Elder Sam Chamberlin: April 2016

Well its been a quick couple days since we last talked haha- but its been good.

The Water Festival of Roi-et Thailand 2016 was REAL. It was a good time and got some pretty cool footie of it- checkout the driveee

the next morning after all the festivities we had a solid clean the church service project. We surprised pa Jan that morning who normally does a lot of the cleaning by himself. He walked into the sacrament room while we were wiping and polishing the chairs and walls and he said "ชีวิตนี้ยังมีความหวัง" ... "This life still has hope!" Not as funny in english haha but it was way cute and he was super grateful. Service and sacrifice is the key to love.

That was one thing i have really prominently felt as i've been thinking about my time here in roi-et... do i truly love the people im serving? I'm scared outta my pants that i'm gonna have to leave roi-et this week, and so its taken me to some serious pondering. i came to the conclusion, YES. my greatest fear right now is that i will leave and i won't know if my beloved Investigators, and RCs, and members that i care so much about, i dont know if they will be taken care of and nurtured while i have to go on to some new area. It's a pretty somber thought. We talked about this christ-like love for our zone conf call... i love the scriptures we shared. John 15:12-13

"This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

How can we "lay down our life" for others? and then in verse 11: "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."

So that is my message for you today. Ponder how you can "lay down your life" in a sense, for those around you. It reminds me of Matthew 16:24-26, and also of Elder Uchtdorf's talk for some reason (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/in-praise-of-those-who-save?lang=eng) and a quote that stuck out to me from it "divorce rarely happens when the husband and wife are happy... So be happy! And brethren, astonish your wife by doing things that make her happy." I know that as we "lay down our lives" by leaving our selfish desires behind, and give our time, attention, and love to those around us, our joy will be full, and we will be happy.

Amidst the craziness of the week we taught a ton, and it felt great. I can still remember waking up sunday morning feeling like my mind is so fresh and rejuvinated and ready to go, and yet my body is so tired ahah. The mind is willing but the body is weak. However, the Lord increases our strength and carries us forward, a sweet blessing to those who serve Him.

One of the members from Udon was here in roi-et and surprised me here so that was fun... brother Daft, he's a stud and an inspiration. His parents won't allow him to be baptized so he has been an investigator for atleast a year now, but knows the gospel better than many. He is a good dude. An investigator randomly promised me that she and her son would be faithful to God and go to church every week even after i leave roi-et, no matter the circumstance. That was way powerful.

Last thing i want to share- Elder Webb and I taught the young men this last week in 3rd hour. It was epic! We weren't informed in advance, we found out last second there was no teacher as we walked into the class. So i told Webb to go with Elder Gundry to go download Elder Hollands "Stay within the Lines" mormon message. I started teaching the boys, and we began by discussing what it means to be brothers with someone. Then we learned the word "brotherhood". A group of brothers that would do anything for eachother, that will be there to back eachother up in a fight, they will love eachother, they'll protect eachother, they will keep eachother out of trouble and look after one another. I explained that they are a brotherhood- they started getting way excited and chanted "brotherhood! brotherhood! brotherhood!" hahha, and then we discussed the priesthood. And what it is, and what kind of trust God has put in us young men. We talked about what God requires of us... worthiness? Then the stage was set for the video, and fortunately video was ready. If you've seen that mormon message you know how epic it is- anyways to wrap it all together... by the end of the class we were all PUMPED to go strengthen our brotherhood, so we went out in the van of brother Awht, and visited some of our boys that didn't come to church/ didnt come to 3rd hour. It was way good and way fun, as they would randomly chant "BROTHERHOOD! BROTHERHOOD!" hahaha. I love these boys. I would always give them random situations and be like- say brother so and so who normally comes to sports night doesnt come this friday....? What do you do? "We are gonna call him and then go find him and bring him!" and then i asked and why?? "because we are brotherhood!!!" hahahah. And what if someone in your brotherhood has girl problems? or what if someone is tempted to go to a party that isn't appropriate... what do you do? One kid answered he would tie his brother up so he cant go hahaha, but the overwhelming answer was they would go save him. and why? "because WE ARE BROTHERHOOD!" love those dudes<3

alright well it was a great week. i love you all. 4 nephi 1:15. I pray that is you<3 dont worry, be happy!

