June 13th

Hello Fam!

Well two very exciting things happened this week! First, we had changes! And.......I DIDNT CHANGE! AGAIN! haha I really do think Im gonna be in Concepcion with Hna Nelson forever! I will officially be together with my trainer on my half way mark. What? Everyone is shocked. But Presidente told our cook that we are going to be together forever in Concepcion. haha We are also still with Hna Parada. I think Im also going to be in a trio forever too! It was cute though cause none of the people in this area wanted us to leave. Everyone kept on saying "we{ll be praying that you stay!" And kept on hugging us and such. And then when we saw them later and told them that we werent getting changed. They would squeal and give us hugs and stuff. Precious! I LOOOOOVE the people here soooo much! It{s going to be hard to leave. If that ever happens.

The other exciting thing that happened was....SAMUEL GOT BAPTISED! He was really cute and excited. When we went to go pick him up for his baptism, he was all ready a half an hour early. And his twin brother and alllll the neighborhood kids were ready. And as we were walking through the neighborhood, more kids kept on running out of there house to walk with us to the church until we had quite a large crew! It was very happy and Samuel is TOTALLY dedicated and serious about this baptism thing. I love it! We{re trying to get in to teach his family but his dad works ALLL the time. Its a bit of a problem. Bummer because he really likes us and would totally listen to us but he is just so busy. Samuels twin Jose went to church with us though. He{s a bit of a little rebel so I was surprised and he said he really liked it! So we{ll see what happens with that.

Something else sort of horrible happened. A girl got murdered in our ward. She was only 19. She had a baby and rumor is, she was pregnant too. I guess she was walking down the street and 5 guys jumped out of the car and shot her! How horrible! She was one of the girls in the picture of the family I sent last week. In front of all the trees and flowers. It got me kind of scared but dont worry cause we are protected by angels! And we are very very careful. I guess all of Guatemala is fasting in July for safety and protection of all the people in the country cause its super dangerous and stuff keeps on happening. So foreign to me. Im used to being tucked away in my sheltered home in the states.

Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes! I LOVED the video of the whole fam and my whole district here watched it and were cracking up! You are the best family ever! Several of our friends here know its my birthday and there are a few little parties planned. Have I mentioned that I love them? haha Well sorry that this email was shorter than usual but I ran out of things to say. I hope you have a fantastic week!

Love, Hermana Kami Alyse Alston

p.s. I have been HORRIBLE about writing letters lately. I have been crazy busy, but I will repent and send some soon. Thanks for still being super supportive and writing even if sometimes you dont get anything in return!! LOVE YA!