16 February 2016 - Y'ALL GONE? WE GONE!!!

Y'ALL GONE? WE GONE!!! English lesson for you: you do not say, "Are you going" or "Are you leaving," you say "Y'all gone?" Stay tuned for more Louisiana grammar tips next week...maybe. But really though I'm gone, I am leaving Sister Langford at 6:30 tomorrow morning, and we are both ever so sad. I'm gonna miss that girl (Sniff, sniff). BUT we are planning on living in Provo together when we are home, so all will be well! I will find out who my new companion is tomorrow morning. They changed the way they do transfers, so I will be partying with someone else's companion all day tomorrow #HOLLA. Okay ya ready to hear about this week now? LET'S GO!!!

On Monday we taught Alexis's family (The lady we tracted into last week who wants to be baptized), and she has 3 children. We were able to teach them about the restoration, and the spirit was so strong. During the prayer, the daughter forgot to start with "Dear Heavenly Father," so her older brother cut her off and was like "Hey, you started the prayer wrong. In this pamphlet it says to start with dear Heavenly Father. Start over." So she did, and then Alexis had them ALL pray together out loud. It was so sweet! During the lesson, Alexis 15 year old Amari said he felt like our message was just what he needed. He said it made him feel safe, and he felt like it was helping him know God more. How sweet is he? Now their entire family is on date to be baptized, and we are so pumped for them! We have to find a way for them to get to church though, that seems to be a struggle right now. Pray for them!!!!

On Wednesday night we had dinner with our recent convert Drew and her husband Tyler. They took us to this REALLY fancy Hibachi(?) grill, and it was delicious. The chef was cooking the food right in front of us, and he was so chill. He even made a volcano out of onions!! AND he was juggling eggs on a spatula. How is that possible you may ask? I have NO IDEA!!! But it was tight. When he was done cooking, he flipped a piece of shrimp into each of our mouths. HOWEVER, he missed my mouth twice and just hit me in the face. I was laughing my head off and then he hit Sister Langford in the face too. It was absolutely an entertaining dinner.

On Friday we went to the Manna house to do service, and man oh man, did they find the worst job for us or what? They asked us to stack bottles in the fridge. Sounds pretty easy right? Yeah, apparently not!!! We started taking out the bottles, and then one of the workers told us we were doing it wrong. We were doing so good too, we had a system and everything. THEN we started stacking the pop carts on top of each other, and we just could not figure it out. The bottles were tipping, and the carts just did not want to stay straight. Sister Langford and I both were half in and half out of the fridge trying to keep everything up!!! Eventually Sister Langford just put her whole body in the little fridge to move things around, and I started freaking out the whole shelf was now balancing on her head... and she was ruining our crappy system! My goodness!!! LUCKILY we found a way to make it work, as people were starring and laughing it us. That was a rough time.

In the afternoon, we came home, and we were beat. However, we already had promised to help with another service project, so we got changed and left. Sister Langford and I ended up spraying down 2 carpets, scrubbed the deck, and sprayed down some other things that were dirty. After Sister Langford and I decided we wanted to do something for Pop and Ms. Robin for Valentine’s Day, so we decorated their kitchen, and made them Heart shaped pancakes and eggs for dinner. Ms. Robin and Pop were so grateful, and it made Ms. Robin cry. After we sang Nearer My God to Thee, and the spirit was so strong. They both do so much for us, so it felt so good to give back to them a little bit.

On Saturday we were asked to help out at a primary activity because the teacher got sick. So we went and did our thing, and then the weirdest thing happened. The stake primary president came over to me and Sister Langford with two people (Mother and son), and she said they were interested in learning more. They literally just walked into the church and said can we learn more.

Monday started off on an interesting note. We drove to Goodwill to see if we could do service there, and then we got a call from the less active (Carol) we have been teaching. She said she was at the Manna House (she and her boyfriend eat there), and she needed someone to come jump start her car. So we left Goodwill (Turns out we couldn't serve there anyways), and drove to the Manna House to help her. It started POURING on us, the sky was black, and the wind was blowing so hard. Sister Langford looked at me and was like "Mmk, this is not good weatha. This is totally tornado weather. Why aren't we on lock down?" BUT we still didn't get a lock text, so we went to go help anyways. Well when we got there it was still pouring, and we can't jump start a car in the rain!!! SO we got in her car and we had a lesson with her and her non-member boyfriend. Sister Carol is such a sweetheart, so we were able to talk with her about the Book of Mormon story that is in one of the three Ensigns she had in there. MEMBER PRESENT YO!!! Her boyfriend couldn't step out of that one. After the lesson we jump started her car, then left and were happy and safe from the storm. WELL later that night we found out that there was a tornado 2 miles from where we had been helping Carol. Crazy right? It took out a car wash and a Pizza Hut, but everyone is fine...at least I think they are. I don't know, I'm just going off of what I have heard.

