November 29th 2010
Wow Mother it sounds like you all had a great shopping day on black Friday. I wish I could have been there to enjoy in the sitting in long lines and fighting off people and stabbing legs. I can't believe you would resort to that. Just kidding. That didn't happen. But I imagined it did. I do remember that Chandler kid. I think. He was a cool kid.
So Thanksgiving was a blast. We went shopping in the morning after emailing. It was so nice going to Wal-Mart again. Oh how I have missed it. We got some needed food but were mindful of the short weekend till today so we didn't get too much. I forgot to make my Christmas cards but I will remember today. I can make them right there and print them out myself so that is exciting. After shopping we went over to our ward mission leader’s house he had invited us over but his wife wouldn't feed us. She said if she had invited us over for dinner and we showed up after just eating somewhere else an hour before she would be pissed and they would have been the somewhere else so we ended up just hanging out there for about an hour with Brother Roberts (the ward mission leader). He took us on a tour of his back yard and it was amazing. Talk about the Garden of Eden. It went down on a slope with a few ledges to sit and stuff all the way down to a creek. It was really cool. It had a lot of trees and bushes but most of the flowers had frozen and died so I guess it wasn't as pretty as normal, but I thought it was still amazing. Then we just talked for a while. After their house we went over to the Hansen’s at two for dinner. I was nervous because I thought I would be hungry later but I did stuff myself enough that surprisingly I didn't eat till the next morning. We had a wonderful traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I usually don't like turkey but it was really good. They had a lot of stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy. It was great. There were a lot of people there though. It was their whole family. So about five kids and each kid had about 5 of their own so it was a good sized shin dig. Brother Hansen made some really good pomegranate grape 7-up punch. He grew the pomegranates and the grapes himself. Everyone in northern California has a garden. I will plant one when I get home. It was delicious punch though and he gave us some grape juice to take home and a bag full of home grown kiwis. It was a delightful afternoon. We left their about five and went over and saw Karey. It was a good time with him. His speech has improved sooo much but they told him that he wouldn't be getting his feeding tube in his stomach or the tube in his throat out until at least Jan. 20. So he was super bummed but we talked a lot about his past work experience. He actually started out as a plumber but is now a General Contractor. Well not anymore but he was. He has a full shop with every tool imaginable out back and he has a full work out gym. Even with his accident he is still working out. It’s amazing. He can still rep 225 in bench and he said his max is about 350. It’s a miracle he is using his arms let alone lifting that much. After Karey's house we decided to go visit one of the bishops in our area and thank him for all that he does with us. He was super nice and invited us in for a bit. We ended up playing pool with him his son and his wife from 6 to just before 9. It was a lot of fun. I took President Jardine's challenge and was totally myself. They probably think I’m the weirdest kid in the world but good thing I’m the good kind of weird. If there is one... It really was an enjoyable evening. Then Friday we just went out and saw a bunch of people. Not much went on. We have been stressing tracting lately which usually isn't too effective but we seek inspiration for where exactly God wants us to go and we have seen soo many miracles from it. We found a guy Friday night who let us in cuz it was cold. He wants us to come back because he thinks his wife would love us coming over. They are old. It was awesome.
On Saturday we had an interesting day. Instead of studying right away we went over to Brother Roberts’s house and discussed the work we had been doing the past couple of days. He is a great guy and it was a good time speaking about the missionary work in his ward. After that we went to the church to check out the wards missionary supplies and they were all way out dated. Like things from the 80s. It was funny. I got a packet of the discussions and I have gone through them a little bit. They are so different than how we teach now. Then we went and made our progress record that we email to the bishops and ward mission leaders and ward missionaries in our area. Then we finally came home at 11 to study. After lunch we went to see a few people that live in upcountry. We also wanted to see more snow. They had sooo much snow up there! Like 2 feet everywhere except on the roads. And it’s a good thing because we drive a corolla. But it’s nice. President wanted me to start driving so I could get to know the area better. So since Friday I have been driving. It was fun driving in the snow but it sucks driving in the rain at night on windey country roads. But it is a thrill. It’s a lot more fun with me driving anyways. I'm sure Ellie, Hayley, Braden, and Porter all know what I'm talking about. I get places on time and with a thrill. I don't speed but I know how to drive. So that was fun up there. We went to a member’s house to visit them at 7 and we were going to go home at 8 for dinner but they were just sitting down to dinner and they wanted us to stay. They have a big family of 7 kids so the mom is used to cooking for a lot of people but most of them are gone and married so she had cooked the normal amount but not enough people so it was perfect we showed up. We had roast and stuff like that. It was awesome. They were super funny and cool so it was a great night. When we got home Elder Bowmon threw up and was up till 2:30 throwing up so he most certainly was sick! I slept good though. He came with us to church but then we left him with an old guy to rest while we went out and worked. After tracting we went and visited a crazy old lady. Then we had dinner with the other bishop in our area. It was a fantastic time. They made sweet pork burros from Cafe Rio so that was good. The bishop is only 29! He is super young and cool but mature and understands the importance of his calling. We talked a lot about our families and how they are probably going to be crazy parents at their kids sporting events. I told them about dad getting kicked out of my Junior High football game. They got a kick out of that. I also told them about his fuzzy pink shorts he used to wear and how he dances real good all the time. They both said they want to drive down there just to meet him. It was real funny. Later that night elder bowman called the mission nurse and she said it was probably a bug that will go through our whole apartment so you can guess what I’m buying today when we go shopping. Lysol! So I can kill the poop germs.
