Knock and It Shall Be Opened Unto You

Hey Heyyy!

This week was super awesome.

We had a zone conference and I got to see all of my friends :) I hugged Sister Benevides for like 10 minutes.

Allan is still progressing and preparing for baptism - hooray!

Sister Garcia and Sister Borger got mega sick this weekend... picture a mad Brazilian tummy flu (eck). But I felt Heavenly Father using me to bless others because Sister Garcia (her first transfer) woke up at 3am super sick and was only speaking English and her companion wasn´t understanding anything. But luckily I was able to help so she could get feeling better enough to sleep. 

We found an inactive man in the little grocery store on our street corner who´s struggling with alcoholism and wants to change his life. He invited us to his house and turns out he´s living with an angel of a woman and they want to get married and yesterday they went to church together and they´re so lovely. I love them. Yay.

My girl Socorro is heeecka in tune with the Spirit and is receiving all kinds of answers and confirmations that the Church and the Book of Mormon are true. She´s transforming before our eyes and it´s miraculous. She was super timid and uncomfortable and wouldn´t speak or look in our eyes during the lessons, but she´s already changed so much. She started making jokes yesterday! And she always talks about how she´s never felt such a happiness and she´s so excited to get baptized this Saturday!

Thinking lots about D&C 88 this week with Socorro:

"Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

As we seek Heavenly Father and His hand in our lives, we will see his tender mercies, feel his love around us, and more easily recognize his promptings and answers.

I love learning and being a missionary

Grateful for the opportunity to bring to others the joy of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ

Love from Brasil,

Sister Chamberlain

Bleached and Blessed

Thisss weeeekkkk <3

I made cookies <3 everybody loves me now.

Our bishop is suuuuch a homie (he´s also an ex- mission president and the surfer from the Brazilian conference talk). We had lunch at his house on Thursday and he made us traditional American rootbeer floats!

We´re a little bummed because Cleillson started getting weird and flaking out on our lessons (missionary heartbreaks) but he´s still interested maybe we think? We´ll see how all that goes.

But our boy Allan is all giddy for his baptism this weekend! He´s super great. And yesterday during our lesson he taught his friend how to pray! (Maybe i cried...) Plus, he cut his hair and his 3-inch-long nails to a reasonable length so he´s just making all kinds of progress :)

Starting to see the gift of tongues in Sister Meira! Haha! It´s super cool trying to help her learn English. We try to speak in English in our apartment and sometimes in the street and she´s picking it up super quick. But I´m a little nervous to skype on Mother´s Day because my English is trash... great.

In other news, my hair is getting hecka bleached...

Also,

I´m crazy about this talk by Brad Wilcox that I listened to this week.

It´s the best.

Every human being should listen to it.

Christ is everything. He is pulling with us.

I love being a missionary and seeing people come unto Him

It´s the greatest.

Love from Brasil,

Sister Chamberlain

Rejection

Thisss weeeekkkkk

The title of this week is Rejection.

Literally so much rejection haha

Every investigator we had ran away. (Carlos even ran away literally...)

But we´re keeping things fresh.

Jardim America is the best ward ever. Seriously, the members are so down to help us with the work. Basically the entire ward is a returned missionary so they all love us and love visiting people with us and love feeding us... (okay this part is like kind of not that cool if you want to try to maintain your beleza...)

But we had tons of members come out with us yesterday in like a two hour blitz. It rocked. We had one young lady and one woman who served like 20 years ago with us for our lessons, meanwhile like 10 other members of the ward went out contacting people for us.

We have a new investigator named Enoque who´s a homie. He´s currently recovering from a serious injury to his leg (5 bullet wounds...) but he´s super awesome and ready to change his life.

Also Claílson is a rockstar. We talked to him in the street for like 5 seconds on Saturday night and then the next morning at church he got there before we did. E.L.E.I.T.O. (E.L.E.C.T.) He told us that he was thinking lots about life and really needing an answer for more and then boom - we arrived and invited him to church. He´s super interested and excited and so are we!

In other news, the Family History rep in our ward is my new BFF. WHY HAVE I NEVER REALIZED HOW IMPORTANT FAMILY HISTORY IS. LIKE EVER. I have a newfound passion. Fo' real.

Thinking lots about the Plan of Salvation this week.

