Last Week in the MTC!!!!

Hola Hola!!! ESTE ES MI ULTIMA SEMANA EN EL CCM!!!!! Yo salgo para Ecuador en LUNES!!!! And . . . . . I GET TO CALL HOME FROM THE AIRPORT!!!! I don't have my flightplan on me but the branch pres said that I can call from all the airports if I want to, so I'll try to call a few times so i can talk to everyone. But you should just be home all day on monday just in case. Mom, thats really funny that now that I can't check facebook, I'm way more popular. Just accept everyone and when I get home I'll go through and purge the people I don't know/like. lol. Did you see Hno. Barrio's friend request?? He reads my blog now too. Hi Hno. Barrios!!! About your other questions: Yes I got Katie's letter and I sent her one last P day. Yes I got Aunt Meg's box and our whole room devoured all the pretzel-ish things. Sidenote: I love you all but you have got to stop sending me food!! Hna. Yoshino's mom sent her a box yesterday with a ton of Japanese snacks and now we literally have piles of food in our room, it's ridiculous!! I don't know what we're going to do with all of it when we leave!! I LOVED the photo album you sent me mom, it was so amazing!!! Although I had to look at the scuba diver for a really long time before I figured out it was Eric. Just so you know though, i have copies of all the pictures from my mission so you don't need to send them back to me. I can't really think of anything off the top of my head that I want/need for Christmas but I'll let you know if I think of something. Oh yeah. Here's an example of how awesome pres. clegg is. He called me down to his office on Sunday b/c he'll be in the Fort tomorrow and he wanted to know what he could take back with him. Isn't that cool?? We ended up talking for like an hour and a half. Someday I'll have to tell you all the things he said, b/c they were so awesome I wrote them down. I already have two referrals in Ecuador from him!! He's great. So the TRC. Usually it's members pretending to be investigators but I hear sometimes they have legit investigators. We get a situation beforehand and we adapt the lesson to the needs of the investigators. It's really really awesome, I love it. We've had some truly amazing experiences there. When I have time I'll write more about it but trust me it's awesome. So this is my last week in the MTC!!

Here's a list of things I'll miss:
The Spirit here, obviously. It's unreal.
Hna. Mount. I'm not sure what I'll do without her to keep me in line!!
Hna. Damm. I think we were friends in the premortal life. For rels.
Hna. Yoshino. I don't need to explain!!
Elder Yeates. He is so awesome. And pretty. haha j/k.
An hour of gym every day. Running around after sitting for hours is the best feeling!!
Our branch presidency. They're amazing.
President Clegg. I wish I could pack him in my suitcase.
Going to the temple every Wednesday. What an amazing blessing!!
Hno. Barrios and Hno. Sears. They are the best teachers ever. And I'm not just saying that b/c I know Hno. Barrios is reading this ;)
Knowing that my mail will arrive safely and securely. That's not likely in Ecuador.

And now a list of things I won't miss:
The food. My stomach hates me right now.
The bathrooms. They are DISGUSTING.
Living in a shoebox. Eric, I feel your pain, for rels.
No music. That was hard.
Being cold. So not going to be a problem in 5 days.
Elder McGuire and Elder Sandberg-b/c they'll be with me for the next 18 months!!

And here's a list of things I've learned at the MTC:
The Lord is willing to help you with whatever you need-but you have to ASK
I don't know anything. En serio.
The Book of Mormon will answer any question you have. Literally.
I am nothing without the Savior. Nothing.
EVERYONE needs this gospel in their lives. No matter who you are, what your story is, doesn't matter. You need the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Bible is also awesome. For sure.
The Spirit doesn't always speak to you the way you think it will.
Heavenly Father answers prayers, sometimes in the way you expect and sometimes not.
Heavenly Father has a sense of humor.
Stairs are very slippery. And ghostbusting is awesome.
Tongans are really good at volleyball.Watch out for the Tongans on your team. They will take. you. OUT.
My cooking isn't really that bad after all.
The Mormon world is a very small one and everyone knows everyone.
MTC food+sitting all day+ multiple packages of junk food=Hna. Chamberlain gains tons of weight
19 year old boys can preach the gospel and do it well
The gospel is TRUE!!!!!

