Texas! (finally)

Hello everyone from Texas! How're you all doing? I hope that everyone's doing fantastic, cause I am, and it was so good to hear from so many people this week! Monday will be the p-day in the field, so that'll give you a kinda gauge as to when to send emails.

Just to let you know, I've got a ton to talk about and not all that much time to do it, so sorry if I don't go into any detail on anything, ramble, or if my spelling is terrible. I'm doing my best to adjust back to an English keyboard. Not all that different, but the symbols like ' - ! @ are in a different place. So yeah!

Last days at the CCM were awesome! We got emails from just about everyone, spent until midnight packing, and had to get up at four in the morning to make our bus! Such a party! I came with Elders Powell, Madsen, and Cannel, and Hermanas Tait and Lamprecht who were ALL in my district at the CCM! Crazy long bus ride followed by crazy long time on the planes. Also I tried to call at the airport, but couldn't figure out how to get the pay phones to make an international call. Then in Houston, Elders Cannel and Madsen almost missed our flight because they were trying to call home. So sorry I wasn't able to do that! No time whatsoever!

We stayed with the APs for the first night. They told us that we were going to do basically an initiation, which consisted of eating Chile de Monde. Now, they told us that we didn't have to do it if we didn't want to, because  we all have agency and they didn't want to be held accountable for us if something went terribly wrong in our mouths. But they also said that they'd all done it, and as any true male knows, that's the biggest kind of challenge there is! So we did it. Don't do it unless you enjoy your mouth being on fire for half an hour. Nothing we did helped! Apparently Chile de Monde is the third hottest pepper in the world. And, just as a challenge for anyone out there who sees them at the grocery store, I downed four of them. :)

My companion is Elder Padron. He was born in California, but has lived in Mexico most of his life. So even though I'm in a mostly English area, I'll speak and practice a lot of Spanish with him. We try to speak it for six hours a day, unless we're teaching someone. Which we basically never are. Cause we are part of opening a new area! Well, I guess it's an old area, but it was combined with another part for about three months. So the records here aren't the greatest, we've got six active member households in our area, and a ton of inactive. We want to meet all the active and inactive members soon, but it'll take a while, cause we're on bikes, and the area's pretty big. We cover about half of a smallish town called Alice, in the Sinton Zone. And even though we're trying to meet everyone, we usually end up stopping and talking to people in the streets and trying to find new investigators. We actually have two people we could call investigators right now! Their names are Ricardo and Cindy. They live together, but aren't married. Hopefully we'll be able to teach them well!

Running short on time, so that's probably all I'll be able to say. Other than that President Maluenda is super smart! We had interviews with him yesterday, and I had a question. We were almost out of time, and stake conference was starting soon, so he just pulled about six sections out of Doctrine and Covenants and told me to study them. Just off the top of his head! Took him like five seconds to think of it. Also, he really knows how to listen to the spirit. We know that he is when he just stops talking, looks at the ceiling for a few seconds, then asks you something that blows your mind! He's awesome!

That's really all I got time for. Hopefully more next week. Don't have the address on me now, but I sent out some letters today to Mom and Dad. So I need you to put the address on the blog when you get them, Mom. Thanks! I love all you guys who take the time out of your day to read this!

Until next week!

-Elder Chamberlain

Ready or not, here we come!

(written by Mom)
After six weeks in the Mexico CCM (Centro de Capacitacion Misional = Missionary Training Center), Joshua boarded a plane and flew to Texas!  Sometimes missionaries get to call their families from the airport, but that was not our case.  Darn!  According to some of the Texas McAllen Mission moms I'm connected to on Facebook, none of the missionaries in Joshua's batch were able to call.  Oh well.  We'll look forward to talking with him on Christmas!  The good news is that he made it!

Sister Jones, a senior sister missionary at the CCM, emailed some pictures of Joshua's district taken before their departure, and Sister Maluenda, Joshua's mission president's wife, posted some pictures on Facebook of their arrival.  We're missing him like crazy, but there's nowhere we would rather have him be.  What a blessing it is to have our son on a mission!  It's so wonderful to know that Heavenly Father has positioned good people who are looking out for and loving this young man of ours.  What's not to love?!

CCM District 13A

Joshua's CCM district

President Maluenda, Elder Chamberlain, and Sister Maluenda

Welcome to the Texas McAllen Mission home!
5 new Sisters and 6 new Elders with the Maluendas.