Thinking lots about opposition this week - D&C 29:39 - "For if they should not have the bitter they could not know the sweet."

Even though being rejected is kind of the worst, it helps me be even more pumped and grateful for the wonderful people that the Lord has prepared for us to meet.

I love the gospel! I love the Book of Mormon! I LOVE that families can be together forever and forever <3

Muito amor do Brasil,

Sister Chamberlain

Happy 7 Months, People!

BOM DIA!

I got transferred! I´m now in Jardim America, back with my girl Sister
Meira! We were both shocked when we saw we were going to be companions
again. Haha! But it´s going to be rockin'.

We´re reopening Jardim America to 4 sisters so we´ve got lots of
learning to do here :) but so far so good! The ward is awesome and
super supportive of missionary work so we´re super grateful for all of
their help.

I slept in a hammock this week and it wasn´t even that bad :)
It has been raining a TON! which makes my heart so very happy becuase
I´m all over rain
In other news, I love pineapple/mint juice and cocada <3
CONFERENCE WAS SOOO GOOD. Like so good.

Seriously.
 

We have a new sister from Texas who just barely got to the field this
week, so i got to watch conference in english with her which was
awesome.
 

I had so many favorite talks but I super loved Elder Holland´s (obvi,
he´s the homie). This week I was thinking a lot about Romans 8:38-39:
35 - Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation,
or distress,  or persectution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword?
37 - Nay, in all these things we are conquerors through Him that loved us.
38 - For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 - nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to
spearate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 

So I love love loved when he talked about how God loves us with all of
His might, mind, and strength. Heaven is cheering for us <3
I love being a missionary and seeing tender mercies and victories and
miracles every day! I love feeling Heavenly Father love his
children! I love that we have a prophet to lead us and help us have
the faith to choose the harder right <3

Love from Brasil,
Sister Chamberlain

Feliz Páscoa!

Feliz Páscoa!!

This week was super great and weird...

My companion and Sister Anuarve (another sister who lives in our apartment) caught a freaky fly virus and were having "intestinal difficulties" all week.... fun stuff.

So we didn´t see too much action outside of the bathroom.

But we did get to go to an Easter production called Jesus the Christ! It was awesome. There´s a fancy old theater in the city center and a bunch of members in Fortaleza put on play/musical of the life of Jesus Christ. It was really really great. There were tons of missionaries and tons of members and tons of investigators there. It rocked.

Easter festivities weren´t too crazy, actually super mild. I was a little surprised. Although I did learn of one Brazilian Easter tradition... people make like a scarecrow doll thing made of cloth and old materials and stuff like that to represent Judas... and then they burn it... We passed a half burned "Judas" in the street yesterday... so that was interesting.

Anyways, I was learning about the Holy Ghost this week and found this rockstar quote:

“The Holy Ghost is a gift of power. The Holy Ghost inspires and heals, guides and warns, enhances our natural capacities, inspires charity and humility, makes us smarter than we are, strengthens us during trials, testifies of the Father and the Son, and shows us ´all things´ that we should do.”

Having the Holy Ghost is like the ultimate super power!  I love that Heavenly Father promises if we knock, He will answer and that answer is almost always in the form of the Holy Ghost. He will never leave us without His power. <3

Loving the work and the journey <3

The Church is True! 

Love from Brasil,

Sister Chamberlain

3 Miracles & A Churro

This week was super!

Hecka miracles.

 Normally we´re supposed to do 20 street contacts everyday, but Sister Benevides and I have been a little too lax on that so we really wanted to start off strong and be better. On Friday, we talked to literally every person we saw (72 contacts to be exact). It was awesome. And we found loads of new people to teach, like 6 families <3

One couple, Felipe + Bruna, was super interested in the church and wanted to learn more. We tried to pass by their apartment complex but their intercom was broken and we didn´t have any way to get into the 3 locked gates to get to their apartment. We decided to leave and teach our next two appointments, but they both fell through. So, we passed back by Felipe + Bruna´s complex to find all three gates completely wide open! Umm, thank you Pai Celestial. They are WONDERFUL. Eleitos, seriously.

