26 November 2012

Hey Mum and Whanau,

Thanks again for the emails and the pictures.  I'm doing good and I have a new companion and he's sweet as. I'm not sick and the work is going well.  We have two baptisms coming up this week and with the help of my new companion we will organize them and then we have another one next week. Cool aye!

So, a little bit about my new companion.  His name is Elder VanDyke and he is from a place in the middle of Utah called Richfield.  I have no idea where that place is but Elder VanDyke is a nice guy and he's super quiet. One thing I am impressed with is that he is doing great with the language.  I am introducing him to the families in our area and he is getting used to the place.  He probably knows more Tagalog than I did when I first came into the mission.  He worked before his mission at his dad's company where he built kitchen and bathroom cabinets for people's houses. Cool aye!  He is 19 years of age and is doing great.

The big event for this past week would have to be transfer day on Thursday.  My last companion, Elder Braind is now assigned to serve in Antipolo and Elder Ofahulu has been assigned to MINDORO.  I started to chuckle when I found that out.  He is going to an area called Sablayan which is a three hour drive from the area I served in while in Mindoro.  They do not speak any English at all in Sablayan (kawawa siya).   He will have Christmas out there.  Poor guy.   After transfer announcements, all the trainers met at Mission President's house to collect our new companions that had arrived from the MTC.  Before that, we had a workshop with the AP's and then we were put with our companions and did some introductory stuff.  We all had something to eat and then it was time to pack up our stuff and head home.  We arrived home around 6:30 p.m. and went straight out to work - no rest for the wicked!  Hehe.  Later that night we had a dinner at a members house and then came home and slept. I was wasted.

I don't know what it is about training other then feeling mentally drained, but I have been having some great sleeps these past couple of days. I have to teach a lot of the lesson material at our appointments but I know my companion will quickly learn to help with the lessons.  I must admit that even though I have been doing a lot of the teaching, the Lord has been helping me.

Danii, what you shared about tithing in your email is so true.  I love teaching about the principle of tithing because in the scriptures it says, "Dalhin ninyo and inyong ikasampung bahagi sa kamalig at subukin ninyo ako ngayon."  Thats the part I like where God says, "Prove me now herewith" because it sounds better in Tagalog, "Subukin ninyo ako" which means, "TRY ME!" God is telling us that if we put the principle of paying tithing to the test and pay it, that he is bound to bless us.  The blessings don't come in the form of a drizzle or a sprinkle but the scripture says that he will, "POUR" out the blessings on us.  It's an amazing principle with an amazing promise and it is there for everyone and not just members of the Church.  Everyone!

The Word of Wisdom is another interesting principle to teach.  People always ask and I mean always ask, why tea and coffee is bawal (not good for our bodies).  The answer that I like to give is that God knows us better than we do because he created us and if he says that certain things are bawal then we should listen to him.  If you look at different societies these days the five things that are advertised a lot are, "Coffee, tea, cigarettes, alcohol and drugs."  If the world is focusing so much attention now on something that we knew was bad for us almost 200 years ago, why is it that people still question God.  It's not a Mormon rule to keep the Word of Wisdom but it's a law of God.  People just need to trust the Lord because he knows better.

Thanks for the pictures and the update about Uncle Rana.  I miss him a lot and I hope that he is at the airport when I come home.  I miss you guys.  We had an Elder from my mission return home to South Auckland last Thursday.  His name is Elder Uasila'a.  Just before he was about to leave I said to him, "See you in 6 months!" Hehe.  Time flies.  Oi, I'm not sure if I've told you yet but because of the huge intake of new missionaries this year the transfer days in my mission have changed so this means that my exit date has now been moved back to May 23 2013.  Sorry dad, I'll miss your birthday again and that also means I'll miss being home for Mother's day for the third time Mum! Ouch!  But if the Lord wants to keep me here for two extra weeks I'm fine with that.

I got my Christmas package and pretty much shared it with all the missionaries here.  I had a good munch on the chocolates and Tim Tams.  Thanks for the ties and the massive shirt.  It's huge!  Hehe... alguds.  I love you all so much and not long now until Christmas when I get to Skype home again. I think I'll just do what I did last Christmas and use Cola's Skype account.   We get to Skype home on Christmas day so please let me know the best time to Skype and I will make sure to do my best to call at that time. 

I love you all so much and thank you for everything that you do for me. You are all amazing.  Thanks.

Elder Chadderton 

21 November 2012

Hey Mum and Whanau,

It has been another great week here in Tandang Sora.  We have been very busy, with the main events of the week being MTC exchanges last Wednesday, a baptism on Saturday and trainers meeting this Tuesday.  I don't know why my camera is playing up but I will try and send some pictures.  If it doesn't work, I will look for a memory card reader today so I can send them to you.  I am doing fine and I'm excited for transfers tomorrow as I will be getting a new companion so I will tell you all about that next P-Day. 

