February 14th 2011

February 14^th 2011

Man that was a long one. I'm not sure how much time I have so I will try and get as much in as I can. This week was long! Tuesday night was a really sad night. We went with Brother Burton and visited his home teaching families. It was ok. We went and got some ice cream then me and elder byrum went and got our truck and went over to Rudy’s. It was super sad. I didn't want to leave their family. They are some of my best friends and I was able to get to know them real well. I went over without brother burton because I knew I would be breaking the rules. I couldn't pass up hugging everyone and that meant all the girls too. It was sad and they were mad at me for leaving them but they understand the work. They are planning on moving to Alaska in June or July so when I get home from my mission the first thing I’ll be saving for will be for a trip to Alaska! I haven't ever had a reason to go there before so I had no desire but it sounds pretty cool and they said I could stay with them when they are up there. So I am already planning on it. They are moving up there because that is where Dusty grew up and Rudy will have better job opportunities out there. So I said bye to them and went to sleep angry because I really didn't want to leave.

Wednesday was an interesting day. I packed then drove back down to elk grove. I am in the Florin ward. Its g-hetto. Stockton is ghetto but my area was the nicer part. This area is more ghetto. There are black people and Asians everywhere. It’s insane. So Wednesday I almost died on my bike. I am so freakin out of shape its ridiculous. I weighed 270 on Wednesday night and now I am down to 263.5 So I have lost a bit of weight. It’s nice but hard. It gets easier and easier every day though. But I was dying on Wednesday because I didn't take a breathing treatment in the morning. I was able to meet some good people we’re working with and it was a good day.

Thursday was another good day. We had a zone meeting. Everyone that was here before I left was here until now. Over half the zone is brand new it sucks but we have some awesome missionaries here. My zone leader is named elder Kelley. He looks so much like Joe my cousin it’s scary. I kind of feel bad for him ha just kidding. But he is way cool. Elder Crager is my companion. He is from Wisconsin. He is about 5'4"... Another one huh? No he is better than short man. He tries real hard to show off to make me think he is legit so he messes up a lot on doors and stuff but he has a great love for the people and he works super hard so he is a great companion. I hope we get along. Thursday we planned a little for the baptism we had scheduled on Saturday. Two young girls that are 10 and 15. They are fun to teach. I can't remember what we did that day.

Friday was a weird day. We went over to the assistant ward mission leader’s house to make our baptism programs in the morning. Normally we have weekly planning but that was the only time he was going to be home. After his house which took longer than we had hoped we went to subway for lunch. It was tasty, then we did weekly planning till three. We went and visited a lady named Nancy who was set for baptism on the 19th but won't be able to because she has 2 males living with her. It’s a sad situation. They trashed her house, never pay her rent and just recently we found out they are selling marijuana and sexually abusing her. So she is going to turn them in but she has a few mental problems that makes her scared a lot and I know this stuff had something to do with it. We went tracting then had a good dinner with the Deveys. They have some family in Mesa. We had tri tip and it was tasty. There is an Elder in my zone from Prescott. His last name is Campbell. He is nice.

Saturday I can't remember what we did other than we biked like no freakin other. I have been getting more and more in shape and so if I’m keeping up with my companion he thinks he needs to speed up and it’s killing me. But it’s all for the better I guess. At least if I don't die. I am super tired though from all this biking and non stopness. The hills were so relaxed. We visited a nice black lady who got baptized last year. She was crazy but has a strong testimony. She was all over the place though and it was hard to follow along. Oh yeah ha. We had a baptism Saturday morning. It was good. I had to give the talk on the Holy Ghost cuz Elder Crager forgot to ask someone to do it and then I had to do the half time show while they were all changing so I talked a lot at it.

Sunday was crazy! We had a meeting withour ward mission leader at 10 that was good. Then we had PEC at 10:30 then at 11 we had ward council which was a waste of our time because we only talked for like two min. Then we had lunch at home which is right next to the church so we walk there. That part is nice. We had church from 1 to 4. Three random nonmembers came to church and we scheduled an appointment to teach them. One was from Oregon and he said that there was an Elder Mathews from Mesa Az there and he said he would probably see him again and he will ask if he knows an Arnett. I know a few Mathews so I don't know if I know him. We went to a ladies house to give her nonmember husband a blessing. He is 420 lbs.!!! It’s crazy. He hurt his back and needs a hip and knee replacement but can't get either till he is about 300 lbs. but he can't lose weight cuz he is hurt so he just has to deal with the pain. He asked for the blessing which was a big step because he didn't like the church at all about year ago. He is nice though. After that we had a blitz in the Sheldon ward. We do it different now where the ward it is in provides members for each missionary to go out with so we double our numbers than we visit a few pre-selected people then we knock doors. It is pretty cool. The guy I was with was named Brett. He said if I ever write a book he'll read it. He was nice. He was about mid 40's. Then we had a cottage meeting where President Jardine comes and pretty much teaches the first lesson. We all bring investigators and then some recent converts bear their testimony. It was a good meeting. Then we had a meeting with President Williams, my favorite stake president out here, which was awesome. It was exciting to see him again and it made me excited to be back in elk grove. This morning I sucked at basketball cuz I haven’t played for 3 months.

So it’s a good time out here on the mission. Being with someone younger than me, mission wise he's actually older than me in real life, makes it easier for me to see how much I really have progressed over the 9 months I have been out. Well it appears my time is up. I hope you enjoy this and I love you all.

Love Elder Arnett

P.S.- about that ticket. I guess you can mail the money in to where you pay it at. It would probably be a good idea to do it as fast as possible because I was supposed to go to court today which was 2 hours away and I didn't go so if its not paid and I don't show they put a warrant out for my arrest. So if that could get paid soon that would be the best. I don't want to go to jail for 6 months and/or pay a 1000 dollar fine. I don't have money so it probably wouldn't be a good idea to send it to me. Well I hope I don't get pulled over in the mean time! I love ya all.. Bye :)