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