We had 3 men baptized on Saturday! It was an awesome event. . . . an answer to their prayers!

Dear Mother

     So things are going good here. Elder Henrie is kinda trunky, he has his moments! But we're still do'n the work. He sometimes makes me trunky hahaha! It's coming up quick! I'm trying not to think too much about it hahaha! Anyways, sorry this won't be too detailed of an email this week.

     We did have the 2 baptisms on Saturday and the sister missionaries also had a baptism! So that was way tight! We had 3 men baptized on Saturday! It was an awesome event! It went so well. The Bishop said that they are an answer to their prayers! When the Bishop was first called he said we really need Priesthood in the ward and so they prayed for it and now they have 3 new men! It's awesome! I got to confirm Daniel and Howard on Sunday as members which was a really cool experience! I loved it!  We also did a lot of service this week!

     Oh, and a pretty cool story! There is a member here that is only going to be here for a little bit because of school but he played for BYU football! His name is Colby Clawson! And he played with Max Hall and Austin Collie and Dennis Pita and all of them! He was linebacker #41 and he was the guy injured by Sam Bradford in the game BYU played against Oklahoma. the one year, and beat them! Yeah he is in the Ward that I'm in now! He is the Gospel Principles teacher! Its freakin awesome! I almost want to get his autograph! hahahaha But anyways it was a good week! Those 2 baptisms are solid! Anyways, that's all for now.

I love you all and thanks for following!

Love
Elder Kerr

During the blessing, I felt strongly impressed to say, "You will quit smoking and have the strength to do so!"

Dear Mother,

     I did get my bike taken care of basically.  And yeah, we don't get fed here as often. It's not like my last area where we were the only set of missionaries in the ward.  Here there are 4 sets of missionaries. It still rains almost everyday but it's not for the full day! Just for a little bit. That's what it is like during Hurricane season and I don't think it ends until October or something like that. So yeah, I guess Katrina and Issac hit here around the same time in August! So we will see what happens but I know if a hurricane as big as Katrina were to come, all the missionaries down here would go up to Jackson and wait for it to pass. Anyway, we will see.  I do want to see a Tropical Storm though! That would be way cool.

     Yeah, I need to be better with my money. I am terrible and have always struggled with that even when I was home. I'm going to try to do better next month though. I'm glad Megan got my letter. Sorry it took me awhile to reply. . . . . . but I will reply. Sometimes I take along time with letters. I have written so many letters on my mission.  It's like ugh, I wish these letters could write themselves. hahaha

     Oh, have I gotten any friend requests on my Facebook? There might be some missionaries who were in my mission with me that will be in contact through facebook.  Anyways, let me know.  Some may try to come to my homecoming.  That'd be way cool.

     We should have 2 baptisms coming up this Saturday the 27th, Howard and Daniel!!!! I'm way excited for that. So Boom! They both asked me to Confirm them the following Sunday!

     I guess I will take out student loans and go to SLCC when I get home and get 2 years under my belt.  I want to work hard because I really do want to go to the Y!!! But we will see in the future I guess it really depends on what I want to go into then I will choose what school.  Anyways, on to my week

Monday the 15th

P-day and we played some basketball and had a great time playing around, I loved it! I love playing basketball! I'm stoked to play for the ward and the Foo's back home! Good times! But it was just an average P-Day.

Tuesday the 16th

So today we tried seeing a couple of people with the time we had! We were able to see Howard. We have been trying to help him quit smoking. While we were there we could tell he was still having a hard time. So I felt impressed to give him a blessing before we left! During the blessing I felt strongly impressed to say, "You will quit smoking and have the strength to do so!" Then we left and got picked up by Brother Harper. We went to give a member a blessing who was about to have surgery. Then the Gulfport Elders picked us up and we headed to interviews with President! We were there for a while and I had a fantastic interview with President! I loved it! I love President McDonough! He truly was called to be a mission president here in the Mississippi Jackson Mission. MJM!!!!

Wednesday the 17th

We had District Meeting today and that was awesome as well. I love our district here! It's just a lot fun and good times! Right after District Meeting we went to see Daniel! We were talking with him and he said that he totally quit smoking as well! So that is way tight! And it looks like he will be ready for the 27th as well. It was a good time.

