Alright this place is starting to feel like a prison! I don't even know how the foreign missionaries handle it haha. I'm enjoying being here and learning but when I go to the temple and look down over the valley it makes me feel so claustrophobic! But only one more week :) We got our travel plans the other day, and I leave on Tuesday at 4am for the airport, then our flight leaves at 7 for Denver, and we have a half hour layover before we leave for Edmonton. We'll get there about noon. I honestly feel like I've only been here a week, time flies by so fast on the mission. The best part is that we only have one class today because of Pday, then tomorrow is a normal day with two classes (we have to teachers and they switch off teaching morning and afternoons), then friday is In-Field Orientation so no class, then Saturday is General Conference! So I like to tell myself I'm basically done :) Yeah dad we stay here for General Conference, and we just watch it in the Lorenzo Snow building where they do all of the devotionals. While the Elders watch priesthood, the sisters watch the Relief Society broadcast that they taped for them. Speaking of devotionals, Elder Dan R. Clarke of the Seventy came and spoke last night about obedience. It was a really good devotional, and what made it even cooler is that he's the guy I quoted a million times in my farewell talk! Haha so it was cool to see him in person. He didn't quote me though :( I'm glad to hear Grandma Read is doing well, I don't have her address or email address so I can't send her anything, so either tell her to send me something or send it to me in a letter, not an email. I can only check this on Wednesdays for now. I'm not sure when my Pday will be in the field. Mom that $2.50 was for the food at the temple. We skip breakfast for the temple so we eat as a zone in there every week. It's the mana of the gods in there! I love temple food. And it's so cheap! Haha that's cool that everyone got a new phone! As long as my number is there waiting for me when I get back :) Mom THANK YOU for the package! I love getting mail, if you didn't already know :) Seriously. But yeah the camelback will be nice because I want it for hot summer days (which believe it or not actually exist in Edmonton according to Elder Atwood). Yeah dad we I have branch council every morning at 7:45 and then leadership training from 8:15 until 9:00. Then I'm free! So not too bad, and my companions just study outside while we all meet. We've been teaching a TON lately. We've gotten a lot better at teaching as a trio, but at first it was hard so have so many ideas bouncing around. The Spirit's great though we rely on it like you wouldn't believe! Hey random thought! So Sister Sellers (Jessica) is in here with me and I seriously see her like 3 times a day. It's cool because we worked at Target together so it's a little piece of home! She leaves for Riverside California next week I think so that'll be cool. Okay I don't have much else to say. I'm alive! Love you guys, Steven P.S. yeah mom my blood sugars are doing fine, and I have all of the things I need in case of emergencies. My companions are sooo excited to stab me if I pass out :) And tell Grandma I'm doing great and that she shouldn't worry!

Hey momma! And everyone else :) So we SCORED and had to wait the longest possible amount of time for P day......It's been a long week! But I'll start from the beginning. At least I'll try. Soooo the first day we got here and I got all my nametags, went to my room and dropped off my luggage, and then went to my classroom to meet my district and companions. My district is pretty cool actually I'm lucky! There's three elder companionships and two sister companionships. All of us are going to the same mission except for one sister is going to the St. George Visitor's center and two of the Elders are going to Oakland, California. I'm actually in a trio, not a companionship. My companions are Elder Crockett and Elder Atwood. Elder Crockett's from Mountain Home, Idaho, and he's a pretty cool guy. He's always in a good mood but some times he has a hard time focusing haha but I love him he's great! Elder Atwood's actually a Canadian! He's from Jaffrey, British Columbia and he's a really cool guy I like him a lot. He says "aboot" and "eh" haha it's awesome I have a tally in my notebook of all the times he's said them :) So yeah we're a good companionship and we all get along really well! Anyways after I met them we went to lunch, dinner, etc, and then had class. I honestly couldn't tell you all that's happened the past few days, they're all blended into one.....Oh yeah I got called as the District Leader. Which basically means I conduct all the classes/meetings, pick up the mail, go to a bunch of meetings on Sunday....which are as fun as they sound! Haha no I enjoy doing it and I'm happy to serve the district. Ummmm last night we had a devotional and Elder Nelson came and talked! It was sweet I was like 50 yards away from him. He's seriously one of the funniest guys. I love seeing the Apostles out of character! They're so easy going. He and his wife talked about the Book of Mormon. They passed out the Ensign last week and said get aquainted with it. Now we know why! What else.....Teaching the Gospel is hard work! Honestly the first couple days were the WORST! I had no idea how to teach and I felt like I couldn't interpret the Spirit at all. But they always say make it to Sunday and I did and it honestly was night and day for me. I'm loving it here now and I really enjoy it. I love my district and companions. We all get along super well and that makes this a million times easier. The food is pretty good! It varies every day but it's always delicious! Sunday was really good. Except they found out I played the piano....so I played during Priesthood! Who would have thought.... We get to go to the Temple every P day at the 7:20 session so it's early! But I loved it as usual. We go to the gym about 4-5 times a week and I usually play basketball or volleyball. It's really fun it takes the stress out of my day. Haha they had this big meeting on stress management two days ago and it was sweet! We all felt so good afterward hahaha. Umm that's about it! I'll answer all of the questions I got! Seriously getting mail is better than Christmas. And that's no exaggeration. I LOVE getting letters. Yeah Dad Dearelder's get here the same day you write them so that's the easiest way to get to me. I check the mail after lunch and after dinner. I love getting them! So feel free to write :) Mom go ahead and send those lancets and stuff to the mission home in like a week. That would be great. And thanks for sending all of that stuff! :) I forgot a lot so I need you to send me some things if that's okay :) I'll write them in a little bit. Tell the rest of the family and EVERYBODY to write me! Letters or dearelders work it doesn't matter to me. I just love hearing from the outside world! Haha going to the temple was nice today because it was the first time I got off of this campus in a week! The rest of the district went on a temple walk on sunday but I had Branch Council :( Hey I sent the forms to you today so they should be there sometime this week. I kept forgetting to send them haha are you surprised? :) It's weird to me that Calista is like two minutes away....it's so quiet here we never here car horns, trains, anything. It's like we're in the middle of nowhere haha. BY the way everyone is very impressed with my tie collection :) all 27 of them made a difference :) haha. My Branch Presidency is awesome. President Anderson is a very lovable man and he always hugs us! And Brother Baird and Brother Hill are really cool too. I love meeting with them. Okay before I forget, Mom, I need my black vans, my lucky brand jeans (the lighter color out of the two pair that I have), my camel pack, annnndd whatever else you want to send me :) Well I can't think of anything else.....Know that I'm alive, doing really well and loving it so far! Two years is a long time but I'm excited to be here doing the Lord's work! I'll be sending letters to everyone that sent them to me so don't think I forgot about any of you! I seriously love letters and hearing from you so feel free to do so! I love you all enjoy life! Elder Read