Breaking a window to meet someone new!

What up everyone!

So! This week was way way slow! but it was good at the same time. We went tracting this week and it was pretty sweet! We were told that we have been brainwashed a number of times! Also we were told that this world was better off without us annoying everyone. Pretty sweet. I'm starting to enjoy when people yell at us. Is that bad? 

Elder Golden and Elder Call of the Seventy met with us on Friday! It was so good! Elder Golden is awesome! He is so funny and way smart! He knows like everything there is to know about the scriptures and has done tons of studies on Joseph Smith! He was awesome! He answered a lot of our questions and talked about how personal righteousness is directly related to how strong your faith is. It was way cool. He talked about how to get investigators to church and how satan will make sure that everything that can go wrong that morning will go wrong the morning that they are going to come so we need to go over to their house and support them and help them through it. Its was a really good talk!

We were supposed to have a lesson with the P Family this week but either they didn't answer the door or something urgent came up because we went back a couple of times on Saturday and they weren't there for the time we scheduled. Pretty lame. We also had to cancel our lesson with the V Vs. We couldnt find a male member to come with us. I guess Thursday night here is way busy.. I dont even know. We had a RC lesson with J. She is solid. We talked about the commandments and she understands them so well it is ridiculous. President Galbreath asked her to speak in church about tithing and she did a better job than most members could have done. Shes awesome. We also taught J, hes and autistic son of one of the members. and hes 9 years old. He is a great kid and has an awesome heart. Everytime I have heard him pray he has never asked anything for himself and is always asking for others to be blessed. He is an awesome example to me!

Man guess what happened last week while golfing!?!? I BROKE SOMEONES WINDOW!! So crazy! hahaha what are the odds! It was possibly the worst hit I've had in my life. So heres the wondrous story of the week...

We were on the 9th and last hole of the course. The wind had picked up quite a bit but we were determined to at least hit Par once. As I set my tee in the ground. I knew this would be a wonderful hit. and I was right. haha it sliced a little bit but it went way far and I was pumped. So when we got up to where my ball was. it had bounced out into the rough. which was okay because the hole had a dog-leg to the right. so I of course grab my 6 iron like any pro golfer would, lined up my shot, and hit the most beautifully disastrous shot Ive ever had. it shot off the side of my club and went bouncing around a couple of houses. We didnt hear any glass break so I was then relieved of the sickening feeling my stomach had each time we heard the ball it a different house (I counted 3). Anywho. I took a drop and continued to the green when all of a sudden an angry male came out of his house and called, "would like like your ball back?" I thought about saying no but I decided to go and talk to him. He was holding the ball that I destroyed. I apologized and told him I would pay for it, he then looked at my name tag and his expression changed a little bit and said that it would probably cost around 10 dollars to get the glass. I was kinda like what? but then I said okay, we exchanged Info and I came to know him as Miles. What a guy. We went back to his house a few days later and he said that it was fine and there was no need to pay anything because he decided to do something different with the window anyway. WHEW!! What a blessing! haha! He is actually a way nice guy and I hope to be able to go and see him a few more times! 

Sooo yeah. Good times. I am pumped to go golfing again. we are going bowling today so hopefully I dont break anything. 

Well I hope everyone is well! I hope you have missionary experiences out the wazoo. No news on the visa. but I am sure that it is coming. I have been thinking about thaat a little bit for the past week. I thought about how instead of me not being ready for India, They arent ready for me. I thought about how the Lord is preparing people over there in different ways to receive the gospel. Solid. Love you all! the church is true and I know it with everything that I am. I love the blessing of this gospel and the knowledge it brings. I love Jesus Christ and am eternally grateful for his atoning sacrifice. I made a goal this week to bear my testimony of Christ every day. As I have done that it has grown immensely.

Love,

Elder Checketts

This week in Ritzville

Hello!

This week was alright! We were able to teach a few lessons and did a lot of service! Pretty sweet! So we were able to teach the VP and is wife about the Book of Mormon! It went pretty well and they committed to pray and read it! pretty sweet! They have had some crazy experiences! There in some crazy fire and barely got out alive! They are going through a really tough time but they are way nice people. We also taught the VVs. They have had some really bad experiences with some unworthy priesthood holders so we are working with them to see that they are not all bad! We are teaching the Mom who just started getting back into things and has been coming back to church for about a month now. and her daughter who was divorced and has 2 awesome kids that are both really young. We are working with them! Also a member has asked us to start teaching his autistic son who is now nine years old. I guess he just wants his son to understand everything better before he gets baptized. pretty sweet.

