December 28th 2010

December 28^th 2010

So this week’s email might not be as long as emails in the past. I apologize for that.

Christmas was great. I have to say that it is definitely different being on a mission for Christmas but it’s not as bad as I had anticipated. After we talked to you on the phone at the Robert's house we stayed there for a while and had some good lunch with them. It was fun and then my companion volunteered us to do the dishes, I told him to speak for himself from now on. After the Robert's we went over to Bishop Jenkins, in the Ione ward. We had spent some time with them on the night of Thanksgiving and they really enjoyed it so they called us on Christmas Eve and told us if we had time on Christmas to come by and visit with them. We went over there and we had a real fun time. We visited for a little while and then played some pool. Sister Jenkins thought it would be a good idea to take some pictures and send them to our moms. I guess she was right about that idea. Then we took off and went to dinner at the Chronis family. It was really good but we had to take off early because Rudy and his family were having us over for a bon fire and to have some treats and stuff. It was pouring rain so we weren't sure if it was going to happen but we went over anyways and no one was home... so we went over to Brother Gonzales' house. He lets us come over when we don't have anything better to do.

On Sunday we had a good day. This 18 year old kid gave an amazing talk! It was about missionary work and it was super good. After church we talked to this kid who had been coming for 6 months but was a nonmember. We asked him if he would be interested in the lessons and he said he thinks he would so we will be teaching him now. I think me and him will get along good. We played the same positions on football and he wrestles so we have a few things in common. Then we taught a lady named Tara. After that we just visited some random people for the night then had dinner at the Skujins. It was super fun. They are an older couple with kids that are all grown up. The youngest were in their mid to late twenties. It was a lot of fun and I feel like we all really connected. I guess I like hanging around with people that age because of having older siblings as well as freaking old cousins. It was fun though. Then we went home.

Yesterday was a weird day. Elder Brantley knew pretty sure he was leaving so we went and said bye to a few people. We met with some old guy who is less active and his house made me smell like cigarettes the rest of the day. Then we went over to the Chronis' house. They said they were slaughtering one of their cows and that we could come watch. We got there about an hour after they shot it and it was hanging up on a fork lift by its back legs and they were sawing it in half. One of the daughters shot it and they said it took her a couple of tries cuz she wasn't a good shot. They said the first shot was to wound it, second was to wound it some more and the third was self-defense and it gave the death blow. We got some good pictures and then we went and had lunch... how appetizing. The rest of the day was kind of bum. We saw some people and tracted. We had dinner with the Uhris. They are super cool converts of about 4 years. Since their baptism they have been sealed in the temple and are super strong members. We had a real fun time with them. They are way cool. Then we went and taught Rudy and Dusty and their son Tristen, the rest of the kids weren't home. We talked about obedience to the commandments and then about random gospel topics answering some of their questions. We realized Tristan won't be baptized on the 31 because we haven’t taught him everything but we are shooting for the 8th for Rudy and Tristen. Then we got our transfer calls. Elder Brantley is leaving to go follow-up train in Stockton. He is excited for that. I am staying and my new companion will be Elder Byrum. He is a really cool guy. I met him at our temple day a few weeks ago. Him and Elder Buttars are super good friends so we all hung out a lot. He is going to be the district leader. I'm not going to be a senior companion just yet. President said he thinks I’m ready but that according to circumstances, we needed a district leader and this made the most sense. It makes sense and honestly I don't even care cuz that’s less stuff I have to worry and stress about. But Elder Byrum is awesome and I think we will get a long great and have a lot of fun. Well I'm out of time for today. I wish the best for all this upcoming New Year. May God bless you all.

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

Christmas Day!

December 25^th

Well even though I will be calling today I thought I would quickly give a report on what I did this week.

Monday was a good P-Day. We went over to Brother Gonzales' house and we had some lunch and just hung out. The Elders from Calaveras County came over (Elder Buttars and Elder Bowman, my old companion). It was a lot of fun. We just talked and watched the Testaments, twice. It was fun. The rest of the day was kind of a bum day. We had dinner with the Johnson’s. Or however you spell their last name. They went on a mission to Chicago. I thought it might be a possibility that they knew Adam so I asked if they knew an Elder Krummenacher. Their faces lit up and they ran and got their scrap book and showed me a picture of him. It was funny and quite the coincidence. The rest of the night was just kind of driving around trying to see people. Tuesday was a weird day. We were supposed to have a lesson with this guy named Johnny but he didn't really want to meet with us. So we hauled some stuff to the dump and cut some wood for Bro Gonzales. It was good. Then we went tracting with a bit of success and then we just saw a lot of random people throughout the day until night time. We had a lesson scheduled with Rudy and his family but his wife was the only one home. We had a good lesson with her and it was real nice. We helped her understand more what the Book of Mormon is really about and she expressed some other concerns but it was a good visit. Then we got ice cream and went home. Wednesday was another weird day. Elder Brantley had leadership meeting so I just sat there and ate for a half hour then took a half hour nap. Great combination huh? Then we went out and did some service for this guy in the Ione ward. He is slowly remodeling a house and it looks amazing. We helped with some heavy lifting and stuff then they took us out to lunch for all you can eat pizza. It was tasty. The rest of the day was slow. We tracted a bit and stuff then we had dinner. We helped clean the Church that night. Normally we wouldn't do that but Rudy signed up to clean it so we thought we would go along so we could visit with him a bit. It was good. Then we tried to see some people then went home to meet the Calaveras Elders cuz they were sleeping over. It was a fun night. Me and Elder Buttars are good friends so it was a party. On Thursday we got our Christmas packages. Boy do i love my Yo Yo. Who’s ever idea that one was good job. The oranges from Spence and Debbie are great. They have been helping me fight the colds off. We then had district meeting and then lunch later that morning. After lunch we did exchanges. Elder Bowman came to my area. It was a lot of fun. We had a great lesson with a lady named Tara. It was quite enjoyable. Then we went and had a wonderful lesson with Karey. He is almost over the cold but it’s still keeping the hole in his throat open longer than it should but it should heal faster now. We taught him about obedience and the Ten Commandments. He enjoyed it. He told us that he was praying often and that he could really feel something warm inside when he prays. We told him that was the spirit and he was like yeah but I can't feel it all the time so we explained the promise that he can feel it all the time after he is baptized and receives it. It was good. We then helped him understand more what the difference is between the Bible and The Book of Mormon. He was confused on that. SO it was good. We saw a few people then had dinner. Then we went over to Rudy's house so Elder Bowman could see them then we had to drive an hour to meet up with our companions. Thursday was a good day. Friday was a random day. We had weekly planning in the morning and then after lunch we went out and visited a few less actives. We had dinner at 6 with a family named the Saldates. They are really nice and have a bunch of kids. One of their sons is on a mission. He is supposed to be in Brazil but he is waiting for his Visa in Georgia. So it was fun evening. We had a Christmas Eve program and it was nice. It didn't compare to grandmas though. I missed that last night. Then we didn't have anything to do at eight because our mission president wanted us to be with members all night so we went over to Brother Gonzales' house and helped him set up some Christmas presents. It was fun.

Well I think that’s it for my weekly report. I will be emailing again on Tuesday but it won't be a lot because of how short of time it will be till then. I'm excited to call home in a half hour. Have a great Christmas Season!

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

December 20th 2010

Well now this week was something. It doesn't really seem like its Christmas. This year it has been more Christ centered than ever so it isn't as familiar but it is a change for the better. It was a really good week. At the end of each day I thought to myself, man I can't wait to email home. I think it’s what keeps me sane being around Darrell’s all day.

So on Monday after we emailed and went shopping we went home and I took a long much needed nap. It was nice to catch up on some sleep. My companion can't get up real fast in the morning and after the alarm clock goes off he goes back to sleep so president Jardine told him to set one 5 min. early every morning and then another one on time so it wakes him up. Well as Jackie and Hayley know too well, when I wake up, I don't lollygag. I just get up. So I have been getting up five min. early every day for the past month. Which means I have been losing 35 min. of sleep a week and 140 min. which converts to 2 hours and 20 min. a month. But then I realized that that clock is 2 min. slower than every clock we have so I have actually been losing 7 min. a night, 49 min. a week and 196 min. a month which is three hours and 16 min. You can see how unhappy it makes me that I took the time to figure out the math. So in conclusion, I sleep a lot on p day to make up for his lack of effort in trying to get up on time. So that night we had a nice dinner and then taught a black guy. That’s a miracle in itself. There are only like 10 black people in the whole county I am serving in and that’s not an exaggeration. The real miracle is he came to church with his white member girlfriend. (They are in their 40's.) We stopped by her house just to say hi to her and he happened to be there. He said he wasn't interested but thanks us for the offer. Two days later some old guy called us and said the black guy told his girlfriend to have us come back and teach him. So we did! It went really good. He said he is more curious about what we believe but that’s all it takes for the spirit to touch his heart and then for him to get baptized. It was awesome. Tuesday was kind of a lame day. We didn't do much while the sun was out but the night time was good. We got to go over and teach Rudy and his family again. The lesson was really good. We taught them about tithing, which is usually a scary thing because it turns people off when they have to give someone their money but the great part was Rudy’s wife Dusty said she is a firm believer in donating a percent of her pay check to the Lord, she just hasn't had a church to give it to. So that was cool. Rudy has quit smoking and its going awesome. He asked us at the end of the lesson what it would take for them to join the church! That was the right question that we most definitely have an answer for. We told him he needed to be baptized and he said he'd think about some stuff and he'd talk to us more about it on Friday when we met again. It was funny that night because for a few weeks now they have all been calling me teddy bear which isn't the first time I’ve been called that. No one could give me an explanation of why they think that until Tuesday night when Rudy’s youngest son, Rudy Jr. said that it’s because I am so big but am short so I look like a bears body and also my face looks like I’m always grumpy but so happy at the same time. It made us all have a good laugh and everyone agreed with him on it.

