13 May 2013

Hey Mum and Whanau,

This may possibly be my last or second to last email to you from the mission field.  Thanks again for the emails and pictures, you guys look awesome.  My week has been good and it was just this last week that I realized how close I am to finishing. 

Well family, the mission is coming to an end and because of that, last Friday we had to go to an Employment workshop which is held specifically for those missionaries returning home.  During the workshop we learnt how to write a resume,  write a 30 second, "Me" statement and a strong power statement about myself.  It was really good and I seem to remember doing something similar to this at school in Aussie.  It was great being in the room with all the other missionaries that came into the mission field with me.  I loved talking with them and learning about their plans for when they go home.  It hit me once again that in less than two weeks it will all be over.  It made me think that the mission that I have looked forward to serving all my life since I was a kid is now almost over.   I've served my two years and done it to the best of my ability and now I have to sort out a list of what I am going to do when I come home.  I know things will work out. 

This past week we were able to find a lot more of the members and less actives in our area.  Elder Merrill is doing good and getting the hang of everything.  His language is coming along well, he's really improved in teaching the lesson's to the needs of the investigator and he's doing great.   He's finding it a little hard having his first two companions returning home but at least he will know what to do when we leave.  Hehe!

So we were supposed to have two baptisms this week but once again we've had to delay them because they're not quite ready.  They understand what they need to do and it gives them more time to prepare and get ready for one of the best decisions of their lives. 

Well, it was great to talk to you guys yesterday and it's unreal to think that this time next week I will be in my last days in the field.  Crazy!   So, for our schedule next Monday, Elder Barba and I will get picked up around 6:00 p.m. by one of the couple missionaries assigned to this area and they will take us to the Mission President's home where we will stay for the next two days.  On Tuesday we will have what is called, "exit day" where we will visit some historical sites here in Manila and then have a workshop, eat and then relax.  On Wednesday we will be dropped off at the airport.  But for now, I've just got to keep working hard and not give up.  I will try and call you when I get to Hong Kong before I board my flight home.  I'll take heaps of pictures in my last week and try to pick up a few things to bring home so I can remember the Philippines.  It will be awesome.

Magtiis hanggang wakas.  Taglish na tayo hane. Na realize ko na, na matagal na hindi ako nag email sa inyo sa tagalog.  At dahil ito po ung pinaka huli kong email sa inyo magtatagalog nalang ako sa inyo.  Sa ngayon po labing dalawang buwan na ako sa bansang ito.  At nakapagmisyon na ako ng 24 months. napakaswerte ko dahil nakakapaglingkod pa ako dito nang higit 24months sa pilipinas. Ang dami kong natutunan dito sa misyon na di ko makakalimut. di ko talaga alam kung anung balak ko paguwi pero alam ko magbibigay ang Diyos ng lahat ng pangangailangan ko sa buhay at tutulungan niya ako sa lahat. ako po ay naglingkod ng marangal, masipag, masigasig at binigay ko ang lahat ng kakayahan ko. ito po ung gawain ng Diyos at mamimiss ko ito.  Excited ako para makita ko ang inyong mga maganda at kagwapong mukha. siyam na araw na lang.  Kailangan ko ng inyong mga panalangin, inyong pananampalataya para gabayan ako sa aking paguwi.   Mahal ko kayo lahat.  Makikita nalang tayo sa May 23.  Ingat kayo lage.

Elder Chadderton   

6 May 2013

Hey Mum and Whanau,

Just over two weeks left and all is well. Thanks for all the pictures and awesome emails.  Danielle, you brought tears to my eyes reading your email because it definitely made me stop and think about all the hard work I've experienced on my mission - the blood, the sweat and tears that I've shed bearing the name of Jesus Christ, all the pants I've split, the shoes I've worn out, the shirts that have ripped and all the holey socks.  So cool!  Then to look ahead a couple of weeks and think of the joy that I will experience walking through those airport doors and being embraced in the arms of my family.  That is something I am really looking forward to.  This week has been awesome and it's been a great week for our investigators too.

Now, I don't know if I told you about our investigator, Michel lodivice.  Well, she is a 36 year old mum that showed up at Church one day and we taught her about the Prophet Joseph Smith and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and she was so interested.  We felt inspired to talk to her about the law of repentance on a return visit and she shared with us some of the problems that she has had in her life and how she wants to change.  We have continued teaching her and she continues to attend church and this last week we have just started teaching her children and they are as amazing and ready as she is.  We are trying our best to teach the husband/father so that we can teach the whole family but he's not quite ready.   Michel's baptism was scheduled for this week but she needs to have and interview with our Mission President before she can be baptized so we have pushed her baptismal date out one more week.  We have taught her about the Word of Wisdom and since that lesson she has quit drinking coffee and tea.  We've taught her about paying tithes and offerings an she pays her tithing every week and yesterday for Fast Sunday she fasted.   We taught her about the Book of Mormon and she reads about a chapter or two a day.   She is just amazing!  In our last lesson we were teaching her children and we asked them how they liked reading the Book of Mormon and they said they loved it.   Michel said that they don't watch as much TV anymore because they spend their time reading and she said their family relationship has changed and that there is more love in their home.  The funny thing was when we went to their house yesterday after church Michel leaned over to me and asked, "When are we allowed to break our fast?"  I was just overjoyed to think that they were fasting and it was almost 5:00 p.m.  So, I told her that it was up to her but usually between 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. is good time and she sighed with relief and said, "Oh good because I'm so hungry right now!"  She is so amazing and she realized that the greater the sacrifices,  the greater the blessings.  Just last week Sunday she paid her full tithes and when Monday came around her husband didn't get called into work, meaning, "No job, no money, no food!"  He was out of work for the whole week but she said despite that, her family had not gone hungry and had food every meal that week.  She put that blessing down to paying a full and honest tithe. She is so awesome and faithful and I can't wait to see her baptized on May 18th. Her children's baptismal dates are set for June 1.  Exciting! 

So, yesterday being fast and testimony Sunday, I got up and bore my testimony for the last time on a Fast and Testimony Sunday in the Philippines.  What a crazy feeling to think that my mission is coming to an end, but what a privilege to think that I've done it and the next Fast and Testimony meeting I will attend will be back home in my home Ward sharing it with you all. 

We had Zone interviews during the week and that was another, "last" thing in the mission.  It was awesome to just have a chat with President and feel of his love and support that he has for me.  I had to get my temple recommend renewed from him as well and it was an awesome feeling to be able to answer honestly and confidently all the questions he had to ask.  Awesome!

Today we went to the waterfalls for our Zone activity (my third time during my mission)!  Hehe!  It was so awesome and we played games, ate food and took heaps of pictures.  The Senior missionary couples in our Zone came along too which made it even more awesome. 

