Wednesday, September 26, 2012

27 September 2012



Family!!! Thanks for all your emails.   Unfortunately,  I won't be able to respond to each individual email because there is much to write about so Mum,  just take out the things I wrote personally before you put the rest of this email up on the blog.  Thanks  Rawi!

MUM - Can I just say that everyone that is in my district are writing home this week asking there mums to get on your blog because they want packages from randoms when their birthdays come around too. You're amazing and it really made my day having these kind acts happen so often.   I was like, "What? Wait?  How do you know its my birthday?" But I'll write more in detail later and I hope you enjoyed celebrating my birthday as much as I did. I really did feel the love over here in Salt Lake.

But oh my goodness what an amazing week I've had. These weeks are going by so quickly and I don't know where to start.

Last week you will remember me telling you about the organ tour in the Tabernacle building.  Well, we also had a behind the scenes organ tour at the Conference Centre and it was so awesome!  Bonnie and Linda are the female organists during General Conference (watch out for them at Conference).  It was so cool to see the tiny little pipes and the big massive ones.  These are the blessings of serving on Temple Square because not everyone has the opportunity to take these kind of tours.

But, let me tell you about my birthday:

5:30 a.m. - Wake up because it was my Zones turn to clean the cars aka drive them to the car wash and stay awake in the car.
6:30 a.m.  - Opened my package from Geena (Sister J Chadderton) and listened to some sweet music -  thanks sister!
7:00 a.m.  -  My companion made some pancakes and bacon for my birthday breakfast - soooo good!
12: 00 noon  - Went to the cheesecake factory and shared lunch and a dessert and it was DELICIOUS. The waiter even had the chef write, "Happy Birthday to You" on the Oreo cheesecake and it was so good.  

We waddled over to the Square after lunch where we were having a TC (Teaching Centre) to pump up our Zone activity (which we only got a text about 20 minutes before it was happening).  Oops!  So, we get there late and we waddle in and they all start singing happy birthday and my Zone Leader's give me a cake that they have made.   The cake was nice and I appreciated it.  So, for the activity, we had 1 hour to contact as many members to get referrals and our goal was for 15 people to accept local missionaries.  In the first 5 minutes of calling people,  the biggest miracle/birthday present happened where 14 people were referred for local missionaries to teach.  It truly was a miracle.

Following the Zone activity my companion and I went back to Beehive House where we worked from 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.  I took a group on a tour, come back and then did another tour and we are just about to leave when a lady walks in and sits down.  I invite her to join us and she says, "I'm looking for Sister Chadderton!"   I'm like ahhhh, I'm Sister Chadderton and she said, "Is it your birthday?" and I'm like how the heck does she know this but then she said that she was your friend on the ldsmissionary mum email group/blog.  She was so lovely and gave me hugs & kisses firstly from her and then more hugs and kisses from you guys at home.  So nice!  After she left and I went back to finishing my tour.   When I get back from that tour Aunty Niva, Coralie and Fa'aniniva Savaiinaea are sitting there with this gigantic cake for me. I am just overwhelmed at this point with all the love.  It has been the best birthday ever.  My friends and I decided not to buy pizza but instead we all went home for dinner at 8:00 p.m. and everyone came over to my apartment and we made pizza and ate cake, waffles, chips and just had a really nice little birthday party.  So fun!  My friends are seriously the bestest friends ever. Such a great birthday and I saw Sister Vaivai and she told me that another lady had been looking for me to wish me a happy birthday but she never found me. :(  What a great birthday right? I think so!  

Well, the next day we were on our way to the Teaching Centre before the Brigham City Temple Dedication session and there was a guy and his son sitting on the side of one of the raised flower bed boxes. He looked at me and said, "Are you Sister Chadderton?"  And I'm thinking, "What is going on?" Lol  Then he explained that he was a missionary in Whakaki/Nuhaka when you used to live their mum as a young girl.   He is the nicest guy and it was so cool thinking about Nanny Ma and Nanny Pa Solomon and NZ as I listened to him talk about his mission days. His son was with him and he is going on his mission in November so it was cool talking to the little pre-mi (Pre-missionary).  His name is Steve Conners and he gave me some fresh veggies from his garden and the little tomatoes were like sweet grapes - so delicious - and my companion and I ate them all up.  I was so grateful for his visit and he wished me a happy birthday at while he was doing that another familiar face walked towards me - Tim Mahoney!  Tim had just been to see the 12:00 pm session of the Temple Dedication.  It was fun catching up for the short time that we had because we had an investigator lesson to get to before the next Temple Dedication session at 3:00 p.m.

