Don't Want to Leave!

I am still serving in San Raphael

Hey Everybody!

It's pretty crazy how fast that first year went!! ya...I don't want to leave!! I LOVE the mission. I've learned soo much! I love helping other people through this gospel and many times just being a friend to someone that doesn't have many or none at all. That's so cool you all got to go to Dean's blessing! I'm glad at least you guys got to go and support them!

Haha I miss Hailey tonnzz!  Tell her hi for me and that I listen to her songs a lot! My comp thinks that song with both Kelsey and Hailey was pretty cool and he's gonna learn it on the guitar when he goes home haha!

This week was a good one! We had such an awesome time with Nico and really helped him out. We talked a lot about serving a mission and how it's not an obligation in the church. He can make his own choice to answer God's call to serve. He seemed to feel better from that. That its his choice and it's not that he's being forced to go. We talked to him about all the many people that he would bless and how God will richly bless his life in return. Later it turns out that in the week the day before we had lunch with them Nico was beat up in the streets...at 7 at night...it happened where we've had some bad problems before.  We don't go there anymore. He wasn't beat bad but more than anything just robbed and they beat him in the dirt. He's such a quiet timid kid and it makes me sick that people could do that to him. We gave him and his mom a blessing when we went for lunch with them at their house. The mom was actually getting pretty sick because her blood pressure raised significantly after that happened. So that's why we gave her a blessing too.  We're going to continue to visit them and help them out and go out with Nico to visit some people too!

We visited them yesterday too and had a lesson with the Hermana's daughter's husband who isn't a member. It was weird because we were trying to start the lesson and they were literally talking about whatever...they started talking about their kids and how they used to share their kids with other moms to give their babies "more suck" (nursing)  But I'm not going to lie it was pretty weird and ya one of the mom's almost 4 year old son runs up to her and just pulls down her shirt to do it...I've seen it before and older and I don't want to talk a whole lot about this but you really don't know how many things I see here in Argentina!   So I thought I'd share something different with you all haha!

Today I'm going to the dentist and their office looked ok. I dont know if dad would approve haha but I've seen a couple others for other comps and it's not too bad in comparison to the others! I just hope they use more than soap to wash their stuff because I rememebr how I had to wash your tools dad haha it was a really looonnnggg cleaning process haha but it doesn't look like they do that...haha.

Also I'm going to watch Meet the Mormons with our zone today! President said we could do it if we had good food and drinks so he was cool about this one!

Also the highlight of all the lessons we had this week was with one new family who I know is going to be baptized! The hermanas had given us this reference and we're now going to visit them again with him. It's a family with the parents and an 8 year old daughter! We taught them the Plan of Salvation first this time and they really liked what they heard. There's some word of wisdom problems as normal but we're sure we're going to get through to them!  

I've been using this jacket I bought 3 months ago or less to keep warm. I almost always use my light jacket and the big one I have for going outside and gloves and stuff.  It can get pretty cold! But we have a little heater that we use in our room at night and that with my sleeping bag all helps! The real thing now is that our hot water for our shower isn't really working. Like it's a little warm but we have to turn one of the sinks hot water on so that water can go to the shower but if we do that then it literally just dribbles out water. But ya-- it's all good haha! It's the mish!

Really with my Spanish I just need to pay stronger attention to every single word they're saying. When I don't know a word I'll write it down or if I didn't understand them I'll still ask them to tell me what word it was and I'll look it up. Most of the time I'll ask my comps though. It's nice with Elder White because he actually lived in Guatemala with his family too so he already had good Spanish before the mission and has gotten really good!  I'm reading a lot in "Jesus the Christ" and just studying the scriptures! Every now and then I'll get a really hard but good question too and Elder White and I will both look for answers on how to explain it.

Hey thank you soo much for the prayers and your love and support. I'm trying hard to do my best. We're really thinking that the new family that we found is going to be baptized more than the other people we're teaching.

Anyway that's the gist for this week. I love and miss you all!  Have an awesome week!!

Elder K Chamberlain

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.