Dear Family
We are so grateful to the Stake President and his family! They are a great help to us and yes we did thank them. On Christmas Day they had 3 laptops and 3 Ipads so we could all skype home. The zone leaders and sister missionaries were there too. And yeah maybe next year we can set it up on Megan's laptop so you can walk me around the house. Hopefully, you guys can get a better reception from me. I thought it was strange that I got a great reception from you guys but you didn't from me. I did get to speak with Aaron and it was awesome! We are way excited for the future and we loved talking about the past. I couldn't hear him very well because I was on the phone when he was skyping with the family but it was all good.
Sarah did get baptized on the 29th!!! That was one of the most spiritual experiences I have had on my mission. She really went through a lot of trials before her baptism. She had family members talk to her about anti stuff. She got really sick to the point of going to the hospital. She had a hard time giving up smoking and drinking coffee. . . . . but she did it!
The day of her baptism we started filling the font a little late, it takes like 3 hours to fill and we started it about an hour late. So I got a ton of buckets and started to fill those so we would be ready on time and we got it done. Sarah got there on time and I was dressed and she was dressed and ready to go. We started by singing "How Great Thou Art". She was telling us how nervous she was. During the song she started crying and so did I to the point that I could barely sing the song. Sister Earl spoke on Baptism (She was the person to give us the referral for Sarah). She started to tear up as well. We then were ready for the baptism. As I was waiting for her in the water, she teared up again just before she got in. And then I did my first baptism ever! And I said all the words correctly. . . . . but her knee came up so I had to do it a 2nd time. But we did it! And She is the 3rd person I have helped into the waters of baptism. We then had Sister Clark speak on the Holy Ghost. It was a great day!
I have now participated with 3 peoples baptisms, Debra Christy, Lavell Whitty and now Sarah Lee Groth and have helped a total of 4 people including Graham Hunter who we taught in Meridian and who later was baptized. I have interviewed 5 people as a District Leader that were baptized, Angie Mizel, Karina Gumbelot, Amanda, Sheina Stewart, and Virdell Christopher on the 28th, and he was baptized on the 29th with Sarah. So we had 2 new converts come into the Monroe Ward on the 30th! It was great! There has been a total of around 9 baptisms within my district since I have been here in Monroe. The 9th one is including a person who was baptized my very first day in Monroe. Good stuff! Now that I look at it all that excites me for the time I have spent here in Monroe. And I just realized that there was another person baptized that I didn't interview in my District named Susan. So a total of 10 so far! I love it!!! But none of these converts are ours they are the Lords he converted them through the Spirit. Great work has happened so far here. All Thanks to God!
Anyways we had a great New Years! We ate with the Zone Leaders and a family on New Years Eve. It was actually the same family that fed us on Thanksgiving, well part of the same family. We had Sloppy Joes and did a few fireworks and just hung out with them! It was fun. They have the cutest little girl. When I become a parent I really want a little girl. She was always wanting me to hold her. I was always hesitant because you never know how the parents feel about it so I tried not to. We had a great day!
We also played a lot of basketball with a bunch of people this holiday season which was fun except I think I got tendinitis in my right elbow from playing so much. And yeah I got a voice recorder for Christmas. I just take it around with me and when I have time I record whats going on. I love it. And its something I think will really help me in school too. Well I will end there for now. I love you and hope all is well back home. So close to my 1 year mark. Talk to you later.
Love your son
Elder Kerr
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Saturday, December 29, 2012
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
Monday, December 10, 2012
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 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
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
Friday, November 23, 2012
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.
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
Friday, October 26, 2012
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
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
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
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