His mission!

Chad's latest email and a couple of photos from his area. Blogger's note: 2 photos of the Elbe river looking across at Lauenburg and Chad lost somewhere in Germany and Chad with glasses we didn't know he had or needed.

BOY DO I LOVE MY MISSION!!Oh Parentals, I am happy. It's been a good week for me. I've come to a realization, and it has turned everything around for me. So, for the past few transfers I've been trying to figure out what I could do to help the ward here in Lauenburg, how I could better the work, how to work in harmony with my companions, and everything else with ties to missionary work. But, because of a few different situations and problems with the ward, transportation problems, and a plethora of other things, I started to feel bad for myself. I started to feel hopeless. I felt further from my Savior than ever before. Every slammed door, thrown bottle, cuss word, and every other bad thing that seems to happen just threw me down and kicked me to the curb. I wanted to curl up in a ball. I felt abandoned. I felt unloved. I felt alone.Now normally when I would hit a point like this, I would go to family or friends, people I knew loved me. I didn't know what to do and found myself with alot of down time. So I read. And read. And read some more. I thought a lot. I figured out things that I never even thought about before. But I never realized how much I was learning. I never looked back. And that is where my mistake was.This past week I looked back.At the beginning of the week I felt lower than ever. I read that I should share my favorite scripture on the Atonement at interviews. So I started to think alot about it. Then after interviews we went home and I sat at my desk. I got out my study journal and pulled a piece of paper out. I started writing down everything I learned since I've come to Lauenburg. Both my good and bad experences. I soon had to pull out more sheets of paper. I couldn't stop writing. I didn't want to stop writing. I saw the miricle of a mission unfold infront of my eyes. An overwhelming feeling of gratitude swept over me. I can't believe what I've learned about missionary work, about myself, and about the Eternal Nature of our God.The next day we were with the AP's for a training programm. Afterwards we split up and went to visit contacts. I was with Elder Kimball. First I want to say that I love the AP's. They are amazing missionaries. But I feel especially close to Elder Kimball because of serving in the same district for so long. We had a good long talk in the car on the way to the contacts. It was refreshing. There is no better word for it.Since being in Lauenburg I have been struggling for months. I've felt discouragement so thick I thought I would be consumed by it. But, I have had moments when I gained hope, when I fought back the darkness trying to engulf my soul. And its because of those moments that I know there is a Father in Heaven who cares for me. He is the one that gives me hope. It is from Him that I learn. And I now see that.We don't know how strong something is until we have to defend it. Whether we have to defend it against the masses, or our own personal struggles, its the same. We strengthen our defenses with each and every battle. That I know and that I have seen.All is well. I am happy and strong in my Lord. He has not failed me, nor will he ever. He conquered all. He is there always. I know that the insecurities will come again. I know that I will stumble and fall. I know I will have to walk through darkness. But the sun will rise. It always does.
I'm really really sad to hear about Uncle Charles. He was the closest thing to a Grandpa (lately, anyway) that I had. I really looked up to him and loved him. He was an amazing man. I would really like to get that documentry on his WWII history that Mark is doing if you could get it to me. I wish I was there for it. Let the family know I love them and miss them.

I'm glad you had fun in DC ma. And I'm glad you're safe. I was worried for a bit. Not gunna lie. As far as an Easter Package, I don't really know what I want. I would like two books if it is possible. Eternal Man, and Mormon Doctrine. And, of course, the assortment of candy and popcorn! Some pictures would be nice too.

I'm kinda short on time today so I'm gunna sign off.

Have a good week.
I love and miss you two!

Elder ChArnett

Sad news for the Arnett Family!

Cousin Wayne called me this morning to say Uncle Charles passed away. He had some breakfast then sat in a chair and when Aunt Laurene came to check on him he had passed. I believe he was 87 or 88. He was recently in the hospital to have a pacemaker put in. Wayne doesn't think he suffered. He is the last male of the Arnett brothers. While it's hard on us, he is with his brothers, parents and sister. Whenever I would see him and ask how he was doing he would reply, "I'm getting ready for my next phase". I believe he was ready to go and often mentioned how he wanted to see his parents and siblings. His Arnettism's could also fill a book. Aunt Doris is the only original family member left. They really are the "greatest generation".

I can't resist!

For those of you that have visited Lacy's blog showing the report card for my brother HB, I have turned it right side up for your viewing pleasure. Please note that besides the "retard" remark there is a dearth of "Excellent" checkmarks. I point this out because HB is the first to claim he has the highest IQ in the family. We now have definative proof to the contrary. Our dearest mother was in fact telling him he was "special" for very special reasons. I also posted a photo of him in later life showing the effects of his 5th grade efforts.

Also, I've posted the obigatory photo of Chad in the wheat field that has become so famous. Kudos to Chea for her creativity and excellent work. I must point out that my son makes a striking pose from behind. I don't think this photo would have worked with a lesser model. Of course, that is his father speaking. Any copies you can spare would be greatly appreciated by us.

Draining the pool, left out and winds of change....

I have been getting the pool ready for the summer which in AZ starts in a week. Our pool pump keeps going out so I had to drain it over the weekend from a winter of disontent. What a nightmare. I believe I have created a new lifeform with the drainage. Don't worry I am bleach washing the pool so it will be ready for visitors when we celebrate with nephew Cameron in May. Speaking of Cameron it appears he sang a solo in church a few weeks back and guess who wasn't invited? Yesterday at church, a sister who's husband is in the Bishopric of his ward was able to attend our ward, she said he did really good and don't worry Pam and I weren't invited. She said the girls invite everyone to their performances and talks, but the guys don't ever tell anyone.

We had the local Elders over for dinner last night and I grilled them about everything. Pam says I was mean and glum and gave them a hard time about eating my ice cream. I must have done something wrong because I had nightmares about Chad all night.

Speaking of Chad, here is the latest email. It's short. He is a little down, because they are in a hard area with the travel and not much success. I didn't include some of what he wrote about getting spit on, and things thrown at them and cussed at. If you have some time, he could use a little pick me up with an email.

Bloggers note: The wind he talks about is mentioned on the CNN website. A Luftansa jet in Hamburg tried to land turning sideways and the wing scraped the runway. There is video, it's amazing.

PARENTALS!
Well this week was a bit different.
We spent most of it helping the Bergedorf elders get moved in. I'm glad we did cause their new apartment looks really nice and as we all know, not having a place to live kinda destroys the work. So, that is why our numbers are kinda down this week. What does the ´Lord want me to learn in remodeling? I have no clue. But I've spent a month of my mission doing it...
Since our district is staying the same this transfer we are really trying to think of ways to be more effective and actually see sucess. Elder Bidstrup and I are brainstorming to try and figure out how we can better work our area.
And that's pretty much it. We're fighting to keep our investigators, I don't know why, but they have all kinda tried to drop us, or at least not have contact. But we won't let them! They know we have truth, I think they are just afraid. It's like PMG says, most concerns are more social than doctrinal...
YES!! mom I got your package. Finally. Just so you know, if you send something to the Mission Office, I won't get it for a long time -- like 2 months after the fact. If you send packages any bigger than you just sent (b.z.w. Christmas) then yes, they have to go through the mission office. But, what you sent me can come to my apartment. Thanks for the package though. It was awesome. I have so much popcorn now. I eat it everynight.
So my teeth...ya I should probably call someone to fix it. It'll probably be the stake president here since he's a dentist. I just have been busy. I'll call him this week.
This Felix fellow. I think he just played school ball. Ya paps, you would've seen him. They lost to CDO right before we beat them for STATE! I love that we won. Felix is cool and I try to keep contact with him through texting cause he's so busy with civil service. They do that here instead of the Army. You have to do one or the other when you hit 18 here. Just a little culture note.
So Scary Kids Scaring Kids is going international. Let me know when they are going to be in Hamburg and I'll check with President Thompson, maybe I'll be able to hook up with DJ for a sec. . It would be perfect if it was on a P-day. I'd have fun with that.
Dad, rivers never freeze over here. Well they might but the weather is strange. We just had a huge storm hit. We were advised not to go out cause the winds were so high. It was just under Hurricane Classifications.
The pictures are of a wicked sweet rainbow that I saw at the Glück family's house and the other is me and my comp with a BOM.
And thats gunna do it for me. Pap's keep up with the blog. Some friends said they love the Elder Arnett Updates.
Sei Gesund Familie!
LOVES
Elder ChArnett