Mum, about the packing, I'm going to start this week and I realize that I've got to give away one of my suitcases and get rid of a ton of clothes. Fortunately, I've already had a member in the Ward ask me for some of my stuff which is great because I've got a lot to give him.   I'll update you on my packing on Sunday when I Skype.

It seems as if a lot of the things I am doing at the moment are for the, "Last time" and it is probably getting on my companions nerves a little.  Hehe!  But my time is quickly coming to an end and just looking at the dates, I've been a missionary now for two years.  I was talking to a new Elder today and he was saying how he'd love to switch places with me. I told him, "I've done my time and it's your turn to do yours!"  This is the Lord's work and it has been such a huge privilege for me to be able to serve the Lord.  My ministerial certificate expires on May 9 because that was when I was originally scheduled to come home until all the release dates were changed.  It's all been a bonus to stay longer and it comes with bonus blessings.   Here's a short poem:

Two years in the Philippines

Two years to serve the Lord,

Two years to change my life

Two years to preach His word.

All good things must come to an end 

To live, to love, to make new friends,

I've given my life to serve the Lord 

I now can say I've given it, "My all!"

To think of the sacrifice of His chosen Son

To think of the victory that He has won,

He loved us, He served us, He gave, "His all"

Now look at your life, What can you do more?"

I love you all heaps and look forward to seeing you on Sunday when I Skype home.  Thanks for everything and have a great week.  See you on Mother's day!

Elder Chadderton

29 April 2013

Hey Mum and Whanau,

Another good week here in the Philippines.  Thank you for all your emails and pictures, they are so awesome and it was great to receive all of your words of encouragement because they really are a big help for me.   Mum, you guys look awesome in your pictures, but please don't go pushing dad off any high towers anytime soon!  Hehe!  We've had a good, constructive week in our area and we were blessed to listen to Elder Ardern this week at a Missionary Devotional and it was so awesome.

I loved listening to the New Zealand accents when Elder Ardern and is wife spoke to us at the Devotional.  They came into the Chapel, sat up front and  skimmed over the missionaries and he saw me and leaned over to his wife to probably say, "There's Elder Chadderton!"  Hehe!  Cool aye. It's funny because I think he thought I was the only Kiwi he knew because when he was speaking he singled me out about questions about home and the differences in our accent.  He started speaking and said, "There are only three people here today that, "DONT" have accents.  Me, my wife and Elder Chadderton!"  Crack up, but to make me feel even more special, when he left he came over to where I was sitting and shook my hand.  Just me!  Out of all the missionaries in the chapel he only shook my hand. I felt so SPECIAL!  Hehe.  His messages were great as he talked about how to better fulfill your calling as missionaries and in a way what our calling entails.   Sister Ardern shared four ways to be a better learner.  Great talk too! 

So, our focus for the past week was to find more less active members and possibly old investigators that may have been overlooked.  This was to help boost our teaching pool because of past baptisms.   Our hard work payed off because we were really blessed while working in this one area called Batac.  On our list or planner that we carry,  we've written down that there are a lot of members in this area so we go by the names on the list and pray that we can find these families.   We are walking around our area and turn down this one street.   My companion, Elder Merrill thought that he knew where one of the investigators lived but we must have either past the house or missed it because we couldnt find it.   Anyway, we walked back out to the main road and this guy is just chilling on his trike and calls us over.  We talk to him for a bit and find out that his family are all members except him.  He said that he was taught by the missionaries some time ago but he wasn't able to get baptized because the missionaries were transferred and no one visited him after that so in the end he lost interest and was never baptized.   We talked to him some more and asked him if he was interested to have us share the lessons with him.  He said that it would be fine.  Cool!  We then showed him our list and asked him if he knew some of the names that were written there and if he knew where they lived.  He pointed out a house close by that was the house of another less active family. Cool blessings!

We went and visited the less active family and talked and shared a lesson with them and then asked if they knew any members close by and they too pointed out another family's home that we didn't know about.  The next day we continued our search and by night time we were just about to head home and we stopped by a Tindahan and asked the owner if she knew where a particular family lived that was also on our list.  She pointed out the home and so we pushed our luck and asked if she knew one of the other names and she knew them as well.  It was really amazing because we were able to visit and share a lesson with those families too.  So cool!  It reminds me of the scripture and song, "Be thou humble and the Lord, thy God, will lead you by the hand and give thee answers to thy prayers."  That's what he did for us. He's the man! 

Tomorrow we have Zone interviews and I also need to get my Temple recommend renewed as it expires tomorrow.  Perfect timing or what?  I'm going to go on exchanges with the Zone leaders on Thursday in Teresa - one of my last areas.  Then on Saturday two of our investigators will be interviewed for baptism.  Awesome! Then, "MOTHERS DAY" the following Sunday!  We figured about 2:00 p.m. my time should be the best time to Skype home. Oh and next Monday for our Zone activity we are going to the water falls again.  All goods! 

Busy week ahead and another week to fly by.  Next week it'll just be over two weeks na lang but as for now I am doing everything I can to help our investigators get ready for baptism.  My theory is, "Magtiis hanggang wakas o magsaya hanggang wakas."  Time is to short to screw things up now!

I love you all so much and I can't wait to see all your beautiful faces when I Skype home on Mother's Day - one last Skype session before the mission ends and before I come home.

Elder Chadderton

23 April 2013

Hey Mum and Whanau, 

Thanks once again for the awesome emails and pictures.   It's so good to see that everyone is doing well and you all look so great in the pictures.   Good to hear that the parents are home and safe and that the miracles are flowing.  That's amazing.  I'm doing great here in Tanay.  It's a sweet area but its so far away from the rest of the world and it takes ages to get anywhere from here.

Today is Temple day and as a zone we planned to go to the first session at 7:00 a.m.  So, because we live so far from the Temple,  we woke up at 3:30 a.m. showered, got changed and were out of the house by about 4:15 a.m. to catch a van all the way into Medical city which is close to where  President lives.  We then taxied to the Temple and it took us about two hours in total to get to the Temple.  We made it on time for the 7:00 a.m. session and it was awesome but I was feeling a bit droopy eyed during the session.  My bad, but it was so awesome being in the House of the Lord again and I realized that the next time I go to the Temple it will be the day before I come home.   Oh man!  After we finished up at the Temple we caught a jeep home but it took us about 3 hours to get back .  It was really hot and the pollution was quite strong and we were cramped up in this smallish sized jeep.  But I love it and I'm going to miss it.  Bytheway,  I had to get a chest x-ray as part of my exit regulation requirements just to show that everything is normal.   They just check if we have any problems with TB or stuff like that.  The doctor said that it didn't look like I had any problems so I'm happy.

