playing chicken foot.

Hello from the beautiful oregon city! what a week it has been, this one has been a roller coaster for me and i am SO incredibly grateful for the prayers and support that i have from you, i have needed it! you are always in my thoughts and my prayers! one thing i have learned out here is that emotions are just so much more extreme - the good is SO good and the bad is SO blehhhhhhh, and add in there that I am a girl and it can kind of get a little bit crazy, but i am loving every minute of being here, even the bleh moments. because the good moments make everything so worth it!

first off.

//HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SKYLER AND AMELIA KERR! i love you two so much and hope that you have a splendid week and eat lots of cake and send me a picture of little rosie eating some of it too :) and a letter would be nice!

//sorry to whitney and macey for scolding you for not writing me, two of your letters were lost in the mail and i got them this past week! love you. macey wrote in there, "we just got this letter returned to us, you probably think we don't love you." you can be darn sure that's what i thought! but, i got them now, so that is all that matters.

//mom, once again you continue to send me talks like an inspired, spiritual genius, right when i need them! thank you :)

//addey, i'm sorry my letter took so long to get to you, I DO LOVE YOU. and i loved your letter <3 you are in my prayers little seester, wish i could be there to take care of you like you took care of me when i was broken! are you letting people sign your cast?

//daddy, i loved your email this past week. i ALWAYS look forward to your letters and hearing about what is going on! they make me SO happy.

//gma and gpa! i heard you are moving, wish i was there to help out in the move, but then again, i would probably drive gma insane with my complaints of it being too hot. and who knows? i would probably assume we were there when in reality we would be just stopping at a dump station ;) please tell me you remember that, or else that sounds SO bad!

//KYLE COPELAND. you are home and are my hero! i love you so much and am so happpy that you and your sweet little family (that i love a ton) are all back together. xoxoxooxxooxoxox (share that with the whole copeland crew)

okay, let's see how much of this week i can sum up!

MONDAY

so for p-day last week we went over to a sister in the ward's home. she is from brazil and has been wanting us to come over and make food with her! it was so much fun and we made a whole ton of delicious food! i can totally make it when i get home. i am getting a variety of stuff even if i am in oregon! she has a 4 year old son who is so stinkin' funny! he kept dragging me around by the hand to show me everything, EVERYTHING. he took me into the backyard and said, "come see where the cat poop is." hahaha, so literally everything, no thanks, bud. 

then we went to our assistant ward mission leaders' home for a family home evening night with alondra and yahir! it was so, so good. sis. conner taught a lesson on grace that was just perfect. alondra and yahir are SO smart when it comes to the gospel. i know that i have said this before, but it truly is like these things are just coming back as a remembrance to them! yahir cannot say my name, he calls me Seester Keer, i try not to laugh anymore, but it is just so cute! i don't know if i told you this last time, but at church last week, yahir threw his leg over the bench in front of us and rolled on over so that he could get to primary quicker. and right before that, he had come back from the bathroom and crawled under the bench to sit by us again. this kid just makes my day, every time we are with him! at the end of the night, i had them pull up whitney's video so that they could all see, EVERYone was bawling. you have a special family, whitney copeland, that pulls at a lot of people's heartstrings!

TUESDAY

tuesday morning we had a lesson with a gal named, kirsty. she is from new zealand! {S/O TO SISTER FREEMAN! ya, so her mother lives back in NZ on the river that they shoot on for one of the scenes in LOTR. holy cow, i was freaking! and sis. stone has never seen LOTR?! p.s. i don't know if i have expressed this enough, but so you all know, I LOVE SISTER STONE. we are so afraid of being split up, but we already have a bucket list to complete together after the mission!!}  ok, back to kirsty! so she had a best friend who served a mission, and would do church things with her, then she moved here and has never really pursued the church. she was in our area book as a potential so we set up an appointment to go and meet with her. we went and taught about the book of mormon and really got to know her. she is so sweet and a lot of fun! we go back again tomorrow! she said she is not interested in joining the church, but is interested in learning more! BINGO.

for lunch we went to taco del mar because we had a gift card from one of our members. i ordered and then noticed this lady standing right near us. sis. stone asked her if we had cut her and began to apologize. the lady said, "no! i just want to pay for your lunch." so sweet, she was related to one of the members in our ward and said she doesn't ever get to feed the missionaries where she lives and really wanted to pay for our food. it was so thoughtful! people love missionaries, which is good, because i NEED to feel loved sometimes!

we had dinner with one of our members named melissa and her family. afterwards i taught the wonderful game of CHICKEN FOOT. her kids are so funny and i of course won, because i am a pro at that game. it made me excited to play with the whole family again!

we went over to alondra's to have a lesson and sat down to the table to do some chattin! then the topic of homework came up, from her mother, of course! she hadn't done it yet, so i was assigned as the math tutor for the night. good thing i know how to use a textbook, because i could not remember that stinkin' freshman math! it was so fun to be with their family, sittin' around the table doing homework, listening to sis. stone try and learn spanish. hahah, so funny!

WEDNESDAY

our less active, bro bruce accepted an invitation to conference and then to church the following week - FINALLY! it was so fulfilling!

then, we had a lesson with a new investigator, sharon! she is wonderful and very excited to learn more about the gospel! we meet with her at our bishop's parents' home. they are so stinkin' hilarious and kind of remind me of gma and gpa pence! last time we met there, they set us up in the living room and left, then we couldn't find them after! this time, we asked them to stay and the man, was complaining that it felt like relief society with all these women. we told him he could leave if he wanted, his wife glared at us and said, "no he can't he is staying right here!"

THURSDAY

thursday we got to go to the portland temple and do a sesssion! it was gorgeous and so nice to be there. it was so strange to go without anyone of my family! the spirit is always strong though. the temple really reemphasized to me this time the importance of family! 

we went and played games with a less-active and her family tonight. the 4 year old son was playing a star wars video game and he asked me to come help. i told him i am terrible at video games and said, "do i look like i would be good at star wars?!" he very seriously said, "yes, sister kerr, you look like a jedi!"  iilove that compliment!

FRIDAY 

i cant remember! and i am almost out of time!

SATURDAY

we watched conference with the spravzoff's today and had a blast! i love their family so much and just feel so at home over with them!

(This was conference weekend)

then we had a lesson with jennifer and sis. conner came with us. it was really good and we were able to plan for her baptism which is on the 18th! we are so excited. she opened up a lot to us and is really excited for this next step in her life. 

SUNDAY

conference was so good! we watched it with the conner's and alondra and yahir came too! it was so fun and as always, very uplifting! :)

welcome home kyle.

fall has come with a vengeance! it has been storming like crazy this past week. realllllllly windy and tons of water. but, i LOVE it. my rain coat never leaves my side now and i have learned that umbrellas are for weenies! people recognize me as a true "oregonian" because i do not use one, SCORE, i am getting great rapport (thanks for that vocab word Mr. Lanious) with these people! but yeah, i am loving the fall weather and all of the leaves that are blowing into our entryway and the crispness of the air. it always has been and always will be my favorite season!