The Temple Dedication was awesome.  Elder Russell M. Nelson conducted the session and a few different people spoke but Elder Boyd K Packed was the presiding officer and he spoke and honestly, he is a comedian.  I didn't realize how funny he was but all of us sisters were having a good laugh because he was so cute.  But the dedicatory prayer was beautiful and we were blessed to attend.  Later on back at the Beehive House there was a lady by the name of Sister Mascarenas and her daughter waiting for me to give me a present who had tried finding me yesterday to give it to me on my birthday.  She was so sweet and had bought me some Reeces chocolates and some delicious mint brownies from a good bakery that she liked.  My disctrict was really grateful too. LOL.

Yesterday our mission had a meeting really early with the anchor woman in the USA for the Church Public Affairs Department whose name is Sister Ruth Todd.  It was a great meeting and shared some very important tips with us, especially reminding us that we are the face of the Church but not just the pretty faces and then shared with us the importance of being:

Nice
Neighbourly
Informative
Conversational and
Enthusiastic

These were some really good tips, especially as we take big groups of people on tours here in the Square.    She said that it's fun to be yourself while being a missionary and people appreciate you more when you personalize rather than preach at them.  She was awesome and we had sung, "Called to Serve"  as the opening song and she just bawled the whole time we were singing but she was so sweet.   She told us that her son is currently serving in Thailand.

Later on that day I had what's called a new missionary interview with President Gillette and during the interview I asked President about whether or not I could see my sister Geena in February or not.   He said that it would be a great and righteous thing to do especially as she will still be a missionary.  He didn't give me specifics but Sister, it is full steam ahead and after that interview, I about ran out of his office all the way to Idaho to tell you but I will write you today instead because you'll probably find out sooner.  But YAY!  I get to see my sister in 5 months!!!  Good news aye?

We also went to Sister McKay's and Sister Gehrig's apartment for dinner and Sister Gehrig is from Germany and she made us some German pancakes!  They were so delicious and then we tried on each others clothes - like normal girls do -  and swapped clothes for the week.  Sister Gehrig borrowed some of my skirts and she pretty much made me take some of her shirts as a thank you lol. So sweet.

This morning guess what? I finally made it to the Temple! :D  Yay!  We woke up at 5:00 a.m. so we could do the 6:00 a.m. Initiatory session and be out in time to attend the 7:00 a.m. endowment session.  Can I just say, "The Salt Lake Temple is incredible!" I can't even describe how beautiful and huge it is. It was so cool to finally go through this magnificent temple with almost my whole zone. What a great way to start the day!!!

Well, I haven't bought a new outfit for Conference yet because I kinda ran outta food last week so that's what the money went towards.  I'm still learning how to stretch my money and it's hard work but it helps having a great companion.  Sometimes we just cook and use both of our food so we can both have something to eat and we're all good.  We are going to go look at Deseret Industries for modest, cheap, church clothes so that'll be fun and then I get to write letters, do laundry and have a nap.

Thank you for all your letters.  Mum, I got your postcard that you sent from Rotorua and it said something about a t/shirt?  When the sister missionaries saw the postcard of the Maori people doing a hongi, I told them that it was the traditional Maori way of greeting people.  Hinalei, your drawings are so beautiful! Keep drawing and singing and sharing your toys with your brother. Oh and Hina about Button acting like she's a baby again, its completely normal especially when another baby is coming.  It's a sort of attention seeking phase but you know our Button....I love her to pieces but seriously she can draw better than I can.

As you have read I have had a super fantastic week.  The work is great and I am hoping we will have 2 baptisms shortly.  Can you believe my first transfer is almot over? After conference we have transfers and Sister Calderwood and I are hoping we stay together seeing as she is my trainer lol. I am gonna fast this weekend with my zone for success with the members during conference weekend. We have to work super hard and have a goal to receive over 120 referrals from members which is possible for almost every companionship.

