Este Semana

Sorry, I can't really think of all that much to write. I'm doing pretty well, it's just hard to think right now. Just like every week. And I didn't really think about what I'd write before I started. So here it goes.

Ok, this week I learned the hard way how important obedience is. We didn't go out and actively try to break mission rules or anything, we just haven't really been trying our hardest. But that's why repentance is so awesome! And this week we made a commitment to change. We are exactly obedient from now on. Right? Right!

The weather here has been pretty TemperatureMental. Remember how last week I said that it was so cold, and I was really happy when I received a package full of warm stuff I didn't think I'd need ("Texas" he said. "It's warm there" he said)? Well this week it went back to hitting the 80-90s, and I went back to sleeping without a blanket. It's kinda annoying. But I guess next year I'll be more used to it, and be better at being prepared. Boy Scouts for life!

What else... I gave myself a haircut! Or rather, I tried, and Elder Latu fixed it. I think I did a pretty good job for the first time, but the sides were pretty long at the end. I don't have a before and after picture, but I do have a picture. With my shoe. Or rather, what used to be a shoe. (Let me just say, I am very grateful for super-glue and bicycle helmets. Not one of my proudest hours.) But it's all good! I can fix it!

We went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week! It was really good, but I need to be a lot better at talking to people. Also, what I learned with him is that a lot of the time, people don't even know that they need something in their life. If they've never felt the spirit before, trying to teach them without first getting them to feel the spirit is like telling someone to go eat this food they've never tried before. It's the best food in the world! But they don't know that. If they're sitting at the restaurant of life and ordering, they'll want to order what they know tastes alright. Most people wouldn't know what they're missing unless they've felt the spirit already. So that's the first thing I need to do as a missionary. And there's lots of ways to do that. We can sing a hymn, or share a scripture, or say a prayer, or bear testimony, or something along those lines. All of those give them a taste of the spirit! And then they'll realize that they want more! So now I've got to carry my hymnbook around as well!

So that's pretty much what I'm doing. How I'm doing is a lot more complicated than that. This is already pretty spiritually exhausting. I'm having a hard time learning everything that I need, or rather, applying everything that I learn. I learn so many things when we practice, but then we go out into the field and I resort back into my old little habits and forget the new ones I'm supposed to do. It's frustrating sometimes! And other times I feel like I can't do this on my own!

But that's the key. I can't. But I'm not alone.

I didn't bring my scriptures to the library with me, so I can't look up the reference or the right words or anything, so I won't even try to quote it. But  Jesus Christ has felt everything that every one of us has felt. He's suffered for our pains, our afflictions, our bad feelings, our sins, and every time we feel like crap, he's felt the same way. I don't understand the Atonement yet, and I don't think I ever will in this lifetime, but because of Him and what he's done for us, we can and will receive the help of the only perfect person to ever walk this earth. All we have to do is do our best, keep going, and keep improving. If you haven't read it, stop reading my letter and read "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. (For a copy of it, click here:  speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1966  or to watch it, click below.) And if you have read it already, I don't care. Read it again. And again. And again. EVERY DAY!!! Because it is. His grace is sufficient for all of us. And I hope that every one of you has felt that. If not, ask. Ask God. Ask Him if He's there. Ask him what you can do to be better. Ask Him for forgiveness. And I can promise you that you will receive an answer if you ask in faith. (Faith in God includes having faith in his timing) I received an answer like that just last night. So please. Stay strong.

I love you all! Please continue to write! and don't be afraid to share the gospel. You will be strengthened as you do. (Ask the bishop for pass along cards)

Stay strong!

Love,

Elder Chamberlain

Que lo que pasa pues...

This week has been cold. Very cold. I mean, COLD!

I came here thinking, "you know, I'm going to Texas. I'll be good." Oh, was I wrong. But enough on that. It's been refreshing! And I hear that it gets back up to the 90s by January! (What's up with the weather down here? January is WINTER!)

This week was really good! Went by super fast, and we didn't really teach a ton of people. Pretty sad. But it was still lots of fun!

The elders I live with:  Elder Felix, Elder Latu, and Elder Padron

Elder Latu and Elder Padron

Elder Latu was gone for most of the week. There was a training in McAllen for all the district and zone leaders, so he stayed with the district leader's companion for a while. The house was a lot quieter without him. But I learned a lot from Elder Felix! And tomorrow I'm going on an exchange with one of the Zone Leaders! Don't really know what's going to happen with that, but probably something awesome! I'll let you know next week.

