First full week in Idaho

Elder Arnoczky meets President & Sister Yardley who will be serving until June 30^th when their mission is complete and they return home. They sent a photo with a letter to Mom & Dad assuring them that they will take good care of Elder Arnoczky.

In a May 26^th email, Elder Arnoczky said that he is teaching every day and could be involved with his first baptism next week. The potential new member is a 20-year-old named Becky. He says there are also 3 people in the same family that he is helping teach who are also very close but not quite ready to make the baptism commitment. This past week he and his companion helped an investigator with some heavy-duty yard work for a couple of days. Overall, he is very busy because he & his companion support 5 wards!

Mom sent out a small address book & he said he is planning to write letters to some of you out there. Getting letters or packages are a big highlight of a missionary’s week.

Finally in Boise!

Elder Arnoczky has finally made it to Boise! Yesterday he flew there from Salt Lake, and was able to call Mom in the airport (which she loved). Today we got an email from him. Here it is...enjoy!

Hey just E-mailing you both to tell you i got to Boise okay. My trainers name is Elder Hopkins. He's from Raleigh N. Carolina, and he's pretty cool so far. When i got off the plane i met President and Sister Yardley, and went to there house for lunch, and then went to the mission home to review some of the rules and expectations in this mission. i had an interview with President Yardley and we took a picture and they're sending it home to you pretty soon. they're a really nice couple. and president yardley is really close to who else but Elder Holland. elder holland said he would do anything for his grandson to go to this mission, because of how great president yardley is.

After that i met my companion and we went to our place. its an apartment, but it looks like a house to me. My first area is called Star, and its mostly rich people around it but its weird our apartment is like right next to a chicken farm. and there's chicken out in our front yard lol. after i took my stuff to the place, we had a dinner appointment with a family, and that went pretty great, i got to share the spirtiual thought and after that we went to a "ward correlation" which is where the ward missionaries and mission leaders, talk about and plan how new members and investigators can get closer to being active members. i didnt have too much input since i have know idea who any of them are... but it was intresting to watch. then my companion and i, along with a ward missionary, went to an investigators house just to introduce ourselves.

i serve over part of the eagle stake, and i'm in charge of 5 wards. it's pretty sweet, cause we have like a full schedule today of lessons we're going to teach. And it's cool cause my area is close to Boise and i'm close enough that i'll be able to go to the Boise temple on P-day. I love you both and i'll email you next Tuesday

Love,

Elder Arnoczky

His address for the next two years is:

Elder Arnoczky
Idaho Boise Mission Office
1111 South Cole Road
Boise, ID 83709

2nd and Last week in the MTC

Elder Arnoczky reports that living at the MTC is an extremely busy day. It is quite a change from what he was accustomed to at home but he has welcomed a full schedule with open arms because he is learning a lot and has also been thoroughly enjoying the experience.

Every Tuesday evening a devotional is held at the MTC. Usually the speakers are very inspirational and highly motivational to their audience of new missionaries (aka, ‘greenies’).

Sometime over the weekend of May 8^th, Elder Arnoczky decided to watch a conference talk from October 2009 of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (Safety for the Soul from November 2009 Ensign). This message inspired him to read the Book of Mormon from 3^rd Nephi through Moroni so he immediately began to read that section and actually completed it in just a couple of days and says he gained a much better understanding.

Shortly before the devotional on May 11^th, Elder Arnoczky learned that there was going to be an Apostle speaking that evening. He & his companion arrived at the auditorium early so they could get a good seat. Needless to say, he was pleasantly surprised to learn that the evening devotional speaker turned out to be none other than Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The same man whose conference talk had inspired him to read the Book of Mormon just a few days prior.

Elder Arnoczky leaves the MTC early on the morning of Tuesday, May 18^th to board a plane destined for Boise, Idaho where he will finally begin his mission. He has expressed excitement many times in his letters home and that he cannot wait to begin the work. It may be another couple of weeks before new photos get posted to the blog because Elder Arnoczky hasn’t had the time nor the means to download his camera memory so he can send home a CD.

He has also expressed an interest to hearing from everyone. If you want to write a letter, send a card or a package, please send them via Priority or First Class so they can be forwarded to him. Packaged sent FedEx, UPS, DHL or parcel post cannot be forwarded to him and will stay at the mission office until someone has need to travel out to where he is actually living. Below is the mailing address to use for the next two years:

Elder Arnoczky

Idaho Boise Mission Office

1111 South Cole Rd

Boise, ID 83709

1st week in the MTC

Elder Arnoczky had a wonderful first week in the MTC. His first companion, Elder Meredith, is from Texas and they both get along great! He mentioned in his first email that he didn't think he would pick up teaching as well and as quickly as he did. Heavenly Father is of course inspiring and watching out for him! His pday is on monday, so that's when we should be hearing from him again!

Also here is his mailing address at the MTC in case you want to write him a letter:

Elder Derek Arnoczky
MTC Mailbox #204 ID-BOI 0518
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Elder Arnoczky enters the MTC

Wednesday April 28th we dropped Derek off at the MTC. When we drove up there were small groups of missionaries with a numbered sign by them....their district. We were given the number 24 and told to keep driving until we saw that number. As we drove by the missionaries cheered us on and did the wave. Finally we reached our stop. Derek got out and was greeted by some missionaries who had been waiting for him, while one of the helpers came over to my mom's side of the car and told her they were going to take great care of Derek. We said a quick goodbye and drove off. It happened fast, but we were told that the old way of dropping off missionaries was much more difficult. He is finally ready to begin!

Derek pre-mission part 9: Salt Lake City

On tuesday the 27th, Derek and Mom were able to visit the Salt Lake Temple and other sites around Salt Lake.

Derek in front of the Salt Lake Temple


Mom and Derek in front of the temple


Derek in front of the Tabernacle