Thursday the 18th

So today we went and tried to see Howard again. He wasn't feeling well but his Aunt, who he is living with, said that after we gave him the blessing to quit smoking he hasn't had 1 urge to smoke. The day before a friend took him to see his doctor in Laurel and he was smoking and offered him a smoke and he didn't want one! The guy even noticed that he was reading "The Book of Mormon" and asked about it. He told him about it and gave him one! It was legit! Howard said, that was his answer, the blessing worked to help him quit smoking!  It was awesome! =) Blessings work people!!!

Friday the 19th

So we did some weekly planning today. We were able to see Howard and Daniel again and help them get ready for baptism! It was good! I'm very excited! But basically the rest of today went to crud because everything was cancelled on us or rescheduled!

Saturday the 20th

So today we went to a ward play! The Ward set up a free play this weekend for Thursday, Friday and Saturday! It was way good! I very much enjoyed it! It was very well done! And a lot of non members showed up the 2 days before this! It was funny and well done! It was about a ward struggling with attendance and having a lot of in-actives! It showed members reaching out to invite them back to church and it was very heart felt! It was good! and Daniel was able to come!

Sunday the 21st!

So today was a great Sunday! I was able to learn a little bit about Family History! I definetly need to learn more about it so you will have to teach me more about it Mom! hahaha. It was good though! Then we had a Linger Longer as well! We had some really good food! I loved it! Anyways, it started to rain hard so were'nt able to tract much as we planned to do but we did get some tracting in! Then we got fed by the Harpers! They fed us Steak and a potatoes! It was way good! I loved it! Anyways we got numbers in and headed to bed!

I hope all is well with everyone and I love you all and thanks for following!

The Church is True!

Love

Elder Kerr

18 MONTH ANNIVERSARY AUGUST 1ST

Dear friends and family,
     Elder Shawn Kerr is coming up on his 18 month anniversary in the mission field on August 1st!  It would be so awesome if we could flood his mailbox with letters or cards to celebrate this HUGE milestone with him.  His address is:                         
                                                                Elder Shawn Kerr
                                                                4401 Beatline Rd.  Apt 5D
                                                                Long Beach, MS   39560

Long Beach is ready for harvest, we could have 3 baptisms soon.

Dear Mother

     I did get grandmas package the day before I left from Atlanta, so that was cool! Thank her and I did get a letter from Megan and I will reply soon! I do get to see the coast quite often! I'm like maybe 3 minutes away from it! There is a road that drives along the beach through Pass Christian, Long Beach, Gulfport, and Biloxi so I see it a lot.  It's not super beautiful like the pacific coast! It's just very muddy looking water but it's still pretty cool, I'm not going to lie, I love it! I'm so glad I have been able to serve down here! I could stay here the rest of my mission but we'll see! After this transfer I only have like 4 left!!!! So yeah it's going by fast! The time I will have left by August 3rd is the same amount of time I served in Atlanta! IT'S CRAZY!!!!! And my companion only has like 2 more transfers left!!! Way weird! Oh and in that pic on the mission blog was Elder Bytheway not Elder Hopman.  He was in my district too. 

     Long Beach is ready for harvest, basically we could have like 3 baptisms really soon.  All we need to do is get them to stop smoking and they will be good to go!! It's going to be legit! Then we have plenty of people to keep working with who are interested! So it will be good! I just wish we had a car fulltime! We would be able to get so much more done if we did! Oh, well!

So onto our week!

    

Monday the 8th

Just a normal P-day we did our emails! Then we went and played some basketball with the Zone Leaders, Elders Hosea and Canaan! It felt good to play after not playing very much in Atlanta! I loved it!! So awesome! It drained me though and after that we went to Raising Canes for lunch! I'm going to miss Raising Canes when I leave here! The best chicken fast food restaurant ever!!!! They need to start them in Utah! After basketball we didn't really do much! We walked on the beach a little bit.  It was a good day!

Tuesday the 9th

So we did some tracting today and we got a few return appointments. We weren't able to see a lot of our investigators but the Dees took us out to a Pizza buffet that was pretty good! Sister Dee is so nice! It was pretty legit! We tried seeing other people but no luck.

Wednesday the 10th

Zone District Meeting! The entire zone got together and was taught by the ZLs.  It was a great meeting and we saw a lot of people that we haven't seen in a while! Then we went to a Chinese buffet that only cost about 5 bucks! So that was cool! Then we did some more tracting because President has asked us to do more than we have been.! I have never really enjoyed tracting! Then it started raining big time! It sucked! We weren't able to do anything in it! It was way lame!

