Yellowstone Delay

Heyyy!!! Wow sorry it's so late!  (Thomas usually emails us earlier on Mondays)  We just got back from Yellowstone and are at a member's house doing emails because the FHC (Family History Center) was closed.  Yellowstone was fun for the first bit, but then it got a little boring haha.  

Man, sounds like you had such a great trip!!  I am happy you enjoyed it and am very happy to hear that Michael's knees are doing better!  I fasted for all of you but especially him on Sunday.  This week has flown by.  I can't believe how fast time has been going.  So anyways, I don't have a whole lot of time.  

This week we invited Cad, Gage, and Zander to be baptized.  They all said yes and now we are going to set dates for them.  I was so happy when they accepted the invitation.  Especially since these baptisms are from me and my companion not the Elders before me. So during Rich's weekly lesson, I was teaching him about obeying the commandments and the importance of it.  I compared it to weeding a garden - how you need to do it daily in order for the good plants to grow.  I was on a roll and it felt really good to have them understanding what we were teaching them.  

It was awesome to have dinner with Collin and be able to talk to him about home and people and his mission.  (Collin is a friend of ours who served his mission in our area several years ago and he has a family member living in the town where Thomas is serving, so they were able to meet up.)  I sort of remember him, talking with him brought back a few memories from when he was there. 

So recently I have been trying to eat less sugar and drink more water.  My headaches have been coming back so I've been trying to fix this.  Anyways, we met this boy named Joseph, he is leaving for the Phillipines at the end of October so we have been bringing him along with us recently.  We taught our good friend Sonny, he is older and loves the church.  He always says how much he loves us and looks up to us being great young men.  He took us to Yellowstone btw.  Then at dinner the other night, our 2nd dinner that night, we had dinner with an older couple.  They gave us huge bowls of ice cream and we couldn't finish it, I look over at Elder Aiono and he was pretending to cry and his lips were quivering while eating it. It was so funny I started laughing during dinner. 

We also had a mission conferance with Elder Whiting, an Area 70 (A Seventy is a church leader who leads over large geographic areas) and it was in Idaho Falls.  He taught us about doing more and becoming a better missionary.  It was good to get some motivation to work harder.  I have been doing really well and I feel much better teaching lessons and knocking on doors.  I will send pictures next week, I don't have time today :(.  I got the packages!! Thank you so much!!!  It was great to get some of that great jam!!!!  It was a great to have a little taste of home.  Also, the helicopter is great!!  I only get to use it once in a while but it's still fun late at night or when other missionaries are over!  

This week has been really busy with just small lessons. It's fun running from lesson to lesson.  So a quick lesson in Moses Chapter 1, Moses is getting tempted by the devil, he refuses and rebukes him 4 times, finally God comes and tells him (vs.25-26).  Read it.  It's touching to me because it helps me realize that by turning down temptation, we will recieve heavenly strength and comfort.  There are always blessings for resisting temptation.  I love you all very much!!  I will have a longer email next week btw. Tell the family I say hi! especially Grammy and Pop-pop.  I will write them soon.  Tell Bishop I will respond to his letter next week.  Have a great week and I look  forward to having more email time next week.  Keep up the faith and scripture reading.  I love you all!

Love, Elder Fischetti

New Photos This Week

These are photos Elder Fischetti sent home today!

Elder Fischetti loves getting around on his borrowed beach bike.

 Not everyone welcomes Missionaries... but that's OK.

 Cute!

 Homecoming Bonfire?

 Helping build a deck for an elderly woman

Making progress

All in a day's work, the finished product! 

 Celebrating Elder Aiono's 20th Birthday

Now that's a tractor! Thomas can't believe how big these are. 

 Elder Fischetti

MOM!!  FAMILY!!!

 

It's great to hear from you!  Man, the boat is still in the water, wish I was there to fish along with them.  It gets down to 30 at night, but during the day it's around 65.  That's lucky that Michael has a day off, and what is wrong with his knees?!?  Get that kid to the doctor!  That's great about Cindy!!!  Missionary experiences.  Man, the computers are so slow today so my typing is really delayed.  It's very frustrating when your mind is moving a million miles per hour, but the computer is moving at a snail's pace.  Its ok, patience is a virtue.  I have been doing really well!