We taught over 100 guests this past week and 19 members.   You may think that as missionaries we get to attend all the Conference sessions, but not so, because we only get to watch one session of Conference and then we wait for the Ensign to read the rest.  It's all part and parcel of the sacrifices we make during the mission.  So that means that you should all go to all 4 sessions because I can't lol. But keep on keeping on.  Kendall congratulations brother on your mission call to Fiji.  Oi you will fit right in!

Brogz and Em thanks for the birthday wishes and I love you both xo And congrats on being an aunty Brogan.

Love you all so much and I appreciate that you continue to do missionary work back home while we are away for this time.

Be safe and keep the faith.

Sister Nicola - 22 year old - Chadderton!!!

P.s. Congrats on the 50 years Nan and Grandad.  That is a wonderful achievement and something that I will strive to accomplish one day too. And glad your still in love <3

Picture 1 - Oreo Cheesecake - birthday lunch
Picture 2 - Birthday cake from my Zone Leaders
Picture 3 - Fun pic 
Picture 4 - Happy Birthday picture that my district put up on all the computers
Picture 5 - Birthday sign made by my companion and Sister Olden
Picture 6 - Little birthday party gathering
Picture 7 - German pancakes by Sister Gehrig with Sister McKay and Sister Calderwood
Picture 8 - Tim Mahoney and me
Picture 9 - Steve Conners son, Steve and me.
Picture 10 - Sister Mascarena's daughter, Sister Mascarena's and me
Picture 11-13 - Sister Bunting & Brother Bunting with me (Their daughter is currently serving in the Visitor's Centre in Temple View that my mum and dad have already met).

























Wednesday, September 19, 2012

20 September 2012


FAMILY!!!

Soooooo good to hear from you all.  I miss and love you heaps!!! I  can't believe I am in my 4th week on the Square and in less then three weeks its transfers.  Some of my dear friends that I have made will be going home next transfer and some of my friends from the MTC will arrive.  It's cool.

I really love the letters from home so mum, feel free to upload this email to my Facebook page so I can encourage more of my friends to write letters to me. But seriously guys, there is a whole heap of you that will read this, and you know I can't go on Facebook and read all your pages and blogs so jot down stuff in a letter and send it to me.  It means a lot. K thanks :)  Kia Ora to the parental's, sisters and the grandparents for all their letters.  Here is my address again if you have forgotten it:  Sister Nicola Chadderton, Utah Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission, 50 N West Temple St. Rm BSVC, Salt Lake City, UT 84150-1891, USA.

Oh and I loved seeing so many familiar faces this week. Thank you Sister Tong for the Milo and Tim Tams they seriously made my week and it was so awesome to see you, Amanda and Ellen. I was heading to the Square for lunch when I ran into Amanda who I learnt was trying to find me and then on Sunday when our Sacrament meeting was almost done I recognized this random girl in the back row. Talk about small world but so crack up seeing Ellen Petty. Tu meke bub!

Well to update you on the week.

Last Wednesday night was our Zone Activity at President Harmon's home - he is loaded as a lawyer - but is so loving!  We went up to his house in the mountains somewhere and had a massive chill session.  Some of the sisters went on a hike and others went to the outlet mall but me and some of the other poly sisters stayed and had a jam session on the ukuleles and guitars. Get this, he has his own cowboy room decked out with there own soda machine and lolly cupboard with like king size chocolate bars. Oh, and did I mention they don't have children at home anymore?  The house is pretty much kept up for the missionaries lol. So awesome!  We had hamburgers for dinner and then went back home. Such a fun day!

On Thursday I passed off.  YAY! So, this means we can take any tours including motor coaches and pretty much anyone now which will be fun and as a reward we got a free meal at the Lion House which was perfect timing because on Friday morning we had a zone meeting and they asked us to start a fast on Saturday for all our investigators in our zone. So, Saturday we took our first "official tour" and then rushed to the Lion House, got our food and kind of devoured it and then opened our fast. I love the Lion House so much. Why can't money grow on trees? (lol).