MONDAY

even though sis. stone was sick, she pushed through it so that we could go shopping. a girl can do a lot, if it means shopping! we went with one of the members in the ward, sis. johnson. she is skyler's age and is the best! she is so stinkin' funny and is just a riot. we went and i got some boots, because, like i said, it is windy and cold now! so by the end of the day, sis. stone had lost her voice completely, which is SO bad for missionary work. so we stayed in another night, but it is ok, we made the most of it and had a blast. the blast consisted mostly of me talking her head off because she couldn't say anything. hahah, we have really learned to love each other and have a lot of fun together, even when the circumstances aren't that great!

TUESDAY

tuesday we had our weekly district meeting. our district leader, has each companionship prepare a lesson for the training and practice, and then he picks a pair to teach it. then, each of us are going into the meeting already exposed to the topic, it is quite helpful. but, he keeps picking the zone leaders to teach the lessons, which cracks me up! i think he is mad at them or something, because without fail, they have taught like four times this transfer, it is so funny to me. but, they are wonderful teachers and we can always feel the spirit when they are teaching! they prepare so well together and really portray their message well. after, we practiced extending baptismal invitations and talked about why they are so important. it was a wonderful practice and applied really well to this week. baptism is such an important part of this gospel and if we truly understand why it is important, there is nothing that would keep us from it. 

today was ken day again. he is so funny and he hates rules and being told what to do, so sometimes the commandments are a bit difficult! he has a date set for his sealing, it is on november 7th! i am so happy for him, and i hope that i am still here!

we had another lesson with yahir and alondra and of course it went beautifully. those two are just the perfect investigators and so darn happy! we taught the plan of salvation and when we talked about the premortal existence and living with our Father before, yahir said, "i wish i could remember when i was with Him." holy cow that got me and has really stuck with me. Pres. Uchtdorf said in one of his talks, "though they do not remember, they too at one time yearned to return to their Father again." that is one of my favorite quotes now, and yahir illustrated it perfectly to me. he can't remember, but he wants to, and i get to help him on the path so that he can live with Him again. after the lesson their aunt that lives with them and speaks zero english, made us hot chocolate and laid out graham crackers for us in their tiny little apartment. we had so much fun just chattin' with them and enjoying each other's company. they make me so happy and we make them happy too, they are always so excited to meet with us! i love them. 

WEDNESDAY

today was our first FULL day back since sis. stone has been sick and it was exhausting! 

first, we met with bro. bruce again. after we left the lesson, we were reminiscing on our first visit there and totally cracking up! it had been so awkward and it is miraculous how much he has opened up to us and how much we love meeting with him and he loves meeting with us. he is just a crack up. he has wild, wild hair (like einstein) and electric blue eyes and he always looks like he is just going to pass out from exhaustion during our lessons.

we got to go over and help out nancy some more, by going through more of her boxes. we came across a box of old pictures, which are my favorite! i got to see her on her wedding day when she was 16 years old. she was darling. then she came across an album of her husband when he was a child. she said, "oh now isn't he darling? now you understand why i was so head over heels for him!" basically the most adorable thing ever. i hope i find someone i love enough to talk about him like that for over 60 years! that is a darn long time. 

we received a referral back on monday for someone named steven. we decided to go and contact him today! we type the address into the gps and end up at the jail. i laugh and retype it into the gps thinking i must have messed it up, nope i was right! into the jail we trotted. i had never been in a jail and had no idea that we could just walk in there and set up an appointment with someone! it kind of scared me and i was pretty nervous, but it was wicked exciting. what better time in your life to want to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ!

i wrote in my journal, "i really need a letter from one of my sisters, i miss them so bad today!"

THURSDAY

i got a letter from  my mom and addey today! answer to my prayers, literally!

this morning we went and helped ken with his lawn. we mowed and fertilized it before winter gets here. i love doing service for people, for a couple of reasons. 1// of course i love helping people and it makes me feel good. 2// i feel like a normal human being while mowing the lawn again. 3// i get to wear my pants. ken was a hoot as usual. he hates that we come and help him, well he loves it too. he is so embarrassed to have us do HIS yardwork. he is a bit of a stubborn old man!

we had another lesson with yahir today. at the end we had his mom, miriam, and alondra come in so that we could talk to them about baptism all together. alondra helped by translating into spanish for her mom. they're still kind of hesitant, just because they all want to be sure and ALL want to be ready together. it is kind of difficult because we can't teach them all together, so they are at different levels. yahir asked his mom to say the closing prayer, she said, "no only spanish." yahir said, "that's ok!" we all knelt down and miriam offered a prayer in spanish, i have no idea what she said, but the spirit was so strong! i loved seeing their family kneeling down together praying about baptism and the things we have been teaching them. i made my heart so warm. 

we invited alondra to mutual and a girl named kayla, who's mom is a less-active member. it was the best mutual ever! they did a beauty pageant, which was hilarious and they felt so welcomed and just warmed up to the girls so much! it was a perfect segway to bringing them into the ward. it could not have gone any better! like i said last week, the Lord is trusting our ward with His precious children.

FRIDAY 

today we met again with brother bruce. i mentioned last time that he always looks like he is going to fall asleep and today he DID. funniest thing ever and one of the hardest times i've had with holding in my laughter. he was a total chatterbox when we first got there and were visiting, just wanted to tell us everything that was going on. then we had an opening prayer and started into the lesson. sis. stone started to read a scripture to him and i looked up and he was actually asleep. i try not to bust up, but then sis. stone and i made eye contact - bad idea! so then i say something loud to wake him up, he looks at me and i think, "well maybe reading is a bad idea, let's just try and talk about it and get him talking again." so i start talking about the scripture in easier terms and bearing my testimony, while we are making eye contact he passes out! hahaha, i am boring!

that evening we had another lesson with alondra. we taught about the gospel of Jesus Christ and talked a lot about why we need baptism. we also talked a ton about the holy ghost and the blessing that can be to each of us. she told us that she knows that she needs to be baptized and she will be, she just doesn't know if she wants to right now. she has had experiences with feeling the holy ghost in the past, but she said, "i just want to know, i want a sign from heavenly father that this is what he wants me to do." we talked a little more, then she went to say something and couldn't, because she had started to cry. she looked shocked and said, "i have never felt like this before, why am i crying, it feels good." by the end alondra had committed to baptism and said, "before, i was praying because you guys were asking me to, now i am going to pray because i want to feel that again." what a rewarding thing to hear! she is doing this because she knows that is what He wants her to do, not us. their family is working towards oct. 19, that is when they will all be ready together. i am so, so, SO happy to be a part of their lives, i just love them so much.

