We had a wonderful Christmas. It was so good to talk to everyone!

December 28, 2012


Hey Family,
     So guess what I found out!! One of the investigators I taught in Meridian got baptized!!! I dont know if you remember Graham Hunter but he was baptized so that was cool news. Usually when someone is baptized in the mission they send out a forward text saying who was baptized and where and who helped with it. So that's a nifty little thing!!
     Well last week was our Christmas Zone Conference! It was in Shreveport, LA which is actually the largest city in our mission. It was weird being in a big city like that but it was way cool to see.  But I do not like the drivers there!!! They are crazy!!! And really rude!! Anyways it was a spirit filled meeting and thank you for the letter =)  We did a white elephant gift exchange which was way fun.  And something I really learned is not so much what can the members do for me but what we can do for the members. It was great!!! I love Zone Conferences! It was a long drive (a little over 100 miles) to get to Shreveport. But we had a good time after talking with all the missionaries and we went to Panda Express!! The first time I've been since I was home because there are only 2 Pandas in the whole mission that we know of, one in Shreveport and the other one is in Slidell. It was way good as always.
     The next day we went and saw Sarah to help her get ready for the Baptism because the 22nd was the last day for no more smoking or drinking coffee. So we gave her a blessing to stay strong!! Anyways we have a new investigator named Gene Polk who is in a nursing home right now. He is a way legit guy and is willing to be baptized once he knows it is true. He came to Church last Sunday on the 23rd. He said he liked it except for the part with all the kids screaming. He wasn't able to hear very well!! He is a great guy and really funny!!
     We had a wonderful Christmas and it was so good to speak with you guys and see you. It was definitely good to see you except for the times when we didn't have a good connection.  I can't believe how much deeper Jared's voice has changed.
     Well after that when everybody was done we went and played games at the church and we made Gingerbread houses!!! The only down side from this was that we got a call from Sarah saying that she is sick and wanted a blessing. She is really scared that she is going to miss her baptism. She was really in bad shape throwing up and all, it was scary and she was scared that it was the Devil! We gave her the blessing and comforted her for a bit and got her some soup and she ended up going to the hospital that night but came back that night as well. She is doing better these last couple days but just really weak. Well so far all we have been worrying about is trying to get Sarah to her baptism and its tommorow so hopefully it will happen! Anyways, I will end there.  I hope all is well and I love you all
Love
Elder Kerr


December 20, 2012

     Hey, thanks for the updated address. And I did get Connie's package. I loved it all!!! Especially the snow monster from the Rudolph cartoon hahahaha so tell her thank you so much. And I got those Christmas cards from both those people in the ward so tell them thank you from me.

     Congratulations to Alex for getting his mission call to Bulgaria!!!! Wow, I did not see that coming at all either. Well he told me that he wanted to go to Russia so that is really cool!!! He leaves on May 1st thats crazy!!! That is the month Aaron comes home and the day that I will hit my 15 month mark. Exciting!!!

Well have a good one! And I did get the money into my account and it's all good to go. I probably won't be emiling monday unless it's open but we will see and we are going to the stake presidents house for Christmas Day.

Love your son


December 17th

Dear Family
     I'm glad everyone has gotten my Christmas card, thank you for telling me.  Well I'm super excited for Alex! I can't wait to hear where he goes.  Um, I will guess that he is going to go to an Italy mission.  I don't know if I told you or you found out already but if he goes foreign he will only be in the MTC for like 3 weeks or so and if he doesn't go foreign he will only be there for 8 days!!! Exciting that he will be one of the first waves of 18 year old missionaries to go out. Exciting times.
     I'm still thinking about getting the GPS for Christmas yes but we will see.  I haven't needed one yet but I may when I train.  I did get Grandmas package so tell her Thank you so much and I loved it! This week was kinda of an interesting week. It was transfer week and of course Elder Criswell and I are staying together. Plus we got 2 more Elders in our district, Elder Sumsion and Sorenson, they are great additions. I now have a district of 10 again, probably the largest district in the mission right now. Plus the Zone Leaders come to our district meeting most of the time. 
     It rained alot this week and we were on bikes so we didn't get a lot done.  I think I told you that we trade off every other week with having a car and this week we were on bikes.  Thursday Elder Criswell and I got into a little bike wreck! haha. We were biking and Elder Criswell was in front of me, we went over a train track which Criswell tipped over and fell down and as that happened I tried dodging him but as I tried dodging him my bike wheel got stuck in the track and I went flying over.  We had a good laugh about that, luckily nobody got hurt haha.
     Earlier this week the Sisters in Monroe wrapped our door with wrapping paper so we decided to get them back so we got some lights and decorated their front door. They loved it and it really brought the Christmas Spirit. Our investigators are all doing well, especially Sarah she is still pushing for the 29th of December to be Baptized.  It will be an exciting time! We are actually going to have 2 baptisms that day. There is this investigator that The Zone Leaders are teaching that will be baptized that same day so that will be exciting.
     We got to help put Christmas ornaments up for a member in the ward named the Hippen's they had us over for dinner and we helped with their tree. And on Saturday we had our Ward Christmas party and I was Santa Clause for the kids! I loved it! Hahaha, right when I walked in all the kids ran and gave me a hug! It made me excited to have kids. I got some pics of me dressed up and there is a video of me as well talking with a couple of kids. So I'm sure you will enjoy that when I send the memory card home. It was a new fun experience for sure. I Loved it!
     On Christmas day I was thinking we are going to skype around noonish. I will probably call first and then we can set up the skype from there and then we will be good to go. Well that was my week I love you  and miss everyone so much!  Hope all is well.
Love
Elder Kerr

Staying in Monroe for Christmas! And I'm going to be Santa this year!

Dear Mother,

I am staying in Monroe for 1 more transfer! So you can start sending those packages now because I know the mail gets packed this time of year and makes things take extra long to get places. I did get the nativity tie and I loved it. The package said Sears on it and so I thought it was my pants. But when I got it, I was like that box it far too small to have pants in it. And when I opened it I was way surprised and excited hahaha because I dont think you told me you were getting that for me.  I have really enjoyed it. I have worn it every Sunday since I got it.  I also got the Deseret Book package as well from Grandma Ivy tell her thank you so much for that. I love her bunches!!

We will be having a Christmas Zone Conference in Shreveport! Super excited for that.  We haven't been invited for Christmas Day yet but we have been for Christmas Eve. But we will see. I'm just way excited!  I love this time of year!

Sarah Groth is doing well and I'm way excited for her. She is scheduled to be baptized on December 29th.  I hope she doesn't get cold feet that week.  We've got most of it planned out for her right now so its going to be exciting.  She asked me if I would baptize her and Elder Criswell would confirm her. She will be the first person I have ever baptized so I'm super excited for that. All of our other investigators aren't really progressing right now but we did find a really intelligent, cool guy. He knows a lot about a lot of different religions. And he asked for a triple combination because he really wants to read the D&C and the Pearl of Great Price. He has read The Book of Mormon a few times and he probably knows more about the church then most members do. So I hope we can get him to progress.  He wants us to come over and teach his wife as well.  That will be exciting! His name is Robert Sherman.

So the weather here has been like 60 degrees.  We did just barely get a lot of rain though, last night. NO SNOW! :( every morning the windows are frosted but no snow. I wish it would snow down here. Snow just brings the Christmas spirit.

