Monday, August 26, 2013

Best Week Ever.

Hello everyone!!

AHH this has been the best. week. ever. For real. I told myself this morning that this has probably been the best week since I've been out here. ...... Even though we didn't teach many lessons.. we actually had a couple more people drop us.. darn. They don't even know what they're missing out on.

BUT IT'S OKAY!!!

So much fun stuff to talk about! Where to begin???

So last Monday everyone was freaking out because of all the crazy boundary switches. It's really confusing on the missionary end because they have to sort out investigators and such. So I still feel so blessed that Millard wasn't touched AT ALL with all that craziness.

I had some awesome tour experiences this week! I took a couple more nonmember families on tour! I taught them the restoration and one family in particular was REALLY interested. I gave them a BOM at the end, they commited to reading it and praying about it and they even were okay with meeting with the missionaries!! They live here in Omaha, so we found out which sisters were over their area and I gave them all their information. I'm excited to keep in touch with them and hear from the sisters how they will be doing. Ahh that was a good one:) Then the next day we were at the trail center, I've got to admit, I was a little moody. I have had a little bit of a cold, so I was coughing all night the night before and I was so tired. I did not want to be at the trail center. But I got mad at myself for thinking it and said a little prayer. Right after that a sweet little family came in with a couple Elders who wanted to watch the Joseph Smith movie. Their little 12 year old girl came over and just started chatting away at me. We talked for quite a while and she was saying how she was so excited to get baptized and so excited to officially be a mormon. She said that she was the only mormon in her whole school and that she would just go around talking about it all the time. She went down to watch the video with her family and when it was over she came running up and gave me a huge hug. She said that she had just given her first closing prayer and she needed to come hug someone. I talked again with her for a little while and then she said she was going to miss me and that I was such a great friend. It totally made my day and I realized just how peaceful and comforting this work is and that the Lord just wants us to be like little children. Ahh it was good.
Sister Brough says that the Lord is blessing me with all these nonmember tours because we aren't getting to teaching too many lessons in our area. A lot of other sisters haven't had as many converting tours as I have and I've only been here a month! So it's crazy:)

Anyway... I love kids. The youth in our ward are the BEST!! We went to a young women activity not too long ago and it amazes me the missionary spirit that these youth have. There are constantly inviting friends to church etc. I better serve in some YW calling when I get older.. I just love young women.

This week we also had our second "new missionary" training! We went and I got to see many of the missionaries that I flew out with, which was fun! And President and Sister Weston gave trainings. It was a total answer to my many prayers and made me so much more confident in what I am doing. They are the best <3 President asked us individually what had been the hardest thing so far and gave each of us advice on how to make it easier and more enjoyable. It was just awesome.

I CANNOT BELIEVE TRANSFERS ARE IN 1 1/2 WEEKS!!!! It has flown by SO FAST and everyone tells me that the first transfer is the slowest... what?! But If I have to leave Sister Brough, holy hannah I'm going to cry. We have had absolutely no problems and are constantly just trying to improve. We work so well together. And have so much fun!! Fingers crossed that we'll be together another transfer.

Our home with the Denkers got approved! So we might be moving within the next week! But then POSSIBLY only living there for a week before transfers. mehh.. I don't want to leave Millard! Haha I love the people in our ward so much!

Yesterday morning we made homemade banana muffins and passed them out to many of the members in our ward. They're the sweetest!

