January 23

Hola mi familia y amigos! I hope this email finds you all alive and well!!

So I think the most exciting thing that happened this week is....I almost died. Ok, not really. BUT I WAS in an earthquake!!!! It was rather fun. So we were an an investigators house and we were about to start teaching a lesson when all of the sudden, my chair started to shake. At first, I thought on of the kids was just bumping up against it or something and then I realized.....EVERYTHING was shaking! Then it started to get stronger and stronger! I was actually quite scared. My comp to, we were kindof freaking out. I was looking around trying to figure out what to do but I kind of just panicked and stayed where I was. Luckily we were in a house made of tin so if it fell down, it wouldnt do to much damage. Since I have never been in an earthquake before, I was just waiting for the ground to open up like the movies....yeah, that didnt happen. It only lasted for about a minute and then it was over. haha So yeah, thats my exciting story. Super scary though.

Other exciting thing. We started teaching a family not to long ago and they are getting baptised already this Saturday! Their names are Miriam and Calín. They are not married so they will be getting married and baptised on Saturday with us. I am way excited. They also have a son that will getting baptised with them. We are doing something special this weekend because our zone is going to baptise a TON so we are having a "white out night". Basically, all of the areas in our zone are bringing their investigators here to the stake center and are going to do their baptisms at the same time. It looks like there will be over 20 baptisms. Its gonna be awesome. Pres is going to come and everything. Then, they are going to take a picture of us all and apparently we are going to be in the Ensign. Yep, Im gonna be famous. The only problem is, Calín is FREAKISHLY shy and does not want anyone to be at his baptism. haha! He is going to be in for quite a surprise when the whole stake is gonna be there. Poor little thing.

Oh heres another life changing thing that happened. We joined a gym. Like 2 weeks ago. Its awesome cause its an all ladies gym and they have classes in the morning like aerobics and spin. Ive been taking spin classes and I love it! I even get to listen to worldly music while to do it! I am such a sinner. haha I also have only been eating fruits and vegitables for like 2 weeks straight in hopes to get super skinny for yall before I get home and I gained 2 lbs. What the heck?

Yesterday, we went with all of the Young Women and their leaders in the ward to go visit less active young women members. It was super cool. I think our ward should start doing that. You would not believe how many young women went. Including 3 of our recent converts which was so fun to see! I got to see our recent converts encouraging the less actives to go to church and bearing their testimonies. SO FUN!

Well, thats all the news I got for ya but I love you all soooo incredibly much! Thank you for your support and love! Hasta el proximo Lunes!

- Hermana Kami Alyse Alston

cool hammick bridge that you have to cross to get to a village called Chimulbua in our area. Pretty scary if you ask me.

Cacao - The fruit that they make chocolate from.

They were selling these to eat in the market. Yummm!

Oh just me and my comp.

January 16th

BUENAS!! Hello family!

Well I have completely forgotten what happened this week, I am completely drawing a blank. It went by sooo incredibly fast! I cant even believe that we are half way through January already. What is this world coming to? My new comp is still super cool. I like her a lot. We are super excited because we one of our investigators is getting BAPTISED!!! The 28th of this month. Its actually quite a good story though. Ok, so this is what happened. This ladies name is Maria (of course) and she has been taught by the missionaries for about 5 years and has never gotten baptized. We have also been teaching her every since we got here in August. We didnt want to drop her because she has such a strong testimony. She is the mom of the 3 teenagers that we baptized in November. She bears her testimony to us all the time about how she knows that this is the only true church. She is the one that went to the temple and she told us yesterday that that is why she will not consider any other church because the feeling that she felt in the temple, she will never forget. So we decided that we were going to challenged her to be baptized one more time and if she said no, we were going to drop her. So we challenged her and she said no but that she would in a little while. So I said "no! you have been saying that to us for 6 months now." And we told her that she needed to pray right then and there and ask God if the 28th of this month is when he wanted her to get baptized. Of course she refused as they all do at first but then we convinced her to pray. So she said a prayer and asked in her prayer if she should get baptized and RIGHT after her prayer, she said "youre right, hermanas, I have waited long enough, I need to get baptized." She cried and after that, her countenance completely changed, she was so happy! The next day she came to church and we went to visit her at her house and when we walked up, she was on her front porch reading the book of mormon with her kids. What a lovely sight to see. I love being a missionary!!