A lesson in cooking, perception and sophistry

I have been following with interest the culinary expoits of my neice Devry Gale DelHoyo. It seems she is, or has become quite the expert with regard to matters of the palette. I take some credit for this because, after all, it was me who introduced her to the finest Salsa known to mankind. In fact, it is still a sore subject that my recipe is in every ward cookbook along the Wasatch front. However, I understand completely, as our priesthood lesson this past Sunday was on charity. In this spirit of charitable giving, I must tell my faithful readers about a marvelous culinary delight Pam and I participated in just tonight. We were not able to make our annual Valentine's dinner this year due to unforseen circumstances, so tonight I decided to prepare a special surprise for Pam. I have worked on this recipe for years and have finally perfected it. I know the photo of Pam's new favorite dish will not do it justice and I know those of you who think Devry's cooking is magnificient will just drool with envy. But here it is in all its glory. Cheerios marinade de leche. I will be glad to share the recipe with everyone for the next family gathering.

I also would like to share with you how important proper perception is. Sometimes we hear, read or see things in a different light than others. For example, after re-watching P&P on PBS the last several Sundays, I am still convinced that I am right. The first version was much better. My dearest sister denounces my declaration to the world stating that it was not true to the story. However, having read P&P, I do not recall ever reading that Lizzy, while looking in the mirror, sees a fading in Mr. Darcy's face while he repeats her misperceived calloused words to her. The latest version also took several literary and screenplay type trips into the woods. I guess it all depends on our point of view and personal frame of reference as to how we perceive things.

To illustrate my point, I am quoting several lines from Elder Arnett's latest email.

Hey Parental Units.
Man this week had its downs. Alot of our appointments fell out this week ... hating it. Still haven't gotten too much language... girlfriend lives in Arizona ... this new life that it would lead to...I just hope we can meet.. just trying to reinstate some sort of contact to see if we can't revive something.
Yesterday I had this random feeling that I should call. It was great. We talked for an hour. I also talked to President for 30 minutes yesterday. I'm angry. It hurts...My only question is can we afford it? I don't know what will have to be done, but it shouldn't be that bad. But we (President Thompson and I) kept talking. I hope he didn't take it wrong. I can feel it trying to move back.. Remember dad, I told you about it a long time ago.... I just have to wait for my money to come in cause it costs
Don't cry mom. I'll be home soon. Elder ChArnett!

Please note: The above is not the gist of Chad's email to us. It is below. I am trying to illustrate a point.

So, from reading the above selective editing of his email you might get the wrong impression. Perhaps, we do our own selective editing too often. Sometimes we think we know what the big picture is, but it's out of focus, or we are, and turns out to be something completely different when our perspective changes.

So, I'm learning that the following statements may mean something different to me than they do you. Here they are: "Here's looking at you kid", "Don't cry for me Argentina", "I coulda been a contender", "Shoot straight you bas.....ds, don't make a mess of it", "I'll be back" and my favorite, Oh, ---, what have I done? Incidentally, some free salsa anyone who can correctly identify which movie each of these lines came from.

Here is Elder Arnett's latest email;

Hey Parental Units.
Man this week had its ups and downs. But I'm happy to report that I'm happy!Alot of our appointments fell out this week. Namly with Thieza and Clara. We just couldn't get in contact with those two or get an appointment again. But we are still trying to get them in contact with more of the ward seeing as our Star Joint Teach is going back to Brasil in a week or two. Reason being, because this Star Joint Teach, Ranatta, is a nanny here and is hating it. Still haven't gotten too much info in the language we need, but thats ok.We got to meet up with Felix Köster. Man, I have a good feeling about this kid. He's 19 and has a lot of questions. He lived in ARIZONA for a little and played VOLLEYBALL. In fact I remember seeing him and his team play at the State Tourney. It was an amazing connection that we had, and now its just trying to get him when he has time. He is doing Civil Dienst instead of the Army and doesn't have too much time. His girlfriend lives in Arizona too and she's a member. When we were talking we came to the subject of what the people believe about Mormons and I asked him what he believed. He laughed and said 'Vieles'. He later told us that he's torn between the Faith of his childhood and parents (Evangelish) and the Faith of his girlfriend and this new life that it would lead to. He is promising and I just hope we can meet with him soon.We still can't get in contact with Gopal Verma. At GMK I asked Brüder Bachmann to find a member who had a good relationship with him so we could ask them to call him. I never really had the chance to talk to him before Elder Gerber left cause Gopal was in India. So we're just trying to reinstate some sort of contact with him. He was ready. But we've been told by ward members not to push it too hard. We are taking that in consideration, but I want to teach someone.And that's our week with investigators. We are going by on a lot of old contacts and investigators trying to see if we can't revive something. The message hasn't changed, but maybe one of them has.Stake Conference was awesome! It was great to have new examples (President Uchtdorf) for the members to see how GMK should be run. That was a problem that we have been trying to work on. And with President Uchtdorf saying we need to use Preach My Gospel with our daily study to the members was the point we've been trying to drive. He spokes to us via satellite. It was great.
Mother. Yes, I did get your V-Day package. Thank you. And as for the ward newsletter, just use something from my emails unless they specifically want me to write them, in which case I will, but naja, I dont really want to.

I was on another exchange this week. It was nice and relaxing. Sometimes you just need to catch your breath. I loved it.

Yesterday I had this random feeling that I should call Nicholas Garbacz (the man that was baptised in Essen), so I did. It was great. We talked for an hour and he told me that he just received the Greater Priesthood yesterday! I was so happy. I can't even explain. And he's also the Ward Mission Leader and we talked alot about that.

I also talked to President for 30 minutes yesterday. My retainer broke. The permanent one on my bottom teeth. Some of the glue broke off and I'm angry. It hurts. It cuts me when I talk, but naja, ya win some ya lose some. He gave me a number of a dentist that I should call. My only question is can we afford it? I don't know what will have to be done, but it shouldn't be that bad. But we (President Thompson and I) kept talking. He asked me how I was doing. I said good. He said you sure? I replied, doing better. I then relayed my delima that I've been facing the past 3 months and these constant feelings and thoughts that I have about wanting to teach more. We had a nice talk. But now I'm nervous for transfers, I hope he didn't take it wrong.
Back to the teeth thing. Is it ok if I get it fixed? I can feel it trying to move back. Just one tooth. It does hurt. It's that pain I had before braces. Remember dad, I told you about it a long time ago. Like things are pressing on each other. Bah. I hate my teeth!

I started running and lifting a few weights. I can feel my body falling apart. So I decided to do something to fight it. I'm fat. And I love it. The food here is just too good.

I got a package from Aunt Diane and Cousin Lauren. Tell them thanks for me, cause I don't think I'll get a chance to write them. We do this new prepaid email cafe thing so I limit myself.
I LOVE POPCORN AND THE COOKIES DIANE SENT ME ARE AMAZING. PERIOD.

And thats pretty much my week. I'm still freezing my buns off. I think next winter I'm buying a new jacket. This one just doesn't keep me warm.

Hey what happened to our car? The Pilot? Why can't you drive that mom? Oh and I have a letter for you, I just have to wait for my money to come in cause it costs an Euro 70 (1.70) to send something state side. Patience k?

Hey can you guys try to find me Blake Bigelow's mission address and Spencer Websters Email? I wanna get in touch with those two.

