Life is Sweet

Hi everyone,

 So. This week was pretty sweet. We had some pretty good lessons. We are still teaching the Bremen guy and his wife. They are way nice people. Very humble. We had a lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ the other day and that was really good. I feel like we really need to teach them the Plan of Salvation. Other Elders have advised me that when teaching Hindu people its usually really good to start with the plan of salvation. I am excited! We also taught a sister named Prasana the other day. She came to church! She is like the happiest person I have ever met. She has a 3 year old son that would imitate me every time that I said "so" during the lesson. Haha it was pretty funny. 

Ohh my gosh it had been raining for the past 48 hours. I am going to die. I have started to get a cold. It is so cold here now! I don't know if I'm just not used to it but Its starting to cool down a lot! We got soaked last night on our way back to the apartment! The worst is when buses pass us and it splashes tons of water on us! The streets flood like crazy and it doesn't help that there are pot holes everywhere! Yesterday we had this way good chicken biryani with chicken fry and it was way good. Way spicy but I am getting used to the spice. 

Life in the dirty swarem is still pretty sweet. I got attacked by a crow the other day. I dont know what I did but it basically tried to land on my head. It was crazy. Next time it comes, I will be ready. I still have yet to catch a piglet. Those are fast little buggars. I dare any of you to out run one of these pigs. They are beasts.

This week we had interviews and apartment checks with President Berrett and his wife. Man I promise you, that man is destined for the quorum of the 12. We talked a lot about priesthood keys and how it all works from the prophet to the apostles. Sister Berrett showed us some spots that could be a little cleaner in the apartment. haha we spent basically all week cleaning it too. Fun stuff! I was unable to take any pics this week so I will have to send a bunch next week! Sorry! Maybe I'll just film one day of my life here. We will see. Life is swell. My companion is wonderful. Sometimes a little flamboyant which scares me. 

Anywho. Yeah That's about it.... Love yaaa

Elder Checketts 

Cool Story this week

Hey!

Man So this was a pretty good week! The dirty swarem is still pretty slow but we are working on it! The work here is different from where I was in Rajahmundry! Kinda weird because I am only 10 minutes away from it. Thats one thing that everyone has told me about the missions here. When you get transferred anywhere here its like entering a completely different country. Its intense, But I love it. India is swell. The weather has cooled off immensely and Its soo nice. Haha people are starting to buy coats. Its hilarious. Its still like 80 degrees I think But it feels like a solid 65 to me. I don't know anymore though. It rains probably everyday now. Sometimes its really light rain but other days the streets are flooded and we dont dry off for 3 more days because of how ridiculously humis it is here. My attitude changes throughout the week. For the first 2 days the weather is perfect, then it starts to get way hot and humid, then We start to pray fro rain, then it downpours, then we have another day of nice weather, and then we regret the day that we prayed for more rain because of how humid it gets. the cycle goes on. I don't know if that made any sense to you. My mind is kind of all over the place today.

Cool story this week. We had an appointment in Bommuru this week, and on our way back, the Member we were with took us to this sisters house who is completely Hindu. She told us that she needed a priesthood blessing because her legs were in major pain. We were kind of reluctant at first because this woman had no idea who Christ was or what a blessing was. But we explained that it was based on her faith and gave her a blessing. The next day at church the member told us that the husband wanted us to come back and share a message with them because his wife had started to feel better. So we went back later that day and it turns out that the husband is a Bremen. Which means that he is about as high as you can get in the Hindu cast system. Bremens are the only ones that can "officiate" at Hindu temples. So we were kind of scared because those people normally don't like us that much. But. He told us after we taught them about Christ, that he and his wife would be baptized into our church if she is fully healed. I don't know that it works that way. But I can hope! yeah. It was kinda wild. I am excited to keep teaching them though! 

We also had some really good lessons with a Roman Catholic family. They are really defensive of their church but its okay. We just are working on helping them to recognize the spirit. 

In other news my hair-line has receded another foot and a half. Just kidding. But its getting up there. Yikes. The food is good. Sometimes. Just kidding its really good. I have started doing sit-ups and push-ups every morning and night. Unfortunately, I still have a small rice belly. Umm. I almost got bit by a dog but an Ama(mom) saved me and beat it up for me. It was awesome. She just grabbed a stick off the ground and chased it down the road. I wish I could have filmed it. Everything else is basically the same. 

