Update

So, I fell asleep last night while I was writing. I didn't realize how tired I was. This morning I had to be at the Rose bus at 6:45. 4 of us went to help out with the English classes. I'll be honest, it's not my most favorite thing to do. It's just hard because the kids are so long and the classes are so big that you really can't keep their attention. But it's sometimes fun. The kids can be really sweet. We went grocery shopping after and I washed clothes. We have English class tonight so we are using the afternoon to get ready for the week. I forgot to write about talking to Elder Reeder. I had called Solala earlier to see if they could go and see if Eric's wallet had been turned in that got stolen. The Elder I talked to said he would check and call back. But he never did. So Thursday night I called and asked for Elder Reeder so that he could do it. It was fun to talk to him and hear about how his mission has been going. Hopefully we will be able to get back down there. I told him we'd take him and the other missionaries out to ice cream.

I went to the Rebel Base

Hey everyone! How is everything going? Things are great here. This weekend was awesome. We traveled up to Tikal but along the way stopped at Rio Dulce and a canopy zip line. Then we got to Tikal. It was so amazing. There is so much history there. It is a bunch of Mayan temple ruins. One of the ones we climbed up was used as the rebel base in Return of the Jedi. It was awesome there because it was in the middle of the jungle but when you climbed up the temples you could see for miles. You’ll all have to experience it. We are in Antigua today at the orphanage. Last Thursday while here I fell in love. His name's Edi. He’s the cutest thing you have ever seen. I will have to send pictures. He was brought in last week and is only 2 months old. And guess how much he weighs? 4.5 pounds. He is soooo tiny!!! I have never held a baby that small. It’s like holding a bundle of cloth. He has a severely cleft pallet so I guess he had trouble drinking and lost weight in those first couple months. He eats really well with a bottle though. The nurse said that once he weighs 8 pounds they will be able to do surgery to fix his mouth. Well, I have to run. Love you!
Kirsti
p.s. apparently some emails haven't been sending, so if you have written me and not gotten a reply, it probably just never went through. Sorry.

Adventures

Oh gosh. I really need to write daily in here. There is just too much to catch up on. Well, on Friday morning at 4:00am we left on our adventure for Tikal. Our first stop along the way was at Rio Dulce. It is a beautiful river that attaches a lake and the ocean. It's got a cute beach town and almost has an island feel to it. We got in a little boat and they took us to see an old pirate castle, a bird sanctuary, and a bunch of little houses. Then we went to an "island" named Livingston. They call it an island but really it's a peninsula but the land is really swampy so you have to get to it by boat. It's a cute little island. We got to swim in the ocean. That means that in the space of 2 weeks I swam in the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic. That's pretty sweet. After Rio Dulce we went to Flores and got a hotel. Me and Annie shared a room and it had air conditioning. It really was divine.

We got up really early on Saturday to be on the road by 6:00. We went to a canopy zip line that was AMAZING! There were 9 jumps that we did in the tops of the jungle. What an experience! Then we took off for Tikal. Its is quite amazing. It's a bunch of Mayan ruins and temples in the middle of the jungle. One of the temples we climbed up was used as the revel base in Return of the Jedi. There is so much history there. I wish I knew more about it. After spending the rest of the day there, we headed back to our hotel in Flores. We went to sacrament meeting the next day and the branch was so sweet! They were all so friendly and loving. More so than here in Chimal. It reminded me a lot of the people in Argentina. Today we went to the orphanage. This morning I fed Edi and held him for a while. The nurse told me that they do the operations to fix cleft pallets there and that as soon as Edi weighs over 8 pounds they will be able to operate. That's such great news! After lunch I went down and talked to the women. They were so sweet. IT was fun to talk to them and find out a little bit about who they are.

