Transfers

Heyo,

Transfers were this morning, and I'm going to the Millcreek YSA Ward. He just switched our two areas, and so I'm going with Elder Coe, and Elder Wood's coming here to Londonderry with Elder Penrod. It's actually the same Elder Wood that I served with in Southwood! Anyways I'll be in the Bonnie Doone zone and our area covers most of downtown Edmonton haha pretty crazy! I don't know how I feel about going to a YSA but I'm sure it'll be fun! I don't know Elder Coe all that well either, I've just seen him at ZLC. I just know he's younger than me and that he's pretty quiet, so it'll be cool to get to know him. I'm bummed to be leaving Elder Penrod, but I'm glad I'm the one leaving. I definitely didn't know this area well enough ha. But I'll have a car again! I'm just a permanent co-pilot haha. It'll be a crazy transfer for sure.

We had an okay week. Elder Penrod got sick pretty early on and so we spent a lot of time indoors. We just went to set appointments. He was feeling better by the end of the week so we were able to get some work done. We didn't have very much contact with our investigators this week, but we taught Brother Smith on Saturday. President Campbell texted us and asked to go to a teaching appointment with us sometime, so we decided to invite him to this one. We were pretty nervous haha but it went well! He's a good person to teach with, and the lesson went super well. Brother Smith is pretty solid, and we're going to commit him to baptism soon. We want to make sure he's doing it for himself and not his family though.

We went on two exchanges this week. Once with Sturgeon, and another with the Castledowns area. Both are in Edmonton so we didn't have to travel very far. It was good though I love exchanges! Elder Knapphus is from Holiday Utah and said he went to the little elementary school just down the hill from Grandma and Grandpa's house! Small world. He's even thrown rocks at the water tower haha.

Thanksgiving was sweet! We had District Meeting that day so the sisters (of course) planned a thanksgiving dinner for lunch. So each person brought something. I brought mashed potatoes and I even peeled and mashed them myself! Complete with sour cream. You'd be proud momma! It was a lot of fun. We went to dinner at the Calvert's house, and they invited the Spanish Missionaries as well. They're in a trio and so it was the 5 of us, and then like 10 of them. Party! They made the traditional turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and all of that good stuff. It sounds like you guys had a party too! I miss Thanksgiving!

The weather is still cold. But not too bad. It's around -5 but it's been snowing a lot. There's probably around 2 feet of snow laying around everywhere, it never gets warm enough to melt. I'm ready for the rain again!

Other than that I don't think anything else exciting happened this week. I sure am excited to pack all my stuff up again! Haha but I think I'll be with Elder Coe for awhile though so hopefully I won't have to pack up again. It's weird to think this could be my second to last area!

Hey why isn't Encore singing in Sacrament anymore? That was the best! No mom I can't think of anything I need in my package. Honestly I don't need much, I get a lot of packages haha I'm spoiled!

Have a good week and I'll talk to you next week!

Love you guys,

Elder Read

PS I attached pictures, but not all of them fit so I'll send them in different emails, but I'll explain them all here. One is of a cake the Graus family made us last night, another is of me and Elder Penrod with the cake, then all of us with the cake, then one of when we went to Dairy Queen and I got a bigger ice cream cone but we ordered the same size haha, another is of us at the Calvert's for Thanksgiving with Spanish, another is of the district at Thanksgiving, us at the temple, me depressed because we're walking, both of us at a bus stop, and then yours truly at the bus stop! So there you go.

Happy 10 Months!

Heyo!

So in case you weren't already aware, today is officially 10 months until I'm home! That's right, on September 19th, 2013 I'll fly into good old Portland, Oregon again. Start preparing! Just think, 10 months ago I was finishing up my time in Southwood and was almost getting transferred to Spruce Grove! Time goes by too fast!

We had a super good week this week! Walking around is the worst, don't get me wrong, but you sure do talk to a lot of people. We had 17 QGC's (Quality Gospel Conversations), which is a ton; the most I ever had is 19 in Southwood. Anyways, it's all because we walk everywhere. It's good that it happened in Winter too because our numbers always plummet once the cold hits. Nobody wants to be outside contacting haha. So this forces us to!

I don't remember if I already mentioned this last week, but I don't really feel like going back to check so I'll talk about it again ha. We're teaching a guy named Darcy. His wife's a member, and they were on the verge of divorce, but decided to try and work things out. So as part of that, he agreed to take the discussion to see where she's coming from. So we met with him and his wife this week and talked with him to see where he's at. I think his initial interest just came from trying to please his wife, but he seems really solid so far. He's got a good understanding of God and the Gospel, we just have to help him become personally converted to the gospel. So we went over families and how it could help him in his specific situation. We're excited to see where he goes!

Ray and Mike are doing alright. Mike doesn't have much real intent and Ray can't seem to make it to church. So we're focusing on coming to church, because that's the only way they're gonna go anywhere. Ray's solid though so we're hoping we can get him out, he just has a lot of health problems that keep him home.

Hey Maggie was confirmed last Sunday! I just forgot to tell you last week. I got to confirm her so that was cool! I've never done that before it was a cool experience. She's funny haha. She's still a little shaky on english, and so it's been hard to get her to say prayers. But last week we were meeting with her and we invited her to say a prayer and she accepted, and then proceeded to say a BEAUTIFUL prayer haha Elder Penrod and I were so surprised! We just looked at each other. When we told her, she just laughed and showed us her phone, where she had written her prayer down hahaha. She said she had been writing it for awhile :) So then yesterday at church we had asked her to say the prayer in Gospel Principles, and we told her she had to say it from the heart haha without reading it. So we were sitting in Sacrament Meeting and I looked over and she was reading over another prayer she had written down and was trying to memorize it! Haha we laughed for a long time. She's hilarious.

This week we had exchanges with Clareview, the area next to us. I was with Elder Bachuluun from Mongolia he's sweet! He played on the Mongolian Basketball League back home and was on the national team too. He's super humble tough and is hilarious. We had a lot of fun together. He tried teaching me Mongolian, I'm terrible haha. Then the next day Barrhead drove down and we all worked in Londonderry. I worked with Elder Johnson he's from Washington! Somewhere on the coast but I don't remember where. We had to walk though haha so that sucked. But it was okay. Having four missionaries in an apartment is so sweet though it's a party! :)

So this week is Week 6....the last week of the transfer :( we're still bummed and depressed haha but it's all good we've had a good transfer together. Next Monday we'll find out who's leaving. To be honest I don't really care if I stay or go, because I've only been here for 6 weeks and don't know much of the area. So I'm not too worried about it. I'll just miss Elder Penrod! Seriously it's like serving with one of my friends back home. He actually reminds me a lot of Skylar ha.

It's starting to warm up a little bit. It's about -5 outside, which is still cold but a lot better than -19 man that's brutal! I'm used to it snowing and then it being gone in a week, but that same snow that feel 2 weeks ago is still here. I'm looking forward to Summer.

Hey it was Bryant's birthday that's sweet! 17.....he's old. He sounds so busy though haha how does he do it? Yeah Gramma's birthday is today....? Is that right? If so, happy birthday Gramma! I finished a bunch of letters last night while Elder Penrod called around, and so I'll send yours off today!

Yeah Dad our zone alone has had 3 accidents so far.....so we aren't alone! Haha we went to the Body Shop again today to drop off some paperwork for the car, and they are SWAMPED. Snow's no good. Mom that email from Bishop Keldson was so funny I laughed pretty hard :) Hey if you could send me that letter that would be best. I have to use it to fill out the application. Thanks!

Okay I think that's it... enjoy your weeks and have a good Thanksgiving! I'll be there next time! :)

Love you guys,

Elder Read

These boots were made for walking.....

Hey fam,

Sorry I didn't email yesterday, we went to the temple today and so they switched Pday to today instead. It's been a few months since I'd been to the temple last and so it' was super nice to get back there. I love it! I can't wait to be able to go more often when I'm home.

This week was busy! When I was in Southwood, the area wasn't very big and so the longest walks we'd have to take were 30 minutes or so. Here, since our ward boundaries are so big it takes about an hour to get places haha it's brutal on time. We spent a lot of this week getting to know the bus system and trying to figure out what goes where. We discovered that there's a light rail system here too and so it's made things a little easier. We've gotten used to it though. We've been able to talk to a lot of people though, so our finding is definitely improving! I definitely miss our car though haha. It's pretty damaged, and it's a costly repair, which doesn't help ha. We had to file a police report this week because the insurance company (and Canada) require it when the damage exceeds $2000. We've both been depressed this week hahaha it's been a hard pill to swallow. When you've got nobody to blame but yourself it's hard to accept. Elder Penrod and I get along super well, it's like serving with myself haha. So it's hard to think we'll be split up in two weeks because we were being dumb. But what're you gonna do! We've been enjoying walking around though, it's at least nice having someone I get along with out there freezing with me.

Speaking of, it got down to -20 this week! Man alive is it cold. I was in my heavy thermals and my big coat....in November. Last year November was so nice! This winter's going to be a terrible one ha. Thankfully we'll have a car again before winter hits. There's been a ton of accidents lately. We went to the auto body shop this week to get some things out of the car, and there were a ton of cars waiting to be looked at. Winter surprised everyone!

We had our Zone Training Meeting this week it went really well. We just train on what we learned at ZLC, and so we talked about focusing on helping people develop a belief in God and who He is. Something we do a lot as missionaries is just gloss over that particular principle because most people believe in God already. But President talked about focusing on who He is, what his attributes are (physical and spiritual), and what His relationship is in our lives. It was a good training it went really well. We had to announce to everyone that they needed to really be careful about driving in the winter and use your cars wisely, haha so we used ourselves as an example. It was good I think it really opened peoples eyes when they realized that President will actually take away your car ha.

Fort Macmurray drove down this week too since we can't go to them haha. They stayed two nights because it's a 5 hour drive down here, and so it was a lot of fun! I love exchanges.