Whats going on at home? What is America like? Tim I saw those pictures of you and you would older than me if I wasn't balding. Thats crazy. Are you ripped? I still have birthright over you. And I will not sell it. Just kidding. Im working out too. Spiritually. How is everyone else? Benny? Matt and Whit look like awesome parents! Man I am so excited to meet Noah! Just another 2 years! Maybe he will have a younger sibling when I get home? Maybe? Hey! I just remembered! Elder Meghan or however you spell it... Sorry I probably butchered that.. He is in my Zone! He is being trained by Elder Cluff! I flew to India with Elder Cluff and he is way cool and a way hard worker! They are both doing really well! Anywho. Thanks for the pics! Keep sending them because I can just copy them to the flashdrive and then get them printed if I need to! Love ya!

Elder Checketts

Orphanage Service Project

Hey everyone,

So. Solid week. We had some solid lessons. and some solid rain storms. And some solid humidity. Rainy season is intense. We were out in the rain for 30 seconds and we got drenched. Its insane. My shoes didnt dry out for the next 2 days. Awesome. 
This week was good! We have 2 new pretty solid investigators. We will see though. They are pretty cool One of them is Sanjay. And the other is a sister named Sriswari or something like that.. I don't even know. But they are cool Sanjay had a really bad accident while he was working (he is a chef) and he spilled a ton of oil on his hand and it literally fried his hand. He lost 3 fingers and now is completely unusable. Way sad. But he is a really good guy. I am excited to teach him. His entire family are all members so hopefully he will be willing to change. Elders have tried to teach him in the past but I guess he is really shy and just didnt want to talk to them. We will change that! Also I received news that Ravi Teja was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday! Man I was so happy to hear about that but I was really sad I couldn't go. 

We had a service project with the branch this week at an orphanage close to our apartment. I was being tempted to make Nacho Libre references but I had to hold back because no one here would understand. Sad. But it was awesome! It was a good opportunity we had to get to know each of the members and to make some good friends! So we didnt know that it would be outside work so we wore normal proselyting clothing. First mistake. We got mud everywhere. It was fun though. We grew a lot closer to the members.

That's basically like everything that happened this week. Pretty sweet. My new hobby is chasing piglets. Im going to catch one. I am determined. Well. Life is good. I am somewhat upset that Germany won the World cup. Its whatever. No one even knows what the world cup is. ridiculous! Well Love ya all. Be good!

Elder Checketts

The Dirty Swarem

Note from Home: We were unable to access this letter last week, so this one is from a week ago and I'll post his new one tomorrow morning.

Hello!

Soo. New area. New companion! I am now living in the Dowlaiswarem. And. Its not as dirty as I expected! My new companion is Elder Sharma! No, he is not related to the doctor in SLC, but he grew up in woods cross and knows a ton of people that I went to high school with! Kinda wild. So we have been getting along very well! I have heard lots of rumors about him but I am happy to report that 90% of them are false. Life here is pretty good. But I have definitely experienced a couple of new things! I will tell you how it went down.

       So. We were sitting in the apartment. I had just finished unpacking my luggage, when all of a sudden, something dropped into my lower intestine. I then proceeded to make my way towards the bathroom. As I sat upon the throne, I looked to my right hand side and beheld a small bucket of curious workmanship, and it was of fine plastic. I then proceeded to search it, ponder about it, then prayed about it. I then figured out how it worked. I wont describe the rest of my journey. But I will say that it took a lot of faith to get through it. Anywho. It was quite the experience, and I am glad I could share it with you. Dont worry though. One of the other Elders decided that it just wasnt acceptable so he went and bought a couple of sprayers. Life is good again. 

So this week was a little slow but it was good at the same time! We had a wonderful lesson with a sister named Yaswaria. We taught her the restoration and I'll just say that if she doesn't understand That our church is the only church that has priesthood authority by now, I don't know if she ever will. It was awesome. Anywho. After that we went and taught another sister named Bhanu. She speaks very good English which was way nice. One of the few, the proud. After we taught them a lesson about the Gospel they invited us for dinner on Sunday. After the lesson the grandma took my hand and kissed it. It wouldn't have bothered me so much but the sound that came with it put me into a state of shock that I won't ever forget. The best part is that last night after they fed us, the mother of the family did the same thing and yet again, I was paralyzed with fear. Yikes. I am terrified to back to that home. 

