Week 4 at the CCM

HI everyone!

(blog link listed below for those who prefer to read that way)

So as you will read in a minute Alyssa wants people to write or email to her. I have listed her email address below as well as her letter mailing address for Panama. (She leaves Mexico Sept. 17^th so I don’t think mailing anything to Mexico is a good idea). Another really good option is http://www.dearelder.com/ . This is a free service that allows you to write (well type) a letter and then they send it through the church’s pouch system so on her end she gets an actual letter in hand without you having to go buy a $1.10 stamp. (Missionaries like this as then they feel like they got mail.) So anyone who has the time to drop her a line or write a letter I know she would truly appreciate hearing from you. Missionaries LOVE mail!!!

Anyway thank you everyone for the love and support for all of us on this journey in our lives. It means the world to us. We love you all J

http://alyssawandell.blogspot.com/

Alyssa.wandell@myldsmail.net

Hermana Alyssa Morgan Wandell

Panamá, Panamá City Mission
Carrasquilla Entrega General AP 0834
Cuidad de Panamá
Provencia de Panamá
Panamá


HI MOM!! HI AYABBY!!

Tell people to write or email me! You, Zach, Eli, (both missionaries in Pittsburgh, PA and Ventura, CA) Robert, Kallie and Grandpa are the only ones (I asked if anyone had written to her besides me).

So I am still sick, but much much better, I just cough a lot now. So before I forget I need to tell/ ask a few things.     #1 Hermana Barth totally knows Ben Brockbank!!! When we figured it out we had this "OH MY GOSH I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU KNOW BEN!!" moment. Can you please send me his address or his email please??    #2 I realized a few days ago that Zach's birthday is coming up.. Will you do me a favor and go put something on his grave for me?? I was thinking maybe a little Panama flag or something.    #3 Go read 1 Nephi 13, it totally prophesies of major historical events, such as Columbus, the Pilgrims, the Revolutionary War, and the coming forth of the B.O.M. ( I thought you would like it, as I was reading it I thought of you because you like history so much. WARNING: It might just blow your mind because it definitely did mine!)

Oh btw, we have devotionals every Sunday and Tuesday and it is hilarious because we sing Called to Serve everytime!! Haha so we all pretty much have it memorized.

Oh how I wish you could sit in on one of our classes at the end of the day when we are all exhausted. It is hllarious!! Last night we were singing hymns and Elder Fridal (District Leader) tells us "Okay everyone try to sing in the most opera voice you can."

Hermana. Howe has a video!! I'll send it! (she tried it wouldn’t work)

Yes Trevor and Krisha are siblings and that is awesome!! (As part of my emails to her I send her news from home and these are 2 of her friends that received their mission calls this past week or so)Will you write them on my map for me when you get a chance?? Please tell Kaylee hello and that I love her and to email me as soon as she knows where she is going!! Hermana Pula and Hermana Palmer are amazing!! Two of my favorites!! It’s them and Hermana Curtis (her and I are VERY much alike and it is hilarious!!) Oh Hermana Curtis is really into essential oils and what not, it works miracles!! If you want like a perfect germ killer go buy thieves. It even kills parasites!! It’s REALLY STRONG though!! Anyways!! And yes Hermana Palmer is allergic to bananas. They have had fish a few times while we have been here and I can smell it the second we walk in, and I gag every time! (I read on Hma. Palmer’s blog she was sitting next to Alyssa eating a banana and has to move, I pictured this as Alyssa sitting next to someone eating fish).

The funny thing about us getting in trouble, it didn't really stick! Haha... the whistling comes from all of us actually. We have a very musically talented group. We have been trying harder to study during study time though, which is good!

Hno. Arevalo is amazing!! His birthday was on Sunday (: I told him that I will add him on Facebook when I get home so I can help him with his English (: I will definitely tell him what you said, (after reading her email last week I felt so bad that the American teachers would not help him with his English that I offered to have Abby and I be his pen pal so he could practice) the only prob. with him writing you is he doesn't speak English and you don't speak Spanish, but I will tell him anyways!! Haha

I am pretty excited about that package I won’t lie, (a dear friend of mine whose daughter went to the MTC same day as Alyssa got an offer from her boss who was going to Panama this week to deliver a package. She was so nice to let me send one for Alyssa as well. It made my whole week! So waiting for her when she gets to Panama is her first package from home. It’s a Greenie package – see photo).I got my first letter this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was from Zach!!. It was getting annoying because some of the elders would rub it in our faces that they got 6 letters and we got none (which is funny because the main person who does that, the letters were all from his grandma!! Haha)

UGHHHH I DON'T WANT ONE OF THOSE STUPID BAGS!!!! (I saw on another Panama mission blog that they have changed the rules and now all missionaries have to have shoulder bags vs. backpacks) I hate shoulder bags!! They are not good for your posture whatsoever!! And I feel like you are more likely to be robbed... I'll have to find one in Panama.

The video was awesome!! (from last week’s letter, the link is still on the blog, if you haven’t watched it you should!)

