26 December 2012

Hey Mum and Whanau,

Another great week here in Tandang Sora.  It was so awesome to skype and see your beautiful faces, especially de'niece' and de 'nephew's' … hehe.  Awesome.  Thanks for everything and I think I told you everything during our skype session.  I love you all so, so, much.  I can't believe that Jenna's almost finished her mission.  That went ridiculously fast and to think that I'm next.  Oh man... 

Thanks family again and just so you know, we have transfers next week so I will be emailing on Wednesday to tell you if I'm moving or not.  The time for me is going so fast and before you know it,  I will be the one buying little prezzies to bring home. Oh man!  Please tell Hinalei I'm excited for my date with her.  I think she can just be my girlfriend when I get back. Hehe.

Well, family, I don't have much else to share other than I love you all so much. Take care and have a great week.

Elder Chadderton

17 December 2012

Hey Mum and Whanau,

MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone.  Christmas is so close and I can just about hear your voices.  Just to confirm, 10:00 a.m. is when I will skype - or somewhere between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.  Thanks for all the emails and the pictures.  You guys look awesome in the pics.

We've had a pretty amazing week.  We had an experience on Saturday night where we visited the house of one of our investigators.   On entering the house the son asked us straight away if we could give his mum a blessing.  I said it would be fine and he shared with us his mum's condition and how she had deteriorated.  We learnt that about 8 months ago she had a stroke and is now paralyzed down the right side of her body.  I remember when I first arrived in this area the mum's health was okay and she could sit up straight, was eating okay and overall, she seemed to be alright.  But, when I saw her today she was barely breathing and had dropped so much weight and she was in a lot of pain.  As I was about to give her a blessing, I was inspired to give a blessing of comfort where I was to prepare her and her family for when she enters the spirit world.  It was an interesting experience for me to give a blessing like that but I just followed what the spirit was telling me to do.  After the blessing we sat down and you could feel a sense of calm enter the room.  The mum's breathing seemed to settle and she went to sleep.  It was an amazing experience.  I haven't had any contact with the family since Saturday so I'm praying that they are doing okay.

On another note, the work has been great and we were able to teach over 40 lessons this past week so we have been very busy.  Our Mission is focusing once again on investigators so we have been doing some finding to help grow our teaching pool.  It's fun and I've come to realize that while tracting is a form of finding people, I know that the best way to get new investigators is to work with the members as they know people who are ready to hear the gospel.  Our area is progressing and Elder Van Dyke is progressing too.  I've been trying my best to help him memorize different phrases and words in Tagalog so that he can participate more during the lessons.   He's getting it and I know how hard it can be for him.  I find myself taking over the discussion during the lessons and I'm not complaining because I know Elder Van Dyke will get it and contribute more as he becomes more confident in speaking the language.  He will have a better mission for knowing the language.

I am excited to Skype you guys next week and I'm going to go to the same internet cafe that I skyped from last Christmas because I know that its legit.  Unlike when I skyped home for Mother's day and the reception wasn't that great.  I am going to look for some nice things to give to some of my investigators and less actives this week for Christmas.  Thanks again family for the Christmas money.  Thanks for everything.  I love you guys heaps. Take care and have a great week.

Elder Chadderton 

10 December 2012

Hey Mum and Whanau,

Thanks for the emails and the pictures.  I'm sure you know that this time of year is very special for all of us, especially because of the memories from previous Christmas'.  Don't cry mum because the things that you and dad shared in your emails brought tears to my eyes.  I know our family has been blessed from us serving a mission. I think the only hard part for me on my mission is being away from home during times like Christmas.  But, like you said mum I've only got five months left and that time is going to fly by. 

I also liked what dad shared about giving my all to my mission.   I have really done that in this area and I will have served here for 6 months which is the longest time I've been in one area.  I love the people here and I love the work because it's pushing forward so well.  I know it's going to be hard to leave. 

Our baptism on the weekend was a success.  Our investigator arrived a little late but other than that everything was great.  It was such an awesome experience to see how the gospel can change someone's life.  The name of the girl that was baptized is Vanessa Otiong and she is 22 years of age and stays with her family.  We met her when she came to church.  She rocked up by herself and we were introduced to her by some of the other members.  We could only teach her on Sunday's because she works all week.  Last Sunday we had to sort out her baptism and confirmation records.   After church we stopped over at her house where she lives with her parents and her grandma.  The great thing about us going over to her house is that we got to meet her parents.  Sadly, her dad was drunk when we arrived but he had a lot of questions about the church.   Vanessa's Mum was quiet and didn't say much at all. I asked the parents if they were interested in learning about the church and they said yes.  I told them that we didn't want to teach them right there and then because the dad wasn't sober so we set a return appointment for the following day.  We rocked up the next day but only the mum was home and she was sitting outside on the bench enjoying the views.  So, I sat down next to her and we started talking.  The dad wasn't home as yet so we talked with the mum and spent a little time just getting to know her.   Well, while we were talking the dad arrived home.  He invited us into the house and we started to chat with them.  As missionaries we call it BRT (building relationships of trust).  They expressed how they all wanted a happy family and they wanted to help the dad overcome his drinking and smoking issues and mostly they wanted to learn more about Jesus Christ.  Ding, ding, ding!   That's what missionaries do!  Hehe!  So, we started sharing the first lesson and I felt prompted to focus on families so I taught how the gospel blesses families.  They had a lot of questions about the church which I was able to answer.  It was great to see their desire to be taught.  We had taught Vanessa after church on Sunday about enduring to the end and I shared with her parents how Vanessa's example will help pave the way for her family to be together forever.  We also shared with Vanessa some of the concerns that her parents had for her.  She expressed how she too wanted to have a close, happy family.  I was inspired to give her some good words of advice and she said that she'll try her best to be a better person and be a good example to her family.  She's awesome and her family is awesome too. I told you I love this area. 

