We should be having a baptism this coming Thursday!

     This week was a fantastic week because we got to hear from a member of the Quorum of the Seventy! Elder Kopischke was his name! He taught us so much and we were very blessed to be taught by him! General Authorities are amazing men! He was way funny and he was able to teach us very well! I learned a lot! And I also got to see a bunch of missionaries I haven't seen in a long time! It was a good time! Half the mission went to Hattiesburg Mississippi to meet and be taught by Elder Kopischke! Good stuff! That was Thursday! http://www.lds.org/church/leader/erich-w-kopischke there is a link to more about the seventy I was able to meet!

     We didn't get to officially teach Bryan Young this week but we left him a Plan of Salvation Pamphlet for him to read and we should be meeting with him this coming Saturday to go over it! He feels like he needs to read a lot more of The Book of Mormon to be able to answer more of his questions.   Anyways, I hope it goes well!

     We should be having a baptism this coming Thursday, Joel Kozlowski! he will be baptized on the 29th of August! It will be way exciting! He has been taught ever since I came into the mission! He says he is definitely ready to get this done! We are way excited for him! We are also going to teach his kids that are over 8 years old and have them be baptized as well! There are like 5 kids that are over 8! It will be the first time for me to teach children! So I'm excited for that!

     Then we are going to start the stop smoking workshop with an in-active member of the ward! That will be good! Its always good to help people quit smoking! I believe that's all that really happened last week!
I'll end there! I love ya and miss ya! 

Love your son

Elder Kerr

P.S. I got the package from grandma Sharon! Tell her thank you for me! =)

Today we had an amazing lesson on the Restoration! I loved this lesson, it was so good!

Dear family, 

     I have sent out the memory card today! So it should make it there soon, in a couple days, I think!  School is starting! It's crazy to me that in only like 3 years all 3 of us will be graduated! So onto my week.

Monday the 12th

Today was the start of a new transfer! It was a pretty good day! We were able to meet with Joel! Who is getting ready to be baptized! We had a good lesson on Baptism with him! Then we got fed by a recent convert Mark and Sandy! They fed us Lasagna! It was good!

Tuesday the 13th

Today was the transfer day! We went and said goodbyes to the people leaving our district! It was a sad time to see Elder Hosea go home! It's weird to think that I am becoming one of the older missionaries in the mission! Super weird! hahahaha. But I got to play some basketball with a bunch of missionaries which was a lot of fun.

Wednesday the 14th

Good old District Meeting today! We have 3 new missionaries in our district, Elders Kent and Palmeri, and Sister Booth!

Thursday the 15th

It was a slower day today not much happened!

Friday the 16th

Today was a pretty good day! We got like 4 lessons in and passed out 3 copies of the Book of Mormon! Hopefully, we can bring these guys closer to Christ and continue to teach them.

Saturday the 17th

Today we had an amazing lesson with a guy named, Bryan Young! He is cop. We had a lesson on the Restoration! I loved this lesson, it was so good! We actually found him tracting and have challenged him to read and pray! He was just so legit and is going to do exactly what we have asked him to do! Anyways, It went really well and it just made me happy all day today! I loved it so much! We are going to go see him again next Saturday! I'm super excited!

Sunday the 18th

Today I experienced a Tropical Depression for the first time! It's just under a Tropical Storm! And seeing what a Tropical Depression can do, I can't even imagine what a hurricane would be like! Crazy stuff! But it was a good Sunday!

 Slower week but loved what we were able to do! The CHURCH IS TRUE

 

love

Elder Kerr

Pray for Amber and Joel. Thanks for all of the cards, letters and packages! It was awesome!

Dear family,

August 5th-10th    

     I did get a lot of extra mail for my 18 month anniversary! It was awesome and much appreciated! I got packages from Connie, Crystal, Nicole and Samantha.  Thank you all very much!  And I loved the Superman Shirt, mom! I threw that on right when I got it!  I also got several letters, cards and postcards from Jenny and the girls, grandma Sharon and grandma Ivy and some ward members.  Thank you all! 

     Congratulations Josh on your call to Tonga! THATS AWESOME! I'm so proud of you!!!! Did anybody guess right, who was the closest?  I don't have my planner on me because it's the start of a new transfer so I have a new one.  I am staying with Elder Henrie another transfer which probably means that I will stay with him until he goes home because he only has 1 transfer left!  Anyways it's coming up fast! We are still in a finding stage for new investigators. We tracted quite a bit and found a few people that told us we could come back but when we did they didn't answer.  But the other missionaries are super busy at the moment so hopefully we will start again.

     Please pray for Amber and Joel. Joel has been an investigator that has been taught for a while now.  He wants to be baptized really soon but the Bishop and others are concerned that he doesn't quite understand the commitment of joining the Church. So hopefully, we can help him to better understand!  Pray for him! 

