A Temple in Thailand

whats up fam! 

this week was another rad one as usual! we got a call at midnight last night informing us of the temple getting built in thailand ayyye! answer to prayers and a lot of hard work here in thailand and its going to be such a blessing for so many families here and in cambodia, laos, myanmar, etc. 

this week was a blast tho foreal, we'll start with tuesday-

it felt sooooo good to get back to work after our trip to chiang mai last week. i missed being in my zone- just working and finding and teaching and serving in p-lok, so yeah it feels way good to be back. and when its way hot and im way sweating and im standing inviting people who dont want to learn about how awesome jesus is, i actually feel way blessed to be able to be here, and idk its just a good time. when i feel like im not helping others build faith in christ bc they arent interested i know God is building faith in me. yeah so tuesday was a lot of inviting good stuff.

wednesday our lesson with brother gang fell thru bc he wasnt at his house like he said he would be. hahaha so feeling a little bummed we asked brother guitar (the member that was with us) if there were any members that lived nearby, so we went and visited a sister in the branch. such a miracle and blessing- we went and she asked us to give her mom who is way sick a priesthood blessing, and it was her moms birthday. cool experience love when we get guided by the spirit like that. yeah so we gave her mom a blessing on her birthday and her friend that was their as well use to be an investigator but stopped learning because he was too busy. so we shared a little message before we left, and will be meeting with the friend again this week to help him come unto christ. and then had another interesting experience teaching the 10 commandments to sister oyy (our investigator who's husband is a member), and to her two hardcore buddhist cousins hahah. After introducing God and Jesus a little bit for her cousins who were very not interested, we were trying to decide whether or not we should teach the 10 commandments or not- but feeling like we should we went ahead and talked about it- and i think it was super good for the two cousins to see what we believe and things we strive to keep and do. hopefully opened their hearts too. sister oyy asked us to pray for her one of her cousin's who is pregnant and sick- and so that was solid seeing her show her faith like that. oh and then a less active that we've been trying to meet up with for the last 3 weeks showed up way randomly at a youth activity that night- miracle on miracles! At the end of the day ahhh i felt so good.

yeah and then later in the week we tried some new inviting techniques from singing hymns to standing on chairs with a book of mormon in hand preaching repentance hahaha both of which i dont think were as effective as some other approaches but it was a good time. yeah i also ate some crazy sea shell food thing i think that was a snail- but it way wierd bc the members told me you have to kiss it and suck the insides out and so not wanting to be the lame person that wasnt gonna try it i ate it and it surprisngly wasnt bad. but then after eating a couple they gave me a toothpick to like pick out the insides so i could see it before i ate it and it like flew out of the shell and looked like a little alien baby it was pretty scary. ill send some pics- idk how i did it but i ate the alien baby after seeing it too- didnt feel too great that night

friday night we had an easter activity at the church and it was fun- also had probably the coolest lesson of my life with our new investigator sister lek, and yeah friday was just way good. 

ate sushi saturday which was a conquering of another fear, blakes family knows i hate sushi haha, and taught this super cool lady named modam. she owns a coffee shop and is just the raddest coolest little thai lady. we had to decline the tea she offered us but yeah she is way good and our lesson with her was solid- she is finna be gettin baptized in a couple weeks fasho!

sunday super good- i had to play piano again and try to practice the hymns last minute hahah but came through and it went pretty well. I got this rad mormon message last week on my usb "no regrets" about sean kimball from newport and used it in a lesson sunday hahah. enjoyed seeing california and the beach, and the RC lesson was way good too- about putting God first. which is so true iv'e seen in my life and the life of others when you put God before everything else, he'll bless you with success in whatever it is. we also went to a chinese/buddhist temple on a mountain that gives free food- pretty cool. 

right now we are in sukothai, another jangwat which is basically a state or province- and it is a super ancient city- i think the first city in thailand or something with cool ruins and stuff so yeah that will be our adventuring for the day, biking around ruins and waterfalls so pretty stoked for that. good week and its crazy how fast time goes. love you fam! 

and yeah we we general conference next week after its been translated to thai. woo!

im doing good, healthy, and very happy thanks momma love you. 

elder chamberlin<3

Chiang Mai Conference

We traveled to Chiang Mai this week it was quite a blast.