Wednesday was an ok day. We mostly just drove around and visited people so Elder Bowman could say bye cuz he was getting transferred the next day. There is a really cool family named the Uhri's. We were there probably a little too long but it was a lot of fun just visiting with them. We really didn't do much on Wednesday.

Thursday was an amazing day! We had to wake up at 530 because we had to a take our truck in to get a liner in the bed so we can use it. Then we went over to the chapel that is next to the Sacramento temple and we had a mini zone conference and lunch. It was real good. This Tongan girl who was going home sang a solo and it rocked! Then after lunch we had a sermon on the temple by president Jardine. It was really good. Then we all went over and did a session in the temple. It was really fun being in there with all the missionaries. It was only a third of the mission though. President Jardine said it’s the best picture for a mission president to see all his missionaries dressed in white in the celestial room of the temple. He said that in itself was a white Christmas for him. Then we all took pictures and chilled for a little bit outside the temple. We barely got home in time for dinner with some expert driving by myself. Then we just saw a few people in our ward.

Friday was a swell day too. We had weekly planning in the morning. Then we had lunch and my companion is the district leader so he did transfer reports while I took another much needed nap... Then we went over to Karey's house to teach him. He was about to fall asleep because on Tuesday he got the tube out of his throat and usually people come down with a cold after getting it out. So he had been up all the night the previous night and had been to doctors all day and was ready for some sleep so we just prayed with them and then left. But it was awesome to see the tube out of there. They said the hole should heal up within a week so that’s awesome. We went tracting for a while after that. It was raining so it wasn't too fun. It has rained nonstop all week and will go on until next week. There are creeks that didn't have water in them a month ago that look like rivers we have gotten so much rain. They said we should be getting about 10 inches this week. It’s crazy. Luckily we have a truck to keep us dry and on the wet roads. I have had to slow down a bit for fear of death. Then we went and had dinner with President Lyman, a member of the stake presidency. It was a nice enjoyable time with them. They are a nice couple. Then we zoomed down to Rudy’s for another lesson with him. We talked about the Sermon on the Mount because that was something he was confused about after reading. He gets confused when he reads. So he is the miracle of the year. When Rudy was younger his friend got shot and was paralyzed. Rudy was mad and went and shot that guy and that guy is now a quadriplegic or however you spell it. He went to jail for 3 years for that. Well when I first got here we would talk to him about repentance and not doing the sin over again. Every time we brought it up he would just repeat over and over again that he would do it again in a heartbeat. He wouldn't even think twice about it. Well we have been working with him and we haven’t brought that up and on Friday we asked him about it and he said, "Knowing what I know now I would not even think about doing it again. I know where the guy is and I’m going to go talk to him and apologize for what I did and just talk to him about why I did it". Now is that now the biggest miracle in the world! He has changed and turned around completely 180 degrees. It was great to hear. He also said he was thinking about being baptized. So that night ended with an air of euphoria.

Our Saturday was super busy. We had breakfast with our ward mission leader in the Ione ward and his wife. It was super good. We talked to them about the work we had been doing in the area. Then we went and studied then had lunch. At one we went over to a family’s house and helped them move. It was a good move. We worked for 3 hours straight and man did it ware me out. Then we went home took a much needed shower after moving in the rain and then went out and visited people for a while. We had dinner with Dennis Anderson who is the Bradford’s good friend. What a small world. It was a delightful evening. Then we went and saw a couple of people and then went to see if Rudy was going to come to church. And they were so we went home.

Sundays are always a fine time on the mission. We had some meetings in the morning then went and saw Rudy. Usually him and his son Triston are the only ones that come but Rudy Jr. had bought some new Sunday clothes and wanted to come so that was awesome. We had an amazing sacrament meeting. There was a load of musical numbers. They had a couple solos and duets and then the 29 year old bishop gave an amazing talk on Jesus and how Christmas can't be celebrated with just his birth but with his suffering death and resurrection as well. It was really good. Classes were real good as well. We invited Rudy and Tristen to be baptized on the 31st and Tristen said yes and Rudy said he'd think about it and let us know on Tuesday. So that is real exciting. Then Rudy Jr. ran up to us after church and said he was coming to our church forever because he had so much fun. It was awesome. Sunday night was good. We saw a lot of people.

So Christmas calls. I should be calling around 11 California time so I don't know what time that is in Arizona. So yeah on Saturday sometime after eleven is the time. I'll probably just call the house phone in hopes someone will answer it and it won't die. If it dies I’ll just call moms cell phone. So yeah that’s how it will go down. The area code of the phone with be 209 so just a heads up for you to get excited when you see it. Well Merry Christmas!

Love,

Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

December 13th 2010

December 13^th 2010

Man it sounds like everyone is busy back at home. That is grand. This past week has been a way busy week. I am just exhausted. We have been blessed more than we can handle sometimes and it has been amazing.

So on Monday last week, after emailing and shopping, we came home and just sat there for a while. I put all my Christmas cards in envelopes and it was good. I ordered 115 cards but they only gave me 92 envelopes so I only sent out 91 cards. I kept one envelope just in case I have one more person I think needs one. It was fun though. I hope you all enjoy them and don't think I’m too much of a retard. I took a little nap and kind of chilled for a bit. We are a half hour away from any other missionaries so it gets kind of boring on Pday but it sure is nice to relax. We went bowling in the afternoon. I suck at it but it was still fun. It’s probably one of the only things in life that I’m ok losing in. Then we had dinner and saw a few people. I mailed my cards off at night at the post office because they wouldn't all fit in the apartment mail box.

Tuesday was a good day. We had to go to the mission office to get one of our side mirrors fixed. Before I got here Elder Bowman hit it against a pole and tape was the only thing keeping it on. So we had to drive a good hour to get there. We finally got it fixed and came home. We went and saw a lot of people and tracted a lot. Then at 5 we went to our investigator named Rudy’s house. He wasn't home. Him and his wife had taken off out of town for the day spur of the moment so we were bummed they weren't there but we were happy they were together because they have been having some problems lately. Then at like 6 we went to the church and met up with the Bishop, Ward mission leader and the Elders Quorum president and went out and delivered cookies to our investigators and less actives we had been working with. It was a good time. Then we had to drive down and meet the Zone leaders for exchanges. Elder Bair came with us. He is from Iowa and has never seen Music Man...

On Wednesday we went and saw a guy named Don and found out he is the uncle of Karey, the guy we have been working with who is injured. It was fun to hear some stories about them. Then we went and saw a less active lady who believes the government is hiding aliens and killing people and all this weird stuff. It was fun ha. We had lunch then tracted for a while. We went and saw a few people up the hill where just a few weeks ago was under 2 feet of snow. Now you wouldn't even know it snowed. Oh yeah, It has been raining like crazy mom. I think we have gotten over 10 inches since I’ve been here. We had dinner later with some old people and it was a good time conversing with them. Later that night we had a lesson with a guy named Kyle. It went really well. We will be seeing him again tomorrow. Then we went over and had a lesson with Rudy and his family. It was just Rudy and his wife, Dusty, but it was possibly one of the more spiritual lessons I’ve been in. They were both crying and it was really good. Not them crying but the lesson. Me, Elder Brantley and Elder Bair all realized how true the church is. I don't know of very many people that could give marriage counseling like that at the age of 19 or 20. It was completely led by the spirit. It was amazing. It was too late to switch back up from exchanges so Elder Bair spent the night again.

Thursday morning we had a good district meeting. Afterwards we went out to lunch and Elder Buttars challenged me to eat 12 tacos. I did but it was hard and I felt sick the rest of the day. The zone leaders asked me to not accept his challenges because he is over 300 lbs. and is gaining weight. So that was a bummer. We went and switched up with the zone leaders to get Elder Bowman back and upon returning home we received a phone call from one of the assistants to the president. He told us to meet him in Lodi so he could give us our brand new 2011 Chevy Colorado! It was awesome! We met them down there and got the truck. I was super excited to be driving a truck. It is really nice. Kind of small but I don't know what else I’d expect for a mission vehicle. We had snow in our area and a lot of dirt and mud so they gave us something that had 4 wheel drive. I like it a lot. I think my companions are jealous they don't get to drive it. They always ask if I’m too tired or sick to drive and I just laugh and say nope. When we got it, it only had 51 miles on it. They drove it from the lot to us and now I have put over 300 miles on it. It’s a great vehicle. I hope I don't break it. So that was super exciting. Later that night we went out with one of the Ward Missionaries in the Ione ward and it was fun. He is a cool guy. He has really bad back problems and they put him on new medicine so he took it before we left and he got pretty loopy. We aren't supposed to drive anyone in our car but we couldn't let him drive, he was too loopy. It reminded me of Jeff a little how he gets all tired and says funny things. It was funny.

