his spirits. We'll go visit him next
week together.

We go teach the Lafortunes missionary discussions and English. They have a little girl, Luna. I asked her a couple of weeks ago to bring me a book and I'd read to her. (She speaks English.) The only book she had was the one we use to teach her family English. She had no story books. Being the lover of books that I am, I had to get her some children's books. Last time we went I read two stories to her... The Wonkey Donkey and Are You My Mother? She was riveted. It was so much fun! I wish I had taken a picture. She brought her books to church on Sunday in a little backpack.

Luna

Dwight is still perfecting his sour dough bread. I feel lucky to be his taste tester.

This one had the flakiest crust yet!

Matthew 4:4 "But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." I love the bread that Dwight makes. It is so good and fills me up. However, it doesn't come close to comparing to the words of Jesus Christ. When I feel the Spirit testify of truth, I am truly filled. I know God loves us and that His Son Jesus Christ has Atoned for our sins and sorrows. They know us and know what we need.

We love you all!

Sister and Elder Potter

Week 56 - Dwight

 

Elders and Bates & Hansen

These are 2 of the hardest working missionaries we've ever known!  Here they are teaching an English (ESL) class in Mt Olive today to a group of Haitians.  Every day these Elders are out finding, teaching and loving the Haitian people.  Problem is, I'm not getting my afternoon nap anymore, because they keep asking me to help!  We are teaching in Haitian Creole and French every day, multiple times a day! It might be in person, on Zoom. on the phone or on Whatsapp, but it's always amazing! It's almost beyond belief and likely will not let up anytime soon.  We're amazed everyday at how they are humbly seeking truth.

Hear, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in English Class

Last night we got to go see the Nashville Tribute Band in Kinston.  They were great and even though they didn't understand much, two of our Haitian Brothers loved it.

Elder Hansen, Elder Bates, Edgard and Alin

National Tribute Band with Current and Returned Missionaries

Look who I ran into at the concerts Saturday night!  My cousin Sherry Lane Heft.  Haven't seen her in forever!

Bill & my cousin, Laura Mae Sutton's daughter Sherry Lane

It seems like every Sunday at church we have more and more people.  Today we moved from our small room to the chapel for the 2nd hour.  We had 14 people wanting to know more about the Church and a lot of new, faithful members.

Susan and I were still getting over colds early in the week.  I took that time to do some more work helping our friends work towards getting their families here.  Between helping people get jobs, opening bank accounts, apply to bring family members to the US and figure out what a gas bill is really saying, I'm getting a lot of social work in with our missionary work - or maybe it's all the same?  We are finding a lot of joy in helping any way we can.

Serving in North Carolina, more specifically right here in Duplin and Wayne Counties is like a dream to us.  We have wonderful people as neighbors and friends, humble people to teach and serve and amazing leaders and missionaries to work with. We feel so blessed to be here and to see the hand of the Lord in our lives and the lives of those we love here.  Thank you for your love and prayers.  

Week 55

 As an update from last week... the fire by our cabin is 85% contained. It burned 544 acres. The first line that was held was the one that went around our cabin. The firefighters used our front yard as a satellite camp. Although the roads opened back up yesterday, there are still helicopters and firefighters working hard. Our friends drove up to our cabin and sent us pictures. 

Still standing

Trees by the cabin

The main things that happened this week: lessons and interviews getting three of our friends ready for their baptism on Saturday, Senior Missionary Temple Trip and luncheon, three baptisms, Dwight sick for a couple of days, now I'm sick. The only good thing about having sick downtime is the extra language study I can get it. Duolingo and I had quite a lot of time together. Estoy muy enferma con dolor de cabeza, fiebre y tos.

Wednesday we had a temple trip with the senior missionaries and the mission leaders in our mission. Afterwards we had lunch together at the church building next to the church. Dwight and I have been asked to been in charge (along with another couple) of bi-monthly senior devotionals, temple trips, and activities. Dwight, of course, thought he had to make pulled pork sandwiches for the group. Everyone else brought sides. It turned out really nice. We are making some great friends in this group.

After the luncheon

At president's house last month--
we're in there somewhere.