Soo yeah. Other than that life here is wonderful. The pigs are plentiful and are all covered in feces. The smell is something to get used to. but other than that. Its not too different from where I was in Rajahmundry. The church is nice and has A/C. Our apartment needs some work. Its pretty small for four people but we can make it work. The Elders that were there before us had no sense of cleanliness and so its filthy. Today that will change! 

Well. Thank you for the updates on World cup! I was sad when I heard that the US was out but its okay. Also the 4th of July was weird. Just another normal day here. We went to a place called the Dolphin which is like the nicest place in Rajahmundry. I had chicken Tikka fried rice. I could live off of that stuff for the rest of my life. Let me know whats going on in the rest of the world. Is there still life out there? Send me some sweet pics. Also thank you for the package Mom! I cried when I saw the beef jerky! Also those are awesome pics of the fam! Thank you all for everything that you do!

Love yaa

Elder Checketts

1st Transfer!

Dhavaleswaram
ధవళేశ్వరం

Dowleswaram, Dhavalaiswaram

Dowlaiswaram is located about 4 kilometers south of Rajahmundry right on the Godavari River. (Much smaller village.)

Namaste,

Hello everyone what is up? Man I am hearing some crazy things about the world cup! That is awesome. I am pumped to hear about how the U.S does! So big news this week! I am being transferred! But I am still in Rajahmundry! Its a place called Dowleswarem! Also, Its been nicknamed in the mission as the "Dirty Swarem".... Apparently is about as village-like as we can get here in India. I am pumped. My new companions name is Elder Sharma. He is an American-Indian from Utah! I am excited and it should be kind of a wild transfer! This last week was good but sad! It was my first transfer so it really weird saying good bye and thinking that I will never see these people again. I love them so much. I am grateful for the things that they have taught me. 1st Branch in Rajahmundry was awesome. I dont think we will ever have as many member present lessons as we did here! I will miss it a lot! 

So the work was slower this last week. Ravi Teja bunked on his baptism day so that was lame but its okay because next week will will be making sure that he comes. Awesome. I spoke in sacrement meeting along with Elder Britton and Elder Nepali. Those two nailed everyone on missionary work and i finished it up with Bearing Testimony. Solid. Hopefully it went well. So I dont have much time this week because of transfers/power cuts/Im really really hungry, So I will update you a lot more on what goes on in the Dirty Swarem next week! Other than that, Life is good. Im Happy and somewhat healthy. I think Ive been eating too much Kaja. Either that or the Chicken I ate last week wasnt very well cooked. Either way Its fine. The loose motions are subsiding. In case you were wondering.. Yeah. Anywho. I had Crab curry last night and it was the spiciest stuff I have ever had In my life. Ooohhh my gosh. My mouth didnt stop burning for hours. It was awesome. Well Love  ya all!

Love ya

Elder Checketts

Planting Seeds

Heyyy

District meeting on the Roof

How is everyone?? Work and life are going well? I hope so! Work and Life here in the Mundry is wonderful. We are slowly but surely working on getting the people to church! Sister Jyothi has had crazy excuses for the past month so I don't even know what to do with her. Buuuut! Ravi Teja is going to be baptized next Sunday! I am pumped. Kind of a crazy story with this kid. He was baptized 2 years back, but wasn't confirmed because I guess there was a transfer and the missionaries were white washed and so he was left and forgotten or something like that... But! We found him again and he is awesome. Also. His father, Dileep Kumar, Is interested also! One of the members had an awesome idea of baptizing Ravi Teja and then giving him the priesthood so that he could baptize his Dad! That would be awesome! His Sister was interested too but I guess she went to a hostel.. which means she is stuck there and cant leave until the end of the school year. kinda like Harry Potter but in a less exciting and more depressing way. Its okay. She will be baptized someday. The hastening of the work will move on! This week was really good! We taught a man named Gangadhar. He comes from a Christian backround and they were very confused about why all these different christian churches wanted to baptize them. We were happy to explain! We taught them the Restoration. It was a great lesson and they understood very well! I am excited to see them again. Also we found a Brother named Tinku, I guess he was a former investigator but we didn't know so we taught him. The next day when we returned he said he remembered everything and wants to be baptized. So we asked him a bunch of the interview questions and he will be baptized on July 13! Matt's Birthday right? Sweet! We will be celebrating with you! It was a pretty good week! Also. A sister named Amulia decided that she wants to come to church. She is also a former investigator. Her mom is a recent convert and her brother is a good member. So thats awesome too. Moral of the story is that Planting seeds can produce more miracles for future missionaries! Don't be afraid to plant your own seeds!

