March 26^th 2012

I might just have to buy me some Kiwi! I'm not a huge fan of it but it’s OK and if it helps my asthma it sure tastes a lot better than my inhaler. But it’s OK. I did get a little sick this weekend and i hope to kick it off today. I thought it was very minor so i bought some stuff and then i got worse so i broke down and bought my mucinex and i take my sudafed now too. They are the extremes but they work the best so i am now on them and hopefully i can get this crap out of my chest and be back to normal. Elder Fitt and i decided we'd start running but since we made that decision i have been getting sick so i need to get better. I plateaued on my diet and weight loss and still want to lose some more so running it is. This week was pretty good. We weren't able to teach as much as we would have liked but it was still good none the less. So Matthew was baptized! It was the hardest easy baptism I've ever had. He was super super solid and he had an amazing strong testimony so we didn't have to do any convincing or much teaching. He already knew everything so we just had to go through the lessons and prepare him for his interview. After he had his interview we realized he lived in another ward's boundaries so that was a bummer but much of his fellowship was in our ward and we had already started putting the program together. Well we hadn't had everything filled out by last Sunday so we told him we would sit down with him for a few minutes in the week to figure some things out. Well he didn't know when he could sit down so we told him we would call him but he didn't want us to call his house because his parents would get mad so we would have to call his friend and she would call him and give him our number and then he would call us. So we had to do that a couple of times and then he decided he didn't have time to meet with us so we tried to figure everything out over the phone but he didn't have anything done like who he wanted to speak and what not so we told him we would take care of it. We found this all out on Thursday so it was a rush to get everything together. But we did get it all done and it turned out a lot better then we thought it would. He asked me to baptize him and so that was good. President and Sister Lewis came to the baptism and that was great. There was a lot of people there. Most the people from our ward that knew him were there and then the bishop and the young mens president and a few young men came from the ward he is supposed to be in came to support him as well. It was great. Then he was confirmed in the ward he is supposed to be in so we went to their sacrament meeting and Elder Fitt confirmed him. It was fast Sunday here because of conference next week so they had testimonies. Matthew got up and bore his and it was awesome! It was probably the best recent convert testimony i have ever heard. He talked about not doubting what you know to be true especially when you’re sharing it with others and he talked about how he shared a Book of Mormon with one of his friends before he was even baptized! So that was pretty cool. We had a great Zone Conference this last Friday. Everyone that spoke in it did a very good job. I had to speak like a billion times though. President Lewis asked everyone in the mission to prepare a 5 min talk on the Atonement and to make a copy of it to give to him and then he would call on a few people to give their talks. Well i didn't think i would have to give mine because i would be participating in the program a couple of times. At your last Zone Conference they ask you to share your departing testimonies and since we only have Zone Conference every other transfer and if anyone has been keeping track i only have one transfer left i was asked, ahead of time, to share my departing testimony. Also they asked each Zone Leader companionship to give a 20 min training to all the missionaries and they would break everyone up into four groups and rotate them so we had to train 4 times for 20 min on Companionship Planning. It went pretty good. But since i was going to be doing those two things i thought for sure i would not be called on to give my Atonement talk but i was wrong. I was one of the two people who were asked to give their talk so when i said everyone that spoke did a good job i was joking because i spoke the most. But i felt like i did ok and it was pretty good. I was able to share a lot of my feelings and thoughts with everyone so it was fun. The whole Zone Conference was good and i was able to see a lot of missionaries that I’m friends with. But there are a butt load of missionaries i don't know because they are all new! Hudson did email me and told me he is Engaged. That's insane. But i know Hudson and Kyleigh pretty well and I’m sure they love each other. That's cool though. Jackson also emailed me some pictures of him and his family. His little girls are soo cute and they look just like him! It’s crazy he has such a big family already! But yeah it’s cool. About Rose. Her whole family is all members of the church. They are just super less active. Elder Hatley and his companion before me ran into them tracting and then recognized their name on the ward list. Rose just turned 12 this week so she is a little older. The older sisters are smart and do a lot of cool good things like sports and stuff so she just wants attention. I hope things are going good. Those two temples are pretty cool. I finally wrote Christiaan a letter because i haven't since he's been out. I emailed him but he doesn't have time to email much back because of the fact that he's in Africa! It’s crazy that he is there. Well i love you! Have a good week.
Love,

Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

March 19^th 2012

I'm sorry for not emailing too much last week. We were meeting up with two other zones to play football and we had a good long drive to meet at the turf fields we were playing at and we didn't want to be late being the zone leaders of one of the zones and all. I am glad we were on time too because the zone leaders from one of the other zones showed up like 30 min. late and everyone was griping about them. It was fun though playing football. One of the zones was really big so we played our zone and another vs. the big zone which happened to be North Sac, where i just came from. They had probably 8 more players than us and we were killing them. Elder Fitt is really good at QB and we were getting a lot of interceptions so we all decided to split up into four teams and have a tournament. We won our first game and lost the second. But it was still pretty fun. So that’s why i was so rushed to email fast. After the sports we didn't have time to email more cuz we wouldn't be near the computers and stuff. So yeah that’s the reason why. It sounds like everyone enjoyed their break. I think it was spring break for a couple of schools around here but it sure was a crappy one if that’s the case. It rained all week long. We got plastered on Friday and Saturday and it was on and off pretty good yesterday. We did stay pretty dry and i held out pretty good until today. Elder Fitt starts getting sick if the heater is running and i start getting sick if it’s too cold while I’m sleeping so we switch on and off each night but the past two nights it was freezing and we forgot to turn it on so we woke up to like 55 degrees in our apartment. So i got up at 4 this morning and turned it on. Believe you me i won't forget to turn it on tonight. But i am not sick, I’m just congested. Like you know the area behind the nose and mouth where the two meet? Well that’s where it’s sore which usually means I’m starting to get sick but i can catch it with this much notice. Also, luckily the forecast shows for no rain so far this week and it will be getting up into the mid to upper 60's so that’s good. My temperature tolerance has changed quite a bit. Back home i would put a sweater on if it was in the 60's now i where my short sleeved shirt if it’s 63 or more! So hopefully i don't become a wimp to the Arizona heat. But yeah so i have wanted to say this for a few weeks but i keep forgetting. My new camera broke... i took a picture of me and another missionary and the strap was around my finger and when he took it to look at the picture my finger yanked it out of his hand and it fell to the ground on the open lens and then it wouldn't work because it said it had a lens error. That probably could have been fixed pretty easy but i tried to fix it myself with force and now there is a bad lens error... So i don't know if it had a warranty or anything? It should be less than a year old depending on when you bought it so maybe it can be replaced. I figured out how to get my old camera to take pictures pretty good but the new one is clearer still. So yeah i have forgotten to say that for like a month. Also mom, we have been going to Safeway because it is close to our apartment and i use your Safeway club card and you now have 3 gas rewards saved up which means you get 30 cents off a gallon! If you fill about 15 gallons that’s like 4.50! So yeah you have that. You probably knew and stuff but i just wanted to make sure it doesn't go to waste. So there’s that. So Elder Perry and Elder Maynes did visit us last week. I totally forgot to even mention it in my email last Monday. It was pretty dang cool! Elder Maynes had a really good talk and so did Elder Perry. Elder Perry talked about some things they are going to be working on with the wards and they want our help. They want the ward to rescue 10 less active families with a priesthood holder in the home and they want the missionaries to teach the people. They said we are the best teachers they have and a lot of these families have unbaptized children. So that’s going to be cool. He talked to us about the church and how it has been set up and organized since the beginning of time. He also talked about the international recognition the church has been getting because Mitt Romney is running for president. He said we are going to be getting asked a lot more questions about what we believe and that if we stick to the doctrines in the scriptures rather than things we might have heard from someone then we will never go wrong and never be confounded. So that was really cool. One of the coolest things though was when i saw an old friend there! The whole Sacramento mission was there as well as half of the Roseville mission. Well when i was walking through the chapel filled with around 300-400 missionaries i heard someone yell out "Petey?!" which i don't hear too often and i turned around and one of my friends i hung out with a lot my Junior year with Jordan Banner was standing there! His name is Dexter Van Lueven. I don't know if that’s how you spell his last name. But he is in Aaron Allen’s ward. Honestly i didn't even know he was on a mission! He had to wait a little while but he is out! He has been out 17 months so yeah that was cool. He thought i had finished but i haven't but it was super cool to see him. It was like the stories in the Book of Mormon when Alma the Younger and the Sons of Mosiah meet up and they are super excited because they are all still in the faith so strong. That’s how it felt. He came to my Farewell but i haven't heard from him since then. So it was pretty cool. It was fun to see him and to know he is out here. So that was super exciting. This week was good though. We found out that Matthew the miracle find lived in a different ward so we talked to him yesterday about it and he knew so he won't be getting baptized into our ward but he will be getting baptized this Saturday. So that was a bummer but it’s still great that he is getting baptized. Rose is being bad. She is super disobedient and she is rude. She loves talking back to her parents and she doesn't do what they say so they said it will be awhile till she gets baptized. So that was lame. She is so close but so far. We weren't able to meet with Angela at this week which was a bummer. But we will visit her this week so we can get her prepared for her baptism on April 21st. We were able to add a new investigator this week too which was really cool. Last December the stake president challenged the stake to get 100% home teaching well our ward did it so he has extended the challenge once again. So our ward has been working hard at that. One of the guys in our ward named Cody Hill was visiting one of his ladies and she wasn't home but in the retirement home was another lady who worked there and she asked what he was doing and they had about a 45 min. conversation and she was pretty interested and has a lot of questions so he set up an appointment for us to go over with him to teach her. So we did and it was great. Her name is Debbie and he mom was a member but her dad didn't want anything to do with the church so the kids were raised Baptist or something. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she was pretty excited. So yeah that was cool too. I love when members do the finding for us! So this week was really good. Hopefully the rain stays away for a good time and that it warms up soon. I hate rain. So yeah that’s it. I love you. Have a good week.
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Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