This week we have two exchanges I'm way psyched. We're going with Clareview which is the area next to ours and is our District Leader, and then Barrhead too. I'm going to Barrhead so it'll be cool to be back there! I went on many exchanges there in Spruce Grove. Speaking of Spruce Grove, one of the members there texted us and told me that Tony Sukhu blessed the sacrament on Sunday! That was really cool to hear. I'm hoping to get out there on exchanges next transfer (if I'm still here) and see them. I miss the Sukhus!

Ray, one of our investigators, is on date for December 1st, and we started teaching his son, Mike, last week as well. This week we got them both on date for December 1st! We're pretty excited. We'll probably have to change their date because of smoking, but it's sweet that they're at least willing to set a date. It says a lot about their desire to be baptized. We're hoping to go over the Stop Smoking Program this week and get them to quit. Pray for them!

Haha yeah Canadians are way involved in American Politics! Most of them are conservative too so they weren't very happy with the election. But once elections are over they seemed to go back to normal haha nobody cares anymore. Life goes on!

Mom I bet you're an awesome nursery leader! Weren't you mine...? Or was that just Primary? That's funny that you bought new toys. You have to be up to date!

Dad's a rap star....can't say I'm surprised! I always knew he had it in him. Go get 'em! :)

Okay it's time to go to the Stake Center. I miss you all!

Love you guys,

Elder Read

Accidents happen.....

Soooo we had a crazy week, and not really in a good way haha. I'll get straight to it! So on Saturday we were driving back to our apartment, and the sisters texted us and asked us to open the church library, and Elder Penrod had to use the washroom, so we decided to just stop on the way there and open the library. So we pulled into the parking lot, and we usually park at the back, so we got to the first turn, and I definitely could have been going slower....but I wasn't....and it was snowing and icy. Long story short we end up sliding pretty bad into the curb. We hit it pretty hard. When we pulled away from the curb our car was shaking because the two right wheels were bent out of shape. So we called President, got rebuked, and then called a tow truck. It was brutal President wasn't very happy and I can't drive anymore.....but the worst part is that Elder Penrod can't drive either, so one of us will be getting transferred next transfer. Until then we're both walking for 3 weeks haha so when I thought I was done walking in the winter I was wrong. But on the bright side I can now say that not only are we the only walking zone leaders, but we're also the biggest walking area in the mission :) I feel pretty bad about it actually, it'll be an expensive repair that the church's insurance will have to pay for... so yeah. We're good though President told us that he' seen worse but that we need to stop "hot doggin" around haha. So now the missionaries in Fort Mac have to drive down, and actually all of the exchanges have to come to us haha. But things will work out!

On a lighter note, Maggie was baptized! I'll include pictures :) She was super excited and it went really well. When she got into the font she yelled "I should have taken swimming lessons this water is deep!" haha it was pretty funny. There was a good turnout too, the ward's been really supportive of her.

So like I mentioned before, the snow's been coming down hard! We had a good 6-8 inches this week it was crazy. I was gonna talk about how hard it is to drive in wet snow, but I guess that's not a problem anymore...haha. At least tickets will never be a problem anymore.

ALSO on Saturday morning (Saturday just wasn't a good day haha) we were being dumb and swinging from our pull up bar, and Elder Penrod fell pretty hard on the floor. Then while i was showering a lady came up from the room below and told us her smoke detector had fallen when he fell....she was actually super nice about it and we were glad she came to us and not management. So we ended up buying her a new one and all is well.

Halloween was super good. We had dinner at a member's house and they loaded us up with candy! So we came home at 6pm and played ukulele and guitar all night. We've been writing in the chords for all of the hymns in the hymn book lately, and so we just took videos of us singing haha. That's awesome that you had the missionaries over you're awesome! How is it having elders? Ask them if they know an Elder Richardson. He's best friends with Elder Morley!

Hey mom when you called the office last week to check on the package, I was standing right next to Sister McFadzean! We go in every week to get mail and report numbers. Haha so she put the phone down and was like "where is Elder Read serving?" because she's new and doesn't really know the mission. So I looked at her and said "I think he's in Londonderry" haha it was funny. I thought about yelling in the background but I realized that might be a little immature ha. But just know I was there when you called! So yeah I got the supplies, and now I have enough for the Millennium haha thanks. Plus my new pump arrived and so she's up and running. It's so much nicer haha I didn't realize how much wear and tear my old one and gotten.

Hey yeah tell Gramma that I definitely got the letters! I normally write letters on Sunday night but ever since I've been here my Sunday nights are booked making calls it sucks. But Elder Penrod did the calls last night and I wrote letters so her reply should be there soon :) She's awesome!

We had a lesson with Rick, one of our new investigators, this week and it was a gong show haha. He just dominated the lesson and we honestly didn't even get 10 words out the whole lesson. So we're debating on whether or not we'll go back haha. But the work has been really good here I love it. Our investigators are progressing really well! Hopefully I stay after this transfer.....we'll see!

I included pictures! I don't remember which order they're in, but one's of ZLC, a couple are from our first night walking around haha, another is of me in a shirt I found laying around the apartment and put it on over my pea coat, cool right? Another is of us at Maggie's baptism, and another is of me at the accident scene. So there you go!

Alright we're going to go shopping, have a good week!

Love you guys,

Elder Read