Happy Birthday to yours truly!

That's right! Tomorrow I hit 6 whole months! Man I'm a quarter of
the way done! I know it might sound ridiculous haha. But when I think
back to the MTC, I could describe a lot of those days in detail! Maybe
not, because let's face it, the MTC is the same day after day It was a
blur. But anyways, time's flying!
    Yesterday was awesome! Pdays are bliss, let me tell you about
them. We do our laundry at a member's house, they feed us breakfast,
we do our morning studies on comfortable couches, and it's free! Then
we shop for groceries, come home, eat lunch, we clean (kinda haha),
and then the Stony Plain elders come over or we go over there, we hang
out with them for a little while, and then we drive into Edmonton
together and play basketball or whatever they chose that week. Then we
drive home, shower, and go to dinner! Like I said, simply bliss.
Yesterday was sweet too because I got a BOATLOAD of mail! :) I love
mail! Keep it coming!
     Anywho, this week was pretty solid. Elder Fifita's been feeling
better so we've been waking up at 6am to work out in the gym down the
hall. It felt good to run on the tready, I miss running like you
wouldn't believe! So yeah it felt really good to run every
morning......and then the room next to the gym complained because they
were trying to sleep at 6:30 in the morning! Who does that! I was so
mad! So now I run like Lance Armstrong on the exercise bike that looks
and feels like it was made in the '80s. But that's life I guess! I
can't wait to run every day when I come home, that was the life, I
highly recommend it.
    Funny story! So the day before I left my last area, one of the
members told me to go and visit his daughters that lived in Spruce
Grove. They aren't active, and he didn't want them to know that I was
sent there, so he said to do a tracting approach and see if I could
get in. So 2 weeks ago, Elder Pinehault and I (we were on exchanges),
went and knocked one of the doors, and sure enough, she answered the
door, I did the tracting approach, and she let us in it was sweet. She
told us she was a member, and then she found out I had just come from
Southwood and so she found out I knew her dad. It was sweet, we set up
a time to come back and it was a good visit. THEN we had exchanges
with the zone leaders this week, and so Elder Graul and I were out
visiting members, and one of our appointments fell through, so I
figured it'd be a good idea to go and track down the other daughter
that we hadn't met yet. So I told him what her dad told us to do, and
he said "Nothin' like a little guile eh?" So we laughed and then we
went over. I knocked, a guy answered the door, I did the tracting
approach, he cut me off and told us he was a member and invited us in.
Sounds golden right? Wrong. You'll never guess who was over for dinner
that night! Not only was the sister that we had just talked to last
week over, but the parents I knew from Southwood were sitting at the
dinner table too! Hahahahahaha awkward! The dad looked like he had
seen a ghost when he saw us but didn't say anything, and the mom said,
"Hey Elder Read, long time no see!" Wrong thing to say haha. The
daughters both looked at us like we were crazy, and the parents just
talked to me like nothing was wrong...so we went along with it, talked
with them for awhile, and then left. The parents said they talked
about it though and everything's good, and we're still going over to
both of their houses to meet with them. It was a funny story though.
They always seem to happen on exchanges too.
    So that was pretty much the highlight of my week. Not much else
happened. We met with two families this week, and in one, the husband
reminds me of Geoff in every way possible, and in the other family,
the wife reminds me of Nicole! It's crazy how you see people you know
in others.
    Spring has sprung (thanks mom). It's been a balmy average of 8
degrees outside this week! It sounds cold, and probably is cold, but
we've been cooking! We took off our coats, took off the thermals, and
tracted a lot. Lately my view of tracting has been slowly going
downhill, but it's amazing when it's warm! I loved it! I missed the
warm sun more than I missed home. It even got up to 12 degrees! Haha I
reread this paragraph and I sound ridiculous, but it's true! You get
so acclimatized it's unbelievable. So yeah, it's warm. And dry! My
hands are dying! I woke up the other day and my finger was bleeding
because it's so dry. I bought lotion though, so no worries.
    Hey random request, can I have a picture of the Portland temple?
Prefferably one with lots of trees? I want to put it on my desk :) I
miss it!
    Another random request - I need the names of all my relatives
living in southern Alberta, I always tell people I have family down
there, and they say they know a ton of Hydes and then start listing
off all of these people I had no idea existed! So I want to know who
they are so I don't look like an idiot haha.
    Alright, that's all I've got for this week. Thanks for letting me
know about the tax refund, I'm rich! Just kidding, I'll save it in
case more tickets come up :) I appreciate you guys and all you do! I
miss you guys like you wouldn't believe!

Love you homies,

Elder Read