Today marks day 365 of 730 days of service for Elder Kerr.

     Today marks 365 days (1 year) since Elder Kerr first entered the MTC and started his mission.  His transfer to Atlanta, Texas will make his 3rd state to serve in and his 3rd transfer.  There are 4 states that comprise his mission, Mississippi and Louisiana being the largest parts and then a few small towns over the Texas and Arkansas borders.  He is currently serving in Atlanta, Texas which also includes Texarkana, Arkansas.  As of February 2nd he will be on the downhill side of 730 days of service.  So proud of our boy!
Posted by his mother:)

Then a thought came to me. . . . ."oh yeah, this is TEXAS!!!

Dear family,

     I too can't believe that I have been out for almost a year this coming Friday!! That's insane to me. And it's insane that a lot of old friends will be returning home soon. My friend Nate should be going home this March, I believe.  Then my friend Patrick heads home in April and then in May, Aaron will be heading home! It's crazy how fast it's gone!  I had a dream that I was home with everyone last night! I want to finish my mission, of course, but it was a crazy dream that I very much enjoyed haha! :)

     As far as my bike goes the entire back brake is messed up, the wheel is off center and the gear changer is shredded!  We usually walk everywhere now though so that is good and Elder Averett is pretty good at fixing bikes so if we can just get the parts he could help me put it together!  Some members here are pretty good at fixing bikes too so they can help me also!!

     I heard about how Utah is now considered one of the dirtiest states because of the pollution.  That is very scary! What's causing all that pollution again in Utah? The weather here lately has been kind of weird. It's been sunny the last 2 days but on Thurday it was just really foggy and cloudy and the temperature was up and down. We had a small ice storm come through here on Saturday but it's getting better. I'm starting to notice some humidity now which I'm not excited for again.

     This last Thursday we saw a lot of different people. We saw the Robinson's, the most recent converts here in Atlanta! We saw Brother Brown who is a less active member and a pretty crazy guy!! We were over at his house talking and they are always yelling at each other and it's not because they're mad at each other it's just how they talk to each other, I guess! We were just sitting and talking and he pulls out a gun he has in his belt.  And I'm just thinking, "HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!" Then a thought came to me, "oh yeah, this is TEXAS!  He doesn't do anything with it except unload it and make it safe to hold. I think out of all my areas so far this is the most redneck/southern area I have been in! HAHAHA! I love it! We met with him and his friend Carol, who is kind of an investigator and kind of not. She knows the missionaries very well, she's just not too interested right now. She is a nice lady though and we got to read with her and Brother Brown in The Book of Mormon! It was great!!!

     We then went to see an investigator named Matt but on our way there some members drove up in a big truck and asked how we were doing and if we were hungry?" And we said, yes, but we had to go meet Matt.  When we got there he had to reschedule and so we went and ate at a Steak house with them! It was really good! I even had a good steak and I didn't choke!! We had a great conversation with them about the church as well. We gave them some things they could say to their friends that don't like the Mormon church! So it was great! Their names are Sister Luce and her sister Skyler and Sister Luce's little son Heston (I believe that is his name). After dinner they asked us if it was okay if they stopped at Walmart before dropping us off.  I was like, well Elder Averett needed to get groceries anyways so why not! They were like oh we can buy your groceries for you but we were like no you don't need to do that but they insisted and so we only got a few things but then she was like oh get this and this and this and this and this and this and this! And so we went home with a lot of groceries! It was awesome and very nice of them! We were blessed that night!
     Well I need to get off because other missionaries are getting impatient! So I will try to come tomorrow and give more details.

Love ya,

your son

Elder Kerr

Here's my new address in Texas.

Elder Shawn Kerr

903 Lindsey LN. #B

Atlanta, TX 75551

 

Love ya

P.S. The first wave of 18 year old Elders and 19 year old Sisters arrived! It was crazy to see them! I can't wait to meet more of them! I will probably get to train one after Elder Averett, hopefully! 

My new area is huge! It even takes in Arkansas and Louisiana!

