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