Where to start

This is the kids class singing the chicken song..........it's a song I used to teach the missionaries at the MTC only they had to do it in Spanish :)

Sorry I haven't written in a little while. We've been pretty busy. On Saturday we decided to go into Guatemala City to see Star Wars III and then go to the temple. Both were great. It felt good to be in a big city too. Sunday was really neat. This Saturday the primary kids are going on missions for the day so sacrament meeting was dedicated to them. The bishop talked about how he had interviewed them all and then called up a couple to share their testimonies. One was a girl who got baptized the Sunday I got here. It was so powerful. Then the bishop called each child up and gave them their callings. On Saturday they will go out and knock doors offering copies of the book of Mormon, pictures, and even teaching. I think it will be really successful. On Monday we went back up to Xetonox to do more digging and moving dirt in wheel barrows. I love the people there. The kids love us and they always end up feeding us lunch. They wanted to hear some songs so we sang them hymns. Hopefully everything will work out soon with their water project. On Tuesday I got to go to a school and help out with the English classes. The kids were soo cute. They are getting ready for their English extravaganza on Friday night where they will sing and do skits in English. That night and Wednesday night we taught our free English classes at the church. I teach the beginning adult class. It’s a lot of fun. On the first day I made them sing and dance to a chicken song I know but they had to do it in English. They are good sports. Yesterday 4 of us got to go out to a couple little communities and teach square-foot gardening. the first place is called La Joya and there is a women’s group (it's pretty much like relief society) that gather ever week to make sure everyone is doing okay and to work on projects. A lot of them are widows because of the civil wars here. They are amazing women. The second place is called Palo Blanco. We taught the school kids. It’s a great community. Most of the parents can't read or write but they want so badly for the kids to have more opportunities than they have, so they have a small school that meets for one week then is off for a week so they can help work for their parents and then back in school for a week. The kids are so eager to learn. They were between 13 and 17 and so attentive to everything we said. I doubt you could find that in the states. I’m in Antigua right now. We are working at the orphanage today. We were up with the babies. They are so tiny. Hopefully I can get a picture out of two of the kids. They are so sweet. They just want to be held. Tomorrow we are taking off to Tikal so we will be spending the weekend seeing the sights on the way up there. It should be really neat. I think that's about it. Thanks for the emails. I love you all.Kirsti

So much to catch up on

What an amazing week I have had so far! Monday we went to Tecpan and met the men from Xetonox there. We bought the piping that they needed for the tank to the houses. We bought the piping and then rode in the back of a hauling truck with the pipe up to Xetonox. The fumes from the truck were wafting in and I thought we were going to suffocate, but we made it. When we got there we went back to shoveling dirt into wheelbarrows to fill in where the rain washed away the dirt. While we were there, a man named Arnoldo was asking Justin about the Evangelist church and if it came from the states. He asked if we were part of it and 


















Justin told him we were from the Church of Jesus Christ. Then Justin took his wheelbarrow down so I jumped in and told Aldolfo that there was a chapel in Comalalpa and asked him if he'd seen it. He hadn't, but he asked if we read the bible and I told him that of course we did and that we also read the Book of Mormon. I had a copy on me so I pulled it out and offered to lend it to him. I was able to tell him a little about it and ab out Joseph Smith and then I testified of it. I invited him to find out for himself if it's true and that if he ever wanted to he could talk to the missionaries "sin compromiso." He seemed really grateful and interested. I am so grateful for the chance to share the gospel. It was like being on the mission again. I really hope he reads it so that next week we can talk about it. I had been praying for a missionary experience and Heavenly Father answered that prayer quickly. It was neat too that day because they wanted us to sing, so we sang hymns. It was powerful. They made us lunch again and it was seriously so tasty! I loved it! They are so generous and giving. The little kids are also so cute. They always start out shy and then warm up to us. They love us and also love having their pictures taken :). It is just such a blessing to be around them. On Tuesday I went to the Rose school to help teach beginning English. The kids have just taken their exams so this week they were mostly getting ready for the English extravaganza on Friday. The little kids are singing songs in English and the older ones are doing little skits. When we were riding the school bus home, I noticed that at one bus stop, a couple dads were waiting to pick up their kids. (Moms had been at the other ones). But it just hit me how important it is for the parents to be that involved with and concerned for their children. It shows a lot of love, bit it is also those children who are going to be most happy. I don't know, I guess it just reaffirmed to me how important a strong family unit is. On Tuesday night we had English classes in the church. Me and Jacob teach the adult beginning class. They all think I'm crazy, but we have a lot of fun. Wednesday was awesome! Me, Keri, Jacob, and Heather got to go with Pedro from Asaguari out to a couple little communities to teach square foot gardening. The first one was with a women's group in La Joya. 


















