Missionaries will be Boys (sometimes)

Hey Family!

Another hard working week gone!  Time is flying!!  Two missionaries just got home this week and they say it's like a dream!  They say it seems as if they were asleep for 1 night and are right back into things!  It's amazing how fast this time goes!  I'm already out 5 1/2 months!!  No bueno!!  I love it though!  

So we have had a great week!  Last week on p-day, we went bowling with Chris, an investigator, and the spanish elders.  It was a blast, but there was a Taylor Swift marathon going on there!! haha  It was baadddd!  So distracting but it's ok.  So I was mutant running down the hall the other day and there was a big group of girls that Elder Miller and I ran by, we didn't know they were there it was so funny!!  We could care less, but they all laughed at us haha.  

I have some good boots to wear, they were left in our house!!  Thank goodness!  I went on exchanges the other day with Elder B, our ZL.  He said that day was an answer to his prayers because he had been hoping for an experience to rekindle that fire he used to have to do the work.  That day, we taught 5 member present lessons and 2 less active lessons, which is more than they do in a whole week!  He said the enthusiasm we had that day changed the rest of his mission!  He said it brought back that fire and desire to work hard and keep going, even when it gets hard.  I spoke at Bucky's homecoming talk last week for 8 minutes or so and didn't even use cards!!  WOW, I was happy with myself I was able to get up there and speak on the Atonement without any notes.  That's what we do all day, every day, I guess just not in front of a big group of people, so it should be natural by now.  We have 3 dates set so far and 1 more on it's way, Chris is Jan. 26, Sister S. is February 9th, and D. is February 2nd.  We have so much work to do, I love it!!!

I went on exchanges with the spanish elders on Wednesday while Elder Miller went to a meeting in Idaho Falls, it was a blast day haha.  I spoke in spanglish the whole day haha. We played a dice game during our lunch break, so we all chose a number and if it landed on your number you had to do something.  Elder Solorgio lost first and he had to drink a cup of hot sauce!!  Nasttyyy.  I lost second and had to drink a raw egg!!  I threw up haha the texture got me!  I lost the third time as well and had to eat a spoonful of cinnamon in under a minute.  It hurt so bad, I was tearing up and my sinuses burned so bad, but I did it so that's all that matters.  We are doing it again soon on a p-day probably next week with the district!  It's going to be a blast!  We have a lot of challenges made up and we video tape them all haha. 

Elder Miller and I got interviewed for a newspaper the other day!!  A man called Pres. Brinkerhoff and asked for 2 missionaries to interview, he referred us!!  How cool is that!!!  So we had an interview and the paper comes out on Saturday.  I will send you a copy.

We are continuing to excel in work load, we find ourselves busier and busier!!  I love it!  When we get home, writing in our journals is the hardest task because we just collapse as soon as the door opens.  I have been working out pretty hard in the mornings, I notice I'm a lot more upbeat when I do, plus I cannot get fat.  I miss adventure though!  It's tough not being able to do crazy things or get the adrenaline pumping.

I bore my testimony in 4 sacrament meetings yesterday, one was about how life will beat you to your knees and keep you there if you let it. (Thanks Rocky!)  But with the gospel, we can stand up and fight it!  Life can be a good thing.  I talked about not giving up and how when we are about to give up, on our last breath, that is when we have to give it one more hard push, because it's when we are about to collapse that we are on the brink of genius.  I am learning so much out here.  Whatever I do when I am older, I will owe most of it to my mission experience.  The mission just teaches you a lot of skills that directly relate to entrepreneurship. 

But anyways, this church is awesome!!  I love it.  I can't believe I am actually a missionary!!! It's finally here and I am wrapped up in it!  I love my mission!  I am so glad Caitlin is going! There is nothing better that you can do!  You learn more out here than anywhere else!  I love it so much and can't get enough of it.

I hope you all have a great week and I love you very much!  May God bless you, uplift you, and help you grow.

Love,

Elder Fischetti

 Elders Fischetti, Miller and Braby with the Hill Family

 A Great Day with the Hill Family for their Baptism

 On Exchanges with the Spanish Elders

Happy New Year!!!

Hey family!!!!

That was awesome getting to Skype with you guys!  I now feel like I'm emailing a person!! haha.  But thank you, that made my Christmas seeing all of you!  Yeah J was fine.  So after we went knee boarding in the snow!  It was crazy fun.  Man, thank you for all that you sent me!  The long underwear things are coming in handy, it's been like 2 degrees for the past little while!
 
