Tuesday, September 22, 2015

21 September 2015 - I need my Pop...or someone that lives with me.

So this week was a different one! Pop had to get a medical treatment done and so he was out of the house for the week. Last Sunday we were teaching primary and the Green's granddaughter bumped her head off the chalkboard shelf. She just dropped to the floor holding her head and calls out "I need my Pop, or someone who lives with me!" She was really ok but it was so cute that that was her first reaction. But for me all this week that has been my reaction too because Pop has been out of town. There are a lot of missionaries struggling and depending on Sister Widdison and I right now and so whenever the stress gets to high I just look at her and say "I need my Pop, or someone that lives with me. Anyways Pop is home now and that means Ms. Robin is around more to because she isn't away with him. They really are family and treat us like we are their daughters. We are so spoiled and are just soooo taken care of. This morning Pop took us out in his Jeep to see the Kasatchie forest right down the road. We went trail riding and went to the gas station and got some Hot Chocolate. It was actually cooled off this morning, IT FELT SO GOOD!!
      This week was good, we were able to get somewhere with a less active, Lauren! For me that is one of the most exciting steps, being able to re kindle that fire. So she is so ready to work on changing her life and truly returning to full activity. She literally has just been waiting for missionaries to help her change, she is a convert of a couple years but still needs help. Just because someone is baptized LDS dont assume they know how to use the Atonement or what the sacrament means. She wants to be a spiritual giant like some other church members but gets discouraged because she doesnt know how. We talked about using prayer, scripture study, family home evening and temple worship to change her life and to get her to where she wants to be. I am really happy for her. Once we talked she opened up to tell us that when she was doing all 4 of these things she truly was happier and felt a lot more invincible.
      We had exchanges twice this week so the week flew by. I went to DeRidder, La. It was good we went to a chinese buffet and I had frog legs... hahaha its like chicken consistency with a fishy flavor. I went with Sister Honey she is really cute but is also having a hard time. So much to focus on, trying to balance my focus i'll probably get it figured out right before I get moved out of here haha good learning experience!  We also had specialized training with President Hansen. It was really good, he gave us all sorts of ideas. One of them was to draw the plan of salvation with chalk at the park and then walk people through it. That sounds pretty fun to me! That is one of the things I have to remember is you have to have fun while doing missionary work, if you dont people think youre miserable and dont want anything to do with you or you message.
     Mr. Joe got baptized in McComb, Ms!!! Yay, I got to FaceTime with him and the whole Branch. It was spectacular and it filled a hole. I MISS MISSISSIPPI. His baptism was on Saturday the 19th of September. On Friday the 18th we had to drive to Baton Rouge to get our inspection on our car. It expired at the end of August but for some reason we were not able to make the 2 and a half hour drive until 18 days later haha. But I now know why. There are absolutely no coincidences. So Friday morning I talk to the McComb about Joe's baptism and how we would FaceTime and got all the details worked out. I got off the phone and cried my eyes out because I miss Mississippi so bad. Then once we were in the car heading to Baton Rouge the McComb Sisters texted me to let me know that one of my members from McComb was in the hospital under suicidal watch. I asked them to send me a phone number for the member and I texted her to check in on them. She was so happy to hear from me and I was so excited to talk to her. We talked for a bit then she randomly told me that they were at the Baton Rouge Hospital because the Jackson, Ms hospital didnt have room for her. I immediately told her I was in Baton Rouge too! She drove over to us right then and when I saw her we both ran to each other and gave each other a great big hug. I sat there and just felt peace, I felt like I was in Mississippi and I knew that God had heard my cries that very morning. As we hugged I felt her hot tears roll down my cheeks and as we pulled back she looked at me and asked if we could go see her daughter in the hospital. I said absolutely! So we went and I hugged her daughter for 10 minutes straight until we had to leave the hospital and pick up our car. As I was leaving they both told me that I had made their day! And I just thought about how they had made mine. God is good and I have never felt so loved by Him in my entire life. He knew just what I needed and He knew just what they needed and He made our paths cross. I know that He loves us all and that there is no greater feeling in this life than the tender mercies of our God.
Have a blessed week yall.
Youre in my thoughts and prayers.
Sister Kerr


 We were painting for a service project and ended up having lots of fun haaha!