     Our Zone Leader, Elder Hosea, is headed home this Wednesday! He is a great missionary and I look up to him! He will be missed! We had a BBQ with him on Saturday and had a little going away party for him! It was legit! Anyways sorry this week wasn't too detailed! But I love you and miss you! Not to long until I will be home too!

Love your Son

Elder Kerr

July 29th-August 4th

Monday the 29th

P-day! Today we played some ball with the other Elders and had a good time! Your average p-day! We were fed by the Bensons, that was awesome! They are a great family! He was telling us stories from his mission.  He served out of country and he was telling us all these stories and it just made me say to myself. "I'm glad to serve in the states! hahaha

Tuesday the 30th

Yesterday Elder Henrie rolled his ankle pretty badly so we weren't able to do much today! But we did finish a few things we weren't able to do on P-Day so that was good!

Wednesday the 31st

We had a DDM today! And it was about teaching the people and not the lessons. Teach what the people need not just recite the lessons! It was good! We then went on exchanges! I went with Elder Mossman in Gulfport South and we had ourselves a good time.

Thursday the 1st

We changed back to our companionships. Elder Henrie and I took a list of less active members and primary children. Nobody was home. We also stopped by and started teaching a man named Michael. Some missionaries found him a while ago and we decided to stop by to see how he was doing! We talked about the Book of Mormon a bit and set a return appointment! It was awesome! We also stopped by to see how Howard was doing,our recent convert! He was doing really well but his car wasn't he had to trash it.  Anyways, Howard and his Aunt Smith told us that the Sunday when I confirmed him a member they teared up because they felt that God was speaking through me. They felt they heard God's voice through me! I was really touched by that. Another amazing experience! I loved it! Good day.

Friday the 2nd

Today we did some weekly planning already planning for week 6! This transfer went by fast only 4 more transfers after this one! It was good! We tried seeing a bunch of people today but we couldn't find anybody. We did have dinner with Michael and Daniel today with the Sisters! That was a pretty awesome time! I loved it!

Saturday the 3rd!

Today we contacted some referals that we had and tried some other less actives! But no one was home again. We did visit with a recent convert named Mark! He showed us his big fish tank.  He had Clown fish in the tank like nemo! He had a salt water tank which I haven't seen before! It was awesome! We tracted today as well! We went out and we did find someone that wanted us to come back. His name was Bryan Young! I'm way excited for that! I haven't had too much success on my mission through tracting! So hopefully he is legit!

Sunday the 4th

Fast and testimony meeting today! It was a good, it's always interesting to here everyones testimony! After church we went out with Brother Wade, the Elders Quorum President, and did some Home teaching with him. It was awesome! We saw the Evan's and the Gramma's! Great families! After that we took our dinner! which I very much enjoyed! Good Sunday!

Well that was my week! It was a decent week and I enjoyed it! Anyways, I hope all is well and I hope everyone has a good week. 

The Church is true!

Love
Elder Kerr

We had 3 men baptized on Saturday! It was an awesome event. . . . an answer to their prayers!

Dear Mother

     So things are going good here. Elder Henrie is kinda trunky, he has his moments! But we're still do'n the work. He sometimes makes me trunky hahaha! It's coming up quick! I'm trying not to think too much about it hahaha! Anyways, sorry this won't be too detailed of an email this week.

     We did have the 2 baptisms on Saturday and the sister missionaries also had a baptism! So that was way tight! We had 3 men baptized on Saturday! It was an awesome event! It went so well. The Bishop said that they are an answer to their prayers! When the Bishop was first called he said we really need Priesthood in the ward and so they prayed for it and now they have 3 new men! It's awesome! I got to confirm Daniel and Howard on Sunday as members which was a really cool experience! I loved it!  We also did a lot of service this week!

     Oh, and a pretty cool story! There is a member here that is only going to be here for a little bit because of school but he played for BYU football! His name is Colby Clawson! And he played with Max Hall and Austin Collie and Dennis Pita and all of them! He was linebacker #41 and he was the guy injured by Sam Bradford in the game BYU played against Oklahoma. the one year, and beat them! Yeah he is in the Ward that I'm in now! He is the Gospel Principles teacher! Its freakin awesome! I almost want to get his autograph! hahahaha But anyways it was a good week! Those 2 baptisms are solid! Anyways, that's all for now.

I love you all and thanks for following!

Love
Elder Kerr

During the blessing, I felt strongly impressed to say, "You will quit smoking and have the strength to do so!"

