August 30th, 2010
Ok! What a great letter!
Mom you are correct! I have it stuck in my head all the time! I don't know why but at least its not bad music. So it was great to hear all about home and stuff. I got a letter from Grandma about her trip and it sounded like it was really fun and exciting. I am so proud of her Missionary Work. That is pretty scary about her health. I hope everything goes good. Well this week was a crazy one. As you can see I am emailing earlier! Its cuz i'm in a new Zone. So I am in Elk Grove, California. It is like an exact replica of Gilbert! Its super weird. They have like a little old town part of it just like gilbert and it started getting really big but has died down now that the housiong market isn't great. I'm serving in the Elk Grove Park ward and the Waterman ward. Its great having two wards because we get fed every night! Its great! Both wards are awesome! They are both big family wards with a lot of families with kids all ages. I loved sunday because it actually felt like the church I'm used to. A bunch of memebers are very missionary minded and it helps the work progress so much. Historicaly the Zone has baptized a butt load so lets hope I don't screw it up... So my new companion Elder Holyoak. He's awesome! He is the dictrict leader so he is a great missionary. He has been out like 14 months and he really knows whats up! I have learned so much from him already but he doesn't show me everything so he is still giving me room to learn and grow on my own. So he is a great kid. We really don't have a bunch of stuff in common but we do get along pretty well and we laugh alot so i can tell this is going to be a great transfer. We are still on bike which I'm not too excited about but its not too bad. We have the same bike too! His is black and silver and mine is red and tan but they are the same exact bikes! It was funny when we noticed it. He is from Chicago but has family in utah and arizona. He is cousins with a friend of mine named Kristen Roberts. So its pretty cool. So on Wednesday when i got to this area it sucked super bad! It was hecka hot! It was like being at home again. It got up to 110. Now your all probably saying yeah its like that every day here but give me a break. Its been in the eighties or nineties for like the past three months with only a few days over a hundred so one of 110 is killer! It was so hot... but it wasn't too bad. Then the next day it was cold?! it was like 75 all day. it was super nice. and since then its been pretty cool and stuff i love it. I thought for sure California was going to burn to death because of how on fire my testimony was but i guess it lucked out and the Lord is blessing us. Our mission president whats us to study humility this week ha. So yeah on wednesday we taught a couple of people. We taught a 14 year girl along with the whole mia maid class. She was nerveous so she didn't want to do it alone. Let me tell ya 14 year old girls are crazy! And it doesn't help that i'm rediculously good looking either. So that was insane but it went really good and we plan to invite her to be baptized on the eighteenth on wednesday when we teach her again. So that is exciting. We taught a couple of other people later on in the week. It was real good. So, so far I am just loving Elk Grove. There was a funny joke the other morning. I woke up and weighed myself and then got dressed and stuff. Then I was super tired and my companion had to go early to a meeting so the Zone Leaders picked us up to take me to another missionary and when i got in the car one of them, Elder Selk, said so Elder Arnett what are you up to this morning and before i could think about what he was really asking i just blurting out 243 and they were all like what? and then they figured out i was talking about my weight so it was pretty funny cuz he was asking me what i was going to be doing not what i was up to in weight. So thats a great inside joke now. But good news since that day i am now down past 240 and like 238. I don't know how but i am just dropping weight. Probably cuz my companion makes me work out in the morning and rides his bike like a dog is chasing. I love on remember the titans when the little girl says that the guy is getting beat like he stole something... So yeah that has been way good. Well i don't really know what else to report on. One of my Zone leaders is from Hawaii and has a uke with him so i played one this morning for the first time in 3 months. It ws awesome! I miss it so much. So yeah. I can already tell this transfer will be a blast so i am super excited. I know that what i am doing is the greatest work on the earth. The message of the restored gospel is the greatest message there is. We had a meeting with all the missionaries in our zone and our stake president and he told us his conversion story which was way awesome then he bore his testimony about the church. Its like president Hinckley has said over and over again. Either the Book of Mormon is a true book and is, along with the Bible, the word of God. Or it is not. There is no grey area. If it is true then Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and truly did restore Christ's church on this earth. If its fake then Joseph smith is the biggest fraud there was and a horrible man. I know it is a true book. I have prayed about it. And i received and answer. The first time i told about my experiance reading the book of mormon cover to cover, the spirit testified to me of its truthfulness. Since i know it is true i know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that this is the only true church on the earth today. The greatest thing about the Book of Mormon is that EVERYONE can know it is true. Its as easy as looking at a brass serpent to be healed. All you have to do is ask. It takes less effort than writing a letter or even calling someone on the phone. It truly is an amazing thing we have on this earth and it all makes sense. I love my family and friends so much and i love hearing from all of you! I hope you all are doing well!
Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
Monday, August 30, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
August 24th 2010
August 24th 2010
Its hammer time. The quote was great this week. I've read somewhere on someones fridge since i have been out and i love it. So to start off this week i just want to say that raul did not fight that hard to save her. If anyone can name what movie i'm talking about i'll be happy. Soooo...I'm sorry. It must be killing all of you to not hear from me for more than a week. I didn't want to not email. And i thought i would be able to so i didn't write but the guys i was with ran out of time and i was lucky i got to shoot a quick email out. So this one i hope is good....So your all probably wondering, "Where are you getting transferred Elder Arnett". Well wonder no more because i am about to tell you. I am being transferred... :(. I love it down here in Stockton. Everyone in the mission wants to be down here. We are killing it down here and it is so much fun with the friends i have made so far. I am going to be going to Elk Grove which is like a suburb of Sacramento kind of place. My new companion will be Elder Holyoak. He has been out a little over a year and just finished training and will now be a District Leader so yeah he is legit.I am super excited to serve up there with him and I also heard one of the Zone leaders plays the uke up there so i'll have to see what we can do... But yeah so i'm bummed but not too bummed about this next transfer. So the past two weeks have been great. I will now tell you about them. So if i recall correctly i told you all about the Jordan family who is a part member family and they found us. Well they didn't come to church for two weeks so we were freaking out. So we kept teaching them and they are super excited to be baptized. So the sunday before last they came to church and loved it. It was awesome and the wife knows like half the people in the ward because she went to school with them. So it was great. Then on monday we taught them then we gave them a baptism date! Which they accepted! Sept. 11th. Now you might be thinking oh yeah 9/11 what are they thinking but it has meaning to their family so it was totally inspired. Also what the crap is obama thinking?! So then we went on this thursday and taught them about the word of wisdom, the law of chastity and tithing and they loved it. The husband smokes and drinks coffee but i can tell he wants to be baptized so i know the Lord will help him as he tries to quit. So thats another thing i'm bummed about is leaving the Jordans. They are awesome but my Mission President said i can come back and see em get baptized. So that is super exciting.We also have an investigator named Jack. I did tell you about him. He has health problems up the whazoo! its insane but he is getting better. He kind of looks like a fat skeloton though. Anyways so we've been teaching him for a couple of weeks now and its been good. He is reading from the Book of Mormon and praying to know if it is true but doesn't feel like he is receiving an answer. So last thursday we had a District meeting where we were trained on how to help people receive revelation through prayer and reading the book of mormon and i realized i was not being bold enough with Jack. So got him set up to come to church but he didn't come. So we were pissed cuz he flaked on us previously on friday for a church tour. So we went and taught him yesterday and also to mention he has never accepted a baptism invitation. So we were teaching him and all i could think about was that he needed real intent which it talks about in moroni 10:4 to receive an answer if its true so i told him that if he wanted to receive an answer that the book of mormon was true then he would have to show God that he is willing to act on his answer cuz it would profit him nothing if he knew and wasn't going to do anything about it. So i said "knowing that Jack, if God let you know through the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true, Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God" and then there was a long pause and you could feel the spirit so much it felt like you could touch it with your hands and he looked at me and said yes i will be baptized. And it was Awesome! So my companion promised him that he will receive an answer if it was true or not before the next time we met which we know its true so it looks like Jack will be baptized as well! It was super great. So that is this weeks story and I'm stickin to it. This work is amazing and bring more joy than anything else can bring. It was great receiving mail from everyone this week. You all have a letter coming your way very soon :). So yeah i best be going. I hope everything is going great at home. Mom your emails are fantastic don't you worry. I love you all. I'm excited for Sam. and i hope you all have a great week. Love, Elder Tyler Pete ArnettP.S. I shaved my head and had to shave a part in it cuz it was too short ha.
Its hammer time. The quote was great this week. I've read somewhere on someones fridge since i have been out and i love it. So to start off this week i just want to say that raul did not fight that hard to save her. If anyone can name what movie i'm talking about i'll be happy. Soooo...I'm sorry. It must be killing all of you to not hear from me for more than a week. I didn't want to not email. And i thought i would be able to so i didn't write but the guys i was with ran out of time and i was lucky i got to shoot a quick email out. So this one i hope is good....So your all probably wondering, "Where are you getting transferred Elder Arnett". Well wonder no more because i am about to tell you. I am being transferred... :(. I love it down here in Stockton. Everyone in the mission wants to be down here. We are killing it down here and it is so much fun with the friends i have made so far. I am going to be going to Elk Grove which is like a suburb of Sacramento kind of place. My new companion will be Elder Holyoak. He has been out a little over a year and just finished training and will now be a District Leader so yeah he is legit.I am super excited to serve up there with him and I also heard one of the Zone leaders plays the uke up there so i'll have to see what we can do... But yeah so i'm bummed but not too bummed about this next transfer. So the past two weeks have been great. I will now tell you about them. So if i recall correctly i told you all about the Jordan family who is a part member family and they found us. Well they didn't come to church for two weeks so we were freaking out. So we kept teaching them and they are super excited to be baptized. So the sunday before last they came to church and loved it. It was awesome and the wife knows like half the people in the ward because she went to school with them. So it was great. Then on monday we taught them then we gave them a baptism date! Which they accepted! Sept. 11th. Now you might be thinking oh yeah 9/11 what are they thinking but it has meaning to their family so it was totally inspired. Also what the crap is obama thinking?! So then we went on this thursday and taught them about the word of wisdom, the law of chastity and tithing and they loved it. The husband smokes and drinks coffee but i can tell he wants to be baptized so i know the Lord will help him as he tries to quit. So thats another thing i'm bummed about is leaving the Jordans. They are awesome but my Mission President said i can come back and see em get baptized. So that is super exciting.We also have an investigator named Jack. I did tell you about him. He has health problems up the whazoo! its insane but he is getting better. He kind of looks like a fat skeloton though. Anyways so we've been teaching him for a couple of weeks now and its been good. He is reading from the Book of Mormon and praying to know if it is true but doesn't feel like he is receiving an answer. So last thursday we had a District meeting where we were trained on how to help people receive revelation through prayer and reading the book of mormon and i realized i was not being bold enough with Jack. So got him set up to come to church but he didn't come. So we were pissed cuz he flaked on us previously on friday for a church tour. So we went and taught him yesterday and also to mention he has never accepted a baptism invitation. So we were teaching him and all i could think about was that he needed real intent which it talks about in moroni 10:4 to receive an answer if its true so i told him that if he wanted to receive an answer that the book of mormon was true then he would have to show God that he is willing to act on his answer cuz it would profit him nothing if he knew and wasn't going to do anything about it. So i said "knowing that Jack, if God let you know through the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true, Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God" and then there was a long pause and you could feel the spirit so much it felt like you could touch it with your hands and he looked at me and said yes i will be baptized. And it was Awesome! So my companion promised him that he will receive an answer if it was true or not before the next time we met which we know its true so it looks like Jack will be baptized as well! It was super great. So that is this weeks story and I'm stickin to it. This work is amazing and bring more joy than anything else can bring. It was great receiving mail from everyone this week. You all have a letter coming your way very soon :). So yeah i best be going. I hope everything is going great at home. Mom your emails are fantastic don't you worry. I love you all. I'm excited for Sam. and i hope you all have a great week. Love, Elder Tyler Pete ArnettP.S. I shaved my head and had to shave a part in it cuz it was too short ha.
