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:)

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.

Elder Chamberlain is District Leader

Mom,

Wow what a week and weekend! We got some good lessons with a new investigator and the potential she has with her family as well as other possible future investigators is awesome.

Elder B. and I ended this transfer really well. We've been together for 4 and a half months! He's going to Mendoza Centro where it's really nice and there's actually people that will talk english there and what not! But the work is kinda hard there cause he's just in the city and it's super crowded down there.

I'm staying here and I got a Peruvian companion named Elder Charca. I've heard some alright things about him but we'll see. I'm also the new district leader with 2 other elders and 2 sisters so this should be fun for me! Every Tuesday we have district mtg and I'll be able to teach every Tuesday and help everyone with their investigators.

OH MY GOSH you sent me an ipod!? Haha that'll actually be pretty nice because if I try to download things on the nicer computers it'll have to delete everything on my ipod now and I can't with all the pics and music it has! But I actually don't know if this new one will work too haha-- we'll have to see..

Ya so I'll be here in San juan until the first couple days of June...6 months! This pension (apartment) is soooo bad I still shower with buckets and water leaks everywhere! We finally got a water purifier but the landlord lady said she can't do it yet so she'll come back later...which probably won't be for a couple months or never. We're also in looking in getting a toilet seat cuz I havent had one this whole time in San Juan haha. Your butt gets use to it so it's all good ahaha.

Oh ya and since I'll be here in San Juan I think I'll see Elder Ah You and his family cuz he said if I'm still here he's going to try and visit me because he and his family are getting a rental car and going to several places where he served!

Spencer ya man happy birthday!! I was thinking Oh my gosh it's already his birthday...13 he's an official teen! Ahaha!! Enjoy these times bud (mom let spence read this) You guys looked like you had fun with the nerf war ahaha that's soo cool! I can't even remember what I did for my 13th bday. You're soo funny in that pic bro ahaha you can get anyone to laugh. Hope youre doing well bud keep up the good work in school, church, the ladies....nahhh not yet buddy;)

This weekend was different because the church is destroying our chapel and going to build a new one and it won't be done until Novemberish. So the church is paying for a white bus that will go a certain route so that all of the members can go to a further church in San Juan centro. Their chapel is pretty big and they actually have a working electric piano!! It's soo much fun to play when I can!! Ya I've kind of forgotten some parts but not too bad I just need some time to practice and remember!

Also last night was pretty cool cause we thought it's probably our last Sunday night together so last go hang out with the other elders and wait for the transfer calls. We did that and made food and listened to music. I had never chilled with other elders like that my whole mission. It was soo much fun! We just talked and hung out with some raviolis and spicy egg/carrot sauce... wasn't that good but it was ok haha. It was super chill for me.

Sooo about what I sent you I forgot to put something in there....it was just a paper with a simple recipe for a pretty good desert recipe here but it's soo simple so I'll just tell you here.

A lot of people will put rice and milk with some sugar in a cup and eat it like that. It's actually pretty good! So if you guys want to eat that just do those 3 things! Literally just rice, milk, and sugar. A lot of people will serve that to us cuz it's cheap but it's actually really good. I didnt like it to much at first.(There's a lot of food I haven't liked at first) But now I've gotten so used to food here so I can't even remember what food was like in the States. It's actually better and more easier for me to be honest haha.

By the way I worked really hard on the things I got for you all. I also got some things for my little cousins!  Also it was hard to find more...of what you are going to get;) I looked everywhere like seriously there were no more in Centro or here it was ridiculous so just know I really did go everywhere by Bus on several pdays this last transfer!! ( I explained the story in the package. . A lot of the things I did too were while Elder B. would sleep or during other free times I had. I really hope you guys like it...:)

That's sooo cool about what you got to do Mom!! You got to be in the Celestial room all by yourself!? Vacuuming with that noise ya but still...that's soo cool! Speaking of Temples...The Argentina Cordoba Temple will be dedicated on the 17th of May and there won't be a single church mtg going on in Argentina. All members who are worthy to go into the temple obviously will be in their stake centers and be able to watch the dedication go on. I'll be able to watch it as long as Elder Charca has a recommend which I'm pretty sure he does cuz he goes home in like 3 transfers. But ya we will be able to watch this happen! Just a little over a year ago this happened for the Gilbert Temple so it's super cool for me!!

Well Ma I love ya tons!! I'M SOO EXCITED FOR THE PACKAGE!! Thanks btw for thinking about the customs people-- I didn't even think about that! I'll let you know this next pday.  Thank you sooooo much!!

Love your son and Elder,

Elder K. Chamberlain

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

Pray for Investigators

Hey everybody!

So this week was kinda slow but we found an old investigator that wants to be baptized! Her name is Guadalupe and she's 14 years old. She was going to be baptized about a year or so ago and couldn't follow through with it cuz her dad didn't want her to be baptized. BUT now he's ok so we are going to baptize her. Then later this week we found out that she'll be going to a different ward sooo she will be getting baptized by somebody else...the thing is though is that she's getting baptized so that's all that matters! Not if I do it or not!

So this week, ya it wasn't too fun cuz it's just been slow and what not. I hate it to be honest haha but we're going to try and change some things. It's soo hard just having to force yourself to just go out in this sun with these clothes and knock for hours while people make kiss noises at you. Haha Some people here are weird and don't know what we do.

HEY so I have 5 packages waiting for me in Mendoza but I still don't know if Elder Ruiz Diaz got them or not! I'm going to find out today! But the cool thing is that one of my good friends here who is our zone leader said his parents are willing to take things people would like to send to their missionaries and are ALSO willing to take stuff back!  President Goates has said that we aren't allowed to send packages or anything. Only letters. But even that's a process cuz we have to get the letters to the zone leaders, wait till they go up to the offices once every month, give it to the pencionista and he'll take them to the correo and he'll send them there and then we wait for the longer time haha. IDK why it's soo hard here but it just is! This elder's name is Elder Ah You and his parents are coming to Mendoza to pick him up to go home! So you'll have to get in touch with them! They live in Idaho but forgot where exactly. Maybe Boise? But I'm going to see Elder Ah You today and we'll talk about it.( Ya his name is funny haha)

I love ya sooo much mom. I think about you all so much! I hope everything is going well with the Easter Pageant too! Make sure you buy a dvd if they have it so I can see some kind of video of you guys actually in it when I come home someday! Much love to everybody!  Hope all is well!  Love you all!

Your oldest son,

Elder K. Chamberlain