A Taste of Home

Here is Kohler and Elder Ah You the day he received all of the things we sent him in the package.  Elder Ah You's parents flew to Argentina to pick up their son and were kind enough to take a package for us!

Dear Family,

Wow that's soo cool that a lot of people talked about what I wrote to Spencer.  I totally remember that campout.   It was super hard for me. I'm glad Spencer got to use it and that he did well!

Ya Elder Ah You and his fam came over to the other elders pension! They took a video too but I don't know if they sent it or not! The Iphone 6+ is huge oh my gosh!!  His mom has one!

This is the video that Elder Ah You's mother sent us!  I don't think it will play well on the blog though.

THANK YOU SOOO MUCH FOR THE GIFTS!!!! I'm not gonna lie-- the corn nuts are already gone ha ha!...You gave me ranch dressing too!! And Peanut Butter!!!  I've actually found some peanut butter but I'm sure this is way better! The I-pod is definitely the best...I teared up at the song kelsey and hailey made. Also the one hailey sang for the christmas one. Spencer's pirate song was sooooo good too! I can't even believe too how you just made that type of piano song up like that mom, and dad's singing...Ahh!!  My family is sooo talented. It makes me super proud to come from a family like you guys:)

Haha I hope Kelsey had fun at prom. I can't believe that it's already been one year.

The other day my exercise band holder ripped from using it soo much and Hermana chaparro sewed it up for me and I'm soo happy! But this last week I've been learning how to work out with almost nothing! Surprisingly if you want to find a way, you can!

The video you guys made from the Easter pageant was awesome! You guys all looked soo good! I'm sure that was a lot of fun! The music was really cool.   I'm going to look for that to put on my mp3.

I'll email Grandma Marshall today:) I don't get a whole lot of dear elder letters that often.  It's every zone meeting which is every month or sometimes longer.

I'm glad you liked that little rice dessert recipe! I love it haha!

Mom I love my new comp! He's super funny and weird but he knows pretty good English and I help him a lot! We went out to work a lot this week and we had fun throughout the week. He goes home after this transfer so I'll have a new companion after this and maybe a new area after 6 months of being here. He was a zone leader for 6 months in his other area and he helps me out a lot with being district leader. Being the district leader is fun! I just get all of the numbers for the work we did in the week and I give them to the ZLs and I teach and do interviews for baptisms.

OH my gosh speaking of that, the sister missionaries had a girl named Valeria that was baptized this last Saturday and I had to interview her on Friday. I wasn't really nervous or anything but I just wanted her to pass so people wouldn't say, well maybe you were too harsh on your first baptismal interview.

I asked her later in the interview what is the word of wisdom. She told me that she didnot understand me but I knew I had said it right and I was using my paper with the questions. Then I asked, What do we do to keep the word of wisdom? She told me, Uhhhh  we pray?  I got really scared because I obviously couldn't let that pass. So I helped her a little and just said, "we don't smoke...and. . . ."  after saying that she told me "oh ya I remember" and she listed off the rest of the things we don't take/use. The baptism was super good and she'll be a good member from what I felt.

I'm sooo happy and I'm doing sooo good and we're working really hard which is true success. Wish I could make people listen but its all good.  I'm doing my part and the Lord is doing the rest. I'm sooo happy to be helping these people. Elder Barton called me the other night too and we are soo tight so that made me really happy.

Elder Barton and I saying goodbye at the terminal in San Juan. 

This is me getting a half liter of blood taken out of my arm haha. I've never done it before and I was nervous just about doing it in this little clinic but it all looked fairly clean and what not! It was fun haha!  The nurses thought we were too scared! We were giving blood for this less active who doesn't come to church because she was going to have an operation so we came in and offered to help her out!

This is another comp in my district.

Hey I did get some dear elder letters from you guys! And I really liked those! Dad gave me an awesome lesson on some success principals and that has helped me with some things here! 

Well, I love ya mom! I'm doing exchanges with another elder in my district so I can have a little more time to send pics! I love you all!

Elder Kohler Chamberlain

(sweet paragraph from a letter Kohler wrote to his Grandma Marshall today)

Grandma, I do love being here. I love being able to help these people that have been living the way they are for ALL their life. I've thought much about the song "Because I have been given much" I too definitely must give! Living in these experiences has made me stronger in many ways and for that I'm grateful. I didn't come here to have it all nice and comfortable for me, I came here to grow and learn so I'm grateful for every challenge I get to help me with my future.

