July 4^th 2011

Man what a week. It is warmin up! This week was great with many miracles. Monday night we went and taught a black lady. Her name is Yolanda. We had a really good lesson with her. We taught her about the Book of Mormon. She said she wants to get baptized but she didn't come to church so it will take a bit. Then we went over to Mark Childress' house. He's extremely nice. We have wanted to teach him a lot but its tough cuz he doesn't want to be pushed. As we were driving over in our air conditioned car we both decided how we would bring up teaching him or basically asking him the question of why he isn't a member of the church yet. Well we talk for a bit then he says "well boys whats your good word today" We both got a grin on our faces so he knew he asked the good question and says "come on I know you wanna say something just say it" So we asked him. He opened up to us like a book of an hour and a half about all of his concerns. It was amazing. He committed to read the Book of Mormon to know if it’s true rather than just to read it. I know he'll get his answer. We were late getting home that night because it was so good. Tuesday morning I had a good leadership meeting. Then Elder Moss and myself went to an appointment. She forgot but we talked to her for a while. She is a member but has 4 unbaptized kids. One being 8. Then we had T-Bell for lunch. Man those beefy 5 layer burritos are good. Then we went and visited a bunch of people, it rained on Tuesday and was about 60 degrees out. It was cold. I had to get my rain coat. I let Elder Moss borrow my cardigan. He looked good in it. We had a couple of appointments fall through, and we were supposed to go tracting but that was the last thing I wanted to do in the rain just getting over pneumonia so we went to visit an 8 year old kid who turns nine in two weeks. His mom is a member so by nine it will be a convert baptism. It was a miracle because his two cousins are living with him now and they are 10 and 11 and both want to be baptized. It was an awesome lesson. We then saw a few people then went to Golden Corral for dinner with Bro. Boyd our assit. Ward mission leader. It was delicious. Then we went home and packed our bags cuz we were having an exchange with the whole zone and no one knew where they would be going or if they would go at all. We had a dance off there and I got second because I had to go first and I didn't know how serious they wanted me to take it so I just did a couple of jiggy moves that Dad might have done with my own twist and it was well liked. Second was pretty good for how much I held back. I went with Elder Villar who is in Spanish work. It was great. Wednesday we saw a lot of people in Spanish and tracted a lot. His area covers mine so it was like doing both of our works together. That night we met back up and then had a meeting with the stake presidency. It was really good. They are all awesome guys. The first councilor wanted to trade me ties. It was the Blue one with red and white stripes that I stole from Jeff and have been wearing since I was a teacher. I think it might have been grandpas so I refused to trade even though his was nice. He said mine was one of a kind. Friday we had weekly planning and then went to burger king to get the delicious soda from the coolest machine in the world. I'm sure you've seen it. I made a delicious Diet Dp with cherry lemonade in it. Man it was good. I got my package during lunch and it was awesome! I loved it. Thanks so much. I was able to show Elder Moss the rest of my pictures. We had a few appointments fall through so we saw random people then we went and taught the kids again. We watched the Restoration movie. They loved it. We saw some people than had a bbq with our ward mission leader and his family. It was good. They had some amazing corn on the cob. Then we went tracting for a long time. Then we drove down to Elk Grove to switch up for exchanges. Elder Archer came with me. It was good. We had to go get our tires rotated, and an oil change. It took like 3 hrs. It was fun though. We had a butt load of appointments. We struck out on all but 2 of them. We taught the kids again. We also taught a Jamaican man who thinks I will be the leader of the Mormon Church because I know my Bible real well. I stumped him a lot and he agreed with most of what I said. Then we had dinner at McDonalds. Their soda wasn't as good. Then we switched up from our exchange. Sunday morning rain was falling. Actually it wasn't Friday, Saturday and Sunday were all over 100 degrees. Today was hot as well and we played football on a turf field. Sunday we had 5 people to church. All 11 and under. It was fun walking in with 6 black kids to the chapel and everyone looking at you funny. But hey they will all get baptized so funny is good I guess. The three kids came and the other member’s kids came minus one that didn't have any shoes. Church was great. Fasting was awesome as well! We didn't have any food at home though so dinner wasn’t so great. Oh and at church something really cool happened. So the family of the Sabrina who is the cousin of Lexy, they got baptized together, well Sabrina’s family is working towards going to the temple to be sealed together so the dad has a calling now and they come every week, well the mom just got put into the Young Woman's as a second councilor. Well in the middle of church she was following someone and looked all rushed and flustered and she stopped me and she said "this is all because of you, you know!" It seemed mean at first then her face calmed down and she said "Thanks" It made me feel so good inside that I have been able to assist the Lord in shepherding a family back into the church and now they are receiving blessings all over. It was a great experience and it really touched my heart. So me and Elder Moss get along great. He rocks seriously. We have a lot of fun and do a lot of good work. Training is so much fun. It’s funny because I have heard a lot of missionaries say it was the hardest part of their mission but I am loving it. I just show him what I do and he follows and puts his own edge to it. So it’s great. He is going to be a super stud. So yeah that’s my life right now. Thanks also to Grandma for the pictures I think I got them on Thursday. It was fun to see everyone at the cemetery and at breakfast. The letter was great as well. I'll try and write back asap. I love you all. Have fun and don't get too hot over there. My Air conditioned car is treating me well.

Love,
Elder Tyler Pete Arnett