So the H family were baptized on Saturday!!  I baptized the dad, Elder Miller baptized C, and Elder Braby baptized the mom!!  So amazing, mom.  They have come from all odds against them with the weight of the world on their shoulders to the calm, soothing and relaxation that comes from the Lord.  My first night with them they had no furniture or blankets!  I almost cried!  It crushed me, I never thought I would see that in the US.  I wanted to go buy them all they needed at the time.  But now they have been blessed from the Lord and ward members and have beds, couches, chairs, TV's, food, dishes, everything they could need and more!!  SO amazing how the Lord helps us when we put him first and humble ourselves.  They have truly changed their entire life!! When they first moved here they were bitter, angry and mad at the world.  Now they love their life and realize their path was rough but it was for a reason.  The mom was extremely bitter because of some things that had happened, but they realize now it was the only way they would have accepted the gospel.  God bless the broken road.  They didn't see it at first, but do now.  As Steve Jobs said, "you cannot connect the dots looking forward, it's only at the the end when you look back you can connect them."  So it's important that we follow our own intuition and heart, they will always lead us to where we really want to be.  Sometimes life throws us curves, dips, and turns, and that's why we learn to swerve around em!  It is just so amazing to see their change.  They love the Lord and put him first.  The spirit was so strong and meeting them was truly life changing.  They made me realize money, cars, boats, and riches don't matter.  It's about family, enjoying what you have, and loving what life throws at you.  They humbled me so much, seeing them and how they are grown people living in a little apartment with dirty floors, but despite all that they still enjoy the little things such as the weather or the river outside or their one old car.  They just thank the Lord for their many, many blessings.  I love it!!  I love watching people come unto Christ and accept him and follow him.  I love my mission, I can't say it enough!  It's already been 5 months!!  So crazy!  It is flying by way too fast!!!!
 
So the other night, it was late and we had no appointments so we did secret service!  We call them "hit n runs".  We shovel people's walks and run away, haha  If you get caught, though, you lose!  It was so fun doing it for people and they didn't even know!  Then there were hundreds of geese outside our door honking and making noises so I yelled as loud as I could at them as a joke and they all went dead silent. haha It was so funny! 

So a new investigator named Mac was in church when I bore my testimony, and after I sat down, I choked on a dry throat and it made me cry, I couldn't stop it, haha.  We stopped at his house and he said me breaking down really caught his attention!  So cool how the Lord works!!  I love having him on my side on a 24/7 basis!!  So amazing!!!  

J was spinning doughnuts in the parking lot and he was just having fun showing off, right then a cop rolled on by!  It was hilarious, he missed him by 2 seconds!  Brother T has a ton of snowmobiles, when I'm older I'm totally having some!!  Parker and I will own them someday haha.  But, I gotta get going mom!  Thank you so much for all that you do!  You are the best and so supportive!!!  I love you and have a great week!!  I miss you and it was the best Christmas gift ever to Skype with all of you!  

Be safe and may the Lord bless you, uplift you, and edify you. 

Love your,
Elder Fischetti

Merry Christmas Everyone! - December 25th

Sweet Skype Setup!  

Made it so all could see him at the same time.

Elder Fischetti was able to Skype with us on Christmas Day!!!  It was so good to see his face and talk to him face to face.  What a Christmas gift.  It was all that we really wanted for Christmas this year.  We all enjoyed an extended period of time with him.  Grammy and Pop-pop joined us, as did Vanessa.  It was great to all be together again.  After we all talked to him, we were each able to spend some time talking alone with him.  That was great too.  He looks great, he is so happy.  He has such a humble and happy countenance.  He exudes confidence and reassurance that what he is doing is the right thing.  He loves his mission and loves the people he serves.  He feels very blessed in his work.  He is enjoying the snow, the weather is very cold there.  One of their favorite things to do on their preparation days is to go sledding.  They also go out to the sand dunes and sled down the hills there.  He also spends time early every morning working out.  For those of you who know him well, you know that this is very important to him.  It helps him work his bugs out, hahaha (as he would say).  

Part of the time we were able to spend with him was spent with him teaching us.  We wanted to hear what his lessons are like when he teaches other people.  (I tried to take good notes, but I wanted so badly to listen, so I got bits and pieces).  

He talked to us about three scripture stories - Ether 15, Isaiah and Alma 14:7.  He talked about how salvation is everything - and everything else is second.  He talked about how difficult things were for these men in these three stories.  In Ether, the two groups of people were fighting against each other with such anger and contention, Isaiah was despised and rejected of men and in Alma 14, Alma and Amulek were persecuted, imprisoned and smitten.  His point was that many men throughout the ages had many difficulties, especially when it came to sharing what they believed.  Things are not easy for missionaries either.  However, through the Atonement, their sacrifices are not in vain.  

He talked about how the Lord expects us to "Come, Follow Me".  That when we become disciples of Christ, we are to put our hands to the plow and never look back.  He also shared Alma 18:9, and how important it is to be a humble, still servant - it allows the Lord to speak to us.  Elder Miller, Thomas' companion, shared Proverbs 22:6 as a favorite of his.  He is a wonderful, strong, quiet companion.  That scripture talks about the training our children up in the ways of the Lord.  They are great companions.

We got to meet Jack Church, who is a great help to Thomas and the other Elders in his area. We also talked to Sis. Rubert, who just had a missionary go out into the field.  

