I don't want to sound trunky or anything, but I may or may not have 12 weeks left on my mission! Today was transfers and Elder Thompson and I stayed the same which was pretty much anticipated. President did call this morning and ask me to be District Leader....again haha. They opened Fairview, an area about an hour north, so they split our district, and it's now us and Valleyview.
We had Zone Training Meeting in Grande Prairie on Tuesday, so we drove in and then exchanged with Peace River right after. I went to their area with Elder Hunsaker and it was sweet! Like I said lats week we'd been on exchanges when I was in Millcreek so it was just like old times! They even got us another desk and chair, so our apartment is pretty much functional! We just need an iron and ironing board haha.
Man I can't believe Kyle's home! He picked a lame time to leave but a good time to get home, right in time for Summer! Tell him I love him :)
It rained all week, so not much has changed there. Today is sunny, but tomorrow is supposed to go right back to rain. I think I prefer tracting in snow haha.
We didn't teach any investigators this week so it was pretty slow, but we have an appointment with a lady named Naomi tomorrow morning. She was that referral from the Slave Lake elders. She's super solid and we stopped by yesterday to see how she was doing and ended up talking on her doorstep for about an hour it was sweet. She asked us if she needed to read anything before the visit so we jumped all over that! Haha. We're excited.
Okay we're heading out, have a good week!
Love ya!
Elder Read
Steven Read's adventures as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Canada Edmonton Mission.
Monday, June 17, 2013
Monday, June 10, 2013
Rain Rain Go Away...
Good Afternoon!
This week it rained, and rained, and rained some more. I've never seen Alberta like this, but maybe I just wasn't paying attention last year. Anyways we've been walking around in it and I'm ready for some sun! I never minded it in Oregon, but I never felt guilty if I wasn't out working in it either haha.
We've been busy with meetings and stuff! It was almost like being in Millcreek again. We had Interviews with President on Thursday so we drove up that day. It was pretty sad to have my last interview with President Campbell, he did a mini exit interview since he's basically been my mission president my whole mission. I'm excited for my actual exit interview with President Manion. I imagine it'll go something like, "Well Elder, let's see.......have we met? Now where is it you've been serving again? High Prairie? Where's that again?" Haha just kidding, they actually told us that he'll get here on June 28th, and that week he'll come up and do a "meet the president" thing, then the next week he'll go around the mission again and do interviews. So that'll be exciting!
Anywho, that night we stayed with the zone leaders along with two other areas, so we had to split off into trios it was pretty sweet! Elder Coe stayed with us too it was so good to see him again! Then Friday we had Zone Conference and we said goodbye to President and Sister Campbell and then drove home! Our week has been pretty ordinary outside of that.
Did you guys know that Kyle comes home this week?? That's a pretty crazy thought if you ask me! You'll have to let me know if he's a weirdo :)
Another interesting fact! Did you know that High Prairie is the most expensive town in Alberta? True story! There's one grocery store and it's proud to be the only one! They charge sooo much. Anyways, our Branch President told us that this week so I thought I'd share that with you :)
Skylar got married on Friday yeah? Man is that ever crazy! My friends are actually getting married! Both he and Whitney sent me wedding announcements so I put them up on my wall! Haha
Hey speaking of, we got mail on Friday, Gramma you are the best thanks! :) I got both of your letters and all of the articles in them of course. I love those things :)
This week we have Zone Training Meeting in Grande Prairie again so we'll be driving out there tomorrow morning, exchanging with Peace River, and then Elder Hunsaker and I will drive back to High Prairie. It'll be sweet, he was in my last zone so we've been on exchanges before.
It sounds like you guys had a sweet week! I'm still amazed that missionaries are living in my old room. I've been telling everyone! Haha living with members has always been my dream. Make sure to be those cool members that missionaries love :) Then you'll become famous in the mission and everyone will want to come to our ward!
We met with Matt, who's technically still on date to be baptized on July 6th, but he sat and texted during the entire lesson on Saturday, so we eventually just told him we'd come back another time haha it was pretty weird. He hasn't texted back in the past couple of days, so we'll see what happens! We also got a referral from Slave Lake, and one of their members had talked to a lady from High Prairie that came into their store. She had a lot of questions so they referred her to us. We stopped by this week and she's sweet! She doesn't want to meet in her house though, so we're waiting for the rain to stop so we can teach her outside haha.