Friday was a good day. We had our planning in the morning and then took off for a lesson with our investigator Tarra. It was really good. We took it slow and she soaked it all in. She wants to be baptized more than we want to baptize her but we are taking it slow. We went and saw a lot of people and then went tracting. It was fun. Then we had a lesson with the Peters. We found out the husbands name is Anthony. His wife wasn't there but a family friend who is like 18 was there and she sat in on the lesson. It was good. We taught him the plan of salvation. At the lesson before he told us he was only doing this for academic reason so he could know what we believe but at the end of this last lesson he told us that what we taught was different than anyone else’s teachings but that most of it he had come up with on his own with his own logic. It was cool. He said he doesn't think he will convert but it seems more possible than before. It was crazy. The spirit totally worked on him to get him to change. I think as we keep meeting with him he will come around. The spirit does some great things. After that we went to the Jackson ward Christmas Party. It was a fun evening. The food was ok and the program was kind of weird but when Santa came it was a real fun time. Rudy and his family came and we sat with them. Rudy has a son named Rudy Jr, and he is eight but is as tall as Porter. He is a big boy. He still believes in Santa and he was going crazy. He had a ball with all the little kids and with Santa. He was so happy. He and Elder Bowman really connect so that was good too. Too bad he is leaving this Thursday to go to another area. Elder Brantley surprisingly connects with the dad and I connect a lot with the kids and the mom. It was a lot of fun. We all sat on Santa’s lap and the guy playing Santa is hilarious. I got some good pictures. Even Rudy sat on his lap! It was amazing to see a guy who, just a few years ago was into gangs and stuff and was in jail, sitting there now and singing Christmas carols and sitting on Santa’s lap. He has changed a lot.

On Saturday we met with our ward mission leader in Ione. It was good. Then we studied at the church down there. At 11 we went to a funeral. A guy in our ward wanted us to be a part of the service. I had to say the opening prayer and Elder Bowman dedicated the grave. I bet not too many people have to do that on their missions. It was good. Then we had lunch. After lunch we went to see Karey. Brother Gonzales came with us. It was a good lesson. We finished up the Plan of Salvation. Bro Gonzales really related to him about his injuries cuz he himself was injured and was told he would never walk again and now he is walking just fine. It was really good. Then we went over to Rudy’s house to talk to them about church. He told us some really funny stories. Then we went to the Ione ward Christmas Party. It wasn't as fun as the Jackson one and I had the biggest head ache ever. I thought I was going to pass out or throw up from the pain. And I had taken medicine for it. The food was better though. We sat with old people and they just about talked our ears off. It was fun though. Then we went home and I passed out on the couch at like 9 and woke up at 2 and went to my bed.

Sunday was a random day. We had church. No investigators came so that was lame. Rudy was out looking for a job. We got a real Christmas tree from brother Roberts, the ward mission leader in Ione. We didn't have room for it so we hauled it in our truck all day looking for someone who needed it. We finally gave up at like 7 and took it over to Rudy’s house and gave it to him. He said on Christmas we can come over and he will have a huge bon fire for us with the tree. They have a big back yard. We talked to them about the scriptures a bit then went and saw a few more people then went home. The fog has been sooo bad in our area the past few nights. It’s hard to drive. Sometimes I just go over a hill with faith that a cliff won't be on the other side, and that’s hard because we drive on dirt roads a lot with cliffs. But we are always safe. Sometimes I can't even see the cars ahead of me. It’s fun though. A thrill. Well that might be all I have to say. We were busy this week so I am pooped. I can promise I will take a nice nap today. Well I hope all is well with things at home. I love you.

Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett.

P.S. - Assuming you are going to send me a Christmas package, if you are putting anything perishable in it write on the box, forward immediately or they will hold it till Christmas, if you want them to hold till then, don't put perishable food items in it. :) Just a heads up.

December 6th 2010

December 6th 2010
This week has been just grand. Monday was a great day. We didn't go anywhere because we only had about 50 miles left for the month so we had to save up. We just sat in the apartment all day. I ordered my Christmas cards and picked them up from Wal-Mart, another good thing about Wal-Mart. I think they turned out very good. I was kind of sad about spending so much but what did I expect making a 115 of them. But they included the envelopes with the pictures so in the end I might have saved money on them. I probably could have saved even more if I did them where I print them out myself right there but the machine was broken so I had to have them do it. I think they did it on purpose so everyone would spend more money. I took forever making them though. I looked back when I was finished and there was like 4 people in line behind me to use the machine. So you should be expecting a Christmas card this week. I didn't make enough to send them to everyone and I don't have the addresses of some older people that are family friends (Scott, Juice, ect...) so when you get mine you can just copy it on the computer and give one to anyone who wants one. So I have all the labels on the envelopes now and so today I just have to put the pictures in and then stamp em and send em off.

Tuesday was a pretty good day. We saw a few people and tracted a bit. We found a nice lady who invited us to come back on Friday so it was a successful tracting time. It’s more productive to tract up here than it is in the city which is weird because everything is so spread out up here. But it is good. We went and saw a couple of cool people and it was a nice day.

Wednesday was an awesome day! We went out in the morning and saw a lot of people. We had planned on doing service but the guy wasn't working that day so we had to fill in about three hours of time but it worked out pretty good. We saw some people that we really needed to see. Then we tracted some more. We didn't find anyone but we had some good conversations with people and I feel it was productive. Then we came home at about 5:30 so I could change into my suit and my ride could pick me up and take me down to Elk Grove because Abigail, a nine year old girl, was getting baptized and I taught her and set the date for her to get baptized so I got to come back and see that. It was awesome. Her dad baptized her which was a big surprise because he didn't want her to get baptized before. But he cleaned up just in time for it. Her Mom got baptized a little bit ago and I had met with her a bunch too, and she was making a scarf before I left for me and then when I came back she gave it to me. It was real nice and I like it a lot. It was nice of her. I got to see a lot of the members in the ward and it was real nice. I talked to the bishop for a good while and we have become pretty good friends. That’s the best part of missionary work is getting to know so many awesome people. Then I came home and ate cuz I hadn't had dinner.

Thursday was a day. We had district meeting in the morning with the other district that is up in the Hills as well and they cover a whole other county. Elder Buttars, who I was in the MTC with, is up there and we get to see each other a lot. It’s fantastic! After district meeting we went to subway. Elder Buttars challenged me to see who can eat 2 foot long subs the fastest. He won. But I did finish them. He went back for a third sub... (He’s over 300 lbs.) and I went back and got a personal pizza. It was delicious. I have had a stomach ache since ha. Then we went and visited Karey. This time was amazing! His speech has improved ten times more and he is starting to get his personality back. He is beginning to re-learn how to use the muscles in his face again and when we were visiting with him we saw him smile and laugh for the first time since his accident 6 months ago! It was amazing. I seriously almost cried. It was one of the most beautiful things to see. He has been through so much but he keeps on going. He told us he feels the spirit a lot and we helped him understand what to use prayer for. He is very self reliant and feels bad to ask God for anything. He is scared of what is going to happen with the world, because he thinks it’s going down fast and the worst part for him is he feels like he can't do anything to make it better right now. But once he is better he will be the greatest man ever. So that was awesome.

On Friday we had our weekly planning. That went well. We saw a few people all day then tracted in the afternoon. We went back and saw Tia, the lady we found tracting that said we could come back, and it was awesome. Their last name is Peters and I can't remember her husband’s name but he is awesome too. We taught them the restoration because he had questions about the book of Mormon. He said he would read it. The lesson went really well. They are a really nice young family. Then we went and saw Rudy and his family. It was a nice time to sit and talk with them. We taught them the 10 commandments and it was a lot of fun. We talked to Rudy by himself afterwards for about an hour and he is going through some tough times. Satan is working full force on their family so it’s been a struggle for him to keep all the commitments we have been giving them. But we talked to him about the adversary and he seems up to take the challenge and fight it out. They are real nice.

On Saturday, we just saw a lot of random less actives and people we’re working with. It was a slow day but was good. We had a fun dinner with the Ward family (last name not the area) and it was good. We went and saw a few nice people after dinner then went to visit Rudy and his kids to see if they would be at church. We stayed longer than we thought we would but it was a lot of fun. They are a fun family and it’s a lot of fun just to joke around with them.

Yesterday was a long day. We had church which was great. Rudy and his son Tristen came and they really enjoyed it. An investigator named Tarra came as well and we had a good lesson with her after church. She talks a whole bunch and we now know her whole life history. We had dinner with Brother Roberts, our ward mission leader in Ione, and it was real good. His family is super nice and it was a real fun time enjoying the meal with them. We told some jokes after supper and I told dads joke about the Jewish, Catholic, and Mormon couples dying and going to heaven. Ask dad if you don't know it. They thought it was real funny. Then we finished the day off with seeing a lot of random people in the wards. It was a long day but it was good.

So that brings my week to a close. I plan on sending pictures home soon, I'm just trying to figure out best how to do so. People steal the cards out of the envelopes if it’s not secure enough so I have to tape in nice and sturdy so it can't be taken. My companions aren't bad. It’s fun most of the time. Elder Bowman is quiet but he has a good sense of humor. It’s weird being in the Christmas season not being at home. It’s nice being on a mission though. Everything is so much more Christ centered and it’s great. Well I got to go. Love you all.

Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

November 29th 2010

November 29th 2010
Wow Mother it sounds like you all had a great shopping day on black Friday. I wish I could have been there to enjoy in the sitting in long lines and fighting off people and stabbing legs. I can't believe you would resort to that. Just kidding. That didn't happen. But I imagined it did. I do remember that Chandler kid. I think. He was a cool kid.