So I bet you're wondering why I said to watch out for the Tongans. Well, last week in gym I was playing volleyball, and I jumped up to hit the ball. I hit it but it didn't go over the net, so I jumped up to hit it again. All of a sudden something HUGE slammed into me from behind and I fell to the ground. I looked up and there was a huge Tongan standing over me saying "sister I'm so sorry!!" Another hermana helped me up and after the stars went away I kept playing. But I have some nice abrasions on my right knee!!! BUT, it's all good b/c I turned it into a gospel analogy. Sometimes, we're going along, thinking everything's all good, and then BAM!! We get smacked down by trials, temptations, challenges, etc. That's life. BUT, like the hermana that helped me up, the Savior is always there to help us up. But like me, we have to reach out our hands to Him so that He can help us up. Awesome?? I think so. Remember that when you're having a tough time. And seriously, watch out for Tongans.

So, a lot of people still haven't written to me and I'm really sad. Today I'm just going to send out one last plea to the masses to WRITE ME SOME LETTERS!! Or postcards or whatev. In the next email I may start making a list of all the people who haven't written to me who said they were going to. Just saying. If you don't want to be called out, escribame!!!

Love you all and miss you all!! Next week my email will come from ECUADOR!!!!!
MUCHO AMOR
Hna. Chamberlain

PS: just out of curiousity, who are all my new fb friends/blog followers??

Our Zone at the Provo Temple

and the sisters I live with

Only Two More Weeks!

Hola Hola!!!SOULEMENTE DOS SEMANAS MAS EN EL CCM!!!!!! AHHHH!!!!!I thought this day would never come and now that it has I'm so excited/scared!! But mostly excited. It's going to be so amazing!! But I'm starting to realize how much Spanish I don't know. The first few weeks/months are going to be a HUGE culture shock for sure. Pero esta bien, esta bien. We're supposed to get our flight plans TOMORROW!! I'm so excited, but a little worried b/c there hasn't been any word on our visas. Please pray that Elder Sandberg, Elder McGuire and I don't get reassigned to Omaha Nebraska. Brother Dart, if you're reading this I apologize ;).So I don't really have a whole lot of exciting things that happened this week. We got to teach Lucia in the TRC again this week but we had to do it in Spanish this time so it was a lot more stressful!! I feel like it's harder to feel the Spirit when I teach in Spanish b/c I'm so worried about how I'm going to say what I want to say that I'm not listening. But I know it will get better. Right?? Last night we had an amazing fireside about temples from the director of the temple department. I was hoping he would announce a temple in Indiana but he didn't. Next conference I'll keep my fingers crossed. In the meanwhile, everyone in Indiana should go to the temple as much as they can, so we can show the Lord that we're ready for a temple in Indiana!! Hna. Mount and I have improved our planning a lot this week. We start by figuring out what our goals are and then we plan our day around them. We've really seen an improvement in reaching our daily goals and it's really interesting to see how the Lord puts people in our path so that we can accomplish our goals. Mom, your questions. I have tons of chapstick and Hna. Mount steals it all the time, but it's okay b/c I love her. I do not have any sunscreen so if you could send