Donovan’s Diaries 

I am Donovan Checket, the only Equip student from the area. I have been attending Pine Grove Community Church for nearly 10 years now. I have participated in the youth group since I started attending PGCC. I chose to accept Christ for the first time when I was around 8 years old. I remember sitting and praying with pastor Ronnie of the KFJ ministry and other elders I would soon learn to know. Through my younger years, I never really went out of my way to join anything or be all in with my faith or with the youth. I found my place and my friends and it stayed that way for some time. Until Sr High rolled around, I was quiet and more or less “going through the motions”. Then I met a good friend of mine to this day, Andrew, who was loud and energetic. Andrew brought that side out of me so when he graduated I became much more involved in the youth, making friends, working in ministries, and making youth group my own. Eventually, senior year rolled around, whether me and my best friend decided to believe it was a different story. We started counting down the youth groups and finally got to the senior send-off at the summer retreat. We were sitting next to each other as Pastor Bob was starting to talk about endings and beginnings. However, Chaz and I, the best friend in question, sat next to each other saying “Glad we aren’t graduating”. As he read off the names of people I grew up with in church I realized we are graduating no matter what we decide. Luckily I was blessed with a bittersweet end. I was awarded, for the first time in my era of youth group, the Umbrella Award. This award goes to the person with the most enthusiasm and energy brought week in and week out to the youth group, and I won unanimously!

So that is a little about my past but what about my future? Stop asking me so many questions I am getting there geez. During my senior year, I was involved with CMTS working in the office with Hannah who has now learned to regret her choice of inviting me to the Equip open house. The Equip program is something I was starting to consider anyway. I know the church, I know the people, and I was gonna take a gap year anyway. So logistically it only made sense, however, I was working against it until the end. I would never say yes for sure, I did not quit my job until maybe a month before the program started. Anytime someone asked I would say “Yea I think I will” or “I am gonna pray on it some more”. Yet every time I had the time to think about my future I would always use that time to prioritize something else. I think it was when I was sitting in graduation rehearsal that I really started thinking about it. I was an online student so I knew none of the people sitting around me and I realized that I still wanted to meet people and have an impact, I can’t do that at a normal job right now. Equip can teach me all the trades in the world but the most valuable thing I can learn is to have an honest relationship with God and be able to spread the gospel to others. As I sat there surrounded by people I could witness to, who I never met, I still felt intimidated, I knew somehow I needed to strengthen my faith and my skills as a believer. 

Again with the questions? Fine, yes I can tell you a little more about myself. I am normally outgoing and I enjoy trying new things. I have never really struggled to make friends so obviously that means I am pretty cool. I am mostly logic-based, for example, I enjoy the proof that science gives us into how God made the heavens and the earth and how there is beyond a reasonable amount of evidence that points to God. There is actually so much proof atheists hardly have an argument anymore to the point they are becoming agnostic (believe there is a higher power but a non-personal higher power). I enjoy anything that keeps me busy really, work, gym, football, basketball, etc. 

Finally, I would like to take the time and talk about the Equip program itself. This month I have been in the body shop with Doug Sylva. We have done anything from taking off a bumper and painting it to welding a muffler bracket back on. I even did some welding. For some reason, he decided to have me “practice” first before working on an actual car. Working on the flip side crew has been fun, I have especially liked the kitchen and the office (where I am writing from now). Dorm life has been fun, we have all made friendships with inside jokes and new slang words. It is now to the point where in certain circumstances we trust our roommates with our lives. For legal reasons, I can not further specify the acts that have led to this trust. Almost every day we find something interesting and random to do, whether it is playing poker (no money is involved, don’t worry) or going to Walmart and Cabela’s there has not been a dull moment. Our first adventure trip has come and gone. The dorm went to Raystown Lake and went tubing so many times we skipped across the lake like flat rocks by the end of the day. We also had an amazing opportunity to help the Warehouse pack a shipping container for Haiti. Haiti has been struggling with gathering and buying food because of the gang violence currently plaguing the country. So the Lord provided us with enough money and strength to send approximately 9,000 lbs of rice as well as an extra 16,000 in clothes, chairs, mattresses, toilets, bikes, etc. Aidan and I were in the shipping container filling every spot we could for a little over 3 hours! The experience was nothing short of a living miracle with the combined efforts of everyone working so hard and getting the container and the money in time to provide all of the supplies. It is so clear God is working here at CMTS which is yet another reason I am proud to be a member of the team. 

Peace,

Donovan AJ Checket,