So Thanksgiving was a blast. We went shopping in the morning after emailing. It was so nice going to Wal-Mart again. Oh how I have missed it. We got some needed food but were mindful of the short weekend till today so we didn't get too much. I forgot to make my Christmas cards but I will remember today. I can make them right there and print them out myself so that is exciting. After shopping we went over to our ward mission leader’s house he had invited us over but his wife wouldn't feed us. She said if she had invited us over for dinner and we showed up after just eating somewhere else an hour before she would be pissed and they would have been the somewhere else so we ended up just hanging out there for about an hour with Brother Roberts (the ward mission leader). He took us on a tour of his back yard and it was amazing. Talk about the Garden of Eden. It went down on a slope with a few ledges to sit and stuff all the way down to a creek. It was really cool. It had a lot of trees and bushes but most of the flowers had frozen and died so I guess it wasn't as pretty as normal, but I thought it was still amazing. Then we just talked for a while. After their house we went over to the Hansen’s at two for dinner. I was nervous because I thought I would be hungry later but I did stuff myself enough that surprisingly I didn't eat till the next morning. We had a wonderful traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I usually don't like turkey but it was really good. They had a lot of stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy. It was great. There were a lot of people there though. It was their whole family. So about five kids and each kid had about 5 of their own so it was a good sized shin dig. Brother Hansen made some really good pomegranate grape 7-up punch. He grew the pomegranates and the grapes himself. Everyone in northern California has a garden. I will plant one when I get home. It was delicious punch though and he gave us some grape juice to take home and a bag full of home grown kiwis. It was a delightful afternoon. We left their about five and went over and saw Karey. It was a good time with him. His speech has improved sooo much but they told him that he wouldn't be getting his feeding tube in his stomach or the tube in his throat out until at least Jan. 20. So he was super bummed but we talked a lot about his past work experience. He actually started out as a plumber but is now a General Contractor. Well not anymore but he was. He has a full shop with every tool imaginable out back and he has a full work out gym. Even with his accident he is still working out. It’s amazing. He can still rep 225 in bench and he said his max is about 350. It’s a miracle he is using his arms let alone lifting that much. After Karey's house we decided to go visit one of the bishops in our area and thank him for all that he does with us. He was super nice and invited us in for a bit. We ended up playing pool with him his son and his wife from 6 to just before 9. It was a lot of fun. I took President Jardine's challenge and was totally myself. They probably think I’m the weirdest kid in the world but good thing I’m the good kind of weird. If there is one... It really was an enjoyable evening. Then Friday we just went out and saw a bunch of people. Not much went on. We have been stressing tracting lately which usually isn't too effective but we seek inspiration for where exactly God wants us to go and we have seen soo many miracles from it. We found a guy Friday night who let us in cuz it was cold. He wants us to come back because he thinks his wife would love us coming over. They are old. It was awesome.

On Saturday we had an interesting day. Instead of studying right away we went over to Brother Roberts’s house and discussed the work we had been doing the past couple of days. He is a great guy and it was a good time speaking about the missionary work in his ward. After that we went to the church to check out the wards missionary supplies and they were all way out dated. Like things from the 80s. It was funny. I got a packet of the discussions and I have gone through them a little bit. They are so different than how we teach now. Then we went and made our progress record that we email to the bishops and ward mission leaders and ward missionaries in our area. Then we finally came home at 11 to study. After lunch we went to see a few people that live in upcountry. We also wanted to see more snow. They had sooo much snow up there! Like 2 feet everywhere except on the roads. And it’s a good thing because we drive a corolla. But it’s nice. President wanted me to start driving so I could get to know the area better. So since Friday I have been driving. It was fun driving in the snow but it sucks driving in the rain at night on windey country roads. But it is a thrill. It’s a lot more fun with me driving anyways. I'm sure Ellie, Hayley, Braden, and Porter all know what I'm talking about. I get places on time and with a thrill. I don't speed but I know how to drive. So that was fun up there. We went to a member’s house to visit them at 7 and we were going to go home at 8 for dinner but they were just sitting down to dinner and they wanted us to stay. They have a big family of 7 kids so the mom is used to cooking for a lot of people but most of them are gone and married so she had cooked the normal amount but not enough people so it was perfect we showed up. We had roast and stuff like that. It was awesome. They were super funny and cool so it was a great night. When we got home Elder Bowmon threw up and was up till 2:30 throwing up so he most certainly was sick! I slept good though. He came with us to church but then we left him with an old guy to rest while we went out and worked. After tracting we went and visited a crazy old lady. Then we had dinner with the other bishop in our area. It was a fantastic time. They made sweet pork burros from Cafe Rio so that was good. The bishop is only 29! He is super young and cool but mature and understands the importance of his calling. We talked a lot about our families and how they are probably going to be crazy parents at their kids sporting events. I told them about dad getting kicked out of my Junior High football game. They got a kick out of that. I also told them about his fuzzy pink shorts he used to wear and how he dances real good all the time. They both said they want to drive down there just to meet him. It was real funny. Later that night elder bowman called the mission nurse and she said it was probably a bug that will go through our whole apartment so you can guess what I’m buying today when we go shopping. Lysol! So I can kill the poop germs.

I really like the work up here in the hills. All the members are super cool and nice. It’s a lot of fun being up here. I love being a missionary. It’s a one of a kind experience you can't get anywhere else. It’s always a lot of fun even when things are tough and people are being rude and things just aren't going your way. It is definitely true that we will not be tempted above that which we are able to handle and that the Lord provides a way for everything. If we keep that in our minds and have faith we will never fail. I miss everyone so much. I love you all. Until next week,

Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

Oh yeah and I did get the package like a week and a half ago. Thanks so much it is great. We have been scarffing the delicious goodies all day every day.

Elder Arnett's First Mission Thanksgiving

November 25th 2010
Man I could have sworn his name was Pete. Oh well. It sounds like today is going to be a lot of fun. I'm sad I am missing out on all the fun things that are going on. I truly wish I could go to the movies with you all... I miss movies. Every time there is a TV on in the house I am just glued to it until I realize that’s bad. But today should be fun. We have a couple of fun things going on so it should be a fine and dandy day. So I was completely wrong on where I was going to be transferred to. I am in the Jackson and Ione wards. Our area covers all of Amador County. The biggest town is Jackson but it doesn't have very many people in it. Then Ione is an ok size, but the rest of the towns have smaller populations than Mountain View. So it’s been fun getting used to the slowed down small town life style. On a side note, I'm having trouble typing right now because of the shivering from the cold. It has been in the forties all week and sometimes even drops down to the 30's at night. I think the highest it’s gotten since I have been here is like 52. So it’s been cold. We live in a small town called Sutter Creek, where I believe Sutter's Mill is and that’s where the California gold rush started! So it’s a fun place to be. We live in some pretty nice apartments but they are undergoing a lot on renovations because when they originally built them they paid of the inspector so nothing was up to code but now they got caught so they have to fix everything. A couple of weeks ago my companions had to stay in a hotel for 10 days so they could do something. We live on the third floor but its not bad walking up every day. The address is 1 Pine Woods Ln, I don't know the zip code but it is in Sutter Creek, CA. So when you picture California you definitely do not picture Amador County. There are cows everywhere. Oh and I was totally wrong with the Hills thing. So being from Arizona there really aren't hills. Its desert, city, or mountains. But out here there really are hills. It’s really pretty. And from parts of our area we can look out over pretty much the whole mission and can even see the sky scrapers in Sacramento. It’s real neat. The people up here are awesome. All the members are super nice. It’s a lot of fun being up here. It’s tough though cuz your completely isolated from the rest of the mission so you don't know what’s going on with things and it’s real easy to be disobedient, but President Jardine said he put me here because he knows I'm obedient so that was awesome to hear from him. He also said he put me here because work with the members is very important and you have to get to know them good and gain their trust so they want to work with you and he thinks that I am a people person and people like me anyways so that was also a nice thing to hear as well. I try to get people to like me so I guess its working. We had interviews yesterday and he told me to pray for help in getting to know the members because at the end of the transfer he wants to transfer one of my companions out, who has been here for 6 months, and make me a senior companion so I have to know what’s going down and stuff. So I am going to work hard to not disappoint him.

So my two companions... ones name is Elder Bowmon from upstate New York, we get a long pretty good. My other companion is Elder Brantley from North Carolina.

So it’s been a fun week. We are working with a lot of really cool people. We have a family who is working towards baptism and a couple of other people who are really nice and have a strong desire. It’s been sort of hard because being so close to thanksgiving everyone is extremely busy and they all have family in town but we have found things to do and people to see to keep working diligently.

Today we have a real exciting day. It’s an all day P-day because honestly who wants someone knocking on their door at six at night on Thanksgiving. I most certainly do not. So we get the whole night off as well. Today we have two families we’re eating with. One of them we will eat at one and the other we will go over and eat at two. So that will be fun and fattening. We will probably see a few members and just hang out with them with hopes of hitting maybe a third dinner. Our mission president limits us to only three dinners on Thanksgiving. Now you may be thinking, "how in the world could someone eat that much?!" but you have to understand that we have a lot of Polynesians in our mission and your always hungry as a missionary. So that will be a lot of fun. We also get to go shopping. We do have a Wal-mart in our area so that will be amazing because I love Wal-mart. So we will shop as well. Also today we have plans to go see a special investigator today. So normally we wouldn't go out and see people in the middle of p day but this guy is different. He is forty five and lives at home with his mom... and I will tell you why. About five months ago he fell off of a two story scaffolding and landed on his head. He broke his neck and back and it’s a miracle that he's even alive. The bigger miracle is that he is not paralyzed. He took a lot of brain damage so he has had to re-learn how to walk and use his hands and stuff. He has a tube in his throat still making it so he can breathe and he is eating through a feeding tube in his stomach but he can sit up and move around and stuff so he has progressed amazingly. Now he is just working on getting his double vision fixed and also learning how to swallow again. That’s been the toughest part for him. His mom is a member and she is taking care of him and he has recently shown interest in the church so we go over and teach him. He is all there inside his head but he is still trying to re-learn how to speak and since the tube is in his throat and he doesn't know how to use his vocal chords he has to breathe out real hard and make shapes with his mouth to form words and sounds so it’s been sort of hard to communicate but it’s been an amazing blessing to meet him. He has strengthened my testimony so much. Well since he has the tube in his throat he can get sick from people real easy so his mom will not allow anyone to come over but doctors and us. And she won't leave him so she isn't going anywhere. And since he can't eat she doesn't want to cook a bunch of food so we are going to go over today with a nice get well card and we will probably watch a church movie. So all three of us are excited for that today.