some that would be awesome, but I can also look for it in the bookstore. And I have not figured out how to get my stuff home but when I do I'll let you know. Why didn't you want me to send it home?? That's probably the easiest way to get it out of my hair. I dunno though. About a blog. If you want to you can set one up. It might be easier for people to access I suppose, but I worry that people won't read it b/c it's not sent directly to them. So I guess my point to you all is, if my mom sets up a mission blog, don't be lazy and read it!! :)I've been reading a lot of Jesus the Christ this week. Isn't it such an amazing book?? I challenge you all to read it again or read it if you haven't. It's so awesome, except that James E. Talmage uses a lot of big words. But fer rels, it's awesome. You will learn so much about our Savior that you'd never thought of before, especially about the Atonement. And while I'm on the subject of the Atonement, how amazing is that gift to us?? We sang a really beautiful arrangement of "Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer" last night at the devotional and one line popped off the page at me: "He will bind the broken heart." I thought of all the times that the Savior has bound my broken heart and I was overwhelmed with gratitude and love for Him. Never EVER forget that the Savior loves you, and NEVER hesitate to turn to Him!! He is always ready and always willing to give you what you need!! Tambien, yo he leido el Libro de Mormon mucho, porque yo quiero terminar El Libro de Mormon antes yo salgo el CCM. Yo termino 3 y 4 Nefi este manana!! Muy bien para mi!!Kelly, you should have a really special letter coming soon!!! I had it in my bag to mail ever since last P-day, but I kept forgetting to pop it in the mailbox. But until it gets there, I just want you to know that I love you and that if I was there that silly girl in your class wouldn't dare to pick on you b/c she'd be too afraid of your big sister!! I hope things are getting better in your class and don't hesistate to tell the teacher if she keeps being mean to you. Nobody deserves to be picked on!!Hmmmm, what else. We start teaching the Plan of Salvation in Spanish this week, and that will be interesting. We've already been doing it with our progressive investigator Hermenegildo, who, BTW, committed to be baptized!! Muy bien!! First he has to find a way to get to church every sunday, so Hna. Mount and I had a fast for him yesterday and Hermenegildo fasted with us. He was supposed to talk to his boss about it yesterday, so hopefully that went well and he's set to jet!! Oh, and Erica White, if you're reading this, I met Elder Deffense!! And Hermana Galbraith found him too!! So we're all buds now.Speaking of Hermana Galbraith, we were talking last night about how we're very sad that we don't get letters from any of our friends!! Don't get me wrong, I love my family, and I love hearing from them, but I want to hear from my friends too!! I want to know what's going on in your lives, and how the gospel blesses your life, and all the drama. Entonces, POR FAVOR, escriba las cartas a mi!!! Es muy necesario!! Lindsey, I love you for writing me letters and I wish I could be there with you this month!! I'll be thinking about you for sure!! The rest of you, QUE PECADORES!!! ESCRIBA A MI!!!! j/k. but seriously, do it. :'(AHH!! Only 2 more minutes!! LOS AMO MUCHO Y LOS EXTRANO MUCHO Y LA IGLESIA ES VERDADERO Y JESUCRISTO ES NUESTRO SALVADOR!!!