So like usual it was a pretty slow week. We were ale to help a catholic family move. They are good people. Their son is a convert and served a mission but they aren't too interested. We help a lot at the library and its good! We have gotten a good relationship with her so that's is good! 

The people here love beer and they love to smoke. Pretty sweet. Sorta. It smells terrible. The woman above us has parties with her friends every Friday and Saturday night and we can always smell the beer from upstairs. I'm just glad they don't smoke!

I don't really know what else to say. Everything here is really slow. This week was really hard to get through for me. I got an email from my MTC comp last week that said he had received his visa and was leaving the first week of April. I was pretty depressed after that but I have been trying to stay positive. We had interviews with the president last Friday and that was solid. He is a strict guy but he is good. I am going golfing today and I am so pumped you don't even know. I am probably going to break someones window but if that happens maybe it will give us an excuse to share the gospel and tell them about forgiveness.... 

My comp and I spoke in church yesterday... pretty sweet. I spoke on our duties as members of the church and how loving one another makes doing those duties makes life much easier! My comp spoke on enduring to the end and he did a really good job! Solid. 

It gets greener and greener everyday here! There still absolutely nothing out here... but the grass is getting greener which is nice. Its so windy here. All the time!

 Well all is well here and we are looking for more service to do everyday! I hope all is well there! Let me know how things are going! Thanks for those letters Dad! They were awesome! How is the play Dad? 

Mom! Since you have a very intense knowledge of the deep doctrines of our church I was wondering if you could send my comp and I some cool deep doctrinal studies that you have learned! We are going to start meeting with one of the members and have deep doctrinal study once a week! So that would be sweet!

Well I love you all and I am doing well! This Church is true and I know it with everything that I am! I cannot believe how quickly I have seen my prayers answered and I am growing tons everyday! 

Love

Elder Checketts

Picture - me with a sweet muscle car that VP Restored,

What a bash!

I sent Zach a blanket, extra ties and other needed items in the colder climate there and he responded about it in this letter.

Hello!!

What is up? Everything here is going really well!... Well for Ritzville it is.. It is so hard to get even one lesson in our week! Its slow here. My comp and I are getting along really well. Its sweet. We sing Taylor Swift songs all the time. Im pretty sure that the woman living above us thinks that we are gay. Ha ha.

So! I had my first experience with a Jehovah Witness. This woman is crazy. But it was so awesome. We had an answer for almost everything she asked. it was ridiculous. When we sat down in her house she opened up her JW Bible and on the first page she had like 30 questions about Mormons written down. I was about to ask if the only thing they do in church is try to disprove Mormons in any way possible. But we held our ground pretty well! I shared the restoration with her and the spirit was so strong! I dont think she felt it cuz right after I was done she opened her bible back up and went after us again. Her husband is way cool though. He was a member but he went less active. He was way cool! He asked for a copy of the BoM and said he wanted to read it again! Also he told us he might stop by our building on Sunday! Pretty sweet. He said he just wanted physical evidence that all of it was true. I was like look at the book you are holding! I was so happy. I hope he reads and prays about it and comes back to church! Pretty sweet!

After that wonderfully beautiful experience, we went to Sergio's house and he was helping some people clean their apartment upstairs, and by helping I mean doing it by himself. So of course! We helped him out and we got to know him really well! He has been through a really rough life. I felt so bad for him. He is one of the nicest, most sincere guys I have ever met. He loves his kids so much but his ex-wife hardly ever let him see them. She lives out in Spokane and if he wants to see them he has to go out there and pick them up and then take them back. He has 3 little girls and I met one of them. She is 11 I think and is pretty funny. He is an awesome guy and wants to do the right thing but has a really hard time making commitments. Im going to challenge him like hes never been challenged before. Im pumped.

So I dunno if I told you about Jennifer S? She was baptized the week before we got here and she is awesome! Everyone here tells us that if they had been told 5 years ago that she would join the Church than they would just laugh and call you a moron. Haha so cool. She understands things better than I do! Its crazy! She grew up here and knows literally everything there is to know about Ritzville. I have no idea how she stayed here her whole life.  

How is everything at home? How is Benny?? I miss that mutt. He is hilarious. Has he been good? Also how is the rest of the Fam? Are you all healthy? happy? Is dad a millionaire yet? send me some pics of the fam! Also Matt And Whit! Whats up? How is MC Dos? Hope everything is going well with you guys! Chris how is school?? Tim? Ryan? Brothas? Is it way warm there? Its getting better here. slowly but surely. We live right next to the Ritzville golf course! I am so pumped to go golf! The Kiel family said we could use their clubs! Hopefully I dont break any windows.... 