Favorite part about the week though? LAST NIGHT. So even before I got out here, the missionaries had put together this music concert called "Oh, how lovely was the morning" It's songs that the missionaries wrote and such that they combined into a way to share the restoration. Last night we put on the concert in our Omaha Stake. They did a concert right when I came out, but I went on exchanges because I didn't have any part in the concert. But for this one, I got a song and they added me into the group numbers. Sisters Merril, Hamilton and I sang an acapella version of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" That Sister Brough wrote. Sister Brough wrote a lot of the songs that we sang! The Elders also used their Uke's and such and we had a really good turn out from our stake. So we've been stressing about this concert all week and went to go set up for it right after church yesterday. It was SO GOOD!! And Battle Hymn turned out amazing. It was so beautiful and I forgot how much that I have missed singing!!!!!!!!!! All the missionaries out here are so musically talented it's ridiculous!!
We have one more concert left though in the series! I'm so excited to do that one too! Gosh, I've missed singing and I surprisingly got lots of compliments last night on our trio. So it was awesome and the spirit was so strong! Many people brought investigators and less actives. We had a ton of people from our ward come to support and Maria came as well. I just love her...

Anyway, that was exciting! This week we also had our ward party! We went to a part and just got to grill and spend time with the ward members. They are the greatest! We were able to bring some investigators and such to that as well:)

Funny stories!! One day this week, Sister Brough hopped in the shower and then screamed. She opened the door asking for my help. She didn't have her glasses on and thought there was a spider in the shower. But the only way she could see it was if she got her face right down next to it. I went in and there was a red spider about the size of a dime that would NOT go down the drain. Haha I finally got it down and then she got back in the shower. That was funny.

And then yesterday before church we were going around to houses inviting people to the concert. There was a LA house that had a sprinkler going on and it was hitting the door. So we ran up to the door, knocked, hid in the corner until the sprinkler passed, knocked again, hid in the corner again, wrote a note, hid in the corner again, etc. It was so humorous.. maybe not to you. These both might seem stupid to you, but it was so funny!

Eliza is in England!! I got an email from her today.

Mom: Have fun with school starting!!!!! ... and dad too! Good luck teaching this semester!!

Brandon and Kelly: Good luck with the house!! Ahhh that sounds so exciting!!!! I can't wait to see pictures:)

SERVICE!!!! When you're feeling down about yourself. Find someone else to serve!

Everyone try to be better member-missionaries this week :) It helps the missionaries a lot--- i promise.

Also, I have homework for ya'll. Go on Youtube and type "Missionaries Lip-Singing" -- This is what the Elders in our mission do for fun! Hahah Elder Tatafu...

Life is great! Hope to hear from you all soon!!!
-Sister Checketts

Monday, August 19, 2013

I'm so spoiled...

Hi Ya'll!!
(I'm trying to incorperate "ya'll" into my vocabulary more-- don't hate me for it:))

It's been a strange week! Again, I can't even believe it's email time again. But THANK GOODNESS! Because I love you all and I'm excited to send a little email to ya!

So referring to the Subject of this email.... hahahah we are so spoiled here. We just have to laugh about it:)

So I told you about the steak and lobster we had a few weeks ago... well tonight that same family is feeding us Prime Rib!!
AAAAAND we got a new car this week <3 I'm in love! It's a brand new 2013 Ford Fusion SILVER. and it's the greatest thing ever! Elder Scott(the car guy) gave most of the Sisters new cars! The elders have been gawking over them all week. It's hilarious:) But the cars are so nice! Yesterday Sister Brough and I were driving to our area and we were all dressed in black with our shades on and  we felt like we were just living the high life :)
It's not AS fun to drive as my sweet little bug, but I am not complaining one bit:)
AAAAAND our ward mission leader is 99.9% positive that they found us a member house to move in to. And who is it?? The wonderful DENKERS. They are an older couple who have the nicest house ever! They have this kitchen in their basement that they remodeled to look like a diner. I haven't been there to see it for myself yet, but all the other missionaries absolutely LOVE it. And this is most likely going to be our HOME! Gosh.... We're so spoiled! I'm going to be devastated to leave Millard Ward eventually!  <3

Anyway... Sister Brough and I are getting down to crunch time! We're PREPARING for me to go out full proselyting and being a trainer in a couple of weeks. Not that it will happen, of course, but it's better to be prepared! There's a huge influx of full pros sisters coming in on this next transfer and she said that many sisters train after only 1 transfer. So that's what we're planning for, I'm scared out of my mind because I'm still only a baby! I'm STOKED to eventually go out full proselyting though. I do LOVE the trail center, but a lot of times it's hard to make appointments with investigators and we have to miss ward parties and such because we're on shift at the trail centers. And the trail center has started to get slow now that schools are all back in session out here. So we just sit around and study and chat- which is nice! But many time feels as though I'm wasting precious time doing other stuff. So I love the trail center! But am grateful I won't be here my whole mission.

