Men in Black

Hey Everyone - 

Awesome week! We had an amazing activity that we made and we had 5 investigators come and 3 full less active families come that we have been working with for a LONG time haha. Ahh man it's soo cool to see when people finally progress...EVEN if it's just going to the church for a halloween activity haha.

Veronica and BOTH her parents came and they loved it! They had told me they had never seen veronica the way she was since the accident and that they knew she was really happy. That made me feel soooooooooo good I cant even tell you! were going to ahve a family night with them and the Alanes family (Oscar and Jackie) Hermana Alanes came up to me and actually told me that we should do it so were gonna have an awesome time tonight!  Ma, we had such an awesome activity! There were a bunch of kids dressed up and even some of the parents too haha! Ya, that's what we planned to be, "men in black" haha everybody liked that. We put a lot of work into the activity and also the Funez family (our ward mission leader) helped us a lot.   

We had a spiritual thought after and we shared a Mormon Message called, "What Matters Most" and we talked about how activities like this bring us together and unify us.  It was super cool!  Mom, I'm doing good.  The Savior has my back and so does my Heavenly Father.  It's a lot of things but nothing I can't handle with the Lord :)  

Thank you soon much for the scripture (Alma 33:23) that's really good!  I know that through his atonement our burdens can be lightened.  I don't know exactly how but that's just how it is ha ha!

Anyway Im going to try and send pictures Cause I havent been able to in forever(only through some members and facebook ahaha. Anyway much love everybody!

Elder Chamberlain

Elder Chamberlain and Oscar Gatica

Elder Chamberlain with Oscar and Jackie

The entire barrio (ward) at the Halloween Party

Carnitas (Argentine sausage)

Hermanas in our District

Jackie Gatica and our barrio for dinner

Testifying through the Holy Ghost

Hey Everyone -

This week was awesome! We had a lot of appointments fall through but they're just being pushed off a little bit longer that's all:) We had an awesome experience with Veronica's mom this week! Me and Elder Agyin who's a super awesome Elder from California went to visit Veronica and her family. We were trying to talk to them about the importance of going to church but it was going nowhere...and then the mom....(I was praying sooo hard that the mom wouldn't say anything about my comp on this interexchange) She starts talking about how all angels are white and we never see any black angels...( Elder Agyin is african american) and she goes on saying how there needs to be more pictures and paintings of black angels...she just made it really awkward by trying to be nice but Elder Agyin is learning that that's how Argentina is...people are very blunt here ahaha! If you are fat they will call you fat but to them it's not offensive...I can't tell you all how many times I've heard husbands and wives call each other fatty...even like...10 year old children ahaha that's just how Argentines are and I love em!!

But anyway, the mom, after we were trying to get out, said something that gave me an impression to stay. She said "The other day I was thinking about your religion and said that it has to be true...they walk in the street going door to door preaching...Jesus Christ walked in the streets doing the same thing."  So, I felt a very strong impression to bear my testimony of our trials in the mission and how we do this for them and our Savior...I let them know that everything we do is for their getting closer to Heavenly Father( sorry my English is bad but I don't know how else to say it haha) I also felt a very strong impression to bear my testimony about the Book of Mormon and how their lives will be blessed sooo much more and the best part about it all was that the dad was there with Veronica and her mom!! We invited them all to pray and read the Book of Mormon and the dad tells me to look at him  and so I look right at him in the eyes.   He then tells me of how sincere I was when I said that I love this family and about the Book of Mormon...he told me that he's not much of a reader but that he'll do it because of what I said and it made me feel soooo grateful for the spirit that Heavenly Father let him feel! I did nothing... that was all the spirit and soo it was super cool!

