True Guatemalan: Straight up Chapina Fo Sho!!!

BUENAS!!!! First of all, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! FELIZ ANIVERSARIO ABUELITOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW 50 years!!! That is something to celebrate!! I hope everyone had the best time in Hawaii!! I was a little sad that I couldn’t be there with everyone, but I thanked Heavenly Father for just the best family in all the world!!! I really do love you all with all my heart!! And if my mission has taught me anything, it is just how blessed I am to have the family that I do!! LOOOOOVEEEE!!! Love you all!!!

Ok so this week, hmmmm what happened?? Oh, we had zone conference!!! Which means.........MAILLLL!!!!!! woohooo!! Thank you so much for all your letters. I gotta tell you, I started straight up crying when I read the letter from Auntie Reenie and about Kristen Vidinhar’s baptism! Oh man!! That was so special!! It made me cry and cry and cry. What an angel!! Must be the Rei!!! Kidding! But it sounds like everyone is doing well!! I will try to write everyone. But please know that the mail here is etcha sketch!!!! It makes me sooo mad sometimes but I just gotta love!!! If you’ve written me, I promise I have written you back. Don’t know if you got it, but please know that I truly do appreciate ALL your love and support!!

In this time of my life, it literally means the world!! So besides the mail, haha the Zone Conference was probably the highlight of this week. We had a general authority come, Elder Martino of the 70 and it was SO good!!! He pretty much just gave us all chicote, but it felt so good, because it was just so powerful!!! He started by writing some numbers on the board, didn’t know what it was, but it was the numbers of baptisms our mission has had and how much we have per month and he just said THIS IS UNNACCEPTABLE!! And just started going crazy, I was sitting in the front row right in front of him and I was just like wow, wow, wowww! It was crazy!! But I just loved it because you could just feel the power of his testimony and how much love he had for the Savior and this work. In my notes, I have written in bold like 100 times, I BELIEVE!!!!! haha. But it was so cool!! Yeah, so our mission has a problem with baptizing. Our mission president always gives chicote and talks about this, but still don’t know why but in comparison to other Central American missions we are slacking! Pres Baldwin set a goal at the beginning of the year 2010 Almas...souls...in 2010. Well it’s November and we reached 800!! Yikes!! Don’t know how that compares to other missions in the world, but Elder Martino just gave chicote!! UNNACCEPTABLE!!! In Central America that is really low. how were going to change this.....don’t know I try not to stress myself out but just trying each day to do survive and do my best!!! I just want to leave my mission happy, alive, just saying that I DID IT!!! But yeah!! I know that I can improve. It is overwhelming at times, sometimes I just cry and cry because I feel so overwhelmed, but the Lord has a lot of patience and mercy with us and I know that He loves us. We just need to do our best! But it really was a cool experience to have a general authority come and give you chicote!!! There was no doubt in my mind that he knows!! He bore the most powerful testimony ever. Loooved it!!

What else.....as far as the work goes, we’ve been working hard with a couple of investigators. We have a mommy getting baptized this Sunday which is good. Sometimes we have to be really patient because it is hard for these people to understand. the majority of the people you teach don’t know how to read, their brains are just extremely, extremely simple, never have studied and just their whole life have grown up believing in false doctrines so it can get a little hard teaching wise, but haha! My elementary-ed training has come in handy! Here in the mountains, it seriously is like your teaching five year old kids sometimes. My comp always laughs at me because, David’s going to be disgusted, but yes I’m such a sister missionary bringing out all my puzzles, and playing crazy games, drawing pics, doing all I can to just get them to understand simple, simple principles. The lack of understanding really does make it harder sometimes. If anyone has any ideas that can help, let me know!!!!! But it is fun!!!!

Ohhhh and for the Guatemala moment of the week.....I’ve become a true Guatemalan. So I have a fear. I don’t like drinking a lot of water or eating tooo much because heaven for bid, what am I going to do if I have to use the bathroom!!! But this week, it hit me! We were sitting in a lesson and all of the sudden, Guatemala called and I had to use the bathroom!! I looked around and was like mmm mmm!! No way!! I will just wait and well just run after this lesson to the closest member’s house!! But we were in the middle of nowhere. Hermana B, way pass the colegio melody....just way out there and there is seriously NOTHING but cows, dogs, tin shacks, and corn fields. I was like Hermana we need to run, I HAVE TO GO!!! And started to panic a little, and Hermana Guaranda was just dying laughing. We started running, but there was no way I was going to be able to hold it in, so I just chose a bush, told Hermana to watch out for the cows and dogs, thank goodness no one was around, took a squat and like a true Guatemalan did mah thang!!!!! Oh mannnn it was horrible!!!!!!!! But I had to go and Hermana Guaranda was seriously dying!!! But I seriously thought! WOW!! I can know say I am a true chapina!!!! That’s how the people in Guatemala do it!!! When people here need to use the bathroom, there’s no shame, you just pull down your pants and go. At first I seriously thought that was just so disgusting, but now I’m a straight up chapina fo sho!!!! hahahahah!!!!!

Well looooooooooove you all with all my heart!!! Thank you soooo much for all your love, support, and prayers!!! It really does mean the world!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Ali