The same day we were leaving the house of our new investigator, Rita. It was the first time meeting her and as we were walking out the door she said: "my sister opened up Psalms today and told me that Jesus Christ would visit our house this afternoon. It was you, wasn´t it?" So, I just about passed out. (cue music: There can be miracles, if you believe)

Miracle number 3 - I ate the world´s best churro this week.

I´ve met many a churro, but never one filled with doce de leite. It probably ranks in the top 10 of the best things i´ve ever eaten. Wowza.

In other news, I have a mad case of Disneyland-Feet. You know the pain when you take your first step out of bed after you´ve spent 2 days wandering around Disneyland? It´s magical.

This week i read a rockstar talk by Sheri Dew. I don´t even know which part to share because the whole thing was my favorite. But one thing she said i really loved. Referring to the word of God, she said the scriptures "have a more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than... anything else (Alma 31:5). There is power in the word to heal our wounded souls (Jacob 2:8), to help us overcome temptation (1 Nephi 11:25), to prompt us to repent (Jarom 1:12), to humble us (Alma 32:14), to help us overcome the natural man (Mosiah 3:19), to bring about a mighty change in our hearts (Alma 5:13), and to lead us to Christ."

She asks, "do you realize that the scriptures contain the answer to every life dilemma? A casual understanding of the gospel will not sustain you through the days ahead, which is why it is imperative that you immerse yourself in the word of God." You can read Sheri Dew’s complete talk here: You Were Born to Lead. It’s AWESOME!

Scripture power <3

Hecka pumped for Easter this week!
He Lives #Hallelujah
www.mormon.org/easter/hallelujah

Love from Brasil,

Sister Chamberlain

(Sad face – no pictures…my memory card was trashed by a virus at the computer shack we use. I lost all my pictures.)

Take Courage, He Has Overcome the World

Bom Dia Bom Dia!!

Crazy week!

My companion is a sister training leader so she was gone for two days doing splits with the sisters in Paracuru. It was weird working without her, but she came back :) so tudo bem. 

We had an Easter egg hunt for our ward activity. Did you know brazil doesn´t do Easter egg hunts? What the heck? I was not about to have Easter without an egg hunt. We had 4 teams and like 100 chocolate eggs hidden around the church. It was a huge hit. Everyone loved it. 

We´re teaching a super awesome family right now. Fabio and Ketry have 3 AWESOME kids. They´re super great, but going through some realy hard stuff. He has some kind of weird tumor and can´t work and she´s unemployed and making ends meet with odd jobs, along with some other nutty life-difficulties. But it´s really amazing to see the gospel working in their lives.

Katia Is one of our other investigators. We looove her. She is wonderful but is also struggling because her boyfriend was killed this week.

I feel like I´m getting like 40 years of life experiences from the people we teach. It´s pretty heavy sometimes, and sometimes I feel like I can´t help comfort a struggling family or a now-single mother because I´m only 20 and still trying to figure stuff out for myself. But luckily, the Spirit is always there to help a sister out. And the Savior of course <3

Fortaleza is hot as ever and I´m loving it.... I think I`m going to name my 18 months "500 days of Summer", because the heat just keeps coming.

I have successfully avoided the Zika virus so far, so that´s been a huge blessing. 

Since Easter is approaching and Jesus Christ is literally the truest homie ever, I´ll just sign off with my new favorite scripture - John 16:33

Being a missionary rocks <3

Love from Brasil,

Sister Chamberlain

THE GREATEST WEEK IN THE HISTORY OF WEEKS!

THIS WEEK WAS THE GREATEST WEEK IN THE HISTORY OF WEEKS

We finished preparing the rockstar couple for baptism this week and seriously, they are so strong and prepared. In one of his prayers with us this week, he thanked Heavenly Father for eliminating his doubts and expressed his certainty about his decision to be baptized with his wife.

Antonio and Edilsa had a beautiful baptismal service on Saturnday morning. We were a little nervous because basically the whole ward was returning home from the caravan to the Recife temple (a 500 mile trip) and there would be very few people to help get everything ready and attend the baptism. We woke up a little extra early to get the baptismal font cleaned and filled and threw together the greatest chocolate cake to share (seriously, America? why haven´t we figured out brigadeiro yet?).  [Brigadeiro is made from condensed milk, powdered chocolate, butter and chocolate sprinkles to cover the outside layer. It is cooked on the stovetop or microwave, then formed into individual little balls.]