So the 6 hour bus ride up was pretty bad but we got there around midnight and took an exhilerating tuk-tuk ride to BP Hotel (a tuk tuk is this crazy vehicle that is like a taxi-go cart type thing), and it was verrrrry nice sleeping in a good bed. 

The first day (friday) at zone conference was sweet and to watch the "Because He Lives" Easter Video a day before the actual release, and the video of course is way sick. Why is Jesus so rad.

We also did this practice teaching activity where pres senior told us what he wanted us to teach, what we had to include (Lesson 5 pmg with how to begin tetaching points of our choice, share a scripture, make sure to teach to needs (and thus ask questions to know needs) commit them, etc.) all in 5 minutes and we had 30 seconds to prepare. anyways after this fun little activity we talked about the doctrine of christ/ the gospel of jesus christ. this was the main focus of the conference and it was super good. the gospel really is so simple and awesome. idk how to explain it and its hot in this internet place haha so yeah im just gonna move on

it was way rad getting together with all the other missionaries in the zone- played some soccer, and ate a lot of good food. president senior is such a stud and im definitely gonna miss that guy in a few months. 

thai is coming well- elder kandun and i really dont have problems talking with eachother at all anymore, but after this conference and hearing some talks given by returned thai missionaries who speak english super well now after the mission- he wants to work harder in learning english so we'll be doing that this next week a lot more. 

its kinda hard to write this week bc there was so much i just dont even know what to write haha- but im doing super good, im happy, and excited to be a missionary. it feels good to be back in pitsanulok, and it was wierd feeling like i was coming home last night. i missed this place and missed just being out grinding and inviting and doing missionary things. i love it and i love the people here i get to serve and serve with they are so awesome. 

as for last pday we went to some crazy place way high up in the mountains it was sick- i remember when we stepped out of the party bus, it was raining outside and i could smell that sweet scent of wet tree bark and the air was just so crisp and fresh and cold ah it was so nice. we had a fun hike in the rain, and it was thundering/lightning for the first part which was pretty intense. yeah i sent pics and pictures are worth a thousand words or something like that so i'll let the pics tell the story. 

i love you family! i cant believe how fast the time is going out here. I know Christ is for real, and one of the coolest miracles we have because of him is repentance for sure. because of him we are able to change, become better, become more like our father in heaven. this message is such a sweet one and im blessed to be able to share it. love you all!

elder chamberlin

phu hin rong kla national park

Sweet Soccer Get Up - But had to Play Barefoot

Nice Digs at BM Hotel

Ultimate Spa Treatment for Feet

President and Sister Senior
This Pics for you Dad!

Chiang Mai Zone

Happy Dance!

3 flat tires in one day

Pictures of Sam with Missionaries--His Companion Elder Kandun

March 16 - I Love Serving the Lord in Thailand -- It's so Rad!

hellooooo<3

every week just flies by its ridiculous. filled with the good days and not so good ones haha

tuesday in my journal i wrote "today was just so rad... these are the kind of days i live for" and then by thursday "its so hot its ridiculous... haha kandun popped his bike tire twice today" and then friday we left the house after studies and both my tires to my bike were flat some how too haha. then one popped again later that day. BUUUTT we made the best of our situation and got quite a lot of inviting time in while we were walking around. i was so wrong when i thought i wouldnt get close with kandun bc of the language barrier situation- i love him so much he's the funniest little thailand man. 

this week really was amazing though filled with a lot of miracles, dissapointments as well, but i like to focus on the miracles haha. this morning i studied in alma 17 about the sons of mosiah as they were setting off on their missions and i love the attitude they went out with. they were courageous, trusting in God, and they knew the work they were setting out on was a great one, and of God. 