So, the two baptisms we had lined up went great and according to plan.  However, we did start a bit late because our presiding leader thought it started at 5:00 p.m. instead of 4:00 p.m. but it all worked out.  Both of them have been confirmed and should receive the Aaronic Priesthood next week.  It's awesome to see people enter the waters of baptism and we also found two more potential priesthood investigators to replace the ones we just baptized.  Cool aye.

I am now oficially 21!  WOW!  I'm an old man now.  Hehe!  I was looking at my pictures from my MTC days and I look so young compared to now.  I've had people say to me that I look like I'm  28 or 30 years old mainly because they judge age according to size and because I'm a freakishly large person, they think I'm older... dunno but it's awesome.   So, on my birthday we had our district leader training which was cool because two other Elders from my batch were also there and while the other Elders were doing the workshops and stuff we were just sitting back saying how we've been there and done that and how it feels so weird being the oldest in the mission now.

Yesterday reminded me that I only have one more month to go. CRAZY!   It's all coming to an end too quickly and I know that I've still got a lot of work to do here before I leave.  I'm not excited to leave and I know it's going to be hard because I've learnt so much from these great people that I've grown to love, I've learnt to serve and I've learnt to respect.  It's so important to look on the inside of someone and not just on their physical stature.  I know I've got to apply all these things to my life when I get back.  RMs any tips? 

I received my itinerary and I will be coming home on May 23rd, landing at 12:00 noon.  Awesome!  One concern Mum is that I'm only allowed to bring one 20 kg bag home with a carry on and one personal item.   That doesn't seem fair because it will mean that I will have to leave so much stuff - mainly clothes and maybe some books.  Please make sure I've got some funds in my account for when I travel because if I get charged for luggage I'm going to worry.  I trust that the Lord will help me work it out and I might end up buying an extra backpack for all my books so I can take it on the plane.  I need my books.  It's going to be fun packing and I just had the thought that when I email next week I'll have 3 weeks left.  Man, I am counting down on one hand.

On the flip side of things, Elder Merrill is doing really well and he and I are sweet. No problems and I'm trying to help him with his language so his mission will be a success.  He was happy on Saturday when we had the baptisms.  He said, "Two more souls saved!"  Cool aye!  Those were his first baptisms for his mission and we are hoping to have another two in the upcoming weeks.

The mission is amazing and I'm loving it but I know I'm definitely going to miss it but I also know I have my friends back home to help me keep on track when I get home.  Mum you're right when you say that I will want to visit the mission again one day.  I'm going to plan a return visit and you can come as well Mum.  Hehe.

I love you all so much.  Four more weeks na lang.  Grabe talaga ang bilis ng panahon.. sobra. Ingat kayo lage. Mahal ko kayo.

Elder Chadderton  

15 April 2013

Hey Mum and Whanau,

Another great  and successful week in the mission field and it was nice to listen to the General Conference talks this week.  Thanks for all the emails and pictures.  You all look so great and hugs all round when I get home.

So, I've been transferred and I am happy.  I am in a place called Tanay, Rizal and my new companion is Elder Merrill from Bountiful, Utah.  He's 19 years of age and a really nice guy and he kinda reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite.  Hehe!  He's doing great in the mission and I'm his follow up trainer because he's only been in the area for one transfer and he's still struggling with the language which means I've been assigned to lead the area.   Our investigator pool is healthy and we have some great people to teach.  We have two baptisms next week which is awesome and then we have one scheduled for May 4th and another for May 11th.  That is so awesome.  Our area is huge but the place we work in is tiny because we are trying to focus on teaching the investigators that are close to the Chapel.  Tanay is a little further down from one area I used to serve in called Teresa so it is considered province.   It's a very nice little town and reminds me a little of Kihikihi.  It's cool and the only problem is that there is no MacDonald's!  (jokes). 

Well,  with my birthday being tomorrow and everything and being in a new area I figured I'm just going to shout the Elders to dinner and then buy a cake and munch it back.  That will definitely be one of the highlights for this week along with our two baptisms. 

Story, "We have an investigator named Randell and he is 23 years of age and looks like he could be my little brother. Hehe!  We gave him a reading assignment in the Book of Mormon last Wednesday -  3rd Nephi chapter 11 focusing on baptism.  We visited him again on Friday expecting him to have read the chapter we'd assigned him and so we ask him if he has read it and he had not only read chapter 11 but he carried on and read chapters 12, 13 and 14 too.  I was shocked but he said he really enjoyed it.  We then invited him to share what he liked from the chapters he read and if he had any questions.  He asked us so many questions and shared a ton of scriptures.  I caught a glimpse of his scriptures and he had highlighted so many of the verses.  I believe he really liked those chapters because he talked about the commandments and how important the law of chastity is and he talked about prayer and how we need to pray from the heart and not use repetitive prayers and heaps of other things. It was amazing to see how a person can receive personal revelation for themselves and build their testimony when they read the Book of Mormon."  

Another cool experience happened yesterday when we went and visited an investigator named Michelle.   She has a baptism date set for May 11th.  So, before we start the lesson we follow up on how she liked General Conference.   She said she liked what she understood and then asked us about tithing and what it is.  We briefly explained it to her and then gave her a pamphlet.  We continued with the planned lesson about the Plan of Salvation and the atonement.  I taught about our life on earth and my companion shared the atonement of Jesus Christ.  It was a great lesson and towards the end of the lesson I asked her if there was anything we could help her with.  She started thanking us for teaching her, for being patient with her and for helping her to change her life and then she started to cry and told us how her family is improving a lot and that she feels peace in her heart and comfort when trials come.  When she was crying one of the other members present, looked at her and said perfectly, "Look, look at her, she's feeling the spirit!" and then she started crying too. It was amazing to see how we as missionaries are just instruments in teaching the gospel and we don't do the teaching we just set up the environment for the spirit to come in and let him do the teaching. 

Five weeks left in the field and I'm counting on one hand now.  I'm going to miss it Mum!  I love you all heaps and  hope you had a good week listening to the prophets voice.  I've had an awesome week and I hope this new week will be just as good.  Mahal ko kayo.