SATURDAY

today we went to the church and helped sister coy. sister coy is a less-active and her husband and children are not members. she was putting on a baby shower for her visiting teacher, sister arendes, and asked for our help in set-up and prep. it was so fun to help her out and she has opened up to us an incredible amount. she told us that her daughter has expressed a desire to be baptized and said it would be okay for us to talk to her about it! we have been trying to see where things would go with their family, and having the mother tell us that was huge! the baby shower was a blast too. and we got sent home with ALL of the leftover treats, which a lot of them sis. stone cannot eat because she is gluten free. i have a LOT to eat. 

p.s. sister arendes introduced me at the baby shower like this. "this is sis. kerr, she is serving in our ward from upstate NY. she LOVES dairy." i died laughing, hahah! this is the sister that brings me milk and cheese every week. haha, it was so funny :)

oh yeah! we also went over to alondra's sisters' bday party! miriam made sure to invite us. we showed up and they served us some really yummy, spicy soup that you top with lettuce and radishes. it was delicious. then, the side dish was pig's feet, if you wanted! hahaha, of course i tried it. alondra, having grown up around that her whole life had never tried it, which surprised me. so i begged her to try it with me and she did! i couldnt believe it. it was not that bad, but not good. it was really slimy! i am such a big girl. sis. stone wouldn't try it haha!

and of course, there was the General Relief Society meeting which was just wonderful. i cannot believe how perfect it was. jennifer came and literally every talk was written for her. if you want to get to know her better, listen to that session and you will know her! it was incredible, INCREDIBLE!

i cannot wait for general conference this weekend. it is going to be magnificent! invite people over for it. what a great introduction into the gospel, where you can really feel the spirit, but not an intimidating environment. DO IT.

SUNDAY 

it was the fifth sunday, so during the third hour of meetings, everyone met back in the chapel. our bishop and ward mission leader planned a time on missionary work, where they used the work of salvation broadcast to really get people in on the loop of how missionary work is supposed to be working in the ward. bishop asked me to be the first to speak after they showed the videos and to share something that would excite the members and help them to see of the miracles that are going on in our ward and how we need them for the work to progress. i was so stinkin' nervous! i usually don't get nervous when public speaking, but i was SO nervous. i know it's because this is something that is so important to me and i wanted it to be perfect. i don't really remember all too well what i said, but i was crying, which is a good sign, because i am always crying when i feel the spirit. several people came up after and thanked me and expressed their readiness to work! we are so excited. i pray i do not leave this area at transfers, i love it and the people we are teaching too much to leave!

challenge of the week. pray about inviting someone over for general conference in your home, just one of the sessions! pay attention after you pray and invite the first person you think of, don't ignore those promptings. heavenly father can only help us if we let Him, so follow your promptings. i expect to hear a report back from each of you (my family) and anyone else who does it! i love you ALL so much. xoxooxoxoxoxoxoooxoxoxo.

Sista Kensey Kerr

highlight of this week: just watching my sister, Whitney and her family reunited after her husband's deployment. sweetest thing i have ever seen! thank you Kyle Copeland for your service and Whitney, Pepper and Kade for your sacrifices. You are ALWAYS in my thoughts and prayers. <3

watch it here!

http://youtu.be/UAk35M0g_MI

YouTube - Videos from this email

One grand week.

MONDAY

monday we finished our day off great! we left our dinner appointment and decided to go and try contacting some of our potential investigators. we went over to an apartment complex where there were three different apartments that had potentials. we went and knocked on the first, which is a family that took a book of mormon from sis. stone and i, but we haven't been able to return and teach. once again, they were not home! the other two, we have been trying since i first arrived in Oregon City in July and have NEVER been able to contact them again since the initial time. we decided to just leave the complex and try somewhere else. right as we were about to exit the parking lot, I said, "well maybe we should just try" and sis. stone said, "i was thinking the same thing." we have learned to not question those moments anymore! so we parked the car, and walked over to their building. we knocked on the first and there was no answer. we walk back down the stairs and go over to try the other door. we knock again and no one answered, yet again. i walked away chuckling on the outside, and kind of angry on the inside. as we walked through the parking lot back to the car, this little girl on a bike starts circling around us and nonchalantly says hey to us. we stop and start to talk to her and immediately recognize her as the little girl from the apartment that we had tried last. she acts like she doesn't recognize us for a moment and then totally opens up and exclaims to us that she wants to start going to church with us! she was adorable and just the happiest thing ever. her mom pulled in just as we were talking and she begged us to come introduce ourselves. we went over and told her who we were and that we teach about our Savior, Jesus Christ. she is pregnant and has been quite sick, that's why she hadn't ever answered the door when we had knocked before, all those many, many times before! she thanked us for continuing to try and expressed that they definitely have an interest and want to learn more from us. we got back into the car and just couldn't believe the blessing that had been. no one had been home, but it still worked out the way that it needed to!

TUESDAY

tuesday was 17 september 2013, aka, my 2 month mark! 

tuesday i realized how obnoxious of a child i was around missionaries. we were over helping one of our members clean and do laundry. she is pregnant and has a house full, so we really wanted to help her out. we finished and were about to leave and three kids started climbing up me like i was some type of ladder, ripped my nametag off and started running around the house with it. then i go to follow them and get it back and a kid attaches himself to my leg. that leaves me to racing around the house like a peg-leg to try and get my nametag back. it sent me back to my childhood days and how fun i thought it was to torment the missionaries in similar ways. i don't understand why it was fun. NOT FUN. but it was funny. for a couple seconds. 

there was a relief society activity that night and jennifer, our investigator with baptismal date, came! it was so fun to see her there and interacting with the ward members. it was wonderful and everyone just welcomed her in. it was a clothing exchange, so i got on my thrift store skills and searched high and low and found her some great things that are very cute. she is a pretty quiet woman, at least around us, but she opened up SO much and was just loving being around a bunch of women who were her new friends. i never realized how much of a difference ward activities make for people.

chad, the one who is transitioning over to the young single adult ward, called us tonight to let us know that he had FINALLY found a job and would be starting the next day! it was so awesome to have him call us and tell us how he knew that it was an answer to his prayers and that he recognized God playing a part in his life. it was incredible, INCREDIBLE.

p.s. i found some great things at the clothing exchange. my favorite find was a blue polka-dot dress that is so old lady. i picked it out and come to find out it belonged to one of my favorite people, Nancy (the 78 yr old woman who was baptized last month)! it was hers from when she used to teach school. holy hannah i love it so much now.

WEDNESDAY

as usual, we went to visit ken this week. ken is 90 and is a widower of a year. he is working towards being sealed to his wife this month (so happy!). sis. stone and i got permission to go to the temple with him when it happens, since we have been working with him towards it. but, we keep chastising him that he needs to hurry up before one of us gets transferred! he then began to complain about transfers and how much he hates that we get moved around and that he never knows where we are being moved to. my favorite line from our visit today was, "well they don't need to be so cotton-pickin' mysterious about things. that really bugs me. why don't they just say where you're going!" i have NO idea what that means or what he is referring to, but throw in his very unique accent and it was straight up hilarious!

today, i realized that i will probably be training a new sister missionary in this area in like 4 weeks. i almost puked! it was kind of nerve-racking. 

THURSDAY

thursday we had our zone meeting. our zone consists of 2 districts. we all met at our building and pres. and sis. morby joined us as well. it was a blast and the spirit was very strong there. our zone leaders are great and really bring the spirit in while they are teaching. and of course, pres. morby gave us some great advice. i love my mission president!

we also met for the first time with a less-active family. they are older and have members for a very long time. it breaks my heart that they were offended by something or someone in the church and have not been back yet. the wife quietly said, "i still pray that someday we will come back." my heart just aches for them and i hope and hope that someday soon they will come back and be able to forgive and forget! they are wonderful people and we will continue working with them. 

tonight we taught yahir, who is ten! his mother is hispanic and and taking the lessons from the spanish elders. we walked into the home and sit down. he looks at us, then his mom, and then very seriously says, "uhm, i really want to be baptized!" it was basically the greatest feeling ever and his little face was just so full of joy. he is so excited and loves learning, and just SOAKS it up, like no other. it is incredible to me that when people truly are prepared, the gospel comes so naturally to them, just like they are remembering. we committed him and his mom to baptism on october 5th. they were kind of taken aback by the date and that it was so soon. but, we know they are ready and that we can teach them all they need to know by that time. baptism will bring their sweet family so many blessings!