It's weird to hear that the family is growin and when I get back I'm gunna have all these little tikes to play with. I'm excited though.

Don't cry mom. I'll be home soon enough and I'll probably be saying no alot. 'Chad go stand by the sign so I can get a picture.' 'No mom.' 'Chad, go clean your room.' 'No mom.' 'Chad go get married and give me grandkids.' 'No mom.' 'DO IT NOW!' 'I don't want to mom.' 'Thats it, I've had it. JEFF!! COME TALK SOME SENSE INTO YOUR SON!! I KNOW YOU'RE THERE JEFF. JEFF!!!'

Ok I'm out. Loves and missing.

Elder ChArnett!
On 2/25/08, Pamela Arnett <pamiam1218@hotmail.com> wrote:
Hi Elder Chad--- I forgot to ask you something! Did you ever get a box from me yet? It was for Valentines Day. Can you let me know? I've just been wondering....tell me what you else you want soon!! I just wish I could see you. One of my students said something that totally reminded me of you when you were a little boy and I started crying! Can you believe that???? Well, of course you can. He said "No" like a little kid, and looked like you used to. Pretty funny. For the newsletter should we just use part of one of your e-mails? Or do you want to write a special one? Just do what you want. Okay, that's about it sweetie.........love you!!

I'll taking all the ribbing you can give...

I am updating my blog due to overwhelming demand from my loyal readers and our recent acquisition of the Turner Classic Movie Channel. It seems since my recent "prime rib" experience has laid me up for awhile I've discovered some great movies and books. Here are some I am recommending: Movies -- The Importance of Becoming Earnest (the original starring Michael Redgrave) not the one with the Legally Blonde lady; The Original P&P (because it was filmed as a comedy, which of course it was), not the self-serving, haughty, boorish new one; anything with Gregory Peck in it particularly black and white movies, especially Roman Holiday. For the benefit of my nieces and sister I recommend reading the shortened version for dummies of P&P which gives a delailed account of Jane Austen's life and times. Interesting reading, because I refuse to see "On becoming Jane Austen".

With regard to books, I recommend highly, "A Chronology of Joseph Smith", compiled by a Hollywood screenwriter (Lord of the Rings). You can get it on ebay. It is a "no holds barred" account of Brother Joseph's dealings. Also, I recommend reading "The Book of Mormon", it's a fabulous true account of God's dealings with a certain people who migrated from Jerusalem to their Promised Land. There is some conjecture as to where that promised land was and is, but truly a marvelous book. In fact, I've heard that a man could get closer to God by reading it than any other book.

I'm going to update some of Elder Arnett's comings and goings. I apologize if this is repetitive to some of you, but here goes.

Chad served the until the beginning of December in Essen, Germany in the most densely populated area of Germany. He then was transferred to Lauenburg in Northern Germany, a small town of around 12,000. His area takes in four German states and covers many miles. They travel by train and at times don't get back to their apartment until midnight or after. The ward he is serving in takes in that area as well. One small village of about 200 is half Mormon. It seems as though after WWII most of the village was converted and many immigrated to the US. The ones that stayed however are not active. Chad spends alot of time traveling to and from appointments and working hard to generate investigators. Teaching opportunities are highly coveted as are teaching native Germans.

Here is a copy of his last letter and the one I sent him which updates you on my health condition.

From:
Chad Arnett
Sent:
Mon 2/18/08 2:34 AM
To:
Pamela Arnett (pamiam1218@hotmail.com)
PARENTALS!!

Well this week was good. It was regenerating. A lot of good things happened for us. Zone Conference is always good and we had some new ideas on how we could get people to stay and talk with us for longer than the usual 'Keine Zeit.' We started implementing that and have doubled our lessons taught in the same amount of time. Then, we had a zone leader tausch. I learned a lot there and have revamped my initial approach when talking to people on the street. We had 3 people at church yesterday. Thieza, Clara, and Felix (all JAE's!). It was the first time I met Felix and we hit it off. He was in ARIZONA for a while visiting his girlfriend who is a member in Tucson. Is there a better connection? I think not! I have really high hopes for him and we are trying really hard to set up an appointment. As for Thieza and Clara, they are both from Brazil and I think Thieza should and can be baptized. The only problem I foresee is that she may not understand all that we are teaching. We are trying to get all the materials we can in Portuguese to give to them. So far so good, but Rannata, the joint teach, goes back to Brazil in two weeks so we are trying really hard to set up another link with the ward. Hopefully more than one. Luckily, many of the ward memebers have approached us about it. I think they are finally coming around and getting a bit more excited for the work. We called Gopal on Sat. to ask him to come to church. He avoided it. I'm not giving up on him, but I'm just wondering what happened in India and why he won't set up an appointment with us.On Sunday, we extended a soft baptisimal commitment to Thieza. She believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet, but hasn't gotten a definite answer yet. We began to teach the 2nd lesson yesterday. We are trying to take it slow so she understands it all. We don't want to make a mistake! So we are just trying to stay busy and get some people on date. I'm hoping soon someone will accept! I think I am realizing how badly we all need the atonement. I realize I'm not who I want to be or the kind of teacher I want to be and I have come to see how I can get better. See the problem is that we dont get many opportunities to teach here. Or, at least we havent. I can take rejection like a pro though! No, but one of the main points of zone conference is to change our expectations. and I've been working on that -- changing it from this is a hard non-baptizing mission to, yes, we baptize alot! It's hard to have confidence in myself now though. I've been trying to be happy and have the new expectations that we talked about at zone conference. I'm not where i want to be. I've been trying to change that feeling and thought, but alot of the time it is overwhelming. I just hope I have that new feeling throughout and at the end of my mission where I know the Lord is pleased. It's starting to become my most central desire. Its a scary thing because I see how unworthy I am to carry the Lord's name. How unworthy we all are. He was a perfect man. And, the things he did for me are indescribable. He pleads in my behalf, but I don't understand why. The love He has for us. It's hard for me to wrap my brain around. I've always had the question 'Why did he have to suffer so much? What was the point?.' No answer anyone gave satified me. But I think I found my own. I wanted to know who was crying for Justice and in whom was mercy supposed to received from? In our Father in Heaven? No, that couldnt be. He already had such love and mercy for us. That's why He had this earth created and sent his Son. But I think I finally realize, I finally understand. And I have a greater appreciation for Heavenly Father's plan. There is fine line between the laws of justice and mercy that He walks. I feel I have a greater understanding of WHY Christ had to suffer so much. I have a respect for the earth and everything on it. For the stones and the trees and the grass and the animals, who are all fulfilling the measure of their creation and being exactly obedient to the Father, are they are the ones demanding justice. The law says we cannot go back to the Father. We sin. We are unclean. That law that God laid, the order of the universe that the 'lesser intelligences', the trees and the earth and the grass and the stones and the animals, follow, is the same law that says we cannot go back if we are not completely obedient. And, so God sent His Only Begotten Son. The Man who all the intelligences love in whose name they move and exist. The 'First councilor in the presidency of the Godhead'. These lesser intelligences love Him so much that He was the only one who could have performed the atonement. He suffered so much, so that when He asks the other intelligences to let us in, they will say, 'they weren't perfect, but because You, the Redeemer of All, want to let them in Heavenly Father's presence, ok, we'll let them in.' It's not just our sins against God and our fellow man that will cry against us at the last day, but our sins against the lesser intelligences. So now you can understand why I hope to do better. I hope to become a better teacher and a better servant of the Lord. Its not a self-pity thing, or something I need comfort with, but a big realization I've come to.I've gotta run, we have to travel 4 hours by train to get to an appointment tonight. Fun fun eh? Ok, send my love to everyone. Chris and Cami's baby is really cute. I wish I could hold him! And Lauren sends me a bunch of stuff and I love her.I'm out. I love and miss you both a lot. Mom the picture with the dots scared me! I didn;t realize I'd been out so long.