Dear Mother,

     I did get my bike taken care of basically.  And yeah, we don't get fed here as often. It's not like my last area where we were the only set of missionaries in the ward.  Here there are 4 sets of missionaries. It still rains almost everyday but it's not for the full day! Just for a little bit. That's what it is like during Hurricane season and I don't think it ends until October or something like that. So yeah, I guess Katrina and Issac hit here around the same time in August! So we will see what happens but I know if a hurricane as big as Katrina were to come, all the missionaries down here would go up to Jackson and wait for it to pass. Anyway, we will see.  I do want to see a Tropical Storm though! That would be way cool.

     Yeah, I need to be better with my money. I am terrible and have always struggled with that even when I was home. I'm going to try to do better next month though. I'm glad Megan got my letter. Sorry it took me awhile to reply. . . . . . but I will reply. Sometimes I take along time with letters. I have written so many letters on my mission.  It's like ugh, I wish these letters could write themselves. hahaha

     Oh, have I gotten any friend requests on my Facebook? There might be some missionaries who were in my mission with me that will be in contact through facebook.  Anyways, let me know.  Some may try to come to my homecoming.  That'd be way cool.

     We should have 2 baptisms coming up this Saturday the 27th, Howard and Daniel!!!! I'm way excited for that. So Boom! They both asked me to Confirm them the following Sunday!

     I guess I will take out student loans and go to SLCC when I get home and get 2 years under my belt.  I want to work hard because I really do want to go to the Y!!! But we will see in the future I guess it really depends on what I want to go into then I will choose what school.  Anyways, on to my week

Monday the 15th

P-day and we played some basketball and had a great time playing around, I loved it! I love playing basketball! I'm stoked to play for the ward and the Foo's back home! Good times! But it was just an average P-Day.

Tuesday the 16th

So today we tried seeing a couple of people with the time we had! We were able to see Howard. We have been trying to help him quit smoking. While we were there we could tell he was still having a hard time. So I felt impressed to give him a blessing before we left! During the blessing I felt strongly impressed to say, "You will quit smoking and have the strength to do so!" Then we left and got picked up by Brother Harper. We went to give a member a blessing who was about to have surgery. Then the Gulfport Elders picked us up and we headed to interviews with President! We were there for a while and I had a fantastic interview with President! I loved it! I love President McDonough! He truly was called to be a mission president here in the Mississippi Jackson Mission. MJM!!!!

Wednesday the 17th

We had District Meeting today and that was awesome as well. I love our district here! It's just a lot fun and good times! Right after District Meeting we went to see Daniel! We were talking with him and he said that he totally quit smoking as well! So that is way tight! And it looks like he will be ready for the 27th as well. It was a good time.

Thursday the 18th

So today we went and tried to see Howard again. He wasn't feeling well but his Aunt, who he is living with, said that after we gave him the blessing to quit smoking he hasn't had 1 urge to smoke. The day before a friend took him to see his doctor in Laurel and he was smoking and offered him a smoke and he didn't want one! The guy even noticed that he was reading "The Book of Mormon" and asked about it. He told him about it and gave him one! It was legit! Howard said, that was his answer, the blessing worked to help him quit smoking!  It was awesome! =) Blessings work people!!!

Friday the 19th

So we did some weekly planning today. We were able to see Howard and Daniel again and help them get ready for baptism! It was good! I'm very excited! But basically the rest of today went to crud because everything was cancelled on us or rescheduled!

Saturday the 20th

So today we went to a ward play! The Ward set up a free play this weekend for Thursday, Friday and Saturday! It was way good! I very much enjoyed it! It was very well done! And a lot of non members showed up the 2 days before this! It was funny and well done! It was about a ward struggling with attendance and having a lot of in-actives! It showed members reaching out to invite them back to church and it was very heart felt! It was good! and Daniel was able to come!

Sunday the 21st!

So today was a great Sunday! I was able to learn a little bit about Family History! I definetly need to learn more about it so you will have to teach me more about it Mom! hahaha. It was good though! Then we had a Linger Longer as well! We had some really good food! I loved it! Anyways, it started to rain hard so were'nt able to tract much as we planned to do but we did get some tracting in! Then we got fed by the Harpers! They fed us Steak and a potatoes! It was way good! I loved it! Anyways we got numbers in and headed to bed!

I hope all is well with everyone and I love you all and thanks for following!

The Church is True!

Love

Elder Kerr

18 MONTH ANNIVERSARY AUGUST 1ST

Dear friends and family,
     Elder Shawn Kerr is coming up on his 18 month anniversary in the mission field on August 1st!  It would be so awesome if we could flood his mailbox with letters or cards to celebrate this HUGE milestone with him.  His address is:                         
                                                                Elder Shawn Kerr
                                                                4401 Beatline Rd.  Apt 5D
                                                                Long Beach, MS   39560

Long Beach is ready for harvest, we could have 3 baptisms soon.

