29 August 2012

Hey Mum & Whanau,

Another good week in the Philippines.  Thanks for the emails and pictures. They are cool and yes mum, it is true, I only have 8 months left. Oh how time flies... 

This week has been a bit of a beauty.  We had a good week of work and Elder Ofahulu and I worked hard.  Oh, side note if you want to know where Elder Ofahulu's family lives ask Tim and Rochelle Maifaleni because they are in the same Ward.   Ask for Sydney Ofahulu or the Lavelua family.   Elder Ofahulu said you might not be able to catch them because their son, his brother, just got married last Saturday in Salt Lake.   Anyways...

On Wednesday we went out to work in this one area called NIA village and sadly, we got punted during our first hour and after that we started meeting our appointments.  We were blessed to teach two less actives and one of the families we taught we had a member present.  That night we went over to Sister Ivy Maroket's home for dinner (she's the Relief Society president) and we had ... wait for it STEAK... my first time since I've been here.   We also had kebabs with barbecue sauce, mashed potatoes and root beer.  I ate heaps and it was so good.

On Thursday we were called in to do service again to help load all the bags of flood relief goods into the trucks so they could be delivered to the rest of the country.  That night we went and visited two less active families, the Ampil and Garan family and then we went over to Bishop's house for dinner.  It was Bishop's wifes birthday and so they took us out to an all you can eat Japanese Restaurant. Amazing.  After dinner they dropped us home.

On Friday we worked hard and in this one area called Banlat we were able to teach eight lessons - two with a member present and the others to some of our returning less actives.  It was a busy day but amazing.   We didn't have any dinner appointments set up for tonight but we had a good feed at a little shop close by our house. 

On Saturday we had an Elder's Quorum activity where they started with a workshop and after that we did splits with some of the members of the Elder's Quorum.  At 4:00 p.m. we returned to the chapel to attend a baptism (another District's baptism held at our chapel).  Elder's Heather, Ofahulu and I sang at the baptism and it was mean azz.  After the baptism we had our Tandang Sora Ward activity where we had a lesson, followed by games and then performances from each auxiliary.   We performed a musical number again and that was cool too.

Sunday was church then we had a Family Home Evening at one of our less active families homes which was fun.  The food was great too and then we went home. 

On Monday we worked, Tuesday we worked and now we have P-Day/ transfer day.  I'm not getting transferred and neither is my companion.  Woohoo!  But we are splitting the area and  getting two more Elders in our house.  Cool aye.  This transfer will be Elder Heather's last and final transfer because after this transfer he's going home.  Boohoo!  I'm gonna miss him.

Thats my week!  Tomorrow is transfer day and on Friday we have our Fireside with Elder Bednar and that will be cool azz.  Then I will email again on Monday.

I love you all and thanx for the coming package.  I'm excited that Cola is going out into the field soon.  Jenna's almost done and I've got 8 months left.   I know that the Lord is watching over you family and blessing you.  Give my love to Joe, he's the man.  Thanks heaps for all your support and I will email again on Monday.

Love you, 

Elder Chadderton

21 August 2012

Hey Mum & Whanau,

Thanks for the emails and the pics that you sent to me.  It was awesome.  I am writing today - Tuesday - because it's our Temple day and I forgot to tell you that last week. Sooo… I'm sorry if you were disappointed that no emails came through last night but just remember I haven't forgotten.

This week has been good and busy.  On Tuesday we went and worked with some Ward missionaries and they showed us around their area and we were able to meet heaps of new families that live close to them.  We had dinner with this awesome family - the Rumbaoa family.  I took a picture of a missionary that brother Rumbaoa knew and had hanging in his house.  I'm sure you'll be able to pick out the person's face as soon as you see the picture.  Small world.  We sang some songs with them, had dinner and then they dropped us off at our apartment.  Nice family. FYI. their father -Brother Rumbaoa - is the person who designed the peso (pinoy money).  He works at the mint and was the one who engraved the designs for the coins here.  Cool aye.

On Wednesday we got punted a lot but the work was good.  We were teaching this one family about prayer and their kids started mucking around and it was loud and noisy and I couldn't feel the spirit so I said to my companion that we needed to finish up and go.  We closed and left.  When we went back on Sunday we had an awesome lesson.   Dinner that night was at the Relief Society president's house and we had paksiw na bangus, turon, mechado and a dish called beef steak.  It was yum and then for dessert we had fruit salad - Filipino style.  It was really good too.

Thursday, we went and worked in one of the squatters areas that is in our area and visited a lot of less actives.  We visited a nanay that was just recently been baptized but is suffering with bad arthritis.  She's not in the best of health and she's still young.  She can't come to church because it is too painful for her to walk. Not good.  We gave her a blessing and she has been to the doctor and so we are hoping and praying that she will get better. 