Loves,Elder ChArnett of the Germany Hamburg Mission now serving in Lauenburg formerly serving in Essen where he baptized the most awesome new convert named Nicholas Alexander Garbacz, now a Melchizedek Priesthood Holder and Ward Mission Leader of the Essen Ward in the Dortmund Stake of the Europe Central Area.

On 2/18/08, Pamela Arnett <pamiam1218@hotmail.com> wrote:
Dear Elder Chad Jeffrey Arnett of the Germany Hamburg Mission now serving in Lauenburg formerly serving in Essen,

As I'm writing this, Duffy is putting his nose almost on the laptop computer. I just gave him a bath because he stunk so bad. Mom said he could stay in the house tonight so he's in heaven. He got out today because we've had so much rain and he dug under the gate. Troy came over tonight and told me he found him and he put him back in the yard. I think Duffy is mad at me because I scolded him for scratching on the windows to tell us he wants in the house. We have created a monster. Anyway, he's clean now and seems to be happy. He's never really tried to get away before, so I think he's mad at me but I'll make it up to him with some treats. I also need to spend more time with him and haven't been able to lately. I finished most of Donna's surround sound stuff this past weekend. It took a long time because I am still stiff and sore from the whole broken rib thing. But it sounds good, although I still have to do some remote control programming and stuff. I'm sure the rib has healed but the muscles or something still hurts. I also can't really breathe deep right now. Maybe because I'm outta shape or something or maybe the muscles don't allow me to until I stretch them more. It was strange to see where Donna had someone come in and patch up the big hole in her ceiling that I fell through. All the kids in the ward say Brother Kelly's home theater screens are great. I guess they've had some Friday night gaming parties. I still check the weather online in your area everyday. I see where it's been getting really cold at night, but I hope there are some clear nights where you can still see the stars. Oh, by the way, I read that a Portuguese triple combination is now available and people can order it from the church online. Maybe that will help your investigator. She probably has a Book of Mormon, but it would be great to get a triple set. We had a new family move into the ward today....the Woody's. I'm not sure if that is how you spell their name or not. It seems though I recognize the name. They were in the 6th ward before. Did they have someone you knew at Highland? I know they've got a son on a mission now. Also, Cameron Arnett has been called as the choir director in his singles ward. He started today. He really doesn't even know how to lead music. I guess they called him because he is musical, but it will be interesting to find out how he does. He's kind of shy too, so I'll keep you updated on his progress. I can't remember if I told you or not about this great book I've been reading called, "A Joseph Smith Chronology". It's from Grandpa Epperson's book collection I think. It was compiled by the guy who wrote the screenplay for "Lord of the Rings" who is a Mormon in Hollywood. It was printed a long time ago.

Anyway, he has done all this research from all the sources on the Prophet Joseph Smith and then compiled an account almost everyday of his experiences. I really like it because he shows the good and the bad. "No holds barred".

It has really made me appreciate Joseph Smith for what he went through. Outside people hated him so much for no other reason than he taught something different and exposed their false traditions. What's more, the people in the church expected him to be perfect in everything. If a church financial transaction went bad they blamed him because how could a prophet have anything go bad. They put too much emphasis on scrutinizing his every move and not learning the principles of the gospel he taught which were from the Lord. He was literally betrayed by everyone close to him including most of the apostles and even family members. Very few stayed close to him.

I also learned so much about Hyrum. Hyrum was extremely kindhearted. He was always at his brother's side and always leaned on the side of mercy toward those that would do him or Joseph harm. It's amazing how the church truly is a "marvelous work and a wonder". It grew from nothing and through such opposition to the kingdom of God on earth it is now. Joseph wasn't perfect, he wasn't supposed to be, but he was the Lord's annointed servant. Moses, David, Abraham and others let down the Lord in certain things. Moses wasn't allowed to enter the promised land because he didn't give the Lord credit in producing a miracle. I don't think we give Brother Joseph enough respect. Also, the people you contact will have a hard time believing about the First Vision. They say how can that be? How can you believe that? Remember though, most of what the Christian world believes today was brought about by a vision -- the vision of Saul of Tarsus -- later name Paul. He never saw Christ while He was on earth. Paul was a menace and persecutor of Christians. Some believe he participated in killing them. Yet, on the way to Damascus, he had a vision and saw Christ.

Most of the Bible we have now and most of the way Christian churches are governed and teach now was taught by Paul. After the four gospels most of the Bible are the teachings and activities of Paul having to with Christ. Granted, his pure teachings were corrupted through the centuries by evil men, but Paul more than others stands out in the Bible the Christian world uses. He had a vision of Christ and so did Joseph Smith. The only difference is, he went to the others to say I had a vision and eventually was accepted although it took some time. Even Peter had to take some time to accept it. Joseph did the same thing. He went to those church leaders he knew in his area and told them of his account. He was reviled, hated and persecuted. If Paul could have a vision of Christ, a man who may have killed Christians, then what is so outlandish about the Prophet Joseph having a vision of Christ and Our Heavenly Father? I am so glad you are serving the Lord. Be strong and work hard. The work is right and true you are doing. You are providing great service to the people there. They may not listen, they may even mock you. That is their priviledge, but you are where you are supposed to be, doing what you are supposed to be doing. I love and miss you, but am so proud of you. We pray constantly for you.

LOVE DAD

Also I'm including some photos of Chad of his baptism in Essen and the countryside in Lauenburg and his most recent with his companion and young men from his Lauenburg ward.

Should I post again?

I don't know if I should? Please help?

Newsflash: Chad loves his cousins

I've got nothing interesting in my life so here is something from Elder Arnett. If you don't like, don't read it. Remember, this is my blog about me and my family.