GOODS: 1) FLOYD "Okay kids, so those of you with maps were able to find your way around easier right? So we all need maps?" Random Kid "Nah, my mom just uses Siri."
2) Me "So why do we need the Holy Ghost? How can God bless us through having the Holy Ghost?" Random Kid "Well we can't just kill ourselves, so we have to be happy and not kill." Me "Uh...sure?"
3) Pop at Valentines Dinner "I feel bad because this food looks beautiful, but I'm fixin to tear into these eggs here."
4) Usually missionaries can't have pets right? WELLLLLL Sister Langford and I were counting our pets yesterday and It's pretty funny. We have/ had 5 cats, 2 ducks (Giraffe Cornelius and Letaranisha Jasmine), 30 chicks, 2 roosters, like 5 chickens, and we just got 130 goldfish. What is this life?

This week I learned about the beauty in the scriptures. When we pray and seek guidance from our Father in Heaven, he will help answer us through the verses we read. In D&C 109 it talks a lot about building a temple and blessing it unto the Lord. I thought about that being a mission though. We build up a mission, and then we are able to dedicate our missions to the Lord. It's like that with our lives too. We go through our lives striving to be like Jesus Christ, and we dedicate our lives to him. We make our lives focused on worshiping God, and having Faith, and then we are able to submit ourselves to Heavenly Father more fully. I can't wait for the day I see God's face, and I can honestly tell Him I tried living my best and lived life the way He wanted me too. That will be a glorious day we can all experience if we follow Jesus Christ's example and remember Him. I love am so glad I've been so blessed to live with my Pop and Ms. Hunny! I will miss them terribly but am so glad I was so spoiled to live with them for 6 months. So many wonderful memories and lessons learned from them. They are seriously a highlight to my mission.

I'll do my best to let you know where I'll be going tomorrow through Pop. Oh and I'm following up training a newish Sister.

I love y'all, and I hope you have an amazing week. Keep on keeping on and remember whose army we are fighting for!

Sister Kerr

08 February 2016 - Beads, Bibles and Blind Faith

Oh, my heavens family this was such an incredible week. I may not say it every week but dang I know this church is true! I know Joseph Smith was a prophet, I know that the Book of Mormon and the Bible are the real deal. I know that families can be together FOREVER! I know that God has a plan for me and I can just feel Him near me. I love the opportunity to pray and to voice my opinion to Him, I love that He is willing to voice His opinion to me. I know that success comes from putting ALL our trust in the Savior. As we depend on Him life seems not just doable but happy :) I see so many people daily who do not know where even to look to find happiness and there are days I forget where to look for happiness! I was talking to Sister Langford last night about how quick we, as in human beings are so quick to forget miracles that happen to us! Or, how quick we are to dismiss spiritual experiences because we just get flat out distracted. I actually bore my testimony to Sister Langford about keeping a journal last night. I was reading my journal and I was just hit by a ton of bricks. The MIRACLES Y'ALL....THE MIRACLES. My favorite quote in Preach my Gospel is "You can know Heavenly Father is pleased with you when you can feel the Spirit working through you." I just am so grateful for the journal I have kept and even though I have not missed a day there are so many experiences that never got wrote down. I am just grateful for the constant reminder that I have sitting on my desk telling me that God loves me, Jesus Christ lives and I am a choice daughter of God. And that I am doing HIS WILL. It all just comes to life, seeing that my actions line up with the fact that I claim: I LOVE THE LORD.  It was funny because then I got on today to read my email from Daddy, which is his journal and he bears the same testimony "It also made me ponder over why I do it(keep a journal). As I look back over it, I find I have done really well for, well, literally decades. The entries are fun to read and help bring back meaningful memories. Also, maybe more importantly, keeping a journal helps me to see how blessed I am, as a husband and a father. Before I write, I spend a few moments thinking about my day, and I begin to see the hand of Heavenly Father. Taking time to write in my journal is really taking time to ponder how wonderful life is. It helps me to see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of my life. The pondering nourishes more than gratitude, it strengthens my testimony. I am certain Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. My journal is more than a chronological list of my memories. It is a record of God’s kindness." I couldn't have said it mo' betta myself!
So, I have been studying so much about Faith and I just am obsessed with FAITH. It is literally the answer to everything. If you can understand FAITH you can change and become anything God needs you to. So I was reading all different stories about FAITH, my favorites came from the New Testament because that is when Jesus Christ Himself measures people’s FAITH and lets them know where they are at. For example, Peter got the response "Oh ye of little FAITH." The woman who washed Jesus's feet with her tears and then dries His feet with her hair got the response "Thy FAITH hath saved thee; go in peace." The sickly woman who touched Jesus's garments to be healed got the response "Daughter thy FAITH hath made thee whole; go in peace."
 Also these verses in Ether 12 talk about the need for FAITH too.

