December- New Area, Nice Weather

December 7, 2015

Hey Ma!

Wow you have been super busy this week! That makes me happy Im gald youre doing good and busy with a lot of things. Im doing good I want to hear more about how YOURE doing!!

I loved all the pics that you sent me! It looked super official and everything haha! Plus you sold 130 in that one night thats amazing! Its so true sometimes we cant see the hand of the Lord in our lives until after things have passed. Thats why we have to be patient and know the Lord will come through. So in reality jsut faith and patience and well be fine!:)

Thats something Ive learned in the mission a lot just how to have more faith in Him. Once we put our faith in jesus Christ and truly do that well feel his love and well have that sense of security, that sense of Peace that somehow...everything will turn out to be alright...we just need to put our trust in him.

So ya this last week my comp has just been super sick. We went to Mendoza for a couple days and did the tests and this next wednesday were gonna have to go back to get the results to see whats wrong with him. Other than that ya Ive just been in the pench reading, working out, and just doing that while he rests up.

This Thursday were gonna have our zone conference too and im hoping well be back but to be honest I dont think we will. But Im hoping!:) 

Oh thank you sooo much Mom for the package I got! I got the big one with the corn nuts and workout bands and stuff. Did kelsey put in the funk socks those are soo cool ahaha im wearing them right now!

Im so glad to hear youre all doing well Ma! I love seeing blessings come into my family:)

con cariño,

Elder Chamberlain

December 14, 2015

Dad thank you soo much for the email! Ive been sitting here trying to figure out photos and they arent working. I wasa able to tryi a couple times but I dont know if you guys got them or anything.

Anyway this week was good. My comp was sick a lot but we were able to leave a couple times. We had a long talk the other day and about our relationship too and it was really helpful for the both of us. Hes just a very immature guy adn has been sheltered a lot of his life and doesnt understand a lot of things. But Im learning to love him because if I can learn to love him, I can learn to love my family, wife, firends and jsut people that Ill want to be with.

O thank you sooo much for the packets too! i didnt tell you that! The music is awesome! I can only hear a couple albums because the rest isunreadable but its ok.

hey so I wont write you guys this next monday but we did finally get someone to help us with the skype. I have no idea what time were jsut gonna do it on a small ipad in a memebrs house but ill make sure to write you guy before I skype you all:)

Hey i have to go my comp is feelin better today so were gonna try to go work but lvoe you tonzz! Thanks for all you write to me always! I wish I could write more!

Elder Chamberlain

Thanksgiving Week

Hey guys!

So this week has been pretty stressful and all over the place. I'm in the offices in Mendoza right now because my companion has something going on with his stomach. We don't know what it is and so they're doing tests on him and so we're gonna be here and away from our area for a little bit. I think we might go back later this week but I know he has another appointment this next wednesday so we'll be coming back haha. He just spits up stomach acid about every 5 minutes and has been in the bathroom a lot alot with some pretty bad diarrhea. During that I've been helping out down with the office elders for the monthly meeting president has with all of the zone leaders in the mission so it's been cool. Pretty busy at least!

Other than that thanksgiving was fun! We had a pretty small turkey but none the less it was a turkey! Better than copos de maiz all the time!  ha ha!  We had that with some empanadas and some bread and salad it was awesome!  I was super super grateful they invited us. There were some other people too and they pulled out wine and offered it to us and we actually got to teach a little bit about the word of wisdom! It was a good opportunity for us!

Other than that we actually have a lot of other things going on for us but I don't remember everything we did this week and it's a lot of typing haha.

I'm working and trying my best mom. I've come a lot closer with President Goates and I'm learning to trust him more now. He's teaching me a lot.  But ya other than that everything is going super good and I'm just pressing forward.

So ya that's what's going on with us! Much love to everybody!

Elder Chamberlain

New Area, New Allergies, New Friends

Hey Mom and Dad -

What happened to the living room and kitchen!! what happened?!! It's totally different!  But it's ok but woowwwww I've been gone for a little bit havent I...I can't believe it...

Ya it's been another crazy week but let's see...I've never heard such loud thunder and rain in my life...something stung my lip and it got super swollen and I couldn't feel it....I've had super bad allergies here but it's ok now I got a medicine called loratadina and it has the same stuff that claritin has soo I'm really happy. Plus a nice hermana from the states gave me some benadryl and that made me really happy haha.