MUCHO AMOR
Hermana Chamberlain

Quarantine-11/4/09

Hola hola hola!!! Como estan everyone?? So many crazy things happened this week. First, mom, I don't know if I can send mail through pouch or not but I'll find out and get back to you. And there are actually only two new hermanas, Hna Funaki from Tonga and Hna Lee from South Korea, and they don't live in our room. BUT, we would love to give them treats anyway, so just send enough for all of us.Okay so first off, Hna. Mount got really sick on Friday so we went to the health clinic, and she got sent to QUARANTINE!!!! Estuve MUY triste porque no tuve mi companera conmigo. En serio, Estuve muy lonely. But cool story. That night I started feeling really sick too. My body hurt and I was coughing and I felt really tired and I was SURE that they were going to ship me off to quarantine the next day too. But that night I prayed that I would feel better and the next day I felt completely fine. Turned out to be a good thing b/c Hna Lee was sent to quarantine that afternoon and Hna Funaki was having a really hard time with it, so I was able to help her out a lot by being her companion until Hna Mount got out yesterday and Hna Lee came out today. The Lord really looks out for us doesn't he??Hmmm, what else. Hna Yoshino is still really hilarious. Monday Elder McGuire made fun of me pretty much all day b/c he's Elder McGuire and that's just what he does. Anyway, we were ragging on each other all day and when we got back to the room, Hna Yoshino said to me, "You and Elder McGuire are so funny!!" I said, "I know, we're like brother and sister" and she said, "what if, you know, after your missions . . . . . you guys get married??" I was like " . . . . . . stop it. Just stop it right now." She just kills me sometimes, seriously. So Grandma wanted to know how much time I spend studying the scriptures and Spanish everyday. It really depends on the day, b/c I get an hour for personal study and an hour for companion study, but sometimes I need to prepare a lesson or I want to go over something in PMG or something like that. So it just depends. Language is kind of up in the air too, b/c we're supposed to have an hour for language study but a lot of times we don't get it b/c other things come up. But now we've switched to having all our classes in Spanish so I guess that kind of counts. It's a lot easier with Hno Sears b/c he's a gringo, but Hno Barrios is pretty much impossible b/c Chileans like to leave parts of their words out and talk really fast and slur everything together, so it's difficult. We have interviews with our teachers every week and he always asks me if there's anything he can do better and I always say, "talk slower." But other than that our teachers are so great. Hno Barrios brought a pair of Mickey Mouse ears to class on Halloween and wore them, it was so hilarious. Grandma also wanted to know about my Spanish and if I have a travel plan yet. My Spanish is not too bad, I find that once I start talking I'm surprised by what I can say. But I know that once I get out in the field it will take awhile. And we don't have our travel plans yet but we should get them in the next week or so. Can you believe I only have 3 weeks left in the MTC??? I can barely believe it!!So I bet you want to know what we did for Halloween. We made a plan that every sister missionary who owned a Jody dress would wear it that day, along with the ugliest shoes we own. It was so awesome!! I have a picture of some of the sisters on my floor and me in our dresses. I'll send it to you when I get a chance. By the way Mom, those pictures didn't come through. I think you'll have to print them out and send them. So this week was my first week teaching in all Spanish at the TRC, and I had to do it without my companion :(. But it ended up being amazing. Remember I told you all about Lucia?? This time the other Hnas and I taught Rosa, who is Lucia's mother and doesn't speak a single word of English. I didn't understand most of what she said, and I'm pretty sure that my Spanish was muy mal. Pero, estuvo bien porque el Espiritu Santo fue muy fuerza!! Rosa was crying by the end and I was like, "Awesome, I can do this!!" This week has otherwise been kind of a bummer b/c since Hna Mount was in quarantine and I was with Hna Funaki, I didn't get a chance to teach any lessons. But tomorrow we're teaching a ton and Friday is another TRC and the RC. PS: I sent the missionaries to someone in the RC last Friday and it was amazing!! Those moments make all the answering machine calls totally worthwhile.So everything is pretty much the same here. I get up, I study, I eat, I sit in class, eat again, sit in class, eat again and sit in class. I'm getting fat for sure. Elder Yeates said he's gained 10 lbs since he's been here and I believe it. There is no way that the food we eat is nutritionally valuable. But it's cool b/c once I get to Ecuador I'll probably lose it all and then some. The medical training I got basically said that it's up to my mission president whether I'll be used as a nurse or not. But if I am, I'm not actually allowed to practice fully b/c my license isn't good outside of the United States. But I can take care of things like dog bites and little things like that. I'm also in charge of finding good doctors for the missionaries to go to and stuff. I want to write more but its time to go to the temple. I love you all so much and keep being good and reading your scriptures and writing to me. And if you want a letter from me, send me your address!!!

