The Stage of Miracles

Hello Everyone!!

 

Hope y'all are having a special spooky Missionary Monday!! Yes, that means you get to hear from all us missionaries, but that also means that YOU have an opportunity to share the gospel today... and everyday!! So happy Missionary Monday:)

 

Seriously though.... our most SOLID investigators come from the referrals that our members give us because of their friends. This week, that has resulted in SOOOOO many miracles!!!!!

 

Just look at what happened to us this morning! One of our invstigators-- named Megan -- (ironic) I just absolutely LOVE!! She's been through a lot with an eating disorder and whatnot in the last few months and is on the road to recovery. Well, she missed hanging out with the branch on my birthday, so she insisted on taking us out to breakfast. So we went out with her this morning. She brought her neighbor friend with her today, and her neighbor was asking us allllll sorts of questions! Megan knows more about Christ than any nonmember I've ever met-- so she hasn't kept too many of our commitments because she is already doing so much service and she reads the bible every day... but her friend, Laurie that was at lunch with us this morning is INCREDIBEL!!! And we taught the restoration, so casually and clearly, right there in Panera!!! It's the best:):) Look... even our nonmemebrs are doing missionary work! Share your testimonies:):)

 

We do this thing every sunday, where we pray about one of our members that we will give a Book of Mormon to and then they try their hardest in that upcoming week to give it away to a friend of theirs. So far it has had SOOO much success and we have lots of appointments this week of meeting with our members friends.

 

Last Monday, P-day was the BOMB!! We drove to grand island and spent all day playing softball with our whole zone. It was the best! I love these missionaries <3

 

Monday night, we had a lesson with one of our members roomates! Reviewed the restoration, since she already knew a lot from writing a college paper about Mormons!! We soft-set her for baptism!!! It's the best:)

 

Then Monday night, for FHE we went with the branch to a choir concert on campus (yes, a choir concert... holy bananas I miss it SOOOOOOO much!!!!) We were there to support Jake-- one of our dear friends who just left the Singles ward after he married our dear sweet April a few months back. Jake is an opera major, so yah... he's kinda a big deal:)

 

We had the BEST lesson I've ever had with our Less-Active, Sarah this last week. We were having her write down a list of her blessings, to notice God's hand in her life because she had had a really bad day, when out of nowhere, she just opened her whole heart to us. She revealed to us some things in the past that she hadn't been honest about and we just had the most spiritual & real conversation with her. Sarah is someone who I have connected EXTREMELY well with... (I mean, we both love Harry Potter.... that just explains it all!) But NO one really in the branch knew who she was before I got here. She had been meeting with the sisters for a while, but we have seen SO much growth in her fellowship!! I mean, the WHOLE branch was at her house for my surprise party. And I want to cry tears of joy every time we hear that a group of our members were at her apartment hanging out!! She's just a part of the family now, and I'm sooooooo grateful that I was able to be a tool in my Heavenly Fathers hands to now have her have soooo many of these friends!! I just get soooo happy!! That night, we had Luke, our WML come over to give her her very first blessing. And this week she has planned a "girls night" with some of the girls in the branch.

 

... I faced a fear this week...... I went to the Doctors... yup!.... my feet have been REAL bad lately, so Goldsberry made an appointment for an ear infection, and I decided to get my feet checked out... She advised me to throw away a lot of my shoes... SO SAD, and I had to go buy all new socks. Since I've been doing some treatement though, my feet are A LOT better!!! So YAY!!!!

 

One of the saddest things for me on my mission... is not getting to hold babies. It's a LOT harder for me than I thought it would be... hah but this week I got to hold the closest thing... a couple week old puppy!!!! Oh gosh, I was soooo happy!!!

 

We saw Arlys this week. She's 86 and just got a knee surgery.. she didn't look to good and she does NOT want to go, but they are feeling that they need to send her to the nearby assisted living. So we won't get to see her as much anymore :( She has been such an amazing blessing in my life!!!!! I'm soooooo glad we've gotten to spend so much time with her!! Not sure how much longer she will be walking on this Earth, but I KNOW she'll accept the gospel with her husband in the next life and I intent to stay in touch with her family!

