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