These women are so amazing. Marta is the president and also has a certificate in nursing. She is super sharp and so sweet; a natural leader. I guess every week the women (there are about 10-12 of them) gather together and work together to help each other out. They seem like a really well organized and united Relief Society. Maybe one day the church will get out there. I think a lot of the women are widows because of the civil wars that have happened here. But we taught the square foot gardening. They were awesome at it! Everything that we needed they were able to find in a jiffy. We asked them to make boxes at the other homes so that when we come back we can plant the seeds. They also have a huge need for stoves. They cook over the fire inside the house so smoke is everywhere and it is really bad for their lungs and eyes. Hopefully we will be able to help them out with that. After La Joya we went to Palo Blanco. It's more developed than La Joya, but still needing outside help. 

The leader gave us lunch (a chicken guiso thing) and then we went to the school to teach the kids (13-17) square foot. They were so attentive and interested. Most of the adults struggle to read and write and they really want their kids to have more opportunities. So they go to school for a week and then are off for a wee so they can help out at home. One of the girls was so outgoing and bubbly. She wants so badly to study in the states and one day be a lawyer. She'll probably never have that chance, but no matter what she does, she;ll impact people. What they really want out there is English classes. So we'll see if we can get out there at least once or twice a week. It's pretty far though. On the way home the coolest thing happened. We were in San Martin I think, and we saw 2 missionaries so we pulled over to say hello. And guess who one of the was?-Elder Ford! It was crazy. They funny thing was that neither of us acted that surprised to see the other. But how random to just run into each other like that! Today was also a great day. I went to Antigua to work in the orphanage. We worked with the babies and they are so stinking cute. Little Antoni is 7 months old but looks like he's 4 months old. But he's happy. he loves Annie and she can really make him laugh. After our lunch break I went into one of the back rooms and pulled out Edi. He was just brought in 2 days ago. He has a severely cleft pallet and is TINY! He is only 2 months old and weighs 4.5 pounds. I weighed over 8 when I was born. But I was able to give him a bottle and he ate it all. Hopefully he will be able to put on weight quickly. I can't believe I've been here for almost 3 weeks and that I only have 3 weeks left before we backpack for 2 weeks. It's been a great experience so far. Tomorrow morning at 4:00am we are heading up to Tikal. Luis is taking us and we'll be stopping at places like Rio Dulce along the way. It should be great.

The City

I can't believe another whole week has passed. This week was a little less eventful because of weather, but it was good nonetheless. We did some ESL training and made posters for our English class. We had such a great turn out. Me and Jacob taught the adult beginning class. I taught them the chicken song in English. It was awesome to see adults singing and dancing about a chicken. I had a pretty bad cold/flu this week. Bit it passed fast. On Tuesday we went back up to Xetonox to fill bags with dirt to put over some of the piping. A bad storm had washed away the dirt. They were so sweet and made us lunch and everything. We were a little nervous to eat it since it was chicken from the market and they don't have running water, but no one got sick from it. I love being out in Xetonox. They are so loving and it's so peaceful They are a very happy people. On Thursday we went to Comalapa for some heath/nutrition training, but a hurricane was supposedly on the way so they sent us home. The hurricane ended up missing Guatemala. We really didn't even get much rain. But it was cold and overcast all week. Friday we went back up to Comalalpa to measure and weigh the primary kids up there. We did the same thing in the afternoon here in Chimal. I guess there is a member in the states who wants to make sure the children in the church n Guatemala are healthy. So if we can find 30 that are malnourished he is going to provide a drink like Ensure for them for a year. We had quite the experience on the bus ride up to Comalapa. They always cram way too many people on the buses so we end up standing in the aisles. There are 3 adults crammed on each seat with a 6 inch space in the aisle. So we get crammed in the aisle. My butt was a bout an inch from some guys face. Keri was in front of me and then Tawnie then Jenny. So Tawnie starts feeling sick so me and Keri are trying to find a plastic bag. But we didn't succeed. Then all of a sudden Jenny starts throwing up. Keri gives her a poncho but it ends up just running down the front of her. People are trying to get away but we are crammed in too tight. I had some alcohol wipes so Jenny could wipe up a little, but Tawnie is about to throw up from the smell. So I give her one of the swabs to sniff. Needless to say, we made it to Comalapa without too much damage. Yesterday we went into Guatemala City to see Star Wars III and to go to the temple. The movie was really good and it was awesome to be at the temple. I love the peace you feel there. Everyone is so friendly. It's just so nice to see the church flourishing no matter where you go. Today at church the spirit was so strong. The primary kids got mission calls to be missionaries this Saturday. A couple of them came up to share their testimonies. It was so neat to see their excitement.

