Happy Birthday to me!

You heard right! Saturday was indeed my 4th birthday. It was without a doubt the fastest 4 months of my life. I can't believe I've been on my mission that long. But more importantly, I can't believe it's been more than 120 days since I sat in the driver seat of a car! I've probably forgotten how to drive. Just kidding, but really, I wish I could drive. So this week was good! The weather held out all of this week until yesterday, but I'll talk about that later. We still don't have very many people to teach haha. We had a lot of sweet potential people to try this week and they either weren't home or we received the classic "I'll call you" haha. So things are still slow but that's okay that's how winter is apparently. Today I went to the doctor's office finally haha. I've been meaning to go for awhile but I've been putting it off. There's a member in the area that sees all of the missionaries in our mission, and so it was a pretty quick visit. They didn't really do much besides talk to me and give me an order for a blood-draw. The lab was across town so we had to drive over there and then found out that it was an hour wait without an appointment. So we scheduled it for next week. Anyways, it'll be nice because she wrote a standing order which means I can just go straight to the lab every 3 months to get the test done, so it should be pretty easy from here on out. Today we also did laundry and we're basically doing laundry for free until the new card gets here. I called and they said that they sent the new one out, but to keep using the old one until then. So I'm not complaining :) The weather is terrible right now haha. It was something like 8 C on Friday, pretty mild again on Saturday, then yesterday it plummeted to -20 C. Right not it's sitting at about -30 C without wind chill. Tomorrow 's supposed to be even colder! The rule is that at -35 we can't be out for more than an hour and at -40 we can only travel by car to appointments. Tomorrow is supposed to be about -40 with wind chill so we might be inside for some of it ha. I'm afraid this whole mild winter "la nina" thing might be over....But oh well! Hey just FYI, I lost my gloves on the other side of the city on Saturday while doing service.....so I have to buy new ones.....I know I know. I lose everything haha. Hanzel and Grettel right? :) Sorry this is a super short email.....I don't have much else to write about  haha boring week! I love and miss you guys and I'm glad to hear you're doing well!

 

 

Love you guys,

 

Elder Read

Wash day and other P-day speedbumps

Hey parents!

 

It's been a crazy Pday so far haha so that's why I'm writing a little later than usual. So our laundry card broke in half a little while ago, but we could still use it. For whatever reason I decided to call in and get a new one last week, and they told me it should be here before today. But it wasn't. They told me not to use my current card anymore, and that I was to send it back to them when the new card arrived. So basically we can't do laundry with our money until next week. So we called the Meadows Ward Elders who live about a mile down the road, and they came and we were just going to do laundry with them at our place and then have personal studies with them too. So to start off we threw all of our laundry into the washers, put in detergent before starting the washers (bad idea) and then inserted the card to start them. But they wouldn't start and kept coming up with "Error 4", which apparently means that the card can't be used in these washers because their card isn't programmed to our address. Awesome! So we had to take the detergent-soaked laundry out and then put it back into our laundry bags, and then go to Meadow's apartment. Haha but they only have 2 washers, and we needed 3. So we had to wait for 2 loads of laundry to be done, and we started extra late because Elder Wood and I had to get ready before we went to Meadow's place. So finally the laundry's done, the card should be here next week, and everything should be good next week! I hope haha that was a headache. But it's all good we had a lot of fun this morning. There's a reason they don't do 4-man apartments haha nothing gets done! Good thing it's Pday! So anyways that was my morning. This week, though, went really well. We still tract a lot because we don't have many solid investigators to teach, but we FINALLY had success this week with a lot of potential investigators we've been trying to see for a month. For whatever reason we found all but one of them home this week and we were able to schedule appointments for this week, so it should be a good one! We definitely needed that this week though, we've been trying super hard to see as many people as we can, and finding no one at home was starting to get old haha. But the Lord won't bless us without trying us first, so we were really grateful for this week. I know I probably sound like a broken record by now, but man this weather is crazy! It's not even freezing outside right now. Hey Dad what's La Nina? Everyone here keeps mentioning it and I have no idea what they're talking about haha. But yeah it's incredible! I love it! It can stay this way forever. We'll be halfway through the coldest month of the year at the end of this week, so I've been really lucky. I haven't worn my super thick thermals for a month, just my little thin ones. The only down side to all of this, is that when it gets warm, the snow and ice melt, then it gets cold again, and it makes super slick ice haha. Out of the 6 Elders in our district, 3 of us owe donuts for District Meeting this week haha it's so slippery! It's fun being in a walking area when it's icy and you're actually paying attention, because sliding around is fun, but I let my guard down a lot. Thank goodness I have a backpack on or I'd be in a so much pain haha. But yeah this week was a lot of fun, we saw a lot of good things happen. Hey really quick! Whenever you can, I'm honestly in no rush, but I'd like my slacks I left at home..... I know I know! I should have brought them. But yeah.....I don't really need them until April anyways but if you could send them before conference that would be awesome. Just the black ones that you bought for me mom last year with the blue fabric on the inside, and then the grey ones that I bought. Muchas Gracias! Hey also, I'd like copies of my Encore CD's too if you could send those whenever. You're the best! I'm serious about the guitar thing, I'm gonna learn! One of the members in our ward goes to a lot of pawn shops and she said she'd find me a cheapo guitar to practice on I'm so excited it! Yep Dad nights are pretty slow. We'er in by 9 and plan until 9:30, write in our journals for maybe 10-15 minutes, and then it's up to us. I read the BoM or something a lot of times, but some nights it's so dead. Plus during lunch there's a lot of sitting around and I take a lot of naps, but I wanna start taking less of those, they make me super tired during the day which makes the day less effective. So yeah! A lot of missionaries pick up musical instruments haha it's surprising! Which reminds me Bryant got called as the Priesthood Pianist that's what's up! That calling was the best thing that ever happened to me piano-wise. I learned so many hymns from practicing for it. He'll do great. The Lord qualifies those he calls I promise. Alright we're gonna go shop then go to the church to run around! Thanks for all you guys do I appreciate it more than you know.