The Caravan arrived about an hour before the baptism started! It was perfect! #tendermercies. The Spirit at the baptism was so sweet. It was amazing and humbling and wonderful and about 30 other adjectives that I can´t remember how to say in English. Antonio and Edlisa joined their two children in the church of Jesus Christ, and it was so perfect seeing their family united, peaceful, and so so so happy. Sunday morning Antonio and Edilsa were confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Shortly after, they presented and blessed their baby, Pérola. Their daughter, Pamela, bore a powerful testimony of fasting and prayer, and right after church, Antonio received the Priesthood. IT WAS PERFECT. THEY´RE PERFECT. I´M SO IN LOVE WITH THIS WONDERFUL FAMILY. 

In other news, this week we had to go to some official looking government building so I could get a CPF (pretty sure it´s like the equivalent of a Social Security Number). Anyways, every Brazilian has one and now I have one so I´m basically now officially Brazilian. Also, I love coconut.

Also, I love Portuguese (haha remember like 5 months ago when I hated it? memories <3)

Also, I love being a missionary!

I´ve never been so happy and I know it´s because I get to help people all day long find peace and truth in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It doesn´t get better than that :)

Love and Beijos from Brasil,

Sister Chamberlain

Six Months! And a Great Week!

6 Months!

Whoa. That´s so crazy.

THIS WEEK WAS SO GREAT. UGH. 

For starters,

I ate panelada. If you don´t know what panelada is, consider yourself blessed. It´s cow intestines, and it´s disgusting. I also tried mocotó, which is actually really good! especially if you don´t know what it is. It´s a soup made from cow hoof. I LITERALLY ATE HOOF NERVES. Last but not least we tried carneiro aka sheep meat, which was delicious. It wasn´t too crazy. Heck, after hoof nerves it was as normal as a chicken nugget.

A few updates on what my Pre- Day is like:
We don´t do much shopping, just groceries. We usually go back to the house and write letters and take naps Haha. Although last week was a bit more exciting... I ate some interesting things at a very Denio´s-like market.

We are walking lots here but it´s easier because all of the roads are paved. In Paracuru, everything was cobblestone and dirt. Now, we have lunches with members literally every day which is super different. In Paracuru, we were lucky to have 2 during the week. The people are a lot less humble here but, in a way its good because when you find investigators, you find the great ones who are prepared, not just every single contact in the street who lets you into their house, like in Paracuru.

Diego was baptized and confirmed this week! He´s a rockstar and we love him. Mazé also got confirmed yesterday finally after like a month of being baptized. She´s 77 and hilarious. We had to make a pit stop at the steakhouse on the way to the chapel Sunday morning so she could go to the bathroom... I´ll spare the details on that little story. hahaha. But seriously I love Mazé. 

We found a golden couple while we were out with one of the members. All of our scheduled lessons fell through and we couldn´t find the street we needed to go to. It was kind of a mess and we were feeling frustrated, when the member asked us if we could go visit Antonio and Edilsa (parents ofyouth in the ward). Everything fell into place after that. They´re amazing and super excited to follow their children to the church and get baptized. For as the heavens are higher than the Earth, so are his ways higher than ours. God´s plans are perfect <3 It´s super humbling to be a part of the preparation and the conversion of someone so prepared by God.

THEY ARE SO WONDERFUL.  They´re perfect and I'm real pumped to watch them get sealed next year <3

I love being a missionary and I love the Gospel!

Love From Brasil,

Sister Chamberlain

My New BFF Pen Pal, CLARK.

BOOOOOM DIA!

First things first: I HAVE A NEPHEW AND HE´S PERFECT. The cheeks, people. the cheeks.

Meet my new BFF pen pal, Clark. Yes, he´s beautiful.

This week was AWESOME.

I´m LOVING Monte Castelo and Sister Benevides. The city is practically America after living in Paracuru for 5 months. hahaha Seriously it's super different but I LOVE my companion. SIster Benevides. She´s a homie.  It´s great, she´s great, and yesterday I ate the best carne of my entire life... so I´m great.

It has been pouring this week. The streets turned into rivers. Seriously, it was up to my calf.