It’s okay, there are so many things in the scriptures that I don't understand either. Oh Gpa emailed me and said you did awesome on your talk at Lucy's baptism!

 It rains like that here too!! (I mentioned I think the rain in Florida is what I am expecting the rain in Panama to be like, us Utahn’s have no clue what rain is, we think we do but we don’t)

Elder Fridal, (he told her she had Malaria) I appreciated the concern, but I know how my body reacts to mosquitoes. Speaking of which, I got like 11 more this week.... 3 on which are on my face...... needless to say I have been going around our house with cleaning spray and spraying anything with wings until it died... it was actually kind of funny I was walking around saying random things like "My name is Inigo Montoya, I killed your father, now prepare to die." or "Hide your kids, hide your wife, and hide your husbands cause I'm killing all you mosquitoes in here." I got a little too in to it.... I wanted them dead! I hate them!! I feel no shame! (:  (does anyone think this is as funny as I do?)

I wish you could see more of the CCM, it is sooooooo pretty!! There are palm trees everywhere!! Oh the houses on the mountains, there are literally thousands of them!! They are all made out of cement too, not very warm...

The language is coming (: AHHHHH I JUST REMEMBERED SOMETHING!! I TOTALLY HAD A JESUS MOMENT!! I WAS ONE WITH NATURE!!

I HELD A BUTTERFLY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay back to what I was saying….. We are seriously non-stop! It is exhausting! Let’s just say it is not hard to fall asleep at night. You are out before your head ever hits the pillow!! Oh sad moment really fast... we lost two of our teachers this week to the greenies.... or we will this week, we found out this morning at breakfast... no more Americans for us... which is good I guess. No but yeah Hno. Hopoate and Hna. Doxey aren't our teachers anymore.. kinda sad...

I love the purple btw! (she mentioned her and her companion has made colors for the weeks they were there and since it was purple week I turned my whole email to her purple) I still have all my money from before.. I haven't spent any..

I miss my Abby! I cried when I read that, (I told her I thought reality was starting to set in for Abby. A few different times Abby has started to cry and when I asked her what was wrong she told me that she really really misses Alyssa and wants her to come home tomorrow) tell her that I love her and that I don't want her to be sad. I think about that little monkey every day. Tell her that I want her to be happy, and that I will be home before you know it. Please give her a great big hug for me. I wish I could put into words how much that little girl means to me and how much I love her, but I can't so just tell her I love her please. Did you get my little letter that I sent in the mail for her?? There is a little present in there for her so she can be like her big sister. Tell her if it were anyone but the Lord I would be with her right now. This is an important work and while I am sad to be away from you guys, I know this is where I need to be. A year and a half is short in the grand scheme of things. And this way other big sisters can be with their baby sisters forever.

I hope she has fun at school, maybe that will give her something else to think about. Have you started her in dance or gymnastics yet??

I love the index cards! I look forward to them everyday! I open them as soon as I wake up in the mornings. I like them all, I love showing the funny pictures to everyone (: they all enjoy them. I don't know how well the recipes will work because I don't know if they have the right ingredients in panama or if we even have time to cook. But yes I love them (: (before she left I sent her with an envelope for every day she was gone, well enough to get her to her Christmas package from home. Inside the envelope is an index card with something on it. A scripture, recipe, inspirational quotes, missionary advice from a returned missionary, notes from loved ones, a joke, a picture from Abby, photos, etc. So yes that is a total of about 550ish I need to do. I still have 400ish to make. So if anyone would like to write any, words of advice, a simple hello, a quote or thought or some other fantastic thing I haven’t thought of let me know. I have a bunch of index cards and would be happy to mail some to anyone who wants to write some. I know 500 from me would bore anyone to death. Karrie and Tammy I haven’t forgotten about you).

That is crazy about Mt. Jordan, it is an old school, they need to fix it!! THEY GOT A JAMBA AS SOON AS I LEAVE!! WHAT THE HECK IS UP WITH THAT!!!!? (more news from home) Oh and may I just say how much I miss American food. like Chick-fil-a! Oh what I would give for a chicken sandwich!!!!! I have already planned out all the meals for the first week I get home, so don't you worry!! Haha

Okay I will add more pictures. I LOVE YOU!! I LOVE MY AYABBY!! I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!! I LOVE MY SAVIOR!! I LOVE THE LORD!! I LOVE THIS WORK!! BYEEEEEE!! Hug my Abby for me and tell her how beautiful she is!!

<3 Hermana Wandell (:

I wish I had the picture of the butterfly.. but it wasn't on my camera.. I'll see if Elder Parker can email it to me or something. I hope that letter I sent gets there soon. I sent it a while ago. I'm starting to get worried now... please let me know if it gets there. Otherwise I will have to buy another little thing and send it in a package once I get to Panama. If it isn't there by next week I will go buy another one.

Getting Wet

More Rain

Last one of the Rain

Her District

Her Greenie package waiting for her in Panama