We rode on Pop's electric wheel chair! He got it front he VA hospital, he has to use it every once and a while.


Swamps on the way to Baton Rouge.



Our kitty cat, She showed up the week before I got here. I named her Smores because no one else would name her!


Car thermometer.... in September... possibly lying but to say the leas it was HOT!


Sister Honey and I


Our room @ the Green's 



FaceTiming for the Baptism!

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

14 September 2015 - [insert name], lovest thou me?


So this week we had A LOT going on. After Mission Leadership Conference, Zone Training Meeting, planning, exchanges, fire ant bites leading to a very swollen ankle there wasnt a whole time of missionary proselyting put into the week. I've thought about it a lot and at first I tried to justify it all. But this morning I studied John 21. I use to get so frustrated with Peter and the other Apostles when they went fishing after Christ had died. They knew Him. They worked with Him. They performed miracles with Him. They had become one with Him and had truly come to discover the role He plays in their and everyone else's lives... And yet the first thing they do is fish. Just fish. They go back to their old work and are completely unsuccessful. Then I started to think about me, and my calling and how I was justifying my time spent anywhere other than proselyting and I realized I am doing the same thing. I know Christ. I work with Him. I have performed miracles with Him. And I have become one with Him as well as I now recognize the role He plays in everyone's lives. But yet here I was pulling the card of I'm too tired or I don't know the area. I was doing the same thing I was taking a break. Even after I have come to know the sacredness of my calling. So I was thinking about how the Savior reacted to His apostles taking a break. All He did was asked if he loved Him. So I did just that. I imagined the Savior asking me if I loved Him. And that is exactly what changed my heart, knowing that all that Christ asks is for us to feed His sheep. And that is what I do as a missionary, I feed His sheep :) So I just want to ask y'all, do you love Him? I mean do you really love Him? Because that is what makes all the difference... When we change on the inside!

Anyways some highlights from this week on Wednesday I stepped in a fire ant hill and got 10 bites on one ankle and 4 on the other. My body did NOT react well though my foot swelled right up and I sat through the mission leadership conference with it! Then the 3 hour drive home from Baton Rouge was killer because of it! I got home and iced it and took some Benadryl. Then the next morning it was still swollen and itchy so I ended up icing it ALL day with no luck of the swelling going down at all. We had dinner with a sort of less active couple and then gave me ice and sent me home with some special anti itch cram that worked so good. Then we had a meeting with our ward mission leader for the Pineville ward (oh yea we are over two areas... It's crazy hard to keep track of) he reminds me of Sky a lot. But his wife insisted on spraying my foot with a anti itch spray, everyone was way concerned because it was so swollen. When I got home Pop and mama Robin were pretty concerned too so Pop got me a bucket and I soaked it in some Epsom salts. The next morning we were instructing at ZTM luckily the swelling had gone done but Pop surprised me with some anti itch spray during the break in ZTM. The members here spoil me rotten. Little bit different than McComb!
I went on my first exchange as an STL and it went awesome, I went with Sister Toner. She is from Southern Cali and has only been a member for 3 years. She has been out for 8 weeks and we were able to study the story line of the Book of Mormon. I can't even imagine signing up for and coming on a mission when the only thing I knew about the Book of Mormon was that it was true. She is really amazing! Anyways love you and all the things im learning! Have a blessed week!
Love
Sister Kerr


Sister Widdison and I 


Our Mission Family! Pop and Ma Robin



Costume Party! 





Our members spoil us so much! We love them!

