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
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