Advice to Spencer

(Spencer's quick letter to Kohler)

Dear Elder Chamberlain,

        Last Wednesday, Brother Hughes called and asked me to give a talk in sacrament meeting! The topic is about the Duty to God program and how earning an eagle scout award can help you prepare you for your mission. I instantly thought of you on your mission when he called me. So Kohler, how has getting your Eagle Scout Award helped you prepare for your mission? Make sure you Email mom before Sunday because I need your answer before Sunday. Well, how are you doing, Kohler? Is it still hard? Are the people treating you well?  I hope you are doing great. My birthday was this Sunday and I got a lot of cool socks and some gum. I also got a new cellphone! It is really fun. I hope you can give me a good answer for my talk. I love you!

Spencer

Elder Chamberlain's response:

Dear Spencer,

As it is a journey from starting as a tenderfoot to an eagle,  it's a journey on your mission. On your mission you are going to have many trials and challenges to overcome. The same can be related to the merit badges and accomplishments you'll have to do in your scouting journey. There will be hard campouts with hard long hikes, many meetings you will need to go to in order to learn about how to make yourself better as a person, and much more. I've learned from my own personal experience that earning your eagle award will teach you discipline, independence, obedience, and give you a hard work ethic. You won't be perfect nor perfectly ready for the mission but it will help you more than you think.

I can relate many things to one very particular campout that I had with my good friend Keaton that I have thought about several times on my mission believe it or not.

I was a deacon and we had all left one weekend to go mountain biking. It was said that there was a fairly good chance it was going to rain but we didn't think too much about it. We had also had a good friend that wasn't very active and his parents didn't go to church but Brother Mask, who was one of our leaders, had helped him to come to church many times. His name was Duke and he had wanted to come on the campout with us but wasn't sure about what his parents would say. We had gotten to the campsite that evening and had set everything our tents and everything up (not expecting it to rain).

We had had a fun night with good food as always that Brother Roberts and Brother Hatch had made, and we were ready to get to bed for the next day to go on a 8 mile biking course through the desert. In the middle of the night it had started to rain and I had been sleeping in a 2 man tent with my friend Keaton. We both got out, and despite being tired and confused, we tried to put up the tarp. Others had already done so when they initially put up their tents because they were just...smart... So we set it up and finally we went back to bed being fairly wet and more than uncomfortable. However a lot of coyotes very...very nearby had started howling and it had kept us up for a while. After about an hour I can remember falling asleep. Then I woke up again finding I was sleeping in water as it started to enter my sleeping bag. There were holes in the base of the tent and my entire pillow was wet. There was not one dry spot! That I do remember! Now I was cold and shivering inside my sleeping bag and I tried to use my pillow to block all the water that would come in my sleeping bag if I laid straight down. After about another hour or so of Keaton and I were trying to deal with the same things..

Then, around 3:00 in the morning, one of our leaders had brought up our less active friend Duke...I had a weird feeling right as they stopped the car. Brother Mask came up and had asked us if Duke could sleep in our already soaking 2 man tent( with our backpacks inside because we couldn't leave them outside) We took him in and I remember just thinking this is soo dumb.

Duke came in with all of his things and had put his sleeping bag in between Keaton and I. We told him about the water but most of the water was seeping towards the corners of the tent because the ground was slanted a little. Anyway, Duke then starts to snore after falling asleep. I remember thinking to myself...why am I here right now...? The coyotes were still howling, it was still raining, my sleeping bag and pillow were both drenched including us, and I was literally still sleeping in about an inch of water but was too tired to try and dish it all out, and now we were smushed with another kid who was snoring extremely loud...and we had to wake up in about 3-4 hours

I was ready to leave right there. I didn't really fall asleep that night and neither had Keaton but somehow Duke was able to snore away...

Now with this experience and knowledge from the mission I've been able to relate a lot of things. I would say that if you're going to try and get your eagle its very likely that over the years you will have at least 1 experience like this or worse.  I have related this one night experience to missionary work by thinking this...Duke really wanted to come camping with us...I knew that he had had a very hard family life and wasn't living in the best conditions himself while I wished I could be in my nice cozy air conditioned house with a big warm bed. 