Our fasting was great and at the end we came together as a zone (22 of us) and I got to say the prayer to break the fast and then we basically talked about the miracles we had seen because of our fasting. It was so awesome, one of our progressing investigators text us that morning to say hi while they were sitting in church and they said that the people were so friendly and he was so happy he went.  Miracle!!! The missionaries picked him up for church and they have built  a friendship with him and are going to continue teaching him but he doesn't want to stop hearing from us too.  So he's lucky that he's got 4 missionaries keeping in touch with him.  I love the gospel and that was only one miracle because almost every companionship had witnessed a miracle within the 24 hours that we fasted. So cool!

On Monday our district was eating at the lunch table and so I taught them how to play the chicken game.  Bgerk! (chicken noise) game. Jordan Scott will probably have to explain it better but its crack up. So there we were 10 sisters playing this game and we were just busting out laughing the whole time. I love my district we are so international. The sisters are from Pakistan, Philippines, Mongolia, Scotland, Chile, NZ (me) and then my companion who is from Alaska. So we all bring something new to the table but we are a really close district. We plan on having a picnic after this.

On Tuesday we took the rest of our explorer day that we were meant to finish on my day 1. It was so awesome.  We went to the Church History Library and it was HUGE! Then we went to my companion's favourite restaurant, "Blue Lemon" which is AMAZING!  Seriously, it's like, "Where have I been?"  Then we went to the Relief Society building and had this awesome tour.   We go downstairs and look at all the three General Women's auxiliaries - Primary, Young Women's and Relief Society. So we were on our way out when this lady was talking to one of the hosts. She was so sweet and came up to us and talked to us too and was like, "Its so nice to have known you and met you", and shook our hands and said, "I'm Sister Reeves."  Well, I couldn't quite remember who she was but then realized her picture was on the wall that I had just been looking at. Turns out she is the 2nd Counsellor in the General Relief Society Presidency!!!  Me and comp were buzzing and literally glowing when we left that building. Oh and they have these books mum where they have recorded every single person who donated $5.00 to the building of the Relief Society Building so that it could be built in October 1947. So, I didn't think I'd find anyone I knew but I looked through to see if any of our ancestors names were recorded.  Anyway,  turns out I found some and it  said, "Heeni Christy of Nuhaka Branch donated $5, Mere Ayra Whaanga also  from Nuhaka Branch, Sarah Taurima Whaanga from Opoutama Branch and Tuseiti Solomon from Tahaenui Branch all donated $5 towards the building. It was so special to see some of my whanau from that time who faithfully donated that money.  It roughly calculates to about $63USD in today's currency. I love Temple Square!  Have I said that??? I can't wait until you all - family and friends - get to come over to see all the amazing things here  and learn more about the Church's history because its freakin amazingggg.

This morning I thought we would go to the Temple but we had another mission meeting scheduled at 7:30 a.m. which was exciting too and it was in theTabernacle. First of all, we had a special tour and we got to sit in the choir seats and really feel what it would be like to sing in the choir at General Conference.  Dr. Richard Elliot is the principal organist and he told us all about the Tabernacle and the organ and he played us some songs. It was especially cool when we all stood and sang, "Called to Serve" with our missions unique 3rd verse which I'll have to send home to you. But the last lines say, "See All Nations Flow Unto It, our Lovely Temple Square! (repeated).

Our mission is lovely and unique, but it does have its challenges and I always try to focus on the positive. I can't wait to have a proper sit down lesson with an investigator face to face and I miss having primary and young women around.  It's weird being so segregated from everyone but its only for a short time.  It is my trainers hump day a.k.a half way mark today (9 month mark).  I'm trying to work hard and make every moment count as well as have a great time.

I love you all.  Thanks for your prayers and please write me letters as I love getting them.  I don't expect fancy packages because they take so long to arrive and cost so much but send photos or letters.  If you'd like to hear from me then you should write me first okay, cool thanks.

P.s. On Saturday some of my district are going to get pizza's delivered (if we are allowed) and have a little celebration so, "Happy B'day to me!" Yippeee!