so tuesday: i don't think ive ever sweat more on my mission haha- we biked to brother flug's house (he is a recent convert that baptized his dad i think i talked about them last week), but yeah we're teaching his mom now too. and so we get there and even tho we were both (elder kandun and i) sweating waterfalls, the lesson went so well. Kandun had me lead the lessons throughout the day, and it just seems like everytime i think i can't do something, God shows me i can. The spirit was there and his mom is awesome. she DID have a baptismal date for the 22nd but that happens to be one of the dissapointments of the week- she didnt come to church. after that lesson we biked across thailand to get to brother hua's house and teach his wife and kids. again the lesson was SOO good, her 9 yr old daughter said the opening prayer and 8 yr old son said the closing prayer. her son (aan aan) read some of the scriptures a loud for us which was super happy for the mom to see bc he struggles reading, and doesnt like being around other people- so yeah anyways really good lesson- and then we stopped by later in the week and had another awesome visit. this family is like so solid- have baptismal dates for the 22nd as well, and then yes... they also didnt come to church. haha praew and ayy, our two investigators that got baptized last week were taught next. super good lesson about joseph smith and reviewing the restoration, super solid throughout the week, and then they had to go out of town so werent there at church this sunday to get confirmed and recieve the HG. we had 43 people at church this sunday from the usual 60. so elder kandun and i have been doing some hardcore praying, brainstorming, and planning on how to help this branch have more strength.  we've got some pretty good ideas so we'll see what happens this week with our big goals. 

i think one of the funnest parts of the week was our new approach to inviting. we've been flagging down people driving by- cars and motorbikes alike- holding a big picture of a temple and a happy family. to attract their attention and get them to stop (on top of the rad picture of the temple) elder kandun taught me this funny dance/ move/ idk even know what to call it that people do in south-eastern thailand when they are trying to get people to buy stuff from them/ inviting them into their store. hahaha ill try to send a video next week i think a member was making fun of us and videoing us bc it waaaas pretty funny haha but effective. one top of the 5+ numbers we got in that hour, we found a guy interested in going to church- so he came in right then and there and we taught him the restoration haha. so rad. 

a cool project that we are starting too in order to help the branch have more unity is translate the Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration movie into thai and have a movie night at the church with old members, new members, investigators, etc... the new super sick one. we called president senior and he was excited about the idea- so that'll be fun working with the members doing that this week. 

we also had zone training this week and had the zone leaders stay with us which was exciting. 

ive had 3 missionaries tell me im probably gonna be a ZL in a couple transfers (complementing my thai and im sure my testimony ;) ) which of course was helpful for my confidence. i think thai is really the most frustrating when we are in a lesson, and like i think of a super rad analogy or story to share to help answer the guys concern- but like know half the words. so thai is coming surprisingly super well and i love getting the compliments from thai people that im super "geng" (skilled) but i think thats just bc most white people dont speak thai at all haha so the fact i can talk about jesus is pretty impressive. still working on all the different foods- i can only order my khay jiaw mu and khay pad kay, which are both way good so im ok with that. 

we had 2 more baptisms in the branch this week, so yeah rad. we've changed around how they have baptismal services here- bc when we first came they were like so unorganized and just like ask people to speak the morning of, like maybe have a special number, invite a member to be the person to baptize the morning of or day before, etc. so anyways you can be at peace bc we mixed it up- and they are way solid now. still tryna get like family members to be speakers and to participate in some spiritual/special performance, but yeah most of the time people getting baptized are the first in their family- which is finna about to change ahhh yeahh.

oh last miracle i just thought of- was at the beginning of the week elder kandun and i set a goal for 50 "other lessons taught" which includes getting numbers from new potential investigators and an invitation to come to church that sunday (because we can follow up on our commitment) and so anyways i thought that was ridiculous bc the most i had had with calderon was probably in the 20s. anyways we set the goal in faith and determined to work hard this week, and even though we fell short we got 33 other lessons taught, which is quite the miracle. its nice having a big group of new potential investigators/ new investigators to work with, and it keeps us busy. 

alright yeah so awesome week- but next week is gonna get even better so get excited. 

i love you guys and i love serving the lord in thailand its SO RAD! being a missionary is the coolest thing, and brings so much joy. 

with much love, your favorite missionary,

Elder Chamberlin<3

P.S. for ben- i got the numbers of a cute family from malaysia that were traveling in thailand. hahaa i love asian people they all just love me/ probably white people in general.

i think im gonna miss feeling like a celebrity and getting all the waves and big smiles from strangers as im just riding or walking around haha- and the random people you meet that jsut want to take a picture with you. good times. love you!