FRIDAY

sis. stone woke up very sick and couldn't even talk because of an insanely sore throat. so we stayed home for most of the day, but because of our incredible ward members, we were still able to go and do our appointments. a sister from the ward would stay with sis. stone and then another sister would go with me to our appointments. 

highlight of the day was teaching alondra, who is 14. she is yahir's sister and hadn't been home the night before when we taught the restoration. so a girl from the ward who was her age, her mom, and i all went over to teach her about the restoration! it went so well. she is so wonderful at asking questions and so sincere. she loved the concept of prayer and that we have a loving heavenly father who wants to listen to us. we all knelt down and she offered the closing prayer. it made the sister from the ward cry. it was so good and the spirit was there! then we ended up staying another 45 minutes just talking and getting to know her better and laughing our heads off at each other's stories. she is a great girl!

SATURDAY

there was a big ward service project at the oregon city high school, that we weren't able to attend since sis. stone was sick. BUT, two of the less-actives we are working with, that we had invited, went. and apparently they had a great time and really connected with people from the ward. it was so good to hear and i am so grateful that we can trust the OC 4th ward with the people we are working with. we are so blessed here!

we had dinner with the squires, our ward mission leader's family and we invited jennifer, our investigator. she came and had a blast with the family there! we then taught a lesson in their home and she could feel the spirit. it is amazing to me how much the spirit resides in member's homes. and she recognized it as well. she could really feel it!

SUNDAY

yahir and alondra attended church with us on sunday. it was so good to have them there with us. it makes a world of difference to have investigators there with us! an assistant ward mission leader was called, brother conner, which to me means that BIG THINGS ARE COMING. 

we had dinner with the conner's that night and they invited jennifer over as well. sis. conner and jennifer connected like no other! it was incredible. they just both totally understood each other and were able to talk about things that are holding her back. friends for jennifer have made all of the difference. she was so tired of meeting with just us, who talk about baptism and church stuff, she needed a close friend! and now that she has that in several people in the ward, just from this week, she is progressing!

in the book "the power of everyday missionaries" it talks about a ward in Ireland that was consistently having an insane amount of baptisms every year. when asked about it, one of the members said, "God can trust us with His children that have been prepared. He knows we will take care of them." that really struck me! i can see it happening in Oregon City 4th ward. God is trusting these saints with HIS precious children and the work is going forth.  

family-look at where you are at with missionary work and make plans on how you can be someone God can trust more with His children. this mindset will make all the difference. 

i love each of you so stinkin' much! thanks for all the encouragement from my family and my friends. thank you especially to people just droppin' me a note. that means so much and helps me out more than you can ever imagine. if you are thinking about writing me, please do. i would truly love to hear from you! 

xoxoxox, Sister Kerr

Practically 2 months in.

howday! i cannot believe that today is september 16th, i think that's the right day, where is the time going! if today is the 16th that means tomorrow is the 17th, which means that i have been on my mission for an entire 2 months! whoa whoa whoa, that is crazy. and that means that i only have 16 more months to be a full-time missionary! time needs to slow down a little.

it has been a beautiful and marvelous and miraculous week. like, i really love this week!

MONDAY

so monday was p-day as usual. but, it was transfer monday, so we had a zone breakfast to say goodbye to all of the missionaries leaving (all none of them!), but we jump on any opportunity to get together with a big group of missionaries. our entire zone stayed exactly the same, which is pretty unusual. im sorry if i already wrote this home. i cant keep things straight! so we had a big partay. every time that we are around the elders i am just more and more shocked that they are actually old enough to be missionaries! they are just dorks, funny dorks, but dorks. 

we ordered district t-shirts. we designed them, drew it up, picked the colors, ordered them and then sister stone and i were picking them up monday morning to bring to the breakfast. we pay for and pick them up and then look at them and they forgot my name and sister stone's name...the ones who put in all the effort to get them made! hahah, the man who did it for us is extremely friendly though and agreed to redo them all for us. they are pretty adorable. maybe i will send a picture home at some point, of me modeling it.

then we went to visit Ladelle in her art studio. she did a lesson for us in ceramics and we had a blast. we invited kimberley, one of our almost investigators, to come along and join with us! we had tons of fun. i made an absolutely hideous giraffe/camel hybrid. i asked her to help me make my giraffe and so she comes over and starts fiddeling around with it. then halfway through she says, "oh my this camel is going to look great." huh? camel, why would i want a camel! so he started out as a giraffe and then Ladelle came in and did some distinct camel characteristics. Then she started calling him a giraffe again. i am not really sure what he turned out as. i will definitely send a picture home of him when he is done and you can help me come up with an ugly enough name for this little sweetie. Ladelle is 84, so i excuse her confusion! what an interesting little memory giraffe i get to have though :)

later on, we had dinner with the Coy family, which i believe i have talked about before. it was a blast. their family is so much fun AND i saw a nutria for the first time. i never knew a nutria even existed. macey, google a nutria and attach a photo of these lovely little mammals (i think it's a mammal) to this post, because i had forgotten my camera! they are hideous and they are the nasty swamp animals from the princess bride. movie starrrrrr. anyway, so we had dinner and then shared the first vision with them. they opened up to us a lot more this time and i am really looking forward to returning to visit with them again. we are hoping to extend the invitation to them to start the lessons with us! i think they are ready.

TUESDAY

tuesday we had district meeting and got to meet the new sisters in our district! yay! their names are sister porter and sister beames! they are both from utah, u-u-u-utah! they're sweethearts and i am still the youngest sister in our district. i thought for sure i wouldn't be anymore, but i am. district meeting was really great though. elder and sister nees taught the lesson and we learned about applying scriptures to every situation that we are in with our investigators. the lord has provided us with such a wonderful resource and so often we don't take advantage of it. i really, REALLY love the scriptures now. i cannot believe how much i look forward to that hour every morning that i get to read by myself. they are just so great and so applicable to each of our lives. i love thinking about how everything in there is for our benefit, it was all put in there for a reason!

then sister stone and i kinda got ditched at lunch. the new sisters did steal our thunder a little bit, but that is OK. they deserve to have the attention, it's fun!

then we had a beautiful day focused on the less-actives! mom, i swear you are the most inspired lady on the planet! i got that talk you sent me at the beginning of this week. and it was totally focused on less-active missionary work. my favorite line said something along the lines of, "every less-active member you come in contact with has loved ones on their knees daily, praying for them to come back into the fold." we are the answers to their prayers! we can answer their prayers by inviting, loving, and caring. then i applied that idea to an even broader topic. if you think about it, we are all less-active. we all lived with our father before and were fully active and complete believers. then we came to earth and became "less-active", because we couldn't remember our time with God before. and God is there now on his knees daily, praying that we all will come back into the fold. we are the way for his children to come back into the fold, ALL of them are important to him.

