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