MUCHO AMOR
Hermana Chamberlain

Prayers for Brownies-10/28/09

Hola Familia y amigos!!!So much this week!! First, sad face, my favorite district left for Chile and El Salvador en Lunes y estoy MUY triste!!!! Especially b/c my favorite zone leaders left with them. I'm trying not to be depressed about it but I keep looking around for Elder Kouts to flip me a peace sign in the hallway and then I remember he's in Chile and I feel sad. But I'm getting over it :)So our devotional yesterday was no big deal. The speaker was just L. TOM PERRY!!!!!!!! OMG!!!! There were cops ALL OVER the MTC yesterday all day and we were like, what is going on?? So then all through dinner we were speculating on who was coming b/c they don't bring out the cops for random seventy members that we usually get. I was pretty sure that if it was Dieter F. Uchtdorf I was going to pee my pants and then keel over and die. But we got back and we saw Elder Perry walk in and everyone jumped out of their seats!! I don't think I've ever gotten up so fast in my life!! And I guess my face was really funny b/c Elder Yeates said I looked like I was going to pass out. LOL. His talk was so good, he talked about how to be an effective teacher and spent a lot of time talking about the scriptures. He is so great!! I wanted to talk to him and ask if he remembered me or Grandpa but they wouldn't let us, plus there's this rule here that you can't hug or shake hands b/c of flu season so they wouldn't have let us near him anyway. But it was SO AWESOME!!! I WAS IN THE SAME ROOM AS L. TOM PERRY!!!!!Anyway. This week has been pretty good. I feel like I've been in kind of a slump for a couple days, I haven't felt as motivated as in weeks previous, but I'm starting to come out of that. We are starting to teach the lessons only in Spanish now . . . . . and it's scary!!! But fun. We have been teaching our progressive investigator Hermenegildo (probably not spelled correctly, I don't think Hno. Barrios could have picked a more difficult name to spell or pronounce) in Spanish from the get go and it hasn't been too horrible. He's been reading the BOM and has questions about Laban and why God commanded Nephi to kill him, so we're going to teach him about that tonight and then teach the Plan of Salvation . . . . en Espanol!! I had this inspired idea to liken our life on earth to a futbol (soccer) game, b/c Hermenegildo really likes futbol, especially team Chile!! So we'll see how it goes, with our broken Spanish, but as long as the Spirit is there we should be fine :) And we are getting a new district today with THREE HERMANAS!!! One is from Korea and one from Tonga, and one from the States. I have met a few Australians here too which is pretty exciting. Eric, one of them looked a lot like you, it weirded me out a little. Pero, esta bien ;)Funny story. Hermana Yoshino loves brownies and one day they had brownies at dinner, but by the time she went to get one they were all out. So she prayed that night in roommate prayer that we would have brownies the next day. We didn't. BUT, Hermana Mount gave her a brownie from the elders that night and said, oh some random elder gave it to me!! Since then, Hermana Yoshino has somehow gotten brownies every time she prays for them. One time she prayed specifically for homemade brownies and got a homemade brownie on her desk. It was so hilarious. Dios contesta nuestros oraciones!!!Yo se que este es verdad porque tuve una experiencia con oracion la ultimo miercoles. We went to the temple early b/c I had a meeting during our normal time. We did initiatories and they were so amazing. Those blessings are so fantastic. Anyway, we had to book it back and when I came back I found out my recommend was missing. I have never felt so miserable or prayed so hard in my life!! I seriously was praying constantly through the rest of the night. But then right before we went upstairs, they called my name to the front desk and someone had found it!!! Dios nos ama muchisimo!!!Mom I'm so glad you are all going to send your testimonies soon. I'll admit I was getting a little bit frustrated when only Grandma sent hers. BTW Grandma thank you so much for doing that for me!!! I loved it and I am going to write to you today, I promise!! I'm so sorry to everyone I haven't written yet, I don't have a lot of time to write letters but I'm trying to get to everyone at least once or twice before I leave. That reminds me mom, can you send me Caitlin, Caleb and Christi's mission addresses?? I want to write to them and I can't get on Facebook to look up the addresses. Also it's possible that you might be getting letters for me at the home address b/c I wrote it in Elder Coats and Kouts' address books b/c I don't know what my address in Ecuador is. So if you get one can you forward it to me and then send them a note with my address and instructions for pouch mail?? Thanks!!Craig and Kelly, I loved your letters!! Craig, I read your story about Totoro to Hermana Yoshino and she was so excited!!! She knows all about Totoro, and she translated the Japanese sentence for me but I don't remember what it means. You should write me a whole letter in Japanese and I'll have her read it to me. Mom, the pictures you sent won't open on these computers. Is it possible to have them developed and sent?? And I would love pictures of the family, b/c Hno. Sears says in South America people love to see pictures of your family and they look at you weird if you don't have them with you. I am sending you all some more pictures today from temple walks and Elder McGuire's birthday which was amazing!! We gave 20 sisters Hershey kisses to give him randomly throughout the day and he would get SO RED everytime he got one. It was so amazing. Everyone, POR FAVOR, write to me!! Mail is the only connection I have with the outside world!!!Okay I only have like 3 minutes left!! Write to me and tell me what you want to hear in these emails, I feel like I ramble a lot. I love you all SO MUCH and I miss you all but not enough to come home b/c I'm preaching the gospel to people who need it and it's AMAZING!!!

