Baptisms!

GUYS GUESS WHAT!!

We had 2 baptisms on Friday which means I did something good with my life!!! Seriously though. We had like the slowest week of my life here but it was good at the same time. Today is the last day of the transfer but nothing is changing here sooo no worries. Anyway. This week was wild and awesome. So Brother Venket Rao and his wife Manga got baptized on Good friday. Haha it was awesome. Cool story. So Brother Venket Rao is kind of an emotional guy but he is awesome. So when he finished his baptism interview. he came out of the room and he was in tears. he came over and hugged me and said "It's finished. I did it." Haha it was awesome. He was also super emotional at the baptism. He and his wife are super cool and now that family is completed. the two sons are already members. Now they can set goals to be able to attend the temple as a family! Super awesome. Also. His wife cooks like the best chicken curry on the planet. I want to schedule a day with them when they teach me how to do it.

We have several other investigators that are way cool. I dont know if I already told you about sister Kamala? She is awesome. She understands the scriptures better than 90% of people I have ever taught. She was supposed to be baptized yesterday but some concerns came up with family. Bro Satyanarayana is also way cool. He is having a hard time because he is coming from very Hindu background and his mother is very against Christianity. We have a lot of other investigators but those two are progressing the most. We had a solid week here are our Key Indicators. 2 baptized 2 confirmed 2 with a baptism date 4 at sacrament meeting 13 member present lessons taught 0 other lessons taught 4 new investigators and 16 lessons taught to recent converts or less actives.

Well It was an awesome week here and we hope to have another awesome week again. Easter here is interesting. There are huge celebrations on good friday in all the churches and we saw a huge crowd of people walking on the street and someone in front was dressed like Christ while carrying a cross. I'm just happy they dont whip themselves like they do in the Philippines. That was nasty. Anyway. It was a good week and life is good here in Visakhaputnum. Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know that He lives and because He lives we will too. Love you all. Have a great week!

Elder Checketts

Work is Progressing!

Hey!

So this week was pretty awesome. We were able to teach a few new people and help the people we were already teaching to understand the gospel! So we have 2 investigators with their baptism set for this friday so we are really excited for that! They are awesome and I am sure they are ready. Both of their sons are already members so its a really cool thing for them. now their whole family will be members of the church! We had 2 other baptisms set for sunday but some things have come up with their family members being against the church. So pray for that. We are working with them to focus on their testimony and to share it with their families. We have so many investigators coming to church every week but their families are causing a lot of problems with anti mormon things. The people are good though. Our investigators are all very interested and are progressing. This week 15 investigators came for sacrament meeting. I've thought about sharing our weekly key indicators with you so that we will be more accountable. So maybe for a few weeks I will do that.... 0 Baptized 0 confirmed 4 Investigators with a baptismal date 15 who attended Sacrament meeting 17 Member Present lessons 0 other lessons 6 new investigators and 16 lessons taught to recent converts or less actives. So we are teaching a little more than 30 lessons a week. 

Its starting to get hotter here that is for sure. holy shnikies. i think I sweat like 3 liters last thursday. Sometimes i feel bad going to peoples houses cuz I am just drenched and they are like "what the heck happened to you" haha but I am getting used to it! Im just grateful I am no where near any snow! I got sick on Saturday with a small flu but Its all good now. I hope. Visak Zone is doing really well. The Assistants are coming here this week for an exchange so that will be fun.  

This week I was humbled a lot again. I think in almost every single appointment someone cried while telling us about the problems they are experiencing and begged us to pray for them. Its really hard sometimes and I wish there was more that I could do for them. This week was strange like that. Very emotional for a lot of people. I dont know why, but being here a second time I feel like I am a lot more aware of the poverty around me. I think last time I was here I noticed it but I tried really hard to ignore it and put it out of my mind. Now I feel like I notice it more and think about it more. It has been a good reminder for me of how blessed we are and how much we really take for granted. Anyway. The Church is true. The Book of Mormon is true. Jesus is the Christ. He loves us, and is always there for us. Love you all and hope you have a great week.

