Conference . . . Great!! Sleeping on the floor . . . Not so great.

Hey Mom,

Ya I lovvveeddd conference! It is always such a big help in my life. However this was the first time we didn't have a "gringo room" because the stake president said if I was serving in another country with another language I would listen to the prophet and his apostles in that language. So for all the sessions on Saturday and priesthood we didn't listen to them in english. It's just cool to hear things in english and because they are said and even sometimes understood a little different. That may not make a lot of sense-- everything is the same but just the meanings are gotten across and not the actual words. For example:

te damos gracias senor is literally we give you thanks lord but they obviously dont say that.

HOWEVER on Sunday, yesterday the stake president said that if the chapel didn't fill up we could use the extra room for a gringo room and we could for both sessions!! We were all soo happy mom!! Like we hear english obviously between us gringos but it's different to hear other people you don't know and more than anything the prophet talk in his own voice. Just a lot of little things...but this is all good.  I'm grateful we at least got that-- it was a good 6 month treat haha

I've been in a trio with 2 other elders since Saturday morning early because Elder Paz ended the mission and I have to be with them till Wednesday.

Haha its been really hard with only 2 beds and some nasty dirty blankets haha. I offered to sleep on the ground till Wednesday and Ive been even more grateful for that mint scented memory foam mattressI had at home ahahahaha! It's been interesting in their little pench with some other things too haha.

Soo I'm staying in San Raphael with a guy from Peru named Elder Arzubiaga. He's apparently a really quiet guy but he's been with some cool missionaries so I'm hoping it will be good but won't hope too much haha.

Hey Thanks mom for everything. I miss you all a lot. Thanks for the photos! I'll try and send some this next week I was actually going to do some today but I'm not in my pench so I don't have my stuff! But anyway I'm gonna write dad now thanks ma!!  Love you!!

Your capo hijo,(Cool)

E Chamberlain;) 

Happy Gringos

Hey Mom!

This is the "gringo room' where all of us from the United States watched General Conference.

Elder Ah You is sitting next to me.  

General conference! The zone leaders also brought me 2 packages from the offices that same day so it was that much better!  One was from the Strattons (fun tie and candy!) and the other was a small envelope with these four Instagram books you sent.  I love reading them!  We passed them all around to the other missionaries in between sessions.  Thanks Ma!

Asado with Hermana Gisella and Juan Manuel!!  Elder Barton is the blonde guy next to me.

This week was awesome! I miss Elder Ah you and Elder Barton soo much though!

We've been working a lot with 2 families named Familia Rivas and Familia Guevarra. Both of them are almost the same. Both of the moms are very young like mid 20s and aren't legally married but are members and the husbands aren't members. They each have different problems in their relationships but we're really helping them and I've learned soo much. At times I feel weird with my age, teaching people about how to live their life and how to fix it (like I've ever been where they've been before). I'm soo grateful for the spirit and how much it helps me and everything that I've learned and that I'm learning everyday.

I'm sooo glad you guys liked the video! At first I wasn't going to do it because I didn't think I could! But I thought when will I get the chance to do this again?  So I did it without tearing up or anything haha.

Yes I love everything you sent!! The Ipod works perfect and I've been using it every night and I love it!  I'm sooo happy I have what you guys gave me!! I'm going to save it all sparingly...except the ranch cornuts..... those things are freaking gone ahaha!

Hey so for this week we're working on the skype deal cuz its this next Sunday! We have church from 3:30 to 6:30 is the thing....it's really dumb because there's not really much to do on a Sunday morning and people use the chapel for another ward in the morning. The church pays for a little bus to go on a certain route and it picks up all of the members. They'll do this until November or so until there done redoing the chapel to make it bigger because the church is really growing here which is good! 

I'm planning on skyping after church so like at 7:15 to 7:30 p.m. my time (3 or 3:30 your time)  My comp is 2 hours back cuz he's from Peru so he might call in the morning but I want to skype and I don't know if I'll be able to go to their house in the morning. I will come to the ciber to make more emails this week and let you guys know so we can set a sure time.