Baptism for Sister Prew and Sister Ay with Bro Guitar and My New Companion - Elder Kandun

Cereal from Home

1st Transfer in Thailand serving with Elder Kandun as Elder Calderon returned home

hey fam<3 this week has been another solid week. 

so it was sad to see calderon go- and wierd having a new companion fersure especially since hes thai and doesnt speak english really at all haha. his name is elder kandun. at first i was thinking like how are we gonna plan, do companion study, like just so many things that ive always done in english with calderon, even just talk and get like close with eachother haha... but we've been figuring it out- he's been helping me a lot with my thai- and of course ive been teaching him some english along the way. so theses next 6 weeks are gonna be way good- im gonna be speaking thai pretty much 24/7 now so thats a good thing- itll help me a lot long term. 

So yeah im still serving in p-lok which im really happy about because we have a lot of super solid people we are teaching right now and i loovvee the members here. i did get the packages from you and julie thanks mom you guys are thee best<3 

i think the miracle of the week would have to be friday night at the book of mormon class. normally elder calderon is a boss of explaining and applying the scriptures in a fun way and easy way to understand for all of our recent converts/ investigators, and with him not here, and no one really like jumping to talk explain/apply the scriptures that we had read- i figured i would take the responsability. i love the feeling of like speaking by the spirit- i dont know how to explain it- but when you arent really even thinking about what your gonna say but you just feel like a power inside of you and you just speak truth and bear powerful testimony. its just such a testimony to me of all the times in the scriptures when God tells promises us that he will fill our mouth with his words and we will speak through the spirit. 

Sunday was probably the craziest day ive had in a while just filled with too many things to do like every second of the day. we got to church early for elder kandun's interview with our branch president. after getting stuff set up for church, our branch president asked me to play the piano for sacrament (sister burbank used to be our piano player but she left this lasts transfer) and so i had like 10 minutes to practice the 3 hymns before the meeting started haha. im not much of a hymn guy but i pulled thru and it went much better than expected. i was stoked to see all 3 of my rc's at church and see 4 of our investigators there at church. those feelings are just the best happiest feelings to see people that you are helping to overcome there own personal challenges- and see them putting the lord first in their life, trusting in him, and trying to follow him. way rad. then after that i was the translator in our temple prep class. idk why they expect me to speak thai so well already hahaha less than 4 months ago i knew nothing about thai. but anyways that went alright- and then we had a cool couple from south africa that came into town today that will be staying in p-lok for a few months teaching english here. so i translated for them in 3rd hour as well haha. after that sister prew and ay got baptized and it was wayyy awesome- they bore solid testimonies after there baptism im way stoked for them both. after that our day was filled with teeaching some part member families. a new rc in our branch brother flug ( he baptized his dad lasts week) - and we went to teach his mom. shes solid and an awesome humble little lady. and then another rc sister bay. we went to teach her 12 year old son who didnt want to stop playing his video games to learn about jesus- but after some prayers in our hearts for something good to happen from my comp and i, sister bay's mom came and was alll of the sudden way interested in learning. the son started to acknowledge us as well haha, and we were able to have a nice short little lesson, and set up a family home evening for tonight with some members and their family. so were stoked for that. and then when we finally got home from everything we had to do weekly planning that we never had an opportunity to do. super long day- super tired- but those are the best days. 

yeah so im doing good. love you guys!

elder chamberlin

Last week with Elder Calderon

oh maaan time is so short! i cant believe im already back here in bangkok again crazy.