12 For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith.
13 Behold, it was the faith of Alma and Amulek that caused the prison to tumble to the earth.
14 Behold, it was the faith of Nephi and Lehi that wrought the change upon the Lamanites, that they were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost.
15 Behold, it was the faith of Ammon and his brethren which wrought so great a miracle among the Lamanites.
16 Yea, and even all they who wrought miracles wrought them by faith, even those who were before Christ and also those who were after.

I love thinking about this last verse, 16, because it talks about those who come after Christ and that is you and I folks... you and I, our faith matters just as much as theirs did and to that same degree things won't happen until AFTER the trial of our faith. So keep that one in mind when you start to fear for whatever is to come because just like our Mama always says "It will all work out." So family and whomever else may be reading this remember the faith you have and continue to let it grow.
Next, Sister Langford and I were in charge of the YM/YW mutual so after tons of prayer we both got an answer. I got the "Tree of Life" story form 1Nephi 8 and Sister Langford got the Plan of Salvation. So we decided to morph them together. We chose 4 different areas around the church. Our church is set up exactly like our stake center in Syracuse so you can picture it perfectly! The relief society room was the Pre-Mortal earth; in there we drew the Plan of Salvation on the board and just had an open discussion step by step about the plan. The Elders investigators came so we had 2 nonmember youth there, Johnathan and Jeron. So after teaching the plan to everyone and talking about it then we brought up the Tree of Life and how it ties in and relates to the plan God has for us. We then had everyone line up at the door where we had a white sheet hanging representing the veil. So we had them all grab hold of the Iron Rod which was a rope and we walked them to the Telestial Kingdom and the Great and Spacious building which was set up on the stage. We had made this great big building with some boxes and paint, and then used the stage lights to make everything dark and red. It was a really eerie feeling. It was stuffy and hot because there were so many people and not enough room which made it PERFECT for what we were trying to make everyone feel. Up there we had the 2nd counselor in the Bishopric, Brother Coleman, speak about the Telestial Kingdom and also about what the Great and Spacious building represents. We handed out Snickers candy bars to point out that all the people from the building were snickering at them. From there we had everyone grab back onto the rope and we trailed everyone outside to the pavilion. Out there we had fog machines going and everyone sat down at the picnic tables. This was the Terrestrial Kingdom and the Mist of Darkness. We had the 1st counselor in the Bishopric, Brother Vaifanua speak on the Terrestrial Kingdom and what the Mists of Darkness represented. It was about 40 degrees out so everyone was uncomfortable and cold. Once again perfect for the feel we were shooting for. Brother Vaifanua told all the youth that they deserved better than this cold and misty place. We handed out moon cakes to remind them the Terrestrial Kingdom is comparable to the glory of the moon. From there we led everyone back inside the church and headed for the chapel. In the chapel, we had a tree lit up with white lights with tall white window shutters covered in tulle as a back drop. We also had a platter of white chocolate covered apples on a tall white pillar next to the tree and then projected on the front wall (Where they always project conference) we had the painting of Jesus Christ descending out of heaven with His Angels. It was stunning. They first had to walk through another white sheet representing the veil and then sat down in what represented the Celestial Kingdom with the Tree of Life representing the Love of God. The spirit was so strong when you walked in, it was wonderful! We had Bishop Owen talk about the Celestial Kingdom and the Tree of Life. He pointed out the difference of feelings between each Kingdom we visited and helped the Youth to recognize the spirit that was in the chapel. It was so good. Then he opened it up into a testimony meeting and most of the youth shared their testimonies! After it was all done and we sent the youth off the Bishop came up to me and just gave me a bear hug and he said while choked up "Thank you!" It just made me realize how much we can make a difference and how the little things really do matter! It was such a good night and I will forever remember it as being something that shaped my mission.

