My new companion is Elder Hopman from Oregan. He's a good kid and likes sword fighting.

     Thank you so much for the birthday wishes and that goes for everybody! It's much appreciated. I did receive the package and card thank you so much. =) And I did have a good birthday! I loved it! We had an Elders Quorum social that day as well which was really fun, it wasn't for my birthday but it was still fun hahaha. Anyways it was great.

     I can't believe that Alex is entering the MTC so soon! That's great!!!!! It's going to be exciting, he will leave before the end of this transfer I believe!! And Mother's Day is coming up soon.  Um I think that we will be able to skype for Mother's Day.  We have a family that offered us a computer to use.  So we totally could! Here's my week.

Monday the 8th

Was the last P-day I was with Elder Sorenson before his transfer.  Elder Percival was also here and ready to go as well from New Boston. We had a great time going out to see people for his last day here. We ended up going to the Neilson's for a bonfire and roasted hot dogs and made smores. Then we headed back and I barely got any sleep because we had to get up at like 3:45 to get ready to go!

Tuesday the 9th

Transfer Day- we headed down to Shreveport at 4:30 am and got there around 6. Then they were loaded up and headed out by around 6:30. So Elder Poole and I just hung out in Shreveport until the van got back with our new companions. We checked some stores like the Bass Pro Shop! That was a way cool store I want to go there again! They got back around 4 pm and then we headed back up to our areas. The car was packed with luggage because we have a small Toyota and trying to fit 4 guys and a bunch of luggage made for an interesting trip.

     Anyways sorry to cut this short but I've got to go. I will tell you the rest of the week later

So I will start from where I ended in my last email.

Wednesday the 10th

It was a really stormy day and we were stuck in New Boston because I didn't want to drive home in it. But eventually it stopped and we headed back to Atlanta. We saw The Robinson's and gave Carrie a blessing and then went to Beth Harper's for Elder Hopman to meet. Then headed home for the night.

Thursday the 11th

Also a day to show Elder Hopman around town and to meet members. I had him meet the Brown's, and the Neilsons and we had dinner with them as well. We helped Brother Neilson with his chicken coop and called it a night.

Friday the 12th

We got up and headed to the church right away to help the Frank's with moving a stage to a different room. so that they could move the seminary into that one. This church house has a big stage that they can take apart and put together but they never use it. Anyways we got that all moved out and then they took us out to breakfast at McDonald's. The Rest of the Day was kinda a slow day but we did try this media refferal we got and it was in Doddrige, Arkansas. We got out there and it is in the middle of nowhere! Everytime I get a media refferal it's always in the middle of nowhere. And nobody was home!!! AARRGGHH!!! I hate when that happens!

Saturday the 13th

My birthday. Not one of the most eventful birthdays ever for me but I did try to make some brownies which I didn't have the right amount of stuff for. So it ended up being more like a cake. Then I didn't wait for it to cool before I put the candles in it. Mentle note: never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever put candles into a cake that just barely came out of the oven. The Candles melted inside of the cake!! It was bad. So I had waxed mixed cake that was suppose to be brownies for my birthday hahahaha. We also had an Elders Quorum social today and had some really good food!!

Sunday the 14th

Great Sunday! Our fast Sunday was today because of General Conference! We heard some great testimonies! It was awesome! We ended up going to Harville's for lunch afterwards and they live down in Rodessa! The Harville's are a really cool family! I figured out that Brother Harville is in the movie business. And he has worked on some screenplays for movies and he told me all about doing screenplays.  And you know me, I love movies! He told me to get one of my favorite movies and the screenplay watch the movie then read the screenplay and then watch the movie again. After doing that for about 50 different movies I will be able to understand how screenplays work. So I may check that out when I get home. After we got home we tried to contact a few different people.  We got to see one of our investgators, Thomas Clark. We just had Elder Hopman meet him and see how he was doing! Then we headed on over to the Neilson's for our usual dinner with them. It was good! Headed home and called it a night.

Monday the 15th

P-day.  We went up to New Boston to hang with the Elders up there for a bit. Around 4:30 we headed back to Atlanta and started Exchanges. So the new Elder in New Boston, Elder Bytheway, came down with me to Atlanta. And Elder Hopman stayed in New Bosten with Elder Poole.  Then we went to the Neilson's again for dinner because they wanted to celebrate all the April Birthdays and I was one of the birthdays. Hahaha so that was fun.