We've have had a few scary experiences this last week. We were biking home one night and it was raining pretty bad. Lightning struck like a mile or so ahead of us and lit up the entire street.  It made it look like it was the middle of the day. And on that same street there is a music store and the lightning set off the alarm because it was closed. It was crazy stuff! Then this last Sunday (yesterday) There was this guy that came into church and he claimed to be a prophet and started going on about how intelligent he is and starting predicting the future.  He said that people call him a Prophet and that he is prophesying.  And then he  turned to our investigator and was like,"I know you from the place that we meet at that we are not suppose to say, that certain place." And I'm just like what the heck is going on with this guy. And after that class he just started to go off on how he misses Johnny so much and then during Priesthood class he was going off on how your lucky if you only have 1 friend in this life! You are a lucky man and he was just getting really mad about it! He was like yelling at the Elders Quorum President. I'm just like holy crap!!! This guy is crazy! He had some scary wild eyes where you feel like and think that this guy is going to hurt someone because he is crazy! Crazy stuff.

Oh, and I guess the ward chose me to be Santa Clause for The Ward Christmas party. So that will be interesting hahaha.  I'm going to be Santa this year. I did get the strudle recipe but I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it. We will see.

Well Mom I can't believe it! I'm on my mission and people are still trying to spoil me out here on my mission. Thank you so much everyone! I really appreciate all the gifts and love and support you give to me.  I wish I could get everyone gifts as well! I will end for now. I love you all!

Love Elder Kerr

P.S. My District is getting bigger this next transfer.  We are getting 2 more Elders so it's going to be as big as it was a few transfers ago. There will be us, West Monroe, Monroe Sisters, West Monroe Senior couple and now Winsboro. Its going to be crazy! And did I tell you we are getting a lot more missionaries in the mission next year, especially Sisters. We have 18 sisters in the mission right now and by the end of next year we will have around 70 sisters in this mission and almost 100,000 missionaries World Wide. The Lord is progressing His work!

I had a great Thanksgiving in the South.

Dear family,

I had a great Thanksgiving in the South. There wasn't too much of a difference from what we have back in the West. Basically, there was everything that we usually have and more. They even had Mac and Cheese which was interesting.  I never have had so much food on Thanksgiving, I ate 2 big plates full of food and a piece of pie with who knows how many drinks. I loved it but I almost threw up for how much I ate. HAHAHA!!! Im glad you guys enjoyed your Thanksgiving too!

I did get my Quad and I did get the Thanksgiving package. I loved it!  I opened it a day early (hehehehe). I just thought it was candy and when I got it I was wondering why it was so lightweight but in a pretty big box.  I loved it.  The stockings are up in our study room. And the tree is between our desks. =)  I'm excited for the Nativity scene! I love this time of year as well. I hope this will be a memorable experience for me on my mission. I actually think if I stay in Monroe I will stay with Elder Criswell but I guess we will see what happens.

So yep Sarah Groth does have a date! She has a date for December 29th! We are way excited for her. She is probably one of the hardest people I have had to teach but she is getting there and she is loving every bit of it.  She said that she feels good about things but she has a hard time reading The Book of Mormon. But she loves the Gospel Principles manual. We explained about the Holy Ghost and she's started to recognize it. At the end when we set her with a date she was like. "I can feel it"!!!! "Just setting the date for Baptism I can feel it tingle"! We were just like yes!!!!! So we are super excited for her. And we also got a new investigator named Gwen Yancy! She seemed like an open person about things but her husband was just trying to drill us with questions.  But hopefully we can get through to him.  His name is Dale Yancy.

Well I will end for now and I hope all is well and I hope it snows before Christmas and stays for Christmas for ya. That just helps out the Christmas spirit with all the snow.  And I love ya and miss ya so much!

Your son,

Elder Kerr

The Mississippi Jackson Mission to receive 180 new missionaries.

November 5th

Dear Mother,

     I received the Halloween card, thank you so much! And we did find something to do on Halloween! We were suppose to be inside by dark so all the missionaries just went to the church in the area and we played board games after dark! We also had a funny experience before that, Elder Criswell and I decided to go tracting! We tracted these apartments and knocked on one door but the dog was barking and nobody seemed to be coming so we decided to go to try the next door.  They opened and as we were talking with them the door we knocked on first opened. So Elder Criswell had to talk with her and I was talking to the other family. It was wierd experience and we didnt really know what to do so we just started talking with both haha. But we did hand out 2 copies of The Book of Mormon. So that was a cool experience!

     We have another investigator that we found trying to find a less active but ended up at the wrong address of the less active! We went up to the door and it was open and the man sees us from his chair and just yells "Come In" before we could even knock, haha.  We were just like okay hahaha! We talked with him about The Book of Mormon and lent him one and invited him to read it. The next time we came back he said he hadn't been reading but his daughter has been reading and enjoying it! So we lent him another one and asked would he be interested in taking the discussions. He said let him read a bit and he will decide next time. So hopefully that will go over well and we can get to meet his daughter as well.

     Sarah has come to church 4 times now and still seems way solid and last time we met with her we planned to set a date with her but it just didnt seem right again. I asked her what was holding her back from baptism and she said that she wanted to learn more about the Holy Ghost! So we said we can definitely do that!

     I cant believe that Thanksgiving is coming very soon! It's amazing to me. I'm coming up on 10 months December 1st. Even Though I have already been in Monroe 3 transfers and in my 4th I want to stay one more.  I still haven't trained yet.  Well I'll have to end there. I love and miss ya a ton Mother. And I hope all is well. Tell Grandma Ivy I love her again for me. Love ya

love your son.

November 12th

Dear Mother
     Snow Storms, that is something I will miss for the holidays here! It's just part of the Christmas spirit to me so it won't be the same when there is no snow but hey maybe it will snow here for Christmas! So for Thanksgiving we have 3 families here that are feeding us. We're going to be so full!!! I really hope I can stay here in Monroe for Christmas! If I stay here 1 more transfer I can say that my 1st year of my mission I was only in 2 areas. I dont want to leave Monroe before Christmas because then I will be spending Christmas with people I barely know but I have been here for a while now.
     Our investigator, Sarah Lee Groth, said that she is ready for Baptism. She is ready to make the commitment. I'm super excited for her! I told her that she should look you up on Facebook. I thought you would like to meet her for yourself! She thought it would be nice to meet you as well so you might get a friend request from her. :) 
     We finally got some new investigators. We now have William and Linda Hill they were media referrals meaning that they got onto Mormon.org and requested missionaries. They seem like they are really interested to learn more and we are planning to see them tomorrow at 2 o'clock. And they live by some beautiful land so I will have to get some pics.
      I'm also very excited for Christmas. I love the feeling I get during this season and I heard that it is pretty awesome in the mission field.  So I'm super excited! Well I'll end for now and I love you so much Mother and I hope all is well with you. Can't wait to talk with the family on Christmas!!
Love your son
Elder Kerr


November 21st
Dear Mother,
     So I cant believe that Thanksgiving is this week. We had 3 invitations for Thanksgiving dinner but one cancelled.  We will go to at least one of the other ones and we might go to the Stake Presidents house as well but not totally sure. I love this holiday season. I have been listening to Christmas music as well, Josh Groban's "Noel" CD is a great CD for Christmas music.
     Our main investigator, Sarah Lee Groth, is the closest to a date but we have gotten some new investigators as well.  We have William and Linda Hill, and Dale and Gwen Yancy who we recently found by referrals.  This last week Elder Criswell was sick but we did have interviews with President. And it was an awesome interview! I always enjoy talking with President McDonough. We discussed things to make me a better missionary and I asked him if I could stay in Monroe for 1 more transfer.  I've stayed in Monroe for 4 transfers now which is about 6 months. He said he has no problem with it so I'm pretty excited for that! I will get to stay here for Christmas, hopefully. I just hope when transfers come he doesn't forget.
     We have some very exciting mission news. Because of the age change for missionaries we will be getting 110 new Elders and 70 new Sisters this next year! We only have like 18 sisters in our mission right now but by the end of next year we will have about 150 Elders and 80 sisters.  So they are making the Districts much bigger. We are getting so many missionaries its crazy!  Tell Grandma Sharon I got her package and tell her thank you and I love her. Well I will end for now. I love ya and I hope all is.

