We had an amazing lesson on the Plan of Salvation.

Dear family,

     I'm glad that Megan had a good birthday and I'm glad that she got my card :)

Tell Ingela Congratulations! That's great! Anyways, onto my week.

Monday the 4th

We had our normal P-day usual stuff and had a good time of that! We went up to New Boston for a little bit and decided to go ahead and do exchanges! Elder Percival came down to Atlanta with me and Elder Sorenson stayed in New Boston with Elder Poole!! Elder Percival has a couple longboards so we went to the School across the street from our place and did some of that. I'm not too good really haha. We got fed by the Neilson's and had Chilli Cheese dogs. Elder Percival and I always get into some deep conversations when we're together. When we were talking there was some really creepy noise in the woods next to us so we ran home hahaha!

Tuesday the 5th 

We have 2 lessons scheduled today.  The first one is with Joe Brown who has been investigating for a while but is having a hard time giving up smoking. We decided to read The Book of Mormon with him. After that we went to see, Beth Harper, our main investigator and we had an amazing lesson on the Plan of Salvation with her. Everything just clicked! The Spirit was strong! I loved it! Everything just flowed. We asked her if she ever wondered where she came from. And she said "Well I don't know for sure but I believe that I was back there with God." It went so well. I loved the lesson. We also talked about General Conference and she seemed really interested in that.

Wednesday the 6th

End of our Exchange! We went back up to New Boston for District Meeting! It was a great meeting! Loved it!  Went out to lunch at Taco Bell and then got a ride back by Brother Simmons. Not much else happened.

Thursday the 7th

Happy 18th birthday Megan!  An Ipad mini?!!! I bet that is exciting!!  I'm blank on this day. I can't seem to remember what happened haha sorry.

Friday the 8th

We tried to see quite a few people today but no luck at all. We were walking and went on and on but no luck.  I got really tired today! No idea why but I did! Slow day.

Saturday the 9th

We decided to help out a member today big time! There's a member who has a hard time taking care of his yard so we got into our service clothes and cleaned up his yard. We raked up the leaves, mowed the lawn, threw away a lot of trash and reorganized it! It was good! He was very appreciative! He fed us a little dinner and we had a good time! :) And the yard looks good and we're not done yet hahaha. We also got a new investigator. Her name is Brooke. She is 13 years old and wants to be taught! So we are starting tomorrow. This will be the first time I have taught someone younger.

Sunday the 10th

Today at church one of the mission presidents councelors, President Bodley, spoke! He was a good speaker! Sunday's are always good but today was actually a really good Sunday. We were able to talk with a lot of people. We even had our new investigator, Brooke, come to church today! And we taught her after church. It was good! Then we went to Ward Council meeting and talked about some investigators. We had dinner at the Neilson's, smoked chicken and steak, it was really good! A great barbque! Then we went home and called it a night! :)

Thats my week.

Love you all!

Elder Kerr

On Sun, Mar 10, 2013

Pics of Transfers 6 through 9 and my week in the work.

                                                                       Elder cowboy Kerr.

District pictures for transfer number 9 in Atlanta, Texas.

Elders Percival, Kerr, poole and Averett.

Elders Percival and Poole are assigned to New Boston, Texas. 

My 8th companion, Elder Averett at the Zone bonfire.

February 6, 2013.

                                          My 1 year mark and the traditional burning of a shirt.

     February 4, 2013

 Burning the shirt.

    Baptism in Atlanta for Dale Wilson, center.

Transfer day with Elder Neilson.

Transfer day with Elder Brinkerhoff.

                                                Transfer day, saying goodbye to the sisters.

Sister Jenkins, Mygrant, Carter, Weir and VanRoosendaal.

                             My last dinner in Monroe, Louisiana with the Frandsen's, Sister Earl,
                                                                Sarah and the Jenson's.

                                                          Playing the Viola at Hilton's shop.

                                           Hilton Lytle, violin maker and friend, Monroe, Louisiana.

                                                         My 7th companion, Elder Criswell.

.

                                                         District pictures of my 6th transfer.

                                                                                 

                                                            President Pena and family.

Elder Blomquist, my first companion in my first area, Meridian, Mississippi. 

We met up again at a training meeting in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

                                          Elder Criswell, Sarah Lee Groth and I at her baptism.
                                                                    My first baptism.

