🍁FALL🍁

Well it's start into get cold here! It's crazy to think that this is
my last fall in the mission!! But
Who's thinking about that..?😜
This past week was another good one. I was down south in Toms River
and Long Branch 👈🏾 one of my old Wards! I got to see some old faces
so it was fun!
In Toms River I was with Elder Reese and Elder Jordan! Two really
Great missionaries! Elder Jordan is being trained by Elder Jordan and
they work hard together! I was telling Elder Reese that my brother
Jake served in Poland and he was like hey a couple in my ward who
write me like every week served in Poland and they came home so they
could go to their youngest kids wedding who was the last of 12 kids to
go on a mission and get Sealed in the Temple! And I was like hey I
herd about that from my brother! So.. Yeah he knows them Jake..

In Long Branch I was with Elder Jeon and Elder Thomson! They are right
on the Jersey Shore! Super nice rich area! We were able to really work
on finding new Investigators. Elder Jeon is from Korea and is a super
bold! Hahaha I love it! He's not afraid to tell people how it is!
Learned a lot from them! Elder Jeon also made me Squid ink noodles!!
Surprisingly super good! Hahah I'll send a picture! The ward mission
leader Brother Murch and his wife took us out to eat as well! They
were my Favorite when I was serving down there! They remind me of
Grandpa Jack and And Grandma SoSo!

Well this next week should be a fun one! President and Sister Taggart
are heading to Salt Lake on Wednesday for a Seminar so we're holdin it
down for the week! We have a meeting with all the Zone Leaders that we
are doing on our own so we'll need a lot of prayers this week! Hahah

A scripture that I Ponderized this last week was 1 Nephi 4:6 witch
reads: And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things
which I should do. 7 Nevertheless I went forth.

Love you! Thank you so much for all your Prayers and Love! Have a Great week!


-Elder Fotu

NJMM (my letter from last week that I forgot to send..)

Hey Family! I just want to start out by saying I love you all! And I pray for each of you individually Every night! I don't know what I would do with out you!

Well this past week was a doozy! Transfers went very well and we got all the new missionaries in and the old ones out! It's always such a happy/sad day.. We dropped Elder Maddox and the rest of the departing missionaries off at the airport Wednesday morning. Elder Maddox went home a transfer early due to really bad back problems. He had fought so hard and gone through heaps to stay out.. but ones body can only take so much. It was sad to let him go. 

Thursday we had New Leadership Training Meeting. Where we met with all the Newly Called Leaders in the mission. We talked a lot about being the example, and finding people to teach. The Next day in MLC (meeting with all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders) President Taggart threw down on a bunch of the leaders because they were slacking a bit and weren't finding new investigators enough! He even said he would start releasing missionaries from being Zone Leaders if they didn't step it up! There defiantly is a new sense of urgency amongst the leaders of witch we lacked! Haha 

General Conference was Amazing!!! As usual! But this one seemed to be very special.. Not only because of the newly called Apostles but the talked seemed to be more Bold than past Conferences.. I think it just means that we need to step it up! There seemed to be themes of: More Faith, Better Sabbath Day Observance, and Being a Better Disciple of Jesus Christ! I Loved it! I received SOOOOO many answers to my questions! One of them being: - What will strengthen my faith in the Lord more than anything else? My answer was in the Priesthood session the first talk Elder Anderson said: "How we live our lives increases or diminishes our faith. … There is an adversary who delights in destroying our faith! Be relentless in protecting your faith. ... The difficulties of mortality blow against you, and evil forces lurk in the darkness, hoping to extinguish your faith. But as you continue to make good choices, trust in God, and follow His Son, the Lord sends increased light and knowledge, and your faith becomes settled and unwavering." BEAST ANSWER EVER if you ask me!

It's been an awesome week! 

Love you all! Thank you for all your love!

-Elder Fotu

Another one for the books!

This week was very great and fulfilling!

The leaves are changing here in the garden state! It's getting chilly!
Fall is here!

This week started out with us driving all the way up to New City New
York! The part of our mission that is in the state of New York. It was
great though I was with Elder Winfield and Elder Victor! They are
pretty much the only English speaking missionaries in that part of the
mission so their area is huge! And it's full of just straight trees!
Everywhere we went I felt like I was in the sacred grove so something!
It was awesome! We taught a man named John who had a very strong
testimony of the Apostasy and knew there needed to be a restoration!
When we taught to him it all made sense to him! It was awesome! It
made me wish for everyone we talk to be like John! But not everyone is
so it just excited me even more to search for more people like him!

Next I went to Englewood/Palisades Park aka: K-TOWN!!!! I've never
seen more Asian people in my life!!! The Korean missionaries serve
there and are on top of things!! Elder Harris (I served around him in
East Orange) and Elder Koo were my companions for the last part of the
week in K-Town and they are waking so hard to finish strong as Elder
Harris is going home this week! It really puts into prospective how
fast serving a mission really is when I'm around missionaries that are
getting ready to go home!
We ate at a couple sweet Korean restaurants while I was there too! It
strait up felt like I was in Korea! We would walk down the street and
all the signs and stuff were in Korean and all the people were Korean!
They taught me how to say "hello" and "thank you" in Korean! Of cores
I just butchered it every time I'd say hi to someone and they would
just start laughing! But I found that people were more willing to talk
to us when I was making them laugh with my horrible Korean! Hahaha

Today we are picking up the new missionaries from the airport! Super
stoked! There are some great missionaries coming in! And there are
some great missionaries leaving as well... Transfers are always such a
great and dreadful day...
But General Conference is this next week!!! I always call it the
"Missionary Super Bowl" because the whole mission is always so pumped
for General Conference.

Well that's about it for this past week! Sorry it's kinda short... But
we're kinda busy so I gotta jet! Thank you for the prayer, love, and
support. I truly feel the Saviors love through your letters and
prayers on my behalf:)

Heaps of Love!

-Elder Fotu