No, I'm good for christmas.  I don't really need anything.  Thanks though :) So, I'm being rushed by my comp.  He's different but he loves to work so that's good :)

Today we're going to visit a guy in a hospital who is probably going to have his foot amputataed from being in an accident and we're teaching him.  His name is Eddie.  Maybe you guys could pray for him.  

Something cool is that there's quite a bit of investigators here and a lot of people that need help soo 'Im glad im here:)  Also we're teaching a family that lived in new jersey for a little while and invited us to thanksgiving...they said it wouldn't be like how it was there but they would try to make the best Argentine Thanksgiving for me ever and that made me really happy haha:) However the mom is super catholic and doesn't really like us in a more religious aspect but it's ok we're building the relationship:)

But ya I've been busy as normal and doing everything I can for these amazing people.

Much love to you mom and dad!  Tell Spencer I'm super super proud of him in tennis.  He is a stud!!!  

 I'll talk to ya soon!:)

Love,

E Chamberlain

Goodbye to the people of San Raphael

Jacqueline and Oscar Gatica

We made honey bbq wings for the Gatica family.  They loved them!

Hey Everybody,

So this week we said goodbye to A LOT of people that I've come soooo close with!  I'm going to San Luis Ampia with a porteño from Buenos Aires. It should be really cool!  Last week I didn't know I was going for sure but I planned on it because it was really likely that I was going to and if I didn't do it I wouldn't have had time to say goodbye to anybody. It would be like I just disappeared (which happened for several missionaries that were unexpectedly leaving) As I was saying goodbye to a ton of people this week  it was pretty hard. I didn't cry in front of any of them!! But some of the hermanas almost made me ha. I know I'll see them again when I come back with you guys:)  I was able to leave my testimony for a lot of them and with some I was able to share a favorite scripture of mine which is in Helaman 5:12. It's the one about the rock of Christ and if we build on it we won't fall. And I was able to share it with a lot of less actives and ONE family that we were able to bring back! The Aguilera family! They're officially coming back to church and it makes me soo happy! :) 

We had stake conference this last Sunday and the stake president talked a little about the member attendance. There are 5000 members in San Raphael and we have the biggest zone in the mission. We only have 600 that are active.  It was a surprising statistic but it's all good! The stake and apparently the Church is focusing a lot on increasing the priesthood and the leaders are encouraging us to work more with men that can prepare to have the holy priesthood.

Oh my gosh-- I'm so sorry about those people that died in Gilbert and in Europe...I heard something from an old lady about a lot of people died in a concert in Germany haha but ok...soo there were hundreds that died and in France...ya it's been a sad week.

Hey I haven't gotten any packages here at all. Maybe theres that one that that sister brought here but I won't know until the next zone meeting and were probs not gonna go to the offices when we go to mendoza. Tomorrow is when well have the meeting with all the mission and some Seventies over this area and right after the meeting we're all leaving to our new areas with our new comps...it's gonna be pretty crazy with 250 missionaries and those that are leaving with their suitcases and everything haha.  

So, to answer your question, Mom - we don't have a relief society president BUT we have a girl that teaches the gospel doctrine classes and the bishop's wife helps too and I think she has multiple callings. We don't get a whole lot from the ward but there's some hermanas that help us with clothes and giving us lunch!!  We have really good lunches here!

I'm trying my best out here and only care what the Lord wants me to do. I trust him more than anybody and have learned in some of the most fearful time in my mission here to trust Him. All he wants us to do is try our best and leave it in his hands.

Hey I have to go but I love you all so much. Have an awesome week:)

Love your son,

Elder  Chamberlain

Halloween Day P-Day Activities

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

Blessings from the Lord

Hey everybody!

Elder Arzubiaga and I have been doing really good together and we did A LOT of street contacting this week. A new family is coming into our ward named the Nuñez family and we found out that they live far away--about 2 plus hours by walking. We were planning on the making the trip because the parents just got baptized and the daughter wants to get baptized too but we had some nice members take us there and then they took us back.  It was a nice little blessing from the Lord. It would of been a total of 4 plus hours of just walking out in the campo...(field) it's nothing but just farm land so it's really quiet there but those parts of Argentina are super beautiful.

Anyway cool miracle-- we were teaching some of our investigators (Andrea) and we talked about baptism and she had a question like Hermana Alonso had about the baby baptisms and how she didn't believe that a baby could sin either...later at the end she said" I would get baptized. It would be really cool!" So that made us really excited. We both felt like we wanted to wait because were going to tour the chapel with them and give them the invitation there!  But then she said she wanted to be baptized!  Anyway, that's something from this week.  Hope you're all doing good!  

