This week was just so darn funny! The spirit is always SO
strong and I know that we are making a difference in people's lives.
Missions seriously are a blast and so hilarious and SO uplifting!
Last
week we went to a woman's house who had wanted us to help her clean out
her basement and somehow ended up walking out of there obtaining half
of everything we cleaned out! We were wondering what to do with all
these random books, games, and misfit toys when it entered into our
minds the people who had not had gifts for their children on Christmas.
So what do missionaries do on New Years eve when everyone else in the
world is either sleeping or out partying?? We play secret Santa but say
Happy New Year and drop boxes of fun on their porches :) There is
nothing better than knowing the excitement they must feel for the
anticipation of what is inside the box. We had to be tactful in our
delivery though because the family that we came to had their car running
(as if they were going to leave) and their front door wide open! We
waited a bit to see if they would actually leave - they didn't, so
Sister Larsen dropped us off at the corner and Sister Lyons and I ran to
the door with everything in hand. Sister Larsen begins to drive up, we
drop the boxes, fly by the door, and jump into the moving vehicle! We
were so sly! And the family never suspected it to be the missionaries
:)
It's
about time to tell a story of a dog. This particular dog is a pug and
found lurking around the trailer park. So there we were, trying to visit
an old blind woman named Geri and who comes out of the trees walking up
the street?? This little pug. Cute right? Wrong. This dog begins to run
toward us, half blind, limping, growling, and rabies infested! (See
photo for evidence) We naturally start running to Geri's in fear of
getting bitten and are up on her porch knocking in hopes she'll let us
in. Her granddaughter answers as the pug arrives at the bottom of the
steps only to discover it can't get it's pugish body up them, he paces
back and forth at the bottom. The granddaughter didn't let us in because
Geri was not there but she sat and talked to us on the porch for a bit
(clearly not noticing the dog still pacing at the bottom). I couldn't
help but be distracted by it's raspy harsh breathing. After the
granddaughter says goodbye, all 3 of us turn around and consider our
next step. As if we were in an old western film stepping out into the
dirt road to have a duel but instead of us grabbing our weapons we chose
to just RUN. We jump off the other side of the porch hear it start
running and frantically get into our car as it chases us down the road
and then fades off into the distance.
Oh
my goodness! I have a gross animal story for this week. More
fascinating than the dog I'm sure and advice I hope I never have to give
my kids. It is about the Wilcox family. Sister Wilcox was telling us
about how her son was given a tarantella by her son's friend and she
wasn't too fond of it, but the boys liked it and so the story goes...
Child #1 comes up to Sister Wilcox, "WATCH THIS!" Child #2 opens his
mouth and out walks the tarantella!!! He was holding it in his mouth!
Sister Wilcox "Sweetheart, we probably shouldn't put tarantellas in our
mouths." I thought I was going to vomit. I hope I never have to tell my
child to get a tarantella out of his/her mouth!! Gross. Solution: never
letting my kids have a tarantella.
We went to the Visitor's Center with a
family this week. Their family is so unique. There is a mom, Teri, and 2
daughters, Valerie and Emily. Teri is a kick in the pants. She is so
darn inquisitive about everything that you could possibly imagine. And
it's not like she cares about the answers even in the slightest, she
just enjoys asking. She is like a little 4 year old who asks about
everything in sight, keep in mind that this woman is 50+ years old.
During lessons it is quite common for her to start venting to us about
her 14 year old (who is sitting right with us) and stating, "I really
just don't know what to do about her. Do all teenagers go through phases
like this? Will you tell her to stop yelling at me! Will you make her
come to church, tell her, tell her now or else she won't listen later!"
This is the same family that we gave a snow globe-I think I told that
story! It is just beyond me why she is asking 3 twenty year old girls to
parent her children, but it is quite funny and hard not to laugh. We
met with them a second time this week and finally are breaking through
to Miss Valerie! HALLELUJAH. She is so confused and does not know where
to find answers. She is feeling so frustrated and lost, it is a major
step that we even know any of this, she is the most shelled person I
have ever met! She builds herself up and tries to protect her
vulnerability by talking about how confident she is, it is so
heartbreaking to see someone so lost! She is trying to decide if she
wants to stay a member of the church, or just move on. During this
lesson, Valerie made the comment, "Well, it's not even like you guys
would be that different if you weren't Mormon," in defense of her own
decisions. This comment struck me more deeply than ever before. I
pondered what would be different about me if I was not a member of the
church. In those few moments, while pondering that comment in the
lesson, in an overwhelming way I realized that I would not be OK. I
would not be OK at all! I began to cry while sitting there in the their
humble, messy, apartment and realized that even if no one loves, cares
or knows about me at all, even if I don't mean a thing to anyone in the
world, I know that I do to God. That is what I would be missing if I was
not a Mormon. That's how I would be different. I would not be confident
in who I am, because I would not know who I am. How can we be
confident in something we do not know? I know Valerie felt something
during that lesson and realized that she is missing something. I hope with all my heart she will act on it!
I feel such a deep connection with all of the people
I am serving here on my mission. I love them all so very much and will
never truly be able to describe the way that I feel about these people. I
will never be able to express the joy that I feel with these people
that I now cherish and hold so dear. It is so hard for me to understand
that no one will ever understand how I feel about my mission and
this area and these people, except my companions who are here
experiencing it with me! My mission has been full of so much joy that I
have come to know that this has to be God's work. I know He
really does know me and all of us, and that He has magnificent things in
store for us! Ask Him what those things are, I promise He will help you
to accomplish them.
I love you so very much!
xoxox, Sister Kerr
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