The baptisms on Saturday were awesome. There was one problem--Elder Hansen had the same sickness Dwight had had, that Aly had given to him, that I now have. :) Did you follow that? Elder Gines came from Goldsboro to sit with Elder Hansen. That way Elder Bates was able to come to the baptisms with Elder Gines' companion. :) Did you follow that? Anyway, it was amazing. First of all, I played the piano. The same piano I played at Jacob's baptism over 30 years ago. So that was fun. Then Saintemene was baptized by her husband... really cool. After her, two of the Pierre Louis brothers baptized the other two. Alin baptized Paul-Edmond and Aly baptized Edgard.

D & S (in back) Saintemene and Luna
Evens and Evena, Marie Yolene 

Aly (in front) D & S, Alin, Paul-Edmond, 
Edgard, Elder Bates, Saindeline (new member)

Dwight confirmed all three of them at church today. I'm sure it was beautiful, but I wasn't there. I was home remembering why we have opposition in all things (2 Nephi 2:11). Being sick makes me really appreciate being healthy most of the time. 

I was just getting ready to close out and this picture popped up on my computer from "One Year Ago Today." It was the day we pulled into Raleigh after driving across the country. We stopped at the mission office to get the key to our new apartment. Then we met my sister Karen and her husband Erwin for dinner and then went to the temple. That does not seem like a year ago!

Thank you all for you support! We love you all!

Sister and Elder Potter

Week 54 - Dwight

Kanarra Mountain Fire near our Cabin

Fire fighting over our cabin

Same plane drops payload of retardant

We don't normally get overly excited or worried about events at home, but lightening struck the woods near our family mountain cabin on Friday evening and for the last 2 days fire has seriously threatened our family retreat.  Helicopters and airplanes were constantly dropping fire retardant near our place.  Not sure we are "out of the woods yet," but so far so good.  While we had our concerns and have heard from family and friends with constant updates on the situation, we continued to work and meet and teach our friends and have left it in God's hands.  We did say a prayer or two, but that's about all we can do.  We feel what we're doing here is too important to allow this to sidetrack us from our mission.  And so, we press forward.

Haitian Group - Mt Olive Ward

Our Haitian Group continues to grow, almost unbelievably!  We had 24 of our Haitian friends at Church today.  One of them, Alin, gave a beautiful talk in Sacrament Meeting.  Thirteen of them were non-member adults.  We have 5 baptisms scheduled for this coming Saturday!  They are so humble and appreciative and ready for the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  Among them is where we're spending most of our time.  I think it's fair to say that I speak French better now than I did 45 years ago on my mission in France.  Kind of a miracle in and of itself.  We love these wonderful brothers and sisters!

Goldsboro Zone w/Pres & Sis Stevens

Assistants teaching at zone conference

Our zone was one of  three zones that attended our zone conference this week in Mt Olive, because our stake building was being used for a youth conference.  It's always a treat for us to go to zone conference and hear from all our mission leaders and feel their love.  We told President Stevens that we want to extend our mission until the 1st of June next year, so that's now officially in the works!

Couple of other fun events this week.  I took a break Friday and went with my buddy JR to lunch at Lovicks Restaurant in Kinston, home of the famous Dough Burger.  We had the fish and shrimp (so much for the famous burger.)  Also, we went to see our friend Alex.  Alex is so kind and appreciates our coming to see him.  He said that a million dollars paid to each of us could not repay what we have done for him!  While we know he is sincere, we feel like we are the ones that have been blessed to know him and to see how he has changed some things to bring happiness back into his life.  Lastly, after a little scare at our house today when the walls were "sweating" and our wonderful landlady Sandra came to help us check it out (attic fans needed to be switched on to cool the attic down), we had 5 sister missionaries over for dinner.  Had a great time!  They are amazing young women dedicating 18 months of their lives to the Lord's service and doing a great job!

Goldsboro Zone Sisters-Dinner

One day early this week on my morning walk, instead of seeing the geese (mom, dad and four goslings) lying by the pond, they all came flying in and landed on the pond together.  I wasn't smart enough or fast enough to get a picture.  It was kind of amazing and a little sad, because I knew we wouldn't be seeing much of them anymore - in fact, I haven't seen them since.  It's been fun watching them grow.

I've read several times this week in the Book of Mormon the account of the visit of the resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ, to the ancient inhabitants of the Americas.  One thing has touched me particularly.  After he introduced himself, he invited all those present (about 2,500 men, women and children) to "...come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world. And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come."

