Baptism and Transferred!!!

Sorry for not writing the past couple weeks! But a lot has gone on!
Things have been happening for us here in East Orange! I was able to
Ordain one of the brothers in the Branch, Brother Luise Mendoza, to be
an Elder! My first timed king that!  He and his family then went and
got Sealed in the Temple last weekend! It was awesome to see them
after at church the day after! They were Glowing! Everyone in the
Branch is so happy for them!

This past Saturday we Baptized Habaho!!! The Lord has and will
continue to do miracles in his life! His son Jeffery who is on his
mission emailed His family and told them he's sad he couldn't be here
for his dad's  baptism but he's so happy for him! And we are so happy
for their Family! I know for a fact that there have been so many
prayers in his behalf and I thank y'all for that! He's excited to got
to the temple as well! When we taught him about Baptisms for the dead
his face just lit up and he told us he wanted to do it for his
parents!

Sadly I'm getting transferred... Hahah I've been here so long I know..
But it's become home for me! I feel like I'm going to live here the
rest of my life just doing Missionary Work! But I'm going to
Princeton!! I'll be coving half of Trenton, so I'm going from hood to
more hood once again! Hahaha! But I'm excited! I'll be with my mission
brother Elder Victor! He was trained by my trainer Elder Augustin, so
I'm pretty excited! And he's from Haiti! Hahah my second Haitian
companion!
Pretty Stoked!

Well thank you for all your prayer and Love! You might feel like it
makes a difference in the lords work but miracles are happening
everyday here in Jersey because of it!


-Elder Fotu
Eat some Brazilian today!

📷

Whazzz Gooooodd!?

To say that conference was amazing would be an understatement... My
Favorite session was the First one. President Eyrings talk really set
the tone for the rest of the conference. Then Elder Hallstrom's talk
😱 My Favorite besides Elder Hollands talk. But the first session's
icing on the cake was the Song at the End! Come thou fount of every
blessing is the greatest hymn that Motab does! It felt like the
conference center roof was about to pop off from the spirit!
So many great talks through out conference! I felt like Elder Holland
was speaking on behalf of the Prophet and he did such an amazing job
of showing the power and love that the Lord has! I gained a ton from
it! Most of the Talks seemed to point to the Temple. I'm stoked to go
to the temple again this summer:)

Well as far as our area goes things are poppin!
We continue to teach Habbaho! Such a faith seeking guy and really
wants to be converted! Looking to be baptized at the end of this
month.
We met a a guy named Dennis! He's from one of the only counties in
Africa that I hadn't met someone from yet, Uganda! Really cool guy! He
was a referral who ordered a bible. When we took him his bible we
introduced the Book of Mormon to him and he eat it up! So we are
excited to continue to meet with him and teach him the gospel! Really
humble guy from a humble background.
Sister Martinez, our 1st Councilor in the Branch Presidencies wife is
really coming along! A year ago when I was here before she was not
interested at all, but she is reading and praying with her husband so
we are Super Pumped for her! Brother Martinez has been a member for
almost 20 years now and she is slowly but surely following him. She is
so sweet.

I every conference always strengthens my testimony of a prophet and
Apostles but this last one was definitely supposed to be my last one
in the mission! The love that our Heavenly Father has for us and our
Devine heritage was another common topic in Conference and I
definitely felt Gods love for all of us.

I hope you have a good week! If you could sneak a prayer in for the
peeps I mentioned I'm teaching I know the lord will bless us both but
most of all them:)

Thank you. Love you.

-Elder Fotu

🌻Happy Spring/Easter

Where do I start...
Well the weather has gone everywhere from 81 degrees two weeks ago To
snow last Monday then making its way back up to 60 and raining
today... Don't know what to think of this Jersey Weather! But it
hasn't been to bad!

Last week Elder Pearson my Former companion and District Leader this
past transfer went home🙁 I had the opportunity to go to his area for
the last exchange of his mission! It was to so great! He is such an
amazing missionary, and I look up to him so much! On the exchange in
his area we taught a Tongan Family!!🇹🇴 The Vaivaka Family! They
moved here about 2 years ago and their daughters know my lil sis
Kerstin! They said they went to mountain ridge, and they also went to
the Tongan Ward in AF so they Know Bishop Fotu!