Here is a good cultural story for you. So there is this lady in our ward named Gloria and she is super super duper sick. Like on her death bed. No one knows what she has. Even the doctors dont know. She is just sick, cant sleep, even one minute and her left arm moves by itself, its very strange. But anyways, yesterday, a tons of ladies in relief society and us went to go visit her. All the ladies were talking about what she has and one lady said "well the reason why her left arm is doing that is because she got mad. You have nerve problems if you get mad and then take a shower after. Im sure she did that and that is why she is sick. I giggled thinking that surely everyone would think that was an outrageous statement when all of the other ladies started talking about how it was true and that she must have gotten mad. Then Glorias family started saying, yeah, she got mad a few months ago because my dad was drinking and that is why she is going to die. Thats what all the doctors tell her too and that there is nothing that she can do about it cause its just to late. She already made the mistake by getting mad and then taking a shower after. Ohhhh dear. I just love it here. They believe the most outrageous things.

Well, I cant really think of anything else to tell you so I will end the letter now. But I do love you all very very much and miss you tons! Thank you for all your letters. They make me LIFE! Until next week!

Love, Hermana Kami Alyse Alston

Changes

January 9th


Hello my dearest family! Well I have a surprise for you this week. I had changes! They lied to us when they told us we didnt. Or better said, they changed their minds. I was EXTREMELY sad to leave Hna Hidalgo. She really has grown to be my BFF here. LOVE her! But luckily she just moved to the next ward over. Our areas are RIGHT next to each other. And she will be training at the same time as me! I am still in the same area here in Mazate but I got a new companion. Her name is Hermana Jimenez. She has about 4 months in the mission and is from Dominican Republic. She doesnt speak a lick of English but she does have an awesome Dominican Republic accent. I swear she should be translated right to heaven because she is the sweetest little thing in the world. I kind of feel like Im training because she is so new and doesnt really know what to do but I guess its good practice because on February 6th, I will be recieving my little hijita. (aka- I will be training. The new nurse) The changes are all weird this month because there was not enough room in the CCM so all of the missionaries from Mexico had to go to the CCM in Mexico. So there are like changes like 4 times in the next two months. Anyways, I dont really know much about the Hermana I will be training. I just know that she worked in a pharmacy for 5 years and is from Mexico. And doesnt speak english. Im not really sure what the President is thinking because its going to be really hard for her to be the nurse when she doesnt speak english. The entire computer program for nurses and EVERYTHING is in English. But, Ill just trust him.

So I have a good story. This week, we went and said bye to everyone with Hna Hidalgo. So we went to go say bye to Maria Gloria and her family. And they prepared a very special good bye dinner - - - Pig stomache and tongue. Ok, so I have eaten animal stomach before and its not THAT horrible. I can definitely do it. But I am telling you, it smelt like there was a LIVE pig on my plate. Like I knew what kind of meat they were cooking before I saw it cause it smelt like a nasty pig SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO strong. I was litterally gagging. It was the nastiest thing in the entire world. I tried everything, wrapping it in a tortilla, taking it like a pill with water but nothing helped. It was a nightmare. But I couldnt refuse it cause they are soooo poor and prepared it especially for us. I hope I NEVER have to do that again.

As far as investigators go, we had 4 people at church yesterday and a family! We were super happy! We have some positive investigators but they keep on saying that they dont want to rush into baptism. Waaa!! With one investigator family that we{ve had for a really long time now, he says he wants to get baptised but not yet. He just wants to be sure that hes ready. So to help him out and help him feel comfortable in the ward, we did a family home evening at his house. We invited a FEW members, and you would not even believe how many showed up. Like more than 25 people! It was awesome! Our ward is amazing. It makes me feel really guilty that I wasnt more supportive in the ward before my mission. That is all going to change when I get home!

As far as nursing stuff goes, everyone is sick. Whenever one missionary gets sick, the WHOLE mission is sick. They all have parasites and an outrageous cough. Including me. Its embarrasing. I will start coughing so bad that I start gagging. In the middle of a lesson. Oh dear. At least Im not the only one right? I also talked to Hna Maravilla and we are going to start traveling together and inspect houses to make sure that they are clean and such. It will be kind of fun but at the same time, its a huge bummer cause Im going to have to leave my area and my investigators! I hope it doesnt do too much damage.

Well thats all I got for you. Sorry I didnt send any pictures this week but it wont let me. Ill be sure and do it next week and send some of my new comp. I love you all tons and tons! I hope you have a wonderful week but that you have absolutely no fun without me!

Love, Hermana Kami Alyse Alston

!!!!FELIZ AÑO NUEVO!!!!