Monday, August 23, 2010
FINALLY A POST!!!
Sorry guys... I'm quite the slacker, but have no fear my mom will be taking over because I'm no good. But here are some letters :)
Happy Reading :)
June 28th
So to start this email off i just want to say one thing... HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD! It was soo weird being somewhere else on fathers day. It kind of seems like Father's day doesn't get recognized the way mother's day does and its a shame because me Dad is the greatest man I know so why shouldn't it be as important as the day that we celebrate our mom's, who is the most amazing mom there ever was! So it was kind of a sad day yesterday being reminded over and over that i can't say happy father's day to my dad in person. I love you so much dad and thanks for preparing me well for this wonderful experience.
So quote this week was awesome mom! I loved it. It gave me an extra boost of eagerness. I think between my mission president, my moms quotes, the conference talks, and my zone members helping me, motivation shouldn't be a problem. So before i tell you about me week i must tell you about my mission president who i have failed to mention in either emails. He is the greatest mission president there is! He is possibly the most loving man i have ever met in my life. He is soo knowledge about the gospel and he LOVES sports and i heard that he likes the athletes in the mission extra so thats good. He is great! I would not be suprised if one day he became a general authority! The only sad thing is, i get a new one in a year... he just finished his second year of three. But it will be an extra boost of enthusiasm when i get the new fellow. So this last week was interesting. I got my tube fixed on tuesday. On wednesday i went on exchanges with my district leaders companion who has only been out for two transfers and so we are both pretty new. He had a couple of teaching appointments so we went and taught a guy on wednesday night and it was really cool because everything just came naturally the way i studied it and it was cool. At the end the guy guessed that i had been out for a year and i told him nope one month and he couldn't beleive it. Then on thursday morning we had a few appointments and they all fell through (which is very typical of stockten...) and we had one more before we had to switch back companions so we said a prayer before we went in and asked that we could teach him and also have the spirit with us as the teacher and when we walked up he told us that he didn't have time to meet with us and that he had to leave in an hour and way planning on getting ready in the next half hour so we were about to walk away but Elder Harrol just threw out well can we just give you like a ten fifteen min message and the guy accepted so we went in and started with a prayer and then he started asking questions (he minored in religion in college and said they didn't cover mormons very much but covered the basics) and it was soo cool telling him things i knew then randomly he asked a question that was totally off topic and then the spirit just told me to start at the beginning of the first lesson and i thought thats way too much info to answer this question but i decided to follow the spirit and as i relayed one thing after another you could see the puzzelled look on his face just dissapear and he started nodding his head and started understanding what we were saying. It was so crazy how easy it is to teach when the spirit is telling you what you need to say. So as the first lesson was nearing the end he stopped me mid sentence and started saying that he didn't beleive us because he never beleives someone when they just say what they believe and it was perfecting timing cuz the last principle in the first lesson is pray to know through the holy spirit and he looked as us and said well thats exactly what i believe. So we gave him a book of mormon and invited him to read and pray and he accepted then i asked him to be baptized if he came to find out if it was true and he accepted that also! So then we went back and switched back and then me and elder faka'i went and taught a newly wed couple named Lelsie and JC. They were super nice and even cooked us dinner but we had to politely decline because we were going to a buffet via a members treat. So we were answering their questions and JC was just throwing out scripture after scripture from the bible and i was thinking holy cow what is this guy then he tells us that he is a youth pastor and went to college studying this stuff and i was like of course. But it was cool as well because we were answering questions that he told us not even his pastor could answer and they made sense when we told and showed him. He got into some deep doctrine stuff so it got kind of hard but the spirit was soo strong and even they recognized it. We were bummed at the end of the lesson because they told us they were moving down the street into a house that was just outside of our area. They told us they liked us a lot though and they didn't want any other missionaries so they want to call president Jardine and ask him to let us teach them but we know thats not going to happen. So this last week was really cool and we got a lot of teaching and stuff done. I'm starting to get the hang of this whole being a missionary thing. Its no longer second nature but more like the first and a half nature if that makes sense at all. Oh i like ties, polyester... So this week was fun and awesome. the luau count is up to three and elder faka'i says its destiny that i'll serve in the tongan ward sometime on my mission with how much polynesion culture i'm experiencing. When i met the elder from Kiribati i was so excited then he told me that he knew hudsons family thats on the island and i told him about jackson and he just assumed it was him and i thought it was a good chance so i gave him the halms info and stuff. He hugged me so many times and just kept saying how if i some how completed his family he would so greatfull for me and my service. I really hope the halms can find his brother because the story is just amazing. He is the nicest guy ever and he just wants to see his whole family once again. Let me know how that all goes. I love you all and i love this gospel and i know its all true. I read Our Heritage in one day and it was awesome! I can't wait to get home so i can continue to read and learn more about our awesome church. Keep up the good work family i love you
Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
P.S.- I broke my promise Uncle Chet. I let my companion cut my hair the second week out and we ended up shaving it. Luckily we made an impact on my hair because i can still part it! Sorry but i look good so thats all that matters right?
June 28th
Ok so i guess this is a sad story that i did not know about. I wrote my whole email to my family last week and sent it and everything but i guess from the whole paragraph i received from my mother that it didn't get to ya'll. Sorry. I sent it again just before starting this email so hopefully it will get to you.
So to start off, thanks for rubbing in the next Hunger Games book in my face. Even though i wasn't the most avid reader at home, I did read quite a bit so being out here and having such a limited selection (Scriptures, Preach My Gospel, Missionary Library, and the Ensign...) Hearing all about the book coming out made me kind of sad. But on the good note i have been reading a lot of the conference talks. I also read a lot from Jesus the Christ which is AWESOME! And i am almost done with the Book of Mormon again which i only started the day i got out to the field (june 3). Our mission president has each new missionary do a cool thing. You start at the beginning of the Book of Mormon and you highlight in red everything time it refers to Christ or says his name. And also to box in red when Christ is talking. So that is what i have been doing a lot of for the past couple of weeks and it has strengthened my testimony of our Savior sooo much. Also we are teaching this guy name Aaron who is the closest thing to a Jew without actually being a Jew. And he also doesn't beleive in Jesus. So teaching him and trying to convince him that Christ really does live has been awesome. It has strengthened my Testimony of Him and that Christ is the ONLY way we can return back to our Father in Heaven. There are a lot of good paths that we can take to live good lives and be good people and please God but the ONLY way we can make it back to Him is through Christ. Its awesome how much this gospel blesses our lives. I love bearing testimony of it multiple times every day. So one problem we have being out here in Stockton is its kind of Ghetto. And my area is small so we have seen most the people in it at sometime in the past ten years. But when we do get an occasional appointment set up they almost always fall through. So ergo we do a lot of contacting :). The smiley face is sarcasm btw. So the thing for me about contacting is, I have no problem just riding up talking to someone. I have no problem annoying people. I have no problem being rejected. But when all those things associate with the gospel i don't like it. Its always awkward cuz i don't know how to lead into our message. We talk to some jerks who are Satans brother or sister who freak out at us. And when someone rejects the Gospel it makes me feel so horrible inside because they aren't rejecting me. They are rejecting Christ, and all He has done for them. And he is rejecting their own personal salvation which if they understood the greatness and joy and happiness and peace and comfort and everything this gospel blesses us with then they would be asking to be baptized. So thats hard. But i realized that me not wanting to contact people on the streets is just Satan whispering in my ear saying "its ok they are just going to say no anyways plus your companion is so good at this just let him do it". That is not OK Satan! I have to do this! My trainer (who rocks!) told me that once i figure out contacting and how to put my personality into he thinks its going to be my thing. And I really hope it is because its a great tool in missionary work. So this last week i experienced my first bash. Then another one... and then one that almost came to one but we caught it and left in time. A lady walked up to us, bible in hand, while we were talking to here neighbor and started asking us questions. And one thing you need to know is that i like to answer questions. I know a lot about the doctrine and its fun to answer people. And Elder Faka'i doesn't like answering questions and he knew where it was leading but he needed me to figure it out. So after she would ask a question i would start to answer her and then she would finish my answer with something totally FALSE! and so after a while of that i finally got real angry (big no, no it completely drives the spirit away) and i raised my voice and forcefully told her to let me answer my own questions because she is completely wrong and is trying to put words in my mouth. So she started going off on how God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost are one being because water can be a solid, a gas, and a liquid. And i asked her if water could be all three at the same time and she said no. And i said so how does God be all three then and she was like well show me in the bible that hes not and then thats when i figured out it had to stop so i said sorry we have to go and Elder Faka'i was like what was your purpose in coming over here and she said to prove you guys wrong so you couldn't deceive my neighbor. And he was like well contention is of the devil so were leaving and she started actually screaming at us saying no it is not. The Holy Spirit told me to do this. It lead me here and told me what to say. So we just ignored her and rode away even though she felt like she won. It sucked and losing the spirit felt horrible so that was my first bash... then some guy laughed at us because we told him our church was he only church who held God's authority and he asked us if we thought we had more authority and power than his preachers and stuff and we said yes and he freaked out on us so yeah we left after that. It was interesting. Yesterday it Hit 102. The first time it hit 100 this year here in stockton so were getting ready for a hot next two months here. People are always like oh your from Arizona so your used to this and i think how can you ever get USED to something so hott?! Its not much easier being from Arizona. Its still hot. So yeah you all seem very busy. I did receive the Packages and they are amazing! Even though everything is almost gone... we got em on monday. I still havn't figured out the whole mail thing yet so just send it whenever and i'll receive it whenever. I did get your letters jackie but hadn't gotten before i asked. Let me know if both emails came. If not i'll have to try something else. Well i hope everything is going well at home. I love you all and I'm so thankful for all of your support and love.
Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
July 5th
Ok so this week was kind of weird. So like i said last week it was hot but it got down to the eighties by wednesday so it wasn't too bad. Oh and by the way mom, something i learned in the MTC is that if something promotes anything good and not bad then it doesn't matter if its by the spirit or not because its God's will for it to be that way. Sometimes we need the spirit to help us out but sometimes we are doing whats right and it just happens that way so the quote thing is good and awesome! It inspires me each week. So this week i was wondering something. How many stationary objects do you have to run into on your bike until you are classified as retarded? So on thursday I'm riding along and my Companion asks me to take a look at his bike to see if something is wrong and two seconds later BAM...stop sign. Yeah i ran into a stop sign and it hurt. I saw it at the last second so i braced myself for it but i still hit my stomach on my handle bars but its best now. Then on friday we were biking out to a Less Active families house and i was looking down at my front brakes because they were making a weird sound cuz i messed with them earlier that day and just at the last second i see a big red object and then BAM! i ran into a parked car... luckily i saw it at the last second and so i leaned forward real far and took most of the blow with my shoulder and chest and so it didn't make a dent but my bike fly up and hit my ankle and made a little bruise but its better now too. So no injuries from my stupidity but i certainly did dent my pride a bit. I'll keep my head up for now on. So this week we got dropped by one of our investigators name Gloria. She wasn't keeping commitments and when we went to go see her on monday night she gave us back our Book of Mormon and said don't call me, I'll call you. So that sucked and then we dropped a guy because he wouldn't let us pray with him or come to church and doesn't believe in Christ so that wasn't going any where. We didn't bash luckily this week! We did run into a guy who was a jerk and trying to tell us that Mormons aren't Christian and we were confused because last time I checked i have Christ's name right over my heart. And we usually walk up and tell people were sharing a wonderful message about Jesus Christ so that got heated. He had read a Anti mormon book that had things completely altered to where they didn't make sense at all so we set him straight and went on our way. I almost like talking to people that question our church and what we believe and when they tell me why I'm wrong its awesome because that just strengthens my testimony of what I'm out sharing with everyone. Its good. So since we dropped two investigators and only have two now that aren't too promising because we can never get an apointment to stick with them we did a lot of finding people. We tracted at least an hour everyday and two hours most days and then we contacted random people on the street a bunch then we saw a lot of our potentials in the area book so it was a good learning experience cuz it forced me to talk to people more. My problem isn't talking to someone. Its wanting to talk to them. Satan works over time on us missionaries and so it makes it difficult to want to do anything but with prayer and concentrating on it i have over come a lot of things. From what I hear the weather here is nothing compared to AZ. It gets up to the hundreds a couple of times a week maybe but the best thing is it cools down a bunch my five or six and there is a light breeze and it feels real nice. So thats good. I'm not looking forward to the winter though. I've heard thats the worst part. But oh well. So on saturday we had to be in by eight because of the festivities and then on sunday we had to be in by six which is when we usually have a blitz which is where the whole zone goes to one area and tracts it. But since we couldn't we watched a movie with the whole zone. We watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration. They show or showed it in the visitors center and it was awesome! It really was sooo great. Then we had a testimony meeting with our whole zone and it was great to hear from the people that I've grown to love and become such good friends with. I love how close the mission brings all of us close. I am going to have some awesome new friends at the end of this two years. I already have met a few people i'll be friends with when i get home. well i think thats all for now. I know this church is true. I know that Book of Mormon is true. Each time i read it i learn something new and amazing. I know Christ lives and is my Savior and I know God loves me. I know these things because God has personally let me know through His Holy Spirit and its testified these things to me. I know everyone can know this if they want to.
Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
July 13th
So it was very nice to hear how every one was doing this week. I normally wouldn't have gotten the letters you sent yet because they hold all the mail a week before transfers but my district leader was up in the office yesterday so he was able to pick it up for us and boy it sure was nice to get something. So i didn't want to tell you the story of the Kiribati elder because i wasn't sure if jackson or hudson was his brother because hudson knows who his family is and Jackson looks nothing like him. So i didn't want to get every ones hopes up for nothing. So here is my version of the story. So we go to Zone Conference early on in the transfer and I am so new i really don't know more than four people so i was just awkwardly introducing myself to any random person i could and then we started up with the conference. Then we had a break in the middle and had a little bit of lunch and i saw this Islander kid who I hadn't met yet and I like island people so i decided to go up to him and talk to him. I honestly thought we was from Kiribati cuz he looks like a smaller version of Hudson (who i miss like crazy!) and so i asked him where he was from and he Said I'm from Kiribati in broken english and i was like oh i have two best friends who were born in Kiribati but were adopted as babies. He looks at me and asks, "Where are you from?" and i answer Mesa, Arizona and i just see his face completely change. It was an expression of joy that didn't leave his face the rest of the day. He asked what their names were and i told him Hudson and Jackson but then i remembered their Island names and told him hudsons was Itsinikai Matera and that his sisters name was Precy and he was like "Oh! I know her! She served a mission in the U.S." And i said yup thats her. and then i told him i wasn't exactly posotive what jacksons was but i thought it was Danni Ionne. And he was like How old is Danni and i told him he is eighteen and his face lit up even brighter. And he said my brother is eighteen right now too! So then the break was over and we had to hurry to a couple of different training sessions and in between each of them he was asking me questions left and right. So at the end of the Conference I had given him the Halm's Address and Brother and Sister Halm's names and a little bit of info and told him I'm sure they would love to hear from him. He said the story matched the one his Mom told him all growing up for it to not be Jackson and his brother but I still didn't believe that it was him but i felt a good feeling about meeting him and he couldn't have said thank you more times to me. Then i receive word from Mom telling me about this story and how there was another boy adopted to Arizona at the same time as Hudson and Jackson and that it could possibly be him and then just yesterday i received a letter from Mom with the conversations that the Halm's have been having with him and now i know that this boy that was adopted at the same time has to be his brother. It is an amazing miracle that has happened and I am so glad Heavenly Father could use me and as a tool to help Elder Taratai complete his lifelong search for his younger brother and finally receive an answer to the prayers he's been offering since he could remember. If this boy is Elder Taratai's brother i would be so happy. I know it has to be him. It was so awesome being able to see this miracle happen and I know that this is just one of the things I was called on a mission for. I'm so thankful that I have been such good friends with the Halm family that when i met this Elder i wanted to tell him about them. They are awesome people and are helping fulfill this miracle just as well.
So thats the story. I hope it all goes well. It might be vague in some parts but i think it is sufficient. So your probably all thinking now "ok that was a nice story but didn't you have transfers this weekend? Why haven't you told us whats going on?!" So here it is. I am staying in the Lincoln ward for at least another transfer and my companion Elder Faka'i is getting transferred. My new companion will be Elder Evans (aka Tomcat, don't know why they call him that). He has been out for about 19 to 20 months and President Jardine said he's not as confident as other missionaries or my companion so we'll see how that goes. From what i hear from everyone they say he is kind of weird and if you love him for him then it will be awesome. I was actually happy to hear that because i like weird people. I mean we got Hudson and Andrew who are the weirdest guys i know. So i think we'll get along great. Also i'm kind of nervous because he is coming to my area which isn't as common and me leaving to his so ergo i get to show him my area and kind of lead it until he figures it out. I really didn't want to do this and i wanted the easier of the two options but now i'm kind of glad i get to do this cuz if i learn it early on while i'm still green it will be ten times easier when i have to do it later. So i guess the hardest part about being out is i can still remember what it feels like to sit on the couch and just watch tv for hours so i miss that a lot and i remember what it was like to just sit there and chill with all my friends. I think I'll be ok though because everyone says you forget what all those things are like after not so long so I'm just waiting for that to happen. This past week we did a lot of tracting and finding things because we currently have an extremely small teaching pool but i actually like tracting because not everyone hates you like it seems like they do when you contact them on the street. So that has been fun and we have met some interesting people but sadly only a few returns but thats better than nothing. This last week seemed like it zoomed by. I hit the two month mark yesterday so thats pretty crazy. I'm happy for all the people that are staying in my zone and district because i have become such good friends with all of them and its awesome but i'm bummed out because of the people that are leaving but i hear the people coming in are awesome people so thats exciting. We had a lesson with this lady names Cheryl and when we got there she had the BofM we gave her and her all marked up bible with another little book. She asked if she could pray and in her prayer she asked God if we would be able to see where we are wrong and why she is right. So we new we were in for it. Then she starts going off about one thing after another. Some things I haven't come across yet and it was intense. When she finished we took over and showed her up on a couple of things that she could only say well we can't comprehend God so basically we came back with everything that she threw at us except for one thing that she told us made Joseph Smith a false prophet because it never came true and I honestly had no clue what it was and she got out her little book called "Answers to your Mormon friends" and it had the false prophet thing. So it honestly stumped us so the next day in my personal study i studied it all out and apperantly the guy that wrote the book didn't get too into D&C and using foot notes and stuff because it only took me a couple of minutes to find everything and the prophecys wouldn't have come true yet because they were prophecied for just before the second coming so now we have something for her next time but we don't want it to be a bash. Well thats pretty much it for this last week. I still love Polyester ties and mail. Keep up the good work at home stay faithful. Until next time.
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
July 19th
Happy Reading :)
June 28th
So to start this email off i just want to say one thing... HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD! It was soo weird being somewhere else on fathers day. It kind of seems like Father's day doesn't get recognized the way mother's day does and its a shame because me Dad is the greatest man I know so why shouldn't it be as important as the day that we celebrate our mom's, who is the most amazing mom there ever was! So it was kind of a sad day yesterday being reminded over and over that i can't say happy father's day to my dad in person. I love you so much dad and thanks for preparing me well for this wonderful experience.
So quote this week was awesome mom! I loved it. It gave me an extra boost of eagerness. I think between my mission president, my moms quotes, the conference talks, and my zone members helping me, motivation shouldn't be a problem. So before i tell you about me week i must tell you about my mission president who i have failed to mention in either emails. He is the greatest mission president there is! He is possibly the most loving man i have ever met in my life. He is soo knowledge about the gospel and he LOVES sports and i heard that he likes the athletes in the mission extra so thats good. He is great! I would not be suprised if one day he became a general authority! The only sad thing is, i get a new one in a year... he just finished his second year of three. But it will be an extra boost of enthusiasm when i get the new fellow. So this last week was interesting. I got my tube fixed on tuesday. On wednesday i went on exchanges with my district leaders companion who has only been out for two transfers and so we are both pretty new. He had a couple of teaching appointments so we went and taught a guy on wednesday night and it was really cool because everything just came naturally the way i studied it and it was cool. At the end the guy guessed that i had been out for a year and i told him nope one month and he couldn't beleive it. Then on thursday morning we had a few appointments and they all fell through (which is very typical of stockten...) and we had one more before we had to switch back companions so we said a prayer before we went in and asked that we could teach him and also have the spirit with us as the teacher and when we walked up he told us that he didn't have time to meet with us and that he had to leave in an hour and way planning on getting ready in the next half hour so we were about to walk away but Elder Harrol just threw out well can we just give you like a ten fifteen min message and the guy accepted so we went in and started with a prayer and then he started asking questions (he minored in religion in college and said they didn't cover mormons very much but covered the basics) and it was soo cool telling him things i knew then randomly he asked a question that was totally off topic and then the spirit just told me to start at the beginning of the first lesson and i thought thats way too much info to answer this question but i decided to follow the spirit and as i relayed one thing after another you could see the puzzelled look on his face just dissapear and he started nodding his head and started understanding what we were saying. It was so crazy how easy it is to teach when the spirit is telling you what you need to say. So as the first lesson was nearing the end he stopped me mid sentence and started saying that he didn't beleive us because he never beleives someone when they just say what they believe and it was perfecting timing cuz the last principle in the first lesson is pray to know through the holy spirit and he looked as us and said well thats exactly what i believe. So we gave him a book of mormon and invited him to read and pray and he accepted then i asked him to be baptized if he came to find out if it was true and he accepted that also! So then we went back and switched back and then me and elder faka'i went and taught a newly wed couple named Lelsie and JC. They were super nice and even cooked us dinner but we had to politely decline because we were going to a buffet via a members treat. So we were answering their questions and JC was just throwing out scripture after scripture from the bible and i was thinking holy cow what is this guy then he tells us that he is a youth pastor and went to college studying this stuff and i was like of course. But it was cool as well because we were answering questions that he told us not even his pastor could answer and they made sense when we told and showed him. He got into some deep doctrine stuff so it got kind of hard but the spirit was soo strong and even they recognized it. We were bummed at the end of the lesson because they told us they were moving down the street into a house that was just outside of our area. They told us they liked us a lot though and they didn't want any other missionaries so they want to call president Jardine and ask him to let us teach them but we know thats not going to happen. So this last week was really cool and we got a lot of teaching and stuff done. I'm starting to get the hang of this whole being a missionary thing. Its no longer second nature but more like the first and a half nature if that makes sense at all. Oh i like ties, polyester... So this week was fun and awesome. the luau count is up to three and elder faka'i says its destiny that i'll serve in the tongan ward sometime on my mission with how much polynesion culture i'm experiencing. When i met the elder from Kiribati i was so excited then he told me that he knew hudsons family thats on the island and i told him about jackson and he just assumed it was him and i thought it was a good chance so i gave him the halms info and stuff. He hugged me so many times and just kept saying how if i some how completed his family he would so greatfull for me and my service. I really hope the halms can find his brother because the story is just amazing. He is the nicest guy ever and he just wants to see his whole family once again. Let me know how that all goes. I love you all and i love this gospel and i know its all true. I read Our Heritage in one day and it was awesome! I can't wait to get home so i can continue to read and learn more about our awesome church. Keep up the good work family i love you
Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
June 28th
Ok so i guess this is a sad story that i did not know about. I wrote my whole email to my family last week and sent it and everything but i guess from the whole paragraph i received from my mother that it didn't get to ya'll. Sorry. I sent it again just before starting this email so hopefully it will get to you.
So to start off, thanks for rubbing in the next Hunger Games book in my face. Even though i wasn't the most avid reader at home, I did read quite a bit so being out here and having such a limited selection (Scriptures, Preach My Gospel, Missionary Library, and the Ensign...) Hearing all about the book coming out made me kind of sad. But on the good note i have been reading a lot of the conference talks. I also read a lot from Jesus the Christ which is AWESOME! And i am almost done with the Book of Mormon again which i only started the day i got out to the field (june 3). Our mission president has each new missionary do a cool thing. You start at the beginning of the Book of Mormon and you highlight in red everything time it refers to Christ or says his name. And also to box in red when Christ is talking. So that is what i have been doing a lot of for the past couple of weeks and it has strengthened my testimony of our Savior sooo much. Also we are teaching this guy name Aaron who is the closest thing to a Jew without actually being a Jew. And he also doesn't beleive in Jesus. So teaching him and trying to convince him that Christ really does live has been awesome. It has strengthened my Testimony of Him and that Christ is the ONLY way we can return back to our Father in Heaven. There are a lot of good paths that we can take to live good lives and be good people and please God but the ONLY way we can make it back to Him is through Christ. Its awesome how much this gospel blesses our lives. I love bearing testimony of it multiple times every day. So one problem we have being out here in Stockton is its kind of Ghetto. And my area is small so we have seen most the people in it at sometime in the past ten years. But when we do get an occasional appointment set up they almost always fall through. So ergo we do a lot of contacting :). The smiley face is sarcasm btw. So the thing for me about contacting is, I have no problem just riding up talking to someone. I have no problem annoying people. I have no problem being rejected. But when all those things associate with the gospel i don't like it. Its always awkward cuz i don't know how to lead into our message. We talk to some jerks who are Satans brother or sister who freak out at us. And when someone rejects the Gospel it makes me feel so horrible inside because they aren't rejecting me. They are rejecting Christ, and all He has done for them. And he is rejecting their own personal salvation which if they understood the greatness and joy and happiness and peace and comfort and everything this gospel blesses us with then they would be asking to be baptized. So thats hard. But i realized that me not wanting to contact people on the streets is just Satan whispering in my ear saying "its ok they are just going to say no anyways plus your companion is so good at this just let him do it". That is not OK Satan! I have to do this! My trainer (who rocks!) told me that once i figure out contacting and how to put my personality into he thinks its going to be my thing. And I really hope it is because its a great tool in missionary work. So this last week i experienced my first bash. Then another one... and then one that almost came to one but we caught it and left in time. A lady walked up to us, bible in hand, while we were talking to here neighbor and started asking us questions. And one thing you need to know is that i like to answer questions. I know a lot about the doctrine and its fun to answer people. And Elder Faka'i doesn't like answering questions and he knew where it was leading but he needed me to figure it out. So after she would ask a question i would start to answer her and then she would finish my answer with something totally FALSE! and so after a while of that i finally got real angry (big no, no it completely drives the spirit away) and i raised my voice and forcefully told her to let me answer my own questions because she is completely wrong and is trying to put words in my mouth. So she started going off on how God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost are one being because water can be a solid, a gas, and a liquid. And i asked her if water could be all three at the same time and she said no. And i said so how does God be all three then and she was like well show me in the bible that hes not and then thats when i figured out it had to stop so i said sorry we have to go and Elder Faka'i was like what was your purpose in coming over here and she said to prove you guys wrong so you couldn't deceive my neighbor. And he was like well contention is of the devil so were leaving and she started actually screaming at us saying no it is not. The Holy Spirit told me to do this. It lead me here and told me what to say. So we just ignored her and rode away even though she felt like she won. It sucked and losing the spirit felt horrible so that was my first bash... then some guy laughed at us because we told him our church was he only church who held God's authority and he asked us if we thought we had more authority and power than his preachers and stuff and we said yes and he freaked out on us so yeah we left after that. It was interesting. Yesterday it Hit 102. The first time it hit 100 this year here in stockton so were getting ready for a hot next two months here. People are always like oh your from Arizona so your used to this and i think how can you ever get USED to something so hott?! Its not much easier being from Arizona. Its still hot. So yeah you all seem very busy. I did receive the Packages and they are amazing! Even though everything is almost gone... we got em on monday. I still havn't figured out the whole mail thing yet so just send it whenever and i'll receive it whenever. I did get your letters jackie but hadn't gotten before i asked. Let me know if both emails came. If not i'll have to try something else. Well i hope everything is going well at home. I love you all and I'm so thankful for all of your support and love.
Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
July 5th
Ok so this week was kind of weird. So like i said last week it was hot but it got down to the eighties by wednesday so it wasn't too bad. Oh and by the way mom, something i learned in the MTC is that if something promotes anything good and not bad then it doesn't matter if its by the spirit or not because its God's will for it to be that way. Sometimes we need the spirit to help us out but sometimes we are doing whats right and it just happens that way so the quote thing is good and awesome! It inspires me each week. So this week i was wondering something. How many stationary objects do you have to run into on your bike until you are classified as retarded? So on thursday I'm riding along and my Companion asks me to take a look at his bike to see if something is wrong and two seconds later BAM...stop sign. Yeah i ran into a stop sign and it hurt. I saw it at the last second so i braced myself for it but i still hit my stomach on my handle bars but its best now. Then on friday we were biking out to a Less Active families house and i was looking down at my front brakes because they were making a weird sound cuz i messed with them earlier that day and just at the last second i see a big red object and then BAM! i ran into a parked car... luckily i saw it at the last second and so i leaned forward real far and took most of the blow with my shoulder and chest and so it didn't make a dent but my bike fly up and hit my ankle and made a little bruise but its better now too. So no injuries from my stupidity but i certainly did dent my pride a bit. I'll keep my head up for now on. So this week we got dropped by one of our investigators name Gloria. She wasn't keeping commitments and when we went to go see her on monday night she gave us back our Book of Mormon and said don't call me, I'll call you. So that sucked and then we dropped a guy because he wouldn't let us pray with him or come to church and doesn't believe in Christ so that wasn't going any where. We didn't bash luckily this week! We did run into a guy who was a jerk and trying to tell us that Mormons aren't Christian and we were confused because last time I checked i have Christ's name right over my heart. And we usually walk up and tell people were sharing a wonderful message about Jesus Christ so that got heated. He had read a Anti mormon book that had things completely altered to where they didn't make sense at all so we set him straight and went on our way. I almost like talking to people that question our church and what we believe and when they tell me why I'm wrong its awesome because that just strengthens my testimony of what I'm out sharing with everyone. Its good. So since we dropped two investigators and only have two now that aren't too promising because we can never get an apointment to stick with them we did a lot of finding people. We tracted at least an hour everyday and two hours most days and then we contacted random people on the street a bunch then we saw a lot of our potentials in the area book so it was a good learning experience cuz it forced me to talk to people more. My problem isn't talking to someone. Its wanting to talk to them. Satan works over time on us missionaries and so it makes it difficult to want to do anything but with prayer and concentrating on it i have over come a lot of things. From what I hear the weather here is nothing compared to AZ. It gets up to the hundreds a couple of times a week maybe but the best thing is it cools down a bunch my five or six and there is a light breeze and it feels real nice. So thats good. I'm not looking forward to the winter though. I've heard thats the worst part. But oh well. So on saturday we had to be in by eight because of the festivities and then on sunday we had to be in by six which is when we usually have a blitz which is where the whole zone goes to one area and tracts it. But since we couldn't we watched a movie with the whole zone. We watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration. They show or showed it in the visitors center and it was awesome! It really was sooo great. Then we had a testimony meeting with our whole zone and it was great to hear from the people that I've grown to love and become such good friends with. I love how close the mission brings all of us close. I am going to have some awesome new friends at the end of this two years. I already have met a few people i'll be friends with when i get home. well i think thats all for now. I know this church is true. I know that Book of Mormon is true. Each time i read it i learn something new and amazing. I know Christ lives and is my Savior and I know God loves me. I know these things because God has personally let me know through His Holy Spirit and its testified these things to me. I know everyone can know this if they want to.
Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
July 13th
So it was very nice to hear how every one was doing this week. I normally wouldn't have gotten the letters you sent yet because they hold all the mail a week before transfers but my district leader was up in the office yesterday so he was able to pick it up for us and boy it sure was nice to get something. So i didn't want to tell you the story of the Kiribati elder because i wasn't sure if jackson or hudson was his brother because hudson knows who his family is and Jackson looks nothing like him. So i didn't want to get every ones hopes up for nothing. So here is my version of the story. So we go to Zone Conference early on in the transfer and I am so new i really don't know more than four people so i was just awkwardly introducing myself to any random person i could and then we started up with the conference. Then we had a break in the middle and had a little bit of lunch and i saw this Islander kid who I hadn't met yet and I like island people so i decided to go up to him and talk to him. I honestly thought we was from Kiribati cuz he looks like a smaller version of Hudson (who i miss like crazy!) and so i asked him where he was from and he Said I'm from Kiribati in broken english and i was like oh i have two best friends who were born in Kiribati but were adopted as babies. He looks at me and asks, "Where are you from?" and i answer Mesa, Arizona and i just see his face completely change. It was an expression of joy that didn't leave his face the rest of the day. He asked what their names were and i told him Hudson and Jackson but then i remembered their Island names and told him hudsons was Itsinikai Matera and that his sisters name was Precy and he was like "Oh! I know her! She served a mission in the U.S." And i said yup thats her. and then i told him i wasn't exactly posotive what jacksons was but i thought it was Danni Ionne. And he was like How old is Danni and i told him he is eighteen and his face lit up even brighter. And he said my brother is eighteen right now too! So then the break was over and we had to hurry to a couple of different training sessions and in between each of them he was asking me questions left and right. So at the end of the Conference I had given him the Halm's Address and Brother and Sister Halm's names and a little bit of info and told him I'm sure they would love to hear from him. He said the story matched the one his Mom told him all growing up for it to not be Jackson and his brother but I still didn't believe that it was him but i felt a good feeling about meeting him and he couldn't have said thank you more times to me. Then i receive word from Mom telling me about this story and how there was another boy adopted to Arizona at the same time as Hudson and Jackson and that it could possibly be him and then just yesterday i received a letter from Mom with the conversations that the Halm's have been having with him and now i know that this boy that was adopted at the same time has to be his brother. It is an amazing miracle that has happened and I am so glad Heavenly Father could use me and as a tool to help Elder Taratai complete his lifelong search for his younger brother and finally receive an answer to the prayers he's been offering since he could remember. If this boy is Elder Taratai's brother i would be so happy. I know it has to be him. It was so awesome being able to see this miracle happen and I know that this is just one of the things I was called on a mission for. I'm so thankful that I have been such good friends with the Halm family that when i met this Elder i wanted to tell him about them. They are awesome people and are helping fulfill this miracle just as well.
So thats the story. I hope it all goes well. It might be vague in some parts but i think it is sufficient. So your probably all thinking now "ok that was a nice story but didn't you have transfers this weekend? Why haven't you told us whats going on?!" So here it is. I am staying in the Lincoln ward for at least another transfer and my companion Elder Faka'i is getting transferred. My new companion will be Elder Evans (aka Tomcat, don't know why they call him that). He has been out for about 19 to 20 months and President Jardine said he's not as confident as other missionaries or my companion so we'll see how that goes. From what i hear from everyone they say he is kind of weird and if you love him for him then it will be awesome. I was actually happy to hear that because i like weird people. I mean we got Hudson and Andrew who are the weirdest guys i know. So i think we'll get along great. Also i'm kind of nervous because he is coming to my area which isn't as common and me leaving to his so ergo i get to show him my area and kind of lead it until he figures it out. I really didn't want to do this and i wanted the easier of the two options but now i'm kind of glad i get to do this cuz if i learn it early on while i'm still green it will be ten times easier when i have to do it later. So i guess the hardest part about being out is i can still remember what it feels like to sit on the couch and just watch tv for hours so i miss that a lot and i remember what it was like to just sit there and chill with all my friends. I think I'll be ok though because everyone says you forget what all those things are like after not so long so I'm just waiting for that to happen. This past week we did a lot of tracting and finding things because we currently have an extremely small teaching pool but i actually like tracting because not everyone hates you like it seems like they do when you contact them on the street. So that has been fun and we have met some interesting people but sadly only a few returns but thats better than nothing. This last week seemed like it zoomed by. I hit the two month mark yesterday so thats pretty crazy. I'm happy for all the people that are staying in my zone and district because i have become such good friends with all of them and its awesome but i'm bummed out because of the people that are leaving but i hear the people coming in are awesome people so thats exciting. We had a lesson with this lady names Cheryl and when we got there she had the BofM we gave her and her all marked up bible with another little book. She asked if she could pray and in her prayer she asked God if we would be able to see where we are wrong and why she is right. So we new we were in for it. Then she starts going off about one thing after another. Some things I haven't come across yet and it was intense. When she finished we took over and showed her up on a couple of things that she could only say well we can't comprehend God so basically we came back with everything that she threw at us except for one thing that she told us made Joseph Smith a false prophet because it never came true and I honestly had no clue what it was and she got out her little book called "Answers to your Mormon friends" and it had the false prophet thing. So it honestly stumped us so the next day in my personal study i studied it all out and apperantly the guy that wrote the book didn't get too into D&C and using foot notes and stuff because it only took me a couple of minutes to find everything and the prophecys wouldn't have come true yet because they were prophecied for just before the second coming so now we have something for her next time but we don't want it to be a bash. Well thats pretty much it for this last week. I still love Polyester ties and mail. Keep up the good work at home stay faithful. Until next time.
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
July 19th
Well, Well, Well... Where do I start. This past week has been so different than the first weeks and that is not a bad thing. I am glad to hear that you like to hear my stories because more and more I am feeling like i want to go into journalism when i get home maybe even go into a little bit of broadcasting so i could be on the news! I was talking to a non member guy i contacted a week ago and it sounds like something i would like to do. But back to the missionary work. So this last week Elder Faka'i got transfered. He was initially told that he was going to be follow up training a kid in a good area where they get to have a car but then on tuesday President gave us a call and told him he would be shot gunning him into an area (putting him and his companion into an area where neither the he or his companion have been yet) he would be training again, and would be the district leader of his district so that was different. He will be the man ha. So my new companion is named Elder Evans. He is from Oklahoma and has been out for about twenty months so they got us at opposite ends of the spectrum here. I was kind of nerveous because i was staying in this area so i would have to show him the area but its been easier than i expected. Its fun her in stockton. I finally feel comfortable being in this ward and the memeber, though they are few, are really strong and great! Its fun. So its funny how things work. With Elder Faka'i i learned a lot and everything but with my new companion I have been learning sooo much more. Before we did a lot of numbers things. Now we are concentrating more on finding new investigators, because we have none, and teaching which i am excited about because thats my weakest point. So this last week has been interesting. I am learning one thing currently. Not every companion is going to be my best friend. We get along great and everything but its just not a perfect match. Boy am i glad I'll be able to pick my wife, or she will pick me :/. Who knows ;). So one thing is changing in missionary work world wide. So ever since they raised the bar the amount of missionaries dropped a whole lot so as a result the number of baptisms have dropped just as well then Preach My Gospel came out and they went up a little but its kind of plateued. but the number of baptisms per missionary is way higher than before but still we could be better. So now we are getting new material on how to teach better. They have us concentrate a lot on converting people instead on just baptising. Trust me there is a difference. And so I am sooo excited because this week our zone leaders and district leader will be going up to the office for four days to get training then next week each zone will be having training from president. Also they are only doing interviews and Zone conferences only once a quarter instead of every transfer so thats kind of a bummer but its going to be good. I am soo excited to get some more material on teaching cuz that is one of my weakest points. So this last week we added a new investigator. His name is mark and he is a youth pastor for a baptist church so we started talking to him and i thought ahhh this isn't going to go good. Then we started teaching him and it totally changed. He started listening real good and eating it all up. Then my companion recited the first vision and then took about a minute pause and i looked at mark and he was looking up and tears were streaming from his eyes. He wiped the tears away and said you guys need to do what i do because that just hit me so hard right here (and he pointed to his chest) and my companion told him that it was the spirit and he said i know it was. So we left him a Book of Mormon and he said he would love to start reading from the begining and just study it so that was awesome then we said a prayer and after he was crying again and he said man what are you guys doing to me. I'm thirty five! So it was great. We invited him to come to church but he didn't come so when we go and teach him this week we are going to concentrate on the importance of church and so hopefully he will come and we will try and give him a date this week so we can firm him up. Its exciting. I pray it goes well. Its such a great thing for him. Satan sees it too so it will be a challange but if he wants it he will get it. So that was awesome. Its been great this week. So we are going to continue to try and find new investigators this week. We've made a goal of five so if we get that it will be awesome and at least one will be baptised. The night before we met Mark my district leader called us and we were talking and out of no where he just told me i have a feeling you are going to baptise this trasnfer. I can feel it too. We are working for it. Its great to hear all about home. I mailed my letter today with all my pictures. I just sent the memorry card so if you could get back asap that would be great. I have another one but i like to see the pictures so don't erase them! I also need another inhailor. I'm not dying but i do have Asthma. So yeah thats how everything is going. I've been slacking in writing in my journal but i'll make up for it. Well i love you all. Keep up the good work. Pray often. The Lord will bless you. I Promise it in his name. Well have a good evening.
Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
P.S. I need to know if Sam the guy i worked with at Steve's has gotten his mission call or not?! If he has let me know where. Love you all. I'm waiting in anticipation for the Ipod. Bye :)
July 26th
To start off i just want to say that the package was AMAZING to get. I was having a pretty bad day and almost didn't even check the mail because i just wanted to do our planning and then go to sleep but i did and it sure did brighten up my week! So I'll go through the week day by day. So after emailing on Monday we went and saw a couple of people and then i was about to have an accident in my pants (the nice way of putting it) so we rushed home and i made it just in time. Then on tuesday we went and helped some members in our ward move out into another ward. It was fun because they are really nice people and the Elder's that speak Laotion came and helped us as well and they are really cool and I'm pretty good friends with them. (They talked me into asking President if I can be switched to Laotion because President told them he wanted one more Lao elder so one could be in English work). Then we went and tried to see a bunch of people and we set up a couple of appointments for another time. Then at five we went to go see our new investigator, Mark, and see if we could teach him about. When we knocked some guy who had tattoos, which mark has as well, kind of looked around the corner then waved us off. So we were kind of bummed and thought maybe he wasn't interested or something. So we went and saw a less active family and they were really cool then at about six thirty we decided to try Mark one more time. So we stopped by and his Dad yelled us to "F" off so we started to walk away but then Mark came out and said "Hey!" so we went back and talked to him till like eight thirty and ended up finishing the whole first lesson and it was super spiritual again and he committed to start reading the Book of Mormon all the way through. He said his Dad took his copy and started reading it and he's almost done! So we gave him another one. He's 35 by the way. So that was awesome. Then we were going to pick up In n out on our way home and i was booking it there so we could get home by nine so i get there a
I'm not finished! i accidently pressed send!
and i look back and i don't see my companion anywhere so i start booking it back the way i came and i get to a long straight road and i don't even see him and so by now i'm tripping out thinking "Oh my Gosh! I am in so much trouble for leaving my companion" and then a car almost runs me over and then they honk at me and tell me to come over and I look and i see my companion sitting in a members car. He had gotten a flat and i ride significantly faster than him so he couldn't yell loud enough to tell me to wait. SO that was a thrill. We got a ride home and then ate dollar store food... So that was eventful. Then on Wednesday we went and fed this guys cats and it made me sick cuz we also had to change the litter... then we saw a whole lot of people. Had dinner with the Orihualla's and it was good. They made Enchiladas and they were real good but somehow my Mom still makes them better. And shes not even Mexican! Then we went and saw a less active family and at first he was real anoyed by us coming but then he wouldn't stop talking so we were almost late home. Then on Thursday we had full day of seeing potential investigators and seeing people that were former investigators and asked if they were now interested and we got a couple of returns so that was awesome. Then we had dinner with the Lincolns. Their family reminds me of ours because they have six kids, the oldest is eleven! It was funny because the dad would yell at someone then continue with the peacful conversation. He had an amazing conversion story but i don't have time to tell it so I'll write it down and send it home. Then we saw a lot of other people and it was real good. On friday we went and saw a lot of potentials again after our weekly planning session. Then we went and saw the Steeles a less active family and it was fun because they are twins and they are hilarious. One has a hurnea that is eight inches tall and five inches wide in the middle of his stumoch. His brother is about 350 pounds and has diabetes so they have trouble coming out to church but both have really strong testimonies and they are awesome. Then we tracted for a while and I love tracting. Seriously. It is a lot of fun. I am used to rejection from door to door sales so its fun to just talk with random people and i think thats when me and my companions, or whomever i'm with, bond the best cuz i talk a lot. Then we had to head home cuz it was getting late. Then on saturday we rode our bikes a whole bunch. We were on one side of our area seeing our bishop but he wasn't home then we got a call from Elder's in another ward who had an appointment for us so we had to bike to the other side of our area. We made it in like ten min it was amazing! I rode harder and faster than i ever have in my life! But he wasn't home... then we went and saw Mark again and wanted to give him a tour of the church so he'll be more comfortable and his car was there and everything but no one answered. So we tried calling but no one answered his Cell or house phone. So we were bummed out. So we put a card on his door and told him to come to church or give us a call to let us know if he is really interested. But he didn't show are call us. Then we went and saw a couple of other people and no one was home so we were getting more bummed. Then my companion got a flat tire so now it was just killing us. So we walked to the park where we had a ward party for pioneer day. It was fun but the activites committee leader yelled at us cuz we didn't know how to organize thirty kids into a bucket brigade. I barely even know what that is! So it wasn't that great. So i was pretty bummed. Then i got home and i went and checked the Mail and the package was there! So it was so awesome and came at just the right time. Then i ran into our sliding glass door and my companion laughed at me for like ten min. It was pretty funny. Then sunday we had a great church. My companion gave a great talk and all our classes were real enjoyable. Then today we played basketball for p-day. I was on fire! I drained a few threes and had some nice steels. It was fun. But i am tired. Dad told me one of his companions was a way hard worker but he played even harder so i try to do that every p day. Its fun. Well i'm all out of time. So here is a quote the Arnett family should adopt as theirs... "In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured!" President Hinckley. Also a funny joke i heard is "how do you get a dish washer to dig a ditch?" "Give the Woman a shovel!" It was funny. Good night
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
August 2nd
Well this last week sounded like an eventful one! It is always so nice to hear whats going on. Sometimes i feel like I'm still in Mesa but just in a different neighborhood but then i remember i'm not and its sad but hearing from home every week is always a nice cheer up time. Sorry I'm not really thinking too hard on saying so you might be seeing a lot of "cheer up time"s.
So I'm sorry for my stupid forgetful brain. I totally spaced on three birthdays so far! So here is my makes ups. Happy birthday Braden! I love you. Happy birthday dad I love you! And happy birthday Mom I love you!
There we go. I hope that makes up for it. So this last week was a weird week. It flew by so fast that its hard to distinguish which day was which. So i'll just tell about some of the really cool things that happened and about all the miracles!
So this week started out real good with Training from our Mission president James S. Jardine. I want you guys to google that name and see what you find because he is an amazing man. Forbes magazine did a thing on Utah and it named him the Third most powerful man in Utah. He is amazing. If he isn't a General Authority some day I'll be hecka surprised. The president of the seventy was here for some conference and one of the Assistants to the President met him and said Elder I need to tell you something. I have known President Jardine awhile. He is one of the finest men i know and the best Mission President out of all the mission presidents i know! He said it was awesome to hear that. President Monson personally set him apart and they are good friends. So thats how amazing my mission president is. So we had training from him this week and it was spectacular! We learned more on how to teach with the spirit more and how to let the spirit work through us. We also went over the doctrine of Christ and it was very uplifting and motivating to hear the words straight from Christ on what people need to do to make it! So that was wonderful. Also at the training he interviewed everyone who was in their first or second transfer and their companions and he said he was really proud of the way I've started off and then he told me that the Elder who was trying to contact his brother found out that Brock Allen is in deed his brother and they are corresponding right now. I don't know if thats true but if you could check on that and confirm that would be great! If it is then WOW! What a miraculous story. I might have to make that the first book i write! That would be awesome. So this week we worked a lot on talking to everyone we see because that was something we had been slacking on because me being new and my companion really isn't much of a people person. Trust me he isn't. So we worked on that and we received some amazing blessings. We were promised that if we started doing everything we could to find people to teach the Lord would bless us in some way, maybe not through contacting or tracting but somehow we would see blessings and we did! So on friday night we switched up companions for and exchange and i went with Elder Harrol who is a lot of fun to go out with because he is so intense with everything its awesome. So we went out worked a bunch. Then we got a call from my companion, Elder Evans, and he said he found a super golden part member family who want to be baptized so i was super excited and couldn't wait till night time to switch back up and talk about it. So i get home and he tells me the story and this is it. In my words of course. So Elder Evans and Elder Carlson, who is a super cool guy, go out in the morning and start seeing a couple of people. They end up going to see one of our former investigators who flaked out on us earlier in the week. They talked to him and set up another appointment then the guys dad wanted to talk with them. So they talked to his dad and the guy was throwing one anti thing at them after another and so they were somewhat bashing with him. Then a guy drives by and says hi to them and drives off. About twenty min to a half hour later the guy came back and waited for them to finish talking to the guy and when they did he waved them over and they got to talking. So now i take a step away from that story and tell the story of Jim and Julie Jordan. Julie is a way less active member of the church. Jim is a bald plumber with tatoos and a fatty goat t. Him and his two daughters Mckenna and Mckayla (12 and 10) met with the missionaries two years previous and were set up to get baptized but Jim was on parol so he couldn't get baptized cuz thats the rules. So the missionaries for some stupid reason stopped seeing then. Then on saturday he was driving down the road and saw two elders and had a strong impression to stop and talk to them but he decided if they were still there when he got back from the store he would. So he comes back twenty min later and sure enough they are still there. So he waits for them. So they talk and Jim has them come over at 11:30. So Elder Evans and Elder Carlson get there and meet the wife and she is super skinny and is sick and she asks them for a blessing so they give her one and talk to Jim and find out his whole story. So they talk for a little while and then they invite them to church the next day. So yesterday we go over there at about 10 cuz our church starts at 11 and see if they're really going to come. So we show up and the wife is still in her pjs and so we are super dissapointed. Then she takes us out back to where Jim is in just his jeans fixing his water line which exploded on him. He said it was made with air condition pipe not even plumbing pipe. He's a plumber so its not a big deal but by they time he finishes its ten thirty and we realized church just wasn't going to happen. So we talk to them for a little while and then Jim out of the blue just says "so what all needs to happen for me and my daughters to get baptized?" We told him we had to teach them all the lessons and they had to come to church three times then they could be baptized so he said ok we promise we'll be at church next week and you guys are comin on thursday so what should we study in the book of Mormon till then. They read from the book of mormon every night as a family and have family home evening each week! Its awesome. So they are super Legit. They won't be baptized this transfer which means i'll probably be gone but they will be baptized and thats what counts! So that was a miracle. Also Elder Carlson and Elder Evans got in to see Mark our investigator who we havn't seen for a week and a half and he accepted a baptismal date of the twenty first but he couldn't make it to church so it will be the 28th but he is super awesome too! So the miracles just kept coming. I am so thankful for the many blessings we received this week. I know that when we are obedient to even the things that seem like they don't matter we are blessed sooo much! So one more thing. I'll describe my companion real quick. So all the Arnetts will totally understand this one too. So you know how we are all really funny. Well i'm not going to lie i am pretty funny. Well along with that we all know that there are those people who aren't funny. But they see us being funny and they say "Hey they are funny. I want to be funny too" So they try to do something that is funny and they make sure everyone sees it even if they have to yell out to get everyones attention. Well that is Elder Evans. He tries. So yeah just something to think about. I love you all! Everyone who reads these emails rock!
Love,
Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
August 9th
Well this week sure sounded exciting! Its a lot of fun reading about all the sunburns. I can just imagine how bad i would be getting them. My shins have now turned he same white as my thighs and trust me that is white! But it seems like everyone is having a lot of fun at home :). The pool party must have been a blast and I'm sure David impressed everyone with his awesome moves. Christiaan told me all about them!
So this last week was great! I'm having a little bit of memory loss so i might not get everything in that was exciting this week but i'll work hard to remember everything. So after emailing last week we went out and talked to as many people on the street as we could. For some reason more people are out on monday nights than any other night of the week... go figure. Then on tuesday we went and saw a bunch of people and then went and saw our investigator mark. It was great. We taught the whole second lesson which is the Plan of Salvation and he soaked it all up! He really did love it. He said in his mind it stopped at the spirit world but when we told him the rest he said i made since in his mind and he feels like its way more complete in his head. Then at night we switched up companions and i went with my District Leader Elder Carlson from Utah. He is a super cool guy and we get along great and are way good friends now so it was an awesome exchange. On Wednesday i was still with Elder Carlson and it was a lot of fun. We just talked the whole day away while doing a butt load of missionary work! It was a lot of fun and he's coming to my area this week so its going to be another blast! Then at night we went to In N Out which is in my area so that was awesome cuz its only in three areas in our whole mission. I go there a lot. Then on thursday we had an awesome District meeting where the Zone Leaders said something the liked and admired about each person in the zone and it was real cool and made you feel real good inside. Then they and the two District leaders dressed up all funky, got a fog machine and strobe lights and had us go into a room where we played some way fun but weird games. The point was to show us that doing missionary work isn't as weird as doing what we were doing ha. We played a game where you could on ask questions. Someone would ask a question then you'd have to ask one back. It was fun. I was the King of the Question and i only lost once because i made a statement that had a how in it but technically wasn't a question so they could only dethrone me through technicalities. It was fun. I was good at because I'm real weird and can think of random things on the spot. Its my immagination station! Then we went out and did a lot of missionary work but really we didn't do much cuz no one was home and a bunch of appointments flaked so it was kind of a lame day but the District meeting made it a great day! Then on Friday we had a wonderful weekly planning session so i'm pumped up for this next week! Then we went to In N Out again with the Zone Leaders cuz they owed us lunch because we got more contacts than them then we had a mini exchange where Elder Marrot one of our ZL's came to my area. It was a lot of fun because he was in the same area only a year ago so it was great because he remembered everyone and a lot of the area. Then we met back up and went to sleep. Then saturday was a real rough day. It was hot and no one was home all day long. All the people we had appointments with called us and told us they were busy that day so we had to plan on the spot a bunch of things and so the whole day was just kind of stressful. A highlight was when we saw Mark and wanted to see if he was really reading the BofM and so we asked him where he was at and he told us he didn't know so we were freaking out then he brought it out and he had gotten half way to alma but started over cuz he was confused and now he's already in mosiah so we were excited! He had some great questions we got to answer which was a lot of fun. Then we ended the day eating Macaroni and cheese at home :). Then sunday rolled around... none of our investigators came to church... We were super bummed out but we well at least I got over it and went on. I practiced with the Ward Choir cuz they have like six people in it. Imagine our wards without and rays hintons hitchcocks or petramalos and then you get this wards... so it was fun. Classes were awesome and I love priesthood because of Elders Quarum pres is way cool and tries to apply it to not married guy along with the married ones. Then we taught a lesson to a guy named Jake who had more health problems than i have ever heard of. And yes mom i have heard of a lot. But it was real good and i think he's going to be solid. Then we had a really good blitz in the Sisters ward. Our sisters rock! They are real good missionaries. Then we went home and i read butt load of ensigns. Not being able to read normal stuff is killing me! But oh well. Today was way awesome. We went with another zone to a thing called a ropes course. They strap you in a harness and then put a rope on you and you climb like electric poles and stuff and walk on real high beams and its scary then there was a tall pole with a plat form you jump off of and grab onto a trapeez thing and hang there then you fall with the rope and its super fun. I did everything even though i was very scared. Don't worry i got pictures and a video of me jump from the platform! So that was a lot of fun. This past week flew by so fast and they next couple are going to be awesome! I loved the package from home! I must admit though that the Yellow Bag beef jerky is better... but just a side note. Yes Mom the tie sure is beautiful. Don't worry i got a picture in it so you can see how ridiculously good looking i am in it. So yeah i love hearing all the fun things from home. I don't know if there is anything i need to report on. I'm not sick. I have been taking claritan to keep a cold that is trying to come on me but its stayed away so far so I'm lucky. I'm doing pretty good actually. The time is flying by and I'm having a lot of fun. My testimony grows so much each week and I am understanding more and more each day how much religion and life should not be separate in our lives. Its hard but its definitally worth it. Well i hope you all are doing well. I would love to hear from everyone in the family sometime. emails are great but letters are even better. I still want the weekly email mom its nice. But brothers and sisters you are given permission to write me letters. Sorry i haven't written you back yet dad, but i did love the letter. It brought back great memories. Well have a nice day :) Smile
Love,
Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
August 16th
So to start off i just want to say that I am extremely sorry but i can't really write today... My companion went to a thing with the mission president and a bunch of other missionaries that are going home in the next three months... so i had to go with another companionship, Elder Carlson and Elder Harrol. Its ok because i love elder carlson and we are real good friends already. So yeah when i got to them they had already emailed and my companion doesn't get home till five thirty and we have an appointment for fhe with our investigating family so i won't have a chance to email. I'm just quickly jumping on the computer at their appartment office. So sorry about the lack of a letter this week. And i won't be emailing till tuesday next week because its transfers. So yeah i hope ya'll don't freak out!
July 26th
To start off i just want to say that the package was AMAZING to get. I was having a pretty bad day and almost didn't even check the mail because i just wanted to do our planning and then go to sleep but i did and it sure did brighten up my week! So I'll go through the week day by day. So after emailing on Monday we went and saw a couple of people and then i was about to have an accident in my pants (the nice way of putting it) so we rushed home and i made it just in time. Then on tuesday we went and helped some members in our ward move out into another ward. It was fun because they are really nice people and the Elder's that speak Laotion came and helped us as well and they are really cool and I'm pretty good friends with them. (They talked me into asking President if I can be switched to Laotion because President told them he wanted one more Lao elder so one could be in English work). Then we went and tried to see a bunch of people and we set up a couple of appointments for another time. Then at five we went to go see our new investigator, Mark, and see if we could teach him about. When we knocked some guy who had tattoos, which mark has as well, kind of looked around the corner then waved us off. So we were kind of bummed and thought maybe he wasn't interested or something. So we went and saw a less active family and they were really cool then at about six thirty we decided to try Mark one more time. So we stopped by and his Dad yelled us to "F" off so we started to walk away but then Mark came out and said "Hey!" so we went back and talked to him till like eight thirty and ended up finishing the whole first lesson and it was super spiritual again and he committed to start reading the Book of Mormon all the way through. He said his Dad took his copy and started reading it and he's almost done! So we gave him another one. He's 35 by the way. So that was awesome. Then we were going to pick up In n out on our way home and i was booking it there so we could get home by nine so i get there a
I'm not finished! i accidently pressed send!
and i look back and i don't see my companion anywhere so i start booking it back the way i came and i get to a long straight road and i don't even see him and so by now i'm tripping out thinking "Oh my Gosh! I am in so much trouble for leaving my companion" and then a car almost runs me over and then they honk at me and tell me to come over and I look and i see my companion sitting in a members car. He had gotten a flat and i ride significantly faster than him so he couldn't yell loud enough to tell me to wait. SO that was a thrill. We got a ride home and then ate dollar store food... So that was eventful. Then on Wednesday we went and fed this guys cats and it made me sick cuz we also had to change the litter... then we saw a whole lot of people. Had dinner with the Orihualla's and it was good. They made Enchiladas and they were real good but somehow my Mom still makes them better. And shes not even Mexican! Then we went and saw a less active family and at first he was real anoyed by us coming but then he wouldn't stop talking so we were almost late home. Then on Thursday we had full day of seeing potential investigators and seeing people that were former investigators and asked if they were now interested and we got a couple of returns so that was awesome. Then we had dinner with the Lincolns. Their family reminds me of ours because they have six kids, the oldest is eleven! It was funny because the dad would yell at someone then continue with the peacful conversation. He had an amazing conversion story but i don't have time to tell it so I'll write it down and send it home. Then we saw a lot of other people and it was real good. On friday we went and saw a lot of potentials again after our weekly planning session. Then we went and saw the Steeles a less active family and it was fun because they are twins and they are hilarious. One has a hurnea that is eight inches tall and five inches wide in the middle of his stumoch. His brother is about 350 pounds and has diabetes so they have trouble coming out to church but both have really strong testimonies and they are awesome. Then we tracted for a while and I love tracting. Seriously. It is a lot of fun. I am used to rejection from door to door sales so its fun to just talk with random people and i think thats when me and my companions, or whomever i'm with, bond the best cuz i talk a lot. Then we had to head home cuz it was getting late. Then on saturday we rode our bikes a whole bunch. We were on one side of our area seeing our bishop but he wasn't home then we got a call from Elder's in another ward who had an appointment for us so we had to bike to the other side of our area. We made it in like ten min it was amazing! I rode harder and faster than i ever have in my life! But he wasn't home... then we went and saw Mark again and wanted to give him a tour of the church so he'll be more comfortable and his car was there and everything but no one answered. So we tried calling but no one answered his Cell or house phone. So we were bummed out. So we put a card on his door and told him to come to church or give us a call to let us know if he is really interested. But he didn't show are call us. Then we went and saw a couple of other people and no one was home so we were getting more bummed. Then my companion got a flat tire so now it was just killing us. So we walked to the park where we had a ward party for pioneer day. It was fun but the activites committee leader yelled at us cuz we didn't know how to organize thirty kids into a bucket brigade. I barely even know what that is! So it wasn't that great. So i was pretty bummed. Then i got home and i went and checked the Mail and the package was there! So it was so awesome and came at just the right time. Then i ran into our sliding glass door and my companion laughed at me for like ten min. It was pretty funny. Then sunday we had a great church. My companion gave a great talk and all our classes were real enjoyable. Then today we played basketball for p-day. I was on fire! I drained a few threes and had some nice steels. It was fun. But i am tired. Dad told me one of his companions was a way hard worker but he played even harder so i try to do that every p day. Its fun. Well i'm all out of time. So here is a quote the Arnett family should adopt as theirs... "In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured!" President Hinckley. Also a funny joke i heard is "how do you get a dish washer to dig a ditch?" "Give the Woman a shovel!" It was funny. Good night
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
August 2nd
Well this last week sounded like an eventful one! It is always so nice to hear whats going on. Sometimes i feel like I'm still in Mesa but just in a different neighborhood but then i remember i'm not and its sad but hearing from home every week is always a nice cheer up time. Sorry I'm not really thinking too hard on saying so you might be seeing a lot of "cheer up time"s.
So I'm sorry for my stupid forgetful brain. I totally spaced on three birthdays so far! So here is my makes ups. Happy birthday Braden! I love you. Happy birthday dad I love you! And happy birthday Mom I love you!
