Week by Week

We had another awesome week here in Warsaw. We had a exchange with a city called Kraków. So my comp hoped on a train monday afternoon and headed down there and Elder Allen came up here with me. It was pretty awesome. His girlfriend is actually serving in Isaac's mission. We had a really funny contact. We were talking with this man about baptism and repentance on the street and talked about things being changed after Christ and His apostles death. And the guy regarding these topics said..."We are all imperfect. There are only two people that have lived on earth without sin..." haha so confused I listened closely...he said..."Jesus and Mary.." haha so thats kinda problem. But its pretty amazing and sad actually to see how confused people are just about life and what Jesus taught. 

Elder Caskey and I were at the mission home one morning cause we met with President Edgren to talk about transfers and where missionaries would be sent and who would stay in their area. We had breakfast before we met and I was in the kitchen with Sister Edgren helping make pancakes and they actually have some children and grandchildren over right now staying with them on a trip. One of the little ones runs up to Sister Edgren and says, "Nanny, I need to go potty!" and sister edgrens heard wrong and replied in an exciting voice, " you want some pancakes!?!? ok go sit down and they will be ready soon!" haha so the little girl ran off and I said "sister edgren I think she said she needs to go potty?" and she was shocked that I like understood and she didnt. And the girl is like doin the potty dance in the corner of the room. So she calls to President Edgren to help her to the bathroom. President comes in the room and says, "alright lets go, Elder Fotu your gonna take her right?" haha i told him i would be breaking rules though. But it was kinda funny. Maybe you all had to be there.

But this week was good! unfortunately all our investigators droppped. Wiktor and Halina and their family decided they didnt want to meet with us anymore. But they said they would continue to read and pray. So we wil pray for them. We are startin back where we were! But its all good we are excited to find some awesome people this week. 

Today im going on exchange with Elder Kimball. ha his name is Spencer Kimball. His family actually lives in our stake. He was set apart by President Bangerter also. So thats pretty cool! 

So today I wanted to talk about blessings. haha I think thats all I talk about. 

Ive been so blessed since ive been gone. And most of all our family has. Mom and Dad have been so blessed in Dad's business. All my siblings are doing amazing. And I can tell they are all on the path to conversion. Many of my friends have made their way back on the path. And I guess I have been really blessed with a love for others around me, the gospel, and God and His Son. But I still have a long way to go.

I took Elder and Sister Gay (a senior couple here) to the airport last sunday. They are flying home cause their 13th and last child is getting married in the temple. And all of their children and spouses with be there along with one of their grandsons that just got home from his mission. Thats pretty amazing to me. And probably my biggest dream in this life. I feel like we are all on our way. And the only thing that will stop us is pride.

Im so thankful for the people that have been placed in my life. My family most of all, and then my friends. There are too many to count that have been a blessing in my life.  And Im not sure why ive been so blessed.

Love you guys. As we continue to notice the "natural man" in our lives we will be able to adjust and as the moment comes when we want to turn out, we think of Christ and make the right decision. This all leads to happiness which is a common thing that EVERYONE wants. 

loves. pamiętaj Chrystusa!

                                               _Starszy Fotu

Family and Friends

Hey ya'll! Well a lot has happened this past week. But like always I have no time to tell about all of it! Some of you may have already saw pictures of Me and Elder Caskey teaching Zone Conferences! That was a pretty amazing experience. We were able to see all the missionaries in the mission. And hear most of their testimonies. I love all of them and they have helped me so much. 

I had a lot of doubt going into the conference. And was pretty nervous that I would mess up and what not. My comp gave me a blessing and that helped a lot. But I continued to pray for help and guidance. And The conferences went great! We were able to have a good flow with everything and teach with power and the spirit. We were able to travel with the Mission President and his wife and that was amazing. They have alot of experience in life and Im so happy I can learn and grow from hearing their many stories.

So with investigators.....with the little time that we had to do in our area we were able to have a lesson with Wiktor and Halina. The Ukrainian family we are working with....

It was pretty amazing. Wiktor's sister is now staying with them and also their daughter that is about 22 years old. So its been pretty amazing cause they all have sparked an interest. And They really are a great family. They have they doubts and what not but they continue to search for truth. We talked about the plan of salvation. And whenever we do that I like to show them the picture of my family in my Book of Mormon. And testify of what the gospel and the plan have done for us. Im just so thankful for what Heavenly Father has blessed me with. Ive often stayed up at night wondering why I was so lucky to have the truth and such an amazing family.

Elder Caskey and I are doing great. He was trying to parallel park and he thought the care was in first but really it was in reverse and he backed it into a pole. So now we really got some comp unity cause we have both scratched the car up a little bit. But we continue to work dilligently and search for those prepared. And we are just having a lot of fun.

This we my sermon for you all is to look to your patriarchal blessings for direction. I always knew that patriarch meant father, and that dad was the patriarch of our family. But I never looked at our blessings being fatherly blessings from Heavenly Father. I know as we search those frequently and prayerfully we can see the Lord's hand more in our life. Love you all and im so grateful for you all. Its so good to hear going to the temple frequently. There really isnt better news as a missionary then seeing and hearing how blessed his family is back home.

