19 November 2013

Hi Family,

Thank you for all of your emails as I love hearing from everyone and learning how you are doing.  I've had a very busy week and I'm so glad that the Fireside is over and done with because we now have more time to do our missionary work rather then attend music practices.  Last Monday for P-Day we went to a hairdressing school and were given a free scalp massage and it was amazing.  On Tuesday we performed our concert and it was great.   A couple of highlights for me after the performance was seeing Norelle Parker and the Bunting family.  I met Sister Bunting's two returned missionary daughters and they are as awesome as their mum.  Norelle said the concert was, "mint az."  I took that as a pretty good compliment.  Wednesday we were a bit exhausted from the night before but we made it through the day.  Then on Thursday I went in for minor surgery on my toe and it was a lot less dramatic then my last surgery.  It was the actual doctor who numbed my toe this time and it was done in less than 5 minutes.  Such a relief!  I couldn't wear my tights the next day and that turned out to be a big mistake because it was FREEZING!  We attended the, "Savior of the World" performance on Friday night and then headed home for dinner.  I was so cold that I quickly bandaged up my toe, put on my tights and wore them with a shoe on one foot and a jandal on the other just so that my legs were warm. 

I loved the production as it was about the birth and resurrection of the Savior and it was so beautiful.  If you ever get the chance to watch it I highly recommend it.  It's a tear jerker for sure!  The next day my companion and I woke up early to go to the Bountiful Temple.  President gave me permission to go to the temple so Sister Vach and I went.  It started snowing on our way which was a little scary but we made it there in time.  It was so beautiful and I was so happy to go back to the temple after not going for over four months.  I think that's the longest time I haven't attended since I was endowed.  I love the peace that I feel whenever I'm in the Temple.   The session was awesome and I loved the new endowment session.  Afterwards, we took some snow pictures then headed back to Temple Square, stopping in at Cafe Rio for brunch on our way.  The rest of our Saturday was awesome and I believe it was because we started our day by going to the Temple.

Well,  I gave my departing talk in Sacrament meeting yesterday because it is customary to assign Sisters who will soon be leaving to speak every week and since my class is so large they've already started assigning us.  My topic was, "How fasting, combined with sincere prayer, brings greater spiritual strength."  I think my talk went well and I had the opportunity to share some of my own personal experiences.  I always feel spiritually strengthened after I've fasted.  I also shared the testimony I have gained on my mission about paying an honest fast offering.  I had never paid a fast offering before my mission but I knew it was something that was required of me to be fully obedient in keeping the law of the fast so as a missionary I decided to exercise my faith and do it.  I have a testimony that each time I have paid my fast offering - even though I was worried I wouldn't have enough money for food - but when I've paid it, if I was out shopping or buying my lunch either at City Creek or Costco or Nauvoo Cafe, some kind person would step in and pay for my items or give me a $10 or $15 gift voucher. This has happened so many times to me as a missionary and I know the Lord has blessed me because I had the faith to pay my fast offerings.  Miracles!

Well, after Sacrament we went out onto the Square and I had the opportunity to announce in English after Music and the Spoken word was over.  I remember doing this two  General Conferences ago when I first arrived.  It was super cool and Sister Vaivai was able to announce in Samoan.  Haha!  Like twins, we've done so many things together since the beginning of our missions.  Both of our companions are going home next week and they have a lot of departing missionary dinners and meetings scheduled between now and their departure day so Sister Vaivai and I have planned to go on exchanges so that we can continue on doing the work.  I'm really going to miss my companion Sister Vach.  In our staff meeting yesterday the AP's gave us an assignment for next transfer and I was like, "Yes we can do that" then I looked at my companion and she said, "Yes you can do that!"  Then it dawned on me that she won't be here!   I'm going to have to step up and take over the reigns again real soon.  I am praying for a companion that can help me to finish strong.  I can't believe next week will be my last transfer because it just seems like yesterday that I left the MTC.  I do know that the Lord has a plan for me after my mission.

