Monday, December 26, 2011
December 26th 2011
Boy was it good talking to ya'll. Everyone has grown up so much! Everyone consists of Braden, Porter and Ellie. They all have personalities now. Jeff is still himself. Candice looked good, has she lost weight? It was good to hear from David. Jamie and Jackie haven't changed a bit. Hayley is exactly the same. Braden and Porter have both grown a foot or more. Luckily too because they were so short. Don't worry though; I will be able to whoop both of them forever. Ellie is a lot taller too! And she has teeth, I think... Mom seems like she is doing good. She is the only one that emails me consistently so I know about her life a lot already. I have two questions now... How did Dad lose so much weight? And how has he kept it off?! He's just a little guy now. I bet I could still out run him though. And if I can't he will pay for beating me because he is an old man now. But that’s great. I promise I will not weigh more than him when I come home! So Dad is it on or is it Donkey Kong?
This week was very good. I almost got sick but I am smart and I talked to the guy at rite aid and he told me to get what I already knew to get. So I didn't get sick. Monday night was good. We went and visited with the Justin and Shana. There was no man in their home and we didn't have a male chaperone with us so we only talked for a minute. Then we went and visited a Part Member Family the ward wanted us to see. Their name is Whitesel. They were nice and we had a good lesson with them but they are not going to start coming to church and the dad isn't going to get baptized. Or that’s what they said. I'm sure a lot of people think that the first time we meet them. We went home after that. Tuesday we had a Leadership training meeting. It was a training meeting for all the Zone and District leaders and the Trainers. It was really good. President and Sister Lewis, along with the assistants trained us on Revelation through Prayer and how to help our investigators pray. They had asked Elder Jones and me to do training on Revelation through the Book of Mormon and the importance of it in our investigators conversion. I thought we did pretty well. We used the talk by Tad R. Callister from this past conference a lot. It was fun though. After the meeting got out at like 4:30 we went to dinner with an old lady named Sister Huckaby. She is probably one of the coolest older people. She had an older gentleman friend there. Their spouses both passed away a while ago so they are like friends with benefits but neither of them wants to get remarried. The man is from Indiana so that was a good conversation starter. They are movie buddies and go to movies every Friday. Since they are old they can afford the reduced price. I thought they probably only saw lame old people movies but when I asked what was a good one they saw recently she responded with, "Oh that new Sherlock Holmes was amazing. It was just as good as or better than the first. That Robert Downy Jr. and Jude Law sure do work well together in those movies". It was pretty funny. They also like to go to plays and musicals. They have seen all the big ones five or more times and love them. She used to live in Arizona and said one time she drove down to Tucson to watch a NCAA Tournament that UofA was hosting. She said she watched four games in row then got in the car to drive to Phoenix to watch the Suns play. She is a super cool old lady. And she cooked amazing Mexican food. It is people like her that make it hard for me to come down from 270. After dinner, btw I think that was the longest dinner I’ve written about, we went and visited people but it wasn't according to what we planned so I don't remember who we saw but I have written in my numbers that we taught someone with a member with us so I’m sure it was really good. Wednesday was good as well. In fact it rocked! We had District meeting in the morning. We had good training from each of the District leaders, then Elder Jones and I had everyone go up and talk about an investigator they have that can be baptized this month. We are so freaking close to our goal!!! After District meeting we had lunch, then we went and saw a bunch of people. We visited with a lady named Jennifer. She is the one who came to church and hit it off with our Relief Society President. She was doing well. She is in a custody battle with her Ex- Husband for their kids. She doesn't have them and we were hoping to see her daughter there but she was not... It’s a huge mess but I don't even know what’s going on so I don't know. But we had a good chat with her. We saw some people then got a bite to eat. We went to the church to start filling the font because Justin and Shana were getting baptized!!! It was Shana's birthday so that's why it was on a random day of the week. It was a super good baptism and we had a good time. Again I had to play the piano cuz we forgot to call the guy so we made do. I am getting better though and I have officially learned a new song so now I have four in my reservoir. After the baptism the night was kind of dead but we tried to see some people then went home. Thursday was a day... Not bad but not super good either. It was just a day. In the morning we went tracting then visited with Michael and Mercy Slover. We have a lot of recent converts now so that number has gone up each week. We went from there to see Ian and Janet; they got baptized earlier this year. Ian got baptized my first weekend in this area. His mom got baptized before that. We had lunch after them then we went and saw some more people. We went tracting for a bit and that was good. We tried to see some people but not too many were home. We had dinner alone... the family went to watch Boise State play football. We went over and visited with Roberta and Serenity and it was good. They are doing awesome and seem so happy since we first started meeting with them. We were able to teach Megan Hall that night and it was awesome. She is one of our "hot" investigators. She’s the Asian one getting ready for January 12th. Friday morning we did weekly planning and it was good. We had an awesome Church Tour with Jennifer, Sister Treadway and her son and his girlfriend. The church tour was freaking awesome though. Sister Treadway is a chief Champ. Later we went to see some people. We went tracting and that was fun. We had dinner at home because the people are less active and never called us back! It was OK though because we had to leave early to drive up to the mission office to be early to get our PRESENTS! President Lewis did a little program and it was awesome. I can't even count the amount of times I heard Luke 2:1-16. But it was a good meeting. Then we rushed home to open our presents. There is no incentive as a missionary to wait till Christmas so we just opened them right there. It was really nice of you to not only think about me but to think about my companion as well. I think he appreciated that. I love everything! I got a lot socks for Christmas which I love. I got some from you, a pair from President Lewis, and some from our Bishop. Saturday we were super excited for Christmas so it was hard to concentrate on the day. We went tracting all morning. We are really trying to find people to teach. We usually don't find them Tracting but we have noticed that when we go tracting God will bless us with someone to teach one way or another. That's what happened with Roberta and Serenity as well as Michael and Mercy. Actually now that I think about it most of the people we baptize just come from nowhere. We went and visited a lot of people in the afternoon. We had a great lesson with a part member family who said they would be at church but they didn't come. We went over to The Bland's home. Brother Bland is the man playing Santa in my Christmas Card. He invited us over to be with his family on Christmas Eve. They don't have much family around here so they wanted to have us as company. I tend to think we are pretty good company so it worked out. We were there for a freaking long time! But the food was awesome. He did a giant roast and it tasted real good. We had a delicious salad and some other food that must not be too good because I can't remember what it was but it filled me up to the brim! He's another reason I’m fat. Then they gave us some delicious Cheese Cake. It sure was tasty. Then we met up with the zone but not many of the zone was here so with the few that were here we played basketball. Christmas sure was a mighty fine day. We went over to our Bishops house at 8 to eat biscuits and gravy. By the look on Jackie's face when I mentioned them it seemed like she doesn't care too much for them but I sure did like them. We went to church and it was awesome. All the musical numbers sucked until Elder Jones sang. He rocked the house down. Someone said he sounded like John Mayer and someone else said he sounded like Justin Timberlake and then one lady, who was married, said it was hot that he could sing that good. Inappropriate. After church we went home, did something actually nothing, and then went over to Roberts for an afternoon of fun. I got to play with his Ipad and I decided I want one now. I can't believe Braden got and Iphone before me... Then we went over to Brother Lopez house to SKYPE OUR FAMILIES!!! We made our Skype accounts on the Ipad at Roberts so we could start right away. It was a lot of fun. I already commented on the family so yeah that's about it for the Skypeing. After that we went back to Roberts for dinner. It was a great dinner I must say. They had all my favorites and it was a good time. After dinner it was story time. I have mentioned before in my mission that I have a lot of ideas for books to write. Well I have written all of them down and I have like 10. Sandra, Roberts wife, didn't believe that I like love stories or that I would consider writing one so I told her my favorite one. I like it. They wanted more so I told another one. I don't know how I think of these things. They just pop into my mind randomly. But only while I’m doing breathing treatments. Maybe the new supply of oxygen reaching my brain gives me an extra sense or something. I don't know. After that we were supposed to meet with the zone to have our Sunday night meeting and to go over numbers for the week but everyone was griping because it was Christmas and they were with ward members so we moved the meeting back to Monday morning. So Elder Jones and I had about 2 hours to kill and we didn't want to bother any members that weren't planning on us coming over and we were allowed to proselytize so we came to the church and wrote our weekly emails to our families, hence the length of this weeks email. It has to be one of my longer ones. So that was my week this week. It truly was a great time talking to all of you today. I am surprised that no one mentioned that the next time I will be calling home will be the Sunday before I come home. That's crazy. So Elder Jones and I talk a lot. We used to just tell stories and talk about random crap but now we talk about our missions and the gospel and stuff. We were talking about what has changed with us since we left. After being out like a year I honestly didn't see any change in me. But now, only 7 months later I have seen a huge change. I feel like ever since I became a zone leader I have become so much more mature and down to business. I feel like I have really learned my purpose as a missionary and how to work hard and effectively. I used to go the whole week anticipating P Day so I didn't have to do anything all day but now I don't even think about it until Sunday night when I realize, oh hey we have P Day tomorrow. It’s great. Well that’s about it. I hope you enjoy this week’s letter. You got a double feature treat this week with a phone call and a huge long email. I hope everyone has a good life for the next little while. To those who wrote to me, I will respond soon. To those who didn't, you have no promise... I love you! So I waited a little while to send this off so I could update you on anything new. I do have a few new updates so here we go. First, the zone has picked up two more people to be baptized this month so we only need 1 more to break the record! We would be tying it with what we have right now. Second, we played football today and we won! Another zone came over and we had some good teams. It was a good intense game and now I'm pooped. Last was this cool Miracle that President Lewis shared with us on this week’s weekly email he sends us. Before I tell it to you I am going to let you know that right before Elder Manukailea left, he told me he was going to convert somebody on the plane ride home. Read on... "During his flight home he sat next to a lady named Sarah who lives in New York but was on her way to visit her family in Long Beach. Elder Manukailea talked to her about the gospel, challenged her to be baptized and got her parents’ address and promised to send missionaries to follow up with her. He called the local mission and they sent missionaries to Sarah’s home. Elder Manukailea called to say Sarah was baptized on Christmas Eve!" The man is a machine! He will never stop doing missionary work, it’s what he was born to do. I thought that was pretty cool to share with you. Well I hope all is well. We are having a good time out here in Sacto. My diet officially started today so here we go. Wish me luck. Love you!