Thursday the 11th

Today we got up and noticed it was way cloudy.  Then it just started to pour for quite a while! It sucked! It's been raining a lot lately and since we are on bikes we haven't been able to do anything! I'm not liking all the rain. We did get to go see Joel today though! Joel has been taught by missionaries since April of last year! He basically believes everything, he is just struggling to stop smoking! But we are going to get him to stop! And its going to be legit! Then he will be ready for baptism!

Friday the 12th

So today we went and saw an investigator that was found right before I got here! Her name is Daniella! We got there and she was like, of course, you guys can come in! It was crazy she just started crying and saying that she is going through so much crap right now! And I'm just like well our purpose is to bring people closer to Christ and we started talking about The Book of Mormon! And she wanted 3 of them so she could give them to other people and then we can start talking to them as well! It was pretty legit!  After that we went tracting some more.  Then we got ready to go to Howard's, another investigators house. We are going to teach him the Stop Smoking Workshop to help him stop! It went pretty well. Then guess what? We started to hear thunder and we had another appointment in about 45 minutes.  And we were on bikes! Elder Henrie and I were like, we're going for it! We are not going to let the rain stop us today! On our way then. . .  snap my bike pedal breaks off!!!! I'm just like, of course! I have the worst luck with bikes breaking! Then it started to rain harder and harder! Luckily a member saw us and took us back to the apartment and we called our appointment and rescheduled! It has rained hard like everyday this week! It sucks!

Saturday the 13th

Today we took my bike in to get fixed! We dropped it off and they said it should be ready by Monday (Which is today).  It was way slow and nothing happened at all today because we didn't have any kind of transportation! And it started to rain really hard again! We did have correlation meeting with Bro. Harper and that was good!

Sunday the 14th

Great Sabbath day but we were expecting to have 5 investigators at church today but only 1 showed up.  I was pretty bummed about the others but at least we had the 1! It was a pretty good SUNDAY! Loved it like always. Our appointment cancelled on us but we did go to the Gentry's! And they fed us dinner! The Gentry's are awesome! We were laughing the whole time we were over there. They showed us on youtube this funny video going around about the general authorities! Its hilarious! It's called "How General Authorities Eat Their Reese's Peanut Butter Cups" watch it and show it to people! It's way funny! Things are going good! And it's going by fast!  I love you and I hope all is well!  THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!

Love
Elder Kerr

I love this District already!

Dear Mother,

Yeah, I'm in Long Beach, Mississippi and I love it!! On the coast here in Mississippi there's Long Beach, Gulfport, Biloxi, and then passed Biloxi is Ocean Springs and that is the end of our mission.  Elder Henrie is my new companion.  He's been in other zones with me.  He was in the Monroe Zone when I was and he was in the Texarkana Zone when I went up there. He's only been in this area for 6 weeks. He is from Manti, Utah and has been out 20 months, 3 months longer than I have. I'm like the 3rd oldest in our district.  It's weird to think that I have been out this long, to be one of the older guys. Anyways, we have a bunch of investigators here already! It's awesome! I have been teaching quite a bit lately! We have 3 people with dates and we're just trying to get them prepared!

We are car sharing in this area so I did need a bike.  Elder Ison has given me his. But I am going to need a new helmet, mine is broken, and a few other things for it to make it a little safer. Oh and another thing when you send the memory card can you send my contacts I'm down to my last pair.  So on to the rest of my week.  I left off on Tuesday the 2nd!!!

Wednesday the 3rd

Today I finished unpacking in the morning. Then we went to the Library so I could email more details of the week. After Email we went over to a members house named, Bucky Waits. He is an awesome guy very nice and friendly.  He fed us a sandwhich and ice cream! After that we went tracting and had a pretty crazy experience! We went to a door and introduced ourselves and told him why we were there.  He said, "oh really."  We mentioned that God has called a prophet on the earth again. And then he just started going off on us his. It was frustrating! It got me angry! We ended up staying on his porch for like an hour or so and all he wanted to do was Bible Bash. It was crazy! I hate when people do that! So that kinda put a damper on the day. But we tried seeing some other people, not a lot of luck. But I did meet a recent convert named Joey who is solid in the gospel and he was just recently baptized! He was awesome!