Mom sorry to hear you're still not 100% yet, hope you feel better soon! I still cough like a smoker but that's still all I have so I'm not complaining. Hope you guys have a good week!
Love you guys,
Elder Read
This week it rained, and rained, and rained some more. I've never seen Alberta like this, but maybe I just wasn't paying attention last year. Anyways we've been walking around in it and I'm ready for some sun! I never minded it in Oregon, but I never felt guilty if I wasn't out working in it either haha.
We've been busy with meetings and stuff! It was almost like being in Millcreek again. We had Interviews with President on Thursday so we drove up that day. It was pretty sad to have my last interview with President Campbell, he did a mini exit interview since he's basically been my mission president my whole mission. I'm excited for my actual exit interview with President Manion. I imagine it'll go something like, "Well Elder, let's see.......have we met? Now where is it you've been serving again? High Prairie? Where's that again?" Haha just kidding, they actually told us that he'll get here on June 28th, and that week he'll come up and do a "meet the president" thing, then the next week he'll go around the mission again and do interviews. So that'll be exciting!
Anywho, that night we stayed with the zone leaders along with two other areas, so we had to split off into trios it was pretty sweet! Elder Coe stayed with us too it was so good to see him again! Then Friday we had Zone Conference and we said goodbye to President and Sister Campbell and then drove home! Our week has been pretty ordinary outside of that.
Did you guys know that Kyle comes home this week?? That's a pretty crazy thought if you ask me! You'll have to let me know if he's a weirdo :)
Another interesting fact! Did you know that High Prairie is the most expensive town in Alberta? True story! There's one grocery store and it's proud to be the only one! They charge sooo much. Anyways, our Branch President told us that this week so I thought I'd share that with you :)
Skylar got married on Friday yeah? Man is that ever crazy! My friends are actually getting married! Both he and Whitney sent me wedding announcements so I put them up on my wall! Haha
Hey speaking of, we got mail on Friday, Gramma you are the best thanks! :) I got both of your letters and all of the articles in them of course. I love those things :)
This week we have Zone Training Meeting in Grande Prairie again so we'll be driving out there tomorrow morning, exchanging with Peace River, and then Elder Hunsaker and I will drive back to High Prairie. It'll be sweet, he was in my last zone so we've been on exchanges before.
It sounds like you guys had a sweet week! I'm still amazed that missionaries are living in my old room. I've been telling everyone! Haha living with members has always been my dream. Make sure to be those cool members that missionaries love :) Then you'll become famous in the mission and everyone will want to come to our ward!
We met with Matt, who's technically still on date to be baptized on July 6th, but he sat and texted during the entire lesson on Saturday, so we eventually just told him we'd come back another time haha it was pretty weird. He hasn't texted back in the past couple of days, so we'll see what happens! We also got a referral from Slave Lake, and one of their members had talked to a lady from High Prairie that came into their store. She had a lot of questions so they referred her to us. We stopped by this week and she's sweet! She doesn't want to meet in her house though, so we're waiting for the rain to stop so we can teach her outside haha.
Mom sorry to hear you're still not 100% yet, hope you feel better soon! I still cough like a smoker but that's still all I have so I'm not complaining. Hope you guys have a good week!
Love you guys,
Elder Read
Monday, June 3, 2013
June Finally!
Hey friends!
This week was pretty sweet! I'll start from the beginning.
On Tuesday we had exchanges with the Peace River elders. I was with Elder Western, Who I went on exchanges with when I was in Millcreek. He is hilarious haha we had a lot of fun. His mom is the one that read that blog that you put my letters onto right before Christmas, so during calls she said "Do you know an Elder Read?" Small world! The elders there brought us a couch to put into our apartment, so now we have a little love seat AND a couch! It's becoming more like a functioning apartment every day.
Wednesday we drove to Peace River to exchange back and when you drive into the city you can look down into the valley and the city is right along the river. It's a beautiful view, but it was completely brown! There are these little things called Tent Caterpillars that are all over! There are so many of them. We drove down one of the streets and they were all over the gutter. I'll send a picture. Anyways they're in High Prairie too!! I've never seen these little guys before but we've been having fun stepping on them while we walk around :)
On Thursday I woke up with a sore throat and a cough, the sore throat is gone but the cough has lingered and I sound like a chain smoker when I laugh or cough. It was a strange feeling considering I never get legitimately sick. Only the High School fever :)
Friday we had a local Street Festival here, and it was put on by the many local religious groups around town, so we had a big part in it. Our branch put on a Family History booth and we were there to talk to people it was pretty sweet. The older people in the branch (so pretty much the whole branch) ran the booth and we just provided moral support haha. It's interesting to be in a small town where we meet the same people over and over again. It's sweet though I kind of like that dynamic.
On Saturday we were out tracting and this guy comes outside and yells for us to to come over. It's Matt! He's a guy that we street contacted a week or so ago, and we set up an appointment but we had to cancel it and never got to reschedule. But he randomly got off the couch and saw us walking so he ran out and yelled us over. So we went in and taught him about the Plan of Salvation and he liked it lot! He's really interested in Eternal Families so we centered it on the that. We also invited him to be baptized on July 7th and he accepted! He's got a little while to go yet though. He's on house arrest and has some smoking and drinking problems, but he's super sincere so we're excited!
That was our week! This week we have District Meeting in High Prairie, and Peace River is bringing us some desks that they got at the Salvation Army place that they do service at so we're stoked! I've been studying on an old rickety card table that shakes every time I touch it ha. We also have Interviews with President and Sister Campbell on Thursday so we'll drive in right before, stay the night with the Zone Leaders, and then have Zone Conference on Friday. It's the Campbell's last one so we're looking forward to it. It'll be sad to see them go though.
Haha the missionaries are living in my old room....that's sweet. We only live with super old people in my mission so either you're super young or the mission there is different :)
Well that's my stream of consciousness this week! You guys have a good week and I'll talk to you next week!
Love you guys,
Elder Read
This week was pretty sweet! I'll start from the beginning.
On Tuesday we had exchanges with the Peace River elders. I was with Elder Western, Who I went on exchanges with when I was in Millcreek. He is hilarious haha we had a lot of fun. His mom is the one that read that blog that you put my letters onto right before Christmas, so during calls she said "Do you know an Elder Read?" Small world! The elders there brought us a couch to put into our apartment, so now we have a little love seat AND a couch! It's becoming more like a functioning apartment every day.
Wednesday we drove to Peace River to exchange back and when you drive into the city you can look down into the valley and the city is right along the river. It's a beautiful view, but it was completely brown! There are these little things called Tent Caterpillars that are all over! There are so many of them. We drove down one of the streets and they were all over the gutter. I'll send a picture. Anyways they're in High Prairie too!! I've never seen these little guys before but we've been having fun stepping on them while we walk around :)
On Thursday I woke up with a sore throat and a cough, the sore throat is gone but the cough has lingered and I sound like a chain smoker when I laugh or cough. It was a strange feeling considering I never get legitimately sick. Only the High School fever :)
Friday we had a local Street Festival here, and it was put on by the many local religious groups around town, so we had a big part in it. Our branch put on a Family History booth and we were there to talk to people it was pretty sweet. The older people in the branch (so pretty much the whole branch) ran the booth and we just provided moral support haha. It's interesting to be in a small town where we meet the same people over and over again. It's sweet though I kind of like that dynamic.
On Saturday we were out tracting and this guy comes outside and yells for us to to come over. It's Matt! He's a guy that we street contacted a week or so ago, and we set up an appointment but we had to cancel it and never got to reschedule. But he randomly got off the couch and saw us walking so he ran out and yelled us over. So we went in and taught him about the Plan of Salvation and he liked it lot! He's really interested in Eternal Families so we centered it on the that. We also invited him to be baptized on July 7th and he accepted! He's got a little while to go yet though. He's on house arrest and has some smoking and drinking problems, but he's super sincere so we're excited!
That was our week! This week we have District Meeting in High Prairie, and Peace River is bringing us some desks that they got at the Salvation Army place that they do service at so we're stoked! I've been studying on an old rickety card table that shakes every time I touch it ha. We also have Interviews with President and Sister Campbell on Thursday so we'll drive in right before, stay the night with the Zone Leaders, and then have Zone Conference on Friday. It's the Campbell's last one so we're looking forward to it. It'll be sad to see them go though.
Haha the missionaries are living in my old room....that's sweet. We only live with super old people in my mission so either you're super young or the mission there is different :)
Well that's my stream of consciousness this week! You guys have a good week and I'll talk to you next week!
Love you guys,
Elder Read
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Happy Memorial Day!
Hello family of mine!
This week was pretty sweet. For starters, my Athletes Foot is no more! I've been religiously putting stuff on it and she's lookin' pretty good now. Thought you might like to know.
We found new investigators! We taught a family named the Peacocks that the branch has been working with for the past few months, and we set up weekly dinner appointments with them so that's sweet! We're trying to teach their grandchildren that live with them as well.
We also taught an older gentleman named Menno Friesen! We tracted into him a few weeks back and just got to meet with him on Saturday. He's legit, I was surprised that he believes a lot of the same stuff that we do. He said he would read the Book of Mormon and that we could come back so we're excited.
We also found a bunch of potential investigators that we'll hopefully contact this week, things picked up a lot last week. We found weekly service at the library doing random jobs, and also at the local seniors lodge doing yard work and playing games with the seniors! Man we're psyched.
Tuesday the Peace River elders came down and blitzed our area until Wednesday afternoon. It was good to see other missionaries again haha.
I'm being eaten alive by mosquitoes. I'm pretty sure I wrote about this last Summer, but this place is the worst I've seen in my life. It's like we live on a lake. We spend 90% of our time outside so they just feast upon us! I feel like that one guy from Lilo & Stitch that gets so excited about mosquitoes landing on him. "A mosquito has chosen me as his host! And another, and another!" Haha seriously so annoying.
Other than that we're working hard! I'm jealous of your Memorial Day adventure! Have a good time and enjoy the ice cream that stuff is the bomb! Sorry for the short email this week, hopefully next week will be more exciting! Have a good week :)
Love you guys!
Elder Read
This week was pretty sweet. For starters, my Athletes Foot is no more! I've been religiously putting stuff on it and she's lookin' pretty good now. Thought you might like to know.
We found new investigators! We taught a family named the Peacocks that the branch has been working with for the past few months, and we set up weekly dinner appointments with them so that's sweet! We're trying to teach their grandchildren that live with them as well.
We also taught an older gentleman named Menno Friesen! We tracted into him a few weeks back and just got to meet with him on Saturday. He's legit, I was surprised that he believes a lot of the same stuff that we do. He said he would read the Book of Mormon and that we could come back so we're excited.
We also found a bunch of potential investigators that we'll hopefully contact this week, things picked up a lot last week. We found weekly service at the library doing random jobs, and also at the local seniors lodge doing yard work and playing games with the seniors! Man we're psyched.
Tuesday the Peace River elders came down and blitzed our area until Wednesday afternoon. It was good to see other missionaries again haha.
I'm being eaten alive by mosquitoes. I'm pretty sure I wrote about this last Summer, but this place is the worst I've seen in my life. It's like we live on a lake. We spend 90% of our time outside so they just feast upon us! I feel like that one guy from Lilo & Stitch that gets so excited about mosquitoes landing on him. "A mosquito has chosen me as his host! And another, and another!" Haha seriously so annoying.
Other than that we're working hard! I'm jealous of your Memorial Day adventure! Have a good time and enjoy the ice cream that stuff is the bomb! Sorry for the short email this week, hopefully next week will be more exciting! Have a good week :)
Love you guys!
Elder Read
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Happy Victoria Day!
Hey!
Sorry we didn't email yesterday, I forgot about Victoria Day yesterday so all of the libraries were closed. Was Memorial Day yesterday? I'm so disoriented with holidays haha. They're all the same to me!
So let me begin by telling you about my sweet experience at Target! For those of you who were not aware, Target just opened in Canada! None of the ones in Edmonton were open while I was there, but lo and behold we went to Grande Prairie on Thursday and there it was! Open and functional. Walking in there was like coming home haha all of them are the same! I spent a good 20 minutes cruising through it observing everything and it's like the Church, true and the same no matter where you go! Now for the best part! As missionaries we get mistaken for employees everywhere, so people always come up and ask us where something is,and we politely tell them we have no clue, we're missionaries. But not this time! You could have slapped a nametag on me and paid me, I had quite a few people come up to me and ask me where stuff was and I actually knew! I probably looked ridiculous and if I worked at Target and saw me I would've been a little confused. Elder Thompson thought I was crazy. But I was reliving the glory days so I didn't even care haha.
Anyways, my week. So this week was a little more structured but still a little more scattered than I cared for. We had District Meeting in Peace River on Wednesday, so we drove the hour there and back. It was exciting, that's the furthest north that I've been.
On Thursday we drove two hours out to Grande Prairie for Zone Training Meeting. It was interesting to hear the trainings regurgitated in a different way than the first time I heard them. Elder Cone is in the zone too so it was good to see him again :)
Mom I'm a leper!! I'm 99% sure I have Athlete's Foot. I thought you'd like to know that. My pinky toe is pretty well living under my 4th toe (I don't know what you call that one, or any of them besides the big and pinky toes for that matter). So it just chills under there and obviously doesn't get any breathing room. This is all a guess by the way, I've spent many a minute pondering the possible reasons why I got this. It's all red and peeling and it itches like you wouldn't believe! Anyways we cleaned our shower, I bought all of the stupid cream and stuff and now I'm determined to kill it. Sorry if that was gross haha I was just dying to share it!
We got to speak in church on Sunday! One of many opportunities I'm sure haha. My topic was "What does it mean to bear testimony?" It was a pretty easy topic to prepare for, and like always I prepared way more than I needed! Elder Thompson finished speaking at around 10:35 which gave me a solid 25 minutes to talk everyone's ears off! Which I did, and I even went over the hour by 5 minutes. I felt like a prophet because everyone knows only prophets can speak for that long.
Today the Peace River elders are coming down to blitz our area since Elder Hunsaker is the District Leader. I've done a lot of blitzing over the past few transfers, but I've never actually had to prepare for it. So last night's planning session took forever! It'll be good for our area though, we need the extra manpower. So they'll come down this afternoon and stay until tomorrow afternoon.
Yesterday we had a cool experience. We went out walking after dinner since High Prairie is so small and we don't wanna waste clicks driving around. We were contacting some potential and former investgators from the area book, and decided to go try a lady named Diane. As we walked up to her apartment building this lady was smoking on one of the balconies. She started yelling at us sarcastically to keep walking and was being pretty rude in general! So we just ignored her and went into the building and tried the room number, only to find out that Diane didn't live there. So we turned around and walked out of there, and once again this lady starts yelling at us, and by this point I'm done listening to her haha. She finally says "what's that you're holding?" (I had a paperback Book of Mormon). I ignored her, but Elder Thompson being the humble man that he is, turned around and told her what it was, and she asked for one. I was still pretty apprehensive, but she told us to come up to her place and give it to her. She had a few friends over and they were all smoking on the balcony. So up we went and gave her and her friends a Book of Mormon. Come to find out that she was Diane! She had just moved to a different room. So we talked for awhile and they seemed genuinely interested in what we were talking about, so we set up an appointment for Thursday! It was sweet. It just goes to show that you never do know.
That's sweet that you guys are Ward Missionaries together! They make a huge difference.
Hey I've been doing lots of Sudoku's! Yesterday was Pday and there's only so much you can do in the apartment haha and there isn't much to do around town. So I went on a Sudoku spree! Thanks for sending that book it's saving my sanity haha.
Well....I can't think of anything else to ramble on about. Hope you guys have a good week!
Love you guys,
Elder Read
Sorry we didn't email yesterday, I forgot about Victoria Day yesterday so all of the libraries were closed. Was Memorial Day yesterday? I'm so disoriented with holidays haha. They're all the same to me!