We´re currently teaching a rockstar named Diego. He´s dating a woman in the ward who recently started back to church. They´re wonderful. it´s really cool to see his progress and see how prepared he is. He loves the church, he already prayed and received a confirmation, and he´s super excited for his baptism this weekend. He rocks.

We´re also teaching a woman named Diva. I love her, if for no other reason, because her name is Diva. But she´s also really great so that´s cool.

I love tapioca (idk how to explain it... it´s this flour stuff that turns into a tortilla when it gets hot. It's basically the consistency of a gummy worm...) and fruit (the fruit here rocks. I will live in Brazil forever just to eat guavas)

Lunch is always with members here. Yesterday was feijoada and rice, farofa, and literally the best pork I´ve ever had in my whole life. (remember that one time I thought I was going to lose weight in Brazil? lol)

also coxinhas <3

Being a missionary is really great and happy. I love Portuguese and teaching the gospel.

Loving Jacob 3:1-2 (Book of Mormon)

Trust in God and everything will be alright <3

Love from Brasil (seriously. so much love <3),

Sister Chamberlain

I'm Getting Transfered

Bom Dia!!!

I´m getting transferred to the city of Fortaleza! I´ll be companions with Sister Benevides in Monte Castelo (a neighborhood area within the city of Fortaleza) Terrified? Maybe.

This week was really good!

We had a cool activity called Bolo Macho. Then men have to bring a cake and the women have to judge whose is best. My kind of activity. <3

We´re finding all kinds of wonderful people!

NOSSA. we´re teaching a girl named Maria E! Maria E is wonderful. Like, so wonderful it hurts. She´s 12 years old and is super smart. She´s already halfway through 1 Nephi and understands everything she read. She asked Heavenly Father if the Book of Mormon was true and received a peaceful confirmation. She has a strong desire to be baptized aaannnnd I love her. Super pumped for her progress.

This week I was reading an article in the Liahona about learning how to find happiness from the Book of Mormon, and now i LOVE 4 Nephi 1. Verse 16 describes the people as the happiest of all of the people created by the hand of God. So obviously i was like, whoa, how did they manage that? Luckily, chapter 1 had all the answers. They repented, were baptized, married and had families, served one another, didnpt have contentions, kept the commandments, fasted and prayed, and went to curch. I´m sure all of these things were the source for their happiness. They lived the way God wanted them to live and we blessed with the joy God designed them to have. It´s perfect. the gospel is perfect <3

Feeling grateful

Feeling excited

Feeling ready to learn :)

LOADS of love from Brasil,

Sister Chamberlain

Feliz Carnaval!

Feliz Carnaval!

Woohoooo. Unfortunately Carnaval is not as exciting circus with popcorn and cotton candy... but this week was wonderful anyway!

We´re working with several investigators who are preparing for baptism. we´re super excited for Luciano (who is literally the human version of Frozone from The Incredibles), Elder, and Jonathon.

They´re suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper prepared. It´s amazing.

The Book of Mormon rocks! It´s got all the answers! I was reading in 4th Nephi 1 today about the people after Christ left. One verse talks about how they were the happiest people that God created. I was like.. what? How the heck did they manage to do that? and then boom. All the answers were right there: they kept the commandments, served each other, married and raised children in the Gospel, fasted and prayed and held church meetings often. We just have to do what they did and we can be happy like them too! So that´s cool.

So I love Brazil <3

Also being a missionary

Also the gospel

It´s wow.

It´s true <3

Love from Brasil,

Sister Chamberlain

The Rains Came Down and the Bugs Came Out

Bom Dia Bom Dia!!

This week POURED rain. i loved it <3

The only thing about the rain is it brings out all kinds of freaky bugs........ (tries not to cry).

But I definitely feel more one with nature. Our apartment is like a little mini jungle. We even have a little lizard that lives somewhere in the wall and makes friendly appearances. But he´s a homie and eats the mosquitos so he´s chill.

In other news, i ate chicken liver this week. Did i know i was eating chicken liver? No. Am I glad I was unaware of this little detail? Com certeza.

We went to Fortaleza for the worldwide missionary broadcast this week and it was soooo good. #teachrepentence #baptizeconverts

We´ve been working a lot with Sara this week. Sara is a rockstar and a half. Her husband is less active in the church and she's related to an awesome family in our branch. She knows everything. She´s read everything. (like even Jesus the Christ. Okay, I haven´t even finished doing that yet.) So obviously we love her. She always tells us that the only thing she has left to do is get baptized. The only thing now is helping her recognize an answer to her prayer and helping her gather the courage to pull the trigger (because her family is super Catholic and will give her a super hard time about getting baptized). So yeah, that´s Sara. She´s the best.

So this week I was reading in 2 Nephi and thinking a lot about the Prophet. At this point in the Book of Mormon, Lehi is the prophet and is getting pretty close to dying so he´s giving his final counsel to his children. Lehi was super cool and super amigos with the Lord. He saw all kinds of stuff in visions and knew in great detail the plan of salvation and tons of other doctrine. And yet his final counsel was so simple (2 Nephi 2:28). And I realized that it´s very near to the same counsel we receive from our Prophet today. Like Lehi, President Monson surely comprehends very well the mysteries of God. But his counsel is the same counsel as Lehi´s: Trust in Christ, keep the commandments, be faithful, and choose the path of eternal life. It is so simple and so true!

Loving being a missionary

Loving the rain

Loving the lizards

Loving the chicken liver

Loving the gospel!

Com muito amor de Brasil,

Sister Chamberlain

A Hundred Tiny Little Miracles!

Bom Dia!

What a cool week!

We found a bunch of names to work with in the area book this week. But we didn't have much to go on as far as addresses, but we had like a hundred tiny little miracles! Like one of them, we were looking for the house of a different contact and we knocked one door and started talking to a girl asking her if she knew the contact. She didn´t, so i decided to ask her if she knew Gabriele, a name from the area book who lived in the same neighborhood. TURNS OUT THIS GIRL WAS GABRIELE AND WE FOUND HER HOUSE BY ACCIDENT SLASH NOT REALLY BY ACCIDENT BECAUSE HEAVENLY FATHER´S JUST ORGANIZING EVERYTHING PERFECTLY. So yeah. That was really cool. That happened like three other times this week.

I LOVE THE RESTORATION. I used to get nervous teaching it first but now it´s like the only thing I want to teach! Haha! I LOVE IT. It´s so cool. Joseph Smith is a true homie. And a prophet of God. He´s a true homie and a prophet of God--aka--he´s really cool.

We´re getting a lot more support from the members in the branch so that´s super great <3

I like speaking Portuguese and eating coxinhas.

In other news, it continues to rain and we had another bat in our apartment this week :) I think they´re just using echolocation to look for the Spirit.

The Church is True <3

Love from Brasil,

Sister Chamberlain

Going "Batty" for the Plan of Happiness

BOOOOOOOMMM DIAAAAAAA!!!

What a week.

My girl Amanda got baptized this week so that was probably the highlight. She´s awesome! And her baby is probably the cutest thing ever (only because my nephew, Nuggie, isn´t officially born yet). She gave me a ring with a donut on it. #birthdaydonut? 

Amanda's been through it. She´s gone through lots of hard things and it makes me see how God gives us commandments to protect us. Sometimes they´re annoying or don´t make sense to us, but He´s the supreme creator. He knows us perfectly, and He knows how we need to live to achieve the maximum possible happiness. While reading Jesus The Christ this morning, I found this great quote from a talk given by James E. Talmage regarding pleasure versus happiness:

“The present is an age of pleasure-seeking, and men are losing their sanity in the mad rush for sensations that do but excite and disappoint. In this day of counterfeits, adulterations, and base imitations, the devil is busier than he has ever been in the course of human history, in the manufacture of pleasures, both old and new; and these he offers for sale in most attractive fashion, falsely labeled, Happiness. . . .

Happiness includes all that is really desirable and of true worth in pleasure, and much beside. Happiness is genuine gold, pleasure but gilded brass. . . . Happiness is as the genuine diamond, which, rough or polished, shines with its own inimitable luster; pleasure is as the paste imitation that glows only when artificially embellished. Happiness is as the ruby, red as the heart’s blood, hard and enduring; pleasure, as stained glass, soft, brittle, and of but transitory beauty. . . .

Happiness leaves no bad after-taste, it is followed by no depressing reaction; it calls for no repentance, brings no regret, entails no remorse; pleasure too often makes necessary repentance, contrition, and suffering; and, if indulged to the extreme, it brings degradation and destruction.”