sup ma and pa!?
First off, Mom what the heck? Don't listen to Dad write me tonz! I got one small email from you! I need more lovin! I'm here in lonely cold Germany and the one girl I care about most doesn't even write me! Come on! What's that all about!
But I did get your tape and I am extremely appreciative of that. It was good to hear everyone's voices. . That's so sweet that Chris popped the baby thing with me on the line. It made me really happy.
D-backs are still in the lead? I really didn't see that comin.
Once again this week was hard! It seemed like everything was falling through. Every one of our appointments were canceled and we were back to square one so we decided to do alot of member work with less actives and partmembers. It's not my favorite, but it's kinda fun getting to know the people. The part member work is where it's at though, and it seems to be paying off.
The Book of Mormon to the ward idea is so much better than i thought. Yesterday, I had to give out three of my own! I really really think this is going to help the work. Anyway back to the week. We went by on tons of old investigators and old contacts and we still have so much more to do! I'm pretty excited for this next week because we have a lot of appointments made out.
Before i forget, CASEY IS COMMING BACK!! WHAT THE HECK, HE JUST LEFT!!! I can't believe it. These three months have gone pretty fast for me too-- well at least this month. This transfer has flown by. We only have about a week left. If my miission goes like this I'm a bit scared. I know I'll have hard times, but still...its fast. Congrats Casey and family and I'm really glad to hear Cliff is doing good and that Cameron is too. I really have come to realize how much I love and miss my family -- all of them -- all 100 or some odd of em.
I hope everyone reading this is doing good and I hope to hear from you at some point! I miss you all like crazy! and if Austin reads this, the song was a hit. The missionaries in my apartment especially like it.
Anyway. so back to this week. it was rough. Constant rain and a lot of crazy things happened.
All week long. everything fell through, but then Saturday came around. I love Saturdays because it means the next day is Sunday and in this case, Sunday meant we had an appointment with a promising investigator. Then Sunday came and I got a text (ha! take that Dad! I have a cell phone and its glorious!). It was from this investigator and he had to cancel because he was sick. I was mad but kinda glad because investigators never tell you they cant do it, they just don't show up. Anyway Elder Lewis and I decided to go down to Velbert instead. Its in the very south of our area and the mission. Here's the story as I told it to Pres.Thompson..
"But, there are two things that I am really excited for. First, an investigator that we have. We had an appointment made out for yesterday, but it fell through. But the reason I'm still hopeful is because he called us. That means he remembered! And he is still very interested. He had to cancel because he was sick. And I don't think it was a lie, he sounded horrible! Secondly, yesterday we were in the south of our area giving a spiritual thought to a family who just fasted for the missionary work, and to drop by on some former contacts and investigators. But it was getting late so we decided to start to head back. We caught a Bahn and were admiring the country. Then Elder Lewis said to me that we still needed to get our 20. We were at one of our favorite contacting spots so we jumped off the train and went out. The place was dead. There was barely anyone anywhere. So we talked to as many as we could but were still short by about 12. So we decided to head over to the InnenStadt. Now the InnenStadt is usually packed so we have a route we like to take that leads through some of the less populated streets. We find its easier to contact when there aren't so many people around. They usually seem to stop more often. But, when we were about to take the road that we usually do, both Elder Lewis and I had a feeling that we should go up the main road. So, naturally, we did. We weren't walking for more than 2 minutes when this guy who was jogging took out his iPod earphones and said, "Hey, you speak English right?" Elder Lewis and I looked at each other and said "Ya." The guy came over to us and said, "I wanna learn more about you." We were awestruck. This guy has read up on the Church and, in his own words, finds somthing attractive about it. He said he think it's a leap of faith, but that all religion is.
The phrase from Preach My Gospel came to mind, 'The Lord is preparing people to recieve you. He will lead you to them or He will lead them to you.' Oh! The goodness and mercy of the Lord! We meet with him on Thursday."
And that sadly was my week. I know its not that interesting, but its all that happened! I gotta go help Elder lewis get registered for BYU. He's training me for the mission and I'm training him for the real world. It's so funny! He goes home right before Christmas. I can't believe how Christmas doesn't feel that far away. It is three months, but I dunno it's scary how fast this goes! Jameson is 6 months through! and BJ is over a year!
Here are some pictures of the crazy wild here in Deustchland! Some of these are off my comps camera so that's why they're "wanna be" artistic!
I love studying the language and the scriptures! Serious! I'm learning alot about my study habits and how I should do it. I eat periodiocally during my 3 hour study sessions. Im gunna get so fat, but I've actually lost weight since Ive been on the mission. I'm only like 77 kilos now. Elder Lewis and I have started excercising. Itss so funny. He got some workout tapes and he makes me do them with him. There's this ab one that makes me laugh so hard. The guy on the tape is such a flamer! I'm still sore and we did it like 3 days ago. But i draw a line at Palaties. I refuse to do any of that stuff with him! OK well im off. Today is a chill day and very much needed by yours truly. . I love and miss you!
Tschüss!
Elder Chad
p.s. I had to change my handwriting for german! I'm perturbed!

The King of Hearts, Elder Arnett update

I am the undisputed King of Hearts as evidenced by this past weekend's total destruction of Lex, Mal, Cam, Lacy, Austin and P-lope. P-lope actually played better than her mother. At least she chewed up the cards rather than be chewed up by me.

Here is this week's Elder Arnett installment with some photos.

Dear Mom and Dad,

Geez, what happened to make Duffy and Jr to get in a fight? That makes me angry, but good choice... and how the heck did Duffy lose? Tell me he got a few good strikes in.

So, I do keep a daily journal and will do what you told me to, but you have to realize my schedule is never the same so I never know how much I can write. I do the best I can though.

I hope Uncle Cliff is ok. Tell Cam and all the cousins I say hi and love em. Tell them to drop me an email one of these days too. I'm happy for Cameron. That's so great he's doing this for real-- no more faking it-- its awesome.

So this week was difficult. If you want the defintion of ineffective missionary work it's this, ´street contacting in the middle of preparations for the biggest gay and lesbian party that literally brings hell´. Try crying repentance in that situation.

Last monday was Elder Lui´s birthday. He's the Italian elder in my apartment with me. We went bowling and had lots of fun. In the innen stadt (innercity) there are always booths with people trying to save some sort of animal. So there were about 12 missionaries standing around cause we were deciding what kinda lunch we wanted and this kid walks up and starts talking to us about whales. Someone said we were American and he starts talking English with us. He's from Jacksonsville. Fl and has this "gansta" accent. He asked us what we were doing here. One of the Elders mentioned we were missionaries. His attitude totally changed. He got all reserved and started acting like he had somewhere to go. We are used to that -- all Germans do it. He was standing next to me while I was doing a rubics cube, just showing off my madd skillz to the other Elders, and I asked, ´´what, are you scared of us?´´ He looked around and said no. I asked him if he knew what we did. He said not really. He had such a bad attitude. I told him we pretty much did what he did, but instead of saving fish, we were saving souls. I asked him if he wanted to be saved. He said maybe. I laughed and said when it is a yes to seek me out. He told me ok. His name is Thomas. I've seen him alot since in the innenstadt.

My districkt was laughing so hard. They couldnt believe that I did that. Neither could I really. It was P-day, and I had a rubics cube in my hands. I go crazy when I have a rubics cube in my hands.

Tuesday we had district meeting in Mulheim so we had to travel a bit.

After Tuesday, we just did a lot of contacting, but we had to be really careful. The gay Loveparade really hindered the work. I was pretty upset about it. I can't believe so many people showed up. It should have been young single adult heaven, except for two factors, they were all drunk and they don't want god in their lives. It's ridiculous.

On Saturday, the day of the Loveparade, we were locked in the church all day. President Thompson wouldnt let us out. We had to stay in Essen, though, because we had a few appointments. That night we had a ward talent show. It was a blast. The three other elders and myself lipsinked to "The Lion Sings Tonight". It was funny and the ward loved it. My ward here is awesome. There are a few guys who are American and I love talking to them. On Sunday, we went to the Stake President's house.That family is so funny. We had root beer floats! I was so stoked! I haven't had rootbeer in so long. All we have here to drink is tea, carbonated water, and apfelshorle (carbonated apple juice, weird I know, but I love it.) and water outta the faucet. But you have to be careful. My general rule of thumb is if it's brown, don't drink it, if it's green, dont drink it, if it's clear and you drink it, you still might be in trouble later that night -- and here I was thinking Europe was civilized!
We kind of live in the ghetto. I love it though. There are thugs everywhere. They walk around flashing their blades. I walk around flashing my missionary badge. Elder Lewis is scared for me--he thinks I'm gonna get stabbed.

I saw a girl get hit by a bahn (train), it was a suicide attempt. I was very scared. Elder Lewis said that he's seen 4 people die... people jump in front of things all the time. The German people are just so depressed. They need the gospel really bad.

Yesterday in church, there was this young man in the ward who was set apart as a missionary. He has been called to the Frankfurt mission, just south of me. It brought back so many feelings. After all the meetings were over, the ward members came into the chapel and all the kids around my age got up and sang "In the Hollow of Thy Hand" to him. It was very emotional. All four of us missionaries were up there and I think we were all tearing up. The Stake President put the piano bench in the front of the chapel and called him up. His dad and the bishop came up with him. He gave his girlfriend one last hug and walked up. He walked past us elders sitting on the side. He looked at us, he was so scared and excited. I remember that feeling, in fact I still get it.
Then, he was set apart as a missionary. A miracle happened as the blessing was being pronounced. I understood it! It made me think of my setting apart with Bishop Graham and President Greer and you DAD. All of us missionaries were crying, it was a tender moment and one that I will always treasure. It made me realize how much I apprieciate this opportunity. Yes, its a sacrifice... a huge one, but it's such a priviledge.

And, that's my week in review. Here are some pictures just to show how I'm doing and where I'm at.

Much love.

Elder Arnett

What the world needs now is love sweet love...

