Flying bye!

This past week was Amazing! But sadly it went by soooooo fast!
I started the week out by going down to Trenton! It was pretty cool
driving through Princeton, never been there before. But I was with
Elder Gibson and Elder Allred! Elder Gibson was my MTC companion! So
that was super fun!! They do a lot of service in the community there.
The first day we went to a soup kitchen and fed some homeless people
so that was fun! The next day we went and helped out at like this
thrift shop sort of thing.. But we moved a ton of stuff and throw away
a bunch of couches from this place because it was closing down. But it
was a lot of work and I was super tired after! I met a lot of
interesting/cool people though! They didn't have to many investigators
so we were really focusing on finding people to teach in their area..
The same went for the second half of the week.

Thursday to Saturday we were in North Branch and Somerville! Super
nice area! I was wish Elder Larsen and Elder Cuyan! Great
missionaries! We were also working on finding more people to teach
there as well! Was kind of a struggle but we had a great time! I met a
member in there ward who was a traveling assistant in Indiana and he
told me they didn't have an a apartment they had a truck and a camping
trailer! They would just travel area to area and even go to church in
those areas as well! When I meet with president this week were going
to have to make an order for a camping trailer soon;)!

Yesterday was multi-stake conference and Elder Christofferson was
there!! It was so AWESOME!! It was held it the Newark symphony hall
and the place was packed!! Elder Christofferson started out by saying
that he was in the only group where you feel young at 70 years old!
Hahah he said that when Elder Perry would get an assignment he used to
always turn to him and Elder Holland and Elder Cook the ("younger"of
the 12)  and say "lets give that too the Little Boys" Hahahah super
funny! But I was moved by his testimony as he ended, he talked about
how he grew up in East Brunswick here in New Jersey and he got to
participate in the Hill Kimora Pageant and after he had his friends
drop him off at the Sacred Grove. He went and prayed and asked the
Lord to give him an answer to the truthfulness of the gospel. And at
that time nothing happened... He was kinda disappointed as he walked
back to where they were staying. But 3 months later he was reading the
Book of Mormon in  his room and as he was reading he had an incredible
feeling come over him and he new it was true! He then said that we
don't have to go to sacred grove and pray to know that it's true. The
lord will let us know in his time and when we need it!
It was such a simple but profound testimony I loved it!
I was kinda bummed when I found out president wanted us to eat dinner
with him and Elder Christofferson but we were all the way down in
North Branch... But just hearing from him was almost just as great!:)

Well the transfer is Ending this week so it's about to get crazy for
us again! Sooo... Don't be surprised if you don't hear from me next
week.. But I will try to write!

Thank you for all your love and Prayers!! I can't believe how fast
time is flying!! It's making me nervous!😐

Love You!

-Elder Fotu

BUSY!!

 Let's see.. How can I pack everything that happened this week in to
one little letter.. Well I can Explain it with one word: BUSY! Haha
I've never been so tired! Last week just flew! I swear I just told
y'all I was heading back to East Orange for an exchange, and it was
awesome! I was so so glad to see that, that area was in the good hands
of an Elder Donaldson and Elder Edleson! Those two Elders are so
awesome! It was so great to back there though! I was able to see a lot
of  familiar faces! President and sister Hinds are always great to
see!
We were able to find some very prepared people! We were walking
thought a park the first day that I got there and we met this kid
named Abraham who was legit! He was from Ghana (I swear all the best
people we meet are from Ghana! S/O to Elder Hannemann) and he loved
the Book of Mormon that we gave him! The next day we were walking
through the same park and we saw him with his friend Micha and when we
walked up to them he smiled and whipped out his Book of Mormon and
said: "I read!" Super excited! So we taught both of them, his friend
Micha was super interested so we had Abraham explain what the Book of
Mormon was to his friend so he explain the story of Lehi and Nephi and
what he read about! Dopest lesson ever! Im extremely excited to see
how they take to the rest of the meetings they have with the East
Orange Elders!

The second half of the week I went down to East Brunswick! (Another
past area of mine) I was with Elder Schutz and Elder Runyon who are
some of the BEST missionaries in our mission! I learned so much from
them! They are both geniuses! Elder Runyon went to a year of college
studying computer science, and Elder Schultz has a associates in
electrical engineering! I felt super uneducated with them! Hahahah but
they taught me a lot!

We had a meeting last Saturday about the "Just Serve" Initiative that
the church has created to help more involve wards and missionaries in
community service! Elder Smith from the seventy was there presiding
(the member of the seventy that visited our mission a few weeks ago)
and he bore a great testimony at the end of the meeting about service
and how we truly let our lives shine as we serve in the community.
Great meeting!