Elder Chadderton    

9 April 2013

Hey Mum and Whanau,Hope you are all well.  I'm doing good.  This past week has been very busy but spiritually rewarding. We've had Temple day, Zone conference, Temple tour day, Zone leader Council and today is P-Day where we are doing some Zone training too.  It's been great and health wise I'm doing good.Well, we found out about transfers today and sadly,  I'm getting transferred.   I really thought that I was going to finish out my mission in this area, but the Lord needs me elsewhere so I will go where He wants me to go.  I'm not sure if I will be Zone leader in my new area as yet.Well, the good news is that I got my package.  Thank you so much. It was funny because we had ZLC(zone leader council) on Monday, so after the meeting we caught a ride to the Mission office with the AP's because we had to grab a DVD from the office for our zone training on P-Day.  Anyway, while we were waiting for the DVD, the mail man walked into the office and he asked, "Is there a Sir Elder Chadderton here?" PRESENT!  I heard my name and walked over and literally grabbed the package straight away because I knew what it was and I was a little bit excited.  (good timing on my part being at the office).  Anyway, the office Elder's tried to take it off me because they said that I couldn't have it until transfer day.  Aye? That wasn't going to happen because I wasn't giving it up to no one.  Hehe!  Upon opening it I found that all the chocolates had melted because of the heat.  I'm kinda glad I didn't give it up to the office Elders because the chocolates could have been worse by the time I did get it so,  when we got home I chucked everything in the freezer then we went back out to work and taught some great lessons.  We had dinner at Bishop's home and when we got home later that night we had a feed of CHOCOLATE!  Mate, I couldn't handle it aye!  Because we don't have a lot of sweets here, eating rich NZ chocolate in one go gave me a bad stomach ache. Haha!  Dahan, dahan din pag may time Elder Chadz!Other good news included learning so much at our Zone Conference.  Stuff like having Christ like attributes, studying and staying with ones companion.  It was really nice and unlike Sister Chadderton, we had a good feed afterwards.  Loved it!Yesterday, we had ZLC and it was good. We discussed some of the issues in the mission then watched  a talk by Elder Holland and he is the man.  If you want to be chastised as a missionary then that is the right talk to watch.  It was great because he talked about why PMG came about and why the lessons changed.  He also talked about some of the weaknesses of missionaries and how to overcome them. Towards the end of his talk he gave the, "DO YOU LOVE ME" talk where he explains about the story of the apostle Peter after Christ died and how Christ questioned Peter three times if he loved him more than his worldly things. Amazing talk.Well, I'm still a bit sad that I'm getting transferred but I know the Lord knows what is best for me so I am remaining positive.Thanks for everything family. I love you ALL heaps and heaps.  Dad, I'm a bit short on time but I want you to know that I love you heaps.  Thanks again whanau.Oh, yes, I received my flight details and sadly dad, I won't be arriving home on your birthday as I had originally thought because I don't  leave the Philippines until 12:30 p.m. on May 22nd (your birthday) where I have a  two hour flight to Hong Kong and then another 10 hour flight to the Auckland International Airport (home) which means I arrive on May 23rd!  Woohoo!  It's all good.Elder Chadderton

2 April 2013

Hey Mum and Whanau,

Thanks again for the emails and the pictures, it has been a good week and super hot, but the work continues to go forward.   I can't believe it's April already!  Thanks for putting the birthday package together Mum and Dad.  Hopefully, I'll get it on transfer day which is on April 10.  I am just looking at the calendar and I know these next few weeks are going to pass by super fast, but I hope not too fast.  I only have a short number of days left in the Pines to do all the good that I can. 

Well, it was our Temple day today and it was great because I felt like all my worries left me when I was there and my mind was so clear.  I was thinking on what I would do when I come home. I had some good thoughts come to me so will write them down and plan it out a little more.  Hopefully, I will hit the ground running when I get home.  

Anyway, one good experience that we had this week was to do with a less active member who knocked on our door while we were studying.  She had offered to work with us as a fellow-shipper so we invited her to come by at 2:00 p.m. where she would come with us to an appointment with one of our investigators.   We had a great lesson and the spirit that the member brought to the lesson - despite her being less active was amazing.  Our investigator was so grateful for the lesson.  Fortunately, we were able to visit a lot of our less actives this week and really find out what it is that they specifically need.  It's been great!

We received our April calendar today and we have a Fireside with Elder Ardern this month so I am looking forward to that.  It'll be good to see another familiar face from home. 

We have a busy week ahead of us because despite having Temple day today, we have Zone conference tomorrow and on Saturday we have Temple tour day.  Monday we have Zone Leader training and P-Day will be on Tuesday as we have transfers on Wednesday and Saturday and Sunday will be General Conference.   Hey, and then the following Tuesday it's my 21st birthday!  We have an appointment set up for that day and I learnt that one of our recent convert families has a son whose birthday is on the same day as mine so they have invited us over for dinner on the Saturday.  Cool aye!  And before you know it, Mum, I'll be calling home for, "Mother's Day!" 

Noon bago lang ako sa mission binahagi ko sa inyo about sa kahalagahan ng ating pagtitiis hanggan wakas.  Ngayon nanaranasan ko na kung gaano yun mahalaga.  Matatapos ko na ung mission ko at nararamdaman ko na parang gusto ko tumigil na gusto ko sana magpahinga, pero di ko talaga pwedeng gawin yun dahil narerealise ko na hindi ito ung time ko na hindi ito para lang sa akin pero naglilingkod ako para sa diyos.  Para tulungan ang kanyang mga anak makabalik sa kanya. instrumento lang ako sa kamay ng diyos at tulad ng lahat ng mga instrumento, minsan, kailangan ko din ng 'tuning'. hondo pwedeng mag 'give up' hindi pwedeng mag 'quit'. kailangan ko magtiis hanggang sa wakas.  At kahit dumating ung wakas alam ko meron pa akong magagawa pag uwi ko.  Gagamitin pa ako ng diyos para maisakatuparan ung mga gawain niya. 

I love this work and while it hasn't been easy it has been worth it.  I love you all.

Elder Chadderton

25 March 2013

Hey Mum and Whanau,

So glad to hear you're home safely mum.  Thanks once again for the emails and pictures.  It has been another good week and I'm doing fine.  The weather has been a bit of a scorcher but the work has been great and last week we had an awesome baptism.  

As far as the past week of events goes,  we've had a pretty normal week of work - not overly busy.   My companion and I have been playing basketball just about every morning this week.  We wake up around 5:55 a.m. and study from 6:00 a.m. - 7:00 a.m. and then we go to the basketball court and play from 7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. then on our way home, we stop in and buy some pandesal (delicious, small bread rolls) for breakfast and then we get ready for companionship studies at 9:00 a.m.   It has been great to exercise because it shows me how unfit I am due to the lack of exercising.  Elder Carman and I are having a great time. 

On P-Day last week we went bowling with some of the other Elders in our Zone and it was heaps of fun.  Elder Carman and I found this store that sells TimTams and we've been having some TimTam slams.  Only thing is they are a little expensive but so worth it. 

