This week for us was good, with the baptisms of Jorge and Ana. They`re doing well. Unfortunately, Techi and her husband are losing interst. Hopefully we can help them better understand the restoration.... because we`ve explained it a lot of times, but she believes that we`ve come to teach her so that she can return to the church where her mother in law goes. Hopefully we can help her better understand. Sorry I don`t have more time today, but I`ll give more details next week!

Love, PJ

Hi everyone!

So, this week Jorge and Ana got married, which was great! And they are now excitedly preparing to be baptized this Saturday:

While it was great to see Jorge and Ana get married, our neighbor, Techi, has had a lot of doubts about getting baptized, and her husband Eric needs to prepare to live the Word of Wisdom before getting baptized. Techi was baptized in an evangelical church​, and feels that she would be mocking God if she gets baptized again. She´s confused about the Restoration and the Apostacy, but feels that our passing by to visit, and helping her back on God´s path is a sign that she needs to follow Him again. However, she´s leaning more toward returning to her old church, than joining the true and restored church. Today we have a Home Evening with her, and a family of members, so hopefully we can help her understand the story of Joseph Smith better, as we watch the movie ´´Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration´´. She truly has tons of faith, and just wants to do what God wants for her. I know that we will be able to help her find what she´s looking for, if she opens her heart as she reads the Book of Mormon. Anyway, that´s about it for this week, but I´ll let you know how Ana and Jorge´s baptisms go!

Love, Elder Checketts

(From PJ's mom... yesterday, I also got some more pictures & a message (thanks to Google Translate) from one of the members in Chile, from the wedding. This is what she said, "Sister Stacey Checketts, they were evangelical and married to follow Christ, they are working so much and with love in this wonderful work, they will be baptized this weekend, congratulations for your son that Heavenly Father guides him with His spirit, they are some Angels."

Hi everyone! This week was great! Felix's baptism was so awesome! He bore his testimony afterwards, and it was so full of faith. He said that although none of his family members decided to join him at his baptism, he knew that what he had done pleased God, and that the members of the church had become his new family. How powerful!



This whole week, we´ve been seeing miracles as well! We have a family of neighbors that we always greet, but we´ve never tried teaching anything to them. However, one morning, as we were walking, it crossed my mind that we should visit our neighbor.... so we started heading back in that direction. As we were heading there, we recieved a phone call from the sister that was providing lunch that day, that she needed us to come by an hour later than planned. When we arrived at our neighbor´s house, the young mother (Teófila, or ´´Techi´´) answered the door, and happily let us in. As we began talking, she started crying, and told us that she had recently been having lots of problems with her husband, and decided that day before we passed by, that she was going to separate herself from her husband, and had prayed fervently for someone to help her not feel so alone or burdened..... then we showed up! It was incredible to see how Heavenly Father works through us to bless His children! After sharing scriptures with her, and her sharing her difficulties and stories with us, we left, edified by the Spirit, and then realized, that if we had had lunch at the previously scheduled time, we wouldn´t have had time to share with Techi. Everything had been expertly planned for that visit! The next day, we passed by to get to know Eric, Techi´s husband, as well. She had previously told us that he wouldn´t likely want to talk to us, but he warmly welcomed us in, and told us that he had been acting badly, and had been emotionally hurting his wife a lot. He told us that he was willing to do anything to improve and repent, and later told Techi that he is willing to do anything the save their marriage. It really shows that the Spirit can truly soften the hardest of hearts. They accepted to be baptized on June 24th with their 8 year old son, Derrick, and even came to Stake conference... recieving the opportunity to meet the mission president. Techi then came to Felix´s baptism that evening, and was very animated to see the ordinance take place. They are now doing great and progressing rapidly. Jorge and Ana will also be having their wedding this week, and will be getting baptizd on Saturday. This week has truly been full of God´s richest blessings, and I have felt an incredible satisfaction this week, by seeing the changes in these people, and the answers and support they are recieving from God... especially as we are the tools in God´s hand for them to receive these blessings. I hope you all had an equally incredible week!

Love, Elder Checketts

Hi everyone!

Glad to hear everyone is doing well! As for me, we`ve been helping Jorge and Ana prepare more for their marriage, and their relationship has drastically improved, as they are reading the Book of Mormon together and praying as a family. Last week at church, Jorge also told me that he dreamed that he was having a conversation with Jesus Christ, and Jesus was telling him that both the Bible and the Book of Mormon are true, and that they are to be used as one. I couldn`t believe it when he told me!!! I quickly looked up Ezekiel 37, that verifies the same thing that he dreamed! It was incredible! We also have an investigator named Felix, that`s an older man that has felt very strongly that the church is true... by way of the discussions, and hopefully will get baptized next week (we`re still not sure about that, because next week is stake conference), but this Sunday, Felix went up to bear his testimony and told everyone, that he knows that the church is true and is preparing to get baptized. We were thrilled, and the ward was pretty shocked :) !!! Then, today, I recieved news from Bishop Martinez in Caspana. Do you remember Juan and Elena (familia Mora-Ferrufino)? They were Bolivian immigrants that were golden investigators, but shortly after getting baptized with us, had to return to Bolivia. So today, Bishop Martinez called me to ask me which of their children hadn`t gotten baptized... because their bishop in Bolivia called him, to be able to prepare the other two children for baptism!!! I was so happy to hear that they`re still active and progressing toward being an eternal family!!!! It was great news!! Anyway, that was about it for this week, but I`ll let you know how Felix`s baptism went if it happens this week!

