Hi Family & friends that read my Blog,
Glad to hear you're all doing well despite you all being incredibly busy. Mum, that is so cool that Sister Wixom - General Primary President - was in New Zealand doing training. Do you remember me telling you about her earlier on last year. She was the sister who attended our missionary Thanksgiving dinner. I couldn't be bothered waiting in line to have a photo taken with her but she is really lovely! Her son married one of the full-time senior missionary couples daughter's in our mission - Elder & Sister Creer. When Sister Wixom learnt that her son and his family were coming to our Thanksgiving dinner she asked if she could come too. It was awesome.
This week has been good, but I wish there was more that I could report. We have been working hard everyday. One of the highlights of my week would definitely have to be seeing my mate Elder Leota last Friday. The international missionaries came for a tour around Temple Square and I had a thought that he might just be in the group, so it was awesome when I bumped into him. I took the opportunity to have a photo taken with him too. He seems really happy and I know he'll make a great missionary. My zone leaders took the Leota family for a tour of the Beehive House yesterday and I was a bit sad that I didn't get to see them again but it was good to know they're still in town. I don't think they're going to make it back to Aussie!
Well, we haven't had any funny weather this week but we have had a lot of POI! It has become quite stressful finding time to practice and I know I will be happy once we've performed. It will be a great night and I'm excited to see all the other cultural performances.
Yesterday, we took some primary school children on a tour of the Beehive House and it was so much fun. The bus had pulled up out the front and the teachers and some of the parents were trying to help organize the children into lines, so being the ex-pre-school teacher that I am, I went to suss out the number of children in line and there were these two children hitting and pushing each other. My first instinct was to go over and tell them to stop hitting and pushing each other, but there were four teachers with the group and once they noticed these two having a go at each other, one of the teacher's told them to stop. Well, knowing who these two were, I thought, "Please, I don't want them in my group!" Wishful thinking! "Guess whose group they were in?" We had a group of six children and their teacher that we escorted around the Beehive and the children were hilarious and would not stop talking the entire time. They asked the most hilarious questions but I had so much fun with them. The teacher was great and it is a little different to take children on a tour because we can't teach about gospel principles and invite them to learn more because they are children so we shared lots of facts and pioneer stories. It was really cool to share the great stories of the pioneers because the spirit testifies to me once again of their great sacrifices.
We had a really amazing tour last night where we had three people visit Temple Square. These people are in Salt Lake for a work conference and they are all Catholic. During the tour they asked some of the best questions I have ever had as a missionary, so as we walked from the North Visitor's Centre to the South Visitor's Centre there is a model of the Salt Lake Temple located between these two building so I was inspired to share the story of Joseph Smith's First Vision with them. Honestly, whenever I share that story I really feel the spirit strongly and it was a neat experience to share it as I know they felt the warmth of the spirit while we walked outside into the cold to get from one building to the next. They then asked a lot of questions about the Temple before it was time for them to leave because they were already late for their work dinner. The good thing is that they are going to come back on Thursday to listen to the MOTAB practicing. It's hard having such an amazing spiritual experience and then to have the visitor's leave when you feel you may not see them again. I know that the Lord will continue to guide them to the truth whether it be in four months or four years. I am positive that they won't forget how they felt while they visited here.
Well, our investigator Steve is still going strong and today we shared with him a lesson from Alma 47 where it talks about Lehonti and Amalickiah. This is a really powerful story in the Book of Mormon and the lesson here is how important it is to not lower your standards and to recognize that Satan is very subtle in his temptations and he will try to get you do things at first that may seem harmless, but later, he has you in his grasp. For example, it maybe that we choose to not read our scriptures one night because we're too tired, or we might miss church on a Sunday because we finished work late the night before, or we may go shopping just once on Sunday. By and by as we allow these temptations or excuses to creep in, before we know it we've stopped reading our scriptures altogether, we aren't attending church at all and we continually shop on a Sunday. And why? Because we decided to allow Satan to subtly worm his way into our lives and finally, he's taken over. Just as Amalickiah slowly had Lehonti poisoned until he died, Satan is slowly enticing us away from following the basics.
I love this gospel and the knowledge I receive when I exercise humility and allow the Spirit to teach me. I am constantly learning new things every day and hope to be able to continue to share what I learn with those around me. I love you family and friends. Don't forget to read your scriptures daily and to truly study and apply the things you read in your daily lives.
Be safe and know that I pray for you all each day.
Love Sister Chadderton
P.s Channie, don't give up my friend. Everything happens for a reason and I know the Lord is preparing someone that you need to teach in six weeks time. True Story.
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