Transfered!

Right now I am with Elder Campora in Warsaw I! We are Zone Leaders.... haha i've never been one so its kinda new. But we are super excited about the work! Campora is such a boss! I love him. He has so much love for everyone around him! We are gonna killin it this transfer! We are waking up at 5:45 every morning and doing P90X! I can barley type this e-mail right now, my arms are dying.

The mission continues to explode! a little over a month ago we had 6 baptismal dates. There are now 27. Pretty exciting. The mission had around 45 in all of last year. So its really exciting to see the mission really connect to their purpose and be able to explain it easily and simply! 

Quick miracle! This past week the sister missionaries were on a tram. And this man approached them and asked what branch they were in. He asked if "Elder Fotu was in the same branch! And he would be in church on sunday!" So its emanuel! The man that was working in Utah for a little and from Nigeria. A member in park city picked him up on his way to work to give him a ride. And invited him to church! 

Emanuel came to soccer on saturday and then to church on sunday in a suit! He is such a stud. He told me about how he has been reading the Book of Mormon for a while now. (we lost contact a couple months ago cause some crazy things happened with him, getting hurt and sick and being in the hospital) He said he just loves the Book of Mormon and has been having some life changing dreams and believes they are from God. Sacrament meeting was really good. We had Fast and Testimony meeting. The members really testified of the missioanry work and the important of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I think because of their strong testimony Emanuel asked me..."what are the requirements for baptism?" We sat down with him and set expectations promised blessings and set a date for April 25. Yes thats my last saturday in Poland. We are pretty excited.

Things are really exploding here. And im so stoked to kill it with Elder Campora!

I loved reading in the ensign about the difference between mistakes and sins. or sins and weaknesses. or forgiveness and grace. Polecam czyli.....I recommend it!

But I gotta go! I love you all! Keep killin it!

Prepare for this weekend! We receive from the Lord what we are prepared for. Im so stoked for conference! Loves

_Elder Fotu

-Shout out to Selu and Ty for their birthday! I love you guys!

Im a little lost.... But stoked!

So sorry this email is so late. I wasnt able to email today for longer than 15 mins. So its about 9:00 at night right now. Im sitting in the mission home. Sister edgren is letting me send a email home real quick. We just had a little farewell for my comp elder allen, who is heading to california tomorrow! He extendd 30 days for us to travel around. It was so amazing. The miracles that we saw as the Lord continues to hasten his work here in poland! 

For me..... I have no idea what im gonna be doing for the next couple weeks. President has been thinkin about it. Weve talked about some ideas but nothing super concrete. He just drove the other elders home so i think when he gets home we will talk about itand decided. But im super excited wherever i go! 

It has been really amazing for me to learn from the 15 different missionaries i was able to do exchanges with over the past. Its been so fun and uplifting. I feel like im so much more connected to my purpose of helping others come unto Christ by receiving restored truth! The restored gospel! That is truely the greatest thing on the mission. The purpose that we have. Its so amazing. And i get really sad and choked up when i think about the day when i wake up and i cant walk out the door and constantly start preaching the truth and inviting others. Its a little harder to keep those thoughts out about home but i feel like im doing a decent job of keeping them out. 

I think we just need to always remember our purpose in life. Its all the same. The mission is just a little more intense. And im so grateful for the basic habits ive learned on my mission to keep that purpose in my life.

Continue to invite others to come unto Christ. Thats my thought for this week. Invite all. We all have that responsibility. Whether it be our sibilings, friends, family, stranger...anyone. Fear is the only thing that stands between us. Fear God instead of Man. Love God and all men.

I love you all. I love these people. Ill serve them and God til the end! 

Elder Fotu

Shout to my brother Garrett that i havent seen in ages! Have the best birthday yet! Ofa lahi atu!

16 marca 2015

Crazy week! We left Wroclaw on monday and headed to Lodz to do a training! After Lodz we went straight to szczecin which was a really long train ride. It was pretty weird returning back to szczecin and seeing old faces and walking and teaching on the same streets. It was pretty awesome though. It felt like I had never left there. After szczecin we went to the city of Poznan. Spent a couple days there. Yesterday in church there were 8 people present. 6 missionaries and 2 members. I blessed the bread and water. And spoke in church on obedience. It was pretty awesome. There was a member there named marta. So solid. She is pretty amazing. Just got back from her mission in Chicago. She started her mission here in Poland cause of Visa problems. And I remember being in her district. Its weird serving with her and now she is home. The foundation of members being built here in Poland is pretty amazing. I love it. I've never seen such faithful members.

Couple awesome things happening in the mission. The area presidency in Europe was wanting to close the gap between our progressing investigators and baptismal dates. Because we had so many progressing investigators without a date to progress towards.....which doesnt make much sense. Progression sky rockets when they have a goal in mind and we promise them that as they show their faith, God will answer there prayers. Thats really what our training is focused on. INVITE others to COME UNTO CHRIST by receiving RESTORED TRUTH. The words invite, come unto Christ, and restored truth. Very simple but sometimes hard to explain clearly to investigators our purpose. We are helping the missionaries build practical skills with these. We are helping our investigators understand our purpose by clearly setting expectations and inviting them to act. (setting expectations and extending invitations) so simple but so powerful. In setting these expectations we promise the investigators that God desires to make a covenant with them (a two way promise). And that as they learn of these restored truths they will desire to make a covenant with their Heavenly Father by being baptized. Its been powerful and amazing to see the results. At the beginning of our trips the mission was around 6 investigators with a baptismal date and 28 progressing investigators in all of Poland. Today we now have 17 progressing investigators with a baptismal date and 23 progressors. Its been amazing to see the Lord's hand in his work. The miracles are everywhere. We are finding the Lord's prepared children by his Spirit.