--
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
Boy was it good talking to ya'll. Everyone has grown up so much! Everyone consists of Braden, Porter and Ellie. They all have personalities now. Jeff is still himself. Candice looked good, has she lost weight? It was good to hear from David. Jamie and Jackie haven't changed a bit. Hayley is exactly the same. Braden and Porter have both grown a foot or more. Luckily too because they were so short. Don't worry though; I will be able to whoop both of them forever. Ellie is a lot taller too! And she has teeth, I think... Mom seems like she is doing good. She is the only one that emails me consistently so I know about her life a lot already. I have two questions now... How did Dad lose so much weight? And how has he kept it off?! He's just a little guy now. I bet I could still out run him though. And if I can't he will pay for beating me because he is an old man now. But that’s great. I promise I will not weigh more than him when I come home! So Dad is it on or is it Donkey Kong?
This week was very good. I almost got sick but I am smart and I talked to the guy at rite aid and he told me to get what I already knew to get. So I didn't get sick. Monday night was good. We went and visited with the Justin and Shana. There was no man in their home and we didn't have a male chaperone with us so we only talked for a minute. Then we went and visited a Part Member Family the ward wanted us to see. Their name is Whitesel. They were nice and we had a good lesson with them but they are not going to start coming to church and the dad isn't going to get baptized. Or that’s what they said. I'm sure a lot of people think that the first time we meet them. We went home after that. Tuesday we had a Leadership training meeting. It was a training meeting for all the Zone and District leaders and the Trainers. It was really good. President and Sister Lewis, along with the assistants trained us on Revelation through Prayer and how to help our investigators pray. They had asked Elder Jones and me to do training on Revelation through the Book of Mormon and the importance of it in our investigators conversion. I thought we did pretty well. We used the talk by Tad R. Callister from this past conference a lot. It was fun though. After the meeting got out at like 4:30 we went to dinner with an old lady named Sister Huckaby. She is probably one of the coolest older people. She had an older gentleman friend there. Their spouses both passed away a while ago so they are like friends with benefits but neither of them wants to get remarried. The man is from Indiana so that was a good conversation starter. They are movie buddies and go to movies every Friday. Since they are old they can afford the reduced price. I thought they probably only saw lame old people movies but when I asked what was a good one they saw recently she responded with, "Oh that new Sherlock Holmes was amazing. It was just as good as or better than the first. That Robert Downy Jr. and Jude Law sure do work well together in those movies". It was pretty funny. They also like to go to plays and musicals. They have seen all the big ones five or more times and love them. She used to live in Arizona and said one time she drove down to Tucson to watch a NCAA Tournament that UofA was hosting. She said she watched four games in row then got in the car to drive to Phoenix to watch the Suns play. She is a super cool old lady. And she cooked amazing Mexican food. It is people like her that make it hard for me to come down from 270. After dinner, btw I think that was the longest dinner I’ve written about, we went and visited people but it wasn't according to what we planned so I don't remember who we saw but I have written in my numbers that we taught someone with a member with us so I’m sure it was really good. Wednesday was good as well. In fact it rocked! We had District meeting in the morning. We had good training from each of the District leaders, then Elder Jones and I had everyone go up and talk about an investigator they have that can be baptized this month. We are so freaking close to our goal!!! After District meeting we had lunch, then we went and saw a bunch of people. We visited with a lady named Jennifer. She is the one who came to church and hit it off with our Relief Society President. She was doing well. She is in a custody battle with her Ex- Husband for their kids. She doesn't have them and we were hoping to see her daughter there but she was not... It’s a huge mess but I don't even know what’s going on so I don't know. But we had a good chat with her. We saw some people then got a bite to eat. We went to the church to start filling the font because Justin and Shana were getting baptized!!! It was Shana's birthday so that's why it was on a random day of the week. It was a super good baptism and we had a good time. Again I had to play the piano cuz we forgot to call the guy so we made do. I am getting better though and I have officially learned a new song so now I have four in my reservoir. After the baptism the night was kind of dead but we tried to see some people then went home. Thursday was a day... Not bad but not super good either. It was just a day. In the morning we went tracting then visited with Michael and Mercy Slover. We have a lot of recent converts now so that number has gone up each week. We went from there to see Ian and Janet; they got baptized earlier this year. Ian got baptized my first weekend in this area. His mom got baptized before that. We had lunch after them then we went and saw some more people. We went tracting for a bit and that was good. We tried to see some people but not too many were home. We had dinner alone... the family went to watch Boise State play football. We went over and visited with Roberta and Serenity and it was good. They are doing awesome and seem so happy since we first started meeting with them. We were able to teach Megan Hall that night and it was awesome. She is one of our "hot" investigators. She’s the Asian one getting ready for January 12th. Friday morning we did weekly planning and it was good. We had an awesome Church Tour with Jennifer, Sister Treadway and her son and his girlfriend. The church tour was freaking awesome though. Sister Treadway is a chief Champ. Later we went to see some people. We went tracting and that was fun. We had dinner at home because the people are less active and never called us back! It was OK though because we had to leave early to drive up to the mission office to be early to get our PRESENTS! President Lewis did a little program and it was awesome. I can't even count the amount of times I heard Luke 2:1-16. But it was a good meeting. Then we rushed home to open our presents. There is no incentive as a missionary to wait till Christmas so we just opened them right there. It was really nice of you to not only think about me but to think about my companion as well. I think he appreciated that. I love everything! I got a lot socks for Christmas which I love. I got some from you, a pair from President Lewis, and some from our Bishop. Saturday we were super excited for Christmas so it was hard to concentrate on the day. We went tracting all morning. We are really trying to find people to teach. We usually don't find them Tracting but we have noticed that when we go tracting God will bless us with someone to teach one way or another. That's what happened with Roberta and Serenity as well as Michael and Mercy. Actually now that I think about it most of the people we baptize just come from nowhere. We went and visited a lot of people in the afternoon. We had a great lesson with a part member family who said they would be at church but they didn't come. We went over to The Bland's home. Brother Bland is the man playing Santa in my Christmas Card. He invited us over to be with his family on Christmas Eve. They don't have much family around here so they wanted to have us as company. I tend to think we are pretty good company so it worked out. We were there for a freaking long time! But the food was awesome. He did a giant roast and it tasted real good. We had a delicious salad and some other food that must not be too good because I can't remember what it was but it filled me up to the brim! He's another reason I’m fat. Then they gave us some delicious Cheese Cake. It sure was tasty. Then we met up with the zone but not many of the zone was here so with the few that were here we played basketball. Christmas sure was a mighty fine day. We went over to our Bishops house at 8 to eat biscuits and gravy. By the look on Jackie's face when I mentioned them it seemed like she doesn't care too much for them but I sure did like them. We went to church and it was awesome. All the musical numbers sucked until Elder Jones sang. He rocked the house down. Someone said he sounded like John Mayer and someone else said he sounded like Justin Timberlake and then one lady, who was married, said it was hot that he could sing that good. Inappropriate. After church we went home, did something actually nothing, and then went over to Roberts for an afternoon of fun. I got to play with his Ipad and I decided I want one now. I can't believe Braden got and Iphone before me... Then we went over to Brother Lopez house to SKYPE OUR FAMILIES!!! We made our Skype accounts on the Ipad at Roberts so we could start right away. It was a lot of fun. I already commented on the family so yeah that's about it for the Skypeing. After that we went back to Roberts for dinner. It was a great dinner I must say. They had all my favorites and it was a good time. After dinner it was story time. I have mentioned before in my mission that I have a lot of ideas for books to write. Well I have written all of them down and I have like 10. Sandra, Roberts wife, didn't believe that I like love stories or that I would consider writing one so I told her my favorite one. I like it. They wanted more so I told another one. I don't know how I think of these things. They just pop into my mind randomly. But only while I’m doing breathing treatments. Maybe the new supply of oxygen reaching my brain gives me an extra sense or something. I don't know. After that we were supposed to meet with the zone to have our Sunday night meeting and to go over numbers for the week but everyone was griping because it was Christmas and they were with ward members so we moved the meeting back to Monday morning. So Elder Jones and I had about 2 hours to kill and we didn't want to bother any members that weren't planning on us coming over and we were allowed to proselytize so we came to the church and wrote our weekly emails to our families, hence the length of this weeks email. It has to be one of my longer ones. So that was my week this week. It truly was a great time talking to all of you today. I am surprised that no one mentioned that the next time I will be calling home will be the Sunday before I come home. That's crazy. So Elder Jones and I talk a lot. We used to just tell stories and talk about random crap but now we talk about our missions and the gospel and stuff. We were talking about what has changed with us since we left. After being out like a year I honestly didn't see any change in me. But now, only 7 months later I have seen a huge change. I feel like ever since I became a zone leader I have become so much more mature and down to business. I feel like I have really learned my purpose as a missionary and how to work hard and effectively. I used to go the whole week anticipating P Day so I didn't have to do anything all day but now I don't even think about it until Sunday night when I realize, oh hey we have P Day tomorrow. It’s great. Well that’s about it. I hope you enjoy this week’s letter. You got a double feature treat this week with a phone call and a huge long email. I hope everyone has a good life for the next little while. To those who wrote to me, I will respond soon. To those who didn't, you have no promise... I love you! So I waited a little while to send this off so I could update you on anything new. I do have a few new updates so here we go. First, the zone has picked up two more people to be baptized this month so we only need 1 more to break the record! We would be tying it with what we have right now. Second, we played football today and we won! Another zone came over and we had some good teams. It was a good intense game and now I'm pooped. Last was this cool Miracle that President Lewis shared with us on this week’s weekly email he sends us. Before I tell it to you I am going to let you know that right before Elder Manukailea left, he told me he was going to convert somebody on the plane ride home. Read on... "During his flight home he sat next to a lady named Sarah who lives in New York but was on her way to visit her family in Long Beach. Elder Manukailea talked to her about the gospel, challenged her to be baptized and got her parents’ address and promised to send missionaries to follow up with her. He called the local mission and they sent missionaries to Sarah’s home. Elder Manukailea called to say Sarah was baptized on Christmas Eve!" The man is a machine! He will never stop doing missionary work, it’s what he was born to do. I thought that was pretty cool to share with you. Well I hope all is well. We are having a good time out here in Sacto. My diet officially started today so here we go. Wish me luck. Love you!