On Wednesday when we had MTC exchanges I was put with a missionary from Negros Occidental.  He is Ilonggo and still struggles with Tagalog.  We went and visited some of our investigators and it was interesting because as I listened to this Elder speaking, I could tell when he would switch between the Tagalog and Visayan language.  He is a cool Elder.  I also met and Elder TRIAS.  If you can, please let the Montesclaros family know of him because he was surprised to learn that they were in my home Ward.  I had told him that I was from New Zealand and the first thing he asked was if I knew the Montesclaros familiy.  As mentioned earlier, I told him that they were in my Ward.  He was shocked and said, "What a small world!" Cool aye. 

On Thursday we went looking for this one family.  Tamboong. They're an elderly couple and when we arrived at their door, the Nanay let us in and the Tatay was sitting on the couch with his eyes closed.  I thought he was asleep for a minute and then he stood up - eyes still closed - shook our hands and explained that he had an eye infection and his eyes hurt if he kept them open so he had them closed.   We shared a little message and asked Tatay a question and we weren't quite prepared for his long response.  He just talked and talked and talked and we were there for about an hour and a half.  Funny thing, because the Tatay talked so long the Nanay ended up falling asleep.  Oh man!

Sunday is always a good day.  We had another great turn out at Church with our investigators and our less actives attending.  We had 8 investigators and 16 less actives come.  Just for your information, to be counted as an active member of the church after being less active a person is required to attend church 4 times in a row.  The work is going well and we have 2 baptisms on December 1 - cool - then another one on December 8th.  I just hope I can do everything that is needed to see them enter the waters of baptism.

Like I mentioned, on Saturday we had a baptism and it was an 8 year old girl from a less active family in our area.  It is not counted as a missionary baptism but we attended it because the family is awesome.  Her name is Rebecca Ramos and it was good to see her family back at church.  The dad also attended the confirmation on Sunday.  Awesome!

Yeah, so on Monday, I received a call from the AP's that I'll be training again, but I had already been told that by President.  They said that we had trainers meeting on Tuesday morning so, on Tuesday I woke up at 5:30 a.m., had a shower and was out the door by 6:20 a.m. -  right on time!  I met up with one of the other Elders that will be training too and we had breakfast at Macca's and then caught a taxi over to the Mission home.  In the trainers meeting we went over the training program and then we went back home.  There are 7 Elders that will be training and 9 Sisters.   That's a lot of new missionaries.   Cool aye!  It was funny seeing the newbies freaking out because it will be their first time to train.  I was a little bit more relaxed because this is my third time.  Next week  I will send the details about my new companion.

It will be sad to see Elder Braind leave but it will be fun to train a new missionary.  I haven't received any package as yet from President.  With transfers tomorrow it is going to be a very busy day. Oh, and about Thanksgiving,  I do know that we have a dinner appointment tomorrow night to celebrate it.

I love you all Whanau.  Kei te aroha au ki a koe.  Ingat kau lagi. Mahal ko kayo.

Elder Chadderton

13 November 2012

Hi Mum and Whanau,

It's that time of the week again and it has come around so quickly.  Thanks for the emails and photos.  I've been a bit slack in sending photos but I'll send them one day.  Brooke & Lehi's wedding looked awesome.  I hope you guys had fun.  Sounds like the baby's are doing well and I can't believe that baby Joe is walking and talking.   Such amazing progress from when I first left for the MTC up until now. 

My week has been good and yes, it was busy like I mentioned last week.   On Tuesday I went on exchanges with one of the other Elder's from my district. It was fun and we had an awesome Family Home Evening with one of the families.  The plan was to teach a lesson to one of the families investigators first and then have Family Home Evening.  However, before we walked into the house my companion leaned over to me and said, "Elder Chad is it okay if you share the lesson,  we're going to be talking about, "Enduring to the End."  I was happy to do that because that is one of my favorite lesson's to teach. So, we start with a prayer and I share a story about this video called, "Finisher's Wanted!"  I'm not sure if you've seen it but it's about an African Olympian who goes to the Olympics to compete in the Marathon race but half way through the race his ankle gives way and he collapses.  The medics come and attend to him and strap up his ankle thinking that they will now take him to the hospital.  But,  he refuses to go with them.  Instead, he picks himself up and carries on to finish the race.  He hobbles all the way to the finish line and when he finally gets there he is approached by news presenters who ask him why he kept going and why he didn't just give up and why he felt he needed to finish the race knowing that he would come last out of all the people that competed.  His response was,  "I have travelled over 5000 miles to be here to represent my country and I didn't just come here to start the race, but I was sent here to finish the race!"  After sharing this story, I then compared it to each of our lives and how our life is like being in a race.  Being born to this earth is how we start this race but what is important is how we finish it.  I then shared a scripture found in, 2 Nephi 31:20 which reads:  "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope and a love of God and of all men.  Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."  I then closed by sharing my testimony and asked if they had any questions or if they understood what I had just taught.  The tatay was amazed and he said he clearly understood what I had said and complimented me on my Tagalog saying that I was better than him.  Hehe!  He's from a different province so he's still learning Tagalog. 