On Friday we had our Ward Christmas party and while it seemed a bit early, it was cool to see the Ward all together.   We had so many of our less actives attend which was great and we were able to have a really nice time.

Thanks for the Christmas money dad.  I'm going to help others to have a good Christmas as well.  I love you all so much and thanks again for everything.  Take care this week and share the message of Jesus Christ to everyone you meet. 

Elder Chadderton

5 December 2012

Hey Mum and Whanau,

It has been another sweet week here in the Philippines - busy, but great.  I'm having a few allergy problems where I'm waking in the mornings and my sinuses are playing up - just like dad.  It sucks but I still have my Zyrtec to take.  

Yeah, so the work has been a little slow because we have been so busy organizing everything for our baptisms that took place last Saturday.  They were both a huge and complete success.  We had  Bishop attend and a whole lot of youth to support the newly baptized members. My companion and I sang a musical item and it was good.  I was proud of him. Hehe. 

I have withdrawn some money from my personal account because I found some waterproof Hush Puppies that were just my size and they fit fine, so I bought them.  Cool aye. I also bought some more material to get more pants made.  I've already ordered two that I am waiting on and so happy that I am able to get that done while I'm here.

On Thursday we had District leader training and it was awesome.  President took us through some workshop training which was a lot of fun and then we focused on how we can help to lift the Mission.  We continue to focus on our less actives but we are trying to mix that with a focus on baptizing as well.  It's a great vision.

Um about the transfers, from what I understand the January 3rd transfers will not be affected but after that date the next transfers will be pushed back two weeks to align with the new MTC schedule.  That's basically why my exit date is affected but its all good.  Thanks for the pictures you send because it's always nice to see everyone's faces.  Mum, may I ask if you can send some pictures of you and dad the next time you are both at the Temple because I have million's of pictures of the kids but none of you two together.  Thank you. 

I've been out now for 19 months and am the longest serving missionary in the family.  I'll be extending for two weeks and it's as though the Lord doesn't want to let me go.  Hehe!

Mum, I must admit that training and leading the area can be difficult.  Elder Van Dyke is shy because of the language barrier but I've been able to help him over the past week to broaden his vocabulary.  It is so funny to look back over the months and see myself in my new companion.  That's how I was when I first started - so self conscious, so worried about if what you're saying is right and how the members and investigators see you.  If there is one thing that I have learnt from Elder Ofahulu, it is  how he would say, "You've got to lose money to appreciate money" or in this case, "You have to sacrifice before you gain the blessings" meaning that it's okay if you don't get the language straight away and if you make mistakes that's okay too because you have to know how it feels to make mistakes before you can learn from your mistakes.  Woah!  That's deep.  But so true. 

I like to use the son's of Mosiah as an example.  Imagine if everyone that the son's of Mosiah taught were converted straight away.  That would be too easy.   However, they were beaten, thrown in jail, starved and cast out of cities. But from each of their experiences they learnt something new.  They grew and then they became mighty missionaries and changed the hearts of many of the Lamanite's who then became converted.  Amazing diba!  They say that a missionary should serve his/her mission with no regrets.  The only regret you would have as a missionary is the regret of not learning anything from the mistakes you made.  Our mistakes should help us to become more perfect.  A diamond isn't a perfect, shining, sparkling diamond as soon as it comes out of the ground.  It goes through a long refining process where it is shaped, formed and cleaned in a way so that others can enjoy its beauty and lustre.   Man, I'm sounding like a preacher... hehe...

Well, we had Temple day today.  It's always a joy to be in the House of the Lord and to feel his presence and his love and to know that even with the imperfections we do have, he still loves each and every one of us and he will continue to do so as we continue to try our hardest.

I've got just over 5 months left on my mission and I hope that the Lord can mould me into the man I am meant to be for the rest of my life.  This is my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I love you all.  I'm sorry my emails a bit late due to Temple day.  We have another baptism this Saturday so please pray that everything will work out ok there. 

Mahal ko kayo

Elder Chadderton