WEEK 1

HELLO EVERYONE!!!! i am in BRAZILLLL howwwww

this week has seriously been the most insane week ever. being a missionary is SO HARD especially in portuguese but i am having the time of my life.

my district is super awesome! there are 8 elders and my companion is Sister Christensen from South Carolina. she is super cute and says the word lovely a lot. her face also gets red from laughing at my potty humor. SORRY for the horrible grammar and spelling this keyboard is some crazy portuguese one. 

SOO on the first day i got here, EVERYthing was completely in portuguese, it was so funny! i couldn~t understand anyone including the woman cleaning the bathroom that got mad at me when i left the toilet seat up. the food is is BOMB and i really love all the brazillians. i have already made some good brazillian friends that i sit with during meals and try to have very slow conversations with me in portuguese. my district is NUTS hahaha. like seriously nuts. these 18 year old boys have so much energy but it~s been such an awesome experience getting to know them better through their testimonies. i am really really impressed with their strength and courage. it takes a lot to get on a mission, haha

oh the first day i woke up with a giant zit inbetween my eyes 

uhh what else. 

OH YA. we went to the temple today and it was BEAUTIFUL! i got to be a FILHA (daughter) in a temple sealing while we were waiting for our session to start. everyone was telling me what to do in portuguese and it was kind of confusing but im actually getting a lot better at the language!

me and sister christensen have taught 4 lessons for our investigator Ana ALL in portuguese starting the 3rd night there. we started using notes and just reading our lesson from our notesbooks but the spirit just was not there. then i bore my testimony to her about the holy ghost without notes in a different language!!! i told her that i know that when we pray, the holy ghost talks to our souls and confirms truth. HOW! the gift of tongues is REAL! if the spirit is there with you when you learn it, it will be there to help you when you need it. such a cool experience. yesterday i said a prayer in portugues at the end of our class and lots of people came up to me and said i sounded fluent including the teacher which was super cool!!! i love love love it here. the work is so hard and there was this one night when i went to the bathroom to read my patriarchal blessing by myself and i just cried at how merciful the lord is to me. this is nothing compared the the blessings he gives me.

unfortunately i can~t send pictures home from the CTM but i heard of this secret cookie shop that will scan photos in the back super ghetto-ly and send them to your family so im gonna try that and pray i gdont get kid napped.

i miss everyone at home so much! please know that i think about you guys every single day! i am so happy to be here and i plan to use up this year and a half with some WERK. 

things that make me happy:

really cold water for breakfast

the secret shower at the end of the hall with high water pressure and hot water

my beautiful window and view of the city (and the music that flows through it at night)

PLEASE SEND ME LETTERS I CAN RECIEVE THEM HERE!!!! Send me photos because i wish i had 34567890 more!!!!! love you all so much

XOXO

Sister Chamberlain

WEEK 2

hello everyone!! this week was so awesome! I LOVE BRASILLLL!

the days just keep flying by faster and faster. my companion is so wonderful, we have the best relationship, its so funny. this week we went on splits with brazilian missionaries and taught lessons to other companionships. i was actually surprised and how well i could keep up with her! i talked a lot in the lesson and the words come to me a lot quicker now. i have to think super hard when i talk, but still! im communicating! 

this week i got a calling!!! they asked me to be the sister training leader which is basically a fancy way of saying welcome commitee but im really excited to get to know all of the new sisters. 

elder holland´s grandson is also here and i met him, he looked remarkably like his grandpa. like way more than i do. duh. but it´s so funny he hates how that´s all people talk about. super nice kid. 

our district is so much FUN. we´re all super close now. me, elder bloom, AND elder draper all have the same birthday and are the oldest of 4 kids!!!!! wahaaaaa

but we´re still a little crazy. one of our irmas asked to be moved to a different district because she couldnt handle us hahha but she still loves us and leaves us chocolate in our desks. and now the next instructor irmo diego is in the hospital hahah we´re going through teachers like it´s nanny mcphee.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN ALSO!

we spent it eating so much brasilian candy and studying and some asked if he could borrow my glasses to be harry potter because he had a gryffindor tie. everyone has been wearing them around, it´s really funny. also that night the brasilian girls in our room stuck their launfry basket out the window to catch falling candy from the elder´s room two stories up. hahahhah it was so funny

this sunday someone volunteered me and my companion and this other guy to sing a song for the missionary conference or something?!?!?? so idk i let you guys know how that goes haha

missionary work is so hard and i know im not even in the thick of it yet, but i am just so happy to do it! our savior has sacrificed so much. and having a year and a half to completely dedicate myself to this work is an incredible experience. DOM DE LINGUAS is real!!!! 

i am growing so much every day in the language and spiritually. this place is SO chill (for an MTC) and the food is awesome and i love all the people so much!!! i think about you guys every single day and LOVE hearing from you!!!! 

also 

-my distrcit leader caught a butterfly in his hand and showed it to me and then i got hit in the face with a volleyball

-the sun rises and sets on the WRONG side

-i was going to the bathroom one day and someone turned off the lights and it was pitch black and i was pooping (sorry mom it´s funny)

-i am the ONLY sister in porto alegre norte!

quotes of the week:

- yeah, i dropped like 70 bucks on motab

- dude, this scripture is bangin!