Every night when we work till close at the trail center, it's my favorite thing to go out into the parking lot. So it's a mission rule that ANY time the senior missionary is backing up the car, the companion has to stand behind the car and help them back. When we leave at night, we all look like dorks standing in the middle of the parking lot to back up our vehicles. It's humorous.

So we had crazy stuff happen yesterday! ALL the boundaries for the Omaha Stake out here have been shifted! And a few wards and a branch have been completely diminished. So I'm sure president is going to have fun reassigning missionaries and fixing everything... it's overwhelming and many sisters have to go and re-figure out like, EVERYTHING. Thankfully, Millard was like the only ward that the new boundaries didn't affect. So we're still GOLDEN.

Eliza leaves this week!! WHAT?! Girlfriend, GOOD LUCK!! I love you so much!! Have a safe flight to England and embrace every minute. Mission life is awesome. She is like the last of us to leave, so this is CrAzY!!! <3

Michelle-- thanks so much for your awesome letter, gosh I love you so! I'm not sure if I'll have time to write you today, so I'll acknowledge it on here. I read Sister Brough the part about your tall companion and we just laughed. So now we're calling ourselves "Tree and Stump"- ;)

Mom&Dad! I finally got your postcards! They were sitting in the mission office waiting to be picked up when we went to District Meeting on wednesday.

Jenny Anderson-- you're a doll!! I seriously had no clue who that letter was from at first and then my heart all smiled when I read your name. I'm so stoked for you to go to Brazil! We have a sister here in Omaha, (she was my companion on the flight out here) who is a visa waiter to go to Brazil! I hope your visa gets here in time!! you're going to do amazing things!

And Stacey Park-- thanks so much for your sweet letters. I love hearing what the tremendous Park family is up to:) Kyle has his own machine now? Ahhh so cool :)

ANYWAY... mom, to answer your questions: #1 I did go shopping.. haha you're so funny you check my bank account. Aldi is a grocery store out here, so the first few days out here I couldn't remember my pin for my mission card and I used my card from home.

#2 What do I do on my prep day? Email and write letters! Last week, we took a nap, today we might go play volleyball at the institute building or go to the Lewis and Clark museum. Another P-day we had to go get our car fixed.. so that was a lame time. But I have been to The Old Market here in the city- it's way fun! Lots of expensive clothing shops. Can I just say that it's WEIRD to go clothes shopping as a missionary? Haha weird feeling. Today Sister Brough has to go get a hepatitis shot, so we'll be doing that. Mostly we just try to get laundry and cleaning done as fast as possible! I think all the trail center sisters are planning a p-day where we can do a group trip to the zoo. I've heard it's AWESOME. yay for jaguars!

So ya, not sure what else to say. I'll write letters later today. But I just love this gospel... I can't say it enough. Everyday I receive a confirmation on one aspect of the gospel or another that THIS IS THE TRUTH! And I just want to shout it to the world! But when it comes down to sharing it with someone on the street, my thoughts/nerves get the best of me and it gets really HARD. As members, SHARE THE GOSPEL. Joseph Smith said that the most important thing to do is to share the gospel.

