This last week must have been a dream!

FIRST. Happy Birthday my little Kader Tot! Auntie Kensey love, love, loves you! <3 OIE!!

I woke up Saturday morning and was in some strange room, with very different surroundings than normal; a weird alarm had gone off, I couldn't find my glasses, it was darker than normal, the door was on the wrong side of the room. This is what exchanges do to me! I get so confused every time I wake up on an exchange in a different area, with a different companion...and this is pretty much weekly for the past 5 months! Haha! But, really this one was way worse because I was sure the week had just began, but my companion for the day convinced me it really was Saturday. THIS WEEK WENT SO FAST. I swear I had just started the week and it was already Saturday morning! I don't know where the time went, but we had such an amazing week. I think I must have slept through it all and just dreamed it up, because it was SO good and SO fast!

This week consisted of so many wonderfully random, great things! I loved it!

One of the first things that happened this week was actually really tragic. Another family I love was affected by attempted suicide. This has actually happened much,  much more than I had ever expected to see or be involved in. These people love and trust the missionaries so much (I know it is because we have the spirit with us and they really feel closer to Heavenly Father around us), we are some of the first people they open up and tell about these situations. It breaks my heart to know that so many people in the world do not feel needed or that they belong. I love them so much and I know that God loves them. I have come to learn the importance of expressing to everyone the love you have for them, and also how valuable they are to you. Tell everyone how much you need them, why you need them, why you love them - we each need each other because we really are brothers and sisters to one another! We are family, forever. I want everyone reading this to know, that I, Sister Kensey Kerr, love YOU! I know that you are a child of God and that He has a plan just for you, to help you be happy. He will do whatever it takes to bring you that happiness, just never give up - because someone needs you :) Even if no one in the world seems to care about you, rely on the fact that God does. That fact has carried me through a lot of times on my mission! No one quite understands what I am going through here, and that can get lonely sometimes, but I know that even if no one gets it or experiences it, my Father in Heaven does. And that is all that matters, I am understood and loved by at least one person! That is what I want each of you to know! 

A couple of my favorite funny moments...

We attended a random wedding by accident. Haha! Happens all the time...just kidding, it most definitely does not! We were at the church on Wednesday morning, using the wifi to update our iPads, when we see the bishop walk up to the front door. Following him are a bride and groom and each of their parents. Bishop asks us to attend, we look at him like he is crazy and he says, "No, please come! You will increase our attendance by about 1/3!" Oh gosh. So, we stayed! We met the families and got put on music duty. I sang a musical number while Sister Olsen accompanied on the piano. I sang, "Wind Beneath my Wings." The one Whitney sang at her graduation. I'm totally kidding, just wanted to keep it interesting to keep you reading! We were on music duty though. We were handed an iPod that was plugged into an old boombox. The iPod had some song from YouTube pulled up and we were instructed to push play while the bride and her father walked down the aisle. So, that's what we did! I am holding their marriage license, Sister Olsen is holding the iPod, we get the thumbs up to push play and here comes the scratchiest version of the classic wedding song. They begin to walk down the aisle, next to us, and I realize that we are completely in all of her aisle pictures...But, what bride doesn't want two random sister missionaries in her wedding pictures? Haha! It was so hysterical and one of those moments where you are just like, "How on earth did I get into this?" About 7 minutes later the wedding was complete and the father came up to us and asked us to be in their pictures outside. It was so funny! We declined and left as soon as we could. It was so hilarious! 

