September 26^th 2011

Well all the girls got the Toro sign down, what’s up with the boys?! So I can't email this week. We went to Coloma which is where the members of the Mormon battalion continued on to and they found gold there. We saw some sights, played horse shoes and even panned for gold. Me and a couple of other elders got in belly button deep before Pres. Lewis told us to come back in closer. They have every missionary go before they go home and this group was the last one until June so we got to go a little early in our mission but it was fun. I will have more next week I promise. I'd write more but i still have to shower and get dressed and we have an appointment in an hour so I hope everyone is doing well. Love you!

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

So I have a few extra minutes tonight to email. So this week was good. We worked real hard, and still are, so we can see success. Tuesday we went on exchanges. I went with Elder Mortensen in his area. He is very tall. He's six foot eight! It was fun. We biked a lot especially to come to our leadership meeting at the church. It was at least five miles away. But we had a good time seeing people even though we weren't able to teach anyone the whole day. Wednesday we had a wonderful district meeting. President and Sister Lewis came to watch it and they said it was one of the best ones they have seen since being here. I'm sure they say that to everyone but it sounded like it came from the heart so it made me feel really happy. Then we had zone lunch. After lunch we had Zone training with President Lewis and it was really good. We have a goal of 101 baptisms in the month of December for another "White Christmas". Its 101 to emphasize the one soul that comes into salvation one at a time. So he talked a lot about that. It was really good and got us excited. He also trained on the "Standard of Excellence" for our mission. Before President Jardine left, us as leaders revised the old one to be more broad in some areas and more specific in others. It basically includes, and this is not all of them because I can't remember everything in this world, spiritually creating your days and weeks in planning, working with the ward members to find new people, to teach five member present lessons a week, to have three people to church every week with at least one person having a date to be baptized at all times and those should lead to 1 baptism a month. That's not even half of it but it’s all I could remember. On Thursday we went on exchanges again. I was with Elder Buttars in my area. It was the first time we have ever proselyted together, ever! It was fun. We stayed up way too late talking and I was dead the whole day. In fact I went to sleep at 10 like 4 nights in a row to make up for my lack of sleep that night. Friday we had weekly planning then a bunch of appointments. We tracted a bit and it was a good day. Saturday was CRAZY! So we have a Native American lady we’re working with named Georgina and her daughter is Dominic. Well they have huge opposition from their family. Not because they don't like the church but because they are super super GHETTO and have ghetto problems and crap. So we show up on Saturday to get them set up for church and a butt load of police cars had just left in front of an ambulance which was headed to the hospital. So Georgina owns a duplex, both sides, and rents one out to her friend who she’s known for a while. Well the night before her friend’s son hit her daughter Dominic because he was drunk. Well Dominic has some black people that want to get with her, that's how it works, and they heard about it so they showed up at 2 in the afternoon, when everyone was drunk ( Who's drunk at 2 anyways?!) and they beat the freaking crap out of this Mexican kid that hit Dominic. The kids mom (BTW the kids over 20) came in while they were beating him and they got scared and ran out and left the kid lying in his own pool of blood. So they called 911 and dragged him out to the front, cuz the duplex is behind another house, yeah its ghetto. So when we got there, there was blood everywhere and Georgina was cleaning it up so me and Elder Manukailea helped her clean it up outside. She said there was twice as much inside than there was outside and let me tell you, i didn't know someone had that much blood in them from what I saw outside. So we didn't get them set up for church too good. That night the neighbors whose son got beat up was drunk again and tried to fight Dominic and had a knife and cut her good on the arm. Dominic is a small girl and the lady is big and her boyfriend got a hit or two in as well. So they didn't come to church on Sunday. Georgina is actually in her interview for baptism right now but Dominic is at home and afterwards we will probably go give her a blessing. So that's what happened this week. I am in no danger so don't freak out. Plus me and Elder Manukailea are big guys and can hold our own and we can run fast ha. But really we haven't seen anything happen really. So I have to go now. Glen got his interview on Saturday and came to church Sunday so he will be getting baptized on Saturday between sessions of conference. Man what a memorable day that will be for me. I love conference and baptisms so it will rock. He truly is a miracle find. Lamar is scared to get married to Antonisha so were still working on that but the 40 bucks is still there when he mans up and puts some pants on, that is the pants of their relationship. So yeah that's it. I hope this one was entertaining to read. I thought it was a good story. And really I am in no danger at all.
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