GO MISSIONARY WORK. do it. everyone has an important part in this!

p.s. i got a package and a letter from the beautimous kitty richards today. thank you so, so, so much! also, sister stone LOVES burt's bees and was so happy to get a little package too! i appreciate you so much :)

WEDNESDAY

my highlight from wednesday was tracting. sister stone and i have been trying to do an hour a day, where we pick a street in our area and go knock some doors. this helps us become more familiar with the area we are serving in and of course, an opportunity to meet some people, our favorite thing! so we went down talawa street and we planned on going at 2 pm, hottest time of the day, what were we thinking! also, it was the hottest day of the summer. it was at least 100 out. hottttttttttttt. however, we came across several people who definitely showed some interest! i am so excited to go back and meet them again. one woman opened the door and was crying really hard. she could hardly even talk, but she got out that her dad had just been diagnosed with cancer. she said now wasn't a good time, but we could come  back. my heart has been aching for her ever since we left her doorstep. i just want her to know that families can be together forever. she was just so sad, i wanted to give her a big old hug, but i also didn't want to scare her off since i had only known her for legitimately 45 seconds. i hope we can see her again and share a message that will help her!

also on wednesday! we had our first lesson with sharon! sharon was the referral from a member that we talked about last week. her husband was a member, but she expressed interest in learning and our member extended the invitation and she accepted! so we met her for the first time and she is so stinkin excited! she wants to be baptized and asked, "what all do i need to do in order to be baptized?" we were floored, i never expected to hear that question! it reminded me though, back in our zone conference we were talking about the atonement. someone said, "if everyone truly understood the atonement and what it can do for us, people would be crawling across broken glass and begging to be baptized." we obviously need to teach the atonement better!

then we had a lesson again with chad. he is very excited and wants to keep learning. chad has the most intense questions i have ever heard. it is so difficult to teach him sometimes because i loose focus and start thinking about really deep stuff he is asking about. hahaha, he is just a crack up though, and a really great kid!

THURSDAY

thursday i had a wicked intense personal study for about 3 and a half hours. sister stone wasn't feeling well. it was so good though! i got to read a lot of conference talks, it's coming up again! cant wait.

then we did my favorite thing. WEEKLY PLANNING. i inherited my mother and father's love for planning. and it's at this time that we set our goals. our goals are really lining up now. it is incredible. we set some really big goals for ourselves for september, and at the time we weren't even teaching anyone. we have been acting on that faith though and people to teach have just been appearing! the lord is surely involved in this! 

thursday night we went and contacted the Chavez family. the mom is being taught by the spanish elders. the children have been sitting in on those lessons, but would feel more comfortable in an english setting. so we taught them about the Book of Mormon and they are on board with learning with us and are so excited! 

SO MANY PEOPLE TO TEACH NOW. it is blowing my mind :)

FRIDAY

friday we had quite a few more less-active appointments and got to spend some time with a lot of great people! we also got to do mormon.org time. i love mormon.org. i love getting on there and watching those "im a mormon" videos and just enjoying other people's lives for a bit. it is quite nice!

im so running out of time. goodness! this is gonna get real sweet and too the point. i should start out this direct from the beginning.

SATURDAY

saturday we joined the young women in their temple walk. we walked from the OC stake center to the temple in Lake Oswego. it was so much fun. and so hard. it was 13 miles, but so great! i really love getting to know the YW better. they are so wonderful and happy and just so in tune with the spirit!

i also got my package from my mom and dad today. thank you so much! i love everything about packages. especially pictures, music, candy, and my patriarchal blessing! nothin better. 

then we had another lesson with chad and got to talk a lot more about the atonement. it was really good! we also invited him to the visitor's center. yay, love that place!

we then went home, sister stone was waddling pretty good from the walk. so she basically bathed in bengay. my eyes were watering it was so strong! dad, you would be proud that i shared the lovely story about the snake and bengay and the train set to lighten the mood. it was so funny!

SUNDAY

sunday was great as usual. actually sunday's are usually pretty tough because i always am reminded of home and my family and being at church with them. but, the chavez children, 14 and 10, came to church with us! so it was absolutely wonderful. I LOVE having investigators at church with us. they were just soakin it up too. they are great kids.

then we went to the VC with chad. we met the YSA elders there. we are trying to transition him over to that ward, because it would be best for him. he is craving friends and activities! so it would be perfect. 

i really gotta peace out. i love you my family and friends. two things of advice for learning to love others. 1// notice. take the time to notice the little things going on in the live's of those around you. 2// take a small step. act on the things you notice. go out of your way just a little bit and make someone feel important!

LOVE YOU. xoxoxoxox

Sister K

hello beautiful world. i am speaking to you now as a six-week, significantly more experienced missionary! i survived the first transfer. woo-hoo! today is transfer day and sister stone and i are staying here in Oregon City for a whole more six weeks. yay. but seriously, YAY. things are on the verge of taking off and we have seen so many, SO MANY miracles this week. this ward and this area is fired up and ready to go! we are so grateful that we get to stay here, and stay together. we are kind of friends now, she is so great. also, we should be getting another set of sisters in the zone today...hallelujah! we are no longer allowed to play sports with elders, at all. hahaha, so we were talking to our zone leaders and i was kind of complaining about not being able to play sports anymore, because i legitimately miss being able to get up and go run around and play. you wanna hear the consolation they gave me, "well sister kerr, you can call the senior couple and do sports with them." there was a little bit of a shocked look going on and an awkward silence. what kind of joke is that?! oh well, we are being sent sisters as a relief! and we should meet them later today. i hope they don't steal our thunder too much :)

i am really struggling to remember what i wrote about last week, so sorry if i repeat anything!

MONDAY

Monday was another blessed pday. we got to go bowling in mollala. i really want to serve in that area sometime. it is phenomenal! it is so small and country-ish, it totally reminded me of home. it was the most hole in the wall alley i have ever been to, and i am quite certain that the owners had never even heard of the concept of air-conditioning. it was boiling in there, BOILING. but, it was quite enjoyable and i did not embarrass the family name at all! then we went over to our ward mission leader, Brother Squires, home and played ping-pong. this has become quite the tradition and i enjoy it so much. it ends up being hilarious - guaranteed, every time. his son, brandon, gets way into it. hahah, it generally turns into dodge-pong and everyone in the garage becomes involved in the game because there is no where to hide. 

  bowling in mollala

 bowling, holllllllla.

then we headed home and began the doctor's office prep. it was a blast...hahaha. sister stone is so blessed to have such a nagging companion as myself :) i know she loves me! i will keep most of these stories to myself. but just know, we had a splendid time!