Your son,
Elder Kerr

Zone Conference with Elder Marcus B. Nash was a great experience. And transfers and Boo at the Zoo are coming.

     We only have 1 progressing investigator right now her name is Sarah Groth. She is an older woman and was a referral.  She saw the first session of the Sunday General Conference and has taken some of the lessons.  She came to church this last Sunday.  I was a little worried because a friend of hers in the church wasn't able to make it to church and she had told us before she isn't comfortable around people she doesn't know. So I said a little prayer that she would be comforted during church today and she told me after that she loved every moment of church. After church there was a potluck and I saved a spot so she could sit by us, after she had got her food I waved her over. All she did was smile and pointed to some members saying I'm sitting with them. When I turned to the members they gave me the thumbs up saying we got it. My prayer was answered that day, she was comforted by the members.  She loves everything about this church. She is a big supporter of Mitt Romney. And I'm pretty confident that she will be baptized. We just need to go over a few more things and then we will set a date with her the next time we see her.  The rest of our investigators we are just trying to figure out a way to have them progress. But the Church is true, so very true.
   Monday, October 15th, we had a Zone Conference and we had a General Authority come and teach us. His name is Elder Marcus B. Nash of the First Quorum of the Seventy. He actually spoke at this last General Conference during the very last session. I felt the spirit so strongly when he taught. I learned a lot from him, we all did. I also got to meet with him after and he checked up on me and asked questions about you guys and everything. It was a very humbling experience to meet with him and I also received a blessing from the mission president and Elder Nash was in the circle with him. It was a great experience probably a life changing experience for me. I love this Church so much!!!
     This week was a slower week. We saw a couple of our investigators.  I think I've mentioned Clint before but he isn't really progressing.  He's hard to talk to about the gospel.  He's a big Mitt Romney supporter well, so are a lot of people here in the south but all he wants to do is talk about how Romney is better than Obama.  But hopefully we can start to get him to progress. Then we are going to start working with the less actives. We have a ton of less actives so we are going to try to get them to come back to church.
     Sarah wasn't able to come to church but we do have an appointment with her tomorrow at 3:45 and we are planning to set a date with her for the 2nd Saturday in November. I might not be here for her Baptism.  I have been in Monroe for 3 transfers now and I'm not quite sure if I will be here for another.  I would like to stay at least 1 more transfer but we will see this coming Saturday when we get calls for the coming transfer.  This will be my 7th transfer and I will hit my 9th month mark very soon, that's way exciting!
     That is insane about the flooding in the basement. I'm not going to lie I will miss that bed if you have to get rid of it. I've missed it while I've been out here on my mission. I would like to see some pictures for sure of everything that's been going on.
     It's going to be an exciting week. We have trunk or treat this Wednesday and then Saturday they're having something called Boo at the Zoo and we will be helping with that. It will be an exciting week for sure.  It is nice having this cooler weather but the Saturday we had General Conference it was so cold to the point that it hurt our skin to ride our bikes. It was crazy.  We also share a car now so one week we'll have it and the next we will be on bikes. We can just get so much more done with a car.
     Oh and tell Sister Reynosa and the Young women thank you!  I got a package with a bunch of different letters with their testimonies. I thought it was sweet of them to do that so you will have to say thanks to them for me.  Also, I did receive grandmas package and I loved all the treats, the hot cheetos and M&Ms are already gone, haha.  I need to catch up on my mail so sorry if I haven't replied to anyone yet. Tell Grandma Sharon I hope she had a wonderful 75th birthday!  I'll have to write to Brendon. I think mainly what helped me not to be so homesick was just time and making friends out here. It just gets way easier every transfer. I think it will just take time
     Well, I should end for now.  I hope everything gets better with the flooding.  I love ya and miss ya a ton.  Your son,  Elder Kerr.

Stayed District Leader in Monroe, had my 2nd Baptism and we'll miss our friend Johnny!

     Well, transfers came and went and I stayed District Leader in Monroe and my new companion is Elder Criswell from California/Arizona. He's been out about a year now.  He came out with one of the sister missionaries in my district, Sister Van Roosendall.  He graduated High School in 2009.  We have a lot in common and are getting along just fine.  I've now had 4 companions in my 8 months out and so far I've gotten along with everyone of them (more or less).  Elder Crockett was transferred to Gulport, Mississippi which is awesome.  It's one of the cities on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in my mission and one I would like to serve in at some point.  We now have a 3-some sister group with the addition of Sister Harding who I served with in Meridian. 
      I had a scary experience a couple of weeks ago when my companion and I went to donate plasma.  A lot of the missionaries here donate plasma as a service but also to get a little extra money.  Well I received a letter from the place saying that I had a test result on my plasma that they wanted to talk to me about. And so I went in and they told me that they ran 2 tests on my plasma, the first test said that I had HIV and the second test which was a confirming test came back Negative meaning I don't have it. They said that they're pretty sure I dont have it because there are a lot of false positive tests on that.  Missionary Medical is pretty sure I dont have it and the same with President Pena but they are going to have me do a HIV blood test just for my own peace of mind.  It was hard to focus on the work after they told me that, it freaked me out big time, but the Zone Leaders gave me a blessing and it brought me some peace.  I know God gives us challenges to make us stronger.  I have a strong testimony of that. 
     So I just had my 2nd baptism last Saturday. Lavell Whitty was Baptized and Confirmed a member of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints".  It was an amazing experience as always to see someone enter into the waters of baptism and have that desire to follow in Christs footsteps.  Especially, because I have that same desire to follow in Christ's footsteps even though I mess up a lot.  I love this Church and I love my mission.  
      I've mainly been trying to introduce Elder Criswell to everyone. We had a couple of crazy experiences at the end of last week.  I took Elder Criswell over to one of our investigators that wasn't progressing but we would visit with him anyway and try to share a message. Out of nowhere he was angry saying that Elder Crockett brought devils into his home, cussing him out, and telling us that we aren't welcome anymore. I'm pretty sure he was drunk! Or antied. Anyways, it was way random. . . . but just another average mission experience.
     Do you remember Johnny Moore? He was one of the first member's to greet me when I came to Monroe.  He was baptized almost a year ago last November.  He would always feed us missionaries and take care of us.  He even paid to have my biked fixed when it broke down.  He became a good friend to a lot of missionaries. . . . . . . He passed away at 8 o'clock on Sunday. The medics said, probably due to heart failure. It's hard to believe that he is gone but it was his time and now he is on the other side of the veil!  He wasn't in contact with any of his family.  Really, Johnny's family was the missionaries and the Church but mostly the missionaries.  We went to his viewing and graveside services.  All of his family acknowledged that we were there for him and his family. It was just a crazy sad week. I have been telling people that knew him that he has passed away pretty much the entire week.  This has been an interesting 8 weeks of my mission.
     Thanks for the BYU shirt I love it!  And thanks Connie for all those pics of the places I used to hang out at when I was home.  That mud race looked like a ton of fun too.  And congratulations on your engagement!  I'll have a new uncle when I get home.
     I got the your burrito recipe mom, thanks.  I can't wait to make them for my district for General Conference weekend. Well, I'll end there.  I sure do love you and miss you.  Hope all is well.  I love you so much!
                                                                    Elder Kerr

It's gotten cooler which is way nice, had another rough week but we did get out.