Love you guys. Do work.

ofa lahi atu

_Elder Fotu 

Recent Pictures

1) Missionaries in mission home! Packed House!

2)Missionaries in the transporter!

3)Me and my comp Elder Caskey!

Warsaw

Crazy week this week.

But so may miracles. First off our couple...Wiktor and Halina. They are from Ukraine. But they speak good polish. And they are just amazing. They really are searching for truth. In our mission we have been focusing on teaching how faith and repentance lead to baptism. And Christ gospel and teachings have been changed. But now restored. And it has been amazing to see the results we've had on the streets and in lessons with our investigators.

Wiktor and Halina read the whole first Book of Nephi in one week. And they are jsut diving into it. We had to explain so simply the apostasy and restoration with them. But they finally understood it and realized why its important. And why it is important that they need to find out if the Book of Mormon is true.

Im so excited for them. We are also meeting with Maxim. A kid that is 22 from Ukraine also. Its pretty funny we are meeting with all of these Ukrainians. They are prepared for the gospel. Maxim also met a member in Alaska when he was working there. 

Wiktor showed up to church, but his wife was working. But he really like it and loves being involved.

After one of our lessons with Wiktor and Halina, Elder Caskey and I were driving home and just talking about how happy were were to be here on our missions. And how we wouldnt rather be anywhere else in the world  even though we missed our families that much.

We have been preparing for the zone conferences this week. This afternoon we are riding down to Katowice with President and Sister Edgren. And we have a conference there tomorrow. Wednesday we will be back here in Warsaw. And then Thursday we will be in Poznań for another. We are excited but a little nervous!

I continue to be amazed at how much the family and friends have been blessed at home. I thank Heavenly Father for that every night. We have no time today. We barley even have a P-day cause we are leaving at 2:00 PM.

Let me know how you all are doing. Continue to become brilliant at the basics. Thats what truely makes the greatest servants of the Lord.

Love you guys

_Elder fotu

September 8th in Warsaw!

This week just flew by. We had a couple exchanges this week. I went to a city called Bydgoszcz. I had a couple hour train ride there. And was with Elder Hubbard for a couple of days. And then got back to Warsaw and went right back into a Exchange the same day with Elder Retallick from England. He has a beautiful accent and is a awesome missionary. 

But everything has been crazy busy. We are preparing for Zone Conference next week. And really just buidling up our area.

Friday we have splits with the members. 3 members came. So Elder Caskey and I were with our favorite member Rafał. (The younger dad that asked us for a blessing) And we have been building a really good relationship with him. And he actually gave us a referral this last week named wojtek that we are teaching. But as we hit the streets with him he was asking like is this even affective... should we just go try to find less-actives. But him and Elder Caskey had a really good little lesson with this awesome couple. And it was a really good and spiritual moment for him that there really are people searching the truth. The real miracle happened on sunday. When Rafał got up to bear his testimony. Cause most members look up to him in the branch as a leader. And he talked about the experience and encouraged the rest of the members to go. After church he invited Elder Caskey and I over for dinner, he wants to make us pizza. 

It has just been amazing to build a relationship with me. And with the many other members here. Cause these relationships are really gonna be the things that last the most after the mission. And it just brings us so much joy in life.

Everything is going so well though. Ive never had so much unity, love, and hard work in a companionship before. I love all my last companions. And theyve helped me realize that I can add more to the companionship, and have helped me become a better missionary.

I had many doubts and low confidence coming to be President's Assistant. But I prayed for help, and continued to try to be myself and help others. And the Lord has blessed me so much. This country is pretty amazing. The members continue to amaze me.

Yesterday, a member from Ukraine showed up 30 mins late to church. But brought two of his freinds with him. And it was amazing cause we had a really good lesson with these three after church. But during the lesson Wylodomir just passed out cold. He was so tired cause the whole night he was helping a girl with her legal work in poland. So he hadnt slept but he still got up and got to church and brought his friends. So we are excited to work with Maxim and Edgar. Maxim is pretty prepared for this and they both are reading the Book of Mormon in Ukrainian. 

Miracles are everywhere. Not only in the mission field but at home also. My family has been so blessed. Garrett getting married, and Isaac on a mission. It was pretty sad to see the pictures of him entering the MTC by himself. I still remember that so clearly. It takes alot of faith cause you feel so alone, but the best comforter of all is so strong there. 

Love my mission. Thanks for the support. I really am so thankful.

Love you all!

_Starszy Fotu

September in Warsaw!

So its startin to get cold here in Warsaw. And we are hittin the Golf Course today! Unfortunantly President Edgren wasnt able to come with us, cause we wanted to take him for his birthday. But we are gonna go to this golf place today. They have like a range and some holes. So we wil see how that is. We are pretty stoked for that!

This week was insane, but so amazing.