Two Elder Checketts?

HIGHEST SCORING TEAM -FIFA WORLD CUP AS OF 6.23.14

NED

10

FRA

7

GER

6

COL

5

ALG

5

Throwing Airplanes off the Roof

Anywho. Whats up? World cup!! Man! Update me!!! I have heard of some upsets! That is so crazy! Man One of the elders I know in Bangalore told me that everyone there is watching! But everyone here only cares for cricket! Yuck! Cricket still makes absolutely no sense to me. Probably because I have no desire whatsoever to learn. I need to change my attitude. I'm sure I will learn at some point! So District meeting was cool. We went up to the roof of the church and had our meeting up there.

 Then we made paper airplanes and threw them to see who could get them the farthest! Unfortunately I failed miserably. My airplane had some serious depression because it dived straight down right after I threw it... All three times

 Also. We went on a little hike this morning. We woke up at 3 am because it takes 3 hours to get there. But worth it! I sent some pics! But I took a lot more. It was awesome! We saw a lot of monkey - more pics to come - and I also saw some nasty spiders that I failed to take a picture of because I was too scared to get close. Its fine. Kaja is still as beautiful as it was the first time I had it. Also the food has improved a lot in the past week. I don't know what happened. Either Heavenly Father has adapted my mouth to handle the spice or these people finally came to their senses and stopped making it so spicy. Either way. I am incredibly grateful. Well. Life is swell. I still sweat 30 liters a day. All the natives keep telling me that rainy season is next week. They have been telling me that for the past month. Indian Standard Time is ridiculous by the way! But yeah. Its still hot. Transfer calls are coming today so I will find out if I am staying in the Mundry or if my rice belly is headed elsewhere. Let ya know next week! Love you all. Be safe. Look both ways before crossing the road. Don't do drugs. Don;t talk to strangers - unless its about the gospel - also Don't forget to pray! Or do scripture study because that's where your answers will come. Love yaaa!

Hanging with my Indian Bros

love,

Elder Checketts

P.s Tell Benny I miss him

The FAMOUS SPRAYER!!

P-day Waterfall

Happy Father's Day

Hello Everyone!

Soo this week was really slow but awesome at the same time! I was given the opportunity to baptize one of our investigators this week! Sister Roni Ijjini! She doesnt speak any English but she is awesome! I still Speak like absolutely no Telagu. Its such a hard language! Anywho. The Baptism went swell. And Its definitely worth all of the pain when investigators don't come to church! This week we had a really hard time getting investigators to come with us. Ridiculous. My companion got pretty sick this week. It was crazy. Monday night he had a Temp of 40 which is like 104. so then we got him some medicine and checked it again and he was at 105.5 so we were freaking out and he asked me to give him a blessing. It was an awesome experience. We then rushed him to the hospital and he was back down to 103 so that was kinda crazy. So for the next couple of days I stayed at the apartment with him. Our other investigators are struggling with coming to church. But they want to join the church.... All they have to do is actually attend the meetings.

Also, Happy Fathers Day! To both Dad and Matt! Pretty sweet! How is everyone doing? Sounds like Ryan is doing well in Minnesota?? Congrats on beating the boss! And Chris has been in Tennesee for a day now? Crazy! Father, Mother, How is everything? Work is going well? How is Grandpa doing?? Havent heard about him for a while! How is Benny? I miss clean dogs. All the dogs here are nasty. I almost got bitten the other day, that was awesome.

I have started to notice the change that is taking place on my mission. I have grown a lot in patience. My patience has been tested a lot in the past couple of transfers and its been really hard but I have learned a lot and Its making me a better person. I love the people here although it bothers me when auto drivers try to rip us off all the time. Because we are white. I have almost started to become a little racist... But in a loving way.. If thats possible. It is. Anywho. I just had some Domino's pizza. One of them had corn on it. The other just onions. The corn made me want to die but the onion is pretty good. Veg meals are alright. I am getting used to it still. Potato curry is really good. I want to learn how to make that! Also Elder Britton and I had a break through on Kaja! While cooking, We put mixed fruit jam, Nutella, and Mango Inside of them, and then fried them. It was AWESOME. Anywho. Life is good. Let me know whats going on!

Love

Elder Checketts