The commandments help us to achieve long lasting happiness, if we will live them. They´re really cool.

In other news a bat flew into our apartment this week. We caught him and kept him as a pet for like 40 minutes.

Also when rude people don´t want to give us the time of day I´ve got Miley Cyrus in the background reminding me to forget the haters ´cause somebody loves ya. #HeavenlyFather. Who knew Miley sang about doctrine?

I had to give a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday. That was terrifying. Haha. And to think I used to get nervous to speak in public in English. LOL

I think it´s like monsoon season or something because it has been POURING rain. I´m all over this rain. I´m digging it. It's kind of weird trying to walk around in it (have you ever taken a shower in your clothes?) but it keeps things interesting :)

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! IT´S SO COOL! WOW!

That´s all. I love you!!

Love from Brasil,

Sister Chamberlain

A Smashing Start to the New Year!

Bom Dia!!!

Whooooa. What a week.

Things were a little crazy here in Paracuru for the new year. Our town is a big tourist spot so we had all kinds of party here. We had to be in our apartment during the evening of New Year's Eve and all day New Year's Day. But we celebrated with pizza and with chocolate so everything was good. The energy in our apartment got shut of at like 9:00 on New Year's Eve so that was kind of terrifying for a second, but who doesn´t like a good scare?

I remember sitting in the car on the way to the airport with Mom and Dad to leave for Sao Paulo. It was quiet and uncomfortable and in an effort to leave with a joke I made everyone take bets on when I would throw up for the first time on my mission.

Well I´m pretty sure I outlasted everyone´s bets, but let´s just say it was a week of firsts. Gotta bring in the New Year with a bang #2016 #MyYear

My birthday was pretty fun even though it was strange being away. I didn´t get a birthday donut but I did get a birthday Ovada from Sister Moura. Apparently it´s a birthday tradition to get eggs smashed on your head... it´s supposed to be a sign of affection I think... <3

We had a mini-MTC activity for the youth in our branch because they were all called to be ward missionaries (it's like serving a mission in your home congregation. Like a mini-mission)! IT WAS SO COOL! They´re all so great and i´m excited to watch them touch lives <3

I love the Gospel! I love the Church! I love the Plan! and I LOOOVE the scriptures.

It is true, it is true!

Love from Brasil,

Sister Chamberlain

PS - I´m staying in Paracurú for another transfer.

Feliz Natal!

What a week! Christmas was pretty weird not being at home, but we made it fun. Sister Moura and I bought fabric and made Christmas pajamas (because obviously you can´t have Christmas without Christmas PJs) and we ordered a few pizzas for Christmas dinner (<3)

I love love love Christmas. It´s when we get to be with our families to celebrate God´s most precious gift to us, His Son. He loves us. And when we trust in Him and put our faith in Him, we can feel Him with us on the path to salvation.

I learned more about sacrifice this week. It has kind of a negative connotation, but sacrifice is pretty cool even though it can be hard some of the time. It doesn´t have to be a negative thing. God blesses us according to our abilitiy to sacrifice. When we sacrifice food and drink (fasting), he blesses us. When we sacrifice our time and talents (serving others), he blesses us. When we sacrifice our will to His (obeying commandments), he blesses us. Sometimes the sacrifice is really hard, but when we have hope and faith that His knowledge is greater than ours, we can be filled with peace and find joy in the journey <3

When you think about it, the things we´re asked to sacrifice don´t even touch the kind of sacrifice that Christ made for each of us. All of our sorrows, sins, temptations, and trials - he suffered so we don´t have to. That´s why Christmas is so special! We get to celebrate and rejoice that because of His birth, we can be whole! What a reason to party! (Someone get this girl a piece of cake!)

I LOVE YOU GUYS

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Love From Brasil,

Sister Chamberlain

Losing My Accent and Building My Testimony

Ohh heeyyyyy, familia!

Who´s pumped for Christmas? This girl. Whoa. It´s so close! <3

So my new goal is to lose my lame American accent. We were talking to 3 teenage girls last week and they kept giggling and whispering and squealing when I talked - you would have thought I was T-Swift or someone. It was cool for like 0.2 seconds but I´m ready to be Brazilian now.