 

 

Love you guys,

 

Elder Read

2012!

It is officially 2012! Sorry we couldn't email yesterday because the library was closed.....? We still aren't sure why haha. So Sunday started my golden (or black) year depending on who you talk to haha. It's gonna be sweet! This week has been pretty crazy. Like I said last week my new companion is Elder Wood. We get along well and he's a hard worker which is all I could ask. It's weird being the one who knows where everything is and who to visit though, because I definitely don't know where everything is or who to visit haha. I'm getting used to it though and things are going well. It's weird switching companions! I'm so used to Elder Merrell haha and so it's weird having someone else living with me. Elder Wood sleep talks! He woke me up one night yelling gibberish! It scared the crap out of me haha. I've heard stories from other missionaries that he sleep walks too :) I'm excited! He's a great guy though I really like him. He's from Idaho Falls, Idaho and he's been out a year tomorrow actually, so he knows what he's doing. Church is now at 1pm, which is terrible for a number of reasons. First and foremost being that we have to work in the mornings on Sunday, which is pretty ineffective. When I was with Elder Merrell we had 2 hour comp studies because I was new, and so we didn't leave the apartment until noon after lunch. Now we study until 10am and then work until lunch, but no one's awake until noon around here! It's ridiculous. But we do what we gotta do. The one advantage to 1pm church is that it's a million times easier trying to get investigators to church because most people are awake by then. We still only have one investigator, who we're extremely grateful for, but we need more! We have done so much tracting in the past 2 weeks it's amazing to look at the tracting map we have on our wall. I think we honestly might have this area tracted out in the next two transfers haha. I like tracting though because I always come away with sweet stories and you meet interesting people. Plus it's good practice. So no complaints. The weather has been amazing. Canadians everywhere are in a frenzy because we actually had a positive Christmas! And today it's above freezing! January's are apparently around -20 C, so the fact that we've only had that temperature once a month ago is amazing. But I'm perfectly with it. As long as I'm walking all of the snow could melt and I would be completely unopposed. Which brings me to the other shocker! There's almost no snow on the ground. But, like I said before, as long as I'm walking it can stay that way. Hey Mom! Thanks for the package it was awesome. Those socks are perfect and I really needed them actually. I've been meaning to go buy wool socks but now I don't have to which is fine by me! That blanket is sweet too haha. I never knew how much I wanted an electric blanket until I got one! It's awesome. So thanks for sending all of that stuff it was great. So going back to the weather, I haven't seen the sun in like 2 weeks. It comes about halfway (if that) up and then goes down by 3:30, and it's dark by about 4:30. But I never see the sun! It's so flat here and I'm surrounded by houses so I miss it! Like I said before though they have us all on Vitamin D so we don't die. Speaking of dying, there is a CRAZY 24-hour flu going around here. It's incredible how much it's spread. On Christmas Eve, we were at an older couple's house and they had all of their family over. One of their granddaughters got sick with the flu and was sick the whole time. Then the mom got sick, the son soon followed, and then the next day at church none of the family was there and there were about 15 people in that house that night. THEN, Elder Merrell got sick on Monday, THEN one of the YSA sisters threw up at a member's house on Wednesday hahaha. THEN two Elders in our district got sick on the same day. Haha we were in District Meeting and Elder Phillips got up to say the prayer. We heard "Father in Heaven......" and then we all looked up and he was running out of the room haha it's crazy! THEN one of the families in our ward didn't come to church because they had it. THEN our dinner appointment last night cancelled on us because they all had it. It's only a matter of time until we're all infected! I've never seen something spread like this it's actually kind of fun haha. OH! AND one of our appointments cancelled on us yesterday. Haha it's weird! New Year's was pretty boring hahaha. We had dinner with a member and then we had to be in our apartment by 6. So I sat and wrote a few letters and then went to bed at 8pm haha. We got like 10 hours of sleep it was beautiful. But yeah, that's pretty much all that's happened around here. It's been interesting, but a lot of fun too. We have some sweet Elders in our district and we've been having a lot of fun. We went over to the Meadows Elder's apartment last night and ate dinner with them, and we're probably going to lunch today! Missions are the best. You feel the spirit stronger than any other time of your life, you get to see people change, and most of all you get to party with other missionaries! Haha just kidding, but seriously it's a lot of fun. I've seen myself change as well and it's amazing to see. I've strengthened my testimony so much and it grows every day. It's awesome. Hey I'm gonna learn guitar on my mission! One of the members is going to find me a cheap guitar and I'm gonna learn chords dang it! One sweet thing about a mission is that you have a lot of down time at night, and you can only write in your journal for so long. So I've learned how to juggle and play with a yo-yo haha. Guitar's next! But anyways I'm doing well and I'm having a lot of fun. I'm glad to hear everything's going well back home and that you guys had a good Christmas! Mom I miss going to the temple with you every week! That was awesome. We get to go quarterly (if that) and I miss it! Anyways, that's all I've got, I love you guys have a good week!