MUCHO AMOR,
Hermana Chamberlain

Diseases and Parasites-10/21/09

Okay, first of all, FELIZ CUMPLEANOS PAPA!!!!! 50 anos es muy viejo!! LOLThis has been the most amazing week. Hermana Yoshino has received her box and she about peed her pants she was so excited. Our entire room is very grateful for the packages we have received. Grandma, I got your box and the chocolate covered pretzels were gone within 2 days. The rest of the food remains uneaten. Old habits die hard I guess. I know I ask for something every week and I promise that I feel bad about it, but this time the only thing I want is some sheet music that I can sing here. They have special musical numbers at all the firesides and I would love to do one but I don't have any music, so if you could send me some I would love it. The EFY book would be good and if you have In the Upper Room that would be good too, and really anything you want. Gracias!!So we taught some amazing lessons this week. We've moved onto the Plan of Salvation and it has been incredible. I'm learning so much about the Plan that I didn't know before. Isn't Heavenly Father awesome to come up with something like that?? We taught our zone leaders last Thursday and we used these little cut out diagrams that Hermana Mount has, and we made this little person with red hair b/c Elder Coats has red hair. It was hilarious. But it was a really powerful lesson b/c we both shared some personal experiences and we shared how we had been able to take the Atonement into our own lives, and yes, I cried a little. The zone leaders have not stopped asking us when we are going to teach them again since then. They are teaching us tomorrow en Espanol and I am way excited.So then we went to the TRC on Friday and we taught a really sweet lady named Lucia, who was from Mexico. At the beginning she asked us why everyone didn't know about this wonderful plan that God had for us, b/c it didn't seem fair, and I said, "Well that's why we're here as missionaries so that we can tell as many people as possible about it!!!" And then we explained that b/c Heavenly Father loves us so much, he's provided a way for everyone to hear the gospel and accept it. It was so amazing, and Lucia was so awesome, I could have talked to her all day. And, the Spirit was so strong!!! AHH!! I love it here.So THEN, on Monday we went to the referral center and talked to this guy named Robert, and we pretty much taught him the first lesson. After we talked about living prophets, H. Mount asked him how he felt about that. He said, "It would be like my prayers have been answered!!" SO AMAZING!! So we sent him a BOM and we're calling him back tomorrow to talk to him some more. Seriously this place is incredible. Yesterday I had to spend all day in medical training for the mission and we talked about the grossest diseases and parasites and bugs and I'm pretty sure that we're all going to die when we get to Ecuador. There's this one that bites you and then lays eggs under your skin, so the larva hatches IN YOUR BODY and grows up in there and you have to put vaseline over it so it can't breathe. I about threw up when he was talking about it. Plus I didn't see H. Mount or my district all day and so by the end I was really grumpy. But it was good to know that I want to be in class where I'm supposed to be. But today I have to go back from 4 to 6 so I can't go to the temple with my district, so H. Mount and I are going early to do some initiatories. OH!! We went early last week and did sealings, and there was a girl in there who knew H. Mount, and I got to be sealed for her great-grandmother!!! It was so incredible. La iglesia es verdad!!Ummmm what else. I learned some new words in Spanish this week. Desmanado=awkward. Tenorio=ladykiller. Our Spanish/English dictionary has some interesting phrases in it. Also, H. Mount's nephew drew her an entire storybook about dinosaurs. It was amazing. And in our medical training yesterday they gave us a bag full of stuff and now I have 3 stethoscopes. BUT, I also have a BP cuff!! I've always wanted one of those!! So I have more things to say but I have to go do my laundry. So I will try to come back today and write more but if not I love you and miss you all and remember that this is the most amazing gospel ever and you should tell everyone you know!!!!

MUCHO AMOR
Hermana Chamberlain

Okay 10 more minutes!! Ummm I don't remember what I said in my last letter. oh yeah. Please Please PLEASE write down your testimonies and send them to me ASAP!!! This goes for all my friends who are reading this too, por favor. I really would like to have them. And I would love to have some pictures of the family as well. And also I forgot to bring a pedigree chart with me sooooo . . . . . yeah.Mom, I loved that article about President Uchtdorf. Actually I love anything about President Uchtdorf. Elder Coats still hasn't figured out that "Me gusta su sonrisa" means "I like your smile" and it's starting to majorly stress him out. I let Elder Kouts play with my stethoscope today and I'm pretty sure we're now best friends. Then Elder Coats was like, "How do you take a blood pressure?" and I told him I would show him how tomorrow. I'm going to be muy triste when they leave on Monday, but at least there's only 4 1/2 more weeks until we'll at least be on the same continent.I finally saw Hermana Larsen in the bookstore a couple days ago and I talked to Hermana Glanzer at the temple on Sunday, but I didn't tell her that you read her blog Mom, b/c I didn't want her to think we were weird. She asked me where I'm going and I told her and she was like oh me too!! I just pretended like it was a big surprise, haha. We'll probably be companions eventually, so esta bien.So, Craig still hasn't written me any letters, and neither has Curt or Lindsey or most of my friends that read this email. What the heck guys?? LOL j/k. I'm not mad or even overly upset. But I would LOVE to hear from you all and if you do it on DearElder.com it's way easy. So if you have a minute, write to me por favor.I miss you all and love you all so much!! Be good, don't do anything I wouldn't do if I wasn't a missionary!!