Number 2. Friday we had our monthly leadership council. It always begins at 8am at the mission president's home, in my last area, which is about 30 minutes away from my new area. Friday morning comes, we get ready and leave at 7:25! I was so impressed with our punctuality! We are driving along on the freeway, without a GPS, because we are both experienced enough and are going back to my old area, that we just went to last week! Driving, driving, driving and all of a sudden I realize that NONE of this looks familiar. What?? I KNEW I hadn't missed an exit, but I somehow ended up in the completely wrong area. But, I had missed an exit. I hate it when I'm wrong. Now it is already like 8, and we are just getting turned around and heading the right direction again. Actually, it took us a few times turning around too. Oh my gosh, it was so hilarious! We could not figure out how the heck we had ended up here, we were all the way to downtown Portland. We finally got to the correct location and it is now 8:40 and I am praying that there is food left still because I had such a bad headache now and was starving; we have breakfast there from 8-9, then begin our 8 hour meeting! Haha, we get there and there is not a soul. We walk up to the door and we're like, "Today is Friday right?? Did someone change all our clocks? Did they all go out for breakfast and we missed it because we were late?" Oh my gosh, we were so confused and SO late. We go in anyways and find President Ballard and the Assistants. They don't seem shocked at all that we are so stinking late, so we start asking questions. Apparently, breakfast had been cancelled and they forgot to send us the email because our email is not on their list since we are white-washing our area! Hahahah. I kept asking, "Is this real life? Did all of that just really happen?" Yet again, another dream like experience. It was so funny and surreal, we had a really enjoyable ride though and were cracking up laughing. President gave us some boiled eggs and yogurt because he felt so bad. Great time! The meeting was absolutely incredible though. Brother Hemingway, the Head of Proselyting for the whole church was there. Whoa, I don't know how we got so lucky to have him there, but it was phenomenal! We talked a lot about online proselyting. The Oregon Portland Mission is at the head of the church with all of the different tools that they are allowing missionaries to begin to use. We are so blessed! But, we talked a lot about purifying our hearts. It was so my kind of meeting. I hate rules! I hate them because I feel like they restrict us from doing things the spirit prompts us to do at times. I dislike worrying about if I am allowed to do something good, pure, and beneficial to others because of a petty rule. That is pretty much abolished now. These petty rules filtering our online proselyting are being lifted in this mission, our hearts must be the filters (D&C 112:28). It was an amazing meeting! I am so blessed to be serving in this mission where I am learning to live this way, learning to live in the world (even in my mission field), but to be lifting people out of the world, with the tools God has given us! I cannot wait to continue to use the things I am learning here after my mission. And I won't have filters tying me down at home, besides the filter of my heart. I am happy that is how we will be living here now too!

Lindsay's baptism was Saturday and it was so joyous! I didn't cry until the very end. She and Darin both asked me to say the prayer to close the meeting at their services. And I felt the spirit so strongly! Lindsay is home now. After I said the prayer I went to her, bent down where she was sitting and gave her a hug. She wouldn't let go of me and we both cried happy, happy tears! I am so full of joy for my dear friend, Lindsay! She said her face hurt so badly from smiling all morning, I had so been there too! It was such a sweet, special day. 

Last thing! Someone we are teaching here is part of a religious choir. She invited us to her performance on Sunday evening. It was happening in Portland and a member was already going to support her, so we got permission and rode down with her. We are driving along and it is getting pretty far and I was thinking that none of this even sounded familiar, it can't be in the mission. But, I figure I must have no idea. We get there and Sister Olsen and I look at each other and both reassure each other that we are most definitely NOT in the mission! Haha! It was so hilarious. But, we had permission and were already there. So, we got on the shuttle that took us to the church this was being held at. It was at a Seventh Day Adventist church and was the greatest moment that I ever could have imagined to finish off my already crazy week! We walk in and are SO the minority in every way imaginable, it was like a Southern church you see televised. There were hundreds of people, standing up, swaying, clapping, singing, dancing, and praising. It was SO fun! Our investigator, Shani, was up there in the choir just singing her heart out. It was seriously so wonderful to be around so many people who truly love God. Our faith may be shown differently, but we believe in and love the same God. It was so energetic and passionate in there, I couldn't stop smiling at all these wonderful people. They probably thought I was some wacko, because I was white and a Mormon missionary (both were very obvious), but it was just so happy! When Shani is baptized, I definitely think she should become the ward chorister! We have such beautiful hymns, but we sure do need some more energy and life in them. She will be perfect for that! 