We had a meeting with President and just talked about what we wanted to train the mission on. And so we came down to the point that the brethern want us to first have a "model area". And then when we do training we can teach with spiritual power because we have applied what we are teaching. And we were starting from nothing cause we just moved into a new area. 

Elder Caskey and I decided we needed to start with a fast. And it was pretty amazing. As we fasted the next two days were probably the most rejection we got our whole mission. We couldnt even get past saying "dzien dobry!" (hello) to people on the streets. They all said "we have no time!", "im not interested"...etc. It seemed like the harder we tried the less success we had. But we kept pushing. We had a goal with 3 new investigators for the week. And as friday came we had 0. We were in a new area and we walked around for a bit trying to find a new building to tract. We rang through the domophone. After about ten numbers a lady answered and let us in. (this doesnt happen ofter) We walked up to her apartment and she was standing there with the door open and inviting us in. We spoke with Agnieszka and she had been praying for help. She has a son that is going off in the deepend and she personally needed spiritual strength. We had an awesome lesson with her. The next day we found another couple. They are from Ukraine. But speak polish. And they were the nicest couple ive met. We've been pushing to get people diving into the Book of Mormon and get them progressing. We committed Wiktor and Halina to reading the first book of Nephi this week. And they said yes and we had an awesome kneeling pray at the end of the lesson.

There were so many other miracles. But I have no time to write them. 

The Lord truely is moving the work forward. And its amazing to be a little part of it. 

Being an Assistant is pretty crazy. We are always busy. And driving is weird in Europe. Left hand turns are so crazy. I drove down a one way street (the wrong way) the other day. And we didnt even realize it til we got to the intersection and all the cars were comin at us. haha its was crazy.

Yesterday we had a surprise birthday party for President Edgren. And we scared him to bad that we thought he was gonna have a heart attack.

I love it out here. Im growing so much. And its so amazing to see the miracles here in Poland. But also the miracles back at home....Garrett getting married......miracle.

Oh yeah isaac just told me that he proposed a couple hours ago....ha and that was it..... so fill me in guys. But im sure she is amazing. Im excited for them!

Hey I love you all. I know our happiness lies in the happiness of others. And that as we do the simple things daily that we will continue to stay strong and become better and better. We can become better and recieve strength through the power of the Atonement.

Ill love my mission forever, cause of the love i've found for the Savior!

Love you guys!

_Elder Fotu

Warsaw!!!!

So im just gonna get right into it. So much to tell with not much time...

Im back in warsaw. Its getting cold already. The branch is amazing that I am in. I was trained here. And I love being at the only chapel in Poland. 

Some of the members still remember me, some think im a "greeny".

haha its fun and so filling. 

This last week we sent missionaries home and brought new ones in. 

We stayed at the mission home with the ones leaving, and then woke up at 3.30 am to take them to the airport. It was really sad. There really was some of the most amazing missionaries. And we returned to the mission home to find it empty. It was pretty depressing. 

We tried to sleep for a couple more hours. And next thing you knwo we were off to the airport again to pick up the new ones. 13 new missionaries! And they were so fresh and they quickly brought the momentum back into us. It was so amazing to see how excited and filled they were even though they were so wiped out from the plane ride. 

I took one with me out on the streets. Elder Summers from Alaska. Filled with so much energy and faith. But yet we stepped on the streets and he was SO SCARED! we approached a couple and I asked if they had a second. They said no, so i left them with a pass along card. I tried calming Elder Summers down a little. But I told him to go get the lady with the stroller. It was so amazing to see this fresh missionary hit the work so hard. He faced his fear square up and just spit out all the polish he could with this lady. (really good polish btw) 

After the lady walked on he came up to me and said "THAT WAS THE MOST AMAZING EXPERIENCE IVE EVER HAD!!!" I told him "This is missioanry work. EVERY.DAY." He continued to go on about how he was going to love his mission sooo much! 

It was really cool to see someone faces his fears as he did. And even with rejection he was so excited about it. 

Later int he week we had Missionary Leadership Council. I had never been to this meeting cause I wasnt even a Zone Leader. And now I was being expected to Teach parts of it. It was overwhelming and really hard. But I prayed for help. And the spirit was so strong with me and kept me calm. And everything went so smoothly. 

I love my mission. My new companion (Elder Caskey) and I have been talking about how amazing our mission really is. As we were in the mission home with the 13 new missionaries and the 13 trainers we sang hymns. And I was standing in the back and just kinda watched. The spirit was so strong with me. I realized that everyone here was really part of something bigger. I love my mission. I love the missionaries. I look up to all of them.

My comp. Biggest stud. He really is so diligent, and loving. And we have alot of goals this trasnfers and we are gonna work so diligently to get them. We are so stoked. 

I love you guys. I know its all about the basics. It really is. It starts out in the morning. and you decide. No one else can decide for you how your day goes. Find the Lord's will, and align yours with it.

Love you guys! and am so thankful for the support I have. 

_Elder Fotu