Last Monday all the Elders in the north half of our Mission had a
March Madness Basketball tournament! Our east Orange team did good! We
barely lost in the Final Four to the Elders that Won the Tournament..
But we won Best Uniforms!

A lot has been good on with our Branch! We are really working with the
Members in helping us in the work. A Peruvian Sister and her nephew
moved into our Area this past month and she really wants to get
involved in missionary work! Which is awesome because our branch kinda
struggles with that kinda stuff but we are definitely improving every
week! The Vause's (Senior missionary couple in our branch) have really
held a lot of things together for our branch and they are going home
next month.. Aaanndd we've been informed that we won't be getting
another senior couple to help us out! It's gonna be kinda hard.. But
our once little East Orange branch is growing into a Ward so we are
excited! And the branch needs to be more independent anyways, so it
should be good for us to not have the extra help!

We are teaching a guy named Habbaho, his son Jeffrey from East Orange,
is on a mission in Florida and really wants him to take the
discussions! So he's been coming to church and he's doing Great!  Pray
for him please!

So yesterday some how us four Elders in East Orange got tricked into
doing something I thought I'd never ever do in my entire life... We
sang in sacrament meeting! Hahahahah don't know how or why but somehow
the program for sacrament said "closing Hymn: Special Musical Number-
Missionaries" luckily we only sang the first three verses of I Know
That My Redeemer Lives and the rest of the congregation joined in on
the forth verse...

It was crazy to hear about the Bombing in Brussels and that one of the
missionaries Mason Wells played football with me! It sounds like he's
doing alright though! Still in my prayers.

We have been blessed by your prayers and love! Thank you!

-Elder Fotu

 4MAN

East O Ballas

2 of 2 Weeks Worth.

Gonna be quick his week! We taught Faustina, the Referral that Elder
Hannemann sent us! She was great! She really loved the message that we
shared so we can't wait to see her again this week and introduce her
to some on the members!

 We had great specialized training on Friday. All the new missionaries
that been out for less than 6 months and the trainers met. Our mission
has really been working on the basics of missionary work, focusing on
our teaching skills. It's always good to go over the basics because we
tend to move away from the basics as missionaries.

Our branch is growing! It was exciting to see about 80 people at
church yesterday! A family did a musical number at the end of fast and
testimony meeting and to be honest it wasn't the best music that I've
herd.. Their 8 year old son made an attempt to play the violin that
he's maybe be practiced a month on... But it was so beautiful because
a year ago in a much smaller branch no family would dare to do
something like that! So our branch has come a long way in so many
ways! It seriously brings tears to my eyes..

Thank y all for you prayers! Mucho Mucho Love!

-Elder Fotu

Aloha

Had such a wonderful week! Just to start out Elder Seth Hannemann who
is Serving in Ghana emailed me this morning and he said this: " one of
our members came up to me and asks if I know a place called New Jersey
and i said Yes! my best friend is even serving there. and she gave a
me a powerful referral to give to your mission. its her mother thats
living in Jersey! . Her name is Faustina , She lives  her phone number
is. she has already talked to her mom about the church and she is
interested and is waiting for the missionaries. CONTACT THIS WOMAN!
hope you have missionaries serving there. love you man! sweet is the
work. let me know how it goes so i can tell our member."
Referral lives in our Area! How crazy is that!? Well I'm pumped to
contact his lady today and see how it goes! Still trippin out about it
though! Super Awesome!!!!!😊
So we are working with a couple Part-member Families right now. One of
them (my favorite) is the Ancog-Lisondra's they are a older Filipino
couple with 3 kids who aren't members! The one who is really
interested is Mark their son! He's a super cool little funny Filipino
who is always asking great questions!

Another Family we are working on is a young couple. Hermann and Aida,
they are from Togo Africa! Aida isn't a member but is very interested
in Eternal Families! They French is their first language so sometimes
it kinda hard to teach them but they are so great and Hermann has such
a strong testimony!

Also our 1st councilor in the Branch presidency's wife Sister Martinez
(non member) has been meeting with us. She loves the missionaries but
always says she is just to involved in her church to join ours. We are
just trying to help her see the bigger picture of the gospel.