--
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
Monday, December 19, 2011
December 19th 2011
So we are only allowed to write letters on P-day and in the middle of the week I had the urge to write Grandma a letter to tell her how much I love her and stuff but Elder Jones and I committed to God a new level of obedience and I knew I couldn't go back on that so I am waiting till now and now I can write her. Maybe I’ll type it up, have you print it out and give it to her. If she doesn't remember me then oh well, at least she'll know someone loves her. But yeah I'm glad to hear she is hanging on. I really want her to last till I come home. A lot of missionary’s grandparents pass away while they are on their mission but I don't think many of them grew up living with theirs and being in the same ward their whole lives and being as close as we are to our grandmother. It would be like losing a parent, which some have in our mission. But this is God's plan for us. We live to die and we die to live again. We will see her again with all the ones we love. So this week was pretty good. The whole zone is working so hard to receive miracles and blessings from God. We are consistently baptizing each week and have the most people set up to baptize the most in the mission this month. So it is an exciting time to not only be in the Sacramento mission but to be in the North Sac Zone! Monday night we had a good dinner with the Lopez family. They are the family we are working with that have nonmember friends. Their niece who is from Arizona lives with them and is super pretty. After that dinner we went and tried to see a few families the ward asked us to go see but none of them were home. Tuesday was a good day. We had a leadership meeting in the morning with the district leaders and it was fun. We went into the chapel because the room we normally do it in was super cold and dark. It was a good meeting and we talked about some good stuff. We tried to see a lot of people throughout the day but we didn't have much success with that. We tracted a lot which is always good cuz then we get to talk to each other a lot. We had dinner. The member we were supposed to eat with forgot so she just gave us some money and so we went to Taco Bell. Then we went to a meeting with the all the leaders in the stake. It was preparing for the Gladys Knight performance they are having on January 28th and 29th. It’s going to be one of the coolest things ever and all the Negros we talk to are pumped for it. The meeting went longer than we anticipated so we went home afterwards. Oh and on Tuesday I was blessed to get my package! Thank you so much for the medication and all those cookies. They are a hit with the apartment. And I love the date candy and every time I pop one in my mouth then take a sip of the hot cocoa while listening to my boy Michael Buble I think of all the hard work that must go into those dates before making the candy. It is much appreciated and we love the cd. Wednesday was really good. We had a great district meeting. We recommitted the whole zone to obedience and diligence. Everyone is super pumped too for a white Christmas. After lunch we went and visited Joanne a black American recent convert and told her about the Gladys Knight performance. I think she called ten people in the five min. we were there. Then we went and visited a few people. We had a lesson with Justin and Shana and the kids were crazy! They are so rambunctious lately. We went to see some more people then we had dinner with the Kanady family. But the parents weren't home so we just ate with the son who is contemplating going on a mission and his little sister. I think his parents planned it that way so we could talk to him and stuff. Hopefully he will go. We went and visited Roberta and Serenity and said hi to them. They are doing good. Then we went in for the night. Thursday was great. The morning was boring and I wasn't feeling too well. Then we went out and saw some people. It seemed like the day was dragging on for a while. We tracted a lot and that was good. The Elders Quorum president took us with him and his wife on their date night. We went to Logan's! It was good but I didn't get what I normally get because the steak was so dang expensive! After dinner Bro. Call, the eq pres. went with us to teach a girl named Megan Hall. We have been working with her for a bit now and it’s been good but she wasn't getting baptized. So we went in and it was super spiritual but she wasn't opening up then the spirit took over and we were asking and saying all the right things and it was great. She opened up and we resolved all her concerns and she committed to work towards January 12th, the week after I will be transferred. It was awesome. Then we went to Bro. Call's house to help him give his son a blessing cuz he was going into surgery the next day to get a random bump moved from his face. It wasn't a bad bump it was just getting bigger and didn't look so good. Kinda like dads ex-bump. Then we went home. Friday morning we had weekly planning. For lunch we met Elder Jones' recent convert from Lodi at Cold Stone and had ice cream for lunch. How healthy right? Then we went and tracted which seemed like forever! We later saw some people and it was good. We were super late to our dinner because we were talking to this lady forever and she would not shut up but that’s good I guess. We had a great dinner. It was with the family we had dinner with for Thanksgiving. The daughter and son in law live in our ward and they signed up to have us over but the whole family came and it was a good time. After dinner they wanted us to teach them a practice lesson and it was fun. We saw a couple of people then went home. Saturday morning was kind of weird. We were seeing people but it felt like everyone was tired and slow. We had a good lunch with some other elders in our zone. They had just had a baptism so we wanted to celebrate with them. Its great being a zone leader cuz you realize what it really means to have joy in others success. Or maybe that’s just me and Elder Jones. Who knows? We taught a cool guy after lunch. His name is Jon Parkes. He just got out of jail a month ago after being in there for 13 years! A member has been working with him in the prison he was in for the past 2 years and this guy is truly converted to the gospel. He just has to be approved by the first presidency because he is on parole. The member that was working with him said he has written 7 letters to the first presidency to get his people approved and all of them have so we have faith in him for Jon. We then went and taught Justin and Shana again. We are getting ready for their baptism this Wednesday and we are all super excited. Then we just tried to see as many people as we could that have been to church and can get baptized this month. We are two people away from hitting our zone goal and breaking the record and 2 away from the stake goal of 100 for the year. So we are working our butts off so we can see miracles. We had dinner with Joanne. She cooks some good southern cooking but I don't like bbq sauce and she made ribs. If it was a dry rub I would love them but the only bbq sauce I like is uncle Chets. Then we went and saw some more people. At the end of the night we went to visit one of the members because his nonmember girlfriend had come to church and we wanted to teach her. But her dad won't let her. He only let her because the kid was getting ordained a priest and it was a special occasion. So that was a bummer. Sunday was swell. There were two farewells and a homecoming in sacrament meeting. It was PACKED! The stake president son was coming home and another one was leaving and then a Tongan kid was leaving. It was so packed it was crazy. We had lunch after church and then went out to see some people. We had dinner with a family in the area where Elder Jones started his mission. They are in our zone. The husband is a nonmember and was supposed to get baptized a year ago and is now getting baptized on New Year’s Eve. He asked Elder Jones to baptize him. Then we met up with the zone to go caroling. It was a mighty fine time and since we had practiced Hark! The Herald Angles Sing! For the temple day we sang it a lot and people loved it. I might add that we sounded pretty good. Then we set some goals and did numbers and went home. This morning for P Day we played football again. We WON! Again. It was a lot of fun but I fell and hit my head trying to block a pass and now I have a head ache. So that was my week. It was funny. Elder Jones and I were talking and when he was getting transferred we talked on the phone and I told him not much was going on here and it was kind of dead. Now we have had six baptisms while together with another one the week I’ll be leaving! So that was cool to see how many miracles we've seen and how much the Lord is blessing us. I think I have said this a couple of times now but I am having the best time of my mission right now and I love it! Well that is about it. I don't have any idea when I am going to call home. I know it will be close to right after three or at three. Any later and Elder Jones family would be asleep and any sooner and Jackie would still be at church so we will try and do it then. I am so excited to talk to you! Well I love you. Hope all is well.
--
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
December 19th 2011
Dear Grandma,
I wanted to take a little time and write you a letter. I feel bad because I haven't written you as often as I should have. But I wanted to write you today and take this chance to tell you how much you mean to me and how much I love you. Ever since a young boy I looked up to you and Grandpa Pete. It was an amazing experience being able to have my Grandparents help raise me. Not many kids get that opportunity. I can remember from a young age always trying to do something that would please you and make you proud of me. I remember the first time I came to help you out with the yard. We cut the big ole bush on the side of your house to nothing. Then I still had the lawn to mow and the other bushes to trim. I remember thinking "Oh boy, what have I got myself into". But as I continued on working on your yard I was able to spend some more time with you and get to know you more. It was great. I got to hear some of your stories and learn some life lessons. It was always a good time. Every gift I have gotten from you I have cherished and loved. From Grandpa's trophy to his war ring, his tie and even just the small notes in my birthday cards. I just want to say how much I love you Grandma. You are one of my Hero’s and I have always looked up to you. When I think of my Grandma I think of someone who has lived her life faithful to the gospel always doing good. I was privileged to grow up so close to you and to be around you so often. You mean so much to me and I love you so much. I hope you get feeling better and I know God has a plan for all of us.