Tuesday the 16th

Today we did a lot of service and I got my package from you guys today! I loved the Batman Shirt and the DVDs and the brand new white shirt! Thank you. We cleaned up a yard full of sticks and rocks so the lawn could be safely mowed. Checked on Jeff Brown and then the rest of the day was kinda slow! We went to Taco Bell for dinner and then called it a day.
Wednesday the 17th

VERY HUMID DAY TODAY and District Meeting! And the end of the Exchange with Elder Bytheway! We had the Zone Leaders here for District Meeting today, which is Elder Ison and Elder Milligan. We had a great meeting. We talked about finding people and getting our areas up and running with finding. It was a great meeting I thought. So when we headed back to Altanta we focused on finding a good area to start tracting on the map and finding people with our area books. That was mainly our day. We went to the library today also. Then we were walking by a restaurant in town called Luigi's and I just thought to myself that would be really good right now. Then all of the sudden we here a whistle coming from the restaurant and it's the Harville's asking us if we have had lunch! We were like no. And so we got to eat there =D hahaha

Thursday the 18th

Went from a very hot day to a very cold day today! We got rained on without a car! So it sucked! We didn't do anything because we couldn't.

Friday the 19th

Today we went down to Jimmys house to do some service on his house. It was so cool because he had gotten a baby Rottweiler! And I love Rottweilers! So it was cool! When I was talking with Jimmy he pointed out this big cat looking thing that crossed the road! It was bigger then a bobcat and it was black! We believe we saw a panther down in Rodessa! People around here said they have seen some and now we know hahaha. After we helped on the house we went and helped Brother Simmons. Then we picked up dinner from the Cross' and headed home. After we ate we went and saw the Robinson's. It was dark when we walked home. As we were walking we saw this figure in the distance and it was a guy walking toward us. I'm just thinking! Oh shoot! We walked passed him and waved. When I waved I saw in his other hand that he had a weapon of somekind! So I was like holy crap hahaha.  We got back and called it a night.

Saturday the 20th

So today was another slow day but we met with a few members and did some service for the Neilson's and they fed us today instead of feeding us tommorow.

Sunday the 21st

So it was Elder Hopman's 2nd Sunday and he got to speak today on Sacrifice! He did a good job and we had a good Sunday! After Church we went with Brother Lyle to give this Lady in a Nursing home the Sacrament. She was so happy when she got it! =) it made me feel awesome for helping out. Sweet lady! Afterwards we went to the Marchan's for dinner and had some Bass and Brim! It was good! I'm still not a huge fish eater but I can eat it now. I think Bass is my favorite fish now though either that or Catfish! He said that he would take us out fishing so I definitely want to do that with them. After we went and saw Beth Harper and had a good discussion with her. Then we headed back home and got picked up for dinner. While we were walking home on the same street we saw the guy with a weapon some cops stopped us and asked if we saw a black guy around here bleeding. I'm just like no. But I guess this street is pretty bad with crime hahaha kinda scary. We got back and the Frank's picked us up and fed us some Pizza and Spaghetti! It was really good! We played a trivia game with them on the 4 standard works and then headed home for the night, called in numbers, and went to sleep.

     So I will tell you a little about my companion. He is a quiet guy and keeps to himself. He has opened up more but still is very quiet I have to make most of the decisions. This is his 4th transfer out and he's a good kid! He likes sword fighting and he's from Oregon!

     Well that will be all for today. I love you and I miss you and I hope all will continue to do well.

Love your son Elder Kerr.

P.S.  Dad, I also can't believe that I have been out 14 months! It has gone by so fast! And that was my 3rd General Conference in the Mission which I also can't believe. This area has really brought the RedNeck out in me hahaha. I really want to go hunting with you when I get back I actually want to go bow hunting! I think that will be really cool! I would love to get a cross bow and go hunting. What really brought this up was my visit to the new Bass Pro Shop in Shreveport this last Tuesday. I loved it there hahaha.  Which store is bigger, Cabelas or Bass Pro Shop? Anyways, I thought it was a really cool place.

Happy "21st" Birthday to our WONDERFUL son, Elder Kerr.