Much love!!

Elder Chamberlain

Church is a Spiritual Hospital

Hey Mom and Dad,

 Hey sorry yesterday was a holiday and everything was closed. It's actually a pretty big holiday like all of South America and more celebrate. El dia de la raza...where they celebrate their culture...but it's really just another day to not work haha...I've never seen soo many holidays here...if it was in the states it would be like we'd have a day for every founding father and president in the country...there's also the 'day of the kid' haha...Speaking of holidays, yes they celebrate Halloween here.  There are people that leave dressed up and all but only on their block because there are a lot of chambers that go around partying and people just get drugged up and stuff on the street.  I don't think we are going to leave the pench that day ha ha!

I've been trying to send pics but this virus filled computer won't let me...haha I have all of my pics saved though on cds so nothing can happen now ahaha..unless they happen to get stolen somehow...but it won't happen. I'm gonna try to find the computer that works. Here it says if I go forward with uploading the pics it will delete all of them? Idk

Hey so you had a hard week, mom? Are you ok? I'm gonna pray for you extra this week haha! You can always talk to me mom:) We don't just teach we help members and investigators all the times with really hard things. I've seen it all haha:) Maybe not all but almost! I love you mom. Church is a spiritual hospital for us and that's why we go there every week. People that don't go to church don't realize how much they're hurting from not having the spirit in their lives...then they go through life with it being even more hard and they don't even realize it. That's why we go to church because it helps us in sooo many ways we can't even realize them all. The Lord created his church for a reason and when we go and take the sacrament we have his promise to always have his spìrit to be with us. A lot of people don't realize how big that really is. To constantly have the spirit of an all powerful perfect loving God with us. He's our father and as a father he wants to help us always but we have to help him...help us first:)

Hey I'll read that chapter in Alma-- I already wrote it down!:)

Noooooooooo tell Sis. Schmidt to hang in there ma-- I'll be praying for here...God wouldn't let these things happen if he knew she couldnt handle them. She's got this!

My new companion is from Lima Peru, but he lived on the west side.  He doesn't talk much but I'm getting him to talk in the lessons and with the members more so he can gain their trust better.  

Hey Dad, your letter helped me more than you can know.  I've read it over several times.  It's just the normal things of a mission--people that you come to love and they just completely surprise you the next day by doing something dumb or messing up their life and you ask yourself, "What, why did you do that?  I thought I taught you better?" Those days are hard, that and just living in Argentina has it's rough days.  But everything's good :)  And yes, Dad, I'm writing in my journal and following all of your advice :)

Love you tons mom and dad.  Mom, have fun in Cali with the kids.  
 Disneyland that's soo cool! Yes I remember that goofy hat ahaha!  We got 3 different pics of me in that hat each time we went to Disneyworld ahaha gooood timess:)

Love you son and best friend,

Elder Chamberlain

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;) 

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 

Old Divorce Laws Still Prohibit Some Baptisms

Elder Houghton and Elder Chamberlain

Hey Everybody!

So this week was sad but still happy. Sad because we found out that those that had filed divorces using the old system would have to continue using that old system and those that hadn't made a file for a divorce could use the new system and have the divorce papers done within a couple months...It was kinda sad because it literally means that the Peña family can't use this new system at all and that they will have to continue waiting for years to get baptized..Also this is sad but still ok! The family that found us and wanted to be baptized live in the other elders area..Soo we had to give them over to them haha. They were super cool but we can't baptize them in our ward. I'm just glad they're all getting baptized ---that's what matters no?

Also we were able to make good progress with a lot of our investigators! The appt with Andrea and Tomas was awesome! We taught them and I got to teach them how to make some honey bbq wings after!  It was a lot of fun!  Also we got to teach Veronica and she's doing good! Later in the week we found her walking out of a small store and she had just gotten some injections. I didn't know why she was there and not in bed because she was suuupppperrr out of it. Ahaha like she was just mumbling in spanish and trying to say my name. Kower...Kowver. A lot of people when they ask for my real name struggle pronouncing it haha.

That's a quick view of what we did and what happened this week. Thank you for all of your prayers for my safety and well being too--- those are always nice ha! Much love to everyone have a great week!

Elder Chamberlain


(letter to his Dad)

Hey Popz!

Ya going up to the San Juan islands would be super cool. You know more than anything when I get back I'd love to go up to Lake Tahoe with all of you guys. That'd be really cool for me.

