July 25th

Well first of all, let me say, thanks for all the emails and letter this week. I was in heaven!

So I bet you are all wanting to know about changes huh? haha Actually Im sure that none of you care but I am going to tell you anyways. Hna Nelson and Hna Parada left me! Waaa! I stayed put in my area in Concepcion, but I got a new companion. Her name is Hermana Hidalgo. She is from El Salvador and is super super sweet. If I got to choose my companion, she would definitley be one of my top picks. Shes great. It was VERY sad to see Hna Nelson go though. Like....I was so sad it was a little bit embarrasing. She was too though so it made me feel better. We just became the best of friends. How can you not when youre together for sooooo long and see eachother 24/7? She is only about 15 minutes away from Reu though in San Felipe. haha Poor thing, I think that will be her last area and she will have seen hardly anything of Guatemala. And I think Im never leaving Concepcion. But oh well, good thing I love it huh? When the President asked me how I felt about staying in Concepcion, I told him that I thought I was never leaving and he said "Yeah, I dont think you are either. If you want, we can just order a boyfriend for you and you guys can get married here and be neighbors with me and Hna Maravilla." baha! JUST what I wanted. Saying goodbye to everyone with Hna Nelson was super super sad! Everyone was crying and what not. I am NOT looking forward to when I leave. That will be very sad.

Its odd having only a latin comp. I never speak english anymore. Its a little strange cause I had latin comps before but Hna Nelson and I could always speak English whenever we wanted. But Im sure its very good for me!

So I swear, every missionary in the mission is sick and I just got chewed out by a Zone leader. It was really fun. He was freaking out because one of the Elders in his zone had a fever. He wanted him to go to the emergency room. I told him to take some ibuprofen and go to bed. haha! he didnt really like that answer and started yelling at me a little bit. I love being the missionary that everyone hates! baha! Ehh Im pretty much used to it now.

So I have 2 funny stories. We were talking to a lady in the ward that sells Avon. And she asked me what my favorite Avon product was. So I told her bubble bath. And she didnt know what it was so I was trying to explain it to her. And she didnt know what a bath was. So I trying to explain what a bath was. And after like 5 minutes, she was like "OHHHHH YEAH!!! Ive seen that in movies and stuff. Its like a shower but all the water is at the bottom of it. Like a mini pool!" haha! I dont know why I thought that was so hilarious! Poor things. My life would be so empty without my baths. haha

Other funny/ really creepy story. So we contacted this house. And it was a little bit furthur out from our area. And we saw a million children playing outside so we stopped and talked to the dad. When we asked him how many kids he had, he said 19! He said "I have 12 kids here with this woman, and 7 kids over there with my other woman!". Oh dear. Then he went on and on about how he needs a 3rd woman and how he wants a gringita to be his 3rd. CREEPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, we did not return.

Well that{s about all the news for today. I love you all tons and tons and tons and tons. Have a GREAT week!

Love, Hermana Kami Alyse Alston

p.s. I hit my half way mark on wednesday! I am so old and wise. baha!

Our dear friend and shortest human being in the world. She made me PROMISE that I would send this picture to my family.

July 18th

Well hello there! I feel like this week was very uneventful but I will try my best to tell you some interesting stuff.

Well one very happy thing that happened is....DANISA AND ANTONY got baptised!! I have to admit. I was a little worried for a second that it wasnt going to be able to happen but they are baptised and confirmed and officially members! Woohoo! They are very happy. Its cute.

Something else exciting we did this week was...our zone put on a free car wash at the Stake Center. It was actually a lot cooler than I thought. There was a lot of people that stopped and while the Elders washed their cars, the Hermanas (me) gave tours of the chapel. I was surprised at the peoples reactions. We find that it is VERY difficult to get people to church for the first time. They are just scared because they{ve never been inside of one before. So we showed them all the rooms and in the end we sat in the Chapel and explained what we do in sacrament meeting and we asked them how they felt. And almost every single one of them said that they felt something really special and felt really peaceful. A ton of people said they would like to come to church on Sunday so we{ll see what happens. But I was thinking about it and that would be a cool activity that I could do when I got home. My goal is to still be a great missionary when I get home so Im always thinking of things I could do when I get back. ha

This week we were working in the office (as usual) and the light went out (as they always do). But the only problem with that is....the gates to get out of the church are electric. So to make a long story short, we were locked in the offices FOREVER! We ended up not leaving until 6 in the evening. Yeah, that wasnt a very productive day.

