The Southern Sister: 29 February 2016

Ha well I see y'all kept yourselves updated with the Tornadoes! Welcome to Louisiana. So I guess I better fill y'all in with what went down. So on Tuesday we normally have district meeting so we decided we would still have it because the lock down didn't start until 1:00. It is so hard to not be oblivious as missionaries! I had no idea the weather was supposed to be bad! But come to find out we weren't supposed to leave our apartment at all for the whole day but we didn't know that so we went to Gonzales, LA for district meeting. The weather wasn't bad though and it barely started raining when we got there. So we went in and had our meeting and then Sister Hansen called to make sure we were ok. I told her "Oh ya we are just fine! Why?" She answers "Because a tornado just went past y'alls apartment!" I let her know we were in Gonzales and she told us to stay there! So Sister Paulo, Sister Ferre, Sister Pflager, Elder Curtis, Elder Anderson and I were all stuck at the Gonzales church building from 10:30am to 5:30 pm. It was a long and stormy day! We had a maintenance man come to work at the church (Because people just go on like normal life during tornadoes, just like New Yorkers will drive through a blizzard) He asks "Who parked there car under the tree during the tornado?) haha Ya whoops that was me! I've never been trained for dealing with tornadoes I now realize that wasn't very smart and I will avoid doing that in the future. But everything ended up fine. We were way safer in the cinder block church building than our apartment complex anyway and we had some company! We got to help out with cleaning up some of the mess too! We helped strip a dry cleaning building that was torn up pretty bad. It was really cool!

On Thursday night we had a dinner appointment with the worlds cutest old couple! They are like in their 70's. But when I typed in their address I realized their house was 13 miles away so it was going to be basically a 30 mile trip and we didn't have the miles to go! So I called them to let them know we wouldn't be able to make it because we are running low on miles and she just said "Oh, I'll come pick you up! My husband started cooking this morning for y'all!" So she did! She came and got us and just spoiled us like crazy! We had such a nice time loving them. They fed us some Cajun dish it was fantastic and so fattening! Beef, potatoes, carrots rice and TONS of gravy! It tasted like something Pop would have cooked up for me! They sent us home with canned goods and frozen vegetables too. She just kept saying "Its the least we can do for the Lord's servants!" I just feel like a regular person, I don't feel like I deserve to be showered with spoils! But I know God will bless them for their righteous desires.

Ok so the work here.... well its different to say the least! We TRACTED and TRACTED and TRACTED! Walked a couple miles and then some and got NOTHING! Dang I know God is testing my Faith because when I pray to know what to do I feel like we need to tract but then nothing comes of it except
"I don't have time for this."
"There is no soliciting here, y'all could get into trouble for being here."
"I already know Jesus."
My heart literally breaks every time we knock on a door because these people don't get it! It makes me terribly sad to see them turn away such a life saving message! There were a couple of times I just couldn't hold back the tears. It just made me think of our Beloved Savior as He walked through the streets teaching people how to find peace and joy and the people scourged Him, they rejected Him, they hated who He was and what He was about even though they knew nothing about who He was. The saddest part was most of them were waiting and watching for their Savior to come but because they weren't spiritually prepared they missed Him. He stood right before them and they could not recognize Him.

So if I learn or accomplish anything in my life I just want to be spiritually prepared for when my Redeemer returns. Because if we are not ready and truly prepared, we will NOT know HIM! How great and dreadful would that day be. So yes, I moved away from my family, it's been a year now. I left behind school and my regular life, I dropped everything to move to tornado country. Did I come all this way to be hated by the people? Rejected? No, I came all this way to know what it feels like to be loved by my God! I truly testify that our Savior Jesus Christ lives and that He will return! I know that my time is not wasted when I am in the service of my God. I love my mission so much!

God Bless Y'all. Know that you're in my thoughts and prayers. Please pray that we will find someone who needs us and is prepared by God! I know they are out there.

Love Sister Kerr