Elder Checketts

Member Referrals!

Hey Everyone!!

Well this week was fun! So On Monday we went to the beach again and played volleyball and that was way fun. I didnt take many pics cuz it was the same place as the week before. but it was good! The rest of the week was super good! We found 14 new investigators! 8 of which came for church! We are getting a lot of referrals from members and it is so nice! We still have to contact at least 4 more families that have been referred to us and we are so excited about it! My companion finishes his mission in 3 months and so he has set a goal to baptize 25 souls during that time. We are both working towards that goal now! 

I dont really know what else to say. This week went by so fast that I cant remember what happened. I wen on an exchange to an area called Gaduwaka. It was solid we taught some new investigators there and so it was good. as of this last week our zone is leading the mission so we are all super excited about that and it is giving everyone incentive to keep working hard. 

Yesterday was a solid day. We went on splits with a few members and it was really good. I went to teach a less active family with a relief society sister and a ysa. We taught them about the two great commandments in the law. We shared a ton of scriptures with them. We started with Mathew 22 and explained how the Pharisees were trying to trick Christ with the question of which was the greatest commandment and how his answer was perfect. We then connected that to 2 Ne 26:28 and then on to Moroni 7:45-48. And we talked about how Charity is that same commandment, but that in  order to get it we have to "pray with all the energy of heart." We then connected that to Mosiah 2:17 and talked about ways that we can show love is to serve other people. and by serving others we are in the service of our God which basically means that in Serving others we are following both commandments to Love God and love our neighbors. They understood really well and it ended up being an awesome lesson. Hopefully I described that well enough in this email so its not super confusing. haha but yeah everything is awesome. Oh Happy Birthday Ryan! Sorry I forgot to write that a couple weeks ago! Dont worry I remembered! How does it feel to be old now? Haha My companion is older than you so no worries. 

Well Love you all. Hope everything is going well for you!

Elder Checketts

It's already 90 and summer starts in April!

HI.

Good afternoon! How are you all doing? Happy? Healthy? Hope so! Well. We had a wonderful week here. Filled with both really good and really bad smells that I can't able to describe. So last monday we went to the beach and its awesome. We are going again today. I will send some pics of last week but it is really pretty. also there are a lot of random men pooping there so you have to watch out. ANYWAY. Its fun there. We are playing volleyball there today so definitely next week solid pics will come. 

So this week we went to Bangalore on Tuesday night, Our flight landed around 10 so we go to the assistants apartment at like 11:30. So then we had MLC all day Wednesday and it was really good. i got to see all of the elders I knew from before. There arent very many left. Its so weird I dont know most of the missionaries here anymore. Everyone I knew has gone home! Kind of depressing but its all good. Anyway. MLC was fantastic and we learned about planning and goal setting. We talked about first setting an inspired vision for the area and then setting goals to achieve that vision and how to plan for those goals. It was really good. Something that the mission definitely needs here. 

So this week the work was awesome. We had 15 investigators at church for our district conference and it was awesome. We need to set most of them with a baptism date but they have a lot of concerns with family members being against the church. So thats where the work has slowed. but we got like 5 referrals from members this week for 5 different families which is super awesome and we are way excited to begin teaching them all this week. Lots of miracles are happening. Like One time we skipped lunch to be able to meet some investigators and then after the lesson we saw a biryani restaurant calling us from across the road. It was a Heavenly manifestation. Anyway. Seriously awesome things happen all the time. When appointments bunk and we have no where to go randomly a member will come up to us and introduce us to his friend. and then we have a new investigator to teach! The work is progressing! 

 My health is good. No worries. Every once in a while i get an upset stomach but Im not sure why because I bought noodles from a street cart the night before. hahaha  But other than that I am doing well. Its starting to get hotter here. Summer starts in April and its already 90 all the time. Annd thats all folks. Dont do drugs. Love you all!

Elder Checketts