Dear Mother

     I did get grandmas package the day before I left from Atlanta, so that was cool! Thank her and I did get a letter from Megan and I will reply soon! I do get to see the coast quite often! I'm like maybe 3 minutes away from it! There is a road that drives along the beach through Pass Christian, Long Beach, Gulfport, and Biloxi so I see it a lot.  It's not super beautiful like the pacific coast! It's just very muddy looking water but it's still pretty cool, I'm not going to lie, I love it! I'm so glad I have been able to serve down here! I could stay here the rest of my mission but we'll see! After this transfer I only have like 4 left!!!! So yeah it's going by fast! The time I will have left by August 3rd is the same amount of time I served in Atlanta! IT'S CRAZY!!!!! And my companion only has like 2 more transfers left!!! Way weird! Oh and in that pic on the mission blog was Elder Bytheway not Elder Hopman.  He was in my district too. 

     Long Beach is ready for harvest, basically we could have like 3 baptisms really soon.  All we need to do is get them to stop smoking and they will be good to go!! It's going to be legit! Then we have plenty of people to keep working with who are interested! So it will be good! I just wish we had a car fulltime! We would be able to get so much more done if we did! Oh, well!

So onto our week!

    

Monday the 8th

Just a normal P-day we did our emails! Then we went and played some basketball with the Zone Leaders, Elders Hosea and Canaan! It felt good to play after not playing very much in Atlanta! I loved it!! So awesome! It drained me though and after that we went to Raising Canes for lunch! I'm going to miss Raising Canes when I leave here! The best chicken fast food restaurant ever!!!! They need to start them in Utah! After basketball we didn't really do much! We walked on the beach a little bit.  It was a good day!

Tuesday the 9th

So we did some tracting today and we got a few return appointments. We weren't able to see a lot of our investigators but the Dees took us out to a Pizza buffet that was pretty good! Sister Dee is so nice! It was pretty legit! We tried seeing other people but no luck.

Wednesday the 10th

Zone District Meeting! The entire zone got together and was taught by the ZLs.  It was a great meeting and we saw a lot of people that we haven't seen in a while! Then we went to a Chinese buffet that only cost about 5 bucks! So that was cool! Then we did some more tracting because President has asked us to do more than we have been.! I have never really enjoyed tracting! Then it started raining big time! It sucked! We weren't able to do anything in it! It was way lame!

Thursday the 11th

Today we got up and noticed it was way cloudy.  Then it just started to pour for quite a while! It sucked! It's been raining a lot lately and since we are on bikes we haven't been able to do anything! I'm not liking all the rain. We did get to go see Joel today though! Joel has been taught by missionaries since April of last year! He basically believes everything, he is just struggling to stop smoking! But we are going to get him to stop! And its going to be legit! Then he will be ready for baptism!

Friday the 12th

So today we went and saw an investigator that was found right before I got here! Her name is Daniella! We got there and she was like, of course, you guys can come in! It was crazy she just started crying and saying that she is going through so much crap right now! And I'm just like well our purpose is to bring people closer to Christ and we started talking about The Book of Mormon! And she wanted 3 of them so she could give them to other people and then we can start talking to them as well! It was pretty legit!  After that we went tracting some more.  Then we got ready to go to Howard's, another investigators house. We are going to teach him the Stop Smoking Workshop to help him stop! It went pretty well. Then guess what? We started to hear thunder and we had another appointment in about 45 minutes.  And we were on bikes! Elder Henrie and I were like, we're going for it! We are not going to let the rain stop us today! On our way then. . .  snap my bike pedal breaks off!!!! I'm just like, of course! I have the worst luck with bikes breaking! Then it started to rain harder and harder! Luckily a member saw us and took us back to the apartment and we called our appointment and rescheduled! It has rained hard like everyday this week! It sucks!

Saturday the 13th

Today we took my bike in to get fixed! We dropped it off and they said it should be ready by Monday (Which is today).  It was way slow and nothing happened at all today because we didn't have any kind of transportation! And it started to rain really hard again! We did have correlation meeting with Bro. Harper and that was good!

Sunday the 14th

Great Sabbath day but we were expecting to have 5 investigators at church today but only 1 showed up.  I was pretty bummed about the others but at least we had the 1! It was a pretty good SUNDAY! Loved it like always. Our appointment cancelled on us but we did go to the Gentry's! And they fed us dinner! The Gentry's are awesome! We were laughing the whole time we were over there. They showed us on youtube this funny video going around about the general authorities! Its hilarious! It's called "How General Authorities Eat Their Reese's Peanut Butter Cups" watch it and show it to people! It's way funny! Things are going good! And it's going by fast!  I love you and I hope all is well!  THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!

Love
Elder Kerr