                                               Elder Kerr playing Santa at the ward Christmas party.

                                                                     Elder Santa Kerr.

                                                        My new Christmas tie from home.

                                                              

                                                              What a Thanksgiving feast.

                                                          After the Thanksgiving feast.

Elders Jones, Brinkerhoff, Kerr and Criswell.

Dear family,

     So my new companion is cool. Elder Sorenson is from Delta, Utah. He is way into big equipment like tractors and he is pretty experienced when it comes to construction and all that. He is a cool guy!

You'll have to keep me posted on how Jared is doing with his new job! I'm glad Megan had some good family birthday parties.  I sent my memory card home so you'll have some new pics. 

So my week in the work.

Monday, February 25th

We had New Boston come down to Atlanta and hangout with us. We were getting ready to head down to Shreveport the next day and New Boston was spending the night so we could drive down together. But once New Boston got to Atlanta we got a text saying that the new missionaries missed their flight. So the transfer day was moved to Wednesday instead of Tuesday. That kinda screwed up our plans. So today we played a game called pirates. It has little model ships set up with a bunch of different islands with gold on them. The objective is to get as much gold as you can onto your home island. It was a lot of fun and I loved it haha. We got fed by the Marchans which was really good.

Tuesday, February 26th

Since New Boston was already down here, we decided to do splits and double work the area of Atlanta. I went with Elder Percival and Elder Averett went with Elder Poole. We walked a long way! Our main plan was to try to find new investigators. We tracted and ran into a couple that we plan to go back to. We gave out 2 copies of The Book of Mormon. Anyway, it was a good day. We got Pizza sent to us by the Bishop's family, Dominos, way good! Loved it. Elder Averett and I got ready to head to Bossier City tommorow. We have to get up at like 430 and head out by 5, not excited about that.

Wednesday the 27th

We got up and got everything ready to go.  We headed down to Bossier City to the transfer point. We got there after driving in the dark for about an hour. I said goodbye to Elder Averett, one of my favorite companions. After they left I had to wait in the area for a while so I hung out with the Shreveport Zone Leaders. We went back to their pad and I just took a nap on their floor haha. After a little nap we went to the Church and played a little Basketball. It was a lot of fun and I played with some people that I haven't played with in a while. Loved it. After doing that we went to the Library for a bit then headed back to the transfer point to meet up with Elder Sorenson, my new companion. We got together and then headed back to Atlanta. We got some food sent to us and had Elder Sorenson got to meet a bunch of the members at Mutual, so that was good. We headed back to have some dinner and tried a few people.  Then just headed to bed.

Thursday, February 28th

I got to introduce Elder Sorenson to a lot of the members today. It was good times. Not much happened other then that. We had dinner with the Horsley family and that went well. She makes the best rice. I think it was called Jasmine Rice. Anyways, it was way good. I have really learned to love rice on my mission.

Friday, March 1st

Since Transfer day was Wednesday we decided to have District Meeting today! It went really well. I loved it. We had Elder Sorenson meet the rest of the District. And had a great lesson prepared by Elder Percival. This District just has some great district unity. Since we got paid we decided to get some quick grocieries and then headed back home. We had dinner with the Harvilles tonight and went to the SilverSpur. It's a steak house.  Really good and I didn't choke!!! haha Anyways they are a cool couple. She is very nice lady and he has a great personality. They talked to us about relationships, a lot actually. It was some good stuff to keep in mind but not for out here, of course. They took us home and we called it a night.

Saturday, March 2nd

We saw Joe Brown today who is a recent investigator. He is still really considering the church but has a lot of health problems. He doesn't have a ride and he is having a hard time letting go of smoking. Anyway, we just read out of the Book of Mormon and got to know him. We tried a lot of others but no luck. We did run into a guy named Drew, a former investigator, he told us to come by next friday. So we will see how it goes. Today there was a wedding that was being held at the Church for a Sister Song and Dale Johnson. We are trying to get in and teach Dale.  We gave him a Book of Mormon his first Sunday to church but he said he was going to be really busy with the wedding and that was today. It was good. A lot of food and another oppurtunity for Elder Sorenson to meet some of the members.