I hope EVERYONE continues to looks for opportunities to share the
gospel because I know it will Bless your life and the life of others!

Love you all!

-Elder Fotu

🇹🇴

This week was Bumpin! But soooooooo cold... I think the Lord is trying
to teach me something because I've been in a walking area every time
it gets cold! It was -15 with wind chill on Saturday! Just makes the
work 10 times Better!
Anyways. On Saturday we had a all mission conference and Clayton
Christensen the author of "Power of Everyday Missionary" super great
book I guess but I haven't read it yet... But he's a super great Man!
He and his wife gave Amazing talks about Member missionary work and
all the Ward and branch council members came to the conference so we
are going to bust it with member missionary work cuz that's the best
way to do it!
The biggest thing that He told us in that conference that stuck out to
me was that Never Ended his Mission. That was one of the many things
contributed to his great missionary work as a member! But if you
haven't read the book read it cuz it will change your life! (I'll read
it as soon as I get home)
Yesterday church was Amazing! One of our members started to act right
away for what he learned at the conference and brought a friend of his
to church, he brought a guy named Dr. Slalom and he loved church! Also
the Other East Orange Elders invited this guy that they met on the
street named Gerald and he caught a bus and walked super far to get to
church in the freezing cold! This guys first time coming to church and
he's not even a member! He ended up living in our area so we are
teaching him great guy!
Elder Manumā is such a stud! It's kinda funny because he reminds me of
Lennon! Hahaha I'm like man I get to train my little brother!

Well things are Gold as always around here! Just Pray that I don't Freeze!

Ofa Lahi Atu!

-Elder Fotu

The Hood is where I'm From

Well... IM BACK! And I've got the best companion ever! Fresh outta the
MTC Elder Manuma, From Mililani Hawaii! He is half Hawaiian, a quart
Tongan and a quarter Samoan! I spelt his name "Manoa" in my last
letter.. But he is excited to be here and is such a Boss! He is goofy
as ever too! He reminds me of my bro Elder Seth Hannemann, so we
trouble!;) hahah
So East Orange is he best as always, the branch is still so close to
becoming a Ward! One of our goals is to see it become a Ward! It was
so great to see everyone yesterday at church.  Some people were saying
"Welcome Home Elder Fotu" hahaha almost cried, and others were like "
your still on your mission!?" Hahaha I don't think they understood
that this was my first Area.... But this past week we spent a lot of
time finding new people to teach, there wasn't really much left from
the last Elders to work with so we're really trying to find some solid
people to Baptize! One part- member couple -with a lot of potential-
that were are working with and actually going to see tonight is a
less-active named Herman and his non-member wife Aida. So we're
excited to be teaching and working with them!
Haha funny story... We were driving back from picking up Elder Manuma
and we were driving back into East Orange and the first street we
drive down E. Manuma was like " I think I just saw more black people
on that one street than I have in my whole life..." Hahahahah so he's
still getting used to the culture here. Our apartment got turned into
a 4 man so we relive no with two other Elders, a Elder Covington and
Elder Lee. Elder Lee is from Korea, super funny guy! Elder Covington
is a hick from St. George. So our 4 man is the bast in the mission!

I hope you pray that I can live up to the huge trust that the Lord has
put in me to send me back to East Orange training a new missionary...
It's kinda overwhelming but we are working hard and doing our best at
this wonderful work!

Thank you for all your Love and Prayers!
Love you all!

-Elder Fotu

Pic: Elder Manuma & I

STOKED

Well.. Imma get right to the MEAT because I have no time.. I'm getting
transferred!! Im Going back to my most favorite place on earth! East
Orange!!! 🍊kÑvrbnrwrgwrgwrvda!!!! And I'm my companion is fresh from
Hawaii!! Elder Manoa! His flight get here this afternoon and we'll
head to   East Orange! I know that the Lord has put A Lot of trust in
me so I'm excited to Do Work! I'm gonna miss Elder Woodward and
Ledgewood, a lot of Great People here!

Love you all!

-Elder Fotu

 

 

Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam!