September 19^th 2011

Well this week was good. That game sounded exciting, too bad they lost. Hopefully they win a few more. It sounds like Braden is working real hard and is getting more playing time. That’s great keep it up. This week went pretty good. Monday night we went to dinner with a Tongan member. He took us out for Chinese food. It was good but not the greatest I’ve had. Late that night we switched up for exchanges with Elder Morgan and Elder Forrester. I went with Elder Morgan in his area. He is in Lao work so it was fun. He lives with Elder Buttars so we stayed up late that night and talked for a long time. On Tuesday we were on exchanges nothing too exciting happened. We had a delicious dinner at these peoples. They fed us steak and baked potatoes with a delicious juice she made. It was swell and well worth the exchange. We switched back up after dinner. On Wednesday we had district meeting. It was good. We have great district leaders which leads to a lot of the success in the zone. We went on bike most of Wednesday. We biked so freakin far it was ridiculous. Like so much. It wasn't too bad though. I need the exercise. We had a couple of lessons and it was good. We had a good dinner with a young family and it was nice. Then we switched up for another exchange with Elder Johnson and Elder Jones. Elder Johnson came into my area with me. Thursday was good. We got to teach a lot of people. We taught Glen the old guy and it was good. He is still set for the 1st of October. We had a few other lessons that were good too. We have dinner with the Grover’s. We had enchiladas. They weren't as good as moms because no one’s is but they were ok. They were a fun little family. Then we switched back up. Friday we had weekly planning and then some more appointments. We rode bikes a lot on Friday too. Our ward had a chili cook off on Friday night and there were some good chili’s. Then we played catch with a football with some of the ward members. Saturday was good like all the other days. We set a lot of people up for church and it went good. We went to In n Out for dinner and I got my double double animal style with animal fries. It was good. Then we tracted some more and set more people up for church. As a zone leader they give us 20 more dollars on our cards so I still have 100 bucks with less than half the month left. So that’s good. Sunday we had a good church. Five investigators were there and all five are set up to be baptized on Oct. 1st. So were excited. I don't know if well hit our goal of 8 but we will be close. So that’s pretty much all that is going on now. Oh and I bought some new 20 dollar shoes today so I can go running more and be comfortable. I plan to weigh less than dad when I come home no matter how hungry I have to get. It might also mean less double doubles and animal fries... starting tomorrow. Well I love you all. Hope all is good.

Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

Natasha Schmid & Elder Arnett-

Natasha is Tyler’s best friend, Christiaan Schmids, Aunt. She lives in California and hooked up with Elder Arnett

I'll send this first just in case it happens again. Last week a missionary from Samoa unplugged the internet cuz his was going slow and jacked it up. It took me most the week to fix it but I did so that is why I didn't email. I had a nice long one written but it wouldn't send or even save cuz the internet was off so that is why I didn't email. No I’m not sick and no I don't hate you.

