BAPTISM!!!!

Hey there!!

Sorry I'm on later than usual today! We have had SOOOOOO much to do today and we're just now getting to email!

Oh my... this week has been INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!

On Tuesday we got to go to OMAHA!!!!! 3 hours away!!! YEAH, buddy!!!

You remember that kid, Ian, that I told you about??? Marleyna's boyfriend? yeah.... so he is getting baptized on the 30th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:):):) The night before I am to leave for transfers!!! Everyone keeps telling me "way to go out with a bang!!" haha but seriously... I haven't done anything! This kid is such a GOLDEN investigator!

So we went with him and Marleyna to Omaha to see Meet the Mormons on Tuesday. WOW. Being in a movie theatre as a missionary... seriously... happiest day of my life! It felt so weird! I HAD HAD HAD to get popcorn:):)

That movie is incredible though... if you haven't seen it... DO IT!!! Take ALLLLLL your friends to it!!!!

At the very end when they are showing the missionary mom... all 4 of us were just covered with tears. Goldsberry and I.. missionaries! So we cry a lot anyways. Then Marleyna who leaves on her mission the first week of November... then Ian, who is saying goodbye to Marleyna for 18 months and is getting baptized. It was pretty cute if you ask me.

On the way to and from Omaha, Ian just wanted to whip through the lessons. He has been studying all these lessons with marleyna for the past 6 months... so he already knows everything! But he said that as we explained them to him, he caught a few things that he didn't know yet that he NEEDED to know to help finalize his decision. We whipped out like 3 big lessons that night because of all the driving. Then after we saw the movie... we went to the trail center and that just completely strengthened his testimony of Joseph Smith. It was SO cool to be back at the trail center. I hadn't been there in over 7 months! I love that place.

We didn't get back to our apartment till midnight that night. We had fallen asleep in the car. But our leaders were aware and it was SOOOO worth it even though we were like DEAD for 2 days after!

That night while we were driving, Ian was just opening his heart to us and just felt sooo excited to be baptized. He picked the date and we started to get everything arranged.

District Meeting on wednesday was INCREDIBLE!!! Probably the most spiritual district meeting on my mission. Our INCREDIBLE zone leader, Elder Tatafu, is going home this week... so it was his VERY last DM and we went all out!! One of the Elders had bought him a nice Husker leather jacket that we all signed, then we sang for him and had his favorite member come and do a musical number. This kid is SOOO talented with singing! He's Polynesian, so that explains it all:) I had written him a poem that would be from our whole district. It only took me about 20 minutes to write and everyone was SOOO impressed. It was amazing because at the end of the poem, to finish it, I put down a scripture that I felt reminded me of Tatafu, and in the district meeting, he bore his testimony and he shared with us that same scripture 2 Nephi 1:21 and it just happened to be his favorite scripture. I didn't even know it!! Heavenly Father loves him a TON. We are gonna miss him SOO much! He served with my in my baby area-- Millard for my first 6 weeks. So we've been buds my whole mission. It's crazy that he is leaving! There are about 16 sisters and 3 elders leaving this week. And only 3 sisters coming out.

Lucky for us, we are going AGAIN to Omaha tomorrow for their departing testimonies!! We're bringing our invstigator, Jordan and like the whole branch is coming with. It's going to be the best day of our lives!!!! And I swear, EVERY missionary in the mission is going to be there.... SO EXCITED!!!!

Wednesday we had BACK TO BACK lessons all day. We didn't even get dinner. Those are my FAVORITE days <3

Exciting life! We taught 3 Law of Chastity lessons!!! Yeah, that's right! It was fun:)

Mission prep that night was also incredible. Probably my last time teaching it:(:( And we barely even taught! Jordan and Ian were there <3 Jordan had lots of REAL good questions and IAN pretty much answered every single one of them!! It was soooooo coool :):) the branch just loves them both!

One of our LA got kicked out of her boyfriends apartment this week, so at like 8:50 that night we went to go and help her out. It was the end of our SUPER long day, and we were waiting in the drive-through for DQ ice cream when we got the call, so we left the line to go help:) Heavenly Father makes EVERY minute of our day worth it!