Ya this week was a good one! Our investigators are progressing! It's just if I leave at the end of this transfer in 3 weeks I won't be able to baptize them and someone will literally come in and baptize them. That's happened in all of my areas. But its whatever as long as they're baptized is what I try to say. Which it's true --I want them to be baptized more than me just wanting to baptize them.

Haha ya the other week I gave a family of 6 all blessings! Some for comfort and others health. I get to do that a lot. The other week for a couple of hermanas too. Sometimes more than I should because it seems that whenever someone is just sick they call the elders.. not even like any members that we do have in the ward but its just elders all the time! 

Yesterday I got to play piano as always, give a 20 minute talk on the family, lead in the classes and teach the young mens class haha. We get to do a lot which is cool cuz we learn a lot but the goal is to get the wards self sufficient.  We try to teach and we end up doing a lot anyway. 

Hey dad much love. You're an awesome example --thank you for always leading me in the right direction. Before I get off the computer,  I talked about you in my talk and how you(and mom) always helped the family do our prayers, read scriptures, and do the things that the Lord has asked us to do. Thanks for always doing those things with us.

Love your son,

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

Todo Bien . . . Seguir Adelante

Hey Mi Familia-

Here are some pics of my "pench."  This is our pink building and ours is the one on the left with the door open.  There is a small market next door but it's pretty expensive so we rarely shop there.  

Here is my desk and all of our maps for our area.  

My bed is the one next to the window.

Here is our kitchen---it's WAY nicer than the one in my last area.  

 And of course, El Bano :)

Hey everybody! 

So this weekend we had a Regional conference for all of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. It was in Salt Lake with Elder Cook and Elder Hales. It was really cool. They talked a lot about how members working with the missionaries is really important and how they need to always be striving to help us. Also about marriage which has ALWAYS been a big one. But right after the conference we had a family come to us saying they want to learn and be baptized...we were soo stoked and they all asked for blessings so we went to another room and just did it but wow this family is awesome! I'm gonna be making banana bread for them this week to make it better ahaha! That has seemed to help especially with other missionaries. I'm just hoping they don't have a divorce situation to deal with because that has happened soo much where we could baptize a family but we couldn't because they didn't have the papers to do it. We have a family in our ward that has been waiting for over 4 years to be baptized because he can't get divorced from his wife that he hasn't seen in over...30 years. It's ridiculous...there's a lot to complain about Argentina but I try not to haha.

But other than that we're finally starting to teach another family that's like for sure going to get baptized after 4 plus months or so! Also we're still working with the Alonso family/ the references from a recent convert in another ward! If all goes as planned we should have...at least...11 baptisms and maybe 14 if the law actually did something to help people get divorced faster from what president told us but I'm getting more info on that. It's a pretty big fat number but there's always a first and who said it was bad to be positive? I'm just gonna think "Baptisms... Baptisms" and they're eventually gonna come.  These families are the ones!  

Wow I almost forgot to tell you---- its almost kinda normal for me in the mish now ahaha! Soo our chapel got broken into really bad... like a bunch of windows were broken(even though you can't get through them because of the bars) They broke them with bare hands so there was blood everywhere...?? Also they somehow got inside and broke down a triple lock door which has literally 3 locks from bottom, middle, then top. I don't know how they even did that but we went to go play some futbol in the little court that the church has and we saw it... the members already knew about it but ya its was pretty bad. They stole the computer which had a lot of information which helped us and the members with less actives, part member families and just a lot of other things like tithing etc...sooo were trying to help out the best we can. They even broke into the primary cabinet with the kids snacks and stuff and they were ALL gone....seriously? I couldn't believe it, but todo bien ("it's all good") ----God knows who they are and we're gonna seguir adelante. ("move forward")

Love you all tonzz have a great week!

Elder Chamberlain

Fun Familia

Here I am on my 20th Birthday with the awesome hermanas who made me a paper lizard and gave me a box filled with funny notes and cards for me! 

This was the fun surprise birthday breakfast my district made for me on my birthday.  They made french toast and a birthday cake.  It was SO awesome!  They are like family to me here.

Dear my awesome fun familia,

Dang Brandon Roberts is already back from his mission? That's crazy. Mom I'm glad your back is doing better. Sorry Dad about what's going on in the office. You'll find the people you'll need. I'm soo glad you guys are learning and growing at the same time as me even though were really far away from each other!