Everything's moving so fast, so sorry if this email is a little scatter-brained. I can barely tell the difference between what happened yesterday and what happened the first week I was here! So starting today, when something cool happens I'll write it down in my planner so I don't forget to write about it.

Ok. Hopefully this part's a bit more interesting.

Yesterday we had a baptism! I mean, it wasn't really me and Elder Padron's investigator, but Elder Latu and Elder Felix's investigator was baptized yesterday! Her name's Ida, and it was pretty much a miracle it was able to happen. When she had her baptismal interview on Friday, the district leader found out that she was basically ready, but she didn't have a testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet. Other than that she was ready, but that's a pretty big thing! So the other Elders had a lesson with her on Saturday, and taught her the Restoration again, this time making sure to focus on Joseph Smith and the restoration of the Priesthood. They had her pray and she realized that she knew it was true! She had another interview with the District Leader over the phone and was baptized! I guess everyone who'd taught her up to that point just took for granted that she believed the Restoration.

Cleaning the baptismal font

Ida's baptism day!

It's so strange how many things I take for granted as a missionary, like an investigator knowing what a blessing is. We talked to someone yesterday who had no idea the meaning of the word "Blessing." And let me tell you, it's pretty difficult to teach someone how the gospel can bless their lives if they don't even know what it means to bless! (Granted, he was 14, but still!) Never take for granted what we have. Family, friends, school, home, music, all that stuff. Don't take it for granted, ever, or you might lose it. It's sad to see people that that's happened to here.

But more good news! O Wednesday we're having something called "Mission Tour" which is where a General Authority comes and gives a training to all the missionaries! We don't know who it is yet, but that'll be another thing to report on next week!

You know, that's pretty much all I can think that might be interesting to you guys. We're probably going to have to drop about half of our investigators cause we can't get anyone to keep appointments. It's really sad. But be happy, everyone! Life is so much better when you actively choose to be happy. Make the choice.

I love you! Hope to hear from you!

-Elder Chamberlain

The Ultimate Knock… supposed to never fail.
They didn't open the door on this one.  Try, try again!

Yeah, I don't really know what to call this...

Ok! This week was a good week, but it didn't really seem like all that much happened the past few days. But we did get a new investigator! Which I'm SUPER excited about, cause we're having a little bit of a hard time finding people. We found her (Glindy) on Thursday, and she said that she'd be baptized! Or at least, I think that's what she said. The entire lesson was in Spanish! ("that ain't the language they taught me at the MTC") Basically all I was able to do was listen and bear testimony of whatever it was Elder Padron was saying. Of which I think I understood most of. But I'm still not quite sure. But we haven't seen her since. We've called a few times, and she usually answers, but she's got a busy work schedule, and wasn't able to come to church yesterday. But we're trying to talk to her again tonight! So next week, we'll have another positive report with Glindy!

Yesterday was the Primary Program. I don't think I need to go into too much detail, since most of you have sat through a Program at one point or another in your life, and know generally what happens. But it was good! Their singing sounds basically like our ward at home. Left me feeling kinda trunky, but it's ok. Just so long as the trunkiness doesn't get in the way.

Last night we had three dinner appointments. I now understand why all the missionaries here are expected to gain weight. Gotta start doing something about it soon!

I guess I need to inform you about what happened with Arline (the mom of Jennifer.) We went back and talked to her on Wednesday, and that didn't really go super great, unfortunately. I was really confused as to what it is she has doubts about. She said that she believes that God and Jesus showed themselves to Joseph Smith in the First Vision, but that she's read the Book of Mormon and doesn't really believe that it's true. Also, she doesn't think that Joseph Smith was a prophet, which I don't understand. I mean, he saw God! And he was told that none of the churches were true! I guess I just have a hard time understanding why people don't readily accept that the gospel is true. It's so weird that I'm taking for granted things like the Book of Mormon, and there are some people that don't understand.