So let me begin by telling you about my sweet experience at Target! For those of you who were not aware, Target just opened in Canada! None of the ones in Edmonton were open while I was there, but lo and behold we went to Grande Prairie on Thursday and there it was! Open and functional. Walking in there was like coming home haha all of them are the same! I spent a good 20 minutes cruising through it observing everything and it's like the Church, true and the same no matter where you go! Now for the best part! As missionaries we get mistaken for employees everywhere, so people always come up and ask us where something is,and we politely tell them we have no clue, we're missionaries. But not this time! You could have slapped a nametag on me and paid me, I had quite a few people come up to me and ask me where stuff was and I actually knew! I probably looked ridiculous and if I worked at Target and saw me I would've been a little confused. Elder Thompson thought I was crazy. But I was reliving the glory days so I didn't even care haha.
Anyways, my week. So this week was a little more structured but still a little more scattered than I cared for. We had District Meeting in Peace River on Wednesday, so we drove the hour there and back. It was exciting, that's the furthest north that I've been.
On Thursday we drove two hours out to Grande Prairie for Zone Training Meeting. It was interesting to hear the trainings regurgitated in a different way than the first time I heard them. Elder Cone is in the zone too so it was good to see him again :)
Mom I'm a leper!! I'm 99% sure I have Athlete's Foot. I thought you'd like to know that. My pinky toe is pretty well living under my 4th toe (I don't know what you call that one, or any of them besides the big and pinky toes for that matter). So it just chills under there and obviously doesn't get any breathing room. This is all a guess by the way, I've spent many a minute pondering the possible reasons why I got this. It's all red and peeling and it itches like you wouldn't believe! Anyways we cleaned our shower, I bought all of the stupid cream and stuff and now I'm determined to kill it. Sorry if that was gross haha I was just dying to share it!
We got to speak in church on Sunday! One of many opportunities I'm sure haha. My topic was "What does it mean to bear testimony?" It was a pretty easy topic to prepare for, and like always I prepared way more than I needed! Elder Thompson finished speaking at around 10:35 which gave me a solid 25 minutes to talk everyone's ears off! Which I did, and I even went over the hour by 5 minutes. I felt like a prophet because everyone knows only prophets can speak for that long.
Today the Peace River elders are coming down to blitz our area since Elder Hunsaker is the District Leader. I've done a lot of blitzing over the past few transfers, but I've never actually had to prepare for it. So last night's planning session took forever! It'll be good for our area though, we need the extra manpower. So they'll come down this afternoon and stay until tomorrow afternoon.
Yesterday we had a cool experience. We went out walking after dinner since High Prairie is so small and we don't wanna waste clicks driving around. We were contacting some potential and former investgators from the area book, and decided to go try a lady named Diane. As we walked up to her apartment building this lady was smoking on one of the balconies. She started yelling at us sarcastically to keep walking and was being pretty rude in general! So we just ignored her and went into the building and tried the room number, only to find out that Diane didn't live there. So we turned around and walked out of there, and once again this lady starts yelling at us, and by this point I'm done listening to her haha. She finally says "what's that you're holding?" (I had a paperback Book of Mormon). I ignored her, but Elder Thompson being the humble man that he is, turned around and told her what it was, and she asked for one. I was still pretty apprehensive, but she told us to come up to her place and give it to her. She had a few friends over and they were all smoking on the balcony. So up we went and gave her and her friends a Book of Mormon. Come to find out that she was Diane! She had just moved to a different room. So we talked for awhile and they seemed genuinely interested in what we were talking about, so we set up an appointment for Thursday! It was sweet. It just goes to show that you never do know.
That's sweet that you guys are Ward Missionaries together! They make a huge difference.
Hey I've been doing lots of Sudoku's! Yesterday was Pday and there's only so much you can do in the apartment haha and there isn't much to do around town. So I went on a Sudoku spree! Thanks for sending that book it's saving my sanity haha.
Well....I can't think of anything else to ramble on about. Hope you guys have a good week!
Love you guys,
Elder Read
Monday, May 13, 2013
Happy Monday!
Hello my friends!
It was really good to talk to you guys too! This week has been so crazy haha I can't believe I was in Edmonton less than a week ago.
The library doesn't open until 1pm on Mondays and when we tried to come earlier all of the computers were taken!
Tuesday Elder Weber and I were super busy while we (okay mostly he, I was pretty checked out haha) planned Zone Training Meeting, I packed, and I said goodbye to people.
Wednesday I went to trainers meeting and met Elder Thompson! He's from Payson, Utah which is where a few people in this mission are from. He's sweet I like him a lot! He's not 18 either, in case any of you are wondering :) I feel bad that he's starting his mission opening an area in the middle of nowhere though, that would have been hard for me. He's taking it like a champ though!
Anyways we drove to Valleyview and stayed there Wednesday night, and then Thursday morning we drove into High Prairie and met the Branch President and his wife. They had already moved all of our furniture and stuff in, we just had to move our stuff in and organized everything. We're still missing a lot of little things but the members have been really good about getting that stuff for us.
So for the rest of the week we've just been trying to get organized. The elders that were here 3 years ago kept a really good area book which is so nice when you open an area. There's a lot of former and potential investigators to work with which is awesome. They also made a good impression on the land lady (we live in the same room that they did 3 years ago) because our first day she came up and gave us money for laundry and said that was her donation to the missionaries! Pretty sweet.
Church was interesting haha there were a total of 12 people including 3 kids and 4 Priesthood holders. So we said the prayers, blessed the Sacrament, and we're both speaking next week for 20 minutes each! :) It's definitely different getting used to such a small branch in a small little town (2800 people), especially coming from a big YSA ward in downtown Edmonton where people roam the streets like ants! But I'm excited to be here, the few members that are here are awesome. We've been fed by all of the active ones that we've stopped by, and we even got a lunch on Sunday! They're excited to have missionaries again it's great.
We went to the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police, it's Canada's federal police force) Station today and talked to the Staff Sergeant about service opportunities in High Prairie and he gave us quite a few phone numbers for people to call so we'll try that this week. To be honest this week has been super stressful trying to figure out what to do, I'm ready for things to just figure themselves out :) Give it a couple of weeks and I'm sure we'll have a nice rhythm going. I hope :)
We're in a 6-man district with the Elders in Valleyview and Peace River, both around an hour away. On Thursday we're going out to Peace River for District Meeting, and then Thursday we have Zone Training Meeting in Grande Prairie which is where the Zone Leaders are. I was at MLC when the trainings were given so it'll be fun getting them again! Haha
Other than that not much else to report on! Hope you guys have a good week and I'll talk to you next week!
Love you guys,
Elder Read
It was really good to talk to you guys too! This week has been so crazy haha I can't believe I was in Edmonton less than a week ago.
The library doesn't open until 1pm on Mondays and when we tried to come earlier all of the computers were taken!
Tuesday Elder Weber and I were super busy while we (okay mostly he, I was pretty checked out haha) planned Zone Training Meeting, I packed, and I said goodbye to people.
Wednesday I went to trainers meeting and met Elder Thompson! He's from Payson, Utah which is where a few people in this mission are from. He's sweet I like him a lot! He's not 18 either, in case any of you are wondering :) I feel bad that he's starting his mission opening an area in the middle of nowhere though, that would have been hard for me. He's taking it like a champ though!
Anyways we drove to Valleyview and stayed there Wednesday night, and then Thursday morning we drove into High Prairie and met the Branch President and his wife. They had already moved all of our furniture and stuff in, we just had to move our stuff in and organized everything. We're still missing a lot of little things but the members have been really good about getting that stuff for us.
So for the rest of the week we've just been trying to get organized. The elders that were here 3 years ago kept a really good area book which is so nice when you open an area. There's a lot of former and potential investigators to work with which is awesome. They also made a good impression on the land lady (we live in the same room that they did 3 years ago) because our first day she came up and gave us money for laundry and said that was her donation to the missionaries! Pretty sweet.
Church was interesting haha there were a total of 12 people including 3 kids and 4 Priesthood holders. So we said the prayers, blessed the Sacrament, and we're both speaking next week for 20 minutes each! :) It's definitely different getting used to such a small branch in a small little town (2800 people), especially coming from a big YSA ward in downtown Edmonton where people roam the streets like ants! But I'm excited to be here, the few members that are here are awesome. We've been fed by all of the active ones that we've stopped by, and we even got a lunch on Sunday! They're excited to have missionaries again it's great.
