Spruce Grove (not Spruce Goose) and Happy Valentines Day!

Hey family!

This week has been sweet! I love Spruce Grove! I keep wanting to call
it Spruce Goose though haha.....Oregon humor. Hey emailing will now be
on Tuesdays because the library is closed on Monday here. Lame. So
I've been running around a lot this week, and since I have a whole 2
hours to email now, I'll tell you all about it in detail :)

So Monday was pretty normal. Elder Wood and I had a lot of lessons
scheduled, so we didn't have time to visit very many members.  Which
meant Tuesday was the craziest day of my life! We were literally
running from house to house saying goodbyes, going to previously
scheduled appointments, packing, etc. Haha and we still didn't get to
everyone! We didn't get in until around 9:45 that night it was crazy!
I have so much stuff, I feel like a girl sometimes! I downsized a lot
of stuff though, so next transfer should be better.

    Wednesday was pretty surreal haha. Not only was it my Birthday,
but It was like leaving home again it was weird. I honestly didn't
think much about my birthday to tell you the truth. If it wasn't
transfer day, I don't think it would have been any different than any
other day haha. I actually forgot about it until I was sitting in the
apartment with Elder Fifita unpacking my things and I found the
package you sent me mom. Thanks for that by the way! Elder Wood and I
made the cookies and they were delicious. Elder Fifita and I still
need to make the cake. And I love Life cereal you're the best! We
filled all of the balloons with water and stuck them outside
overnight, then threw them at the trees in our courtyard it was sweet.
So yeah it was a good day!

    Anyways, transfer meeting was good though. I got to see a lot of
the people I came out with which was sweet! I miss those guys (and
sisters). So then Elder Fifita and I drove home. He doesn't have his
license anymore for whatever reason, and so I get to drive everywhere!
I am literally in Heaven. We have a beautiful little Subaru Impreza
and she's all I could have asked for. After a walking area though, I
would have taken a little barbie car, no joke. So this was a sweet
deal for me! I was honestly worried I wouldn't know how to drive
anymore haha it had been so long. But it went well :) So now we drive
everywhere it's sweet! Spruce Grove is one of the bigger areas, and
some of our members and investigators live out in the BOONIES. Like,
driving on a dirt road for a half hour type of boonies.
    It's an awesome area though. The ward is huge. We fill the chapel
and most of the overflow. Last sunday we opened the curtain to the
gym, but only because some dude was giving his farewell talk. The ward
is awesome though. They're super missionary-minded, and they love us!
We have an awesome bishop (who is also a body builder) and he does the
most missionary work out of everyone! When the bishop starts it, the
ward follows, let me tell you.

    So we've been busy this week! But anyways, Spruce has a LOT of
old people haha. They all retire on to a huge plot of land and sit out
the rest of their days. And they love having us over! We visited two
old couples this week that aren't members, they're catholic actually,
and they just visit with us, and they always feed us it's beautiful!
Plus they love to talk about God haha. Last night we went over to an
older couple named Alfred and Nancy (old people names), and played a
little game golf (card game) and they fed us muffins and orange juice!
PLUS at church the other day, this older couple brings the
missionaries goodie bags every week! We have snack time during
Sacrament Meeting :) We got a little bag of gum, candy, hot chocolate
packets, and other little stuff. It's sweet! Elder Fifita was telling
me that one week they brought the Elders a straight up Subway sandwich
and insisted they eat it right then and there! I can only hope it
happens again. I starve during church. Honestly I could stay in this
area my whole mission. Old people feed us muffins, other old people
bring us food at church like we're in Primary again, we teach lessons,
the ward does their missionary work, and I have a car. Woo!

    So Elder Fifita....he's the man. Like I said last week, he's a
big guy. He's only 6 feet tall but he's thick haha. Yessir Dad he
played for the Tongan National Rugby team, and he was actually offered
a 1.5 million dollar contract with England, but he turned it down to
serve a mission! Pretty cool eh? He's a spiritual giant (no pun
intended), and he works hard I love him.

    Haha so my past two companions, when they saw my pump they asked
a ton of questions and we spent a long time talking about diabetes. It
surprises me how little people know about it. But then again I knew
NOTHING until last year haha. Anyways, I though Elder Wood and Merrell
were bad, but Elder Fifita has beat them by a longshot. He has sooo
many questions about diabetes haha it's hilarious. His english is
pretty good, but still a little limited, so it takes me awhile to tell
him all of the confusing things. So the members here, like I said, are
a little older than most, and so they've really been harping on me for
talking so fast! I get scolded almost every day for it haha. "Stop
talking so fast our old ears can only pick up so much." I love it. By
the way, I've been told 3 times so far since I've been here that I
have an accent....? I never heard that in Edmonton, but now that I'm
out here it's different. They tell me that most of the American
missionaries have it too, but that mine is especially prominent. Cool
eh? I'm a true American.

    So setting aside the materialistic blessings of this area, it's
actually an awesome area for missionary work. Like I said the ward is
enthusiastic about missionary work, and we have quite a few
investigators here. I haven't met many of them though, but hopefully I
will this week. Elder Fifita has had a bad cold all week so we haven't
done much during the day. But this week we have a lot of proselyting
planned it'll be fun. We're planning on working with a lot of
part-member families this month and trying to get the unbaptized
members baptized. It'll be fun I'm excited. The mission-wide fast is
on February 20th at 6pm until February 21st at 6pm. It's basically a
province-wide fast, because our mission covers the entire province
besides Calgary and south of that. So all 6 stakes in our mission are
participating. I'm actually really excited because our temple day is
that Tuesday afternoon, so we get to fast and then go to the temple
during it. It'll be great.

    Bryant's phone went belly up? Like my old one? That sucks! Hahaha
mom. You tell me every week that you have something to tell me but
that you keep forgetting it. The suspense is killing me! How was your
guy's Valentines day? I miss those sugar cookies! If you happen to
send me some, I wouldn't turn them down :) Alright I'm going to end
this novel now. Sorry for it's lack of organization I'm not very good
at that and I'm very good at rambling! Haha. There was a lot to say
this week though, so next week should be a little easier on the eyes.
Hey I appreciate everything you all do for me. I love being out here,
and knowing I have support back home makes it a lot easier. The church
is true!

Love you guys!

Elder Read