Music and More from Argentina

(letter to Mom)
Oh my gosh mom-- this week was soo crazy for me! If you were here you'd be blown away by how my comps function with music. You would not be happy with the singing OR the piano playing! This other elder from Buenos Aires thinks he's a very good piano player but will play the right hand correctly and then play the same bass notes the ENTIRE song....I just wanna throw him off the piano!  Everyday before comp. study we sing a hymn. Mom I'm sorry but they are soooo bad... I have honestly never heard anyone in my life sing as bad as them. I try to give them advice but one of them thinks he's really good and they get mad when I try to help. When they sang in church I said to myself...."We're trying in the Lord's eyes so that's all that matters, just don't care what the members think or say" ( and that's if I could even understand them :) 

The other day we went to less-active members and sang to all of them church hymns. After that one of the elders in my dorm asked if I could play Somewhere over the Rainbow on the piano in church for him to sing too. They also wanted to combine "I need thee every hour" and "Did you think to pray" and sing both of them at the same time.  Its soo hard I try to kindly give them advice and tell them it won't work--- and seriously they get soo  mad and say that I know everything so I just stopped. Now I just laugh in my head whenever we sing for people. The best part is the members faces oh...my....gosh!  They will say,"Bien Hecho elderes...that was super good.." Then they have the most confused looks on their faces..(especially inactive members) haha! It's just soo funny so I had to tell you all this.

Mom, I miss you soooo much! I miss your food and our talks. I'm fine because I feel this mission is really making me into a man. I hate when these latinos talk behind my back though. I know when they're doing it. Just from their body language and how they talk. Plus I pick up several words here and there. They try to purposely talk faster in front of me. But its all goood:)

I had the best birthday! I was basically kidnapped! But it was super awesome for all that we have and can get! I was soo grateful and actually felt really good. Nothing like home but it had to do:) I'm soo grateful for how you raised me, Mom. This family that we're teaching( Carrina the mom) is just really struggling. I feel sooo bad when me and my comp watch them fight. My comp is a super good teacher though and has helped me with a lot of things actually. He helps me with a lot of Spanish and can be very genuine and caring. He's just had a WAY WAY rough past ha... But I'm learning a lot from him.

I love you soooo much mom! Please send more pics cuz I love them! I love and miss you soo much! Wanna know something cool? I've been out for about 2 months now and I'm actually more than a 12th of the way done! I get back June 14, 2016. (3 weeks or so early) I'm happy cause I'm having fun and struggling while learning a lot and the time is going by fast! I'll be home soon! Then we can party it up in Az and Utah!:) 

SO no gunshots this week which was good. Every night my companion and I, after planning and studying, workout and he and this other elder teach me how to box.  They both use to be in gangs and my comp used to work for the Colombian drug cartel...so its actually really fun talking with him personally about his past but he's asked me not to share anything cause he's had to use the atonement for some pretty serious things.

Oh ya-- everybody here is obsessed with Fanta! The Colletivos/ buses go a million miles an hour and when you step on the bus, they take off if you're the last person. The driving here is soo crazy because its really whoever is the toughest most reckless driver gets his way through the other cars.(not all the time but most of it) I've had many times when in a members car I almost about died. Especially when I'm sitting in the passenger seat and a car almost hits me... 

It's soo different but kind of cool.The food is really good too but its usually just spaghetti and bread yeah!  There are about 60 people in our ward. We have a lot of members but a lot are inactive so we go around giving scripture insights to them.

I love you mom. I do all of this for you and all of my other loved ones. I know Heavenly Father has a plan for his children. I can't imagine not seeing you all again and I had a thought of Heavenly Father of how he may not be able to see a lot of his own children again. This makes me want to work a lot harder and help everyone I meet come to Christ. I'm not scared to invite people to do so. Cause I can only invite.

I love you sooo much ma! You truly are the best!! Stay sweet my homie;)

PS. didnt you get called as the president for RS yesterday!? PLEASE tell me about it! I was praying a lot this week that you'd be ready in whatever way you need to be ready for this calling! I will always pray for you and everybody else like I have been though ;) My prayers are too long now LOL. But I love them:)

Love your son,

Elder Kohler Chamberlain

(letter to Dad)

(in response to a photo of Tom doing the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge)  Oh my gosh that's soo funny! We saw a video of Messi doing the same challenge! How's the biz doing!? I actually pray a lot specifically for your growth and you physically plus other stuff!( my prayers take forever now but i love them) Ya I remember reading the Giver in elementary! Weird but cool book! It Makes a lot of sense. Carri is getting baptized this next Thursday( hopefully no bales) but she wants to leave her mom. Its soo sad to watch them fight every time we go over there. And Carrina is struggling with smoking a lot. It's soo hard to even breath let alone talk in her house. I have faith though that I'm not getting 2nd hand smoke though LOL. Please keep praying for her.

SO one more week until the big hike with Spence ya? Can't wait to see pics! I can't get videos tho unless they're really short! 

We're still teaching Carrina and her daughter and she should be baptized this next Thursday and I'll be able to play for them so I'm super excited! Speaking of piano, I played in sacrament last Sunday-- every song Dad. I had literally no time to practice but thank goodness Mom and Grandma taught me how to use bass chords/arpeggios so I could really actually play the right hand and make it sound nice.  I also played a special musical number Pensaste Orar/ Did you think to pray. I had to learn 3 new songs in 30 minutes cuz that's what was on the program at church. They were all good but then when the special number came..I had practiced pretty good( my first time playing it too) but the last verse where the other 3 elders with a priest sang, I totally forgot the middle part of the song so I played the end of it...!! Oh my gosh it was sooo bad! I was able to back around and make it better but oh my gosh I felt soo horrible.  I thought, "Ahh man"-- I'm fine now but I just smiled and said wow... what did God want me to learn from that one??