Very good and very busy week this week!
Highlight of the week was that Renee came to church! She had work on
Sunday's but in our lesson last Wednesday she really was touched by
the spirit as we talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ so we
committed her to talk to her Boss to get work off and she was kinda
scared because I guess her boss is pretty but we told her to pray
about it and she was able to talk to her and and get 1 Sunday a month
off! Not as much as we wanted but she was happy and really liked
church! So we're praying that she will continue try and get more work
off so that she can come more often! She has such great faith though!
Super excited for her!
Friday was another highlight! We had Zone Conference, Elder Woodward
and I gave a training on our purpose. Went pretty well! The conference
ended with a training from the First Councilor From our Mission
Presidency, President Bean! He works for the church as the CES
Director for seminary and institutes in New Jersey and he teaches at
Princeton. He gave an Unbelievably Spiritual training on Obedience!
It snowed for the first time this week as well! Not very much but it
made it 10 times colder so the work is 20 times Better! :)

Thanks for All the love and prayers! Oh and Shout out to Jake and Sara
for getting Hitched on Friday! Congrats Brotha!!! Love you Guys!

-Elder Fotu

#blizzard2016

The last two months there was no snow! Christmas Day was about 70 degrees! Saturday the snow we were supposed to have this hole winter came all at once! Hahahha! It was pretty crazy!

We had the opportunity to go on two exchanges this past week. One with The Sparta Elders, Elder Adolf and Elder Gacad at the beginning of the week. It Went great! Elder Adolf is a great missionary and has endured a lot on his mission. He pretty much has chronic head aces but always has the best attitude about everything! I learned so much from him! Great example to me. 

Wednesday we had a World wide Missionary Broad Cast which was AMAZING! Some Apostles and members of the 70 spoke to us! Elder Anderson, Elder Bednar, and Elder Oaks spoke! The main Topic was on Teaching Repentance and Baptism. My Favorite was Elder Badnar's training with a bunch of missionaries from the Salt Lake City mission. He gave counsel on how "the Holy Ghost is the teacher... With the presence of the Holy Ghost in our teaching and lessons we can be the conduit to change. 

Be the Vessel.. The Instrument! of Change by feeling and using the Holy Ghost.

We cannot drive the Holy Ghost into the hearts of these people. We can deliver it unto them... in such a way that we help them to discover the source of these new feelings for themselves. This must be a personal discovery!" Such an awesome broadcast!

Friday night we went on Exchange with the Office Elders that actually lived with us for a short time! Friday night we met up and swapped companions. I was with Elder Parsons in their area. We really got know each other really well... When we got back from our appointment around 9 went it started snowing... Really hard, and didn't stop all night! We woke up the next morning to the blizzard and a text from President Taggart saying we couldn't go out that day... Hahaha so we couldn't exchange back! Stuck in the apartment all day! Sunday morning we helped Elder Ricks (senior missionary) and everyone else in the their apartment complex dig their cars out of the snow! Luckily Elder and Sister Ricks live in the same complex as the Office Elders so they had us over for Breakfast:) we still weren't allowed to drive so Elder Rick helped us Exchange Back yesterday and Elder Woodward and Elder Larsen had spent the whole day Helping people dig their cars out as well! Haha so it was a great day of service! Everyone knows who we are now because the lady across the hall who we helped get her car out introduced everyone we helped in the parking lot as her "Angels" Hahahah. 

 Well even though we have obstacle in our lives we must overcome them by sharing the gospel! The gospel must go forth to the whole earth wether it's with or without us as individuals.. I know that to be true! 

Love you all! Thank you for your love and Prayers! Be a light in someone's life this week! I know I'll try to be!

-Elder Fotu

 

 

Good stuff!

This past week was good one! We met some really cool people to tech! 

One lady her name was Venessa she has two kids is Catholic but like the idea of a Prophet instead of a Pope! She is very open to the gospel! We are very excited for her! 

Friday was MLC and we talked about the culture of our missions and how we did last year. President  Taggart came out with our theme this year! It's "BECOME GOD'S INSTRUMENT". Become is a powerful word in my opinion! I always think of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how we can Become Better through this Atonement. 