Sunday, March 3rd

Great Sabbath Day, of course. We had some good speakers and good lessons. Our Sunday school lesson was on Repentance. Loved it! And in Elders Quorum we decided to work out a day for the Elders Quorom to get together and have a cook off.  It was set for April 13th, my birthday hahaha. It's going to be good! After church we got some food from some members for lunch. Then we went and tried to find this media refferal. It was way out in the deep country. Once we got there we could see that it was vacant and not taken care of at all. Tons of weeds surrounding it! It was bad. We guessed some homeless people or maybe illegals lived there.  In the referal they did ask for a Spanish Book of Mormon. It was wierd and a big waste of miles. We went back home because Elder Sorenson was feeling kind of dizzy. He took a nap while I read. After he woke up we went to the Neilsons for dinner and enjoyed that a lot. They are such a cool family! I love them. Then we went back home, sent in numbers and called it a night.

     That was my week. Love and miss ya!

love your son

Elder Kerr

P.S. I can't remember if I gave this to you but it's the new mission office address:

                                                         175 Burnham Rd.

                                                         Brandon, MS 39208

I'm staying in Atlanta and Elder Averett is going to Brookhaven, Mississippi.

I did here about the 58 new missions. Mine probably will be split next year at sometime. Apparently, they asked President if they would be willing to split the mission but Sister McDonough was like "NO, not unless we can have all of our missionaries come with us" !!!!! Hahaha. So it's not splitting this year, I don't think. It would be turned into the Mississippi Jackson Mission and the Shreveport Louisiana Mission when it does happen. Yep, I did hear that Utah and Mississippi are the most religous states at some point. So I haven't fixed my bike just yet because it is still rideable but I am looking into it. 

Monday the 18th

P-Day as usual but we decided to go up to New Boston and hangout with the other Elders today. We had a goodtime hanging around in New Boston we decided to play Monoply and went to the park and just had a good time.

Tuesday the 19th

We did studies as usual and then we had an appointment with an investigator named Thomas. We read out of the Book of Mormon with him and he seemed to feel something that Elder Averett pointed out afterwards but he didn't act on it. We talked to him about joining but he just doesn't feel ready yet. He said maybe someday but not soon. He just won't pray about The Book of Mormon.  Then we went out to Uncle Johns for lunch. Sister Gholson took us and her husband Carrol, he isn't a member, but we are trying to get in with him and teach him. But he just seems to turn off when we talk about him joining. Sister Gholson wants to be sealed to him so badly. Next we went over to the Browns and we finished fixing his pelet gun. And it works. I love trying to fix things. =) Well it was working but then it started acting up again.  Then we headed down to Linden to the Ward family and had dinner. We had Chicken Spaghetti and we played a little game with them called Pig Squeal. It was a funny game that I want to teach people back home. Everyone sits in a circle and there is a person in the middle that is blindfolded and they have a stick. You spin around so you lose track of where people are and you try and poke someone. Then when you poke someone you are suppose to say "squeal piggy". And they're suppose to squeal like a pig in some way.  Then you try and guess who it is.   If you're right you switch places, if not, they try to poke someone else. It was a lot of fun.

Wednesday the 20th

We gave the car back to New Boston after DDM. We had a great DDM. We took pictures of us with Cowboy hats! Then we got picked up by Brother Simmons and we went down to help them with their house. We got a lot done. They fed us lunch and we had to leave. We got dropped of at the Straders for dinner, they are very nice people. They have a really big German Shepherd named Zeus! He is a funny dog because once we tried to leave he started barking and tried to get us not to go hahaha. He doesn't like it when people leave that he doesn't know too well. Anyways, Sister Strader got baptized by an Elder Kerr in Arkansas. That is cool.

Thursday the 21st

Mostly all we did today was help Brother Doran with his Home teaching. It was good. We saw the Laws and we saw the Gholsons. We also stopped by at the Straders again hahaha.  And then the Dorans fed us.

Friday the 22nd
Not that great of a day. Not much happened at all with being able to see people. But oh well, you have those days every once in a while.  We found out that I will be staying in Atlanta and Elder Averett is being transferred to Brookhaven, Mississippi.  My new companion will be Elder Sorenson.

Saturday the 23rd

We helped the Simmons again today with their house. We are mainly helping them with putting sheet rock on the ceiling. I really enjoyed helping them. And I really enjoy helping to build a house.  And apparently, Sister Simmons saw something in me that not many people have that could really help me in carpeting, I guess. She said I think ahead really well haha. It made me feel good.  And something else to look into when I get back home=)  They ended up feeding us dinner and it was some really good meatloaf. Then we headed home and called it a night.

