Excerpts from Elder Smith's first email:

I am doing great!! I am absolutely loving the MTC! It is hard work and lots of studying but I am loving it. So I'll just start answering questions from letters and emails. The chicken cordon bleu was great! The food here is tasty but is definitely not treating my bowels with the respect they deserve. Its rough stuff but keeps me going. It also doesn't help that its all you can eat and free. Hahaha. So the food is great. My companion is Elder Koceja and I LOVE HIM!!! He's from Riverton and actually went to Jr. High and sophomore year with Megan (small world). He loves motorsports and the outdoors and is super funny. We get along great despite having basically nothing in common besides knowing Megan and being on a mission. The Lord definitely knows what he is doing. I'm glad you've been keeping busy and not missing me much! I am super busy and hardly have time to miss anyone until just before bed, thats when the treats and the family picture come in handy. Also those 3 by 5 cards with advice and goodbyes are great!! Its so good to read them and remind myself why I'm here and that people love and care about me. I sure do miss you guys.:) A little bit more about me. I love my district! We are so close and we have so much fun together. It's amazing how spending 16 hours a day with someone really helps you to get to know them. I never thought I could love 8 guys this much in this short of time. Crazy. I talked about them in the letter I sent so I hope you know who I'm talking about. Sadly on the second day Elder S went home.. We don't know why and I didn't really get to know him but it'd be great if you could all pray for him and his family. It is so hard to be a missionary sometimes and it breaks my heart to see them go home. On a happier note I know all the Elders in my district now and Elder G something is Elder Gummow and he is great! He's from Hurricane down by St. George. If you want to know more about any of the Elders in my district just ask! So I think thats it for how I'm doing. I'm down to four minutes and sixth grade typing is coming back to haunt me! I want to share some cool things I learned and good experiences: 1 Corinthians 13: 11 so good!; What ever you do in life do your best; I think it was friday and we were in class studying and there was just an incredible spirit in the room as we all got excited about the work and it was amazing;
I love you guys and I know the Lord will bless you in the ways you need. Work today for the night of your rest shall come! 
 Love, Elder Smith

Picture of our family the day Elder Smith left for the MTC.