The Best Bus Ride Ever!

Hey all!
Well, I just have to share our experience that we had this morning. I wish you all could have experienced it for yourself, but ill try to make you feel like you were there. As a precursor, when we travel to other towns, we usually take chicken buses. Chicken buses are the way old-school buses from the states. 3 kids fit on a seat with little room in the aisle. But here the bus drivers must work on commission or something because they are always recruiting and they will shove as many people as possible on the bus. There are always 3 adults per seat, with more children on laps, and then the aisle is filled in (remember though that there is only about 6 inches for the aisle). Then when that is full, they fill the front up where the bus driver is until there are people hanging out the door. You could probably fit 15 people up there. (Sometimes people fall on the horn. It’s pretty funny). So this morning we are on our way up to Comalapa and are standing in the aisle. We’ve all lost our personal space by this point. We are spooning each other and some guys face is about an inch from the back side of me. But the road to Comalapa is really winding and uphill. So Tawnie starts to get sick. Me and Keri are asking around for a plastic bag but no one has one. Then all of a sudden Jenny starts throwing up. Keri grabs her poncho to give to her, but that didn’t work too well. People are trying to get away, but really there is no where to go. I pull out some alcohol swabs for Jenny and Tawnie ends up sniffing one the rest of the way there so she doesn’t throw up from the smell herself. We felt bad for everyone on the bus, but really they shouldn’t pack the bus that full anyway. But on a more important side, we got up to Comalapa and worked with the primary kids in the branch up there. We measured their height and weight so that we can find out which ones are mal nourished. We are doing the same thing today in Chimaltanango. The ones that are malnourished we are going to be able to provide with a supplement drink to help them get the nutrients they need. We are also going to be able to teach the women how the make sure the children do get what they need. There is such a need everywhere. 80% of Guatemala is considered poor and 60% of them are below the poverty level. It really is sad to see. But for the most part they are a very happy people. We could learn a lot from them. Oh, by the way, the hurricane missed Guatemala. We didn’t even get much rain. But it has been really cold and overcast for the past few days. We are freezing at night. But hopefully it will warm up soon. Well, that’s all for now. I love you guys.
Kirsti

Tengo Pulgas

That’s right. I have pulgas. Pulgas are fleas, and I have them. But don’t worry. I pulled out my pretty purple flea collar and put it in my bed, so I think I’m okay now. Things are going great here. I can’t believe it has only been a week and a half. I feel like I have been here forever. We have already been able to do so much. It’s funny because at first when I got here I would tell people my name is shearsty like it sounds, but they couldn’t say it. Then when I would spell it they would say oh....Kristi. So now I just introduce myself as Kristi. It’s a lot easier for them. I did my laundry on Saturday and man, I forgot how long it takes to wash things by hand. I also forgot how awesome it feels to wear stiff clothes when they dry. So I want all of you to take a moment of silence for me the next time you do laundry.


