Love,

PJ


**Ezekiel 37: 15-17 -- explaining The stick of Judah (the Bible) and the stick of Joseph (the Book of Mormon) will become one in the Lord’s hand:

15 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,

16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:

17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

Hey, Everyone!

You´re right! I was super excited to return to Calama! Later today, I´m going to visit some families that I knew in other wards, so I´m super excited about that!!! So far I haven´t found the bloody, drunk guy again! hahaha! And the sector seems a lot safer, now that I know it better. The bus trip was without problems this time, which was good... and it was only 8 hours instead of 16! We live four missionaries together here, as well. My Chilean companion, another chilean from Santiago, and a Peruvian. (Another place with just latinos! hahaha!) I´ve gotten to the point that writing you guys in English is really hard, as Spanish grammar and vocabulary comes to my head faster now. I´ve also started doing all my personal prayers in Spanish... because everytime I start in English, I end up in Spanish anyway! hahaha! But about where we live.... I didn´t take pics ;) sorry. But we live with members, and it´s a safe area. I´ll finish explaining later today... Love you all!

-PJ

(Several hours later...)
Hi again! Like I said, I was super excited to come back to Calama & we´ve seen several miracles this week! We had 5 investigators in church, and we met with a couple on Tuesday (Jorge and Ana) that we committed to get married and baptized. They immediately saw the importance of covenants with God, so they accepted, and we went with them to the government office, to set a marriage appointment. They are getting married June 16th, and baptized on the 17th! It´s been amazing to see their commitment, and that of the other investigators too. We also visited Bishop Martinez in Caspana, which was great! Anyway, I´ll write more next week, more specifically, because we have to go give a blessing to someone in the ward. 

--Elder Checketts

(PJ's response to a few questions we had...)

Yes.... I`m fine. I`m healthy. I`m eating sufficient amounts of food.... ;) We just got flu shots, so I should stay healthy and active. Yes, the water finally came back on, which is good! But then the water heater broke, but that's ok! But now, I`m not in Chañaral.... I was traveling all day yesterday, so I didn`t get the chance to write you guys.....but guess what?!?!?! I RETURNED TO CALAMA!!!!! I`m super excited to visit my converts and the members that were so awesome here!!! (Calama is the city in the middle of the desert that I was in for 6 months, the first time. ) I`m super excited to be here again!!! This will be my 3rd sector and ward in this city, since I was here before for 6 months in the Rìo Loa, and Caspana wards. Now I`m in the Oasis ward, and I`m super excited to have the opportunity to visit people I knew, for p-day, and to get to know more in this ward.

Last time, I had lots of success in this city, as far as having converts and growing close to the members goes... especially when I was with Elder Jennings. Hopefully I have the same success this time!! I`ll let you know next week how it`s going! I`m in the Oasis ward..... the ghetto area that we visited, when we were confronted by the bloody, drunk guy. lol. But don`t worry... I`m safe ;) I was talking with the Elders that are now in Caspana, and it sounds like the ward has suffered a lot recently, with some arguments between members, and difficulty retaining converts, and several active members going inactive because of difficult situations. Hopefully they`re doing well.... hopefully I`ll get the chance to visit them next p-day.

Anyway, this last week was very low-key. We spent the entire week cleaning the Chañaral church (after the big flood) to be ready for a baptism that the other Elders had, and for sacrament meeting on sunday. Unfortunately..... I forgot to bring my camera to send you guys pictures today...but I did take photos this time! My new companion is another Chilean, from Santiago, named Elder Urrutia. He has 4 and a half months in the mission, but is a recent convert of a year and a half, and is 26 years old. It`ll be interesting to have an older companion, but it`s already evident that he has tons of love for the people, and is a very hard worker. I feel like this will be a really successful, and enjoyable cambio! It`s also really weird to think that I`m going to be home before I know it!! Everyone is telling me that I`m almost done... but I keep reassuring them that I still have 8 months left.... which is a lot of time still!!!! (No one buys it much.)

I`ll have to send you my photos next week.... and I have a few that the mamita and papito took in Chañaral, that they sent me... 

Have another great week, and I`ll tell you how it goes, getting to know Oasis!

Love, PJ

From Preston's mom...  Sunday morning, we got a bunch of pictures from a couple of the members in Chanaral, Chile (where PJ has been for about 3 months, I think), and one message said that Elder Checketts was being transferred back to Calama.  We aren't sure if we will hear from him today, since the last time he made that trip, it took the entire day by bus to get to his new area.  I'm sure that PJ will be SO excited to go back to Calama!  He absolutely loved the people there, and got to know them very well, as he served there for about 6 months.  We will be excited to hear all about the changes...  So, until then, here are the pictures that the wonderful members of Chanaral shared with us...  :)  
(I'm SO grateful for the internet & the ability to communicate, send pictures, & email-- it definitely makes it feel not so far away...)  And I'm so grateful for kind, caring members that watch out for the missionaries & take good care of them!  :)