I have learned in simple words that in order to grow and become what God wants...there will be challenges and trials where we will have to tell ourselves....Just deal with it!  Don't whine, groan ,or be that guy who keeps complaining about how much better something would be if it was only like this, or if only this happened. Let this make you stronger and just DEAL WITH IT. Let this make you the man you need to be. Something that has helped me is to ALWAYS remember that we will never be given a trial that we cannot overcome and make the right choice. God knows how much we can take. SO you have to tell yourself this...God knew I could take this challenge...so there's no backing out of it...otherwise that would mean that I gave up on Him and the trial He gave me to become better.

This is one of many stories that I can remember from how scouting has strengthened me and prepared me to be in a country that is unfamiliar and speak a language I've obviously never spoken much nor heard every single day of almost every moment, and to live in conditions where I don't have the things of everyday life which we all take for granted.

The mission will pull, and stretch you everyday physically, mentally and many times even emotionally. But only if you let it. Getting your Eagle scout award is one of the best or even one of the least things you could do to get you ready for your mission. I wasn't fully ready to go out on my mission and I don't think anyone ever has been, but from what I would humbly offer is that the journey to the Eagle is one of the best things you can do. Stick with it and let it make you the person you need to be to serve with God's missionaries---to serve in God's Army, because He requires a lot, and in return, He blesses a lot.

I hope this helps Spence!  I don't know if this is too much but use what you want bud! Love ya! Oh and ya the people on the streets treat us ok...we have a lot of people who will make fun of us and many times they will always stare just straight at us even if they're standing right in front of you. They don't care and I don't know why to be honest. It really annoys me but it's just another challenge to deal with. Hope you had a fun bday bud! Take care!

Elder Chamberlain

On Mon, Apr 20, 2015 at 2:31 AM, Tamara Chamberlain <tntmusic92@gmail.com> wrote:

Elder Chamberlain is District Leader

Mom,

Wow what a week and weekend! We got some good lessons with a new investigator and the potential she has with her family as well as other possible future investigators is awesome.

Elder B. and I ended this transfer really well. We've been together for 4 and a half months! He's going to Mendoza Centro where it's really nice and there's actually people that will talk english there and what not! But the work is kinda hard there cause he's just in the city and it's super crowded down there.

I'm staying here and I got a Peruvian companion named Elder Charca. I've heard some alright things about him but we'll see. I'm also the new district leader with 2 other elders and 2 sisters so this should be fun for me! Every Tuesday we have district mtg and I'll be able to teach every Tuesday and help everyone with their investigators.

OH MY GOSH you sent me an ipod!? Haha that'll actually be pretty nice because if I try to download things on the nicer computers it'll have to delete everything on my ipod now and I can't with all the pics and music it has! But I actually don't know if this new one will work too haha-- we'll have to see..

Ya so I'll be here in San juan until the first couple days of June...6 months! This pension (apartment) is soooo bad I still shower with buckets and water leaks everywhere! We finally got a water purifier but the landlord lady said she can't do it yet so she'll come back later...which probably won't be for a couple months or never. We're also in looking in getting a toilet seat cuz I havent had one this whole time in San Juan haha. Your butt gets use to it so it's all good ahaha.

Oh ya and since I'll be here in San Juan I think I'll see Elder Ah You and his family cuz he said if I'm still here he's going to try and visit me because he and his family are getting a rental car and going to several places where he served!

Spencer ya man happy birthday!! I was thinking Oh my gosh it's already his birthday...13 he's an official teen! Ahaha!! Enjoy these times bud (mom let spence read this) You guys looked like you had fun with the nerf war ahaha that's soo cool! I can't even remember what I did for my 13th bday. You're soo funny in that pic bro ahaha you can get anyone to laugh. Hope youre doing well bud keep up the good work in school, church, the ladies....nahhh not yet buddy;)

This weekend was different because the church is destroying our chapel and going to build a new one and it won't be done until Novemberish. So the church is paying for a white bus that will go a certain route so that all of the members can go to a further church in San Juan centro. Their chapel is pretty big and they actually have a working electric piano!! It's soo much fun to play when I can!! Ya I've kind of forgotten some parts but not too bad I just need some time to practice and remember!

