The Life of Elder T. Pete Arnett

2012-02-13T19:30:00.001-08:00

February 13^th 2012

OK maybe not Anderson Cooper but someone else that gets to do cool things and is on TV a lot. Oh well. So yeah that is what is going down. So with both Hudson and Andrew getting home it makes me trunky to hear all about their cool things and their homecoming talks and what not. Also a kid in our ward gave his homecoming talk this week so yeah that’s what has been going on. You should remind Hudson and Andrew to write me and to give me some advice to help me sprint to the finish. I feel like I’m doing pretty good but I do think about home a lot and I need to be focused on baptizing. But I did have a crazy dream last night that did help out. I have some pretty vivid dreams a lot and this one seemed kind of like a vision or something crazy to teach me a life lesson. I'll tell you two dreams I’ve had since being on my mission that taught me some good lessons. So this most recent one being last night... So in my dreams for some odd reason I was allowed to come home for one day. I flew in in the morning and had to be on the airplane by 7:00 pm on my way back to Sacramento. So of course the beginning of the dream I spent some time with the family and everyone cried and we all had a good time just enjoying each others company but around lunch time I started to get antsy and I decided I need to leave and that I need to talk to Andrew. So I left and I was walking around for a long time. I would see people every once in a while that I knew and they would walk down the streets with me and we would talk for a little while but then they would kind of tail off. Around three I started to get really nervous because I knew I had to be on my way to the airport by 5 or I wouldn't make it on time for my 7 o clock flight. So after walking for a few hours Andrew and Hudson walk up from behind me and Andrew said "Hey Pete, what did you want to talk to me for?" We just started casually talking about random things for a little while and then it was getting time for me to leave to the airport so I asked Andrew and Hudson "Being just barely home from your missions experiencing where I am at with three months left what would be your advice for me to continue on strong for the rest of my mission when I get back, I'll remind you at this time that yesterday was the 12th which was exactly 21 months since I came on my mission which is the same night I am having this dream... So Hudson responded by saying that they had talked about it and that Andrew would say what he was going to say so I looked to Andrew and asked him the question and he told me about his last three months and how he was just trying to make sure he was as obedient as possible and working as hard as possible focusing on his mission. He said that that’s what I need to do. I needed to be as obedient as I could because it will get easy to have the mindset that I’m going home soon and it won't matter if I’m obedient or not because not much can be affected in that short time. (Honestly that thought has entered my head but I have taken it as from Satan and have been trying to be as obedient as I can) He also said it would be very easy to get preoccupied with getting things ready to go home, packing, writing people, and other things that would take up time that would be good things to do but things that I could do last minute and on down time such as at night. He made sure I understood how fast the time goes and how important it was that I just kept working hard. Then we parted and I woke up as I was driving back to the airport. I woke up and thought, man that was a trunky dream but then I started thinking about what happened in it and I was like man that was crazy. So it felt like God was letting me go home and experience a little bit of it now and to ask some of the questions to returned missionary friends I have wanted to ask about the end so that I could learn and apply it. So that was pretty cool. It’s kind of like Lehi's vision but with no fruit and no trees... So yeah I liked it. The other dream I had was like 5 months ago when I was with Elder Manukailea. In my dream I was in a room and there was a really pretty Blonde girl there that was really cool and super nice and funny and had a great personality and then there was an attractive super good looking brunette girl who was like the most pretty girl in the world. And I was getting married in the dream. But I wasn't marrying the blonde girl. I was marrying the attractive Brunette and I didn't really feel happy about it. As I was standing there I had three things in my arms. One was a bad a starburst, the kind that are big and have a lot in them but there were no star bursts in it, instead it was full of a bunch of money, both Cash and Change. The second item was a box of raisin bran and the third was a tub cylinder thingy of oatmeal, but the great value Wal-Mart brand kind. And while I was standing there a couple of men came and picked me up and took me away in a van. I wasn't scared or anything. I really had no feeling. After we had been driving for a while they open the sliding door and throw me out on the street. I don't get hurt or anything and nothing spills anywhere or anything. I get up and I am next to a huge field and I start walking in the direction I know home was in. So as I was walking this Older Lady just appears in front of me and stops me. She points a finger at my face and asks "What did you learn today?!" I replied with, "I learned that my wife needs to have a good personality or I won't be happy in life. I'll still have the things I need in life and stuff and I’ll be able to provide but I won't be happy and life won't mean as much if my wife doesn't have a good personality." The old lady again pointed at me and said "That is exactly what you were supposed to learn!" Then she disappeared and I immediately woke up. So that was a crazy dream too. The Blonde girl was still very pretty and stuff but the brunette was just amazingly gorgeous. The weird thing is I had another dream later on in my mission with the same blonde girl and I was getting married to her and I loved her. It was a feeling that I have never had before and I can bring it back to my chest and memory when I think about that dream but nothing else has made me feel that way in my chest. So that is cool. Maybe she is my future wife...? Oh well. So those were the two dreams that I had randomly that I learned some good lessons in. So yeah that was cool. So this week not a whole lot went on. I got sick on Tuesday and was not feeling good at all. I only slept for like 3 hours that night and when I woke up I felt horrible and I have gotten the mission medical people so scared of my asthma and pneumonia that they assume the worst every time I get sick which I think is a good thing. So when I called her she called the regional dr. over all of California and he said it didn't sound too bad but with my history I need to have an antibiotic so I had to get amoxicillin from Walgreens and I have been on that. I have also been on Sudafed and mucinex because I already had the mucinex and it was just the cough kind to get the mucus out and I needed a nasal decongestant so I got the Sudafed. I have been taking breathing treatments every four hours since Tuesday and I think I have beaten it this time. All day Wednesday and Thursday I was in sleeping. I had to get up and walk around every hour so I didn't get pneumonia so that sucked but I do feel a lot better by today. I just have to get my lungs back into activity mode cuz I get tired easy now. I was getting close to a fever the whole time in the 99's so I was taking ibuprofen and I never went too high so I am glad he got me the antibiotic because I might have had an ear infection. I just want them to take my ears off when I get home. I'd rather be deaf then get an ear infection everything 4 months. So yeah I was basically getting better all week so we didn't do too much. I was able to read a butt load of ensigns which was fun cuz I love reading them. I read February and it was really good. I also read September and august and the august one had stories about mentally challenged kids and that stuff always make me cry. It’s about the only thing that makes me cry so I had a good couple of ones. I have always had a feeling that I will have a special needs child but we will see. Well I have to go. I love you all and I hope you all have a good week.

Love,

Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2012-02-06T14:45:00.001-08:00

February 6^th 2012

Man are those boys little trouble makers. Luckily I was the perfect child and never had any problems with the police or anything. Or I haven't that you know about ha. Just kidding, I told you everything I did. Well mom I have been thinking about my future life for a little bit now and I think I have it all planned out. I'll say sorry now because eventually it requires me to leave the state for school for a little while. But I will come back and be the best at what I do. I guess I will just tell you what my plan is... So when I get home I will try to begin immediately going to school and working. I plan on going to MCC because that is the cheap alternative. I want to go to school for News Broadcasting. I want Anderson Coopers job and I will get it! So I will go there and for the two years I am there I plan on working my butt off so I can have one of the highest GPA's. Then I will transfer over to ASU and continue on there. Somewhere in this whole scheme I plan on getting married. Hopefully while still at MCC. I will start trying to find my wife right when I get home. I mean why wait to continue on with the rest of my life. So after I work really hard at ASU and graduate I plan on going to Harvard for Graduate School. You might laugh at me but I really feel like if I want to, I can do anything I want! I just have to put my mind to it and rely on the Lord's strength to help me through it all. Plus I feel like I am doing it for a righteous desire. So I will go to Harvard for Graduate School and so we will have to move there. We will probably have a child by then. So you'll have to fly out and visit us mom and dad. Then when I graduate from Harvard people will be asking me to work for them. You always tell me mom that I need to go to school and I do plan on that but you have also told me that I should go for something that is in high demand which I think would be a good idea but I don't know if I would like my job very much. I really want to do something that I love doing. So I love telling stories. I have always known that. But in the recent months I have realized that I love wearing my suit. It makes me feel good to look nice. And I love talking in front of people. If I am prepared enough it is super fun to convey my point of view and idea or just a story. It is pretty fun. And a saying I have heard is "There is Always room at the Top" so I figure if I am going to do something that I love and want to make money doing it then I should try and be the best there is. And if I go to Harvard I think I will be the best and people that go to Harvard can get jobs. And Harvard doesn't just take a simple plain smart person. They take people who have a personality and people who when they graduate from there will be listened to when they say, Hey I went to Harvard and I am the best so yeah. But Harvard is a very hard school to get into, but I am convinced that if I would have tried being smart in High School I could have. I just went with the flow and got the grades that were a lot of times better than my effort level. So when I go to college from the very beginning I will work hard to be the smartest in the world! OK maybe just school. And if I go to school for News Broadcasting I can become Anderson Cooper and I can just sit there and talk and have a gay old time. So that is my plan for my career when I get home. I have high ambitions and it is going to take lots of work. But why not. Really if this is what God wants for me then I can do it. So yeah. That is my plan. And I will get to wear a suit every day I want to. And then I can write books if I want to cuz I will have the know how from school and the name to do it. So it all works out for the better. So that is how it is going to go. That's my plan. So this week was good. We did some cool stuff. I will tell you about some of the High Lights. We taught Howard many times this week. We prepared him for his baptism on Saturday and then... He got baptized!!! So we have already seen the Lord's blessings as we have been working diligently and have been obedient. It feels good to do all you can do then just fall over and rely on God to take over the work. Cuz then you know you will succeed. You know you will not fail. I won't back down, I will not lose, cuz you can't win... that’s a song elder jones wrote... So that was super awesome to see Howard get baptized and to see the fruits of our labors. It was the first baptism in this ward for almost 5 months! And we hope to have many more in the months to come. I received a nice compliment from President Weston this week. We had our Stake Correlation meeting with the Stake Presidency, the High Councilor over missionary work, and someone from the Mission Presidency, which is President Weston for all the northern Zones. So this was my first time meeting the Stake Presidency and when I introduced myself at the beginning of the meeting he added that I am a baptizing missionary. I just laughed and said well that’s our goal and he told them how I just came from North Sac where we led the mission in baptisms for the year as a zone and that I was there for about 6 months of that year. Now I don't take credit for all those baptisms. Elder Manukailea is the best missionary I have known. Elder Jones was my better half when we were together. And we had some amazing baptizing missionaries in the zone who would just take our council and advice and run with it and baptize. So yeah that's why North Sac was so good. I was just privileged to experience it all! But I do want to be a baptizing missionary and I want this zone to be a baptizing zone and we will be! On Saturday morning we had a really good meeting with all the Zone Leaders. President Weston and President Martinez, who is the first councilor in the mission presidency as well as Elder Seamons, the executive secretary were there and they all did amazing training's for us to take back to our zones and to teach them on. I can really see how we are going to see more success as we do these things. President Martinez and Elder Seamons both trained on Unity and they were amazing training's. Then President Weston trained on planning and prioritizing. He told us how we need to be in front of nonmembers as much as possible all throughout the day. He said we can always find something organizational and administrative to do that would be good. He also said that some other things we do would be even better, but the Best thing to do would be to be out with Non Members and Investigators as much as possible so the spirit can influence them. And if we are working with 100 people some of them have to get baptized sooner or later. So both those things will be helpful in helping our zone baptize more people. This week was pretty good overall. We reached most of our goals and saw a lot of success with teaching people. We are still trying to find more people cuz we can see the people we are working with getting baptized so we need more after them! So that is what we are going to do! We are going to baptize! That's all I want to do lately. I baptize people. I wish I had this urgency at the beginning and earlier in my mission. I would have seen so much more success. Well yeah that is it. I have just been rambling on and on about random things and this has probably been the most unorganized email I have written but oh well! I can't wait to see Andrew and Hudson again. Tell them both to write or email me soon! Well I love you all. Have a good week.

Love,

Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

Elder Jeffrey R. Hollands Visit

2012-01-30T17:35:00.000-08:00

January 30^th 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!

--
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

ELDER TYLER PETE ARNETT'S RELEASE DATE THURSDAY, MAY 17TH 2012

2012-01-23T13:31:00.000-08:00

January 23^rd 2012

Hi, so I am not sure about how it all works. I was talking to the lady that does it all and she was saying that the church just gives you a time and it’s in the morning. I will talk to her more about it today and see for sure if we can request a time. If so then all I want to do is visit some of the families up here in north sac and any I get cool with here in Carmichael other than that I should be good. If you and dad wanted to come out a few days early I am sure that would be fine, you probably wouldn't be able to see me till Thursday though. We'll see. We still have a little bit of time to plan it out but the time sure is flying by isn't it?! It’s crazy. You could visit some of the families in other parts of the mission but there are not very many of them. I guess you could see the sights but I haven't really seen anything too cool. The Sacramento temple is real pretty and I am sure you could do a session while you’re here and maybe even one with me! So we'll see how things work out. If the church will only let me go home at the time they give me in the morning then we'll take it. That would give us time to be home in time for Krazy Sub for lunch. And I’ll still be a missionary so I would get the missionary discount! We'll see. Man two years is a long time. But I am still working hard and I have a lot of time so a lot of miracles can happen! We had a pretty cool miracle this week. You are right, we are getting plastered with the rain. People were getting worried because it just wasn't coming and it usually comes in October or November. But it came and it’s making up for it! So the other day Elder Hatley and I didn't have any appointments so we dedicated the whole day to trying to find more people to teach and baptize. So we went out and started knocking some doors. When we started it wasn't really raining all that bad. It wasn't even enough to get our hair wet. So we just left our rain coats in the car, well then it started to pick up so we got our coats and continued knocking doors. So you know I hate rain. I hate being wet except for when I am in the shower. And even then I get to dry off right after. So we were talking to people but no one was really interested. The other day we had been reading through Preach My Gospel and we read that we should ask everyone, even people we meet on the street, for people they know that we could teach. So we have been trying that a lot. It also says that missionaries who do this usually have a lot of people to teach which is what we want and need to get this area booming. So we had been asking people if they knew anyone and these people don't live on a street like ours and no one knows their neighbor. But one lady pointed out a few doors that she said would be interested. Well the first one she gave us was a guy who is a member but he is Less Active and doesn't want to go to church. A lot of time people give us people that are already member’s cuz that’s what they think we are looking for. So the second door was Patty. She was probably 30ish and she was nice. She tried to invite us in right off the bat which usually hints to us that it’s a member so we asked and she said yes she was. She had gotten baptized like 10 years before when she married her husband; she said they had split up a couple of years before so she hasn't been to church in a little while. Well we were talking and asked if she had any kids. She did. She had an 11 year old son named Gavin. She had him come over so we could meet him and talk to him. He was a nice kid and he was excited to learn about scouts and stuff. Then his mom, Patty asked him if he would like to go to church and get baptized and he said yes and she said she wanted that for him so we will be going over tonight to teach them and we are excited to baptize Gavin! Also at church this larger black American lady came up to us and said her husband claims he is a member and got baptized as a teen but the church cannot find any record of this guy in their system so he needs to be baptized or rebaptized if he has been and that she wanted us to find out and if he needs to be baptized to come over and set a date. So Howard, the husband of the large black American lady, is going to get baptized too! Then I was able to talk to Elder Jones last night and he said Jennifer is getting baptized this Saturday so I will be going back for that, so things are looking good. We still have a lot of work to do over here to get things really rolling but we are seeing really cool huge miracles and it’s awesome! Too bad the 49ers lost last night. Now everyone is going to be sad. But Jesus will mend their broken hearts. We didn't teach too much this week. We had a lot of meetings but we were able to find some super solid people that we will be teaching this week. I have decided that I am not going to tell you how much I weigh. You will all just have to wait and see when I come home. We have been dieting and I have been doing really well. So this was a good week with weight loss. I am ahead of my goal thus far and I feel so great! Maybe if I keep doing this well I will revise my goal... We'll see. I sent that letter to Hayley the same day I sent Jackie’s so I don't know why it got there so late. I don't think I said anything about you mom or anyone else at that. I don't see any reason why they wouldn't let you read it. Oh yeah I almost forgot. I need more Breathing Treatment Medication. I only have like 15-20 vials left and I take one every morning. They don't forward our mail from the mission office because we are here so often so I should get it pretty soon after you send it. This will probably be the last package I ask for before I come home. I won't need a birthday one. Cuz I’ll be home 3 weeks later! So yeah. I didn't have much time today and the computer I am on is poopy so I have to be done now. I love you all and I hope you have an awesome week! Oh and I received Jackie’s letter as well so that’s good. Bye.

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

We received a letter from Elder Arnett’s mission president with his release date which will be Thursday, May 17^th 2012. We are super excited! Just under 4 months left.

Arnett’s

2012-01-16T17:47:00.000-08:00

January 16^th 2012

Yeah I'm pretty sure his blockage was just a blockage. He exerted himself to much doing transfers and was in a lot of pain and had an infection so that is why he went back into the hospital. I get to learn a little more now that we are around the assistants. The assistants are the assistants to the mission president. Every mission has them I think and they are two elders that are usually really good missionaries to help him train and organize things in the mission. Elder Kelley is one of them and he was my zone leader at the time I left Jackson and went into the Florin ward. He is a super cool guy and looks like Joe my cousin. The other is Elder Marcheschi who I have never served around but he is a cool guy too. They are in our zone so it’s fun. I will not be able to participate in the Gladys Knight performance which kind of sucks and I’m super bummed out about but oh well I’ll live. Elder Stradling just got to the mission on Tuesday and got his trainer on Wednesday. Since the Elder I was replacing was going home, he finished his mission; I met my new companion at the mission office, which is in our zone, which is also where the new missionaries get their trainers on Wednesday. He looks just like his mom! He was a typical new missionary. Kind of like a new puppy. I did get to meet him and I gave him a big hug, which is something we do a lot in this mission. He didn't seem to know my name but he said his family knows some Arnett's and I said well our moms are good friends. I think he was still trying to take it all in and was a little confused. He is not in my zone but he is with a great missionary in a great area. So yes I did get to meet Elder Stradling. My new companion is Elder Hatley. He too is from North Carolina ha. He is my third companion from there! Elder Brantley, Elder Jones, and now him. He is from Charlotte though and elder Jones was from Raleigh. But he is a great guy. He is half Chinese but he doesn't know his dad, who is the Chinese one because his parents split up when he was three. He is the only member of the church in his family. He was baptized at 8 but was less active until 18 and now he's on a mission. His mom and sister had their names removed from the church while he was on his mission. I don't know why they did that. And neither does he so yeah. He is super cool. He is very humble and has a lot of Charity. He makes me smoothies every morning for breakfast. We get a long pretty good. He is a little quiet but that’s ok. And Elder Hatley and I get along just fine. We live by ourselves in an apartment and it’s great. So no we do not live with any other missionaries. So yeah I do have three transfers left. The odds are that this should be my last area, and I am treating it as such by putting all my effort into leaving my mark here! But anything can happen. Elder Hatley will probably be together for one or two of those transfers but not all three. Then he would be here for like 8 months which doesn't happen. I don't know our address yet but I’ll get it. I know the cross streets are Marconi and Fair Oaks Blvd. So you can look that up. We live on Marconi and it might be closer to the other Cross street, Walnut. I have been thinking about what I want to do when you come to pick me up. I am not sure how it will all work. The church buys me a plane ticket but I can't pick what time I go home so it will probably be in the morning which would not allow me to do anything. Some elders just buy their own plane ticket and go home whenever they want. Really all I want to do is go visit some of the families I have gotten really close to on my mission. Some are converts that I worked with or just normal members of the ward. My last area has a lot of people so I will probably be spending most of my time there. Fortunately that area is right next to the Sac airport. So we will see. I will try to find out more info about the plane ticket. If the one the church gets me is late enough we'll do that or if not maybe I could get my own? I still want to go home the same day which would be a Thursday but I was thinking probably sometime in the evening. The flight is probably around two hours I’m guessing so to get home early enough we would probably need to leave here around 5 or 6 which would give me plenty of time to see people all day. So maybe if you know more info about that stuff just let me know. It feels really trunky thinking and talking about this stuff but better now then too late. Well this email has been pretty informative and I don't have much more time. I'll tell you some highlights of the week. I got here Wednesday and it was great. I was able to go back to my last area on Thursday to see Megan Hall get baptized. It was awesome. Brother Call from my last ward came and picked me up. He is super cool and I told you about him last week. I was able to get a picture with his family at the baptism. The baptism went great! It was cool. Usually during the time between the person getting baptized and them changing into dry clothes a missionary gets up and teaches the restoration so any nonmembers can hear it in a super spiritual setting. We call it the Half time show. Well there were no nonmembers there and I was doing the half time show so I just bore my testimony and kind of told the story about how it all worked out with Megan. A lot of people came to the baptism to say bye to me cuz I didn't have time to go see them so that was cool. I told them how it felt like home being in their ward and that I had made so many close friends that it felt like they were all family to me now. I told them that ward would always be my home away from home and that I’ll be back to visit later. So that was pretty cool that I got to do that. We have a few people we are teaching right now so that is cool. We don't have anyone with a date to be baptized yet but we are working with a few that came to church that we are extending a date to. We just need to teach a little more to count it as a solid number. This area doesn't have a whole bunch going on. In fact the whole zone is kind of down. I just want everyone to baptize here. And I just want to baptize as well. I came from the highest baptizing zone in the mission and from the highest baptizing ward in that zone and now I’m where not much is happening. Its rough but I have been able to bring a lot of good things in and hope it all works out great. I don't know why they brought me here to be a zone leader but I hope I can make an impact. I have the time to do it so we will see what happens. Well I hope you all have a great week. Sorry this email wasn't super long and all about my week. I feel like it was pretty informative so yeah. Love you!
--
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

TRANSFERS-ONLY 4 MONTHS TO GO & COUNTING

2012-01-10T18:54:00.000-08:00

January 10^th 2012

So this week was pretty good. I know my last two emails were pretty long and informative. I had a lot of time to write them but this week I don't have near as much time so I regret to inform you that this one will be short... And we just played ultimate frisbee and my team lost so I’m not happy right now. So yeah I’ll tell you about my week.

Monday was pretty good. We ended our P-day at 4 again because of the long holiday week end. We went out and tracted and then had dinner with Robert and Sandra. It was really good and we had a real fun time visiting with them. I can't really remember all that we did that night but it was good. Tuesday morning we had Zone Leader Round table where all the zone leaders in the mission meet together to talk about different things that are going on and about our goals and what not. It was a real good meeting. President Lewis wasn't there because he is still recovering from his surgery. We found a little more out about it this week. He had a blockage in his intestines and so they went in and removed six inches of them. He is recovering good but he had to go back into the hospital because of infection. So you should pray for him. After that meeting we came back and had another meeting with the two district leaders in our zone. It was good. Then we went over to the Call's to have dinner with them. They are really cool people and we have gotten close with their family. The Dad's name is Aaron and his wife is Jeri. They have four really cute little kids and the oldest is 7. So it was a good time. Then we went and saw some people. We had a rough week teaching wise. We didn't teach very much but the people we did get to teach are all preparing to be baptized so thats good. All the people we were teaching before got baptized so I guess we need to find some new people to baptize. Wednesday we had a good District meeting in the morning. After that and lunch Elder Jones and I drove up to the Mission Office so he could get his shirts his mom sent him. Oh and I got my shirts on Tuesday. We also had to pick up a bunch of much needed supplies. We came back in time to teach a family we are working with. They are a part member family and the young grandson is not a member. We went to dinner with the Lopez Family. Not Jordan, our ward mission leader, but the other family we have had dinner with a lot. It was good and we had a fun time visiting with them as well. We have been having some good dinners lately with some great families we have gotten to know pretty good. After dinner we met Matt and Malissa Ott at Megan Hall's house to teach her. We had a really good lesson with her. She is getting baptized on Thursday. Thursday we went and inspected a couple of the missionary’s apartments. It went good and they actually cleaned them so that was nice. We saw a few people then had lunch. We went and visited Glen, the old man we baptized in October. He was in need of a large print Book of Mormon so while we were at the mission office we picked one up for him. So we took it over to him and had a nice visit. He will be going to get the rest of his toes cut off. He has diabetes so they took off some already and he needs the other ones removed. He is getting old. He tells a lot of the same stories over and over again but thats ok. He is thrilled every time we come over and visit with him so it’s fun. I like old people anyways. I think they have cool stories. We saw a bunch of people throughout the day. I can't remember who we had dinner with on Thursday. I also can't remember what we did that night. Friday was a good day. I started my diet. I was 275 lbs. on Thursday night. Oh on Thursday night we taught Annabella and Tom with their son Max. The lesson went very well and the spirit was strong. I think we resolved a lot of their concerns. We have been going to the gym in our apartment complex every night to go running. We didn't go last night because of Transfers. So I did really good with my diet on Friday and ok with it on Saturday. Sunday I did horrible except it was fast Sunday so how much can you eat on a fast Sunday. Yesterday I did terrible with it but I will do good the rest of my mission I swear it! I am down to 268 so I have lost 7 lbs. so far and it’s good. We had weekly planning on Friday so that was good. Then we inspected the rest of the missionary’s apartments. We had a really good lesson with James the miracle guy. We took Robert with us and it was great. He wants to be baptized and he is feeling like it is true. He does have to make changes before being baptized, one of which is getting married so we will be working with him on that. He is reading from the Book of Mormon and is reading more than what we tell him to so that is good. He didn't come to church on Sunday though so that’s a bummer. We did other things on Friday but I don't remember what they were. Saturday morning we went out and helped a young family move. The husband is a non-member. They are a very young couple. The girl is my age and had a two year old and the guy is like a year older. They are from Arizona but they are moving to Las Vegas. It was ridiculous! Who would have thought that a couple so young with such a small apartment could have so much stuff! And it was all heavy. I was super sore on Sunday from it. It took a little bit so after we finished and got all ready we went with Brother Bland to lunch. He had signed up to feed us on Friday but he had a company party so they said they would leave a $20 under the door mat but they forgot so he felt bad and wanted to make it up. We went to Chevy's. It was cool. It was right next to the American River and we ate outside and it over looked the river and the weather was amazing so it was a good time. It made me sick to my stomach though cuz I hadn't eaten breakfast. We went and did some other things all day but honestly I can't remember. Sunday was a good day. We had a meeting early in the morning with the stake presidency and it was good. We were 3 short of the goal of 100 so that was a bummer but it’s the most the stake has baptized since anyone could remember. So that was exciting. We went home and studied in the morning. I was feeling ill in the morning. I haven't slept very much lately. But I feel real good now. We had a good church. Megan Hall had her baptismal interview and that went good. We had to watch her 2 year old while she was in there. I'll just say they need a new nursery leader. If two 20 year old guys can entertain a 2 year old long enough for his mom to get her 20 min. interview and the nursery can't for more than 5 min. then they need a new one. But it was fun. He's a funny little guy. We had Ward Council after church and that was fun. We have an awesome ward and its always entertaining. We had dinner with the Green family and that was good as well. We got stuck in traffic on our way to the blitz at the church. They had a King's game at Arco arena which is in our area and it was getting over as we were leaving so it was ridiculous traffic. We had a good blitz. Then we went home. Yesterday was a day. I don't like Transfer Monday's very much. They drag on and make me nervous for our calls. We went tracting first thing in the morning. Usually you hear stories about missionaries who find someone who is super prepared on the last door of the street at the very end of the night. Well we were tracting first thing in the morning and on the very first door of the day in the apartment complex we were tracting a black guy answered the door and wasn't interested. Well we were persistent like we always are and tried to set up another time we could come by and finally he said, “Well you might as well come in now if you’re just going to come back later, I need to talk to someone anyways cuz I’m going through some stuff.” So we went in and taught him a really good lesson and set up another appointment for later this week. It was pretty cool and he said he would be baptized again. He has made a lot of changes already in his life and I think he was being prepared to find the gospel. We got permission from the Assistants to the President to go out of our zone to Down Town Sacramento to go visit Megan Hall at her work. We went there and the place is like a 5 star restaurant with valet parking and super expensive so we went and got pizza... After that we went and saw some more people and that was good. We saw a lot of people and things are good. We had dinner with the Call family again. We had a feeling I was getting transferred so they wanted us over one last time. They said they found me on Facebook and added me as a friend so in four months I’ll accept their request. We had a good time. While we were there we got our Transfer calls. I am getting transferred sadly. I am a little bummed but change is good sometimes and it had to come sometime so it might as well be now. I am going to the Carmichael Stake. It is the stake that the mission office is in and it is also the stake that borders the North Sacramento stake so it is really close. I will see the missionaries from this zone a lot at meetings and what not so that’s good. I will be companions with Elder Hatley. He was made a Zone Leader a transfer ago and is a great guy. He is sort of quiet but he's real humble and cool so I think we will get along great. I am super excited too. Also the Assistants to the Mission President are in our zone so that will be fun as well. Elder Jones is staying of course and his new companion is Elder Streeter. One of my old companions, Elder Holyoak trained him and he is a real cool guy. So yeah that’s our transfers which is a bummer but hey it’s all good. I will probably stay in this area for the rest of my mission so that is exciting. I get to come back on Thursday for Megan's baptism and Brother Call said he would come pick me up so that is cool too. Well that’s pretty much it. I am excited for the next transfer and its going to be awesome. It’s a great zone. So yeah. Have a good week!