He shared a scripture from Ether 2, and how the Lord will give you exactly what you need.  Complicated things can become very simple, like building ships and solving air flow problems!  All we need is faith and trust in Him.  He also talked about Elder Rosa, who is his AP idol.  hahahaha  He talks about what a great missionary he is and how he reminds him of young men he used to look up to in our Stake.  He also shared his goals and desires for his mission.  Fourteen goals that he carries with him at all times.  I will share another time.  :)  

We loved talking to Elder Fischetti.  It was a choice, sweet experience for all of us.  What a blessing it is to have a missionary out in the field, serving the Lord.  We love him very much and are so proud of him.

Another Elder Fischetti quote: "You live a lot longer once you learn that any time spent unhappy is wasted."  

Merry Christmas!!!  Love, Elder Fischetti and Family

Week 20 - Week of December 17, 2012

OK, so I have been the one not quite on the ball with keeping Elder Fischetti's blog updated.  Holiday preparations got the best of me, especially making sure he had a package for Christmas.  So please be patient while I update you on the past few weeks in the life of Elder Fischetti! 


Dear Family:

Okok, so I am not being transferred!!!  I am staying here so you can send everything to my direct address!  It's the best and safest way.  We are Skyping at Jack Church's and we will probably Skype around 10:30 our time and we have as long as we want!  It's up to us, but President said to keep it within reason!  So no worries, it will all workout!

Yesss, Sister Fisher contacted you?  Her family is awesome!!  So we had another lesson with Rob and he said that he is going to pray and talk about a baptism date with his wife!!  How exciting?!?  He has already changed!  You can see it and feel it!  Man, I love my mission!  OK, so his son Tyler has a ton of RC cars haha and dirt bikes and snowmobiles!  It is just like being home again but in 3rd person watching our family!  His younger brother, Trevor, has an RC car too and he breaks it all the time and then Tyler fixes it!!  It's the exact same as Michael and I.  How awesome??  Being there with them just reminds me of our family!  Man, I am so grateful for them in my life!  It's awesome!!!  I love my mission!  There are so many people we are teaching!!  So there is Rob, Curtis, The Hills, Chris a new investigator, Yvonne Schultz and her mom, Jr. and his brothers Alonzo and Herman, the Garcia family - 4 of them, Nick and his son Branton, Blake, Kieren, Mac and his girlfriend Draven, and those are all our investigators!!  Holy cow, so many huh??  It's way exciting!!  We are just too busy!!  It's awesome!  We barely have any time to do anything except teach!

We see so many people changing from this gospel!  The people we are teaching are just changing their lives!  It's so cool to see how becoming converted to the Lord brings so many life styles along with it! They are all cleaning up their lives and they are happy!  It's so humbling to see!

Oh man, that shooting in CT!!  How crazy!  It's sickening sometimes to see the direction the world and our country is going in.  So sad.  If only people would keep God in their lives instead of always looking to push him out of our schools, society, everywhere.

Elder Miller and I are having so much fun!  We have been riding our bikes, haha  Well, before there was snow this week, it is so fun riding them around!   But we just do little things to enjoy the time here when we arent teaching.  That's an awesome scripture you shared!  Good job, Mama Llama!!  (I shared  one of my favorite scriptures from the Book of Mormon, Ether 12:27. http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/ether/12?lang=eng )

It's amazing how fast time is flying!  I love every second of my mission.  I cant wait to Skype!!  I will read you guys some passages from my journal and what not, it's going to be cool!  You can meet Jack Church!!  It's amazing how the Lord just makes things work out here!  A mission is not about how much I can get from my mission, but how much I can give.  Tell Michael I said hi!  I am typing you all up a letter to send home for Christmas.  I don't have time to hand write them all, so sorry!  How is he doing with hockey?  I miss hockey so much!  I am going to play on some teams when I get home.

I got a letter from a Joshua King in Virginia.  Do you know him?  He wrote to me and wished me a Merry Christmas!  Wasn't that nice?  I am definitely writing him back.  Also, I got the seminary class package!  Wow, it was awesome!  I will write to say thank you but please tell them too.

Don't worry about the bummer letter, it leaves my mind after 5 minutes.  It's the way the Lord works to keep us focused and have the spirit with us so when we say the most simple things, it touches people's hearts.  Give Vanessa a big hug for me when you see her!  I told her to do the same for you guys.  How are all of my friends?  I am wearing my NYC tie today. haha  People see it and are like what in the world?  Then they realize haha it's a cool tie!  Oh Elder Juan Christensen, who came home from Brazil for surgery, worked with Spencer Flake in Alaska!!  How crazy!  But I better get going soon!  I hope you all have a good week!  I will email you next Monday also!  We will all skype together!  Me and Jack and you guys!  I'm super excited but nervous :/.  It's going to be weird not writing to or emailing to a picture of somebody.  Have a great week and be safe!  My prayers will be with the victims of CT.  Be safe and love the Lord!  It's such a great time of the year!  Be sure to help random people!

"Have I done any good in the world today?" Ask yourself that!  Love you all much!

Love,
Elder Fischetti

"Fear and doubt will hold you back, in order to progress, you must conquer them."