So changes are coming up this Wednesday and we find out today if we are getting changed or not. I am having some serious anxiety because Hna Nelson and I have been together now for 7 and 1/2 months and we have been in our area for 6 months. That is a very very very very long time. So I am 99% sure that we are getting seperated and moved to a different area. My whole world is about to turn upsidedown here soon. And you KNOW how I hate change.

So my comp Hna Parada, has an obsession with filling the first aid kits for the mission. I dont know if you remember but each transfer, we have to get a list of medications that EVERY SINGLE district needs a refill of in their first aid kits and then we go to the Pharmacy and buy them all and then we fill everybodies kit. Well Hna Parada LIVES for filling these things. She doesnt even want us to help her cause she wants to do all of them herself. So all day today shes been saying..."I DONT WANT CHANGES! I HOPE I DONT GET CHANGED!!" And when we ask her why, she says its because she wants to be with the mission nurse so she can fill first aid kits. Not cause shes gonna miss the members, not cause shes gonna miss us, but because she wants to refill first aid kits for the mission. Character she is. Very very interesting.

Well I have got to go. Sorry my email is short and boring again but I am sending a few videos to make it interesting. I love you all! Have a fantastic week. And PRAY that I dont get a psycho comp! haha BYE!

Love, Hermana Kami Alyse Alston

Danisa and Antony and the supportive ward we have!!

Botiquines...again!

July 11th

Yikes! I finally got a computer that played videos and I spent all of my internet time watching the videos. So sorry if this is a little short but let me tell you....it was highly enjoyable watching the videos. The elder next to me really enjoyed them too. hehe

Well we have 2 baptisms this Friday night which I am very excited about! Other then that, not a whole lot has happened as far as investigators go. But dont worry, a lot of other exciting things happened this week.

We had a surprise Hermanas Conference! All the Hermanas from the mission got together and we had a conference with President. And just guess what the topic was......yup! ETERNAL MARRIAGE! baha! They also gave us some excellent tips on how to catch a husband when we get home. I was dying. We also learned some great medical tips from Hna Maravilla. She informed us that taking a shower in the night after you have been hot all day is EXTREMELY dangerous and causes arthritis and early death. Also, sitting on sidewalks causes hemerrhoids. Did you know that? haha cause I sure didnt! Very helpful. Then, heres the best part. On friday, we all went to XETULUL!! Its a theme park with roller coasters and what not. Remember when I found out that I was going to Retalhuleu on my mission and I looked it up on the internet and all I could find was pictures of a theme park? Well that{s the one. It was really fun. A little strange though cause I was wearing jeans and riding rides and definitely didnt feel like a missionary! Super fun! Im still not sure what the purpose of the trip was but Im not complaining!

In answer to your questions, yes, I travel to visit different zones to talk about health still and I do go to the far away areas too. Right now, we are planning a trip to San Marcos. Its the cold area in the mountains. We{re gonna go and do divisions there too. Its a pretty good time.

Well since I dont have much time. Im going to end with a list that we{ve been making of you know its hot when......These are only a few of the many we{ve come up with. Thought you might enjoy.

You know its hot when.....you can{t cross your legs in church because they are too slippery with sweat.
You know its hot when.....your whole body breaks out in a yeast infection...permenantly.
You know its hot when......People cant tell that your shirt is wet because EVERY inch is covered in sweat.
You know its hot when.....People ask you if you got caught in the rain storm. "No, no that{s just sweat."
You know its hot when.....You need to change your shirt at 830 in the morning because you are so sweaty and embarrased to go to church!

Well sorry this email was suuuuper short. I swear I will be better next week. Ill make sure its a little longer and a little more exciting. hehe All you July birthdays in the fam, your letters are on their way! Thank you so much for everything!! Have a GREAT week!

Love, Kami Alyse Alston

Bus we went on to Xetulul

BFF in Xetulul, yes, that is Hna Roney haha

Ignore my fat stomach please, it happens.

What our comp saves in the fridge.