Dear Family

     I wasn't able to email last Monday because it was MLK jr. day so the Library was closed.  My last week in Monroe was mainly spent saying goodbye and taking pictures. I also took a lot of pictures of Monroe in general. It was good. We had quite a few dinner appointments too. 

     My new area, if I remember correctly, is the Texarkana Zone.  My new companions name is Elder Averett. He was actually trained my Elder Whitehead (who I was in the MTC with) and that is whose place I took.  Elder Whitehead went to Jackson.  So my old district consisted of 12 missionaries and my new district consists of 4 Elders. So I went from a 10 member distict not including the Zone Leaders to now a 4 member distict and the other 2 Elder are in New Boston, TX.

      I'm not District Leader here because President had already picked someone that has been in New Boston for a while. He has been out way longer then me over 18 months actually. So I guess I will be taking a break from doing that for a while.  When I first found out that I wasn't going to be DL anymore I thought I had done something wrong.  But President told me that he wasn't done with me being in leadership so we will see what happens during my time here in Atlanta!

     Well anyways on Tuesday was our transfer day and I didn't head up to my next area until like 1:30.  Just waited for a long time but we did play alot of basketball and stuff and talked with all the missionaries. There were missionaries heading East from my Distrcit around 8:30.  We said goodbye to them and Sister Jenkins went down to Picayune, Mississippi and Elder Whatcott went to Meridian, Mississippi. My first area!!! So I got to tell him about there! Sad time, I never like leaving an area and people I have grown so close to. It's like leaving home again and again. But anyways it was fun and when the transfer van got back to pick people up to head west, I rode with Elder Ison, my follow-up trainer! He actually just left the area of Meridian and is going to be one of my Zone Leaders up in the Texarkana Zone! I got to talk to him about what's been going on there.  Alot has happened there with, new move ins, new leadership, some members have gotten married, and members with new kids! It was awesome to here about whats been going on there! It was way good!

     When we got to Bossier city I met up with my District and my new companion and headed up here. Once I got here I didn't even fully unpack yet when we were invited over for dinner. The Nielsen's are an awesome family!!!! They're going to be a fun family here. They apparently feed us often which I'm excited about. We ate and talked about things in the area. There is quite a bit of Redneck stuff going on here in Texas hahaha.  It's what they say anyway. They have a small farm with chickens, a goat and a pig! So that will be fun.

     The next day, Wednesday the 23rd, we got up and did some studies and got picked up by a member named Elder Simmons to take us to District Meeting in New Boston. We talked with him and had a good district meeting. My district consists of Me, Elder Averett, Elder Poole and Elder Percival our DL. And I feel like we are going to have a lot of fun here in this Zone and District! We are a car share area which doesn't make too much sense to me because our area is huge!  We have Atlanta/Queen City and like 10 other small towns around us. This area also takes in both Arkansas and Lousianna as well, it's huge! I wish we had a full time car here but we don't. We actually walked to the Library today because my bike is giving me alot of trouble. 

     But anyways after District Meeting we helped brother Nielson start to build a chicken nest and I really enjoyed helping with that.  Then we had a lesson with one of the investigators, named Dale Wilson, who actually has a date set for baptism.  So we are working hard with him. The lesson went really well. We talked about The Word of Wisdom, The Law of Chasity and Tithing! We read 1 Nephi chapter 2 and we got him to be more comfortable praying in front of us. I really want to help this guy enter into the waters of baptism. 

     We also had a recent RM come with us to the lesson to teach him. His name is Logan and he went to Samoa on his mission and he actually graduated the same year I did. Before his family moved here, while he was on his mission, he lived in Utah. He actually lived right down State street from us by the Megaplex Theatre! It's a small world. Somebody in the Ward told me about a Gravity hill somewhere in the Salt Lake area. Apparently you go down the hill just for a little bit and then put the car in Neutral and it will go backwards back up the hill. Do you guys know anything about that? Anyways I have enjoyed my time here so far.

     I love and miss you all and I hope to talk to you soon.

Love
Elder Kerr

Heading to Atlanta, Texas for my next assignment on January 22nd!