From Elder Arnett,

hey. sorry guys, but this one is going to be way short. i have so much to do and we have to get out of the innenstadt, inner city, cause the love parade is starting soon and we gotta go! this week has been good, but not so good for the work cause the love parade is here in essen. if you dont know what it is, keep it that way. its discusting.... pretty much a huge gay and lesbo fest. ew. naked people dancing is just not appealing. we stick to the outskirts of our area and pretty soon we wont be able to go outside. luckly it should be done by next week and we can get back to work.

Here are some photos of Elder Arnett in the MTC and in Essen. $5 to whoever can name the Elder with glasses --full name and his parent's name.

The fishing trip is on, it's just when we are going. If anonymous gives his or her name we can decide.

I received an email from cousin Chet Arnett. His son Joe is serving in India Bangladore. He's been out for a year. His experiences are very interesting. Getting people to listen to him is not the problem. Getting them to listen because they are interested in the gospel is a problem. It seems the Indians want to hear any American speak so they can imitate the language. They want to sound like an American as they take your job. You know everything is being outsourced now.

Fishing trip!

I'm planning a fishing trip sometime soon. I hear Dave is interested, but no firm committment yet. I think he needs to check with his social director, Lacy. It's gonna be the first week of September. I'm going to Blythe. Chad is out he is busy. But, if anyone is interested, please post now or forever hold your peace. This will be a real fishing trip. You know, the kind where you catch bass (striped, largemouth, smallmouth and maybe crappie or bluegill). It will be an overnighter. I will leave in the afternoon, fish that evening, then fish in the morning and if things are good fish later that evening. Durning off times, I am willing to show Arnett shrines such as Cibola, 7th street, etc. There will be an obligatory stop at Starbucks for a vanilla creme something or other. I can't remember, but it's cold and good. I could be talked into fishing for catfish if I have to, I guess. It will be Dove season there, so someone could do some hunting between fishing. My dog will go so no other dogs allowed. There will be a campfire, food and fishing lessons taught be me. Wive's are invited if they can stand the heat and the smell of the fish and the men. Staying in a motel in Blythe is always an option for those that can't hack the bugs, snakes, coyotes, or other critters. If several want to go I could arrange for additional floating devices to accomadate. We would have a floatilla. Also, perhaps Aunt Cathy could importune upon her Brother for a place for us to camp in his backyard where there are no critters. Or, maybe it will just be me and my dog. That will be fine, too. I like him and he likes me.

Chad's first email (letter) from Germany

PARENTALS!!! (AND EVERYONE ELSE!!!)IM IN GERMANY!!

Ok first off the y and the z are switched here so when zou see a z think y cause im not gunna take the time to fix it.Oh meine gutte. Germanz is so crayz. but I love it!

Mz first area is a huge citz named Essen. Its so awesome. ITS STORZ TIME!!!Ok, so mz first daz we prettz much spent traveling. it was a 6 hour bahn (train) ride. Boring. But whatever.It was still fun seeing the countrz.
Mz trainer is named Elder Lewis. He rocks. He's waz cool and waz good at missionarz work. I'm gonna learn tonz. So we get into Essen right, and we meet our third comp., Elder Leigh. We're working as a dritte for a week or so until his comp. comes back from Oberhausen. It's a long storz that I don't wanna go into -- an apostate missionarz and new zone leaders and a girl here. Ya it's kinda bad! But whatever.
So, then we went out and did a little contacting that first daz but reallz we just wanted to get to know the city. There are a few areas we need to avoid, but overall it's a waz cool place. Then we had a dinner appointment that night with the Kotzlik's. Sister Kotzlik is the onlz member so it was kinda fun. Her son. Daniel is 17 and waz funnz. I wanna get to know him better. The food was amaying.
The next daz, we had a two hour planning session for the week. Just to set our goals and stuff. That's where I first learned why Elder Leigh is so negative all the time. He sazs the work is dead in Essen, but it's the most sucessful place in the mission.
So we went outside and tried to find some people. It didn't reqallz work. Then we went to stop bz some less actives. That was cool. None were home, but I did mz first contact. I talked to this black guz named Pastor Tony. He's funnz. I went up and started talking to him and he was like, 'zou speak english dont zou?' I laughed and said za. Then we got his info and stuff. He admires the missionaries and wants to talk with us. We'll call him tonight.I'm sorrz, but so much has happened so I'm gonna hit the kez points.The next daz we had an apointmnent with a referral. We met him at the kirche. Sorrz thats church. We sat down and started talking about what he has learned. He's been taught before. Then after about 5 minutes he said before we go anz further," I think zou should know, i want to be baptized". I wanted to hug him
I was so stoked! We meet this guz off the street and he wants to be baptiyed! I'm so excited! So september 8th, mark it down..
Then we went to this park where the stake plazs soccer on saturdazs and we got to talk with him and have him meet some of the members. I love the ward here... some reallz great people live here and thez're waz helpful. But, we found out alot about Lahib Marcus. That's his name. He comes from Iraq. He's been Christian his whole life so he and his familz have been reffugies for their whole life. Thez have been trzing to get into Greece for a long time and kept getting sent back to Iraq. It's crayz some of his stories. He's been living in Deutschland for some time and knows he can't go back. He sazs he will -- two dazs before he wants to die. He wants to see his homeland.
Mz real comp., Elder Lewis has built a real good relationship with him and I've tried. The language is a definate barrier though. But I understand a lot actuallz. I understand more than Elder Leigh who has been here for 7 months. Sometimes I can respond which is cool.Then sundaz rolled around. It was a blast. I bore mz testmonz, I had to, and itss was so funnz. I got up and said hi, and it was mz first week in Germanz and mz Deutsch was bad. Then I started to talk and whenever I'd start to sound out a word the whole congragation would be nodding their heads encouraging me. It was waz funnz..
I reallz like the ward. Thezre sweet, although we have some crayz people too like this guz who has been excommunicated 2 times and just got rebaptiyed. A lot of people are like that here though.
Then I met this girl named Ronja Krane. We were teaching this Young Women's class and she was there. She's not a member but she stazed (foreign exchange student) with a familz in Springville, Utah, that mz cousin James Arnett married into. So, she knows mz name. It was so sweet. I wanted to kneel down and thank God right then. She wanted to know about an English class and stuff so were gonna set up a conversation class. Her English is perfect though. She doesn't even have an accent. I'm just gonna trz to be her friend first and invite here to things. I think shes interested. but she said her parents weren't too excited that she wanted to go to church. We'll see...
Then later that Sundaz we taught Lahib the first lesson. It was waz good cause we had a member familz, the Danalakis there. Thez've gotten to be friends with Lahib. He's reallz exxcited and so are we.

We then went to the Bishop's house to talk about the ward and find out part members and less actives and all that stuff. He told us about this ladz who wants her 9 zear old baptiyed. So we have to teach her. I cant believe it.I cant believe how guided our lives are. It's amaying. This week has been such a miracle. Seriouslz, mz trainer is so cool and good. mz apartment is the nicest in the mission, but it is still prettz getto. I'll send pics next week. Mom, you would never live here. We have a bathroom, a kitchen, a bedroom and a studz. I think the apartment is onlz 35 square feet. We will have 4 elders living there bz the end of next week.
The people here aren't that rich... actuallz reallz poor compaired to our standards. But I love emand I love it here.Well we have a teaching appt. here in a little.I'm so stoked to be here now. I know everzone is sazing hang on and it will get better, but I'm having a blast. It's so sweet here, I love it. I wouldn't trade it for the world.I love zou and miss zou. Talking to zou from Paris was so good. I loved it. We'll talk in 4 months though. I can wait, can zou?Love,chadPictures will come soon.. I love zou so much.Oh and i need like 50 to 80 € on mz personal account. I have to get some stuff like a new backpack. Mine wont work cause it rains 24/7 here. I have to get one here. Sorrz. I love zou though! and I have to get some scripture cases so za. chuß.

In Essen, West Germany Province.