so i know ill be staying in pitsanulok for the next 6 weeks which im stoked about- but i dont know my new companion yet ill find out tomorrow. its gonna feel wierd doing things without calderon. hes such a stud. these last two days have been super slow because we aren't teaching, and inviting, and doing our whole normal routine in pitsanulok. last night we went to the store to get some groceries and we had literally nothing to do- like no members to visit, no people to teach, and like we were just expected to kinda hangout all day while we waited for elder calderons interview- and the whole day was just so relaxed but strangely i didnt like it at all. elder calderon says that means he was a good trainer haha bc its true- like when im not going hard and just busy doing things all the time i just feel off and like im wasting time. idk how to put it but lets just say im excited to be back in pitsanulok, in that little house- planning, studying, going out and serving people and just loving the people there. 

this week was pretty solid and normal as for our teaching and what not. we have two awesome girls phraw and aye who are excited to follow christ into the waters of baptism this sunday. with the focus on families in the mission- the last couple weeks have been awesome working with part member families and finding opportunities to teach there spouse, children, grandchildren etc. and a lot of blessings have been coming from this new focus in the mission already. an awesome new convert brother flug who was baptized a about a month ago, recieved the priesthood last week, and baptized his dad this last sunday. its so sweet to see that kinda stuff happen- and to see the example that flug is as his faith is growing and both of their lives are changing. miracles out here in thailand are happening fasho. 

its been way hot the last week like in the 100s haha which now looking back seems ridiculous- but its honestly a tender mercy of the Lord that i think my sweat glands have closed up since coming to thailand. like literally idk how i dont sweat soooo much when we are just out walking around talking to people in the hot sun all afternoon. i remember going inviting with the elders at home and i think it was like in the 80s or 90s and we were walking around and im just thinking like wow this is awful im so hot and no one wants to talk to us- haha but with that attitude of course people wouldnt want to talk to us. so yeah super grateful for the gift of not sweating lately. 

so yeah this week was way rad and i love it. stoked to hear about bekahs mission call im so excited for her! God is gonna work miracles through her- and she will be a blessing to so many peoples lives as she serves Him with all her heart might mind and strength. being a missionary is the best thing in the world- every day is just so fulfilling. life has so much purpose, and serving other people, helping them find the joy that comes from living the gospel of christ, etc- just makes you so happy its insane. the scripture in d&c 18 is so true

 10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

 16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

 love you guys and so grateful for you all! <3 

much love from ya boy, elder chamberlin<3

Having Fun

Temples in Bangkok

Sunday Selfie and Brother Bing's Baptism

Buddha in Pichet

been here over a month already allayy whaa?‏

this week ive had the coolest experiences and seen the craziest miracles so far fersure.

first things first i love you guys and i feel so #blessed to have grown up where i did with the people i did.

so i guess ill start with the first miracle - and then the dissapointment that came (which tends to happen a lot out here haha). i was praying to find a new super golden investigator bc our teaching pool right now, a lot of them are not progressing super well, skipping appointments, etc and so its like were not tryna waste our time out here and i remembered words from a letter that elder calderon had me read earlier, that "the field is white already to harvest, and we are called to harvest, to baptize, to bring people unto christ." and there are a lot of people who are prepared and ready to keep commitments, and to follow christ, they just havent met him yet kind of a thing. so basically its a commit or drop kind of thing. so heres the miracle: on tuesday while contacting i met this guy who already had a book of mormon from missionaries a long time ago- he has read it, knows its true, knows joseph smith is a prophet, and wants to get baptized, and im like dude why arent you at church? and apparently he has school on sundays. so he is super ready and stoked to get baptized- we meet with him the next day, set a date to get baptized that sunday (if he comes to church which he said he could), and then he's like can i just get baptized tomorrow? and so we were like yeah sure hahah. he had already been to church a few times in the past and then he passed his baptismal interview and everything was set up perfect. then that night he called us and said that his mom thinks he should wait until after he is a soldier- for two years... so we meet with him to go over his concerns, talk about how helpful to him it would be to have the holy ghost with him in these next crucial years of his life, etc. and hes like okay ill think about it. he calls us that night and says that his mom told him he was born buddhist and thus should just stay buddhist. other than the fact that thats the worst excuse ive ever heard, i was bummed to see someone so ready, so prepared by God to just throw it away. we'll see what happens with him- he has a book of mormon, has our number, knows the truth, its just up to him to really pray to God and find out for himself what he should do. so yeah that was a bummer- but again im super grateful for the mentality Elder Calderon has helped me to have out here to "just flow dude" as he always says. when you just flow with it, dont stress, trust God, and just serve, things always work out. its the lords work and people have there agency so theres no need to get all super dissapointed when things dont go the way you think they should- God has a plan!