I had such a good week! I didn't even get to mention so many things. Just read between these lines make up the rest of the week for me! I love you all SO very much. I am thankful for you! 

AHHH! I almost forgot! There was a red truck sitting at the stop sign a couple blocks from where I live. I was driving and came around the corner - HE HAD A LONG LAKE BUMPER STICKER AND NY LICENSE PLATES. Sister Olsen thought I was dying because I was freaking out so bad! I was so tempted to follow him :( Then, I got my postcard from Mama from Long Lake. Home was near!

Xoxoxo, my loves!

Sister Kerr <3

It's my Grandpa's Birthday!

Hello, my loves!

This may be quick because my fingers are going numb and I am shivering here in this darn library! I do not like it when they do freeze-outs in public places. Yeah, so I don't know how much I can handle of it!

{Happy Birthday, Grandpa Tom! I love you to pieces and am so thankful to have you in my life! You are one of my best friends. Love, love love you!!}

This week was great! I am so in love with this area I am serving in and the people we are teaching. I will share a few highlights!

1// Darin, from my last area was baptized on Saturday! Happy, happy day! I think this was definitely one of my favorite baptisms I have ever been to. The feeling there was so wonderful and I was so filled with happiness! His parents were there and we were all so happy to see each other. His dad, Barry, was able to baptize him! And his mom and I stayed teary-eyed together the whole time. It felt so good to be back with the people I love so dearly in Oak Hills! Darin changed how I see prayer and greatly affected my view on our relationship with Heavenly Father. I know He is there because I have seen Him answer the prayers of one of my dear friends when he decided to try and pray. He is very aware of us and our needs and desires. I love my Father in Heaven and I know He hears our prayers. I am so grateful to know Darin and to have been able to experience this mighty change with him. I am so happy for our friendship! And the gospel is what allowed us this opportunity to grow and learn together! 

2// Taylor was baptized too! Taylor is the young girl(10) we are teaching here. She just moved here with her grandparents and has been coming to church with them. We started to teach her the week we arrived in West Linn and she was ready to be baptized. It was a special day! She is so sweet. Taylor is really smart and so sweet. She loves frozen yogurt and loves to make funky combos whenever we go out with their family! Her favorite song is, "I Love to see the Temple." That is what we sang for the closing song. She had just learned it on the piano and played it herself to close the meeting. It was so cute! The ward was wonderful and very supportive! Willamette is the best. 

3// I read a really cool passage of scripture from the Doctrine and Covenants! It said that we are commanded to assemble together and instruct and edify each other. I thought this was so wonderful, especially since we have been trying to meet a lot of members here in the area who are no longer actively coming to church. I realized that we really NEED each other. Each of us have something to give and something to gain from joining together. We met an incredible man, named Tom last week. We took our Bishop with us to go and meet him this week and I saw how true this scripture is! I know there are members in the Willamette ward who need Tom there, to edify and instruct, to build and enlighten each other. God said the purpose of that is to know, "how to act upon the points of my law and commandments." WE teach from each other about our Father and how to act more fully upon our faith. Our faith really is developed from sharing our experiences and knowledge with each other. I loved it! And i loved how much I learned from chatting with Tom, his testimony is so wonderful, even though he is not actively practicing, his faith in Christ is beautiful and most definitely something I could learn from. 

4// The Mormon message, "The Hope of God's Light" has changed my life! I LOVE it so much. You ALL should go watch it. It is so well done and it really helps me to have faith in those we are working with. I love when he says, "For two years God was nurturing a questioning soul." God IS involved throughout our whole life's journey, not just at sporadic times when it is evident and clear to us. He is nurturing and preparing us, giving us little by little in our experiences until we are prepared to receive our answer. I love that message, especially at this time in my life. I know my interactions with people here, regardless of the outcome, is part of God's nurturing plan. He is preparing them to feel His perfect love for them. My job as a missionary, and as a member for the REST of my life, is to follow the spirit and help in their experiences and journey of finding answers. What is cool, is that this is true of me too! I know my Father in Heaven has nurtured me and given me bit by bit in preparation for a more powerful and personal relationship with Him. I KNOW He lives and I KNOW He loves me. 