We watched a video last night called Missionary Work and the Atonement. It's just a short segment of Elder Holland and President Eyring during some of their talks, but it's SUPER powerful. But one of the things that Elder Holland said is basically what I'm feeling right now. Something along the lines of "Why isn't the only danger that a missionary faces that of pneumonia from standing in the baptismal fount for too long!?" and I don't really know. But God knows. And it's good to know that he does. On those days that it feels like nobody understands, I know that someone does. There's one person that can help us no matter what situation we're in, because He's felt exactly how we've felt. And I'm glad that I'm able to be here to learn to stop taking that knowledge for granted.

I love you all, and so does God.

I hope to hear from you all soon!

Love,

-Elder Chamberlain

Trains!

I hate trains.

Ok, I know that's a bad way to start out, but I'll explain. And no, I don't really hate them, I'm just a tiny bit perturbed. (I think I used that word the right way). So yesterday, we got back from church, and decided that we were going to go visit one of the recent converts. She hasn't been to church in at least two months, and she told the other Elders that yesterday at one would be a good time to come by. So we did, and she was still asleep, so we didn't end up talking to her. But! One of her friends answered the door. His name's Ivan, and he's living with Jennifer's family (The inactive convert) so he can be closer to work. We ended up just visiting with him for about five or ten minutes, then her mom came home and we were talking to both of them. Ivan speaks Spanish as a second language, and Jennifer's mom speaks English as her second, so I was just visiting with Ivan while Elder Padron talked to the mom. And I missed most of this, so sorry if the details are a little off. Also, when I joined the conversation, it was in Spanish, so I probably misunderstood a ton. But here's what happened:

Elder Padron and her were just talking about religion and stuff, and she said something along the lines of that she's been looking for a feeling in her heart for a while, but hasn't been able to find it. Son Elder Padron was prompted to share a scripture, I think it was Mosiah 2:40, but it's the one that says to "Consider the happy and blessed state of those who keep the commandments of God" (don't sue me if that's a misquote) and she said that she felt the spirit when he read that! So then he shared the super boss scripture from 2 Nephi 31, I think it's verse 8 that says that we need to be baptized to follow the example of Christ. And the Spirit was so strong! (Keep in mind this was still on the doorstep, with a woman that we'd met 15 minutes before). We hadn't even asked her about baptism yet, and she spent a good five seconds thinking about it!

And then, the train.

Now, the train here is a lot different than the train in Centerville, Utah. There, it just drives by, blows the horn twice, and keeps on going. But here, it blows. And blows. And blows. And BLOWS for a solid minute and a half when it passes through. Which it decided to do right when she read the scripture on baptism. And It got super loud. and the spirit left. CRAP! 

So after a few seconds of the train, just enough time for the spirit to leave, she said she'd been baptized twice already, and doesn't really want to commit yet. But still, that was just 15 minutes! And we set up a return appointment on Wednesday, when we should be able to talk to her and Jennifer. So it would be awesome if at the same time, we could reactivate Jennifer and get a BD with her mom. But there'll be more on that next week.

But we do have a baptismal date! I don't know if I talked about this, but we've been meeting with a man named Mark. He's been taught the lessons and has been investigating the church for a few months, I don't really know exactly how long. But we got him to commit to quitting tobacco and coming to church (which he didn't do this week, he was out of town) and being baptized on the 30th of this month! So I really hope that happens! He's a great guy, and super nice.

It's different here. There's no mountains! I can't remember if I said that last week, but there are no mountains! Two years without having a constant landmark, no matter where we go! It's gonna be hard. But I think I should be able to make it.

Also, a magical thing about yesterday. Daylight savings time is truly an inspired thing. Let me just say, some nights 8 hours is not enough. And two days ago was one of those times. My alarm went off at 6:30, which is now 5:30, and I decided to just lay in bed until the alarm on the cell phone went off. I woke up an hour later and almost had a heart attack! I'd completely forgotten about daylight savings! But I was actually rested, for the first time since the CCM!

You know, that's pretty much all that happened this week. We super deep cleaned the house. Looks a lot nicer now. Also we played Monopoly and Uno for 4 hours on Halloween, cause we weren't allowed to leave the house after 6. Nobody even knocked on our door for candy. But Uno was fun! Got wrecked at Monopoly, though.

So yeah! That's my mission life this week! Not super eventful, but you know, sometimes that's how life is. And yet, it feels like I was just writing home yesterday! Time is weird.

Love you all! The address I'm at now is:

312 West Hill

Alice, TX, 78332

Hope to hear from you! Email and letters are both great. So, until next week!

-Elder Chamberlain

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!