so a dopppee story of just goin with the flow this week- actually yesterday.

sunday we had an appointment with brother manat, hes about 60 and the only member in his family but just such an awesome humble man. and we had a couple appointments after him as well. so on our way to his house which we had to bike to (pretty far btw) elder calderon's bike tire popped again haha. a little frustrated we walked around looking for someone to fix his bike, and we finally found someone that could do it. so we get to brother manats house and learn that elder calderons tire is flat again haha. so because of this incident (but really not God knew what He had in plan), we showed up a little later to brother manat's house and had no bikes to ride. there we were able to teach his grandson, boo, whos a stud and said he wanted to come to church this week and on top of that brother manat told us he has a friend that always sees him going to church and wants to come too. so that visit was super solid. now because we were late to that appointment (and cant take our bikes to get anywhere) and on top of that it started POURING like super insane out of nowhere haha- sister nancy a member was gonna pick us up. she called us and said she couldnt- which worked out for the better because then brother manat offered to take us in his truck and visit the other families with us. perfect. brother manat, a new member of a couple months, who wants to share the gospel but says he always feel like he doesnt know enough, will be coming around to teach with us, strengthen his testimony, build friendships, etc. so the drive to brother hua's house (our next destination) was a little sketchy bc brother manat's truck's air conditioning and heating was broken so the window was WAY fogged up from the rain and the stuffy air in the truck, and so we were like wiping the inside of the window with our hands as he was driving so he could see more than just the headlights of the other cars hahah. pretty sketch. anyways we finally make it there, and becuase we were late from the bike incident, we were there visiting brother hua at just the time that his wife (nonmember) came home. she sat down with us without us even inviting her, we taught her about prayer, and simply the godhead, and invited her to church. She said shes always really wanted to go to church but hasnt been able to because her kids have school at that time that she is busy with but that ends this month. so she'll be coming in march. and i see a baptism following a couple weeks after that ;) she is super awesome, and the gospel is gonna bless there family so much. we closed with a prayer and brother hua's wife (her name is oi) invited her kids to come pray as a family. it was a sweet experience to see her do that. we left that visit feeling confident that the lords hand was definitely in everything that had happened thus far, and went visit one last member, and brother manat came as well. moral of the lesson: just FLOW haha. elder calderon said that should be the sixth principle in the gospel of jesus christ along with endure to the end. so grateful for the things hes taught me hes a stud. and yeah he goes home this next week. he says it hasnt hit him yet and he feels like hes just always been a missionary. i think he is getting pretty excited though. but he doesnt show it haha- glad he isnt getting trunky and lazy- he still works hard even in the last days before he goes home.

hmmm lets see. so i also was asked to give a talk at church in sacrament meeting this friday haha. at first i was like yo theres no way haha- but calderon, like usual, just reminded me to just flow, and so i prepared a few things on the topic of the great two commandments: love god, and love your neighbor (i didnt even know how to say neighbor in thai yet haha), and spoke in sacrament sunday. to my surprise not only was i able to talk for more than 2 minutes which i thought would end up happening haha, i was up there for 15 min somehow, throwin down doctrine, scriptures (which i just had elder calderon read so my talk would flow better), and testimony. got to share my favorite scripture John 14:15 "if ye love me, keep my commandments" and then talked about blessings that come from each of God's commandments, and pretty much taught lesson 4 from prech my gospel. the gift of tongues is so real... i sat down after the talk and was like wow- i just felt powerful, like super filled with the spirit, and was like dang that was intense. i thought maybe the thai ladies were just being super nice to me after sacrament meeting saying that i "phuud gang!" (speak skilled) but my comp confirmed that it was super legit- no credit on my part, because i obviously am not super skilled at thai haha, but the lord definitely strengthened me and helped me to teach with the spirit that day.

