This week's letter

Greetings from Idaho!

Had a pretty good week this week.

We had our Interviews with the Mission President last Wednesday and those went pretty well.

And I went on exchanges with Elder Cruz from Ontario on thrusday we had a great time together

and i learned a lot from him. Friday morning we got our transfer calls and found out that me and

Elder Moe will both be staying in Weiser for another transfer.

Friday night we had the Baptism of Rene Gunari, shes such a sweet lady. we taught her all of the

lessons in 1 hour! Her baptism was a cool experience, there were so many people there that we

had to hold the service in the chapel! And there was a ton of non members there including our good

pal Father Victor!

The next day we needed to be in Ontario at 4 am so we could drive to Nampa by 5:15 and catch a

bus to get to twin falls to go hear Elder Russel M. Nelson speakso at 3:15 we drove all the way to ontario, picked up Elder Cluff and Gontier and then i had to

drive all the way to Nampa, and then get on the bus for a 3 hour bus ride to Twin

Falls. But it was awesome still, we got to see the whole mission! Elder

Hopkins, Elder Denning, Elder Claridge...everybody. and we all got to shake Russell m Nelsons hand,

and i was just amazed at how well he knows the scriptures, we were allowed to ask him questions and

he answered all of them immediatley with a scripture to back it up. i was impressed. and then we got a

picture with the whole mission to remember it forever!!

When we got back to Weiser finally i was so exhausted! just before i fell asleep we got a phone for the

Weiser 3rd ward secretary telling us that the speakers for there ward were sick and asked if we could

speak. So in 20 minutes i put together a talk on Faith and hope in these hard times, and passed out.

Of course that ward we needed to speak in was at 8:30 and i was still dead tired, but some how i was

able to give a pretty good 20 minute talk so im glad i have the Lord on my side cuz without Him it wouldve

been a disaster.

Well thats all i have these week to share. Have a slendid week peeps.

Elder Derek Andrew Arnoczky

This week:

"Christmas is coming up way fast. This transfer just ended, and Elder Claridge got sent down to Burley. He was a really good companion, I'll miss him. But the cool thing is I get to serve with Elder Moe (pronounced Moy) this transfer! Me and Elder Moe came out at the same time, and I was super pumped when i found out i would be serving with him next transfer.

Weiser is doing good! We have a lot of people just flocking to us to hear the gospel. Makes our job easy! Especially for winter where the last thing i wanna be doing is knocking doors! We were introduced to a young couple this week who really has a strong interest to hear the gospel, and get this.... the guys name is Doogie Houser lol. We are also teaching a young man who before he even talked to us, got up and bore his testimony and told us that he wanted to serve a mission! Now thats a golden investigator!"

New letter from Elder Arnoczky!

We did make it to Boise last tuesday, and we're going to nampa today. we ate at PF changs in boise last week, and we went on the intent to hang out with Elder hopkins but that never happened......maybe at christmas. Weiser got slammed with snow.... we got a crazy amount. havent gotten in any crashes but did get stuck in front of our house because the plow pushed like 5 feet of snow in front of it lol

One more week of this transfer....it's hard to believe. Time goes really fast when you’re having fun. This week was one of the most productive weeks I've seen! We got 5 new investigators! Two 17 year old boys, Bryan and Ulises. Both of them have sincere desire to learn the gospel, and Bryan has even agreed to Baptism already! We also began teaching a family that has just moved from Utah, the Rock family. We helped them shovel out their driveway and in return they let us teach them the first lesson. They were really engaged and even made it to church and enjoyed that also!

Last week i went on exchanges with Elder Olivas who has been out for about 5 weeks. We decided to do some door knocking over at an apartment complex, after knocking a couple of doors we noticed a trend......They were all old. Everyone in that apartment was historic haha. We had a lot of doors slammed in our face, but i believe we went there for a reason. As we knocked on one of the doors we heard a faint "Hello, Hello, hello" and so we knocked again, and we heard it again.. And we asked if they were alright. and we just heard it again. I was thinking it was a parrot lol. but we decided to walk in and we found an elderly lady laying on the floor, she had tried to get up and knocked over a lamp and fell. The lamp had broken on a curtain and the curtain was beginning to singe. So we cleaned up the mess, and picked her up and put her back in her chair. Although we had 10 people call and complain about us and we're kicked out of the complex, i still think we were able make a difference.

