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
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