Love,
Your Grandson, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
So we are only allowed to write letters on P-day and in the middle of the week I had the urge to write Grandma a letter to tell her how much I love her and stuff but Elder Jones and I committed to God a new level of obedience and I knew I couldn't go back on that so I am waiting till now and now I can write her. Maybe I’ll type it up, have you print it out and give it to her. If she doesn't remember me then oh well, at least she'll know someone loves her. But yeah I'm glad to hear she is hanging on. I really want her to last till I come home. A lot of missionary’s grandparents pass away while they are on their mission but I don't think many of them grew up living with theirs and being in the same ward their whole lives and being as close as we are to our grandmother. It would be like losing a parent, which some have in our mission. But this is God's plan for us. We live to die and we die to live again. We will see her again with all the ones we love. So this week was pretty good. The whole zone is working so hard to receive miracles and blessings from God. We are consistently baptizing each week and have the most people set up to baptize the most in the mission this month. So it is an exciting time to not only be in the Sacramento mission but to be in the North Sac Zone! Monday night we had a good dinner with the Lopez family. They are the family we are working with that have nonmember friends. Their niece who is from Arizona lives with them and is super pretty. After that dinner we went and tried to see a few families the ward asked us to go see but none of them were home. Tuesday was a good day. We had a leadership meeting in the morning with the district leaders and it was fun. We went into the chapel because the room we normally do it in was super cold and dark. It was a good meeting and we talked about some good stuff. We tried to see a lot of people throughout the day but we didn't have much success with that. We tracted a lot which is always good cuz then we get to talk to each other a lot. We had dinner. The member we were supposed to eat with forgot so she just gave us some money and so we went to Taco Bell. Then we went to a meeting with the all the leaders in the stake. It was preparing for the Gladys Knight performance they are having on January 28th and 29th. It’s going to be one of the coolest things ever and all the Negros we talk to are pumped for it. The meeting went longer than we anticipated so we went home afterwards. Oh and on Tuesday I was blessed to get my package! Thank you so much for the medication and all those cookies. They are a hit with the apartment. And I love the date candy and every time I pop one in my mouth then take a sip of the hot cocoa while listening to my boy Michael Buble I think of all the hard work that must go into those dates before making the candy. It is much appreciated and we love the cd. Wednesday was really good. We had a great district meeting. We recommitted the whole zone to obedience and diligence. Everyone is super pumped too for a white Christmas. After lunch we went and visited Joanne a black American recent convert and told her about the Gladys Knight performance. I think she called ten people in the five min. we were there. Then we went and visited a few people. We had a lesson with Justin and Shana and the kids were crazy! They are so rambunctious lately. We went to see some more people then we had dinner with the Kanady family. But the parents weren't home so we just ate with the son who is contemplating going on a mission and his little sister. I think his parents planned it that way so we could talk to him and stuff. Hopefully he will go. We went and visited Roberta and Serenity and said hi to them. They are doing good. Then we went in for the night. Thursday was great. The morning was boring and I wasn't feeling too well. Then we went out and saw some people. It seemed like the day was dragging on for a while. We tracted a lot and that was good. The Elders Quorum president took us with him and his wife on their date night. We went to Logan's! It was good but I didn't get what I normally get because the steak was so dang expensive! After dinner Bro. Call, the eq pres. went with us to teach a girl named Megan Hall. We have been working with her for a bit now and it’s been good but she wasn't getting baptized. So we went in and it was super spiritual but she wasn't opening up then the spirit took over and we were asking and saying all the right things and it was great. She opened up and we resolved all her concerns and she committed to work towards January 12th, the week after I will be transferred. It was awesome. Then we went to Bro. Call's house to help him give his son a blessing cuz he was going into surgery the next day to get a random bump moved from his face. It wasn't a bad bump it was just getting bigger and didn't look so good. Kinda like dads ex-bump. Then we went home. Friday morning we had weekly planning. For lunch we met Elder Jones' recent convert from Lodi at Cold Stone and had ice cream for lunch. How healthy right? Then we went and tracted which seemed like forever! We later saw some people and it was good. We were super late to our dinner because we were talking to this lady forever and she would not shut up but that’s good I guess. We had a great dinner. It was with the family we had dinner with for Thanksgiving. The daughter and son in law live in our ward and they signed up to have us over but the whole family came and it was a good time. After dinner they wanted us to teach them a practice lesson and it was fun. We saw a couple of people then went home. Saturday morning was kind of weird. We were seeing people but it felt like everyone was tired and slow. We had a good lunch with some other elders in our zone. They had just had a baptism so we wanted to celebrate with them. Its great being a zone leader cuz you realize what it really means to have joy in others success. Or maybe that’s just me and Elder Jones. Who knows? We taught a cool guy after lunch. His name is Jon Parkes. He just got out of jail a month ago after being in there for 13 years! A member has been working with him in the prison he was in for the past 2 years and this guy is truly converted to the gospel. He just has to be approved by the first presidency because he is on parole. The member that was working with him said he has written 7 letters to the first presidency to get his people approved and all of them have so we have faith in him for Jon. We then went and taught Justin and Shana again. We are getting ready for their baptism this Wednesday and we are all super excited. Then we just tried to see as many people as we could that have been to church and can get baptized this month. We are two people away from hitting our zone goal and breaking the record and 2 away from the stake goal of 100 for the year. So we are working our butts off so we can see miracles. We had dinner with Joanne. She cooks some good southern cooking but I don't like bbq sauce and she made ribs. If it was a dry rub I would love them but the only bbq sauce I like is uncle Chets. Then we went and saw some more people. At the end of the night we went to visit one of the members because his nonmember girlfriend had come to church and we wanted to teach her. But her dad won't let her. He only let her because the kid was getting ordained a priest and it was a special occasion. So that was a bummer. Sunday was swell. There were two farewells and a homecoming in sacrament meeting. It was PACKED! The stake president son was coming home and another one was leaving and then a Tongan kid was leaving. It was so packed it was crazy. We had lunch after church and then went out to see some people. We had dinner with a family in the area where Elder Jones started his mission. They are in our zone. The husband is a nonmember and was supposed to get baptized a year ago and is now getting baptized on New Year’s Eve. He asked Elder Jones to baptize him. Then we met up with the zone to go caroling. It was a mighty fine time and since we had practiced Hark! The Herald Angles Sing! For the temple day we sang it a lot and people loved it. I might add that we sounded pretty good. Then we set some goals and did numbers and went home. This morning for P Day we played football again. We WON! Again. It was a lot of fun but I fell and hit my head trying to block a pass and now I have a head ache. So that was my week. It was funny. Elder Jones and I were talking and when he was getting transferred we talked on the phone and I told him not much was going on here and it was kind of dead. Now we have had six baptisms while together with another one the week I’ll be leaving! So that was cool to see how many miracles we've seen and how much the Lord is blessing us. I think I have said this a couple of times now but I am having the best time of my mission right now and I love it! Well that is about it. I don't have any idea when I am going to call home. I know it will be close to right after three or at three. Any later and Elder Jones family would be asleep and any sooner and Jackie would still be at church so we will try and do it then. I am so excited to talk to you! Well I love you. Hope all is well.
--
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
December 19th 2011
Dear Grandma,
I wanted to take a little time and write you a letter. I feel bad because I haven't written you as often as I should have. But I wanted to write you today and take this chance to tell you how much you mean to me and how much I love you. Ever since a young boy I looked up to you and Grandpa Pete. It was an amazing experience being able to have my Grandparents help raise me. Not many kids get that opportunity. I can remember from a young age always trying to do something that would please you and make you proud of me. I remember the first time I came to help you out with the yard. We cut the big ole bush on the side of your house to nothing. Then I still had the lawn to mow and the other bushes to trim. I remember thinking "Oh boy, what have I got myself into". But as I continued on working on your yard I was able to spend some more time with you and get to know you more. It was great. I got to hear some of your stories and learn some life lessons. It was always a good time. Every gift I have gotten from you I have cherished and loved. From Grandpa's trophy to his war ring, his tie and even just the small notes in my birthday cards. I just want to say how much I love you Grandma. You are one of my Hero’s and I have always looked up to you. When I think of my Grandma I think of someone who has lived her life faithful to the gospel always doing good. I was privileged to grow up so close to you and to be around you so often. You mean so much to me and I love you so much. I hope you get feeling better and I know God has a plan for all of us.
Love,
Your Grandson, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
December 12th 2011
Well it didn't seem like much happened this week. It’s sad to hear about Grandma. I think she will hang out long enough for me and Elder Skousen to get home. We get home with in like two weeks of each other so hopefully she hangs on. It is so sad to hear about that though. This week was pretty good. Actually it was awesome. I think I’ll tell you a little bit about it. So Monday night we had dinner with the Lopez family. We have been working with them on sharing the gospel with their friends. They have two people they are working with and so they were supposed to invite them over for dinner but they couldn't make it. We had a great time. We have been over there a little bit and they love to film Elder Jones singing and me dancing. They named them Elder Jones singing and the other one Elder Arnett dancing. So you should check em out and see if they are there. I have a pretty good video I recorded of me dancing. I'll send it home soon. Then we went and taught Roberta and Serenity. They are great and accept everything so easy. Tuesday we had a good day. We had leadership in the morning. It was good. After lunch we went out and saw some people. I'm not sure what we did all day. I can't remember. It was a good day I’m sure. Wednesday we had a great district meeting. We practiced singing Angels we have Heard on High. We were asked to sing it at the Mission Temple Trip on Friday. We sound pretty good actually. Oh yeah before I forget. For some reason I keep thinking Ammon, Betsy’s husband, is from St. Johns. There is a missionary in our zone who is from there. His name is Elder Sean Bast. He is a cool guy. So if Ammon is from there what’s his last name? Wednesday was a day as well. We were able to teach some people. I'm sorry the weekend was a lot better than the week so those days got drowned out. Thursday we had to do weekly planning cuz Friday was the Temple trip. We had a good time doing that. Then we went and did some more stuff. Our night was pretty busy. We had so many appointments we actually had to cancel out dinner. It was fun though. We taught Roberta and Serenity and watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. They loved it. We were able to teach Justin and Shauna and it was real good as well. An appointment fell through so the member we were with took us to get some Chinese food. It was tasty. We had a good correlation with our awesome Ward Mission Leader. Then we went home and planned and went to sleep. Every morning I write in my journal and as of today I have written in it for a whole month straight! So there is some good stuff in there. We had our Temple Trip at the Sacramento Temple. First there was a mini zone conference with a Christmas program. They showed what we call the White Christmas video. It’s a picture slideshow of a bunch of baptisms over the past year. It was really good. The last two pictures were of two people who were baptized then a short time later passed away. Manat Soutsavang the paralyzed girl was one of them. President asked Elder Seumanutafa his feelings after watching it then he asked me to share my thoughts cuz I was a part of the baptism. It was the first time I really cried since before my mission. Then we had some good lunch. The temple was awesome as it always is! We had a good time though. Afterwards we taught a guy named Tracy. He doesn't believe Jesus is necessary so we moved on of course. We had our ward Christmas Party and Santa came! We got a good picture for our Christmas card. We had a real good time there and it was a lot of fun. We had 4 investigators come so that was fun. Saturday we had 2 baptisms! Roberta Campbell and her Daughter Serenity Douglas were baptized! It was awesome. Boy am I glad I learned how to play three Hymns, because we couldn't get a pianist for the program so I played. I messed up a little bit but that’s ok. Over the past week I have begun learning two more hymns. It’s not that hard if I just practice. Every time we're at the church and we have a minute I practice. So hopefully I can learn a couple more and fine tune the ones I know. The baptism was good though. We had to stay for the next baptism as well because the lady asked Elder Jones to say the opening prayer. People love him. It’s great. Then we went out and worked all day. We taught the Williams family and it was good. The Williams are Justin and Shauna. We tracted for a while. We had to write up a bunch of things for our Stake Correlation meeting with the Stake Presidency we had yesterday. That took some time. Especially cuz the office Elders in our mission aren't as on the ball as they usually are so I had to remake the form for our zone and I’m not great with computers but I’ve figured some things out so it works. We were able to see a few more people the rest of the night. Sunday morning we had a great meeting with the Stake Presidency. They are some cool guys. We are close to hitting the goal for the Stake of 100 baptisms for the year. We need about five more so we'll be close. We have the people to do it and some so we are working our patoots off! We had a good Church. Roberta and Serenity were confirmed and it was good as well. The Lopez daughter brought her friend Ryan to church so hopefully he'll be there tonight for dinner so we can teach him. Justin and Shauna were supposed to get their interview but they weren't at church so we went over to their house with our ward mission leader and he took them to church. We don't take peoples agency away but we give them as little as possible and then make them feel uncomfortable so they have to do what we want. It works almost every time ;]. So yeah that was good. We went tracting some more after church. We had dinner with Bishop Lee, the bishop of our ward. It was a lot of fun. I love his family. They have a little boy named Braden but he isn't anything like my brother. We had a good time with them. Then we had a Christmas Fireside. It was LAME! Seriously I thought it was like make a wish foundation and they let these people perform the day before they die but they all looked too healthy for that to be the case. The last number was pretty cool though. The Tongan ward sang the Hallelujah Chorus in Tongan and it rocked. Then we had a zone meeting afterwards. It went good. People are starting to slack off and it’s frustrating. At the beginning of the month we asked each person what they expected out of us as their zone leaders and we have been doing everything they asked us to but they aren't doing much. So it was rough. But I think everyone is going to be on board now. Today is P Day. We played football earlier. It was fun. We WON! I hate losing. So that was good. Things are going good out here though. I love serving. I have been taking each day by itself and I have never been happier. It’s rough to look ahead too far cuz then you get discouraged or now trunky but if I go day by day and do my best it all goes smooth. Inch by Inch like it goes. So yeah that is what’s going on right now. I hope everyone is having a good time back at home. I will be praying for Grandma. Oh and to answer your question mom, I don't really feel like they are here with me but sometimes I feel like Grandpa Pete is talking to me telling me what I should do. I think about him like every day. I just hope Grandma makes it till I get home. But either way she is a worthy woman who is entitled to the blessings of heaven and will be rewarded. I have learned a lot about the Plan of Salvation and honestly I feel like a mission is the best place to lose a family member because you have the spirit constantly. We'll just face the future with faith. I love you.