Earlier this week i was very "mail trunky" And i think i might have been cured. i got two packages, some letters from some friends and family, and a letter from Elder Williams! I wrote him almost 5 months ago, It took 2 1/2 months to get down to Guatemala, and 2 1/2 more for his letter to get to me! It totally made my transfer to hear from him, and he sent me some pesos!

The transfer to Weiser

Elder Arnoczky has indeed been transferred to Weiser, Idaho. His living conditions are much better than before as he no longer sleeps on a basement floor and there are only 2 Elders in the small house which, coincidentally, happens to be right next to a gas station.

During his second week in Weiser, Derek participated in a odd service project with the Payette, ID Elders in their area. He’s not sure who the benefactor was or why the elders would be helping with something like this, but he did it anyway. This ‘service project’ consisted of catching a chicken, holding it like a football in his arm and killing it by snapping its neck and then plucking the feathers out. It made him sick for at least a week afterwards.

On P-day this week, he went hiking in the mountains for the first time on Indian Head Mountain with his companion, Elder Claridge and a ward mission leader. Derek loves hiking and he said he thoroughly enjoyed that experience. Hopefully he took pictures and sends them home so we can share with all of you.

Elder Arnoczky and his companion currently have 20 investigators so he has basically been teaching all day every day. They don’t get to teach their investigators once/week because there just isn’t enough time. He said it is very tiring…….but he LOVES it!

Here is an excerpt from this week’s very small email from Derek:

“We had a really powerful lesson with an investigator. We had him pray about baptism, and after we talked to him he was still hesitant, but we had him set a goal date, and set it for Dec 4th and he said he knows he can be ready by then. We're also getting really close with some other investigators. Before both of us got transferred here, President Cannon told us that there was a lot of potential and he felt good about us up here. And now we are able to see what he meant because there is a lot of progressing happening.”

Please keep writing to Elder Arnoczky or send him a Thanksgiving card. He REALLY appreciates hearing from all of you but lately he just doesn’t have the time (or the mental energy) to write back right away. Receiving cards or letters from home is something he looks forward to every week.

Out 6 Months!!!

Elder Arnoczky has been out on his mission for 6 months!! That's 1/4 of his total mission!! It's a missionary tradition to burn a tie on the 6th month anniversary of being out, so we're eager to hear how that went for Derek! This past week he has been in Weiser, ID filling in for an elder who is sick. He's not sure if he'll be transferred there for good, but for now that's where he's at. Here are a few pictures Elder Arnoczky has sent home.

Elder Hopkins and Elder Arnoczky @ Becky's baptism during his first month in Star.

Feeding a bobcat.


Sitting on a member's vintage car


A stray dog found on pday.


About to eat a missionary cookie.

Birthday in a box received from the Fasnacht family (9/14/10)

This is the basement Derek called home for the past 4 months. His desk is on the left.

Bed is on the left.

About to sample chicken feet.


A plate full of chicken feet...yum!

Middleton District Elders

Elder Sanders and Elder Arnoczky with an investigator

About to teach a lesson

"The field is white..."

6 months down, there are another 18 months to go. He always appreciates letters or cards (who doesn't love getting mail!). You can write to him at:
Elder Arnoczky
Idaho Boise Mission Office
1111 South Cole Road
Boise, ID 83709

Happy Birthday Elder Arnoczky!

Ever since I can remember, Mom and Dad have been playing a "birthday song" for Derek and I each year on our birthdays (usually to wake us up.) It's a cute little song that our Grandma found and that we've waited for each birthday morning. Anyway, we were able to send that song to one of the families that is in one of Derek's wards to play for him on his birthday and they got it on video!