That's so awesome you both get to be in that concert this week.  I LOVE ROB GARDNER. Ever since day one I've been listening to him and his music has helped calmed me down and kept me thinking about the blessings I'll receive by doing the things I'm suppossed to on my mission and becoming the person I need to become for my future. I'm really wanting to hear the music he's made specifically for our church now-- wow that's going to be awesome!

You guys are going to have soo much fun doing that together I wish I could be there! You guys should film it or buy the video so I can watch that with you someday and hear dad saying some of the parts. That'd be cool if you could get those actual songs with dad saying the parts so that every time we listen to the music it will be of dad narrating and knowing that Mom sang in the choir too! Just a thought that'd be awesome!

So we got transfer calls last night and I'm staying in San Raphael and Elder White is out and going to SAN JUAN! I really want to go there again I miss my recent convert familia-- hermana chaparro was like my mom...but anyway we'll see in the future! It's going to be really hard for me to say goodbye to Elder White. We've gotten really close to each other and he's helped me with sooo many things. But its time we part ways to serve the Lord and do what we've gotta do. Well def be seeing each other in Arizona. Does Tucson have a big international aiport or no? Just curious cuz then I can go see him when he goes home because I leave first.  That would be cool.

I'm getting an elder from Uruguay named Elder Paz and he's awesome! I knew him a little bit in San Juan and he's a super funny guy ahaha!  We're gonna get along real well. He's got about 9 months or so in the mission.

This morning before coming here I actually got to go give blood for our ward mission leader's mom who has cancer. I got to see her and talk to her at the hospital in centro and she's been on chemo fora while and didn't look super good. I think she's going to get better tho...I've kept myself in good shape so I hope my blood will help my senorita out!! She was a really nice and sweet lady so she deserves my blood anyday:)

HEY SO IM GOING TO SEND PICS TODAY!! I know I haven't done that in like 3 months or soo but I'm going to do it right now so I love you all soooo much!! You all are my everything!! 

Shoutout to Brother Dave Gadsby for the awesome emails with the advice he gives! You're a very smart man and you know your stuff.  I'm actually really impressed!  Thanks so much!

Anyway much love to you all!!

Elder K Chamberlain

(responses to a quick email from Spencer and Hailey)

Hey Spence!

The weirdest foods I've tried have been morcilla which is called "blood sausage" its literally just conjugated blood haha. But I've tried cow tongue, liver, and I can't remember all the others but I have def tried some weird things here in Argentina haha. I'm probs going to try a pigs head next. It's literally a pigs head cooked up haha!

My pench? That's what we call them because in spanish they're called pensiones. It's  wayyy nicer than my last area.  I'm going to send pictures today cuz I brought my stuff!

Dude tell me about tennis! I heard at the BYU camp you like won the whole championship for your division or something?! That's crazy!! Keep that up bro and you'll be a professional if you want to someday seriously!

Hey bro miss and love ya tonzz talk to ya soon!!

Elder chamberlain

-------------------------------------------------

Dear Hailey--

Hailey how you doing!? You're soo big!  You're a little lady basically ahaha! Hailey Argentina is awesome! It's actually been pretty warm this last week more than normal so that made me happy! I've been growing and learning soo much lately.  It's been hard and fun! Did I read you're playing tennis too? Hailey thats' awesome! How's that going?? I love you soo much Hailey!  Keep being that good beautiful girl you are!:)

Love your older brother,

Elder Chamberlain:)

Happy Birthday 20 Year Old!!

Hey Mom and Dad!

Wow ya this week was one of the hardest and best in my mission! 

We had intercambios and a white storm about 3 miles away in pouring icy rain! It was pouring sleet for a lot of this week!  A white storm is where a whole district or even a zone goes to an area of a set of missionaries and talks with everybody they see! Except it was pouring rain and everybody was inside. So at least we knew where they were haha! But ya we could literally see our breath in this rain and there were still a lot of people that just didn't want us or just slammed the door on us. The excuses you only get in Argentina...estoy con mi abuelita( I'm with my lil grandma) Estoy con el bebe( I'm with the baby) Estoy con mi suegra( I'm with my mother in law) El bano esta tapado( the toilet is clogged!) Ahaha I can't tell you how many we've heard.  My district leader is literally writing a book about all of this called  "si Dios quiere" which is "If God wants to" haha! It is soo funny and I actually think he will do well if he can get that into deseret books and get it into the hands of missionaries that have served in Argentina because los argentinos are unique ahaha!  We were both soaked head to toe and it was miserable and there were still a lot of people that turned us away or slammed the doors on our faces. HAHA but its all good we dont care:) Just a very verryyy hard week for ALL of us and we got through it and now I'm able to celebrate it with my birthday!  But ya Ma, this week was awesome.  We suffered with A LOT of joy!;).   