I really like the work up here in the hills. All the members are super cool and nice. It’s a lot of fun being up here. I love being a missionary. It’s a one of a kind experience you can't get anywhere else. It’s always a lot of fun even when things are tough and people are being rude and things just aren't going your way. It is definitely true that we will not be tempted above that which we are able to handle and that the Lord provides a way for everything. If we keep that in our minds and have faith we will never fail. I miss everyone so much. I love you all. Until next week,
Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
Oh yeah and I did get the package like a week and a half ago. Thanks so much it is great. We have been scarffing the delicious goodies all day every day.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Elder Arnett's First Mission Thanksgiving
November 25th 2010
Man I could have sworn his name was Pete. Oh well. It sounds like today is going to be a lot of fun. I'm sad I am missing out on all the fun things that are going on. I truly wish I could go to the movies with you all... I miss movies. Every time there is a TV on in the house I am just glued to it until I realize that’s bad. But today should be fun. We have a couple of fun things going on so it should be a fine and dandy day. So I was completely wrong on where I was going to be transferred to. I am in the Jackson and Ione wards. Our area covers all of Amador County. The biggest town is Jackson but it doesn't have very many people in it. Then Ione is an ok size, but the rest of the towns have smaller populations than Mountain View. So it’s been fun getting used to the slowed down small town life style. On a side note, I'm having trouble typing right now because of the shivering from the cold. It has been in the forties all week and sometimes even drops down to the 30's at night. I think the highest it’s gotten since I have been here is like 52. So it’s been cold. We live in a small town called Sutter Creek, where I believe Sutter's Mill is and that’s where the California gold rush started! So it’s a fun place to be. We live in some pretty nice apartments but they are undergoing a lot on renovations because when they originally built them they paid of the inspector so nothing was up to code but now they got caught so they have to fix everything. A couple of weeks ago my companions had to stay in a hotel for 10 days so they could do something. We live on the third floor but its not bad walking up every day. The address is 1 Pine Woods Ln, I don't know the zip code but it is in Sutter Creek, CA. So when you picture California you definitely do not picture Amador County. There are cows everywhere. Oh and I was totally wrong with the Hills thing. So being from Arizona there really aren't hills. Its desert, city, or mountains. But out here there really are hills. It’s really pretty. And from parts of our area we can look out over pretty much the whole mission and can even see the sky scrapers in Sacramento. It’s real neat. The people up here are awesome. All the members are super nice. It’s a lot of fun being up here. It’s tough though cuz your completely isolated from the rest of the mission so you don't know what’s going on with things and it’s real easy to be disobedient, but President Jardine said he put me here because he knows I'm obedient so that was awesome to hear from him. He also said he put me here because work with the members is very important and you have to get to know them good and gain their trust so they want to work with you and he thinks that I am a people person and people like me anyways so that was also a nice thing to hear as well. I try to get people to like me so I guess its working. We had interviews yesterday and he told me to pray for help in getting to know the members because at the end of the transfer he wants to transfer one of my companions out, who has been here for 6 months, and make me a senior companion so I have to know what’s going down and stuff. So I am going to work hard to not disappoint him.
So my two companions... ones name is Elder Bowmon from upstate New York, we get a long pretty good. My other companion is Elder Brantley from North Carolina.
So it’s been a fun week. We are working with a lot of really cool people. We have a family who is working towards baptism and a couple of other people who are really nice and have a strong desire. It’s been sort of hard because being so close to thanksgiving everyone is extremely busy and they all have family in town but we have found things to do and people to see to keep working diligently.
Today we have a real exciting day. It’s an all day P-day because honestly who wants someone knocking on their door at six at night on Thanksgiving. I most certainly do not. So we get the whole night off as well. Today we have two families we’re eating with. One of them we will eat at one and the other we will go over and eat at two. So that will be fun and fattening. We will probably see a few members and just hang out with them with hopes of hitting maybe a third dinner. Our mission president limits us to only three dinners on Thanksgiving. Now you may be thinking, "how in the world could someone eat that much?!" but you have to understand that we have a lot of Polynesians in our mission and your always hungry as a missionary. So that will be a lot of fun. We also get to go shopping. We do have a Wal-mart in our area so that will be amazing because I love Wal-mart. So we will shop as well. Also today we have plans to go see a special investigator today. So normally we wouldn't go out and see people in the middle of p day but this guy is different. He is forty five and lives at home with his mom... and I will tell you why. About five months ago he fell off of a two story scaffolding and landed on his head. He broke his neck and back and it’s a miracle that he's even alive. The bigger miracle is that he is not paralyzed. He took a lot of brain damage so he has had to re-learn how to walk and use his hands and stuff. He has a tube in his throat still making it so he can breathe and he is eating through a feeding tube in his stomach but he can sit up and move around and stuff so he has progressed amazingly. Now he is just working on getting his double vision fixed and also learning how to swallow again. That’s been the toughest part for him. His mom is a member and she is taking care of him and he has recently shown interest in the church so we go over and teach him. He is all there inside his head but he is still trying to re-learn how to speak and since the tube is in his throat and he doesn't know how to use his vocal chords he has to breathe out real hard and make shapes with his mouth to form words and sounds so it’s been sort of hard to communicate but it’s been an amazing blessing to meet him. He has strengthened my testimony so much. Well since he has the tube in his throat he can get sick from people real easy so his mom will not allow anyone to come over but doctors and us. And she won't leave him so she isn't going anywhere. And since he can't eat she doesn't want to cook a bunch of food so we are going to go over today with a nice get well card and we will probably watch a church movie. So all three of us are excited for that today.
So we have a nice full busy Thanksgiving day. It will be a lot of fun. I'm real sad I can't play football. I mean we are allowed to but we don't know of any games going on and we got so much going on we don't have time to go play. We haven't got any snow where we are at but in parts of our area people are snowed in. Half the ward missed church because of the snow. We drove up and saw a little while trying to get in contact with a Less Active, but we dared not to go any farther because we haven't got chains yet from the Car Coordinator. That was the Adams job but now a new guy is over it so things go a little slower. But we do need them because we have people we’re working with up in the north snowy parts. My bike just sits in our apartment. Once they finish the work on our apartment I'll put it out on the balcony. I learned how to solve a rubics cube last night and this morning. It makes sense.
