Aug. 6, 2012 1st Week in Louisiana

Well hello family! Hope everyone is doing fine. Im finally in Louisiana. Yeah so pdays are on Monday so that is when I email. It was nice talking to you guys it sounds like everyone is doing good. Well Ill tell you a little bit about my experience in Louisiana so far...when I first got off the plane I seriously thoughtIi was in the jungle. There are so many big trees here and everything is so green. Yeah it is so humid here. When we got outside I was already sweating pretty bad within like 2 minutes. My companion is Elder Ageda. He is black and he's from South America. He has been out about 10 months. He is pretty cool. We are starting to get along pretty good. Our area is the Opelousas area. Our apartment is in Lafayette. Our whole area is huge. We cover like 6 different towns. The chapel is in Opelousas which is about 30 min from our apartment. So yeah we cover a big area. I have only been in like 3 different towns so far. I think from one of the areas to the other is about 50 miles. Our area is pretty big. We have a car too. I am the driver cause my comp is from a different country. So the first day I got to my area I was already driving. Driving in Louisiana is pretty fun but there are some pretty wild drivers. Im kinda glad I dont have to ride my bike haha. Opelousas is pretty ghetto. All the neighborhoods are pretty much black dominated. As well with most of the areas. I'ts kinda scary sometimes. I think Louisiana is a different country cause I have been to Mexico before and I think Louisiana is more ghetto and scarier than Mexico is. The people here dont have alot. Most people live in beat down trailors. I havent been in one semi ok house yet. The people really struggle here but they are really humble. Im still trying to get used to it. Everything is an eye opener for me and I still really havent gotten comfortable here yet. It really makes me appreciate the way I grew up and how I was blessed. Im not going to lie this past week has been pretty hard. I have to adjust my whole lifestyle for these people and its really hard. Hopefully I can get more comfortable over time. The people I have met so far are really cool. The people arent afraid to say whats on their mind or what people think about them. Most people talk so fast here. I cant really understand most of the people so I just nod my head and laugh. Yeah I havent even had to buy any food yet. Most of the time the people just buy us food. Ive already had Boudin prounounced as boo-dan. Which is pig intestine stuffed with seasoned rice and meat. It was actually really good. and I also have had cracklin-- which is pork skins with the fat and meat still on it. It was really good too. The branch here is pretty small. There are about 40 members covering like 6 towns. Church here is a little different. Its funny to hear people from Lousiana sing church hymns cause they cant sing at all haha. But its hard to explain everything. You just have to experience the south for yourself to really know. Oh and a funny thing that has happened so after church on sunday our ward mission leader took us to give someone a blessing. Our ward mission leader is like 60 years old but act young like us!   After the blessing he took us to the gas station and bought us drinks .   Its weird. But thats pretty much all. Hopefully this week goes better and I can start to get comfortable. I love you guys and miss you.

Elder Willis