Dear family,
     I just received my next assignment. Starting January 22nd I will be serving in Atlanta, Texas!!!!!!! I'm going to TEXAS!!!!!! This will be the 3rd state I will have served in during my mission! Mississippi, Louisiana and now Texas. Super excited! Love ya all!
Love your son,
Elder Kerr

Atlanta, Texas is the largest town in Cass County with a population of about 5,400.  It borders Arkansas and Louisiana to the East.  Queen City is one of the smaller towns in this county and is listed on the mission map above whereas Atlanta is not.

Drove two hours to Jackson, Mississippi for a training meeting. It was just a way fun meeting overall.

January 14, 2013

Dear Family,

     This week was a slower week in the work for 3 reasons; we had meetings, it rained all week and we didn't have a car. On Thursday, all the District Leaders, Zone Leaders and potential leaders went to Brandon, Mississippi which is basically Jackson, Mississippi for a training meeting.  We talked about a lot of good stuff mainly surrounding our purpose as missionaries and how everything comes back to that purpose. We practiced a lot on inviting investigators to come to church and read The Book of Mormon. And to help them pray.  Something interesting about the South is that a lot of people here are religious but have never prayed in front of someone or even have prayed for something specific. So we are working on that as a mission.  I will be teaching the people in my District what I learned at our District Meeting.
     So we drove all the way to Jackson on Thursday which was like a 2 hour drive! We did a big car pull thing.  We had like 5 missionaries get in one car to drive up there. On our way we stopped in Vicksburg to pick up Elder Blomquist, my mission trainer. I basically hung out with him during the meeting. It was way good to see him again! He goes home in April so only 2 more transfers left!  I also got to see Elder Ison at the meeting. It was way cool to see him again because I haven't seen him since I left Meridian.  It was a good time to see them all again. I also got to see Elder Whitehead from my District in the MTC. It was just a way fun meeting overall.
     Well anyway, nothing really much happened this week, sadly, because of all the rain. But we did end up seeing one of our investigators, Gene Polk, here this last Saturday.  And we have set a date with him for February 9th! I won't be here for it but that's totally fine! We are way excited for that!
     We had a special Stake Conference on Sunday that was broadcast from Salt Lake City. Elder Cook and Elder Scott talked with us.  It was wonderful ,as always, to here an Apostle of the Lord speak! Um, nothing else comes to mind for last week. We have had some good dinner appointments with Elders Lately which have been awesome. We had a dinner appointment with the Frandsens on Friday and they served us steak and chicken with cheese potatoes! It was way good and they're a really cool family that we are probably going to see more often.
     I'm glad Nicole had a good birthday.  That's crazy that she is 18 years old, unreal!  I hope everything goes well with Grandma Ivy.  Send my love to all the family.
Love you  and miss ya all =)
Love your son


January 7, 2013

Dear Family,

     So not a whole lot happened last week. We saw a lot of less actives and Elder Criswell and I decided that we are going to start workng this month in helping members with there Home Teaching. This ward has a hard time getting their home teaching done. Our numbers are very bad and so we are going to start asking members if we can go with them to visit. That will help us meet some less active people who are actually probably a part member family.  We can get investigators through that!  
     On Sunday the 6th we had our Mission President and his wife come and speak to our ward for a fireside.  The Sister missionaries and us have been planning this for a while and we had a pretty good turn out.  I think everyone enjoyed it and it's always good to see President McDonough.  He helps out a lot out here and I so much appreciate it! And Sister McDonough is just like a big mission mom, so she worries about us a ton and takes care of us well.
     Sometime last week we went over to Sister Meeks, a sweet little lady who loves having us over. She was crocheting a blanket and I decided I wanted to learn and so she taught me to crochet.  I'm not too sharp at it yet but I got the idea of it down!
     Well that's about it.  My time is coming to an end here in Monroe and I feel like that I have done it! I have spent my time here well and I have loved it!  I love you all and I hope things will heat up there a liitle bit. Talk to you later
Love your son
Elder Kerr

My first baptism ever! And 9 baptisms within my District since I've been in Monroe! Good stuff!

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