Dear family,

     It has gotten cooler here too, the last couple of days have been way nice! In fact, it got pretty chilly on our bikes and that was way nice!!!  We had a rough week again.  I actually choked on some steak last Wednesday when we were out with some members.  Another missionary had to perform the Heimlich on me so I ended up in the ER.  And come to find out I have something called Eosinophilic Esophagitis. But the doctor said that I can heal from it. I will be using a handheld inhaler for 2 to 3 months and it should heal up and I won't have any more problems swallowing.  We were able to get out and see some people and we got in to Lavell Whitty who is getting really close to baptism. 

     I'm glad to hear that Grandma is doing better. I've been a bit worried about her all week.  I was also glad to hear that Ingela had a good endowment session. I will definitely go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple when I return! Me and Aaron want to go on a big temple trip when we get back home.  I heard that Jackson will be getting a temple once they get one more stake.  I love temples!  

     That is awesome for BYU and that is very surprising to hear that Utah State beat Utah! Utah State seems to get better every year.  Speaking of college football, the college here in Monroe, ULM (The University of Louisiana of Monroe) beat the 10th ranked team in the nation, Arkansas! So people are going nuts here. ULM is a small university like Weber State, so it's pretty awesome that they did that!  And I'm looking forward to the package and the BYU shirt!!

     My companion taught me how to make Shepherds Pie this week. Have you heard of that? It's pretty good. This is the last week of the transfer so either Elder Crockett or I will be leaving next week on the 18th. It most likely will be Elder Crockett and I will be training, I bet. Well I'll end for now. I love you and I hope all is well with you guys. The Presidents wife should have called the house and left a message about me.  She will need some insurance information.  

Love your son
Elder Kerr

It rained, and rained and rained and the Hurricane went around us.

    

     So this whole week was not the best for doing the work.  Monday was P-Day.  Tuesday, I had my first leadership training it's a meeting directed toward District Leaders and I got to see my trainer Elder Blomquist that day. The first time I've seen him in around 3 or so months. It was good to see that guy, I do miss serving with him at times. We tried a bunch of people after that but only got in with one person.  Wednesday, we had our district meeting which instead the Zone Leaders taught this week.  We were instructed on how to use our time wisely and basically reminded everyone of the chain of command. Which means anyone under District Leaders should be asking District Leaders instead of going straight to the President or Zone Leaders.  The President wants us to be better about making decisions.  We tried to go on exchanges this day with the Zone Leaders as well but it didn't work out because we needed to help fill sand bags.  We spent the rest of the day filling sand bags.  Thursday, it rained all day and it was recommended we stay inside. It rained and rained and rained, it finally slowed down around the end of the day and the Hurricane went around us for the most part. So there was no flooding.  Then Friday, Saturday and Sunday Elder Crockett was sick and I found a bump on the back of my neck that's been giving me a headache and causing my neck to be sore when I turn my head.  President Pena who is also a doctor looked at it and told me what he thought it was and what I should do so hopefully that will take care of it.     

     Wow, what a change in the Bishopric!! So now I will be coming home to a new Bishop and a new Stake President!! Thats intense! I didn't see that coming at all. Bishop Mendicino did a fantastic job! He is a great man and has been a big help for me throughout my life.  Congratulations to Bishop Heslop, Ray Corry and Myan Burton. Thats awesome for them!!

     I hope Grandma Ivy gets better. Send her my love, please.  I'm glad that she seems to be recovering just fine thats a good sign. Hopefully, she can get out of the ICU soon. I have been in that place here on my mission and it's a place that scares me. I went to the ICU in Meridian to give a blessing once and a family came out just crying so that place kinda freaks me out now.

     That is awesome that Hillcrest got turf in there stadium now. That makes it that much nicer of a field. I already think that Hillcrest's Football stadium is one of the nicest in the state because it's a bowl, not just a field with bleachers.  That's way awesome that they got a new soccer field! How does that look?  I can't wait to see these fields.  Have Megan take pictures of them and send them to me.

     I sent Brendon a letter, I hope he got it. I think he gave me the actual MTC address instead of his specific address and box number but he should get it.  I hope.  Love ya!

 

 

                                                                        Elder Kerr

 

P.S.   I heard about the BYU game that is very exciting!!! And thanks for the new BYU shirt I can't wait to get it!

Zone Conference with the new President and looking forward to the hurricane!

Dear Mother, 

     I did here about the hurricane coming in but I heard it is only a Cat 2, so not that big.  And it's probably not going to hit Monroe until Tuesday or Wednesday. We will see though. I hate to say this but I kinda want to experience a hurricane on my mission. I know that is terrible to say but I'm actually looking forward to seeing how much rain we get from this hurricane!!! 

     Elder Crockett's hand is healing just fine.  He did have to go to the doctor but it wasn't too serious since the dog had had all of his shots. 
     This has been a fun transfer.  There's a bunch of awesome missionaries and I've been having a lot of fun with them, playing some basketball and such.  A big thing missionaries like to get here in the south is Rebel stuff like the Rebel flag. It's kinda funny!  

     That is exciting that Ingela is going to go through the temple! That's really cool! And thanks for that wonderful scripture (Helaman 5:12)!!! I loved it! And it's so true! 

     This week we got to meet with Lavell Whitty who is a recent investigator.  He's an awesome guy, and he said not to give up on him so we don't plan to. But he might be moving to West Monroe with his family, who are members.  We also helped Johnny clean out one of his storage units.  He works for a storage place and some people didn't pay.  There were a  lot of big things to move out and guess what, we got a deer head for our apartment.  So now we have a deer head for a decoration.  Thursday was the best day we had Zone Conference, our first one with the new President.  Zone Conference is always a great meeting to get together with all the missionaries.  Then we had exchanges right after with Greenville.  And double worked the area of Monroe.

     So tomorrow I'm going to my very first leadership training as a District Leader and I'm pretty excited because I will be seeing my trainer again Elder Blomquist, hopefully! I heard he was going to the same meeting as me but we will see! We also did some tracting this last Saturday! We decided to do some tracting on the south side of town the poorest part. We didn't get much but we did give out 4 BOM's so that was good!  

     Debra Christy is also doing very well she came to church and is still very solid. I still need to get a picture with her I keep on forgetting! It's frustrating, haha! I'm glad to hear that Grandma Ivy is getting better.

     Well I will end for now I love and miss ya Mom! And I hope all is well.  Love your son. 

                                                              Elder Shawn Kerr

Honored to be a tool in the Lord's hands.

     I cant believe that Brendon will be going into the MTC this Wednesday, it's amazing!  Everyone in our group of friends are growing in many different ways.  I'm grateful to have them as my friends and the example they give to me. 

    The Baptism did go through and it went very well she even came the next Sunday to be confirmed a member and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. I had the opportunity to be in the font during the Baptism. She is a really heavy set woman so me and Elder Crockett helped her in and out of the font. I was behind her when she went under and I had my hands under her back to help her up. It went really smoothly, only had to do it once. It was an amazing moment on my mission. There was some worries that she wouldn't be able to endure baptism but she did. She put a lot of faith into it and it was just an absolutely amazing experience. She is already talking about going through the temple in a year. The Lord has prepared her very well for baptism.  I was honored to be a tool in the Lords hands, to teach her and prepare her to enter the waters of baptism. 