So we have a nice full busy Thanksgiving day. It will be a lot of fun. I'm real sad I can't play football. I mean we are allowed to but we don't know of any games going on and we got so much going on we don't have time to go play. We haven't got any snow where we are at but in parts of our area people are snowed in. Half the ward missed church because of the snow. We drove up and saw a little while trying to get in contact with a Less Active, but we dared not to go any farther because we haven't got chains yet from the Car Coordinator. That was the Adams job but now a new guy is over it so things go a little slower. But we do need them because we have people we’re working with up in the north snowy parts. My bike just sits in our apartment. Once they finish the work on our apartment I'll put it out on the balcony. I learned how to solve a rubics cube last night and this morning. It makes sense.

I failed at life and didn't write in my journal the whole month of October but I have been getting better this past week and am setting goals to be better at it. The Book of Mormon is awesome! I just finished it my second time since being out and I’m transforming my normal blue copy into an awesome master copy with marking it up and writing notes in it and stuff. It’s just grand. So that was fun. I took my picture last night for my Christmas Cards so I will be making those today and will send them out hopefully soon. Well I think I have written a substantial amount so I think I will bring this thing to a close. We do get P-day on Monday so it won't be too long till next time. I hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving and I'm thankful for all that you have done for me. I am thankful for Jesus too.

Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

November 16th 2010 Transfer Day

November 16th 2010
That was an amazing email. I don't think I’ve felt the spirit so much reading an email as I did this time while reading what everyone wrote about Stamatia's funeral. All the elder's probably think there is something wrong with me cuz I couldn't help but cry when reading them. It is such a sad thing to lose someone in a fight like cancer but how comforting is it to know where they are, who they are with, what they are doing, and also that we know, as members of this wonderful true church, that Brian and his kids will be with her again someday and that the time for that is not too far off... I think a lot about our family while I'm out here. Not just my brothers and sisters, but all of our aunts and uncles and cousins. I miss everyone so much. I felt a lot like Jill and Noah being so far away from home and from the family but reading things like this helps me remember the feelings I had when I was home. I am a fourth of the way done and before we know it I will be back with our family once again. I'm sad I won't be able to make it to the family reunion this year but just like Nehemiah (I can't spell) I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. I hope it is great fun for everybody.

So now after the sad crying stuff. Here is my past week. I am sorry to say that I probably won't be keeping my promise in having the most amazing email this week. I had a couple of emails to read and so my time is short today and I can't remember anything.

So last week we met with a recent convert and her kids. One of her daughters is 8 and so we have been talking to her a lot about baptism lately. She had told us about three weeks ago she wanted to wait till she was 12 but then on Monday she said she was feeling, after praying about it, that she should be baptized sometime in December so we told her to continue praying to know when in December she wanted to be baptize. Well we had dinner with them on Thursday and after dinner we talked about her baptism and she said she felt like she should be baptized on her birthday, December 1st. Her ninth birthday so that will be a convert baptism. Now the only problem we have now is her dad. He is a member but not active and he almost didn't let the kids go to his ex wife’s, their moms, baptism. But he did. Well we met with them again last night and she had asked him for permission to be baptized on her birthday and he is going to let her! So she will be baptized on December 1st! That was super super exciting to here.

All week long we worked real hard to find more people to teach. Well we didn't find anyone but we did meet a lot of good people. We had a couple of appointments that fell through so that was a bummer but on Sunday we had an investigator come to church so that was awesome and we have a lesson scheduled for her tomorrow night and Elder Cannon will be giving her date in December to be baptized. So that will be awesome. She has a sister in another ward that we feel should be baptized as well and we feel she is ready. So there are going to be a lot of baptisms in this area this next transfer.

Now the sad news. I won't be here to be getting them ready for their baptisms. I am being transferred from my area. Which also means I will not be having dinner with the Asregadoos. It’s really sad because they are such an awesome nice, missionary minded family. They also have two ukuleles and I was planning on playing them all day on thanksgiving but now I won't be able to. Elder Cannon is staying and will be training, good luck for the new guy. I am going to be going to the Mountains. They call them the hills because it’s not very big mountains but my new area will be the Jackson and Ione Wards which I believe cover most of Jackson County. It’s in the Lodi stake and my area will be huge! So I will be in a car so that’s exciting that I won't freeze my butt off this winter. My new companions (I will be in a threesome) will be Elder Brantley and Elder Bowman. It will be cool. But I hear they are very different missionaries. Man my mission president must be trying to build the Christlike attribute Patience in me. I just have faith that he is inspired and knows what is best for me and the mission. So that will be fun. My new area isn't too high in elevation but a little part of it will get snow... Not too excited about that part but I am excited to be in the Hills. So that is what is going on now. I don't know if I have too much more to report on. Yesterday we were riding our bikes and I was thinking of random stories in my head. (That’s how my weird head works, when I'm not thinking about something, stories form in my head and they play like movies) Well this one story was developing a lot! It was crazy and it was a good story too, so I stopped immediately and told my companion the ideas for it and he thought they were really good so I got out my planner and in the back I wrote down all the main points and last night I wrote in a notebook the whole basic outline for the story. I presume by the time I'm home I could be working on writing it and then when I take my writing classes I’ll perfect it then I’ll get it published and it will be a good book. Then I plan on writing another real good book after that, then the plan is to write an amazing book which will make me a lot of money then become a publisher where I will make the big bucks for the rest of my life by publishing the biggest and best writers. Man I have my future all figured out.
All because my mind thinks of random crap while I am not conscious to the world.

Well I guess that last part was a little weird but I felt like sharing it with all of you. Oh I almost forgot! Grandpa Pete and Sister Adams are going home this Thursday! It is super sad. Sister Adams gave me a big hug and then Elder Adams (Grandpa Pete) came up and said "I'm going to be seeing a granddaughter of mine soon, what do you want me to give her" So I gave him a real big hug and told him to give Alex a big hug for me and he said "I'll give her a hug but it won't be for you. It will be for me!" I told him to give her two hugs and one can be from me and he said "Both will be from me!" It was real funny. We took a picture on his camera cuz he said he needed proof he actually knew me. It was a good time. I will miss them but I'm sure I will see them again soon.

Good news about Coach Joe. Finally he's out of there. Hopefully they can find someone good to take his place. I have been working on my Coach Joe ugly face so I’ll take a picture and we'll see what ya'll think. Well I think I am just about out of time for now. I will have more to talk about a week from Thursday on thanksgiving. We won't have pday next week on Monday but it will be on Thursday which is thanksgiving.

Well I love you all.

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

It makes his mother really sad that he doesn’t get to have Thanksgiving dinner with the Asregadoo’s. I hope someone in his new area will be just as kind.

November 8th 2010

November 8th2010

This week was a good week. Not a lot went on but I can tell that good things are going to come from the things we did this week.

So first off I just love the ward I am serving in. Its freaking awesome. The members are super super nice and they love it when we come over and visit them. I gained like 5 lbs. this week because people would invite me into their homes and make me eat a treat like pumpkin pie and we went out to fast food a lot this week. No more of that. But I Fasted for a long time yesterday because we didn't get back to our apartment till eight and we didn't have time for a member to feed us so I lost the five lbs. And today I ran a whole bunch in playing basketball. But I hurt someone. He jumped up and I ran under him and he fell and hit his head but he’s ok. Its Elder Roberts. I live with him. He's cool. We are good friends.

So I think I mentioned last week the goal the mission is having of a "White Christmas". Well to assist us in our goal President Jardine has asked us to let the members know the goal and to ask if they would fast and pray to know who they could invite to church or refer us to. So this week we saw a lot of the active members in our ward. It was fantastic. They were all welcoming to us and invited us in. It was a great week all week. The weather was amazing. It got to 90 like once but was in the eighties most of the time. I don't know about rain though mom...? It did rain yesterday though. I wasn't too excited about. But we were inside most of the day so that made it better. By the time we were out of church and on our blitz it had already stopped raining, so I was happy. I'm not too much of a rain person. So we talked with a lot of members and it was cool to see the spirit working with them and helping them know who they could help bring the gospel to. So that was cool.

So normally the rule for Christmas music is you can't play it until after thanksgiving. Well since being on the mission I have realized that time is an illusion man has created to feel like he has some sort of control of something, but just like everything else in this world he has lost track of that too. So last week we threw that rule out the window and started listening to Christmas music. Also I thought I was going to die if I didn't listen to my future wife's sweet voice soon. (Taylor Swift for those who don't know of my secret engagement) So that has been great putting us in the holiday spirit. Also we bought a couple of Christmas scented candles and we plan by candle light every night now.

Our mission President told us that he is going to be keeping us in our areas another transfer if at all possible because he wants us to see the fruits of our labors for the white Christmas. I am torn between the news of this. I really really like this ward and we are working with some great people right now who could be baptized in December but I can't stand my companion. It will take a lot of prayer for patience to not to hit him in the face if we stay together next transfer. And the worst part about it is he doesn't even have orange juice! So we will see how that all goes. If Elder Roberts stays and he gets a way cool companion then I think I will live.