March 12^th 2012

Well things sound good back at home. I don't have much time to email so i will try and just give a quick update on things. This week was really good. We were able to teach a lot and we had fun doing it! Rose is still doing good. She is reading her scriptures more so that is real good. We are still just trying to get her mom to pick a date. We were able to talk to her mom for a few short minutes but they were pretty busy this week with dentist appointments. But things will work out. We made a fancy reading calendar for Rose and her sister Felicia so hopefully that helps them with their reading. Angela is doing real good as well. We weren't able to meet with her at all this past week because we were pretty busy at the beginning of the week and were planning on the end of the week to meet with her and her family but her and her son both got sick so we weren't able to make it over there and teach them. She did come to church though so that was awesome. She is telling everyone about her baptism so hopefully things can work out by then. They should because it is over a month away! Matthew is the kid that has been coming to church that was just given permission to be baptized by his parents. He is 17 and a great kid. We were able to sit down with him on Thursday and teach him. Man has he done his research! He knew everything! We went through all the lessons and just asked him to explain each one and he gave some really good answers as if he has been reading out of Preach My Gospel. We watched the 20 min. restoration video with him and he told us he has watched it a bunch of times on Mormon.org. He says it is one of his favorites and we could tell because he quoted along with the video half the time. Then we went over the Baptismal interview questions and he was giving some amazing answers to those as well! He was able to get his baptismal interview on Sunday and will be getting baptized on the 24th of this month! So that was pretty awesome! Initially we had set him up to be baptized on the 17th but our ward is having meetings all day and everyone wants to be there so we pushed it back a week. That’s not too bad because it gives us and him more time to prepare. So things are going great! Sorry i can't email too much this week. We are short on time. I got an email from Hudson today too! So that was good. I wrote him a letter and he responded so maybe you can get me Andrews address and he will follow suit. Well i got to go love ya. Bye!
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Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