¿Que pasa, limonada?

So how's everyone doing? I'm doing just great, thanks for asking! And it's crazy, cause this is the last time I'll be emailing from Mexico! It really doesn't feel like I've been here for five weeks already, but the time has come, and I start packing tonight! We leave the CCM at 5:30 on Monday. That's right. In the morning. So we gotta get up by 4. But I can totally do that! Fly out of here at 9, and then it's on to TEXAS!!!! (By the way, I don't know what day my P-day will be out there, but I'm guessing Monday. So I might be able to email right after I arrive.)

On Saturday we're not having any classes in the afternoon, cause Neil L. Anderson is coming to the CCM! But we've been strictly forbidden for asking for a photo or giving him a hug, and President Pratt said that if we ask him if he wants to trade ties with us, we will be shot. DANGIT!

So a ton happened this week, but it's hard to remember it all, cause it really seems like I sent my last email just yesterday. But here it goes.

We started making friends with some of the Latino missionaries here. It's really good to talk to them, cause it makes us use the Spanish we know, and improves our listening. But I still can't understand most of what they say. They just talk so fast! But one of the missionaries, I can't even remember his name and he left already, spoke almost perfect English! And when Elder Powell asked him if he took English in High School or something like that, the Elder told him that he learned English by watching videos on Youtube! Apparently Americans are really funny, so he learned English by watching and because he wanted to watch more! I wish Latinos were funny enough to teach me Spanish on Youtube!

During our class on Monday, we decided that we were going to study the Book of Mormon outside, on the grass in the middle of a whole bunch of palm trees. So we go out there, and Hermana Lampreicht starts saying the opening prayer, right? So when I folded my arms, I decided to scratch my left shoulder, and guess what I found there? Some parrot decided that my shirt was a good place to relieve himself! And I had to wait until after the prayer to see what it was! So nasty! But it came out pretty well, I just had to scrub pretty hard in the bathroom.

Also, Monday was Elder Cannel's birthday. His mom sent him a HUGE care package, full of beef jerky, chips and dip, sodas, and pretty much everything else that could make a missionary happy. And on the same day, Elder Thayne's mom sent him 1.5 dozen doughnuts. So we skipped lunch. Sounded like a good idea at the time, but then we kinda all felt pretty sick in the afternoon. Still, it tasted really good. But never again. Unless someone sends someone else another huge care package. :)

One of the missionaries in my Casa taught me how to make a tie skinnier. Like, if your tie is just a little too fat (or a lot) and you just want to change that, you can cut it open to the point where it starts to taper, measure and cut off from the inside of the tie, iron the creases back into the right places, then sew the whole thing back up again. I got a new tie at La Tienda (the store here) and practiced on it. Worked pretty well. But look up how to do it before you try, cause it can be kinda tricky. Also, be careful if you do it to polyester, cause that can melt when you iron it.

But a little bit more on the serious side of things right now. On Friday, we were talking to Fernando (our progressing investigator) and he said that he couldn't meet with us anymore cause his mom was super hardcore Catholic, and would kick him and his family out of the house if he kept talking to us. But then he said that the scripture that we'd given him to read the previous visit actually answered his question with that! We had asked him to read 2 Nephi 2, and in one of the verses Lehi tells whichever of his sons he's talking to that he'll live in safety with his brother Nephi. So Fernando took that to mean that he should ask his brother if he could move in with him! We definitely didn't see that chapter helping him out that way (We wanted him to read more about the Plan of Salvation), but you know, whatever works! But then, we asked him if it would be OK if we talked to his mom, so on Tuesday, he actually brought her! And we had an AMAZING lesson! We didn't think she'd actually come, so we were prepared to talk about the gift of the Holy Ghost, so we just kinda went with it and used all our scriptures about the Holy Ghost to talk about the Restoration! I just love how every part of the gospel ties in with everything else! We talked a lot about personal revelation, and introduced her to the Book of Mormon, and she just about freaked out (in a good way) when we told her that Christ had been to the Americas. I keep being reminded that so many of the amazing stories and blessings we know about in this church I've been taking for granted my whole life! When we told her about the first vision and Christ's appearance to the people in Bountiful, she just kept asking "Why haven't I heard about this before?" In Spanish, of course, but it was amazing!