I failed at life and didn't write in my journal the whole month of October but I have been getting better this past week and am setting goals to be better at it. The Book of Mormon is awesome! I just finished it my second time since being out and I’m transforming my normal blue copy into an awesome master copy with marking it up and writing notes in it and stuff. It’s just grand. So that was fun. I took my picture last night for my Christmas Cards so I will be making those today and will send them out hopefully soon. Well I think I have written a substantial amount so I think I will bring this thing to a close. We do get P-day on Monday so it won't be too long till next time. I hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving and I'm thankful for all that you have done for me. I am thankful for Jesus too.
Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
Man I could have sworn his name was Pete. Oh well. It sounds like today is going to be a lot of fun. I'm sad I am missing out on all the fun things that are going on. I truly wish I could go to the movies with you all... I miss movies. Every time there is a TV on in the house I am just glued to it until I realize that’s bad. But today should be fun. We have a couple of fun things going on so it should be a fine and dandy day. So I was completely wrong on where I was going to be transferred to. I am in the Jackson and Ione wards. Our area covers all of Amador County. The biggest town is Jackson but it doesn't have very many people in it. Then Ione is an ok size, but the rest of the towns have smaller populations than Mountain View. So it’s been fun getting used to the slowed down small town life style. On a side note, I'm having trouble typing right now because of the shivering from the cold. It has been in the forties all week and sometimes even drops down to the 30's at night. I think the highest it’s gotten since I have been here is like 52. So it’s been cold. We live in a small town called Sutter Creek, where I believe Sutter's Mill is and that’s where the California gold rush started! So it’s a fun place to be. We live in some pretty nice apartments but they are undergoing a lot on renovations because when they originally built them they paid of the inspector so nothing was up to code but now they got caught so they have to fix everything. A couple of weeks ago my companions had to stay in a hotel for 10 days so they could do something. We live on the third floor but its not bad walking up every day. The address is 1 Pine Woods Ln, I don't know the zip code but it is in Sutter Creek, CA. So when you picture California you definitely do not picture Amador County. There are cows everywhere. Oh and I was totally wrong with the Hills thing. So being from Arizona there really aren't hills. Its desert, city, or mountains. But out here there really are hills. It’s really pretty. And from parts of our area we can look out over pretty much the whole mission and can even see the sky scrapers in Sacramento. It’s real neat. The people up here are awesome. All the members are super nice. It’s a lot of fun being up here. It’s tough though cuz your completely isolated from the rest of the mission so you don't know what’s going on with things and it’s real easy to be disobedient, but President Jardine said he put me here because he knows I'm obedient so that was awesome to hear from him. He also said he put me here because work with the members is very important and you have to get to know them good and gain their trust so they want to work with you and he thinks that I am a people person and people like me anyways so that was also a nice thing to hear as well. I try to get people to like me so I guess its working. We had interviews yesterday and he told me to pray for help in getting to know the members because at the end of the transfer he wants to transfer one of my companions out, who has been here for 6 months, and make me a senior companion so I have to know what’s going down and stuff. So I am going to work hard to not disappoint him.
So my two companions... ones name is Elder Bowmon from upstate New York, we get a long pretty good. My other companion is Elder Brantley from North Carolina.
So it’s been a fun week. We are working with a lot of really cool people. We have a family who is working towards baptism and a couple of other people who are really nice and have a strong desire. It’s been sort of hard because being so close to thanksgiving everyone is extremely busy and they all have family in town but we have found things to do and people to see to keep working diligently.
Today we have a real exciting day. It’s an all day P-day because honestly who wants someone knocking on their door at six at night on Thanksgiving. I most certainly do not. So we get the whole night off as well. Today we have two families we’re eating with. One of them we will eat at one and the other we will go over and eat at two. So that will be fun and fattening. We will probably see a few members and just hang out with them with hopes of hitting maybe a third dinner. Our mission president limits us to only three dinners on Thanksgiving. Now you may be thinking, "how in the world could someone eat that much?!" but you have to understand that we have a lot of Polynesians in our mission and your always hungry as a missionary. So that will be a lot of fun. We also get to go shopping. We do have a Wal-mart in our area so that will be amazing because I love Wal-mart. So we will shop as well. Also today we have plans to go see a special investigator today. So normally we wouldn't go out and see people in the middle of p day but this guy is different. He is forty five and lives at home with his mom... and I will tell you why. About five months ago he fell off of a two story scaffolding and landed on his head. He broke his neck and back and it’s a miracle that he's even alive. The bigger miracle is that he is not paralyzed. He took a lot of brain damage so he has had to re-learn how to walk and use his hands and stuff. He has a tube in his throat still making it so he can breathe and he is eating through a feeding tube in his stomach but he can sit up and move around and stuff so he has progressed amazingly. Now he is just working on getting his double vision fixed and also learning how to swallow again. That’s been the toughest part for him. His mom is a member and she is taking care of him and he has recently shown interest in the church so we go over and teach him. He is all there inside his head but he is still trying to re-learn how to speak and since the tube is in his throat and he doesn't know how to use his vocal chords he has to breathe out real hard and make shapes with his mouth to form words and sounds so it’s been sort of hard to communicate but it’s been an amazing blessing to meet him. He has strengthened my testimony so much. Well since he has the tube in his throat he can get sick from people real easy so his mom will not allow anyone to come over but doctors and us. And she won't leave him so she isn't going anywhere. And since he can't eat she doesn't want to cook a bunch of food so we are going to go over today with a nice get well card and we will probably watch a church movie. So all three of us are excited for that today.
So we have a nice full busy Thanksgiving day. It will be a lot of fun. I'm real sad I can't play football. I mean we are allowed to but we don't know of any games going on and we got so much going on we don't have time to go play. We haven't got any snow where we are at but in parts of our area people are snowed in. Half the ward missed church because of the snow. We drove up and saw a little while trying to get in contact with a Less Active, but we dared not to go any farther because we haven't got chains yet from the Car Coordinator. That was the Adams job but now a new guy is over it so things go a little slower. But we do need them because we have people we’re working with up in the north snowy parts. My bike just sits in our apartment. Once they finish the work on our apartment I'll put it out on the balcony. I learned how to solve a rubics cube last night and this morning. It makes sense.