I'm grabbing at air now. I honestly can't think of what to write. We are working with a couple of great people and things are going good. We are working hard and praying a lot for miracles in our area so we can help the mission reach the goal and get a baptism in our ward. Our goal is to have two in December and we, along with the ward council, think that that is definitely an obtainable goal. I'm sorry this email is so short. My mind seems to be fried at the moment. To make up for the lame email this week I will take notes during the upcoming week and make sure I have lots of details in the email to come. Hope all is well with the Families. It was sad to hear about Stamatia but the things I have come to know true and the more I have understood about the plan of salvation makes me rejoice because I know all will be well with it. My prayers are with Brian and his family. I love you all.

Love,
Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

What a GREAT KID Elder Arnett is! Can you tell this boy's mama LOVES him!

November 1st 2010
Wow. What a week. This week was a great week to be in Elk Grove, California. It was supposed to rain like every day during the week but it didn't! I must be doing something right because the weather has been fantastic since I’ve been out on my mission. It sprinkled a little bit on I think it was Friday night but that’s it. The forecast told us everyday "showers" but it never came. It seemed like there was always a patch of sky right over us everywhere we go. It’s like the children of Israel being led by God. We were certainly blessed and we hear it should not be too bad this week. I guess we will just have to see. We have been eating a lot of candy in our apartment lately. Everyone, but me..., got a Halloween package from their families so we have been eating lots of candy. It’s good. (Oh sorry his mom messed up! And she feels really bad about it!)

So this week was pretty good. On Monday we just saw a bunch of people at night. Every Monday we teach a recent convert and her kids. They are 8, 6, and 3 I think. So we can't teach them too much that they will understand so we borrow the animated Book of Mormon movies from someone in our ward and we get to watch those. This last week we watched Helaman's Stripling Warriors. It was awesome! It is such an amazing story. All 2,000 of them live. After we watch the video we ask them questions about it and kind of teach them about what went on. It’s always amazing to see how much they really do pay attention. Watching the video made me so happy that like each of the stripling warriors I had a mom that taught me what was right just as well. And to add to that I had an amazing dad too! Man I am blessed. (Oh what a great kid he is!!!)

On Tuesday I shoveled dirt...

It wasn't so bad. One of the Elder's in our apartment had a training meeting to go to so his companion came with us. We spent the morning seeing random people that said we could come back but that we have never taught before. Then at one my companion had a doctor’s appointment. He thought he had cancer cuz he was going poop a lot. I told him he was probably going to die which wasn't too nice because his dad died when he was 7 from colon cancer. So he went with a member to the doctor while me and Elder Roberts went to Erich's house to do some service. I used to teach Erich when I was over both wards but now I’m not over that ward anymore. It was nice to see him again and talk to him a bit. He is a really cool guy. When we got there he told us he needed help filling a hole and I imagined maybe a 3ftx3ft hole in the ground that would take us like 20 min. to fill in. He took us into his backyard where there was a fifty foot long trench that was like 4 feet deep and 2 feet wide and said "I need you to fill that in for me". I looked at my watch and said "Well we have dinner at 5:30 so we can work till then and then come back at 6:30 and finish" and he just laughed at me. He only wanted enough of it filled in so a tractor could drive over it and fill in the rest. So we started filling it in and it ended up taking us about 2 and a half hours which wasn't bad timing. I was a little tired but it was nice to be more physically tired than mentally and emotionally for once. That night I slept real good.

On Wednesday we had a great district meeting. We were trained by our district leader on how to begin teaching better and how to discern the person’s needs before starting to teach. It was really cool. I learned a whole lot. Then the rest of the day was kind of weird. We were at the church a lot of the day because we had a meeting with a less active member and his unbaptized daughter then later we had a ward correlation meeting with our ward mission leader, elder's quorum pres, high priest group leader and the relief society pres. We have them every Wednesday and it really was a fine meeting. Then we tracted for a while then had dinner then met a recent convert at the church to help her understand what she is reading in the Book of Mormon. She rocks. She’s almost done with 3 Nephi and she only got baptized in July! That was at the church because she lives with her parents and they are extremely anti.

Thursday was a tremendous day. We saw people all morning, had lunch to feed us physically, and then our zone was spiritually fed in a Zone Training meeting with President Jardine. It was a really delightful meeting. He taught a lot about honesty. It turns out he wrote a book a couple of years back and he gave us each a couple of printed pages from it. It was pretty cool and very inspirational. It made me want to be a more honest person in all that I do forever! Then the rest of the day was kind of weird because we weren't sure if it was going to rain or not but it didn't. We had some great tri-tip for dinner. Seems like everyone in Cali eats tri-tip. I don't know if we ate it back home and just called it something different but it is good.

Then came Friday... It was a good day. A couple of let downs but overall it was a good day. We had a lesson set up with our investigator Mark and so we called the Stake President, who is in our ward, and asked if he would like to accompany us that afternoon and he told us it would be his pleasure. So we rode over there with him and then Mark wasn't home. It was kind of a bummer and we haven’t got in contact with him yet but we will. The rest of the day was kind of weird. We saw a lot of people and we did a lot but it felt like we didn't do anything. It was cold all week but Friday was real cold. It was like 60 all day. It sprinkled a tiny bit that night but that wasn't bad cuz I stole Elder Robert's gloves. He asked me why I took em and I just said "Duh Harry, we're in the Rockies" and he laughed cuz that’s his favorite movie.

Saturday was a special day. We had an appointment with a Negro man named Mark who is old but said he wanted to know what Mormons believe so we went over there and he did most the talking but we did teach a bit and he said he'd read and pray about the Book of Mormon so that was nice. The rest of the day was kind of weird. We bought two pizza's for dinner on Sunday because for some stupid reason we told the lady in our ward who is in charge of our calendar not to put anyone on that day. We went and saw a lot of people but no one was really home all day. We tracted at night and it was dark and a lot of fun because the street was old. Everyone was watching the World Series. It looks like the Giants are going to take it this year which is good for us because everyone and their mom here are giant’s fans. They lost Saturday night but are currently leading the series 3-1. We find out a lot about sports out here. Which brings me to my next point. Why didn't anyone tell me Max Hall was the starting QB for the cardinals? That’s kind of big news. That’s awesome. I hear he isn't too bad either.

Sunday was good. We couldn't go out after four so we stayed in our apartment and listened to Christmas music till 7 then we got together with the zone and watched the Testaments. Boy do I enjoy watching that movie.

So this week I wore my black suit to church. It is a great suit but I realized that I don't have very many ties I can wear with it. I was thinking I need a nice maroon tie with some other color to wear with it, but I don't know where I could get one from? Maybe ya'll can help me out with that one. (I am quite sure that his dad is already working on that. For those that don’t know, almost every time I send a package, the dad has gone and picked out a beauty of a tie. I am sure that Elder Arnett is going to come home with the most ties ever!) Well it looks like my time is coming to end. I hope all is well at home. Let me know if there is anything specific you would like me to talk about in my emails.

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

October 25th 2010

October 25th 2010
Man, what are you trying to do to me mom? Make me homesick...? Mexican Food, and fried chicken with the white gravy?! Two things I miss most out here! There are seriously no good authentic Mexican food restaurants here. They have some fast food crap that is sort of authentic but it is like taking a step down from taco bell... so that is one thing that has been a bummer not being in Arizona. I miss Matta's and Filibertos. I just want good food. I'd even settle for some, man I can't remember that place. It’s by sonic and we went there after priesthood conference all the time. But I guess I can just wait 18 and a half more months. It’s not too bad. But I have heard of that Mexican backyard. Adam Krummenacher used to talk about it a lot at work. I hear its real good. You got me with all the talk about the fried chicken this week too. I sure do like fried chicken and the white gravy. It is delicious. The best part is eating the left over’s from the fridge.
I got a little homesick when you told me about making the Halloween decorations. I miss just talking to everyone. Whenever you guys would have a project going on on the table I wouldn't really help but I did like to sit there and talk. It was fun. That’s something I miss this transfer. Talking. Me and Elder Holyoak talked all the time! It was awesome. But now I don't want to talk to my companion so I just read Jesus the Christ or the Book of Mormon. Also I have a lot more time to write letters because I'm not spending every moment of p-day talking about random crap. But its good. I like it. It’s nice having four of us in our apartment because then there is always someone who I can just chill with.
So this week was a weird week. I can't really remember much of what went on in it but it was good I think. Monday after I emailed we went to this big park and played football. It was a lot of fun. We played the senior companions against the junior companions and we pounded them hard core. It was a lot of fun except for the first drive down the field I was running a route and I looked over my shoulder to catch the ball and kind of jumped and then the next thing I know I'm on my hands and knees with a bloody nose. It hurt but my nose isn't broken so that’s good. We were playing two hand touch but one Elder was super intense and he knocked over a couple of us. Then the rest of the day I just kind of hung out in our apartment. We did a little bit of cleaning. I took a fatty nap because I didn't drink enough water playing football. I wrote Andrew a letter and also sent the one I wrote Marianne the week before. For some reason it takes me a week from actually writing the letter to get it in an envelope and then to send it out. I don't know why. But that was good. Then we had a couple of appointments that night. On Tuesday Elder Roberts came out with me and Elder Cannon cuz his companion had a leadership meeting. That was a lot of fun. We biked 22 miles that day. It was a lot for how small my area is. Then on Wednesday we had a great district meeting. We learned on why it was important for our investigators to come to church. Then we went out and saw a bunch of people. We had a pretty cool thing happen as well on Thursday. So on Wednesday night we were planning for what we were going to be doing the next day and we had a couple of people we wanted to go see and I was looking through all of our former investigators and we saw this girl who was taught a year ago but would technically be YSA now because she’s 18 so we weren't sure if we should go see her or just pass her off to the Zone Leaders. Well on Thursday we ended up going to her house and she came to the door and was kind of laughing and we talked for a little while. She said she was meeting with our bishop that night because her best friend, who is at BYU, convinced her she should go as well. So she said she was planning on going to young woman’s and then was going to talk to the bishop to get an interview. So that was cool. She also said that she was laughing because when she heard someone knock on the door she thought to herself, wouldn't that be funny if it was the Mormon missionaries again? And guess what? It was! So it was super cool. We also found out that a couple of members had also contacted her at that time a little before we did and we just getting in contact with her to see how she was and if she was at all interested in the church anymore. So I definitely think the whole thing was inspired it was awesome. The Bishop said the meeting with her went great and so that was great. Thursday was kind of a boring day, during the day. We just went and saw a bunch of random people and tracted for a while. We had an appointment with our investigator JT at 8 so at 7 we decided to go see a potential who said we could come by sometime. Well we were expecting to just set something to when we could come over and teach him but he invited us in right there. We taught him our basic message about Jesus' church that he set up when he was on the earth and how it was lost then about Joseph Smith and how he was called to be a prophet and to bring that church back. We could tell he wasn't way interested but he was polite and answered our questions and listened. So as the lesson went on we introduced the Book of Mormon. We used the Introduction, which is freaking amazing for missionary work, and immediately in the first paragraph we could see a huge change in his interest level. He was intrigued by the statement our church makes that the native Americans are the lamenites in the Book of Mormon and he was kind of skeptical about that so we asked him what he thought he should do to know if it was true or not and he told us that he would read it and that should let him know whether or not it’s true. So we read the last two paragraphs with him and you could definitely see the wheels turning in his head. It was awesome. He committed to read and then pray about whether the Book of Mormon is true and then we set up a return appointment for this Friday so I'll let you know how that goes. So it was pretty cool to see a miracle happen when we were just expecting a normal event to take place.
Friday was a day and a half. Man. So we had weekly planning on Friday and we finished early so we rearranged our apartment. ( Last night I took a video of my apartment which I commentated, be excited) Then we went out and started seeing some people. Luckily we looked up the forecast before we left and discovered it was going to rain so I wore my rain coat out. It didn't start raining till like 3 but it still sucked. I hate the rain. I just tell myself that after this winter I will only have one more to put up with so it’s not so bad. I got wet cuz I didn't wear the rain pants I found in my apartment. It was gay. Then at 5 we went over to the church cuz they needed our help setting up chairs and tables for our ward Halloween party. It was good. My companion was mad because I wouldn’t switch name tags with him. I just wore some glasses that I popped the lenses out of, like the ones I wore back at home. It was a good party. They had a Chili cook off and we got to help judge. It was a close one between two chili’s. I should have got recipes for you mom. One had chunks of marinated steak in it and it was super super good. The other one was a white one. It had green chilies in it and chicken with some beans. It was soooo good. The steak one won though. So remember those peoples. Then they wanted our help in the haunted house. It was a lot of fun to scare all the little kids. I wore my big rain coat and talked like Satan.
On Saturday we had exchanges and it rained the whole freakin day. I was dead by the end of the day. The rain just drained me. Then yesterday we had stake conference. It was real good but I like ours back at home a lot better.

Well my time is about up. I hope you all receive some sort of enjoyment from reading this week’s letter.

Love,
Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

P.S.- I got your email last week mom. no letters in the mail though. I might need a new inhaler soon. They have me taking a steroid one morning and night but I still use the other one.

October 18th 2010

October 18th, 2010

So to start off I’ll tell you a story and then kind of explain my companion. Don't worry, they relate...
So last transfer we had interviews with our mission President and then training from him. It was really good. In my interview President Jardine (I'll call him PJ for the sake of I’m too lazy to write it out every time) PJ told me a lot of positive things that made me feel really good. Then he told me I need to take credit for the success I have and to accept that I’m a good missionary. That’s kind of hard for me because I don't want to be prideful but I think I get what he means. So let’s take this horizontal line to illustrate what he did with his hand vertically ------] he said this is where I'm at ---------] this is where I should be and -----------------------] this is what he expects of me. Yeah I almost freaked cuz I thought I was making good progress. He was thinking since elder Holyoak was so good I didn't want to mess things up so I would talk too much. And we got along so great it didn't make me really try and he believes I can get along with anyone. Ha he doesn't know about my rages. So he told me the next transfer he was going to make me stretch. I thought maybe he would have me teach more and stuff like that not make me stretch with a new companion. Well I was wrong. So this is my new companion Elder Cannon. Dad, maybe you can relate to this kind of person because I know for a fact that you've experienced exactly what I am now. He was in band. Not just band but marching band. Now I don't have a problem with marching band. I had a few good friends in band. He is the kind of band kid that thinks that people only go to the football games to watch the band at half time but come early so they have something they can do to get ready for it and stay so they aren't bored the rest of the night. Now we all know that this is just incorrect. Everybody loves to watch the football games. They come for football and go to the bathroom and poop while the band plays on the field. Maybe and this might be a stretch but maybe 25% of the people at the games come to watch just the band but then probably 10% of those actually like to watch the game as well so they have duel motives. Anyways. I don't get along with people like that very well. Also he is extremely nosey. If I say anything to anyone and he can't exactly hear it then he says “wait what did you say” and if I say “oh nothing” he is like “well it didn't sound like nothing.” And gets all butt hurt. But if he says something and people think it’s funny and I ask what it was he just says “don't worry about it, it doesn't matter to you.” And so I just let it go. Cuz that’s what kind of person I am. He also criticizes me a lot and he doesn't make sense when he talks. So I now know what PJ was talking about when he told me he was going to make me stretch. I have taught more and talked to more people than I have my whole mission this week because, even I get confused when he teaches the lessons. But he does have a really strong testimony and he is sincere when bearing it so that it is really awesome in lessons and he always testifies that what I taught was true so it’s like two witnesses all the time. So I am stretching. But I’m not tearing. So I think it is helping me out a lot.

That was a lot of negative things about my Companion but I just want you to know that I do love him. We get along some of the time and I have only freaked once so it’s all good. He is a good missionary and we do great together in lessons.

So this week was good. We had two lessons with our investigator JT and then one with Nici. On Monday we finished up the plan of salvation with JT and then on Thursday we just read in the Book of Mormon about what Christ wants of us. We asked him if he would be baptized in three weeks and he said yes! It was awesome and we taught him about the proper authority and he said "I think my Grandpa has that, can he baptize me?" and he can. He is a member and is active and it is going to be awesome! We were so excited that night. Then on Saturday morning we had a lesson with Nici and it went great. Rewind. On Thursday we had a Zone conference and we did some role plays where one of us would act as if we were one of our investigators and then two missionaries would teach on something were struggling with and then through the promptings of the spirit we, as the investigator, would answer according to how they would probably answer. Well I did Nici and it went really good and I really felt the spirit working through. So back to our lesson. It went almost exactly like it went in the role play. It was amazing! She doesn't feel like she’s receiving an answer on whether our church is the only true church on earth. And so she doesn't think she should quit drinking coffee. Well we told her the promises of keeping the word of wisdom and then on her own she said she would quit smoking for good and not drink coffee for three days and then at the end of the three days she will pray and then if she feels good about it she won't ever drink coffee any more. So that was awesome and that’s exactly what happened in the role play. The spirit of God like a Fire is Burning! So that was great.

So on Wednesday our Bishop called us and asked us to speak on Sunday. I spoke on why I came out on a mission and then how being out has helped me more understand the Savior and how I have become more like him. It went great. I was nervous but I have gotten so much better at speaking. I only had to look down to read the quotes and scriptures. It was awesome. So that was a lot of fun. I stole Christiaans joke and told it to the ward. I said "Like a cow in tall grass I am utterly tickled to be speaking here today." They all laughed and it was great. Well I'm about out of time. This week was really good. It was warm the first couple of days but it’s now in the 70s and I’m freezing my butt off. Everyone makes fun of me cuz I’m from Arizona and cold all the time. It rained yesterday so that was cool but I’m not ready for the rainy season to start. I don't like being wet. Well I know the church is true. I know the Book of Mormon is true and I love it as well. I know our Prophet has been called of God. I love you all.

Love,
Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

October 18th 2010
Elder Arnett is replying to his dad’s email telling about Jackie, Jamie, David, Braden, Porter and other’s from our Ward doing the Grand Canyon rim to rim this last weekend!

That sounds like a bunch of fun! I wish I was there to do it with you guys. It’s a lot of fun and a really good experience. That’s amazing that Braden could do it that fast. I think ten hours is about what it took me to do it my second time, mind I had someone hanging on my arm the whole way up and then singing to me the whole way home... but it was fun. Hopefully they will be doing it when I get home? I'll get back for just the right time too to do it! Well the work is great out here dad. I often times think back to the stories that you would tell me about your mission and it’s fun to see that I’m experiencing some of the same things. Well thanks for the email. love you.

October 11th 2010

October 11th 2010

Wow! What a great email that was Mom. The story of the storm was crazy! I can't believe tornados actually touched down! We haven’t had any weather problems here. Last week it was kind of cold and the beginning of this week was pretty cold but by Thursday it was in the 80's and boy was that heavenly. So I have this problem where I write a bunch of letters then they sit on my desk for a week then I put them in envelopes and then send them a week later. So that is what happened this week. I have written letters to everyone including Grandma and will put them in the mail box today so they will probably get picked up tomorrow so you can figure out how long they will take to get there. Also, I need Jeff and Candice’s Address. I don't hear anything from them but I would like to send them a letter.