Chad arrived in Hamburg and stayed there a day or two. He was transferred to Essen which is just outside Dusseldorf which is not in his mission. Go figure. Dussuldorf is in the Frankfurt Mission. Essen is an industrial city of 600,000 in the most populated area of Germany. His companion is Elder Lewis. He is as far away as you can get from the mission home. The Good news is he probably is in the Dortmund zone which is the zone that the older couple that Devry is now related to resides. Hopefully, we can see some photos on their blog in the future. His P-day is on Mondays. If you email him, you need to do it on Sundays as there is a 9 hour difference. His email address is: chadarnett@myldsmail.net. Here are some pics that the mission president sent today. He is from SLC and was a bigshot with IHC.

Since Chad is headed to the Fatherland...

Chad leaves Tuesday for Hamburg. He flies from SLC to Chicago to Paris to Hamburg. If you want his address to write him, which you all should because he has no brothers or sisters, email Pam. I promised the rest of the words to the song I wrote him. And, thank you Dana (the only one) who wanted to read them all. Here they are:

Sprekenzie deutsch in the mtc
how's it going in there without a tv
I know this song's not Mormon tab
I hope you all will cut me some slack
Mutti and vater are so proud of you
Doing the Lords work is what you should do
We miss you oh so much
But nothings too hard when the Lord is our crutch
Don't think about material things
About bottled beasts and Scary Kids
Or hair that's everywhere
Here comes a chord change right here
I know I don't sing this part well
but that's okay cause you miss us anyway
I know I dont sing this part well
but that's okay cause you can only listen to this on P-day
What do you hear from the Elders from home
Law and Tanner and old Bigelow
Is learning German oh so hard
It will come to you soon son, your not a retard
Preach my gospel that's your Bible now
learn it all -- it will teach you how
to show the people the truth
It even worked for old Sean Bluth
The MTC is like a boot camp
Everythings tough but worth it at last
Not to worry about things back home
Think red and big...I'll have to take out a loan
Don't think of material things
of bottled beasts and Scary Kids
Or hair that's everywhere
Here comes a chord change right here
I know I don't sing this part well
but that's okay cause you miss us anyway
I know I dont sing this part well
but that's okay cause you can only listen to this on P-day.

On another note, I'm giving you a movie review. I know it's not as deep as "Water" which Lance loved so much, but it's on Bourne Ultimatum. Pam, Cameron and I went to see it yesterday. Here's my review......Yeah, baby! Pure unadulterated violence. Yeah baby! My kind of movie. Just a little hint, at the end of the movie pay special attention to who leads Bourne down the hall to his indoctrination into the program. Just an important hint for the next movie.

Okay back to Chad. Here is a copy of an epistle he sent to the Young Women in the Ward. They wrote him as a group acitivity. He writes us maybe 2 lines at most but writes them the following:


THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF ELDER ARNETT THE MISSIONARY TO THE PEOPLE OF THE WARD CALLED PIONEER.
1 Now behold, I Chad, Son of Jeff, have somewhat to say concerning you, the people of the land of my inheritance. Yea, I would that I may speak unto you because of the fullness of my joy.
2 Yea, for now is the time that I prepare to ride upon the wings of that great metal bird to the place that the Lord our God has called me. And I have been instructed in the manner of the way of the Elders before me; therefore, I do know how to pack.
3 Now I Chad, son of Jeff, the husband of Pam, who is great and fair in the eyes of the Lord, do have somewhat more to say concerning the Young Women in the Ward Pioneer. Yea, I do rejoice in your writings, for they did find me. And oh, how great the timing and tender mercies of our Lord! For it is no coincidence that your writings did find me in a state of sadness. Yea, for I was grieved at the hardness of the language of German; yea and for many other reasons was I
grieved.
4 But behold, your letter did find me and did lift me up. Yea and for this cause do I direct a portion of my writings unto you, the Young Women of the Ward Pioneer in the land of my inheritance. My soul does rejoice because of your words.
5 Now my people, I do bid thee adieu for a time. Yea, for this shall be the last of my writings from the "Empty Sea" (MTC) for on the seventh day of the eighth month two thousand and seven years from the coming of our Lord, yea even Jesus Christ, I do embark into destiny. Behold, I do go unto the land that is torn because of the Wars of the World, and do preach of the goodness and mercy of the One and True God of Isreal.
6 For He truly is the Light and the Way.
7 So now I do send these, my writings. I pray they find you in health and safety. Yea, and this is the desire of my heart. Chuss.

For the enrichment of mankind

Things you should tell our children and grandchildren about your ancestors.

Uncle Cliff was the fasted Anglo-Saxon for miles around. He ran track in the 100 and 220 and was on the award winning 4x100 yard relay team. The only white caucasion. He used to run about a 10.3.....one time he ran a 9.9 -- wind aided and didn't count.

Uncle HB used to look like a bobble-head doll when he ran. He was clocked also at a 10.3 but it was in the 60 yard dash. He does still hold the record for most points scored in a city league game...84. He was 17 and playing against 6 graders.

Uncle Larry and I witnessed the "confirmation" the Sunday before all worthy male members receiving the priesthood back in 1978. Ask him about it.

Candy always wanted to be a baton twirling artist. She never was-- see the video on H.B's site.

Howard used to castrate cattle with his pocket knife then come home and cut roses off our front bushes with it and give them to Ethel. He also used to peel potatoes for dinner that night with that same knife. I'm still not sure if he cleaned it first.

Ethel was an incredible gospel doctrine teacher. She would spend hours each day with her bedroom door closed surrounded by books studying. Her preperation was meticulous....first studying everything she could then practicing in front of the mirror. That's right. That's why she was so good. She taught for many years. At her funeral, some people from out of the country found out about her death and traveled to Mesa just to be there because as they put it, "she was the best teacher we ever witnessed and they had to be there to say goodbye." They had been winter visitors in Quartzsite for many years.

We had a little 2nd grader boy stay with us for awhile. He was one of Mom's students. He had witnessed his Dad shoot and kill his Mom. The only person he would let be around him and talk to was Ethel.

Howard had to bail Tommy Lee (the farm foreman) out of jail a couple of times. The worst was when Tommy got mad at one of the farm workers and stabbed him a few times. Dad said he was cut up pretty good.

HB used to drive a red Austin Healy that hardly ever started. Uncle Cliff drove anything he could get his hands on. Larry and I drove the old "Sweat Hog", our family Impala. We also got a Volkswagon Beetle Bug. It was the original Bug with the rubber band sounding engine. We were great at driving stick-shift Frances.

We had a TV room. I don't know how we did. It was one of the bedrooms. But that is where the TV was. We used to all go in there and watch TV....all seven of us. It usually ended up being six quickly as Ethel used to make HB (Harold) go outside due to his constant flatulation. She actually made him go out of the house many times. He was quite proud of it.

Uncle Cliff was the one that taught us how to play the guitar. Ethel made us all take piano lessons for awhile. Larry was good enough to play for priesthood and on his mission. She made HB and me take clarinet. It didn't take. More things you should tell your children will come later.