Someone who is becoming better is our Buddy Domonico Camittiello! He cut down from a full pack, to a half a pack of cigarettes a day!! He's coming along and cracks us all up! He left church 3rd hour and we were wondering where he went! So later in the day yesterday at a members house for Family Home Evening, he showed up and we asked him where he went for 3rd hour and all he said in his thick Italian accent was " the Jets Lost.." Hahahah! We told him if he would have stayed in church instead of going to watch the game they would have won!

Our other investigator Renee is doing good. She is still trying to get work off so she can come to church.. But she met Sister Taggart and really liked her!We're trying to get some single adults to hook up with her so she can build up the faith to come to church! 

All your prayers have definitely helped him! Please keep praying for him as well as Venessa and Renee! 

Love you all! Thank you for all your prayers!

-Elder Fotu

Domonico Champitiello (Italian Pirate)

 

 

New Year

Well I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I did until my companion
got sick.. I think it was the place we ate at on Christmas Eve.. But
right after we were done talking to our families Elder Woodward looked
at me and was like "Elder Fotu we gotta go back to the apartment like
right now!" Hahah so that was that for our Christmas night.. But I did
read a lot while he was resting. I sat down and just read and read in
the Book of Mormon. I haven't been able to do that in a long time so
it was very refreshing!
Saturday morning Elder Woodward still was pretty sick and we found out
one of the other Elders in our Ward was super sick too so we stuck the
two Flu bugs in our apartment and I went out and worked with Elder
Wildman! It was Great! They had nothing going on that day in their
area so we just went and knocked doors for a while and found some
really cool people in their area!
Yesterday after church Elder Woodward drank some Peptobismo and
decided to tuff it out for the rest of the night!
We're working with this guy named Domonic! He has been keeping all the
commitments we leave him but he's been smoking a pack a day since he
was like 14!! We've been really working hard to help him quit! He
needs a lot of prayer! Please pray for him!

Thank you for all the Christmas Wishes! Thoughts, prayers and Love to
all of you!

-Elder Fotu

Merry Merry Christmas!

Family and Friends! As this Christmas is nearing I especially feel
closer to you not only because my time here in New Jersey is shorter
than I'm used to, but because the Spirit of the Lord is with you and
me more than usual as we celebrate the Saviors Birth!
I just want to bare my witness to you that I know our Savior lives and
loves us all! He died for our sins and we can find hope and joy in his
love, we just have to follow him as beacons us through out the
scriptures. One of my favorites is in Luke 18:22 as He invites us to
give away all we have and follow him. I know that as we do this, we
will see the spiritual and temporal blessings that our Heavenly Father
has in store for us!

Have a very merry Christmas and an amazing New Year!!
May we keep Him in our thoughts always.

Thank you for all of your love and prayers!

-Elder Fotu

Busy Busy!

It's been hectic week! Christmas party's, General Authority Christmas
Fireside and some sweet lessons! Sadly I don't have to much time to
talk about all of it because it's transfers!! Good news is Elder
Woodward and I are staying here in Ledgewood! Super pumped about
that!! We are Excited about this next 7 week Transfer!
We started teaching this Kid named Osama! He's a Muslim guy from
Egypt! Super cool kid, he 15 but he looks like he's 20! He's got a
full blown beard!! Super awesome!
Renee is still doing great! We found out the reason she haven't been
coming to church is because she's got a little bit of social anxiety..
So please pray for her so that she can over come that!
Elder Evens was Awesome! He shared a lot of great insights and really
helped me personally! Is was like a live action general conference! A
lot of great questions and answers given. Talked mainly about
Obedience, Desire and Repentance. Before he came he had the hole
mission read Alma 17-42 to prep for what he talked about. He compared
a lot of what Alma and the sons of Mosiah did to our missionary work
today. How their Obedience, Desire and Repentance helped them reap so
much success! Great Meeting. Great Man!
Our Ward Christmas party was on my birthday Saturday. Great fun!
We had a musical fireside as a mission yesterday. Great spiritual
experience! Great feeling the Christmas spirit singing carols because
it hasn't felt like Christmas because it's been sunny and 65 out here!
But there was a grateful spirit for Christ there.

Thanks ERRBODY!
Love you!

-Elder Fotu

Elder Wildman & I: