Can you say "Saskatoon, Saskatchewan"?

Elder Galbraith's older brother, Michael, had exchanged e-mails with Pres. Paulson about a minor medical issue TJ was experiencing. In his last e-mail Sunday evening, Pres. Paulson told Michael where Elder Galbraith was going on his transfer this week. Michael then forwarded that e-mail to us, and we sent a short one back to Elder Galbraith, saying that we had heard where he was going.

Well I read your email about you hearing where I am being transferred. I wonder if you knew before I did! Ga, that takes the fun out of any guessing game. Saskatoon. Oh, those Roughriders...don't worry Dad, I am all for the Stampeders! Little rebel I am, I almost bought a Big Gulp with the Stampeders logo on it. The only thing keeping me back from buying it is that I have zero room in my bag to put it.

I heard a great joke about where I am being transferred to: An American couple are on a vacation in Canada and are traveling by train. They had their own room in a car. One day they woke up from a mid-day nap to find the train stopped in what appeared to be a railyard. The couple sees a few workers outside and decides to ask them whereabouts they are. The husband walks out to the workers and asks "Excuse me, could you tell me where we are?" One worker replies, "Saskatoon, Saskatchewan." The man then turns around and heads back to the train where his wife asks, "Well, where are we?" The husband replies, "Don't know. They don't speak English."

Ouch, but I cracked up laughing because I know so many people that probably have never heard of Saskatoon nor Saskatchewn (I hope I spelled both correctly).

So I am heading out to Saskatoon, which I hear, that 2 winters ago they saw -48C (minus 48, not negative, remember). Ya, thats cold. Doing the math, thats about mid -50s F, right? Oh dear! But I am excited to tell people to stick their heads in their freezer for about 10 seconds, and ask them how they felt. Then tell them to imagine 40 degrees LESS. But of course I want one day of that and then sunny skies/rain and 15C--not going to happen.

So I will likely only get mail once or twice a transfer in Saskatoon, so people will have to be patient with me and mail. On the flipside, for the letters I do receive, I have "plenty" of time.

I am so sad to leave the Elders in my district! I love this Elder Mansfield, from Staffordshire England. Oh, he is the best: so spiritual, his accent is great (I want it), and he is just enjoyable to be around. I will miss him, but he is fairly new to the field and I hope to be in the same district as he sometime. And my investigators too! More on them later. But my companion will be Elder Butterfield, who has been out 22 1/2 months, meaning this will be his last transfer. I have heard so many good things about him, and am very excited to be his companion. Also, he is a district leader, so I get to go on exchanges with a lot of people. I am going to know everyone in this mission really soon.

Moving on...I GOT MY CAPTAIN CANADA SHIRT! I took a video of it and was SO excited! Oh my, it was so good to be that excited again, it was like ultimate frisbee at college all over again. Speaking of pictures, I have been taking many, no worries there (Natalie probably would not believe me). The computers I am currently using have no way for me to hook up my camera cord or memory card, so I will look at the ones in Saskatoon and get back to you. Worst case scenario is I will have to mail my card to you.

Funny mission story: this past Tuesday we celebrated Elder Wood's (BTW Elder Woods is becoming a District Leader next transfer) birthday at a restaurant called Mongo's, an all-you-can-eat Mongolian grill where you could serve up your own food and they would cook it in front of you. Good stuff. Then 2 hours later, unexpectedly, a member who we had taken out to an appointment wanted to treat us to A&W. I was like, whoa....but it was good. We had to rush off to another appointment and was like, "I am stuffed..." Well, this appointment was supposed to be just practicing teaching a member family. As soon as we arrived at their door they were like, "We want to treat you to Boston Pizza!" Elder Woods and I looked at each other in horror. Like that signature head turn you see on TV where 2 people are like "uh oh"; ya, it was like that. So we procrastinated as best we could by watching the DVD Special Witnesses of Christ, but that could only do so much. We were taken to Boston Pizza. I thought it would be like Pizza Hut. Oh no, this is like Chili's with just an emphasis on pizza, but still everything else. Oh dear. I found the smallest thing I could on the menu and seemed satisfied. They told us they were also ordering pizza. Oh dear. When we got our meals and pizza they immediately begged us to just eat their meals too. Oh dear. Ya, I was STUFFED. But it was all so good and I thank the members for their graciousness. Do not let this discourage anyone from feeding missionaries! This just happened to be the perfect storm. I loved it all, and it makes for a great story. Oh, and at Boston Pizza, despite Elder Wood's pleas, I tracked down an employee and asked if they did anything for birthdays. One employee yelled to the entire restaurant that it was Elder Wood's birthday and the entire restaurant joined in singing Happy Birthday. He hated me, and I just smiled and kept singing. See, I am still me, aren't I?

Thank you to Aunt Anne and Uncle Robert for their parcel! They sent me a "Greenie" package, and my companion was jealous of my goodies. Hehe. But, to let them know, I do quite a bit of tracting! I did not do too much this past week compared to other weeks (because we had a ton of lessons, yes!). On a normal day about 2 weeks ago I probably tracted about 3 hours, or anywhere between 2-5 hours. The most I have done is about 6 hours of tracting in one day. Not fun to do that all day, teaching is so much better. I have always had 5 or 6 total lessons per week, but this past week we had 13! It was unreal. This past week I had my first 2 days without tracting! Big accomplishment.

Driving past the Dodge dealership I drive past all the time, I thought of the Seattle Car Show that Dad and I always went to. Oh! I want to go to it so badly! I loved spending time with my Dad and having him see me as hyper as I have ever been in my life. I think the Car Show is likely the place in the world where I am most full of energy. Oh ya! I get excited just thinking about it! So Dad, I cannot tell you when, but we are going again. Do or die. I saw a CR-Z the other day! Ya, I wondered how sporty it really is...I see Challengers and Camaros up here all over the place! New Mustangs are rare, but always a sight to see! Still want a new 5.0 when I get older. First, family and the kids and a job, then the car, right? It likely will be much longer than I hope it will be. Thanks for the car news! Keep it coming! One of the hardest things is that I can see the cover of Car and Driver, but I cannot read it. Talk about heartwrenching.

I feel like Elder Lawson sometimes in that I am just excited. I love it! I love Elder Lawson and wrote him a few weeks ago. If he is still in the ward tell him I love him and give him my email.

On my end for citizenship, I took some required pictures the other day. So I am waiting on that birth certificate. Still love you Dad.

Oh, investigators...Edilyn is still a rock, not much more to say there other than I think I am meeting with her for the last time tonight. This is terrible, I am missing her baptism! So disappointing, but with 22 months left, I likely will see her again--I hope. We found 2 golden investigators this week, and "rebooted" another, so the area is hopping again--but I am leaving. Definitely sad, but maybe I am walking into something like that in the Kingsmere area in Saskatoon.

I would consider the Primary Colors CD a worthy P-Day CD. I am fairly strict on the music I listen to, and I feel comfortable with that. And, I have a CD or 2 in my room that would be fine to bring: something like Helaman's Army or something.

Yes, I have my black Nike Pros, but some kind of material like that is so awkward to put over garments. If the garment is made of some material like that, it would be perfect. My companion has some spandex garments...so that is puzzling.

Way to go Ichiro! Who is going to the playoffs? My guesses without hearing sporting news for the past 2 months: Yanks, Rays (wildcard), Angels, Detroit, Sand Diego, Dodgers (wildcard), St. Louis, Philley. How did I do?

I think that is about it. Sad to hear that about grandpa. Keep me posted. Love you all,

Elder Galbraith