I also just love the Pioneers.. I get to tell their story every day and I LOVE THEM!!!! These people are so faithful and I know that they wouldn't have done all that they did if they didn't know the truth of the gospel. Joseph Smith would not have gone through ALL the torture he did if he wasn't SURE that he saw God and Christ. If people would even just learn about the history of the church- I feel that that is convincing enough!! But through the Holy Ghost they can feel that it's right. They can remember why they are here on this Earth. I'm in love with the Book of Mormon... like for real in love. It's just a little blue book! But it's the most powerful thing on Earth. READ IT! <3

I love you all! I don't know where in life I would be if it weren't for you. I wish I could just help ALL people to feel the things I feel.

Heavenly Father loves you all so much.... and I feel so blessed to be able to feel that charity that He has for his children right now as I get to be a missionary. People are wonderful- we are all brothers and sisters.

So I love you all, share the gospel with someone this week! Because it is truly SO IMPORTANT.
have a great week
-Sister Checketts

This is our car! Whooo! Also, it's p-day, so don't judge the laziness quality of my appearance.

Monday, August 12, 2013

Good day!

Hello everyone:) First I want to say just how much I love you all:) You brighten my life and I love Mondays- because I get to talk to you! I miss you all greatly!

But I'm also making great friends out here in whom I love greatly too! Seriously, my ward is like the greatest thing ever. Go Millard ward!! (not sure if it's TOTALLY as great as the Clinton 12th, but it comes pretty dang close)

So I don't feel like this last week had any memorable stories or experiences... we're just working hard!

We tracted a lot at the beginning of the week and really no one wanted to talk to us...
It's actually kind of funny because people think we're so dumb... We walked up to this couple sitting on their porch swing and started to talk to them-- but they said nothing back. The lady looked at us and gave us the sign that she was deaf. However, we KNEW she wasn't deaf because before we walked up to them, we heard them shouting to their son inside. So Sister Brough says "Oh, you're deaf?" haha so boldly.. it was quite funny and we all laughed and then we awkwardly walked away because they still didn't speak to us...

Then RIGHT after that, we walked into an apartment building and there was this lady sitting on the steps. I said "Hey!" And she ignored us. So then I asked "How are you today?" to which she replied "No understand". She was hispanic, so I thought maybe she didn't speak English. I said "Oh, you don't speak English.." then she kind of chuckled. Sister Brough said "I love your phone case!" And the lady replied "thank you!"--- she DID speak English.... they just think we're dumb. I don't know.. maybe we are. haha

So after many days of trying and failing, we got a tad discouraged. But a couple days ago, we decided to try a house that we'd been trying for a while and no one was ever home. We pulled up to the house and the owners pulled into their garage at the same time. YES!

We went up to talk to them, they invited us inside and we gave them the whole restoration right then and there. During the lesson, they kept turning to each other and saying "Well, there you go" like what we had just said was an answer to a question they had been having.
They are SO PREPARED. It's not even funny. They hadn't really ever heard anything about what we believe, so it was ALL new to them. And they are so faithful! They have been going to different churches and searching. They had a HUGE picture of Christ above their fireplace and they are extremely funny people. They said to give them a week or so so that they could read the BOM and so we'll be following up with them this next week. We are so excited!!

I just KNOW without a doubt that this gospel is true, that this church holds the FULLNESS of Christ's gospel, and that God does answer our prayers. He answers them in His own due time. But He answers them.

I had been praying for one of our investigators to come to church yesterday.. sacrament started and no one was there. Then halfway through sacrament, Maria's little boy came up to me asking for a crayon. I was like "Esai?!?(that's his name)" I turned around and Maria was sitting a few rows behind us. Ahh my heart just smiled. :)

So today Sister Brough and I are both wearing striped shirts.. we look like we just escaped from prison or something.

Hmm... what else happened this week..? It's been super hot here lately. However it did rain yesterday. Earlier this week, all I did was step out of the car, and my glasses fogged up. I was like "What in the world?" .. I'm feeling the humidity a little more lately. But I love it! I cannot wait for fall!! Just talking to all the families in our ward yesterday makes me crave Utah State. All the kids are anxious for school to be starting this week and the family we had dinner with last night have a daughter who leaves in a week to ATTEND Utah State University. Since Sister Brough and I both went there, we had a grand 'ole time talking to her about college.