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Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
Thursday, December 8, 2011
December 5th 2011
I am sorry about the random email times. The computers we usually use are down so we have been trying to find members who will let us use theirs so we found one. I am actually using the people who got baptized a little while ago. They are super solid and haven’t missed a sacrament meeting yet! So this week was rough. We had a lot of zone leader responsibilities to take care of with people being disobedient new missionaries coming and stuff. It was crazy! We had a hard time finding the time to work in our own area. When we did get the time it was quality and well spent. So being on this obedience run has been awesome. We told the zone that we have a goal of 16 baptisms in the zone this month so we can beat the record for the zone. We have a lot of people were working with so we know it is possible. We read a few scriptures about obedience and righteousness and how without it God can't bless us. We then told them that if they are disobedient and if we don't hit our goal then it was because of them. So that has motivated a lot of missionaries to be better. On Wednesday we were able to talk to the elders that decided to go on their Black Friday extravaganza. They all felt real sorry and have all changed a bunch since we have talked to them. They are still scared because President Lewis hasn't said much to them yet. So that was fun. Actually it wasn't. Being a zone leader is fun and all but when you have to be the bad guy its rough but hey it has to be done. After we talked to them in the morning we had to drive up to the mission office to pick up one of the Elders that is Training. It’s funny because he is training his girlfriend’s cousin! There is no way President Lewis knew that when he was assigning trainers. So that was fun. We took him out to Chipotle for his first mission meal. He loved it compared to that nasty mtc food. We were able to get some work in the rest of the afternoon. For dinner we had Potato Casserole! It wasn't even half as good as the one guys make but hey it was familiar. We also had some ham. We had dinner with the whole zone with the stake President, President Treadway. His son just got back from his mission in the Philippines and his other son leaves in a month for Italy. We had a good dinner with him and his family then a nice little visit afterwards. He shared with us some news that makes me bummed that this is probably my last transfer here in North Sac. At the end of January Gladys Knight and her choir are, for the first time ever, returning to a stake she has already performed at. It was so successful to missionary work last time she wants to do it again! I am bummed I will probably miss it. But man is that going to be cool. After dinner we did something that I can't remember then we went home. Thursday we had a good District meeting. Our district leaders are great and we have a lot of good additions to the zone. Everyone seems to be on board with obedience and with the plans we have for the zone. We are super excited. After lunch we did stuff. I don't have my planner so I am going off of memory and since this week was crazy and not normal I don't remember much. I remember what we did actually. We taught 3 lessons at night in a row and they were all amazing. We taught Roberta and Serenity, then we went and taught a girl named Megan Hall. She came to church last week out of the blue and we had a great lesson with her. Our ward mission leader is awesome too! He came to our appointments with us and when we were at Megan's she was telling us about the dilemma she was having. Her Saturday babysitter got a job and now works Saturdays so for the past month the baby sitter has been leaving Megan's 18 month old child, Hector, with her boyfriend and then working at her job so she could get paid twice as much. Megan was not going to stand for that. So she fired her and now she needs a baby sitter. Well Bro. Lopez offered to watch him with his wife. They have three little kids that are all around hectors age so it was cool. So they watched Hector on Saturday then they hung out with Megan for a couple of hours and she came to church again this week! So he and his wife are great. Friday we had Mission Leaders Council. It sounds real important but it’s really not that big of a deal. It’s with all the district and zone leaders in the mission with President and Sister Lewis. We all just get to know each other and announce our goals for the Transfer. We have the highest goal with the most set up to be baptized. We are super excited to have a White Christmas in North Sac! I don't remember what we did the rest of the day. We probably taught somebody or did something. Saturday was crazy as well. We tracted for two hours in the morning, then we had lunch. After lunch we tried to see a few people. The Elders we now live with had gotten their car towed cuz they parked in the wrong spot so we had to drive them outside the mission to meet the car coordinator to go get it. That took a long time and a lot of miles. Then Elder Jones left with a member to go down to Lodi to see his favorite investigator get baptized. I stayed with the Tongan ward elders cuz they were having a baptism for Tina. I taught her a couple of times. The first time I invited her to be baptized she laughed in my face then four months later I watched her get baptized so look who’s laughing now. Actually no one’s really laughing but whatever. After the baptism we went to Tina's house for a Tongan feast. It was really good but then right after I had to meet elder Jones at Roberts for another dinner. It sure was tasty though. Then we went to see some more people before the night was through. Sunday morning was rough. I have two analogies to describe how I felt. First I felt like I went all 6 minutes in a wrestling match with Lucifer. When we got to church none of our investigators were there. Then I felt like I jumped on a roller coaster and neither I nor Elder Jones were wearing a seat belt. It was rough. Finally all five investigators showed up. Roberta and Serenity had gotten in a quarrel with the member they live with and so they went to Roberta’s mom’s house instead of coming to church. Well they had to come to church cuz they are getting baptized on Saturday and they needed their interviews so they finally came for the last hour. So the whole morning was just crazy trying to get people to church and what not. But they all came. Because we have been obedient God is on our side and we can't lose. Our testimony meeting was ridiculous. It went till 10:30 when our church starts at 9:00... One guy said over the pulpit that without Jesus we are all screwed... It was crazy. We had a good dinner with some members after tracting for a little while. Then we enjoyed the great Christmas Devotional by the First Presidency. It really was awesome. We love the Christmas season here in the mission. After the Devotional we had a good zone meeting to set a weekly focus. We committed everyone companionship to have an investigator with a baptismal date by the end of the week. We have four in our ward so things are going great. So that was good. Things have been going real good lately. It was a rough week but it was real good too. Usually I am dying for a Pday but I didn't even think about it. We are just going day by day and working our hardest and being obedient and it’s awesome. My mission has never been better. We are seeing so many miracles and we are always happy. Oh yeah mom I ran out of Claritin and man is it expensive. I bought a 15 pack to get me through but could you send me some more. It doesn't have to be in a big package just send it in a little one, cuz I need it fast. I almost got sick with out. I probably am addicted to the nasal spray. I have to have it, but it works. So yeah things are good. Mom I already told you. Elder Jones can't marry Hayley cuz I love his sister. That would just be weird. So I really don't want to send the Christmas card to that many people. Maybe like 40. I would like to send it to some families in the ward but i don't know who... I want to send it to some old converts in the mission and some of my friends so maybe you could give me the addresses of like 15 families in the ward. The Halms, the Schmids, The Allreds, Reidheads, Packers, Bishop Petremallo, Bishop Hitchcock, Threets, Campbells, Bullochs, Frosts, Thomas family, grandma Ray and Ilene, Wilyerds, Bret Church they liked it last year. So yeah. It shouldn't be too much. I think its like 50 cents a card so maybe like 50 dollars would cover it. Idk. But we are thinking of a good card. Speaking of Christmas. I really miss seeing that big huge tree up in the house. No one I have met here in Sacto has had a tree as big as ours. I was wishing for a unique Christmas gift of a picture, with everyone in the family even Jeff and Candice cuz I only have one picture with them in it all standing in front of the big tree. That would bring lots of old Christmas feelings back of warmth and joy. Well I love you all and I hope everyone is well.
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Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
Dad it was great to read your email today. I loved it. I don't think about everyone in the family every day but I don't think a day has gone by that I haven't thought of my mom and dad and the many things they have taught me. I remembered a quote you told me while mowing the yard one day. I used it in a lesson the other day and it was great. You told me "Inch by Inch life is a Cinch, but Mile by Mile it will take you awhile". It’s true especially in missionary work. Things are amazing here. We are seeing so many miracles. I have been striving so hard to be obedient in every way I can and I feel like since I have been, God has been helping me grow so much. I feel like in the past couple of months my Testimony has grown more than it has at any one time in my mission. Well I love you dad. Thanks for the email.
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
November 29th 2011
Well this week was a good one. It was rough going all those days without a p day but it was nice to have a short week till this one. When we don't get p day on Monday we call it marathon Monday. It was rough having two of those in a row. So thanksgiving was awesome! We ate with a family over in Elder Jones' first area. The dad is the bishop of the ward and his daughter is married and lives in our ward with her husband. She barely got home from her mission in Thailand a year ago! So it was fun. Her husband is a convert to the church and served a mission at 26! The family we were with, the Larsons, have 4 children. Two are married, one is on a mission in North Carolina in the mission Elder Jones is from, and the other one just graduated from High School and is getting ready for a mission. We had some good food. I got full super super fast. I have been eating a lot less lately, I eat apples a lot cuz I can take them with me out the door and they are good for you. Like dad always told me, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. I think he told me that about a few foods though. So couldn't eat too much. Elder Jones was in a lot of pain that night. He has a bad back and he tweaked it while we were playing football. He is just now starting to recover. It’s been rough on him, I feel bad. He did have like 4 touchdowns though so maybe it was worth it. He spent most of the night icing his back and put a heating pad on it. Since he was in the living room on the couch doing that the parents and the married daughter came in and talked with us. We had a real nice chat about the Gospel, about our future lives and ambitions and just talking about some fun things. We played the game Apples to Apples and had a good time. The TV was on the whole time with different football games on. It was a temptation not to watch. The rest of the night was good. Friday we had a busy day doing different things. I can't remember what we did. Saturday was good too but just like Friday I can't remember what went on. Sunday was a very very good day. We got all ready in the morning and went to church. When we first got there and until 20 min. into sacrament meeting Shauna McCartney was the only one there. Randomly an old investigator we haven't been teaching texted us and asked if she could come to church and we enthusiastically said YES! She did come for the second and third meetings. Just after we received that text Roberta and Serenity walked in and sat in the back, so we texted the mom of Shauna to see if Justin, her brother, was coming. The mom had gotten home late from work again so she was bringing him late. Just as Sacrament meeting ended, he waltzed on in with a purple suit coat and black MC Hammer pants on. It was ridiculous but he was there! So we had 5 people come to church and 4 of them are set up to be baptized this month! We are stoked. The rest of Sunday was kind of dull though. We had dinner with the Welch family who is the family that Michael and Mercy Slover, the last two baptizees live with. The dad cooks very very well. They were all bragging about his fried chicken so he finally made it. He has nothing on your chicken dad! He does make some good potatoes with Garlic and what not in them. Most people wouldn't like them but I love garlic. Then after that we met with all the missionaries. Since it’s after Thanksgiving we took the liberty to go Christmas Caroling as a zone to everyone’s investigators. It was a lot of fun. Monday was good as well. We went to all the apartments in the zone and did checks to see if they were clean. Then we went to the mission office to pick up a Spanish Book of Mormon for one of our investigators. She speaks Spanish and English but her husband only speaks English so we get to teach them. Then we had some lunch. We were able to see a few people and tract for a little while. We had dinner with the Thomas family. His dad just got made the Stake Patriarch a little while ago. They are a real nice young family. During dinner we got our Transfer Calls... Dun, Dun, Dun... President Lewis asked to speak to Elder Jones and I together so he could break the news to us so Bro. Thomas let us go into his 12 year old daughters room. It was a unique transfer call. For one there were David Archuleta, Demi Levato, and Selena Gomez posters everywhere. Then President Lewis said that he regretted to inform us that the Lord wanted us to stay together here for another transfer! So a year of my mission will be spent in two areas! I am super super excited! We are stoked to stay together. We both get along so well and we are doing some great work together. So that was exciting. This is by far my favorite area. I have been praying everyday asking to stay here. The Lord answered!