I failed at life and didn't write in my journal the whole month of October but I have been getting better this past week and am setting goals to be better at it. The Book of Mormon is awesome! I just finished it my second time since being out and I’m transforming my normal blue copy into an awesome master copy with marking it up and writing notes in it and stuff. It’s just grand. So that was fun. I took my picture last night for my Christmas Cards so I will be making those today and will send them out hopefully soon. Well I think I have written a substantial amount so I think I will bring this thing to a close. We do get P-day on Monday so it won't be too long till next time. I hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving and I'm thankful for all that you have done for me. I am thankful for Jesus too.
Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
November 16th 2010 Transfer Day
November 16th 2010
That was an amazing email. I don't think I’ve felt the spirit so much reading an email as I did this time while reading what everyone wrote about Stamatia's funeral. All the elder's probably think there is something wrong with me cuz I couldn't help but cry when reading them. It is such a sad thing to lose someone in a fight like cancer but how comforting is it to know where they are, who they are with, what they are doing, and also that we know, as members of this wonderful true church, that Brian and his kids will be with her again someday and that the time for that is not too far off... I think a lot about our family while I'm out here. Not just my brothers and sisters, but all of our aunts and uncles and cousins. I miss everyone so much. I felt a lot like Jill and Noah being so far away from home and from the family but reading things like this helps me remember the feelings I had when I was home. I am a fourth of the way done and before we know it I will be back with our family once again. I'm sad I won't be able to make it to the family reunion this year but just like Nehemiah (I can't spell) I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. I hope it is great fun for everybody.
So now after the sad crying stuff. Here is my past week. I am sorry to say that I probably won't be keeping my promise in having the most amazing email this week. I had a couple of emails to read and so my time is short today and I can't remember anything.
So last week we met with a recent convert and her kids. One of her daughters is 8 and so we have been talking to her a lot about baptism lately. She had told us about three weeks ago she wanted to wait till she was 12 but then on Monday she said she was feeling, after praying about it, that she should be baptized sometime in December so we told her to continue praying to know when in December she wanted to be baptize. Well we had dinner with them on Thursday and after dinner we talked about her baptism and she said she felt like she should be baptized on her birthday, December 1st. Her ninth birthday so that will be a convert baptism. Now the only problem we have now is her dad. He is a member but not active and he almost didn't let the kids go to his ex wife’s, their moms, baptism. But he did. Well we met with them again last night and she had asked him for permission to be baptized on her birthday and he is going to let her! So she will be baptized on December 1st! That was super super exciting to here.
All week long we worked real hard to find more people to teach. Well we didn't find anyone but we did meet a lot of good people. We had a couple of appointments that fell through so that was a bummer but on Sunday we had an investigator come to church so that was awesome and we have a lesson scheduled for her tomorrow night and Elder Cannon will be giving her date in December to be baptized. So that will be awesome. She has a sister in another ward that we feel should be baptized as well and we feel she is ready. So there are going to be a lot of baptisms in this area this next transfer.
Now the sad news. I won't be here to be getting them ready for their baptisms. I am being transferred from my area. Which also means I will not be having dinner with the Asregadoos. It’s really sad because they are such an awesome nice, missionary minded family. They also have two ukuleles and I was planning on playing them all day on thanksgiving but now I won't be able to. Elder Cannon is staying and will be training, good luck for the new guy. I am going to be going to the Mountains. They call them the hills because it’s not very big mountains but my new area will be the Jackson and Ione Wards which I believe cover most of Jackson County. It’s in the Lodi stake and my area will be huge! So I will be in a car so that’s exciting that I won't freeze my butt off this winter. My new companions (I will be in a threesome) will be Elder Brantley and Elder Bowman. It will be cool. But I hear they are very different missionaries. Man my mission president must be trying to build the Christlike attribute Patience in me. I just have faith that he is inspired and knows what is best for me and the mission. So that will be fun. My new area isn't too high in elevation but a little part of it will get snow... Not too excited about that part but I am excited to be in the Hills. So that is what is going on now. I don't know if I have too much more to report on. Yesterday we were riding our bikes and I was thinking of random stories in my head. (That’s how my weird head works, when I'm not thinking about something, stories form in my head and they play like movies) Well this one story was developing a lot! It was crazy and it was a good story too, so I stopped immediately and told my companion the ideas for it and he thought they were really good so I got out my planner and in the back I wrote down all the main points and last night I wrote in a notebook the whole basic outline for the story. I presume by the time I'm home I could be working on writing it and then when I take my writing classes I’ll perfect it then I’ll get it published and it will be a good book. Then I plan on writing another real good book after that, then the plan is to write an amazing book which will make me a lot of money then become a publisher where I will make the big bucks for the rest of my life by publishing the biggest and best writers. Man I have my future all figured out.
All because my mind thinks of random crap while I am not conscious to the world.
Well I guess that last part was a little weird but I felt like sharing it with all of you. Oh I almost forgot! Grandpa Pete and Sister Adams are going home this Thursday! It is super sad. Sister Adams gave me a big hug and then Elder Adams (Grandpa Pete) came up and said "I'm going to be seeing a granddaughter of mine soon, what do you want me to give her" So I gave him a real big hug and told him to give Alex a big hug for me and he said "I'll give her a hug but it won't be for you. It will be for me!" I told him to give her two hugs and one can be from me and he said "Both will be from me!" It was real funny. We took a picture on his camera cuz he said he needed proof he actually knew me. It was a good time. I will miss them but I'm sure I will see them again soon.
Good news about Coach Joe. Finally he's out of there. Hopefully they can find someone good to take his place. I have been working on my Coach Joe ugly face so I’ll take a picture and we'll see what ya'll think. Well I think I am just about out of time for now. I will have more to talk about a week from Thursday on thanksgiving. We won't have pday next week on Monday but it will be on Thursday which is thanksgiving.
Well I love you all.
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
It makes his mother really sad that he doesn’t get to have Thanksgiving dinner with the Asregadoo’s. I hope someone in his new area will be just as kind.