Sunday the 24th

A fantastic Sabbath. It was Elder Averett's last Sunday and he said goodbye to a lot of people. =) A lot of people love him here so a lot of people are sad to see him go. We headed home and had lunch. Then we went to see some people. We saw an investigator named Jerom, a pretty tall guy, who has all kinds of conspiracy theories about the world and it was kind of scary. So I don't think we will be going there again. He's also an alcoholic. Then we went to check on Beth Harper to see how she is doing. She was having a hard time with some health problems and stuff like that.  She was very worried. Then we just got this big impression to talk about priesthood blessings. I even got teary eyed talking about it. It was a great spiritual experience =) We gave her one. It was great.  After that we got picked up to go to the Oreilys for dinner with the Neilsons. We had some good dinner and dessert. We got fed really well there and that is part of the reason I want "Insanity" hahaha. Well we had a goodtime at the Oreilys. Brother Oreily is a really funny guy. Love him! When we first drove up to his house I was like is this his Storage. But it ended up being his house. And it is very nice inside. It looks like a Store house but he mad a very nice house inside it. It was a pretty big nice house. Loved it.

Well I will end there I love you all and miss you all and I hope you guys have a good week.

Love your son Elder Kerr

The past 2 weeks in the work!

Dear family,

The work has been going alright. We have an investigator named Beth Harper! She is our top investigator! And she is doing great! She loves all the stuff we teach her and she is very open. Once we can get her to church she will be solid I really believe it! 

I did hear about the pope, crazy stuff!  I am so grateful for our Prophet Thomas S. Monson! He is definitley my favorite prophet and probably my favorite speaker! He just has such a great love for everybody around him. And congrats to Alex on his temple endowment!

So I have an idea of what I want for my birthday!!!! It's an idea I'd really like to try. It's called Insanity! It's a workout DVD that is perfect for a missionary because all you use is your body to do the workouts! http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/insanity.do?code=SEMB_GOOGLE_SAN_TBBTESTBB2- here is a link to it but I'm sure you can buy it somewhere else but that is something that I really would like for my birthday! I would love it! =) Let me know what you think.

February 11th - 16th.  This is week 4 of this transfer already and since this is a shortened transfer this next week is our last week of this transfer.

11th Monday

Our usual P-day stuff. Did emails laundry and stuff like that. We got fed by a member as well. She took us to a chinese buffet. Those buffets are really popular in the South! Around 6:30 we got ready to go to the Franks for there family home evening. We had a good time there! We did mormon card games, like a trivial game with all the standard works in it! It was way fun. We gave April Franks a blessing after because she was getting her wisdom teeth out in preparation for her mission. We have 2 sisters in the ward preparing to go on missions really soon.

12th Tuesday

It was a really rainy day so we couldn't get much done but we did go see Beth Harper and we taught her The Restoration and watched a Restoration movie with her. It went really well. She made us one of her famous Chocolate cakes and we really enjoyed it. After that we went to dinner with the Marchans. We had cold pizza and boneless wings!

13th Wednesday

District Meeting day. The Zone Leaders were there also. We had a great lesson. Elder Ison and Bisel are the Zone Leaders. We talked about not just doing gospel things but having them become who we are. After that we went to the Simmons to help them with their house. We worked on their piping and it was the first time I used a pickaxe to brake up cement! It was fun and a workout! haha. We got fed by the Schlossers today and they made us Curry Chicken. It was good! We had correlation meeting with Brother Lyle! And then headed back home and called it a night.

14th Thursday

Got our apartments checked today and we got a good grade on that. The Simpsons do that for us, they're a senior couple in Shreveport. We again did service with the Simmons. Didn't have much success seeing people today but we did go have dinner with the Finchers. They fed us Lasagna and Ceaser salad. We played a game of poole with the family and had a good talk with them. Then we headed out!

15th Friday

I met an investigator named Mr. Little today. He is a way funny guy. He's not progressing and won't do much but he lets us in and talks with us. He is a great guy though. We saw the Robinsons who are a recent convert. We tried to get them to pray but they just won't pray in front of us.  It's bad! I hope we can help them with that.