Oh-- on May 16th there will be the cultural celebration for the Cordoba Temple and Elder Uchtdorf is coming! The dedication will be the next day! I'm soo excited!!

Other than that my district is doing good and I love helping everybody out in anyway I can. Love you all!!

Elder Kohler Chamberlain


(another letter from May 7, 2015)

Im super good! My companion Elder Charca have been doing really good and were trying to find more people to teach. Yesterday Elder Zeballos came to talk to us. He spoke in spanish in general conference but knows english too. Hes the first counselor in our area presidency and was sooo cool to hear! Him and his wife along with president and sister goates talked to us!

Its really starting to get a little cold here haha! I swear its soo hard to get out of bed like the cold just drains you! But im gonna buy a nice jacket to wear to get warmed up before I work out in the mornings.

Im learning soo much mom and its been helping me a lot:) Im really just trying to learn the gift of consistency which was mentioned yesterday.

We can really try to do whatever we want but we will never achieve it unless we are consistent. We put that into perspective for our investigators and enduring to the end. We do A LOT of little things that result in our exaltation and because of the CONSISTENCY we had to go to church every sunday, read our scriptures everyday, pray everyday, go to seminary, fast every month, do hometeaching eery month and sooo many more things is why we are happy and successful in what we do.

Something we teach is simply we cant eat all the food were going to eat in one day but we need to save and eat it day by day. Its a simple concept but sooo many people dont even do it or arent aware of it. I can stuff myself with food and be completely full. It wont matter cuz tomorrow im going to have to eat again.

Seriously I learn soo much:)

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

Opportunity vs. Obligation

Hey Dad -

Wow-- it looks like you guys had a lot of fun this week doing the Easter Pageant. That's awesome.

That's soo funny about the sheep and I heard it peed on mom? Ahaha that would've been funny to see! 

This week was good. We have been doing a lot of knocking on doors and trying to get in with references with a member and none answered so we just went around for a couple hours trying to talk to people.

We met some actually nice people so we're hoping this week we can find and work with them. But other than that it was kinda a rough week with some other things too but it's all good now.

Ya so tell me about the biz?? Tell me about your quarter goals and why you think youre doing so well so you can do this every quarter! 

That's cool Grandma Chamberlain is there.  I miss Grandma so much. Let her know I don't wear her bracelet cuz really it's a rule that we don't and cuz I'm actually afraid if someone robbed me and I lost it that way. But I keep it in our study room on my desk next to this stand up picture of Christ and it'll always help me remember why I'm here. Hope she's doing well.

That's soo cool for Chip getting his mission call to Santiago, Chile!  It's actually about a 6 hour drive away but that's just through the Andes so ya I'm literally just on the other side haha. The south mission, huh?...I actually think there's a girl named Hermana Martinez that's serving there from my last area. I can't remember for sure tho...she left like in Novemberish? Anyway that's super cool tho!

Ya I've been reading a lot and I love Jesus the Christ. Talmage talks a lot about the things that weren't really brought up and he goes into a lot of super specif details that would've had to have happened from certain things that happened in his life. He gets info too from so many people who have studied Christ's life and have come to like these conclusions on what He's done and what not. I'm in the 200's right now and I'm loving it.

Something I'm trying to do to help our companionship right now is bring more enthusiasm for the work. Something I've learned is when we're not giving our absolute best we need to be thinking about what we're thinking. Mainly because if we're not giving our best we're probably thinking about the obligation more than the opportunity.  Each day on my mission is not an obligation, it's an OPPORTUNITY to change someone else's life and mine.  So I'm trying to tell myself everyday I'm going to work as hard as I can today but only today, so that I don't think about what I'll have to do tomorrow or in the future for the next 15 months.  Then, the next day I say the same thing, haha!

We're also inviting a lot of people to general conference and a lot of women and our recent convert family went to the women's conference and they loved it. To be honest I'm soo excited for General Conference! 

Love and miss ya tons Pops. Take care this week.

Love your oldest son,

Elder Kohler Chamberlain