Sunday, September 13, 2015

07 September 2015 - #JesuslovesCENLA

So Im now serving in Alexandria, Louisiana which is Central Louisiana. We are over two wards in the same building :) Both about the same size as Pulaski. So I got to take the sacrament twice yesterday :) We have been doing lots of Less active hunting and it really is way fun. Sister Widdison is my new companion, funny thing is, she was trained by sister Smith too! So we are mission sisters. We have members in the Alexandria ward who play volleyball every Monday so Im so stoked! Also there is a school for troubled girls that one of the members owns and runs and they have the sisters come and teach volleyball :) yall betta believe im on cloud nine! Sister Widdison knows nothing about sports really haha so she told me its very inspired that im here or the girls would be hopeless.
 So we live with members, the Greens. Pops and Ms. Robin. They are pretty great :) We live up stairs and we have a room, bathroom, and a living room. Its really nice and plus they spoil us rotten. They feed us if we dont have a meal scheduled. We dont even buy groceries hardly... we just use whatever they have. So sweet.
     Well since im new here I dont have a whole ton of new news! But I bore my testimony in church so I thought I would share it with yall. I am so grateful that Joseph Smith was willing to ask a question, and that God was so willing to answer. I am grateful for Joseph's firm belief that he knew what he saw and because he knew it, he knew God knew it. I am grateful for all the sacrifices that the early church members made because they believed! Cant say my faith would have pushed me as far as it did them! But I know that my faith pushes me through my experiences and I am so grateful for my family and their love for me. They have helped my faith grow so much, but mostly this mission has MADE my faith grow. I love the changes that are happening in me! I know its because of Jesus Christ that I am becoming. Ive seen it change oodles of people here too.  Sorry this is so choppy I literally have NO desire to sit in front of a computer for an hour... attention span shot... I dont know how I use to do it.

Love yall Sister Kerr


Last picture with Bri 


Cheap gas! 


Selfie with the cheap gas :)


A girl in my ward made this for me already! She is so sweet. Its so cute!


Last picture with Renee and Billy


Last picture with the Dunaways!


Sister Lanning and her new missionary, Sister Kohler and I.


The Frostop?!


Spaghetti served Louisiana size!


Sister Lanning and I


Sister Widdison and I


ohhh... there are Lizards here too. Sister Widdison said I must have brought it with me because she hadnt ever seen one in the house!












01 September 2015 - I'll go where you want me to go.

Well folks my time in McComb is now running on empty! I love this place but I'm excited for a new adventure. Sister Lanning is training and I am so excited for her to take off and blossom even more. She is a way powerful missionary! McComb will be left in some very capable hands. I asked president about Mr. Joe's and Ms. Renee's baptisms, he said that I could skype in for them since I had found them and taught all the lessons. That made my broken heart sing! Y'all should have seen Mr. Joe when I told him I might be leaving. He just said "Wait, before my baptism!?" So skype is such a blessing. Anyways, the president had a surprise for me too... I am becoming a Sister Training Leader. Whoa ok I'll do my best. Little overwhelming but I am excited for a new challenge.
     As for funnies... we were helping our investigator organize her boys bedrooms, the same woman we helped with her kitchen a couple weeks ago. We were chugging right along, I was piling clothes, Sister Lanning sweeping and Stephanie was cleaning out the closet. All of a sudden a mouse runs across the room and Sister Lanning and I jump. Held our screams back because we didnt want to sound like babies! Then we went back to work and Steph found a mouse nest with four babies.... she killed them with a book. At this point Sister Lanning are praising her because we would have never been able to do that. So we all go back to work and then we find the mama mouse that had taken off earlier, Stephanie killed it with a slipper... at this point Sister Lanning could only say "Only in Mississippi are the woman tough enough to take on the job of rat killing!" But then it happened, one more mouse ran out while I was down on the ground holding the dust pan. It ran over Sister Lanning's feet and right at me. We lost it, our calm and collected selves that acted like it was no biggie started to scream. We were so afraid and shook up and there Stephanie is, sitting on the floor laughing at us and says 'It's just a mouse." Good times. Another crazy story is we were talking to this 60 year old man on his door step and he tried to feed me a grape, not just offer me a grape but literally held it to my mouth! I had to duck and tell him I wasn't very hungry... Mississippi is crazy. Then we were having a lesson with some investigators and during the entire lesson their friend (without any teeth i might add) was asking me for my phone number. I just ignored him to the end and then told him I couldn't give it out. He then asked if he could give me his number so I could call him so we could chat. I also declined that offer too. Then he looks up one last time to ask if he can take me to dinner. I told him that that wasn't going to work out because I'm a missionary. Sister Lanning is never a help she just watches and laughs... Once again the people are crazy! Gotta love them though.
      Sister Smith was my Sister Training Leader for this transfer that just ended and so we got to go on exchanges together. It was so fun and things felt so normal but weird because everything was different (house, car, town) but everything was the same. We had a ton of fun :)
      We were tracting last week and talked to a lady who said we could come back. We went back and it happened to be the grandma to all of those kids I named several weeks ago! LaTarenesha, Sherieka, Mikayla, Jerimiah, Maleah, and Lester Collins Jr. God works in mysterious ways. Their grandma said she met with missionaries then moved and lost contact, but she had even gone to church with them. They are wonderful and so sweet. Lester Collins Jr. is like 5, when I asked what I should call him he told me his whole name. It was way funny. So Lester Collins Jr. it is.
      We had a really good lesson with Mr. Joe and he told us that had missionaries knocked on his door any other time he would have turned them away but something told him not to. He reminds me of Howard. He is truly prepared. He stayed for the Linger Longer after church and made a veggie casserole and a 3 layer pie. He really enjoyed himself and I finally got a picture with him with a real smile.
        Life is so good. I have grown so much here in McComb. I can feel myself becoming the person God has intended me to be. Missions are amazing, for the people you bless and for yourself. It's really because of those people you bless that you change, they are the bigger blessing! Here I go into the unknown. Ill let yall know where im at next week.