Last night we were in Elizabeth and I was with Elder Hicks visiting a
less-Active member named Robert. He is attending the catholic church
with his Mom and has had lots of doubts. He asked us a bunch of
questions about Joseph smith and wasn't sure if he was a prophet. It
ended up being a very spiritual lesson being able to share the story
of Joseph Smith in more depth and share our testimonies of the Book of
Mormon and Joseph Smith! I'm always reminded that we can and will grow
closer to God through reading the Book of Mormon more than any other
book!

I'm so Excited for what's ahead in the coming week! It's going to full
of great experiences and going to end with Elder Christofferson at
Stake Conference!!! :) :) He is visiting Jersey and they are calling a
new Stake President for the new Liberty stake that is opening in
Newark and Jersey City! Can't wait to tell you all about it!!

Thank you for all your prayers and Love! Please Pray for the
missionaries in this mission!

Have a great and safe week! Love you all!

-Elder Fotu

Hi!!

Heyy y'all!!! Well I hope everything is good back at home! I herd
about BYU beating Wisconsin! That's crazy! It's cool what serving a
mission will do for you even on the football field;) hahah
It's actually pretty sweet sometimes when people affiliate us with BYU
and sometimes they will just walk up to us and start talking about
BYU's football team!!

Well besides that Elder Pearson and I went on two exchanges first in
Ledgewood the first half of the week with Elder Norris and Elder
Franke. Ledgewood is just north of Morristown really nice area! It's
was great though! It so great to learn so much from these missionaries
that I get to be around!

The last half of the week I was in Bayonne with Elder Rajakumar and
Elder Tayler who went to Lone Peak with me! Elder Rajakumar is from
Germany! Amazing missionaries! Bayonne is directly under Jersey city
and has some pretty sweet people there! There's a tiny branch there
with some of the greatest members in the world! It's amazing how
dedicated people are to the church in these small branches! And!
speaking of branches... I'm going back to East Orange on for exchange
this week!!! Whooooohoooo! Soooo pumped! Can't wait to tell you all
about it next week!

Well that's about it for Jersey this week... Sorry for making it
short.. But hey I'm lovin it! That's all that matters!:)

Love you all! Have a great and safe week!

-Elder Fotu

Busy busy busy!

Well the subject explains why I didn't write last week. Last week was
transfers and I got transferred! I am now living in Elizabeth serving
as Traveling Assistant to the President. My new companion is Elder
Pearson! Whoooohooo!!! My most favorite district leader EVER!! We
served around each other for a while and he was my district leader
when I was in Irvington! Our assignment is to travel around the
mission and train missionaries while going on exchange with them!
Elder Pearson and I are both new to this assignment.. It's never been
an assignment before as far as I know so we are kinda learning as we
go here. We live with the other AP's Elder Garfield and Elder Hicks,
who is also a new AP! So we are all learning from Elder Garfied who is
a Boss and is the youngest in the mission out of all of us! He got
assigned as an AP at 7 months out!
But it's been pretty crazy these past couple of weeks! A big mix of
meetings with President Taggart, working the other AP's area going on
exchanges! Crazy!
It's been a blessing being able to spend time with President and
Sister Taggart! They are such amazing people!  Last Friday we met up
at the mission home and planned for Friday. Our meeting with Elder
Smith the Area Seventy that is visiting our mission and training the
leaders! Super excited about that! President started out our planning
with a segment from the 2015 Mission Presidents Seminar and it was
Elder Holland and Elder Christofferson giving a training called "Doing
the Will of the Father". Soooo Amazing! Thy talked about how the
second coming of Christ will be a lot like in 3 Nephi when he appears
to the Nephites. (3Nephi 11:8-11) Christ says "I have suffered the
will of the Father in all things from the beginning". Of all the
things he could say or all the things that he's known for he says
these words. So we understand that we have agency in this life but
unless we do the will of the Father and are Obedient our life's won't
turn out how we and Heavenly Father want it to be. Our quote of the
month is by Elder Packer “Obedience to God can be the very highest
expression of independence. Just think of giving to him the one thing,
the one gift, that he would never take. Think of giving him the one
thing that he would never wrest from you. . . . Obedience—that which
God will never take by force—he will accept when freely given. And He
will then return to you freedom that you can hardly dream of—the
freedom to feel and to know, the freedom to do, and the freedom to be,
at least a thousand fold more than we [were].” It's amazing what is in
store for us if we are obedient!

This past week we went on two 3-day Exchanges! I went to Patterson
with Elder Johnson and Elder Thomson from Monday to Thursday and then
shot over to Caldwell with Elder Jessop and Elder Brown!
It's been AWESOME to get to know these Elders and see how their areas
are doing! It's such a privilege to be able to get to know so many of
these guys! Beyond excited for these next couple of transfers!

Well again so sorry for the lame short emails but know that I love
this Work! I Wouldn't be anywhere else in the world! Jersey is my
Home!

Love you all! Until next week!

-Elder Fotu