Chelsea Potter

Hiya!! first off. my knees are doing a lot better this week!! yay!! thanks for all the prayers cause I know that had a huge part of it. they still bother me occasionally but they are doing fine. second. emilee I got all your letters. turns out you've written me a bunch!! thanks for writing, I love the letters and hearing about home:) whoever writes me the most gets the first hug when I get off the plane upon my return :) I think mum is winning. dan dan dan... you are losing.

  my glasses broke the other day. snapped right in half. they were bent a little and I think I accidentally dropped something on them but they are broken. we're going to take them somewhere today and see if we can do anything about it or just replace the lenses or something cause I need some for sure.

 so, is it wierd that I would rather go contact walking then go to a dinner appointment? I love dinner appointments and the food so far has all been pretty good, sis boleska is a vegetarian so sometimes the meals have this stuff called Quorn in them instead of meat. it looks like meat but its not. a lot of people here use it, so many vegetarians!! my comp at the mtc was one too. the food is good the quorn is alright. it just tastes like whatever you cook it with but the texture isn't great. but I would rather go contact walking cause dinner appointments take forever cause of all the traveling we have to do and I want to go out and talk to people. we met the coolest lady the other day. her name is Maivus and she is so amazing. we stopped her on the street and she was so excited to talk to us and she kept saying she loves our smiles. we gave her a book of mormon and invited her to church and she was just so happy to talk to us. she wouldn't set up an appointment cause she's "busy" you get that all the time here but she said she would read the book for sure. well the next day we were contact walking again and we saw her again!! she gave us a big hug and she said she had started reading the book of mormon and liked it so far, we reminded her about church and she said she might come, sadly she didn't show up but I'm hoping we'll run into her again at some point. she has our number so hopefully she will use it. but I think we'll see her again. I'm starting to get familiar with people we see on the street. we've stopped them who knows how many times but you become friends with them even though they aren't interested. we've gone knocking the past couple nights and no one really wants to talk to you. at all. the good part though is that there was a holiday this weekend. guy folks night or something. and so there have been loads of fireworks every night. its been fun to see!! but its been freezing lately. its pouring rain today!! you can tell winter is arriving and its supposed to be a really cold one this year..

 the people in the ward are amazing. I love everyone. they've been so good to me and I really feel welcome here. we are having FHE with the Ferris family tonight and bringing Emma and Laura with us. they are an incredible fam. 10 kids!!! one's on a mish and one is getting ready to go to on his in march. they are such a great fam and their dad was just called as the bishop. you don't see families that big here in england, they take up about half the ward but they are really great and a lot of fun. Emma and Laura are doing well. this week was hard. Laura is amazing and she does everything you tell her. she's really stuck to the word of wisdom and she's really doing the best she can. Emma struggles a lot with the Word of wisdom though. this week was hard for her. she canceled our appointment and didn't come to church. we think we'll have to push back the bapstism date for her. when we realized that it about broke my heart. it is the worst feeling in the world but we're gonna keep working with her and hope that she'll stay strong and I think Laura will be a good support for her. last night we were out talking to people and we decided to stop by their place and see how they were. turns out they were not doing well at all so it was good we stopped by. they were not talking to each other so we talked to them seperately and prayed with them and did our best. when we got home that night they called and they had worked out their problems and they were happy and they were so glad that we came over to help them. it is amazing how the spirit made us think that we needed to go see them because they really needed our help.

 we had zone conference this week. it was amazing!!! things like that get you so enthusiastic about missionary work. we learned about the importance of getting people to church. and we talked about acting on our promptings. I've tried to do my best with following promptings, I'm getting more comfortable with talking to people and i don't have to rely on my comp quite as much. I really enjoy approaching people and talking to them. this work is so amazing. sometimes the days go slow but I really love it here!! I'm so glad I made the decision to come on a mish. I got a little sad yesterday cause we were talking about thanksgiving. two elders are teaching americans luckily enough so they are going to their house for thanksgiving. i'm totally coveting them!! I want to have thanksgiving dinner!!! that's one downside of being here... haha oh well, apparently christmas is awesome here.

 it's amazing to see how much love people have for missionaries. there is a woman from our ward who brings us food all the time. the other day she brought us two huge bags of food. people have started expressing to me how much they appreciate me being here and helping the ward. I am trying to do my best while I am out here. I always feel like there is room for improvement and I just want to make the lord happy with what I do while I'm here. I'm trying my best so that when I leave I will have no regrets but it's not always easy. I always feel inadequate but studying each morning has really helped me cause it lifts my spirits so much and I always end up reading a scripture that helps me through whatever I might be struggling. In comp study this morning we sang I'll go where you want me to go. I've sung this song a billion times but it really made me think about the importance of me being here today. I know this is where I am supposed to be and I love helping the people. I read a scripture this morning that I love. Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

  thank you so much for everything!! I officially won as the coolest missionary at zone conference because I had the most letters:) you have no idea how much I appreciate all the letters you send and all the love and support you give me. I love hearing from you and I love all of you so much. thank you for always being a great example to me and helping me to always do my best. mum, especially you. you are amazing. each day I miss you more and each day my love for you grows more. I don't know anyone with a cooler mom! thank you for EVERYTHING!!!

 cheers!

 sis G

 

ps. you said you wanted to hear of all the miracles we keep track of each day so here's this week!

 MONDAY: First FHE with ferris family. we shared testimonies, the kids have amazing faith

 TUESDAY:my cold is getting better and my knees feel better!!!!!!!

 WEDNESDAY: teaches ALL day today! no time for anything else cause we kept going from one to the other and the spirit was amazing in all of them. Jo Bishop, getting baptized on Dec 4, is such an incredible woman. she is a miracle

 THURSDAY: zone conference....AMAZING! -fear causes hesitation which makes our biggest fears come true.

 FRIDAY: gave out 25 cards and a BOM. met maivus, saw jenny again-we see this girl everywhere. we gave her a bom a while ago but she didn't want to meet with us. we see her almost everyday and she decided it meant something so we're meeting with her tuesday

 SATURDAY: 72 cards, 3 boms, saw maivus again! saw marie again-met her my first day and gave her a bom! teaching her on tuesday!!

 SUNDAY: 27 cards, stopped by emma and laura randomly and turns out it was when they needed us the most.

 ok my address is

#7 harvester close

Chichester, West Sussex

PO19 6XF

ENGLAND

 

that's probably just for fam cause it changes almost every transfer.

SURE LOVE YA!!

London is drowning

Hiya!! thank you so much again for the letters and support, I love hearing from everyone! dan and emilee....write me for cryin out loud :) thank you so much for fasting for me this week. It really means a lot to me. This week we were blessed with loads of appoinments so I didn't have to walk around quite as much so my knees are ok. it's wierd, sometimes their fine and sometimes I'm in tons of pain even if I'm just sitting. hopefully it will eventually just go away completely. I've talked to the doctor about it and he said there is no need to get an x ray because it probably wont show anything. the best thing to do is get an MRI but apparently it could take a few months just to get me in for that. I've been doing all the exercises and everything he told me to do so hopefully it will get better. something that really worried me is that the doctor said if it doesn't get any better then there is a possibility I will have to be sent home. I don't know what is going to happen but with everything our fam has been through the past few years I've learned to just accept the will of the Lord and whatever happens it is always for our benefit and there is always something to learn from our trials. It's been an interesting week dealing with all of this but it's definitely made me push myself harder so that if my time here is cut short I can go home with no regrets. thanks again for fasting and praying. it helps a lot. I was able to get a blessing from some of the Elders in my district. it was a great experience. It really made me see how important a mission is for people. one of the elders had never done a blessing before and he was really nervous but I think it was a good experience for him. they really learn how to be guided by the spirit. 

   guess what?? we have another baptism coming up :) I am so lucky to be walking right into this area with all these faithful people. this woman, Jo Bishop, is going to be baptized on Dec. 4. she is so amazing. she has brain damage from an accident she had a few years ago so the lessons go a little bit slower but she's progressing really well and understands it all. it's mostly her memory that is the problem so she has to write everything down. I got to ask her if she would be baptized and she right away said yes! the baptism isn't for a while but my comp and I prayed about a date seperately and when we talked about it both of us knew that it is supposed to be Dec. 4. she's totally ready if we did it this weekend but for some reason it needs to be in december. she came to church yesterday and she brought her husband and two daughters. her husband hasn't been interested in taking lessons but he seemed like he had a really good time at church and my comp and I are hoping we can start teaching him as well. they are a really great family and they've had some major trials and they would be blessed so much if they joined, we're doing our best to help them see that.

  england is beautiful right now! the leaves are changing colors so it looks amazing here. we've been lucky to have pretty good weather. it's rained a few times but nothing too bad yet. I'm sure it will come soon enough though. I love being here. I'm starting to get more familiar with the area. there's no mountains to rely on so half the time I really don't know where I am and crossing the road is SO scary here. I'm getting so confused! sometimes I'm used to the cars driving on the left side of the road but very rarely. it comes and goes.. I rode on a double decker for my first time this week! I was honestly expecting it to be an old fashioned big red bus but it was just a normal looking bus, the phones here are normal too, you don't see very many red phone booths. You asked about my comp. things are great with her. we get along really well. I was thinking about how every comp you are put with is through revelation and I definitely see why I have been put with her. she had a similar situation to mine. she had a problem with her foot a few months ago and so she knows what it is like to deal with the pain and she had a lot of good advice and she's been really helpful. she has tons of weird medicine and stuff she's been trying to give me but I've just been sticking to the exercises and advil :) I've had a cold this week and she got out tons of medicine and vitamins and cough syrup...TONS of it. I took the vitamins and Nyquill but that's all I could stand.  

  this morning I was reading PMG. the best. I was reading about how truly important it is for members of the church to realize that following the restored gospel is the only way to eternal salvation and people look at it too casually. it is important for every member to serve as a missionary whether set apart or not. it reminded me of how important the work really is and when you realize that you really start to love these people even more and you want them to understand the importance of the things we are teaching them. 2 Nephi 33:3.

 anyway, I hit my one month mark this week, I can't believe it! my comp and I bought some ice cream to celebrate. but how is everything at home? how's the new baby? thanks again for everything, your letters mean so much to me and you always seem to say everything I need to hear. I love all of you so much!!!! tell mary good luck at her recital for me, I wish I could be there. take her some chocolate for me :) 

  I love you!

 love, chels