January 30th 2012
"Come to the Edge", He said
"I Can't I'll fall"
"Come to the Edge!", He said
"I can't I'll Fall"
"COME TO THE EDGE!" He said
I went to the Edge.
He pushed me.
Then I Flew
Well it sounded like everyone had a good week and things are fun. It’s exciting that Jamie and David are buying a house and David is finishing school soon. Maybe now they can have some children. I don't want to have to be the first ya know. It’s weird to think that I can be getting married in the next two years. Two years ago I was with my friends in Six Flags having a gay old time messing around being teenagers. Man time goes by so fast. So yeah it sounded like everyone had a good week. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I’m pretty sure mine was better than all of yours. So someone from the church flew out last week and met with President Lewis in the hospital. They chatted for a while and it was decided that it would be best for him to go back to Salt Lake to recover so all last week he was in Salt lake in a hospital and then just yesterday they released him from the hospital to his home in Sandy to continue recovering. They said it should still be another month till he is well enough to return back to the mission. He has not been released but President Westin from the mission presidency is standing in his place while he is away and I think they might get someone else to stand in as well. President Westin's occupation has to do with Taxes... So he is super super busy right now. So every Tuesday we have a conference call with all the zone leaders and the assistants to the mission president to talk about numbers and stuff. Well normally we don't have any other conference calls. Well on Wednesday night they said we needed to have an emergency conference call. So we had one and they told us that on Friday the 27th we were going to be having a mission wide conference where all the missionaries needed to be there. It was going to be in Stockton which is super far from where we are. It took like an hour to get there. They said all they could tell us was that we needed to look our sharpest wearing our conservative ties with shoes polished and we weren't allowed to bring backpacks in. They said all President Westin said was that it was an opportunity for him to meet all of us at one time. They said we needed to be there at 2:15 sharp in our seats quietly listening to the prelude music and then when the meeting was over at 4 we needed to leave very promptly and get back to work. So everyone was making jokes that Elder Holland or President Monson or some General Authority was going to be there. So on Friday we drove all the way down to Stockton and we were super early and we were able to talk to some missionaries. Then they had us in our seats at 2:15 listening quietly. They had us stand up at 2:20 for the meeting to start at 2:30 so we knew someone was going to be there but we always stood when President and Sister Lewis walked in. Well right at 2:30 guess who comes walking in. Well wouldn't ya know, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles walks in behind President Westin and some other guy who was the missionary committee. So to start the meeting they took 30 min. so every single missionary in the room could have an opportunity to walk up and shake Elder Holland’s hand. It was pretty cool. I'm going to try and say most of what I wrote in my journal that night. When I walked up he looked me straight in the eye. It was seriously pupil to pupil and he asked me where was home and I told him Mesa Arizona and he said oh that’s a nice place. I couldn't look away from his gaze it was so powerful. As I walked down the isle of pews I couldn't help but get the fattest grin on my face. A lot of people laughed at me. I didn't care. I just got to shake hands with one of Christ's Special Witnesses. So we sat down and President Westin shared a few words for like 5 min. and his wife did the same. Then for about 45 minutes Elder Holland talked to us about stuff. It was super neat. When I get home I’ll let you read the three pages of notes I took. He said that in the few short seconds he was shaking our hands, he looked into our eyes and he had the opportunity to have a personal interview with each one of us soul to soul. That was pretty cool. He talked a lot about us growing up while we were out and how the only reason we were allowed to go through the temple at such a young age was so we could have all the blessings God can give us to aide us in the work. He told a pretty cool poem which was the poem I put at the beginning of this email. He told us we need to take things to the edge. Where it seems like we are risking everything. Where we could fall because of being there. Then God will push us and we will fly. He talked about how inspired Preach My Gospel was and how it is designed to convert the missionary then when they are converted they can figure out how to convert the investigator. He said we are doing missionary work a lot more effective now. He said we need to go to where our investigators are and have been and then bring them out into the Sacred Grove and on the Calvary’s hill. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had! I got to meet, not only and apostle, but Elder Holland! It was incredible. He is such an amazing speaker. He actually started yelling and pointing and being very bold about us going home and becoming less active. It was so intense. The Office Elders got an HD recording of it for President and Sister Lewis to listen to. They said they will try and get permission to make us copies in our zone. So that would be super cool so you guys could hear it too. We aren't exactly sure why he came honestly. We just know he did. It might have been for the Gladys Knight Event but he really didn't even talk about it. He said he was very impressed with our mature mission being able to continue strong and obedient even when there isn't a man to lead us. He also told us that every "good thing that has happened to [him] has been a result of the small portal of those 24 months on a mission". So that was pretty cool.
On Saturday I was able to go back to North Sac to see Jennifer get baptized. It was super good and she is doing great. I was happy to get to go back to that and see some old friends and stuff. So that was awesome. Howard is getting baptized this Saturday. He is super solid and ready to be an official member. We are already seeing the blessings of hard work and obedience in our area. We have been able to see a lot of miracles and a lot is starting to happen. This will be a great area to finish my mission. My diet is going good and I am still losing but no one will know till you see me how good I have done. It will be a surprise. Well that’s pretty much it. We had an awesome week teaching a butt load of lessons. I hope everyone is doing great. Oh and how could I forget dad’s temple tie. It’s handing on my tie rack as we speak for me to see it every morning. Well that was my week. Let me know if you think yours beat mine. Hey find out in Andrew is home from his mission yet and if he is tell him to email me! Love you!
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Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett
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