Thank you again for all your prayers and support!  It has meant so much to me.  I wouldn't have had these wonderful experiences and opportunities to serve and help others if it wasn't for all the love and support from home.

I love you all.

Sister Chadderton xoxo

12 November 2013

Hey family!

Awesome week this week! 

Guess who I got to meet this week? Brother Richard Lewis who was the missionary responsible for baptizing Nanny and Grandad Chadderton 50 years ago last month.  It was so neat to meet him and some of his family members.  I met his son almost a year ago during the crazy Christmas season and it was cool to meet his dad and other family members this time round. It was seriously a tender mercy. Dad, I didn't realize that you were named after him and when I told him Ricky was also named Richard he almost cried.  He said he knows he was called to serve his mission in NZ to baptize Nanny and Grandad and he loved hearing all about our family.  They are such a sweet family.

So many tender mercies this week.  Another tender mercy was learning that my ex-companion Sister Walker - from South Carolina Columbia Mission - her mum was on the Square looking for me.  When I learnt this I was on an  assignment but I soon found Sister Olden and she and I went to see if we could find the mum.  Well, I don't know if I'd mentioned that Sister Walker's younger daughter is a famous 11year old popstar and she was rehearsing at the Conference Center to sing at a huge up and coming concert.  We got word that she was at the Conference Centre but we also knew that only the performers were allowed access due to rehearsal time.  I talked to the events people at the door and the lady asked her husband to take us to find the mum.  He took us backstage which then lead us to the stage and there are all the performers on stage and I'm freaking out a little wondering if this is okay to be here.  Then the husband said, pointing to people sitting down, "Go and see if you can find her!"  I can't remember what she looked like but Sister Olden had met her so when we finally saw her she gave me this massive hug.  It was soooooo cool!  We had a picture with Lexi the daughter so we could send it to Sister Walker and it was so neat to talk to her mum. She just emanates love.  When we had to leave I gave her another hug and turned to leave and she yelled out my name and said, "Sister Chadderton, I love you!" It was the sweetest thing ever. I love her daughter and I can see why shes such an awesome person. Most surreal experience but so awesome.

I also heard that Sister Bunting Jnr. had come to, "Music and the Spoken Word" and was searching for me after it.  Sadly, I was in a staff meeting.  Hopefully, she will come to the fireside tomorrow night.  That'll be awesome!

Oh and I called Brian this week as it is something I have been wanting to do.  While he hasn't been baptized as yet, he is still progressing and the sweetest thing happened to him this week.  So the members that emailed you this week mum, they are one of the best missionary families ever!  They had Brian over for a lesson at their home and they bought him a suit and Brian said to me, "Now I look like a million dollars!" It was so cute.  I think he will wear it every day if he could.  He's still working towards baptism so keep praying for him. 

My companion and I are doing great and the stress levels are going down even though we still have stress. We have been balancing our assignments, study, and early morning meetings better and we eat healthy meals which helps.  We have our fireside tomorrow night and we have been practicing hard out for it. I have invited alot of people and hope they come! It'll be awesome. Last one ever!

Anyway family and friends, I love you all and I am trying my best not to think about January 8th!  Keep encouraging me in your emails and prayers and pray for the people in the Phillipines, so tragic!

Thanks for all your love and sacrifices.

Sister Chadderton xoxo 

5 November 2013

Hi everyone,  I hope you've all had an awesome week. So much has happened this week for me and I always feel like I never have enough time to write and share everything with you. 

Anyway, one of the highlights or miracles for me this week was calling one of our convert families in England to see how they are.  You may remember that they were baptized at the beginning of the year in January.  Well, the 18-year old daughter answered the phone and she was so excited to hear from us and couldn't wait to tell me that she has just completed her medical papers for her mission and is looking to leave sometime in the early part of 2014!!!!  That was the best news ever!  Then we learnt that the 16-year old son was recently ordained to the office of a priest and the best news of all was learning that the Mum is preparing to go to the Temple in January 2014.  I was soooooo excited for this wonderful family!  I love being a missionary and having these experiences.  I totally wish I had the funds to fly to England after my mission to go through the Temple with the Mum.  But,  I will settle to go to the NZ Temple in honor of them - so awesome!  I know that I have been blessed to be an instrument in helping others to come unto Christ.