     Happy birthday to our wonderful son, Shawn (Elder Kerr) who turned 21 years old today!  We couldn't be happier with the choices he has made in his life and the fine young man he has grown into.  Happy Birthday son!  Here's a little trip down memory lane.  Growing up. . . . . . .Little Shawn.

                                                      baby Shawn. . . . . . . .what a cutie!

Toddler Shawn. . . . . .first trip to the zoo:)

Toddler Shawn feeding baby sister Megan with dad.

                                   Shawn as a BYU football player for Halloween with sister Megan.

                Another hair cut.  His barber said that he has the hair of 3 men.  Little Shawn and sister Megan. 
                                                                 

           And then they were three. . . . . . . .Megan, Jared and Little Shawn at one of his favorite
                                                places the Dinosaur Park in Ogden.

                                           2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics.  Shawn is 10 years old.

                 Little Shawn loves Pizza. . . . . . . . .on his 13th birthday we ordered the Giant sized:)
                                                                      

                     Another favorite place. . . . . . the happiest place. . . . . . Shawn 14 years old.

2010 on Navajo Lake

 Navajo Lake campground 2010.  Shawn 18 years old.

And now. . . . . . Elder Shawn Kerr!  Happy Birthday son!

Staying in Atlanta but getting a new companion.

Dear family,
Thank Grandma Ivy and Grandma Sharon for their gifts they are much appreciated. Well we got the calls, Elder Sorenson is leaving and going to Pass Christian. It's down on the coast and I'm getting Elder Hopman. I'm being made District Leader again because Elder Percival is being transferred to Slidell, Louisiana, the most Cajun part of the mission. Somewhere I want to serve in really badly hahahaha! So I'm staying in Atlanta and so my address is still good to go. Anyways onto my week.
Monday the 25th
It was a good P-Day. Did the usual. We went to the Ward family for dinner and had some delicious Spaghetti!! And a good spirtual thought. Loved it! One of their kids reminds me of myself when I was younger hahaha. He is a picky eater, has that thick hair and he loves Hot Cheetos!!! hahahahahaha oh yeah!!! Anyways after that we went over to Jeff's, a less active member, and hung out with him for a bit. Then headed home and called it a night.
Tuesday the 26th
Slow day today but we did get to have dinner with the Gholson family.  They're an older couple, she is a member and he isn't. But he loves us missionaries and he is a pretty funny guy. Hopefully we will have a chance to teach him someday.
Wednesday the 27th
District Meeting! Our 2nd to last before the transfer!!! It was a great meeting! Loved it so much!!!! We had the ZLs come as well which was awesome! Then we went out to eat at Bloomburg foods for lunch. Another slow day after that but we did get fed by the Zylks! They brought it over to us.
Thursday the 28th
We went and saw Beth Harper to check on her. She is going through some trials right now and just needed someone to talk to and we were there for her. We talked to her about The Word of Wisdom and gave her the pamphlet. We also talked to her about the upcoming Young Women's Conference and thought she might be interested in it. We are planning to watch that with her this next Saturday. After her we went and checked on the Robinson's. And they're doing pretty good in their new house.  They gave us some incense which was awesome!  Elder Sorenson and I have and incense burner that is a 5 headed dragon and when you light the incense inside of it, smoke starts to come out of the mouths and ears.  It's way legit!  LOVE IT!  HAHA!  Then we checked on Jeff and headed home.  Much better day than the others.
Friday the 29th
So today was an interesting day. We went down to Rodessa to help Jimmy Phillips with his house! We got a lot done and they ended up wanting to feed us afterwards! We already had some dinner lined up but they were just sending it home with us so we decided we would come back to Jimmy's house later. Then we went to Brother Simmons to help with his house.  Afterwards we picked our food and took it to Jimmys house for dinner. Their family aren't members but they love us so much for helping them out. We hung out with his kids and ate. Their boy gave us some paper to draw on. So I drew a dragon and they both liked it! So I drew one for each of their kids =). Jimmy saw the drawing and told me he is looking for an artist for a future job he is hoping to get into with comics and stuff like that. He asked me to draw him a picture to see if he might be interested in having me draw for him. I was like alright. He said, once you're all done with your mission you could work for me if I like your work. So I'm drawing him something to see if he likes it hahaha. After dinner he took us home and we called it a night!
Saturday the 30th
Slower day but we got to see the Neilson's and met with them for a little bit. After that we went and watched the Young Women's Conference with Beth Harper. She loved it and even recorded it! So I know she will enjoy watching General Conference! I can't wait to watch it! It's going to be way exciting!!! Oh yeah, she ended up making us some grilled cheese sandwhiches and then we called it a night!
Sunday the 31st
Happy Easter! It was a great Sunday and a very stormy one as well!!! It was great hahaha. It was pouring like crazy outside during sacrament. We had some great talks. Elder Sorenson talked and so did our Ward Mission Leader.  Great ones! After church we did our usual and went over to the Neilson's for an Easter dinner. After dinner we went home and then we headed up to New Boston for our last P-day on Monday. And that was our week.
I'll end there. I love ya and miss ya
your son
Elder Kerr