That was an amazing email. I don't think I’ve felt the spirit so much reading an email as I did this time while reading what everyone wrote about Stamatia's funeral. All the elder's probably think there is something wrong with me cuz I couldn't help but cry when reading them. It is such a sad thing to lose someone in a fight like cancer but how comforting is it to know where they are, who they are with, what they are doing, and also that we know, as members of this wonderful true church, that Brian and his kids will be with her again someday and that the time for that is not too far off... I think a lot about our family while I'm out here. Not just my brothers and sisters, but all of our aunts and uncles and cousins. I miss everyone so much. I felt a lot like Jill and Noah being so far away from home and from the family but reading things like this helps me remember the feelings I had when I was home. I am a fourth of the way done and before we know it I will be back with our family once again. I'm sad I won't be able to make it to the family reunion this year but just like Nehemiah (I can't spell) I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. I hope it is great fun for everybody.
So now after the sad crying stuff. Here is my past week. I am sorry to say that I probably won't be keeping my promise in having the most amazing email this week. I had a couple of emails to read and so my time is short today and I can't remember anything.
So last week we met with a recent convert and her kids. One of her daughters is 8 and so we have been talking to her a lot about baptism lately. She had told us about three weeks ago she wanted to wait till she was 12 but then on Monday she said she was feeling, after praying about it, that she should be baptized sometime in December so we told her to continue praying to know when in December she wanted to be baptize. Well we had dinner with them on Thursday and after dinner we talked about her baptism and she said she felt like she should be baptized on her birthday, December 1st. Her ninth birthday so that will be a convert baptism. Now the only problem we have now is her dad. He is a member but not active and he almost didn't let the kids go to his ex wife’s, their moms, baptism. But he did. Well we met with them again last night and she had asked him for permission to be baptized on her birthday and he is going to let her! So she will be baptized on December 1st! That was super super exciting to here.
All week long we worked real hard to find more people to teach. Well we didn't find anyone but we did meet a lot of good people. We had a couple of appointments that fell through so that was a bummer but on Sunday we had an investigator come to church so that was awesome and we have a lesson scheduled for her tomorrow night and Elder Cannon will be giving her date in December to be baptized. So that will be awesome. She has a sister in another ward that we feel should be baptized as well and we feel she is ready. So there are going to be a lot of baptisms in this area this next transfer.
Now the sad news. I won't be here to be getting them ready for their baptisms. I am being transferred from my area. Which also means I will not be having dinner with the Asregadoos. It’s really sad because they are such an awesome nice, missionary minded family. They also have two ukuleles and I was planning on playing them all day on thanksgiving but now I won't be able to. Elder Cannon is staying and will be training, good luck for the new guy. I am going to be going to the Mountains. They call them the hills because it’s not very big mountains but my new area will be the Jackson and Ione Wards which I believe cover most of Jackson County. It’s in the Lodi stake and my area will be huge! So I will be in a car so that’s exciting that I won't freeze my butt off this winter. My new companions (I will be in a threesome) will be Elder Brantley and Elder Bowman. It will be cool. But I hear they are very different missionaries. Man my mission president must be trying to build the Christlike attribute Patience in me. I just have faith that he is inspired and knows what is best for me and the mission. So that will be fun. My new area isn't too high in elevation but a little part of it will get snow... Not too excited about that part but I am excited to be in the Hills. So that is what is going on now. I don't know if I have too much more to report on. Yesterday we were riding our bikes and I was thinking of random stories in my head. (That’s how my weird head works, when I'm not thinking about something, stories form in my head and they play like movies) Well this one story was developing a lot! It was crazy and it was a good story too, so I stopped immediately and told my companion the ideas for it and he thought they were really good so I got out my planner and in the back I wrote down all the main points and last night I wrote in a notebook the whole basic outline for the story. I presume by the time I'm home I could be working on writing it and then when I take my writing classes I’ll perfect it then I’ll get it published and it will be a good book. Then I plan on writing another real good book after that, then the plan is to write an amazing book which will make me a lot of money then become a publisher where I will make the big bucks for the rest of my life by publishing the biggest and best writers. Man I have my future all figured out.
All because my mind thinks of random crap while I am not conscious to the world.
Well I guess that last part was a little weird but I felt like sharing it with all of you. Oh I almost forgot! Grandpa Pete and Sister Adams are going home this Thursday! It is super sad. Sister Adams gave me a big hug and then Elder Adams (Grandpa Pete) came up and said "I'm going to be seeing a granddaughter of mine soon, what do you want me to give her" So I gave him a real big hug and told him to give Alex a big hug for me and he said "I'll give her a hug but it won't be for you. It will be for me!" I told him to give her two hugs and one can be from me and he said "Both will be from me!" It was real funny. We took a picture on his camera cuz he said he needed proof he actually knew me. It was a good time. I will miss them but I'm sure I will see them again soon.
Good news about Coach Joe. Finally he's out of there. Hopefully they can find someone good to take his place. I have been working on my Coach Joe ugly face so I’ll take a picture and we'll see what ya'll think. Well I think I am just about out of time for now. I will have more to talk about a week from Thursday on thanksgiving. We won't have pday next week on Monday but it will be on Thursday which is thanksgiving.
Well I love you all.
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
It makes his mother really sad that he doesn’t get to have Thanksgiving dinner with the Asregadoo’s. I hope someone in his new area will be just as kind.
Monday, November 8, 2010
November 8th 2010
November 8th2010
This week was a good week. Not a lot went on but I can tell that good things are going to come from the things we did this week.
So first off I just love the ward I am serving in. Its freaking awesome. The members are super super nice and they love it when we come over and visit them. I gained like 5 lbs. this week because people would invite me into their homes and make me eat a treat like pumpkin pie and we went out to fast food a lot this week. No more of that. But I Fasted for a long time yesterday because we didn't get back to our apartment till eight and we didn't have time for a member to feed us so I lost the five lbs. And today I ran a whole bunch in playing basketball. But I hurt someone. He jumped up and I ran under him and he fell and hit his head but he’s ok. Its Elder Roberts. I live with him. He's cool. We are good friends.
So I think I mentioned last week the goal the mission is having of a "White Christmas". Well to assist us in our goal President Jardine has asked us to let the members know the goal and to ask if they would fast and pray to know who they could invite to church or refer us to. So this week we saw a lot of the active members in our ward. It was fantastic. They were all welcoming to us and invited us in. It was a great week all week. The weather was amazing. It got to 90 like once but was in the eighties most of the time. I don't know about rain though mom...? It did rain yesterday though. I wasn't too excited about. But we were inside most of the day so that made it better. By the time we were out of church and on our blitz it had already stopped raining, so I was happy. I'm not too much of a rain person. So we talked with a lot of members and it was cool to see the spirit working with them and helping them know who they could help bring the gospel to. So that was cool.
So normally the rule for Christmas music is you can't play it until after thanksgiving. Well since being on the mission I have realized that time is an illusion man has created to feel like he has some sort of control of something, but just like everything else in this world he has lost track of that too. So last week we threw that rule out the window and started listening to Christmas music. Also I thought I was going to die if I didn't listen to my future wife's sweet voice soon. (Taylor Swift for those who don't know of my secret engagement) So that has been great putting us in the holiday spirit. Also we bought a couple of Christmas scented candles and we plan by candle light every night now.
Our mission President told us that he is going to be keeping us in our areas another transfer if at all possible because he wants us to see the fruits of our labors for the white Christmas. I am torn between the news of this. I really really like this ward and we are working with some great people right now who could be baptized in December but I can't stand my companion. It will take a lot of prayer for patience to not to hit him in the face if we stay together next transfer. And the worst part about it is he doesn't even have orange juice! So we will see how that all goes. If Elder Roberts stays and he gets a way cool companion then I think I will live.
I'm grabbing at air now. I honestly can't think of what to write. We are working with a couple of great people and things are going good. We are working hard and praying a lot for miracles in our area so we can help the mission reach the goal and get a baptism in our ward. Our goal is to have two in December and we, along with the ward council, think that that is definitely an obtainable goal. I'm sorry this email is so short. My mind seems to be fried at the moment. To make up for the lame email this week I will take notes during the upcoming week and make sure I have lots of details in the email to come. Hope all is well with the Families. It was sad to hear about Stamatia but the things I have come to know true and the more I have understood about the plan of salvation makes me rejoice because I know all will be well with it. My prayers are with Brian and his family. I love you all.
Love,
Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
This week was a good week. Not a lot went on but I can tell that good things are going to come from the things we did this week.
So first off I just love the ward I am serving in. Its freaking awesome. The members are super super nice and they love it when we come over and visit them. I gained like 5 lbs. this week because people would invite me into their homes and make me eat a treat like pumpkin pie and we went out to fast food a lot this week. No more of that. But I Fasted for a long time yesterday because we didn't get back to our apartment till eight and we didn't have time for a member to feed us so I lost the five lbs. And today I ran a whole bunch in playing basketball. But I hurt someone. He jumped up and I ran under him and he fell and hit his head but he’s ok. Its Elder Roberts. I live with him. He's cool. We are good friends.
So I think I mentioned last week the goal the mission is having of a "White Christmas". Well to assist us in our goal President Jardine has asked us to let the members know the goal and to ask if they would fast and pray to know who they could invite to church or refer us to. So this week we saw a lot of the active members in our ward. It was fantastic. They were all welcoming to us and invited us in. It was a great week all week. The weather was amazing. It got to 90 like once but was in the eighties most of the time. I don't know about rain though mom...? It did rain yesterday though. I wasn't too excited about. But we were inside most of the day so that made it better. By the time we were out of church and on our blitz it had already stopped raining, so I was happy. I'm not too much of a rain person. So we talked with a lot of members and it was cool to see the spirit working with them and helping them know who they could help bring the gospel to. So that was cool.
So normally the rule for Christmas music is you can't play it until after thanksgiving. Well since being on the mission I have realized that time is an illusion man has created to feel like he has some sort of control of something, but just like everything else in this world he has lost track of that too. So last week we threw that rule out the window and started listening to Christmas music. Also I thought I was going to die if I didn't listen to my future wife's sweet voice soon. (Taylor Swift for those who don't know of my secret engagement) So that has been great putting us in the holiday spirit. Also we bought a couple of Christmas scented candles and we plan by candle light every night now.
Our mission President told us that he is going to be keeping us in our areas another transfer if at all possible because he wants us to see the fruits of our labors for the white Christmas. I am torn between the news of this. I really really like this ward and we are working with some great people right now who could be baptized in December but I can't stand my companion. It will take a lot of prayer for patience to not to hit him in the face if we stay together next transfer. And the worst part about it is he doesn't even have orange juice! So we will see how that all goes. If Elder Roberts stays and he gets a way cool companion then I think I will live.
I'm grabbing at air now. I honestly can't think of what to write. We are working with a couple of great people and things are going good. We are working hard and praying a lot for miracles in our area so we can help the mission reach the goal and get a baptism in our ward. Our goal is to have two in December and we, along with the ward council, think that that is definitely an obtainable goal. I'm sorry this email is so short. My mind seems to be fried at the moment. To make up for the lame email this week I will take notes during the upcoming week and make sure I have lots of details in the email to come. Hope all is well with the Families. It was sad to hear about Stamatia but the things I have come to know true and the more I have understood about the plan of salvation makes me rejoice because I know all will be well with it. My prayers are with Brian and his family. I love you all.
Love,
Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
Monday, November 1, 2010
What a GREAT KID Elder Arnett is! Can you tell this boy's mama LOVES him!
November 1st 2010
Wow. What a week. This week was a great week to be in Elk Grove, California. It was supposed to rain like every day during the week but it didn't! I must be doing something right because the weather has been fantastic since I’ve been out on my mission. It sprinkled a little bit on I think it was Friday night but that’s it. The forecast told us everyday "showers" but it never came. It seemed like there was always a patch of sky right over us everywhere we go. It’s like the children of Israel being led by God. We were certainly blessed and we hear it should not be too bad this week. I guess we will just have to see. We have been eating a lot of candy in our apartment lately. Everyone, but me..., got a Halloween package from their families so we have been eating lots of candy. It’s good. (Oh sorry his mom messed up! And she feels really bad about it!)