Sister Langford and I went out to see one of our investigators and she didn't open the door... she was inside though, she peaked through the curtains. :( But that wasn't going to scare us off that easy. We left her a note with a plan of salvation pamphlet in her door. We have hopes of getting a hold of her soon! Then we both got the feeling we needed to tract in that area so we just parked the car and started. We met several NOT INTERESTED people, which made up for our sweet Alexis who was interested. We talked to her about the restoration on her door step and I was coughing the whole time because it smelled like she was sauteing jalapenos (Addey do you remember when you sauted jalapenos and dad and I walked in and started choking and hacking?? ya same thing here haha) Anyways we end up inviting ourselves in and surprisingly my cough went away! She introduced us to her Husband Windell and then he left. I was really bummed because to invite ourselves in I asked if her Husband would be interested too! She said he might be but when he disappeared I was a little disappointed. But then he came back with jeans, shoes and a shirt tucked in. I was so impressed because he was decently dressed in gym shorts and a shirt before he left. Trust me I've seen much worse. So when I saw this I was so impressed! We started with Alexis saying a prayer and then we taught the Restoration. We talked about each principle and step by step they smiled and LOVED it! Then we got to the priesthood. I asked Windell what he thought was going on in the picture where Peter James and John are giving the Priesthood to Joseph Smith. He said "Oh I know, he is getting the calkezadek priesthood right?" I respond well ya he is getting the Melchizedek priesthood! He got so excited and said "My friend Rico from my last job was a Mormon and taught me all about this, he was actually preparing to receive the Melchizedek priesthood!" Oh my goodness, he was so excited to tell us how his friend Rico had already given him this pamphlet and a Book of Mormon and that by us missionaries showing up and knocking on his door and him actually being home because he works so much was a miracle. He knew God had sent us there. We invited them both to be baptized on February 27th by someone holding this priesthood authority and they said yes! It was completely spirit led because I didn’t even know what I was saying and I didn't even know what day of the week the 27th was on but God told me to promise them that they will know if they need to be baptized by the 27th. Then at the end of the lesson Windell closed with a kneeling prayer pleading for God to tell him if it's true and to please allow us Sister Missionaries to come back to teach him and his family. Best part was the lesson was thirty minutes on the dot and we were just made a promise from our mission president that if we will shorten our lessons we would see more success! Bring on the blessin's....

We went to a Mardi Gras parade and it was a hoot! So funny and the food yall... the food was splendid! I tried my first King Cake and got tons of beads! I promise I still had my name tag on haha. Life is good here in the grand ole' south.

This week we received 16 free Bible requests.... we only had 3 Bibles. Dang we can't even keep up with the demand!! But I get it the Bible is pretty great :) But we had some Elders in our district pitch in some of their Bibles and with their help we now have about 13 Bibles. so now its delivery bus time! I have always wanted to be a FedEx driver!

Holy cow y'all I have so many more stories to share but I’m sick of typing so just know that there are too many blessings and miracles to count and I pray that it is the same for you. If its not its because you aint lookin hard enough. God's hand is all around us especially in this family. I love yall. Shout out to Grandma Kerr for being so brave. Shout out to Kensey and Josh for their exciting announcement. I am so happy for y'all and I am having the same reaction now as I did when I was a small child at the airport saying goodbye to my Pence Grandparents "I want to cry.... I just cant!" haha I know God is keeping them tears from me! Shout out to Addey Pence who wants to serve a mission! Shout out to Pepper and Pennie HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Shout out to Kyle Copeland for hanging in there and pushing through, you too Whit cause I know it wasn't easy for  you either! Shout out for my Mama and Daddy being reunited. Shout out for the BRONCOS winning Superbowl 50! Ya thats all I got for now.... If I left anything out know that I’m sorry!

Love all yall to the moon and back
Your Sista Kerr

01 February 2016 - February is here!

How you be's? How you is? How it goin? Can I have yo numba? How be the life outside of good ole Louisiana? Y'all it was in the 70's this week and it felt like heaven! It was so amazing y'all would love it! Tell you what, I don't know how Sister Langford and I made it out this week. We were running around ALL DAY ERY DAY!!!! BASICALLY it was a super busy week, but it was great. We went on two exchanges, had zone conference on Thursday, and we had Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the quorum of the 12 apostles come speak to us on Saturday. IT WAS NUTS!!
Okay so yeah, Sister Langford and I went ham this week. We ended up teaching 24 lessons, which is a big deal! We now have 2 people with a scheduled baptismal date, and 2 who said they want to be baptized. Hopefully we will have 4 baptismal dates set up by the end of this week. ONE OF THOSE happens to be our Chili's investigator Ms. Temeca. HOLLA!!! Pray for our dear investigators POLEASE!! We are so blessed to be teaching them all, and we just want to see them happy and loved.