     Pic 1 - Sister Elliot, Sister Olden and me
     Pic 2 - Dr Richard Elliot at the organ (look out for him during General Conference)
     Pic 3 - Sister Reeves - 2nd Counsellor General Relief Society Presidency
     Pic 4 - Me, Sister Wilhelm (Chile), Sister Richardson (our District Leader, from Scotland), Sister         Calderwood (Alaska)
     Pic 5 - Couple in glass case reminded me of the grandparents
     Pic 6 - Off to zone activity
     Pic 7 - Me and Sister Wendy Vaivai and her companion Sister Mata'utia from the Gold Coast
     Pic 8 - Me sitting at the organ
     Pic 9 - Me and my companion
     Pic 10 - Sister Magaoya drinking milo and eating Tim Tams
     Pic 11 - Me hugging the books
     Pic 12 - Me and John Wayne cut out. 



















Wednesday, September 12, 2012

13 September 2012


Hi Family and Friends!

Hope you are all doing excellent this week.


It's been another full on week at Temple Square but I love it.  Beehive House is fun and I seriously don't know how people find it because its kind of off to the side of the Square but they keep coming and we keep taking them around on our tour of this great House. I have a new found love and appreciation for the Prophet Brigham Young and its really special knowing that he lived in this very House that we take people through. If you ever get a chance, do come and see the House.  It's amazing.

The TC (teaching centre) is awesome. We have the opportunity to call our investigators as well as chat to people who come on mormon.org and we answer phone calls too. You do get some strange calls, like the other night I took a phone call that made me laugh. I did the introduction spiel, "Thank you for calling the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, my name is Nicola (yes we go by our first names) how can I help you?"  Anyway, the caller said, "Have you heard the good news?" I'm thinking, "Oh great this is, "one" of those calls and this person may be just wasting my time so I repeat again, "Thanks for calling how can I help you?" And the person repeats, "Have you heard the good news?"  I said, "Sorry you called, how can I help you?"  He said, "Didn't you hear me? I'm like, "Yes!"  So he said again, "Have you heard the good news?"  So, I play along and say, "No, whats the good news?" He said, "Its about Joseph Smith!"  I then said, "Okay....what about him?" And he said, "HE'S BACK!"  Well, before I lose it and start cracking up laughing I say, "Thank you for calling the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have a nice day.   Beep beep beep!" Then I had a bit of a chuckle.    We receive all kinds of calls and the teaching centre can be quite hilarious at times but its also a great way to meet the golden investigators who genuinely have sincere questions about the church.

I met Louise (I have changed her name) the other day and she is a Satanist but she asked some very sincere and genuine questions. I offered to call her and teach her but she said that the "Church" she goes to monitors everything she does and controls her telephone and email accounts, so she's given me another email account to use so we can stay in touch. I haven't heard back from her yet but I pray for her to have the strength and courage to turn towards Christ.

One thing I have really learnt this week is how important members are. You back home have many opportunities to talk so openly with your friends, workmates and university classmates about the gospel in a non confrontational way. They won't run away from you because they know and trust you. That gives you the upper hand. I think more members should be inviting their friends and neighbours over for family home evening or even to ward activities and then get the missionaries over to meet with them. I know the Lord is truly preparing the people all around you and he needs everyone to do their part by opening their mouths.

I know that missionary work is the only way our world is going to improve. The gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families and you can promise your friends that the same thing can happen to them and then use your own lives as the example for them to look at.  It's hard calling people who don't know you personally or don't want to change but then you speak to someone who knows a member of the church and then they are more willing to listen to you, even if it's just out of respect for their friends.

Conference is just around the corner and apparently we will make contact with people from 8:00 a.m. sometimes until up to 10:30 p.m. over those 2 days.  It is the epitome of Temple Square member experience. We invite all to come unto Christ not just the ones we think are ready. I know that by following Jesus Christ's example our lives are blessed and that it is so important to strengthen our families in this day and age. 

Thanks mum and dad for holding Family Home Evening every Monday night because I can share those experiences with people who are worried about raising their own children. We are the individuals who determine our own destiny. We shouldn't let the media or technology determine which way is the right way to go. Jesus Christ is my Saviour and I will follow his example.

I love you all and hope that you are inspired to go and do some missionary work this week and if any of you have friends that you think would like to know about the church, then email me at nicola.chadderton@myldsmail.net with there name, phone number, address, a little background info and I can call them personally or have 160 other missionaries that would be willing and able to call.

The church is true! So be happy! I'm happy and am grateful for any contact from the outside world. It's kind of like living in a bubble here but its for our own safety and benefit.

God bless you. Be safe.