Thursday the 4th

We had DDM today and I love this district already. I'm not the district leader here because there was someone already assigned here but I'm fine with that. I actually love just being a regular missionary! Hahaha! After that we went to teach, Howard, who is a way solid investigator! He has a date and we just need to help him stop smoking! We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it went really well. Then we went to teach Daniel again and Brother Waits went with us. We taught Daniel about the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chasity! It went really well. He is also very solid but needs to stop smoking! Afterwards Brother Waits took us to Sonic for ice cream! It was a good day. After that we just spent the rest of the 4th of July with the Gulfport missionaries.
Friday the 5th

Today it was pretty rainy and we didn't want to be driving the car around all day so we didn't get whole lot done but we did meet a new investigator and taught her. Her name is Amber. She is looking for a church and just basically asked us a lot of questions about ours! Then we went to Subway. We get a free subway once a week! It's pretty tight, I love it! It just rained the rest of the day.

Saturday the 6th

We did weekly planning today and tried seeing a bunch of people but not really any luck. We did do some tracting and was able to teach some people on their doorstep and lent out a Book of Mormon. It was good! Except a lot people looked pretty afraid of us. I'm just thinking gosh what do they hear about us at their churches! Anyways it was an alright day but it rained again.

Sunday the 7th

Church, my first Sunday! It was pretty awesome, we had 3 investigators show up! It's a pretty big ward! We are assigned to the Gulfport ward! My last area there was only 1 set of missionaries to the ward and here there are 4 sets of missionaries! So it's a big change but I enjoy it!! Today was also a pretty slow day. We were planning on tracting but all it did was rain! During our lunch hour even though we didn't eat I fell asleep, I was pretty beat and so did Elder Henrie! Anyways we got numbers ready and we called it a night! It was a good week and I'm very happy to be here.

Thanks for following!

Love
Elder Kerr


P.S.  I don't remember if I told you but our mission has a new blog.
http://www.mississippijacksonmission.blogspot.com/













  

Transfer Day!!! Shreveport, LA to Gulfport, MS with 3 stops in between and finally I'm in Long Beach, Mississippi.

So I'll catch up on my email here.

Monday the 17th

P-day! I did exchanges with Elder Bytheway. We go on up to Texarkana to get the car fixed and when we get there we find out that they hadn't even ordered the part! So we decided to just leave the car with them because we shouldn't drive it anyway. We got picked up by the ZLs and and hung out with them for the day. We mini golfed, ate at Cicis Pizza and hung out and played games at the church! For dinner we made some fried chicken and mashed potatoes! It was a delicious dinner! I learned to make batter for the chicken. Then we got dropped off in New Boston by bro Hutson.

Tuesday the 18th

My exchange is still going on with Elder Bytheway and we went and saw a few people. For dinner we ate at this BBQ place and man it was good!!! Plus we met this guy that had a lot of questions for us. They were like perfect questions for a guy searching for the truth.  He wouldn't accept a Book of Mormon so we just gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. It was legit and hopefully he will continue to look into our church. It was a good day.

Wednesday the 19th

We went and picked up the car in Texar today and headed down to Atlanta for DDM. We had a good DDM! It was way awesome!! I loved it!! After lunch they weren't able to find a ride back to New Boston so we took them back.  Afterwards we helped Brother Horsley with a new refrigerator and called it a day. It was a slower day!

Thursday the 20th

Today was Thirsty Thursday! We did a lot of walking and tried seeing a lot of people today. We tried this referral, she wasn't home but her sister was. We talked with her a bit and set a return appointment. Then we tried someone further up the street but he wasn't home. When we were walking back passed that referrals house they waved us down and we were able to talk to her sister and give her a pamphlet.  It was cool. Then after that we were walking down the road and the Ward family pulled up and took us out to eat at Luigis! It was way awesome!!! We then went and saw Beth Harper and that was awesome as always. I love her. The rest of the day was slow.

Friday the 21st

We went back to see that referral but she wasn't home, sadly! We tried some others but none. Then we got a call from Brother Brown who needed some help.  His brother passed away so we helped move some stuff out of his place. He's having a hard time right now. Then we did a lot of tracting but not a lot of success.