BACK TO TEMECA! ALLLRRRIIGGHHT! ON Friday Sister Langford and I were on exchanges with Natchitoches, and we decided to go to Chili's to see Temeca. When we got there, Sister Langford and I shared some DELECTABLE fajita's, and then Sister Jenkins and I had to leave for an appointment. Sister Bell and Sister Langford could have left then too, but they had a feeling we needed to stay and chat with Temeca a LITTLE longer. So when Temeca came back, Sister Bell and Sister Langford were able to talk a little bit about the plan of salvation with her. Temeca's father recently past away, and she wanted to feel at peace with it, so the plan of salvation was exactly what she needed to hear. After they talked about the after life a little bit, Sister Langford said "Temeca, that is Heavenly Fathers plan for us. To live with Him again and be happy! Part of that plan requires some steps on our part though. One of those steps is baptism. Will you prepare yourself to be baptized by something worthy of holding the priesthood authority of God?" She then said that that was part of her plan already, and that she wanted to do what Heavenly Father asked of her. We haven't set a date for her baptism yet, but we are so happy she has decided to take this sacred step. YAY!!!

On Sunday for church, Sister Langford and I taught the youth Sunday school class, and it was great. We taught them about the difference between feeling the Holy Ghost, and having the Holy Ghost as an eternal companion. It was so spiritual, and it was great because two investigators were there. The Elders investigator Jonathan was there, and our investigator Casey was there (unfortunately we can't teach her the lessons because she is going to a boarding school, and she is going back to Texas in 2 weeks #TerribleDay.) But mmmm yeah, it was so good y'all!

On Wednesday we went on exchanges with DeRidder, and it was crazy good. I went with Sister Rosero, she is from the Philippians. She is so cute and we were able to see a bunch of people! We went to a members house who lived in the middle of no where.... wait whats new? haha But she had the cutest old cabin. It was so Louisiana. Then out of no where a huge pig comes waddling out. Our member says "Hey, meet my food storage!" It was so funny :)

One of the less actives here is from Fulton, New York! So cool right?? He had actually heard of Altmar, NY! Well gee.... that made me so darn happy!

We walked into Walmart and as we were walking around I saw 5 people that I knew! I thought yay... Ive been here for a while if I know all these people!

Saturday was that special day I mentioned before: Elder Ronald A. Rasband came and spoke to us. The moment he walked into the room the spirit was so strong, and he invited all of us to come up and shake his hand. However, he didn't just want to shake our hands, he wanted to know all of our names too. After he shook our hands and asked for our names, he proceeded to tell us the importance OF a name. It amazed me because he was so very sincere! This applies to all of us though doesn't it? Everyone who is baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints willingly takes Jesus Christ's name upon them. Then every Sunday we partake of the sacrament and make that promise again; to take His name upon us, and remember Him always. Think about the importance of those words. If we have each taken Jesus Christ's name upon us, then we are each walking representatives of Him. This means we need to be examples of Him at all times, in all things, and in all places. It is our duty to live our lives in accordance to the name we take upon us. Those faithful non-members should be able to see us and know who we are IMMEDIATELY. It was just so spiritually edifying! I loved it my eyes were glued on him the whole time! It is always so great to be near the temple too!

We went to an old plantation house called "The Kent House" for PDAY It was so pretty and we got to see all sorts of different things! Yall the south is so historic! We will have to go when yall come and visit!

SUCH A GOOD WEEK! My prayers go out to all of yall. I love yall so much. God Bless you :)