After our lesson, we realized that we'd scheduled our next meeting with her for Monday at 9 in the morning. And we'd be on a plane then! That was probably the first time I've actually been mad here. But we talked to Hermano Hernandez about it, and he said that we could teach the two of them during study time on Saturday!

By the way, for whoever doesn't know this yet, Hermano Hernandez is our teacher, and Fernando is our investigator, but they're really the same person. Hermano Hernandez just pretends to be an investigator so we have the chance to learn how to teach a real progressing investigator in Spanish. So Fernando and his mom, Lucy, are really members, so it's not really as cool as it sounds to have taught them that well. But it still felt really good!

Also, random fact about Hermano Hernandez: We're his first class that he's ever taught here at the CCM! And you wouldn't know it either, cause he's always so happy! I'll try to send a picture next week, but I don't have any of him right now. I'll make sure to get one before I leave.

We had our last lesson with Carolina (Hermana Gutierez) yesterday. Pretty sad to think that we won't see her or Hermano Hernandez again in this life after the CCM. But the next time we do, we'll be able to understand each other perfectly!

Again, crazy to think that I'll be leaving here in just a little less than 4 days! Happy and sad at the same time. And pretty nervous. Cause as real as everything seems here, we've been living in our own little Utopia for the past six weeks, and we're about to be thrust back into the real world. Who knows what the next 22.5 months will bring? I'm so glad the Lord does. And I'm glad to be about his errand. So, until next week! I love you! And I hope to hear lots from all you guys when I get to Texas!

Lucky Charms

This week as just zoomed by! The first week we were here, someone told me that after a little while, the days feel like weeks, and the weeks feel like days. And let me tell you, it is true! Probably cause all the days are starting to blend together. But guess what! We went to the temple today! 

The temple's still being remodeled, so we didn't get to go inside, but we did go to the visitor's center. Also, they had a store, so I got some new ties and a watch! (By the way, my old watch broke last week. I'd set it on the table in the classroom, and it decided to take a leap of faith. . . didn't go so well. the back broke off and the second hand went all screwy. Kinda gave up the ghost and all. so yeah!)

Also: Elder Powell decided that the city of Mexico just outside of the CCM looks exactly like Lucky Charms!  But it looks that way cause of all the brownish greyish houses made out of concrete, and every once in a while, there's a roof that is pink or blue or something like that. Totally the cereal and marshmallows!

Lucky Charms

Things are still going great here at the CCM. In response to your question, Hannah, no, we don't eat tortillas and rice at EVERY meal... just most of them. But there is at least some form of tortilla, rice, and beans present at every meal, but there's more than one option. and I usually take the other option. To whom it may concern: Beans at every meal will give you indigestion for at least a week, sometimes more, but it goes away once you're used to it.

Conference was amazing! I especially loved President Uchtdorf's talk during the Saturday morning session. Or at least, I think it was during that. But it was the one about how just because we don't comprehend all of the spiritual things right now, just as with temporal things, doesn't make them any less true. Really made me think of the mission and all. Cause even though we may not be able to comprehend all the reasons why we've been called to do specific things, or even that it may be wrong, but it's really that we just don't comprehend everything about it yet.

By the way, we did get to watch conference in English. Which I was at the same time really happy and really upset about. Cause it was still good to be able to hear and actually understand what was going on, but when the two guys went up and spoke in Spanish, they still translated it to English for us! I kinda wanted to see how much I'd actually understand, but it's probably good they translated it for us. I don't think I'd understand a single word. 

It's pretty hard listening to Spanish. I feel like I can speak it decently, but when someone else starts talking, I just get further and further behind trying to translate in my head whatever it is that they're saying. And then if they say a word I'm not sure about, my brain breaks and I can never catch up. But it's okay! I've still got two weeks. Plus, hopefully in Texas the Spanglish will be easier to understand than straight up Spanish.

Cool story! Last Thursday or Friday, at like 11:30, Elder Seegmiller said I just sat up straight in bed and said "La Confrencia General . . . . Como. . . . " and then went back to sleep. Really weird, right? I mean, who sits up in their sleep and says that the general conference is like, then leaves it at that? But it's a step closer to having a dream in Spanish! I mean, everyone I've talked to said they know they've got the mission language down when they start dreaming in it. So hopefully soon!