Hey sorry yesterday we couldn't have P-day because it was a holiday and all the cibers were closed. I don't know if I ever told you guys what a ciber is but there just places where you can rent out a computer for a while.

Mom and Dad, I'm sorry I don't have a cord to send you guys photos but today my whole district along with one of my zone leaders who's going home this next week was with us (we were on exchanges) they all threw me a surprise breakfast birthday party with french toast, and dulce de leche which is like caramel.  It's pretty good and I've com e to like to put it on a lot of things like the Argentines do haha!  The hermanas made me a hand made lizard and a big cake and a really cool paper box that you open which has a bunch of funny letters to me.  It was sooo funny! I thought nobody would be able to beat my birthday that I had a year ago when I only had 3 days in Argentina but mom, it was amazing...I can sincerely call these people family. These missionaries made me feel soo close to any home that I could have in this country and being soo far away from you all. We also did some other weird things that they do here for birthdays like swallowing a raw egg and my comp shoving my face in the cake and then me putting it on others too ahaha! We got both on video and I'll be able to show you guys them someday haha!  This is by far the best district I've had in the mission and I'm going to miss them all soo much when I go.  It was so awesome. 

Our transfers are ending this week so by Sunday I'll know about what's going to happen to Elder White and I. If we go a 3rd together that'd be awesome! We'd be together for general conference haha!

Hey Nico is doing a lot better and he's interacting more with several of the boys we have in our ward so that's been going great! Other than then that our zone has been kinda struggling but were on track for success with our attitudes!! So we're gonna get some baptisms for sure! Also a new law came out for getting divorced which is what President Goates told us so now we're...actually going to have SEVERAL baptisms very soon haha so I'm pretty excited for that! That's going to help the mission work a lot!

Anyway Ma, I had and am still having an awesome day!! Hey thank you for that birthday message that you sent me just now!!  I love the pics!!  Ya, I don't feel 20 Mom, but I guess I kinda do a little bit more now! It's weird...I'm finally in my 20's...it doesn't feel right! I will try and send some videos of me and the egg and face in the cake etc with some pics ahaha! Much love Mama!  I'm sorry your back is hurting and I hope you get better!  Hey Love ya tonzz dad!  You're a stud-- keep up the great work with everything you do!:)  

          Love your son and best of best of best friends,

         Elder Kohler Chamberlain

Elder K Chamberlain

Winter Weather

Hey everybody

We had an alright week this week! It's been snowing a lot and the ski resorts are getting a lot of it. Sorry it's actually not snowing right here-- it's been raining a lot which has been suuupppeerrrrr fun especially in the winter haha. A lot of aguanieve in other areas(sleet) But ya in Malargue there's snow in the elders area and they showed us some cool pics so that was cool to see.

We have been working a lot more with our ward and we're now officially having ward council every Sunday. The bishop showed up pretty late and he was the only one. They at least started out good because we were starting out at once a month and did that a couple weeks ago with about 10 people! But it's all good-- we're doing a lot better with the ward than we initially were! Tomorrow we're going to have lunch with a recent convert and our prime investigator family haha! They are all soo awesome! We've been working with several people including them but transfers are coming up again and I don't want to have to leave with people getting ready to baptize again...it's fun to be the one to baptize and Heavenly Father wants them to do just that so it's all good.

Nico and his mom/family are all doing better and we're working with them. Nico with several other kids apparently want to write Kelsey because I showed them and their families a couple pictures of my family. Haha its nothing new but it's always funny.

SPENCER CAN TOTALLY MAKE THAT GOAL!! (wanting to play for the varsity tennis team his freshman year)  It's happened many times before and if he's this good already he's going to for sure make it. Tell him I said that ma!

Hailey is looking soo much bigger and taller too! She looks like a mini Rachel Blasi in that photo haha!  She's got her type of clothes and everything. Hailey is beautiful!! Enjoy the time with her mom but don't feel too bad because you have a lot more memories to make with us all over again and OUR KIDS...haha!  Anyway I love and miss you all--- let's get after it this week!

Love the one and only,

Elder Chamberlain