Elder Chamberlin

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wooohoooo! It's April and life is good! The birds are singing and the elephants are roaming. Roi-et is doing great. This week we got fly new haircuts. Haircuts=compliments, so thats been nice this week. As for my little friend on my foot- it is looking great after some visits to the nearby hospital. Looks like i'll live! Honestly it's probably a good thing i sent you guys that picture last week, because otherwise i probably never wouldv'e gone to the hospital to get it checked out- not tryna be that weenie that seems to be going to the hospital every day for this that and everything else. But P. Johnson gave it as a commandment haha so we went and it is now on its way to recovery. i don't know what it was to be honest, i don't know if they really knew either.

Fun story from the middle of this week- there was a man walking by the church that i spotted right as we walked out of a lesson, and looked like someone just tryna get baptized. He was a very humble looking man with no shirt or shoes on. We felt like we had to help this man, so we rushed over to him and invited him into the church, and told him we had some clothes for him. Turns out he's been to church before. Long story short- we left the church looking fresh with a nice new white shirt and tie on, tucked into his jeans, and then we noticed he had no shoes on, so i slipped mine off and asked them if they fit- a perfect fit! So he took off on his wayto work a new man. We then had to ride our bikes over to the market to get me some new shoes. 100 baht for new shoes! quite the steal. The rest of our day was packed before we had to take off to Bangkok for MLC. Lots of great stuff- we have Zone Conference this thursday. Because of my crunch for time right now can't go too much into details but my favorite part- the question: What is our mission culture? Fill in the blank... In the TBM, we___________. Lots of good positive answers, some answers that showed we could maybe change our culture to be a bit better, but then president asked us, what do we want the culture to be? when we get home and people ask us what was serving in thailand like?... how was the TBM? What do we want to be able to say? Again lots of great things shared but one of my favorites was the summarizing of all that we wanted to be and do = we do His will. It made me think of the scripture in matthew 16:24-25

"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." Because of time i encourage you to open that up and study what it means to deny yourself and take up your cross :) A great lesson is waiting within.

Another favorite couple of scriptures that i tripped upon in studies. John 17:3. "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." What does it mean to know God??? Hmm lets peruze on over to 1 John 4. maybe verses 7-9? "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." Interesting. Lets look on to verses 20-21... "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also." So what does it mean in John 17:3 when it says that "this is life eternal, to know God...."?

Our April Fools day here was straight crazy- literally at the end of the night i thought the whole day could've just been a dream haha- but there was a lot of good from it too. Some very real lessons with many of our investigators, and some real talk with some of our RCs. I love the lesson that God taught through me that night to an investigator. The need for each of us to overcome the desires of the natural man in order to achieve a greater, and deeper happiness. No matter what our challenge, or what our obstacles are that lay in our path, ultimately its up to us to decide the way of the world or God's way. Whether it's concerns with drugs and alcohol, sabbath day observance, tithing, pornography, same-sex attraction, depression, etc. it all funnels down to our decision to trust in and follow in God's plan of Happiness that he has so lovingly layed out for us. There is no need to worry and no need to wonder what our final state will be like in the end, if we follow Him.

This week has been great- sorry for the lack ofdetails. As for other random news about me i've been popping pills for my foot right, and when we flew down to bangkok i thought i for sure could take a pill without water, and it was the worst decision i made this week haha. I waited 2 hours with the pill stuck in my esophagus to get some water and float it down, and then by that time the plasticy taste was in my mouth all night.

PMG class, or as Bunker would call it, FMW (Future Missionaries of the World) was a hit this week. We had a lot of the youth and the bishop and hiswife and a few other adults were there too. PMG is where its at! It's not just for missionaries... if your tryna deepen your understanding of the gospel, trying to increase your level of conversion, want to strengthen your family in principles of righteousness, want to be a better teacher at church on sunday, or a better missionary with your friends, study PMG and do the activities in it! you've got no time to waste. God has big things he wants to do through you- lets go!

Baptisms this week. Great sunday. Missiion life is great. I love God and i love his Son whom he sent to save us all.

Love,

Elder Chamberlin