This week, Eduardo got baptized, and it was amazing!!!

I'm glad I've been able to see the amazing transformation he has gone through, starting as a heavy smoker, and Bible-basher, and ending up as a member of the Church, with a testimony of all the things he has learned. It's really been a miracle.  I've seen the whole process with Eduardo, and how much he has changed. When we were getting ready before the baptism, I was kind of nervous, just because I know how important something like a baptism is for a person's life, but I felt so much peace and joy, telling me both he and I were ready for the baptism.  When I baptized him, I felt the power of my words so strongly, knowing I truly am commissioned of Jesus Christ, and that this is an incredible step for him! I'm doing well, and feel like I'm learning a lot from the people and situations.  And on the 30th, he will be baptizing his 15 year old son, Daniel, who has quickly grown interested in our lessons, and grown close to several of the youth in the branch. Eduardo's wife, Eliana has some doubts about the gospel, but she is receptive enough to listen to us, and agrees with many important principles we teach.  Hopefully, she will continue to listen to the lessons, and see what a change the gospel makes in her husband, and son's lives.

Something I've really been learning this week, and weeks prior, is that a mission is unlike any other spiritual experience out there.  I began, expecting it to be a place that would lift me up spiritually, such as church, the temple, or even a place like EFY.  Instead, I was kind of surprised (even though I shouldn't have been) to find that the external circumstances of my mission are no more special or spiritual than anywhere else. It is absolutely necessary to rely on the Lord in the field, because if you don't, you can't edify yourself or others spiritually.  I expected it to be easier to be happy as a missionary as well, but in fact, it is a lot easier to get discouraged as a missionary.  We have to deal with lots of rejection every day, and I've thought a lot about why its harder to stay optimistic here, than simply as a member. I have realized that it is because it requires trust in the Lord, more than ever, and when we work hard to be happy, it is so much more worth it. I am convinced that the special light missionaries carry with them is very much due to the fact that they work harder than ever to have it. I truly love being a missionary, because the happiness I'm able to recieve here is truly a gift from God. 

I hope everyone else had a great week! Talk to you again next week! 

-Elder Checketts

(From PJ's mom---as a side note...When I emailed PJ this week, I asked him if his new mission President & his wife speak much English, since they are from Santiago, Chile, and he said, "They actually don't know that much English. They know a couple of words, so they spoke to us completely in Spanish, but it's ok... they talk clearly, so I can understand everything they say. ;)"  And when I asked him about any foods that he misses & might like in a care package, he said, "For food, Nutella is always nice, and you can't find Cheez-its here, so I'd like that too! :) (Oh, and if you could mail some Chick-fil-a, that'd be great!) ;) lol

Another great week!

This week we had conference with President Ferreira and his wife, and then interviews and activities the day after, and it was absolutely awesome!  I loved President and Hermana Dalton, and wish I had gotten to know them better, but I can't say I am anything but impressed by the Ferreiras.  Hermana Ferreira is super fun and nice, and already knows the mission, and President Ferreira has a very apparent love for the missionaries.  I can tell they both will be great leaders of the mission, and I can't wait to get to know them even more.

During the interviews, while a missionary was in with President, the rest of us stayed and had a discussion and played some get-to-know-you games with Hermana Ferreira. We watched a short clip from Mulan that went along with what she was talking about, and because of that, I've had ''Make a Man out of You'' stuck in my head all week! Then I had my interview with President Ferreira, and it was really cool, because it's very apparent how much he loves the missionaries. He looked me in the eyes during the interview, and said, ''Elder, on Monday, when you write your family, let them know, how happy I am to have you as a missionary in this mission, and let them know that I expect great things from you.'' I can tell he will be a great president, and I can't wait to get to know him even more as my mission goes on.  

In other news, Eduardo had his baptismal interview, and is working hard not to smoke! We bought him a big bag of caramels to help him, and he's continuing to work toward his baptism on the 16th, and baptize his son and hopefully his wife too, on the 30th, which is incredible!! It has really been amazing to see the change he has gone through, and what effort he is making to stay on the track for baptism.  It's a miracle really to see people rise above the things that have been a problem for them, for so long. It's a miracle because they have to rely on Christ to do it, but as soon as they do, He won't let them down.  