We're not teaching in church right now but probs will soon. I'm being taught how to box and sometimes really kill somebody. Dad, my comp said he knew the top guy/drug lord for the Colombian drug cartel. I forgot his name but he's a billionaire and a lot of his family are millionaires from him. I don't know how I ended up with this guy because the other companion knows the top guy for the Sinaloa cartel too who is also a billionaire. I don't know if they're lying to me or what not but their stories are pretty freakin crazy. 

My comp has only been a member for 3 years. 3 years ago, he eavesdropped in on a missionary discussion his girlfriend was having in the other room and started crying. He didn't know why but he felt something soo strong he said and then he was baptized a year later and decided to serve a mission. He dropped everything he was going to serve. It's pretty crazy. My spanish is getting pretty good but my comp can be pretty dumb at times. You truly become a man on your mission I've come to realize, dad. He's also teaching me some portugese too so maybe when I come back home I'll be trilingual? haha but I'm obviously focusing on the Spanish way more. Its only like a 10 words a day thing.

Tell me about the house in utah? Mom in her calling? The biz and the oral surgery? Your working out?( I'm working out too every night besides the weekends and Wednesday) the bands are soooo helpful. The quroum? Everything big in your life dad! Hey thank you and mom soooooooo much for having Suzy over for dinner by the way that other night! That honestly brings soo much comfort to me. Hopefully her and Kelsey can make going to the temple a weekly habit and she can come over more so you can be there for her if ever needed? I'm trying to get them to go every week so they can hold each other accountable. Or just with one of their friends if the other can't go. Can you help with that?:)

I love you and mom soo much! You guys are soo amazing and I think and pray for you guys all the time and will never stop.

All the best to you! 

Love your son,

Elder Kohler Chamberlain

First Week in Argentina

Hello Everyone-

Argentina is very very different . . . I've heard that you can't truly understand a country until you actually live in it. However I still don't understand it all --obviously, since I've only been here one week.  Everybody smokes here-- and I now know why that Returned missionary at the MTC said to be careful.  It's nothing too bad but there are people that REALLY hate gringos because of the war of England and Argentina. So there are many who literally hate people that speak English. I haven't had any serious problems cuz the natives say I look like a Latino-- which is pretty good ha ha!  

So, the other night I heard GUNSHOTS super close to me and couldn't fall asleep for a while after that. Seriously they were SOO close and I thought they were  on the street by our apartment. I was told that this area is safe but guys with guns can go wherever they want.

The people though are actually really nice. Especially the members. I just can't go in red zones. The food is actually really good too. Not exactly what I expected but good and I'm super grateful for it.  

We just helped an old man walk to his apartment for the past 30 minutes and he wants to know about the church. He has super bad knees and so we said a prayer that he could heal and he started crying. He said he felt really good around us and that he was very grateful for the prayer.

People are very blunt here.  If they don't like something about you they'll tell you ...like  "I hate your country" or "this food is crap" right in front of the person who made it.

My first lesson was with an investigator who's getting divorced from her husband. Her name is Carrina and she has 2 daughters. She's addicted to marijuana and can't stop but is wanting to come to church. Her daughter is soo mean to her though. She's mad that her mom smokes (although she can't help it cuz my companion said that when people stop they go crazy basically.) So the daughter takes her drugs and throws them on the table while were teaching her!   She's 12 years old  and the other daughter is 6 and she doesn't talk to her. Please pray for this family. It's the saddest thing I've seen---Especially seeing it right in front of my face.  She was crying really hard the other night and so we told her that God can heal her and help her overcome her addictions through His atonement.

Oh ya my apartment is not the best. As long as I have fairly hot water and my sleeping bag +food/water I'm good.  All the people in my apartment are Latinos and don't know any English. But it's good because  I've already learned a lot of Spanish. I can definitely see how I'll learn the language so I'm not worried about it at all.  Its just the castellano (pronounced custajano).  It's sooo thick and heavy! It's very hard to understand! And ya they speak muy rapido.  It's not fair  but they say Americans do the same thing so it's ok --LOL.  

My companion is at his last transfer and is from Columbia. Super hard worker but he's a really chill guy. He's always telling me how to stay safe and what to do If I ever got robbed. God is good! I know He's looking out for me and will forever and always as I serve Him!

We had about 60 people at church in a fairly big chapel. They do sacrament at the end so people will stay though! 

Here are some answers to dad's questions:

• How was your ward?  Is it large or small?  Are there other missionaries in the ward with you?  

about 60 people and just the ones in my apartment are the ones serving in our ward.

• How is your apartment?  Are you living with other missionaries or just you and your companion?  

To be honest, it's very dirty and small but I'm grateful cuz there are worse ones. There is me and 3 other latinos that don't speak any English.

• Who have you taught?  Did you understand the language at your first lesson?  Were you able to speak?

Many investigators and members. People are very accepting of hearing what we have to say at most times.

• What are your plans for prep day?  Does everyone play 'football'?  

ya everybody will usually play futbol which I'm doing after this and getting some food!

Are you able to work out or use your workout bands?  How about a pull-up bar?                                            YES THAT'S ALL I HAVE! the doors don't even have room to put a pull up bar on and I'm getting into my system of using them! Thank you thank you thank you! 
Any names of people we could pray for?

Carrina and her family. Please pray to help her overcome drugs! Pray that her daughter Carri will be more kind too :)

I miss and love you all soo much! Till next email!

Elder Kohler Chamberlain