I love you soooo much mom! My testimony about mothers and their role also has grown stronger a lot this week from some experiences and I can't tell you how proud and happy I am to have had you teach me what the Lord would have me know...I love you with all my heart ma!;)

I'm doing way better, Dad and I am just simply learning to become more like the Lord and by striving to do that, I'm becoming more happy everyday. :)  I'm proud to be one of his servants.  Even if I'm not that much, I know with the Lord I'm strong.  We're not strong people . . . we're only given strength daily from our Heavenly Father and that's why we have to take life . . . one day at a time.  I love you dad.  You're a freakin stud. Hey Ya I want you and all the family even Hailey to come here when I finish the mission. Talk to mom and the family because I want you guys to come.

Well, that's something from this week.   I love and miss you all!! Have a great week and please always make room for Him that gave His whole life for us....don't let that be in vain for you or anybody you love...

Con mucho amor,

Elder Chamberlain

Hey Everyone -

So this week was a good one. We've been working with Veronica and the Alonso fam. It looks like they want to come to church and hopefully to general conference. I got to make some chicken wings for them but the sauce dated back till early April of this year but they said nahhh it doesnt matter. At least I didn't get sick haha!  I was a little nervous.

This week was really good though. I got to play some songs for the primary presentation and I played a surprise "God be with you till we meet again" after the whole meeting and the whole barrio sang for elder paz because he's going back home to Uruguay. This guy has taught me soo much and I was soo happy to do it for him.

There were also some other weird and scary things this week but everyday is a new day with Argentina! 

This week I regained a testimony that God is always watching out for us. He loves every single one of his children and knows each one of us. He also knows exactly what we need and how much help we need. God is always wanting us to grow. We need to always know that hard times don't last, but our reactions to them can last for an eternity. Therefore it's suupppeeerrr important that we think and make the right decision before we've really done something that we'll regret.

God bless you all and hope you all have a great week.

Elder Kohler Chamberlain

Key to Happiness is Being Grateful

Hey Everyone - 

This week was fun and we had an awesome ward activity that we made! We had churipanes! Churi is like this sausage which they have here and there's several kinds and it's really good! That and pan (bread). It was a lot of fun and we did the spiritual activity part. We we're going to show a video but technology wasnt really working soo we just explained it all. We did really good I felt! We talked about the Book of Mormon and gave the ward a challenge to give out 10 books of mormon to someone this week! At the end we talked about when Christ asked Peter if he loved him and why he asked him 3 times if he loved him. overall it went really well.

Everything else is really good too! Veronica, Nico, Alonsos, aguileras, andrea y tomas etc everyone is really good and were making good work with them. Thank you for all the prayers they're very much appreciated!

Much love to you all!

Elder Chamberlain

What's up Popz,

I can finally start to see spring coming but while I was working out this morning it just starts to pour rain haha! It's pretty cold down here still but not too bad how it was like a month or 2 ago.

Ya Mom has told me that Spencer's killing it in Tennis!! I cant wait to see him in a tournament someday!  

Wow that should be fun and ya pretty interesting to organize a Christmas sacrament meeting! Haven't you made a musical production like that before though? Dad if you want some really cool songs that I love that maybe you could use...they help me feel the spirit soo strong and help me think about the Savior when I need help.

"still,still,still"

"away in a manger"

Those are just 2 that I thought of! You could make some cool arrangements!

Soo is home gonna look really different when I come back? You're getting some new alfombra huh? I haven't seen carpet in a long time!

Dad I've been making more progress with Jesus the Christ and my comp just finished it. He started about a year ago and He's going home to Uruguay in 2 weeks. Elder Barton is going home this transfer too and soo is my good bud from Mexico, Elder Tirado. We're losing a lot of cool missionaries this transfer. 

I skipped to the end of the book dad and wanted to read about Christ's second coming and the millenium. I teared up reading some parts --it's really cool.  I'd invite you to read it. It really puts the purpose more in your mind of why were here and what's about to soon happen.

I learned about the difference of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven. The Kingdom of God is simply the gospel and the kingdom of heaven is the government and law of heaven. The 2 shall reunite when Christ comes back again.

Anyway that was something cool that happened this week. You and mom should read that part.  It's only like 20 pages in total at the very end.