Lindsay from Oak Hills is getting baptized this weekend and I cannot express my excitement in adequate terms! I love Lindsay so very, very much and am so excited to see her again. She is so excited for her baptism and to finally find where she belongs. I have decided that is what I want to do! I am committed to being someone that makes more people feel needed and like they fit and belong right there with us. I was reflecting on the beginning of my mission and trying to figure out what helped it to be such a great start and experience and a smooth transition. The Morby's were so good at that! They were so wonderful at making me feel needed and valuable. I am so grateful for that experience and for all the other experiences I have had that have helped me to feel loved. I want to give that to other people for the rest of my life!

I have to get going! Have a very happy week. You're in my thoughts and prayers! 

Xoxo! 

Sister Kerr

Week 3 in this new place.

Hello family!

Wowie, I am at the start of my third week here in this new area...whoa. I can't believe it! Time legitimately flies, I know you are all probably so sick of hearing me say that. 

First off, I want to thank you all for my emails and letters this week. I know I have the best family on earth! Haha, I was laughing and smiling through all of my emails today. Please know you MADE my day. Macey told me the funniest story about these weirdos biking from New York to Portland who made a pitstop in Ashton...We are ALL connected!!!! Addey confirmed that the family member of a woman I met in Beaverton is on her volleyball team. Super cool! I finally found my connection to HOME! Yippee! Then, I find out from Whitney that Kyle is now the ward mission leader in Texas. That is SO awesome!! You guys will get to work with the missionaries so much, I hope you like them! Just pretend they are me! And Grandpa Tom sent me the best story ever about meeting my dear, sweet Grandma Joyce. Oh my gosh, I love it! I am always so amazed that our family's marriages last so well when they come from people who barely knew each other. It is SO cool to me though! Haha, God is so involved in our live's and guiding us to what will make us happiest. That's all I could think about in Mom and Dad's meeting and love story too. We are such a blessed family! Then, I finally got the letter Grandma had sent me, it had been sitting at my old apartment for a time. Grandma has a way of jerking those tears out of me. But, let's be honest, that is not hard to do! And of course, Mom and Dad's notes too! I loved hearing from you each and knowing that you love and care about me. I LOVE YOU ALL MORE THAN WORDS COULD POSSIBLY EXPRESS! Thank you for taking time to send me a note! 

This week was very, very good. One of the highlight's was that a family Sister Olsen taught was able to go to the temple to receive their endowment and then be sealed together as a family. I was the lucky companion who got to tag along! My favorite part of the temple was watching one of the men who was in their with us. He was severely handicapped, could hardly walk or talk. He was mentally there, because he could understand, but he could not be understood. As I watched this man in the temple and really listened to what the Spirit was trying to teach me, it became so very clear to me how real the Atonement is. It made it very evident that this sweet man would be healed mentally, physically and spiritually. I began to understand how applicable that is for me as well. The faith of that man made me cry! So many would feel cursed or deserted by God to be in that position, but there he was, in the temple of God, serving others! His faith in Christ's healing power really spoke to me. I have so much to be grateful for and so much still to learn! I really am so thankful for the comfort I can find in the temple. Things have been pretty crazy and I have been worried about a lot of things, but that all went away while I was there. I'm thankful for that!

