Hi Family,
Thank you for all the emails and trying hard not to remind me of how little time I have left in the mission field. It really is strange to think that the end is so near. Crazy!!!
First things first, we get a five minute phone call home today so if anyone is home I will call around your 2:15 p.m. So excited that Christmas is next week!
We had an awesome week in that our mission was blessed with a visit by Elder Don R. Clark who did a 3-day tour of our Mission. My companion and I attended day two of his tour and I loved his inspirational talks. He talked a lot about how a mission brings about a mighty change and he gave a lot of good advice for those missionaries returning home. Mum, you'll like this part where he said, "More important than your mission is who you will marry!" He asked the missionaries who are returning home to stand and then invited each of us to set high goals and to go on two dates a week. Haha! I had to laugh because I was thinking, "Aren't we meant to be learning things about missionary work here, what's going on?" But it was perfect advice because experience has shown that those who return from their missions always have a little bit of anxiety during their transition from the mission field to going on dates. So, his words of wisdom helped a few of us to feel more at peace about life after the mission field. This week I have really felt more at peace about finishing my full-time mission. I really feel like I can come home with no regrets. What a beautiful way to end my mission by celebrating our Lord and Savior's birth. We have some fun things planned for Christmas as we focus more and more on our Savior Jesus Christ.
Volunteers from our Mission President's stake are having the missionaries from my mission over for dinner in their homes. The missionaries will have an opportunity to share their Christmas traditions with the assigned families - similar to what we did last year. Our District will go on Thursday night and I'm so excited about going because I miss being in the homes of the members and sharing spiritual thoughts with them so it's going to be fun!
I bumped into a lot of familiar faces this week. I saw Irene's little sister who was here for a YSA activity. During this activity I met a sister who served in Jenna's mission - Boise, Idaho. She had called me awhile back to give me a referral - her niece and the nieces husband. It was so cool to see this sister and she kept saying how much I reminded her of Jen! I asked what happened to her nieces husband and she said, "He ended up getting baptized!" Isn't that awesome? She didn't have his phone number so I was never able to follow up with them so it was a tender mercy that I got to hear it from her first hand. So cool!
We were in the West Gate booth the other night and I saw a family walk by so I smiled and waved to the little boy. The family turned around and came back to the window and guess who it was? Jessica Millard! So awesome! She was with her family! It was awesome to see them because the last time I saw them all was probably when I was aged 12 or 13. It has been over 10 years since we saw each other so I was glad she recognized me! She is expecting again.
My companion and I have been busy organizing covers for assignments while the Sisters go to the members houses for dinner and we had staff meeting yesterday and are looking at ways to simplify the numbers we keep track of for the New Year. That will keep us busy this week! My departing class is also singing in sacrament meeting on December 29th and we have started practicing for that. We have some very talented people in our class and I'm confident we will do a good job.
I'm so grateful for my mission and what the Lord has done for me. I am constantly amazed at all He does for each of us. He knows each of us individually. We had a meeting yesterday entitled, "Finish Strong" which happens when you're half way through your last transfer. It was awesome and my goal to finish this transfer strong is to think of others! Really, I want to forget about myself and look at how I can help the sisters more before I leave. My companions goal is to continue to help me to be so exhausted that I will want to go home to rest! Hahaha! I love her!
Well, I hope you enjoy finishing your Christmas preparations for next week and I will talk to you all real soon.
Merry Christmas,
Love Sister Chadderton
James 5:11 "Behold, we count them happy which endure..."
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