Yo Ho!

April 14, 2008

I am convinced that I have the best family in the whole entire world. And I'm not kidding. You all could have no idea (except maybe you RMs) how much it means to hear from you in letters and in email. I just sat here and cried through most of the emails I just read. Embarrassing:), but I can't tell you how much it means to me to have read what you all wrote. Thank you for the prayers, truly. I know that they are being heard.
So I'm sure it got around that my huge long weekly email got erased right before I sent it last week. Needless to say, I was extremely bummed, my groove was totally thrown off for a little while, but alas, everything was okay, there are worse things in life, and here I am again, having learned the lesson to save it before I ever send it.
So a few highlights from the last TWO weeks and to answer some of your questions:
-Conference was amazing! I have never gotten that much out of conference in my life. We got to watch it in our chapel/stake center projected onto the wall. Our chapel, by the way, is right next door to the Nashville temple, so that's cool. We at least get to see the temple often, even if we don't get to go in very much (I think like every 3-4 months or so). But yeah, loved conference. Our district all watched it at the church, so that was fun to "hang out" with the elders.
-In between conf. sessions on two saturdays ago, we tracted into this old lady named Ann. She is so sweet and loved everything we had to tell her, already having a strong faith in Christ (though that's pretty much a given down here). She has been catholic and baptist and told us neither of them ever made sense to her head AND her heart (which is when we hear angels sing). We loved that, of course, and we've taught her once or twice since, and she wants to go to church with us. She wanted to go to conference the next day, but her knee ended up hurting too bad sunday morning. Then this week she was going to come with us to stake conference, but she again was having too much pain in her knee, or she didn't feel good, I forget which. But we just found out yesterday that she smokes (at least we think--my comp saw cigarettes in her groceries her cousin bought her), and we know she drinks coffee, so we'll have to get over those obstacles, but I know that she can quit both with God's help. Pray that she'll be able to.
-We set TWO baptismal dates this week, last mon and tues. This is really exciting, especially for us cuz this area/ward hasn't had any baptisms in over 2 years. So we're really excited. One is a 17-yr-old kid named Corey, who was adopted last year by a family in our ward (no other kids). He's had a really rough background, but he really is a good kid. He knows the gospel is true I think, he thinks it would be cool to serve a mission, he wants to get married in the temple, he wants to go to the Celestial Kingdom, he invites friends to church, shares the gospel with friends at school, but he doesn't really WANT to get baptized. So that's what we're working on with him. We're having another lesson with him tonight, and we have been praying that he will soon really have a desire to be baptized. Pray for him too. :)
Our other date is an amazing 11-yr-old named Ashley. She is the oldest kid in her family and will be the only member. She is amazing, I'll have to tell more about her later.
Now, to answer some of y'all's questions (especially your "mom questions" Mom:):
We drive around in a car, park and walk sometimes, like for tracting or contacting. But my comp is the one that drives, not me (don't worry mom). I am the compass and map reader. We had a nice car when I got out here, just a few years old or maybe even a couple. But two weeks ago they traded out our car and gave us a 2009 Toyota Carolla (not 2008, yeah, 2009). We are spoiled.
We live with members, actually. The Ross's are a newly wed couple, in their 40's and 50's, both having had previous marriages. Gavin Ross is a retired pro golf player and 80's rocker, and Sis. Ross is a nurse (yay!) and works in the cardiac cath lab at the hospital (Vanderbilt I think). They are amazingly generous and nice to us. We live in a bedroom upstairs, have our own bathroom, etc. But she won't let us buy any food, she makes us eat anything we want out of the kitchen. We are very spoiled there. Oh, and they have this dog, Gizmo. He's a big dog, a nice dog, but annoying. He really likes to lick you--everywhere. And he has very wet slobber that soaks through your clothes quite quickly. So often I feel like I need to shower again and change my clothes before we leave the house, it's disgusting. And at any given time I could probably find a dog hair somewhere on my skirt. But we try to love him anyway. It's not like we have it rough here, so I can handle a sniffing, licking, shedding dog. :) I've gotten more used to him, but he definitely makes me never want an inside dog. Rosanna, how are your pets these days? Is the Kerr zoo expanding? I think of you guys sometimes with this dog we live with.
Yes, we can and do listen to CDs, mostly in the car. New CDs are never not liked... :)
Oh, I can get pics on email here! So feel free to email me pictures. Camille, I got yours last week, and I loved them! Sal, the one of you and Joe in HA is great! And you died your hair!! I love it! It's pretty much the same color as mine--Yay! But Dad, you mentioned emailing pics, so you can! Send away!
Mom,tell Evan and Peggy hi!
The weather here is nice, it's very undecisive though. It's been abnormally rainy apparently. But it's beautiful here with everything springing. And we do get our share of sunny weather, so that's nice.
Mom, I got your and dad's letters last fri (you wanted to know how long they take), and your letter this week on sat. I think I've figured out that letters from UT take 2 days to get here, and then an extra day for the mission office to forward it to me. So plan on letters taking 3 days, just FYI.
Well, time is about up, I hope this one doesn't get erased...
I love and miss you all, I really do. But I am loving the work out here too! The church is true and we really have a prophet of God living on the earth!
Sis. Gurr
PS--Brittani, thanks for your email last week! (And Tisah and Peter (Jones) and everyone else! Britt, what will you be doing in Tennessee?
PPS--Good luck BYU kids in finals this week and next! I'm praying for you all!