This week I've been thinking a ton about my future. We've been meeting with a ton a families and kids and it makes me so excited to be a mom! All of a sudden I want to learn how to bake bread, I want to try all these new recipes and such! It's going to be fun to be a mom:) Not for many years though.. don't worry mother ;) And I know that my experiences out here are going to be a great contributor to the mother I will be! Sister Brough and I taught primary this last week it was like eight 10-year old boys. They were CRAZY! And they kept calling Ampsterdam, Hampster-Land... I laughed more than I should have. ;) --- Anyways, enough about that.

Sister Brough and I had a great talk this morning about Faith.
I've been reading into my patriarchal blessing lately and as I've studied faith, I am really realizing how blessed I am... Like SO BLESSED I can't even comprehend it. Great family, amazing friends, amazing experiences and opportunities, ahhhhh SO BLESSED.

As I've been out here and been able to see how the gospel has made a difference in peoples lives and COMPLETELY turned peoples lives around, It blows my mind. And I've taken advantage of it my whole life. To be able to grow up in the church? I feel like my faith has just come naturally. I grew up, knowing with my whole heart that this gospel is the truth and never really doubting it. As I've been out here teaching people, I've had to realize what it would be like to be hearing these things for the first time and developing that faith in Christ out of really nothing. It's been very humbling.

Anyway.... being on a mission give you a lot of time to THINK. People say missions are hard work- and yes we do service projects and have days where we have to walk instead of drive, but the hard work comes from your mind. A mission is ALL self-control. -- controlling my thoughts so that they are ALWAYS focused on others and on the work. And it's so much LEARNING! My mind feels as though it is going to pop sometimes because I'm learning so rapidly and trying to retain and remember everything.

Sorry, I'm rambling a lot in this email.. I'm just learning lots about life! haha so anyways... I'm doing well :) No need to be worried about me!

I thing (FINGERS CROSSED) that we have a temple trip coming up end of August or early September. I can't believe how fast this transfer is going.

I do have a request though! When ya'll send me letters, pop in your favorite talk with it!! I need more talks to study, they're the best:)

Brandon and Kelly-- yay on the new house! I'm stoked for you! Be sure to send me pictures and tell the rest kiddos hello! And Kelly, you're in my prayers and I'm hoping for the BEST results at the appointment! Let me know how it goes:)
Jord and Carly-- Thank you for your emails! I'm planning on writing ya'll a letter today:) Happy 4th anniversary!
Dust&Em-- hope you're doing well;)
Mom&Dad-- Thanks for the emails! I hope you told McKenzie good luck for me! I'm sure it was great to see everyone. It sounds like you two are having a bunch of fun with the neighbors! 4-wheeling, and such... luckies ;) And thanks for keeping me updated on everything:)

I love you all!! I know that this gospel blesses peoples lives. I know that God lives and the Christ is our brother who came down to Earth to save us and protect us. Our personal trials and sufferings would be 100x worse if it wasn't for Him. The Atonement is real, and faith is and ACTION word.

Have a terrific week!! I'll reply to some of your emails with letters.

Please send me talks!! And all of you need to read "Character of Christ". Do it.
-Megs... okay, Sister Checketts ;)

This is a picture of all of us Sisters that work at the Trail Center. I'm telling ya... it's a party:)

Monday, August 5, 2013

HELLO MY LOVED ONES!!

Ahhh it's been a FAST week! It seems like just yesterday I was typing ya'll.

I LOVE IT HERE!! Every day I catch myself thinking things like "I love where I'm at"
Although I miss you all TREMENDOUSLY and think of you often, I know this is what I am supposed to be doing and I know it is changing my life.