Also last night was pretty cool cause we thought it's probably our last Sunday night together so last go hang out with the other elders and wait for the transfer calls. We did that and made food and listened to music. I had never chilled with other elders like that my whole mission. It was soo much fun! We just talked and hung out with some raviolis and spicy egg/carrot sauce... wasn't that good but it was ok haha. It was super chill for me.

Sooo about what I sent you I forgot to put something in there....it was just a paper with a simple recipe for a pretty good desert recipe here but it's soo simple so I'll just tell you here.

A lot of people will put rice and milk with some sugar in a cup and eat it like that. It's actually pretty good! So if you guys want to eat that just do those 3 things! Literally just rice, milk, and sugar. A lot of people will serve that to us cuz it's cheap but it's actually really good. I didnt like it to much at first.(There's a lot of food I haven't liked at first) But now I've gotten so used to food here so I can't even remember what food was like in the States. It's actually better and more easier for me to be honest haha.

By the way I worked really hard on the things I got for you all. I also got some things for my little cousins!  Also it was hard to find more...of what you are going to get;) I looked everywhere like seriously there were no more in Centro or here it was ridiculous so just know I really did go everywhere by Bus on several pdays this last transfer!! ( I explained the story in the package. . A lot of the things I did too were while Elder B. would sleep or during other free times I had. I really hope you guys like it...:)

That's sooo cool about what you got to do Mom!! You got to be in the Celestial room all by yourself!? Vacuuming with that noise ya but still...that's soo cool! Speaking of Temples...The Argentina Cordoba Temple will be dedicated on the 17th of May and there won't be a single church mtg going on in Argentina. All members who are worthy to go into the temple obviously will be in their stake centers and be able to watch the dedication go on. I'll be able to watch it as long as Elder Charca has a recommend which I'm pretty sure he does cuz he goes home in like 3 transfers. But ya we will be able to watch this happen! Just a little over a year ago this happened for the Gilbert Temple so it's super cool for me!!

Well Ma I love ya tons!! I'M SOO EXCITED FOR THE PACKAGE!! Thanks btw for thinking about the customs people-- I didn't even think about that! I'll let you know this next pday.  Thank you sooooo much!!

Love your son and Elder,

Elder K. Chamberlain

Senior Companion

Hey dad,

Wow this week was rough at the start but it got soo much better! My comp and I are working things out a lot better I feel. We had Elder Ah You, the guy that's sending the stuff to you guys!( you're all gonna love what I got for you all!  I'm struggling to find a couple more things but it's gonna be awesome-- you're all going to love it!)

Last transfer I forgot to say ya I'm a senior companion so I could train. I have people in my same group from 3 months ago that have been training new missionaries or are district leaders. I'm thinking one of those 2 options is going to happen this next weekend on Sunday night when we find out transfers.

Thanks for the advice about fun in the mission. I won't lie---today I actually had fun with a lot of missionaries! We cooked a big asado at our pench with some Hermanas too and had music, drinks, and everything. It was super chill.

But yes, I would say the fun moments of actual service are almost always after doing it. I mean, ya you feel good while doing it but where you really feel it is when you're walking away and you know that nobody will know or more than that see how you helped that family or person. Seeing how much the Chaparro family has changed in these past 3 months lets me know that ONLY in this church is where you can all become more united in worshipping God. It's another testimony that this Church is true.

Yes, I have considered doing piano lessons or english classes. A lot of missionaries do the english classes and do well with that. We just need to get the permission and actually do it. Plus it'll depend on what my comp would think if we were going to do it too.

I love you soo much Pops! Thank you sooo much for always helping me with these quotes and letters! That's true about prayer! I just still always feel like that's my special time to talk with him. Like I would talk to you. Many times and this is personal but I'll receive an "inspirational voice" talking to me. Sometimes I wonder if its just me or if it's really Him. But I've always felt the Spirit while this has happened So I would want to say that it's Him. I had a very powerful experience with prayer and had felt something I haven't quite felt before this week too which is another reason why this week was also rough, and yet so, so peaceful for me. It'll be something I'd want to talk to you more when I come home because I feel it'd be better to do it that way and because it's really special to me.

Anyway I love and miss ya tonz Popz!! Have a great week with the overtaking Chandler Orthodontic practices!! Ahaha !!!   Talk to ya next week!