April 9th is our next transfer date. . . . . start using the Mission Office address.

Dear family,
     Sorry for the short emails these past couple of weeks.  A lot's been going on and I don't have much time again today.  I'll write more later in the week.  Transfers are on April 9th.  I don't think I'll be transferred but start using the Mission Office address to send me mail until I know for sure.  They will forward all my mail to me and it only takes an extra day.  Here's the Mission Office address:

Elder Shawn Kerr                                                         

Mississippi Jackson Mission

175 Burnham Rd.

Brandon, MS 39042

Tell grandma Sharon I got her package and thank her for that. We had a pretty packed week with a lot of meetings, traveling and bad weather! Not much missionary work happened sadly but here's the info for March 11th thru the 24th.  I'll send this last week's info later in the week.

Monday March 11th

Happy 21st Birthday to Aaron Jackson. It's crazy that he is coming home so soon! I can't believe it. And to other friends as well that came home recently! Here's a shout out to Patrick, Eric Hoskins and Nate Humphreys for returning home from their missions!! It really went by fast! Today was just an average P-Day! But we did go to the Boyle's for dinner and they live down in Vivian which is in Louisiana! We had their special Boneless Ribs!!! Oh, they were so good! He is a funny guy and family. The Lyle's joined us for dinner as well and after words Brother Lyle took us home. On the way we had a good dicussion with him on mission life. He is our Ward Mission Leader and he was telling us about his mission. He served in the Salt Lake City mission back in '06 or something like that. Anyways, he told us some cool stuff from that mission. He served in the Magna area. It was cool, all good!

Tuesday the 12th

Today was a good day! We got to see several people. We taught Brooke more on The Book of Mormon. She is having a hard time understanding it but she is coming along and is very interested in learning more. Then we went to see Beth Harper so Elder Sorenson could meet her. We set up another appointment with her and went to see some recent converts, the Robinsons. They just moved into a new house that is much closer so thats nice. Then we got fed by the Gholson's and had some good Ribs! It was a good time with them. I loved it! Great Day!

Wednesday the 13th

District Meeting, good as always had lunch at the Deli in the area for free. It's nice to go there every once in a while! Then we went down to Rodessa to help out this recent investigator, Jimmy Phillips. He's remodeling his house! It was hard work but I enjoyed it. There's a lot of work still to be done so we are going to try to get a big service project going on it with the priesthood!  Afterwards Brother Simmons took us out to dinner at Subway! Good stuff!!!

Thursday the 14th

Today we saw Jeff Brown and asked when we could stop by and help him out with cleaning his back yard. We are going to go over tommorow to do it. Lots of fun. We taught Beth Harper today a lesson on The Gospel of Jesus Christ! It was a really good lesson but she just isn't quite ready to commit to joining just yet because of her husband. But we love her and are continuing to teach her. She is still very interested in General Conference. It will be good! After that we headed over to see the Neilson's. We visited with them for a bit and they fed us dinner. And we got to help out with mowing their lawn. It was the first time I rode on a sit down lawn mower. Once we finished Elder Sorenson tried to drive the mower up into the truck. Not a good idea he almost fell over onto his head with the mower on top of him. He is kind of a crazy kid. Just doesn't seem to care what others think. haha

Friday the 15th

We spent the day cleaning up Jeff's backyard. It was lots of fun! We got a lot done and cleaned it up pretty good! Then they fed us dinner and we headed home for the night.

