Sometimes boys paint their nails too

Heyo,

I've been putting this nail polish on that tastes super bad (it's actually made to be like that, this isn't actual nail polish haha) and it makes my nails sparkle, so for whatever reason everyone's been noticing lately! I've had so many people ask me about it after lessons. It's pretty effective to tell you the truth. I stopped at the beginning of my mission and that lasted for around 9 months, but then I fell back into it and so I'm trying a more permanent approach. It's been good for like 3 months so that's good enough for me.

Let's talk about the weather! This week when we went to Vermilion it was -40 with wind chill. So in accordance with the mission handbook, we went to scheduled appointments only! But considering it's such a small area with a tiny branch and not very many investigators, we sat inside haha. It was fun but only because there were 4 of us. Anyways, I digress. Once Friday hit the temperature went the opposite way and now we're sitting in a balmy 3 C. Yesterday it was 7 C and we were walking in just our suits! I don't know about you, but I'm ready for some consistency.

This week was exciting! Vermilion really was fun. We actually did have a couple of appointments, I was just being dramatic. We did some service and a local Elementary School feeding little kids lunch (just handing them soy sauce actually, we didn't actually feed them). Then we helped this older guy clean his house. It was a little gross because it had been some time since their last visit, but it was good to help him out. That night we drove out to this little town called Derwent because they have this famous pizza! I honestly believe that that's why the town was created because there's the pizza place, a gas station, and maybe 4 houses haha. It was super good though! They had a guest registry book thingy, and people had come from New Orleans, Toronto, California, etc.

We've been teaching english classes every Wednesday and Saturday it's been sweet! There are a bunch of Chinese people coming and a few of them are non-members so it's been really good. We teach with the sisters in our zone and honestly they are way better english teachers than we are hahaha but they don't like teaching every time so we take turns. We mostly just play games that get them talking in english, and then we go over the vocabulary from the opening hymn! Very subtle :)

We went on exchanges with Forest Heights, the area to the north, and I went to their area with Elder Hathaway. They're a walking area, but it was a warm day so I actually enjoyed it. They cover the more busy part of downtown so it was a complete gong show walking down the street trying to talk to people haha. But that's what makes it fun :)

Yeah it's my birthday on Friday! I don't really know what to do with myself. It's Weekly Planning so I'll probably just.....plan! Mom don't you remember that delicious cheese cake you'd always make with the blackberries and blueberries either in it or on the bottom? Then you'd put it in the fridge and Bryant and I would eat it? If you can't remember then ask Bryant he'll know :) That's the one I want Shawna to make! Hey thanks for the package! The cookies are gone haha and the little puzzle books are perfect! I loved the pictures too especially of the light sabers! I knew Grandpa was a Jedi. You're the best!

Zone Leader Council was on Saturday and that was pretty sweet. President showed a video clip of Russell M. Nelson talking about how the Lord is hastening His work with all of the new missionaries. He also talked about how exciting it is to be a missionary during all of the craziness! It was sweet. So as per usual, we now have to plan zone training meeting for this week! We'll do the outlying area meeting on Wednesday and the city meeting on Thursday.

Tonight we're driving out to Lloydminster which is literally right on the border of Saskatchewan. It splits the city in half. So we'll go out tonight, stay all day Tuesday, and then Wednesday we'll all drive to St. Paul for ZTM! Then we'll drive home. So it'll be a pretty busy week! No exchanges though so it won't be too bad.

Bryan our investigator is doing really well! He's still pretty skeptical about Joseph Smith and really just God in general, but he's open to it which is all he needs. We're trying to help him have the faith to do something to find out if God exists. He's awesome though I enjoy teaching him.

Hey random fact! Did you know that the new Canadian money smells like maple? I didn't believe it until I smelled one of the 20's I have and sure enough it's the truth! So we were trying to think of what our money would smell like...and we couldn't think of anything nice haha.

That's sweet that Collin got his mission call by the way!! He'll be a way good missionary. Does he go straight there or to Provo?

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for everything you guys do, I miss you!


Love you guys,

Elder Read