PS. We were at the stake center and I didn't bring my camera there so I don't have it here in the ciber...Sooo Next week I will remember and send a lot of pics!!

Love your son,

Elder Kohler Chamberlain

Conference in the Gringo Room

Hey Ma,

You guys sure enjoyed the pageant haha. That's soo cool to see how much you guys all grew from that. That's super cool how they taught you how to work with and approach people to help the missionaries!  The church is so smart. I'm super happy that Steven came too! He's a stud and I hope he's doing well. That makes me proud of Spencer to say that! I feel the same way while reading Jesus the Christ! James Talmage just talks about a lot of things that I think the normal person wouldn't think about and he tells a lot of other little stories and things that would've had to have happened from events that happened in the Bible. 

How are you on that btw? I'm on page 200. I haven't been super consistent but some days I'll read more than 2 pages so I feel I might be good or at least close to where you are haha.

YES I HAVE 2 OF THE 5 PACKAGES!! One was from the Strattons and they gave me swedish fish and sour patch kids with a nice red tie and letter!! Oh my gosh that candy was soo good ahaha! I'm going to make it last though!!

Mom I got 4 awesome books you sent me with pictures of my family or me on them during the break of conference!! Elder Ah you is our zone leader and he gave them to me but I wanted to wait after the first session of the Sunday morning conference and then I opened them and was soo happy! It was soo weird seeing those faces and seeing those names or like thinking of my cousins and stuff haha! I have pictures and I was going to send them today but I forgot my camera cord so I'm going to do it next week for sure!! Everybody was looking at them/ all the gringo missionaries and people were commenting about you guys haha! Everybody still thinks Kelsey is super gorgeous which is always funny. I would've started crying if I wasn't with like 15 other missionaries in the gringo room. Haha we have a GRINGO ROOM with a tv set up with the conference in English so that's nice. The last one in October we watched it on a youtube channel on a tablet that went in and out!

Conference was sooo good!  We watched all the sessions both days and we had our recent converts/the Chaparro family come!!  Also Gisella and her husband Juan who were working with to get married, or either separate. We're trying for the other but we'll see. They all loved it! They all learned soo much!  They definitely received a testimony that the people that spoke are men and women of God. They didn't stay for all sessions but The Chaparro family did almost! Rosa was at all of them who I baptized and then the whole family besides Hugo their dad came to the Sunday sessions. They all looked soo happy and all of the many members in the stake center was good for them to see too that there are many who have gone down the same path as they have. Elder Zeballos of the seventy who spoke Spanish is coming to our mission in May so I thought that was kinda cool too.

I loved Elder Holland's talk about the 2 brothers and the one who knew what he was going to try to jump and how he put that into the atonement. Jesus Christ is our Savior and he will not let go...but we do have to jump for him. I took some good notes so I can read them later.

MOM Spencer is getting sooo huge I can't believe it ahaha!

I've been thinking about all of you too a lot lately. I try not to allow myself to do that or I literally start to not feel good cuz some days it's sad haha.

HEY Mommm sooo I spent about a 1000 pesos today and I'm going to spend a little more on Wednesday           ( almost 100$ ) these are things for you guys and other cousins etc. I don't want to say anything but I'm trying to do the best I can with what  have. You all should like it tho;)

Hey so I'm here with Elder Ah You.   Here's his mom's email address!

Jennifer@manaohana.org

and the number for her is 208-595-0131

Can you let Suzy know about that too? Thanks Ma!

It's funny you ask that about the President. We don't usually see him but tomorrow I'm going to have an interview with him because every 3 months we have interviews with the President. My comp has not been doing the best things and its been hard with him a lot lately so I'm hoping this will be good.

Nahh haha they don't even know what Easter is here I think. They just all get ready for the usual yearly passover and go to church Sunday then go home and have an asado or get drunk. I really don't know ha. But ya there's none of that Easter tradition here.

This last week besides conference I learned a lot more about things I thought I already knew. God did bless me a lot this last week and it's helped me a lot with certain problems I've had  for a little while.

I love you tons ma!!  THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH FOR THE BOOKS!!!!

I'll send the pictures next Monday I promise!!

Love your son,

Elder Kohler Chamberlain