I also have some funny stories this week.  Having a Latino companion, and being fairly new to Spanish, I'm prone to making some mistakes that are sometimes pretty funny.  For example, earlier this week, I was explaining to Elder Aparco the plot line of Romeo and Juliet, and how at the end, Romeo drinks poison, and Juliet stabs herself with a knife.... but instead of saying cuchillo (knife), I accidentally said cuchara (spoon).... personally I think that would be a more interesting ending..... but it was kind of funny. There was also one time when we were talking about food, and I was saying something about maple syrup (jarabe de arce), but instead said jarabe de ALCE (moose syrup). I thought that one was pretty funny too. Another one that a lot of missionaries mess up on (though I haven't), is accidentally saying pescado (fish) during a lesson, instead of pecado (sin).... it leads to funny things like, ''Brother, if you trust in God, I know you will be able to find repentance from your fish''.  Anyway, hope that amused you a little! Talk to you guys next week!

I hope everyone else had a good week as well, and everyone is continuing to enjoy the summer. I'll update you next week!

-Elder Checketts

This was a great week! I had my first baptism, and Franco, who usually is very timid and shy, had a huge smile on his face during the baptismal service! His family was there, as well as several friends of his who are non-members. We were able to get several new investigators out of that, and over all, the baptism was a great experience! 

This week, there was also both progression, and digression with our investigators.  Eduardo again came to church with his son, and is taking the commitment to be baptized seriously (something I never would have predicted).  However, one of our most prospective investigators, Maricel, will not be able to be contacted for a month or so, as she has to go visit her mother who is in bad health. Maricel has long been our most interested investigator, already with a huge testimony of the things we teach, but has continued having problems that have prevented her from coming to church.  I've thought about this whole situation quite a bit. The fact that one of our most stubborn investigators has a baptismal date, and that one of the most promising is unable to be contacted, shows me that we as missionaries will never truly know who is the most ready for baptism, if we are preparing people WE WANT for the church, rather than people GOD WANTS for the church.  I know God prepares souls ready to hear the gospel, to be placed in the path of the missionaries.  But I think, sometimes we focus on our needs first, and that blinds us.  If the prepared people in need of help from the gospel are like the beaten traveler in the story of the Good Samaritan, we need to make sure we are filling the role of the Good Samaritan, and not the priest, who walks on the other side of the road, saying, ´´I would help.... if I weren't busy with the Lord's work´´. When we focus on what God wants from us, we will always accomplish our purpose as missionaries, members, and children of God.  

I hope everyone has a good week, and are led to the people who are in need of their help! I'll update you all again, next week! 

-Elder Checketts

Below are pictures from Franco's baptism!

And here is a little bit from the email PJ sent to our family, that I thought was so great:

"...It's about Christ.  I'm not perfect.... but He is, and so if I do what I have been called to do, Christ will perfectly bless his son or daughter through an imperfect missionary.  And that is why it is also worth it... because it is hard. I love all of you, and I want you to know that if something is really hard for you to work through, it's probably because there is something you are meant to learn from it. I hope you all have another great week! Love you so much!"

Hey, everyone!

This was an awesome week!!! First off, we have a baptism on Saturday!!! It's an 11 year old named Franco, whose Mom is a less active member, but because he wants to get baptized, she's getting reactivated. It's super exciting to see a kid so young want to do something so important. I'm super happy for their family, and it also looks like I'll be the one baptizing him! Unfortunately, I don't know the family as well as I would like, since they were in the other sector before we combined, but I can tell that Luz (the mom) is really happy with her son's decision, and is happy coming to church again. We also have an amazing story this week, with an investigator named Eduardo.  Eduardo, when we first met him was very stubborn. He has problems with drinking and smoking, and at the time, did not want to stop, and always tried to disprove us with the Bible. When we taught him the restoration, everything started making sense for him, and he became much more receptive, even to the point of saying he'd try to quit smoking... a HUGE step from what we saw at first. After that, was the cambio, and the next visit I had was with Elder Aparco, who decided to invite Eduardo to be baptized.  I was sure he'd say no, and kick us out of his house, so I prayed that his heart would be softened, and he'd say yes.  I immediately got a strong impression that he would say yes. Honestly.....I doubted that answer, but sure enough, he commited to be baptized on the 30th of July, and to come to church... and he came! I know God answers prayers, and that he can soften any willing heart. Hope everyone had a great week as well!

-Elder Checketts

A lot has happened this week!