Well all is well here. My zone is ginormous. like 28 people! There are some way funny Elders out here! I am pumped to ball hard with them later today. I will send some pics in a separate email. let me know how everyone is doing! Also that package was awesome! Thank you! I sleep warm now and its so nice! Also! My comp like pooped his pants when he saw the Mountain Dew! We drank almost all of it! Thanks! No news on any visa. still depressed but I am confident I was called there for a reason and that my visa will arrive soon. Love you all!

Elder Checketts

First Area: Ritzville, WA

Hello everyone!

So! First week of mission life is done! It was like the longest week of my life but I liked it at the same time! I am in a very small town called Ritzville. It says that there are around 800 people here but i feel like its more around 4 or 5 hundred. Like every house that we go knock on has been abandoned. Its kinda sketchy sometimes. My Companion/trainer is Elder Colburn! He was born in California moved to Oklahoma when he was 8 and then moved to Faren Nevada? I guess its like east of Reno. He is a really cool guy. We have a very hard time finding things to do here. Its so small and the people here are perfectly content with what they are doing everyday. There are like 15 churches in this tiny town. We probably have around 150 members but only like 50 of them are active. We have already knocked the entire list twice.

 Its very cold now. I bought a coat in Spokane before we came out here. It has helped a lot. It snowed all day yesterday but we only got like 2 inches on the ground. The snow here is so weird. when it snows like none of it sticks. The wind just blows the entire time and takes most of the snow with it. The wind chill here is terrible.  It was the coldest I have ever been. But worth It! A shirtless man came to the door and said "I'd love to hear from some fellow Christ believers!" Man I was so pumped when he said that. He is getting baptized. He just doesn't know it yet! 

So we cover 2 other towns and they are called Lind and Odessa. They are both just as small or smaller than this town.  We are trying to find stuff to do but its pretty hard. I think working 3 jobs prepared me more than I thought it would for this. We have been fed a ton! Its so sweet! In the past week we were fed probably like 5 times! The Kiel family is awesome! They fed us both Thursday and Friday night! I am so grateful for them! Also There is a huge family here named the Galbreaths. No idea how or where that name came from. One of the Galbreath families loaded us with pulled pork! we have had like 5 or 6 burritos at home and we still have some left over! 

Since I worked at a snack bar for 2 years I decided that I would make My comp and I some grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. It was 5 star quality. haha just kidding but it was pretty good. I have gained like 10 pounds already. I did like 500 hundred sit-ups in the MTC cuz we had a goal that if we called the elders or sisters "Guys" then we have to do 10 sit-ups. I failed miserably. Its all good though. I still do sit-ups every morning but my stomach just keeps getting bigger. like what the heck. Maybe that's why I was so skinny all my life... cuz I never worked out? I dunno. its weird. 

We haven't taught any families. My comp hasn't ever been to this area either and it opened like 6 months ago so we are basically sweep training. We have knocked like every door here. We had 2 appointments yesterday but neither one of them answered. 

So my comp has been out for like 17 months. I've been kinda depressed about the whole visa thing. But then a couple days ago I opened to a random page in a hymn book and it opened to Ill Go Where You Want Me To Go. I immediately thought "Well, I'm stuck here." But then I just started to read the words and realized that the Lord needs me here. I still believe there is a reason I was called to India and am hoping my visa arrives soon. But we will see.

Happy Birthday Ryan! are you "feelin' 22?" Ha ha. Everyone here is obsessed with Taylor Swift. I see why I was sent here. I fit in perfectly. Oh! So i have a couple of Fav scriptures that You can pick to put on my plaque thing... I love Alma 26:12! Such a great scripture about Ammon! Or there is 2 Nephi 33:10! Both way good! I don't care which one you pick.... or even Mosiah 5:8! There are so many! Anywho. Hopefully we can make something happen in this town. We are in the middle of no where. Its awesome. but at the same time I kind of want to die.I am slowly but surely warming up to it. Let me know how things in Utah are going!

Coming to you live from the small town of Ritzville, Washington

Love,

Elder Zachary Checketts

Only 1 and 1/2 weeks and off to the Washington Spokane Mission!

Monday February 24, 2014
Sent to Spokane without a coat to await his visa.
Elder Checketts with President and Sister Mullen

Zach with His Trainer Elder Colburn

 

MTC Day

Pictures at home with brothers on MTC Day February 12, 2014

 Everyone including the dog!

MTC

The Call - October 2013

Elder Zachary Clyde Checketts you are hereby called to serve as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. You are called to serve in the Bangalore India Mission.