"Why do white people only go outside when they are getting mail or going on a hike?" (Weeks 3 & 4)

Technically I have two weeks to write about so buckle up everyone this is going to be a long one! What is up my family and friends!!!??!?!? I’m in Louisiana!!!!!!!!!!!!! The organization on this email isn’t going to be the best, I will just start with leaving the MTC. The mtc seems like so long ago, but it’s only been a week. Some notable moments from last week;

-An elder in my zone kicked a volleyball into my stomach and I think he started crying because he felt so bad. Volleyballs are soft so it didn’t hurt me at all, mostly just scared me, then I couldn’t stop laughing.

-My district cried when sharing what we learned during conference #bonding. Basically what I learned was that I’m not perfect, but that’s okay because God can use me anyway.

-I was able to do some more painting, that is always relaxing.

-A girl sitting behind me during conference was so impressed with my journaling skills that she asked to take a picture of it. I feel dumb, I didn’t even take a picture of my notes, I wanted to show you guys.

-I saw Adam Simpson, that was fun.

-We got blessings from our Elders, and then I had to say goodbye to my wonderful district. I am going to miss them. The sisters are all with me in Louisiana, but in different districts from me, and all the Elders are going to Philadelphia.

-Then we woke up early Tuesday morning, got on a bus at 3:30 am, and drove to the airport. I was able to call my wonderful family at the airport, and that was really nice. There were no tears on my side, just smiles and gratitude. One lady working at the airport actually went to school with my dad, so she found me and facetimed my dad and let me talk to him face to face. #tendermercy.

-The plane ride was good. First flight to Georgia I sat in-between an Elder, and a member from Alabama who has lived basically everywhere. He was cool. But before I knew it I was in Louisiana!!! The Varners picked us up, we went to their house and we had dinner and testimony meeting and got to find out our assignments!! I am staying in the Baton Rouge area, and my trainer is named Sister Maynard from Kaysville Utah!! Small world. She went to Davis, but I had never met her before. She actually saw me in Beauty and the Beast. She didn’t know who I was but it’s still kind of cool. She is also short so we are just two tiny little girls sharing the gospel in a big city. She is awesome. She is getting me out of my comfort zone, but doesn’t leave me hanging, so I’m easing into this whole mission thing.

-We are actually both new to this area, so neither of us really know what’s going on here. We are also living in an apartment with two other sisters, Sister Brown and Sister Beck, and I love them. Brown is a riot.

-our address is 1645 Brightside Drive, apt #168, Baton Rouge, LA, 70820. J

-Once we got there, we didn’t have an area book or ward directory or anything, so we were totally lost, but then a ward member called us about an investigator that the elders had found (we replaced them) like 2 weeks ago. We went over, and she is dying to be baptized. She has been learning all she can about the church and she loves it. Her name is Coraine and she said a light is coming back into her life that she hasn’t seen since she was a child. Pray for her! She wasn’t able to make it to church this week, and we really want to get her here so she can be baptized!

-Then the next day (Thursday) we had a really awesome time during companion study. We went to the institute library and read about Joseph Smith in this really awesome book. Then we taught Corraine some more. And I did my first bit of tracting and I didn’t die!! Tracting isn’t my favorite, but I am trying. That day we also bought some food and stuff at Walmart, and we met a nice man named Donald and talked to him about the church.

-Friday was district meeting, then tacos, then we went to start volunteering at the red cross. We are going to install fire alarms. Then we made a bunch of phone calls and comp study and that’s about it.

-Saturday we visited the Bishops family. They fed us Chick-fil-a!! they have such cute kids. They gave us some advice on where to go next. Then we did some finding at the mall. The Bath and Body Works workers will totally talk to you about missionary work. We also taught this nice lady on a bench the plan of salvation. We tried to tract, but no one wanted to talk to us because the game was on. My favorite part of the day though was when we biked to the Mississippi River!!! It’s only like 2.2 miles away from our house. It was actually fairly cool weather, and it was so peaceful. I guess its tradition to baptize your name tag in the Mississippi river so we did that, took some pictures, then biked back.

-Then Sunday we had ward council, church, mission coordination, then we went back to the apt for some study time and food. Then we went to deliver a bible to someone, and she let us in and we talked to her for about an hour. She is honestly so sweet. These southerners really like to talk. Her name is Torshia, and she has really strong faith, and she said that God told her we were coming. We gave her a bible, downloaded gospel library onto her phone so she could see the words better, and gave her a Book of Mormon, which she had never heard of and seemed excited about. To her, God giving scripture to all his children makes totally sense. Then we went to the Marsh’s house, Brother Marsh is the ward mission leader, and they fed us and went through the ward directory with us so we can know who we need to visit.

-overall it has been a crazy week. It is beautiful here, so many trees. The weather is humid but actually somewhat cool. There is always air conditioning. What else do y’all need to know about?... I am developing an accent already, surprise surprise. We have a car but we can bike to save on miles. I am allowed to listen to any music that brings the spirit, so like Christian bands are allowed, which is honestly so nice. Mom! Part of my area is pretty rich, and people have the big plantation style houses with white columns and big wrap around porches and you would love it. But the poorer area is where we actually have lessons.  I have been so distracted this week so I don’t have really any out of context quotes. I promise I will next week. That’s about all I can think of right now. I know this is long, and I know I say that every week:/ I will send pictures. I love you all!! Drink your milk! Stay in School!

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~Love, Sister Danielle Reid