Tuesday, March 22, 2016

21 March 2016 - Ou te alofa ia Iesu Keriso

First, let me say that the mission has a new address, so if you write, please see the updated address on the right column of my blog page.

Now, onto my super stressful experience from last week... don't be nervous it will make y'alls whole day. It was daylight saving last Sunday right? Well I had to speak in church that morning but we had been so busy with missionary stuff I hadn't been able to write my talk yet. So I frantically wrote my talk at 6:30 on Sunday morning. After I wrote it I was feeling pretty confident and good about my talk. I treated myself to a big ole bowl of cereal and sat down thinking "Dang I've still got time to kill!" So I was reading out of the Book of Mormon when I looked up at the microwave to notice the time on it matched the time on the phone..... I knew something was wrong then haha I knew it was daylight savings but I just trusted our phone knew it too. So I called up the Elders and asked them what time it was. They informed me that it was 8:48. I could literally hear church people talking in the background. Church literally started in 12 min, I live 15 minutes away, I was in my PJ's and my companion was getting in the shower. Great, now what? Now we run! I told Sister Paulo and she literally had NO idea what I was talking about apparently Samoa doesn't do daylight saving. I just told her to get ready and church was starting haha. I was changed and ready in 4 minutes. All those years of early morning seminary, sleeping through the alarm and Dad telling me we had to leave in 4 minutes ended up being great prep! So we ran super fast and got to church at 9:15. Only 15 minutes late! And by the grace of God alone the Sacrament hadn't been passed yet. So we took the sacrament then I spoke and it went just fine. I think God just really wanted me to get an extra hour of sleep! :)
We went out to dinner with the Duncan's this week and we got lots of seafood!! I tried alligator, raw oysters, and broiled oysters. They were good. The raw one literally felt like I was swallowing a snot rocket. Not my first choice in food! But the cooked ones were fantastic! It was a fun night.
I was sick all day Wednesday I thought it was from the seafood but it wasn't I just had like a 24 hour stomach bug. I was super dizzy and nauseous. I slept it off! I hate being sick. It was not fun at all! Everyone around here has the flu so I wasn't surprised when I ended up sick. I took some pepto bismol and went to bed. When I woke up my tongue was black! I was so freaked out. I worked in a dentist office and had never seen a black tongue like mine! It brushed off though. I called a member and asked her to google it for me, she called back with "Have you taken Pepto? It turns peoples tongues black sometimes!" Phewwww ok so I'm not dying.

Ummmm. we were at a less actives house and we were chatting away talking about Easter and out of the corner of my eye I saw something scurry past me. I froze.... and panicked. I do not deal well with situations like these. I literally prayed my heart out saying "please be a cat.... please be ac cat!" As everyone who knows me well knows I'm an open book! So ya the lady automatically asks "What did you see?" I look to my left and there I see a mouse tail. I whimpered and answered "Ma'am there is a mouse right next to me!" Her response "Hold on let me get the poison....." Then she left. She left me by this rat! I wanted to cry. When we left Sister Paulo was laughing so hard. I told her I deserved something for handling it so well so we headed to Burger King to get a mint oreo shake. (Thanks mom for telling me they have them) We get to BK and I order my shake and the lady taking my order says "Shoot, I forgot to start the shake machine baby, that's my bad. Could yall come back in 15 minutes for your shake?" This made my whole day. I love these people down here.

Ok for the spiritual moments of my week I had the best sacrament meeting ever yesterday! It was so edifying and spiritual. The first speaker actually didn't speak at all. He signed his entire talk and his dear sweet wife interpreted the whole thing for him. The spirit was indescribably strong as this young deaf man stood before us all to teach us the importance of keeping the commandments. He explained to us that because of his disability growing up he never understood the church, because of the language barrier. He always followed the teachings of his loving parents and so he attended church. It wasn't until he learned American Sign Language at the MTC when he actually learned and understood the gospel. He had no idea God, Jesus Christ or Joseph Smith were  real people. He thought they were just animated fictitious movie characters. Once he could communicate and learn fully he then had an understanding of the reasons behind all the commandments. Once he learned of our Heavenly Father's love for us he then could comprehend the need for church and prophets! The spirit was so strong. But what made this experience even cooler was we had a member who just moved into the ward from Nigeria, Brother Sunday. He brought his dad who is not a member and who also does not speak very much English. We sat next to them and I listened while Brother Sunday translated the English to Nigerian. It made me realize that NO MATTER the language or barrier the Holy Spirit can literally penetrate any heart of an honest seeker of truth. So as I sat there observing the teachings of Jesus Christ being taught fist in sign language, then English and then Nigerian I realized how universal the gospel is. That it doesn't matter who you are or where you've been you can relate or better yet, He, Jesus Christ can relate to you.  Another neat experience was there is this old man in our ward who bakes bread for the sacrament every week. He bakes tons and tons of loaves of bread and then hands then out to different members on Sunday. I watched him walk up to these two strangers, the Nigerians, and introduce himself and then offered them some fresh baked bread. It truly reminded me of the Savior and what he would have done. It made me remember why it is so important to "Be as Christ" because that is how others will learn of HIM! So everyone, be kind because Christ is kind. Extend a hand, forgive others and recognize that we are all running this race together. We all want to end up in the same place and so we need to do all that we can to not leave each other behind.

Watch this video, https://www.mormon.org/easter/follow-him, and remember that it is because of Him that we are able to find new life and we are able to change.

The title of this blog post is my deepest most sincere testimony! Ou te alofa ia Iesu Keriso means "I love Jesus Christ" in Samoan. I am thrilled for Easter time because it is a day dedicated to the remembrance of our Savior who has gone to the deepest abysses to save us from our own fears, sins and regrets. He loves us, and I LOVE HIM! He has changed me in ways I never thought I would change. As one called to represent Him I want it to be known.

Love Sister Kerr








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