--
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2012-01-02T19:16:00.000-08:00

January 2^nd 2012

Hi,
So this week was good. Since we had so much time off for Christmas Eve and Christmas, we were to be proselyting again by 4 on Monday instead of the usual 6. So we decided to just go straight to tracting. We had a good time doing that, then we went on over to the Davis family to have dinner. Their son recently returned home from his mission in Denmark about 3 months ago. He had a nonmember friend over so after we had dinner we sat down and taught a lesson. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it went really well. The whole evening was a mighty fine time and a lot of fun. After dinner we went and visited a few other people then we went home. On Tuesday we had a few appointments in the morning but unfortunately they both fell through so then we went to the church to have Leadership with the two district leaders. We talked about some of the things that were happening and we were all excited to hit our goals and break the records. Which i am sad to say we did not. Only two people were baptized this weekend which left us three short from our goal and beating the record. But everyone worked really hard and we all saw some huge miracles and have people who are ready to be baptized this month. The rest of the day was pretty cool. Elder Jones and I had a really cool miracle this week that happened. I tell it now so i can talk about him later in the email. So on Tuesday we were driving and we noticed we had a missed call and a voice mail from some random guy so we listened to it and he said his name was Richard and he wanted to talk to missionaries so we called him back and Elder Jones asked him what we could help him with and he said “well i want to be baptized” and Elder Jones responded great saying “well when do you want to get baptized?” and he said “as soon as possible.” So we set up an appointment for the next day. That sounds like a cool miracle but it gets better. So we met with him on Wednesday after lunch. We met him at a park and there were so many ghetto people there. It was ridiculous. The park had this cool little building by it that we could meet in so we went there and had a really good lesson. During the lesson this really old guy named Don Bartz walked up and Richard introduced us to his old Mormon friend. So he sat in on the lesson and it was really good. Towards the end he handed us a pass along card with two names and a phone number on it and asked whose hand writing it was. Elder Jones and I had been tracting about two weeks earlier and we talked to this really old senile lady. She was talking our ear off but wasn't interested in the message that we had to share so we gave her a card with our name and number on it to shut her up. Before we left she said that she had a Mormon friend name Don Bartz who was going to be having surgery the next day and asked us to pray for him so we wrote his name down and we did. Well I guess she didn't see any use for the card so when Don got out of the hospital she gave him the card and when Richard came to him wanting help in getting baptized he gave that phone number to him. And so our effective use of a pass along card to shut and old senile lady up was used by God to have someone get in contact with us. After teaching him he gave us his address and we realized he wasn't in our area but another ward in our zone so on Saturday we took the missionaries that cover the ward he lives in and we all taught him a really good lesson. He had preach my gospel questions like, Why are we here on earth? Where are we going when we die? and Where did we come from before we were here? So we taught the Plan of Salvation and it was perfect for him and answered all of his questions. He came to church yesterday and is now preparing to be baptized on the 21st of January! So that was a pretty cool miracle with old people and a Jesus card. I think I'll formally call it the old people and a Jesus card miracle. So that was good. Wednesday was great. We taught Richard like i previously mentioned and then we taught Jennifer the Restoration and she loved it. We weren't able to meet with her again because she has health issues and doesn't feel well sometimes but she did come to church yesterday and stayed for all three hours. She loved it and i think she is learning a lot. She is shooting for January 28th to be baptized. Thursday was a weird day. We were supposed to have exchanges with the Assistants to the Mission President after they had District Meeting in their zone but after lunch they called and said they wouldn't be able to make it. President Lewis had to go into the Hospital and have surgery. I think they said it had to do with his Bowels. But he is doing a lot better now and recovering so it will all work out. Elder Jones and I don't have a huge teaching pool so we have been visiting a lot of people that we have talked to in the past. I told you all about a guy named James who was praying for guidance and asked God if the Mormon thing was for him and if so then to send us over the next day and then the next day we did come over. Well nothing ever happened with him and just like Jennifer we were about to give up on him. Well on Thursday as we were walking across the parking lot in his apartment complex I had to save Elder Jones from getting hit by a green Mini Van. Well James and his wife with their 4 kids were in that van so we went up and talked to him and he invited us to come back over at six that night so he had some time to clean up his apartment. We went over there at six after dinner and we had a great lesson on the Restoration with him and his wife. Towards the end he said he felt a lot like Joseph Smith trying to find which church was true and he commented how he will do what he did and ask God. We brought it to his attention that he had already asked God and he answered by sending us. He liked that so he committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. After that lesson we rushed over to Megan Hall's to teach her with Bro. Lopez. We were nervous to teach her about the Law of Chastity, she has a 2 year old child and no husband, and the Word of Wisdom, she works at a bar... So we taught it all to her and she was like oh yeah i remember all this stuff and trust me I have learned my lesson on the Law of Chastity with Hector here, Hector being the child, and i had stupid friends in high school and i live the Word of Wisdom already so i am good on those. So it was great and she couldn't have accepted it better. She is getting excited to be baptized on the 12th. She has called her family friends that are Mormon and live in Texas. They are all pretty excited too. Friday was ridiculous! We had to do transfer reports after a morning of weekly planning. We had to give out the reports to the District Leaders so they could do them on their Districts and then we had to do them all for ourselves then we had to pick up theirs and fax them all into the office. It took us all day until dinner to get them all done and picked up and then after dinner we faxed them in. We had a great dinner with The Clifford's and a couple of Recent Converts from June. It was a swell evening after a boring day. If you don't know what transfer reports are, and i assume most of you don't, i will explain them. So we rate on a scale from 1-5, 5 being the highest, each missionary in the zone. The things we rate are their Obedience, Leadership Ability, Charity, Work Ethic, People Skill, Teaching Skills, and how well they keep the Spirit. Then we write a few comments on why they are a five or what they need to do to become a five. Then we write about their strengths and areas of which they could improve and then we give a recommendation for what should happen with them the next transfer. It takes like 20 min. to a half hour to do just one missionary and there are 16 in our zone so it took a while. Especially because Elder Jones and I cannot stay on track and focused, and after a while we were getting pretty loopy and i was writing Steve in the place for teaching and it was getting bad. We finished in the nick of time because any longer and i might have gone completely mad. So those are transfer reports. Saturday sure was a nice day. We went to a baptism at nine in the morning. It was for a guy that Elder Jones taught a year ago. He was scheduled to be baptized then but for some reason he fell off and never got baptized. Well when Elder Jones got back in the zone as a Zone Leader he asked the missionaries in his ward how he was doing and they thought he was a member but he wasn't so Elder Jones went with them to teach him and he got baptized and confirmed on Saturday, News Year Eve! It was a really good baptismal service. Then we stuck around for another Baptism in the zone. It was for an 18 year old guy who wanted to be baptized. There weren't going to be a lot of people there so we stayed to make a congregation. I had to play the Piano once again at that baptism so i have been getting put to use lately! I also had to play prelude music while he was changing so that was fun as well. I played all four of my songs and i feel like I'm getting them down pretty good now. After those baptisms we went out to lunch with the missionaries who had the baptism and we went to In N Out. It’s a nice place to celebrate. I sure do like their Double Double Animal style with no Tomatoes. As well their Animal Fries are pretty tasty, along with their Dr. Pepper with a shot of their Pink Lemonade. I like it. Later we took the missionaries that covered Richards ward and taught him. It was good, i already talked about that. Then we saw a bunch of people. We went to dinner early because we had to be in with the Zone by six because of New Year's Eve. The dinner was OK. We met with the zone at 6 and played over 20 games of dodge ball. I thought the teams were lopsided but our team won a lot but the other team won more. It made me super sore. I got hit so hard in the face once that it knocked me onto my back like you see in movies. The missionary who threw it pitched baseball in high school. It hurt but the sting went away pretty fast. Sunday we didn't have church till 12:30 which was weird but it was nice not to be rushed all morning. We had dinner with the Ott's. Sister Ott is the Larson's daughter. The Larson's are the family i had thanksgiving with and the mom called Jackie to set up the Skype. It was fun. Both Brother and Sister Ott served missions and we had a good time talking to them. Brother Ott went out after converting a year earlier and he was already like 25 so that was cool. We went and visited Roberta and Serenity for a little bit then had a zone meeting and it was good. We went home and had a good night. Elder Jones and I talked about random crap for a while. It made me tired for today. Today we played basketball and it was good. We have to be back out by four again today so that’s a bummer but its all good. We can find more people to baptize and we had a lot off over the weekend. Well i think this one was a pretty long one filled with miracles and explanations of some of the things we do as missionaries. I hope you all enjoy it. I'm not sure if I'll be sending pictures home. I might send some over email but i think you can all wait a few more months. Oh and Happy Birthday to Jackie! Tomorrow. I love you all. Have a good week!
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-12-26T20:22:00.002-08:00

2011-12-26T20:22:00.001-08:00

December 26th 2011
Boy was it good talking to ya'll. Everyone has grown up so much! Everyone consists of Braden, Porter and Ellie. They all have personalities now. Jeff is still himself. Candice looked good, has she lost weight? It was good to hear from David. Jamie and Jackie haven't changed a bit. Hayley is exactly the same. Braden and Porter have both grown a foot or more. Luckily too because they were so short. Don't worry though; I will be able to whoop both of them forever. Ellie is a lot taller too! And she has teeth, I think... Mom seems like she is doing good. She is the only one that emails me consistently so I know about her life a lot already. I have two questions now... How did Dad lose so much weight? And how has he kept it off?! He's just a little guy now. I bet I could still out run him though. And if I can't he will pay for beating me because he is an old man now. But that’s great. I promise I will not weigh more than him when I come home! So Dad is it on or is it Donkey Kong?
This week was very good. I almost got sick but I am smart and I talked to the guy at rite aid and he told me to get what I already knew to get. So I didn't get sick. Monday night was good. We went and visited with the Justin and Shana. There was no man in their home and we didn't have a male chaperone with us so we only talked for a minute. Then we went and visited a Part Member Family the ward wanted us to see. Their name is Whitesel. They were nice and we had a good lesson with them but they are not going to start coming to church and the dad isn't going to get baptized. Or that’s what they said. I'm sure a lot of people think that the first time we meet them. We went home after that. Tuesday we had a Leadership training meeting. It was a training meeting for all the Zone and District leaders and the Trainers. It was really good. President and Sister Lewis, along with the assistants trained us on Revelation through Prayer and how to help our investigators pray. They had asked Elder Jones and me to do training on Revelation through the Book of Mormon and the importance of it in our investigators conversion. I thought we did pretty well. We used the talk by Tad R. Callister from this past conference a lot. It was fun though. After the meeting got out at like 4:30 we went to dinner with an old lady named Sister Huckaby. She is probably one of the coolest older people. She had an older gentleman friend there. Their spouses both passed away a while ago so they are like friends with benefits but neither of them wants to get remarried. The man is from Indiana so that was a good conversation starter. They are movie buddies and go to movies every Friday. Since they are old they can afford the reduced price. I thought they probably only saw lame old people movies but when I asked what was a good one they saw recently she responded with, "Oh that new Sherlock Holmes was amazing. It was just as good as or better than the first. That Robert Downy Jr. and Jude Law sure do work well together in those movies". It was pretty funny. They also like to go to plays and musicals. They have seen all the big ones five or more times and love them. She used to live in Arizona and said one time she drove down to Tucson to watch a NCAA Tournament that UofA was hosting. She said she watched four games in row then got in the car to drive to Phoenix to watch the Suns play. She is a super cool old lady. And she cooked amazing Mexican food. It is people like her that make it hard for me to come down from 270. After dinner, btw I think that was the longest dinner I’ve written about, we went and visited people but it wasn't according to what we planned so I don't remember who we saw but I have written in my numbers that we taught someone with a member with us so I’m sure it was really good. Wednesday was good as well. In fact it rocked! We had District meeting in the morning. We had good training from each of the District leaders, then Elder Jones and I had everyone go up and talk about an investigator they have that can be baptized this month. We are so freaking close to our goal!!! After District meeting we had lunch, then we went and saw a bunch of people. We visited with a lady named Jennifer. She is the one who came to church and hit it off with our Relief Society President. She was doing well. She is in a custody battle with her Ex- Husband for their kids. She doesn't have them and we were hoping to see her daughter there but she was not... It’s a huge mess but I don't even know what’s going on so I don't know. But we had a good chat with her. We saw some people then got a bite to eat. We went to the church to start filling the font because Justin and Shana were getting baptized!!! It was Shana's birthday so that's why it was on a random day of the week. It was a super good baptism and we had a good time. Again I had to play the piano cuz we forgot to call the guy so we made do. I am getting better though and I have officially learned a new song so now I have four in my reservoir. After the baptism the night was kind of dead but we tried to see some people then went home. Thursday was a day... Not bad but not super good either. It was just a day. In the morning we went tracting then visited with Michael and Mercy Slover. We have a lot of recent converts now so that number has gone up each week. We went from there to see Ian and Janet; they got baptized earlier this year. Ian got baptized my first weekend in this area. His mom got baptized before that. We had lunch after them then we went and saw some more people. We went tracting for a bit and that was good. We tried to see some people but not too many were home. We had dinner alone... the family went to watch Boise State play football. We went over and visited with Roberta and Serenity and it was good. They are doing awesome and seem so happy since we first started meeting with them. We were able to teach Megan Hall that night and it was awesome. She is one of our "hot" investigators. She’s the Asian one getting ready for January 12th. Friday morning we did weekly planning and it was good. We had an awesome Church Tour with Jennifer, Sister Treadway and her son and his girlfriend. The church tour was freaking awesome though. Sister Treadway is a chief Champ. Later we went to see some people. We went tracting and that was fun. We had dinner at home because the people are less active and never called us back! It was OK though because we had to leave early to drive up to the mission office to be early to get our PRESENTS! President Lewis did a little program and it was awesome. I can't even count the amount of times I heard Luke 2:1-16. But it was a good meeting. Then we rushed home to open our presents. There is no incentive as a missionary to wait till Christmas so we just opened them right there. It was really nice of you to not only think about me but to think about my companion as well. I think he appreciated that. I love everything! I got a lot socks for Christmas which I love. I got some from you, a pair from President Lewis, and some from our Bishop. Saturday we were super excited for Christmas so it was hard to concentrate on the day. We went tracting all morning. We are really trying to find people to teach. We usually don't find them Tracting but we have noticed that when we go tracting God will bless us with someone to teach one way or another. That's what happened with Roberta and Serenity as well as Michael and Mercy. Actually now that I think about it most of the people we baptize just come from nowhere. We went and visited a lot of people in the afternoon. We had a great lesson with a part member family who said they would be at church but they didn't come. We went over to The Bland's home. Brother Bland is the man playing Santa in my Christmas Card. He invited us over to be with his family on Christmas Eve. They don't have much family around here so they wanted to have us as company. I tend to think we are pretty good company so it worked out. We were there for a freaking long time! But the food was awesome. He did a giant roast and it tasted real good. We had a delicious salad and some other food that must not be too good because I can't remember what it was but it filled me up to the brim! He's another reason I’m fat. Then they gave us some delicious Cheese Cake. It sure was tasty. Then we met up with the zone but not many of the zone was here so with the few that were here we played basketball. Christmas sure was a mighty fine day. We went over to our Bishops house at 8 to eat biscuits and gravy. By the look on Jackie's face when I mentioned them it seemed like she doesn't care too much for them but I sure did like them. We went to church and it was awesome. All the musical numbers sucked until Elder Jones sang. He rocked the house down. Someone said he sounded like John Mayer and someone else said he sounded like Justin Timberlake and then one lady, who was married, said it was hot that he could sing that good. Inappropriate. After church we went home, did something actually nothing, and then went over to Roberts for an afternoon of fun. I got to play with his Ipad and I decided I want one now. I can't believe Braden got and Iphone before me... Then we went over to Brother Lopez house to SKYPE OUR FAMILIES!!! We made our Skype accounts on the Ipad at Roberts so we could start right away. It was a lot of fun. I already commented on the family so yeah that's about it for the Skypeing. After that we went back to Roberts for dinner. It was a great dinner I must say. They had all my favorites and it was a good time. After dinner it was story time. I have mentioned before in my mission that I have a lot of ideas for books to write. Well I have written all of them down and I have like 10. Sandra, Roberts wife, didn't believe that I like love stories or that I would consider writing one so I told her my favorite one. I like it. They wanted more so I told another one. I don't know how I think of these things. They just pop into my mind randomly. But only while I’m doing breathing treatments. Maybe the new supply of oxygen reaching my brain gives me an extra sense or something. I don't know. After that we were supposed to meet with the zone to have our Sunday night meeting and to go over numbers for the week but everyone was griping because it was Christmas and they were with ward members so we moved the meeting back to Monday morning. So Elder Jones and I had about 2 hours to kill and we didn't want to bother any members that weren't planning on us coming over and we were allowed to proselytize so we came to the church and wrote our weekly emails to our families, hence the length of this weeks email. It has to be one of my longer ones. So that was my week this week. It truly was a great time talking to all of you today. I am surprised that no one mentioned that the next time I will be calling home will be the Sunday before I come home. That's crazy. So Elder Jones and I talk a lot. We used to just tell stories and talk about random crap but now we talk about our missions and the gospel and stuff. We were talking about what has changed with us since we left. After being out like a year I honestly didn't see any change in me. But now, only 7 months later I have seen a huge change. I feel like ever since I became a zone leader I have become so much more mature and down to business. I feel like I have really learned my purpose as a missionary and how to work hard and effectively. I used to go the whole week anticipating P Day so I didn't have to do anything all day but now I don't even think about it until Sunday night when I realize, oh hey we have P Day tomorrow. It’s great. Well that’s about it. I hope you enjoy this week’s letter. You got a double feature treat this week with a phone call and a huge long email. I hope everyone has a good life for the next little while. To those who wrote to me, I will respond soon. To those who didn't, you have no promise... I love you! So I waited a little while to send this off so I could update you on anything new. I do have a few new updates so here we go. First, the zone has picked up two more people to be baptized this month so we only need 1 more to break the record! We would be tying it with what we have right now. Second, we played football today and we won! Another zone came over and we had some good teams. It was a good intense game and now I'm pooped. Last was this cool Miracle that President Lewis shared with us on this week’s weekly email he sends us. Before I tell it to you I am going to let you know that right before Elder Manukailea left, he told me he was going to convert somebody on the plane ride home. Read on... "During his flight home he sat next to a lady named Sarah who lives in New York but was on her way to visit her family in Long Beach. Elder Manukailea talked to her about the gospel, challenged her to be baptized and got her parents’ address and promised to send missionaries to follow up with her. He called the local mission and they sent missionaries to Sarah’s home. Elder Manukailea called to say Sarah was baptized on Christmas Eve!" The man is a machine! He will never stop doing missionary work, it’s what he was born to do. I thought that was pretty cool to share with you. Well I hope all is well. We are having a good time out here in Sacto. My diet officially started today so here we go. Wish me luck. Love you!
--
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-12-19T23:42:00.001-08:00

December 19th 2011
So we are only allowed to write letters on P-day and in the middle of the week I had the urge to write Grandma a letter to tell her how much I love her and stuff but Elder Jones and I committed to God a new level of obedience and I knew I couldn't go back on that so I am waiting till now and now I can write her. Maybe I’ll type it up, have you print it out and give it to her. If she doesn't remember me then oh well, at least she'll know someone loves her. But yeah I'm glad to hear she is hanging on. I really want her to last till I come home. A lot of missionary’s grandparents pass away while they are on their mission but I don't think many of them grew up living with theirs and being in the same ward their whole lives and being as close as we are to our grandmother. It would be like losing a parent, which some have in our mission. But this is God's plan for us. We live to die and we die to live again. We will see her again with all the ones we love. So this week was pretty good. The whole zone is working so hard to receive miracles and blessings from God. We are consistently baptizing each week and have the most people set up to baptize the most in the mission this month. So it is an exciting time to not only be in the Sacramento mission but to be in the North Sac Zone! Monday night we had a good dinner with the Lopez family. They are the family we are working with that have nonmember friends. Their niece who is from Arizona lives with them and is super pretty. After that dinner we went and tried to see a few families the ward asked us to go see but none of them were home. Tuesday was a good day. We had a leadership meeting in the morning with the district leaders and it was fun. We went into the chapel because the room we normally do it in was super cold and dark. It was a good meeting and we talked about some good stuff. We tried to see a lot of people throughout the day but we didn't have much success with that. We tracted a lot which is always good cuz then we get to talk to each other a lot. We had dinner. The member we were supposed to eat with forgot so she just gave us some money and so we went to Taco Bell. Then we went to a meeting with the all the leaders in the stake. It was preparing for the Gladys Knight performance they are having on January 28th and 29th. It’s going to be one of the coolest things ever and all the Negros we talk to are pumped for it. The meeting went longer than we anticipated so we went home afterwards. Oh and on Tuesday I was blessed to get my package! Thank you so much for the medication and all those cookies. They are a hit with the apartment. And I love the date candy and every time I pop one in my mouth then take a sip of the hot cocoa while listening to my boy Michael Buble I think of all the hard work that must go into those dates before making the candy. It is much appreciated and we love the cd. Wednesday was really good. We had a great district meeting. We recommitted the whole zone to obedience and diligence. Everyone is super pumped too for a white Christmas. After lunch we went and visited Joanne a black American recent convert and told her about the Gladys Knight performance. I think she called ten people in the five min. we were there. Then we went and visited a few people. We had a lesson with Justin and Shana and the kids were crazy! They are so rambunctious lately. We went to see some more people then we had dinner with the Kanady family. But the parents weren't home so we just ate with the son who is contemplating going on a mission and his little sister. I think his parents planned it that way so we could talk to him and stuff. Hopefully he will go. We went and visited Roberta and Serenity and said hi to them. They are doing good. Then we went in for the night. Thursday was great. The morning was boring and I wasn't feeling too well. Then we went out and saw some people. It seemed like the day was dragging on for a while. We tracted a lot and that was good. The Elders Quorum president took us with him and his wife on their date night. We went to Logan's! It was good but I didn't get what I normally get because the steak was so dang expensive! After dinner Bro. Call, the eq pres. went with us to teach a girl named Megan Hall. We have been working with her for a bit now and it’s been good but she wasn't getting baptized. So we went in and it was super spiritual but she wasn't opening up then the spirit took over and we were asking and saying all the right things and it was great. She opened up and we resolved all her concerns and she committed to work towards January 12th, the week after I will be transferred. It was awesome. Then we went to Bro. Call's house to help him give his son a blessing cuz he was going into surgery the next day to get a random bump moved from his face. It wasn't a bad bump it was just getting bigger and didn't look so good. Kinda like dads ex-bump. Then we went home. Friday morning we had weekly planning. For lunch we met Elder Jones' recent convert from Lodi at Cold Stone and had ice cream for lunch. How healthy right? Then we went and tracted which seemed like forever! We later saw some people and it was good. We were super late to our dinner because we were talking to this lady forever and she would not shut up but that’s good I guess. We had a great dinner. It was with the family we had dinner with for Thanksgiving. The daughter and son in law live in our ward and they signed up to have us over but the whole family came and it was a good time. After dinner they wanted us to teach them a practice lesson and it was fun. We saw a couple of people then went home. Saturday morning was kind of weird. We were seeing people but it felt like everyone was tired and slow. We had a good lunch with some other elders in our zone. They had just had a baptism so we wanted to celebrate with them. Its great being a zone leader cuz you realize what it really means to have joy in others success. Or maybe that’s just me and Elder Jones. Who knows? We taught a cool guy after lunch. His name is Jon Parkes. He just got out of jail a month ago after being in there for 13 years! A member has been working with him in the prison he was in for the past 2 years and this guy is truly converted to the gospel. He just has to be approved by the first presidency because he is on parole. The member that was working with him said he has written 7 letters to the first presidency to get his people approved and all of them have so we have faith in him for Jon. We then went and taught Justin and Shana again. We are getting ready for their baptism this Wednesday and we are all super excited. Then we just tried to see as many people as we could that have been to church and can get baptized this month. We are two people away from hitting our zone goal and breaking the record and 2 away from the stake goal of 100 for the year. So we are working our butts off so we can see miracles. We had dinner with Joanne. She cooks some good southern cooking but I don't like bbq sauce and she made ribs. If it was a dry rub I would love them but the only bbq sauce I like is uncle Chets. Then we went and saw some more people. At the end of the night we went to visit one of the members because his nonmember girlfriend had come to church and we wanted to teach her. But her dad won't let her. He only let her because the kid was getting ordained a priest and it was a special occasion. So that was a bummer. Sunday was swell. There were two farewells and a homecoming in sacrament meeting. It was PACKED! The stake president son was coming home and another one was leaving and then a Tongan kid was leaving. It was so packed it was crazy. We had lunch after church and then went out to see some people. We had dinner with a family in the area where Elder Jones started his mission. They are in our zone. The husband is a nonmember and was supposed to get baptized a year ago and is now getting baptized on New Year’s Eve. He asked Elder Jones to baptize him. Then we met up with the zone to go caroling. It was a mighty fine time and since we had practiced Hark! The Herald Angles Sing! For the temple day we sang it a lot and people loved it. I might add that we sounded pretty good. Then we set some goals and did numbers and went home. This morning for P Day we played football again. We WON! Again. It was a lot of fun but I fell and hit my head trying to block a pass and now I have a head ache. So that was my week. It was funny. Elder Jones and I were talking and when he was getting transferred we talked on the phone and I told him not much was going on here and it was kind of dead. Now we have had six baptisms while together with another one the week I’ll be leaving! So that was cool to see how many miracles we've seen and how much the Lord is blessing us. I think I have said this a couple of times now but I am having the best time of my mission right now and I love it! Well that is about it. I don't have any idea when I am going to call home. I know it will be close to right after three or at three. Any later and Elder Jones family would be asleep and any sooner and Jackie would still be at church so we will try and do it then. I am so excited to talk to you! Well I love you. Hope all is well.
--
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

December 19th 2011
Dear Grandma,
I wanted to take a little time and write you a letter. I feel bad because I haven't written you as often as I should have. But I wanted to write you today and take this chance to tell you how much you mean to me and how much I love you. Ever since a young boy I looked up to you and Grandpa Pete. It was an amazing experience being able to have my Grandparents help raise me. Not many kids get that opportunity. I can remember from a young age always trying to do something that would please you and make you proud of me. I remember the first time I came to help you out with the yard. We cut the big ole bush on the side of your house to nothing. Then I still had the lawn to mow and the other bushes to trim. I remember thinking "Oh boy, what have I got myself into". But as I continued on working on your yard I was able to spend some more time with you and get to know you more. It was great. I got to hear some of your stories and learn some life lessons. It was always a good time. Every gift I have gotten from you I have cherished and loved. From Grandpa's trophy to his war ring, his tie and even just the small notes in my birthday cards. I just want to say how much I love you Grandma. You are one of my Hero’s and I have always looked up to you. When I think of my Grandma I think of someone who has lived her life faithful to the gospel always doing good. I was privileged to grow up so close to you and to be around you so often. You mean so much to me and I love you so much. I hope you get feeling better and I know God has a plan for all of us.
Love,
Your Grandson, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-12-13T11:23:00.001-08:00

December 12^th 2011

Well it didn't seem like much happened this week. It’s sad to hear about Grandma. I think she will hang out long enough for me and Elder Skousen to get home. We get home with in like two weeks of each other so hopefully she hangs on. It is so sad to hear about that though. This week was pretty good. Actually it was awesome. I think I’ll tell you a little bit about it. So Monday night we had dinner with the Lopez family. We have been working with them on sharing the gospel with their friends. They have two people they are working with and so they were supposed to invite them over for dinner but they couldn't make it. We had a great time. We have been over there a little bit and they love to film Elder Jones singing and me dancing. They named them Elder Jones singing and the other one Elder Arnett dancing. So you should check em out and see if they are there. I have a pretty good video I recorded of me dancing. I'll send it home soon. Then we went and taught Roberta and Serenity. They are great and accept everything so easy. Tuesday we had a good day. We had leadership in the morning. It was good. After lunch we went out and saw some people. I'm not sure what we did all day. I can't remember. It was a good day I’m sure. Wednesday we had a great district meeting. We practiced singing Angels we have Heard on High. We were asked to sing it at the Mission Temple Trip on Friday. We sound pretty good actually. Oh yeah before I forget. For some reason I keep thinking Ammon, Betsy’s husband, is from St. Johns. There is a missionary in our zone who is from there. His name is Elder Sean Bast. He is a cool guy. So if Ammon is from there what’s his last name? Wednesday was a day as well. We were able to teach some people. I'm sorry the weekend was a lot better than the week so those days got drowned out. Thursday we had to do weekly planning cuz Friday was the Temple trip. We had a good time doing that. Then we went and did some more stuff. Our night was pretty busy. We had so many appointments we actually had to cancel out dinner. It was fun though. We taught Roberta and Serenity and watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. They loved it. We were able to teach Justin and Shauna and it was real good as well. An appointment fell through so the member we were with took us to get some Chinese food. It was tasty. We had a good correlation with our awesome Ward Mission Leader. Then we went home and planned and went to sleep. Every morning I write in my journal and as of today I have written in it for a whole month straight! So there is some good stuff in there. We had our Temple Trip at the Sacramento Temple. First there was a mini zone conference with a Christmas program. They showed what we call the White Christmas video. It’s a picture slideshow of a bunch of baptisms over the past year. It was really good. The last two pictures were of two people who were baptized then a short time later passed away. Manat Soutsavang the paralyzed girl was one of them. President asked Elder Seumanutafa his feelings after watching it then he asked me to share my thoughts cuz I was a part of the baptism. It was the first time I really cried since before my mission. Then we had some good lunch. The temple was awesome as it always is! We had a good time though. Afterwards we taught a guy named Tracy. He doesn't believe Jesus is necessary so we moved on of course. We had our ward Christmas Party and Santa came! We got a good picture for our Christmas card. We had a real good time there and it was a lot of fun. We had 4 investigators come so that was fun. Saturday we had 2 baptisms! Roberta Campbell and her Daughter Serenity Douglas were baptized! It was awesome. Boy am I glad I learned how to play three Hymns, because we couldn't get a pianist for the program so I played. I messed up a little bit but that’s ok. Over the past week I have begun learning two more hymns. It’s not that hard if I just practice. Every time we're at the church and we have a minute I practice. So hopefully I can learn a couple more and fine tune the ones I know. The baptism was good though. We had to stay for the next baptism as well because the lady asked Elder Jones to say the opening prayer. People love him. It’s great. Then we went out and worked all day. We taught the Williams family and it was good. The Williams are Justin and Shauna. We tracted for a while. We had to write up a bunch of things for our Stake Correlation meeting with the Stake Presidency we had yesterday. That took some time. Especially cuz the office Elders in our mission aren't as on the ball as they usually are so I had to remake the form for our zone and I’m not great with computers but I’ve figured some things out so it works. We were able to see a few more people the rest of the night. Sunday morning we had a great meeting with the Stake Presidency. They are some cool guys. We are close to hitting the goal for the Stake of 100 baptisms for the year. We need about five more so we'll be close. We have the people to do it and some so we are working our patoots off! We had a good Church. Roberta and Serenity were confirmed and it was good as well. The Lopez daughter brought her friend Ryan to church so hopefully he'll be there tonight for dinner so we can teach him. Justin and Shauna were supposed to get their interview but they weren't at church so we went over to their house with our ward mission leader and he took them to church. We don't take peoples agency away but we give them as little as possible and then make them feel uncomfortable so they have to do what we want. It works almost every time ;]. So yeah that was good. We went tracting some more after church. We had dinner with Bishop Lee, the bishop of our ward. It was a lot of fun. I love his family. They have a little boy named Braden but he isn't anything like my brother. We had a good time with them. Then we had a Christmas Fireside. It was LAME! Seriously I thought it was like make a wish foundation and they let these people perform the day before they die but they all looked too healthy for that to be the case. The last number was pretty cool though. The Tongan ward sang the Hallelujah Chorus in Tongan and it rocked. Then we had a zone meeting afterwards. It went good. People are starting to slack off and it’s frustrating. At the beginning of the month we asked each person what they expected out of us as their zone leaders and we have been doing everything they asked us to but they aren't doing much. So it was rough. But I think everyone is going to be on board now. Today is P Day. We played football earlier. It was fun. We WON! I hate losing. So that was good. Things are going good out here though. I love serving. I have been taking each day by itself and I have never been happier. It’s rough to look ahead too far cuz then you get discouraged or now trunky but if I go day by day and do my best it all goes smooth. Inch by Inch like it goes. So yeah that is what’s going on right now. I hope everyone is having a good time back at home. I will be praying for Grandma. Oh and to answer your question mom, I don't really feel like they are here with me but sometimes I feel like Grandpa Pete is talking to me telling me what I should do. I think about him like every day. I just hope Grandma makes it till I get home. But either way she is a worthy woman who is entitled to the blessings of heaven and will be rewarded. I have learned a lot about the Plan of Salvation and honestly I feel like a mission is the best place to lose a family member because you have the spirit constantly. We'll just face the future with faith. I love you.

