Monday, July 22, 2013

Week 6 Round #16

Hey all!

This week was alright! It rained a lot. All of the farmers (aka 90% of the population around here) are complaining pretty good about it too. We are too to be honest haha working in the rain is lame.

We went on exchanges with Valleyview on Wednesday, and I went with Elder Searle haha he's a funny guy. We both can't drive, so we stayed in High Prairie and walked the town for 24 hours! It wasn't bad since Elder Thompson and I spend most of our time walking, but man am I ready to drive again! This has been the longest timeout I've ever been put in haha lesson learned!

Soo bad news first I guess, Naomi called us on Friday and dropped us...it was lame. She said it was because she needed to take time to look for a job and she's thinking that if she does get one it won't be in High Prairie so she's planning ahead I guess. So that wasn't good news but life goes on!

Haha mom and dad your emails made me laugh. I'm not trunky dang it! Haha I do think about home more frequently, I won't even try to lie to you, but it's nice being in High Prairie and training, I have more motivation to work. I don't wanna leave this place dead. I'm hoping I don't get transferred next week, I don't think I'd have much motivation to learn an area for 6 weeks haha. But don't you worry we're working hard! To answer your question though, Elder Thompson is done with training at the end of this week, so if we stay another together then we'll only have to do 1 hour of comp study again!

That's sweet that you guys are getting out and teaching New-Member Lessons! I actually haven't done that my whole mission, they push pretty hard for the members to do it. Do you teach them out of Preach My Gospel?

I don't have much more than that! Keep us in your prayers we're looking for a family to teach! We'll teach anyone, but a family would be sweet :) Have a good week!

Love Elder Read

Sunday, July 21, 2013

My Week in Grand Prairie!

Dear family,

So we're emailing early because they want us emailing at the church to spend more time here, or something. I'm not really sure, all I know is that there's no time limit here and we can come earlier than 1pm so here we are!

This week I went to Grande Prairie 3 different times it was wild. I feel like I spent more time out of my area than in it!

On Tuesday we drove in to meet President Manion haha he's sweet! He's definitely different than President Campbell, but I like him a lot. We had our interview and we spent quite awhile talking about Portland because he spent a lot of time there negotiating contracts for Verizon. He talked a lot about how liberal Portland is haha. He'll be super good for the mission though, he's got a lot of ideas. I tried to subltley ask if I was getting transferred haha but he didn't say anything. So who knows what will happen in two weeks!

On Thursday we drove in again for Zone Training Meeting. It was pretty good! Afterwards Elder Thompson and I went shopping for satchels, side bags, whatever you want to call them. I got one that I'll honestly probably use when I get home. It's sweet! They changed quite a bit about the dress code. We can now wear khaki pants and light grey suits! It doesn't really do much for me but it's nice to know that I could if I wanted to :)

On Friday we drove to Valleyview and met the Zone Leaders for exchanges. I went to their area (in Grande Prairie) with Elder Stevens. He just came from Vermilion, one of the areas we blitzed when I was a zone leader so I've been on exchanges with him before. It was way fun. They play basketball every Friday night at the church with a bunch of non-member Filipino guys. It was actually a good finding opportunity. We talked a lot with the people there and plus we got to play basketball it was so sweet. We don't have a hoop anywhere in High Prairie so it was nice to play again.

On Tuesday it rained so hard! We were out walking to go tracting and we were probably about a mile away from our apartment. All of the sudden a thunderstorm hit and it started pouring rain. Elder Thompson had a jacket with a hood but my jacket didn't have one so we walked home and I was so soaked haha. Just thought you should know.

So we got a bunch of puzzles from the retirement home that we volunteer at, and we had this genius idea that we would solve them and put them on our wall with sticky tack! So we already did one but it was just a little 500-piece that frankly, was pretty easy. But now we're working on a 1000-piece puzzle it's so hard. I'm so stoked to put it on our wall though! I wish you could see our apartment, it gets homier every day! Haha

Naomi is doing well. We met this week and invited her to church, but she's still pretty hesitant I think. The member that we bring is super good for her and calls and invites her so that's a good start. We'll see what happens! We're still praying for a family to teach. This branch needs it big time.

Okay have a good week my friends! Love you all!

Elder Read

Sunday, July 14, 2013

I love the sun!

Hey there family of mine!

It's good to hear you guys had a good July 4th! They don't celebrate that out here, since it's only 3 days after Canada Day. On Monday we just sat like vegetables allll day! We worked on a puzzle most of the time haha we're party animals!

The weather has been great! Aside from one day this week it's been super sunny. I love not being a missionary in the rain :)

We taught Naomi again this week and she's doing well. She's still warming up to the Book of Mormon but we read with her every time so I think it's helping. She's got a lot going on in her life right now and I don't think she sees the connection between what we're teaching her and how it can help her deal with the stress she's going through.

So President Manion is out and about everywhere except Grand Prairie haha we're his last stop to tour the mission. SO tomorrow we'll drive in and have interviews. I've heard only good things about him though I'm stoked!

Thursday we have Zone Training Meeting in Grand Prairie too so we'll drive in again! We're going to burn through klicks this month.

We're also exchanging with the Zone Leaders on Friday and I'll be with Elder Stevens who I went on exchanges with multiple times in my last area so that'll be fun.

To be honest there isn't too much more going on right now....Have yourselves a good week!

Love Elder Steven!

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Happy Canada Day!

Heyoo

It's so hot here! Yesterday it got up to 36 C......I don't know what that is in Fahrenheit, somewhere around 95 I think? Anyways it was seriously so hot. Our apartment is only on the second floor though so it's not as hot as it certainly could be. Elder Thompson has been DYING! Haha he hates the heat, he reminds me of Elder Nabrotzky last Summer.

Hey Mom funny you should ask about learning "O Canada", because I put the words up in the shower the other day and have been trying to memorize it every morning :)

Naomi's doing pretty good. We taught her this morning and read a little out of the Book of Mormon with her. She likes to read a chapter out of the Bible and a chapter out of the Book of Mormon. I think it's helping her come to see that they're pretty similar. She's coming along slowly but she's a sweet lady. The two ladies we have coming with us are both converts and they help a ton. Members make the BIGGEST difference in missionary work, especially teaching lessons.

Hey President Manion's here! I haven't actually met him yet, but he's coming up next Tuesday to interview our zone. It's sad to see the Campbells go though.

So apparently sometime in the future Elder W. Craig Zwick of the Seventy is coming to tour our mission. It should be in the Summer too so hopefully I'm still out. I'm stoked though the're always inspiring.

So yesterday was Canada Day and was pretty boring haha. We shopped at noon and then pretty much came home and slept/watched church movies ha. There was some kind of event happening in town but you had to pay to do anything so we just took the day off it was sweet! (We were supposed to do that, by the way haha don't think we were being disobedient)

We had exchanges with Valleyview on Friday and Saturday we had District Meeting. Four-man districts are so much quieter (obviously) than 6 or 8. It was good though. I went with Elder Stewart from Gilbert Arizona he's sweet.

I don't have much more than that! That is sooo sweet that the missionaries are playing basketball with people in the mornings I want in! Anyways you guys have a good week!

Love Steven