His invitation is to each of us to come - one by one - and have a personal relationship with him.  We love him and know that he lives!  Love you all!

Week 53

This week started out like most weeks. Monday we had some visits. Tuesday was a little more unusual--Dwight went to the airport and picked up another Pierre Louis brother. We now have Alin, Aly, Edgard, and Paul Edmond living in Mt. Olive. Edgard and Paul Edmond have been learning about the gospel from their brothers and from Dwight on WhatsApp. Having them here in person is so much better. It's been fun to get to know them and see their different personalities and see them interact with each other. 

Paul Edmond, Alin, Aly, Edgard

Wednesday, Dwight was back at Butterball Turkey Plant. This time he had Edgard, Paul Edmond, and another Haitian friend, Nelson, with him. He's been helping our friends by translating at their job interviews. I think Dwight has helped seven people get jobs so far. He's really good friends with the lady in HR. :)

Thursday was Independence Day. Surprisingly, I could see pretty nice fireworks from our driveway that night (Dwight slept through them.) Dwight and I wore red, white, and, blue to our visits and lessons. We were very patriot. I wish I had taken a picture. The only picture I took that day was of a chicken at one of our friend's houses. 

Friday was a pretty normal day with visits and lessons, but Saturday... I get tired all over again just thinking about it. Saturday was wonderfully tiring. Mt. Olive Ward had two baptisms at 11 in the morning and two more at 1 in the afternoon. The two in the afternoon were a nine and twelve year old of ward members. The twelve year old was ordained a deacon in church today and was able to pass the sacrament with his dad. It was so sweet.

The two in the morning were our Haitian friends Saindeline Saintus and Jean Edrice Fils Aime. We have had so much fun getting to know both of these wonderful people. When we visit Saindeline (Pronounced Sand-lean), we always teach her a little English and she teaches the young missionaries a little Creole. She has a deep love of Jesus Christ and her testimony is beautiful. Jean Edrice (Pronounced (Jon E-dreece) is always smiling. When we visit him, he has great questions and great answers. He loves people and the Savior. It is such an honor being a part of their lives.

Jean Edrice and Saindeline

Elders Bates and Hansen, Saindeline & Family

Elders Bates and Hansen, Jean Edrice & Us

The mission president, President Stevens, surprised us by showing up for the the Haitian baptisms!

Saindeline, Elder Bates, Pres. Stevens
Elder Hansen, Jean Edrice

Saindeline, Elder Bates, President Stevens,
Elder Hansen, Jean Edrice, Elder & Sister Potter

Saturday afternoon we had lessons in Mt. Olive and Warsaw. Then we ran back to Albertson for a belated 4th of July celebration. The Woodington Sisters and the Albertson Sisters and Hermana were there. I love going to Albertson activities and seeing so many people I love. 

Sisters Isbell, Richey, Memea, Anderson,
and Hermana Porter

Saturday night we went with the young missionaries and our Haitian friends to a field at the University of Mt. Olive for futbol (soccer). Some of us watched. Most of them played. It was a lot of fun. It was dark when the game was over, but we took a picture anyway.

I took this as the sun was going down?

Today, Sunday, was another incredible day. Saindeline and Jean Edrice were confirmed members of The Church of Jesus Christ and received the Holy Ghost. Elder Bates confirmed Saindeline in Creole and Dwight confirmed Jean Edrice in French. Then Evens LaFortune (remember the people we had the wedding for) blessed his baby in Creole. Then Alin blessed the sacrament in English. (I cried. So did the Bishop.) Alin also shared his testimony during church in French. Then we went to our Haitain Sunday School class. We had a nice lesson. Then the teacher let them share thoughts. One by one, member and non-member stood and bore beautiful testimonies of Jesus Christ, The Book of Mormon, and modern-day prophets. I stood and told them I was going to speak English and they would understand. They all said, "No!" I shared the most simple testimony I have ever shared. I said (very slowly so they could understand), "I love Jesus. (pause, as I started to cry) I love Heavenly Father. (pause) I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (pause) And I love you. (pause) Did you understand?" They all said, "Yes!" The Spirit was so strong today that one of our friends told us she wants to get baptized.

Hearing, living, and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ brings me so much joy. 

We love you all!

Sister and Elder Potter