Dad I've been thinking of something that you've always told me--the key to happiness...true happiness. It's being grateful. I'm glad that I have a lot of trials here, that it can be dangerous sometimes, trials with food, my pench, and just the things that Argentina doesn't really have and more. More than anything you guys, I've seen sooo much sadness and just families left torn by the power of satan. I'm grateful to have been able to see the things I've seen and help all of the people that we've helped. It's made me GRATEFUL. 

Thank you for teaching me that dad. I love ya and miss ya way too much haha.

Love your son and best friend,

Elder Chamberlain

MA!

Hey I heard you called the offices haha I hope everything goes ok with the package! Ohh that's awesome! I love those little photo books that you've sent me! 

Spencer is such a studdd!! Haha I can't wait to actually see a game! It'll be when he's in Highschool too so he'll be that much better!

Mom every week I keep feeling the spirit stronger and stronger it's been pretty cool. Like dad always said the key to happiness is gratitude and it couldn't be more true. I talked to kelsey a lot about that in her letter. Through all of the things that I've seen,people I've met, and learned here I will never forget how I felt and how they shaped me into who I am. I'm just really grateful how the Lord has kept me safe both physically and spiritually. It'd be really cool to show you it all...

Kelsey is soo beautiful. Plzz tell her that she has a marrying limit of 1 year in college AT LEAST! I don't want her to see the first good looking rm and get taken like that haha. But I'll be there to make sure that doesn't happen too...finally haha! 

I love ya tonz mom --thanks about the card. I've been fine! Dont worry!!:)

Love your son and best friend,

Elder Chamberlain 

Veronica's Story

Whaddup everybody!

This last week was awesome. More so last night. There is always a lot that happens every week and more this week but I'm going to try and pick a story and give more details then just giving a broad view of my week.

So I'll start with last night. Yesterday after visiting a member family we went to go try one of our references that we had tried earlier that week. We were able to talk to the husband and he didn't want anything to do with us at all. His wife wasn't home so we asked if we could come back later and he said he didn't care.  So after hearing that we went and met another lady.  We asked her her name and she was the reference we got from a nice old lady. Haha she was pretty nice! As we started talking to her she tells me "Oh que bonito" haha it just means like...o how beautiful...in english its kinda weird but it's more common in spanish haha. There's a lot of things that sound weird being directly translated into english from spanish.

But anyway we were a little more forward and she let us inside and we got to meet her daughter Veronica. It turns out that 2 years ago almost exactly, Veronica was shot with a revolver in the head at point blank after begging for her life. Two Chimbas beat her and took her ring, necklace and everything and they were telling her not to cry at the same time this was happening. But this poor girl was obviously scared out of her mind. One of the guys was beating her with his gun and she asks not to kill her and he just looks at her...and then shoots her point blank. We couldn't believe the story she was telling us. They showed us the newspaper,photos and told us about her recovery. Veronica has had to re-learn just about everything from walking,talking and eating. I swear it is so insane how much this girl has recovered. She was talking to us normal and understanding us and everything!

I felt prompted that we should teach the plan of salvation and let her know why we're here and that she still has a purpose to fulfill here from God. She's still a little bit locita haha she asked us a couple times if she was actually alive and if she was in the spirit world still because she talked with her grandparents from both sides who are dead and they told her that she needed to go back. Other than that she's perfectly fine just a little slow but wow it's amazing the recovery she's had. It was such a cool experience. We both got to share our testimonies on the atonement and how our savior Jesus Christ has literally felt every pain, and sickness physically and emotionally that we've felt or will ever feel.

Later after the lesson she asked if she could be a missionary like us and if we would show her how to help other people like her so they wouldn't have to suffer. She made us promise her. I almost started to cry when I promised her --I couldn't believe the love this girl had after everything that has happened to her. It could be EXTREMELY EASY to look at the world(God included) and say I don't care anymore. God doesn't love me nor does he care. But yet she would want to serve him by helping other people like her. It was really cool to see for me personally.