It was a blessing and a miracle for us that everything worked out for our baptism because on Saturday we started the day with a service project helping this one family.  The service project consisted of putting a napkin, a plastic fork and a plastic knife into a plastic bag.  One of the families in our area do this as their job so we helped them out.  Interesting job!  After the service project we went to the computer shop to print out the baptism program and then headed to the chapel where we filled the font, set up the room and made it look pretty.  Once we finished setting up we headed home to shower, change and go out again.  A few of our appointments fell through which was a bit disappointing but we soldiered on and visited with this one member who not only had a lesson but fed us too and by the time we were done, we had to go back to the chapel.  The person we were baptizing arrived around 6:00 p.m. so we took pictures outside and then started the service.  I sang a song called, "I Will Lead You" and it is a really nice song.  The baptism was great. 

Yesterday was a great day of work.  We had church in the morning then headed home, had lunch and went to work again.  We visited four families in this one area that is close to our house then we went to another area and contacted a referral that we've started teaching.  Awesome family.  We then taught a young girl by the name of Joy who is a special child and her family wants us to teach her so that she can be baptized.   After our discussion with Joy we went to our dinner appointment with a family that recently joined the church.  It was another awesome day and at the end of it all we headed home and did our planning before calling it a night. 

Thanks for all the awesome advice that you guys continue to give me.  It's super helpful and I know that I still have a lot of good to do.  One piece of advice that Jenna mentioned in her email - that I've been running through my mind is, "Finish your mission first and the Lord will take care of the rest!"  That's exactly what I'm doing!  

The mission is quickly coming to an end and I want to finish it on a good note.  Thanks again Whanau.  Love you all and take care.

Elder Chadderton

Monday 10th, 2013

Hey Mum and Whanau,

Thanks for all the emails and pictures. What a strong spirit I feel from you all. I can just imagine sitting in our living room and sharing mission stories with you all. Don’t cry mum - but I am - I miss you all and love you all so much. 

I got my "Trunky letter" today, which informs me that they're organizing my flight plans for coming home. I just need some information. Please send our Bishop's name and our Stake President's name. I was going to request  the mission office if I could get a direct flight home but they said usually they take a different route cause its cheaper. It’s all good. 

It was so sad to hear that Aunty Kun has not been doing well. Take care of her mum!

It was awesome to hear that Jordan is preparing for his mission. It is the best decision that I’ve made in my life and I know that it’ll help him for the rest of his life as well.

There are things that you learn on your mission that seem so indescribable and you just can’t explain them. We had ZLC last week and it seemed that as we were there I was being enlightened as to how the things we do now as leaders in the mission will help and will be very similar to things that we'll do after the mission. It’s been so awesome. 

tulda ng sinabi ko nakaraan linggo hindi ko talagang maipaliwanag ung mga natutunan ko dito sa mission pero nagpapasalamat pa rin ako dahil bahagi ako ng totoong simbahan ng diyos. 

Oh – so we got new mission rules.  We are allowed to email friends, different family members and recent converts in the mission. Cool aye? So now I am allowed to email Jared and Charlton and my other mates. The only thing is I don’t have their email addresses. Ayos lang. Also our email time has now been extended to two hours for everyone. Double cool aye?

So other than that not much has happened this week but the work has been going well and we have another baptism on the 23rd of March. It’s awesome. Take care and have a great week. 

Hey Mum & Dad, I am so jealous you guys get to go and see Sister Nicola in her mission.

Oh and for my birthday I already have a dinner set up (he he) but a small package of little treats would be awesome. Anything would be happy – its up to you guys.

The mission rings I ordered are done but I haven’t got them yet. The lady still has to send them to me. All goods - I’ll send a picture when I get them. 

Love you all heaps.

Elder Chadderton 

4 March 2013

Hey Mum and Whanau,

Thanks for the emails family and the pictures too Danii.  Awesome!  Your question mum regarding the Tatay of the Ustare family and why he wasn't baptized is because he passed away over 20 years ago, so the Nanay is excited to do the temple work for her family when the time is right.  We are trying our best to reach out and teach the older sister.  I think she doesn't like us very much, mainly because when she returned from Abu Dhabi she wasn't too excited to learn that her family had changed religions.  But, she's slowly warming up to us, so hopefully we will have the opportunity to invite her to be baptized before I return home.  That will be sweet to see the whole family complete. 

Cool stories mum about the Ward Movie night and all the popcorn that the Primary made and also the bargains at the Op shops.  Good on you.  It's awesome that Otis and his family are moving into the Temple View house.  And, mum, you've got to  stop reminding me that I only have 10 weeks left.  You are more trunky than I am.  Hehe! Cute! 

So, this week was a good week.  Transfer day went well and we received some really great additions to the Zone.  It's going to be a good transfer and I know the time will pass by quickly because we're all busy in the work.  This morning Elder Carman and I did our planning as Zone leaders where we went through some key indicators and set new goals so that we can better focus on the mission goal of teaching priesthood.   We are focusing on finding this transfer.  We set a goal to do 5, "Open your mouth" (OYM's) every day,  which basically means we have to talk to or contact 5 people - they are counted as contacted if we give them a Book of Mormon or pamphlet and get their name, phone number and address.  We figured that by doing this we will have achieved several of our key indicator's - helping a new investigator, contacting someone, placing a Book of Mormon with someone, increasing the number of lessons we teach and having a member present during our lessons.  It's going to be great and we decided that in order to move the Zone forward we as Zone leaders need to set the example for the rest of the missionaries in our Zone. 

Sister Chadderton asked me to share a miracle that I've experienced this past week.  A few that come to mind are that I consider it a miracle when we make it to all of our scheduled appointments and are on time too.  I also consider it a miracle that on Fast Sunday I fast for 24 hours and haven't died yet!  Hehe.   I consider lots of things to be miracles - even the very small things - such as understanding and applying the things I learn during my personal study to my missionary work, good health and not getting sick for such a long time because since my time in Teresa I haven't really been sick at all which is almost a year now.  Other miracles include having a great transfer this past week and a good Zone, having an awesome companion, having good friends, having active recent converts, having the strength to cope with the demands of missionary work, having the gift of tongues and many more.  That's  just a short list of the things I see as miracles.  I also see miracles through you family. 

Thanks for everything and thanks for being an awesome family and for your continued words of encouragement.  Thanks sa lahat.  Malaki talaga ung mga blessings sa buhay ko.  Di ko talagang maipaliwanag kung gaano ako nagpapasalamat sa diyos. ang daming blessings ang kanyang ibinibigay sa akin at sobra akong grateful sa lahat. 

Alam ko na maiksi lang and oras ko sa mission at talagang mabilis ung mission kapag na engaged ako sa gawaing eto. ito talaga ao ung gawain ng diyos at kanyang kasiyahan para makita tayo bilang masayang mga anak ng diyos. mahal na mahal niya tayo . di ko talagang kayang maipaliwanag kung kalaki ung pasalamat ko sa diyos pero sana naipapakita ko yun sa kanya sa pamamagitan ng aking mga ginagawa. mahal ko siya at alam ko na mahal niya ako. napakabilis po ng sampung linggo at before you know it nandyan na ako sa tabi ninyo. ang saya ng araw nayun. mahal ko kayo. 