     I also can't believe that I'm heading toward my 7 month mark. Aaron told me it even goes by faster after the 6 month mark. Im going to have another fun transfer I believe. The new Zone Leaders here are awesome guys and I'm getting along with them great. And Elder Crockett is as good as always. One of the new Zone Leaders here is a pretty good baseball player. He is from Kanab, Utah.  He played for Eastern Utah and he is probably going to be drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals. It's pretty cool to be serving around him. Since I have been in Monroe I have come to like baseball a lot more. 

     That is an awesome quote from Brigham Young, "I want to tell you, each and every one of you, that you are well acquainted with God our Heavenly Father … , for there is not a soul of you but what has lived in his house and dwelt with him year after year; and yet you are seeking to become acquainted with him, when the fact is, you have merely forgotten what you did know."  And I do feel something about this Anthony Smith. I hope he is lead to baptism either by us or someone after us. It truly was an amazing experience. I love this work. Sometimes it gets hard to put forth my full effort but I don't want to be anywhere else but here, on my mission, for this next year and half or year and 5 months soon. I love this church! It is so true! 

I love you Dad. I appreciate everything you do for me. I miss ya a ton.

                                                                  Love your son 

A GREAT week in the work!

Dear family,

     We had a wonderful baptism on Saturday but it wasn't Elder Crockett's and mine, it was the sister missionaries in the Monroe Area. They had the baptism. It was my first baptism interview though. As district leader I do all the baptism interviews in my district besides baptisms we do. The Zone Leaders interview those we lead to baptism. The mission average for each missionary is 4-6 baptisms throughout their entire mission so the 15 a month, you heard, could be right.  Our first baptism will be this coming Saturday, August 18th, at 2 o'clock so 1 o'clock there I believe.  And that's with Debra Kristy.    

          So this week was a pretty good week. We set up another baptism date on September 1st for Anthony Smith. He is a solid investigator right now who was referred to us from the Bishop of the ward. During our 2nd lesson with him he said something to us that touched me to the core.  We taught him The Plan of Salvation. And he said, "there is something about you two, it's like I have known you before.  Like I have always known you."  And that just confirmed for me that in the pre-existence I was pre-ordained to serve in this mission.  Probably the best experience I have had out on my mission so far :)  One I will always hold sacred.  I hope he will enter the waters of baptism.  Pray for him please.

     I'm glad to hear that Brendon's farewell went well.  And Megan's talk too.  I'm glad Megan saw what I saw as well when I started to prepare for my mission. I did see how much closer as a family we did get. So we will have 3 missionaries in the mission field from the ward now and just 6 and a half months ago we didn't have any in the field.

          The weather here is still very HOT but there have been a few cooler days.  It doesn't usually start cooling down here until the end of September but we have had such a hot year this year that it might not even cool down until mid October. So its pretty intense down here. The weather has been very interesting though maybe because the planets are lining up at the end of the year. 

     I do remember the olympics when they came to Salt Lake in 2002. I would probably enjoy them better now, at this age, because I was never really interested back then. And yeah people hear watched it so we heard about it. I heard that the basketball team won gold so Im excited about that. And I heard that the winter Olympics will come back to Utah. That will be exciting. 

      A GREAT WEEK in the work! I have felt the spirit many times throughout this week. From just learning how to show my love more to others to visiting Sister Meeks in the hospital (She had a stroke but is expected to make a full recovery), to helping 2 families move in, we did quite a bit of service. Another cool thing that happened this week is that the Stake President's son returned from his mission in South America.  Sunday was his homecoming.  I never even met him before but I can feel how much he has grown on his mission. It's weird to see returning missionaries when I'm still on a mission.  And then, of course, the wonderful baptism of Angie Mizel from the sister missionaries work was AWESOME! 

     I'm also glad to hear that Holly's blessing is helping her out. And I'm glad to hear that Marcelo is recovering. Well I will end for now. I love you and miss you. 

                                                                     

                                                                    Love your son 

                                                                    Elder Shawn Kerr

My first baptism, staying in Monroe and 6 months out!

     I'm staying in Monroe and I'm staying with Elder Crockett for another transfer! I can't believe that I'm 6 months out and on my 5th transfer.  I'll be a year out soon enough, Jared (haha).  Its crazy!  It's been an intense week!  Last Tuesday, Elder Crockett got bit by a German Shepherd on his hand pretty good.  But we did get to see some awesome people

     So our new investigator Debra Kristy is being baptized this Saturday at 2 o'clock. She is such a sweet lady and has been prepared well by the Lord. She used to smoke 4 packs a day but she has been smoke free for 2 years now. She told us on our first visit that she wanted to be baptized.  She believed everything was true.  She was giving up her coffee and tea from then on.  She wants to go to the temple.  She is such a sweet lady.  I automatically have come to love her to death. She has been to church the last 2 weeks, it's so exciting! 

     Two Sunday's ago we were asked to speak and teach the combined 5th sunday meeting in Winnsboro. It's not our area but we did it. It is a small branch has like 26 members there last Sunday. It was my first time in a branch and not a ward. I think they are awesome down there. I can feel them closer together since there are so few of them. We talked on scriptures for sacrament meeting. Then for Sunday school we taught the 3 youth in the ward, about strengths through the Lords commandments on prayer, reading scriptures and paying tithing stuff like that. Then we taught the combined 5th sunday meeting. We taught about conversion and revelation. We taught all 3 hours but it was a fantastic Sunday. I felt the spirit strong there. A member from the Ruston high council drove us down to Winnsboro, his name was Brother Randle. He was a very nice talkative guy. He gives every member a 2 dollar bill so I got a 2 dollar bill now.
     Tell Liz thanks for her support, I appreciate it and tell her hi as well :) And yes I did receive your letter and grandma Sharon's package and money gifts.  Thank you all so much.  I enjoyed that cake mix grandma!  It was way good!  Sorry I havent replied yet.  I usually get funded by the mission, $155, the last day of every month.  Whatever day that turns out to be. 

     I'm so glad that Dad got both vehicles working. He is very talented with that stuff and I hope I can be able to do that kind of stuff as well someday! I do like doing things with my hands. 

     So you know the member that called you guys yesterday, Brother Boyle, who was feeding us? He said that if I got to a Junior college for 3 semesters and get A's I could have a good chance of getting into BYU. So Im going to do that! Go to SLCC for 3 semesters and get good grades and try to transfer to BYU! I would love that! (Brother Boyle called us yesterday and spoke to Shawn Sr. for a few minutes while they were feeding our missionary son.  He said he thinks he has a hollow leg.  And they were feeding the missionaries some good Utah food.  He has 3 degrees from BYU and thinks Elder Kerr should most definitely go there.)

     That is some terrible news! That makes me extremely sad to hear about Marcelo! And Hollys boyfriend Kim:(  Send my love! 

     I can't believe that Brendon is heading into the MTC soon. That's insane I'm way excited for him! Well , I've got to get going.  I  love you and miss you all!

                                                                  Elder Kerr

P.S.  In answer to your question mom I still do want a GPS for Christmas and I will for sure be needing some new garments maybe another pair of slacks and some new shoes but I'm okay with everything right now.  Just some ideas for Christmas like you asked.

There was this change in her eyes. It was a pretty awesome spiritual experience!