A comment on comments

Okay, let's tell it like it is. We blog, not for the enrichment of mankind or for personal purification or anything of the sort. We blog to get comments from other bloggers. It's an A.S.S. thing. Okay, maybe Cathy doesn't have A.S.S. and she is doing it for the right reason, but I'm positive everyone else is doing if for the comments. So here is my problem. Some of you new bloggers have put a restriction on who can comment with the google account user thing. I would have commented on alot of things like...nice cakes, sorry about the eye doctor, Josie is cute, Tana is cool, vacation in California looked fun, wished it rained here as much in Flagstaff, etc., but I refuse to type in my user account name each time. There, I've written it. Also, a couple of other things. Channy start posting. Just make stuff up. No one cares, we just want to comment anyway. Jantzen, new post please. Way too long without a post. Heidi, you are really funny. I never really knew that. I thought you were funny, but now I know that. Why are Candy's blogs
"deeper than mine". Sorry, but Chea is better than all of the other photogs listed on everyone elses blogs. Sorry, I know it cruel, but it's true. Look I'm not trying to be elected president here, I'm just trying to get comments. Two blogs I look for everday....Wendy's and Lacy's. I don't know why I just do. Lindsay, I've cut you some slack on blogging regularity, but more post's please. And Megs, our newest blogger, don't be afraid to tell us all your feelings and thoughts about the upcoming nuptials. I went back to Devry's wedding blogs, they were great.
So this is how I start....I type in www.dev and Explorer comes up with Devry's blog address, then I read her's. Then I start the link thing. Sometimes I get to all of them, sometimes I don't. The links are somewhat convoluted in that I have to go to another blog to get to the others. Now I must confess I don't go to blogs of people on your links I don't know or care to know. Is this starting to sound like Andy Rooney? He's got A.S.S. Anyway, after reading them all, or all I can stand at one time, I end up at LD's. Why? Because his is always the newest. Pretty much something new each day. Also, I like the witty bantering back and forth between LD and CS. If two MAC laptops could talk about what was erased before being posted. That's it. Amen....fade to a picture a clock ticking the minutes of 60 minutes.

Candy has her son-in-law test, Pam's Pammandments

So, here's the deal. This is what Chad had to live up to during his formative years, actually during his first year at BYU. Pam actually had them printed up and gave them to him. I thought I'd share them with you. They are hilarious. Put these together with Candy's list and you have perfection.

1. Thou shalt be home by midnite because the Holy Ghost goes to be then. Nothing good happens after midnite.
2. Thou shalt not say pis-, cra-, frick--, freak-- or bosom.
3. Thou shall wear thy seatbelt always.
4. Thou shalt not drive over 65 mph..the Lord can't protect thee if thou art breaking the law.
5. Thou shalt get thy hair.
6. Thou shalt brush thy teeth twice a day every day.
7. Thou shalt not talk on thy cell phone to girls after 1am.
8. Thou shalt be conscious of what you text, say and write because Satan see and hears everything.
9. Thou shalt always say, "Please and Thank you" and be grateful.
10. Thou shalt not tell lies. Thou has to remember too many details and will come back to bite thee in the buttocks
11. Thou shalt not gamble or play cards on tv, online.
12. Thou shalt be judicious on myspace and facebook. Remember everyone can read everything thou dost write.
13. Thou shalt always open doors for girls.
14. Thou shalt remember that the grass is always greener on the other side because it has more manure on it...and it still has to be mowed.
15. Thou shalt have a prayer in thy heart always. Pray morning and night and anytime in between...especially before a test.
16. Thou shalt not have a steady girlfriend...spread the joy.
17. Thou shalt remember that choice, not chance, determines destiny.
18. Thou shalt remember that what thou thinkest thou art and what thou wilt become.
19. Thou shalt be where thou art supposed to be when thou art supposed to be there.
20. Thou shalt not be alone with girls.
21. Thou shalt keep thy dorm room clean.
22. Thou shalt wash thy sheets at least once a month.
23. Thous shalt not walk around in thy underwear.
24. Thous shalt attend all devotionals and firesides and take notes.
25. Thou shalt write in thy journal weekly.
26. Thou shalt write a letter or email to thy parentals once a week so the female parental can save it for thy scrapbook.
27. Thou shalt get 8 hours of sleep every night.
28. Thou shalt not eat junk food too often.
29. Thou shalt exercise daily.
30. Thou shalt read and study thy scriptures daily.
31. Thou shalt never see R-rated movies...ever.
32. Remember who thou art at all time and in all places.
33. Thou shalt remember the Pammandments because I saith and meaneth it and I loveth thee. I want thee to be the best thee can be.

Nobody comments anyway!

Okay, I'm doing another post. I tell Candy to post and she just gets mad at me. I tell Heidi to post and she just laughs. Lacy tells me to post and so does Candy, so I'm posting, but no one comments anyway. And no one comments on my comments to their blogs, so what's the point with blogging. HB uses all my ideas on his Cougar Sportsline, so as Hitch says, "I've got nothing".

I've really got nothing to say. Chad is gone. I've got no one to go fishing with. It's hot, really hot. I hate one of my dogs and no one will take him. Everyone gets mad when I say I'm gonna take him out in the desert and let him play "Survivor". Incidentally, what a great TV show. I know some of it has to be fake, but it still appeals to my manly manifestoness. Speaker on entertainment, I've gone to more movies in the last month than I have in the last 10 years. All because Chad is gone. It's my way of grieving, I guess. Or maybe it's because Cameron likes to go and up until now he didn't have vehicle. So I went with him or with Pam. Here's my review of the following movies: Fantastic Four.....what a waste; Spiderman....good but too many villians; Pirates....enough with the psycho crabs, not enough action, yet Johnny Depp is a great actor...movie still stunk though; Transformers.....yeah baby....the real deal, although I have no idea which machines were good or bad, just great action and it was funny...the lead guy Beef or Broth or Shilo or whatever his name is (it's something like that) was good; Ocean's 13.....okay, allright good becuase I like the idea of ripping off anything in Vegas but the writing sure has gone downhill since the first one. I wanted it to be funny, but it wasn't, yet they ripped off Al Pacino and Andy Garcia again...okay kinda good but not...it was a good diversion. So here's a movie story for you. Pam, Cameron and I went to see Transformers the first day it was out. Not the midnite thing but day. We had to stand in line for 45 minutes behind some ropes to wait for it. I've never done anything like that before except at Disneyline and I hated it. Anyway, we are there for about a minute in line and Pam says she has to go the bathroom. So she goes. About 15 minutes passes and shes not back. I tell Cameron I'm worried and go to find her. I go to the women's bathroom and wait. Ladies are entering and exiting, but no Pam. Finally, I see someone from our ward coming out. I ask if Pam was in there. She says no. So I call Pam on her cell phone. I rings for a long time and finally she answers in a soft, whispering voice, "Whhhhaaaat"? I ask, "Where are you?" She whispers even softer, "I'm in another movie. I didn't want to stand in line that long and there was another movie I wanted to see if I liked".

She told me to call her when the line got to go to our theater. So this is how the movie thing works, I concluded. Cameron and I waited the entire time in this stupid line. So then we finally march, almost run to theater #19 and I call Pam. She said she'd be there when it started and to save her a seat. Now in her defense, she does have torn cartilage on both sides of her right knee, so I understand and we probably could have gotten a doctors note if had to. But, then I see throngs of people (all healthy) who all of sudden show up in our marching line in front of us beating us to the good seats. It seems that nobody actually waits in these lines. They just hide somewhere else and then magically appear at the front of the line to get the good seats. Some of these people had shaved heads and gang tatoos, so I decided not to confront them. Even so, we got the good seats, you know the ones with the railing in front so you can put your feet up. And, of course we still kept an empty seat between us saying they were taken if anybody was to ask. We did it out of spite to show the others that we were "bad".

Chad leaves for Hamburg in a couple of weeks. He says he can't wait. He's tired of the processed MTC food and ready to see some action.

I think I can do this now

Here are some photos of Chad entering the MTC. If you have free time write him. If not, don't worry about it we probably didn't write you on yours either. Although, I am a frequent contibutor to your blogs. It's a shame missionaires can't blog....legally anyway. It would be really interesting I think. Thanks to Devry for the blog she told us about. We check it out even though Chad isn't there yet. He got to meet his new mission president this week before he heads to Hamburg the first of July. Chad will be in the MTC until the first week in August. He's really worried because the German isn't flowing. He will be celebrating his 19th Birthday on June 30th in the MTC. I wrote him a song that I hope doesn't get him in trouble. I hope he can listen to it at least. It goes.....

Sprekenzie Deutsch in the MTC,

how's it going in there without a tv,

I know this song is not mormon tab,

I hope you all can cut me some slack.

Anyway, that's the first verse. If you want to read the rest of it, I might post it later.

Here are some photos.