Well, our Halloween party started at 5:00 p.m. and we had a hilarious skit by our AP's about the importance of dressing and grooming modestly.  They did a skit where one of them sat on the lap of the other.  The person sitting on the lap had her arms tied behind her back while the other person sitting on the chair used her arms to apply make-up, hair clips, scarves and perfume on the other.  It was super funny.  Helped us to recognize the importance of taking a bit of pride in our appearance and groom.  After the skit we all enjoyed a baked potato bar for dinner and watched the movie, "Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe!"  Yep!  No Harry Potter this year!   It was an awesome movie and we had a great night!

So, my big toe is healing slowly and I gently slipped my foot into a pair of tights today and then eased my foot into my boots because yesterday was our first day of, "Snow" for the Winter. Crazy!  I haven't missed the snow at all and while I'm glad I won't be spending the entire Winter season here I will miss Temple Square when the time comes to leave. 

Last Monday my companion and I were invited to President & Sister Seppi's home because I wanted to see his house before I leave.  I learnt that while I was on my outbound, the sister missionaries were invited to President's home for a huge BBQ.  He and his wife are the sweetest couple.  President is a genius and he helped to construct the roof of the Conference center, City Creek Mall and is currently working on the Provo Tabernacle/Temple.  Anyway, we went to dinner first at 5:00 p.m. at a nice Mexican Restaurant and then we went to his house and had a fun tour.  We visited one of the ex-secretary's that used to work for President Gillette - Sister Horne - and she too is so sweet and gave us pumpkin chocolate chip cookies which are pretty much my favorite.  My companion and I had an awesome P-Day.

Well family, I received my travel itinerary this week and I'm sorry but I get home really,  really,  early on the morning of January 10 2014 at 5:45 a.m.  I almost cried this week when I learnt that Sister Vaivai had received her travel plans too but we were booked on different flights.   Upon learning this I immediately asked travel if it was at all possible for them to change the bookings to allow us to be on the same flight home.  I love travel because they must have felt sorry for me and they made the changes. Thank goodness!  I can't fly home without my twin! Haha!  At least thats what we dressed up as for Halloween - Twins!

Also, I am trying to schedule a tour with Brother Richard Lewis who was the missionary that baptized Nanny and Grandad Chadderton 50 years ago last month.  He emailed me a few weeks ago and I called him this week so hopefully I can see him and thank him before I go home.  So cool!

Have a wonderful week family and thanks for your prayers.  I love you heaps, thank you for your sacrifices and know that I am doing my best to be obedient and make use of my time wisely.

Sister Chadderton xoxo

Pics: Me and my companion Sister Vach, Twins for Halloween minus the ugly feet, me sitting by the reflection pool, missionary couples, AP's, Halloween celebrations, beautiful Salt Lake City Temple, my ugly big toe.

29 October 2013

Hey Y'all! 

Hope you're having a fantastic week!  Fall on Temple Square is probably one of my favourite times of the year.  The colours are soooooo beautiful and its the perfect temperature too!

So, my week has been busy, but great as usual.  We had to give three trainings this week to help the Sisters with their assignments and they all turned out really well.  President Gillette told us that our responsibility is equal to the role of a Zone Leader but we don't have a zone beneath us, instead we have the whole mission.  It's good fun!  We are doing a Desk Etiquette and Dress and Grooming training tomorrow morning but we've assigned the Zone Leaders specific topics to present.

