My new area is a beauty.

Hello my dear, sweet family! Welcome to the Willamette Ward! I am now serving in West Linn and let me tell you, it is so incredibly beautiful here. I am in love already, I never ever ever want to leave and it has been all of 18 hours that I have been here. I will have to send you some pictures very soon. I truly am in love! This transfer brought some things that I was not expecting at all! As a sister training leader there are only certain areas that we generally serve in because we each get transferred around within those areas. So when I received the news that I would be transferring, I had a pretty good idea of where it was I would be going and who my companion would be. At least that is what I thought. At the transfer meeting I was totally calm when the Lake Oswego Zone popped up because there are not any sister training leaders for me to go be companions with there. But, out of nowhere I see my face on the screen with a sister I was not at all expecting! Sister Olsen and I are opening up a new area in the Lake Oswego Zone. This is going to be so much fun. I cannot even believe how excited I am. Sister Olsen is from Manti, Utah and has been serving for 14 months, so one transfer more than me. She is super sweet, we really are excited to serve together! Oh, FYI, West Linn is right across the Willamette River from Oregon City, so I am emailing you today from the same exact library that I was one year ago! Haha, we have come full circle now. I can see the Oregon City 4th ward right across the river :) It feels so good to be back in the beautiful tree-filled area rather than the city. I have missed it so much. 

Last week was absolutely amazing! One of the best weeks we ever had in Oak Hills, it was so great, but so sad to leave when I was so perfectly happy there. Two of the people we are teaching, Lindsay and Darin both set baptism dates! I feel so blessed to have been there to finally, FINALLY set those dates with them. It has been so miraculous to see them begin to progress, really progress! They are changing so rapidly and are just absolutely in love with the gospel. I know that God was truly blessing me by allowing me to be there for that after all the time I spent in Oak Hills and not seeing any fruit, this meant the world to me and the ward! I will be going back for their baptisms at the end of the month and in September! Happy day! I truly feel so full of love, it really is so hard to explain the way that I feel.Sunday night before I left, we got to go spend some time with both of their families. I love families so much and their families are so wonderful and have truly made me feel like I am one of their's! I felt like I was leaving my very best friends behind. We also met the most incredible woman that the sisters will get to keep teaching! I am so bummed that I don't get to anymore, but it is okay, I am just glad I got to meet her!

The elders in the Sunset Ward told us to go meet her, she lives in the apartment building over from them. She had shown up on their back porch a couple of weeks ago at 11:30 pm, completely COMPLETELY drunk. But, she had been sober for 11 days when we met her and she is completely committed to changing and looking for support because she does not have any. The church is the place to find that! I have seen this ward change lives, I know they will take care of her! Thank goodness I get to be on Facebook now though and will get to keep in touch with all of these people forever and ever! 

Funny story. So we were with Wendy a lot the last three days that I was there because she had a wedding coming up that she was doing the flowers for and she needed help. We did the floral arrangements for some ladies wedding and it was a blast! That is not the funny story and is besides the point, but just know that my Floral Design class at BYU was not a complete waste! On to the funny part. We were leaving Wendy's to go and meet a man we are teaching at a baptism that was going on in the stake, he really enjoys going since the spirit is so strong there. We had just left and were driving over to the stake center when we get a call from him telling us that the baptism is not going on today because of a funeral. We protest and insist that it is, we ask him to go and check the Relief Society room and if they are in there for the baptism. He responds, "Sisters I already checked, there is a body in there..." Awkward, awkward, awkward. Haha! The body was in the room where the baptism was supposed to be going on. Luckily our investigator with 2 crazy little kids had bailed on us and had not shown up with her kids in the room with the corpse. Those nutso kids would have lost it! I thought that was a funny moment!

I really am so super excited to be here in this area. I cannot wait to really figure things out and get things going in this ward. We met our Bishop last night and he is heaven sent. His whole entire heart is poured into moving the work forward in the Willamette Ward. He shared his goals and the things he has been praying for. Everyone in Oak Hills kept telling me I was going to be an answer to many people's prayers by going to my new area. I wasn't exactly sure how much I believed that. But, Bishop made it very clear that Sister Olsen and I are an answer to his prayers. I have received so many spiritual confirmations already that this is where I am meant to be. Though it was sad to leave, I know this is where I am supposed to be! 

I have got to get going. Thank you for your many prayers! I love love love YOU. 

Xoxox, 

Sister Kerr <3