I love traveling around. I love these missionaries. I remember before the mission I had a hard time with accepting people as they were. If someone was a little different than I was, I didnt want much to do with them, I wouldnt go out of my way to know them. Many of these missionaries are so different than I am, but I've felt this love in my heart for them. They are pretty amazing and fearless in the work of the Lord. Its so fun and fulfilling to work with them throughout these exchanges. I love it. It keeps me fresh and excited with two hands to the plow and no looking back.

 Ill send some pictures from these past couple cities! Love you all!

_Starszy Fotu

1) Marta the member from Poznań

2) Missionaries in Łódź

1) Elder Larsen and I #LPpride

2) Poznań missionaries

our beautiful train ride (elder allen and I)

March-9-2015

We don't have much time! We have to catch a train at 17:00 to Łódź!

We are now in our 6th city! And in the best city, Wrocław! I love this place. It's pretty amazing to be back. But im leaving today;( I hope I will be able to come back for a little later....

Im gonna send pictures of our little tour around Poland.

Its been a really good experience for me to train the missionaries and build a better connection between us and our Purpose as the Lord's missionaries here in Poland. Its really humbled me and helped me become better! And we are practicing with thema and putting everything into action.....

Really quick we are teaching how to become better connected to our purpose of "inviting others to COME UNTO CHRIST by receiving RESTORED TRUTH." We are training on how to connect these two points as quickly as possible whether is be on the streets or tracting in our finding efforts. Or in teaching like sit down lessons with investigators and members! Doing these things by setting expectations and extending invitations.

In the training we do role plays with the missionaries, then in the middle of it we say ok.... Lets go role play on the street! Its alot of fun and its fun hitting the streets with tons of missionaries like a huge force and just talking to every person we pass. Its been really affective. Yesterday my companion Elder Allen was on exchange with another missionary. They were in a sit down lesson and did the same exact thing as we did in the role play with setting expectations of Baptism and how if they listen to our message then they will want to make a covenant with God by Following Christ and being baptized! They set a lesson with this kid named Jakub before they even taught him the first lesson! Pretty awesome. Now Jakub knows what to expect and we arent hiding this baptismal invitation anymore. The number one way for others (non members) to come unto Christ is to have faith, desire to change and repent, and make a covenant with him by baptism.

Every time we hit the streets with each companionship and district we have found new investigators in every city so far. There is 26 progressing investigators in the mission (which is more than usual) and the baptismal list is full. Its pretty amazing when we return to the basics of connecting to our purpose the Lord hastens his work!

Real quick a good experience... Last night the Elders in Szczecin called me. They visited a former investigator named Bartek that Elder Vernon and I found over a year ago. When Elder Vernon and I met with him back then he wasnt very interested in changing his life and finding out if God really existed. The Elders there now called him and set up with him. When they walked in Bartek said, "You know when Elders Vernon and Fotu were here over a year ago I wasnt very interested. But now I need it. I need to know if God is real cause its too hard in life to live without it." They had an amazing lesson with him and he is moving forward. We are going to be in Szczecin this week. So we are pretty excited!

Everything is going so well. Thank you for your support and all you do! I love you guys!

Keep killin it!

loves

_Starszy Fotu

1) missionaries in wrocław

2)missioanries in Kato

3) missionary in Kielce

1) my norwegian baby Elder Weggi

1) my brown man from Austria Elder Garcia (he is filipino)

3)whiteboard in a blizzard with big snowflake in front

1)missionaries in Lublin

2) Member (Daniel) from Katowice

3) Robert Dedyński from Wrocław

ALL WHITE EVERYTHING

Hey Friends and Family!

It was one of the Best weeks of my mission! As some of you might of saw.....We had a baptism. It was the first person that I saw start from the beginning of meeting the message of Christ restored gospel. And Walking into the waters of baptism to make a covenant with God. It was probably one of the best experiences of my life.   It was beautiful.

I've seen the change that comes from the gospel many many times on my mission. In my life and in others. But it was awesome to be part of this.   He went from drinking daily to living the Word of Wisdom! And living according to all the commandments! Its been amazing!

Ill wrote more next week...

Elder Allen and I are traveling the next 20 somethin days. Giving training on how to Invite others unto Christ in thge phase of Teaching(in lessons) and Finding (on the streets and tracting) pg 196 in PMG. Its golden. This is when we are successful as missionaries when we extend the invitation. That is our resposibility. Invite others. And Expect the fruits of baptism and commitment keeping.

I love my mission.

The experience of baptizing was pretty amazing. But I wouldnt say I feel anymore successful than when I have recieved rejection on the streets while extending the invitations.

I love the mission! The work in Poland is hastening! I know there are prepared souls in every mission. If we truly believe that, then we will perform the work by the Lord's Spirit. He knows exactly where they are. Be lead.

I love you all. The basics are key throughout our whole life.. Im sorry for the short e-mail.

quick funny story. We were in church. and sister pogorzelska comes up to me and says.... "Elder Fotu are you busy after church...... And I said No...why? she said, cause Marysza wants to play with Elder Fotu......(Her little daughter that i've sent you guys pictures of) Marysza runs over to me right at that moment and starts talking to me. And Her mom (sis pogorzelska) says ok Marysza we have to go to primary. And picks her up. marysza just starts bawling and sayin I want to play with starszy fotu...."Chcę się bawić z starszym Fotuem!!!" haha it was the cutest. Here is a pic with them!

Love you guys!

Trzymaj się!

_Starszy Fotu