16th Saturday

We kinda had a slow day today but we went and tried a few people but no one was home! But we got to see a member Brother Brown. We read The Book of Mormon with him and after we just got to talking. Elder Averett and him really like golf so they got to talking about that and I just listened because I don't know too much about golf. Well, other than hitting them as hard as I can on the range! But I did learn about all the different kinds of clubs they had.  I was looking at Brother Browns Pelit Gun. It was broken and so I started taking it apart and I started fiddling around with it and I fixed it! I just had to super glue a piece together so we had to wait for a couple days to put it all together. I really enjoyed trying to fix that thing. I dont know why.

17th Sunday 

We had a wonderful Sunday today. I taught Sunday School and it was a good time. I taught Chapter 17 in Gospel Principles, "The Church of Jesus Christ Today". It's always so enjoyable to go to church. Anyway, we had a Ward Council after church and our Bishop talked about this meeting he went to in Baton Rouge. A bunch of other bishops and stakes were there. Elder L. Tom Perry was there with a seventy. They talked a lot about the missionary situation right now. They called like 56 new mission presidents for 56 new missions. And in the future at some time we are not sure when but this mission will probably be split to The Shreveport Louisiana Mission and the Mississippi Jackson Mission. Elder Perry said that Mitt Romney did the best missionary kind of work for this Church that he has seen in a while. He said,  "That the world is not ready for a Mormon President right now but he has fullfilled what, I think, he set out to do and that is introduce the church to 50% more people". Some crazy stuff. This was kind of a slow day today as well. Nobody was home who we tried to see. We ended up watching the Joseph Smith movie with The Nielson family and then headed home and called it a night.

February 4th - February 10th

February 4th!

We had Interviews with President McDonough today up in Texarkana. We went up to New Boston to pick up Elders Percival and Poole to head up there because we car share and we had the car during that time. We got some breakfast at this Dounut Shop right next to where we live like 2 places down. Then we headed up to New Boston around 830 and got there around 915. We played some Settlers of Cantan with them. That is very fun board game I think! After that we headed up to Texarkana around 11:30 checked out some cowboy shops and had Lunch at Cici's Pizza! I love Cici's pizza. So after that we headed to the church and met up with all the missionaries. We have a small Zone! Our Zone is about the same size as my District in Monroe. We have a total of 12 missionaries in the Texarkana Zone! We Met with President as a companionship and talked with him about our area. Then He interviewed Elder Averett first then I went in! We talked about goals that I had to become a better missionary and I really enjoyed my time with him. I try to make the best out of it! After We played a little dodge ball with the Zone Leaders and APs hahaha it was a lot of fun. We practiced teaching with the APs and said good bye to everyone and then headed back down to Atlanta because we had a dinner appointment with the Mcquivies (not sure how to spell there name) But we had homemade pizza and had a good time getting to know them. We left a scripture with them. Actually one of my favorite chapters. John 17. Its a great chapter of Christ Praying to the father before he goes to the Garden! I love the New Testament and Im loving the Book of Mormon so far. I am almost done with Alma! So close! Anyways after dinner I got myself a cowboy hat =) then we played some basketball with some members and

after that I burnt my shirt for my 1 year mark!

February 5th

We had a half P-day today because we didnt really have time to do things the day before because of interviews! We got some stuff done then around 4 we got picked up for dinner with the Boyles. They live all the way down in Vivian and that is in Louisiana around 25 minuttes from our place. And that is still our area! Well we had make your own burritoes! They were way good!! I had a lot to eat as well! Anyways we kinda hung out there for a bit. We watched "A Giant Among Men, Gordon B. Hinkley" Movie! Its a good one then we headed back and called it a night.

February 6th

So today instead of doing District Meeting. We went up to Texarkana and did a big Zone Bonfire meeting. Since our Zone is so small we do a big Zone Council for ourselves each month. So we went up to Texarkana. I got my self a Carhart shirt. I love these shirts there good sturdy shirts for service! We got 3 pounds of beef and then headed to the church and everyone made a Hobo dinner and everyone brought supplies for it! While everyone was make some for them. Me and Elder Percival were messing around pretending to be in a action movie hahaha. Anyways after that we headed to a members house and had a big Bon Fire! Made Smores, Roasted Starbursts! Which were really good! some brought drinks and then we were all suppose to bring a piece of paper with a fear that we had that was holding us back as a missionary and mine was "talking with everyone!" We then had a lesson on whats holding us back as missionaries. Then at the end we though those fears in the fire and burnt them away! Then we had our dinners. We had to the leave. So we took them with us and gave the car to New Boston then we got a ride from the Marchans back home and headed to bed.