On Thursday we had interviews with President DeLaMare and it was fun and President told me that I will be training again next transfer.   I will not be moving, which means that I'll be in Tandang Sora for Christmas.  Cool aye!  I was super excited at the news but sad that my mate Elder Braind will be moving.

MayMay came to church on Sunday and we've reset her baptismal date for the 1st of December.  She is doing good.  We have a new investigator that is only available on Sunday's so we have set up to teach her the lesson's at the Chapel.  We have set a baptism date for her for December 8 and she has accepted.  She's awesome and her name is Vanessa Oiting.   We also have another investigator by the name of JR and he's 13 and his family are all members but he wasn't baptized because the family became less active.  He also has a baptismal date of December 1st, so December is going to be a great month. 

There is no other work in the world like missionary work.  The work is harder, the trials are greater and the temptations are ridiculous but that is where enduring to the end comes in and it is so important that we stick it out.  I love it and I can see why people, after they finish their missions, talk so much about their mission for the rest of their lives.  I know when I finish I will be talking about my mission for the rest of my life. 

We had Temple tour and took some of our investigators and less actives there and it was an awesome experience. I have pictures but my camera is at home at the moment. 

Oh pala um, next week is transfer day so I won't be emailing until Wednesday and not on Monday.  Mum, I finished your letter but I just need to find a way to get it to you. Hehe!

I love you all and I love the Lord and a huge thanks for the letters that you guys send.   Please give my aroha to the grandparents and the rest of the Whanau. 

Elder Chadderton

6 November 2012

Hey Mum and Whanau,

Another great week.  Thanks for the emails and the pictures.  It is good to hear that Danii and baby Rawiri are dong fine.   Joe, your the man.  Thanks for keeping me updated. 

I'm a bit short on time today but I wanted you all to know that I love you so much.  One experience from this week that I want to share with you is to do with how they celebrate Halloween. Ok, so in the Philippines they have Halloween on November 1st and not October 31st like the rest of the world.  However, here it  is called, "All Saints Day."  So, what the people do on All Saints Day is they go to the cemetery and visit the graves of their deceased relatives.  It sounds a little creepy but that's what they do.  The people will usually stay at the cemetery for long periods of time and others will do an all nighter - like, spend the entire night there with their deceased family members.  Last week when President DeLaMare emailed, he asked us to go out and do some finding at the cemetery on All Saints Day and spend a couple of hours chatting with people and sharing the plan of salvation with them.   It seemed fine in theory and so on this particular day my companion and I walked up to the cemetery to go and find people to talk to and as we walk in I get this really bad feeling come over me, like eerie.  We were on splits today so I was with Elder Cortezano and while we were walking around the cemetery I was feeling like I do not want to be here.  This cemetery is nothing like what I've seen back home.  It's huge and in some places instead of graves with a headstone they have like houses or shrines built for the crips of the deceased.  Honestly, this was freaking me right out.  If you're laughing at me while you're reading this, I don't blame you.  Just thinking about it cracks me up.   So, we spend about a half hour or so walking around the cemetery and Elder Cortezano is trying to talk to people and I'm still not liking the fact that we are at this place and I looked at him after we get rejected by this one lady and I said, "Der alis na tayo!"  I didn't want to be there and we were getting rejected so we gapped it and walked as fast as we could out of there while trying hard not to bump over anyone as we left.  Once we were out of the cemetery I just had to take a minute to chill out on the side of the road.  I don't know why I was feeling apprehensive about being in the cemetery but what I did know is that I just didn't want to be there. 

Well, I went on exchanges with some of the other Elders later in the day and was able to help them with a few issues they were having.   At church yesterday, we had an amazing attendance of less actives.  The chapel was jam packed.   My companion and I had 19 less actives attend and the other companionship had 24 of their less actives attend.  The work is moving forward really well.  We are getting closer to the baptism date of MayMay Ramos but we had a little hiccup where she didn't make it to church yesterday.  It was a little sad because we now have to postpone her baptism date.  Things like that happen and it can be a little disappointing but despite that she is doing good.   We are going to go and visit them tomorrow and find out why she didn't come and what we can do to help.

We have interviews this week with President DeLaMare which is always nice and then we have Temple Tour on Saturday and I'm going on exchanges again bukas (tomorrow).  It is going to be a busy but great week. 

Mum, it was great to hear that Elder Ofahulu's mum called you.  Stay close to them. 

Um... other than that, life is good and we've had a good day today. I'm not sick and me and my companion are doing great. 

I love you all and I miss you all.  The time is going too fast and in a few months na lang… hehe…I'll be back home.  So, ang gagawin ko dito ay magtiis hanggang wakas.  Yun ung mahirap pero kailangan natin un upang makamtan ung mga blessings ng diyos.  Mahal niya tayo.  Mahal ko din kayo.  Inat kayo lagi at hwag ninyo akong makalimutan. 

Elder Chadderton