Mum, you wrote that Elder Oaks visited the South Carolina Mission but guess who was our surprise speaker at 7:30 a.m. this morning?  Yep, Elder & Sister Oaks!  It was a great experience and he and his wife are the funniest and sweetest people you will ever meet.  Did you know Elder Oaks is now 81years old? I had no idea!  Well, his talk was very inspiring and I received more guidance on how to continue to remain strong after my mission - which is something I have been a little worried about.  I've heard the transition of going home can be a little rough but if we continue to do our spiritual preparations each day we will be fine. They talked about how blessed we are to be sent to this mission and I kept nodding and saying to myself, "I know it!  I am so blessed!"

We have another concert/musical fireside that we are preparing for.  Very different from the last one. The Polynesian sisters are doing a special number so hopefully it will sound okay - no poi balls involved this time because its meant to be a more spiritual meeting.  It's in two weeks (Tuesday 12 November) at 7:30 p.m. so if you live in Utah and want to be spiritually uplifted bring a friend who needs to be uplifted too! It will be held In the Assembly Hall again.  My companion is awesome on the piano so I'm excited for everyone to hear her!

This week is fun because its Halloween!  Temple Square closes early that day and then we will have a mission activity.  If you remember last year's party we had a special guest - Harry Potter - so hopefully this year he will come back...fingers crossed.

I just wanted to give a shout out to my awesome zone leaders, Sister Olden from Australia and Sister Anderson from Indianna. We had a zone meeting this week and our standard of excellence is focused on Christlike attributes. They challenged us to pick one to work on for the transfer so I chose patience and my companion chose patience and charity.  Needless to say whenever you want to achieve a Christlike attribute you are given trials to help you accomplish that so we are trying to be more patient and show forth more charity by the end of this transfer.  I'm grateful we have a loving Heavenly Father who wants to help us reach our potential and gives us opportunities to grow.

Hope you all are able to think of something you can work on for the rest of the year and pray for that attribute to help you become the person Heavenly Father wants you to be.

I love you all!

Happy Halloween!!!

Sister Chadderton

22 October 2013

Hi family,

WOW! What a crazy, epic week it has been since I last emailed.  I hope I get to share with you the most important pieces of information from my past week.

Okay, so I want to to share what happened before I left the South Carolina Mission to return to Temple Square.  So, on Monday night we had pizza at Bishop's home and it was so awesome.  Pretty much our whole zone arrived for homemade pizza.  Seriously, Bishop is the bomb! The next day I finished packing and a member drove us to Irmo and I went on exchanges with some Sisters that were waiting to find out who their new companions were. Sister Hopper was one of the sister missionaries waiting and I was so happy to see her as she was my first companion when I arrived in the field.  At 5:00 p.m. we met back at the Irmo chapel where we had dinner with the new trainees - fresh from the MTC and they had a testimony meeting and President Holm had Sister Nilsson and I share our testimonies too.  That was an awesome experience.  We stayed at the mission home that night and were dropped off to the airport early the next morning.

Arriving in Salt Lake City was so awesome as we were welcomed by screaming friends at the bottom of the escalator shouting, "WELCOME HOME!"  It was so awesome and the escalator was moving too slow for my liking because I wanted to run down it and hug everyone.  Sister Vaivai was there and some of my other close friends and it was a sweet, sweet reunion. Then we went outside and there were heaps more Sisters waiting to welcome us as well as pick us all up and again more screaming and hugs!  So fun! My first trainee, Sister Pipe wanted to drive me home.  She is a trainer now and I was so happy for her.

My new companion is Sister Vach from Seattle, Washington and we are the Temple Square Co-ordinators.  This assignment was implemented a few transfers ago and it is a really tricky one to explain.  Basically,  we help make the Square run smoothly and we do a lot of the training on Temple Square.  We are in the office a ton and attend the weekly staff meetings with the Mission Presidency. I have really enjoyed it so far and it is an assignment where we are giving a lot of our time to help the Sisters.  We open and unlock the Square everyday at 9:00 a.m. so we miss out on our personal studies at that time and have to make it up later.  But my companion is seriously the best and we have a lot of fun.  Sister R.Walsh is my District leader and Sister Olden and Anderson are my Zone leaders and I am so happy!   Oh and get this, "Sister Olden and I are taking a VIP tour with a Senator Elect of Australia this week!"  It's going to be awesome.