alright so last super cool experience this week. on thursday we got a call from elder meeker from the mission home that we need to check our email. we did, and learned that there is this member named elizabeth living in utah right now who's grandma is super sick very suddenly. she wants to be able to make it home in time (a week from now) to see her grandma still alive, and asked president senior if he could send missionaries to give her a priesthood blessing. her grandma is in a hospital in pichet about an hour and a half from pitsanulok where we are, but we are the closest missionaries to the area. so we take a train friday to pichet to do awesome missionary things and bless this lady. we get there and calderon tells me that elder meeker said we are the first missionaries to ever be in this part of thailand. so thats a super cool... one of the grandmas (named branahm) other daughters was there to lead us to the hospital once we got there. i had learned how to do the annointing in thai and so i did that and elder calderon sealed it and gave the blessing. it was suuuuchh a cool experience and the spirit was strong. the grandma (branahm) who could really talk nodded and said she believed she could be healed. faith is all thats required, and so we read a scripture with them and than headed out. while in pichet waiting for the train we were able to take some pics at a dope huge buddha statue too which was cool.

our boy brother bing got baptized saturday and is just such a stud haha we love him so much- ill send a pic at his baptism.

everything else is just continuing on as normal. i love being a missionary- every day is a challenge but so fun and rewarding- and i feel like a learn so much. time FLIES here its crazy ive already been out a month. the language is coming slowly but surely. im happy and well, and so grateful for the opportunity to be able to serve the lord, especially in an area as this! i love it here. i love and miss you fam and hope you are well!

final thought- i loved elder holland's conference address talk "are we not all beggars?" definitely a powerful message and i love his thought he shared about president monson right at the end of his talk. god is so real.

read alma 30: 40-44

everything proves the existence of God! i am so grateful for this beautiful world we live in.

Love you all, and god be with you til we shall meet again!

elder chamberlin

p.s. did anyone else see that kathrine chavez's family (from ladera ranch) is on mormon channel.... whhaaat? super cool

Week 4 in Thailand - Only 2 more weeks with Elder Calderon

family whats good! i cant believe its been another week already!

its wierd that like this is my life haha

tuesday at lunch elder calderon didnt think i could eat an earthquake (8 scoops of icecream) at swensens so we had to go there to prove him wrong. after finishing it i learned about the thailand challenge that apparently only one person has ever done which is eating the earthquake, a large pizza, a box of tim tam slams (these like chocholate straws) with a liter of milk, which just sounds impossible. my district tried to get me to try but yeah i probably wouldve died on the pizza. so that was the start to a great week here in phitsanulok! 

yeah mom ive been eating a lot more rice haha probably every meal. my personal favorite right now is khay jiaw muu which is basically a a big egg omelet with sausage on top of rice with some chile sauce ohhhh its so good ill probably get it after i email. 

Homesickness hasnt been too hard yet but ill try not to jinx it- i think it helps that im just so busy all the time theres honestly not really time to think about it. like even going to bed i feel like dad, because i get into bed and am all the sudden asleep. so thats a pretty fun trait ive picked up.

right now we are teaching brother gang and his wife kanuhy (their baptismal date is this sunday) and we gave him a priesthood blessing this last friday to help him overcome his smoking addiction. their little family (1 son named glaa) is way cute. right before we gave him the priesthood blessing, we were talking a little about the priesthood to help them understand it more, and bro gang said that he knew the power of God was real, because his mom used to be in a wheel chair, she couldnt walk, and through a lot of prayers she was healed and recovered from this disease she had or something. obviously i didnt understand everything he said but elder calderon told me about it after. so that was a cool experience. 

we are teaching sister blaa who also has a date to get baptized this sunday- shes a funny lady and like to call elder calderon gay for some reason haha. but shes been falling thru on alot of our appointments lately which definitely helps me learn patience fersure haha, but shes awesome and is stoked to get baptized. 