     So this week was way good.  We have a new potential investigator which we had a pretty cool experience with.  Ever since I got here in Monroe we have been trying to see a guy named Andre. Every time we go over there he isn't home but quite often we run into his wife.  At first she hated us missionaries. They had met her before I got here.  And everytime we've gone over there since and she is there and he isn't, you can just tell that she isn't interested in what we have. But the 2nd to last time we were there a thought came to me that if she was there I should ask her if there was anything we could do for her.  So again he wasn't there and then I asked her. "Well since he is never here and you are is there anything we can do for you?" When I asked her that, there was this change in her eyes.  Like a change in how she thinks of us. We said good bye and I got this thought that maybe we aren't meant to go see Andre but his wife Mary. So the next day we went to try again. And again he wasnt there.  So again we asked if there was anything we could do for her. And this time she really got interested.  So we got talking with her and I could tell there was now this desire in her eyes of what we have. It was a pretty awesome spiritual experience! She went from hating us to respecting us. The spirit is working on her very well!

     Last Thursday I got to meet the new Mission President.  He's visiting every missionary apartment in the mission and he came to our apartment at  9 am.  He is such an awesome guy! I think Im going to get a long with him great. He is such a chill guy! His wife is very nice also.

   We also visited a member named Sister Meeks who likes art like I do so I drew her a picture. I drew her a picture of the gold plates turning into The Book of Mormon. I took a picture of it so you will get to see it next time I send the memory card home but I need to get more pictures first.

     We also ran into a guy who had done some research about the blacks at the beginning of the church.  He was offended about the church teaching the mark of Cain. We tried to explain to him that the church isn't racist in anyway but he wasn't having any of it. But we put his name on the potential investigators list anyway. 

     I'm sorry you guys have been having so many car problems lately.  And I too am thankful that grandma Sharon and Connie and Johnny were there to help.  Well I'll end for now.  I love you and miss you guys and I appreciate all the support you have given me. 

Love your son 

Elder Kerr

The thing I really LIKE about being on the bike is that we get stopped all the time by people wanting to talk.

Dear family,

     Things in Louisiana are awesome!  Hilton is an awesome guy! Did you find out anything about Peter Kerr? And Johnny is a big help! He loves us to death and it really feels like another home at his place! Such a great support! Im glad you got that picture from President Pena! He is an awesome Stake President and such a character haha.  Our district has 2 sets of missionaries, Elder Crockett and I and the 2 sisters in that picture. The other 2 missionaries are Elder Shumway (the one with darker hair) and Elder Bruderer they are the Zone Leaders of the Monroe Zone. Awesome Zone Leaders! 

     Let me know how feeding the missionaries go! The last missionaries that we fed before I left didn't seem like they enjoyed serving in Utah haha!  That will be awesome for Brendon to go through the Temple with his Cousin and see them get married! That will be tight! 

     The Summer is going by fast here. Funny thing is that you guys are all enjoying the Summer. Im not so much enjoying the Summer.  I can't wait for this HEAT to pass. That's interesting that Myan Burton liked biking in the summer on his mission in the South (Georgia).  Yeah we too get the wind in our face when riding but when we stop the sweat just starts pouring off of you.  And Im a big guy so that's a lot of sweat. But the thing I really DO like about the bike is that we get stopped all the time by people wanting to talk to us. It's like one big advertisement! So thats really cool! Obviously you dont get that with the car but you DO get air conditioning.

     It's been a slow week with the work here because it rained a lot.  There were even flash flood warnings.  We can't ride in the rain because of Elder Crockett's glasses but I will be meeting the new Mission President this coming Thursday at 9 in the morning!

   Our day starts with an hour of personal study and then an hour of companion study and then prayers before we leave the apartment at 10.   Elder Crockett finished making his Violin and it looks nice! Hilton said it's worth between 800 and 1200 dollars. Hilton let Elder Crockett make it for $150 and that included the case and all the materials . I'll have to take a picture of his violin.  I wouldn't mind making one.

   We did a lot more work with the less active this week. And I finally got to meet our main investigator Lavell Whitty. He is really close to Baptism. We are going to be setting a date with him this coming week but he needs to quit smoking! He is an awesome guy!! And the Lord has prepared him well for us missionaries to teach.

   I spoke in church on Sunday about missionary work, it went alright. I don't get why I'm still so scared to talk when I have talked in sacrament meeting so often.  We also had dinner at Bishops house yesterday. The Bishop is pretty awesome. He is an attorney.  And he has a son that just barely got his call to Mexico City and leaves in November.

     Well that's been our week so I'll end for now.  I love ya and I miss ya so much! 

                                                              Love your son,

                                                                Elder Kerr

PS  Thank you grandma Ivy for the card and gift inside.  I'll get a letter in the mail as soon as I can.  And thank you to everyone for all of your love and support!

                                       

Pancake Fest on the 4th and are we related to the Kerr's in Kerrville, Texas?

     We visited an investigator named Hilton on Monday.  He is a 90 year old war vet who's in pretty good health.  He likes to make violins and loves music.  Before I came Elder Crockett had bought the parts to a violin and Hilton is helping him put it together.  He gave me a harmonica and I mess around with his other  instruments while they work on his violin.  I've decided I really like the Cello and I'm going to practice on it. So Hilton's story is that he use to go to church but he doesn't like how the preachers expect them to pay for their personal experience. So he prayed about it and he feels like he has come to terms with God to NOT go to church.  He even reads the Book of Mormon and believes its true. Its pretty interesting. After that, we played some basketball with the rest of the Elders. Did some shopping and called it a night.

     So my bike had some problems, my crank arm broke, and I took it in to the bike shop to get it fixed.  I picked it up today (Tuesday) and now it rides really well. Mostly all the people we tried we couldn't see. Slow day. We saw Lily Moore who is a less active and we invited her to come to the Ward Pancake fest tommorow. She said she will come if we got her a ride. We couldn't find anyone else to see today. :(

     Wednesday, July 4th we had the pancake fest and I helped with making the pancakes well all the missionaries did.  And  it's Elder Crockett's birthday. I held my first District meeting today and we talked about Revelation through the Book of Mormon. It went really well.  Then we went to a members house for dinner. Johnny's house. He was baptized last November and he LOVES us missionaries he is always feeding us and taking care of us. The week before it started raining like crazy and we took cover in his house and dried off.  He is always worrying about us especially since we are on bikes. We had beans and ribs for lunch and had a fantastic time. We had to be in our apartments by 6 pm today because its a holiday and there are a lot of drunk drivers. We went to visit Sister Meeks and played some games with her. She is such a sweet lady. She is a convert and has a really cool story. She lived by this chemical plant before this and she said she got this feeling that she needed to move and so she did and that Chemical plant blew up and destroyed the wall by her old apartments. I just think that is crazy. God was looking over her.

     Thursday, again a slow day. The rest of this week went pretty slow because of the holiday. Either no one wants to talk to us or they're all out of town. But we did have a scripture study class today and we discussed 1 Nephi 13.

     Friday we did some tracting but again nobody was home.  We did run into Hilton today and talked with him.  He recognized my last name Kerr. He said that his wifes Uncles last name is Kerr and started a town in Texas called Kerrville. He wanted to know if we have any lines that connect to him. His name is Peter Kerr or Pete Kerr.

     Saturday the 7th, we had a ton of A's which is Additional Invites.  And did a ton of tracting! We met an investigator named Ms. Connley. She is a sweet lady but she was in a hurry so it was short. Then we ate at Johnny's and set up for a ward pot luck at the church for tommorow.

     Sunday the 8th we went to Ward Council meeting and talked about a lot of good stuff with members and investigators. Then had church with patriotic lessons. We talked about keeping the Sabbath day holy then ate at the ward potluck after. We did get a less active to church today. His name is Brother Ross. We went to visit him and we gave him a blessing and it worked big time. He felt better and he came to church and payed his tithing. He was awesome! Then later that day I met an investigator named Sean. Apparently he his a really good cook. I'm going to get to know him better. Haha :) called it a night and turned in our numbers for the week. Slow week. Can't find anyone but Im still loving it here.