 

We taught an on-the-spot lesson in institute this week, since Sister Cammack couldn't make it. It was reallll cool though and we had like 3 investigators there. I think it's soooo funny that our investigators love to make it to Institute and Mission Prep.... lol! But whatever they wanna do I guess:)!!

 

We taught Jordan the Word of Wisdom and he came to church for the first time yesterday because he finally has sundays off! He LOVED it!!!!!!!! It was sooooo exciting!! He is progressing SOOO well!! He's just got to be patient with probation.

 

We taught a 20 minutes restoration lesson to our sweet investigator named David!! He's a new investigator of ours and he absolutely loved it!! So that's promising:)

 

And... the biggest miracle of them alllllll this week... So one of my favorite members, Marleyna (the one leaving on her mission in 2 weeks) has this boyfriend named Ian. He is a nonmember. (And I looooove being able to relate to Marleyna about leaving on her mission with him behind because I have experiences that I've been able to share with her that have helped her a lot. Heavenly Father uses our experiences to help others through similar things) Anyway.... Ian is SWEET!!!!! He's been coming to activities with the branch for probably around 4 months now. He's VERY introverted and we've asked him a couple of little times if he'd like to take lessons and he just always told us that he has our number if he wants to. Well Marleyna has been the BEST member missionary and has helped him understand/realize a lot. He comes to mission prep and doesn't say anything. And then he has been to church a LOT to support Marleyna and her family in different things. So he's been around a while and we know he's been trying to read the Book of Mormon. Well... this last week Marleyna called us up and said that Ian wanted to meet with us. So this last week, we met them at Dairy Queen and VERY shyly... he told us that he wants to be baptized and learn more. It was the cutest thing ever!!! So we told him that he could be baptized before Marleyna leaves on the 5th of November.. and they both got really happy. he is TOTALLY doing this for himself. He said that he wants his spiritually to grow just as much as Marleyna's will while she is on her mission.

 

Last night, in the church kitchen, we taught him the restoration, and he already knows it all. His first encounter of Mormons was on South Park and he didn't understand why the boy on the episiode who was a member was sooo happy. Then at the end of the episode, the little boy goes "I don't know everything... but I know the Book of Mormon makes my family happy!" Ian watched that episode again this week and it totally clicked everything together. He is SOOO smart. LOVES reading, and he realized that he doesn't have to know everything right now. He just knows we are all happy and he wants that. So he's doing something about it.!! He wants to be baptized by the end of October and so as of now, he is still going to finalize his schedule, but we're looking at the 31st.. the day of Transfers... <3 <3 I don't think he realize how much his whole story means to me. This is soooo incredible!

 

Tomorrow, we are going to knock out a couple of lessons as we're are driving for 6 hours to and from Omaha. We are going with him and Marleyna and a bunch of the branch to see Meet the Mormons! And then NEXT Tuesday, we are going with them again to Omaha to the departing testimonies of the missionaries leaving. that means I get to see Sister Muasau and Sister Carpenter, and Sister Weber, ALLL my last companions and MANY more!!! i'm sooooo excited!!!!!

 

SO MANY MIRACLES!!! God is soooo aware of us!!!!!!

 

Just something else I've learned... it is soooo easy for Satan to get in our minds, but WE control our minds and WE control what of our thoughts reach our hearts... so we must be wise in our choices. I would like to urge you to pick 1 short scripture, and 1 of our favorite hymns and whenever you aren't thinking something producting, make THOSE things be on the "stage" of your mind. Because if your stage always has something good playing, it makes it a lot harder for Satan's actors to get on there and steal the show. Constantly be praying and thinking that scripture that has come to mean so much to you. Mine is 2 Nephi 1:15 "I am encircled about eternally in the arms of His love". Try it out.

This is something Sister Goldsberry taught me when we first got together, but it took me until this week to truly understand it and see the need of WHY I need it. it is SOOO important and it's how we FIGHT back.

 

I love you all!! I hope your Book of Mormon reading is still going strong!! We should be on page 280! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the stories of the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's!! May we all bury our weapons of war, and anger, and unkind thoughts DEEEP in the ground never to be dug up again. I know we can do it. I've felt the Atonement more and more as the weeks go one!!

THANKS FOR EVERYTHIGN!!!!! Love you all

Sister Checketts 

 PRAY FOR IAN!!!!

 

#ourzone!!