My first week in Atlanta, I had my thumb in all 3 states.

Dear family,

      I wanted the Ravens to win too because of Dennis Pitta and Ray Lewis.  Ray was retiring so I thought that would be awesome to have him win his last game in the Super Bowl. So that was cool! And now Pitta has a championship under his belt.

     Yeah, I have heard of the Duck Dynasty but I really don't know too much about it.  Everyone talked about it when I was in Monroe/ West Monroe and loves it so I guess I will have to watch some of it when I get home.

     I have now been in Arkansas and that makes 5 different states that I've been in on my mission! I just need to get pictures by the signs. I can't remember if I told you or not but there is a town in my area called "Three States" and all three states, TEXAS, LOUISIANA and ARKANSAS are in it!  There is a little monument that sits in the very corner of each state and you can put your thumb on it and you'll have your thumb in all 3 states! It's really cool!

     My companions name is Elder Averett and his first name is Josh, he is my 3rd companion named Josh hahaha.  There are alot of Josh's out there! He's from St. George, Utah and he has been out just over 5 months. I am his 2nd companion and his follow-up trainer.  Elder Whitehead, who came out with me in my MTC District, trained him and I replaced Elder Whitehead. He is a great kid, he always has a big smile on and we get along great!

    
     Now to kinda tell you about my days here in Atlanta. On the 25th of January we mainly just walked around and tried to see people all day long trying to help me learn the area.

The 26th was Elder Averett's birthday and Sister Cross took us out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. I love Mexican restaurants now especially because of the chips and salsa hahaha! We tried a few people and talked with a bunch of members. Then for dinner we went to a little Italian restaurant called Luigis! We both got Chicken Alfredo and it was really delicious! That is one of the few places we can eat out at in this small town but we enjoyed it! When we got back to the apartment we made Elder Averett a cake and I sang him Happy Birthday!

The 27th was my first Sunday here.  We went to church and all the members were really welcoming.  They all seem to really love the missionaries up here. We had some great lessons and after church we went over to the Marchans for lunch and they fed us chicken salad. They are an awesome family! We're getting to know them really well. For dinner we went to the Nielson's, we usually go over there for dinner on Sundays! They too are an awesome family! We had some delicious Ravioli and then we went home and prepared to turn in numbers and head to bed. 

The 28th was P-Day and we had the Elders from New Boston come down. We played Axis and Allies, emailed, and hung out for a bit.  Then we got to play some basketball with some members and their friends! I'm really glad they play basketball here I was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to play since I came out to the country! 

The 29th, we basically did service all day for the Simmons family.  We split wood for fire and worked on his little farm. We worked with his grandson, Logan Zylks, who just returned from his mission to Samoa!  He told us it took him like 24 hours to get home from there! He had to fly to New Zealand, then to Cailfornia, then to Atlanta, Georgia and then here with alot of layovers in between.  I'm glad it will only take around 6 hours to get home from here hahaha.  We had dinner with the family, meatloaf and mashed potatoes! Loved it! Oh, also we had a lot of garbage in the back of our place that Brother Simmons helped us move to the dump as well. After all that we called it a night!

The 30th was our District Meeting! We had a great one! We already have some great district unity! It's easy when it's just the 4 of us, me, Elder Averett, Elder Percival and Elder Poole! After that I went to New Boston for exchanges! I went with Elder Percival and we really had a good time talking. The companion exchange went great! We had scripture study and we studied in Alma. Then we called it a night after seeing a few people. Elder Percival came out with Elder Ison my 2nd companion and they were MTC comps.  Elder Percival was with my trainer Elder Blomquist here in New Boston for a little bit and they got along great. So there are alot of connections between us! We kinda lost track of time and stayed up way too late talking, hahaha, but it was good! Just brain storming about how everything works!

The 31st has been exactly 1 year since I was set apart to be a missionary and said goodbye to all my friends and most of my family! Today, I am still with Elder Percival in New Boston. We went and did service at a food pantry downtown. Then had lunch with some members and they took us to get some groceries! Went to see some people, not much success but we tried! We then went to dinner with some members up here and went to a Mexican restaurant! Oh yeah!!! I love it! After that we went with the Bishop to see some members for Home Teaching. They are trying to get a young lady to start coming back and I stressed the importance of the sacrament and how it is a fresh start to the week and how it re-energizes us for the coming week. It was a good time! Anyways, after that Elder Percival and I had some really good talks about life in general and about the gospel!  We went out on a night walk and it reminded me alot of the good walks and talks that I had with friends back home! It helped me a lot =) We got along great! Elder Percival is a great guy! That night he also showed me how to long board for when I get home. I'm going to get a long board because I loved it!! Oh and Happy Birthday Gage!!!

February 1st!!  I am one year out now and it's feeling good!! We had a good day today because we had a great lunch with the Freeman family! They fed us well and after that we waited for Elders Averett and Poole to come get us because we are having a baptism in Atlanta and Elder Percival had to go interview him.  He passed and now, Dale Wilson, will be baptized tomorrow!

February 2nd!  We helped fix a fence today for an investigator named, Beth Harper! Her fence blew over because of the wind but we got it fixed! They were so grateful for us. The Bishop and Brother Lyle helped as well. After that we did a little service with the Nielsen's and then had lunch at a Deli that a member owns. We get to eat there for free!! It's way legit! Around 3 we got everything ready for the baptism! We got the font filled and eveybody there. Then we had the Service! He was baptized by his wifes father. Elder Averett gave a talk on baptism and I talked about the Gift of the Holy Ghost! The baptism was great as usual!  I'm not really counting this one as mine because I only taught him once but it was still good! I also got to get to know alot of the members because alot showed up! I met Brother Ward, who is our Elders Quorum President! There is also a member here who has been in alot of old western movies but just as a fill-in role. He said that he was killed alot of the times in the movies and apparently he is in the movie, Silverado! So that is cool. I can't remember his name right now but it's cool. We called it a night after that.

February 3rd, Sunday.  Dale was confirmed today so that was great! We then had a Ward Council after church and had some great meetings! I bore my testimony today and all and I just really enjoyed it! After church we went to the Bishop's house for dinner and had a good time there! We had Patty Melts for lunch and the Bishop's family is crazy fun. I love them hahaha! After that we did a few things with studies and then we went to the Nielsens for dinner and did a little service. But during dinner they turned on the Big Game so I did get to see alot of the game but we had to leave because it was getting late. We went home and called it a night! Well I'll end there for today

    

     Everything is going well here.  I love it in Texas. This is probably my favorite area so far! I love the country! I also can't believe that I have been out a year already! It's going by faster and faster. We are already almost in the 4th week of this transfer.  This transfer is only going to be 5 weeks long due to the MTC time change so our next transfer date will be Febuary 26th!!
     Oh, and  some news that I forgot to put in Moms Email! The mission office is moving. So tell everyone not to send anymore mail to the 681 Towne Center Blvd ste C! Just send everything to my current address:  903 Lindsey Ln. #B
Atlanta, TX 75551

     Tell Grandma Sharon I got her package and I loved it!  Thanks so much grandma, I really appreciate it!  I love you all and hope all is well.

Love your son,

Elder Kerr

PS My bike is still broken for now.