Our baptism with Narla fell through this week so that was kinda disappointing, but we´re prepping her for next week so we´ll see what miracles are in store the next few days. 

We share an area with another companionship and they had a really special baptism at the beach this week. It was super pretty! I wish I could show you, but everyone and their mom left their cameras at the home of one of our members...just close your eyes and picture a really cool Brazilian beach with 4 sister missionaries watching the baptism on the shore.

I saw a real life shooting star last night. It was legit.

WHOA. Okay. I learned this week that in 1829 Joseph Smith translated 588 pages of the Book of Mormon in a max of 65 days. (Whoa.)  It is also instructive to note that the translation of the King James Bible into English, by 47 scholars working in languages they already knew, took 7 years to complete.

#modernprophet #powerofGod

I got some mad spirit goosebumps when I learned that! I love the Book of Mormon!

The Gospel is super cool! I love teaching people about it everyday <3

Check out my cute Chaco feet tan...

Love From Brasil,

Sister Chamberlain

Love in Deed and Truth

BOM DIA! BOM DIA!

Whooooa it´s almost Christmas, people. You´d never know it because it´s so dang hot here. Haha. I don´t think I´ve ever been this tan in December.

I drank out of a coconut this week! Like an actual one! Like with a straw and everything. He just popped a hole in a coconut and handed it over! It was delicious.

This week was kind of a bummer because the baptism of my homie Alan fell through. But we met tons of new people to teach this week so that was exciting. Portuguese is getting easier and harder. I don´t really know how to explain it. Like sometimes I feel like a huge nub and I just want to leave the lesson and eat ice cream on the curb. But then other times I'm like what up I just read that whole chapter in Portuguese and i didn´t even have to break out the dictionary - holla!

We helped a family move this week so that was fun. Manual labor rocks. That sounded sarcastic but seriously, I love it. We moved couches, lifted stuff, and shimmied a bed out of a second story window. That was exciting. I´ve learned that you can do literally anything in a skirt.

A scripture I really loved this week is 1 John 3:18

“My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”

Love is so much more powerful when we show it through service! 

Seriously. Service makes you so happy! It´s like the cure for feeling sad.

Loving Paracurú

Loving being a missionary

Loving the Gospel more everyday

Merry (almost) Christmas!! (And since it's almost Christmas, make some hot chocolate or grab acoconut and check out this awesome Christmas program by the LDS Church. Good music, uplifting messages, and pretty lights. You won't be sorry!)

Love from Brasil,

Sister Chamberlain

A Reward Even Better Than Paçoquita

Bom Dia!!

So we had transfers this week! That was pretty wild! My first transfer, woohoo!

I stayed in Paracuru but my trainer got transferred to another little interior city, Itapipoca. My new trainer is Sister Meira! She´s adorable. She´s Brazilian and she´s a really good missionary. It's pretty hard to understand her but i´m excited to learn from her.

We found loooooads of awesome people this week! I´m pumped to get going teaching them and see them embrace the Gospel! It´s pretty cool to see people´s lives begin to change as they begin to keep commandments and make covenants with Heavenly Father. It´s a beautiful process.

So in the Brazil CTM we only get the name tags with the clip and I really wanted the magnet kind. My homie Sister Corell had two of the magnet kind and she kindly (in exchange for paçoquita - the only logical medium of exchange) let me use her second magnet. This required a little surgery and some (okay a lot of) superglue. The end result... I super glued my ring to my hand and two of my fingers together... luckily it only lasted for a couple of hours but I was a little nervous. But now I have a beautiful name tag with a magnet so woohoo!

Jefferson was confirmed yesterday and I felt so smiley! I was super proud of him.

My scripture for the week comes from Doctrine and Covenants 6:33-37

my personal favorites are 36 and 37 because if we look to the Lord and put our trust in him, we have no need to doubt. We need not fear. Remember him, be faithful, and keep the commandments, and the promise is the Kingdom of Heaven! Um, yeah okay. (That´s a much better exchange than paçoquita)

Heavenly Father loves each of us individually! He hears us and he responds to our prayers. Always. It's up to us to recognize His answers and ACT.

Holler at being a missionary. It´s hard and it´s wonderful!

The Church is true and thank goodness!

Love from Brasil,

Sister Chamberlain