Love Sister Kerr

25 January 2016 - Press Forward

I love this year’s youth theme of Press Forward! It is so inspiring to keep us moving in the direction we need to go! We had an incredible Stake Conference this weekend, Elder Larry Lawrence came and spoke, and he is a member of the second quorum of the seventy. He gave the talk "What lack I yet?" in General Conference. He spoke all about Less Actives and the importance to reach out to them and bearing one another's burdens. During Elder Lawrence's talk he asked if anyone who had ever been Less Active in their life would stand. Over half the room stood, we had our dear sweet Carol standing between us with tears streaming down her face because she was just so touched by his words. I leaned over and said to her "that isn’t you anymore!" She smiled huge and said, "I know!" She is so excited to get to the temple and we cant wait for her to go either! It’s amazing that the gospel's only purpose is to bless our lives. So I challenge all of y'all to let it do just that, let it bless you! Elder Lawrence's wife talked about the Plan of Salvation and it was so incredible, the way she made everything just make perfect sense was definitely inspired by the spirit. Elder Lawrence asked a question that I want to ask yall, He asked "What is your biggest desire?" Be completely honest with yourself. If you aren't proud of it change it and if you are pleased with it make it happen. Do everything you can to point your desires toward God. He will bless us more than we can imagine. I love this life I am living! The thought of coming home scares me because I can't even imagine throwing all those distractions back into my life. Part of me wants to say I'll always listen to Mo Tab and study for 2 hours every morning haha. But it’s so cool to see how much God works through us. If things didn't get harder they wouldn't be a test! Sister Langford and I had a blast together this week. We got so much done! We met this less active named Fred over the phone and he is just the sweetest thing! We have had a couple lessons with him over the phone and he is so excited to come back to church this upcoming week. We also met with Lucy, a less active and things with her went so great! I was prompted to tell her about the talk that said whenever we want to say that we don't have time to read our scriptures instead say it's not a priority. It really made her think about that. I know Im guilty of saying I don't have time to read. But of course we have time especially with the technology we have today it can read it to us! When we think of it in terms of it isn’t a priority it makes us really realize what our greatest desire really is. I know that mine is to please my Heavenly Father! So if He has asked us to study our scriptures let’s make it a priority to study our scriptures! I found the scripture 2 Nephi 26: 23, 24 and 33. I just love this scripture because it reminds us that God doesn't command us to do anything without purpose and that He doesn't do anything unless it is for our benefit. So even if that means it will be tough now it will benefit us in the end.

Haha funny story we have an investigator who works at Chili's. Her name is Temeca and she is a doll. So we go to Chili's to support her and for our chips and salsa fix weekly! Its the best, her face lights up when we walk in it is the cutest thing ever! But when we were sitting there waiting for our food one of the cooks in the back yells out "What's the ETA on dem wangs?!?" Sister Langford and I just busted out laughing. I may have to live down here yall I am going to miss the culture SO BAD!! Louisiana is the best place ever! Hope all is well with yall, keep praying and fasting, it brings miracles I promise! Its happened for me!
Love Sister Kerr

18 January 2016 - Salutations Everybody!

Salutations Everybody

Salutations everybody! Guess what! NEITHER of us were sick this week? That is only the beginning of the miracles we experienced this week. The Lord has blessed us in so many ways, I can't even count them on my little fingers! Heavenly Father just loves the people here so much, and he used us to help Him show it! HALLELUJAH FOR THAT!!!

To start, we had another lesson with the less active Carol Welch we taught last week, and it was just as spiritual. This time we were able to bring a member too! They both have lost their husbands in the past few years, so they were able to relate to each other so well. Sister Welch said that one of the reasons she struggled with coming back to church was the pain she had felt after her loss. I could feel the spirit so strong as the testified to each other of us the love they both felt from God now. It was beautiful. AND then Carol was at church on Sunday sitting by us AND she was taking notes. I just love her so much. She was so touched by the message that I reached over and put my arm around her. We could both feel the spirit so strong, we both just sat there and cried.

On Saturday, Sister Langford and I decided to go see a referral we received. Her name is Valerie, and she is just so cute. She shared so many sweet things with us, and said that she just wants to be able to share a sweet testimony of Jesus Christ with others. Valerie has visited several other churches, but she never felt like they were right for her. The reason she ordered a bible was so she could feel closer to God, and start that testimony. When we left she had agreed to be baptized in February, and we are just praying so hard that she will keep her head up and make it to her baptism. We visited Valerie yesterday too with Ms. Robin, and the spirit was so strong again. Valerie did not make it to church yesterday, but she told everyone at her church about our church, and she was sharing our message with them. How cute is she? She said our message made her sons want to come back to church too! Just pray for her y'all, she is super sweet, and we just want her to feel Heavenly Father's love with her.

THE GOODS:
People here say alright to everything. You can have a FULL conversation with the word alright. "Alright? Alright. Alright. ALRIGHT!" It just works okay? I haven’t ever really seen it before because I haven’t served near New Orleans. SOOO When we called a referral I asked if it was Ms. Alice, and she just said "Alright." Man I LOST it. I was trying so hard not to laugh, and after I got off I said "I finally understand now!" Yeah, "Alright" means a lot of different things down here.