--
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-12-08T17:16:00.001-08:00

December 5^th 2011

I am sorry about the random email times. The computers we usually use are down so we have been trying to find members who will let us use theirs so we found one. I am actually using the people who got baptized a little while ago. They are super solid and haven’t missed a sacrament meeting yet! So this week was rough. We had a lot of zone leader responsibilities to take care of with people being disobedient new missionaries coming and stuff. It was crazy! We had a hard time finding the time to work in our own area. When we did get the time it was quality and well spent. So being on this obedience run has been awesome. We told the zone that we have a goal of 16 baptisms in the zone this month so we can beat the record for the zone. We have a lot of people were working with so we know it is possible. We read a few scriptures about obedience and righteousness and how without it God can't bless us. We then told them that if they are disobedient and if we don't hit our goal then it was because of them. So that has motivated a lot of missionaries to be better. On Wednesday we were able to talk to the elders that decided to go on their Black Friday extravaganza. They all felt real sorry and have all changed a bunch since we have talked to them. They are still scared because President Lewis hasn't said much to them yet. So that was fun. Actually it wasn't. Being a zone leader is fun and all but when you have to be the bad guy its rough but hey it has to be done. After we talked to them in the morning we had to drive up to the mission office to pick up one of the Elders that is Training. It’s funny because he is training his girlfriend’s cousin! There is no way President Lewis knew that when he was assigning trainers. So that was fun. We took him out to Chipotle for his first mission meal. He loved it compared to that nasty mtc food. We were able to get some work in the rest of the afternoon. For dinner we had Potato Casserole! It wasn't even half as good as the one guys make but hey it was familiar. We also had some ham. We had dinner with the whole zone with the stake President, President Treadway. His son just got back from his mission in the Philippines and his other son leaves in a month for Italy. We had a good dinner with him and his family then a nice little visit afterwards. He shared with us some news that makes me bummed that this is probably my last transfer here in North Sac. At the end of January Gladys Knight and her choir are, for the first time ever, returning to a stake she has already performed at. It was so successful to missionary work last time she wants to do it again! I am bummed I will probably miss it. But man is that going to be cool. After dinner we did something that I can't remember then we went home. Thursday we had a good District meeting. Our district leaders are great and we have a lot of good additions to the zone. Everyone seems to be on board with obedience and with the plans we have for the zone. We are super excited. After lunch we did stuff. I don't have my planner so I am going off of memory and since this week was crazy and not normal I don't remember much. I remember what we did actually. We taught 3 lessons at night in a row and they were all amazing. We taught Roberta and Serenity, then we went and taught a girl named Megan Hall. She came to church last week out of the blue and we had a great lesson with her. Our ward mission leader is awesome too! He came to our appointments with us and when we were at Megan's she was telling us about the dilemma she was having. Her Saturday babysitter got a job and now works Saturdays so for the past month the baby sitter has been leaving Megan's 18 month old child, Hector, with her boyfriend and then working at her job so she could get paid twice as much. Megan was not going to stand for that. So she fired her and now she needs a baby sitter. Well Bro. Lopez offered to watch him with his wife. They have three little kids that are all around hectors age so it was cool. So they watched Hector on Saturday then they hung out with Megan for a couple of hours and she came to church again this week! So he and his wife are great. Friday we had Mission Leaders Council. It sounds real important but it’s really not that big of a deal. It’s with all the district and zone leaders in the mission with President and Sister Lewis. We all just get to know each other and announce our goals for the Transfer. We have the highest goal with the most set up to be baptized. We are super excited to have a White Christmas in North Sac! I don't remember what we did the rest of the day. We probably taught somebody or did something. Saturday was crazy as well. We tracted for two hours in the morning, then we had lunch. After lunch we tried to see a few people. The Elders we now live with had gotten their car towed cuz they parked in the wrong spot so we had to drive them outside the mission to meet the car coordinator to go get it. That took a long time and a lot of miles. Then Elder Jones left with a member to go down to Lodi to see his favorite investigator get baptized. I stayed with the Tongan ward elders cuz they were having a baptism for Tina. I taught her a couple of times. The first time I invited her to be baptized she laughed in my face then four months later I watched her get baptized so look who’s laughing now. Actually no one’s really laughing but whatever. After the baptism we went to Tina's house for a Tongan feast. It was really good but then right after I had to meet elder Jones at Roberts for another dinner. It sure was tasty though. Then we went to see some more people before the night was through. Sunday morning was rough. I have two analogies to describe how I felt. First I felt like I went all 6 minutes in a wrestling match with Lucifer. When we got to church none of our investigators were there. Then I felt like I jumped on a roller coaster and neither I nor Elder Jones were wearing a seat belt. It was rough. Finally all five investigators showed up. Roberta and Serenity had gotten in a quarrel with the member they live with and so they went to Roberta’s mom’s house instead of coming to church. Well they had to come to church cuz they are getting baptized on Saturday and they needed their interviews so they finally came for the last hour. So the whole morning was just crazy trying to get people to church and what not. But they all came. Because we have been obedient God is on our side and we can't lose. Our testimony meeting was ridiculous. It went till 10:30 when our church starts at 9:00... One guy said over the pulpit that without Jesus we are all screwed... It was crazy. We had a good dinner with some members after tracting for a little while. Then we enjoyed the great Christmas Devotional by the First Presidency. It really was awesome. We love the Christmas season here in the mission. After the Devotional we had a good zone meeting to set a weekly focus. We committed everyone companionship to have an investigator with a baptismal date by the end of the week. We have four in our ward so things are going great. So that was good. Things have been going real good lately. It was a rough week but it was real good too. Usually I am dying for a Pday but I didn't even think about it. We are just going day by day and working our hardest and being obedient and it’s awesome. My mission has never been better. We are seeing so many miracles and we are always happy. Oh yeah mom I ran out of Claritin and man is it expensive. I bought a 15 pack to get me through but could you send me some more. It doesn't have to be in a big package just send it in a little one, cuz I need it fast. I almost got sick with out. I probably am addicted to the nasal spray. I have to have it, but it works. So yeah things are good. Mom I already told you. Elder Jones can't marry Hayley cuz I love his sister. That would just be weird. So I really don't want to send the Christmas card to that many people. Maybe like 40. I would like to send it to some families in the ward but i don't know who... I want to send it to some old converts in the mission and some of my friends so maybe you could give me the addresses of like 15 families in the ward. The Halms, the Schmids, The Allreds, Reidheads, Packers, Bishop Petremallo, Bishop Hitchcock, Threets, Campbells, Bullochs, Frosts, Thomas family, grandma Ray and Ilene, Wilyerds, Bret Church they liked it last year. So yeah. It shouldn't be too much. I think its like 50 cents a card so maybe like 50 dollars would cover it. Idk. But we are thinking of a good card. Speaking of Christmas. I really miss seeing that big huge tree up in the house. No one I have met here in Sacto has had a tree as big as ours. I was wishing for a unique Christmas gift of a picture, with everyone in the family even Jeff and Candice cuz I only have one picture with them in it all standing in front of the big tree. That would bring lots of old Christmas feelings back of warmth and joy. Well I love you all and I hope everyone is well.

--
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

Dad it was great to read your email today. I loved it. I don't think about everyone in the family every day but I don't think a day has gone by that I haven't thought of my mom and dad and the many things they have taught me. I remembered a quote you told me while mowing the yard one day. I used it in a lesson the other day and it was great. You told me "Inch by Inch life is a Cinch, but Mile by Mile it will take you awhile". It’s true especially in missionary work. Things are amazing here. We are seeing so many miracles. I have been striving so hard to be obedient in every way I can and I feel like since I have been, God has been helping me grow so much. I feel like in the past couple of months my Testimony has grown more than it has at any one time in my mission. Well I love you dad. Thanks for the email.

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-11-29T18:25:00.001-08:00

November 29^th 2011

Well this week was a good one. It was rough going all those days without a p day but it was nice to have a short week till this one. When we don't get p day on Monday we call it marathon Monday. It was rough having two of those in a row. So thanksgiving was awesome! We ate with a family over in Elder Jones' first area. The dad is the bishop of the ward and his daughter is married and lives in our ward with her husband. She barely got home from her mission in Thailand a year ago! So it was fun. Her husband is a convert to the church and served a mission at 26! The family we were with, the Larsons, have 4 children. Two are married, one is on a mission in North Carolina in the mission Elder Jones is from, and the other one just graduated from High School and is getting ready for a mission. We had some good food. I got full super super fast. I have been eating a lot less lately, I eat apples a lot cuz I can take them with me out the door and they are good for you. Like dad always told me, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. I think he told me that about a few foods though. So couldn't eat too much. Elder Jones was in a lot of pain that night. He has a bad back and he tweaked it while we were playing football. He is just now starting to recover. It’s been rough on him, I feel bad. He did have like 4 touchdowns though so maybe it was worth it. He spent most of the night icing his back and put a heating pad on it. Since he was in the living room on the couch doing that the parents and the married daughter came in and talked with us. We had a real nice chat about the Gospel, about our future lives and ambitions and just talking about some fun things. We played the game Apples to Apples and had a good time. The TV was on the whole time with different football games on. It was a temptation not to watch. The rest of the night was good. Friday we had a busy day doing different things. I can't remember what we did. Saturday was good too but just like Friday I can't remember what went on. Sunday was a very very good day. We got all ready in the morning and went to church. When we first got there and until 20 min. into sacrament meeting Shauna McCartney was the only one there. Randomly an old investigator we haven't been teaching texted us and asked if she could come to church and we enthusiastically said YES! She did come for the second and third meetings. Just after we received that text Roberta and Serenity walked in and sat in the back, so we texted the mom of Shauna to see if Justin, her brother, was coming. The mom had gotten home late from work again so she was bringing him late. Just as Sacrament meeting ended, he waltzed on in with a purple suit coat and black MC Hammer pants on. It was ridiculous but he was there! So we had 5 people come to church and 4 of them are set up to be baptized this month! We are stoked. The rest of Sunday was kind of dull though. We had dinner with the Welch family who is the family that Michael and Mercy Slover, the last two baptizees live with. The dad cooks very very well. They were all bragging about his fried chicken so he finally made it. He has nothing on your chicken dad! He does make some good potatoes with Garlic and what not in them. Most people wouldn't like them but I love garlic. Then after that we met with all the missionaries. Since it’s after Thanksgiving we took the liberty to go Christmas Caroling as a zone to everyone’s investigators. It was a lot of fun. Monday was good as well. We went to all the apartments in the zone and did checks to see if they were clean. Then we went to the mission office to pick up a Spanish Book of Mormon for one of our investigators. She speaks Spanish and English but her husband only speaks English so we get to teach them. Then we had some lunch. We were able to see a few people and tract for a little while. We had dinner with the Thomas family. His dad just got made the Stake Patriarch a little while ago. They are a real nice young family. During dinner we got our Transfer Calls... Dun, Dun, Dun... President Lewis asked to speak to Elder Jones and I together so he could break the news to us so Bro. Thomas let us go into his 12 year old daughters room. It was a unique transfer call. For one there were David Archuleta, Demi Levato, and Selena Gomez posters everywhere. Then President Lewis said that he regretted to inform us that the Lord wanted us to stay together here for another transfer! So a year of my mission will be spent in two areas! I am super super excited! We are stoked to stay together. We both get along so well and we are doing some great work together. So that was exciting. This is by far my favorite area. I have been praying everyday asking to stay here. The Lord answered!

So Elder Jones was born and raised in a little town called Roanoke Rapids North Carolina. It has a population of like 5000. He loved growing up there and that is home for him but he is not opposed to move away. He loves his family and they are all there but he doesn't see much opportunity for himself there. His dad is a Lawyer. His parents are probably late to mid-40's He is the second oldest of Six kids. He has an older sister who is 23 and not married. He has a younger sister who is 17 and a senior in high school. He has another younger sister who is like 14. His little brother is 10 and his baby sister who is soo cute is 5. They all sing very very well and they all play the guitar. I have seen a few videos of them and it’s great. I might love his little sister so he can't marry Hayley. He hasn't showed any interest in her so idk. He is a great guy though. I am considering going to Utah for school just so we can hang out. That is where he plans on going. He loves Taylor Swift and so does his family. So we get along pretty well with that. He enjoys long walks on the beach, Horseback riding, and finger painting. Just kidding. I made the last three things up. Well, that’s it. So I want to do a Christmas card again but I don't know if I’ll have the money for them and stamps. If I do it I won't send it to 100 people again. Probably only like 30. So maybe you can help me with that. I really don't want much for Christmas. I just want to baptize a lot of people this year. Well things are still awesome. We are still striving to be as obedient as possible. I have discovered heaven in a bottle recently. It is Afrin Nasal Spray. It works wonders in my congested sinuses. I still take Benadryl every day but this helps me have a clear nasal passage way all day. So things are great. Some of the missionaries are making our hair turn gray cuz they aren't being obedient and we are finding out about it so we have to crack down on things. Well I hope everyone is having a good holiday season. We are having a fine time listening to Holiday favorites and classics. I can't wait till the day I can eat a Krazy Sub! Well I love you all. Have a nice week.
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-11-25T10:35:00.001-08:00

November 24^th 2011

So this email might not get sent cuz the computer is jacked so I’ll send this real quick
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

“He who thanks but with his lips thanks but in part; the full, the true Thanksgiving comes from the heart”. (J.A. Shedd)

This was a quote from the weekly email President Lewis sends to us. I liked it so i thought i would turn the tables on you mom and send you a quote. So this week was rough. It was hard going three extra days without a p day. Everyone was feeling worn out and stressed. I know now what the importance of having a pday is. So now we are relaxing after a great morning of Turkey Bowl. The team i was on won both of the games we played. The first one was good. We won like 4 to 2. I had a sweet touchdown pass and ran it all the way. I was very very tired after that, luckily i have ran in the morning for more than a week straight now. I am trying to get into better shape before i come home. It’s called Six months to Sexy. Trust me, I'll need all of the six months. I am finally starting to see some results. I think my muscles had to build up which made it look like, on the scale that it, i wasn't losing weight. Now I’m losing it. Hopefully i don't completely ruin everything tonight at dinner. The second game we played we destroyed the other team. It was 6-0. They never got close to scoring. I felt bad because we were playing two line man on both sides of the ball. These guys have never played football a day in their lives and i was just pushing them down every time. It was fun though. So tonight we have dinner with an awesome family. It is the Larsen family. They live in another ward in the stake. Elder Jones started his mission there and they really like him so they invited us over for dinner. Mom it might sound like we never get fed but we get fed almost every night. The ward loves Elder Jones and I. We don't quite know what we’re doing right because after Sunday we have 4 people set up to be baptized in December with the zone having a total of 11. I will be so so bummed if i get transferred. I've put a good word in with the big guys in the office so hopefully elder jones and i can stay together another transfer. Elder Jones is by far my favorite companion and this area is by far my most favorite area. So i really hope i can stay.

This past week was good. We did some good work. We are teaching a lot which is good because Elder Jones and I aren't too crazy about tracting but we do it at least an hour every day. The members are great and they love coming out with us so it’s never too hard to get the members to come out. On Sunday we had two kids of a part member family come to church. We have been teaching them since Manu was here and now they are getting ready to be baptized on the 21st of December. I think last week i told you about a lady named Roberta who came to church the past two weeks. We went up to her after church and asked if we could come by and teach her and she said yes and that she wanted her daughter to be baptized. So we have been teaching them twice a week and both her and her daughter are set to be baptized on the 10th of December! We are so excited. All these great things are happening. Elder Jones and I realized all these good things as well as that we could totally do more if everyone was working harder and more obedient, so we started leading by example and we now look for things that we can be more obedient on and it is way nice to have that good feeling. We talked to the zone about it last week and read the scripture in the Book of Mormon about the anti-nephi lehis burying their swords. I made cute little handouts with swords on them and the scripture with a place to write down what you’re going to give up, then we all put them in the paper shredder. Everyone in the zone has been seeing more and more miracles as we are all trying to qualify for the blessings of God. We are doing the best in the mission with 11 people set up for December. We ended November with 7 which was the most in the mission as well so we are excited to be doing work! Elder Jones and I figured out that we aren't doing anything that is leading to this success but that God is blessing us with it because we aren't doing anything to hold it back. Well this is the only computer that works so we have to be fast so everyone in the zone can email their families. Elder Jones is good looking but he has his eye on someone already... sorry. So i really want to hear about everyone’s lives back at home. Mom can only tell me so much. I don't want to come home in six months and not know anyone in my own house except mom of course. She still loves me... If you want to email me, I’ll print it out and read it and write you back... Or just write me a letter. I really want to hear from you all. Everyone in Elder Jones' family emails him every week. So yeah. I feel like i am holding up my end and mom is carrying all of the other end on her back. Thanks mom for being so faithful... I love you guys either way but I’ll love you more if you write me!

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

I wasn't very clear on this. Roberta has a Daughter named Serenity and they are set up for the 10th of December. Shauna and Justin McCartney are set up for the 21st of the same month. Love ya.

2011-11-14T18:35:00.001-08:00

November 14^th 2011

I think the quote sounds better when I think of someone else saying it, not myself. So this week was really good. Despite some lost time here and there from being new zone leaders and trying to figure things out on the run, Elder Jones and I are seeing some good success. Its fun. Wednesday we had a good leadership meeting and things went well. Afterwards Elder Jones and I went to a delicious pizza buffet called Rico's. I guess it was huge in California back in the day but now there is only like one in Sacramento. So we went there. It is super good. The TV was on Sport Center and we saw all the good stuff on Joe Patterno and his friend. Man what is this world coming to! Also the commercials are ridiculous. Man. After lunch we were able to tract for a little while. It was fun. Then we had a pretty sweet miracle. We went to see some referrals that some missionaries gave us a week before and after two or three elder Jones had to pee real bad so we were about to go to Roberts house, the blind recent convert who is awesome. He said he could hold it for a little longer so we just kept seeing people who all lived in the same apartment complex. So we went and thought we were done but then we remembered one last one that was up on the third floor. So we went up to it and knocked on the door and this nice white guy with a beard answered the door. This part gets cool. He says he is busy babysitting two of his daughters and his house is a mess but he wanted us to come back on Saturday. Well we asked what his daughters names were and the first ones name was Kaylee. Elder Jones has a little sister named Kaylee who is 17 and super pretty, so I might be moving to North Carolina in 6 months. So that was fun but then he told us the name of the younger daughter and her name was Hayley. Well how about that. He has two daughters that have the same names as our younger sisters! So we talked for a bit then we asked if there was anything we could do before we left and he said no, just answer me this. (this is my favorite part) why did you come over to my house today? We replied that we felt we needed to stop by and that we almost missed it but we were prompted and remembered it. He got a real surprised look on his face and almost started crying. He said he had been praying the day before for guidance and he knew there was more he needed in his life religion wise. He told God that if this Mormon thing was for him that he needed to send the missionaries over the very next day. Well there we were. An answer to his prayer. So that was cool. The only thing is, he wasn't home for our return appointment on Saturday... but we will get him!!! The rest of the day would be a letdown compared to that story. We did have Chipotle for dinner which was mighty tasty. Wednesday we had a great district meeting. Elder Jones and I rewrote She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5. We made it missionary like. We played it for the zone. I started out singing it and I sucked. Elder Jones took it on the second verse then I interpretive danced the rest. It was fun. We taped it for the viewers to enjoy. I'll send the card home soon. The rest of the day I was with Elder Seigfried on exchanges. One area I am trying to work on is patience and the only way to strengthen something is to exercise it and push it till its tearing and about snap then release. That was an exact description of how the day went. But I feel like I am better from it. Oh and the girl didn't give me my jalapeno poppers when I paid for them only after she asked if I wanted them! Thursday was a good day. We taught a few people. We didn't plan the night before so looking at my planner right now isn't helping me remember what we did. Oh we had interviews with President Lewis on Thursday morning. It was really good. I love talking to him. He gave me some comforting advice. Friday was a swell day. We had weekly planning then we went out to lunch at a China buffet. It was good. We saw a few people afterwards. We tracted a little bit, then we had dinner. Member dropped it off to us. We had fried chicken from Raley's. Then we had an appointment fall through. We went to another really cool appointment. We had talked to an older couple the week before and missed the return appointment and she called and was mad but said we could back. So we went to the appointment and didn't listen to the spirit at all. They were asking great questions and we ignored them. We ended the lesson really really well when we finally learned our lesson and we will see them again this Friday. Their names are Tom and Annabella. Saturday was a crazy day. We got up and went to the church to play basketball with Leroy and the Elder quorum but Leroy and not one elder but like 4 people showed up so we left and then Leroy called us so we went over to his house and taught him. He is really struggling right now with unemployment and meeting with us is shaking up his family but he knows it is right so he is still going to meet with us and he came to church. We had a lot of appointments but a lot of them fell through. Our phone died so even though we were planning on skipping lunch we went and took lunch so we could charge our phone. Oh yeah and I bought an inhaler sometime in the past. We had to take a trip to the mission office to get our tires rotated and to pick up some supplies. It was fun. Saturday I wrote in my journal and I realized it was my 18 month mark so I committed to write in my journal every day the rest of my mission. I have failed already but I'll catch it up today. We had dinner with Robert and his wife Sandra and it sure was tasty. We always love hanging around Robert because he makes us feel good. He is a marriage and family therapist. So that is fun. I like to talk to him about music, movies and books. Its fun. So that was a good time. Sunday we had a meeting with the Stake Presidency. It was fun. I have decided that I want to spend my life in a room with a lot of people high up in a business and just talk about random stuff. Elder Jones is trying to convince me to go to LDS Business College for school so we can hang out when he goes to BYU. We'll see. So yeah that's whats going on. We had a good dinner last night. The mom made some amazing cookies that were almost as tasty as the oatmeal ones mom makes. Only when they are cold in the fridge with no chocolate chips and I dip them in milk. Man I will be looking forward to that someday. Maybe Christmas??? So I do like it when people honk at us when they drive by. But if you’re going to do it then do it early. Don't wait till you are right by the missionaries cuz it scares us. And I get scared easy! So don't do that. But I like it. So yeah. Things are going good. We have a lot of people we are working with. We found out a lady that came to church the past two weeks is a nonmember and has a daughter she wants to be baptized. We will be teaching her tonight so we are excited. The zone is setting things up for an amazing White Christmas. Well I love you. I won't be emailing till thanksgiving cuz next Monday we don't have P-day so don't be too bummed. Love you.
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-11-07T17:02:00.001-08:00

November 7^th 2011

You know Scott is right. My mission is AMAZING! This week was pretty good. Monday night was pretty good. We went to Deseret Book in the middle of the day to buy 17 Miracles. Then we went and bought some pizza for the zone. We had called the High Councilor from our ward that deals with the electronics and asked him to set up the projector in the cultural hall so we could watch it on the big screen. He has a son on a mission so he likes to do things for us and so he did set it up for us and also bought us some pizza so we had a bunch of pizza to eat. The movie was awesome. We all really really liked it. It really put things into perspective for all us and now no one wants to complain about anything. The whole mission loved it and it was great. We had a Zone Leader roundtable with President and Sister Lewis on Tuesday. We talked about some different things and it was pretty good. We talked about a new rule. It’s not really new but they are now enforcing it in the mission. When it is cold instead of just putting on a sweater or my cardigan like I usually do, we have to put our suit coat on first. So from now until it gets warm, which may not be till I am back in Arizona, we have to wear our suits. If we are still cold we can put a sweater on underneath but it has to be one dark solid color and v neck still so people can still see your white shirt and tie. Luckily I have two cardigans which pass, one is grey which I wore in my Christmas card and another one is red. I wore it on Saturday. If it’s raining we still have to put suits on then we can put a rain coat over it. Luckily I’ll most likely be in a car the rest of my mission so my suit should stay ok. Then we talked about a goal for baptisms this month. I had a lot of comments and we ended on the goal of 73 so when we hit 101 in December we will make our goal of 800 for the year. It will be a stretch because we only have like 15 baptized so far this month with like 38 people set up but we've all seen miracles and are all expecting and working for them. I did talk a lot to make the goal 73 so if we don't hit it I hope people don't look to me afterwards. But I know we can and we prayed about it and everyone felt the spirit and it was unanimous after the prayer that we will hit 73 this month. We ended last month with 85 which was five more than our goal so we were blessed a lot. I have been feeling so much better this week as well. I am still taking my medication but I feel like 100 bucks. We taught a few really good lessons this week. We didn't teach as much as we had hoped and we didn't find as many people as we wanted but we have some really great people. This weekend Michael and Mercy Slover got baptized. It was amazing. This baptism has been the biggest miracle and fastest baptism so far. It’s been awesome. President and Sister Lewis came to the baptism and that was really nice of them to be there. Elder Jones and I have been doing great. We both get along very very well and just laugh and have a good time all day long. The stories never stop and it’s always a shin dig when we’re around. Elder Jones has gotten a hold of a guitar and he plays it often at night and in the morning. He is amazing and can sing better than most the people on the radio. He sounds kind of like a mix between John Mayer and Daniel Beddingfield the one that sings the song, "I don't wanna run away but I can’t take it, I don't understand, if I’m not made for you then why does my heart tell me that I am?” Jackie has to listen to it and you'll know. I made a video of him singing an arrangement of a hymn he did and it’s awesome. I have already committed him to sing at my wedding and we have already started making a list of songs he is going to sing. I am excited to get married now. I haven't met too many people on my mission that I plan to stay in touch with and be friends with but I will definitely be friends with him. It’s great. So yeah that’s my week. The weather has been pretty good. It’s been cold some days with the highs in the low sixties to upper fifties. We can wear our suits all day and be comfortable. Some days we put our sweaters and cardigans on underneath cuz it’s a bit nippy. But yeah. Life is great. I am loving the work more now than I have ever on my mission and we are being blessed so much with success. I love being on a mission. I have learned so much stuff for my life on managing my life and helping others, organizing my time and talents and just working in general. It’s great and has helped me realize that really we can do anything. We just have to go for it. Sometimes taking the time to think whether something is possible or not makes us too late to accomplish it. We just have to have faith and fly. So I am excited to receive the letter and pictures. I love letters and pictures. I am still expecting some from my siblings so I will be waiting. I love you all so much.

-
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-10-31T21:27:00.000-07:00

October 31st, 2011

So since its Halloween we aren't allowed to go out proselyting tonight because of the danger in it and people would be mad, even though almost everyone would answer their door. But we have to be ready for the activity in an hour and we still need to shower and what not. For the activity President Lewis has given each zone permission to show 17 Miracles one time and one time only for the whole zone tonight. We are all super super excited. This week was kind of lame. I ended up getting sick with bad allergies and a cold on Thursday and then Friday we had Zone Conference. Elder Yamashita from the first quorum of the Seventy was here and did an awesome training. Him and his wife didn't speak English very well but they did just fine and the spirit was super strong. We learned a lot. But I was talking to the health coordinator, the new one that is, and she was concerned so she made me go to the doctor in the middle of it which was lame. Good thing I went cuz I had pneumonia again! Just kidding I didn't. But I did have an ear infection so they gave me some amoxicillin which gives me diarrhea. So I have been getting better slowly. A cool thing that happened was when President Lewis found out I was sick he really wanted to give me a blessing so during lunch he took me aside and I assumed he would do it with my companion but that was not so. When I walked in the room Elder Yamashita was there and so President Lewis anointed me and Elder Yamashita gave me an awesome blessing. So I got an awesome blessing from a Seventy! So that was basically my week. I did get Jamie's letter this week. Hopefully it’s not the last from the rest of the family responding to my heart ache. I had a dream Jeff wrote me a letter ha. I have been having some crazy dreams lately. The work is going great. We are still trying to find some new investigators cuz we are baptizing ours. Michael and Mercy Slover will be getting baptized this Saturday at 1 p.m. We don't have to do anything in it except take the credit for the baptism. I am so excited. They are super solid. Michael actually had already converted to Hot Chocolate in the morning just like you suggested mom. So that was cool. Oh yeah I forgot to ask, WHAT THE FREAK. WHY DOES PORTER WANT TO BE A FAIRY FAGGIT!?!?!?! That’s ridiculous. I was never that gay. I might have worn pink tights and danced and stuff but I was never a FAIRY! Mom how can you allow this?! Oh well, as long as you send me pictures so I can see how gay it is. I love you all. I hope everything is going good. Love you.

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-10-24T18:05:00.001-07:00

October 24^th 2011

Well that sounded like an exciting week. That was a nice long email. I love being informed. So this was a week! So my new companion is Elder Jones from North Carolina. He is awesome. He came out a transfer after me and became a zone leader at the same time. We both have very similar working and teaching styles and we get along very very well. We both love to tell stories and that is usually what takes up most of our free time. It’s nice because I love telling stories to my companions but sometimes they don't appreciate them and they kind of don't listen but with Elder Jones being a story teller as well he appreciates it and he listens and gives me feedback. We don't just tell random made up stories. Just in case you were wondering... Everything has happened for reals. Even if Paul Dunn creeps in a few times, it’s real to us. So with Elder Jones and I both being new zone leaders it has been a learning experience for both us. But it’s been fun and I have grown so much as a leader this past week. I feel lazy at times because I am not busting my butt all day long beating on doors. Elder Manu's style was knock now think later. We have taken a lot more time thinking and it sure has paid off! I'll tell of two total miracles that happened this week. So I was a little nervous for this transfer to start. Everything Manu and I had going on was finished or over so I felt like we were starting with very little this transfer. So Tuesday night we had a zone dinner with the 2nd councilor in the Stake Presidency. It was at the church and went just swell. We have a great zone. I had left our phone in the car on accident so when we were finished we went to leave and we had a missed call and a new voice mail, so naturally we listened to it. It was a member of the ward that meets in the same building as us and he was relating to us that a man had come to the church with his son wanting to know when service started and if he could have some info about the church and its belief. His name is Leroy and me and Elder Manukailea had knocked on his door like 2 months ago. So we called him from the number the member gave us and he answered and wanted us to come over right then. It was only 7:30 so we took the member from the other ward with us and went and taught him the Restoration. It was great and he is so smart and spiritual. So we taught him on Tuesday and on Wednesday and again on Friday and him and his 7 year old son came to church on Sunday. So that was a total miracle. He's not married to his baby’s momma that he has been with for some time and he has some word of wisdom issues but has expressed the desire to change in both areas and I have seen it done. So that’s one. The next one is great as well. So a few months ago some members said that they were going to be renting out a room to some nonmembers and that we should teach them. Well last week they came to church because they have finally got settled in. So we talked to them a little bit. Elder Manu thought they were a waste of time but the guy wanted a large print Book of Mormon which the mission has to order in when someone needs one and it takes a min. but we had gotten one for somebody but we aren't teaching them anymore so we just took it on over to him on Thursday and taught him and his wife along with their 6 year old son. So we taught an amazing, spiritual restoration lesson and at the end invited both of them to be baptized. We thought for sure they would say yes but they shot us down so fast it was sad. He loves coffee and she just wasn't sure. But both Elder Jones and I felt like they were both going to be baptized and they didn't even know it. So we had dinner with the member they live with on Saturday and we had some delicious tri-tip. I will learn how to cut the cow myself to introduce it to Arizona. It was sooo tasty along with the garlic potatoes with some good vegetables. So we had dinner and then we had another lesson with Michael and Mercy Slover. That’s there name by the way. So this time we taught the Plan of Salvation and decided to focus a lot on Mercy's children that got taken away from her a while ago as well as the atonement of Christ that explains his ability to have empathy for anything we go through. So it went very very well and it was a great lesson with a very strong spirit. We invited both of them to be baptized again with the same result. But this time Mercy started revealing all her concerns. They were pretty lame, like she knew someone that got baptized and they just take all the churches money and she doesn't think that should be allowed. I don't think that’s even a concern ha. So we resolved them but they still said no, so we extended a commitment to pray about it and to come to church with a question. So they came to church and they looked like they were having a good time. So afterwards we were super super busy and had a lot of things going on. They wanted to talk to us and so we made some time and stood in the hallway and Michael says Mercy why don't you tell them. So she told us that they both wanted to be baptized as soon as possible and asked how long it would take. They had already been to church twice so next week it will be their third week and they will get baptized on Nov. 5th. So the nervousness has gone away a little bit. I am still a bit nervous for the whole zone baptizing but I’m trying to be more obedient so I can qualify for God's blessings. So I know he will help me. So this is a bit of sad news. Manat Soutsevang, the quadriplegic that I helped baptize passed away last Monday the 17th at 12:03 pm. It was super sad. We went and sang for her family on Monday night with the Tongan elders. We went to the viewing on Saturday and her funeral was on Sunday during the Tongan elder church so I took elder seumanutafa with me to it and it was weird and Buddhist. But it felt good to recognize her and give her respect. So that was super sad. Her soul was saved just in time. She had Lou Gheriks disease and was close to passing away a few times. We know she stayed alive just long enough to be saved in God's Kingdom. She is now resting in paradise. So the work is still true. Everything is going great. Oh our apartment sucks right now! The power doesn't work in half the apartment which half consists of the power going to our fridge, microwave, hot water heater, and both bathrooms. So that has been lame. We actually had to put our fridge on our balcony cuz it was leaking then we got an extension chord and plugged it in in another room so it works. But we have had to take cold showers every morning. We took showers at the church today in the baptismal changing rooms. So it was our first warm showers for a bit. We told the apartment office on Saturday but they said it probably won't get taken care of till tomorrow. We told them like 2 weeks ago but they didn't do anything about it. So if it doesn't get taken care of soon I might not be a happy person towards them anymore. So I hope this email was good. I love you.

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-10-17T19:22:00.000-07:00

The North Sacremento Zone!

Temple Night Shot

Angel Moroni

Me in front of the Temple.

Us at Georgina's Baptism.

Me with the Reidheads.