So this week, we have gotten 7 new investigators!!  How incredible is that?  We are leading the mission in numbers, not that that matters, but we are doing work.  This area is hard to find people, but this week we seemed to be able to connect dots and find the people wanting to hear about the gospel.

We are teaching 3 youth, their names are Gage, Cad, and Zander.  They are all very interested, but Gage is the most interested.  The questions he asks are incredible!  He is 11 but has the thoughts of a 40 year old.  He is very bright and very quick with his thoughts.  I love having a conversation with him out here because he tends to be very sporatic and it's easier for me to connect with him when our thought processes align.  Cad is 15 and has been reading all of the chapters we assign him and more!  He is a great kid and really wants to know about our Father in Heaven.  Our investigators invited us to go to the homecoming football game last week, it was alot of fun but it really made me miss high school, hockey and all the fun stuff I did with my friends and Ness.  Seeing families out here is really great for me, it is building my love for all of you so much even though we aren't near each other.  That is a blessing of a mission. Tuesday, we spent the entire day building a ramp for a handicapped woman. The ramp was 25 feet long and 4 feet high.  I will include pictures this week or the next depending on time.

Me and my companion are doing really well, it was his 20th birthday on Saturday, so a lot of members had us over for cake and goodies.  One family, the Barchi's had us over, and it was like being home again.  They were so loving and so much fun to talk to.  They gave me a ton of advice about my mission and I feel grateful for the words they shared. Their son is really cool and he is going to come trackting with us one of these days.

We stopped by an investigator's house this week, their name is the Farleys.  They are progressing really well and are constantly feeling the Lord's hand in their lives.  After we said hi to them, a big tractor pulled off the side of the road and an old man jumped down, he reminded me of Mr. Prokoff. (Mr. Prokoff sp? is our upstate neighbor and a dairy farmer - the kids have known him since they were small).  He gave us $20 for lunch!!  It was so funny to have that happen haha.  We have been riding our bikes all over, and it's alot of fun and alot more productive.  I have been trying to adapt efficiency into our missionary work.  We tend to not schedule our days so that we aren't wasting time traveling from appointment to appointment.  Instead we organize them so they are all in order.  I am loving the work and am really happy.  The scriptures I have been reading are the Doctrine and Covenants, I love the Joseph Smith story, I read it quite often.  A great scripture on the light of Christ is D+C 50:24. I am writing you a letter later today and it will be a lesson on just that.  So be excited. :D Missionary work is alot of fun, I am starting to love every bit of my day.  I love being busy and coming home at night just exhausted.  The spiritual exhaustion is crazy, I never thought it was possible for your spirit to be exhausted.

Trust in the Lord in all you do, everything happens for a purpose if we are obedient.  That doesn't mean slack off, it just helps me out knowing that the Lord is on my side and He wants to help me.  I love being so close to Him because I can ask any question and know I will get some sort of answer.  I have recieved many answers to questions I've had about myself and others over the past week, and each time it is so powerful knowing I am worthy enough to recieve these answers.  Being humble is extremely important, I have learned that the hard way.  As soon as you get confident in yourself and don't give credit to our Father, you will get knocked off your feet for a minute.  But that's all part of growing.  You cannot grow if you don't first get knocked down.  The Lord allows us to fall so we can learn to pick ourselves up again, and mainly use His lifeline and learn to lean on his shoulders.  

Sounds like life at home is great! I am happy to hear you are all well. Keep up with scripture reading.  Read every night as a family and dissect what you read.  Push yourself to understand more and more each time.  It's amazing when you put your whole focus and heart into studying the scriptures, you can get so many amazing answers.

Mom, sounds like a blast going on that trip!!!  I'm jealous!  Have a great time and tell me how it was.  I want to go to the temple soon, we are allowed to go on Pdays, the only problem is it uses up most of our preparation time so we have to do it on a week when we don't have appointments on Monday night.