Saturday the 16th

Today we went up to New Boston to wash the car for the coming Zone Conference!! We got it cleaned and headed to Walmart to get a few things. We stayed and ate dinner at Taco Bell. Played a game and then headed back to Atlanta. It was a good time.

Sunday the 17th

Church once again. And it's always a booster!! Loved it! Not much really happened today. We took a little nap after church and then we headed over to Bloomburg to have dinner with the Neilson's! I love that family and they sure do love to have us over for dinner. The Oriely's came over as well to hangout for a bit. The Neilson's and Oriely's are crazy together. They're really good friends.  Then the Frank's also came over and they had a big discussion on Obama and what he his doing to this Nation. I'm just thinking in my head, "I HATE POLITCS! SO MUCH CONTENTION!!!!" We have Zone Conference tomorrow so New Boston came and spent the night.  We are closer to Shreveport than they are. We talked for a bit and then headed to bed. We have to get up early.  We have car inspections at 7:30 am. 

Monday the 18th

We got up and headed down for Zone Conference. We headed out around 6 to get there on time but we were pretty early hahaha.  We got all the car inspections done with and had our meeting. It was an awesome meeting! Got to see a bunch of different missionaries I hadn't seen for a while! Good stuff! During the meeting Elder Sorenson and I got to do a demonstration on  finding people. We do a lot of practicing in this mission. We also took 3rd place in the clean car award so that was cool! Then they sang Happy Birthday to me and a few others and we got some goodies! It was a great meeting.  The main focus was to teach people not lessons. Afterwards us and the New Boston Elders went to the mall and a few other stores that we don't get to see a lot of out in the country.  Then because we had another meeting we had to go to tommorow we spent the night with the spanish Elders here in this Zone! We had a good time with them! We played Settlers of Catan with them and enjoyed the night! We also ate at Panda Express which was way good!

Tuesday the 19th

We went to the special meeting. It was a meeting for new missionaries, Sisters, and District Leaders. We got invited to the District Leader one. We did a lot of practicing and went over what they needed to do in the meetings! After that we ate at Taco Bell. We tried their new Cool Ranch Dorrito taco which I enjoyed! Then we headed back home and decided to go up to New Boston and double work the area. We spent the night. I went with Elder Poole and we did a lot of tracting and saw a few people! Then headed back to the pad for dinner and then we had a great discussion on the gospel. I love deep discussions hahaha.

Wednesday the 20th

Since we had our meetings the past 2 days our P-day was moved to today! So we spent the day up here in New Boston and just hung out. We went to the park and threw a frisbee around! We found some Antlions. I had never heard about these guys before but they make a little hole in the sand and ants fall into it. It's like a lttle trap. There like little Tremors like in the movie hahahah. It was interesting to see one take down an ant. Yeah as missionaries we get entertained easliy hahaha.  Anyways, I played a new game today called Magic. A lot of missionaries have the cards our here and it's a lot of fun I played it once with The Jacksons back in the day and enjoyed it then. It was a lot of fun. After that we got picked up by Brother Simmons and headed home for the day.

Thursday the 21st thru Saturday the 23rd

Holy crap those were some crappy days. We had some very cold, bad, weather and we weren't able to do anything because we also didnt have the car! It was bad I went crazy hahahaha. But we did get to go to a dinner appointment. I finally got to try Catfish. I tried it and I don't understand why so many people like it. I didn't think it was that good at all. I mean I could eat it but I didn't really think it was all that great. I'm just not a big fan of fish in general I guess. During these days I also got to prepare for a talk on Sunday and Elder Sorenson taught me a little more on Magic haha. Not a great week at all with the work.

Sunday the 24th

I got to speak on Baptism! We had 3 investigators in church today, Dale Johnson, Brooke, and Kayla. All investigators but not progressing! The Gospel Principles teacher didn't show up so I ended up teaching that class hahaha. It was on the Sacrament! It went pretty well! After church, the Neilson's wanted to feed us, of course.  They are so good to us.  But Elder Sorenson had made the dinner for the day! He made this really good bean recipe. It was a bunch of different beans mixed in with bacon and beef! Really good! Then headed home and called it a night!

Love ya  and miss ya

your son Elder Kerr

P.S. Aaron will get home on May 15th.  So I think his homecoming will be that Sunday. 

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