October 17^th 2011

Well we just got done playing football with another zone. We played for over an hour and lost so I am not only extremely tired but angry. The other zone pissed me off so bad. Oh well we'll just keep our 80 baptisms for the year so far compared to their 50... So I don't know how much I am going to email. Sorry I forgot to tell you that this transfer is a day early so we have a normal p-day. The new missionaries are coming in a day early from the mtc so that is why they did this. It’s only a one-time thing. So this week was exciting going to lunch with the Reidheads. We were on exchanges so Elder Manukailea didn't get to come. I was surprised how well it all worked out. I texted Brother Reidhead on Wednesday night and we just set up to meet at the church at 11:30 the next day. So we met up and talked for a bit then headed off to Golden Corral. I took them on the scenic route that went through the Old Air Force base. We had a great time eating and talking about things. I thought it would make me super trunky but it didn't. I have been pretty trunky because Elder Manu is going home and it gets me thinking about it but meeting with the Reidheads helped me feel like nothing has really changed too much back at home and that things will go on just the same when I get home. So I’ll just keep doing the work and baptizing. This week Georgina finally got baptized! But she didn't come on Sunday for her confirmation... We'll get her this week for sure. We went on two exchanges this week. I was with Elder Taufu'i on Tuesday. He came to my area and we did some good work. Thursday I was with Elder Morgan. We had a lot of fun. So we got our transfer calls last night. Of course as you all know Elder Manukailea goes home so he is leaving. I am being made the senior Zone Leader and my new companion is Elder Jones. He is from North Carolina. He came out a transfer after me and was made a zone leader the same time as me. He is a really cool kid and an amazing missionary so I am excited to learn from him and serve with him. The stake is super bummed that Manu is leaving. He has been here for 6 months and has worked wonders in the zone. I hope Elder Jones and I can continue that work down here. I'm sure if we work as hard as me and Elder Manukailea have been and are obedient we will see the same success. The stake is so close to hitting their goal of 100 baptisms for the year so we are all working hard to achieve that. The mission goal this month was 80 baptisms. We have 51 baptized so far with 44 more people with a date to be baptized in the next two weeks of the month so we are super close to hitting that goal. If we hit that and repeat it in November and get our goal of 101 we will reach the mission goal of 800 for the year. We are all working our hardest right now to achieve these goals. The field is very white and ready to harvest. Even in Elder Schmid's area where the people aren't white! Man they are baptizing so much. Oh and on the white note. President Lewis has taken note that a lot of the missionaries in the missions white shirts aren't so white anymore. That is very true for myself. He asked us to ask for new white shirts for Christmas so that’s what I’m doing. I think 2 of each, long and short sleeve should be fine. I still have a fat size 19 neck. I wish it was smaller and it might be late but I would rather be safe than sorry. I'll let you know if I start losing any weight. Oh and I didn't do that diet. I quit the same night of the day I started. I received revelation that I shouldn't do it. It took almost falling asleep while standing up to be revelation. I like my picture on my camera of me with the Reidheads. I'll send it home. As well as my memory card cuz it’s full, or will be soon. I hope everyone is having a lot of fun. Love you.

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-10-13T17:16:00.000-07:00

Georgina flaked on her baptism two weeks in a row. So we took a picture together to remember how pissed we were.

the group at coloma, the place where Gold was found.

Me beating President Lewis at horse shoes. I'm not as good at it as i am at Corn Hole.

we went out a little too far...

Glen Taylor (76 years old!) The stake President sons Ben Treadway baptized him. He's going to Italy Milan mission in January.

Me and Marcie Maxie she got baptized like two months ago.

the group of us who baptized Manat. Elder Seumanutafa, Me, Elder Taufu'i

All of us at the Tonga families house for dinner. They call me their son because i eat as much as their tongan sons. (Their last name is Tonga)

Lunch with Paul & Chantel Reidhead from my home ward in Arizona - October 13th 2011

October 10^th 2011

Well since Mom isn't here to read this one, I guess I’ll write it to the boys and Dad and I assume Ellie didn't get to go either so she can be among the first to read this one. It’s going to be a good one I hope. I have a pretty sweet story to tell today about some events that have happened in the previous weeks ending last night. It really has defined my purpose as a missionary and it was an amazing experience I will never forget. So a couple of months ago the missionaries in the Tongan ward were tracting and they ran into a Samoan guy with a Lao girlfriend. Well the Lao girl was the interested one so they tried to give her to the missionaries who speak Lao (even though she speaks perfect English or I guess I should say understands it) You see Manat (the Lao girl) is paralyzed from the neck down. She can't move anything but her head side to side. She can't even nod or anything. She has a lot of trouble speaking and you have to read her lips to understand what she is trying to say. Well the Lao missionaries didn't want to teach her. The Lao program here is dwindling to the point where they have 3 active members and a load of in active people who haven’t been to church in 20 years. So their main goal is to grow the group so the program doesn't get shut down. So when they found out about Manat they said no because she wouldn't be able to come to church ever so it would be a burden to their program. So Elder Taufu'i and Elder Seumanutafa started teaching her (the elders of the Tongan ward). She really desired baptism so they began working with her more and more and then they found out she would never be able to come to church. So they contacted me and Elder Manukailea, being their zone leaders, to find out what they should do. We didn't know so we talked to President Lewis and he asked if she was accountable and we said yes she definitely is all there, she is just a quadriplegic so she can never come to church. Well he said that anyone that is accountable, or alright in the head, has to have baptism or they can never go to heaven. So we continued on in the process of teaching her. The Lao missionaries found out she was getting baptized so they got all defensive but then they remembered she wouldn't be able to come to church so they again declined teaching her. Here is where it all comes together. So I had been to lessons with Elder Taufu'i and he has some spiritual connection with her because he can hear her talking even when I can't see her lips moving. She will be sitting there and he will start asking what and I would get all confused because I don't see her doing anything and he would be like oh she said she needs help because her head has fallen back too far and she can't breathe. It’s amazing. I've seen it time and time again in the lessons with them. So we went on and she had a date to be baptized. The date was supposed to be this Saturday but her family didn't know about it and they wanted to come so they did. This is where it all gets crazy. So the Tongan ward did the baptism program and first off it was amazingly spiritual to begin with. I don't know how many people have been to Polynesian functions but before the meeting begins they all just sit there and sing acapella hymns until its ready to start. So they were singing their hymns, singing my favorite in the process, How Great Thou Art, in Tongan and it was amazing. All the Lao people were already crying and following along in the hymn books reading the lyrics. So another thing. Elder Taufu'i's aunt married a Lao guy. Manat married that guy’s brother so they are randomly connected in that way. So we had the baptism. Her being paralyzed she needed a lot of help in the font so they asked me to help baptize her. I was with Elder Taufu'i who was holding her body and Elder Seumanutafa (who is Samoan) who held her head and said the baptismal prayer and I held her body and plugged her nose and mouth and helped push her whole body down so we only had to do it once. She was so scared but so courageous. After we all got changed we all confirmed her and she was saved after that point. It doesn't matter if she ever comes to church or anything. She has been baptized and received the Holy Ghost and is saved in the Kingdom of God. That’s what our purpose is. Saving Souls. Not growing a ward or group or keeping alive a dying program. Even better the guy conducting the baptism knew Manat, him being Tongan, but they lived by each other six years ago and he would pick her kids up from school. He said she was normal then and now she is totally different. But it was an amazing experience. Oh and for a musical number Elder Taufu'is aunt and cousin sang a song that was amazing and they both cried through the whole thing. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room. It was hands down the best experience and most spiritual baptism of my mission. Manat Soutsevang is saved. Other than that the rest of the week was kind of lame. We went on a few exchanges, one with the hmong elders who we live with and the APs. It was good and fun. Elder Manukailea goes home next week. This is his last week. It’s kind of hard being with him cuz it makes me think a lot about what it’s going to be like going home but that’s not for a long long time more. So I just work hard and forget about myself. So yeah. That was the cool thing this week. I hope it made sense and you enjoy it.

--
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-10-04T15:28:00.001-07:00

October 3^rd 2011

So before I start. Mom I have done initiatory since I have done them for myself. I don't know if you remember or even ever knew but me and a friend would go to the temple once or twice a week in the morning every week until I left on my mission and once we did initiatory because we were late to our session. And just a month ago Elder Manukailea and I went to the temple and were again late to our session and decided to do initiatory there so I have done it a couple of times and I agree it really is neat. Sounds like your week was great mom. It’s nice to have one faithful writer to me each week. I think the family should write me more... I mean I do send a general email home every week so they can all read it. I am just curious about everyone’s life. All I get is moms. So Tuesday I went with Elder Taufu'i from slc Utah. He is half Tongan half Samoan. We had a really good day. He serves in the Tongan ward so we saw a lot of Polynesians. We taught probably the prettiest Tongan I’ve seen in my life. They are working with her to get baptized. The day was kind of boring. We had leadership but Elder Manu went and taught a lesson so it was just me with our two district leaders. After we went to lunch and it was swell. Wednesday we had another good day. We had a really good district meeting and then we taught a few people through the day. We went on exchanges with Elder Buttars and Elder Correia because Elder Buttars back is hurt. I went with Elder Correia who is originally from Hawai'i but has lived in Utah for a while. We tracted forever and then had dinner and while we were in dinner Elder Manu called and told me to come out because we had an appointment. I was a little bummed because we were planning on skipping dinner that night and that way I would get it but i didn't... We had a few more appointments then we had a meeting with our new Ward Mission Leader Brother Lopez who is Philipino. He is great and is willing to do everything we ask him to. He said if we wanted to mold our ward mission leader, now would be the time because he has no idea what to do and is going to do anything we ask him to. It was great. Then we switched up for exchanges with Elder Seigfried and Elder Heaton. I was a little bummed because I had to stay in my area with Elder Seigfried. Elder Heaton is one of the coolest kids in the world. But we made the best out of the next day and we taught some good lessons that day. Friday we had Zone Leader Rountable, where all the Zone Leaders meet together with President and Sister Lewis and we sit in a big circle(to make it round) and discuss matters in the mission. The last one was kind of lame because 7 of the 26 zone leaders were going home so they didn't participate much but only 2 this time are and Elder Manu is one of them and he is more focused than ever. Also most stressful, to my demise but its good. We had a lot of appointments on Friday and we taught all of them! Saturday was a mighty fine day as well as the day hell broke loose. Glen and Georgina were scheduled to be baptized. When we went to get Georgina up and ready for her ride she had disappeared and we didn't get in contact with her till 9 that night even though we went over there numerous amounts of times. She didn't have white underwear...! She has hurdled all the opposition that’s come her way so far, even someone being beat half to death in her home and she freaks on not having underwear. We would have bought it for her! But she will get baptized if not tomorrow, Saturday. Glen got baptized though and it was one of the greatest things I’ve experienced ever. It was my 23 baptism and probably the first time I got semi emotional while they were getting baptized. It was such a huge miracle. General Conference probably added to the spirit of it as well. Glen was baptized in between the morning and afternoon sessions. He added all sessions but Sunday evening because his blood sugar was up to 450 and i guess over 400 you should be in the hospital. We just hope he lives till next Sunday so we can confirm him and save his soul. That conference sure was good though. I learned so much and received so much revelation for how to become a better disciple of Christ. I hope Elder Holland got through to the boys well enough to make them 100% sure about serving a mission and being worthy to do so. I worry sometimes about them, not that I think they are bad, but that there is so much temptation in this world and we really do have to be alone sometimes in standing for what’s right.

So today is my first day on the Master Cleanse! Its sounds ridiculous and probably is but I am doing it. I don't eat anything for 10 days. All I drink is a special mixture of Cayenne pepper, lemon juice, Maple Syrup and water, as well as a smooth move herbal tea laxative at night as well as the Salt Water Flush in the morning to make me poop out all the toxins in my body. So when we eat fast food we take in a lot of fat, but along with it is all the preservatives that the company has to put in to make it legal to sell year old meat. Well those preservatives are what makes it super had to burn off the fat. So the Cayenne pepper goes into your fat cells and takes the Preservatives out. Now it’s all just chilling there so the lemon Juice, Squeezed from real lemons, absorbs that up and the water makes you pee it out. Now you can't live off of no calories so the maple syrup gives you all the needed calories for the day. But its pure maple syrup. Not the artificial kind. So that is what I am doing for the next ten days. They say you lose 2-5 lbs. a day but you gain half of it back after you start eating again. What I want from it is to, one jump start my weight loss( I will weigh less than dad even if it’s the last thing I do), Two shrink my stomach ( the inside one) cuz I can eat way too much and have to be full, and three save a lot of money on not buying food. After the preservatives are "cleansed" out you can burn fat a lot easier and so that’s it. You might think I am retarded for doing it but hey I’ve got to do something and nothing has worked too well yet. So yeah. Thanks for your love and support.

--
Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-09-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-19T17:52:00.001-07:00

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

2011-09-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-29T18:37:00.001-07:00

August 29^th 2011

That was a pretty cool picture of the kids with Dad's mission president. It’s too bad about the football team. Braden’s shoulder pads are huge ha but he looks good. Did he pick 82 for a reason or did they just give it to him? Porter is getting pretty tall too man it’s crazy. Oh well this week was good. This week we saw a lot of people and stuff. We added a few new investigators. Since Elder Manukailea is going home next transfer we are working real hard. He wants to baptize 8 people in one month so we won't rest till that happens. President Lewis asked me what I thought I needed to become a better missionary and I told him that I just need to work harder and give everything to the Lord and that is why he put me with Elder Manu, cuz I sure am learning that right now. We had a great week. This week I went on an exchange with Elder Saumanutafa. He is from Samoa and is learning English. We had a lot of fun and worked real hard. He was beat by the end of the day ha. This weekend we had an awesome baptism for Marci Maxey, a 14 year old girl who has been coming to church since 6th grade and has a super strong testimony. There were more people at her baptism then at any one I have had. President Lewis came and he spoke a little and it was good. Afterwards they had the leadership session of stake conference and President Lewis was speaking there as well and asked me and Elder Manukailea to help him out and do a couple of role plays for everybody. They went pretty good. Our stake president gave an amazing talk on Justification and Sanctification. It was great. I printed off Elder Christoffersons talk on the same subject that night and it was amazing as well. You should check it out. Then yesterday we had stake conference as well. It was really good. They had 4 people speak who had their mission calls, it was nice. The two stake patriarchs spoke and did a really good job. One just got called. He was the old high councilor over missionary work and we worked with him a lot so that was cool that he got the calling. The stake we are in is pretty cool. They have 40 missionaries out which is a lot for Sacramento. He gave a talk on missionary work and then going to the temple more frequently. This Wednesday is the 5th anniversary of the Sacramento temple dedication so they are pretty excited about that. Elder Manukailea got sick last night so today he has stayed in with another missionary. He will be better by tonight. I think he just got dehydrated. So that is our week in a nut shell. I hope everyone is having a good time in the 110+ heat! It’s nice here and only in the 90's. So yeah. Love ya

Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-08-22T19:46:00.001-07:00

August 22^nd 2011

So Sis. Adams might have told you I would get my package on Saturday but that didn't happen. The office elders thought I was elder Manu and it was his package that was there but it did come today so the Assistants to the President came down and brought it to me so I didn't have to wait two more days. It sure was nice to just puff my inhaler and instead of do a 15 min. breathing treatment and then have it run out in 4 hrs. The cool thing is I feel like that since I went two weeks without it my lungs started to get a little stronger so now I feel like I can breathe amazingly. Now i can get back on track with the weight loss. I gained some of the weight back so now i can run again. This week was pretty good as well. It was a little off because of exchanges and interviews with President Lewis but it was good. Tuesday I was on exchanges with elder Forrester. I lived with him a little while ago in Florin so it was fun to catch up and have fun. I got to do an interview that night for a little Tongan boy. It was fun. Wednesday we had a super busy day. We had district meeting in the morning and that was good. After lunch our recent convert came out with us to teach people. He did really good. He is a little off in his head because he shot himself in the head so he is a little slow but the spirit made up for it in the lessons. We are teaching this black lady named Sylvia. She is real nice and stuff but even though she claims she isn't concerned about blacks in the church she sure does bring it up a lot and she keeps saying she is going come to church and doesn't want us to check up on her on Sunday morning and she never comes. We taught her on Wednesday. We went on exchanges with the assistants to the president or aps. It was fun. I went with elder Bellingham who was my zone leader a little while ago. We had great interviews with President Lewis on Friday. Elder Manukailea and I did a training while some others were getting interviewed and then President and Sister Lewis gave us some training. Saturday we went around and saw all the people we were trying to get to church. Sunday we had church. A Native American guy named Martin came. He seemed to really enjoy it and wants to come again next week. I had to teach the lesson in Gospel Principles. I volunteered last week to do it but they called me on Saturday night and told me I had to teach the Gospel Doctrine class as well so I taught everyone that isn't in youth. It started out slow but after a bit people actually started participating and it went pretty good. We had a blitz on Sunday night. I went with a Spanish elder from another zone named Elder Grover. He was a pretty cool elder. So that is it. Things are going great and it’s a lot of fun. We stay really busy which is good cuz then you don't have time to think about home and other things. So that is good. The lady that got baptized was found tracting. Elder Weirich and Elder Forrester taught her. The 70 came to interview someone else but heard about it and wanted to go to the baptism. The lady had dinner with the missionaries and President Lewis to talk about and they said it might now happen because of legal things and the fact that the church can get what it wants when they want it. Idk. This is all second hand info so it might not be super accurate. Brother Yardley’s wife seems like a catch. I couldn't imagine taking a family on the road and then even consider taking my little brothers and sisters. Just kidding but really. What a saint bonnie is. Well I hope things are going good. Love you.

Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-08-15T15:52:00.001-07:00

August 15^th 2011

Well this letter will be pretty short. I don't have too much time today. At all. So to start off, if you could get that inhaler to me as soon as possible that would be great. When I said it was out on Monday it was and we were on bikes this weekend so I almost died... But I survived. I am doing ok with the weight loss. It’s hard out here but I am now at a weight loss of 13 lbs. I am really trying to lose weight but I need food to live and we don't eat till dinner most days and by then I’m starving so I just eat a ton. This week was really good though. Because of time I will just tell you of a few high lights. I went on exchanges with Elder Maio from Hawaii and his mini missionaries, a kid whose bishop wants him to be a three week mission for the experience, Brother Olesen. It was a lot of fun. Brother Olesen reminded me a lot of Ethan Smith who I write on occasion. On Thursday I got a ride from Robert, the blind guy, and his new wife all the way up to Jackson to see Dusty get baptized!!! The family is almost complete. They want to wait 3 more years till Jr is 12 to get him baptized and they’re saving money till then to fly elder Bowman out to baptize him. I promised I’d be there so hopefully my wife likes traveling, assuming I’ll be married by then. It was good though and fun catching up with my girl’s Eve and Olga. I'll put some pictures on this email so you can see them. This weekend we found out that a girl we have been working with dad said she could baptized and we got permission from the mission and stake president to baptize her in our ward. Her dad lives in Antelope which is in another mission. Her mom lives in our ward both are not members. Her dad has full custody but he lets her stay with her mom on the weekends. So that was cool. On Sunday some guy came up to me and gave me a phone number for a lady who was looking for me. It is Christiaans Aunt Natasha. I will be calling her soon. She wants to take us out to lunch or dinner. So that was exciting. By next week I have a goal of losing 7 more lbs. so hold me accountable to that. Well have fun this week everyone. Love ya

Love,
Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

(For those of you who don’t remember Dusty is the wife of Rudy that lived in the hills, in Jackson that Tyler helped with converting them. Rudy the dad had belonged to gangs and made a huge change in his life. Two of the daughters were baptized and one son has been as well. So that is so exciting to hear about. Tyler fell in love with this family. Also one of Tyler’s best friends, Christiaan Schmid that live in our ward is his aunt Natasha. So that is pretty awesome as well.)

2011-08-08T17:35:00.000-07:00

August 8^th 2011

So to start out, Dad is right. It is Jar-deen. with a long e sound even though some of the members in the mission think otherwise. Man it was a crazy day with all the seatbelts and what not. That is super sad for the Schmids. One thing after another man. They need to get a break. It hasn't rained here for a good month now and boy do I love it. It only gets into the high 90's and occasionally 100 but it drops down the next day. So it is real nice out here. Everyone always asks what the weathers like in AZ I just tell them it’s constantly 110 or more and they say I’m lucky to be here. It’s funny I haven’t even noticed the heat the past couple of weeks and it has been warm. This week was pretty good. Monday evening we visited some people. It went well. Tuesday morning we had our leadership meeting. Then we went and tracted for a while. We realized we needed to find more people to teach because everyone’s getting baptized. So we tracted a lot this week. As well as walked everywhere. We had a lot of appointments on Tues. but most of them fell through. We had dinner with the Marcados at this Asian food place. It was super good. Wednesday we had district meeting then we went with our recent convert Ian to go see some people. He was pumped to be with us. We spent the whole time with this old lady that got baptized a month ago, trying to get her bike from her daughter’s house so I could fix it. The mission has taught me a lot about fixing bikes so that’s a good thing. We tracted a lot on Wednesday as well. We found a lot of people too. It was great! We did service in the evening for Ian’s mom who got baptized like a month ago as well. We were lining up some bricks in her front yard that she had put down but they were crooked. I think we did more damage than help ha. Then she fed us. Ian and his mom argue a lot so it was interesting. Ian’s dad is not a member so we're trying to work on him but he never talks and is not interested so we will see what we can do with that. Then the rest of the evening we saw people in the richer area. North Sac reminds me a lot of home. Like the way the streets and everything are set up. It’s weird. Thursday we went and got a member to come out with us. His name is Semi and he is Tongan. He should be getting his mission call this week. So he came out with us from 12 till 9. I don't think he was expecting to be with us all day but it was fun and I think he enjoyed it. We taught a few people and it was good. We taught a 15 year old girl who thinks she is Mormon already but she isn't baptized. She addresses herself as a Mormon so it’s great. She has been coming to church for a long time. The only problem is her dad lives in Antelope which is a different mission and he has most of the custody over her. She only stays with her mom on occasion. Her mom lives in our area. But we taught her and it was good. Her dad says she has to wait till she’s 18 to be baptized and her mom won't answer her when she asks. But we had a good lesson watching special witnesses of Christ. Its out dated with like 5 of the people on it dead but it’s still good. I can't remember who we had for dinner that night. On Friday we had weekly planning. We walked like all day and it was good. A lot of the people we want to baptize flaked on us this week. It’s annoying but we'll figure it out. We had to get our oil changed and our tires rotated at two different places on Friday. That took like 2 hours including the travel time. We had dinner with the Warros. He is something foreign cuz he has an accent and she is polish. They have a son in Tennessee on a mission right now. Dinner was good. She made some good salad and pasta and got pizza. We went and saw a few more people that night then finished it off with making baptismal programs for our baptism on Saturday. Saturday morning we walked all morning. For like 2 and a half hrs. straight. It was crazy. We got a call from some missionaries in our zone and it was a crazy phone call. So they had a baptism for a lady named Sheri that I interviewed like a week ago. She is from turkey and is a princess. She is one of the last remaining blood lines to the Ottoman Empire. Well she came in contact with the church loves it and wanted to get baptized. It also turns out she has over 140,000 acres of land in Damascus and wants to just give it to the church in return of them building a hospital on it. It’s crazy! So she got baptized on Saturday at eleven. Well guess who decides to pop in? Elder Clayton from the presidency of the Seventy! We were out seeing people but he wanted us to take him to the airport. We couldn't make it in time so a member had to take him. What a bummer. He would have been in our car! It was cool though. We had Valerie Brown's baptism on Saturday as well. It went well even though no one came except those with a part in the program. After her baptism we went down to Lodi to see a baptism Elder Manukailea knew. It was good. On the way home our ride took us to dinner at this amazing Thai restaurant. It was soo good. Sunday went good. We had trouble getting people to church but we finally got someone. It was ok. The rest of the day was just ok. But the week was good overall. So being a zone leader is fun. We do a lot of organization work and stuff but our biggest thing is to work as hard as we can to baptize so we can lead by example. Our zone is doing really good and leads the mission in most things. We will probably get the second most baptisms in the mission this month but we are a lot more consistent than the other zones. We range from 9 to 11 a month when they usually get 1 to 4 one month then 10 another so we pride ourselves on that. So I am trying to learn everything I can from my companion so I can keep it going when he leaves. He is a very hard worker. We get along real good but he just never tells me what he’s thinking and what’s going on so I am usually just sitting there trying figure things out but we do get along good. So that’s it. I hope your week goes well this week with a little less drama. Man I will be out 15 months this week. That is crazy fast. Oh and I did get your package. Thanks so much. I loved Jackie’s letter. Man she is looking great. Hopefully I can do the same in the next 9 months. I loved the pictures as well. Keep em commin!

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

Oh yeah mom, I just ran out of my inhaler... so I need a new one. And you don't have to get surgery when you tear a tendon, I tore two and partially tore one in my wrist when I broke it and they said they just reattach. But sometimes you need to. That’s it.

2011-08-01T12:15:00.001-07:00

August 1^st 2011

Well it sounds like things are just moving along at home nicely. Boy is it sure different being a Zone Leader. I have been so busy this week it’s been crazy. The crazier thing is I'm not as tired as I should be. We wake up at 6 every morning to run on the treadmills. I ran a mile for the first time in a while on Saturday. I was surprised because my asthma did great. I am just way out of shape. But I have lost like 5 lbs. since Wednesday. We skip a lot of meals. My companion Elder Manukailea is a very very hard worker. It’s great. He baptizes a lot as well. In fact I came into the area with two baptisms this past weekend. It was great. He is from Long Beach Cali. He is Tongan and went to a Tongan ward growing up. He is real cool. He reminds me a lot of Elder Faka'i, who I heard was going to school in Utah. He also reminds me a lot of Hudson. But he is a lot more outgoing than Elder Faka'i and more bold with people. A lot of people in the mission are actually scared of him because he doesn't have a problem putting them in their place. It’s weird being a Zone leader though. There are a few missionaries in our zone that have been out longer than me so it’s weird to be up their talking to them a lot. I won't go into huge detail about this week. We basically taught the two people who got baptized on Saturday. One was named Ian Thrasher and he shot himself in the head a year ago after getting totally wasted drunk after hearing his brother died in Iraq. He lived but is messed up from it. He does good though. The other guy’s name is Robert Pellerin. He is blind and got married at seven on Saturday and baptized at seven thirty. It was amazing to see. So I probably won't be talking a whole lot about food in my emails anymore. We skip a lot of meals because we are so busy all the time. It takes a lot of effort to baptize and we want to do a lot of that. We have two more people set up for this month and a few others who are close, we just need to get in contact with them. So this week we gave talks in sacrament meeting. We were the only speakers so we both gave about 12 min talks. I thought we did pretty good. I used the joke at the beginning about asking my companion and the bishop for jokes to tell and now having two jokes I can't tell in sacrament meeting. I think people liked it. My talk was on member missionary work. I quoted the general authorities a lot and I think I got my point across. Elder Manu talked about missionary work and the atonement. It was pretty good. He compared missionary work to a sauna. You don't just walk into a sauna and say man it’s hot in here. That’s expected. So it is with missionary work. It’s going to be hard. Expect it. I thought he did great. I'll attach the copy of my talk with this email because I wrote it on this computer. So I am in North Sacramento. It’s in the Natomas and Del Paso Heights areas of city. Natomas is very nice and rich and Del Paso Heights is very Ghetto. So we got the best of both worlds. The ward is really cool and the people are super nice. There are also a lot of pretty girls in this ward. It’s the largest ward I've served in as well. The area is large and well as members who come to church. The closest to our home ward since I’ve been out. Our area used to be a bike area but since we’re zone leaders we get a car. It’s a large bike area too though. We didn't get fed by the members very much at all this week. We mostly just ate Ramen at home. It’s pretty good. We live with another set of missionaries. They speak Hmong which is another Asian language. They are pretty cool as well. So yeah that’s pretty much all we did this week. I hope I can continue to lose weight and learn what it is I am exactly supposed to do as a zone leader because right now I have no idea what I am doing. I just follow Elder Manu around and do what he tells me to do. He is an amazing missionary. He has turned a lot of zones into high baptizing zones and President Lewis told him he wants him to transfer everything he knows to me so I can continue that on in the mission. Elder Manu goes home in October so his time is limited. But me I’ve still got over 9 months which if you think about it is not that long at all. I have been able to remember my dreams a lot more though. Oh yeah. last Tuesday we went to Texas Roadhouse, a member took us there, and I got a 22 oz. steak and it was amazing! I ate the whole thing and was still hungry even with the salad and two rolls I had before. Our waitress was gorgeous. I told her she was very nice and deserved something good in life and gave her a Jesus Card with Mormon.org on the back. I was nervous to do so but I figured if I am going to find a wife within the next year and half I better learn how to be outgoing with those kind of things. The members got a kick out of it ha. So that is what’s going on. Oh yeah to answer a couple of your questions mom, Elder Moss did stay in Elk Grove. I did not go back for Malachi's baptism though he did get baptized, we were just too busy up here. The mission is pretty big, I think. From the mission office which is at the top of the mission down to the lowest area of the mission which is Tracy it would probably take around 2 hrs. to drive it maybe 2 and a half hrs. I'm not sure. You could probably look it up on the internet. We have Fair Oaks at the top, Eldorado hills to the side and it goes all the way down to Manteca and Tracy. It’s pretty big I guess, but I don't have anything to compare it to. Oh yeah this week we also had a mission leaders council. It was fun being in the zone leader portion of it. They put a lot of trust in us as zone leaders and we have a lot of responsibility. Well that’s it. Love you.