So, I have no idea who all the new Sisters are because there are over a 100 new sisters and I am struggling with their names but its been less then a week since returning so I'll get there.

I have loved being back on Temple Square and while I am missing South Carolina and all the people I am grateful for technology that allows us to keep in touch.  I called our investigator Brian yesterday and he went to church and I was so happy!  He is striving for baptism next week so please keep praying for him and his brother Jeff.

We are really busy as usual on Temple Square and I love looking for the miracles each day. We took a tour the other day with this sweet, sweet, couple from Kentucky.  One of their business associates had dropped them off for a tour (he's LDS) and it was the coolest tour. The Spirit was so strong and they are looking forward to meeting with missionaries once they get back to Kentucky and we are going to call them next week.  Miracle! 

Family I can't thank you enough for the package.  I got it the day after I arrived and I had a party with my room mates that night - munching away on the choccies. Oh and mum, I have the little bag for Sister Bunting, let me know when she comes to the Square so I can give it to her. The package was awesome and the shoes were very much appreciated!

This is my companions last transfer and next transfer  it will be my last.  I love my mission and I love that the world is hastening the work. Can't wait to be a member missionary when I come home.

Love you all, thanks for your prayers and love.

Sister Chadderton

15 October 2013

Hi family!

Thank you for all your prayers and emails this past week. I have had an awesome week and I will be leaving the South Carolina Columbia Mission on Wednesday morning to fly back to Temple Square. Tomorrow we are driving to Irmo where I will say goodbye to my companion because she will be training and needs to attend a meeting with the new trainees.  I will be with another companionship in the Hopkin area until 5:00 p.m. after which I will stay the night at the Mission home with Sister Nilsson.  We will wake up early the next morning to catch our flight at 4:00 a.m. to Salt Lake City.  It will be a very short night!

As mentioned earlier, this past week has been good and we have been finding more and more people to teach. We had dinner with a lovely family the other day and I learnt that the wife is not a member.  She said she would be interested in learning more about the gospel and she even attended church on Sunday with her two children.  It was a huge miracle!  Unfortunately, her husband's work stops him from attending Church on Sunday's but I loved how she came without him.  She's wonderful.  We sang in two different Wards this past Sunday.  One Ward met at 9:00 a.m. and wanted us to do a musical item because they heard us practising for Zone Conference a while ago so we sang for them and then we sang again in our own Ward.  It was awesome, especially when the speaker in our Ward spoke about the Prophet Joseph Smith's First vision and we just happened to sing the song, "Joseph Smith's  First Vision" to the tune of, "Homeward Bound."  Double witness of the truthfulness of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his First vision!!!  It was so neat.

Well, today is going to be a busy day and I said most of my goodbyes yesterday and I know I will miss my Ward SOOOOO much.  I love the people here and I'm so grateful that I got to meet so many wonderful people.  I still have lots of laundry to do along with packing, printing off photo's and going to Bishop's house for pizza.  I'm so happy that my last night is at Bishop's because he's so awesome!  I hope you get to meet him because he's coming over to New Zealand in February for a holiday with his family.  You will love them!

I can't believe that the three months of my outbound experience has come to an end and I'm very much aware of the time I have left before my mission finishes.  I am so blessed with all of the experiences I've had.  I love you family  and please pray for me that I won't freeze when I get back to Salt Lake City on Wednesday!

Sister Chadderton xoxo

8 October 2013

Hey family!!!

Oh my goodness, General Conference was AMAZING!!!!  It was so nice to view it all without having sore feet.  I am so grateful for the blessings that the Lord gives us but I want to tell you about my past week which was awesome.