Last Friday we went down to Lake Atitlan and took a boat out to a little community called Tzunana. We are going to teach nutrition to the kids out there. Most of the people only speak Kachekquel though, so it may be a little difficult. But it was an adventure getting out there. We were going to spend the night and hike a volcano the next day, but we got stuck in a down pour and decided to just go home. We couldn’t do an 8 hour hike all wet. So instead on Saturday (our day off) we went to Monte Rico which is on the southern coast. There is a beautiful black sand beach there. The ocean was a lot of fun, but super salty. Way saltier than Hawaii. But we had a good time. Some drunk guy thought it would be a good idea to try to swim drunk, but passed out. They carried him up on shore and started pumping his legs just like on the cartoons. It was awesome. So I ran over there hoping to use my life guarding skills, but someone finally realized that he was breathing and probably chest compressions wouldn’t help. He was just so drunk that he passed out. Don’t worry though. 45 minutes later he was back at the shore with a beer in hand. Smart. Yesterday we got English classes set up and put up fliers all around the town. They went like hot cakes. Everyone is really interested in speaking English and who can pass up free classes. Today was awesome. We went back out to Xetonox (shay-to-nosh), the community 


















that is trying to get water into the houses. They are so great to us. We shoveled dirt into bags all day so they could take it down to where they started to put in piping before they ran out of funding. The rain washed away the dirt so we needed to get more down there. The people there so love. We are the first foreigners there but they take such good care of us. They even made us lunch.......chicken and soup. I’m not sure how safe it was to eat, but we didn’t want to offend them. We’ll see how we all feel tomorrow. No. I’m sure we’ll be fine. We are kind of adopting this community. We are going to help them out in a couple weeks with nutrition assessments to see if any of the kids are malnourished. Well, I better get going. We need to go to the pharmacy before dinner. About half of us have come down with a wicked cold. I love you all!!!! Kirsti

Travels

I have a couple days to sum up. On Friday we made our trip down to Lake Atitlan, but it sure was an adventure getting there. We got on an overcrowded but to get to an exchange point and then got on another bus to Solala. We got off at the market there and Eric got pick pocketed. Sad. He had Q300 and all his cards and things. While I was using the restroom, the others think they saw Elder Reeder. Hopefully I will get to see him while I'm here. So from Solala we went down to Panajachel. It's a little tourist town on Lake Atitlan. They've nicked named it "Gringotenanga." When we got there we got on a little boat and went out to a little pueblito called Tzunana. They mostly just speak Katchekquel there and a little Spanish. We are going to go out there every other week and teach nutrition to the school children. There are about 350 kids enrolled in school. It should be neat to work with them.

After we got back to Panajachel we got dinner and looked around. We were going to get a hotel room and spend the night so we could hike a volcano the next Saturday, but it started to pour and we really weren't prepared to do an 8 hour hike. So we hired a van driver to drive us back to Chimaltenango. So yesterday we decided to do something fun for our day off. We got Luis to take us a couple hours away to Monte Rico to go to the black sand beach there. It was Beautiful! The town reminded me a lot of Bella Vista-like a little beach town. It was really hot and humid at the beach. We had a lot of fun laying out and playing in the ocean. IT was so supper salty though. When you gt pounded by the waves, your eyes would burn so bad. But it was a ton of fun. There where a lot of crazy drunk guys on the beach though. One of them passed out and people thought that he had drowned so they 


















started pumping his legs like on the cartoons. It was pretty funny. Then someone was going to do chest compressions until someone realized the guy was still breathing. About a half an hour later he woke up, stumbled off with his friends, got another beer, and went back down to the ocean. What an idiot. Some other drunk guy pushed Annie down in the water and pulled on her suit. Then he kept asking us to go out and swim with him. Ya right. On our way home we stopped in Antigua and got dinner for Jenny's birthday. She turned 19 today. We went to church this morning. It was fun to be back in a Spanish ward. It made me miss Argentina a lot. But the people are great and I'm excited to be able to work a little with the missionaries. I would love to see Preach My Gospel in action. That way I can help the missionaries at the MTC better.

I love this place!