March 5^th 2012

That was a freaking long email. But I liked it. So yeah the free mason thing didn't have anything to do with her baptism being pushed back other than she wasn't able to come to church and people need to come to church to get baptized. So yeah. It could have been a cold that pushed it back but yeah she came this week. That is insane about Hudson and Kyleigh. She is a real pretty girl and sings very good. They dated a little before and hung out a lot so it doesn't surprise me but man my friends need to wait for me to get home and catch up. In regards to Jackie’s email I don't plan on getting married the week I get home, I need to find a girl first, but why wait? I mean if it’s not meant to be then I wouldn't marry her but if I feel like it’s what God wants for me then I’ll go for it. But yeah. They need to wait for me. Or at least write me a freaking letter so I can hear from them and hear how it’s all going. Oh well. All in due time. Things are going pretty good out here. Our people are progressing nicely and things are moving along. Rose was able to make it to church this week. Her older sister Felicia who is 16 came as well. It’s funny because she acts like she doesn't like spiritual things and stuff but she has read everything we have asked her to read and she comes to church when she can. She doesn't go to Sunday school because she thinks her teacher is weird but she does go to young woman’s and sacrament meeting. It’s funny. I think she feels the spirit and knows what’s right but wants to still be cool so she doesn't act spiritual. But yeah so Rose came to church and we have been teaching her consistently. She is ready to be baptized but her mom needs to give her the ok and we never see her mom. She works at Taco Bell a lot and at night too so if she is home she is sleeping. So we are trying to sit down with her and start planning for a day. Angela is doing very good as well. She has picked April 21st to be baptized. It’s super far but she does have some things she needs to work on. She drinks alcohol not like a drunk but socially and she smokes medical marijuana. I hate that it is legal here. People think because its legal it’s ok and because a doctor says it’s ok then it is. It sucks. But we have taught her about it and told her that she needs to quit and she is working with the bishop so that is good. So we will keep preparing her for April 21st. Then we had a huge miracle this week. It was awesome. So two weeks ago a kid came to church with this girl and I guess he had been before just to check it out and he liked it so he came again. So we talked to him but he said he didn't want to join yet. Oh and his name is Matthew by the way. So last week he was at church again and this kid that is going on a mission this week gave his farewell talk and talked a lot about baptism and we over hear Matthew telling someone else that he needed to be baptized so of course we jump on it after church and tell him we are the people to talk to about being baptized and we asked him why he keeps coming and he said that his friend had given him a book of Mormon so he read it and prayed and asked God if it was true and he said yes so he knows it’s true so this is now his church so we invited him to be baptized and he said he needed his parents’ permission first so we kind of wrote him off thinking that since he won't meet with us and since his parents won't give him permission he won't go anywhere. Well he walked up to us at church yesterday and said hey my parents gave me permission so how do we do this. Well he wasn't too sure about meeting with us but after sacrament meeting he sat down with the Bishop and he told him that he needed to take the missionary lessons and get an interview from a missionary and get baptized. So that is what is going to happen! We are super pumped and yeah it was pretty crazy and a miracle. So this week has been good. Elder Fitt is from Houston Texas. And yeah. So things are going good. We are still working hard and I am trying to finish strong. I don't know exactly why Elder Perry is coming but I am super excited to meet him and Elder Maynes from the presidency of the Seventy. So it will be awesome. There will be like 400 missionaries there so I don't know if we will all get to shake hands with them but it will be cool to meet him none the less. So yeah we are pretty excited. President Lewis is back! I was able to speak to him on Saturday morning and see him a little bit last night so it was awesome. Yeah so we found out how bad he was. Our bishop is a doctor and knows about that stuff. He said he was close to dying and it’s a miracle that he is back now. So we are all so happy and the work will go forward with as hard as possible. So yeah. Things are good. I love you all. So since I have been out I have been singing the last song to Phantom of the Opera when they are down in the dungeon and all three of them sings well I sing it with all three parts. The family we had dinner with last night asked me to do it for them. So it was good. I love doing it. One of my dreams is to play the Phantom in a musical. So yeah. Have a good week!

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Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett