TRANSFERRED!!

Craziest week of my life!! So.. Tuesday night me and my comp. get a call from President Taggart telling me to start packing my bags to go to a different Area tomorrow! Hahahah dont worry i didnt do anything! I guess one of the new elders that come in with me was having some emotional issues with being on a mission and President Taggart felt he should be in a different Area. Hahahaha and now i know why!! I am in theeee straight HOOD!! Welcome to the East Orange/Newark Area! hahahah Probably the worst area in the mission as far as crime! There was a shooting the day before i got here and the missionaries saw the guy that got shot walk into the store they were in! hahahah but I Love It Here!! We teach a lot of Africans and Hations! My comp Elder Augustin is Black his parents are from Haiti so he speaks the Lingo:) Hes from Orem! But such a great Trainer! The branch we are in charge of has like 50 members in it, all black people! hahahah Church is so fun! We dont have a car so we walk to all our apoinments but were trying to fix up some bikes that some elders left!

The people we teach are mostly from Haiti and Africa! Its so Awesome i Love there accents and the Haition Food is sooo good! Hahaha i know i said this in my last letter but i know that Heavenly Father had President Taggart transfer me for so many reasons.(not being racist) But I think one of them is i can relate to black people so much better than i can with White people! hahaha but i still have yet to see at least one Polynesian person here! they are non Existent in New Jersey!! But in our District is Elder Makai (Tongan) hes from Spanish Fork but he goes home next transfer:( Even though we are in a really rough area a lot of people really respect us as men of God and they look out for us! So dont worry Mom! Im not going to get shot!

All is well here in Jersey, being here is a very humbling experience. My love for the Gospel is growing stronger every minuet here as well my love for sharing it! Sorry for the short letter but i just wanted to give you a little update! I hope everything is going good in utah! How bout them Cougars Doe!?!? What!? All the black people say "Hey those Mormon boys might be Virgins but they can play ball!!" hahahaha Super Funny! But good for BYU even though im not really a fan....

Love you all! Keeping you in my prayers every night! Hope to here from you all!

Ofa Atu!

-Elder Fotu                

1 down 10 billion to go!

HELLLLOOO!!!! From the New Jersey Morristown Mission East Brunswick Area!! 

Ooooh my goodness! I dont even know where to start! Sooo much is going down in this amazing place!! 

Well i guess i can start off with my companion Elder Way. Best Trainer Ever!! Such a solid guy, soooooo obedient! which is a very good thing! Hes from Gilbert Arizona but originally from Spanish Fork. We've been super busy!! when i first got here we didn't even stop by the apartment to drop off my stuff! we went straight out and taught a less active! hahaha it was kinda crazy the first few days but im pretty much used to it now. We've taught like 2 to 3  lessons each day which is really good! and so it gets kinda crazy but i love it! the city were in is like half nice, half ghetto but its mostly a bunch of crazy college students because were on Rutgers Campus. So there are a lot of like Frat houses and stuff like that so it gets a little crazy on the weekends. But we just throw Book of Mormons at them and call them unto Repentance! hahahahah I've been told that this is like one of the nicest areas in the mission besides Morristown so super exited about that! Oh bu the first day when i got off the plane we got picked up by the mission president and his wife the Taggarts and the AP's. Then we went out to downtown Newark witch is like one of the worst areas in the mission (really Ghetto) and we were assigned a temporary Companion and we were standing in the middle of the city in a circle and they told us to start sing a hymn. so we started singing and then all of the sudden all of out temporary senior companions just started running and they yelled stay with your companion! so i ran after my companion and we just started proselyting! hahahah super funny but they call it the Fear Buster. They do it to all the new missionaries! But i did pretty good! talk to a bunch of black people and gave out a Book of Mormon! hahahah! 

But I am absolutely Loving it here though! Jersey is such a beautiful place with such amazing people and traditions! I truly believe that Our Heavenly Father Sent me here for all the right reasons, and most of all to help these people come unto Christ. I cant be more exited for what he has in store for me here! Thank you for all your Prayers! I can already see the out come of them!   

Love you all! Keep up all the great work! 

-Elder Fotu                       

MTC!

Hello Friends and Family!! im doing Great here at the MTC and am loving My companion Elder Gibson! the Food is Great!

I read Jakes email email and the part about him saying it was hard for him to come in here made him feel sad and alone makes him sound like a baby to me! hahaha i love it here! haven't been home sick... yet. Hahaha but right when i got picked up by my escort he asked me "are you ready for this elder?" and i said "Lets do this!". So im excited to be here am loving every second of it!! I've learned so much and know i know why Jake says that the weeks just fly by Because they do! but this week has been just the best week of my life! I've learned more in this first week than i have in whole Like 6 months at home! But yesterday was the best day so far! We first had a great fast and testimony meeting as a branch. Then we had mission conference and it was like a mini general conference! Soooo much was said and learned! But the highlight of the day was after our fireside at the end of the day (which was very good as well) we watched a talk that was given by Elder Bednar at the MTC that you can only watch at the MTC is what I've been told, so it's an extra special talk. But Its called "The Character of Christ" of all the things i'm learning here this is the one that has sharpened my view of serving the lord! He spoke along the lines of how the natural man's instinct when something goes wrong in your life you automatically turn inward and want blessing for yourself immediately to help yourself out but Christ instead of being like natural man and being selfish turns outward to others and blesses others lives. He then shared the story of Christ When he was suffering in Garden of Gethsemane, and after his three head apostles fell asleep after he had asked the three times to stay awake while he was bleeding from every pore and suffering for all the sins of the world. Then was betrayed by Judas. But when they came to take him away and one of the apostles cut off the ear of one of the guards. Instead of turning inward and saying all these bad things have happened to me and its not fair, Christ heals the guards ear. Elder Bednar Goes on to talk about a woman in his stake who called him one night because she was on another line with a nurse that told her there was a bad accident that her daughter had been involved in with three other girls that one girl had already been pronounced dead and she was out of town so she needed someone to go and identify the girls that were still alive to see if it was her daughter. But while they were still talking on the phone the nurse on the other line told the woman that the girl that was dead was her daughter. instead of breaking down and not even crying she told Elder Bednar that he needed to inform the other mothers of these daughters that they are alive. He goes on to share some other experiences that i would like to share but i don't have time.... but hearing this talk has now changed my whole MTC experience! Its made me realize that its not about me leaving Family and sacrificing everything to serving the mission, I dont have time to feel sorry for myself and turn inward. Its about turning outward like Christ did to the people that i can bless from serving the mission. I hope to learn as much as i can so that i can be successful in being a tool in the hands of The Lord

I love you all!! and Hope to keep hearing from you!! 

-Elder Fotu