We had some incredible lessons to this week. One of the women we are teaching, Phyllis, is beginning to recognize the spirit, which is the COOLEST thing to see people learn. She has began to connect the good feelings she has while praying and reading the scriptures, attending church and having our lessons, to God. She knows that those are her answers to her prayers. Yay for connecting dots! It seriously feels so good to see those that we are teaching begin to connect the dots. It is so wonderful to know that Phyllis now knows and has a testimony that if she is feeling distant from Heavenly Father or alone or hurt, she can pray to Him and He will help her. She has absolutely fallen in love with the feeling of the fellowship with the church. She began to cry at our last lesson when she started to talk about how she finally feels like she has friends who really love and care about her. She didn't have that before she came in contact with member's of the church. I am so happy she feels loved now! Everyone deserves that!

Sister Olsen's and my teaching styles are very different, but are working together really well. We both are good at different things, that really balance each other out. It has been so fun to work with her. My style is just to kind of fall in love with the person and somehow always end up tying the gospel into it and showing them how it actually applies to them. And Sister Olsen is SO good at teaching the doctrine. So, she will usually bring up, state, or teach a principle and I will then talk to them about how it actually connects for them and will apply in their life. It has been working so well. I love it here and love the people we are teaching! There is so much to learn from everyone we meet!

I unfortunately have to get going! We are going over to Oregon City this afternoon to meet up with the Chavez family that I taught last summer! I am so excited to see them! It has been a whole year since sweet Nancy was baptized, remember her? That was a year ago yesterday! Time flies.I am so happy for so many beautiful memories to reflect on from Oregon, but also from all of the time I spent with you! Those happy memories motivate me to work and give my heart here!

Xoxox, Sister Kerr <3

This was a fast week.

My goodness, this week flew by so quick! I cannot believe we are already into this transfer a week. I know that I have been put in this area for a reason, it has been so miraculous and has been a really perfect week. I will tell you all about it! First though, my niece is walking! That is so fun. I cannot wait to see my sweet little nieces and nephew again, I miss them SO much. I really do! But, I cannot believe how soon it will be that I do see them and all of you again. Since we are new here we both have to introduce ourselves to every single person and tell them where we are from, where we have served and how long we have been out...when I respond 13 months I nearly die because I realize how long that is! That is such a long time!! Then they all respond, "Wow, you're on the final stretch, almost done." Bah! What? 18 months really goes so quick, it is really weird. Especially now that all the missionaries I looked up to are going home. It is so strange to be the older sister!

Onto recounting the miraculous week in Willamette!

Two of the people we are teaching have baptism dates now. It is so exciting to teach people about the restored gospel. But then to teach them how in the world that applies to their life is even better! And that is where we are this week. I love teaching with Sister Olsen, we really are doing so well together. The feeling in the room when we taught was so powerful, several times this week. One of them is as 10 year old girl, she recently moved in with her grandparents who are members. She is so sweet. We taught her several times this week in preparation for her baptism on August 30! We went with her to the visitor's center yesterday and had a fun day talking about eternal families (all day! That was the topic of the entirety of church as well! Makes me miss you, but I am grateful I get to share it with other families). They're such a cute and sweet family! Oh, funny, crazy story! She wanted to wear her jeans to church and her grandma told her no, she needed to wear one of her dresses to church. She kept refusing and grandma put her foot down and told her she was leaving without her then. She didn't think her grandma would actually leave her (we all know better than that in the Kerr Family!!!!), so she WALKED to church! I need you to understand the area I live in. I basically live on a mountain, at least a mountainous hill! And the church building is at the very, tippy, top! Haha, she walked the whole way there! I was so proud of her for doing that! She lives far too, it was well over a mile straight up. She really wanted to come! Definitely made me think of what I would be willing to do to get to church! Someone offered her a ride when she was about 3 blocks away and she told us, "God told me this was a nice lady and I should ride with her the rest of the way to church." Well, that's great! Slightly frightening, but I know Heavenly Father was helping her to get to church and be safe. It was cool because we have taught her about prayer a few times and receiving answers. So, it was a great little answer to her prayers that helped her to see how God talks to her. She is so sweet and adorable! And she looks so much like Taylor Bowman when we were that age...it's weird! 