Wow, what a week we have had so far. Yesterday we traveled out to a city called Comalapa and were met there by martin, the town council man of Xetonox. It is a little pueblito of 87 houses (570 people). They have been working together to try and get running water up to the houses. They have already made an opening from the mouth of the river and are waiting for a pump donated from the Salvation Army to arrive. They plan put in 1000 meters of PVC pipe to get the water up the hill. They also already made the cement tank. But the problem is that they ran out of funding. We are hopefully going to be able to ´pay for the piping into the houses, but we don’t have the funding to get the 1000 meters of 3 inch piping (so if any of you have rich friends who want to supply water to a village, please let me know ). But we went out yesterday and helped dig the ditches. It was pretty tough work because a lot of the dirt was clay. We had pick axes and shovels, but it took forever. We all felt like we were on parade though because most of the members of the village, especially the children, had never seen North Americans before. The speak Kachequel, but also know Spanish. It’s a little tough for the group to communicate because me and 2 others are the only fluent speakers and then there are 2 other semi-fluent speakers. But we get by. One of the little girls yesterday gave me a little heart she had made in school for mother’s day. It was really sweet. Today we went to Antigua and went to the orphanage. We will be working there a couple times a week. It was a neat experience, but also really sad. It is an orphanage for anyone; that means baby to really old people. Most of them have some type of disability, whether physical, mental, or both. It should be really neat to learn from them and help out the staff there. On a lighter note, we got a puppy. He’s really cute. He’s a black lab-something else-mix, but supper cute and adorable. It is great to be here. It reminds me so much of Argentina. I can’t believe how similar it is. Only there are fewer bugs here and they are smaller. But there aren’t rich neighborhoods here like there were there. But one thing the same is that you can’t flush the toilet paper here either......and I had finally broken that habit too ! No, but it’s great. It is an amazing experience. I love you all. Take care.
Kirsti

Antigua

We made our way to Antigua today to get registered to work at the orphanage. It was a good experience. The orphanage is for all...babies, kids, youth, adults, old people...and most of them have some type of handicap, mental or physical or both. It was heartbreaking to see a lot of them. Maybe I'm just sheltered, but it seems like the health care in the states helps to prevent some of these problems, or helps make them more livable. It's just really sad to think that these people have to suffer through this and also that they have to do it alone because they have been abandoned. It will be a growing experience to work with them. We are getting up pretty early tomorrow to get out to Tzunana on Lago Atitlan. Hopefully we will be able to help out with the nutrition out there. But I better get to bed so I can be of help tomorrow.

Digging

What a great day! We got up early this morning to get on a bus to Comalapa. While we were waiting I played a little bit of soccer with some little kids in an alley. The bus finally came, but man, was it packed! There were 3 or 4 people squished on every seat and then we all squished in the isle. We rode like that almost the whole way. Once we got to Comalapa Martin was there to take us out to a tiny town of 570 called Xetonox. Their first language is Kachikel, but they all speak Spanish. They are the people that we are tyring to help put in a water system. They have already done so much work. 


















We spent the day digging a ditch for 1000 meters of PVC pipes. They were so excited to have us there.Martin said that none of the kids and many of the adults had ever seen North Americans. It was like we were movie stars or something. A little girl gave me a little corazoncito that she made in school for mother's day. It was such a great experience to be more immersed in Spanish and also to feel so appreciated. It is so amazing to see how much people can love us without even knowing us. They express their appreciation so well. I need to learn to be better about that and open up and tell people how I feel. We are supposed to make some goals for what we want to get out of this experience, and that is one of them. I also want to be more outgoing and take more of an initiative. I also think that by being away from everyone and everything, that I will be able to realize better what makes me happy...truly happy. I know that service makes us all happy, but I can find out better my interests and what is my niche in life. I love giving service and I love being here in Guatemala, but I've also started to realized that I have other goals and I can't just keep taking off on adventures.

Gringo

We bought a puppy today. He's really cute. I don't think he has a name yet. We went out this morning to get stuff for square-foot gardening and then also came home with a dog. We got our garden planted and I'm excited to go out and teach people how to do it. A few from the group went out to some pueblos to check out their needs and it sounds like we are going to be able to work with them. Tomorrow we are going out to help install water pipes. We went over to DeJavu tonight to sing for mother's day. It was pretty funny. We had a good time. That's about all I have for today.