So Elder Jones was born and raised in a little town called Roanoke Rapids North Carolina. It has a population of like 5000. He loved growing up there and that is home for him but he is not opposed to move away. He loves his family and they are all there but he doesn't see much opportunity for himself there. His dad is a Lawyer. His parents are probably late to mid-40's He is the second oldest of Six kids. He has an older sister who is 23 and not married. He has a younger sister who is 17 and a senior in high school. He has another younger sister who is like 14. His little brother is 10 and his baby sister who is soo cute is 5. They all sing very very well and they all play the guitar. I have seen a few videos of them and it’s great. I might love his little sister so he can't marry Hayley. He hasn't showed any interest in her so idk. He is a great guy though. I am considering going to Utah for school just so we can hang out. That is where he plans on going. He loves Taylor Swift and so does his family. So we get along pretty well with that. He enjoys long walks on the beach, Horseback riding, and finger painting. Just kidding. I made the last three things up. Well, that’s it. So I want to do a Christmas card again but I don't know if I’ll have the money for them and stamps. If I do it I won't send it to 100 people again. Probably only like 30. So maybe you can help me with that. I really don't want much for Christmas. I just want to baptize a lot of people this year. Well things are still awesome. We are still striving to be as obedient as possible. I have discovered heaven in a bottle recently. It is Afrin Nasal Spray. It works wonders in my congested sinuses. I still take Benadryl every day but this helps me have a clear nasal passage way all day. So things are great. Some of the missionaries are making our hair turn gray cuz they aren't being obedient and we are finding out about it so we have to crack down on things. Well I hope everyone is having a good holiday season. We are having a fine time listening to Holiday favorites and classics. I can't wait till the day I can eat a Krazy Sub! Well I love you all. Have a nice week.
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
Friday, November 25, 2011
November 24th 2011
So this email might not get sent cuz the computer is jacked so I’ll send this real quick
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
“He who thanks but with his lips thanks but in part; the full, the true Thanksgiving comes from the heart”. (J.A. Shedd)
This was a quote from the weekly email President Lewis sends to us. I liked it so i thought i would turn the tables on you mom and send you a quote. So this week was rough. It was hard going three extra days without a p day. Everyone was feeling worn out and stressed. I know now what the importance of having a pday is. So now we are relaxing after a great morning of Turkey Bowl. The team i was on won both of the games we played. The first one was good. We won like 4 to 2. I had a sweet touchdown pass and ran it all the way. I was very very tired after that, luckily i have ran in the morning for more than a week straight now. I am trying to get into better shape before i come home. It’s called Six months to Sexy. Trust me, I'll need all of the six months. I am finally starting to see some results. I think my muscles had to build up which made it look like, on the scale that it, i wasn't losing weight. Now I’m losing it. Hopefully i don't completely ruin everything tonight at dinner. The second game we played we destroyed the other team. It was 6-0. They never got close to scoring. I felt bad because we were playing two line man on both sides of the ball. These guys have never played football a day in their lives and i was just pushing them down every time. It was fun though. So tonight we have dinner with an awesome family. It is the Larsen family. They live in another ward in the stake. Elder Jones started his mission there and they really like him so they invited us over for dinner. Mom it might sound like we never get fed but we get fed almost every night. The ward loves Elder Jones and I. We don't quite know what we’re doing right because after Sunday we have 4 people set up to be baptized in December with the zone having a total of 11. I will be so so bummed if i get transferred. I've put a good word in with the big guys in the office so hopefully elder jones and i can stay together another transfer. Elder Jones is by far my favorite companion and this area is by far my most favorite area. So i really hope i can stay.
This past week was good. We did some good work. We are teaching a lot which is good because Elder Jones and I aren't too crazy about tracting but we do it at least an hour every day. The members are great and they love coming out with us so it’s never too hard to get the members to come out. On Sunday we had two kids of a part member family come to church. We have been teaching them since Manu was here and now they are getting ready to be baptized on the 21st of December. I think last week i told you about a lady named Roberta who came to church the past two weeks. We went up to her after church and asked if we could come by and teach her and she said yes and that she wanted her daughter to be baptized. So we have been teaching them twice a week and both her and her daughter are set to be baptized on the 10th of December! We are so excited. All these great things are happening. Elder Jones and I realized all these good things as well as that we could totally do more if everyone was working harder and more obedient, so we started leading by example and we now look for things that we can be more obedient on and it is way nice to have that good feeling. We talked to the zone about it last week and read the scripture in the Book of Mormon about the anti-nephi lehis burying their swords. I made cute little handouts with swords on them and the scripture with a place to write down what you’re going to give up, then we all put them in the paper shredder. Everyone in the zone has been seeing more and more miracles as we are all trying to qualify for the blessings of God. We are doing the best in the mission with 11 people set up for December. We ended November with 7 which was the most in the mission as well so we are excited to be doing work! Elder Jones and I figured out that we aren't doing anything that is leading to this success but that God is blessing us with it because we aren't doing anything to hold it back. Well this is the only computer that works so we have to be fast so everyone in the zone can email their families. Elder Jones is good looking but he has his eye on someone already... sorry. So i really want to hear about everyone’s lives back at home. Mom can only tell me so much. I don't want to come home in six months and not know anyone in my own house except mom of course. She still loves me... If you want to email me, I’ll print it out and read it and write you back... Or just write me a letter. I really want to hear from you all. Everyone in Elder Jones' family emails him every week. So yeah. I feel like i am holding up my end and mom is carrying all of the other end on her back. Thanks mom for being so faithful... I love you guys either way but I’ll love you more if you write me!
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
I wasn't very clear on this. Roberta has a Daughter named Serenity and they are set up for the 10th of December. Shauna and Justin McCartney are set up for the 21st of the same month. Love ya.
Monday, November 14, 2011
November 14th 2011
I think the quote sounds better when I think of someone else saying it, not myself. So this week was really good. Despite some lost time here and there from being new zone leaders and trying to figure things out on the run, Elder Jones and I are seeing some good success. Its fun. Wednesday we had a good leadership meeting and things went well. Afterwards Elder Jones and I went to a delicious pizza buffet called Rico's. I guess it was huge in California back in the day but now there is only like one in Sacramento. So we went there. It is super good. The TV was on Sport Center and we saw all the good stuff on Joe Patterno and his friend. Man what is this world coming to! Also the commercials are ridiculous. Man. After lunch we were able to tract for a little while. It was fun. Then we had a pretty sweet miracle. We went to see some referrals that some missionaries gave us a week before and after two or three elder Jones had to pee real bad so we were about to go to Roberts house, the blind recent convert who is awesome. He said he could hold it for a little longer so we just kept seeing people who all lived in the same apartment complex. So we went and thought we were done but then we remembered one last one that was up on the third floor. So we went up to it and knocked on the door and this nice white guy with a beard answered the door. This part gets cool. He says he is busy babysitting two of his daughters and his house is a mess but he wanted us to come back on Saturday. Well we asked what his daughters names were and the first ones name was Kaylee. Elder Jones has a little sister named Kaylee who is 17 and super pretty, so I might be moving to North Carolina in 6 months. So that was fun but then he told us the name of the younger daughter and her name was Hayley. Well how about that. He has two daughters that have the same names as our younger sisters! So we talked for a bit then we asked if there was anything we could do before we left and he said no, just answer me this. (this is my favorite part) why did you come over to my house today? We replied that we felt we needed to stop by and that we almost missed it but we were prompted and remembered it. He got a real surprised look on his face and almost started crying. He said he had been praying the day before for guidance and he knew there was more he needed in his life religion wise. He told God that if this Mormon thing was for him that he needed to send the missionaries over the very next day. Well there we were. An answer to his prayer. So that was cool. The only thing is, he wasn't home for our return appointment on Saturday... but we will get him!!! The rest of the day would be a letdown compared to that story. We did have Chipotle for dinner which was mighty tasty. Wednesday we had a great district meeting. Elder Jones and I rewrote She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5. We made it missionary like. We played it for the zone. I started out singing it and I sucked. Elder Jones took it on the second verse then I interpretive danced the rest. It was fun. We taped it for the viewers to enjoy. I'll send the card home soon. The rest of the day I was with Elder Seigfried on exchanges. One area I am trying to work on is patience and the only way to strengthen something is to exercise it and push it till its tearing and about snap then release. That was an exact description of how the day went. But I feel like I am better from it. Oh and the girl didn't give me my jalapeno poppers when I paid for them only after she asked if I wanted them! Thursday was a good day. We taught a few people. We didn't plan the night before so looking at my planner right now isn't helping me remember what we did. Oh we had interviews with President Lewis on Thursday morning. It was really good. I love talking to him. He gave me some comforting advice. Friday was a swell day. We had weekly planning then we went out to lunch at a China buffet. It was good. We saw a few people afterwards. We tracted a little bit, then we had dinner. Member dropped it off to us. We had fried chicken from Raley's. Then we had an appointment fall through. We went to another really cool appointment. We had talked to an older couple the week before and missed the return appointment and she called and was mad but said we could back. So we went to the appointment and didn't listen to the spirit at all. They were asking great questions and we ignored them. We ended the lesson really really well when we finally learned our lesson and we will see them again this Friday. Their names are Tom and Annabella. Saturday was a crazy day. We got up and went to the church to play basketball with Leroy and the Elder quorum but Leroy and not one elder but like 4 people showed up so we left and then Leroy called us so we went over to his house and taught him. He is really struggling right now with unemployment and meeting with us is shaking up his family but he knows it is right so he is still going to meet with us and he came to church. We had a lot of appointments but a lot of them fell through. Our phone died so even though we were planning on skipping lunch we went and took lunch so we could charge our phone. Oh yeah and I bought an inhaler sometime in the past. We had to take a trip to the mission office to get our tires rotated and to pick up some supplies. It was fun. Saturday I wrote in my journal and I realized it was my 18 month mark so I committed to write in my journal every day the rest of my mission. I have failed already but I'll catch it up today. We had dinner with Robert and his wife Sandra and it sure was tasty. We always love hanging around Robert because he makes us feel good. He is a marriage and family therapist. So that is fun. I like to talk to him about music, movies and books. Its fun. So that was a good time. Sunday we had a meeting with the Stake Presidency. It was fun. I have decided that I want to spend my life in a room with a lot of people high up in a business and just talk about random stuff. Elder Jones is trying to convince me to go to LDS Business College for school so we can hang out when he goes to BYU. We'll see. So yeah that's whats going on. We had a good dinner last night. The mom made some amazing cookies that were almost as tasty as the oatmeal ones mom makes. Only when they are cold in the fridge with no chocolate chips and I dip them in milk. Man I will be looking forward to that someday. Maybe Christmas??? So I do like it when people honk at us when they drive by. But if you’re going to do it then do it early. Don't wait till you are right by the missionaries cuz it scares us. And I get scared easy! So don't do that. But I like it. So yeah. Things are going good. We have a lot of people we are working with. We found out a lady that came to church the past two weeks is a nonmember and has a daughter she wants to be baptized. We will be teaching her tonight so we are excited. The zone is setting things up for an amazing White Christmas. Well I love you. I won't be emailing till thanksgiving cuz next Monday we don't have P-day so don't be too bummed. Love you.