 

 

Love,

Elder Read

Transfers Transfers Transfers

So today the library finally opened! We came yesterday fully expecting to email but it was still closed :( But that's okay. Transfers were today. Elder Merrell went zone leader and my new companion is Elder Wood, he's from Idaho. But I don't remember where. I'll let you know when I find out. He seems like a cool guy. I don't really know haha transfer meeting was literally 2 hours ago and we've been with other missionaries the whole time so I haven't talked to him much. We'll see! Our whole zone got jumbled big time. Almost all of the areas got switched so all of my friends are gone which sucks but the new guys will be good I'm sure. They had 10 new missionaries come out this transfer so a lot of people are training. It's gonna be good! Man this weather is so crazy. Normally there's 3 feet of snow on the ground and it's sitting at like -4 F. But it's been about 30 F all winter so far. Canadians are throwing a fit about how amazing it is, and other missionaries are telling me how lucky I am that it's so warm. Haha. January will be the real test! I wish I had a car though, walking is starting to get old...oh well hopefully only 6 more weeks! Hey it was great to talk with you guys on Sunday, I miss you all like crazy! Tell everyone and their mom to write me letters, I love those things! :) Christmas was good. After I called you guys we went to dinner at a member's house, then came home and relaxed it was sweet. Yesterday Elder Merrell and I celebrated our companionship by cooking a turkey! Some members in another ward gave their missionaries two turkeys, so they gave us one haha. We cooked it and we have sooooo much turkey it's unbelievable. We overcooked it a little bit so it's a little dry but still good. Anyways life's good. Hope things are going well back home.

 

 

Love you guys,

 

Elder Read

Week 6!