The other woman we are teaching is in her forties. She also lives with a member of the ward, just friends! The elders who were here before had taught her twice and hadn't seen her for awhile. We went to introduce ourselves to her this week and she is so ready to be taught the restored gospel! We taught her twice this week, starting the lessons over and invited her to be baptized. She was so overjoyed and excited! She said. "Ohhh, I would really like that." She loved church when she came yesterday and is finding a lot of great fellowship in the ward. I love this ward already! They are so wonderful! 

We contacted a lot of people that the elders had taught throughout the past and made good contact and will potentially get to teach several of them as well! But, we had so many awesome finding experiences this week all on our own! Finding our own people! That is what is so fun about white-washing, you spread your very own roots in the area, not just depend on the past missionaries experiences. I love all the people we have met, they are so awesome! Last night we went to a member's home to give them some referrals. Hahah! Did a bit of a reverse role there. Our ward is heading up a food drive for the local pantry, so they are supposed to be going around to their neighbors and inviting them to donate. We tracted this one street down by the river, the whole street and found some amazing families who are newer to the area and don't know many people yet! So, we went to a member's home who lives close by and referred these families to them to invite to the food drive. It was great and I really feel like connections in the ward is the only thing that is going to get the work moving here! Mom mentioned that someone said this is a wealthy area. It really is! Everybody is pretty set and good to go, super nice, generally not searching for something though. But, they really are the friendliest wealthy people I've met on my mission. West Linn is great! I know member relationships will help so much with these amazingly nice people we have met!

My companion has been kicking my butt into shape with running every morning. Goodness, you never realize you are that out of shape until you try and run. I have felt like death every single morning, but I keep telling myself, "This too shall pass" the entire time I am running. I can't really say I am grateful for it yet because I still kind of hate my life while I am doing it, but when I get home and am in better shape than I was when I left, I'm sure I will be grateful for it then!

We are expecting more miracles this week! I cannot wait to tell you more about them next Monday. I know this week will be good, especially since we scrubbed the car this morning. Elders' cars are D.I.S.G.U.S.T.I.N.G. I know that alone will make this week a good one! Oh! Something cool. Since I am so close to Oregon City again, I will be meeting up for lunch with some of the people I taught there! I CANNOT wait!! The Chavez Family may be coming to see me today! Also! One of the families I was working with to prepare for the temple back in OC moved to this ward last year, while I was still in OC. I got to see them this week now that they have been sealed! It was a happy reunion!

I have got to get going! Much, much, much love.

Xoxox, Sister Kerr <3

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

short and sweet.

Hello, family! 

First off! Mom, I did get my package for National Lollipop Day! Haha, I LOVED it so much :) Best lollies I've had in ages and enough to share! Thank you!

The highlight of this week was Lindsay! That is for sure. I have so much to do today, but I want to be sure to tell you about this week! I also want each of you to understand how extremely happy I am right now. I sure do miss each of you and I really don't like being so far away from you all and only hearing from you once a week. It is so hard to not have you. But somehow, I am still SO happy! It doesn't make sense, but it does. I never really believed that completely forgetting yourself truly would make you happier, but now I know it does. I am so thankful for this opportunity I have had to actually try that one out!

So, Lindsay! She has been meeting with sister missionaries for well over a year now. That is such a long time! She has NEVER been to church, not even once. Until yesterday! I am so happy. The past couple of weeks have been absolutely critical for her progression and it all happened BECAUSE of the ward members. I know with all of my heart that God is in control and has a plan and has certain timing for each of His children. We have tried time and time again to use the members of the congregation so that she could develop friendships and feel comfortable enough to come to church and it has never worked out. And suddenly, this week! It all clicked. Lindsay must have finally been ready to progress and God knew it and everything fell into place. She was fellow-shipped by so many amazing people from Oak Hills and helped and loved by so many people. I am so grateful I have been here to experience her progression. It has taken such a long time, but I know God loves Lindsay and He has made it possible for her to move forward. We had a great lesson with her this week right before church. We talked about how meeting with us really has helped her faith to increase and we helped her to see how that was true. We talked about how her faith has been steadily increasing to the point where she is now where she can apply that faith into an action - coming to church! We then talked about how she can continue to increase that faith and continue to put into actions. Like baptism! We will be setting a date for her baptism soon, we are so excited because she is finally seeing progress in herself. I love her! Anyways, I love the gospel and I love teaching it!