On Friday we went out and worked in this area called, "Upper Banlat." There are heaps of members in this area and it was cool because we got to work with one of the members and he was showing us all the shortcuts around that area.  Awesome!  We met a lot of new members and were able to have some great lessons.  We taught this one lady who is less active and I shared with her the story of the lost sheep.  I told her that that was our purpose in being there at her house, to try and bring her back to the fold then I shared a scripture found in Mosiah 3:17 about Jesus Christ and said to her, "Kung gaano po siya nagpapasalamat kay Jesu Cristo at sa mga ginawa ni Jesu Cristo para sa kanya."  She cried and then she bore her testimony that she too knows the church is true.   She has started reading the Book of Mormon.  Awesome aye!  That night we went to Bishop's house for dinner and they had KFC.  It was so good then we had ice-cream for dessert.  Too much food, but I love the members here.

On Saturday we got called in to do Helping Hands again, only this time it was just us missionaries.  There was 6 of us unloading a tonne of canned sardines, corned beef, noodles, toothpaste, toilet paper, hand sanitizer - everything and anything.  It was a good work out and we got alot of work done.

Sunday was church then out to work then dinner at another members house.

Monday work, work, work and it was a good day.

Then today we headed up to the Temple.   It was packed because it is a public holiday today and everyone was at the temple.  We had a feed after and went bowling again at the Filipino bowling place.  Sweet day but I'm wasted.

I love you heaps and hope you are all doing well.

Elder Chadderton

P.s. Thanks for getting the package ready for me. I appreciate it.  I just got some letters/postcards from you the other day.  Love it.  Can you include some chocolate in the next package because me and my companion have been craving some good NZ chocolate.

LOVE NA LOVE ko kayo. Salamat ulit. 

13 August 2012

Hey Mum & Whanau,

Yep, just as the subject title says, "FLOODS!" 

Thanks for your emails and pictures.  I love seeing your beautiful faces.  Wow, the Olympics are now over for another four years hey and New Zealand's the B.O.M.B!

Okay, so for an account of my week, we started with floods and last Monday night when I emailed you it was pouring with rain and the streets had turned to flooding and just before we left to go home the weather had calmed down so that was good.  We got home and it just started to pour down again and it poured all night and we had thunder and lightning too and it was not good. Not much sleep that night!

On Tuesday we woke up, did our studies, ate lunch, got changed and then went out side to go out and work and it was about 1:00 p.m.   We walked down this one street and the kids were playing in the floods because school was out and the rain just wasn't easing up at all.   Hilarious!  We turned around to  try another path to get through the floods but we couldn't make it soooo,  because of the rain and floods we weren't able to go out.   We decided to just go home and due to not sleeping well the night before, we were able to catch up on some sleep from about 2:30 p.m. until 5:00 p.m.  When we woke up we braved the floods as we had a dinner appointment at 6:00 p.m. and the family had prepared a feast - spare ribs, my favorite.  They dropped us home in their car after so that we didn't have to go out in the rain and floods.  That was nice.

Wednesday it was still raining but the majority of the flooding around our area had disappeared and we went out to work and had a great day. We got to teach a few lessons and met some new investigators and we found some less actives.  It was a good day despite the fact that we almost got flooded out but we just soldiered through it all.   It was an awesome day talaga.

Thursday was a great day as well.  The rain stopped and the sun finally came out.  We went to this one area, a palengke, and were able to visit and teach several families.   When we arrived at this one house the family said to us, "Elder's what do you see that is different about our house?"  Not being rude but we said, "It's clean!"  They were like, "Yeah, we had floods up to the second floor yesterday and we were just able to finish cleaning the house and taking out all the water!"  I was shocked.   We shared a lesson with them and then we invited them to come to Church.   These are good times as a missionary.   We had a dinner appointment at the second councillors home where we ate chicken fettucini, chicken nibbles, and lumpia (spring rolls).  It was sooo good and for dessert we had Mango floats.   Family, you should really ask Sister Ramirez to make you some.  They are amazing!

On Friday we got called in to do service as the Helping Hands crew was back in effect to help the flood victims.  A huge group of people turned up to help put together relief packages for the many flood victims.  We were asked to come along because they told us they needed some, "muscle power" because they had over 150 - 50 kilo bags of rice that needed to be unloaded from a truck so my companion Elder Ofahula, Elder Heather and his companion and I went along and took care of the unloading of the rice bags and while we were resting we were told that another truck was soon arriving with another 150 bags.   We had a mean workout aye and we got free food and free rice and a lots of other blessings.   We also got to meet this famous guy and his name is Eric Ty.   Eric served his mission here and now he owns a game show here in the Philippines called, "Showtime."  That was cool.