Today, we are going to Idaho Falls for training and then shopping around that area!!  Pday is Phun day! haha jk  Every day is Phun day out here!  It's weird the transformation I've seen!  I never thought I would love this work as much as I do, but it's true, a mission is a fast track to seriousness and adulthood.  This is giving me so much knowledge about life that I can and will apply throughout my entire life.  

Expect a letter soon! and yayyyyyy I'm so excited for packages!!!  I love mail!! 

I love you all very much!!  Work harder in the gospel, and feel the blessings!  I love you and I will keep ALL of you in my prayers.  Stay safe.  Never stop, Never settle, Nothing is final.

Love,

Elder Fischetti

Letter from 9/10/12

Heyyy!!

 

How are you all?  It's good to hear from you once again!  Yes, I got your package and thank you so much for it!  Man, I love getting mail!!  I did not have breakfast with the Singletons, he must have had it with other Elders.  So, I ate 3 dinners last night!!  I basically rolled out of the house haha.

Last Pday we played flag football with a bunch of other Elders, we had a lot of fun and it got a little competitive. After, we went to Big Juds and again got paid for haha. The following day we taught a few lessons, and found 3 new investigators!!  It was all from promptings of the Holy Ghost. 

The Whites had me for dinner at Chiz's, it was very good to see them!  It made me sad though, because I wish I could have dinner with everybody!!  We taught them a lesson of missionary work later that evening and it went well.  It was good to see some familiar faces!

Then the next day we helped our zone leaders move houses because they needed a new one for some reason. It took us half the day to move them, but it was fun and we got good exercise!  We then went to 5/11 to get some shakes and pizza, everybody loved the pizza but it honestly tasted like cardboard, guess I'm used to NY pizza. haha  We then went tracting and talked with a few people about why we wanted to serve a mission.  I sometimes feel like a celebrity out here, everywhere we go, people are honking their horns and waving to us. haha

Later this week, we had exchanges (missionaries will change places with another companion to work with someone new for the day) and one of my exchanges was with another greeny (a greeny is a new missionary that is in their first area). It was good to feel a little pressure because it gave me a lot more confidence in my ability to teach and preach and find people by listening to the Holy Ghost.  Later that evening, we went to our friend's house, his name is Jack Church, and he is so cool!!  He is a huge U of U fan.  He is so supportive and at his house, we taught his nephew and he now wants to be baptized.  Jack is letting me borrow his bike, it's a beach cruiser bike haha it's so funny!!  People are always whistling at me saying nice bike :/.  

We taught the Farley family again, and it went so well! They told us how much they appreciate us coming over and helping them. They say they look forward to it all week.  We also found 5 new investigators and it went very well with our first meeting with them.

Sunday we had Stake Conference, it was really nice to hear some powerful talks.  Our Mission President spoke and he called on us to stand up in front of everyone and he told them we are great missionaries.  It was an honor.  We also taught many lessons that day and I felt more comfortable teaching our friends.  I am starting to love the people I teach and help, it is so fun helping them out and giving counsel to them.

Today we are going shopping for some food, and then playing basketball again :(  I'm not a big fan but I go and have fun anyways.  I love this work and I love serving our brothers and sisters.  I will send my testimony in a separate email today.

I love you all so much and you are all in my prayers.  

Keep the faith, stand strong, stand tall, be proud.

Love,

Elder Fischetti

Visitors from Home!

Last week, (well, on September 4th - time sure does fly and I have some posting to catch up on), some dear friends from home stopped by to visit with Elder Fischetti and his companion.  The White family were kind enough to take the time to take them out to dinner and spend some time visiting and taking photos.  We love them and are so happy they were able to visit our Missionary!  

Out to Dinner 

 The Wonderful White Family

(minus Elder White, Elder Fischetti subbing in)

 Good to see good friends

 Elder Fischetti and his first Companion, 

District Leader and Trainer

 Elder Fischetti with Elder Aiono

(Thomas is very fortunate to have such a great comp!)

Home Sweet Home 

Barn on the property where they live 

Pond on the property

It is beautiful country where they live, very peaceful.  A member owns the home where they live - they are very fortunate to have such large digs for the two of them! 

Service is Sweet! - 9/3/12

HEYYYY!!! la familia!

 

This week has been so exhausting!!  I have been doing really well. Last Monday, our Zone Leaders' truck ran out of gas, they all sighed and I jumped up kind of spazzing, haha, and starting pushing. They all got out to help and we pushed the truck 1 mile all the way to a house. We were in the middle of nowhere - literally.  We helped our friend move, he had so much furniture in a tiny house, he sat and watched TV as we moved all of his stuff for him.  I am definitely learning patience and how to get over things and not have a temper. 

A less active family wanted a couch so we hunted for one and finally found one, we delivered it and scheduled a time when we can come back to teach them. We taught our friend Rich and he is a heavy smoker.  He wants to get baptized, so I challenged him to slow down on the smoking and we gave him a blessing.  We will see how it goes for him. 

We had dinner at the Brown's one night, the older dad took us out to the garage and gave us a shoe box of keys, they were keys to dirt bikes, ATV's, and Polaris RZR's - all suited up for the sand.  He showed us the trail to the dunes and said have fun!  It was a test of faith.  I decided not to even sit on the toys, not to even tempt myself. My companion sat in it, went forwards then backwards, and eventually he took it down the road and back.  I decided to obey the rules of the mission even though I knew I wouldnt get hurt, I felt it was a test of my willingness.  I was very proud of myself after I said no.  (If you know Thomas, you would understand why this would have been so difficult for him.  I can understand why he was proud of himself, he has been riding and fixing vehicles since he was a small boy.)

We also had our baptism for Brynne Berry, her family was so happy that day and it made me realize how important the work is that I am doing.  A missionary is a boy who leaves his family for a short time so other families can be with their's forever.  I also taught the congregation during the baptism about the Restoration, it went very well and I enjoyed teaching a larger group of people.

I met Brother Crapo, he supplies 5 Guys with potatoes. So when you see potato bags at 5 Guys from Idaho, they are from his farms.  Friday morning, Brother Forebush picked us up and took us to his house for a big family breakfast.  I felt like I was at home again!  It was so fun and although they don't have much money, they are the happiest people.  I am learning so much!  After that, we went to do service for their neighbor who is not a member and we spent 3 hours moving him.  He was so grateful and I know that without a doubt he will someday meet the missionaries again.  We went trackting later that day, and out of nowhere, it started pouring with hail and lightning and strong winds!  We started running for the car, when an old couple picked us up.  They took us into their home and gave us hot chocolate and a towel to dry off with.  He told us all his stories from when he was a missionary and it reminded me of Grandpa.  

Sunday we fasted, I bore my testimony on the power of prayer.  Later that day, we found 3 new PI's or Possible Investigators.  We set return appointments and hopefully they accept the gospel.  One of them was a family who was playing soccer.  I told my companion we had to go talk to them so we did, and they were all very interested. 

I am exhuasted every single night!  But I love every day even though I am so tired.  I am having a great time, and maybe I want my pea coat.  (Even though it is early September, Thomas is already discovering how cold it gets there.)  I dont need much of anything else at the time.  Just mail :)  I love getting mail.  I hope all of you are doing well and I look forward to your next email.  I will send dad a birthday letter later this week.  I wish I was there!  But I will be there soon enough, only 23 months left!  It's cruising by!  I love all of you very very much! 

Later today, we are playing flag football with our Zone for an activity because its P-Day. Have a great week! Every email you get is closer and closer to my homecoming. The time will fly, I promise.  Oh and mom!!  A lady in one of my wards wants to be friends on FB to talk to you about me like updates!  Her name is Jenny Blacker Wilson.  I had family home evening with them last night.  It went really well you can ask her for details about it. (Jenny did, in fact, contact me on Facebook - what a kind hearted woman!  I look forward to hearing from her when she has the missionaries over.)

Ok, I love you all very much!!  Have a great day and a great week!  Don't forget to slow down and enjoy the little things in life.

 

Love,

Elder Fischetti