February 7th

We had kind of a slow day today but also a very beautiful day! Very clear skies and all. It felt like spring. We don't get a lot of those kind of days usually a lot of cloudy days. We got out and saw Beth Harper. She wasn't feeling that great but she still had us come in. She is way interested in the church. She is our top investigator I would say! She is great! She can't come to church due to her immune system being down right now! But she is reading The Book of Mormon. We had a good meeting with her. She is a sweet lady! She is the one we helped with the fence. She is just so impresseed with the Mormon Church. We set a return appointment for next Tuesday at 3:30 and headed out. We went to another investigators house named Matt. but on the way we ran into a lady that needed help with her car window it got stuck. It was at this Church/Food Pantry and we asked if we can come by and help her out with the Food Pantry and so now we have a service day every thursday hopefully! we tried to see if she was interested in learning more about us but she is a talker and then she just said goodbye. So anyways we went to go see Matt he is a football coach/teacher at Atlanta High School. This was the first time meeting him. He is funny guy. He has a date for May 1st! he has a lot of questions but he couldn't meet with us that long. So we said a prayer and headed out! Then we tried a part time family who wasn't home. So we headed to Walmart to be picked up for dinner. Brother Simmons picked us up and brought us dinner from Sister Zylks. Then he dropped us off at our place and we had some good dinner. It got late and we just called it a night.

February 8th

We did weekly Planning today then went down and did some quick emails. When we were at the Library Elder Averett ran into an investigator that he and Elder Whitehead had found like 2 months earlier named Donni.  So we talked with him outside at a table. He had a lot of questions about what we do and believe. He had a lot of weird of questions as well. He asked us questions like "What is Jesus?" What is God" I just started naming off charteristics but he didn't seem satisfied with the answer. We tried to talk to him about the Book of Mormon. He said things like you can't trust man because they will fail you, you have to trust God. I'm like right, never take any ones word for it.  Pray and ask God! So we talked about reading The Book of Mormon but he was like, "that is a man made thing not from God" and I said "but it is from God and you can know by praying and asking God." Then he said, "that's not what my preacher told me!" And in my head I was just like. WHAT!? You just said like 5 minutes ago that you shouldn't trust man. You got to trust God! This is one of the biggest problems here, I think. People don't really understand prayer! They trust their preacher more then God himself!  And I just don't understand how people only believe that The Holy Bible is the only scripture out there! It just isn't so! People don't even understand where we got the Bible. I said to him if there isn't anymore scripture than just the Bible then how do they explain the Dead Sea Scrolls? How do you explain that out of the 4 gospels we read in the Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John that there is more gospels that are not in the Bible! How do you explain that archaeologists have found plates of brass and gold with ancient writings on them. Anyways, we told him that we just want him to do the most simple thing ever that is to read it and pray about it.  So we challenged him to at least read the Title Page, Introduction and Testimonies of it and set a return appointment for tomorrow. We tried a few other people not much happened but we finally went and saw the Browns and just read some scriptures with them. We went to Subway for dinner and had one of the best sandwhiches ever and then called it a night!

February 9th

We split wood and did service most the day today for the Boyles! I love doing service. They fed us Chili and then we went back up for out appointment with Donni but it fell through! We then went to Shads house and we had a great discussion with him. We talked more about scripture and a little about the Plan of Salvation. I don't even remember half the stuff we talked about. The Spirit guidied it really well. Then we went to the Browns again that night and he gave us a ride back up to our place and called it a night.

Febuary 10th

Sunday we went to church and had some great meetings. We got a new Ward mission leader Brother Lyle. Talked with him a bit. He is really gung ho, which I'm excited about. Anyways, we did a lot of study today and did some area book stuff then headed to bed.

Well Love you all, miss you all and tell grandma I got her cookies.  We loved them. Talk to you later

love your son

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

Dear family,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    

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

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

Love your son,

Elder Kerr

PS My bike is still broken for now.

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