Ingat lage at patuloy tayo sa ating paglalakad pabalik sa diyos.

Elder Chadderton     

26 February 2013

Hey Mum and Whanau,

Another great week here in Sumulong.  Thanks for the emails, pictures and all the great words of encouragement.  The time is really getting closer to the end for me and I'm happy to be in a good area with a good companion.  For your information, it's transfer day tomorrow and that is why this email is late.  Dad, you're right Sumulong is a massively long road that seperates our areas.  We are part of Marikina Stake and our Bishop is Marcelino Abril.  He was sustained as Bishop two weeks before I arrived in this area. 

Great job on helping Danii and family with their move into the new house.   Moving is always a stressful event, but at the end of the day you get a good nights sleep.   You guys sure have been busy.

Well, this past week we had the baptisms for Sister Charito Ustare and her son Zhenrry Ustare.  Everything went according to plan where we went to the chapel on Friday night and set up the room and filled the font with water.   On Saturday morning we arrived at the chapel around 8:00 a.m.   The baptism was at 9:00 a.m. and we welcomed those who were attending.  Bishop presided over the service and we had great support from the members.   After the baptisms, the nanay - Sister Ustare -  shared her testimony and it was really special.  The spirit was super strong.  She shared the story of how her eldest son was living and working in Abu Dhabi and while he was their his friend shared the gospel with him and later he was baptized.   When the son returned to the Philippines he introduced his family to the missionaries.  The youngest son Zhenrry was associating with the wrong crowd and had a few Word of Wisdom issues.  The missionaries had set a baptism date for the family back in October 2012 but due to delays, it was reset for January 2013.  Further delays saw it reset for February 2013 where they were finally baptized on Saturday 23 February 2013.  It was a super awesome story and I loved the experience of witnessing a mother being baptized by her son.  It truly was great!

Other than that, there isn't much else to report.  We did have all our scheduled appointments fall through within the space of 30 minutes this one particular day.  On the bright side, we were able to carry on and do some finding and more exploring of the area. 

Hey Mum, after this transfer I have one more transfer!  The time is going way too fast and before I know it, my mission will be over and then my second mission will start!  Man!  

Thanks Whanau for all the support and the good words of encouragement.  I love you all and pray for you.

Ingat kayo lagi.  Mahal ko kayo

Elder Chadderton

18 February 2013

Hey Mum and Whanau,

Amazing news about Little Dan's mission call to the Philippines.  I'm gutted that I won't be able to see him before he leaves.  That will be so awesome to have two Tagalog speaking missionaries in the family.  Please give him my love.  Thanks for the emails and pictures, you guys are so awesome.  My week has been great and the work is going well, with two baptisms set up for next week.

Last Saturday we had a devotional with Brother Allen F. Packer, son of Elder Boyd K. Packer.  We also had Elder Nielsen and his wife attend.  Their messages were focused on retention and helping the priesthood here in the Philippines.  It was a really good fireside.  I really enjoyed Sister Nielsen's scripture that she shared found in D&C 123: 16-17 which reads:  "You know, brethren, that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a storm, by being kept workways with the wind and the waves."  It talks about how a large ship is controlled by a very small helm during a storm and that if you move the helm a little bit the large ship will turn.  It also talks about how just by moving the small helm, the ship can be guided through great storms.   In verse 17 it reads:  "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."  This verse talks about cheerfully doing the things that lay in our power.  We have the choice to be obedient, to read the scriptures, to pray etc. and then we can stand still and see the Lord's hand in action.  We will be blessed according to our choices.  I really loved Sister Nielsen's scripture. 

The work in our area is going well and this week we will be preparing two of our investigators for baptism.  They are a mother and her 22 year old son.  The son is amazing because he's not baptized as yet but he love's coming out and doing missionary work with us.  He has a really strong testimony of the Church and shares it when we teach our other investigators.  His mum is awesome and we had a testimony meeting at there house and invited them to share their testimonies about the gospel. The mother said that she knows this church is true because it's the only church that has helped her son to change.  The son used to have a bad smoking and drinking problem and since learning about the church, when he goes out with his school friends he doesn't smoke or drink anymore.  It's so awesome and I'll send pictures of the baptism next week. 

Today, in District meeting the District leaders taught about, "How to receive revelation through the Book of Mormon!" They went through Preach my Gospel where it talks about the importance of the Book of Mormon and how it is the keystone of our religion.  After that they discussed some problems that our investigators and less actives might have that maybe hindering their progress.  It was great.  We also opened the Book of Mormon and found some scriptures that give solutions to those possible investigator problems.  It was a really good experience. 

Yesterday, we shared a lesson about Repentance.  I compared repenting to a cut or wound and how if you get a graze the healing process is short and the problem goes away quickly.  But, if the cut is deep it will hurt more and take longer to heal.  Also, if the cut is too deep, you may have to go to the doctor to get stitches.  In either case you may have to dress and bandage the cut so it can heal quicker.  So, in my little 'parable of the cut or wound' they can be likened to the sins we commit.  Some sins are deep and some are just on the surface but in all cases they hurt.  The healing process is repentance.  The doctor is the Bishop that helps to solve and overcome deep or serious sins and the bandage is prayer.  It always hurts when you sin, or at least it should.  Depending on the depth of the sin, the repentance process can take longer then others and may need more help from the Bishop.   Usually after the healing, there is a little scar.  Repentance helps get rid of scars.  This is only possible because of Jesus Christ's atonement because he suffered for our sins.  He gave His life so that we could live with Him again.  I don't know if the parable makes sense because my English is terrible.  It makes sense to me and I'm grateful to Jesus Christ for all He has done for me.

Thanks for everything family and for always giving me good words of encouragement.  Keep up the good work and keep up your exercising. 

Oh, I forgot to tell you, our transfer day has been pulled forward a day which means...… I'll be coming home a day earlier.... on the 22nd of May - DAD'S BIRTHDAY!  Cool aye!  Happy birthday Dad, you get me for your birthday this year!  Astig.

Love you family.