TUESDAY

Tuesday was the highly anticipated doctor's appointment. so, i got to chill all by my lonesome as she was back having the procedure. (i wasn't there to hold her hand when she got the IV, i felt horrible!) after about a half hour, president and sister morby showed up and i got to spend some time with them. they are so wonderful, i love my mission president and his wife so stinkin' much! they are hilarious. but, after that, sister stone had the wonderful privilege of being chauffeured around by the one and only, sister k. hahah, i think i made her nervous, scratch that, i know i made her nervous. so, then we had to come home and relax the rest of the day (strict orders from president). we couldn't find anyone who could do exchanges with me, so i got to take care of my companion. we have way too much fun together! brother squires invited us over to watch 17 miracles, so that sister stone could lay down for awhile. so we went over there and watched that wonderful movie. we were all crying by the end of it, as usual! 

then that night, someone knocked on the door at like 9 PM. i went and answered and it was the cutest little family from the ward - dropping off milk for me. and it was 2%! it was the sweetest thing ever, everyone in our ward is so thoughtful! ever since sister stone had to go gluten free, everyone has been giving her SO much food. so they thought they would bring me something. it was so sweet! so i gave their daughter some candy corn in return. at 9 PM...woops, sorry to her parents!

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday was a great day. we were going to try and get back to some hardcore missionary work and i was pumped for the real week to start. we started the day out right by going over to nancy's home (the 78 yr old who was just baptized 2 wks ago), and doing some service with her. it was so fun. this lady cracks me up more than anyone i know. sister stone is always looking at me like i am crazy because i am just basically rolling on the floor laughing anytime we are with her. so we were going through a big box of her old letters and cards and mail and such. and she just kept reading them all out loud to us. she starts reading one that she had gotten for her birthday. it went like this, "dear mom, happy birthday! the $30 inside are for you to go get a new wig...(silence). oh my goodness sisters, i can explain!" hahaha, i cannot even imagine nancy with a wig, but the funniest part of it all was how embarrassed she was by it. i loved the hour that we spent with her, totally rejuvenated me!

 low ridin' in the car w/ nancy

 nancy's baptism

nancy's baptism

 

later on, we had dinner with sister maxfield and her husband. it was so wonderful! she is the funniest thing - on earth - and totally reminds me of mama kerr. i have another mission mama, you would be happy! but honestly, i had not laughed that hard probably since i left home. 

so wednesday was a good laughing day! which i needed, because we ended up staying home quite a bit again, for sister stone. heavenly father is blessing me, anytime we do have the chance to get out and get to work, it is always so productive and so enjoyable. I LOVE MY MISSION!

THURSDAY

Thursday we had our district meeting. it is so fun to get together with a bunch of missionaries. they are a pretty great group to hang out with. whenever we are all together, i think of the harvard sailing team youtube video "boys will be girls". and the line they say, "thats a good group." someone watch that video for me please, and enjoy it!

 

ok funny story. so you know how everyone always complains about gaining weight on the mission? so there is one elder who swears on his life that he has not gained any weight at all, but he has lost weight. i have no idea since i just got here. but, his pants are pretty tight! anyways, one of the zl's asked him at the district meeting, "elder what kind of pants did you buy?" he responded, "they are the slim fit cut." the zl then responded, "elder they aren't slim fit, they're called too small." i tried to act like i didn't hear because i didn't want to embarrass him, but i was laughing pretty hard on the inside! why am i such a dork?!

Thursday was also my first real rainy day! it was so fun. we went tracting and not a single soul let us in, but we enjoyed ourselves! our mission president talks about how long our lines are in the water, in reference to fishing. we won't find anybody if our lines aren't out there; so even though no one let us in, we were out there trying!

 first time rocking the new raincoat

late that night when we got home, we walk into a flooded kitchen. blahhhhh. no fun, so we cleaned it all up. it was from the window that has the ac unit in it. water just poured in from the rain today. and all piled up into the middle of the kitchen, because our floors definitely are not level. it was quite fun to clean up! right after i finished cleaning it up, i hear the wind pick up and the rain start pelting the side of the apartment again. so i folded up every single one of the towels in our apartment, wadded them around the whole window and prayed that it would last till morning, and it did! but the ac doesn't really work anymore. uh, pick your battles i guess!

FRIDAY

Friday is when the miracles really took off! we went to contact 2 former investigators and found both of them at home and both of them willing to set up a return appointment! it was incredible and we are SO excited - that is such an understatement too!  ahhhhhh, i cannot wait to start teaching them this week! :) bonus, one of them is a family. then, we were able to meet with 3 less actives from the ward and guess what, they all were at church this week! we are so stinkin excited that we both get to stay here and see all the blessings our ward is receiving! 

also, mom sent me a totally inspired talk this week about less active members and how to work with them, see them, treat them - everything. it was so perfect for all of this week! keep following those promptings mama!

SATURDAY 

saturday we had a lesson with a less active member who was baptized when he was 8, but quit coming when he was a teenager. he is now in his 60's or  70's. it was so great and i know that he felt the spirit and he invited us back! he declined coming to church yet, but that is so okay! as long as he continues to feel the spirit and increase that desire to build a relationship with Christ, then church will come!

later on we had an appointment with chad, who was also a former investigator. he basically dropped us all over again and said no, i just don't want to do this. ahh, devistation! he knows the church is true, he just doesn't want to take the steps that he needs to.

then we went to lindsey lopez's farewell/open house. she is the sweetest thing and leaves for brazil next week! she will be a wonderful missionary.  

sister stone and i decided to have a fast for chad, for him to find work and to recognize god's hand in his life. 

SUNDAY

sunday morning we got a text from chad asking for us to find him a ride to church! holy hannah, a legit answer to our prayers. he showed up, still being kind of a negative nancy and only going to stay for sacrament meeting.

but, then he ended up staying for the entire meeting and completely opening up to us! it was just incredible. he expressed a desire to be baptized into god's true church and felt that he had been deprived his whole life since he was baptized by someone without the priesthood. then he asked us to continue taking the lessons and coming to church. i kid you not, he had a complete 180 degree change from just the day before! and it all came down to how welcomed he felt at church. fellowship is more important than you all think it possibly ccould be! conversion is dependent on if the individual feels comfortable. if they don't feel comfortable, they will not be able to feel the spirit and learn of the truths. 

also on sunday, kimberley, which is the step-daughter of a member in the ward came to church as well! we had invited her a few times and she hadn't been able to join us, but this week she was able to come. she really enjoyed it and has expressed an interest. we have dinner at their home on friday and are planning on asking her to take the lessons and learn more. it was so wonderful to have her there though. her stepmom was teaching relief society and had asked us to take ten minutes of the lesson and to teach. so she got to see us teach and her step mom did a wonderful lesson as well. we have become friends with her and have done things with her since my first week of being here, so now it is the transitioning into the lessons! we are so excited to see how this progresses. kimberley is just wonderful and seriously the sweetest girl on earth! 

ALSO, coming up. a member from the ward called us to tell us about his barber. his barber is a less active member and whenever he is having a haircut they discuss church. well this amazing member asked his barber if he and his wife would be interested in taking the discussions from the missionaries. they said sure. he told us this story and we were like, "sweet that should be pretty cool," not thinking too much would come from it and he gave us their number. we called them and the wife answered, we explained the situation and said, "oh yes, i am so excited to begin meeting with you!" she is not a member and this basically never happens! so we are starting to meet with her and her less active husband this week. ohmygosh. so much is coming up for us!!!!!!! 

to be continued next week! there will be much to follow-up on all of these absolutely wonderful miracles happening in oregon city! 

love you all so stinkin' much. keep writing me and praying for me, i definitely love and continually need all of your support. the church is true!