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-07-26T19:26:00.000-07:00

July 26^th 2011

Yes I do eat a lot here. And thank goodness, cuz I’m hungry! The other day I ate something that before my mission would fill me up but I was sitting there feeling hungry still so I know my appetite has gotten bigger. Hopefully I can shrink it along with my belly before I come home. Monday was pretty good. We went and visited with Malachi for a little bit. He is doing great. He was supposed to get baptized on Tuesday but the bishop wanted to talk to his less active mom to make sure she understood the commitment she was making in letting him be baptized. After him we just tracted most of the night. Tuesday morning I had a good leadership meeting. We talked about the zone needs and what we would be training on for district meeting. Afterwards we had a few appointments and went to see some potentials. My ward is pretty big so there are a lot of people we can go see in it. A lot of our appointments fell through this week but we tried our hardest to use our time wisely. It was Malachi's birthday on Tuesday so we went to the pharmacy, cuz I needed more allergy medicine, and we also got some candy for him. We took it over and boy was he happy. He got a lot of candy for his birthday but what we got were all his favorites. We tracted quite a bit on Tuesday it was fun. I love tracting because you get to talk to your companion and just talk. I love talking. All my companions can attest to that. We have this lady we have been trying to work with named Marium. She is an alcoholic. She always wants to hug us. She loves Elder Moss and always tells us how good looking he is. He is a good looking kid but its weird cuz she is like 45. Wednesday our morning appointment fell through again... so we tracted a lot. We had lunch then went and visited a guy who claims to be a less active member but we think he is a nonmember. He watched Lakeview on TV but said he was baptized as a Mormon in Houston when he was five... hmm didn't know they did that down there. It was good though. He is kind of weird but is very very nice. We went and visited with Malachi to go over the baptismal program with him. He wants Elder Moss to baptize him so that’s real cool. I have to give the talk on baptism. We had a few appointments that day that didn't fall through so that was great. Wednesday we had dinner with somebody. I made Elder Moss write down our calendar so I don't remember who it was and what we had... sorry. But I am sure it was good. The rest of the night was kind of dead cuz no one was home... Thursday we had a great district meeting. I trained on getting people to church. The hows and what’s about it. We role played for a bit so it was fun. Our zone leaders have done this twice now. One plays the uke (a baritone like mine) and the other one sings and they sing these songs that a Polynesian wrote and it rocks! They did one this week and I recorded it for everyone to enjoy. It was grand. We had a delicious lunch afterwards of taco bell. I got the xxl burrito. I wasn't a fan of the sauce in it but it was ok. Next time I’ll stick with my beefy five layer burrito. Afterwards we went home and started working on things for the blitz we would be having on Sunday. We had to write down all the potentials and less actives we wanted to see and map them out from where they live so we could have people go see them and use their time effectively seeing people all in the same general area. So did that for an hour on Thursday Friday and Saturday. It paid off too. We had a few appointments on Thursday then in the evening we met with the bishop at the church. He was going to sit down with Malachi and his mom but she couldn't make it so we ended up just talking about the work in the ward and then we went over the ward list of people he wanted us to go see in the ward that he didn't know anything about. That ended up being the night. Friday we did a swell weekly planning in the morning. We had an appointment with Bro. Meisner to go out to eat at a pizza place. Usually he pays for us but he didn't have any money and so since he takes us out so often we decided to treat him to it. Boy was he excited about that. I think we made his day. We saw a few people we have been trying to get in contact with. Mainly people we had been working with or whom missionaries have worked with in the past. A lot of them aren't home ever, or they moved. It’s a more ghetto area so a lot more people move in and out pretty quick. We tracted for a while then had dinner with the Durants. They are a very nice young couple. We had stir fry and almost ate it all but there wasn't that much so we felt bad and held back. After dinner we tracted some more and then did our blitz stuff. Saturday we went to see someone and they weren't home and on the way over there I realized I had forgotten to comb my hair... so we had to go back home and do that... then we went all the way down to the Elk Grove Park ward to Elk Grove Park and went to the pioneer day lunch the stake was putting on. There are more people at our ward events than their stake events. It’s kind of sad. But the fried chicken was good along with the potato salad that has made me irregular I’m sure for the past three days. It was a pretty late lunch so we just saw some people and tracted till dinner. We had it at home... I can't remember what we had. We were supposed to be doing a temple tour with the whole zone but the person we set up for it wasn't going to make it so we didn't go. Instead we just went and visited Malachi and set up his appointment with the bishop for Sunday morning. Sunday morning Malachi and his mom met with the bishop. He gave us the ok to baptize him this weekend!!! So that will be just great. We had church then dinner. At night we had our blitz. We had good participation from the ward which we are thankful for. We had great success on the blitz. We had like 4 appointments yesterday from it, most of which flaked, but nonetheless it was still great. Yesterday was transfer Monday. We went out and worked all day. It was great. Like I said a lot of our appointments were flaky so we had some good backups. We got our calls about 8 o clock at night from President Lewis. He is a great guy. He is very loving and you can feel it when he talks to you. As well he is very spiritual and calm. So it’s great. I am leaving the area I am sad to say. I love serving here with Elder Moss. I will be going up to the North Sacramento zone and I will be a Zone Leader with Elder Manukailea who was one of my zone leaders in Lodi and I went on exchanges with him. He is a great missionary. He served in the Florin ward as well and baptized like 13 people while there. He is from Long Beach Cali and is Polynesian. I assume Tongan by the k in his name and no f's. I am excited. He is a hard worker and the zone is an awesome baptizing zone so let’s hope I don't mess it up too much. I'll tell you more about him next week. I am nervous to be a Zone Leader but I believe this experience will help me to grow and become a better servant of the Lord. So mom, the next time you send me a package, idk when, can you send me some Claritin and Benadryl. It seems like I run out too fast. It’s the only stuff that keeps me well out here. So this past week I have been trying to remember my dreams more so I can use them to my advantage. I want to learn how to realize I'm in my dream so I can tap into my subconscious mind and create more in depth stories, but every time I realize I'm dreaming in my dream my eyes open and I wake up. So that will be cool to get down. Also I was thinking this week; I might want to be a seminary teacher when I come home. Of course I would have to go to school and I hear it’s super hard to become one but I think it would be fun. I could also write books on the side of that if I so desired. Book writing is my goal but I need a profession that will bring in steady income while writing a book. Why not a seminary teacher? I'll think it over some more and talk to my old seminary teachers that I had in high school to see if it’s a good idea. Well that’s it for this week. I hope you all have fun.

Love,

Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-07-18T16:23:00.000-07:00

July 18^th 2011

Man I wish at my football camp we had a bonding hike... I guess that’s what the water tower was for. But this new coach sounds like he is really cool and nice. I like nice people. Maybe Porter should be a quarter back. He will be able to run the ball if he never learns to throw. This week was pretty good. I'll tell you about it. Monday night we had dinner with our bishop. He went to Italy on his mission, so he knows how to cook good Italian food. It was pretty good. Then we went and visited with Mark Childress. It was a good visit. We had left him a copy of The Restoration and were hoping they had watched it, but they hadn't and they didn't tell us till it was time to go. So hopefully they have watched it by this week. Tuesday we had a good leadership meeting. I like them. Afterwards we had lunch. We had some good Cheddar Brauts that Mark Childress gave us. They were pretty good but Brauts aren't my favorite. We went and taught Malachi afterwards and it was good. His mom who has Lupus was up and ready. I didn't even recognize her! She usually wears this dress around the house and she has no teeth. Well this lady had teeth and was all dressed up with makeup and ear rings and her hair done up and everything. I swear it was two different people. But she sat in the lesson and taught him faith better than we could have. It was real cool. She is already a member. We had a few other appointments but they all fell through. We tracted a bit as well. We had dinner with the Phelps. They are really nice funny people. We had spaghetti. I like spaghetti. But Dads is the best. We saw a few other people the rest of the night. Wednesday we had a good morning tracting. We had an appointment that fell through so we went to a pizza buffet for lunch. It was pretty darn good! It’s called Mountain Mikes. I don't know if we have it back at home but its real good pizza. Afterwards we went and saw a guy named Adam. We had found him tracting and he told us to come back at 2 and he seemed super solid, but he wasn't home. This week Elder Moss' family sent him a package and it had an article in it about Mormons and why they are successful in life and it said it’s because they go on missions. It was in Bloomberg I don't know where that was. It talked about Mitt Romney and it made me decide I want to be successful in life. I thought maybe if I just try really hard to learn in school and college then it wouldn't be as hard to just know things after that. I think I have been blessed with learning abilities and it seems pretty easy for me to learn things so I think I will write books for sure. I don't know how but I have some good ideas and I think if I try really hard I can learn how in school. Wednesday night Bro. Singh gave us dinner. It was pizza. How fortunate. Little Caesars. Good thing that’s my favorite pizza! We have been looking for some people that have disappeared randomly. We looked again on Wednesday night but we couldn't find them. Thursday we had district meeting. I trained on being committed, Pres. Uchtdorfs first presidency message this month. After doing my training on it I felt bad because of all the times I went with Dad before and I just sat they. Man how much I have changed. Now I can tell stories for an hour and tie it in to the Gospel making it really spiritual. It’s awesome how much the mission changed me. After Lunch I had to write up transfer reports for the Elders in my district. It was cool recognizing the progress of some elders from last transfer to this one. After that we went to teach Malachi again but he had friends over and there weren't any adults in the house so we didn't go in. We tracted later after seeing some other people. We had dinner with the Lindsay’s. She is super old and he is kind of old. He likes ice in his milk like grandpa did. They fed us Lasagna. I liked it. They are real nice and it is always enjoyable. After dinner we had a meeting with the district to talk about numbers and stuff. Friday we had the New Missionary Training meeting. It was super good. President and Sister Lewis are great but they sure are new, but I love them. We split up from our companions and all the trainers got together and talked. I realized how truly lucky I am. A lot of missionaries have said they don't like training but I have loved every minute of it. It’s because my boy is awesome! He is obedient and hard working. If I tell him to try something, he tries it. If I tell him that something is against the rules he changes it. It’s great. So I am super lucky to be with Elder Moss. Afterwards we went and taught Malachi. We went over the Baptismal interview questions because he was scheduled to be baptized this Tuesday but we might wait a few more days so the bishop can meet with him and his mom. It was fun teaching him and for a nine year old he really remembers a lot about what we have taught him. We saw couple of people after that and then had dinner. Bro. Singh gave us dinner again. His wife signs up if no one does because she is in charge of our Calendar. After dinner we tracted. It was good. We talked to a lot of people. Saturday morning we had weekly planning because we weren't able to have it Friday night. It was good. We have a good week planned up. We went to In N Out for lunch. It was a little bit of a drive but it was in my district so I was able to go to it. It sure was tasty. We had like five appointments on Saturday. All of them fell through. We had dinner with Bro. Chaides and his family. He made some real good enchiladas. They weren't as good as yours mom but they were some of the better ones I’ve had. Afterwards we had another appointment that fell through then we tracted for a min. Sunday no one came to church. Malachi was at a funeral. Marium wasn't drunk this time but her dog had puppies and she didn't want to leave it. So that was a bummer. It’s fun to hear about all the farewell talks going from our ward. We have a lot more than they do out here. Well this past week was great. I have started doing P90X again with elder Pelfrey. Sometimes it kicks my butt pretty good but I live. I hope everyone is having some good summer fun. It’s almost the end of July. Boy how time is flying. Happy Birthday to Braden tomorrow.

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-07-11T17:48:00.000-07:00

July 11^th 2011

Man Uncle Chet that was a good one. I don't know what I was thinking when I said I didn't like McDonald's because I really do. I get 3 Chicken Sandwiches and 2 McDoubles and a large soda pop for about 6 bucks. You can't beat that. Who’s ever idea it was to do $1 pops is a genius and should be rewarded. Ronald McDonald knows how to run a worldwide corporation better than any president I've heard of. So I hope that makes up for my Hatin on Mikey D's. (His mom also let him have it about McDonalds because they have the best Diet Coke in the whole state and it’s only a dollar.)
For the 4th we had an all-day P-Day. We went to an Asian person’s house with the elders we live with and it was pretty good. I have built up a resistance to spice pretty good now so I can handle a lot more than they give me credit for. So they laugh when I put a lot on my food then get confused when I can eat it. It was a good meal though. I'm not a big fan of fish but somehow Asians make me like it. For the rest of the night we got together as a zone and played the Standard Works Trivia. It was a lot of fun. But it got pretty competitive and a lot of people were pissed off at the end. On Tuesday we had a good leadership meeting, then we switched up with the zone leaders for exchanges. It was good. I went with Elder Kaloohiokalani from Hawaii. We had a lot of appointments that fell through but we made it a good day. We taught Malachi and his cousins. They were so rambunctious so it was difficult to teach them. But we had a good lesson. We tracted for a good long while then had dinner with the Armonds. They fed us some burritos they made. They had ground turkey in them as well as peas and avocado's, which I’m allergic to. But I made do with the potato salad that I filled my plate with. Then we went and switched up for another exchange with Elder Nguyen and Elder Archer. I went into Elder Nguyen's area and got to take my car. Sister Adams said that as long as I need to puff my inhaler at least once in a day I can't ride my bike. What she doesn't know is that in the past five years I don't think I’ve gone a day without puffing it, so it looks like the bike will be getting rest for the next 10 months. On Wednesday Elder Nguyen and I had a great day. We tried to see a lot of people. I met his ward mission leader Brother Newton who lived in our stake on brown and gilbert for about 3 years 13 years ago. His wife is from Snow flake and knew Sister Allred. It was fun chatting. This really nice member in one of his wards took us out to dinner at a Pho restaurant. It is a Vietnamese soup and it’s pronounced Fu. Its super good especially when you get it spicy that it burns your lips. I also did an interview for one of their investigators to get baptized. She is a 9 year old girl. She said the longest prayer with the least amount of words I have ever heard. But she was nice and tried so I am proud of her for that. We then tracted till it was time to switch back up again. Thursday was meet the president day. President Lewis rocks! It’s amazing how we can share so much love for each other before we even knew each other. I know he is supposed to be here. He is very nice. He's a little guy. Maybe as tall as me but probably more than a 100 lbs. skinnier. Then after the meet the president he interviewed our zone. It was great. He said he was grateful for me being candid. I didn't know what that meant so I looked it up. It means frank or honest. He asked everyone the same question which was a big one. He asked if I felt like he could trust me where ever I was with whomever he put me with. I told him 4 months ago I would have had to answer no but that I can honestly say that now I can. Interviews took so long we were not able to make it to our dinner appointment so when all else fails we go to... Taco Bell! I got the 5 buck big box meal. It was good and what a deal?! Then we went and visited Mark Childress. We had a great evening with them and then we left them a copy of the restoration DVD. We'll be going by tonight to see if they watched it and see how it went. Friday we had a good morning with weekly planning. For lunch we went out to Wendy's. Elder Moss has been craving it for a while now so I took him there because I’m the only one that knows where the hidden one in our area is. Elder Pelfrey has been in this area for a year and he didn't even know it was there. Sadly their chicken sandwiches aren't as good as McDonald's but their double stacks or "Stack Attacks" are exceptional. We taught Malachi later. His cousins were living with him because their mom didn't want them anymore. Well the mom came back and took them which was against the rules and they don't know where they are, so Malachi will be the only one getting baptized. We had a few other appointments that fell through but that’s ok. We kept busy. Bro. Singh made us some good wings for dinner. He always drops them off at our apartment so I watched Joy to the World on our DVD player during dinner. It was good. The rest of the night we tracted and it was a lot of fun. Elder Moss is a Boss and has some great missionary skills. He's just still new but as he gets more experienced, he is going to be awesome. Saturday was a weird day. The morning was amazing. It was 70's until noon then it got to around the 90's. We saw some great people all day but unfortunately none of them were home. We had dinner with the elder's we live with again at an Asian's house. We had pig hooves... they weren't that bad. They also had wild boar meat and beef short ribs. They were super good. They also have this plant that they cook with onions and it is amazing. They love it when you can eat a lot so they love me and Elder Moss. He is always hungry ha. After dinner we tracted some more. We had a lot of success on the street we tracted two days in a row. Church on Sunday was fun. The morning was filled with meetings. After lunch Elder Moss went with Brother Boyd and they picked up Malachi and Mariam. Mariam is a lady that rode up to Elder Moss and Elder Clark when we were on exchanges. She was drunk and crying and said "Can you help me?! I need to stop!" They said yes and then she came to church drunk. I had to prepare the lesson for Gospel Principles because Brother Wheeler, our ward mission leader, had a death in the family so I took the honors after his wife asked me to that morning. It was a good lesson, I hope. It was on honesty, and honestly I told stories I know for the last 15 min. because it was too short of a lesson. Luckily our old mission president, President Jardine, wrote a book on honesty and gave us a couple of pages from it. I used it a lot. Sunday night we had a blitz. I was with Elder Beveridge and Jacob a priest in the ward we were blitzing with. It was fun. We met 3 girls that Jacob goes to school with and knows and they were so funny and he was so awkward it was a mighty fine time. They weren't interested in the gospel though and after they declined our baptismal invitations we continued on. We had root beer floats and brownies afterwards as well. Today we played soccer with another zone and some Mexicans. I tripped a lot of people and almost scored with my belly but I tripped over a Mexican I had tripped and missed... Karma. Today should be a good day. We have dinner with our bishop tonight. Well I am done now. I love you. Bye.

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

P.S. - Elder Moss' parents’ names are Richard and Sharon. They live near power and queen creek rd. They are in Ceville ward. Anything else?

2011-07-04T17:43:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-27T12:59:00.001-07:00

June 27^th 2011

So this week was fun... Psych! They gave me a shot at the doctors and I was feeling better by Monday night so a week inside feeling fine just isn't that fun. So Elder Taratai and his brother Brock Allen did get to meet. Brock met up with him on Saturday and was able to do 5 hours of missionary work with him and have dinner as well. Man what a miracle. President Jardine told everyone at zone conference that, that is just one of the reasons me and Elder Taratai were called to this mission at this time and that it was one of the many miracles he was able to experience. I feel so happy for him. Elder Taratai hugged me and thanked me like 10 times that day. Every time I see him he does. I just tell him that we were both doing what was right so the lord blessed him. That is something I will remember forever. So pneumonia is a funny thing. After you break your fever you don't really feel sick. So this week was pretty boring. I'll tell you some of the things we did. I read over 20 ensigns, all of a marvelous work and a wonder, cleaned the apartment including all the dishes the closet all my bedding and desk and what not, played phase 10 multiple times with Elder Moss, we started and completed a 750 piece puzzle, slept almost as much as I was awake, wrote in my journal, wrote the outline to a story I’ve had in my head, talked a lot, watched church dvds because they gave everyone in our mission portable dvd players for study, and walked around the apartment and then to the church to borrow some of their ensigns then home and stuff. So it was a very boring week. We went out maybe 5 hrs. total which I wasn't even supposed to do that. It is really hard to do missionary work when you’re sick. Thursday sister Adams did let me go to zone conference. It was amazing! It was full of the spirit and we learned some amazing things. I am sad to see President Jardine go. He is my mission president but I will love President Lewis as well. The work will be the same either way so it’s no big deal. Yesterday, Sunday, I went back for my checkup. The doctor said my lungs sound amazing but they did x-rays just in case and he said I am 100% clear of pneumonia, so that is some good news. He said he was actually surprised I got better that good. It was the blessing I got. So now I am allowed to work. But my lungs are weak so I have a car. They gave it to me on Thursday and I’m not giving it back until they ask for it. But I think I will start jogging in the morning so my lungs can get stronger, biking just isn't enough. But the car is nice now that it’s hitting the 100's. Everyone says, "Oh you’re from Arizona this must be nice weather for you" but hot is hot no matter where you go and 100 is hot. So yeah. This week I am going to work Elder Moss like none else. He had a nice vacation but now it’s on. But I will set limits this time. I think that’s how I got pneumonia, working too hard to get him work, and not resting. So that is it for this week. I have to write a letter to President Lewis about myself, so that is what I am going to do now. I hope everything goes well at home.

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

P.S.- I just want you all to know how much I love being on a mission. Sometimes it’s hard and things are the greatest but as a whole a mission is the greatest thing ever. I wish everyone could experience it.

2011-06-20T14:12:00.001-07:00

June 20^th 2011

So this letter will be short. I wasn't feeling good Thursday night, Friday and Saturday, then on Sunday I got real bad with a lot of chest congestion and my asthma acting up so at night I called our medical lady, Sister Adams and she said I should had called earlier cuz she wanted me to go to urgent care. But she said just sleep at home and go in the morning. So this morning I went to Urgent Care. The doctor was concerned so he did chest x-rays and I’m sure you can guess what’s next mom. Yup I have pneumonia. So he gave me a shot and a prescription for some good meds. So next week’s email will probably be pretty short as well, beings I can't do anything for a week. I have to go in for a check up on Sunday and he said he'll give me the go to work or not after that. I don't think it’s very serious but it is pneumonia so we're not going to take it lightly. So mom can you send me some more medicine for my breathing machine. Taking a treatment every four hours depletes my supply fast. So my boy (that’s mission lingo for my new companion I’m training) will be going on a lot of exchanges this week so he can still get experience. So about my boy. He rocks! His name is Elder Moss. He is originally from Utah but for the past two years him and his family have been living in Gilbert AZ! So you'll have to hook up with his parents and gossip about us or something. I'll get their info from him for next week’s email. So he is a cool kid though. He is tall and skinny but is athletic. He plays golf and loves it. He is a hard worker and has taught me a lot in the short time we've been together so far. So yeah he is a really cool guy. It is starting to get warm out here. This week we had a couple of days in the nineties I think. They say it will get up and over 100 this week. I'll be inside all day so I won't have to worry about that. Training has been a really cool experience. It is teaching me a lot and it feels good helping someone learn this stuff. The best part is when I tell him something he listens! Some of my past companions weren't like that. So it’s great. So far we have been getting along really good. He is a cool and calm kid but I can tell he can be really goofy. I'm trying to get it out of him but he's still new and shy. So yeah that’s about it for today. I think I’ll go sleep now. Oh and don't worry about me. I am sick but not dead, so it will all be good. Plus I'm one of the Lord's servants so he will bless according to his will. I have complete faith that all will be well in time. I love you all.

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-06-14T17:51:00.000-07:00

June 14^th 2011

Well now that was a busy one wasn't it? It is still weird to think that Jamie married Joe but that is cool cuz they will be fun to hang out with at family parties. That’s awesome that Maddie is going on a mission! It’s the greatest thing ever! So about the cook books mom. Honestly the only thing I've used mine for is the converted measurements in the front. We really don't have any time to cook. Well we could if we didn't work hard but then what’s the point of being on a mission if you’re not working all the time? So this week was good and long. We did have transfer calls but I'll tell you about them as we go. So Monday night we switched up for exchanges. I went with Elder Taufu'i in the Elk Grove park ward. I was with him all day on Tuesday. It was super fun and a good time. I love going back into that ward, I have a lot of good friends from serving there. We were able to teach a less active girl who is 17 and pregnant. But the lesson was good. We got her to believe that I was adopted by Asians and was raised bhudist. We told her it was a joke and she said she honestly believed us ha. We had a good day. We switched back up that night. Wednesday was a good day. It was starting to get warm this week which I am thankful for. I am willing to sweat if it means no rain and no cold. I had a meeting on Wednesday morning. It was good. We planned out a great district meeting for the next day and it was swell. The rest of the day we went and saw people we had appointments with. Unfortunately they fall through a lot. But we always plan backups and it works out good. I have a new planner for a new transfer so I can’t remember everything we did this week. Thursday we had district meeting. Our zone leaders made a giant Book of Mormon out of a large box and I wore it and sang Book of Mormon stories on Elder Garcia's Block Rocker with my iPod playing the songs as well. It was fun and I'm sure you can believe how much I enjoyed the attention. We then got into a more spiritual mode and all the leaders trained everyone in a different room of the church. I did the Chapel and did my training at the Sacrament table and related it to sacrifice and how we can sacrifice the little that is asked of us because Jesus sacrificed more and is there to help us. I thought it went good. Then we had a testimony meeting. It was one of the more spiritual district meetings. I have been going to Togo's a lot for lunch. It is a sub shop that is closest to Steve's than anything thing I have found. It’s a little expensive though. We had that for lunch. We had some more appointments later that day. I'm sure we taught someone but I don't remember. Friday we did weekly planning then we met brother Meisner at Mama Mia's pizza to have lunch with him and the Spanish elders. It was good. Bro Meisner is the kind of guy who likes dragons and fairies and mystical creatures... So I told my alien and skin walker stories. Of course I made half of them up but he enjoyed them and wants me to write them down so he can have them ha. We saw a few people that day. There was this kid who came running up to us as we were passing a store and these bullies were chasing him to beat him up. He is in our ward so we walked him home and scared those bullies nice and good. There were four of them all a year older and they were going to steal his money he had to buy an iPod. I feel bad for him cuz they will come back when were not around. His mom isn't a member but she thanked us so we hope it was a good example for her. The rest of the day was good. Saturday was good too. We got yelled at by some lady with a beard and her 80 year old husband. They were white but had black grandkids and don't like Mormons. They got mad cuz we knocked on their neighbor in the apartment’s door. Their neighbor is a less active member who asked us to come over. I just told them to go tell on us and leave us alone. They didn't like that especially cuz the office is closed on Saturdays ha. We taught a guy from South Africa later. He speaks Swahili but enough English so it worked. He was awesome and has an earnest desire to know the truth. The rest of the day we did stuff but I can't remember then either. Sunday was good. We had church and then we had dinner with the Childress'. They made us some bbq'd chicken. It was tasty. We had a blitz and it was good as well. Monday was a nice day. We saw a few people in the morning. No one was home but we met some nice people on the streets, we went to a less active member’s house for two hours after lunch. She told us her life history and man was it better than any TV show we could had been watching at 3 in the afternoon on a Monday. It was great, we tracted for a while then we had dinner, Afterwards we went and saw Clair. Her Caregiver was there for the first time ever. She’s Jehovah witness and she just bashed us for a while. Finally I told her, were not going to agree on most of these things, because we believe we have a Prophet that still receives revelation. She said she would research if we still needed a prophet and get back to us. I won't hold my breathe. We then got our transfer calls. President Jardine threw us for a loop. He is transferring Elder Garcia to Stockton to be in Spanish work, which will be good. I am staying here for my 4th transfer... that will be six months in Florin! I am also going to be training a new missionary. I am nervous but excited as well. I don't know who it is yet so I will update you all next week on him, its crazy being here for so long. I'm excited to learn more with this experience. I just hope I don't ruin him too bad. So last night we had a party and sang with the Block Rocker in our apartment. It was gay. I took videos so don't worry. I also videoed my Book of Mormon singing... Its long. Well I love you all.

Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-06-06T22:11:00.000-07:00

June 6^th 2011

Well it sounds like everything is going good with sports and work and what not. It was fun to hear about Dads missionary work. Who knows maybe one day when a crisis happens in his family the missionaries will knock on his door (cuz that’s how it always works) and he will say hey I had a friend named Max that ate my food. Sure come on in. And then he will be baptized. Of course the wife will take a little longer with the kid’s cuz they didn't work with dad but then he will baptize his kids later. That might happen. Who knows?

I got a letter for Jackie this week. It was real good and fun to read. The candy didn't do me any good especially during planning at night but it did help when I was falling asleep during personal study. This week was good. Monday night we went Tracting. It was good. We talked to a lady who told us she was going to start working with LDS missionaries where her mother in law lives but if that doesn't work out she wants us to come by every week just in case ha. Oh well as long as someone’s teaching her. Then we went and visited with Mark Childress. He is a large fellow that loves to talk about food but it’s always a good time at their house because they are so nice and make us feel at home. After we met with him it was time to go home. Oh yeah and Elder Garcia bought a new speaker at Sam's Club. It’s called the Block Rocker. It looks like a guitar amp but it has a hook up for an ipod on top and also a microphone. I love it! It was totally an unnecessary waste of money but I enjoy it cuz I didn't pay for it ha. I like to sing with the people on my Ipod. So the Block Rocker has been playing every second we’re at home except when we’re sleeping of course. Tuesday I had a leadership meeting. The Zone Leaders were playing Hide and Seek and we had to find what room they were in. Not easy in a building that has two chapels two relief society rooms two primary rooms and numberless class rooms. Maybe not numberless but I haven’t counted them yet. We finally found them in a supply closet where we had our meeting. Then we had lunch. We had a bunch of appointments that day but sadly all of them fell through. And it rained. It has been storming a lot lately. The weathers been in the sixties. Not June at all... But we still saw a lot of people. It was good. We knocked on doors for a while. It was fun. We met some nice Spanish people. That’s when I just hand it over to Elder Garcia. A member brought us dinner. Later that night another member drove us all the way down to Elk Grove where we switched up for exchanges. Being a District Leader you have to do a lot of them. And I’m not a huge fan of them. I was with Elder Nugyen in the Elk Grove Park ward. It was a lot of fun being back. This is his second transfer in that area but he doesn't know it very good yet so I actually navigated most of it. We had correlation and that was fun also being with some old friends again. We taught a couple of nice people and it was a good day. We had a great lesson with a less active girl at her dad’s house. He is very active and has been a bishop before so it was great. Her nonmember cousin was there as well. She has cancer so she is putting her priorities in line. It’s sad that it takes something like that for people but hey God knows what’s going on. We switched back up that night. On Thursday we had district meeting. It was good. I hope. I trained on not worrying about stupid crap and worldly things and just forgetting yourself and going to work. Then I trained on teaching people not lessons. Basically about how you teach according to someone’s needs instead of a set lesson. It went smooth and it was a good day. We had lunch. Then I went with Elder Bevridge on an exchange. It was good. We saw a few people and tracted a lot. We switched back up at dinner because they had appointments with Meinh people and Elder Pelfrey speaks it better. I was bummed cuz I thought I was going to receive the gift of tongues for one night. Oh well. That was a joke btw. So the night ended. We saw a few people. It was good. Friday we had weekly planning. Then lunch then I had to do transfer reports on all the Elders in my District. It was good. The weirdest part was doing my own... at the end it asks for my recommendation on what should happen the next transfer. Well in interviews President Jardine said he wants me to be a Zone Leader either next transfer or the one after that, the latter he wouldn't have control over. Well I didn't want to sound all prideful and think I’m the man so I just put get transferred somewhere with a car, cuz my bike is being destroyed under my weight. Which it is. So we'll see what happens. We had a lesson with a Mexican named Anna. Elder Garcia wanted to teach her first before we passed her to the Spanish elder’s cuz she has the same name as his sister. She didn't understand half of what we were talking about. Later we visited some good people. We talked to some nice people that night and had dinner and then we went home. Saturday morning we called a bunch of people to see if they wanted to come watch a baptism at the church. We got a couple of flaky commitments but then a solid one so we got our suits on and went on over there at 11:30. No one showed so we just watched it. Then we had lunch. We had a couple of appointments but once again they all fell through. We talked to some nice people though and we had good backups. Brother Boyd, the man whose computer I usually email home on, took us out to Golden Corral. It was great. It was out of our area but thankfully all you have to do is get the District leaders permission to leave your area. So I pulled some strings and he let us go... We knocked doors the rest of the night. That night I did a duet with Taylor Swift, don't worry it was a Christmas song, on the Block Rocker. It was good. We filmed it. Sunday Nancy was the only one to church. We found out that the guy living with her is in jail right now so once we find out for how long she can get baptized! Church was good. We had a blitz and I was able to give a blessing with a member to a guy who is going to die soon. It was sad. He is 34 but wears diapers. The night was good. We played soccer this morning... not my favorite sport but it was fun. It is raining still. I hear it’s the tail end of the long storm and then this week in will go up to the 80's. Finally some not wet and cold weather. I would say warm but of course you’re all dealing with 100's right now so it’s just not cold in the 80's. So that was this week. It was good. I hope you all have a wonderful week. It’s kind of weird to think of summer vacation because we don't get one so it’s all the same thing all the time. So thinking that people are doing something different than school sounds weird. I love you.

Love,

Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-05-31T14:05:00.002-07:00

May 30^th 2011

Well it sounds like things are just moving along. I saw the picture Jackie took at the cemetery. Everyone looks the same except the boys with their long hair and 5 inches taller. Ellie looked taller as well. It’s crazy how much goes on in a year. This week was pretty good. Monday after emailing we had a bunch of time to do stuff so I wrote 10 letters! Some of them were longer than others but still that’s a lot. Hopefully that will result in some mail. We'll see. My companion really likes to take care of his skin and stuff so at 5 we went to a nail salon and got our eye brows waxed. I had never done it and I am willing to try anything so I went ahead and did it myself. I probably won't ever do it again. It wasn’t bad or anything. The lady looked at me and told me I don’t really need it cuz my eye brows aren't that crazy. I'm just not a very hairy person I guess. The rest of the night we just saw a bunch of people. Tuesday was a great day! We had interviews with president Jardine and then training as well from sister Jardine. It was great. They trained on correcting out of love as well as accepting correction even when it isn't done out of love. We didn't get done with those till 5! So we went home got ready to go then the Spanish elders picked us up cuz we were going to have dinner with them and a Mexican family in their ward. Elder Garcia hooks us up because he is from Mexico and he will talk to them at church and stuff and then they want us to come over. They love it when you eat a lot of their food because they think that means you like it so they love me as well. Little do they know I’ll eat anything. Afterwards we went out and visited an investigator named Lashanda. It was good. We set up an appointment with her for Friday. We also met another Mexican member and they invited us over for dinner on Saturday when they fed their elders ha. It’s awesome because I do love Mexican food. Wednesday I had a leadership meeting in the morning. It was good. Then we had lunch. We had to rush over to a lady named Anita’s house. She is black and is African American. She is also Jehovah Witness. We pretty much bashed the whole time. She said we can come over this Wednesday again but probably not anymore. Probably because she couldn't explain to me why her church doesn't have a prophet when her bible says there will always be one. Then we had to ride our bikes as fast as we could for a long time to have a lesson with a girl named Lachelle. She is YSA so we were going to be teaching her with the zone leaders so they could take over afterwards. She wasn't home though. Then we went to see a lot of people. We then had dinner with the Lindsey’s. It was pretty good. We had fried chicken ha. Then we had a correlation meeting with our ward mission leader and ward missionaries then we rushed over to an appointment but the guy wasn't home so we went and visited Nancy. Then we went home. Thursday morning we had a district meeting. It was good. I hope. I trained on inviting people to make commitments, how to get them to commit then how to follow up on it. It was good. Then we roll played committing people to living the Word of Wisdom, the Law of Chastity, or the Law of Tithing. It was fun. We had lunch then I went on exchanges with Elder Taufu'i and Elder Shelton. They are in a three some so it was fun. They are in the Elk Grove Park ward. The one I used to be in. It was fun. We switched back up that night. Friday we had weekly planning. Then we had an appointment with Lashanda. A member came with us and it was good. She has a lot of really good questions; she just needs to let us teach so we can answer them. Then we went tracting. We had dinner with a member and they took us out to hometown buffet. It’s the same thing as old country buffet. It was super good. They had steak. Then we went and talked with a less active member. After that we went and visited Clair. It was her birthday. Saturday we had a lot of appointments but only one held. We just talked to a lot of people other than that. The appointment was with a kid named Brian. He was a joke. He let us teach the whole restoration lesson but then told us reading and praying would be a waste of his time. Oh well people can do what they want I guess. We went tracting later that day then hurried up to our dinner with the Mexican family. We had Chicken Mole (molay) which I know Uncle David would be jealous of. It was super good. Then we stopped at the pharmacy to get some more Sudafed cuz I hadn't been taking it for a month and my allergies were getting bad again but now I’m all good. Sunday I went to sacrament meeting at the Elk Grove building with the Elk Grove Park ward. It was awesome. I was down there doing a baptismal interview for a guy named Anthony. Finally someone passed... Church was good and I got to say hi to a lot of old friends. Then I went back up to church in our ward. It was good. This guy gave an amazing talk on being a disciple as well and being disciplined and how they are the same. I took notes it was so good. Then we went home had dinner then went on a blitz it was good. Then we went to sleep. Today I am sad to say I did not do anything fun. We played soccer but had to leave early cuz our ride was leaving. Now I am emailing. We are going to go to Sam’s club with a member now and it should be fun. I hope everything back home is going good.

Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-05-31T14:05:00.001-07:00

May 23^rd 2011

So this week was swell except for the rain, which soaked me from Monday through Wednesday morning. Monday night was an ok night. My companion wanted to leave an hour early so he could get his eye brows waxed. So the place turned out to be closed on Mondays so we biked out into the rain and hour early for no reason. I didn't think it was going to rain so I didn't even wear my rain pants over my normal pants. After we got some Panda Express. Then we went home. Tuesday was a nice day, except for the rain. I swear rain will be the death of me. We went to an appointment; they weren't home, so we went and visited Nancy. She was doing good. She hasn't drank for like a whole week so once we get the guyout it will all be good to go for her to get baptized. After that we went and saw Sandy. She was a lady that we met because some random black lady told us to go see her. She is nice. Her whole family is LDS but she has been too busy taking care of her husband with cancer to do anything. So when we got there on Tuesday she was outside crying. Her husband had passed away on Saturday. She wasn't taking it too good. She said it wasn't the fact that he died it was the way it happened. I guess he suffered all day Saturday then passed away at night. We shared a short message and prayed for her. We have another appointment with her this Thursday. Hopefully things work out for her cuz the gospel could really bless her life. Then we went home and had lunch. We had to rush to the other side of our area to make it to an appointment. The lady was asleep and not feeling well so we went to see our backups. It poured so hard for like 20 min. then completely stopped and the sun came out. It was super weird. We talked to a lot of interesting people on Tuesday but it was fun. Wednesday I went with the Zone Leaders and two other District leaders in the zone and we all drove down to Lodi at 8 for a leadership training meeting. It was awesome! It was funny cuz President and Sister Jardine were way more into business and hard core mode because we were all leaders and so we could all mostly understand what was happening and how important it was. It was an awesome meeting. I got to see some good friends from the mission. Elder Byrum took me to lunch and we hung out for a little bit. He is a cool chill guy. After the meeting I met Elder Garcia at a lady’s house. He was in a lesson with another missionary there. It was good and we will be going back on Wednesday. The lady is a Jehovah witness. She is confused. We had a great Japanese dinner at the Hahn’s. They were the ones who let us call home at their house. They both grew up in Hawaii and have a Ukulele but no one knows how to play it so they let me mess around with it sometimes. After dinner we had correlation then we went and talked to a guy who told us the Pope is the beast that is going to usher in the second coming. He was nice though. Thursday we had district meeting in the morning. I trained on what President Jardine trained us on. Getting people to church. It was good. I also trained on contacting people on the streets and getting return appointments with them. Afterwards we had a couple of appointments that fell through so we tracted for a good long while. It was good. We later went and saw some nice Referrals we had received. We had Sam’s Club pizza at home for dinner. A member dropped it off and me and Elder Garcia ate the whole Pepperoni one and left the combination to Elder Pelfrey and Elder Bevridge. He didn't give us a drink though. I guess he thought Elder Bevridge had that one taken care of... just kidding. I like his name... After dinner we went out with a member to see a few people we had appointments with. They all fell through so we went and saw a less active lady. It was fun. He did a good job calming her down though. He is awesome. Him and his family will be getting sealed this weekend after him just being baptized a year ago! It’s awesome. Friday we had weekly planning. Then we went out to go to an appointment we had. The guy wasn't home but there was a girl outside next door to his house so we went over and talked to her. She had met with missionaries in the past but she got a new number so they couldn't get in contact with her anymore. She was real cool. We taught her and it was awesome. She will be YSA though. We again tracted a lot. It was fun. I enjoy tracting. At the beginning of my mission I loved it but then I stopped liking it but now I like it again. It’s fun. We had dinner at a Meinh person’s house. It was a really good soup they make. It had different kinds of meat in it as well as cow stomach. Elder Garcia told us he wouldn't eat anything weird so we told him they were noodles then revealed the truth afterwards. Cow stomach is actually called Tripe which isn't bad at all. We went to see Dave and Heidi afterwards. No suits and ties... They told us to call next time because they are going through some crap and don't want us to see it. As if we haven’t seen it already. Saturday the world was supposed to end! According to a preacher in Oakland. I don't know if reached all over the United States but this guy said he calculated it and Saturday at six p.m. in each time zone the apocalypse was going to start. Well it didn't. We went and saw a lot of people in the morning. We tracted a lot then we saw some people we are trying to get working with. We had dinner with a lady named Sister Reeder. We went and had a nice visit with Clair. She is trying to get out of the place she’s living in because some shady crap is going on there. Afterwards we went home to call people to set them up for church. Sunday... Sundays used to be my favorite day of the week as a missionary but now it’s the most stressful! Church was good. Mrs. Kelley came again and also had to leave after sacrament meeting because she is old and her back was hurting. Nancy came as well. She doesn't have any medicine for her mental disorder so she was all scared and stuff. We calmed her down enough to come to sacrament meeting then she had to go home because she was shaking too much. After church we had dinner. It was some good Meinh food. They cook a bunch of different Asian vegetables in different meats and it tastes real good over some sticky rice. Then we went and talked to a few people. We were trying to get as many people to President Jardines last Cottage meeting in Elk Grove. A cottage meeting is just President Jardine teaching basically the first lesson at the stake center. He rocks it though. Being a lawyer he can really talk in front of large crowds. We tried to get some people there but Nancy was too scared. Mrs. Kelley was too tired Clair had a seizure about an hour before so she couldn't go so we were banking on a less active lady and her three un baptized kids. They said they would come when we called them at 6. So we went and was waiting for them. The meeting started at 7:30 and they called us at 8 to tell us they weren't going to come. It was a good meeting though. Then we went home and planned then went to sleep. Today we aren't going to do much. One of our Zone leaders is going to Coloma which is an old history site where President Jardine takes all the missionaries that are about to go home. The other zone leader loves rock climbing so he was trying to get everyone to go to this place that cost 12 bucks to rock climb. I'm not exactly what people call light or skinny so it’s not fun for me. Only like 5 people are going. Everyone else is just going to do their own thing. We are going to write a bunch of letters. I don't get a lot so I decided I'm going to write a butt load of people, even if I've already written them without a response and hopefully it will result in more letters in the future. I guess I’m getting to the point where after a year no one remembers why they liked you and were friends with you so they don't care to correspond thinking if they liked you before they will later either way. I really don't think that but it sounds good. Well this is definitely one of my longer emails. It was fun to hear about everything going on back at home. Don't worry mom, in 51 weeks I’ll be home to relieve some of your chauffeuring duties. It’s exciting to hear about the boys and their sports. What position is Braden going to play? And that’s fun that porter can be a good pitcher. I hope everyone else is doing good. I love you guys a lot. This work is so awesome and so true. I have been taking a step back a lot lately during lessons and I like to picture what’s going on and even though it’s been a whole year it still seems so crazy that I'm actually a missionary. It feels so right to be doing missionary work. It’s a natural thing and its awesome doing what God wants you to do. Keep up the good work.

Love,

Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-05-16T17:16:00.001-07:00

May 16^th 2011

Well this week sounded like it was exciting... Monday was a good night. We went by to see a few people most weren't home but we had a good lesson with Nancy, the lady we had dropped but we felt like just seeing how she was doing. It was good. She and the guy living with her said they wanted to get married and quit drinking together so we said we would start working on that with them. When we were done with her it was time to go home. Tuesday morning we had a leadership meeting for the zone. It was good. We just talked about some of the things going on in our district and what we were planning on training on in the next district meeting. We had a lot of appointments on Tuesday but they all fell through except one. It was a bummer. We talked to some people; it was a fairly nice day. After dinner we had a lesson with a less active lady name Cynthia. She has 4 unbaptized kids so we are teaching them and getting them ready for baptism. After that we headed home. Wednesday we had district meeting.

It’s kind of weird being the one training rather than being trained too but it was good I think. It went pretty smooth so I liked it. Afterwards we had a lesson with a Jehovah Witness lady named Anita. We had a good lesson and agreed with many things. We have an appointment with her again this week and I have a feeling we won't agree as much when we teach the First Vision. We had a few other appointments that fell through. We had an appointment at one corner of our area and then we had dinner 8 miles away at the other corner. It was a good bike ride.

That day we had to of biked over 25 miles. After dinner we went home and waiting for the Zone leaders to come over so we could switch up for exchanges. Elder Clark came into my area. He is super awesome. On Wednesday Elder Clark and I had a great time. We went and taught Nancy in the morning. The guy that lives there wasn't there and she expressed her true feelings and she is terrified of the guy. On Tuesday he broke a mirror over her head! So she gave us her sister’s phone number and stuff so we can work with her to get him out of there. I feel like a secret agent. He is a bad guy.

He lied to our face about having beer. He had 3 cans of it in a sack and told us they were hot dogs. We had lunch at a Taco Truck. It was super tasty. Elder Clark was called Spanish so he likes Spanish missionaries more so we had lunch with all of them and it was cool.

Later we saw a bunch of people. Thursday was the day of crazy people.

I can't wait to tell people at home about the crazies here in Sac Town. I had to just walk away from people because people were making me laugh so hard from being so ridiculous. Elder Clark got a flat tire so we had to patch it up but we didn't have a pump then we had dinner at a buffet, then I had to go do my first baptismal interview. She failed. I felt bad but she will be baptized soon. She had to get another interview the next day from President Martinez in the mission presidency. Then we went and saw a few people and then went home to switch back up. Friday was a swell day. We had weekly Planning, went tracting then had a great lesson with a lady named Mrs. Kelley. She is like 80 years old but is totally solid and ready for the gospel. After the first vision she was crying and said, that’s what I want. We had dinner then another lesson with Cynthia and her kids. It was tight.

Then we went home. Saturday was crazy. It was cold so after going out all morning, thinking it would warm up; we had to go home to get sweaters on so we weren't freezing. We didn't have lunch till 3 then we had dinner at 5. It was too much food. We went to see a few people then we went to Cynthia’s to set them up for church even though they didn't come... Church was good on Sunday. Mrs. Kelley came. She loved it but had to leave after Sacrament meeting. She is awesome. We had good church then dinner then we had a blitz. Then we set some goals.

It was a good Sunday. We are still trying to find people to teach, it’s going great. The mission is on track to hit a record for May, I wanna help but people have to be ready first. Clair will count for May cuz she was confirmed in May so that helped. Well I hope you all have a good week. Good luck to Porter on Play offs, and Hayley graduating. I love you all. Oh yeah and if Brother Chaides reads this on my blog, know that the pizza was good and you rock! He found it a little while ago ha. See ya

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-05-10T14:01:00.001-07:00

May 9^th 2011

Well it sounds like things at home are just moving along. Hayley is as white as ever ha. This week has been pretty good. Kind of weird but I learned a lot and missionary work is just moving along. Tuesday night was spent visiting some different people. We had three appointments for all three hours we go out after P-day and none were home. So we visited some other people and it was good. The member that came out with us was a big basketball fan so he told us how the play offs were going. It sounds cool but not as cool as missionary work, and definitely not as satisfying. Wednesday morning Elder Hock got ready to take off. He left at around 9 and Elder Garcia-Gomez (my new companion) got here at around 9:30. He is full blown Mexican. He was born in Mexico but moved to San Diego when he was 9. So he has been here awhile but I still can't understand half of what he says. He is a cool kid. He had a different past but he’s on Jesus' team now so it’s all go. He works really hard and kicks my butt on the bike but waits up for me cuz I told him I had asthma and like everyone else he thinks I’m going to die if I do anything semi physically demanding. We had a lesson on Wednesday morning. They were nice people. The mom doesn't seem to want to commit to anything but they dad and the 14 year old son seem like this is something they have been looking for. I had a leadership meeting with the two other district leaders in our zone and the zone leaders. We just went over all our responsibilities because all three of us are first timers. Except the other two have been out 6 months more than me so they have more experience. It’s weird because I have no idea what I’m doing. But I’ll just keep working hard and doing what’s right and the Lord will bless me. After that meeting I had some lunch then we went out to visit some more people. We talked to some nice people. It was cool. We had a lesson with an old lady named Mrs. Kelley. She is like 80 something. She is looking for a church that fits her and she likes the LDS church a lot. But she doesn't like Mormons and she doesn't know that they are the same thing... we didn't tell her yet but we will this week. We had dinner with President Williams that night. It was awesome. He rocks. He is the stake president. We have gotten to know each other pretty well with me being here for my fifth transfer. I'm going to spend more than a 4th of my mission in the elk grove stake. I want to be a zone leader here some time. That would rock. After dinner we went and visited Clair. She is doing well as I said last night. Thursday morning we had district meeting. It was my first time training as a district leader. It was good. I trained on expecting miracles or Milagros as they say in Spanish as well as faith cuz they go together. Then we had lunch. We had two appointments after lunch that flaked on us but that’s how it goes some time. We visit a lot of good people. We tracted a bit then we had to go to dinner. There was a miscommunication and we went to the people’s house but they were dropping off at our house. They brought us pizza. We had pizza for dinner Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday nights. After dinner we taught a black lady named Lashanda. It was really good. We took a member with us. He taught real good but liked to teach things like baptism for the dead and stuff like that that had nothing to do with the first vision. But it was good. We went to Kyndras house to make sure she was still set for baptism. Her mom related to us that she wasn't going to get baptized yet because she has been bad and disobedient and she doesn't think she’s ready for it yet. But she doesn't know that baptism is what could help her most at this time. Friday we had weekly planning in the morning. We planned for some good things. It’s always interesting in the first weekly planning of the transfer because missionaries do it very different some times. The rest of the day was pretty weird. We talked to some good people. They were pretty nice. We tracted in the Ghetto and it was fun. We talked to a Jehovah witness for a while. She said she would agree with us if we didn't celebrate Easter. They are weird sometimes. We had some good dinner afterwards then we tracted some more. Saturday rocked! We had a mission wide leadership council. It was awesome. I felt weird because I was the third youngest missionary in the room. But I learned a lot and it was fun. That day was also Mormon Helping Hands where they go clean park and stuff but it was during the meeting. They had a huge BBQ for the stake and I saw a lot of old friends from the Elk Grove Park ward as well as the Waterman ward. It’s amazing how many people you meet out here. We saw a lot of people on Saturday. We didn't teach anyone but we met some really cool people on the streets. We had dinner with The Meisners, it was good. That night I got a flat tire so we had to walk home so I could fix it and by the time we got home it was 9. I fixed it though. Sunday was nice. We had a good church. I had to teach the lesson in gospel principles. It was good. It was on the gifts of the Spirit. We had dinner after church at a Meinh (some Asian language) person’s house and it was good though I didn't know what it was. Some meat soup with noodles or something. Then we called home! It was nice to hear that you had a fun time visiting. I had a good time waiting for the phone. The family was from Hawaii and they had a Ukulele even though none of them played it. I tuned it up for em and played a couple of songs out of the children’s song book. It was good and fun. After calling home we went to the church to meet the rest of the zone and set some good goals to find more people this week. Today was good. We played a good game of football. My team won. I say my team because I was the captain and picked winners. So it was good. Tell Grandma I'm sorry I didn't mention the camel in my last email. I did get the package. We all enjoyed the brownies and love the popcorn. The camel is hanging over my head on the bars of my bunk bed. So it’s all good. It was so nice to hear everyone’s voices. It was nice to hear more from Jeff this time. I miss you all a lot. It’s been year! This same date last year I gave my farewell talk. Its crazy how fast time flies. Well I have to go. Love ya all.

Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-05-03T23:23:00.000-07:00

May 3^rd 2011

The royal wedding eh... Ha that was a random paragraph but it was good. So Karen, Dad and Jackie are all right! It is the Wedding Singer. One of the best movies ever. This week was great. Things have been really happening here in California. On Monday we went to see Clara. She is doing awesome! We shared some good spiritual thoughts. It was a good visit. Tuesday was a crazy day. We saw a few people in the morning. We talked to a lot of random people on the streets and stuff. Then we had lunch. We saw a few people afterwards then did a lot of tracting. Then we had to ride to the farthest part of our area for dinner, it was fun though and we had Costco pizza for dinner and I love Costco pizza. We tried to see some people after dinner but didn't have much luck. We went to Kyndras house to talk to her but she wasn't home yet but we had an awesome conversation with her mom. She is a nice lady but just doesn't know the truth and doesn't want to know. Kyndras grandpa was sick and wasn't going to make it and he really wanted to be there so they decided to push it back to mother’s day which made our ward members mad but I don't care because her mom is letting her get baptized so we won't argue it. Then we went and visited Clara again. She was getting her interview for baptism on Wednesday so we decided to prepare her for that. She is awesome. Wednesday was another good day. We had an awesome district meeting in the morning. It was good. Then we went on exchanges with random people in the zone. I went with Elder Watko who lived in Scottsdale till he was ten then moved to Utah. He is super cool and it was a lot of fun. I got the packages on Wednesday! It was awesome, even though it was confusing with three things celebrated at once. It honestly does not feel like I'm coming up on a year in the next couple of days. The last 6 months have gone by so fast it’s crazy. Elder Watko and I tracted a lot. He is in Spanish work so it was cool to talk to Spanish and actually talk to them. We had dinner with the Williams. He is the Elders Quorum president and she is the Young woman’s president. His dad is also the Stake President. It was fun though. We were able to help them learn how to do more missionary work. Then we went and picked up Clara with our ward mission leader. He is a great guy. We were early to the church so we took her into the chapel to play the piano for us. She is good. It was cool to see a white female version of Ray Charles. Then she had her interview with President Dalton, one of President Jardines councilors. He is a great guy. They both had a great experience. He said she was totally ready for baptism and said she prays so good she could teach a class on it, which is totally true. Clara gives amazing prayers. And we found out that night that her name isn't even Clara. It’s Clair but she didn't care. Thursday we went out and talked to a lot of people on the streets. There are some crazy people out here. The rest of the day after lunch was kind of lame. We didn't have anything cool really happen. We saw some people had a really good dinner though. An older couple took us to On The Border and I got me a chimichanga and man did it make me miss Mattas! It was good though. The wind has been ridiculous this week! It was so hard all the time and it’s only going with you in one direction but is against you in three. My legs are getting a great work out, that’s for sure. We saw Clair again because she was getting baptized on Saturday! Friday we had a great weekly planning. We saw a few people that lived on opposite sides of our area, which takes an hour to bike across and it was against the wind. Both weren't home but that’s how it goes sometimes. We had to get things ready for the baptism and we had a blitz in our area on Sunday we had to prepare for so we did that a lot on Sunday. We made calls and programs for the baptism. Then we went to Clair's to go over the program and show her or tell her how the baptism will happen with the hand placement and stuff. It was good. Saturday Clair got baptized! It was awesome. She slipped getting into the font and landed on her butt on the steps and she yelped out a loud scream and it scared everyone there. It was sad but she got in fine after that. She had asked me to baptize her so I did and it was awesome. She is great. Afterwards Elder Hock bought my lunch at subway for my birthday even though it was two days away. Then we went and saw a lot of random people. We had to finish up some stuff for our blitz on Sunday. A blitz for those who don't know is where all the missionaries in the zone go to one area to knock doors or if it’s a member blitz the members go with a missionary and see investigators in the area and part member families and potential investigators. It’s cool. So we had to make routes for everyone and maps and stuff. We went tracting and tried to see some people but no one was really home. We tried to see Kyndra like five times during the week but they never answered the door and she didn't come to church this week so were hoping for the best. Sunday Clair was supposed to get confirmed but she is an epileptic (spelling is probably wrong) and she had two really bad seizures that morning so she was in the hospital so that night Elder Hock went with a member and gave her a blessing. She is doing real good now. We had church and it was good. The blitz went great. I got to teach a Hindu guy and it was the biggest waste of time because he tried to teach us the whole time. He was nice though but said we shouldn't eat meat. I like meat. Monday was another day of goodness too. We blitzed two other areas from 10-12 then from 1-3 with a lunch buffet in between. It was a warm day and it drained me of all energy. It was fun though. We had dinner with the Bishop last night. He is super cool and loves cheese so he always has a bunch of different kinds and it was good stuff. We tried to see Kyndra again with no luck then we got our transfer calls... I was not expecting what happened. Elder Hock is getting transferred to be a senior companion with Elder Crager my last companion. I thought I was going to leave and he was staying but not so. I am staying to be the District Leader over the district I'm in. Hopefully I don't preach too much false doctrine. My new companion is Elder Garcia from San Diego. He is a Mexican and couldn't go to the MTC cuz he couldn't cross the California border. Ha. He is cool I hear and I’m excited to serve with him. He's been out for about 4 and half months now. I think.

So I have church at 1-4. We are planning on having a baptism for Kyndra after church at 4:30 so we probably won't be able to call till 5:30 at the earliest after church but that’s fine with me. We will have to see what my companion can do. So probably plan on 5:30 to 6 for the call. Well I have to go. I'll be speaking to you on Sunday so bye.

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-05-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

This is an experience that Elder Arnett had and shared with his Mission President, the Mission Presidents wife and other missionaries. It was the story that he told that made the Mission Presidents wife cry and he wrote this to us and sent it. We thought it was awesome and we wanted to share it with you.

April 29^th 2011

So Elder Hock and I knocked on this guy’s door one day and his dad answers. He freaked out and said he didn’t want to waste his time with our false doctrines. Well we told him we wanted to talk to his son so he went and got him and we were talking while the dad was off in another room reading the bible. We talked for maybe 8 minutes then we were going to leave but before we did we just kind of explained our basic belief about the restoration. His dad freaked again and came running to the door and said “I don’t want to hear any more of your blasphemy!” So we started to walk away and he followed us outside and said he was going to escort us off his property. Well we got to our bikes and he was being a jerk and trying to rush us then he tried to tell us we believed in a different Jesus and he said it like 10 times. So finally I turned around and said “Last I heard there was only one” and that made him pretty mad then he started yelling something about how we must not believe in Jesus then and as we were walking out of his gate he said “when you die, Jesus is going to remember everything you ever did and what’s he going to think about you two?” Now I’m super angry so I turn around and look him straight in the eye and say “he’ll remember that I gave two years of my life to serve Him!” He had nothing to say to that and so he just stormed off. After that moment I was left in deep contemplation for the rest of the day. I thought, yeah I’ve given two years and I’m out here but that doesn’t mean I’m working or serving Him. A mission is pointless and has no meaning if you don’t give it your all. I realized that day that I wanted to start saving treasures in Heaven rather than be comfortable here. To really serve Christ I have to be exactly obedient. I have to talk to every single person I see and invite them to covenant with God and be baptized. And I have to teach with the spirit. That jerk of a guy has changed my mission. I haven’t been this tired or sore. I’ve grown a lot these last few weeks and its fun to be serving. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-04-25T17:40:00.001-07:00

April 25^th 2011

It sounds like you had an eventful week mom. You should have ran the guy over. I would have... But you think a little more before you do things than I do. So this week was really good. We had a few ups and then some downs but everything is working out just great. Monday night we went and taught Clara then went to see the Childress'. Brother Childress is over 400 lbs. His wife is a member but he isn't but will be soon. Every time we go over there, no matter what topic we start off talking about, it always ends up that we talk about food. They love food and aren't bad at cooking either. It’s always a good time when we go over there. I forgot my planner again so I probably won't remember anything else for the rest of the week. Tuesday we did a lot of contacting people on the street and tracting. We have been blessed this transfer with super elect people that get baptized but it takes time out of the day to find new investigators. So we have been concentrating on that so our teaching pool just doesn't die when we baptize Kendra and Clara. On Wednesday we had district meeting. It went pretty well. I really like district meeting. We learned some good things about how to teach our investigators about repentance and faith in the atonement. Our zone has been doing really good with hitting our goals in teaching contacting adding new investigators and things like that so instead of them teaching us on those things they can teach us how to help others more. It’s great. Then we went and did some more tracting. We had a great lesson with Kendra and prepared her for her interview the next day. She was supposed to get baptized yesterday but I’ll tell more about that at the end. We then went to Clara’s. She has been doing real well. She was scheduled for this Sunday but she drank Coffee on Monday and has to be clean from all stuff for a week so we have it scheduled for the 30th, this Saturday. On Thursday we did some more finding activities. My allergies have been getting me pretty good so I have to take Benadryl and Sudafed to help me out and it makes me tired so I downed a mtn. dew to get me going in the day. We talked to some nice people all week and got some great return appointments. That night Kyndra (that’s how it’s really spelled) got her interview. She did great and her mom even signed the baptismal record so it’s great. Friday we had weekly planning. We planned some great things in. Then our zone leaders came over and shared with us our transfer reports. I grew a lot this past transfer but I definitely need to keep working on some things. We went out and saw a feel people the rest of the day. We had dinner with someone nice I'm sure but I can't remember. Then we switched up for exchanges with Elder Campbell and Elder Baumer. I went with Elder Baumer in his area. Saturday was fun with him. We taught a lesson first thing in the morning then we went and got some wings for lunch. It was tasty. Then we saw a bunch of random people in his area. We had another lesson with a couple of recent converts. They were pretty cool and reminded me of some of my friends back at home. Then we went to dinner with a member. Their son was super negative and annoying but the people were really nice. Then we went to a second dinner which we didn't know would be dinner. These hard core Jewish people invited us over to have their Satur or whatever it’s called. It’s supposed to be for Passover around Easter. Well it turns out it is a big ol dinner where they eat a bunch of Jewish food that symbolizes some of the things their people went through. They go through it for like two hours and it takes a long time so we just ate and talked about the symbolism then we had to leave. Some of the food was interesting but most of it was really good and it was super fun to hear more about their religion. They have a lot of similarities to ours with some of their rituals and stuff. They were super nice people and I enjoyed visiting with them. Too bad Satan is covering their mind about Jesus Christ being the savior of the World. Then we switched back up from exchanges. It’s nice to take a break from your own area and stuff but I was glad to be back with Elder Hock and in our area. Sunday was a roller coaster. We called Clara in the morning and she said she wasn't coming to church and that she wasn't sure she wanted to join anymore... we were so shocked. So we talked her through it all, had her pray and ask God what he wanted for her and then we had a friend of hers who is a member give her a call to reassure her. She ended up coming but way early with a member who sings in the choir so I went early to sit with her while Elder Hock went to pick up Kyndra and Aunieshia with a member. We were super stoked for Kyndras baptism after church. I got bored so I ended up going and helping the choir out and practiced with them. They needed help. Trust me. Not every ward can rock like ours and with Brother Coffin as the new director I’m sure they rock even more. Well Elder Hock didn't show up for a while so I called him and he said Kyndra wasn't coming to church... if she doesn't come she can't get baptized so I was straight trippin. Her mom ended up calling us during sacrament meeting to tell us she wanted to move the baptism back two weeks so more family and friends could be there which I am all for. But that would have been some information that would have been better brought to my attention yesterday. (Name the movie, Jackie can't answer cuz she knows it for sure) So that was a bummer on Sunday. To top it off, no one signed up to feed us on Easter Sunday... but it was a good day overall. It was great singing with the choir and we had some great testimonies of people that the bishop selected. I taught the Gospel Essentials class on baptism, something I’ve learned a lot about, and it went well. We got to help out in sharing time again in primary and it was real fun. I love little kids. That evening we had a blitz. It was real good. We walked a lot and it was for the Spanish ward so I didn't say one word to anyone the whole time cuz I know no Spanish at all. It was fun though talking with the missionary I was with. Then we had a goal setting meeting and then we went home. This week was good and I can see great things coming up with in the week. Hopefully I get to stay another transfer with Elder Hock. I won't be emailing till Tuesday next week because of transfers. Also let me know what time I should call on mother’s day, I have church from 1 to 4 so probably not then, so just let me know what time and what number to call that day. But if I get transferred then it might be different so we'll see. I'll let you know for sure next week. Well I love you.

Bye

Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-04-18T19:50:00.001-07:00

April 18^th 2011

Man it sounds like you all had a fun jam packed week! I thought the letter was a good one. I'm glad Ellie liked hers cuz it took me sooo long to write ha. Oh and Hayley I don't recall a letter from you that I didn't reply to and it took you forever to get that address for me so I think I deserve another one. And Elder Buttars didn't want to write Hayley back because she didn't seem like she was that excited when she wrote him back. I don't know... So this week was really good! I hope you all are ready to hear of another miracle. So Monday we had dinner with our bishop and then we went and visited Clara. She is the blind lady. We taught her and her roommate and it went really good. Her roommates name is Trisha but she isn't that interested she just wants to listen. Then when we got home Elder Pelfrey and Elder Bevridge told us the miracle. So this 13 year old girl named Kendra came to church with their investigator and she was white so she is ours to teach well we went over to her house last week and her mom was a super jerk and was really mean and told us she couldn't come to church or be baptized and a bunch of other crap. Well when the other Elders got home they told us that Kendra told their investigator that her mom had changed her mind and that she could be baptized. So on Tuesday we had Zone Training from President Jardine and it was amazing. We told everyone about the miracle. Now it’s a miracle because both Elder Hock and myself fasted for it on Sunday and it happened! It was amazing. Well President loved the story and so that was good. And then in training I made Sister Jardine cry by telling a story that made me into the missionary I am right now. It happened at the beginning of the transfer. I don't know if I ever told you or not but I’ll write it in a letter to make sure. It’s a good one. Then we went and saw a bunch of people. We had a few appointments fall through so we went over to Kendra’s house early to talk to her Mom but she wasn't home yet so we just talked to her and she said that her mom said she could be baptized if she got her grades up. We were still weary though because we wanted to hear from the mom first hand. Then we had dinner and then saw Aunsieshia. We had a really good lesson with her then we went and saw Nancy and she isn't progressing at all so we dropped her. Then we went home. So Wednesday we did service for a lady that thinks she needs a wheel chair but walks fine and it was stupid because she had me mow her grass with a weed eater. Then we had lunch and then we went tracting. It was a good tracting. We talked to a lot of Mexicans and I speak no Spanish at all. Then we went to see Kendra again to talk to her Mom but they had company so the Mom asked us to come back the next day and she was actually real nice about it. Then we went and talked to Aunieshia for a little bit then we went to teach Clara again. We had another really good lesson with her on the Plan of Salvation and then we went home. Thursday was another awesome day as a missionary! We spent the whole morning biking around just talking to random people on the street. Then after lunch we tried to see this girl we had an appointment with. She wasn't home so we went and visited the Mejias who is Sabrina’s family who is eight who got baptized with Lexy. They were having meat sandwiches and they were really tasty. Then we tried to go to another appointment but that guys address didn't exist. Something we run into a lot with the ghetto people of Florin. Then we went to Kendra’s. She wasn't home from school yet because she is trying to get her grades up so she can get baptized. So we said we would come back later. We had dinner with the Lindsey’s. They are old and he originally married her sister but she died and her husband died so they got married. Then we went and taught Aunieshia. It was good. We then went over to Kendra’s for reals this time. We went in and taught the restoration. Her mom was real nice again and the spirit was super strong. At the end of the lesson Kendra’s mom told us that Kendra had been asking if she could get baptized and she was wondering when we wanted to do that. Her mom asked us! What a miracle change of heart! We said the 24th which is this Sunday and Clara is getting baptized then as well. Kendra told us that she only had a few pages left in The Book of Mormon and she had only had it for a little less than a month! How awesome is this girl?! Then we went home. Friday we had weekly planning and we saw a lot of random people and tracted then had dinner then we went to visit Aunieshia one last time before her baptism the next day. She is great and will be an awesome member. Saturday we got everything ready for Aunieshias baptism. Lina and Brandon two Lao kids got baptized at the same time. Our ward has a Lao and Meinh group in it. That’s what you have before a branch. So Elder Pelfrey and Elder Bevridge are in our ward. It’s great. Aunsieshia asked me to baptize her and it was real cool. She is a bigger gal so I had to dunk her hard and the water flew up over the steps ha. Then we went to lunch with the zone leaders. We saw a bunch of random people and then went tracting. We had dinner with a guy who got baptized last year and is working on going to the temple soon. He is awesome and has a lot of faith. Then we went and taught Clara. She was doing good. Sunday Clara got her first interview before church. She will need two because she has had an abortion well actually three but it only takes one for a second interview. So that went good. It was weird having a blind lady to church because she had to hold on to my arm and I had to walk her to all her classes. But it was nice. Kendra came as well with Lina. Aunieshia was confirmed by the bishop during sacrament meeting. It was great. We had a blitz that night and I went with Elder Baummer and we went tracting. It was fun. Today we went to Old Sac. Which is like the first place settled in Sacramento. It’s nothing really special and its only fun if you buy stuff. I got a shirt with the Sacramento flag on it. So that was my week. It was awesome and we had a huge great miracle. I was excited for Aunieshia and am excited for Clara and Kendra. Well I have to go. The Lord is blessing us so freaking much it’s amazing. Who knew hard work and exact obedience would pay off this much. Love ya.

Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

P.S.- oh yeah and if you want me to get my birthday package by my birthday you will probably need to send it Monday the 25th or I won't get it in time. Cuz my birthday is the day before transfers and they hold our mail starting either Thursday or Friday so it won't get to me probably till a week after my birthday. Just saying...

2011-04-11T20:45:00.001-07:00

April 11^th 2011

There are four of us in one apartment. It’s so much fun too! We all get along this transfer and its super fun to be around each other. Me and Elder Pelfrey get along the best. It’s funny because my best friend dated his cousin. Andrew being my best friend and Analiese Mecham (I don't know how to spell her last name) being his cousin. It’s a lot of fun. I'm not really losing any weight though. This stage of P90X is mostly just making me build muscle and me and Elder Hock have been riding our bikes pretty hard lately, so I have stayed the same weight but I feel and I think I look a little slimmer and life is getting slightly easier for me. Elder Pelfrey said the next stage, which I think we start this week, will make me lose more weight cuz it’s not as much strength stuff as cardio and stuff like that. I have no clue if the guy stole my bike or bought it from the guy that did but I know for a fact it’s mine. It had the CTR bikes sticker still on it and they only sell bikes to missionaries, as well it had my speedometer and fender and you can just tell when it’s your own possession. He drove down the street after us and took a picture with his phone. We will be ok because I needed it for a good reason. I like my new bike better so I ride it all the time. Elder Hocks bike has been broken since Christmas so he has been borrowing another missionaries but it’s being retarded and gets a flat tire like every day. So he is riding my old one now but will be getting his bike fixed today. I made the decision while listening to President Monsons talk in the priesthood session to not watch Glee when I get home. It was one of my favorite shows but I can do without it. I'll just listen to the music from it. This week was swell. It got kind of cold and my body almost got sick but I take 1000 mg of vitamin c every day and it helps a lot with colds as well as allergies. That along with Claritin every morning has helped me fight off allergies so far. They say Sacramento is the worst place for allergies so that’s kind of dumb for me to be here but maybe I’ll experience it here so my immune system will get stronger and it will be like I don't even have them when I get home. Hopefully I can continue to fight it all off. So this week was good. We had a great lesson with Clara on Monday night, she’s the blind lady. It was really good and we committed her to be baptized on the 24th of April and she accepted but didn't come to church this week so we might have to push it back a week. Then we switched up for exchanges with Elder Campbell. He came with me in my area and it was really good. Tuesday we did a lot random contacting. We met with Kendra the friend of a thirteen year old Lao girl that Elder Pelfrey is baptizing. She is awesome! She has come to church twice and wants to be baptized so bad, too bad her mom is full of Satan. She went to a lesson with the Lao girl and Elder Pelfrey gave her a book of Mormon and told her to read 2 Nephi 31. When we asked her if she read, she got all embarrassed and said she read that and everything from the beginning through that chapter! She is awesome but her mom won't let her get baptized and she can't come to church until her grades are up. Wednesday we had a wonderful district meeting. We taught Clara again and went by Aunieshias house. She was set for the 16th but we hadn't talked to her forever. We went over and she wasn't home again but her sister said to try and call her. So we did and she said we could come over the next day and talk with her. I was a little nervous because I honestly thought she was going to drop us but when we taught her the next day, she was super solid. It was amazing. We taught her the Big 3 (word of wisdom, law of tithing, and chastity). It was real good and she said she wanted to still be baptized on the 16th, so she came to church yesterday and got her interview and is now set for Saturday! It was so awesome to hear that. Thursday was good. We taught Nancy and she is a bogen. She is drinking again, and she refuses to kick the guy out. So we will back off of her for a while. Friday was another good day. I can't remember what we did but I assume it was good. Saturday we had a great day. We taught Aunieshia again as well as Clara. They are both great! I forgot my planner this week so I honestly can't remember anything we did this week. It felt like a really long week. It’s going to get back up the 70s this week so that is great. Sunday was a good day. We had an amazing testimony meeting. All four of us missionaries serving in the ward bore our testimonies. It was good not only because of that but because everyone who got up there centered their testimonies on the savior. Then we taught primary. The teacher for the 8-11 year olds didn’t show, they have a small primary. So we taught their class and then had singing time with them. It was a lot of fun. We got to help out with sharing time and talk a little about baptism. It was fun being in there but its weird cuz they just sing random songs and it’s random. We found out that the annoying black family that lives above us in our apartment complex went to another ward where their son recently got baptized and they want us to teach them so that was a miracle. The son actually got baptized in the Elk Grove Park Ward, where I used to serve. He lives in a group home but his family lives above us and they are super interested. Idk why they didn't just talk to us. They see us multiple times a day. Oh well. Well I get to write my email to my mission president with in the next ten min so I got to go. I love you all.

Love Elder Arnett

P.S.- Ellie I did get your letter! I loved it. I will write you back a letter today. I love you and miss you! Also Hayley if you want a letter a good way to get one is to write me one... just saying.

2011-04-04T14:45:00.000-07:00

April 4^th 2011

Joe is freaking marrying Jamie Peterson!!! That is crazy. I hung out with her a lot after we graduated. Good job Joe. You got lucky. So this week was just AWESOME! The light bulb has finally turned on for me and missionary work is the greatest!

Monday night we had dinner with a part member family. They made some great Mexican food and it was a lot of fun. We got along great with their family. Then we went and gave Clara her braille Book of Mormon. She wasn't home but we dropped it off. Then we went home. Tuesday was great. We had a lesson with a YSA guy named Curtis. We taught him a good lesson and it was fun. We had to pass him off to the zone leaders. Like everyone we teach. Then we had lunch. We went and saw a few people in the top of our area and this is where it happened!!!! I FOUND MY FREAKING BIKE!!!! We were riding and came around a corner and I saw it on someone’s driveway. I called our zone leaders and they came and picked it up with their bike rack. It was awesome. I got my new bike on Monday so now I have two. I made a video that was awesome. I told the story in it. I will send it home as soon as you send me my other card back. We had to flee the area after that because the guy came out of his garage and took a picture of us so we went to Lexys house and chilled with them for an hour. We had a lesson across our area but she wasn't home so we went tracting but had to end early because President Jardine wanted me to call the police so I was safe. We then went tracted closer to our apartment then had a good dinner. Wednesday was kind of weird but it was great because missionary work is great. It’s so easy to go out in nice weather that’s in the 80's when you like talking to people and you have an amazing companion that loves the work as much as you. It’s so amazing! We went and saw a few people in the morning. We talked to a lot of people on the streets and then had lunch. We saw some more people after lunch and then went tracting. We found some great people tracting and it was just great. I love it! We had dinner with Brother Meisner, one of the ward missionaries. He takes us out once a month for pizza and it was good. Then we had a great lesson with Clara the blind lady. She is solid and loves her Book of Mormon. She watched, or listened, to conference so when we go over there tonight we are going to give her a date to be baptized on the 24th which is a Sunday but its Easter so we thought that would be special. Then we went home. Thursday rocked because we had Zone Conference. It was amazing. It was on the Atonement and it made me realize how much it has helped me in my life especially as a missionary. Afterwards we had a good lesson with a Marshaleese guy. They are islanders around Kiribati but not Kiribati. He is a member but he is very less active but wants to come back. He was great. Then we had dinner with Brother Shaffer. He took us to Denney’s and it was good. We saw a couple of people afterwards and it was nice. Friday was a good day as well. We had a great weekly planning in the morning. Me and my companion get along great so it’s not bad being around him all the time. We have an awesome apartment and it’s just so much fun. We all get along and serve each other and no one talks bad about the others. I have been doing P90X with Elder Pelfrey in the mornings. I am getting in a lot better shape. It’s super hard and I’m so sore from it but it is improving the quality of my life and I’m happier from it. Exercising sends endorphins to your brain and endorphins make you happy and happy people don't kill people. Name the movie and get a prize (letter). Maybe. We saw a few good people. We got a return with a nice lady named Patty, she seems excited. Then we went tracting then had dinner with Brother Wheeler our ward mission leader. Then we tried to see Aunsieshia but she wasn't home. We had to push her date back a week cuz we haven’t talked to her for 5 days. Saturday ROCKED! We had conference of course and then went to Mr. Pickles, the second best sub shop in the world, Steve's being the best of course. The sub did make it into my top 10 though. Then we went back for some more conference. Then we went home and made some phone calls, then we went to priesthood. It was amazing as always with some big hitters. Then we went home and had dinner. Sunday was even better. We had conference again in the morning, the best session of the series. Then we went to another church building for lunch. A member cooked for all the missionaries. Then we went back for some more feasting of the spirit. After the close of conference me and Elder Hock went out and talked to 27 people in an hour. It was crazy! Then we had a blitz then a meeting with the zone. We set some good goals and I got everyone pumped with a vision I had. I'll write it and send it as a letter cuz I’m out of time. Well as you are all aware, or if your not you will be now, my birthday is coming up in less than a month. I don't care what you send me, I just have 3 requests. First I want a beautiful Red and Blue tie. I have 5 of them and they are my favorites. Not because of Mtn. View but because I love them. I would also like a tie rack that can be hung up in a closet like a coat hanger hangs. That would be cool. I also want a CD. Not any ordinary CD though. I want Another Testament. It’s the same as reflections of Christ but for the Book of Mormon. I like it but no one has it. That’s all I really want. Well I love you.

Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-03-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

March 28^th 2011

Well this week just sounded like a blast. Well it sounds like things are going really fun other than that. Back to baseball and new sports. All i have to tell Braden is to try his hardest and don't quit because even though its hard its worth it in the end and even though your small now, you will grow and be able to handle it. Just work hard. Working hard is the only way to do anything. I learned that a lot this week. This week rocked and there are going to be Miracles coming up thats for sure. The rest of tuesday was spent cleaning up our apartment and visiting people so Elder Crager could say bye. It was good. Wednesday we got up and got Elder Crager and Elder Forrester off and then Elder Hock came in. President told me he was one of the most positive missionaries out here and i totally agree. He rocks!!! He is seriously one of my favorite companions already. He is super different and weird but he is so loving and he works his butt off no matter what and that is amazing. We waited for Elder Pelfreys companion, Elder Beveridge to get to our apartment. He didn't get there till 12 so we just had lunch went and talked with Nancy. She had talked to the Sherriff but we couldn't talk about what because the bad guys were around. After that good lesson we went and visited a few people. We taught a guy that is YSA age and so after the lesson we gave his info to our Zone leaders. It was a great lesson. Then we went tracting for a while. We found a lot of great people even though it was raining. It rained all freaking week. It didn't do me so well either. We had dinner that night with the Stake President. He is super awesome and very missionary minded. It was a great meeting. Then we visited sister Childress. She talked about food a lot. It was fun and we talked about health a little too. Thursday we had an awesome District meeting. Our leader’s rock and it was great. We went tracting after lunch, in the rain, and we found some good people again. We visited a lot of people after that and it was grand. We had dinner at home. We stripped down and let our clothes dry a little then we went back out and visited a few nice people. Friday we had an awesome weekly planning session. Elder Hock has some great ideas and a great attitude towards the work so it’s just awesome. The rest of Friday was spent biking around to appointments as well as talking to a lot of people. It wasn't raining so more people were out but then it started to rain later. We had poop for dinner which was in the form of nachos. If there was a lot of it i wouldn't had minded eating poop but i couldn't even get full off the half a plate i had. Then we saw a few people. That was when i got sick. I had a cold and i decided that i was getting sick because of the Mold in our closet. It’s not just a little bit either. After waking up and feeling like death on Saturday i called Sister Adams, the health coordinator, and she freaked that we had mold. I guess it’s a big deal, especially cuz i have asthma. So we have been sleeping out in the family room on the couches so we don't die. They wanted us to move in with our Zone leaders but i like the couch better than my bed. Yes mom the names of all the girls are correct and the date is as well. Saturday Elder Hock went to a baptism in his last area and i went with Brother Wheeler our ward mission leader to a lesson with Aunsieshia. It was awesome. She had a few concerns but we resolved them and the next day at church we committed her to work towards the 16th for baptism! It was great. We were supposed to have dinner with an Asian and i was super excited but they canceled on us so we had subway. That was a huge bummer. After dinner we went and taught a few people too. Sometime in the week, i can't remember when, we taught a blind lady named Clara. It was awesome. She is solid. She wants a braille book of Mormon and we got it for her today. It is six binders long. One binder only has the intro through 2nd Nephi. It’s crazy. As well i finally got my freaking bike today. It looks really pretty and rides like a champ. So now i can get back to work and step it up a notch and baptize a butt load!!!! Well this week was great and things are going awesome. I am so excited to serve with Elder Hock! My mission rocks!

Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

Baptisms

2011-03-22T23:02:00.000-07:00

March 22^nd 2011

Well that was good to hear about all the missionaries and the church in Japan. We have been getting storms like crazy here. They say it’s because of the radiation. Actually an Asian lady made that up and told the elders I live with that speak Asian languages. But it has been raining a lot. It’s not that bad though. I have sort of gotten used to the rain. The crap part is when it’s so windy you have to stand up and pedal your hardest into the wind so that you can actually go forward and not be pushed backwards. It’s fun though. This week was really really good. On Monday night we went to a less active kids house to teach him a practice lesson. He didn't want us to teach him but he showed us his instruments and it was cool. He had a ukulele so I had a nice time playing that. Our mission president changed the rules so we can actually have them now but I don't want mine cuz if the new mission president changes it back then I have to send it home and I don't think it would be worth it to have it after he’s here and we know his rules. Then we went to the stake center to switch up for our exchangeganza! We did a zebra exchange where every missionary in the zone goes with someone random. I was with Elder Campbell. He is from Prescott so it was fun being with another person from Arizona. We were together all day Tuesday. Tuesday was fun. We went and saw a crazy less active lady. She talked to us forever! She is crazy though. She would jump up and down when she got excited, she didn't ever stop smiling and she would run around in circles and yes she is black. Then we had lunch. After lunch we went to Nancy’s. We taught her a drop lesson and we won't be going over there as much. Hopefully this puts her in a position to make decisions. It started raining afterwards her lesson and I didn't think it would and home was too far away so I just got soaked from head to toe. My shoes normally keep the water out but I wore my new shoes I found in my apartment. I call them my Michael Jackson shoes. They are penny loafers and they fit perfect. Well they let water in so it was a bummer. We had dinner with the relief society because it was its birthday. It was good. The lady that said she is related to us did a presentation and now I know she is. It was fun though. Then we switched back up companions. On Wednesday it rained some more. We went and visited a bunch of people. It was a good day. We taught Karen, that was good. We tracted a lot and the day wasn't too bad. On Thursday we had a good district meeting. We didn't have a district leader because one of our zone leaders left to go be the new assistant and so they took our district leader and made him the new zone leader. So me and Elder Pelfrey had to tag team train. It was really good. Then we had dinner and then had to rush over to Lexys house to teach her and her cousins Sabrina and Ariana. We had a good lesson with them about the gospel of Jesus Christ and went over the baptismal program. Then we went and made the baptismal program. We had dinner with the Hahn’s a Japanese family. They are amazing and it was really good. Then we went home and slept.

Friday it was raining again real hard. We had weekly planning then went to see Lexy again, when they get close to baptism we try to see em every day, and it was real good. We had a return appointment with the crazy less active lady but she wasn't home so we tried to visit with some more people. No one was home. We had dinner with a Mienh lady. It was super super good but she wanted us to eat all of it and it sure was filling. Then we tried to see a few more people in the rain then we went home. Saturday was a special day once again for we had a few really good baptisms! Lexy Vela, who is nine, Sabrina Mejia, whose dad Joe baptized her, and Ariana Abeyta all got baptized. Sabrina and Ariana are eight but they all have helped activate their families. It was amazing. Sabrina’s dad, Joe said afterwards that he would like to go to the temple and be sealed as a family and asked us who to talk to to see what steps he would have to take. We told him the bishop would love to see him about that. After the baptism we had lunch with their families. Some Mexican lady came and cooked for us and it was super good. Then we split up with the zone leaders and I went with Elder Kelley to teach a lesson to a girl that was YSA but is getting married so she is ours now. It was a really good lesson. After that we rode our bikes all the way to the church. The wind was so strong it was like biking straight up hill but harder and much colder. It didn't rain though. We helped the Elders quorum set up chairs for our ward pot luck then we had the ward pot luck. It was super super good. Some lady makes me get her food for her every time there is a ward function with food. I don't know why she picked me but its ok, just annoying.

Then we walked home because the church is right next door to our apartments. Sunday we had church ate dinner and then had a member blitz. It was fun. Monday was transfer Monday so we didn't have P day as I’m sure you have guessed. It was a good day though. From 10 in the morning till 3 in the afternoon we tracted as a zone in a few different areas. I was with Elder Gentimen from Kansas. Elder Frost, I think Caleb? is serving in his home ward and eats dinner there all the time. Elder Cannon trained him after I left the area. It was a lot of fun and I got to say Hello to Asians in three different languages.

Then we went and saw some people. We made a ride on our bikes that normally takes us 45 min in 30 and it was crazy! We biked so hard. But we were on time for dinner. My Asthma is doing a lot better. We got transfer calls again. I am disappointed every time. I really wanted to stay with Elder Crager. We started getting along great and we are doing great work but he is going down to Tracy with Elder Bernatz who went to high school with Taylor Swift, lucky dog. So he is leaving and Elder Hock is coming in to be my companion. President said he's putting him with me because he has had some hard times with past companions and he thinks I am good for him because I am very loving.

Elder Crager taught me how to be that way because he needed it himself but that means it’s probably going to take some effort with this new guy. Oh well I’m excited. He was companions with Elder Faka'i in the past and I’m sure they got along great! So that is what’s going on. Oh and Elder Pelfrey is getting a new companion. Elder Beverage! I am so excited to say the word beverage and not have people look at me like I’m crazy! My bike also came yesterday so I just need to go to the mission office to pick it up. Well I have to go. I love you all bye.

Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

2011-03-14T20:00:00.001-07:00

March 14^th 2011

Well this week seemed to be fun. It sounds like things are normal back at home. This week was pretty good for me. I was sick for a little bit but I think I am getting over it. On Monday night we had dinner with a member and her nonmember husband. We had Chuck eyes. I guess it’s the meat between the Chuck roast and rib eye. It was pretty tasty. We also had red potatoes and some veggies. I didn't enjoy it as well as I would have liked because I didn't have time to take a breathing treatment and I was back on bike so my asthma was acting up a bit so I was quiet most the night and I couldn't eat that much. We stayed there the rest of the night and had a good family home evening type of lesson with them. It was real fun. Then we went home. On Tuesday we went to the Doctor cuz Elder Crager thinks he has sleep apnea, he snores super bad, so they wanted to check him out and see if they should refer him for a sleep study. They did want to so that will be coming up some time soon. Then we came home after the doctor and had lunch then the rest of the night we just kind of visited with a few people and went tracting. We went and visited a 13 year old girl who has been taking the lessons, her name is leili. She told us that she wanted to take about a month break from the lessons to explore other options. That was a bummer but I plan on being here and getting that rebound and then I'll dunk her! (basketball analogy) Wednesday we had a great district meeting. We learned a lot of really good things and it was just fantastic! Then we went and taught Nancy, had a lesson with a lady named Karen. It was a good lesson. We talked to her just about fun things in our families and our past and then we had a spiritual lesson. Then we went tracting. I like to tract. It’s fun. Then we had dinner with the Clarkes. They were nice. They kept telling us stories about themselves that seemed liked a huge achievement. Then we had a new member lessons with two girls that got baptized about a month ago. It was a good lesson. Then we tried to see a couple of people then we went home. On Thursday we went to a lesson with a member in the morning. It was really good and the member was perfect for her. Then he took us out to lunch to a place called Mama Mias. It’s a pizza place and is mediocre. I would rather have little ceasers. After lunch we had a good lesson with a lady that was found a while ago. Her name is Falisha. She is black and has 9 kids! It’s crazy. She has grandkids older than some of her kids. It was a pretty good lesson. She is looking for a church and wants to change things in her life. But she didn't come to church on Sunday so that was lame. We have a lesson with her tonight so we will see what was up. Then we tracted some more, always looking for new people to teach, then we had dinner with the Bartons. They are old and the husband spilt the soup on my hand and it was scalding hot! They talked our ears off and made us late for an appointment that a member was going to go with us to. The person wasn't home so we went to another recent converts house and taught them a new member lesson as well. Then we went home. Friday I was pretty sick so we didn't do much. I had a real bad cold and my allergies were bugging me a lot and like all sickness it made my asthma go all wack so we didn't do much other than teach Lexy, who is getting baptized this Saturday with her two 8 year old cousins! It is going to be awesome. One of the dads is a member and he didn't think he could baptize her so they wanted me to do it but we had him talk with the bishop and the bishop said it would be great for him to do it. I wasn't sad at all because I would way rather her dad baptize her than me. It made me so happy to hear that. Then we saw a few people and had dinner at home cuz a member brought it to us. We get fed pretty good. Not as good as past areas but pretty good. Saturday I was still sick but we had a couple of people we had to see. We went to the store to get some medicine the missionary health lady told me to get and it worked pretty good. Then we had lunch. We had a great lesson with Aunieshia, the lady that was a miracle. A member came with us as well and the lesson rocked! She is so elect it’s insane! She wasn't able to come to church because her 3 year old was sick so that was a bummer but we will give her a date to be baptized next Sunday for sure! We had dinner with the Welges that night. It was good. We had enchiladas and again it doesn't compare with my moms. She is just too good at cooking! We tried to see a few people at night but no one was home. Sunday we had a few meetings and then church. Lexy got her interview for baptism and she is set for Saturday. I have to give a talk... oh well. Then we had dinner at the Roberts. They were old and they fed us corn beef. The potatoes were good. We had a blitz with the members of the Elk grove ward that night and we went and visited a less active 80 year old black lady. Boy could she talk. It was fun though. She told us all about growing up in Virginia while that segregation was going on. She had just recently adopted a 15 month old black baby. Personally I think that should be illegal cuz when she dies he is going to have nothing. He was cute though and he kept climbing all over me so even though were not supposed to I had to hold him on my lap to keep him still. Today was a good day. We played Ultimate frisbee in the dark again. We all have glow sticks on our wrist and a light up frisbee. We line the basketball court with glow sticks so we can see the boundaries. It’s so much fun it’s amazing! Now I am emailing. This transfer has been pretty good. The check was exactly 179 dollars mom. Me and Elder Crager still haven’t got our new bikes though and this Wednesday it will be 4 weeks! Me and Elder Crager get a long pretty good actually. At first I didn't like him but I have started to just love him for him and have stopped trying to change him and instead just change myself and it has been great. He is kind of weird but then again so am I so I can't judge. They better not break the go kart! I want to ride it. Don't let anyone drive it anymore!! Fix it then lock it up till I get home. Just kidding but really I want to ride it. Well I hope you all have a nice week and everything goes well. It was good to hear that all the missionaries in Japan are safe. Everyone keeps asking us if they are. It’s as if they think we have some inside info or something. They actually have more access to information than we do! But oh well. Now we can tell em. Well have fun.

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

March 7th 2011

2011-03-07T17:40:00.000-08:00

March 7^th 2011

Make the check out to CTR Bikes... Man mom I don't want to be rude and I do want to know what is going on at home but I think it would be best if you didn't tell me about near death experiences in our family.

I worry enough as it is having my dad travel to and from Yuma every week. I don't want to worry about him dying there as well! Sorry if that was blunt. So I remembered my planner this week! Monday was a good enough day. I took a nap and it was nice. Tuesday was a good day.

We were on exchanges and I was with Elder Burns. He is a really cool guy and it was a lot of fun. I don't know the area that great yet but I managed with only getting lost a few times. We saw a lot of people and got a lot of return appointments. It was a good day. Wednesday was a pretty good day as well. We had interviews. It was awesome!!! So don't be alarmed about this part. On Tuesday I tried to get an inhaler I got out here cuz it helps and my asthma has been pretty bad so I went to get it and the insurance only covered like 70 dollars of the 300 it cost so I called our medical coordinator and she asked me some questions and said that I should be in a car if my asthma was bothering me that bad so on Wednesday in my interview President Jardine talked to me about my asthma and made a call for me to have a car. So since Wednesday I have had a Ford Fusion. It is a super nice car. I had to give it back today though because a sister needed it. So I will probably finish this transfer out on bike and then probably get a car and be in a car most of the rest of my mission. I will probably try to lose some weight to help out as well. But the rest of the day was kind of bum. We talked to like two people then had dinner. Then we talked with an excommunicated member and he is just about done with the repentance process. Then we went home. On Thursday we went on exchanges with our Zone Leaders. I was with Elder Kelley. He's the one that reminds me of Joe. It was a lot of fun. He is in the Waterman ward and that is where I served for one transfer so it was a good time. Friday we had a good day. We had weekly planning then we got to go see a bunch of people in our car. We taught a couple of good lessons. It was a really good day. We had dinner at home like every night last week because the members brought it to us. Saturday rocked!!! I went back up to Jackson to see Olga get baptized! It was so good and real nice to see some of my good friends again. Rudy shaved his beard so he looked like an old man. It was funny. After wards I came home and we went and taught a lesson to a lady named Aunieshia. She was a miracle find. We went to see a guy we had talked to on the street. It turned out he gave us the wrong address but the lady there was looking for guidance in her life. It was amazing. We taught her on Saturday and she came to church on Sunday. She has a lot of faith. Her daughter’s name is Latavia. After that we had Mr. Pickles, a sandwich place. It compared to Steve’s more than anything out here but doesn't even come close to the goodness. We later went tracting then saw a bunch of people. It was nice having the car for those few days. Sunday we had church then went to dinner then had a blitz with the Spanish ward. It was good. This guy told an amazing story about a frog that another guy translated for us. I will write it and send it to you in a letter to save some time. Then we went home and I went to sleep early cuz I was tired. So this weird thing keeps happening to me. I keep seeing random stories at the most random times. They pop in my head and they are very intricate and vivid, so I write them down. I don't know if I should be doing that or not because I’m on a mission but its cool! I have a couple of good New York Times best sellers. Tonight we are having dinner with a nonmember and his member wife. They are feeding us rib eye and I am super excited. It is making me hungry just thinking about it. I'm excited.

But I am not excited to ride my bike and I guess Elder Crager got an email saying our bikes haven’t even been shipped out. It sucks. I demand service!!! Just kidding, but really. So yeah that is it. The emails of my friend’s emails will work out great thank you mom. Things are looking great and I have seen myself grow a lot in this last week. I am glad to be doing this great work.

Love,

Elder Arnett

P.S.- I prayed for dad’s safety on Tuesday too. I always do.

February 28th 2011

2011-02-28T12:28:00.001-08:00

February 28^th 2011

Man all I got to say is when it rains it pours. So this week was crazy. So first off, Jay I am in the Florin ward in the Elk Grove stake. When you were here I think Elk Grove was still part of Sacramento but was like its own little community. Well not anymore it has grown pretty large and they are a city and my zone is the whole city. I cover the fruitridge area. So it is pretty ghetto. We have a lot of stolen bikes in the mission now and a lot have been stolen in my area. A few months ago someone broke the window in the church to get the missionaries bikes out. As for my bike being stolen, I did know the peoples whose house I was at. They were recent converts so I don't think they took them. I haven’t gotten my new bike yet... It will probably come this week or the next week but oh how much I can't wait for it to be here. I thrashed one bike I have been borrowing. I found out that the rims are made to hold 250 lbs. on bikes. I'm 260 right now so do the math... I broke four spokes this week on someone elses bike and am now borrowing another bike from a member. I am promising myself I am going to lose weight. I can't breathe very well, it makes biking harder, and I break things cuz I’m so heavy so I am going to eat better and exercise better so I can lose some weight. I think it would solve most of my problems. The weather has been bipolar. It will be warm like 50's one day then it will be raining in the 40's the next. That doesn't help my asthma out at all. So I have been taking lots of breathing treatments. Which brings me to my next point; I need more breathing treatment medicine. You can just send me a check and I will send it to the guy. That would work out good. I can't think of anything else I need. So this week was ok. On Monday we had an appointment but the people weren't there. It was a bummer so we went to another appointment and they happened to flake as well. So we went over to the Childresses. He is like 400 lbs. and can't walk but he is way nice and loves to talk about food. He worked construction all his life and has some nice stories. The missionaries pushed him a little too hard to be baptized in the past and so we are going to try and work him through it all but he seems like he is close. We went home after that. Tuesday was another day. We do have daily planners mother and I fill them out each night for the next day but I forget to bring it every week to email just as I have done this week so I can't remember much. I will tell you about some of the people we are working with. Lexy Vela is the 9 year old who has two cousins, one is 8 and the other turns 8 on March 9th so they are all going to get baptized on the same day, March 12th. It was a miracle finding them and it is bringing their whole less active family back to the church. It’s incredible. The three girls are probably the sharpest little girls I’ve ever taught. They remember everything we teach them, they have legitimate questions and they behave very well. It’s fun teaching them. We teach them like 3 times a week. They had us over on Friday for dinner as well. They are a really nice family. We have been working with Nancy who really wants to be baptized but she is living with two guys or rather two guys are living with her, she owns the house. She is deep in debt and financially screwed so she needs them there to help her pay the bills right now. So we are at a standstill with her. We are working with a few other people who are nice people but their interest level and intent aren't as high as others. They understand what we teach is a good thing and they feel the spirit but they aren't willing to put forth the effort to receive revelation, which we are all entitled to. We have a butt load of ensigns in our apartment and I love reading the articles in them at night or during lunch. They are so inspirational and the prophets and the apostles are so inspired it’s awesome! My favorite section is the part where members submit short inspiring stories, I think its called members voices or something. They are awesome. They make me miss home though. It reminds me a lot of my family and how close we are with each other and how much fun and love we share. But I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Well I am just about out of time so I will close. Thanks for being there for me and for all the prayers, they really do help. Mom could you send me the emails of all the missionaries you receive emails from their parents. I can just print them out and read them on my free time. That would be pretty cool. Well I love you.

Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

Stolen Bike-hard lessons to learn

2011-02-21T14:44:00.000-08:00

February 21^st 2011

Yeah sorry about that ticket. I didn't want to go to jail so it needed to be taken care of pretty quick so thanks a bunch. You are not going to be very happy at all now. I am sorry and I have learned my lesson. I don't want to tell you what happened but its necessary. My bike got stolen on Monday... Yes I know you’re probably angry with me and so was the guy from CTR bikes. He said he will replace it but it’s going to cost me 179 dollars. I don't know how much money I have in my account but if I have any I’ll pay it. I feel bad. We went to an investigators house and we were standing out front with our bikes and the mom got mad because we were letting all the hot air out so we stepped in for about 5 min and when we came out both bikes were gone. But they left our helmets. We are borrowing some for now and our new ones are on their way. He said they don't make the model I had so I am getting an upgrade. I was so bummed and I am keeping my eye open for my bike because I WILL get it back with vengeance. I won't hurt him if he gives it up but if he tries to keep it then I don't know if I can hold back. Plus if I get my bike back I can sell it and get some money back. So I am sorry. But the guy wants me to send him a check and I don't have checks... Mom in reading about the busy week you had I was glad to hear that you were still fulfilling your church callings. The Lord will always bless you as you serve him. It’s hard sometimes but when we do what’s right we cannot fail. I hope the go kart doesn't break before I get home because I wanna ride it! This week was good. Monday we got our bikes stolen. It sucked. We had to get a ride home from the black people we were visiting. Tuesday was pretty good as well. We tried to get our bike situation figured out. Our cell phones have area code restrictions on them so we couldn't call outside the area and the number was in Alabama. We went to lunch with a guy named brother Meisner. He loves mystical creatures and he loves star trek and stuff like that. We had pizza which he said was the best in the world, it wasn't, and wings. It was fun chilling with him though. We walked there and back. We borrowed a couple of bikes from other missionaries that don't use them. They suck bad but they are better than walking. Tuesday I can't remember what we did. Wednesday, we went to the church to use the phone. They don't have one other than in the clerk’s office and we don't have a key so we had to go to a members house to call CTR bikes. The guy chewed me out for not locking it up. He was mean about it but he said they changed their policy to that if you don't lock it up they will replace it but you have to pay an unlocked bike fee. So that is what I have to do. It’s a bummer but I need a better bike. My old bike needed a new rim anyways and the cheapest I could find was like 70 bucks so it’s like I’m only spending 100 on a new bike. So the rest of Wednesday we visited people and stuff. Honestly I can't ever remember what we do during the week. I am a lot more tired than I was when I was in the hills. Thursday we went on exchanges with the District leader. It was good. I went out to his area. We had district meeting as well and it pumped us up and set us on fire for Jesus! We visited some good people. We had lunch with a member at Golden Corral. It was super good. A lot better than the last time I went there last year when I was on my diet. I ate too much though. But don't worry I'm not going to die. I have lost 10 lbs. since being on my bike again. It’s tough sometimes but I am losing weight and that’s what keeps me going when I’m dead. On Friday we had a few lessons. We had one late at night and we were there till 9:30. We are supposed to be in by nine. The member that was with us couldn't take us home because he had drums in his truck. My companion bugs on a few things. One he tries to bug me sometimes when I tell him that if he is going to do something it will bug me, he will do it. I know annoying. Also he says he has things taken care of like rides and stuff when really he just assumes things will work out and he really doesn't do anything about it. So that puts us as well as others in awkward situations. That night he assumed the guy could give us a ride home so when I said at 9 that we should go he said no he can give us a ride and I said are you sure and he said yes so when nine thirty came around and he couldn't take us home I'm sure you can imagine how angered I was at him for that. I felt like I had just finished football practice that night after riding home. I was real tired from the day and I biked as hard as I could against the windy rain nonstop till we got home and it was more than a mile. I couldn't breathe afterwards. My asthma sucks right now. I can never breathe. On Saturday we taught a few people. We are teaching a nine year old girl and her two 8 year old cousins. They are all going to get baptized on March 12th. It was a cool story finding them. We prayed about where to tract and we went there and realized a less active member that the bishop asked us to visit lived there so we went to his house first. We helped him change a battery in his daughter’s car then he told us about their three girls who wanted to get baptized. We gladly accepted the offer to teach them. They are all real sharp and remember everything we teach them. It’s fun. Sunday was a good day. We had some meetings in the morning then we had church, afterwards we had dinner with a member then we had a member blitz. Instead of having all the missionaries get together to knock on doors for two hours they have us go out with a member and visit less actives and former and potential investigators. It’s cool. They ran out of members so I went with another missionary and it was fun. He is Tongan and it was a good time. Today I wrote three letters. It was fun. Well I don't know if I have much more to say. Oh yes we know who our new mission president is going to be. He will be coming July 1st. I hope he is half as good as president Jardine because I am going to miss him a lot. His name is President H. Benson Lewis. He is from Sandy, Utah has 6 kids, all married and his wife’s name is Julie. I am excited to meet him in a few months. I can't believe mom got in the Go kart ha. Elder Byrum called me from my last area to ask me something and he said Olga is getting baptized on the 5th of March so I will be going to that. I am sooooooooo excited to see Rudy and his family again in a few weeks. Well I think that is about it this week. I'll try and remember more for next week and I promise I will lock my bike up all the time now. There is a lady in my ward whose maiden name is Arnett. She said she can see the family resemblance but I don't think were related. She wasn't good looking like the rest of us. Oh well. I hope all is well. I love you.

Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

February 14th 2011

2011-02-15T20:50:00.000-08:00

February 14^th 2011

Man that was a long one. I'm not sure how much time I have so I will try and get as much in as I can. This week was long! Tuesday night was a really sad night. We went with Brother Burton and visited his home teaching families. It was ok. We went and got some ice cream then me and elder byrum went and got our truck and went over to Rudy’s. It was super sad. I didn't want to leave their family. They are some of my best friends and I was able to get to know them real well. I went over without brother burton because I knew I would be breaking the rules. I couldn't pass up hugging everyone and that meant all the girls too. It was sad and they were mad at me for leaving them but they understand the work. They are planning on moving to Alaska in June or July so when I get home from my mission the first thing I’ll be saving for will be for a trip to Alaska! I haven't ever had a reason to go there before so I had no desire but it sounds pretty cool and they said I could stay with them when they are up there. So I am already planning on it. They are moving up there because that is where Dusty grew up and Rudy will have better job opportunities out there. So I said bye to them and went to sleep angry because I really didn't want to leave.

Wednesday was an interesting day. I packed then drove back down to elk grove. I am in the Florin ward. Its g-hetto. Stockton is ghetto but my area was the nicer part. This area is more ghetto. There are black people and Asians everywhere. It’s insane. So Wednesday I almost died on my bike. I am so freakin out of shape its ridiculous. I weighed 270 on Wednesday night and now I am down to 263.5 So I have lost a bit of weight. It’s nice but hard. It gets easier and easier every day though. But I was dying on Wednesday because I didn't take a breathing treatment in the morning. I was able to meet some good people we’re working with and it was a good day.

Thursday was another good day. We had a zone meeting. Everyone that was here before I left was here until now. Over half the zone is brand new it sucks but we have some awesome missionaries here. My zone leader is named elder Kelley. He looks so much like Joe my cousin it’s scary. I kind of feel bad for him ha just kidding. But he is way cool. Elder Crager is my companion. He is from Wisconsin. He is about 5'4"... Another one huh? No he is better than short man. He tries real hard to show off to make me think he is legit so he messes up a lot on doors and stuff but he has a great love for the people and he works super hard so he is a great companion. I hope we get along. Thursday we planned a little for the baptism we had scheduled on Saturday. Two young girls that are 10 and 15. They are fun to teach. I can't remember what we did that day.

Friday was a weird day. We went over to the assistant ward mission leader’s house to make our baptism programs in the morning. Normally we have weekly planning but that was the only time he was going to be home. After his house which took longer than we had hoped we went to subway for lunch. It was tasty, then we did weekly planning till three. We went and visited a lady named Nancy who was set for baptism on the 19th but won't be able to because she has 2 males living with her. It’s a sad situation. They trashed her house, never pay her rent and just recently we found out they are selling marijuana and sexually abusing her. So she is going to turn them in but she has a few mental problems that makes her scared a lot and I know this stuff had something to do with it. We went tracting then had a good dinner with the Deveys. They have some family in Mesa. We had tri tip and it was tasty. There is an Elder in my zone from Prescott. His last name is Campbell. He is nice.

Saturday I can't remember what we did other than we biked like no freakin other. I have been getting more and more in shape and so if I’m keeping up with my companion he thinks he needs to speed up and it’s killing me. But it’s all for the better I guess. At least if I don't die. I am super tired though from all this biking and non stopness. The hills were so relaxed. We visited a nice black lady who got baptized last year. She was crazy but has a strong testimony. She was all over the place though and it was hard to follow along. Oh yeah ha. We had a baptism Saturday morning. It was good. I had to give the talk on the Holy Ghost cuz Elder Crager forgot to ask someone to do it and then I had to do the half time show while they were all changing so I talked a lot at it.

Sunday was crazy! We had a meeting withour ward mission leader at 10 that was good. Then we had PEC at 10:30 then at 11 we had ward council which was a waste of our time because we only talked for like two min. Then we had lunch at home which is right next to the church so we walk there. That part is nice. We had church from 1 to 4. Three random nonmembers came to church and we scheduled an appointment to teach them. One was from Oregon and he said that there was an Elder Mathews from Mesa Az there and he said he would probably see him again and he will ask if he knows an Arnett. I know a few Mathews so I don't know if I know him. We went to a ladies house to give her nonmember husband a blessing. He is 420 lbs.!!! It’s crazy. He hurt his back and needs a hip and knee replacement but can't get either till he is about 300 lbs. but he can't lose weight cuz he is hurt so he just has to deal with the pain. He asked for the blessing which was a big step because he didn't like the church at all about year ago. He is nice though. After that we had a blitz in the Sheldon ward. We do it different now where the ward it is in provides members for each missionary to go out with so we double our numbers than we visit a few pre-selected people then we knock doors. It is pretty cool. The guy I was with was named Brett. He said if I ever write a book he'll read it. He was nice. He was about mid 40's. Then we had a cottage meeting where President Jardine comes and pretty much teaches the first lesson. We all bring investigators and then some recent converts bear their testimony. It was a good meeting. Then we had a meeting with President Williams, my favorite stake president out here, which was awesome. It was exciting to see him again and it made me excited to be back in elk grove. This morning I sucked at basketball cuz I haven’t played for 3 months.

So it’s a good time out here on the mission. Being with someone younger than me, mission wise he's actually older than me in real life, makes it easier for me to see how much I really have progressed over the 9 months I have been out. Well it appears my time is up. I hope you enjoy this and I love you all.

Love Elder Arnett

P.S.- about that ticket. I guess you can mail the money in to where you pay it at. It would probably be a good idea to do it as fast as possible because I was supposed to go to court today which was 2 hours away and I didn't go so if its not paid and I don't show they put a warrant out for my arrest. So if that could get paid soon that would be the best. I don't want to go to jail for 6 months and/or pay a 1000 dollar fine. I don't have money so it probably wouldn't be a good idea to send it to me. Well I hope I don't get pulled over in the mean time! I love ya all.. Bye :)

February 8th 2011

2011-02-08T17:09:00.001-08:00

February 8^th 2011

This week was a real good one! I feel bad for all of you at home in the cold. It is usually up in the high 50's or 60's! We get fog occasionally that lowers the temperature a bit but it has cleared out pretty good. I love warm weather.

On Monday after we emailed late we went out and saw a few families. No one was home. So we went home. Tuesday was just another day. We saw a few people in the morning then had lunch. After lunch we went up north to the snow to see some people because we had dinner up there that night. After dinner we went with Brother the old ward mission leader, well I guess he's still the ward mission leader until he gets released. He just got called to the high council so he has a new calling. We will miss him. We went with him to a less active he home teaches. She was nice but has no desire to come back to church. Then we traveled down the hill and went to Rudy's for a minute to set a for sure time for Eve's baptism on Friday. Then we went to Baskin Robins for ice cream and to visit Jenny, Brother Burtons project. It turns out she is still prego, even though she told us she lost the baby. Oh well. We went home after that. On Wednesday we had a good day. We visited some people that we had worked with in the past but haven’t been in contact with. I should say we tried to visit them but they were not home. We had dinner with the Saldates. They are nice so it was good. Thursday we had district meeting over in San Andreas with the other elders over there. It was good. Then we played a quick game of two on two b ball in full church clothes. I did ok. Actually I was on fire and had like 15 of our 20 points. But we lost by two points to Elder Byrum and Elder Buttars. Afterwards we came back over and started visiting people to let them know about the baptism. They were all excited. We had dinner with nice people but I don't remember who. On Friday we had a baptism! It was awesome. We spent most of the day preparing for that. We made programs and little music sheets cuz the songs were from the primary song book. The baptism started at 6 or it was supposed to but it really didn't start till 6:30 cuz everyone was late. Rudy being everyone. We got some good pictures. Then we cleaned up afterward and went home. Saturday was a special day. And by special I mean the same as every other day. We visited some nice folks down in Ione. It was fun. No one signed up to feed us on Saturday so we starved. Just kidding. It’s February at subway so it’s cheap to eat poop. Subway is poop compared to Krazy Sub. I miss it tons. We saw a few more people. We went to Rudy's to make sure they were coming to church cuz Eve would be getting confirmed but then we remembered they were going to the bay area to visit Rudy's other daughter and grandson. We went home shortly after that. On Sunday Eve was confirmed. They gave us a scare by walking in as the Bishop stood up to greet the ward. It was nice. Then we had a wonderful lesson on family history work and temples. It answered a lot of questions for Rudy. Elders quorum was on missionary work so we participated a bit more than usual because we’re experts on the new up to date missionary stuff. We had dinner with Rudy and his family. It was really good. We had Fajitas and seven layer dip. It was good. Oh and some soda pop. No one out here calls it just pop. It’s either soda or soda pop. Who would a thought? Also people look at me weird when I call it a beverage. I guess it is kind of weird. We visited with them for a while and it was nice. I sure do love that family. Then we went home. Yesterday sucked. I got my transfer call and boy am I bummed. We wanted to stay together so bad. But I am leaving. Going to back to Elk Grove but this time I will be in the Florin ward and I will be the senior companion. I have a lot of pressure on me because it was the 5th highest baptizing ward in the mission last year with some legend missionaries serving there and President Jardine wants me to keep that trend there. Man that guy has a lot of faith in me. He gave me a nice compliment though. He said he wanted to let me and Elder Byrum stay together but he needed me to be a senior because there were a lot less capable people than me already seniors and he needed me to come be one. So I will go with enthusiasm ready to ride my bike some more! My new companion will be Elder Krager. I know nothing about him. So next week be expecting some great news on Elk Grove hot stove. I love you all.

Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

January 31st 2011

2011-02-07T09:40:00.001-08:00

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

January 24th 2011

2011-01-25T19:37:00.000-08:00

January 24^th 2011

Well mother, I think you would be happy to know that instead of putting my cruise control at 10 -15 over I now put it right on the speed limit so no more tickets for me. I actually laugh when I see cops now because they can't give me tickets and I love being in the front of a long line of pissed off people ha! Everybody goes fast but I don't want another ticket and I can't afford it either... So this week was a good week. Some good things happened and things were nice.

On Monday Elder Buttars and Elder Bowman came over and we made some Salsa. It is actually really good. Elder Buttars named it "Hotter than Bawls". It is pretty hot. It has 5 habaneros in it and 4 jalapenos. But it sure is tasty. The rest of the day we didn't do much. We drove around a little bit trying to find things to do. We went to a couple of stores and just looked around and didn't buy anything because none of us have money. We had dinner with a nice family I'm sure but I can't remember who. I also can't remember what we did the rest of the night. I'm sure we visited someone.

Tuesday was a good day. We had a good morning trying to visit people that weren't home. After lunch we went out to visit a couple of people in Ione. We are really trying to find people down there because they feel neglected when were up in Jackson working with Rudy and his family all the time. So we visited a couple of less active families and had a couple of nice conversations with them. We went down to Camanche which has a lake and saw a few people. Upon returning home we noticed a sign saying lake this way so we took a detour and got some really cool pictures of the sun setting on the lake. Then we went through a huge puddle in our truck. It was cool. We had dinner that night with the Fronks. It was really good. I love it when people cook us delicious meat and then give us the luxury of having A-1 to put on it. You all know how much I like that stuff. We talked a little had our spiritual thought then they had us try out some cool puzzle things they had. It was fun. Afterwards we went to Rudy's house with a member of the bishopric named Brother Johnson (He served with Adam in Chicago) and the lesson was a hit. Two weeks in a row we had the right people come with us. They related to Dusty so well and really helped her progress. It was a great lesson. Oh we baked a cake on Tuesday as well. It was Funfetti cake with Funfetti frosting. We waited till Thursday to eat it though.

Wednesday was a day and a half. Man. We had exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I went down to Lodi to be with Elder Manukailea. He is Tongan and is from Long Beach Cali. Didn't go too far from home. We tracted all day long. I'm not even exaggerating; besides lunch dinner and the few people we visited afterwards we were tracting. It was great though. It made the whole day go so much faster. We taught two amazing lessons and got a load of returns, especially for the Spanish Elders. It was fun. We are good friends already because we served around each other down in Stockton and he was Zone Leader with Elder Carlson, my friend, later on. We had a good day but I sure was glad to get back to my truck!

Thursday was kind of a boring day. We went over to Elder Buttar's and Elder Bowman's area for district meeting. It was real good. President Jardine came over a few days before and talked to Elder Bowman. I guess he has been having a lot of struggles in his past with his family and getting hit by a car on his mission and everything and driving around all day gives him too much time to think about it all. So president decided to ET (Emergency Transfer) him to the city so he will be more busy. He only has like six months to go so he is trying to finish out strong. So Elder Buttars will be getting a new companion. After that we came back over to our area and visited some people. There are a lot of nice people up here in the sticks. We had dinner with the Stewarts. We were late because I was going the speed limit but they understood. We had a good dinner of enchiladas. They were good but not as good as my moms. I sure do miss her cooking. We went over to visit Brother Gonzales the ward missionary in Ione because our plans for the night fell through and we hadn't seen him in weeks. We shot BB guns at a target and I got a couple of Bull’s-eyes. It was fun and we got to talk to him about some of the things we were trying to do in his area. After that we went home.

Friday was a great day. We had weekly planning in the morning then at 1:30 we went and did service for Brother and Sister Watson up in the mountains. They had us help them haul some dirt and barrels and stuff, things they can't do due to health problems, and it was really fun. We helped them move some fertilized dirt into a garden area and helped them transplant some carrots and garlic then we dug up their potatoes. They thought they had all rotted but most of them were still good so they were excited. We left there about 4:15 after having a diet coke and trying to catch a fish with my hands in his above ground pond. We got showered and stuff then went to dinner with Brother Zuniga. His wife is an active member but he is not but they wanted us to come over for dinner. We had these little mini tostadas and they were amazing! He made this sauce to put over them that was just divine. It was tomatoes blended up really fine with dill pickle juice and oregano. It was tasty. I stuffy myself with seven of them and he said I did a good job on eating. He was funny but has no interest in being baptized. After that we tried to visit some Part member families in Ione. Then we went home and went to sleep.

Saturday was a boring day as well. We were both tired so we kind of lugged around getting out and then weren't too urgent going to people’s houses. No one was really home the whole day. Oh we were tired because we had to wake up early to meet with Brother Roberts our Ward Mission Leader in Ione, to discuss the missionary efforts in his ward. He said the ward is trying hard to find people for us to teach which is something a missionary loves to hear. We weren't able to see Karey that whole week so we are going over tomorrow. It was a good meeting though.. We were supposed to have dinner with Sister Skujins but we decided we wouldn't because her husband died last Sunday and the funeral was early on Saturday so we thought it would be best to give her some time. He had cancer. It was a super sad story. He retired in June of last year and then started complaining about some soreness in his throat so in October they checked it out and he had Stage 4 lymphoma cancer. He wasn't going to recover from it but they thought he'd live a little longer but the last couple of weeks he really took a dive. We had dinner over there just a month ago and he was up walking and talking and looked not quite fine but ok. You could tell he was sick but not that bad off. It was some startling sad news for the whole ward. We went over to Rudy's because we knew they would have some food for us. They did and they always do. Let’s just say A-1 doesn't taste good on everything, like rice and corn. But we visited with them for a while after dinner and made sure everyone was coming to church. Eve spent the night at a member’s house and would be coming to church with them.

Sunday morning we went to church. It was awesome. Rudy's whole family was there for the first time ever. Olga never comes but decided to this time and she really really enjoyed it. Eve came with the Uhri's the family she spent the night at and Dusty came with Sister Crowley an old lady she does in home care for. She is a member and told Dusty she should be at church and Dusty said she couldn't go cuz she had to take care of her so Sister Crowley said well let’s get me ready and go ha. She is really old and it’s hard for her to even walk so it was nice of her to sacrifice so Dusty could come. Rudy, Tristen and Jr. all came with Olga and it was real awesome to have them all there. Church was great. We went over to the Zunigas for lunch. They wanted us to come over again but just for company, I mean we are really cool guys so everyone wants to hang around with us. We had sandwiches. They were good. Then we went to Rudy's house for dinner and had lemon chicken with pasta. The chicken was really good but I didn’t enjoy the pasta as much. When Elder Byrum wasn't looking I put most of mine on his plate and he didn't even notice ha. I told him afterwards about it. The rest of the night we visited a few members in Jackson and encouraged them to make a profile on Mormon.org. Which is something all of you at home should be doing as well. All you need is your membership record number and you can get that off your temple recommend if you don't know it or ask one of the clerks or the bishop. They can get it for you. We went to bed right away last night cuz I was scared of evil spirits.

So that was our week. Not too exciting but we tried to stay busy. We are still trying to find a few people to work with. The mission goal in February is "Families our Forever February", so they want us to complete Part member families. We started visiting them before the mission told us that was our goal so we know both us and the mission were inspired. It’s neat when it works out that way. Well I hope everyone at home is doing well. I hope you enjoy reading me ramble on about my week.

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

January 17th 2011

2011-01-18T16:24:00.000-08:00

January 17, 2011

This week was kind of a boring week so if this email is lame I am truly sorry.

So on Monday as you now know I got a speeding ticket. The cop was really nice though. I was going 73 in a 55 and he said that looked kind of bad so he marked it down to 65 in a 55 which was a huge blessing but from talking with people it sounds like it is going to be a 300 dollar ticket. That sucks. Oh well. And as for the blurry pictures... It’s not my eyes, it’s my camera. It will focus good but when it takes the picture it goes all blurry. I have tried everything to get it to be normal. So now I just take gay pictures because nothing is cool blurry. So Monday was a good day other than the ticket. We had dinner with President Hofmann from the previous stake presidency. He is an awesome guy. Tuesday was a weird day. We woke up and got all ready and I needed to do my wash and since we have a washer and dryer in our apartment I just do it when it needs it so I cleaned up all my clothes and stuff then I decided to put my shoes away and next thing me and Elder Byrum know its 12 and we had cleaned the whole apartment and rearranged all the furniture and now our apartment looks huge and we have so much space for various activities. After lunch we went and tried to visit a few people. We didn't have much luck because no one was home. We went through a couple of Potential Investigators this week that missionaries had contacted in the past but none were really interested. It was kind of a bummer but we are still working with some great people and there are a few people that we are trying to get in contact with that will be real promising. We had a lesson on Tuesday night with Rudy and his family. We are still teaching Dusty (Rudy's Wife) Eve, Olga, and Jr. and since Eve has a set date we have daily contact with her to make sure she is still reading her scriptures and stuff. So on Tuesday President Hofmann came with us and it was a real good lesson. We didn't really prepare anything so we went in blind but it was one of our better lessons with them. He was able to relate to Dusty a lot because he was a convert with a lot of the same concerns she has. Before Rudy's baptism Eve was concerned about a few things but she felt the spirit at the baptism and now she doesn't care about those things she just accepts them as truth because she’s allowing the spirit to testify to her. It’s been amazing. Wednesday we went and saw a lot of people up in the snow because we had dinner up there. It was good. Most people weren't home but we got to visit with a few nice people for a short time. We had dinner with the Hopkins and it was fun. They are old. I enjoy old people, sometimes. They got me interested in family history. When I get home I’m going to do it. I looked up the Arnett’s on family search but it only went back to 1710 in Virginia so I still don't know where we come from... but yeah Wednesday was good. Thursday was a real boring day. Nobody was home at all. We tried to see some less actives and stuff but it seemed like no one lived there it was so quiet and desolate. It was lame. We had dinner with the Hancock’s. It was good. We have had the same thing for dinner all week though! Sloppy Joes or Spaghetti. I like spaghetti but some people suck at cooking it so it wasn't always the best but I ate it anyways because I’m hungry. Friday was a good day. We had weekly planning then we went down to Lodi and had lunch at this real good Mexican food place. They had chimichangas the closest to Matta's I’ve had since I’ve been out. They were good but didn't come close to Matta's. Then we had a Zone Training meeting from President Jardine. It was really good. They trained us on how to use Mormon.org more and better and how to use it with members. It was really good and now they want us to get on it once a week to be more familiar with it. Then we got trained by Sister Jardine on how to give talks and stuff. It was real good. We drove straight home to get to dinner in time. We had it with the High Priests at their social. Then went to Rudy's for a better dinner. We had steak. It was real good. Then we shared a good message with them. On Saturday we didn't do much because Elder Byrum was sick and I was coming down with something a little bit. So we stayed in for a bit then visited some people then took it easy for a while. We had dinner with sister Miligan who is a recent convert of about a year. She had a cool conversion story. Being on my mission has given me some good ideas for books. Especially after meeting Rudy and hearing his stories. Man he's been through a lot and he's only 32! Sunday we had church. We were down in Ione. It was good. We went to Jackson for Elder's Quorum because Rudy's whole family was at church minus Olga. It was the first time and I think everyone really enjoyed it. All the kids are making a lot of friends and they like going to activities. Sunday I was sick along with Elder Byrum so we just went to a few members houses and talked with them then had dinner with the Saldate's. It was good. She likes to make different foreign foods. Afterwards we went home and took a nap because I had a huge headache. Then we visited Rudy and it was real good. Their home teachers had been over already and Eve is going to start going to Seminary. It was cool. They are doing real good. So this week was kind of a bum week. I am starting to get over this cold so it’s not bad anymore. Me and Elder Byrum are getting a long really good. We are always tired because we talk forever at night. Its fun serving with him and we both hope president Jardine leaves us both up here for another transfer. I love the people in our ward and some amazing things are happening with amazing people. I hope everyone is having fun at home and doing well. I love you all.

Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

January 10th 2011-Baptism of Rudy & Tristian

2011-01-10T12:53:00.000-08:00

January 10^th 2011

Wow it seems like the family reunion was a hit! I'm sad I missed it but in 2013 things will go down hard core! It sounds like everyone really enjoyed it. So I am pretty much out of time to email so I will tell you pretty much the most important thing that happened this week. So Rudy and Tristian had a date for the 8th. So this past week we were over there working with them every day. On Monday they got their interviews from the Zone leaders and we thought Rudy would need a second one from one of the mission presidency because of his past but the Zone leader said that he could really tell he had repented and he felt it wasn't necessary. So that was super awesome. We went over a few things with them and then spent most of the week visiting them making sure they resisted temptation all week. We also visited a lot of members this week letting them know about the baptism. We had Zone Conference in Stockton on Wednesday. It was a lot of fun and we had a lot of good training from President Jardine and his assistants. It was good. We had to stay down there later because we had gotten a flat tire a few days before. I went around a corner a little fast and the roads are always wet and there is always fog so I slid into a bank and it popped the tire. So we had to use our spare and on Wednesday they repaired the other one and put it back on. I have learned my lesson and only go fast when its dry and I can see. Just kidding I go slow all the time now. So on Saturday Rudy and Tristian got baptized! It was awesome. The whole service was really good. Elder Brantley came back and baptized Rudy and Elder Bowman baptized Tristian. It was great. Then we played Dodge ball with Rudy and his family for about an hour after the baptism and I am paying for it still. My right shoulder is so sore. It was fun though. Later that night we went over to their house and Rudy's daughter Eve said she wanted to be baptized on Feb. 4th! It was awesome. So our numbers weren't too great this week but we have been doing the right work so it was a good week. Eve came to church yesterday and saw Rudy and Tristian get confirmed and she is still set for the 4th. Our bishop confirmed Rudy and I confirmed Tristian. It was cool and a first for me. So yeah. Sorry this week’s email was so short but I don't have much time and I read a long email but it was great. I have pictures ready to send home so be expecting them this week. I will try and email more next week. I haven’t got your letter yet but I will be looking for it. Well I’m off

Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

January 1st 2011 Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T11:43:00.000-08:00

January 1^st 2011

So this week was grand. It’s weird having a p day on Tuesday then another on Saturday. Oh well I like it. Sorry I didn't tell you my emailing schedule before. I forgot. I won't be emailing on Monday the 3rd. But I will be emailing that following week on the 10th.

So this week has been good. Tuesday night we went over to Rudy's house to teach them and so Elder Brantley could say bye. We asked Tristen if he wanted to be baptized on the eighth and his mom freaked because she never knew we invited him to be baptized on the 31st but she is cool with it now, she was just caught off guard. So he accepted and then Elder Brantley was telling Rudy that he would be back to see Tristen get baptized and then he would come back when Rudy decided to get baptized and he told us that if Tristens getting baptized on the eighth then he might as well too! So it was super exciting.

On Wednesday we went to breakfast with our ward mission leader and the couple who were going to take Elder Brantley to Stockton. It was real good. Then we went back home and the Elders from the other area came over and babysat me while we waited for Elder Byrum. (BTW Hayley, Elder Buttars is writing you a letter. Don't be too surprised just go along with it.) Elder Byrum finally got here and it was good. We went to lunch with the other missionaries then we went and helped a guy load a moving van. It was good. The rest of the night we just went and saw random members and introduced Elder Byrum to them. Then we went over to Rudy’s so he could meet them. It was fun.

On Thursday we had weekly planning. We have some good things coming up for this week. We went out at one after lunch then saw a bunch of people. We were supposed to have a lesson with a lady named Tara but she canceled cuz she was in Modesto. Then we had to visit some more people. It was a random day. At night we had dinner with Bishop Jenkins and afterwards he challenged us to a game of pool. We lost... Then we had to drive down to Lodi because we were spending the night at the Zone leader’s apartment. Elder Byrum is the District leader so he had a leadership training meeting in the morning and we would have had to wake up way too early for him to make it on time.

Friday was an interesting day. I went out with Elder Swank who is another district leader’s companion. He normally serves in the Hmong program teaching and speaking Hmong (Asian) but I guess each Asian missionary has to do a little bit of English now. So he got switched over. So we went out and helped a lady move in their ward. It was the fastest move of my life. Seriously, it took 30 min and we loaded a whole huge truck full. It was good. Then we went to tract. This is where the crazy stuff happened. We knock on one door and they were not interested so Elder Swank said he wanted to try a house across the street. So we went over and he said I think these people might be Hmong because they had a Honda to drive and corn hanging from their door. So we knocked on it and sure enough they were Hmong and they let us in and he taught a lesson. Now I have been a part of lessons in Spanish and I can understand mostly what’s going on. I couldn't understand a darn thing in Hmong. I couldn't even tell they were praying! It was weird. So that was crazy. We tracted some more then went and had lunch then we met back up with our companions. We drove back and got all changed then we had to see a few members to get some info but no one was home. We had a good dinner of pizza then went over to Rudy’s house to teach them. We taught them about the Anti-Nephi-Lehis which is a name I don't understand why they called themselves it. Why would they want to be Anti them. Oh well that’s their name. We taught about how they buried their swords and weapons and then I gave them each a piece of paper and told them to write something they want to change to be better and make a commitment to God with this paper. Dusty liked the idea she even had her daughters friends who were over in another room for a new year’s party come join us and do it. We put them each in a tin can and then buried it in the front yard. In a year they plan to dig it up and see how well everyone did. It was good. Then we went over all the baptismal interview questions with Rudy and Tristen. It went pretty well. Rudy got defensive because each question has something to do with something he's done and messed up with in his life but it was good. We told them it would be better now to hear the questions then having a complete stranger ask them first. So they are both excited and firm for the 8th. Rudy might want to push it back but we told him if he's ready then there is no reason to wait so I think both Rudy and Tristen will be baptized on the 8th. And some other great news, the whole family should be coming to church tomorrow! Dusty got work off and Eve finished her community service so it is just a matter of time till the rest of them follow Jesus Christ's example and get baptized. So that is what went on this week. It was pretty good. We have a lot of people we are going to resume working with next week because they told us to come back after the New Year so we will see how that goes. I hope all is well at home.

Love Elder Tyler Pete Arnett