There we go. I hope that makes up for it. So this last week was a weird week. It flew by so fast that its hard to distinguish which day was which. So i'll just tell about some of the really cool things that happened and about all the miracles!
So this week started out real good with Training from our Mission president James S. Jardine. I want you guys to google that name and see what you find because he is an amazing man. Forbes magazine did a thing on Utah and it named him the Third most powerful man in Utah. He is amazing. If he isn't a General Authority some day I'll be hecka surprised. The president of the seventy was here for some conference and one of the Assistants to the President met him and said Elder I need to tell you something. I have known President Jardine awhile. He is one of the finest men i know and the best Mission President out of all the mission presidents i know! He said it was awesome to hear that. President Monson personally set him apart and they are good friends. So thats how amazing my mission president is. So we had training from him this week and it was spectacular! We learned more on how to teach with the spirit more and how to let the spirit work through us. We also went over the doctrine of Christ and it was very uplifting and motivating to hear the words straight from Christ on what people need to do to make it! So that was wonderful. Also at the training he interviewed everyone who was in their first or second transfer and their companions and he said he was really proud of the way I've started off and then he told me that the Elder who was trying to contact his brother found out that Brock Allen is in deed his brother and they are corresponding right now. I don't know if thats true but if you could check on that and confirm that would be great! If it is then WOW! What a miraculous story. I might have to make that the first book i write! That would be awesome. So this week we worked a lot on talking to everyone we see because that was something we had been slacking on because me being new and my companion really isn't much of a people person. Trust me he isn't. So we worked on that and we received some amazing blessings. We were promised that if we started doing everything we could to find people to teach the Lord would bless us in some way, maybe not through contacting or tracting but somehow we would see blessings and we did! So on friday night we switched up companions for and exchange and i went with Elder Harrol who is a lot of fun to go out with because he is so intense with everything its awesome. So we went out worked a bunch. Then we got a call from my companion, Elder Evans, and he said he found a super golden part member family who want to be baptized so i was super excited and couldn't wait till night time to switch back up and talk about it. So i get home and he tells me the story and this is it. In my words of course. So Elder Evans and Elder Carlson, who is a super cool guy, go out in the morning and start seeing a couple of people. They end up going to see one of our former investigators who flaked out on us earlier in the week. They talked to him and set up another appointment then the guys dad wanted to talk with them. So they talked to his dad and the guy was throwing one anti thing at them after another and so they were somewhat bashing with him. Then a guy drives by and says hi to them and drives off. About twenty min to a half hour later the guy came back and waited for them to finish talking to the guy and when they did he waved them over and they got to talking. So now i take a step away from that story and tell the story of Jim and Julie Jordan. Julie is a way less active member of the church. Jim is a bald plumber with tatoos and a fatty goat t. Him and his two daughters Mckenna and Mckayla (12 and 10) met with the missionaries two years previous and were set up to get baptized but Jim was on parol so he couldn't get baptized cuz thats the rules. So the missionaries for some stupid reason stopped seeing then. Then on saturday he was driving down the road and saw two elders and had a strong impression to stop and talk to them but he decided if they were still there when he got back from the store he would. So he comes back twenty min later and sure enough they are still there. So he waits for them. So they talk and Jim has them come over at 11:30. So Elder Evans and Elder Carlson get there and meet the wife and she is super skinny and is sick and she asks them for a blessing so they give her one and talk to Jim and find out his whole story. So they talk for a little while and then they invite them to church the next day. So yesterday we go over there at about 10 cuz our church starts at 11 and see if they're really going to come. So we show up and the wife is still in her pjs and so we are super dissapointed. Then she takes us out back to where Jim is in just his jeans fixing his water line which exploded on him. He said it was made with air condition pipe not even plumbing pipe. He's a plumber so its not a big deal but by they time he finishes its ten thirty and we realized church just wasn't going to happen. So we talk to them for a little while and then Jim out of the blue just says "so what all needs to happen for me and my daughters to get baptized?" We told him we had to teach them all the lessons and they had to come to church three times then they could be baptized so he said ok we promise we'll be at church next week and you guys are comin on thursday so what should we study in the book of Mormon till then. They read from the book of mormon every night as a family and have family home evening each week! Its awesome. So they are super Legit. They won't be baptized this transfer which means i'll probably be gone but they will be baptized and thats what counts! So that was a miracle. Also Elder Carlson and Elder Evans got in to see Mark our investigator who we havn't seen for a week and a half and he accepted a baptismal date of the twenty first but he couldn't make it to church so it will be the 28th but he is super awesome too! So the miracles just kept coming. I am so thankful for the many blessings we received this week. I know that when we are obedient to even the things that seem like they don't matter we are blessed sooo much! So one more thing. I'll describe my companion real quick. So all the Arnetts will totally understand this one too. So you know how we are all really funny. Well i'm not going to lie i am pretty funny. Well along with that we all know that there are those people who aren't funny. But they see us being funny and they say "Hey they are funny. I want to be funny too" So they try to do something that is funny and they make sure everyone sees it even if they have to yell out to get everyones attention. Well that is Elder Evans. He tries. So yeah just something to think about. I love you all! Everyone who reads these emails rock!
Love,
Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
August 9th
Well this week sure sounded exciting! Its a lot of fun reading about all the sunburns. I can just imagine how bad i would be getting them. My shins have now turned he same white as my thighs and trust me that is white! But it seems like everyone is having a lot of fun at home :). The pool party must have been a blast and I'm sure David impressed everyone with his awesome moves. Christiaan told me all about them!
So this last week was great! I'm having a little bit of memory loss so i might not get everything in that was exciting this week but i'll work hard to remember everything. So after emailing last week we went out and talked to as many people on the street as we could. For some reason more people are out on monday nights than any other night of the week... go figure. Then on tuesday we went and saw a bunch of people and then went and saw our investigator mark. It was great. We taught the whole second lesson which is the Plan of Salvation and he soaked it all up! He really did love it. He said in his mind it stopped at the spirit world but when we told him the rest he said i made since in his mind and he feels like its way more complete in his head. Then at night we switched up companions and i went with my District Leader Elder Carlson from Utah. He is a super cool guy and we get along great and are way good friends now so it was an awesome exchange. On Wednesday i was still with Elder Carlson and it was a lot of fun. We just talked the whole day away while doing a butt load of missionary work! It was a lot of fun and he's coming to my area this week so its going to be another blast! Then at night we went to In N Out which is in my area so that was awesome cuz its only in three areas in our whole mission. I go there a lot. Then on thursday we had an awesome District meeting where the Zone Leaders said something the liked and admired about each person in the zone and it was real cool and made you feel real good inside. Then they and the two District leaders dressed up all funky, got a fog machine and strobe lights and had us go into a room where we played some way fun but weird games. The point was to show us that doing missionary work isn't as weird as doing what we were doing ha. We played a game where you could on ask questions. Someone would ask a question then you'd have to ask one back. It was fun. I was the King of the Question and i only lost once because i made a statement that had a how in it but technically wasn't a question so they could only dethrone me through technicalities. It was fun. I was good at because I'm real weird and can think of random things on the spot. Its my immagination station! Then we went out and did a lot of missionary work but really we didn't do much cuz no one was home and a bunch of appointments flaked so it was kind of a lame day but the District meeting made it a great day! Then on Friday we had a wonderful weekly planning session so i'm pumped up for this next week! Then we went to In N Out again with the Zone Leaders cuz they owed us lunch because we got more contacts than them then we had a mini exchange where Elder Marrot one of our ZL's came to my area. It was a lot of fun because he was in the same area only a year ago so it was great because he remembered everyone and a lot of the area. Then we met back up and went to sleep. Then saturday was a real rough day. It was hot and no one was home all day long. All the people we had appointments with called us and told us they were busy that day so we had to plan on the spot a bunch of things and so the whole day was just kind of stressful. A highlight was when we saw Mark and wanted to see if he was really reading the BofM and so we asked him where he was at and he told us he didn't know so we were freaking out then he brought it out and he had gotten half way to alma but started over cuz he was confused and now he's already in mosiah so we were excited! He had some great questions we got to answer which was a lot of fun. Then we ended the day eating Macaroni and cheese at home :). Then sunday rolled around... none of our investigators came to church... We were super bummed out but we well at least I got over it and went on. I practiced with the Ward Choir cuz they have like six people in it. Imagine our wards without and rays hintons hitchcocks or petramalos and then you get this wards... so it was fun. Classes were awesome and I love priesthood because of Elders Quarum pres is way cool and tries to apply it to not married guy along with the married ones. Then we taught a lesson to a guy named Jake who had more health problems than i have ever heard of. And yes mom i have heard of a lot. But it was real good and i think he's going to be solid. Then we had a really good blitz in the Sisters ward. Our sisters rock! They are real good missionaries. Then we went home and i read butt load of ensigns. Not being able to read normal stuff is killing me! But oh well. Today was way awesome. We went with another zone to a thing called a ropes course. They strap you in a harness and then put a rope on you and you climb like electric poles and stuff and walk on real high beams and its scary then there was a tall pole with a plat form you jump off of and grab onto a trapeez thing and hang there then you fall with the rope and its super fun. I did everything even though i was very scared. Don't worry i got pictures and a video of me jump from the platform! So that was a lot of fun. This past week flew by so fast and they next couple are going to be awesome! I loved the package from home! I must admit though that the Yellow Bag beef jerky is better... but just a side note. Yes Mom the tie sure is beautiful. Don't worry i got a picture in it so you can see how ridiculously good looking i am in it. So yeah i love hearing all the fun things from home. I don't know if there is anything i need to report on. I'm not sick. I have been taking claritan to keep a cold that is trying to come on me but its stayed away so far so I'm lucky. I'm doing pretty good actually. The time is flying by and I'm having a lot of fun. My testimony grows so much each week and I am understanding more and more each day how much religion and life should not be separate in our lives. Its hard but its definitally worth it. Well i hope you all are doing well. I would love to hear from everyone in the family sometime. emails are great but letters are even better. I still want the weekly email mom its nice. But brothers and sisters you are given permission to write me letters. Sorry i haven't written you back yet dad, but i did love the letter. It brought back great memories. Well have a nice day :) Smile
Love,
Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
August 16th
So to start off i just want to say that I am extremely sorry but i can't really write today... My companion went to a thing with the mission president and a bunch of other missionaries that are going home in the next three months... so i had to go with another companionship, Elder Carlson and Elder Harrol. Its ok because i love elder carlson and we are real good friends already. So yeah when i got to them they had already emailed and my companion doesn't get home till five thirty and we have an appointment for fhe with our investigating family so i won't have a chance to email. I'm just quickly jumping on the computer at their appartment office. So sorry about the lack of a letter this week. And i won't be emailing till tuesday next week because its transfers. So yeah i hope ya'll don't freak out!
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