 

Here are the rest of my pictures that I've just forgotten to post!

 oregon city district

 canemah park looking over williamette falls

 sister stone and i on the hike

 oreos from the squires!

 sister stone and i with lindsey and serena - both leaving on missions from OC 4th ward

 saving money on postage

 OC district plus the ZL's

 happy one month to me!

 sis stone and i

xoxoxoxox- Sister Kerr

The start of September.

there went yet another week. holy cow, i cannot believe how the time flies!

the work is slowing down now that the 78 year old woman has been baptized. We are only teaching one person right now consistently. so it is time to get to finding! last week sister stone and i did our weekly planning and during this process we pray about how many people are prepared to be baptized within the upcoming month. we prayed about it separately and then came together after to talk about it. i thought it was kind of crazy to look for such a specific answer, like an actual number, but i went along with it and prayed about it as well. it was the most inspired that i have ever felt. we came back together to discuss it and both felt like there were 6 people in our area who are prepared to have the gospel brought into their lives. which seemed like an obnoxiously large number compared to the baptisms that they have had here in the past. but, i now know, without a doubt in my mind that they are there, waiting for us to find them. and i know that heavenly father would only give us that answer if we are willing to act on the answer that we received. it is september 4th and so far we only have one investigator. i have faith that they are ready and close by - so it is time to find!

bishop carlson asked us to come into ward council and to teach the ward a little on the purpose of ward council and what they need to do to help us reach our goals. it was great, since i am still learning the process myself. nothing makes you learn quicker than having to stand up in front of 12 adults and teach them! bishop had asked us to share our goal with the ward council. i was very hesitant to do so. we had discussed it with him the night before, but i didn't want to just throw out a number to them that wouldn't mean as much to them as it did to sister stone and i, who had prayed very hard about it. i didn't know how to portray this to them in a way that kept it sacred and emphasized my firm belief in it and desire to achieve it. at the end of the ward council, bishop looked at me and asked me to share. slightly reluctantly, i began to recount the experience. i was so overcome by the spirit. even thinking back to that moment chokes me up and overwhelms me. heavenly father was there with me as i expressed sister stone and my own desire to teach and the urgency that we need to act in to find these people who have been prepared and are waiting to be taught. the whole ward council was in tears after and i honestly cannot remember all that i said. that is the first true time that i feel that i have been a mouthpiece for the lord. he needed the ward council to catch the vision of how they need to work and the spirit delivered through me. it was incredible and the whole ward is now buzzing with the excitement of missionary work. 

not a whole ton happened this past week, we are trying to find through our own efforts (knocking on doors, street contacting, contacting previous investigators), but to not so great results. there are a few promising return appointments, but not enough! i am so grateful that bishop allowed us to talk to the ward council, it was inspired timing as well. we really need help finding people to teach and it is through them that we will be able to!

it is hard not being completely busy with teaching all of the time, but we are trying ever so hard to be focused! things are only worth it if they are hard, so why would this work ever be easy?! anytime i start to get homesick i just remind myself that it is because of my family that i am out here. i want people to have the opportunity to be with their families forever. so there is no need to miss my family, i'll be with them for eternity! haha...it still happens sometimes though. 

monday was labor day and pday so we went and did some bowling with our district. it was this junker, hole in the wall alley that was probably 106 degrees inside. it was so hot and sweaty in there. i was a little whiny with my frequent line of, "It's hotttttttttt." Grandma Joyce will understand that and can do a pretty incredible rendition of it herself! also, i came in second place and broke a hundred! whattttt? then we went to our ward mission leader's home and played ping pong with him and his wife and son. it was so much fun. they are a wonderful family and let us stop by whenever, like really, WHENEVER. 

so tuesday sister stone had to have some testing done. well that meant that monday she had to fast all the day long AND take some laxatives that evening...it was funnnnnn! hahahaha, we had to stay up until 2 AM finishing up her doses, all i can say is that i am going to be a really good mom. also, i am now very good at the game phase 10. we played that once, or 10 times, who knows? then we were up at 5:40 to get ready to go to the doctor's office. it was a pretty interesting day, hahah, but we had a lot of fun! we truly have become friends and are like sisters - for real. it all made it worth it though when i saw sister morby the next day. she told me that she had spoken with sister stone's mom about the procedure and then she got all choked up and said, "she wanted me to thank you, sister kerr, for taking such good care of her daughter and being so loving and patient with her." i almost started to bawl! i am so grateful that i have gotten to be her companion and for the fun that we have had :)

i know this was a little scattered and disorganized, sorry. i was not in too huge of a writing mood today and i wanted to be sure to save time to send pictures! i love you all so much. i really, really, really do! please keep writing me, letters and emails are what keep me going! i appreciate all that each of you have taught me through your examples and supported me in so many different ways. love you to the moon and back again!

xoxoxox, Sister K

p.s. shout out to my Grandfather who is now 71 years old and still the best looking man around town, at least Altmar town :) Happy Birthday!

p.s.s. Happy Birthday to my little Kader-tot who will be 2 years old. xoxoxoxoxoxo and "hiawaka"

p.s.s.s. Hello to Miss Miraka, I hope you enjoy my home and family - they're pretty neat. Ed, ruin/enrich her with many, many youtube videos.

Hello my wonderful family and friends. I am so, so, so grateful that today is Monday and p-day, Hallelujah. It has been another wonderful week in Oregon City filled with some pretty cherished memories!

MONDAY

Monday was a much needed, laid back, sittin-around type of p-day. Not much was going on except for a wonderful 2 1/2 hour nap, I have never been so tired in my life as I am here on my mission. It is non-stop going until 9 PM and then I am ready to pass out! 

After the few hours of sleep, cleaning and relaxing, we then joined a family for dinner. The mom is  is the 78 year old hikers daughter and they all live together now. It was a great time, the dad had his birthday party and his mother in law showered him with gifts from the thrift store. They were all wonderful, slightly odd gifts, but so heartfelt! We were all busting up laughing as she handed them to him, one after the other. My favorite was a blue and white, ceramic buddah, holding a giant fish, with his lips making a kissy face. The dad didn't exactly know how to react, neither did any of us - so I just geeked out. When we were about to leave their home, the mother gave me a hug and said, "Sister Kerr, we have been so impressed with you as a missionary and just love how you got here, ready to work. You just hit the ground running here in Oregon City." It was one of the most thoughtful things I've heard and I really cherish that comment, because sometimes, I don't feel that way about myself!

Later that evening, we had an appointment set up with a different family to have a Family Home Evening. It was a feat even to set this up with the family. They have been so friendly to us though and each of them are so sweet in their own ways. The mom is a member, but no longer attends. The dad, daughter and son are not. We brought two of the young women from the ward with us and it went so well! We shared a message about our Heavenly Father, his love for us, how He has a plan for us to be able to return to live with Him and how He is working towards that. Their daughter had attended youth conference in July and she opened up to us about how she had felt the spirit there and how she loved it and wanted to feel that way again. She said, "It felt like warm butterfiles in my stomach!" It was such a great experience and I love hearing and seeing how the spirit effects people individually. I loved having her open up to us and feel comfortable enough to share something so special with us!