     In answer to your questions District Leader is cool but not a lot different. Im just trying to set a good example. I have noticed that Im getting better at just randomly talking with everyone.  And no the Mississippi River is not within biking distance of Monroe, not even close.  Well I will end for now. I love and miss ya so much! 

                                                          your son, Elder Kerr

PS Here's a few pics from my last area in Meridian and here in Monroe.

                                

                My last day in Meridan. . . . saying goodbye to some of my favs.  Dustin and Dallas Heims.



Elder Ison and I on Transfer Day.



       Downtown Meridian, Mississippi and the tallest building in Meridian that is completely abandon.  It reminds me of the "Tower of Terror".  There were a lot of abandon buildings.

                                                              My last District in Meridian.

            Using the flight simulator at Meridian's Navel Air Base.  Was given a tour and had dinner with a member there.

                              Crossing the mighty Mississippi River into Louisiana on transfer day.

                                                  My new apartment in Monroe, Louisiana.

I've got a pretty good farmers tan now, had and awesome week and got preached to by a Jew in the Bible Belt.

     The new apartment is nice but not as nice as my last one obviously because it was brand new.  This one has that old apartment smell to it but it's still nice and has a lot more room.  I'm slowly getting use to the biking, luckily there's like only 3 hills total in my area so it's not hard to bike here it's fairly flat.  Elder Crockett is used to it so he's a much faster rider but he slows down for me.  Elder Crockett is from Washington state and was in the Utah National Guard for a year before coming out. So I've been drinking a lot of water almost everyone asks if we want some.  I got a camel pack and I fill it everyday before we leave the apartment.  My arms are getting a lot tanner.  I've got a pretty good farmers tan now, haha!
     I did get a letter from the President explaining my new appointment as district leader.  Part of my responsibilities include collecting and turning in numbers, teaching district meet every Wednesday and being a support and good example to my district.  My last two companions were district leaders and new ones at that so I learned a lot from them.
     I had an awesome week this week.  Met all kinds of members.  Last week went to a baptism in West Monroe.  Then last Friday we went to get some milk and met a man who looked like Osama Bin Laden.  He had a long grey beard and was wearing a yamika.  Yep we got preached to by a Jew, ha ha.  First time getting preached too and he wasn't even a Christian.  And I'm in the Bible Belt.  This guy was furious that we worship his brother Jesus Christ and not God.  He wouldn't let us talk at all so he doesn't have a clue what we really believe.  The only good thing that came out of that was that he recognized us Mormons as Christians. 
     On Sunday we tried to see a few people but no one was home.  Along the way a man stopped and offered us some water.  He said he'd have it for us when we circled back around.  When we went back he wasn't out so I just continued on.  Then I got a thought "What are you doing?!  Go get that water and talk to him!"  I almost ignored it but I'm glad I didn't.  We started talking to him and he wants to learn more.  Really nice guy and he wants us to come back. I have a good feeling about him.  I'm glad I followed that prompting.
     Happy birthday, Jared! I hope you had a good one!  That's very exciting that Brendon got his call to Tallahassee, Florida!  That's the 3rd person in our group of friends to go to the southern states.  That is way awesome! Mission tour in the future, haha!  Well I'll end for now.  I love ya and miss ya.

                                                   Love Elder Kerr, your son

P.S.  Tell grandma Sharon I got her card and money so she won't worry.  And tell her thanks!
                                                    

Transferred to Monroe, Louisiana (a bike area), 108 degrees and made district leader.

                                                          My new address is:
                                                       1401 Erin St.  Apt #177
                                                          Monroe, LA  71201

     Monday, June 25th - Well, I will email the rest to you tomorrow but I just wanted to let you know that I'm getting transferred and will be leaving tomorrow.  I'm either being transferred to Vicksburg, Mississippi or Monroe, Louisiana and I'm going District Leader.  Yeah already, I'm going district leader after only 5 months of being out. I'll be getting a lot more responsibility.  When President told me that I was just like, wait what???  Hahahaha!  I was really surprised!  I'm both sad and happy.  Sad because I'm going to miss my district and Meridian and happy because the President felt I needed more responsibility.  I'm also a little scared about it but I know the Lord qualifies us for His work so I'm confident that I'll be alright with it.  I will email you more tomorrow.

     Wednesay, June 27th-  Well I'm in Monroe, Louisiana with Elder Crockett who just got done with his training.  He's showing me the area and having me meet the members and our investigators.  Well I guessed pretty good. 

     Tuesday, Elder Ison and I headed to Clinton which is one of the transfer points.  I'm going to miss serving with Elder Ison and I'm really going to miss Meridian and that district we had a great time together.  We met up with the rest of the missionaries in Clinton (which is near Jackson half way to Monroe) and waited for the transfer van.  This will be the last time I see President Tucker and his wife.  The new mission President arrives this Saturday.  It's going to be crazy. 

     Finally, the van arrived.  I said goodbye to Ison and we headed west.  I got to sit and talk to Elder Whitehead again (from the MTC).  We talked about where we had served last and where we thought we were going.  He's probably going to Texas.  We stopped in Vicksburg for a bit to get gas and I got to see the Mississippi River for the first time when we crossed the bridge.  The drive actually didn't seem that long we got to Monroe fairly quickly it seemed (Meridian to Monroe is just over 200 miles).  They told me I was getting off here.  I met Elder Crockett and a member named Johnny.  Johnny apparently likes to feed the missionaries all the time and will be feeding us anytime we don't have a place to go.  I also found out that this is a bike area, no car now.  And guess what it's 108 degrees here and has been for a while. Hot!!!!  I'm probably going to die out here.  I'm not used to riding bikes so it's killing me!  Hopefully I'll get to lose some weight with all this biking! Hahaha!!  We got to play some basketball with a bunch of different missionaries.  And I'm already known as the beast for my post moves . . . hahaha!  It was a lot of fun.  I have a feeling I'm going to like it here a lot well except for the whole bike riding in 108 degrees thing.  I get to play a lot more basketball, a bunch of different missionaries get together every Monday and play.  So I'm pretty excited about that.
     I got to meet the Zone Leaders and the two sister missionaries here.  Sister Jenkins just got out of the MTC and sister Vanroosendall is training here.  I also got to meet the Stake President, President Pena.  Great guy, always seems to be in a good mood, and he takes his calling very seriously but in a good way.
     So this morning there was a baptism in West Monroe that we went to.  It's always a good sight to see someone enter into the waters of baptism.  Her name is Carolyn.  It was wierd because right before she was suppose to enter the font the power went out and the lights started to flicker like crazy.  It was crazy!!  But we got in done and had a good service.  After that we had a lunch apponintment with Sister Wear.  She's Chinese and I had a hard time getting her food down into my stomach but I got a lot of it.  She's a sweet lady but really worries about her son, who is at scout camp right now.  For some reason she has a really hard time not having contact with him.  I felt bad for her so we gave her a blessing.
     And now we're here emailing.  I hope I can survive this heat!  I'm sure I will love it in time.  I hope all is well.  And I hope you all have a good time celebrating grandma Ivy's 80th birthday.  Hopefully she got my card.  I love and miss you all! 

                                                      Your son, Elder Kerr

P.S.  I did hear that Miami won the Championship.  I was very happy about that and will want to get their championship stuff if I can find it out here.

Made the family tacos for my district, funnest exchange yet, and a transfer is in the air.