On Saturday we went back to help out with loading the flood relief packages onto the trucks in preparation to have them shipped out to the rest of the country.  It was an awesome experience and that night we had dinner with the Relief Society president and her family. So grateful.

Sunday we went to church and we had over 12 less actives attend.  We had a great day and after church we went out and worked and met a family who are all members except for the eldest sister.   We shared a lesson with the family and told the sister that we were going to baptize her. She will be ready soon. 

Today for P-Day we played basketball had District meeting and now we're here doing our emails. 

I haven't had any magnums this week because I ran out of money... Hehe.  But, with the blessings from the members and the Helping Hands ku-an we have been fine.  I withdrew some money the other day just for safety reasons, but I haven't had to use it yet. Cool aye.

I love you all heaps.  Take care and know that I love you and that I'm having fun.  I hope you like the pictures. :)

Elder Chadderton

 P.s. The picture of me and the Filipino guy in the Helping Hand's vest is a guy that said he was one of Jenna's class mates at BYU Hawaii.  Small world!

6 August 2012

Hi Mum & Whanau,

Thanks for all your words of encouragement, pictures, prayers and the love you have for me. I really feel it while I'm here. 

This week has been awesome and Elder Ofahula and I have been having a blast (no better way to explain it).   I realize that the Lord has put me here for a reason, and I'm not sure if I told you but Elder Ofa and I white washed an area - well actually two.  It has been a crazy but an awesome week trying to find our way around this huge area. 

On Tuesday we went out and worked in a place called Bagbag, Sauyo.  It was good and we were able to find a lot of families that had already been taught by the missionaries and so we continued to teach these families.  We had an awesome day and I found this place that sells, "Magnums!"  Ohhhhhh,  I have had about 8 this week already.  Hehe! (they did not have magnums in Mindoro). 

Wednesday we had MTC exchanges which means the Elders from the MTC here come to our Zone, and then we go on splits with them, which if you can imagine is quite difficult when you don't even know the area that well.  So, we told them that we didn't know the area that well and that we were going to do a lot of finding.  Well, after about four hours of walking through a lot of rain and 8 jeepney rides later we were able to find a lot of people and became a lot more familiar with our new area.  It was awesome.  We then went to MacDonald's for dinner (my first time since coming off Mindoro) and it was masarap… sobra!

Thursday I went on exchanges with one of the other Elders in my District, because I'm a District leader but sadly he had LBM's. Poor dude.  Needless to say we were unable to go out and work because Elder Fackrell (from Boise Idaho) was so sick.  It was okay because I had a good rest and chatted with him.

On Friday we had weekly planning then went out and worked.  It was a good day and we went to a new area called, Upper Banlat.  We knew there were a tonne of members there but we didn't know exactly where because as you know there are no street signs or addresses.  We were blessed and the Lord watched over us and we found just about all the people we were looking for and were able to teach about 6 lessons.   Well, what happened was we were walking down this one street and we see this little old man walking down the street in his garment top.  As you can imagine we were kinda thrown off by that but he talked to us and told us where he lived.  He took us to this one house where we taught and met a great family who are less active but the mum came to church on Sunday. Astig! It was cool and later that night we went over to Bishop's house and had dinner.  And guess what was for dessert? Magnums!… Mmmm, sarap.

On Saturday we had a baptism - well actually 3 - and I've sent pictures.  It was awesome and this time not down at the ocean like Mindoro but the people were so ready it was incredible.  They are the Trespaderme family and the nanay is Sister Concepcion, Sister Angeline, and their son Ronnie.  It was awesome. 

On Sunday siyemprey, we went to church and it was great to see that the chapel had been upgraded since I was last here.  There were cushions on the seats and curtains on all the windows and it looked really flash.  I think I'm in love with the Ward here because they are so organized and I say that because of my experiences in Mindoro where the church is still very young.  I love it here and we were called upon to sing at a Fireside - me, Elder Ofahulu and Elder Heather (he's the Zone leader here in Tandang Sora) and it was awesome.  We sang, "Brightly Beams."

Today was a good day and just a normal P-Day where we had our District meeting, did our laundry, shopped and now emails.  It has been a great week and I look forward to this new week.  We have people working with us just about every day and we have a tonne of dinner appointments too. Astig. 

Mate good on Cola for getting a Filipino companion.   You have got to send me pictures of her and her companion when you get some.  Cola is going to have a blast and I am so excited for her.

Good news, Elder Bednar is coming to my Mission and he arrives on August 31st.  Astig .

It is awesome to hear that you are all doing so well and I love and miss you all.  I think one of the down sides of having a NZ companion is that we talk a lot about home and it makes you remember stuff about home and then you start missing home.   Its all good.  Take care and know that I love you.

Elder Chadderton