Getting Settled

It seems like we have been here forever! Each day feels like we do enough for 2 days in one day. It's incredible. Today was mostly spent getting more settled in and getting the house more ready. We got up and went to exchange money and buy foam pads for the beds. Then we came back and got cinder blocks and wood for shelves and to put the beds up. We got all unpacked,oh, we also went grocery shopping. We have a lady, Silvia, who makes dinner every night and they are amazing. Seriously. She is awesome. We also have a man named Luis who drives us everywhere in his van. He is an incredible ma. He looks out for us and takes care of us. This morning while I was showering the power blew which meant no electricity and no water. So i had to get the soap off with cold water from a bucket out back. That was exciting. But Luis came and temporarily fixed the power this afternoon because the real guys probably wont come until tomorrow. We went to the mercado this afternoon. I don't really like going places all in a big group because we end up drawing a lot of attention and most are speaking English. I haven't felt at all immersed in Spanish yet, but I'm sure that once we get the projects going there will be a lot more time to speak to people. It really is amazing here. It helps you to realize what things really are important. This week should continue to be great.

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This is the where we lived......right on the Pan American Highway!

Well, I made it to Guatemala. This is going to be super scatterbrained and probably not coherent, so sorry for the spelling errors or Spanish words. We don’t have a lot of time and I just wanted to make sure the parents knew that we made it and tell you a little about this place. The flight was.........well, pretty long and crappy. We got to Atlanta at 3 in the morning and had 5 hours to hangout. We got into Guatemala at 1 in the afternoon. It is so beautiful here!!! We have a pretty sweet house (compared to our neighborhood) -you’ll have to see pictures-it’s pretty ghetto. There are 13 of us in the house, 3 guys and 10 girls. We have 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, but that means there are 5 girls to each bathroom. We do have hot water sort of. It’s the electric showers so I feel like I’m right back in Argentina. We found out today that if all 3 showers are being used it blows the electrical box and when there is no power there is also no water. So we have no lights or water and they aren’t coming to fix it until tomorrow (hopefully tomorrow anyway). The greatest part of it is that I was one of the people in the shower when it all went dead. Luckily there was a bucket of cold water out back so I could get the soap off. Man, I love this!!!! No really, I do. The church is just a five minute walk from our house and there is a ward there. Some of us went to choir practice yesterday and it was great.....2 hours....but great. We sang "Dios Te Bendice" over and over again. I can’t remember what it’s called in English but it’s the one that has the same tune as ¨"Go tell Aunt Rhode¨¨.....you know.....go tell aunt rodie the old grey goose is dead.....that one? Well anyway, it was a kick in the pants anyway. Today we ran errands and got cinder blocks to make book shelves and put our beds up. We are setting up a lot of the projects this week. We are trying to help fund and give them manual labor to get running water out to a community of 600 people. On Wednesday we are going to Antigua to set it up so we can volunteer at the orphanage a couple times a week. Then on Friday we are going down to Lake Atitlan. I hear it is beautiful there. There is a pueblo called Solalá (or something like that). But we have to cross the lake to get to them. Apparently they are severely malnourished because they live too far from any markets and can only grow fruits and vegetables in the rainy season. So for 9 months of the year they don’t eat fruits and vegetables. So we are hopefully going to be able to go out there every other week and teach nutrition and square foot gardening. Some guy has spent a lot of time out there and says he has never seen nutrition that bad. We are also set to teach English a few days a week and also business classes. We are going to be pretty busy, but it’s exciting. Well, I know I had a lot more to say, but I guess you’ll just have to wait till next time. Thanks to those of you who already emailed me. I'll try to get some personal emails out. I love you all!!!
Kirsti

I Can't Forget Guatemala

Well, I made it to Guatemala. This is going to be quite the adventure. Me and Eric flew all night and didn't get in until 1:00 so we missed church. But we were able to go to choir practice and meet a few of the members. I'm excited about what will happen here. We have a lot of great projects we are trying to set up, and it's just a great atmosphere here. There are 13 of us (3 guys, 10 girls) 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and the people are great. It's already been a really great day. We have a lady that is going to cook for us Monday through Friday and her food is great. We are going to go to the orphanage this week and set up some other projects and on Friday we are going to Solala and around lake Atitlan to see if we can help out with nutrition. Aparently it is the worst place nutrition wise. They are so far away from markets that they can only eat fruits and vegetables during the rainy season. Elder Reeder is serving in Solala right now so maybe we'll run into him. But anyway, I'm sure this is going to be an incredible experience.