Elder Joshua Davis Chamberlain: Dat Trailer Life!

So as I said last week, TRANSFERS!!! Six weeks in Alice, and now I'm in George West! That's right, baby, instead of going further South, I go as far north as is possible in the Mission! Sweet!!! (And no, I'm not kidding. The George West area is the furthest north area in the entire mission.) So I guess the Lord thinks that my Spanish needs a little more work before I get sent southside. (He's right!)

My new companion's name is Elder Larsen. He's a nice Elder from sunny South Jordan, Utah, about to hit his Sister mark. And he's the District Leader of a Relief Society. Or a Sistrict. Or whatever you want to call it. Basically, we're the only two Elders in the Beeville District.

Have you?

And guess what else! (you don't get to guess...) We live in a trailer! Not like a trailer park kinda thing, like pretty much an RV! Reminds me so much of Lake Powell. I've even hit my head on the door heading outside a few times. Really makes me miss the Edward's family.

The trailer's pretty small, but the sad thing is that it's a lot cleaner than the house back in Alice. I guess that's because it's so much easier to keep clean! Also probably has to do with the fact that we've only got two Elders living here instead of four. Actually, that's kind of a lie. Right now the Zone Leaders are staying with us.

I don't really know how long I'll be living it up at the trailer, but however long we stay in George West is not going to be long enough! We cover three different towns here (George West, Mathis, and Three Rivers), and there's a lot of people in those towns with potential! The only problem is actually getting there. They're all pretty far away from our house, and we don't have a ton of driving miles. But we'll make it work, and we're working with the ZLs to get some more miles. Whatever happens, though, it'll be good.

A one-photograph-tour of most of the trailer. The bathroom is nuts!

Dat trailer life, though!

Earlier this week Elder Larsen said something that's really stuck with me. We were driving down a road that probably only had a house every mile or so, and he said "It's a good thing the Plan of Salvation is perfect. Because if it were up to the missionaries to tell everyone the Gospel during this life, and that was the only chance of learning we had, all these people would have next to no chance." And it's true. Sad, but true. all those people will more than likely never talk to missionaries. And not because they don't want to hear the gospel, and not because there are no missionaries in the world, it's just that to talk to those people would take so much time, and have such a small chance of success that almost no missionary would try to knock those doors except maybe once a year. It just wouldn't happen. And there's a few countries, like China or those in the Middle East, where missionaries aren't even allowed to enter! Plus all those people during the Great Apostasy that didn't hear the Good News of Christ! But because God has a perfect plan for the whole world, everyone does have a chance. And just as long as we do our best in everything we do, always striving to make our best better than before, it will be enough. That's when the Atonement kicks in. Without the Atonement, we could do NOTHING. but we do have the Atonement, and for that I'm so grateful.

If you haven't seen it yet, watch "Missionary Work and the Atonement." Just a short video, probably on YouTube. Maybe 10 minutes long. It's just a segment from a talk by President Eyring and Elder Holland. But please, watch it. It's awesome.