Pumped in Mississippi! Two Baptism dates set!

Dear family,
     Sorry that this letter has taken so long.  I'm beginning my 4th day in the field.  I ended up meeting my trainer around 7:30 on the 2nd day.  I was taken to my Stake area by the Mission Homes big Ford Van and trailer that had also picked us up at the airport. My companion was already there to take me to my actual area.  His name is Elder Blomquist and he's a pretty cool guy, he's from Montana and he's been out for about 7 months.  He's big time into music, graduated in '09 and he played football!
    A little about Meridian.  It's an old small town but our actual area is huge taking in a couple of other small towns.  And because there are only 4 missionaries here we have a car.  So I won't need to buy a bike yet.  There's lots of hills and trees and even bamboo!  There's tons of churches here that aren't LDS.  The people seem really nice here.  We get to eat lunch for free everyday at the hospital because the guy in charge is good friends with my companion and his previous companion.  
     So my 3rd day here was amazing 2/22/2012!  We got 4 new investigators, 3 of them seemed really excited about it.  I gave away 4 more Book of Mormon's.  Did some more tracting, met a girl named Caroline who was our 4th investigator.  It was awesome!  Got to meet the Bishop and his family.  They  have 3 daughters, one is about Megan's age, one is just older than Jared and the other one is in the 5th grade.  Pretty cool family.  I'm already loving it here.  I'm still a little nervous but it's only my 4th day in the field.  Tell you the truth I really can't believe it's Thursday already.
     2/27/2012 -Our ward here is awesome!  There's only 1 ward.  It sucks though because it has about 500 members but about 400 of them are inactive so we only have about 100 show up.  But guess what?!  We have two investigators with baptismal dates already and we could have 3 or 4 more soon.  I'm so excited that we are already going to have some baptisms in my first month here.  We are so pumped that everything is going so good for us! 
     I should be in Meridian for about 3 months.  There is a chance that I could be transfered in 6 weeks but I'll probably stay here for the 3 months getting trained. The members here love the missionaries.  I've already had a lot of awesome meals here in Mississippi and I haven't ran into a bad one yet.  I'm still a quiet guy but this area is pretty awesome!  I miss and love you guys a ton!

                                                              Love your son,

                                                                  Elder Kerr

P.S.  We are moving on the 15th of March to a different apartment so it might be safer to just send any mail to the Mission Office.  It only takes an extra day to get to me but if it gets sent to the wrong address I may not get it at all.  Make sure you don't send any packages Fedex or UPS to the Mission Office because they can't forward them.  They would have to hand deliver them and that could take up to 2 additional weeks.  It's best just to send it through the US Postal Service.  Just don't send it parcel post. Thank you! Love you guys!

One of only 4 missionaries serving in Meridian

     Elder Kerr's first area of service is in the city of Meridian, Mississippi.  He will be one of only 4 missionaries serving in this area.  And right now as we speak it's 80 degrees in Meridian with 33% humidity.  WOW, and when he left Utah on Monday it had snowed and was about 40 degrees.  I'm sure it will be a short sleeved white shirt and tie day for the missionaries today.  Meridian is the 6th largest city in Mississippi with a population of about 38,000 within the city limits and over 526,000 within a 65-mile radius.  It's about 93 miles East of Jackson, Mississippi and 154 miles west of Birmingham, Alabama.  The area is served by two military facilities, Navel Air Station Meridian and Key Field which provides over 4,000 jobs to the surrounding area.  It was established in 1860 at the intersection for Mobile and Ohio Railroad and Southern Railway of Mississippi.  Previously inhabited by the Choctaw Native Americans.

                                                                           Missionary Mom

February 18, 2012 (One of my last days in the MTC)

Dear family,
     In answer to your questions mom.  I've become comfortable with everyone here.  All of my roommates and I have become friends.  In fact, Elder Nelson, who is from Idaho Falls, and I have a ton in common.  We have so much in common that we're freaking out that we are almost exactly the same.  We're both around the same size he's just a bit shorter than I.  We both have similiar reasons for going on a mission, we both have similiar friend groups back home, and the list goes on and on.  We've become really good friends.  And we are both going to Jackson.  And yes, I got my hair cut short just the way I like it.
     February 18th, one of my last days at the MTC.  Yesterday, I had an in-field orientation where we learned so much stuff just in that one day, it's amazing!  If every missionary was able to baptize 2 people a month we would get around 100,000 new converts each month.  That's over a million in a year.  The church is growing fast.  We currently have 14 million members and  if the current rate of growth continues within 2 decades the church will hit 200 million members!
     I love you guys and miss you a ton!
                                                                Sincerely your son,

                                                                      Elder Kerr

P.S.  I hadn't heard about Aaron becoming District Leader that's awesome!