{Lindsay and her two SWEET, crazy, cute boys who joined us for church. They are an amazing family and I love them with all of my heart! It was one of my favorite Sundays for sure.}

 {making cupcakes with my favorite CHY!}

{Macey! I got to lick the sour cream spoon. Remember how I used to think you were revolting. (disregard my oily face! It is SO hot here!)}

 {This is Mama Paez! We love her :)}

{The Visitors Center with Barry and Renee! I love them SO much}

{Hiking in the Oregonian Forest!}

 {We made it to the top. We are @ Pittock Mansion and looking over all of Portland!}

{Pittock Mansion w/ the ELDERS}

{Our Bishop's ginormously fat cat, lying amidst the sea of Nike's. He is a designer at Nike!}

{My shoe that Bishop designed and gave me. The secret message he left me in the shoe!}

{My spoils from the Bishop and his wife. I <3 the Young's! Nike's he designed. Herbal tea to get rid of my acne. And oils to also get rid of my acne. It's been a big problem of late! But, I am spoiled here!}

 {I hope this happens to me for the rest of my life. I forgot I had a stack of mormon.org cards in my pocket! I will miss being a missionary!}

 {Playing with my favorite kiddos!}

 {Sunday pictures!}

 {Sunday Pictures!}

{Sunday Pictures!}

Sorry this is so short! I am so out of time. WE HAVE SO MUCH TO DO TODAY! I love you and I hope you are having a great, great week! Keep enjoying summertime :)

XOXOXXO <3

Love you forever. Love you for always!

Sister Kerr 

CHALLENGE: Please write and tell me your plot to get happiness. What have you learned that makes you happy? I LOVE ADVICE!

Happy Summer!

Hello, my loves!

I am a little flustered that it has been a whole entire week again already and I am here emailing you again! Time is so weird. This week has been a good and crazy one!

I wanted to start off though with something that Sister Berrett and I were talking about this morning. I want to thank my family, especially my parents, for being so wonderful. I met a lot of people this week who have been through some really insane and difficult things in regards to family relationships. Life can be so hard! But, I am so grateful for you! I am so thankful to have been raised in a home where each of us were best friends with each other and we wanted to be around one another. I feel SO blessed. Like really, SO BLESSED. I know it is not just chance though! I know that family relationships can and will be the strongest when based upon the teachings of Jesus Christ. Even the simplest of things were enjoyed and loved when we were together as a family! Even stacking firewood... So thanks, Mom and Dad for teaching us to love our FAMILY. Muah! You all are very love-able!

This week has had some really, really great things go on! We have been playing Ultimate Frisbee every Monday night with some members and bringing some of the people we are teaching, mainly teens. It has been so much fun and it has helped them so much to have good interaction. It really feels like we are creating a little family with them! Same concept as the paragraph before...when you love people, it doesn't matter what you are doing with them, you are happy! Even though we all kind of stink at it, it is still so fun to be with each other. There is a special feeling that abides in a family setting that really cannot be replaced and I think everyone craves it, especially a lot of these younger people we have been teaching who come from different backgrounds. I love being around the people we work with and watching them be healed. I want to do this type of thing for a living for the rest of my life!!!!

