Happy March!

Dearest family and friends,

Oops, once again I didn´t leave enough time to send out a good email! Sorry about that. But summing up our week, it was really great. We had some super hard days, the kind of days that you wish never happened or that you could just forget about, but even in those moments we were able to find the positives. One thing Sister Timario and I have started doing when we want to complain is we make a list of five things we are grateful for in our lives. We start complaining and then the other one will say "Nope. Five things...name them!" It has been a good way for us to realize what´s going right instead of focusing on what´s going  wrong. I love my companion :) 

This week we had a really hard lesson to learn but I am really grateful for what I learned. Regardless of what the internet may say about the church, the members who have fallen away from it and the people who don´t even know it but insisnt on talking about it, I know it is true. Even if it was some great big lie, I would continue living it because it brings happiness like nothing else can. The peace we feel is real. The joy we have is eternal. And the possibilites that can become realities because of the priesthood are priceless. We are here to invite others to come to know this truth for themselves. Some may reject it, others may accept it, but we are here for all to hear it. 

The next time I send an email it will already be March! This year is flying by. Carnaval starts this Friday and goes until Tuesday. I will be in Brasília for it. Maybe I will see something cool :) 

Have a great week! Hope you are all happy and healthy!

Love,

Sister Kerr

I stayed!

Dearest family and friends,

I stayed in Palmas 3!! And for the first time in my mission I will have the same companion for more than just one transfer. Hooray!! I was really hoping Sister Timario and I would stay together because the work was just starting to really pick up and I didn´t want us to be split up. This past week was amazing! We had prayer after prayer answered. The things we had been working and praying for all transfer finally started happening. I was nervous she would be transferred because President Gaernter had said she would most likely be going back down to Brasília this transfer, but thankfully she stayed! Can you believe up until this point in my mission Sister Ryan (my companion from the MTC) is still my longest companion? We stayed together for 9 weeks and all the others have been 5 or 6 weeks. Speaking of her, she´s doing well. We still send emails :) 

In front of the capital of city hall of Palmas

Tomorrow is my 1 year mark from leaving the MTC and entering the mission field. It seems like only yesterday I was packing my bags and getting ready to head to the San Fernando mission. Leaving my district at the MTC was one of the hardest and saddest things because we were so close. It seems like it´s been a lot longer than a year since the last time I saw them, but at the same time it has passed so quickly. 

This past week was seriously the perfect ending to the last transfer. We had meetings all week like district meeting, zone training and then sisters training on Friday, but it was awesome. My studies were great. I can´t get enough of the old General Conference talks. I have also been studying Jacob in the Book of Mormon. In the mission the allegory of the olive trees has so much more meaning because you have a different perspective on the work that is being talked about.

Hope everybody is happy and healthy!! Thank you for your support, emails, cards, pictures...everything you do to make me feel loved and remembered.

Love,

Sister Kerr

Our district last transfer

I ate sushi last week!! It was delicious :) It´s about quality not quantity...I was more satisfied after that meal than if I had eaten a whole buffett

Sisters of Zona Palmas

All of the missionaries at rodoviária last night to say goodbye to the missionaries who were transferred to Brasília

Happy Valentine´s Day!

Querida família,

Happy Valentine´s Day this week!! Can you believe this time last year I was in the MTC waiting for my reassignment? This past year has flown by so quickly.

So I had SOOO much to say this week, but I don´t have much time today. I have seriously been waiting all week to talk about how great the work is going!! Bummer I can´t share everything.

Last Tuesday at the mission council President Gaertner showed us the January CES Devotional by Tad R. Callister and it totally changed my perspective about how imporant the gospel truly is. I loved this talk, especially the last part that says...

Suffice it to say, I can live with some human imperfections, even among prophets of God—that is to be expected in mortal beings. I can live with some alleged scientific findings contrary to the Book of Mormon; time will correct those. And I can live with some seeming historical anomalies; they are minor in the total landscape of truth. But I cannot live without the doctrinal truths and ordinances restored by Joseph Smith, I cannot live without the priesthood of God to bless my family, and I cannot live without knowing my wife and children are sealed to me for eternity. That is the choice we face—a few unanswered questions on one hand versus a host of doctrinal certainties and the power of God on the other. And for me, and I hope for you, the choice is an easy one and a rational one.

All of you should watch the talk when you get a chance. It is so amazing!! Sister Timario and I had a rough week two weeks ago when it came to the work, so last Sunday night we decided we would make that week marvelous no matter what happened. We started the week off super excited and ready to work, then went to mission council and saw that talk and the rest is history. Last week was so great because we made it great. I am super sick, it rained a lot, but we didn´t let anything stop us from doing our best. It was so awesome.

Anyway, hope you all have a great week!! We have transfers next Monday so we will see what happens.

Love,

Sister Kerr

Our Zone

Life is good

View from the bridge crossing back into Palmas

Dear family and friends,

So here we are in February already! This transfer is flying by and this week will be no exception. Last week seriously passed in the blink of an eye.

We have the best members in this ward. Yesterday for fast and testimony meeting the pulpit was packed as people waited to bear their testimonies. I have never been in a ward so excited and dedicated to the gospel. I can´t even explain how many tender mercies Sister Timario and I received last week. I will try to explain some very quickly.

At the start of the transfer, we made a list of things to do during this transfer one of which was eat milho verde assado (corn on the cob roasted on little grills just set up in the street corners at night). Wednesday night we went to the chapel because we had marked to teach a lesson there, but the lesson fell through. As we were walking out of the chapel one of the members in the ward asked us, "Hey, do you sisters want some milho assado? I bought it right now and want you to have it" It was a small, but tender, mercy. Then later that night we went to visit a recent convert family and while we were there it started pouring rain with really strong wind. I was dreading the moment we had to leave and walk home but as we were leaving the buildling we ran into another recent convert family who was heading to the movie theatre and offered to give us a ride home. We got home right at 9pm instead of arriving later and totally soaked from the rain :)

Yesterday we had a less active member who is 17 years old go on some visits with us. It has been a little over 2 years that she hasn´t been to church but she is so awesome!! She has such a strong testimony. In one of the lessons she told the girl we were teaching about how great the church is and that she should go. The less active member then told us she has never gone on visits with sisters but she can´t say no to us because she loves spending time with us haha. I am happy she is having more contact with the church! I know she will go on a mission someday.

President and Sister Gaertner came to Palmas on Wednesday for interviews and it was really great having an interview with President Gaertner. I think I had been needing that for a while. On Thursday I went to Palmas 1 to go on exchanges with Sister Hoopes. I love being able to work with other sisters to see how they teach and learn from their example. Palmas 1 has a part of the area that is across the river and we had a lesson there so I got to cross the bridge to the other side of the river! It is SO gorgeous!! I still can´t believe how lucky I am to have such wonderful experiences everyday.

My studies on Thursday were about the family as we prepared to teach a lesson about the importance of the family. There is a line in PMG that really stood out to me - "Heaven is a continuation of the ideal home." How great would it be to not have to wait until we get to heaven to find the joy and peace we expect there :) I also had the chance to read President Uchtdorf´s talk titled "Of Regret and Resolutions" earlier in the week. Another one of my favorite conference talks.

Life is great. We are in Brasília today which means our p-day has been full of traveling. Sorry for not writing and sending letters to anybody...it has been forever since I have had a p-day that actually left time to do that. Don´t think I have forgotten about any of you!

Hope you´re all happy and healthy!

Love,
Sister Kerr