January 31st 2011

January 31^st 2011

Elder Faka'i came out the same exact day I did but a year earlier. So he should get the letter ok. I love that guy. As for the evil spirits, it’s not really a problem. I just think about it when I’m in the dark or something and I get spooked easy. I have no problem with scary things like killers and physical things. It’s what I can't see that scares me and what I can't physically fight off. But most nights I usually just wake up and think I’m not scared because I have two things evil spirits don't have, a body and priesthood. So I have nothing to worry about as long as I don't invite them and I’m worthy to exercise my priesthood. It’s really not bad. I only get scared because of all the stories I've heard from missionaries. But yeah this week was good.

Monday after we emailed we went tie shopping at thrift stores. I bought some real neat old ties. I love ties. Then we went to down town Jackson and kind of walked around the shops. We found ourselves in a used book store looking at cool picture books and skimming books about the county we cover. It was pretty cool. The rest of the night was lame. At least I think it was. I can't remember. My mind has not been serving me well lately. Tuesday was a good day as well. We did a lot of trying to see people but the mornings aren't the most effective time for seeing people but there is nothing better to do. We had lunch at I’m sure a fast food place. Then the afternoon we tried to see a few more people. We talked with a nice less active guy. He probably won't come back to church though. Then we had dinner with somebody nice I’m sure and I bet we enjoyed it. Man I need to bring my planner I can't remember anything. We had an amazing lesson with Rudy and his family that night. Olga, who previous declined the invitation to be baptized told us that she was ready. She didn't know what day because she didn't know her basketball schedule but she said the near future. We have gotten real close with their family so they are totally comfortable with bringing up their concerns. She said her only concern before was that if she decided to do this she didn't want to go in half way. She was all in or not it. That’s what we like to hear! So she is all in now. Then we went and got ice cream because we visited a girl named Jennie who was pregnant, or so she thought, but she lost the baby. It turns out she was never pregnant in the first place. Her body was just mimicking the symptoms. But she reads the book of Mormon and one day she said she will come to church.

Wednesday Elder Byrum had leadership meeting. We do it on the phone cuz it’s too far to meet up with the other missionaries. Our phone was broken so we had to use the clerk’s office phone. While he was in his meeting I made a Mormon.org profile, which I found out later we’re not supposed to make as missionaries but what’s done is done and I didn’t know. Then Elder Holyoak, my favorite companion! drove up and gave us a new phone, he being an office elder. Then we went to lunch at Jose's. It was real good Mexican food. I got a chimichanga. I gave it an 8 because mattas is a 10 and nothing comes close enough to be a 9 compared to theirs. It was good though. Then we visited a few people. It was nice. Again I can't remember who we had dinner with that night.

Thursday we had a good district meeting. We played ping pong for a little while then we went to McDonalds for lunch. It was good. Then we went over to visit Karey. He hasn't really gotten better I’m sad to say. He still has a hole in his throat so he isn't supposed to talk so we had to converse through his mom. They are still reading and praying. She came to church the week before and she said once Karey can walk a little better he will be there with her so that was super exciting. We had a good visit with them though. We went and said hi to Brother Gonzales then we visited some random people. We had dinner with the Bishop's son and father-in-law. Him and his wife weren't home though. They were fulfilling a ward temple assignment. In was real good though. We had meatloaf. You all know how much I love meatloaf. I told the son to make sure she knew how much I liked it. Maybe we'll get it again? Then we went to Rudy's to say hi and talk to Eve about her baptismal interview on Saturday. Then we went home.

Friday was a weird day. I don't really remember what we did. We visited people in Ione some more. It was ok. I personally like Jackson ward better. We had lunch, then we went and saw a less active guy. He has met with missionaries in the past but slipped through over the last few transfers because one missionaries focus is not always another missionary. But he was really nice. He wants to come to church but he works on Sundays and he is afraid if he asks for it off they will give him forever off as well. Jobs are hard to come by these days and he doesn't want to lose the one he's got. But it was a good visit. Then we went to Olga's basketball game with brother Burton. He really wanted us to go to support her and he paid our 5 dollar admission fee so we didn't complain about going. Watching girls basketball is like watching paint dry but watching girls jv basketball is like watching dirt do what it does, nothing. But they killed the team 46 to 11. It was neat. We didn't have a dinner that night so we went to taco bell.

Saturday was a busy day with lots of driving. We had a meeting with brother Roberts early at 8 then we went to breakfast afterwards. Then we came to the church to meet the zone leaders so they could do Eve's baptismal interview. She passed of course. I don't know how someone who hasn't missed a day of seminary in two weeks can fail. She is dedicated and loving it! Then we had a free throw contest with them. I lost horribly. Then we had to rush over to Elder Buttars and his new companion Elder George from Rexburg Idaho to their area so elder Byrum could do an interview for their investigator Kendra. She is 11 and excited to be baptized. Then we went to burger king for a late 2 o’clock lunch. Then we had to drive all the way home an hour because I refuse to speed no matter how tempting it is. Then we visited a few people. We didn't have a dinner again on Saturday because it was the adult session of stake conference. The people that were going to feed us on Sunday called and said they wouldn't be able to so they gave us money to buy some food and gave us some rice chicken thing to stick in the oven before church. We also don't have dinner tonight so it is 4 days without member dinners. Man it’s like I’m in Stockton or something. I got the package Saturday. It was a lovely edition to the wonderful day. I love the tie! It is my 3rd favorite just behind my two grandpa ties. I'm normally not a huge fan of paisley but the colors were awesome! Thanks a bunch father!

Sundays are always grand. We had stake conference. It was one of the broadcast kind. President Eyring gave an amazing talk on Modern Day Prophets. It was amazing and he is now my 2nd favorite speaker, God's mouthpiece being my first, President Monson. President Eyring jumped from third over President Uchtdorf. Those three are truly inspired men. Sunday we cooked our dinner then only went to see Rudy because we don't have any miles left for the month. He wasn't at church. He has been blessed with a lot of work lately but that blessing was a curse as well after taking on some poison oak and it didn't do him well on Sunday morning. Dusty had work so as a result the kids didn't have a ride with mom gone and dad down. So we went to see if they were doing good. They were. We went home and cleaned our apartment because we had inspections tomorrow. We will easily get over 100 with how well it looks. I made another video so you so can see the changes we made by comparing to the last video. Then Elder Buttars and Elder George came over to spend the night so they could have P day with us today.

Today we went to the Black Chasm! It is a super cool cave that a member runs tours of. It was real fun going through it and squeezing through some small holes. Me and Elder Buttars had to watch them on a couple of holes and not participate because we were too big. She said if we were just fat it wouldn't be too bad cuz fat moves around but the muscle we acquired from playing football doesn't go nowhere. But it was still a lot of fun. We went tie shopping after but the places hadn't re stocked since last week. So now I am emailing. I love you all and hope this next month brings lots of love and happiness.

Love,

Elder Tyler Pete Arnett