     Dad, I'm glad you enjoyed your Father's Day card.  I'm not going to lie I got teary eyed while I was writing it.  I don't remember if I told you but I made the family tacos for my district after district meeting.  It was my first time making them and I did burn a few and they were a little too greasy but none-the-less they were pretty dang good!
     Transfers are coming up on the 26th and the time has flown by.  It helps when you have a companion you get along with.  Elder Ison and I get along great so I'd rather not be transferred but I know if I am it's for the best because the Lord knows what's best for us.
     We were in Buckle the other day so that my companion could get his watch fixed.  The store manager was from St. George yet he didn't know much about the Mormons.  I was surprised.  And the lady that was working there used to live in the very apartment that we live in right now, 303 Deer Run.  Small world I guess ha, ha. 
     The sister missionaries have been visiting a less active sister, Carolyn, who was in need of a blessing.  She lives in these government trailer homes. I'm not sure what they are called but they are extremely poor.  She's been suffering with some ankle injuries.  And she had alot to talk about for a whole hour before we could give her a blessing.  We blessed her that she would be healed.  And she was at church the next day walking in heals!  Miracles happen all the time out here it seems. 
     Another cool thing that happened last week.  When we went to see Dominic he wasn't home so we tract on his street but didn't find anyone.  Then a thought came to me to go to Myrna Cole's (remember her?)  Well, we got there and she wasn't home.  Hmmm, why did I feel impressed to go there?  So we decided to tract on her street and I felt impressed again to head to this other house and we met a man outside along the way and was able to leave him with a BOM and set up a return appointment.  So maybe that was the reason, we will see.
     We got a chance to use the new approach President Tucker suggested on a new family in the ward, the Smith's.  They had invited us over for dinner so instead of the spiritual thought we asked if we could give them a blessing.  We blessed Tim and his wife Jamie and their 5 children, Kimberlyn, Kelsie, Hayden, Julian and TJ.  We blessed them to be safe, to have the Spirit in their home and to help move Christ's work forward.  It was a cool experience!  I love that family!
     We also had a lady scare us.  When we were tracting and went up to a house and just as we were about to knock a lady opened the door.  She didn't realize we were there and when she did she screamed then shut the door saying "I don't have any clothes on."  We were just like "Sorry mam".  We explained who we were through the door and asked if she was interested, she wasn't but we left a Book of Mormon on her porch for her.  It was kind of funny and scary.
     Last Wednesday Elder Ison had a leadership meeting so I went on exchanges in Petal with an Elder Whitlock.  This was my funnest exchange yet.  We got along great!  In fact, I hope that I get to serve with him at some point on my mission.  And in Petal I really liked the area.  We tracted and got some return appointments.  The only downside of this exchange was that an investigater told us she doesn't need the Book of Mormon so she doesn't want the missionaries to come anymore.  We tried to convince her otherwise but she said no.  So we left her with our testimonies that if she really wanted to know if the BOM is true she must do it with a sincere heart.  I could tell she felt the spirit because she got a little teary eyed and said she wanted to go get some rest.  You could tell she wasn't use to having the Spirit with her.
     Well I'll end for now.  You better send any future mail to the mission home until after this transfer.  I don't want to miss any mail.  I Love ya and miss you all and hope all is well.  Your loving son, Elder Kerr.

P.S.  No, I didn't hear that the ward might be moving to the building across the street from our house.  Why would they do that?
    
 

Four months out and I got to fly in the Navel Air Base Meridian's official flight simulator! So AWESOME!!

     I can't believe that I have been out for 4 months already.  It seems like it's going faster and faster each transfer and each month. February and March went by way slow but April and May went by so quickly and this month will be even faster because Elder Ison  and I are getting along so well that it's going to be fun to serve with him.
   Last week I had my 2nd Zone Conference, my last with President Tucker, and he gave us a new tool for missionary work.  It's a new approach when introducing ourselves to people.  Instead of explaining that we are missionaries and have a message to share with them.  We say instead, "We are representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ and He has sent us here to leave his peace and blessing in your home.  May we leave that blessing?"  After President Tucker gave us this new approach I felt the Spirit very strongly so I'm way excited to use it! 
     I think I told you that Meridan has a Naval Air Base (Naval Air Base Meridian) well we have a member who is training there who invited us to dinner.  He took us on a tour of all the planes and he let us fly the official simulators of the base.  It was so cool!  We got to be in the actual cockpit part of the simulator!  It was SO AWESOME! 
     I'm really starting to like different foods out here.  We had shrimp for dinner at a members house last week and I tried it and decided I liked it.  It was pretty dang delicious.  I meant to tell you, a few weeks ago we were invited to the Matheson's home for an amazing dinner.  It was roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, w/vegetables.  It was one of our usual Sunday dinners when I was home.  It was so delicious and reminded me so much of home. 
          This genealogy that you found is pretty exciting, Mom.  The Kerr's dating back to 1000 AD and the relatives in Croatia! 
     Well, of course, I accidentally deleted all of my pictures again like I did on our family trip to Moab.  But I remembered most of what I had taken pictures of and was able to retake alot of them but I better have you send me my USB cord so I can start saving them on a flashdrive.  Well I'll end for now, I love you and miss you all!              

                                                            Your son,

                                                             Elder Kerr

May Zone Conference in Hattiesburg

May Zone Conference luncheon

The work's been slow but it should pick up next month.

     My new companion is from Huntington, Utah and his first name is Shawn, just like mine.  He was in the Columbia and Hazelhurst districts prior to this transfer.  Elder Ison and I have quite a bit in common.  He's only a couple of months older than me.  We both love sports, we're both kind of random and we both like to have fun!  Our entire district just gets along great! I've introduced him to all of our investigators but because we've used the rest of our miles with transfers and zone conference the work has been slow.  We've had to try to get rides everywhere or ride our bikes.  But we'll be getting new miles on June 1st.  The work should pick up this next month.
     We did some service for the Matheson's.  We tore down their old trampoline, painted their window seals and filled in the cracks with caulking.  Then their dog got loose and we had to chase her down but we got her back in no time.
     I have my 2nd Zone Conference on the 31st.  Our assignment for this conference is to go over the talk "The Fourth Missionary" and write a 5-minute talk on what we learned.  I really enjoyed it, it was 29 pages long and I learned alot.
     Our newest investigator's name is Graham Hunter.  His wife, Charity, is a member but less active.  I mentioned them before.  He's just trying to get Sunday's off.  So maybe you can remember him in your prayers.
     That's pretty cool that BYU won the Rugby Championship!  That'd be a cool shirt to have. 
     So Jared's going to take piano lessons, that'll be cool then he can teach me.  And then we both can learn to play the bagpipes together.  It would be fun!  I'd like that.  And let Jared know that we will always be a family where ever I am because we are sealed for time and all eternity.
     There are cemetery's here in Meridian but they're not as well kept as the ones in Utah.  In fact, they're kind of creepy like the ones you'd see in scary movies.  But the Gypsy queen was actually buried here in Meridian so Gypsies from all over the world come to pay their respects.
     School ended here like a week ago but they start back up the first part of August.  Oh, guess what?  I actually got the courage to donate blood to the hospital.  It wasn't that bad, just weird.
     That's very exciting that you found some family in Zagreb.  I think it would be so cool to go to Croatia someday and meet some distant family. I haven't heard from anybody in the ward or family in a while.  The mail stopped coming fairly quickly.  I haven't gotten that much mail lately.  Tell people to please write.
I'll end for now.  I love you and miss you a ton!

                                                   Your son, Elder Kerr

P.S.  Congratulations Alex and Samantha - 2012 graduates!!  Awesome!!