Elder Chadderton 

11 February 2013

Hey Mum and Whanau,

Thanks for all the emails and pictures.  "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" Hinalei!   After emails last week, Elder Van Dyke and I went home and I packed my bags straight away.  After that we went over to Bishop's house to say goodbye.  It was awesome and Bishop bought us pizza and magnums.  On Tuesday we said our farewells to some of the other members in the area and took pictures.  Around 5:00 p.m. the AP's came by and picked me up.  Everything went well and I was comforted by the Lord during this transfer.  My new area is Sumulong and it is in the Marikina Stake boundary.  I am the Zone leader and the Ward is small but great.  I met my new companion and his name is Elder Carman and he is from Denver, Colorado.  He and I were in the same zone in Mindoro.  He is an awesome missionary.  He has about 7 months left on his mission.  When the AP's and I rocked up to the house where I will be staying, the other companionship came out to meet me first and my companion came out last because he was scared to see who his new companion would be.  One of the other Elders gave me a big hug and said, "You're an answer to our prayers!"  Hehe!  We chatted for a while then went to visit the Bishop.  Bishop is awesome and his second son leaves for his mission this week.    It was about 8:45 p.m. so before we left I asked Bishop if I could share a 15 minute lesson about the Atonement.   He said fine so I explained the events of the atonement, the advantages we have because of the atonement and how we can live with God again because of the atonement.  I shared scriptures and my testimony, after which my companion shared his testimony.  By 9:00 p.m. we said a prayer before leaving.  

I have met a lot of really nice people here and I know we have a lot of work to do.  There are things to do to improve the area and help the Ward.  I know it's my time to step up. 

On Thursday we had Zone leader council - my first one in a long time.  It was awesome.  After Zone leader training we usually train the missionaries but instead President opened up the time for us to bear our testimonies.  It was a really special experience and we were able to strengthen each other during this time. 

My new Ward is small compared to my last Ward in Tandang Sora where we had an attendance of around 250 people, but here we barely get 150.  We will work hard on improving the attendance figures as well as increasing our teaching pool.  We have a lot of investigators that are females and need to find more males.  There is a lot of work to do in a very short time.  I know I've got to make the most of the time I have left.  The work is not easy but I knew that from the beginning.  It will be awesome!

Thanks again for all your words of encouragement and prayers.  They have really helped me get through this transfer and everything is good.  I love you all heaps.  Take care and have a great week.  Keep up the good work with the weight loss. 

Elder Chadderton

  

4 February 2013

Hey Mum and Whanau,

I've just received a call from the AP's informing me that I am being, "Emergency" transferred tomorrow and it has come as a bit of a shock.  It's so sad and I feel that I'm not ready to leave behind the people I've grown so close to.  I'm a little emotional right now from the news, mainly because I don't think I was ready for it.  Oh man!

Anyway, we've had an awesome week and a great time at Zone conference.  The workshop's and role plays went well and we had lots of fun and learnt heaps.  After Zone interviews the AP's worked with us and we went on splits and had a great day.  We taught one of our investigators about the Restoration and had an amazing lesson.  It was cool.  The work has been going well and we almost hit all our goals for the week.  I say almost because we just needed one more member present lesson and we would have reached our goals but our dinner appointment went a bit longer then we anticipated.

Today in District meeting I taught a lesson about putting off the natural man.  It's an interesting topic and I chose it because our focus is to teach and find prospective priesthood holders to help strengthen the Wards.  It was a great lesson so be sure to ask me about it when I come home. 

Oh man, I still can't get over the fact that I'm getting transferred.  I don't know where I'm going or who will be my new companion.  I don't even know who will be Elder Van Dyke's new companion.  I'm really not ready for this but I remember when I was having my interview with President DeLaMare he told me that I was going to be transferred and made a Zone Leader.  I thought that would all happen on transfer day so I was ready for it.  But now it's tomorrow!  I think i just need to accept it.  I'm going to miss everyone here so much because I've been here for 7 months.  This is probably one of the hardest transfers for me emotionally.  I've made so many great friends and their are so many people here that I've grown to love and would do anything for them.  Sometimes it just sucks!

I don't know what else to say. I know I shouldn't feel like this but I do feel sad that I'm leaving Tandang Sora and I know tomorrow is going to be an interesting day.  I love you all so much.  Thanks for the emails and pictures.  Keep sending them.  Have a great week and keep up the weight loss.  Please keep me in your prayers.  I need them.

Elder Chadderton

29 January 2013

Hey Mum and Whanau,

Thanks for the emails and pictures.  Please give my thanks to Aunty Kaye and Uncle Pieter for their cool email.  It's been another great week in Tandang Sora.  Elder Van Dyke and I have followed all your good examples and are jogging in the mornings.  Funny, because after the first day of jogging, our legs were so sore.  Hehe.  We went out again the next morning and we're all good now.  It's hard to cope with the amount of pollution in the air when you're running but we're fine.

The mission is going really well and we had a ton of less actives attend church.  So awesome!  I went on exchanges with the Zone leaders this week in my old area of  Bago Bantay.  It was sweet to visit with some of the members and old faces that I knew.  It also gave Elder Van Dyke a chance to lead out in our area.  He is getting really good at speaking Tagalog and it's been great training him. 

If your wondering why my emails are late this week, it's because we had Temple Day today so our schedule changed a little.  We woke up at 4:00 a.m. to go to the Temple and we arrived at 5:50 a.m. only to learn that the first session wasn't until 7:00 a.m.  Oh man!  No worries, it was special just to be at the Temple.   We had a great session, then had a feed at the Temple canteen after, bought a few things, then headed over to the mall.  I found a nice, blue, paisley tie at the mall so I bought it.  

On Thursday we were invited to a farewell for one of the sisters here who has received her mission call to serve in the Philippines Bacolod Mission - the same mission as Sister McIver. Cool aye.  I asked her to keep an eye out for Sister McIver and to give her my regards.  

This coming week we have Zone interviews and it will be nice to receive more guidance and council from the mission leaders.  As a district leader, I have to give a workshop on Chapter 13 from Preach My Gospel (something I shared with dad).  I'm still finalizing my presentation as it has to be 15 minutes long and then we have to do 45 minutes of role playing.  I still have to correlate with the other District leader as to how we're going to present the workshop and role play. I know everything will be fine.

Thanks for all the notes and encouraging words of advice from your Stake Conference.  It's awesome to read of your enthusiasm to continue to help our Lord in his work.

Keep up your dieting.  75% of weight loss is in your food consumption, so it seems like every time you do something good  you go out and celebrate.  If you have to celebrate, just get something small.  You can do it.  I'm trying to lose some weight too as I've got just over three months left and then I'll be home. Cool aye.  Then the real mission begins, "Mission Impossible" - finding someone who will be my wife!  (Jokes). 

Sa totoo. Tatlong buwan lang ang meron ko para ibigay ang lahat na meron ko sa ating Panginoon.  Short time.  Lots to do.  Mahal ko ung diyos.  Mahal ko ang mission at mahal ko din kayo.  Ingat lage.