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
Monday, November 7, 2011
November 7th 2011
You know Scott is right. My mission is AMAZING! This week was pretty good. Monday night was pretty good. We went to Deseret Book in the middle of the day to buy 17 Miracles. Then we went and bought some pizza for the zone. We had called the High Councilor from our ward that deals with the electronics and asked him to set up the projector in the cultural hall so we could watch it on the big screen. He has a son on a mission so he likes to do things for us and so he did set it up for us and also bought us some pizza so we had a bunch of pizza to eat. The movie was awesome. We all really really liked it. It really put things into perspective for all us and now no one wants to complain about anything. The whole mission loved it and it was great. We had a Zone Leader roundtable with President and Sister Lewis on Tuesday. We talked about some different things and it was pretty good. We talked about a new rule. It’s not really new but they are now enforcing it in the mission. When it is cold instead of just putting on a sweater or my cardigan like I usually do, we have to put our suit coat on first. So from now until it gets warm, which may not be till I am back in Arizona, we have to wear our suits. If we are still cold we can put a sweater on underneath but it has to be one dark solid color and v neck still so people can still see your white shirt and tie. Luckily I have two cardigans which pass, one is grey which I wore in my Christmas card and another one is red. I wore it on Saturday. If it’s raining we still have to put suits on then we can put a rain coat over it. Luckily I’ll most likely be in a car the rest of my mission so my suit should stay ok. Then we talked about a goal for baptisms this month. I had a lot of comments and we ended on the goal of 73 so when we hit 101 in December we will make our goal of 800 for the year. It will be a stretch because we only have like 15 baptized so far this month with like 38 people set up but we've all seen miracles and are all expecting and working for them. I did talk a lot to make the goal 73 so if we don't hit it I hope people don't look to me afterwards. But I know we can and we prayed about it and everyone felt the spirit and it was unanimous after the prayer that we will hit 73 this month. We ended last month with 85 which was five more than our goal so we were blessed a lot. I have been feeling so much better this week as well. I am still taking my medication but I feel like 100 bucks. We taught a few really good lessons this week. We didn't teach as much as we had hoped and we didn't find as many people as we wanted but we have some really great people. This weekend Michael and Mercy Slover got baptized. It was amazing. This baptism has been the biggest miracle and fastest baptism so far. It’s been awesome. President and Sister Lewis came to the baptism and that was really nice of them to be there. Elder Jones and I have been doing great. We both get along very very well and just laugh and have a good time all day long. The stories never stop and it’s always a shin dig when we’re around. Elder Jones has gotten a hold of a guitar and he plays it often at night and in the morning. He is amazing and can sing better than most the people on the radio. He sounds kind of like a mix between John Mayer and Daniel Beddingfield the one that sings the song, "I don't wanna run away but I can’t take it, I don't understand, if I’m not made for you then why does my heart tell me that I am?” Jackie has to listen to it and you'll know. I made a video of him singing an arrangement of a hymn he did and it’s awesome. I have already committed him to sing at my wedding and we have already started making a list of songs he is going to sing. I am excited to get married now. I haven't met too many people on my mission that I plan to stay in touch with and be friends with but I will definitely be friends with him. It’s great. So yeah that’s my week. The weather has been pretty good. It’s been cold some days with the highs in the low sixties to upper fifties. We can wear our suits all day and be comfortable. Some days we put our sweaters and cardigans on underneath cuz it’s a bit nippy. But yeah. Life is great. I am loving the work more now than I have ever on my mission and we are being blessed so much with success. I love being on a mission. I have learned so much stuff for my life on managing my life and helping others, organizing my time and talents and just working in general. It’s great and has helped me realize that really we can do anything. We just have to go for it. Sometimes taking the time to think whether something is possible or not makes us too late to accomplish it. We just have to have faith and fly. So I am excited to receive the letter and pictures. I love letters and pictures. I am still expecting some from my siblings so I will be waiting. I love you all so much.
-
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
Monday, October 31, 2011
October 31st, 2011
So since its Halloween we aren't allowed to go out proselyting tonight because of the danger in it and people would be mad, even though almost everyone would answer their door. But we have to be ready for the activity in an hour and we still need to shower and what not. For the activity President Lewis has given each zone permission to show 17 Miracles one time and one time only for the whole zone tonight. We are all super super excited. This week was kind of lame. I ended up getting sick with bad allergies and a cold on Thursday and then Friday we had Zone Conference. Elder Yamashita from the first quorum of the Seventy was here and did an awesome training. Him and his wife didn't speak English very well but they did just fine and the spirit was super strong. We learned a lot. But I was talking to the health coordinator, the new one that is, and she was concerned so she made me go to the doctor in the middle of it which was lame. Good thing I went cuz I had pneumonia again! Just kidding I didn't. But I did have an ear infection so they gave me some amoxicillin which gives me diarrhea. So I have been getting better slowly. A cool thing that happened was when President Lewis found out I was sick he really wanted to give me a blessing so during lunch he took me aside and I assumed he would do it with my companion but that was not so. When I walked in the room Elder Yamashita was there and so President Lewis anointed me and Elder Yamashita gave me an awesome blessing. So I got an awesome blessing from a Seventy! So that was basically my week. I did get Jamie's letter this week. Hopefully it’s not the last from the rest of the family responding to my heart ache. I had a dream Jeff wrote me a letter ha. I have been having some crazy dreams lately. The work is going great. We are still trying to find some new investigators cuz we are baptizing ours. Michael and Mercy Slover will be getting baptized this Saturday at 1 p.m. We don't have to do anything in it except take the credit for the baptism. I am so excited. They are super solid. Michael actually had already converted to Hot Chocolate in the morning just like you suggested mom. So that was cool. Oh yeah I forgot to ask, WHAT THE FREAK. WHY DOES PORTER WANT TO BE A FAIRY FAGGIT!?!?!?! That’s ridiculous. I was never that gay. I might have worn pink tights and danced and stuff but I was never a FAIRY! Mom how can you allow this?! Oh well, as long as you send me pictures so I can see how gay it is. I love you all. I hope everything is going good. Love you.
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
Monday, October 24, 2011
October 24th 2011
Well that sounded like an exciting week. That was a nice long email. I love being informed. So this was a week! So my new companion is Elder Jones from North Carolina. He is awesome. He came out a transfer after me and became a zone leader at the same time. We both have very similar working and teaching styles and we get along very very well. We both love to tell stories and that is usually what takes up most of our free time. It’s nice because I love telling stories to my companions but sometimes they don't appreciate them and they kind of don't listen but with Elder Jones being a story teller as well he appreciates it and he listens and gives me feedback. We don't just tell random made up stories. Just in case you were wondering... Everything has happened for reals. Even if Paul Dunn creeps in a few times, it’s real to us. So with Elder Jones and I both being new zone leaders it has been a learning experience for both us. But it’s been fun and I have grown so much as a leader this past week. I feel lazy at times because I am not busting my butt all day long beating on doors. Elder Manu's style was knock now think later. We have taken a lot more time thinking and it sure has paid off! I'll tell of two total miracles that happened this week. So I was a little nervous for this transfer to start. Everything Manu and I had going on was finished or over so I felt like we were starting with very little this transfer. So Tuesday night we had a zone dinner with the 2nd councilor in the Stake Presidency. It was at the church and went just swell. We have a great zone. I had left our phone in the car on accident so when we were finished we went to leave and we had a missed call and a new voice mail, so naturally we listened to it. It was a member of the ward that meets in the same building as us and he was relating to us that a man had come to the church with his son wanting to know when service started and if he could have some info about the church and its belief. His name is Leroy and me and Elder Manukailea had knocked on his door like 2 months ago. So we called him from the number the member gave us and he answered and wanted us to come over right then. It was only 7:30 so we took the member from the other ward with us and went and taught him the Restoration. It was great and he is so smart and spiritual. So we taught him on Tuesday and on Wednesday and again on Friday and him and his 7 year old son came to church on Sunday. So that was a total miracle. He's not married to his baby’s momma that he has been with for some time and he has some word of wisdom issues but has expressed the desire to change in both areas and I have seen it done. So that’s one. The next one is great as well. So a few months ago some members said that they were going to be renting out a room to some nonmembers and that we should teach them. Well last week they came to church because they have finally got settled in. So we talked to them a little bit. Elder Manu thought they were a waste of time but the guy wanted a large print Book of Mormon which the mission has to order in when someone needs one and it takes a min. but we had gotten one for somebody but we aren't teaching them anymore so we just took it on over to him on Thursday and taught him and his wife along with their 6 year old son. So we taught an amazing, spiritual restoration lesson and at the end invited both of them to be baptized. We thought for sure they would say yes but they shot us down so fast it was sad. He loves coffee and she just wasn't sure. But both Elder Jones and I felt like they were both going to be baptized and they didn't even know it. So we had dinner with the member they live with on Saturday and we had some delicious tri-tip. I will learn how to cut the cow myself to introduce it to Arizona. It was sooo tasty along with the garlic potatoes with some good vegetables. So we had dinner and then we had another lesson with Michael and Mercy Slover. That’s there name by the way. So this time we taught the Plan of Salvation and decided to focus a lot on Mercy's children that got taken away from her a while ago as well as the atonement of Christ that explains his ability to have empathy for anything we go through. So it went very very well and it was a great lesson with a very strong spirit. We invited both of them to be baptized again with the same result. But this time Mercy started revealing all her concerns. They were pretty lame, like she knew someone that got baptized and they just take all the churches money and she doesn't think that should be allowed. I don't think that’s even a concern ha. So we resolved them but they still said no, so we extended a commitment to pray about it and to come to church with a question. So they came to church and they looked like they were having a good time. So afterwards we were super super busy and had a lot of things going on. They wanted to talk to us and so we made some time and stood in the hallway and Michael says Mercy why don't you tell them. So she told us that they both wanted to be baptized as soon as possible and asked how long it would take. They had already been to church twice so next week it will be their third week and they will get baptized on Nov. 5th. So the nervousness has gone away a little bit. I am still a bit nervous for the whole zone baptizing but I’m trying to be more obedient so I can qualify for God's blessings. So I know he will help me. So this is a bit of sad news. Manat Soutsevang, the quadriplegic that I helped baptize passed away last Monday the 17th at 12:03 pm. It was super sad. We went and sang for her family on Monday night with the Tongan elders. We went to the viewing on Saturday and her funeral was on Sunday during the Tongan elder church so I took elder seumanutafa with me to it and it was weird and Buddhist. But it felt good to recognize her and give her respect. So that was super sad. Her soul was saved just in time. She had Lou Gheriks disease and was close to passing away a few times. We know she stayed alive just long enough to be saved in God's Kingdom. She is now resting in paradise. So the work is still true. Everything is going great. Oh our apartment sucks right now! The power doesn't work in half the apartment which half consists of the power going to our fridge, microwave, hot water heater, and both bathrooms. So that has been lame. We actually had to put our fridge on our balcony cuz it was leaking then we got an extension chord and plugged it in in another room so it works. But we have had to take cold showers every morning. We took showers at the church today in the baptismal changing rooms. So it was our first warm showers for a bit. We told the apartment office on Saturday but they said it probably won't get taken care of till tomorrow. We told them like 2 weeks ago but they didn't do anything about it. So if it doesn't get taken care of soon I might not be a happy person towards them anymore. So I hope this email was good. I love you.