So first off, I had my first and last Zone Conference with President Dalton earlier this week, on Tuesday. He talked about a lot of things to help us continue to help our investigators, and it was a really good meeting. In two weeks, President Dalton leaves, and President Ferreira, his wife, and their daughter arrive to the mission. They are from Concepción, Chile, and President Ferreira served a mission in Córboba, Argentina, and his wife in Antofagasta, Chile!! It sounds like he will be a great mission president, and I'm excited to meet him.  

Also, I've completed my first twelve weeks in the field, which means I'm done with training!!! We also had cambios (transfers), and I'm staying in Alto Hospicio, but my trainer, Elder Francis got switched out, as did another elder in our apartment... so instead of four elders in the apartment, there are two, and the two sectors are combined for a while, meaning there will be two elders in the branch of Tarapacá, instead of four.  My new companion is Elder Aparco, from Huancayo, Perú!!!!  

I'm sure my Spanish will be improving a lot in this cambio, and I'm looking forward to it!!  And Dina and Maricel will also probably be getting baptized sometime this cambio, which is exciting!!! Hope you are all doing well too! Update you all, more next Monday!!!

-Elder Checketts

Hey guys! 

Hope you had a good week, and are continuing to enjoy the summer!!!  I'm really feeling the cold winter here, while sandboarding, and looking at the nice, clear ocean ;) jk.  This week, we went down to Iquique to go sandboarding on our P-day, which was super fun! It's like snowboarding.... but the Atacama desert doesn't have much snow, so sand is second best :)  It's super nice weather here, and I'm enjoying looking around Iquique.  There are several of the investigators I love visiting because of how awesome of people they are, and there are some members that are just awesome and so friendly too! We are continuing to find people, and working on helping them change their lives. We've seen people slowly becoming more receptive, as they start understanding what we are teaching, and slowly become more willing to leave their old lives behind.  It's definitely a slow process though! 

One of our investigators committed to be baptized, if she prays and feels the church is true, so that was a great boost during the week! And we are continuing to work with our investigators who have accepted baptismal dates, to help and prepare them for that.  We also had the opportunity to watch the Chile vs Bolivia soccer game since it's the American Cup, and no one is outside, or will let us in during soccer games, since Chile is crazy for soccer... so we have permission to watch all the Chile games during the Cup, as long as we are with a member or investigator.  Tomorrow we get to see Chile vs Panamá, and we are organizing it to be an activity at the church, so we can invite members and investigators, and find more people to teach.  Hopefully, we will have another great week teaching and finding, and hopefully you all have a great week too! I'll update you next week!

Love, Elder Checketts

below are some pictures. The bottom one is from sandboarding with the other elders, and the top is a copper plate of Chile I bought, to keep a piece of the culture :)

 

Hey, everyone!!!!

This has been a good week! Lately it's been harder to find new people, but on Sunday, between us four elders in the branch, there were six investigators at church!!! That is usually the hardest part with helping people to progress... is getting them to church, but we were definitely blessed this week.  Other than that, we have just continued to have lessons, and help people to prepare to get closer to baptism.  

We had an awesome investigator named Ivan come to church yesterday.  He is one of our most receptive investigators, but getting him ready for baptism will be a long process.  He's married to a woman he split up with years ago, but never got divorced, and is now living with his girlfriend and two sons he has with her.  It is very common in Chile for people to be living together, unmarried, but his situation is complicated, because his legal wife doesn't want to get divorced, because she gets monetary benefits... and he has a lot of real intent, and wants to get married to his girlfriend to have a good, solid family, and then get baptized.  So he's awesome, and has lot's of great desires... and Maricel also came to church finally, and she brought her friend too, and both of them are planning to get baptized on June 25!  A lot of things have happened lately to keep Maricel from coming to church, but she finally quit her job to have the opportunity to go.  Her friend Dina is also wanting to get baptized, which is a miracle in itself because she previously was not at all interested, and very Evangelical... but she started listening to the lessons with Maricel, and then accepted a baptismal date!!! We also have several other very promising investigators, such as Francisca, whose husband is less active, and who just had a baby, and Manuel... the 19-year old with mental disabilities.  This has been a good week for us, and hope you liked hearing about the investigators! 

My Spanish has been improving, and I feel like I can say most everything I want to.... but the hard part is understanding rapid Chilean speech.  It's now winter here in Chile, and it actually gets pretty cold at night, since we're in the desert.  It's really hot during the day, and pretty cold at night.  I'm loving the people here, and really starting to enjoy the Chilean culture.  Hope everyone has a good week! Sorry no pictures this time! Talk to you all again next Monday!

-Elder Checketts