Love yall to the moon and back. Sister Kerr


Chopped Ham sandwich.... What is chopped ham?



Mr. Joe smiling



District Selfie!


Stephanie and Ralph's boys and I 








really cool bugg...


Favorite scripture Alma 29:9


I'm officially a Louisiana Sister!


Ellie the pig.


Sister Heath and I. My heart is broke, I love her so much. She has been my mama away from home. She left for Utah this morning. 


Jesus Chocolate 


Had to buy the shirt.











Wednesday, September 9, 2015

24 August 2015 - Amos and Aliens

Oh man some cool stuff happened this week! I have discovered my new favorite food.... Boiled peanuts... hahaha i sound like an old lady but they are divine! Yall should try them they turn into the texture of a bean and are way good. We finally found the lizards that scurried in and we werent able to catch them all. We found one and on our way taking it outside I stepped on the other one! Gross, but it didnt die. If it had i probably might have thrown up. It sounds like the family has been up to adventures like I have! We went tracting in the rain because it was way cooler! Crocs...... words cant describe how grateful i am. We were able to get 4 new investigators this week though, Mel, Nicole, Billy and Vernetta. People can be so sweet or they can be so rude! We had several people open their door to us and tell us they dont have time to "mess" with us. Ouch. Alrighty, well you have a blessed day too!
          Rudeness couldnt slow us down this week because Mr. Joe has gone 6 days with out smoking!!! Yes ma'am... 6 whole days. He is the greatest and the biggest ray of sunshine. He is so shy and quiet but he came to all of church and in gospel principles we were talking about talents. We asked him what one of his talents was and he said being quiet hahah we laughed and then told him how great he is! He has told us that he is a great cook and said he might bring something to share to the linger longer next week!
        We were able to meet with Mr. Billy, Ms. Renee's husband. He is a stubborn man but I think that's why we love him so much. I know that the Book of Mormon will soften his heart but he just keeps telling us he isn't a good reader. So I told him we would be back to read it aloud to him because it is that important. He said he would listen! He is such a great person.
        While we were tracting we came upon a lady who answered the door and said "Oh no, I know about yall, I was just reading about yall on the internet. Yall believe Jesus is an alien that we sent to earth!" I told her "No that isn't what we believe but we have this really awesome pamphlet that talks about what we believe." So she took one and as she was scanning through it she told us is a religious christian. We told her that was great and then she stopped on a page in the pamphlet as she was thumbing through and said pointing at page that had a quoted scripture from Amos, "Amos? Where did this scripture come from?" Then she ranted about how she has never even heard about Amos. So then I asked if she was familiar with the Old Testament she said kind of was. I then explained that Amos is in the Old Testament.... She kind of just stood there, then she said give me a week to read this and yall can come back. It was so funny!!
         Its been a really good transfer, I cant believe its done! Dont expect to hear from me next Monday, its proselyting Monday. I love McComb, Mississippi! I never want to leave... except for maybe when my mission is done :) I that when we put our truast in God things go significantly better! So challenge for yall...(Easier said than done)... Put your trust in your God.
Dont forget to read the Book of Mormon either, it knows exactly what to say! It publishes glad tidings of great joy!
Love Sister Kerr


The South has the best inspirational signs!


Sister Boyd and I. She loves for us to sing to her, and she sings with us!


Sometimes I feel like this lizard. 


We love teaching about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ!!