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
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