So this week was pretty good. On Monday we just saw a bunch of people at night. Every Monday we teach a recent convert and her kids. They are 8, 6, and 3 I think. So we can't teach them too much that they will understand so we borrow the animated Book of Mormon movies from someone in our ward and we get to watch those. This last week we watched Helaman's Stripling Warriors. It was awesome! It is such an amazing story. All 2,000 of them live. After we watch the video we ask them questions about it and kind of teach them about what went on. It’s always amazing to see how much they really do pay attention. Watching the video made me so happy that like each of the stripling warriors I had a mom that taught me what was right just as well. And to add to that I had an amazing dad too! Man I am blessed. (Oh what a great kid he is!!!)
On Tuesday I shoveled dirt...
It wasn't so bad. One of the Elder's in our apartment had a training meeting to go to so his companion came with us. We spent the morning seeing random people that said we could come back but that we have never taught before. Then at one my companion had a doctor’s appointment. He thought he had cancer cuz he was going poop a lot. I told him he was probably going to die which wasn't too nice because his dad died when he was 7 from colon cancer. So he went with a member to the doctor while me and Elder Roberts went to Erich's house to do some service. I used to teach Erich when I was over both wards but now I’m not over that ward anymore. It was nice to see him again and talk to him a bit. He is a really cool guy. When we got there he told us he needed help filling a hole and I imagined maybe a 3ftx3ft hole in the ground that would take us like 20 min. to fill in. He took us into his backyard where there was a fifty foot long trench that was like 4 feet deep and 2 feet wide and said "I need you to fill that in for me". I looked at my watch and said "Well we have dinner at 5:30 so we can work till then and then come back at 6:30 and finish" and he just laughed at me. He only wanted enough of it filled in so a tractor could drive over it and fill in the rest. So we started filling it in and it ended up taking us about 2 and a half hours which wasn't bad timing. I was a little tired but it was nice to be more physically tired than mentally and emotionally for once. That night I slept real good.
On Wednesday we had a great district meeting. We were trained by our district leader on how to begin teaching better and how to discern the person’s needs before starting to teach. It was really cool. I learned a whole lot. Then the rest of the day was kind of weird. We were at the church a lot of the day because we had a meeting with a less active member and his unbaptized daughter then later we had a ward correlation meeting with our ward mission leader, elder's quorum pres, high priest group leader and the relief society pres. We have them every Wednesday and it really was a fine meeting. Then we tracted for a while then had dinner then met a recent convert at the church to help her understand what she is reading in the Book of Mormon. She rocks. She’s almost done with 3 Nephi and she only got baptized in July! That was at the church because she lives with her parents and they are extremely anti.
Thursday was a tremendous day. We saw people all morning, had lunch to feed us physically, and then our zone was spiritually fed in a Zone Training meeting with President Jardine. It was a really delightful meeting. He taught a lot about honesty. It turns out he wrote a book a couple of years back and he gave us each a couple of printed pages from it. It was pretty cool and very inspirational. It made me want to be a more honest person in all that I do forever! Then the rest of the day was kind of weird because we weren't sure if it was going to rain or not but it didn't. We had some great tri-tip for dinner. Seems like everyone in Cali eats tri-tip. I don't know if we ate it back home and just called it something different but it is good.
Then came Friday... It was a good day. A couple of let downs but overall it was a good day. We had a lesson set up with our investigator Mark and so we called the Stake President, who is in our ward, and asked if he would like to accompany us that afternoon and he told us it would be his pleasure. So we rode over there with him and then Mark wasn't home. It was kind of a bummer and we haven’t got in contact with him yet but we will. The rest of the day was kind of weird. We saw a lot of people and we did a lot but it felt like we didn't do anything. It was cold all week but Friday was real cold. It was like 60 all day. It sprinkled a tiny bit that night but that wasn't bad cuz I stole Elder Robert's gloves. He asked me why I took em and I just said "Duh Harry, we're in the Rockies" and he laughed cuz that’s his favorite movie.
Saturday was a special day. We had an appointment with a Negro man named Mark who is old but said he wanted to know what Mormons believe so we went over there and he did most the talking but we did teach a bit and he said he'd read and pray about the Book of Mormon so that was nice. The rest of the day was kind of weird. We bought two pizza's for dinner on Sunday because for some stupid reason we told the lady in our ward who is in charge of our calendar not to put anyone on that day. We went and saw a lot of people but no one was really home all day. We tracted at night and it was dark and a lot of fun because the street was old. Everyone was watching the World Series. It looks like the Giants are going to take it this year which is good for us because everyone and their mom here are giant’s fans. They lost Saturday night but are currently leading the series 3-1. We find out a lot about sports out here. Which brings me to my next point. Why didn't anyone tell me Max Hall was the starting QB for the cardinals? That’s kind of big news. That’s awesome. I hear he isn't too bad either.
Sunday was good. We couldn't go out after four so we stayed in our apartment and listened to Christmas music till 7 then we got together with the zone and watched the Testaments. Boy do I enjoy watching that movie.
So this week I wore my black suit to church. It is a great suit but I realized that I don't have very many ties I can wear with it. I was thinking I need a nice maroon tie with some other color to wear with it, but I don't know where I could get one from? Maybe ya'll can help me out with that one. (I am quite sure that his dad is already working on that. For those that don’t know, almost every time I send a package, the dad has gone and picked out a beauty of a tie. I am sure that Elder Arnett is going to come home with the most ties ever!) Well it looks like my time is coming to end. I hope all is well at home. Let me know if there is anything specific you would like me to talk about in my emails.