Lots of Love,

Sister N Chadderton!!!!

P.S. WRITE ME!!!! SEND PICTURES :) Love you!

Pic 1: Me and the birthday girl Sister Wilhelm from Chile shes awesome! (part of my district)
Pic 2: Beehive house
Pic 3: Bedroom mine is the yellow one
Pic 4: Birthday lunch at Costa Vida for Sis Wilhelm
Pic 5: Mission pres and wife with our AP's teaching us to keep our apartments clean lol
Pic 6: Me and my companion
Pic 7:  Family Search pic










Wednesday, September 5, 2012

6 September 2012


Family!!!

K, so I ran out of time to email so I'm quickly typing away. I promise that I will make up for it next week.  We have lots to do on our P-Day which starts at 1:00 p.m. and finishes at 9:00 p.m. and yet it still doesn't seem like it's enough time.

So, last week on Explorer Day my companion and I had fun going to the Conference Centre and meeting different people.

Sunday was crazy busy as our Sacrament meeting went a little over time because the leaving District of missionaries all shared there testimonies which was beautiful and then we had Beehive House! Yay!   This is where we contacted over 80 people during the day and 32 of them were non members.  We also do 20 minute tours and have to teach the groups about the history of the Beehive House while incorporating the doctrine into our tour and I love it.  It's challenging in the sense of trying to make each tour unique but when you use the pioneer stories the spirit is so strong and it all works out really good!

Oh my goodness, I've lost count of how many weddings I've seen because there is always someone getting married.   It's fun.  Another fun thing is the new sister missionaries get to go to the Music and Spoken Word live session on Sunday mornings and I got to go and it was AMAZING!  I heard it use to be in the Conference Centre but moved to the Tabernacle and the acoustics are  fabulous.

I have met some really, awesome people from all over the world and I love it.  They certainly are awesome especially when they learn where I come from.  I love them all.  I had a lady come up and talk to me today in Walmart because she saw my flag on my badge and she's a kiwi too and works at the Family History lab and I learnt that she knows the grandparents.  So, dad I gave her your email address because she wants to get in touch with the grands but I didn't have there address with me. She's coming home to New Zealand next week.

My trainer is awesome and we have a lot of fun and she trusts me a lot and I get to do pretty much everything she does which is nice.  I have pretty much memorized the Beehive script that we need to know and I'm currently working on memorizing the history of all the buildings on the Square and then I can pass it off and then take English tours. YAY! I have set myself a goal to learn everything in a week so I'll see how it goes.

The teaching centre is really cool and its so nerve racking calling people up for the first time but really rewarding.  When they are open to listening it's great and we had a lady referral who wants to have the missionaries come and teach her which is awesome and we have about 17 people we are helping to progress. We have to contact all our referrals by the 5th of October in preparation for General Conference.

We had this cool activity with all the new sisters called, "The Living Christ"  where we had to read the article and then write our testimonies on the back of the card.  I encourage you all to try it because it really is powerful. Then we shared one thing that stood out for us and I pretty much bawled the whole time I shared my experience.  How can you not get emotional when you talk about the Saviour and his Atonement?  I love it!

Oh, please tell Natalie Carter aka Martin thanks for coming to see me. I had a few sisters tell me she had come to see me and I'm so sad I missed her.  Tell her thanks for making the effort. I can't tell her where on the Square I will be but if she visits any time soon, I hope she finds me - maybe try the Beehive House first or look for me during General Conference.

I really love the work even though it can be tiring.  We prepare our food at night around 9:30 p.m. for the following day and then we're in bed by 10:30 p.m.   It's challenging but we make it work.  We are unable to eat at members homes so our meals are pretty basic but I'm doing great and eating well. It was Sister Welhelm's birthday today and that's why I'm short on emailing time because we all went out for lunch to celebrate, so I ate well today.

I can't wait to write a longer email next week and I am praying for you all! Pray for me too please!  I love you all so much and thanks for your support.  Continue writing me letters because they make the days brighter :)

Love Sister Cola Chadderton xoxox

Pic 1 - Explorer day at Conference Centre - Sister Calderwood and I

Pic 2 - Sister Octavia Olden, me & Sister Kulani Elliot
Pic 3&4- Me and my companion having too much fun