One of the women we are working with is finally beginning to progress! She has been meeting with the missionaries for years...and nothing has ever come of it. She is not really willing to take action. We have been focusing on her a lot and she has opened up to us and trusts us! It is so amazing, I just love her SO much. Her life story is heartbreaking and makes me cry, but I know Christ can heal her, so we are not going to give up on her! We finally were able to have her meet a member from the congregation which was miraculous! We have been trying to set this up for ages. And ages. And ages! Early this week she called us, really afraid and crying - there were just some hard things going on for her. We asked her what we could come over and help her with to keep her distracted and so she would have someone to talk to. She said we could help with laundry. Laundry it is! We were going to go over to the laundromat with her and do it there, but then we had a brilliant idea! Let's do it at a members house. We called up a member who has kids the same age and she said it was absolutely fine! I am sososososo happy this finally worked! We went over and helped her for about an hour while all the kids played together, then we had to go - but she got to stay and develop a friendship in the ward!! Lindsay was the happiest thing on earth after that day and throughout the rest of the week. Seriously, such an improvement! I am SO happy. 

We did so very much service this week, which was just great. We did some type of service for someone at least once a day and sometimes a lot more than that. It really is incredible for me to see people's hearts be changed and see them open up to us as we serve them. I love people and am so grateful we can express it to them in this way!  On Saturday, we started the day off at our next door neighbor's, helping her paint her bed frame. She is so amazing, I care so much for her as we served her and helped her and heard her story. People are so incredible. Then, we headed over to the retirement home and helped them play bean bag toss. Haha! They are so funny, I love it there! Then, we spent pretty much the rest of the day at the community Party in the Park! Woohoo! It was so much fun! I was assigned to paint faces...I have no idea what they were thinking. I ended up being pretty decent. It was so awkward though when I would finish, hold up the mirror for the kid, and excitedly say, "Doesn't it look good!" Then they would just half smile and slide off the bench. NO! I'm sorry! Even worse though, was the parents breathing down my back watching. All I could think was, "Look, I know you are most likely better than me at this. But, I am the one wearing the bright blue volunteer shirt, so please, STEP ASIDE." And even worse than that, was when one of the parents would ask you to paint their own face...oh gosh. Let's have your child do it instead, then I don't need to be blamed for this. haha! It was an overall great time. We then were assigned over to the inflatables. My inflatable I was responsible for was this giant, horse that was lying on his back with his feet straight up in the air. Child after child asked, "Why is the horse on his back?" in a very whiny voice. My answer was always an animated explanation that tummies are bouncier than spines! I only had to climb in a couple of times and rescue some parent's child who would not get out after I had called time up. Kids are hilarious and people watching is still one of my favorite hobbies.

We went to the visitor's center with one of our families last night! It was so, so, so awesome! I love it there and I love this couple. We had a blast walking around the temple grounds and we had such a spiritual moment as we watched one of the videos about families and all cried. Actually, I didn't cry for like the first time ever. But, I loved how I felt there with them! Families are so special!!

Yesterday was the farewell for one of my favorite people! Her name is Shaine, she is leaving for the Missionary Training Center in Mexico on Wednesday. She will be serving in Virginia, Spanish speaking. She gave THE best talk I have ever heard a person give before leaving on their mission. I teared up several times and learned so much. She talked about how her life began to change about a year ago when sister missionaries were assigned to the Oak Hills ward, instead of elders. Her testimony developed as she tried to model her life after all of the sisters who have served here because they were HAPPY. She wanted to feel that because even though she had been a member all of her life, she did not feel that joy she saw in them. She is incredible and so humble and willing to change! I have spent a lot of time with her over the past 4 months of being here and just adore her! She will be such a good missionary. Her parents are incredible and thanked us afterwards for all that we have done for their daughter in helping her to get there. She will do such wonderful things!! 

Well, I have to get going. It has been a GREAT week and things continue to get better! I love being here. Oak Hills has a special place in my heart, for sure! Right along with Oregon City and Aloha <3 I truly feel blessed!

Love to you all!

Xoxoxo, Sister Kerr