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
Wow. What a week. This week was a great week to be in Elk Grove, California. It was supposed to rain like every day during the week but it didn't! I must be doing something right because the weather has been fantastic since I’ve been out on my mission. It sprinkled a little bit on I think it was Friday night but that’s it. The forecast told us everyday "showers" but it never came. It seemed like there was always a patch of sky right over us everywhere we go. It’s like the children of Israel being led by God. We were certainly blessed and we hear it should not be too bad this week. I guess we will just have to see. We have been eating a lot of candy in our apartment lately. Everyone, but me..., got a Halloween package from their families so we have been eating lots of candy. It’s good. (Oh sorry his mom messed up! And she feels really bad about it!)
So this week was pretty good. On Monday we just saw a bunch of people at night. Every Monday we teach a recent convert and her kids. They are 8, 6, and 3 I think. So we can't teach them too much that they will understand so we borrow the animated Book of Mormon movies from someone in our ward and we get to watch those. This last week we watched Helaman's Stripling Warriors. It was awesome! It is such an amazing story. All 2,000 of them live. After we watch the video we ask them questions about it and kind of teach them about what went on. It’s always amazing to see how much they really do pay attention. Watching the video made me so happy that like each of the stripling warriors I had a mom that taught me what was right just as well. And to add to that I had an amazing dad too! Man I am blessed. (Oh what a great kid he is!!!)
On Tuesday I shoveled dirt...
It wasn't so bad. One of the Elder's in our apartment had a training meeting to go to so his companion came with us. We spent the morning seeing random people that said we could come back but that we have never taught before. Then at one my companion had a doctor’s appointment. He thought he had cancer cuz he was going poop a lot. I told him he was probably going to die which wasn't too nice because his dad died when he was 7 from colon cancer. So he went with a member to the doctor while me and Elder Roberts went to Erich's house to do some service. I used to teach Erich when I was over both wards but now I’m not over that ward anymore. It was nice to see him again and talk to him a bit. He is a really cool guy. When we got there he told us he needed help filling a hole and I imagined maybe a 3ftx3ft hole in the ground that would take us like 20 min. to fill in. He took us into his backyard where there was a fifty foot long trench that was like 4 feet deep and 2 feet wide and said "I need you to fill that in for me". I looked at my watch and said "Well we have dinner at 5:30 so we can work till then and then come back at 6:30 and finish" and he just laughed at me. He only wanted enough of it filled in so a tractor could drive over it and fill in the rest. So we started filling it in and it ended up taking us about 2 and a half hours which wasn't bad timing. I was a little tired but it was nice to be more physically tired than mentally and emotionally for once. That night I slept real good.
On Wednesday we had a great district meeting. We were trained by our district leader on how to begin teaching better and how to discern the person’s needs before starting to teach. It was really cool. I learned a whole lot. Then the rest of the day was kind of weird. We were at the church a lot of the day because we had a meeting with a less active member and his unbaptized daughter then later we had a ward correlation meeting with our ward mission leader, elder's quorum pres, high priest group leader and the relief society pres. We have them every Wednesday and it really was a fine meeting. Then we tracted for a while then had dinner then met a recent convert at the church to help her understand what she is reading in the Book of Mormon. She rocks. She’s almost done with 3 Nephi and she only got baptized in July! That was at the church because she lives with her parents and they are extremely anti.
Thursday was a tremendous day. We saw people all morning, had lunch to feed us physically, and then our zone was spiritually fed in a Zone Training meeting with President Jardine. It was a really delightful meeting. He taught a lot about honesty. It turns out he wrote a book a couple of years back and he gave us each a couple of printed pages from it. It was pretty cool and very inspirational. It made me want to be a more honest person in all that I do forever! Then the rest of the day was kind of weird because we weren't sure if it was going to rain or not but it didn't. We had some great tri-tip for dinner. Seems like everyone in Cali eats tri-tip. I don't know if we ate it back home and just called it something different but it is good.
Then came Friday... It was a good day. A couple of let downs but overall it was a good day. We had a lesson set up with our investigator Mark and so we called the Stake President, who is in our ward, and asked if he would like to accompany us that afternoon and he told us it would be his pleasure. So we rode over there with him and then Mark wasn't home. It was kind of a bummer and we haven’t got in contact with him yet but we will. The rest of the day was kind of weird. We saw a lot of people and we did a lot but it felt like we didn't do anything. It was cold all week but Friday was real cold. It was like 60 all day. It sprinkled a tiny bit that night but that wasn't bad cuz I stole Elder Robert's gloves. He asked me why I took em and I just said "Duh Harry, we're in the Rockies" and he laughed cuz that’s his favorite movie.
Saturday was a special day. We had an appointment with a Negro man named Mark who is old but said he wanted to know what Mormons believe so we went over there and he did most the talking but we did teach a bit and he said he'd read and pray about the Book of Mormon so that was nice. The rest of the day was kind of weird. We bought two pizza's for dinner on Sunday because for some stupid reason we told the lady in our ward who is in charge of our calendar not to put anyone on that day. We went and saw a lot of people but no one was really home all day. We tracted at night and it was dark and a lot of fun because the street was old. Everyone was watching the World Series. It looks like the Giants are going to take it this year which is good for us because everyone and their mom here are giant’s fans. They lost Saturday night but are currently leading the series 3-1. We find out a lot about sports out here. Which brings me to my next point. Why didn't anyone tell me Max Hall was the starting QB for the cardinals? That’s kind of big news. That’s awesome. I hear he isn't too bad either.
Sunday was good. We couldn't go out after four so we stayed in our apartment and listened to Christmas music till 7 then we got together with the zone and watched the Testaments. Boy do I enjoy watching that movie.
So this week I wore my black suit to church. It is a great suit but I realized that I don't have very many ties I can wear with it. I was thinking I need a nice maroon tie with some other color to wear with it, but I don't know where I could get one from? Maybe ya'll can help me out with that one. (I am quite sure that his dad is already working on that. For those that don’t know, almost every time I send a package, the dad has gone and picked out a beauty of a tie. I am sure that Elder Arnett is going to come home with the most ties ever!) Well it looks like my time is coming to end. I hope all is well at home. Let me know if there is anything specific you would like me to talk about in my emails.
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
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