Ya I missed you guys a lot this week-- it was kinda hard. But I've had a lot of them so it's ok. It's just hard seeing families be fun and do stuff together and know that at the end of today (Just today tho haha) I get to go back to my little cave haha. But it's going to be soo worth it!  I'm happy for that. I'm just glad my Savior has felt what I've felt and how only He truly knows how hard it can be.

So that was a story that I wanted to share this week. We had some others but not as big as this one. 

Anyway I love and miss you all! Everybody have a great week! Let's try to love others like Veronica!

Much love!

Elder Chamberlain

Cordoba Argentina Temple Dedication

Celestial Room of Cordoba Argentina Temple

   
Hey Everyone-

Wow yesterday was soo cool. I felt the spirit soo strong! The church really is growing in ALL of Argentina! Yesterday the temple in Cordoba which is about 7 hours away was dedicated and we had Elder Uchtdorf and Elder christofferson come! We got to watch all 3 sessions and we saw our stake president give the opening prayer in the 3rd session so that was cool because we've worked with him a lot! We didn't get to see the cultural celebration because President told us that we can't soo it's all good:)

Cultural Celebration from Friday, May 15, 2015

Elder Uchtdorf holds up his temple recommend and the "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet during his opening remarks at the cultural event in Cordoba, Argentina.  (LDS Newsroom)

Visitors Entering the Temple for the Dedication on Sunday, May 17, 2015

We had a good week and finally got into one of the houses we had been trying to get into for a little while as we pass by to others. Her name is Veronica and her dad is blind and can't really hear. We were able to talk to her for a little and we had a solid lesson on the Restoration! She is going to be baptized we both feel. It just won't be by me because she needs to go to church at least 3 times and I'm probably getting transferred, but it's ok--- it's the thought that counts! She'll be making the best decision of her life! 

Ordinance room inside Cordoba Argentina Temple

We also taught several other people this week! One old lady named Rosa! She was pretty prideful at the beginning but then she really took interest in us. I told her we are here in Argentina for so much time when we could be in a  university and we don't even get paid. I got to bear my testimony of why I'm here and how we sincerely want to let people know of this great message. She was VERY interested in the Book of Mormon and was flipping through it and reading small parts here and there which was a really good sign that my comp and I picked up. 

Baptismal Font inside Cordoba Temple

Also we asked for directions from this old guy when we were headed to the home of a kid that stopped us in the street a few days ago to teach him and his family. The kid named Luciano wasn't home but we did talk to this old man named Diego for a while. After we finished we planned  a time to come back and talk with him and he told us," Here you have a friend!"   It made me feel really good and I had never felt that kind of respect for being a missionary out on the streets here so it was a cool little experience for me.

A lot more experiences like that have been happening and the Lord is really blessing us and it's awesome! Sorry this email is a little long and I'm going to try to do better with weekly emails haha! Glad you're all patient with me-- you're all the best!!

Love the one and only,

Elder K Chamberlain

(Letter from May 11th)

Oh my gosh Organ stop Pizza!!  What a cool picture! That;s a fun place ahaha! My first date with Bailey Bowman was there haha!

Ya I miss you guys soo much! But almost 6 months passed when I last talk to you guys which is crazy! We're almost halfway through the year then we'll be at Christmas sooo soon and I'll be filling out my trunky papers! Thats what we call them but my papers for going back to the United States!!

Hey thank you soo much for bringing grandma and grandpa and all the cousins to my mother's day skype call...I literally can't tell you what that did for me. I feel soo strengthened because I know I have a lot of those eyes on me and I'm going to do my best for all of them:)

We found about 4-5 possible investigators this week but a lot of them weren't there when we made an appointment with them. But they're some nice looking people and we're hoping to get to know them better!

Hey Elder Ah you hasnt told me if he's sent your guys stuff but let me know when it does ok?

OH Suzy loved that video and she told me she teared up a little bit so thank you so much for doing that for her:)

Love you all pops:)

Elder Kohler Chamberlain