Saturday the 22nd

Again it was a slow day. We tried seeing some people but not a lot happened.  We did help the Neilson's with there yard.

Sunday the 23rd

We had church and, of course, it was a wonderful Sabbath day. Then we had that awesome world wide Zone Conference! I loved it! It was a great meeting full of inspiration.  Then we went to the Neilson's as usual and had dinner. I'm going to miss them when I leave!

Monday the 24th

We had our last Zone P-day of the transfer! And boy it was fun hanging out with everyone. We had a good time! We went to Cicis pizza for dinner. It will be the last time hanging out with Elder Ison before he goes home. He was my follow up trainer after Blomquist!

Tuesday the 25th

We weren't able to do much today because we had a lot of catching up to do.  But we did try to see some people.

Wednesday the 26th

We went up to New Boston for our last District Meeting of the transfer and talked about who will get sent where and such! We got picked up by Brother Simmons and headed back to Atlanta. We tried some people and called it a night.  Sorry this isn't very detailed, I'm going by memory.

Thursday the 27th

It is another Thirsty Thursday.  We go and see our usuals on Thirsday, such as Beth Harper and I let her know that I might be leaving soon! And, of course, she is pretty sad about that! We have a good time though talking with her. Then went to visit some members! Oh and we tried this sandwhich restaurant downtown and loved it! It has been in the back of my head for a while to go check it out and we finally did. It was good! Anyways, we called it night,.

Friday the 28th

We got our calls this morning and President tells me that I'm going to Long Beach, Mississippi!!!!! I'm like YES!!!!!! The Coast! I have gotten both my wishes for areas! One in Texas and now the Coast!!! I'm very excited and I'm going to be with Elder Henrie.  I already know him so I'm excited to be with him! He is way tight! After that we went home teaching with Brother Doran and then got dropped off at Walmart to get some stuff. We got picked up by brother Brown who took us back and then we went to the Neilson's for dinner. We helped them with their yard and told them the news.  I'm way excited!

Saturday the 29th

Today basically we focused on going to see people to say goodbye! We had a ward dinner that day, as well! It was awesome!! I loved it! It was Samoan based and delicious! We had a good time! And had some really good dessert.

Sunday the 30th

When we got to church today Brother Simmons came up and asked us to give short talks as one of the speakers wouldn't be there.  And that was perfect beings this was my last Sunday anyway. I talked on John 17 and told everyone that I was leaving! It was a sad time because I love this ward and I will miss a lot of people here. Afterwards, we went to say my last goodbye to Beth. She made me this delicious Strawberry cake! I said my goodbyes and then we went to a lunch appointment at the Marchan's. I said my last goodbyes there and it was awesome! We spent the rest of the day at the Neilson's! And then New Boston came down and we called it a night!

Monday the 1st

17 months out today!!! We went and ate and said some more goodbyes to the Robinsons and a few others! We went to the Neilson's and got some pictures and then the Harville's took us out to dinner at the Silver Spur.  They are another family I really enjoy! I said my last goodbyes to them. They took us back, we got ready and headed down to Shreveport, LA so we wouldn't have to drive down so early the next day. We stayed the night in Shreveport!

Tuesday the 2nd

Transfer day!!! Oh, and Happy Birthday, Jared! We met at the building, I said my last goodbyes to my zone, and we headed out to Ruston, LA! We got to Ruston and picked up some people. Then we headed to Monroe, LA and picked up some more people. That was weird being back in Monroe!! I was like, I'm home! Oh wait! haha! I said goodbye to Elder Poole there.  He is staying in that zone! I also got to see Elder Whitehead and some others! From there we went to Clinton, Mississippi.  And holy crap their are a lot of new missionaries! We have a lot more missionaries in the mission now!! I got to see 5 of my old companions there and meet some others in my old districts that I hadn't seen before! I loved it!  Finally, I got down to Gulfport and met my companion and now I'm in Long Beach and my new address is:

4401 Beatline Rd. Apt. 5D

Long Beach, MS 39560

Love ya

It's about 50 miles from Atlanta, TX to Shreveport, LA and about 400 miles from Shreveport, LA to Gulfport, MS.  Long Beach is only 4 miles from Gulfport. 

    

I am going to Long Beach, Mississippi!

Dear Mother

I am going to Long Beach, Mississippi! I will send a longer email when I get there.