Monday night we had a great lesson with the Taber family who live on a golf course.  They are vegans and we were served some of the most delicious food.  Anyway, they had invited their neighbours over to hear a gospel message.  I believe the lesson went well, mainly because I remember coughing and spluttering a lot through it due to my flu.  I'm grateful for the spirit.  We gave them a Book of Mormon and then carried on to our next lesson with the two brothers - Brian and Jeff - our Hawaiian whanau.  Jeff didn't join us in the lesson when we last  visited but he joined us this time.  He told us of a dream he had and I was in the dream but he doesn't remember what I said but he woke up feeling at peace about the things I had said so he decided then to start joining us on the lessons.  When we would visit before he'd come up with lines like, "This is more for Brian then me!"  I think he's realizing its important for him to learn and do as well.  The lesson was awesome and following the lesson they invited us over for dinner on Saturday.  They had made us Kailua pork and chicken luau with pasta.  I think they knew this kiwi girl was missing her polynesian foods.  I love our investigators!!!  The biggest blessing came when both Brian and Jeff attended the Sunday sessions of General Conference at the Chapel the next day!!!!  They even asked for a priesthood blessing from the Elders.  It was so awesome.  I love the gospel!  Please keep them in your prayers as they are struggling with personal issues and are to be baptized next week.

Well, on Wednesday we woke up at 5:00 a.m. and car pooled with the Sisters in West Ashley area to Irmo.  It is a two hour drive and we arrived a little early so we stopped by the waffle house for breakfast.  At 9:00 a.m. we had Mission Leadership Council with all the missionary leaders and it was so good.  We had a break for lunch and later came together with all the trainers and district leaders in the mission. There was about 180 of us at this meeting and it was a little overwhelming but the spirit was awesome.  My companion and I did our training segment which was all about working effectively with members and the importance of 1) Earning the trust of members,  2) Meeting with the members before the lesson to fill them in on the lesson plan and 3) Testifying of what the members share.  We did a role play and it was super fun.  You really had to be their to capture the spirit of it all.  Because the training was for two days, we got to stay the night in the mission home with 21 other sisters.  It was so much fun and I'm definitely excited about seeing my sisters on Temple Square (T2) next week.  The next morning, we got up and did some exercising where we went running around the Irmo Dam and it was so beautiful.  I forgot my runners so I just ran in bare feet!  Go me!  The leadership training was awesome and I really love the South Carolina Columbia Mission and I know I will miss it terribly when I leave.  The members and investigators are so awesome. I don't think I'll get to see any of my investigators baptized in person but I'm excited to call them and strengthen them when I get back to the Square.

General Conference - President Monson in the Sunday morning session gave an awesome talk and in his opening remarks he basically said that he would go home after Conference and write in his journal that this was one of the most inspiring conferences that he has ever attended!  Cool aye!   The Waddle family are amazing and had us over on Saturday to watch the first session of Conference with them.  They'd put on a huge spread of delicious food for everyone.  We watched the second session at the Ward families home and that was fun too. I really felt the Lord's love for us this weekend because everyone was talking about missionary work and how they should do more of it with the members and be evenly yolked.  I have decided to change my way of thinking so that instead of having a fear of returning home because I will miss my mission,  I've decided to turn that fear into excitement and get excited for my next mission - being a member missionary and helping all of my loved ones who do not have the gospel to learn about it through the missionaries.  So, if any of my friends are reading this who are not members of the Church, visit mormon.org and chat with a missionary on their because they can help answer any of your questions and help put you in touch with the missionaries in your own country. This message will not only bless your life but the lives of your family members too.

Thank you family and friends for all of your prayers.  I really do feel them and I know it's your prayers that carry us missionaries through the hard times.  I loved all the talks at General Conference.  I felt that the speakers were very direct and BOLD in their messages and I loved it.  The main theme I got from conference was how daily decisions determine destiny and how God's laws and doctrines don't change.  Another huge thing was making sure we are not putting anything before God.  I loved it!

Well, I better leave time to email some other people but thank you family for all you do and for all the people who are sacrificing for me to be here.

Love you all,

Sister Chadderton

Leadership training, Waddle family, Kailua pork and chicken dish.