A Challenge

Dear Family and Friends,

I landed in Baton Rouge on Tuesday and stayed at the mission home for the entire day to get some housekeeping stuff in order. When we were done with that we were able to take naps and eat dinner later that night. In the morning we drove to the temple and the stake center and attended our first transfer meeting. My companion is Elder Porter who has been serving for seven months. He is a wonderful example and will be a great resource for help that I need. We don't have any serious investigators at this time and we visited many members and less actives. We went tracting for an hour on saturday and my companion said he hasn't done that for probably three months. Our ward mission plan is to fellowship the members to get them excited about missionary work so we can get more successful investigators. I have had a good experience so far and hope to continue to help those around me. Its probably rained here more than I've ever seen in my life and the lake I drove by, that Kenner, is near was huge. Today for P-Day we are kind of just relaxing, but since we are close, one of the following weeks, we will go with the zone leaders to New Orleans and see some sites. The biggest bug I have seen was a cicada and they are annoying because they are so loud. I was fed a "green" dinner by a member family and we already have two or three dinner appointments this coming week. The bishop is about 28 and I didn't get to really meet him, but most of the members are people who are going to school or went to school here and decided to stay. Some of the people are really different and its fun to be around them. Oh, and mom I want longer letters from you! haha tell me whats going on and how things are! Thanks for all the support and love! I will continue to pray for everyone!
Love Elder Smith

P.S. Well i'm really glad you sent me the stories from our ancestors they really are a strength to my testimony! I want to challenge the family to have a missionary experience every week and to let me know what the experience is like. It can be anything from serving someone or bearing your testimony. I expect some emails in the next few weeks about these experiences. Written letters are preferred on these experiences. Thanks