through meeting barni (the guy that got baptized last week) we met his friend Jay who is super awesome, and then met another guy from camaroon africa named henry. we've taught jay once or twice and he's come to church once- has a lot of faith, and is reading the book of mormon and still has to pray about it to know if its true or not. hes super legit though, in our last lesson with him he started talking about how he wants to know if this really is jesus christs true church because if it is he needs to go home and tell his family all about it, tell his freinds about it, etc. haha he said he wants to be a missionary like us so he's super cool. and then henry we havent taught yet he's been in bangkok since we met him at a 7/11, but should be meeting up with him today or tomorrow so we will see how that goes. 

nattipa is a girl that we contacted at a night market, and the first time we met at the church, she asked if she could bring some friends, and so of course we said yes. haha we showed up to the church and she was there with 3 of her friends that were very excited to meet with us haha so the sister missionaries were making fun of us for that- but nattipa is actually super solid, and has a baptismal date for next sunday. only one of her friends lives here in phitsanulok and she was pretty hesitant to accept the goal for getting baptized next week, but they all are praying and have a book of mormon to read to know if this church is for real or not. so they are doing good. 

i think it was on friday or saturday that after a looong day of a lot of dropped appointments and inviting people without really anyone being interested we had a sweet miracle. its a testimony to me that when we are exactly obedient and work hard even when things seem hard and like we are wasting time bc no one wants to talk to us- God will bless us. i think sometimes when we go through hard things he's trying us to see what kind of a disciple we will be for him- what he can trust us with, and what he can trust us to do for him. so anyways that night we get back to the church and one of the members, sister จริง จริง (jing jing), who hadn't been to church in a while was there and had brought a friend too that wanted to take lessons. and if we hadnt been working hard all that week, using our time wisely and calling recent converts like sister jing jing to come to church that last sunday, and if she saw us like lazy and hanging out at the church just not working, then she wouldn't have been there and wouldnt have trusted us to teach her friend. her friends name is นั้ม (nam) which means water, and she is so awesome. she has a date to get baptized feb 8th, bc shes out of town, but she has super sincere desires to learn about christ.

other than that we are busy visiting recent converts, less active members, and inviting people all the time. its easy to get in the mindset that no one wants to hear about religion or jesus christ becuase you get rejected alot and honestly i dont blame a lot of the people for saying no, because i probably would do the same in their situation, so definitely blessed to have been raised in the gospel thanks guys. but again its all about just trusting in christ and always opening your mouth. last night inviting along this street with just tons of food carts and mini shops, we normally invite people sitting and eating at tables because the food vendors sometimes will get mad, but i felt like i really should invite the people at this next table, and they said no, and the next group said no, but then the last table in this little area i invited this couple and their kid and they said YES! so i was stoked. dont be afraid to open your mouth about the gospel! its so funny to me that when we ask these people like "hey do you want to be clean from sin?" or "hey do you want to go to church this sunday and see how christ can bless you life?" and people say no or they dont have time its like WHAT?!?! if you could really be clean from sin, or have the peace and happiness that comes from the blessings of the gospel of christ, how could anything else taking up your time be more important?! but yeah thats how it goes- so missionary work this week has been a blast. 

yeah soo everything is good, we have like 2 weeks until transfers and my boy elder calderon heads home. crazy! but i love it here. life is so different and the people, the culture, the food, just everything is such a change from home but i really do love it and am so happy and feel so blessed to be able to serve God in this beautiful country, and to serve these wonderful people. 

i know god lives and love us! his hand is in our lives everyday we just have to look for the miracles. i know families can be together forever.  this gospel of jesus christ really does change lives and brings a joy that money cant buy. i love you guys! 

elder chamberlin

p.s. i have grown to really love the time we have set apart each morning to study scriptures, the language, etc. thai is coming slowly but surely, and my love for the scriptures has grown so much. i loved reading Elder euchtdorf "lord is it i?" talk from last general conference. never forget the power of daily scripture study and prayer! we are never too busy for either. i loved how elder calderon put it to a recent convert when the convert said he hadn't been reading the scriptures because he has been to busy, and then calderon was like did you eat today? "yes..." your spirit needs to be fed just as much as your body does. you should definitely read that talk^! alright love you all!