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
Monday, October 17, 2011
The North Sacremento Zone!
Temple Night Shot
Angel Moroni
Me in front of the Temple.
Us at Georgina's Baptism.
Me with the Reidheads.
October 17th 2011
Well we just got done playing football with another zone. We played for over an hour and lost so I am not only extremely tired but angry. The other zone pissed me off so bad. Oh well we'll just keep our 80 baptisms for the year so far compared to their 50... So I don't know how much I am going to email. Sorry I forgot to tell you that this transfer is a day early so we have a normal p-day. The new missionaries are coming in a day early from the mtc so that is why they did this. It’s only a one-time thing. So this week was exciting going to lunch with the Reidheads. We were on exchanges so Elder Manukailea didn't get to come. I was surprised how well it all worked out. I texted Brother Reidhead on Wednesday night and we just set up to meet at the church at 11:30 the next day. So we met up and talked for a bit then headed off to Golden Corral. I took them on the scenic route that went through the Old Air Force base. We had a great time eating and talking about things. I thought it would make me super trunky but it didn't. I have been pretty trunky because Elder Manu is going home and it gets me thinking about it but meeting with the Reidheads helped me feel like nothing has really changed too much back at home and that things will go on just the same when I get home. So I’ll just keep doing the work and baptizing. This week Georgina finally got baptized! But she didn't come on Sunday for her confirmation... We'll get her this week for sure. We went on two exchanges this week. I was with Elder Taufu'i on Tuesday. He came to my area and we did some good work. Thursday I was with Elder Morgan. We had a lot of fun. So we got our transfer calls last night. Of course as you all know Elder Manukailea goes home so he is leaving. I am being made the senior Zone Leader and my new companion is Elder Jones. He is from North Carolina. He came out a transfer after me and was made a zone leader the same time as me. He is a really cool kid and an amazing missionary so I am excited to learn from him and serve with him. The stake is super bummed that Manu is leaving. He has been here for 6 months and has worked wonders in the zone. I hope Elder Jones and I can continue that work down here. I'm sure if we work as hard as me and Elder Manukailea have been and are obedient we will see the same success. The stake is so close to hitting their goal of 100 baptisms for the year so we are all working hard to achieve that. The mission goal this month was 80 baptisms. We have 51 baptized so far with 44 more people with a date to be baptized in the next two weeks of the month so we are super close to hitting that goal. If we hit that and repeat it in November and get our goal of 101 we will reach the mission goal of 800 for the year. We are all working our hardest right now to achieve these goals. The field is very white and ready to harvest. Even in Elder Schmid's area where the people aren't white! Man they are baptizing so much. Oh and on the white note. President Lewis has taken note that a lot of the missionaries in the missions white shirts aren't so white anymore. That is very true for myself. He asked us to ask for new white shirts for Christmas so that’s what I’m doing. I think 2 of each, long and short sleeve should be fine. I still have a fat size 19 neck. I wish it was smaller and it might be late but I would rather be safe than sorry. I'll let you know if I start losing any weight. Oh and I didn't do that diet. I quit the same night of the day I started. I received revelation that I shouldn't do it. It took almost falling asleep while standing up to be revelation. I like my picture on my camera of me with the Reidheads. I'll send it home. As well as my memory card cuz it’s full, or will be soon. I hope everyone is having a lot of fun. Love you.
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Georgina flaked on her baptism two weeks in a row. So we took a picture together to remember how pissed we were.
the group at coloma, the place where Gold was found.
Me beating President Lewis at horse shoes. I'm not as good at it as i am at Corn Hole.
we went out a little too far...
Glen Taylor (76 years old!) The stake President sons Ben Treadway baptized him. He's going to Italy Milan mission in January. 
Me and Marcie Maxie she got baptized like two months ago.
the group of us who baptized Manat. Elder Seumanutafa, Me, Elder Taufu'i
All of us at the Tonga families house for dinner. They call me their son because i eat as much as their tongan sons. (Their last name is Tonga)
Lunch with Paul & Chantel Reidhead from my home ward in Arizona - October 13th 2011
October 10th 2011
Well since Mom isn't here to read this one, I guess I’ll write it to the boys and Dad and I assume Ellie didn't get to go either so she can be among the first to read this one. It’s going to be a good one I hope. I have a pretty sweet story to tell today about some events that have happened in the previous weeks ending last night. It really has defined my purpose as a missionary and it was an amazing experience I will never forget. So a couple of months ago the missionaries in the Tongan ward were tracting and they ran into a Samoan guy with a Lao girlfriend. Well the Lao girl was the interested one so they tried to give her to the missionaries who speak Lao (even though she speaks perfect English or I guess I should say understands it) You see Manat (the Lao girl) is paralyzed from the neck down. She can't move anything but her head side to side. She can't even nod or anything. She has a lot of trouble speaking and you have to read her lips to understand what she is trying to say. Well the Lao missionaries didn't want to teach her. The Lao program here is dwindling to the point where they have 3 active members and a load of in active people who haven’t been to church in 20 years. So their main goal is to grow the group so the program doesn't get shut down. So when they found out about Manat they said no because she wouldn't be able to come to church ever so it would be a burden to their program. So Elder Taufu'i and Elder Seumanutafa started teaching her (the elders of the Tongan ward). She really desired baptism so they began working with her more and more and then they found out she would never be able to come to church. So they contacted me and Elder Manukailea, being their zone leaders, to find out what they should do. We didn't know so we talked to President Lewis and he asked if she was accountable and we said yes she definitely is all there, she is just a quadriplegic so she can never come to church. Well he said that anyone that is accountable, or alright in the head, has to have baptism or they can never go to heaven. So we continued on in the process of teaching her. The Lao missionaries found out she was getting baptized so they got all defensive but then they remembered she wouldn't be able to come to church so they again declined teaching her. Here is where it all comes together. So I had been to lessons with Elder Taufu'i and he has some spiritual connection with her because he can hear her talking even when I can't see her lips moving. She will be sitting there and he will start asking what and I would get all confused because I don't see her doing anything and he would be like oh she said she needs help because her head has fallen back too far and she can't breathe. It’s amazing. I've seen it time and time again in the lessons with them. So we went on and she had a date to be baptized. The date was supposed to be this Saturday but her family didn't know about it and they wanted to come so they did. This is where it all gets crazy. So the Tongan ward did the baptism program and first off it was amazingly spiritual to begin with. I don't know how many people have been to Polynesian functions but before the meeting begins they all just sit there and sing acapella hymns until its ready to start. So they were singing their hymns, singing my favorite in the process, How Great Thou Art, in Tongan and it was amazing. All the Lao people were already crying and following along in the hymn books reading the lyrics. So another thing. Elder Taufu'i's aunt married a Lao guy. Manat married that guy’s brother so they are randomly connected in that way. So we had the baptism. Her being paralyzed she needed a lot of help in the font so they asked me to help baptize her. I was with Elder Taufu'i who was holding her body and Elder Seumanutafa (who is Samoan) who held her head and said the baptismal prayer and I held her body and plugged her nose and mouth and helped push her whole body down so we only had to do it once. She was so scared but so courageous. After we all got changed we all confirmed her and she was saved after that point. It doesn't matter if she ever comes to church or anything. She has been baptized and received the Holy Ghost and is saved in the Kingdom of God. That’s what our purpose is. Saving Souls. Not growing a ward or group or keeping alive a dying program. Even better the guy conducting the baptism knew Manat, him being Tongan, but they lived by each other six years ago and he would pick her kids up from school. He said she was normal then and now she is totally different. But it was an amazing experience. Oh and for a musical number Elder Taufu'is aunt and cousin sang a song that was amazing and they both cried through the whole thing. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room. It was hands down the best experience and most spiritual baptism of my mission. Manat Soutsevang is saved. Other than that the rest of the week was kind of lame. We went on a few exchanges, one with the hmong elders who we live with and the APs. It was good and fun. Elder Manukailea goes home next week. This is his last week. It’s kind of hard being with him cuz it makes me think a lot about what it’s going to be like going home but that’s not for a long long time more. So I just work hard and forget about myself. So yeah. That was the cool thing this week. I hope it made sense and you enjoy it.
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Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
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