July 4th

Hello all! Well once again. I have TONS to write and hardly any time to write it but Ill do the best I can...

So let me introduce you to Antony and Danisa. We have been teaching this girl name Danisa for like 2 months. She has been going to church for forever!!! And we finally have a baptism date with her. She had a really cool experience. She didnt feel like she was ready to get baptised because she said that she didnt feel worthy too. She had repented of all her sins and everything but she said that she didnt know if she was forgiven. So we asked her if we could go into the other room and we could all kneel down and pray and she could say the prayer and ask Heavenly Father if the 16th of July was the right date for her to get baptised and if she was forgiven of her sins. So we did. And she said the prayer. And while she was prayer, she just stopped for a minute. And after we prayed, she said, when I paused and stop talking for a second. I felt a kind of feeling soooo strong. I felt like Heavenly Father was kneeling right next to me and telling me that I was forgiven and I was ready to be baptised. She is now SO excited and wants to change her baptismal date to this weekend. We'll see if that happes. Her neighbor Antony kindof just showed up to church one day and after church he told us he wanted to be baptised. He told us he felt like it is where he belongs. So he is getting baptised the same day. He smoked and drinked but he stopped all of that cold turkey and says he was kind of just looking for a reason to stop. Did I mention he is only 14? Yeah, and he lives with a bunch of other kids his age. His parents abandoned him and left for the states and have been there for years. Sad story. But he is precious and very excited as well.

Now nursing stuff. So I was at our cooks house for lunch and I went outside to put my plate in the pila and I saw or cook Hna Cony completely frantic. She was waving her arms everywhere and she couldnt breath. Her family was around like yelling at me to help her. She was choking!!!! So anyways I had to do the Heimlich Manuever! I did it twice and her food finally came out and she was gasping for air. SCARY! But Im sure glad I knew how to do it! Of course that would happen to me here. ONLY in Guatemala.

Funny story of the week. It has been raining SUPER hard here lately. And when it rains that hard. The street are literally rivers. Like up to your mid-calf. Its crazy. So we were late for an appointment and we had to cross the street and Hna Nelson and I made it across just fine but Hna Parada took a while. Which is normal cause shes super slow at everything. So it wasnt anything new for us. But anyways, when we got to our appointment. They werent home but another family member was so we started talking to him. And we were talking to him for a good 10 minutes before he just looks down at Hna Parada's feet and says "Hermana! Where are your shoes?" She was completely barefoot!!!! And she said completely seriously and calmy.."The current took them away". bahaha! I just started dying laughing but shortly stopped because she didnt find it very funny. We had walked ALL the way to our investigators house and she didnt say a WORD about it. Strange....but VERY funny. Another funny thing about Hna Parada. So here everybody uses like a hard bar of soap to wash your dishes. And I was getting sick of it cause the bar gets all nasty with food and starts to smell. So I saw liquid soap like normal people use in the states at the store and I was sooo excited cause I completely forget that I used to use liquid soap. Anyways, I had to give Hna Parada a lesson on how to use it cause she was completely lost and confused. And now she is OBSESSED with it. She thinks it is just the greatest invention. She tells EVERY person we teach about this soap. And everytime she washes dishes I hear her yell out "ooooo buenisimo!!!!!!". haha I love her.

Well I had lots of other stories but I must be going. I was going to send you a bunch of good pictures but I forgot my other memory card. So Ill just send you pictures of today. We went to this place called TAK' ALIK AB' AJ. Its this place that has ancient ruins and temples and such from the myans and was super cool. I could not captur how cool anything was on camera so the pictures looks kind of lame. Sorry. Oh and HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!!!!!!!!! We got decked out in red white and blue and carried around a flag and put red ribbon in our hair and painted a flag on our toenails. The whole 9 yards. So that is what the other pictures are of. I love you all sooooo much! You are THE BEST! I hope you have the best week ever!!!!

Love, Hermana Kami Alyse Alston

SOO PRETTY. This is just completely normal. This place was in the middle of a beautiful jungle! I couldnt help but think of the Nephites living there. It makes the Book of Mormon a whole lot more exciting to read. hehe

The whole zone. That is part of a temple. Cool huh?

Wierd pose. Yes, Im a poser apparently.