- *beat boxes to hymns*

- i would nevcer date someone who went to byuh i need someone with real goals

LOVE YOU ALL 

XOXO,

SISTER CHAMBERLAIN <3

WEEK 3

I CAN´T EVEN BELIEVE ITS PDAY AGAIN!! 

this days are just flying by and i have so much to tell you guys and so little time to email. 

first of all, we went prostelyting this week which was totally a crazy experience! they just dropped us off in the middle of sao paulo with 6 books of mormon per companionship and were like GOOD LUCK. hahahaha it was AWESOME! MOM! i remember you telling me to be bold when you dropped me off at the airport and it was the only thing i was thinking of during this. i tried to be as happy and friendly as possible and just sincerely share my testimony with any stranger who would listen! we gave out all of our books of mormons and had so many really great conversations about faith and Jesus Christ IN PORTUGUESE!! it felt so easy! i really really love these people! so kind and friendly! one man made me a rose out of a napkin and gave it to me and another sweaty hippie man gave me a big ol sweat hug which is def not allowed but whatever haha. i can´t wait to go out prostelying again next weekend!

our district is so awesome i love them! they are NUTS and then when they share their testimonies, the spirit just smacks you in the face! i am SO happy i am here. i can feel myself growing through the atonement. it´s such an awesome opportunity. last night after this amazing devotional all of us were geeking out over the  book of mormon hahah. i have never loved reading the book of mormon SO MUCH. like reading at night by myself and not for an investigator is the greatest luxury. 

what else....hmmm our volleyball rivalry continues and my team is def winning even though we don´t keep score. ive made good friends with tons of brazilians and we just joke all the time and i teach them how to say stupid stuff in enligh like i farted`hahahah

OH also i was asked to teach relaif society on sunday so pray for me hahaha. 

i miss all of you so much! PLEASE WRITE ME LETTERS!!! i can recieve them in the CTM and that would make me happier than anyone in the entire universe!

XOXOXO

sister chamberlain <3 

Sophie week 4

OI BOM DIA <3 

okay this week has been NUTS. hahahahahah i dont even know where to begin. i have been in a WHEELCHAIR all week!!!!!!!!!!!!

i woke up on saturday with some pretty bad back pain and i didnt think much about it and then on sunday it was worse and i needed help sitting up and down and then on MONDAY all hell was UNLEASHED on my back!!! my poor companion had to yank me out of bed and i was like bawling crying and i couldnt move. basically worst night of my entire life. but there seriously is nothing that caused it!! it feels like this constant pain in my lower back and then every once in a while when i move or breathe or blink this sharp stabbing pain murders my entire body and takes my breathe away. seriously on monday i collapsed in the hallway and was shaking and apparently i went into shock because of the pain. YEAH NOT SURPRISED. hahahhaah seriously its been so so so weird i have no idea. i guess God thought i was just having too much fun. monday was probably one of the most PAINful days of my entire life thus far. i couldnt walk, get dressed, sleep, or even go to the bathroom by myself! its super funny because everyone would call me grandma because of my funny glasses that i brought and then this happened so now everyone in the CTM calls me grandma. so last night i slept on the floor and then it hurt too much so i slept in my WHEELCHAIR and then this morning i went to the hospital in a taxi with me and this one other american half braziliian girl so that she could transklate for me (but she was my splits companion before so super blessing!) and we had such a good time hahah. i got an Xray and two super strong medications and a shot in my BUTT and now im feeling super woosy but pretty good hahha. and despite all of the literal pain this week that ive gone through, its been so fun hahaha. i dont know why but it hasnt even dampered my mood for one minute! my companion is SOOOOO wonderful to me and plays with my hair and pulls up my pants for me after i pee (hahha sorry mom) 

BUTTTTTT i asked one of the elders in my district for a priesthood blessing and it was exactly what i needed to hear. it was so special. it basically said that if i have faith in the blessing, i be chillin so im not stressing one bit! he said that i will get to serve a full time mission so dont worry about me out here! there are MORE than enough people taking care of me. i think thats why ive been so happy this week, i know im gonna be alright and this is just a temporary thing. It was so insteresting because the things that elder bloom had said were NOT his words at all. i could really feel havenly father´s love for me and like he hadnt forgotten me. it was cool to kind of reflect on the atonement knowing that jesus christ had suffered through this too and knew that i could handle that pain even though i was convinced my heart would stop beating at any MINUTE hahah. and im not being over dramatic. 

ANYWAY. elder and sister neilson from the 70! came on sunday and gave some FIRE TALKS. it made me SO HAPPY to be here doing this special work! the list of sister missionaries serving in the latter days in a short one and im so happy that my name is on it. they also talked a ton about seeing the holiness in every day life. it really changed my perspective and i was able to handle my stupid back thing way better because of it.

eu amo vocês muitoooooo

xoxo 

sister chamberlain 

PS. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE who has written me emails i love them so much and take pictures of them and read them before i sleep every night!!!!!!  im sorry if i dont have enough time to respond!!! but please know i really really appreciate and love each one!!!!!