Thursday we went to a nearby town-- Hastings all day. We were trying to track down one of our investigators that has kinda dropped off the face of the Earth... well we didn't have much luck :(

But our member, Nya was with us, and she used to go to Hastings college, so she wanted us to try some houses that she knew. We ended up finding this girl named Caitlynn and taught her the restoration on her porch. She read Moroni 10:3-5 and said that it sounded oddly familiar. She was super excited and interested and is planning on reading the whole Book of Mormon and then we have an appointment sent in 2 weeks. She is an English major, so she'll get it down:) I'm not sure if I'll be here... :(
We also had dinner with the Hastings sisters that night because it was Sister Wilson's birthday! :)

All this last week, we had 12 lessons with a member present in them. That is the highest we've sure had in a LONG while, it was incredible!! Our members are SOOOO up for doing missionary work and that has changed DRASTICALLY since I first got here, so that is a huge blessing to witness <3

Justin Ferguson came to take us out to breakfast one day and I got to say goodbye! He's pretty cool because this is the most active he has been in church in his whole life. He told me that from Sister Weber and I living with his parents, he saw a big diffrenece in the happiness that his parents had and he wanted that, so he started meeting with the missionaries more. That was a huge tender mercy to know that our examples helped their family feel the happiness that God has in store for them <3 I love them tons!!

This week has been insane though! I've been on this KICK about wanting to share the talents and abilities I have been blessed with, and Heavenly Father is for sure answering my prayers!! Yesterday, we were asked to sing in the Kearney Family Ward for Marleyna farewell, and then I spoke in the YSA branch, and then Nya and I sang a duet in the YSA branch.

It was sweet how that happened! I had this prompting to ask Nya to sing with me... and she said it sounded like a GREAT idea. I talked to our branch mission leader and he was all "oh, did Nya ask you to sing??" And I said "no, I asked her to sing" and he was like, "well that was VERY inspired because I had mentioned to her that it would be a good idea and i wasn't sure if she would do it" So that was a sweet miracle. We sang her favorite song "i'll go where you want me to go" and everyone said it was incredible!

Then yesterday, I got a text from our District Leader asking if I could give a training on Wednesday, and Nya and I are singing AGAIN for Ian baptism on Thursday, so it's been a VERY busy and exciting week:) PLEASE develop your talents, everyone!! Find a new hobby and build upon it!!

Everyone enjoyed my talk yesterday too... That was such a SWEET experience!!! I had kinda a hard time coming up with a topic.. but in the end, it centered around HAPPINESS. And it all came together just right!

I didn't notice, but Goldsberry said everyone was crying.... Even President Cammack! So I guess that is a good thing?? Haha. The greatest blessings and the greatest happiness really does come from being an instrument in the hand of god. A pure enough vessel that the spirit can work through, and I witnessed the spirit working through me a lot this last week. It's such a blessing <3 Heavenly Father is only happy if WE are happy. That is where His happiness comes from <3 The things that we think in our heads, seep INTO our hearts, so we must be cautions on the words in our head, that ultimately will determine how we feel. I love speaking in church!! I really do <3 This testimony of mine is one that I don't like to keep to myself.

Last night was incredible too. We met with one of our members friends-- Chris and taught him the restoration. He is already SO prepared too... he knows A LOT about the church and just really wanted a Book of Mormon. Our members are so great at finding those prepared people! We got a sweet picture with Chris last night and we have real good feelings about him. Which makes me excited but also SO sad because my time here is coming to a close.

I'm 88% positive that I will be leaving this week and the next time you here from me I will be in another area.... The Kearney YSA has changed my life and taught me how to be TRULY happy!!!

I'm ending with a baptism this week, my first one!!! But I can truly say that the satisfaction is NOT in having a baptism.... it's in the little tiniest moments where you see the light enter their eyes, when you see the people you've come to love desire to share the gospel with others. When you see those who have become your best friends, stand up in Relief society and say something that they have realized this last week, that you know the SPIRIT taught them through you. When you see the relief and peace in them that they didn't have before. It's THOSE moments that matter most.

So pray for Ian and Jordan this week! We finished getting his invites and programs done this morning. 

I have also seen Sister Goldsberry grow a LOT this week. She's been out a year and still has a hard time teaching. I think that has been our biggest struggle together is trying to teach in unison. I like to take over sometimes... hahah hard to believe, eh? But she's been feeling more confident and is finding ways to build that confidence. I totally felt the atonement this week when she asked me "Sister Checketts... how are you so confident??" because 5 years ago... I don't think I had any. It IS possible to change!! Believe that others can and believe that YOU can. It's okay if growth is slow.. that just means it is becoming PERMANENT!! And that is what we want <3

I love you all sooooo much!!!! I guesss we'll see next week where I am at!! CRAZY!!! Time goes by WAY WAY WAY too fast.....

Love you all, Sister Checketts "You are encircled about in the arms of His love" 1 Nephi 1:15

#districpic! Goodbye TATAFU!!