I want y'all to know how much Heavenly Father loves you. He loves you, and so He has blessed you with temples and families. Sister Langford and I were able to go to the temple on Wednesday after MLC (yes we had permission), and the spirit was so strong. THEN yesterday we had a "East-South" broadcasted stake conference, Elder Rasband talked a lot about temples. The spirit was strong, and it just reminded me about how lucky I am to have a temple available to me. Also, how lucky I am to be worthy to visit the temple. Elder Rasband encouraged us ALL to hold a temple recommend, even if we can't visit the temple as much as we would like. The temple is such a sweet place, and I have missed visiting it so much. NEVER pass up an opportunity to visit the temple. You are meant to be there, so get there. Being a worthy temple recommend holder shows God how much we care, and it shows that we want to improve. I am so blessed to be found worthy to enter Heavenly Father's temple, and I pray that I will be able to visit again soon. Remember that the temple is Heavenly Father's house, and even seeing the temple brings peace, so get there. Receive the blessings you are worthy to receive there. You are loved, and Heavenly Father has blessed you with a temple. NEVER throw that blessing away.

I hope y'all have an amazing week, and I want you to know I'm praying for you. Keep on keeping on, and remember whose army we are fighting for. I love you, but more importantly, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you. NEVER forget that.

XOXO
Sister Kerr

11 January 2016 - A Vision of the South

HELLO EVERYBODY! This has been one confusing week. Sister Langford and I kept ourselves super busy, but we kept being pulled away to do random things. At the end of the week, we went to count our numbers, and we have no idea how we managed to get as much done as we did. We were like "Uh, is this right? Should we count again? Nope, that's right!" The Lord blessed us SOOOO much for our efforts this week. You know what they always say, "God is not a God of chance, but a God of miracles." AAAAAMEN! Speaking of miracles, I've been thinking a lot about the vision President Kimball had of the South and how I really am taking part in this prophecy!

 “A Vision of the South,” a prophecy from President Spencer W. Kimball. “Make no small plans: They have no magic to stir men’s souls. This is the vision I have for the South. I believe that one day the South will baptize more people into the Church than all other English-speaking missions in the world together. There are great hosts of marvelous Baptists, members of the Church of Christ, Methodists, and Catholics who are honorable people, and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love him. As they see the church veering off to the right or to the left of those basic teachings, they will begin to search for the truth; and as pivotal teachers come into the church and have influence they will see the time when we will baptize hundreds and thousands, tens of thousands, in your day you will see a million members of the church in the South. There will be temples plural in the South States. What a great call you have to serve with these marvelous people. The missionaries love the South. We are making great strides and expect to continue.”

I feel so lucky to be able to assist in the work here in Louisiana! Let me just give you a couple examples to show you how true this prophecy is. This week was really good, we met this lady named Latricia. Her daughter Gabrielle had ordered a Bible online so we were stopping by to deliver it. We met her mom instead and ended up talking to her. This woman's faith was like nothing I had ever seen before. But the cool thing was is that as I stood there with her I could feel that my faith lever matched hers. By the way if you ever want to grow your faith spend some time in the south, they sure know what they are doing. Any ways we talked to her about the Bible and about how much our God loves us and how aware He is of us. It set the perfect setting for us to talk about the First Vision and then support it with the Book of Mormon. She was very skeptical because she is so solid in her beliefs and she has already been saved... in 2006 she said she fell to the ground so she knows that it’s legitimate, you can tell that the spirit really has impacted her life. It made me just yearn for her to have the gift of the Holy Ghost. Quick tangent we have a recent convert Frances who testifies how different it is to actually have the gift and to just be influenced by the Holy Ghost she says that its the greatest blessing in her life! Back to Latricia though she was very protective of the beliefs she has. I would ask her if she believed God could talk to us more or reach out to us once again and every time she would agree and just go on for 5 minutes about how we cannot even think about limiting God! But then she would turn away the thought of another book of scripture. I just look at her and think one day you will understand! I am just grateful for God's hand in the work and that it’s just my job to present it in a way people can feel the spirit, and I mean the spirit was there strong! She loved us and after some more teaching and a lovely prayer she said we could come back and talk to her and her family again. So I pray that she will recognize the need for the additional light and truth that is now in her hands.

We met Ms. Foote this week! Its Sister Neill Foote Marriot's (the second counselor int he General YW Presidency) mother. She is 92 and very Methodist, she was absolutely darling. We shared the scripture St John 14:27. It talks about peace. The peace that Jesus promised us. I love how it explains that it is not how the world gives it. But peace only comes from Him, I have felt so much peace in my life this week. I love that feeling because just like that scripture says peace doesn't come from the world so when we feel it we can know its from HIM.