TUESDAY

Tuesday we had our weekly district meeting! We practiced the art of asking inspired questions, and that truly is an art! We did a practice where we split into groups and role-played one of our investigators. I pretended to be an older investigator that we have met with a bit and the elders were so great at helping me to see what his needs are. I hate role-playing - I feel like a complete and utter idiot, and I always complain about it, but WHY DOES IT HAVE TO WORK SO WELL? Unfortunately, it was splendid, hahah - as Mom knows, I hate it when I am wrong! So, now I am looking forward to meeting with the good old investigator again :)

We had scheduled to contact less-active members all day from a list that Bishop had given us. We tried and tried and tried all day long and nobody, I mean NOBODY was home. Notta one. Good gravy I was getting awful frustrated! We had been going around for over 2 1/2 hours. The very last door of the night was a referral from mormon.org that we had tried probably 10 times since I arrived here. We go to the door, knock, basically positive that no one will answer, because no one ever does at this house. And then, miracle of all miracles - HE ANSWERS! A boy answered the door and invited us back to teach him and his parents on Thursday!!!! He shut the door and we hadn't even gotten off the front porch and I am kind of fist-pumping and doing the Kip Dynamite "yesssssss." It was wonderful and we are so excited. Never give up!

p.s. We had dinner tonight at a Relief Society Garden Party. They served broccoli salad, lettuce salad, and macaroni salad. I kept waiting for someone to carry out the main dish, alas it never came! No meat or anything? It was odd, I thought. I said something about to Sis. Stone and she laughed at me and said it wasn't that weird. Where I come from, it is wayyyyy weird!

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday Sister Stone had her 6 month interview with President Morby. So, I being the luckiest girl in the world, got to sit and visit with Sister Morby for about an hour and a half. It was wonderful, I love and adore that woman! She was so funny, she is so sweet and genuine. She is just great. So, I got to enjoy me some mom/grandmother time, it was a wonderful thing!

Right after our time with the Morby's we met up with one of our members, Brother Turpin, and set out for our lesson withthe investigator i had to pretend to be on Tuesday. This was my first time teaching him a real lesson, rather than just visiting with him. Between it being my first time, and the role-play experience - I was so pumped! We met him down at the park near his home, which just so happened to be jam-packed with a van-load of daycare children who had clearly been cooped up for too long. They were nuts, we were kind of nervous about that ruining the lesson. But the spirit was so strong he didn't even notice! Between his old age and the spirit, he didn't hear those kids a bit :) I still cannot believe the love that I feel for this old man, with a busy beard, and long stringy white hair, who was coughing up a lung while reading from my Book of Mormon. I truly was able to see him as he is, a child of Heavenly Father, as my brother! I feel so very blessed that I was blessed to be able to see him in that way. And for the first time, he learned that he had lived with his Father before he came to earth and he loved that! I know that he felt the spirit, I know it. I think that scared him a little bit though, who isn't afraid of the unfamiliar. He is Baptist and is comfortable with that, but at least now he knows what we shared with him. He doesn't want to meet again until next week, which is killing me. But I extended a commitment to him. I said, " If you pray about the things that we have taught you and about the Book of Mormon that you been reading, to know if they are true, and you get the answer that they are, will you be baptized?" He said yes, but that was a very light commitment, who wouldn't say yes to that! I just pray that he will have a desire to know if they are true, because if he does have that desire, then he will get an answer! I love him so much and it is because I love him that I want him to know for himself.

Later on, we joined the Young Women for mutual and helped them all write their own personal creeds. It was really great, I enjoy those girls so much. One of them, was so silly and reminded me of my Addey so much! I love this ward.

p.s. this ward is pretty large. the henrici chapel is generally full and there are three wards that are in our building. the oregon city stake center is about 10 minutes away and there are two more wards in it. there is a pretty good amount of members in the area! our ward had not had any baptisms in 5 years i think, but there have been 2 in the past 3 months now!

THURSDAY

Thursday morning we went to meet a less-active woman. There has been quite a lot of excitement around this woman! Neither Sis. Stone or I had ever met her and anytime we mentioned that we were trying to contact her, people would always say good luck or start giving us tips. Then I pulled out the ward directory to get her address and next to her name it said "do not contact." Ahhhhh, we were slightly nervous, but we felt like we needed to meet her. We were so nervous that she was a mormon-hater now and going to yell at us to get off her porch, with a yappy little dog chasing us back towards our car, which was parked at the end of the street. I was quite worked up. But, she was a doll and invited us back anytime! She is a ceramics teacher and she wants us to come play on the wheel with her sometime!

I GOT A PACKAGE FROM MOMMY AND DADDY. Best day ever, ever, EVER. Thank you.

FRIDAY

Friday we took the adorable 78 year old investigator to the Visitor's Center, it was my first time as well! We had a wonderful time and on the way there, she infomed us that she is giving up her driver's license. At this point she was bouncing up and down between Sis. Stone and I, clapping her hands, and saying, "Now I don't have to study anymore for that blasted test." It was the funniest thing ever! The spirit was so strong at the VC and the sister's there were wonderful. They showed us a video about families and it was great! You all need to go to the nearest VC and watch it, I cried...shocker, I know. 

Then we took her to the baptismal font and showed her how it would all go and picked her out a jumper! She is so excited now :) She won't have her hearing aids in for the baptism, because of the water, and now she is a nervous wreck that she won't hear when her son in law says amen, and that she won't be ready and will just get dunked! Hahh, she is so cute, but what a legitimate worry. Before we left her daughters house, both the dad and mom asked me, "Sister Kerr, have you ever modeled for UHAUL?" Now that is a question I never expected to hear, hahahah. I guess they had seen a girl on the back of truck that looked like me.

p.s. the day after we were at the VC, Elder Jeffrey Holland (my favorite apostle ever), showed up at the Portland VC, just randomly. Just my luck, I missed him!

SATURDAY

Saturday there was the ward picnic which was wonderful. I love our ward and we had a lot of fun with all of the members. There were not nearly enough less-actives there or investigators! But, it was still good. 

I GOT A PACKAGE FROM WHITNEY, MACEY, ADDEY, PEPPER AND KADE. Thank you so much, it meant the entire world to me.

Then, there was the baptism for the 78 year old hiker! It was so wonderful. She showed up to the baptism with her younger brother, in his bright blue mustang. She kept talking about the wind blowing through her hair on the way there. She is so great! The spirit was so strong there and I enjoyed it so much! I got to get up and bear my testimony briefly about the restoration, and I could not break eye contact with her. This woman is such an example to me and I truly have learned so much from her! 

SUNDAY

Sunday was Sister Franzen's farewell. She leaves on her mission on Wednesday to Seattle, from Portland! Hahahah :) She is great and it was a wonderful talk. Then Bro. Cook spoke briefly and bore his testimony on missionary work and specifically about Sis. Stone and I. We are so appreciated in this ward, it is wonderful. I love it here.

p.s. the YW in this ward sent a letter to Pres. Morby about 4 months ago specifically requesting sister missionaries. they love us so much here! we are the only sisters in the whole stake too, we are kind of spoiled!!

Well I love you everyone! There is so much work to be done, so let's get to it. 

xoxoxox, Sister Kerr