So this last week was good. It is super weird being in just one ward now. My area in Stockton was pretty small and just one ward as well but it was bigger than the ward I'm over now. With both wards we could stay pretty busy and things would be fine with finding people to teach and having appointments and things like that but now in just one ward it’s kind of difficult to do so. It probably similar to the size of our ward in Mesa but not as many members in it. So this week we were doing a lot of seeing potentials and less active members and stuff because all of our investigators were in the other ward that I decided to give up. It was a tough decision which ward I wanted because in the other ward we had a bigger teaching pool but the investigators weren't exactly solid and the members were all pretty cool and stuff but they weren't the most missionary minded and weren't as available to help us out with stuff. In the ward that I’m currently over we only have two real investigators and so it is harder to have things to do all day cuz you can't teach two people every day of the week. But ultimately I decided to pick this ward because the members are all great. They are usually available to help us out any time of the day and they are always willing to do missionary work. We had dinner with the bishop this week and it was amazing to see and feel the love he really has for the youth in the ward. He was rearranging things in the ward to specifically help out the missionary work and the youth. It’s a lot of fun working with him. So one thing we were trained on by another missionary a couple of weeks ago was working with members to find people to teach. Oh how true I know this is now! The two people we are teaching for real’s right now were because we went to visit a less active family. The first is a 15 year old kid named JT. We met him like a month and a half ago. His dad is a less active member and is a brother to the biggest well known family in Elk Grove. They own like four different businesses so we thought it would be good to meet him. He (the father of JT) told us that he wasn't going to be coming back to church or anything so we kind of left it at that. Then a couple weeks later we went and visited a less active lady in our ward with the same last name. It was funny because when we knocked on her door she knew exactly why we were there and she told us she was trying to make it back to church and then we asked if we would be able to come over and practice our lessons on her and her kids and she said she was actually wondering and asking her Mom the day before if she thought the missionaries would be willing to teach her kids so they could be more "knowledgeable". So she said of course and we went and answered her and her kids questions. We soon found out that she was the ex wife of Jt's fathers brother. So JT is her nephew. Well we thought well certainly these lessons would be more effective with an unbaptized kid here, which JT is. So we asked her to invite him over a time or two and she gladly did and also provided a Book of Mormon for him. So since then we have been over three times to teach JT and we have plans to invite him tonight to be baptized in a couple of weeks. So that was awesome and totally inspired. The other person we are working with is the 26 year old daughter of another less active sister in our ward. A couple of weeks ago we had dinner with this lady and she told us that she was having trouble getting in contact with the woman she visit teaches. So she asked us if we could go stop by and we do things like that everyday so we said "Why of course!" So the next day we went by and met Nici (said Nicki). She had previously moved back in with her mom and dad a couple of weeks before after having lived with her boyfriend in Colorado for 5 years! We got on the subject of religion, naturally, and taught her a little bit about Joseph Smith. She was intrigued by this, and was more than willing to have us over more. So since we have taught her 3 times and she is progressing greatly. She has committed, on her own, to stop smoking and drinking coffee. She, however, is not progressing as much and we would like. She works every Sunday and just started at her job so she has no seniority to take off whenever she wants to. So we are praying for help with that. So those have been two huge awesome things that have happened so far.

So now I have a new companion! His name is Elder Cannon and is from Bountiful, Utah. My first Utah companion. I was on a roll. He is awesome! He loves to work and is not afraid to just go out there and do it! We get along pretty good from what I can see. He is no Elder Holyoak, who is like a secretary in the office doing paper work and what not, but it’s fun. He went to UNLV the year before his mission on a full ride scholarship. He is majoring in Music and he plays the clarinet and is working towards being something with that. It is a lot of fun. We also live with two other Elders now. It’s so much fun. It’s easier to slack off but we are doing pretty good working hard. They are Elder's Duncan and Roberts. From New Mexico and Payson, Utah. They are great missionaries and they are a lot of fun being around in the apartment. So yeah that’s what has been happening this week in my mission. I will close this email now and then go play some basketball. Then after that I will probably go back home and write some girls. Bye

Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

October 5th 2010

October 5th 2010
Man do I sure love these emails. So I am extremely sorry about lasts weeks email. I was up all night on Sunday night and slept all day Monday trying to catch up on our pday so I could be better by Tuesday so on Monday I tried to come over to the Church's family history Center and email but after sitting up too long I started to get sick so I had to take off to the couch and lay down for a bit and then actually fell asleep for a long while. And then I realized that I failed to mention that this week was going to be transfers so we wouldn't have Pday until today (Tuesday) so I just want you to know that I am not dead. I am actually doing really good. I finally started feeling better on Tuesday night but the medical lady told me I couldn't go out on my bike so I just went in the car with another missionary and we had splits with the elders quorum and high priests so I rode in a car all night. They put me on the B.R.A.T. Diet for a couple of days (bread, rice, apple sauce, toast) so it would make my stomach not act up and I’m glad to say that I am all back to normal. But the worse part about the whole sickness wasn't the tiredness and not eating normal food and not even the actual throwing up but since I did throw up about ten times in one night, the muscles in my chest that normally don't get used were super sore so my chest was killing. Now I know what you’re thinking Mom and I was thinking the same thing. Pneumonia (or however you spell it). So I talked to the Medical lady and she told me it was just the muscles and my chest doesn't hurt anymore so she must have been right. But my chest was killing me for like three days. She told me not to ride my bike but I had to because we had appointments and stuff so it just kept hurting. But now I'm all better. I went to the doctor last Tuesday for a follow up on my asthma. They put me on these pills for a week then on Tuesday the doctor prescribed me an inhaler that is a steroid because he thinks while I'm here in Sacramento it will help me out. I take it every morning and night just one puff and so far I haven't seen too drastic of a change but I have to check in with the medical lady every couple of days because she said I am probably worse off than I think I am but I’m not. I can never breathe so it’s nothing new. So by now some of you might be wondering about transfers because I had previously mentioned it. Well I am sad to say that Elder Holyoak is getting transferred... Bummer. But he is going to the office to be an office elder which is really cool. So my new companion is going to be Elder Cannon. He came out the same time as Elder Holyoak so he’s been out for about 15 months. So it should be good. But something else is happening too. My area used to consist of two wards but now, since Mexico is being really slow with visas, we have a lot of visa waiters in our mission so they split my wards up so now I will only be covering one ward which will be nice because it’s kind of hard trying to put the same amount of effort in both wards. So that’s exciting news. So this last week was crazy. We recently started going over to a Less Active families house to teach them the lessons because the kids don't know much about the church even though they have been baptized and it has gone real good. But we found out that their cousin is not a member so he has been coming over the past couple of times and wants to be baptized so that is really cool. Also we went over to a Less Active ladies house who someone in our ward wanted us to stop by so we did and met her 26 year old daughter who is not a member and we talked to her for a good little while and she told us she almost got baptized but she doesn't want to quit smoking and drinking coffee so we decided to teach her anyways and the next time we came over she told us she got rid of the coffee maker and was on her last pack of cigarettes because she thought it was stupid to do those things. So that was really cool. It’s amazing how the spirit works on people when their time is right. We have a lesson with her tonight so we will see how that is going. We have been teaching this 79 year old black guy named Leon whose wife died in May and it has been good. We’re not sure if he’s taking the lessons because he knows a lot of people in our ward and likes to hang out with them or because he is truly interested but either way he listens and feels the spirit so that could lead to a strong desire to be baptized. So I have broken two more spokes on my bike since last emailing home which brings me to a total of 5 and I’ve spent over 100 dollars. Its ridiculous so I’m going to call CTR bikes and see what they want to do for me. So that’s a bummer. When I was sick I got all the way down to about 225 but am back up at 240ish so that was crazy. That’s how sick I was. So conference was AMAZING! I loved how the prophet got up first thing and challenged every young man to come on a mission. It’s the greatest thing ever being out here. We watched Conference at our Church building. It was nice. There were only like 10 people there and a family that came cooked lunch on sat and sun. for us. It was good. I loved Saturday morning session. I felt like it was real good. Then priesthood was definitely the best I have ever heard in my life. The Korean or whoever who spoke about the scorpion sting was AMAZING. I loved his talk. After it I leaned over to my companion and said man he hit that one out of the park. And he agreed. The first presidency did amazing. I wrote down a couple of good quotes from each of them. One from President Uchtdorf was "Being humble isn't thinking less of yourself, but thinking less about yourself" That was good because I tend to beat myself up for stupid things and end up comparing myself to others which he told us that "Pride is a sin of comparison". Then I loved President Monson's Three R's of Choice. They were good. I loved his quote of "Decisions do determine Destiny". That one was really good. Then on Sunday it was all amazing. It was hard to take very many notes because I was captivated by each of the speakers. The Choir was amazing in all sessions and Love One Another is now one of my favorite songs. It was so cool to see Elder Allred singing up there with the MTC Choir. I wasn't expecting to see someone I knew but I thought I would look anyways. They did great. Well I’m about out of time. So I will update on more next week. I'll have more details on my new companion and on people were teaching. I was able to go to the temple this morning and it was fantastic. Each time I go it strengthens my testimony that this church is true. I know it is and I know that President Monson is a true prophet of God. I am so glad to live in a time when we have the true church and a living servant of God to lead us. I hope all is well at home and I love you all. Good luck in life.

Love,
Elder Tyler Pete Arnett