January 2, 2012

Hello family!! Happyyyyyyyy NEW YEAR!!!!

First and foremost, I think that I should publicly announce that I got my packages! 3 to be exact! And I would like to give a shout out to Theresa, Sarah and Mom! Youre the best! I loved them so much! And I shared with my comp and she was the happiest little thing in the whole entire world. I also gave a ton of stuff to Maria Glorias family and it was the only Christmas that they had so they were the happiest people in the world. I have the best fam ever!

I feel like I still don{t have that much to write this week. Something about Guatemala is....they sure do know how to party. BIG TIME! The only downside to that is that when they are partying, they do not do ANYTHING else. So our pool of investigators kindof went down the drain these past few weeks. No one had time to talk to us and NO ONE went to church. Asistence this week was 70 people at church. Normally we have about 140. THAT IS HALF! Bad members! haha

One cool thing did happen this week. We are teaching this lady name Mariela. She is having a really hard time. Her husband beats here, and she has a major drinking problem. But she is super sweet. Anyways, so one day I called her to make an apt. All I said was "Hi, this is Hna Alston" and before I even had a chance to ask her if we could visit she said. "Hna Alston! Can you do me a huge favor? Can you come and visit me as soon as possible? Like tomorrow. Ive been thinking about it and talking about it with my husband and we are ready to change. We really want to change our lives. I know that you are servants of God and I bet you can tell that I am not a good person. But I am ready to change and I need your help." Well to say the least, we were very happy. But unfortunately when we went to our apt the next day, she was drunk. So we have a lot of work to do but I definitely have hope! I am just super happy that the holidays are over and we can actually get some work done. It was really sad to see the way that almost everyone celebrates the birth of Christ. Drinking and with prostitutes. The bars were the bussiest that I have seen them on Christmas than the entire time Ive been here. It made me sad.

Well for new years, we pretty much did the same thing as for Christmas. Stayed up till midnight, watched a TON of fireworks and sat on our front doorstep to watch the neighbors dance and set of fireworks. ha It was a good time.

I cant think of anything else good to tell you because I was sick for half the week. One night I actually thought I was going to pass away. I think I have a parasite again. My comp finally went and got a poo test and she had a GIANT worm!! We googled it and it is the biggest thing ever! Ascaris Lombricoides. You should look it up. I wonder if I have the same thing?

Well on that note, I will go now. Sorry I didnt have anything that exciting to tell you this week. Changes are on wednesday but I dont have changes. Neither does Hna Hidalgo but there are changes again in 2 weeks and I believe I have them then and will be training the new nurse. Ill let you know. But I love you all oh so much! I will see you all THIS year! Woohoo!!!!

Love, Hermana Kami Alyse Alston

Dirty dirty feet because I have holes in all of my shoes.

Oh just some friends.

These are only about half of the tamales that we recieved over Christmas. Like I said, EVERYONE gave them to us.

Chicken heart. Yumm!

Yes, I did eat it. And no, it was not very tasty.

December 26

Hi Fam!

So Im afraid that I have absolutely NOTHING to say because I talked to all of you, every single member of the fam on the phone yesterday for quite some time. So I figure I will just take this opportunity to download a lot of pictures!

My Christmas was sooo great! It just made my Christmas being able to talk to you all. Here Christmas is very different. We just ate 100,000,000 tamales and our entire refridgerator is PACKED with them. No joke. My comp got super sick from eating so many I think and is pretty much on her death bed. Then at midnight here on Christmas eve everyone sets off fireworks. And the entire night they play LOUD music and party. Needless to say, we didnt sleep much. We went to bed at like 1 am. Everyone that lives on our street was outside setting off fireworks and partying all night. At midnight, it was complete insanity. Afterwards, you couldnt even see anything cause there was so much smoke in the street from the fireworks. Then after that, everyone goes around and gives people hugs. Everyone was hugging us and giving us tamales. It was a pretty good time.

But anyways, thats all the news Ive got for you. I hope youre not too mad at me and enjoy the pictures! I love you all and miss you soooooooooooooooo much! Thanks for being the greatest family and friends EVER!

Love, Hermana Kami Alyse Alston

Waiting for your Christmas call. FOR FOREVER!!

My comp soooooo nervous to call her family.

papusas! One of my favorite meals. With Hna Silvia and Hna Luky

Christmas at Maria glorias house.

Eating tamales with Hna Lola and her family

With the familia Sosa

With Hna Iris

we found an iguana!

The lice incident

mission Christmas party

comps!!