I LOVE MY COMPANION, Sister Brough! (or as we like to call her, Bruffy!) I just sent a picture of us out. She's the absolute best, I can't say it enough. I mentioned her beautiful singing voice! Well we're planning on working on a few songs to sing in these missionary concerts that they've been doing for a while. We're going to sing in sacrament soon and then in one of our trainings next week too! Excited:)

So this last week was a TAD depressing and hard... most of the investigators that they had been working with before have dropped us... so we really aren't working with a lot of people right now. We have made goals to start out fresh and refocus on the WARD. We're focusing our efforts on keeping the actives strong, and helping the less actives come back. Our Millard ward here is the absolute best! And it's been fun to get to know them all as we travel from house to house for dinners and such. So many people in this ward are converts and I just LOVE listening to their stores. I could listen all day long.

We've been working with the lovely woman named Maria. I love her so much. She wants to get baptized, but she needs to get married first! So we're working with her still and we hope she'll get baptized while we're still here. But she makes the BEST mexican food! She's from Mexico and she had us over for lunch on her birthday this last week. She made us authentic Tostadas and some type of Mexican soup which was delicious. She said on one of our next p-days that she will take us shopping and teach us how to make it. I'm ecstatic!! She really is the biggest sweetheart. She has two adorable children and I love going to see her. Hopefully we see great things!

So Sister Brough and I had to be REAL missionaries this last week. On the 31st we realized that we had gone over on our miles for the month of July, so we had to go this day without a car. We made arrangements with members to drive us a little, but with us being about a half our from our area, it was a little difficult. But the members here are terrific. So we got rides into our areas, but we had to walk all day and this was the hottest day it had been since I've been here. It was probably SUPER funny seeing us walking on the side of the road. I'm tall... Broughy is small and we didn't have backpacks... just shoulder bags and me carrying our big lunch bag all hot and sweaty.. it was a good time. Made me super grateful for our car.. I love cars. Speaking of cars.. I drove for the first time in a bout a month yesterday! Obviously I didn't drive in the MTC, and it's the senior companion who drives. But Sister Brough didn't feel so well last night, so I drove to our dinner appointment. With it being a month since I've driven and the last car I drove was my stick shift bug.. it was kind of funny.

...... I've been out a month. Does it feel like it? NO. It's gone by way fast.

So we still live in a little apartment right by the trail center. But President is trying to get all of the missionaries settled in members homes. So we might be moving to Millard here soon! That will be cool, although I'll be super sad to leave our ghetto apartment and it really is fun living by all the other sisters. Slumber party every night! -- not really, but kind of. :)

Had my first crazy Nebraska storm this week! We were visiting a member when it started to POUR and the sky was flashing like crazy. They turned on the news, (to which I awkwardly turned my chair around) and saw that a tornado warning had been issued. They told us to cut our message short and to get heading home. They were so serious about it and kind of forced us out the door- tornado warnings here are super super serious. So of course I was jumping up and down proclaiming how excited I am for my first awesome storm!!

We got home... and the rain stopped. I was super disappointed. But it was exciting none-the-less.

So... here at the trail center I had some AWESOME experiences!! Naturally, with all our investigators dropping us, I haven't had really any good teaching time. So as the days kept passing and passing my confidence in my teaching abilities kept slipping more and more under the carpet. I was praying that an opportunity would arise that I could just take over and teach. Sister Brough usually does a lot of the teaching so I've been trying to lead more and more--but all our lessons have been falling through.