It's officially the last week of the transfer! I don't know where the past 6 weeks have gone. It's crazy! Before I forget, they called this morning to let me know the package got here today. They want me to come in personally to open it and look for signs of freezing....? I don't really know what "signs" of freezing looks like, but I guess we'll find out when I go to use it and it doesn't work! Haha it'll probably be fine. So we're going to go into the office with blindfolds (I kid, but they probably won't let us stay very long, missionaries aren't allowed in the office during week 6. Heaven forbid we see who's getting transferred!). So we're going after emails. Thanks for coordinating the package and everything Mom, they called me on Thursday to update me. I'm sure it'll be easier after this time haha. They shouldn't ask for my passport and visa after the first time, so we should be fine. Well this week was pretty crazy! Actually if not for exchanges, it probably would have been pretty boring haha. We went on two exhchanges because Elder Merrell didn't want to do them during week 6 before Christmas. So I got to run Southwood this week! It went well, but we have no one to teach haha, so we tracted, and tracted, and tracted. Tracting is like exercise. It takes a miracle to get out there and start, but once you start, it's so worth it. Every time I tract I always come away feeling good and with some sweet stories. So it was good! We tracted a lot this week but it wasn't too bad. We didn't find anyone either haha, but it's not about the numbers dang it! Other than that nothing too exciting happened. The weather is shocking the Canadians. By this time it's usually -20 C on average, but we haven't gone below -5 all week. It's been sweet! No complaints so far. We might have a positive Christmas! Haha I wish I had some sweet stories to tell you.....but I don't. Hey Skype on Sunday! So we are literally free from 9:30 your time after chruch until about 1pm your time (Elder Merrell's gonna call then) and then at about 2pm your time I'll be free again, so whenever you wanna do it! Send me a quick email before tomorrow afternoon letting me know and we'll schedule it with the Depeiza's. You bet your sweet buns I wanna talk to Geoff and Nicole! So make sure they're there :) That's pretty much all I have. Tell Grandma Read I love her and thanks for the package! I haven't opened it, in case she asks. I love Christmas! It's a whole new experience when you take the secular aspect out of it and focus on what really matters. It's awesome. Well I can't think of anything else....Enjoy your week! Tell Chris and Dad happy early birthday! When I get home dad will almost be 60! :)

 

Love and miss you guys,

 

Elder Read

......I can't think of anything clever to write in the subject.

Hey Mom and family,

 

This week was sweet! I'll start from the beginning. Monday was normal, we emailed, shopped, then went to the church to play games and stuff. I bought these chicken breasts, brown rice, and sweet chilli sauce, and I mix it all together and have chicken and rice! So good. Do they have sweet chilli sauce back in the states? Anyways so Tuesday was normal, then Wednesday was Christmas Conference! It was sweet. They gave a training about safe driving in the snow, show examples of what happens when you don't drive safely, and then President got up and gave a training on Teaching by the Spirit. It was super good. Then Sister Campbell shared her favorite Christmas story and showed a video of the Motab singing in a Christmas Devotional it was good. Then some other people got up and spoke on Christmasy stuff, and then we had lunch! They fed us turkey and all that good stuff, and I got to see Elder Atwood! Man I missed him. Plus he's getting trained by Josh Balaeza's brother in law so I got to see him too! He goes home on Thursday though so I told him to tell Josh hello! I have no idea if I spelled his name right by the way. Anyway after lunch they had a talent show hahaha there were some cool things. One guy played the recorder with someone playing the piano haha it was hilarious. Then Santa came and gave everyone gifts from their ward! My package had a lot of random stuff, but most importantly they gave us yo-yo's! Let me tell you, I love that thing! I'm getting good too. It came with a trick book too! The littlest things will entertain you when you don't have anything better to do haha. We also have a putter and a golf ball so I've been practicing for when I get home! So that was Wednesday. Thursday we had dinner at one of the member's houses, and then we were scheduled to go over to another member's place to share a message with them. So after dinner we walked over there, and their whole extended family was there for Christmas Dinner! They forgot to tell us they were having dinner.....so they invited us in! We had so much food that night. Other than that it was a pretty normal week! The weather's been slowly getting colder, but everyone keeps talking about how mild it is so far haha. I want a car! Saturday and Sunday night we went to the Messiah production that the stake puts on every year. It was really good actually I was impressed. It made me miss singing! We went to both because we had investigators at both of them, so I'm pretty sick of it haha. But it was still good the second time. Life's good though! Elder Merrell's convinced he's leaving this transfer so he's been telling everyone that he's leaving haha. I can't wait until he has to eat his words when we don't get a call on Monday after Christmas! He's been here 6 months though and has been a DL the whole time so it's very possible. Dad, tell Jeremy that everyone talks about Grand Prairie haha! Elder Merrell served there before this area actually, and he prays every day that he'll go back! It's the coveted zone :) Okay so for calling on Christmas, we need to iron out the details with the Depeizas this week, so I'll let you know next week. As far as I know it'll be video. We only have one hour of church, but we don't have to call immediately afterwards. What time works best for you guys? I'll work around your guy's schedule since we literally have no plans set in stone yet. I think it would be easier if I just called you yeah? IF need be I'll just call you on the phone beforehand to figure out the username and everything, because I have no idea what it is haha. I honestly have no idea haha....which is probably bad but I'll figure it out this week! Hey mom thanks a lot for ordering the debit card, sending off the package and everything else you do! You're the best. And tell Bryant not to stress, I failed too and look at me now :) I'm practically a professional. Okay that's pretty much all I have this week! I miss you guys, enjoy your week with everyone! Make sure none of the official Christmas traditions are left out! If I come home and we're slacking......