Elder Chadderton

21 January 2013

Hey Mum and Whanau,

What to say?  Firstly, thanks for all the great emails and the encouragement that you continue to give me.  I received all your Christmas letters and postcards today along with Geena's Christmas card from Idaho.  Hehe!  Cool!  Amazing blessings! 

You guys make me laugh with your good intentions to do the biggest loser program and then you send me pictures of you celebrating at Denny's.  Too funny!  Keep up the good work.  I think I need to start exercising a bit more because we get fed so much in this area.  Speaking of dinner appointments, we have an appointment everyday this week. Cool aye.  I put that down to paying an honest fast offering.  The Lord has blessed us this week.  Please continue to take care of the missionaries in our home Ward. 

With the new area goals, the Stake is really focusing on tithing.  On Sunday we had a couple of the High Priests and the Stake president speak to us.  The talks were great but I only wish they had spoken in Filipino and not English.  I felt that the people that needed to hear this important message didn't fully understand English and ended up falling asleep and the people that do understand English are those who are already paying tithing.  Oh well,  there's always room for improvement - even in established Wards and Stakes.   

Anyways, our ability to find people to teach this week is going well.  We continue to focus on finding prospective priesthood brethren.   We did some street contacting and made sure that we focused on males.  It was great and we had a lot of success and were able to set appointments with the men we had contacted.  It will be good to teach them and their families and help them to come unto Christ

As an update, our investigator Cokie had an appointment with us on Wednesday but it fell through so we reset for Friday.  We went over and shared a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation and left her a reading assignment in Alma 40.  We set an appointment to return the following Wednesday.  Before we could leave our current appointment she had assembled all this food, set it up on a table and invited my companion and I to have a munch.  That was so cool.   

After church on Sunday we went to visit this one less active family and they explained why they weren't at church.   Apparently, the daughter had an exam at school and the dad had the flu.  I had in mind to share about what we learnt at church that day - Tithing, Jesus Christ as our Savior, Baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost.   We decided to focus on paying tithing and it was a really great lesson.  When I committed the dad to pay a full tithe he looked me straight in the eye and said, "Yes!" or "Gagawin ko!" which means, "I will do!"  It was a testimony to me how true doctrine understood can improve attitude and behavior.  He understood the blessings that can come to him if he payed his tithing.  It was a great lesson.

We contacted a man that we met last month and asked if he was still interested in taking the lessons and he said he was.  We organized to visit with him every Sunday night to teach him  the doctrines of Christ. He is very learned and knowledgable in the scriptures and has a lot of questions for us and I can see how it would be good to have him as part of the Ward.  We are looking forward to teaching him. 

The work is going well and with the month of February almost upon us, I know I've got to make the most of the time I have left.  I am certainly giving it my best.

Thanks again family and Whanau for everything.  Thanks for the pictures.  Uncle Rana looks great.  Please tell him that he and I are going to go jogging together when I get home. I'm loving the Philippines and I love the work.  Keep up the exercising and healthy eating and give thanks for the many blessings you have received.  The Lord watches over those that do his work.  May we always be in the service of the Lord.

Love you,

Elder Chadderton 

14 January 2013

Hey Mum and Whanau,

What great and newsy emails!  I love to hear that everyone is doing well and I want you to know that you're all so awesome.  This past week has been a great week here in the Philippines.  We have had so much fun in the work and this year our mission is focusing on Priesthood brethren.  It is going to be a great year.  Well, a great four months for me.   Tell Uncle TC thanks for his email.  Yes, I knew Sister Schmidt and she was an awesome missionary.  Glad Jenna got to meet up with Sister Leauanae.  Good to know she and Sister Schmidt are home safely.   

Well, we received new zone leaders this transfer and they are great.  We had our zone training with them today and we set some awesome goals as a zone. I realize that I am the longest serving missionary in this zone so I want to help guide the zone to follow the direction of the new zone leaders. 

As mentioned earlier, we have a huge focus on priesthood.  Our goal is to bring 200 newly baptized aaronic priesthood holders into the church by the end of the year.  The other goal is to help those less actives that are of age, to receive the Aaronic Priesthood or advance into the Melchizedek Priesthood.  We have to encourage those who are in the Priest Quorums to step up and prepare themselves for advancement and invite those who are less active priesthood brethren to come back.  It's a great goal and this past week we have committed baptismal dates for two prospective aaronic priesthood holders.  Cool aye!

We visited one of our investigator's last Wednesday but she wasn't home.  We went back on Friday and we were able to share a lesson with her and some of her friends.  She is a college graduate and loves listening to the messages we share.  During our most recent visit we asked if her husband could join us during the discussion and he did. Cool!  With the focus on priesthood and the gospel of Jesus Christ focusing on the family, I felt it fitting that the husband should be invited to attend the discussion.   We shared the first lesson and focused on the prophet Joseph Smith.  We testified of the Book of Mormon and gave them a copy.  The spirit was strong and it was a great lesson.  There is a qoute in PMG that says, "True intelligence is to be able to take true doctrine and simplify and explain it so well that even a small child could understand it."  That's what we tried to do.  After the discussion they fed us and continued talking about the lesson.  It was great because they were able to ask more questions about what we had shared and we were able to answer them.

We had our area broadcast on Saturday night where the Area Presidency presented and explained the new area goals for the Philippines in 2013.  The goals are the same as last year with more emphasis on strengthening the priesthood and also encouraging returned missionaries to marry in the Temple.  Hehe. The goals mentioned are 1. Feasting upon the words of Christ,  2. Establishing the church,  3. Rescuing the one, 4. Saving the rising generation,  5. Strengthening the Family.  With each goal the Area Presidency explained more in depth as to how we are to focus  on helping the priesthood.   When we had Ward Council yesterday we were able to get a list of the priesthood members in the Ward.  We will use this list to help us achieve our goals.  My companion and I have a lot of work to do.

I am excited for our mission goals and it really does make me appreciate how special the priesthood is to me, my family (now, and in the future) and also to Heavenly Father.  I know I only have a few short months left on my mission and I want to give it my all - all my, HEART, MIGHT, MIND and STRENGTH.  It's awesome and I'm so lucky to be here at this time in my life.  I love you all so, so, much.  At alam ko na totoo ung gawain misyonero.  Mahirap siya pero alam ko na biyayaan ako ng Panginoon habang sinisikap kong sundin ung mga utos niya.  Ito ang kanyang simbahan, ito ang kanyang gawain at kaluwalhatian at ako lang ang isang bahagi sa kanyang plano.  Mahal ko ito.  Mamimiss ko ito.  At ibibigay ko ung buong puso, sipag, isip at lakas sa gawaing ito. 

I love you all so much.  Thank you for all your love and support, take care and keep being the awesome example that you are.

Elder Chadderton