So this week at the trail center (we do tours on our own- no companionship's because it gets really busy and we need everyone giving tours) I had teaching opportunities! With the tours that I had given in the past, they were always members. But a couple came in and I was next in line and they were nonmembers.. I was so dang scared. Not only would I have about an hour with them, but I would be by myself! I got to know them a little, put them in the 17 minute long video and then prayed and prayed and prayed that I would know what to do. On this tour, I was able to give the full story of the restoration and as we went around to each stop in the gallery, I always had something to say, a story to tell, or something to expound upon. They asked a lot of questions about the pioneers and what we believed and I was able to answer most of them. They were REALLY good to listen to everything I said, even if they didn't agree with everything. The tour ended up being 2 hours long.. at the end, there is a replica of the Salt Lake Temple (makes me feel like home) and I stood by it and just bore my testimony about how much I know and love this gospel and how much the pioneers knew it was true too or else they wouldn't have faced ALL the challenges they did. I continued with my testimony of the Book of Mormon and the power that it has. The man super LOVED the fact that our church sends out so many missionaries and he said he wished other denominations would do more of that.. but he thought youth going on missions was a mandatory thing for our church. I explained that we do it by choice because we want to share the truth that we know and his heart softened. At the end I gave them a Book of Mormon, the woman was skeptical and said she wouldn't read it, but the man said that he would like to. He said "it doesn't hurt to try and see if it's true" SO I HAVE HOPE! It was the coolest experience!! They were so great and nice.
Then right after their tour was done, I took another nonmember couple and went through about the same thing. I offered them a BOM at the end too and they also took it.

THE LORD ANSWERS OUR PRAYERS!! And He doesn't just answer them, He goes ABOVE and BEYOND. My confidence boosted and it was just so great. My heart has never pounded so hard before, but it felt so good to look into someones eyes and give my testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel. I felt the spirit so strong and I know they felt it to. They didn't want to give me any contact information, but I can only pray that I may have planted a seed.

Anyway, that was the excitement of my week <3  This trail center is the best and I feel the pioneers around me every day I'm here. I love the pioneers.

While I've been at the trail center, I've had a few surprises! The first day I showed up, one of the sisters rain up to me and said "You're choir teacher wanted me to tell you hi! She was in here last week and said that you would be here soon, so I'm here to deliver the message!" Mrs. Cazier had been here!! That was fun!

Then this week one of my favorite high school teachers, Mr. Berrong, for history-- I took his sister in law and her family on a tour! She took a picture with me and sent it to him.

And then... Sam's Aunt was here!! I was in the back on CHAT and a sister came running in saying that someone was here that knew me. I got a picture with her and she said she'd send it to Sam. That was way fun and made my whole day! So Sam, I hope you got that :)

Also Sam, thank you so much for all the journals/stickies/composition books etc. I'm using them all! You're the best:)

Hey mom, thanks so much for the Vera Bradley bag!! You would be happy to know that I get compliments on it every day:)

There are SO many people from Utah that come through here. Everyone here in our ward has ties to Utah too. And dad, EVERYONE asks me if I'm related to Gus Checketts and his family. I guess Gus is in the stake presidency or something in a stake near us and EVERYONE here just LOVES them. So I'm excited to meet him and figure out again how we're related.

I got ONE letter this week!... from Stacey Park! Thanks so much Stacey! It sounds like you and the family are doing great:) I really appreciated your letter.

Hopefully I have more coming..? ;) haha you guys are all great. It might take forever for me to get mail, because it goes to the mission home, then either comes to the trail center or gets forwarded to my apartment. I never know where it's going.

I'm stoked for dinner tonight. A less active family that we've been working with is making us Steak and Lobster.. so yes mommy and daddy, I get fed well here :) Everyone is SO generous and I'm being well taken care of.

So I just want to express to you all the importance of prayer.. this week especially I have seen it work miracles in my life. Heavenly Father is listening and is aware of us. And He'll send us answers to questions that we didn't even know we had. <3 He lives.

I love you all! Try harder to pray your hardest this week! Thank you for all your prayers to me.. i'm sure feeling them! I really am so happy and although I miss you, I know that because of the things i'm going through, that i'll be a happier person for the rest of my life. Help the missionaries in your ward!! Go missionary work!!

Have a great week!
WRITE ME!

Happy Birthday Kelly and Annelise!! And happy LATE birthday, Wyatt!!
-Sister Checketts

Momma!

This is my sweet companion Sister Brough!! We're here in the trail center!:) She's little, but she's the absolute best! People say we're like the exact same person.. I'm just tall and she's just small.