The Door / Sent February 11, 2018

Hello!

Before I forget, I totally forgot to write about something that happened last week that I wanted to write about. We got invited to go to a church called "The Door Christian Fellowship church" But they mostly just called it The Door. Anyway, we went, and it was quite the experience. They started by singing a bunch of Christian songs, and they weren't too bad, but it went on for a little while. One of the songs was called "My God is awesome", and I think that was the only line in the song. The song was maybe five minutes long. Good stuff. But then after that the preacher started talking about the offering bucket or whatever you call it, the thing they pass around and people donate money. He talked for maybe another 20 minutes just about that and why it was so important to donate. And then the guest speaker got up and started praying and blessing people very loud and irreverently so that they would be blessed financially. By then we had already been there for an hour, so we left, and never got a chance to actually hear any preaching. 

That was a super weird but also testimony building experience. I don't want to be rude or disrespectful, so I want to be clear that all the people who were there were super nice, and were spending their evening worshiping God in their own way, so credit goes to them for that, because most people here just sit on street corners and smoke weed every night. Ok, not most people, but a good amount. So it was cool to see a lot of people pumped about Jesus. But it was also super easy to see that it was not the true church of Jesus Christ. Even though we sang about the Holy Ghost, the whole thing was way to loud and crazy to be able to feel the spirit. And they talked about how the church was just organized by some guy who wanted to do it. And the whole blessing thing was definitely not done by any authority. So although I was happy that these people were taking time out of their day to try to come closer to Christ, I was sad that they are missing out on the real depth and beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It made me realize so much more that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church on the earth today, with God's real authority and power. 

Barbados Zone Conference

We also had zone conference this week, which went good. I always feel like I learn so much at zone conferences. Other than that the week was pretty normal. And sorry, I still haven't taken any more pictures. Sorry! Just look at Braden's email, it's basically like looking at any picture I'd send. Have a great week!

Love, Elder Kerr

NOTE FROM HOLLY: THESE PHOTOS WERE POSTED ON THE MISSION FACEBOOK PAGE.  ALSO, I'M ADDING A PARAGRAPH FROM MCKADE'S E-MAIL TO THE FAMILY THIS WEEK BECAUSE I LOVED IT SO MUCH. 

 You did say you love it when I share my testimony, so I'll try to share a little bit with you today. Something I really learned at zone conference is how important the spirit is with everything in our lives. The Gospel makes so much sense to me logically, and lots of the time I just want to explain everything to the people we teach, but even if they understand they will never be converted that way. But they will be converted by they spirit if they open their hearts to it. The Spirit is so important to their conversion, and to ours, and to everything we do in our lives. I'd just like to challenge all of you try to follow and trust the spirit a little bit more this week. And try to share it with those around you. Another thing we learned is that like hikers with trails and campgrounds, as followers of Christ we should try to leave everybody we talk to better than we found them. Try to lift people up, not tear them down. Try to share your spirit with them. And not only will it brighten their day, but your's too.