September 12^th 2011

Ok so things are going good. We are still working very very hard to baptize as many people as we can. We did have transfers and both Elder Manukailea and I stayed here in North Sac which means I’ll being killing Elder Manu. cuz he goes home at the end of the transfer. So that is exciting. He has a big goal of 8 baptisms for his last transfer which I have adopted as mine this transfer as well as if I had a choice but I’m glad to do it. We have a lot of people lined up for baptism at the end of this month and at the beginning of October. We will be very close to reaching our goal. So we have been working with people and some have been solid and some were solid but have been flaking a lot lately so we are really trying to find more and more so the numbers game comes in. Meaning if we have 100 investigators at least a few will get baptized. So that is going good. A couple of weeks ago we knocked on this old guy’s door who lived in a mobile home. He said he doesn't do religion or anything and wouldn't want to waste his and our time but if he was going to join a church it would be the Mormon Church. So we just went on and looked for more people. So this week we rode bikes every day to save miles up for a meeting we had to go to in Elk Grove on Saturday. Well as we were riding down the street we stopped to talk to this old guy in a motorized wheel chair. We talk to everyone so sometimes we have repeats. Well it turned out to be the old guy from the mobile home and we struck up a nice casual conversation then told him we would come by his home and he didn't object. So later in the week we went to his house and started talking to him about God and he said it was about time for him to join a church and the only one he would join is the Mormon Church. So we continued teaching him and gave him a book of Mormon and he accepted it. Everything we said to him he said it was like we were reading his mind and it was everything he really believes in his heart. So it’s been amazing. So he came to church on Sunday and said he can tell he’s making the right decision and was telling everyone he was going to join the church and it’s the only one he would ever join. He introduced himself in priesthood and said it’s taken him 76 years but he’s finally found the truth and he didn't even know he was looking for it. So it’s a miracle. It was awesome and we are super excited. We have experiences like that all the time. We are working with some really great people right now. So yeah it’s been real good. Yesterday Aunt Tasha came and visited me at church. She gave me a bunch of goodies before she left. She is very nice. I might call her up some time to take us out to dinner somewhere nice. So that was cool. You saw the picture of it. So yeah things have been going real good. We have a lot of great missionaries in our zone. It’s very diverse. There is a missionary from Samoa one from Tonga and the rest from the US but it’s cool. Elder Buttars is in my zone. We are doing great in the zone. We are the highest baptizing zone in the mission and are working to keep it that way. Even if we ourselves as the zone leaders have to get half the baptisms. It’s good though. This work is a lot more fulfilling when you exhaust yourself doing the work and then see the fruits of it. I wish I would have figured it out before. So that is what’s going on with me and some of my thoughts. Mom I need a new inhaler but I’m just going to get it myself. There’s a Walgreens around here so I’ll just take the box in and get a new one so I hope I have enough money for it. Also, Mom do we have insurance yet or going to get it ever. Sister Adams went home so she can't convince the missionary insurance to cover a different inhaler that they won't cuz asthma is a preexisting condition and the inhaler cost somewhere between 250 to 300 dollars. So yeah insurance would help that. As well, sorry I’m asking for so much, can you send me more garments. All my polly cotton ones are worn out and one of my mesh ones got ink all over it cuz my companion broke my pen. All I want are mesh ones. Maybe like six pairs? Only mesh though. I don't like the other ones. I wear xl tops and lg short bottoms. Please and thank you. Today is my 16 month mark. It’s going by so fast.

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

OK, since you didn't get a letter, I'll fill you in on some text messages my sister sent to me just a few minutes ago.

While at church, they were sitting on the first row behind the cushioned rows. They both saw something coming towards them fast & they realize it's a mouse! It ran right between them, they both look at each other in shock, not believing what they just saw. Elder Arnett grabs his bag & puts it on the chair next to him, and my sister is trying to keep from screaming during the meeting, she said it was pretty gross.

Elder Arnett says he is so busy with being a Zone Leader, but loves it. He is in great spirits and loves the area he is working in. He was super excited with all the goodies my sister brought him + the 8-pack of Powerade. She added a couple of bags of Swedish fish to the stash. He & his comp are going to hide everything from their other two roommates. He was shy & quiet when he met my sister at first, but warmed up to her as time went on. She showed him the picture of Elder Schmid & his mission president and wife we received last Monday shortly after his arrival in Africa. My sister told Elder Arnett to call her if he ever needs anything or needs dinner one night, she'll take them to dinner.

Emile