P.S.S.  Here's that memory card maybe you can get a memory card holder so it will protect it better when we ship it.

                                                Elder Nelson and Elder Kerr

Elders Kerr, Nelson, Whitehead, and Marcum

Elders Brockbank and Damron

February 20th "My FIRST day in Mississippi"

     Our flight from Texas to Mississippi was only an hour long, in fact, we arrived 10 minutes early.  The plane was very small only 3 seats per row and  maybe 22 rows but I'm here.  And it's my FIRST day!  I was really nervous thinking, HOLY CRAP,  I'm actually here, I can't believe it!  We got something to eat, then we were told the rules and such, then they sent me out to do some missionary work.  We met two people a girl named Ann and a guy named David.  I gave out my very FIRST  Book of Mormon and set up an appointment with David.  So a decent first day.  Spent some time getting to know some of the other missionaries and the Mission President.  I haven't met my trainer yet but I will later today.  I miss you, I love you!

                                                                      Your Son,

                                                                        Shawn

        

    Elders Whitehead, Nelson, Kerr and Marcum

             President and Sister Tucker and Sisters Aebischer and Mapu              

                                     
                    

Our Missionary called home from Dallas, Texas

We heard from our missionary today.  Elder Kerr was able to call home during his 2-hour layover in Dallas, Texas which should have been a 3-hour layover but his plane ended up being delayed departing as the door latch was broken and had to be repaired before they left Salt Lake.  But he's currently on route to Jackson, Mississippi and should arrive there at about 2 p.m. CST.  He's flying with 5 other missionaries for a total of 4 Elders and 2 Sisters.  He sounded GREAT and wanted everyone to know how grateful he is for all of the love and support.  He's received many letters and cards along with a few packages of goodies that he has shared with several other Elders and they have all enjoyed them alot!  You can follow his mission blog at http://presidenttucker.blogspot.com/ as well as his personal blog at http://eldershawnsblog.blogspot.com/   He put some pics in the mail Saturday so we should have those by tomorrow and be able to post a few soon.  We are so excited for and proud of our missionary.  He is constantly in our thoughts and prayers. We LOVE you Elder Kerr!

                                                            Missionary Mom:)

                                                           The dorm

February 14, 2012 Happy Valentine's Day

Dear family,
     Happy Valentine's Day!  Today I'm headed to the Provo Temple with my district.  This is my 2nd visit since I've been in the MTC.  Today we're having a General Authority speak to us for our Tuesday Devotional.  The Tuesday before I entered the MTC Elder Holland spoke, and Elder Nelson spoke at the MTC's 50th anniversary, and I think Elder Bednar spoke during Christmas so we're hoping that one of the Apostle's is speaking today.
     So I've decided I want to learn to play the Bag Pipes when I return.  I know it's a long shot and I may change my mind during the next 2 years but right now I think it would be awesome!  I LOVE singing the hymns with all of the missionaries here!!  It's AMAZING!
     I'm currently getting my suit dry cleaned for the field and I got my hair cut.  I've gained a little weight because they feed us so much (ha ha) but I'm cutting back on that stuff.  Thanks so much for all of the packages! And for all of the love and support you guys are giving me.  My testimony is growing stronger and stronger. I only wish I had prepared myself better for the MTC and my mission overall but I'm working hard and I plan on working my hardest my last week here.

                                                            Love your son
                                                            Elder Kerr

P.S.  I'll be calling home on my layover so try to get it off please:)

                           MTC Companions Elder Kerr and Elder Marcum

                                                            Provo Temple

February 10, 2012

Dear family,
     So I got my flight plans yesterday.  I'll be heading out early on February 20th.  I have about a 3 hour layover in Dallas, Texas (crazy that I'll be so close to Aaron) and then onto Jackson, Mississippi arriving there around 2 p.m.
     I'm loving it here.  It's still a lot of hard work and I'm still a little uncomfortable teaching investigators but overall I'm loving it!  Everyone is so freakin awesome!  If only the world were this nice it would be such a better place!  I'm down to my last 10 days now it's going faster and faster.
     I got that tooth taken care of but the filling already fell out so I'll have to go back in to get that fixed again before I leave.  Then I'll just have to be very careful when I eat.  Thanks for all the packages.
     I love you and miss you so much but I love it!

                                                                        Elder Kerr