Pop went and picked lemons and bought an electric lemon juicer, he asked if we could help him out and to juice the lemons for him. We had a blast! Sister Langford would squeeze while I read to her from the scriptures and then we would switch off! So much acid in the hang nails. We probably squeezed 100 lemons. I had to give up 2 of my kitties. It was so sad! Shadrach and Abed-nego headed off to Lake Charles to the Green's son, Andre's house. So no we are down to 3 cats. Its interesting how much I love these cats haha.

We met this really nice lady named Alice. The lady has 9 grandkids under the age of 10 living with her. She has a total of 40 grand kids. I just can't imagine living a life in the way that she is. It makes me realize how lucky I am to have been raised in the gospel with an understanding of the importance of families and the role of a family. If we can just keep on the path all will be well. Sister Langford and I have had some of the most spiritual studies of our lives this week. We were studying the Atonement yesterday and it just rested too heavy on us. Not a bad heavy but a heavy that lets you know it’s there. Almost like a thick Mexican blanket laying on your shoulders. Just heavy enough to let you know it is constantly there. Which reminds me we had this crazy deep and lovely lesson with our Less Active, Carol! She has really been struggling with realizing that she isn't living up to a lot of the things she knows. But it’s really cool how the new year changes peoples initiative. Our visit with her was so spiritual and uplifting that she just knew the time was right. It was really cool because I really developed a testimony in the Lord's timing. I have been seeing this lady for 4 months and nothing has really ever fully hit her at home. But we went in prayerfully and after the lesson I realized how bad she needed Sister Langford and I specifically but not just that, she needed the companionship study that we had had just 2 days prior. It was like God was placing us together and having us study and learn something and then it wasn't until she was ready but because of the placement timing and knowledge she is ready to CHANGE! Hallelujah, thank you Jesus, Praise the Lord, Amen. Brotha and Sista Church Church.  

THE GOODS: On Saturday night, Sister Langford and I were SUPER hungry, so we decided to go out to eat. We decided to eat at the "Louisiana-Esque Kitchen" place called Copelands, and it was great. I had crab ravioli, and She had Basil/tomatoes/grilled chicken/cheese/marinara stuff? I don't know, but it was good. When we got there, they told us we would have to wait 10-15 minutes UNLESS we wanted to eat in the free-lounge. So naturally, we were innocent and hungry, and we were like yeah sure, we will eat there! YEAH we found out a little late that that was the bar. We were seated at a booth far from it, but still. PLUS Sister Langford forgot her name tag that day so...it was just awkward. The people were pretty shocked when we ordered waters, and were STILL happily chatting. NOTE TO SELF: In Louisiana, they forget to care about carding you. Once again, keep that in mind when y'all come to visit ;)

Anyways I sure love y'all!
It has been one full week without fear and let me just tell you I am living the life! Don't forget to give something up for 40 days it’s amazing the changes its made in me just in a full week. God Bless and have a nice day!

Sister Macey Kerr

05 January 2016 - Spiritual Sickies

So I was sick last week with a bad sinus/ head cold which was fine we worked through it but my companion caught it this week and it hit her hard! The poor thing was so ridiculously sick. It wiped her out, but all of her being sick I was able to study like crazy! It was a blessing in disguise because I was able to learn so much about the scriptures! One thing that I really learned this week was that without the Book of Mormon we wouldn't have much of an understanding of the atonement of Jesus Christ. We have a less active, Michelle, and she is incredible. She has so much holding her back right now, I feel like that is a likely story for a lot of the people in the world. We have been reading from the Book of Mormon with her daily. Yesterday we talked about the Stripling Warriors, I love the example that they set to step up and serve. That like Elder Holland said "It's not over 'til it's over." They were willing to endure to the end by casting all of their faith to their God. We explained to Michelle that that is what is needed of her. She needs to cast her doubts and fears away, she needs to find rest in the Savior and to step up and serve. I really feel like this concept or thought doesn't just apply to Michelle, it applies to all of us. Find what it is that is holding you back and get rid of it! Whether it being feelings, people, TV, negativity or your phone just move on. We are preparing for an apostle to visit the mission on January 30th, Elder Rasband. In preparation, we are doing what is called a 40 day fast. You choose something to give up or sacrifice and you give it to God for 40 days. I personally chose fear. I will not fear for 40 days. Anytime I want to fear I have to just move on, give it to God, remember who I am and remember who He is! So I challenge you to do it! Do the 40 day challenge with me and see if you can fast to get closer to God! I can’t wait to meet Elder Rasband, I love yall have a really good week,
love Sister Kerr