 

Love you guys!

 

Elder Read

 

PS is Oreo still living? And how's the truck doing?

December is here!

 (Editor's note: I searched-and-replaced all the "<" characters with "d", for easier reading.)

Time seriously flies. I can't believe it's almost been 3 months. That's 1/8 of my mission done! Crazy. Thanks for the update on the insulin and stuff. Man I hope it doesn't freeze! Haha that would be bad. But I'm sure it'll be fine. Hey speaking of the Mastercard, I think I told you that my debit card doesn't work here. I've been rejected every time I've used it so far. So I'll just stick to the Mastercard. Just so you know, I'm buying boots and stuff today, but it shouldn't be too bad. Okay the "d" key on this keyboard sticks so bad so I'm not typing anymore d's haha I'll be here all day if i do. So I'll use <'s instead. This week was super good. We had the First Presidency Christmas devotional last night, it was great. President Monson's talk was awesome. I wish I would have gone to those things more often! The ward Christmas Party was Friday night, and it was way good. It was The Polar Express theme, and it was really well done. Canadians know how to celebrate! There were a ton of less-active members there and we had a couple of investigators so it was definitely a success. Wednesday night they had a mutual activity where they basically played fugitive. Normally we wouldn't be allowed to gto to something like that, but our investigator volunteered and asked us to go with him. So we did :) It was really fun. It was in a park a lot like Rosa Park, except about 4 times as big, and it's a ravine. So the youth had to get from one end to the other without getting caught, and the leaders and us had to catch them. It was a sweet. I forgot gloves though so my hands died haha. Funny story! Actually not so funny, but you'll probably laugh. So we went on exchanges from Tuesday to Wednesday afternoon. I was in another area, and wednesday morning was district meeting. Now usually, we're all 10 minutes early for the meeting. No one has ever been late before. But of course, we're running a little late that morning, and guess who was there when we walked in 10 minutes late? President Campbel himself! Haha it was terrible. He gently urged us to be on time haha. What're the chances! Other than that this week went pretty well. The weather has been great the past two weeks. The snow all melted and it was super nice! It's supposed to become winter weather this week though, so we're not excited. It snowed a ton two nights ago, and it probably won't melt. So it begins! Today is Pday feast again! Elder Guerin is going home in a couple of weeks so he's making spaghetti and all that good stuff for the zone at the church. President will actually be there too! I'll try to be on time haha. Hey I heard the NBA lockout ended! Nooooo. I was honestly hoping it would last all year, so I only would miss one season......oh well! But yeah that's my week! Not much else happened besides the usual. For Christmas, we have church at 9 (8 your time), and then we're going over to a member's house for breakfast, and then we can skype from there! Does that work? I'm not sure what time will work for me, I'll let you know when I find out. Hahahaha hey tell Sister Little she's the best and thanks for all she does! Yeah I'll probably email Doctor Olinghouse my info. I'm hoping to go to the doctor this month, so I'll let her know how it goes. Tell her thanks! Alright that's all I have for today. I miss you guys! Enjoy the holiday season it's the bomb!

Love you guys,

Elder Read

PS I have some pictures from the Christmas Party! The black guy is our Elder's Quorum President. He's a jamaican guy he's hilarious. And he's a SUPER conservative guy so his outfit is awesome. The other picture is me with Brother Burgess(on the left) he's in the bishopric, Brother Bowden our ward mission leader, and then Brother Depeiza again. They're awesome. Our ward is awesome! Note my long hair, that mop is getting cut today fasho. And then me in the Polar Express!