We went to the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police, it's Canada's federal police force) Station today and talked to the Staff Sergeant about service opportunities in High Prairie and he gave us quite a few phone numbers for people to call so we'll try that this week. To be honest this week has been super stressful trying to figure out what to do, I'm ready for things to just figure themselves out :) Give it a couple of weeks and I'm sure we'll have a nice rhythm going. I hope :)
We're in a 6-man district with the Elders in Valleyview and Peace River, both around an hour away. On Thursday we're going out to Peace River for District Meeting, and then Thursday we have Zone Training Meeting in Grande Prairie which is where the Zone Leaders are. I was at MLC when the trainings were given so it'll be fun getting them again! Haha
Other than that not much else to report on! Hope you guys have a good week and I'll talk to you next week!
Love you guys,
Elder Read
Monday, May 6, 2013
I'm being exiled!
Hey everyone!
Transfer calls were this morning and I'm getting transferred! It's been a good run. I'm going to open up a little town called High Prairie, which is somewhere north haha it's near Grand Prairie aka the middle of nowhere haha! I have no idea what it's like because it hasn't been open to missionaries in a few years, but I'm assuming it's tiny. I'm also training again! So that'll be cool. It's funny because I trained Elder Nabrotzky exactly a year ago! I'm like an animal, I only breed once a year. This week will be a gong show though with moving into an apartment, meeting the branch (I'm assuming that's what it is), and getting situated in general. I'll leave on Wednesday I'm stoked!
So Mothers Day calls....haha I have no idea what the deal is. I'm guessing we'll get ahold of the Branch President when we get up there or something and then figure something out? I'll probably email again before Sunday to let you know.
This week was pretty busy. I'll explain what happened out of order like usual :)
We had Mission Leadership Council on Saturday, and the Sister Training Leaders were there. Other than the fact that they were there, Sister Campbell was there, and they both gave trainings, it was the exact same as Zone Leader Council.
We had exchanges with Stathcona, and I went to their area with Elder Hale, who I was in the trio with when Elder Coe went AP. It was good to go back to my home of 1 week! It's gonna be so weird to go back to 2 exchanges a transfer!
We went to the CES devotional yesterday it was sweet! William R. Walker (who came and visited our mission last May) spoke about President Monson haha it was actually really good!
Yeah it's so hot here! It's like 25 C! I don't know what that is in F though. Heat>Cold. I was actually sweating in the car yesterday!
Mom I'm glad to hear you're feeling better! Just don't die or anything.
Okay that's pretty much it for this week's edition, have yourselves a good week and pray for me! Haha
Love you guys,
Elder Read
Transfer calls were this morning and I'm getting transferred! It's been a good run. I'm going to open up a little town called High Prairie, which is somewhere north haha it's near Grand Prairie aka the middle of nowhere haha! I have no idea what it's like because it hasn't been open to missionaries in a few years, but I'm assuming it's tiny. I'm also training again! So that'll be cool. It's funny because I trained Elder Nabrotzky exactly a year ago! I'm like an animal, I only breed once a year. This week will be a gong show though with moving into an apartment, meeting the branch (I'm assuming that's what it is), and getting situated in general. I'll leave on Wednesday I'm stoked!
So Mothers Day calls....haha I have no idea what the deal is. I'm guessing we'll get ahold of the Branch President when we get up there or something and then figure something out? I'll probably email again before Sunday to let you know.
This week was pretty busy. I'll explain what happened out of order like usual :)
We had Mission Leadership Council on Saturday, and the Sister Training Leaders were there. Other than the fact that they were there, Sister Campbell was there, and they both gave trainings, it was the exact same as Zone Leader Council.
We had exchanges with Stathcona, and I went to their area with Elder Hale, who I was in the trio with when Elder Coe went AP. It was good to go back to my home of 1 week! It's gonna be so weird to go back to 2 exchanges a transfer!
We went to the CES devotional yesterday it was sweet! William R. Walker (who came and visited our mission last May) spoke about President Monson haha it was actually really good!
Yeah it's so hot here! It's like 25 C! I don't know what that is in F though. Heat>Cold. I was actually sweating in the car yesterday!
Mom I'm glad to hear you're feeling better! Just don't die or anything.
Okay that's pretty much it for this week's edition, have yourselves a good week and pray for me! Haha
Love you guys,
Elder Read
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