MUCHO AMOR
Hermana Chamberlain

PS: Eventually I'm going to teach my district how to go star-tipping ;)

No Thanksgiving Dinner This Year-10/14/09

¡Hola familia y amigos!So Grandma wrote to me this week and said that Elder Newell is her sister´s grandson and so we´re pretty much second cousins or something. She also said she´s going to try and find out why he went home, but
don´t worry about it bc none of us really want to know. It´s none of our business and we only want him to be able to come back as soon as possible.Now that I´ve pretty much become Debbie Downer, how is everyone? I miss you guys mucho a lot, but again, not enough to come home. I´ll be sending more pictures soon. Hermana Mount got a Jody dress at DI for like 6 bucks and we both wore them last Friday, it was totally hilarious. We also taught a great lesson in the TRC that day, which just goes to show that wearing jody dresses is essential to having the Spirit with you. lol.Ummmm what else. OH!! Funny story. A couple nights ago I accidentally kicked the ladder that goes up to Hermana Mount´s bed in the middle of the night. I just rolled over and went back to sleep but then Hermana Mount woke me up and was like, OMG!! My bed was shaking and there´s a huge storm outside, did you feel it?? I was like ummmm, I think that was me kicking your ladder. It was hilarious and I haven´t stopped giving her a hard time about it yet.Still no sign of President Uchtdorf coming to give a devotional, but we´ve gotten some way good ones. Last night we had a seventy come, David Evans. He talked about the Book of Mormon and how we need to use it to convert people. It was basically awesome except for the part where he went half an hour over. No me gusta.Oh yeah. I got called as coordinating sister like the second day I was here. It´s pretty much the zone leader for hermanas, which isn´t hard bc there´s only 4 and they all live in my room. We´re getting a new district today with no hermanas, and we got a new one last week with no hermanas. Muy lameo. Nesicitamos más hermanas!! Another list of things I need. I´m still waiting for those black sweatpants from gap. And about the robe, it´s not a huge deal if you can´t find one. Also, my roommates say muchas gracias for the food you sent mom. Hermana Yoshino really likes granola bars and she´s really excited for the next box. She wants to know if you can send rice crispy treats. Mom we do have a microwave oven so bring on the easy mac. Except not really bc I think its gross. But if you want to send something else please feel free. I love those Betty Crocker microwave dessert things, just FYI.So one of my zone leaders, Elder Kouts, wants to be a plastic surgeoun when he grows up and when he found out I was a nurse he was like, tell me all your stories!!! So I told him about the time I got thrown up on and about the crazy guy that got out of his restraints and came after me and the guy that stuck the nerf ball up his rectum. He loves it, its so funny. Hermana Mount and I are getting ready to teach them the Plan of Salvation today and it´s basically going to be awesome bc we have some sweet visual aids. Another random story. Hermana Mount tells our other zone leader, Elder Coats, that he has a nice smile in Spanish and he totally doesn´t understand it and he screws up his face trying to figure out what she´s saying. It´s hilarious.Soooo, yeah. I don´t really have a whole lot else to say. It´s awesome here and the Spirit is strong and la iglesia es verdadero. For rels. I miss you and love you all, be good and read your scriptures and pray every day and love each other!!

Mucho Mucho amor!!!
Hermana Chamberlain

A couple more things with my last 10 minutes: please send more pants. P-days are killing me!! I should be able to send stuff home in boxes or send it to Abby, hopefully. Also, you can send pictures to me on myldsmail, so please send some!! I can't send to you though. What else. How are Craig and Kelly?? Why haven't they written me any letters?? lol j/k. Ummm . . . . I don't know what else. Not a whole lot of exciting things happened this week. Can you believe I've been here for 3 weeks already?? It feels like I just got here yesterday!! And now I only have 5 or 6 weeks left!! We figured out last night that I'm leaving the week of Thanksgiving, so no turkey dinner for me this year. BUMMER. Thanksgiving is only my favorite holiday after Christmas. Oh yeah. Hermana Yoshino hasn't gotten any mail from her immediate family yet. Would you family be willing to write letters to her?? If you send them to me and write her name on them I'll be sure she gets them. Also, would you all mind writing your testimonies down and sending them to me?? I would really really love to have those. Also mom and dad, in one of our firesides the speaker told us we should ask our parents for stories about their lives, like how did you meet and things like that. Could you write those down and send them to me too?? Por favor?? Awesome!!

Te amo muchisimo y adios hasta miercoles!!!