That's pretty much all I got to say. Nothing else really happened. Been doing all right. And having so much fun with my district! Really, here at the CCM, if you've got a good district, you've got yourself a good time. Same with companion and roommates. And mine are awesome!

Basically all I got. So until next week!

Elder Chamberlain

P.S. It's so weird to think that my name is Joshua! I mean, my first name's Elder, right? But you guys can still call me Josh. Just so you know. 

En Serio!?

Hola y como estas? (By the way, no idea if any of those words are supposed to be accented, but whatever.)

So how´re you all doing? It's been great to hear from some of you in email every week! So far it sounds like everyone's doing alright, and I hope that that assumption is true.

I got a haircut today! It feels kinda strange to get a haircut from someone who doesn't even speak the same language as me, but it went fairly well. It was a chop shop, but what she gave me was basically what I usually get, but less hair as a result. Took about 20 minutes, if even that! It's crazy how efficient everyone here is at doing their jobs! But I guess that just comes with doing the same thing all day every day.

Not all that much happened this week. On Sunday we watched a devotional given by David A. Bednar on Christmas Day at the Provo MTC. It was really awesome, and I'd suggest everyone look it up and listen to the whole thing. Especially if you want to see an impression of Cookie Monster done over the pulpit in front of thousands of missionaries! (He compared Cookie Monster to the natural man.) Inspiring talk!

This weekend it was pretty rainy, but just in the evening on Friday and Saturday. Both days I decided to go on a walk in the rain, and got completely soaked! I might have ruined my purple tie, I haven't tried ironing it out yet. It was pretty cold in the classroom that night, cause I got SOAKED! But it felt good at the time. And I didn't get sick, so it's all good. 

Saturday night after the rain stopped

Also, the power went out in the classroom Friday night cause of the rain. So I put a flashlight in my bag, but I probably won't need it the rest of the time here at the CCM. And even if the power goes out, chances are my bag will not be right next to me, and I won't be able to find the flashlight until the lights come back on.

I can't remember if I've talked about this already, but we're teaching two "progressive investigators" right now. They're really just our teachers, but they're posing as people that they know pretty well, and we're teaching them like they're actual investigators! Their names are Carolina and Fernando. But really it's Hermana Gutierez and Hermano Hernandez. They're awesome, and both super friendly! We teach them on alternating days, at different times of the day so the rest of the district can teach them. So like, two lessons in the morning to Fernando and three in the afternoon to Carolina, then switched the next day. (There are five companionships in the district.)

Random fact: Again, no idea if I've already talked about this. But anyway. Some of the guys at the casa think I look like Matt Damon, especially when I wear my black raincoat. I don't see it, but they're all in agreement. But anyway.

Two thumbs up!  Elder Chamberlain and Elder Powell

More good news! We actually will get to listen to General Conference in English! I'm so happy, cause I don't think I could stay awake if I had to sit through ten hours of men speaking only in Spanish. Much less worried about Saturday now.

Been playing Volleyball most days during Gym time. I'm not really super great, but it's really fun! Also, since in Spanish they say their V almost like a B, it sounds more like Bolleyball. I'm just used to calling it that by now, so don't be surprised if it's that way for the rest of my life!

Also, last night the Zone Leaders, Elders Johnson and Searl, organized a game of Mafia for P-day eve. Except instead of the mafia trying to kill all the citizens of the town, the Devils were tempting missionaries to go home. It was really fun, and the good side figured out who the devils were eventually. Sounds kinda stupid now that I think about it, but it was really fun!

Other than that, I'm not really sure I have much to report! Sorry if this is shorter than other weeks. It's not so much that not a ton has happened, just that the weeks really are starting to fly by! I can't believe by Saturday, I'll have broken my record for longest time being away from home! And Tuesday was Hump Day! More than halfway done with the CCM! Kinda glad about that, cause the schedule here gets really predictable after a little while. But at the same time, I don't think I could spend six months here and learn everything I need to know about being a good missionary! Oh well. I guess we'll just have to learn on the job.

I love you all! Hope you're doing fantastic! Please write soon!

-Josh

p.s.  'Cool beans' in Spanish is 'Frio Frijoles'! The 'j' sounds like an 'h' so it sounds like 'freeholeys'. But that's just a random fact.