Randomness Galore!

Hola hola!! 

Wow. What a week....longer actually!! I don´t even know where to start. Half because so much happened, and half because I don´t remember like any of it and I forgot my little notes that I wanted to mention in my letter. Let´s think...

Okay. Let´s start with the kinda sucky stuff first. C*** is supposed to be baptized on the 13th of this month, but she told us that she didn´t want to anymore. We don´t quite know what to do, but we´re praying that she continues to read and pray (which she does diligently) and that she remembers how she felt when she first decided to. E***. She was supposed to come to conferencia with us, but she didn´t answer her door. And when we went back again for the last session, we heard that she was there, but she still wouldn´t answer. So I don´t know what´s up with her there, but that kinda sucks. 

     Speaking of which, guess who watched 8 hours of conference in Spanish!? MEEE! Guess who understood it all!? NOT MEEE!! Hahaha....well I understood enough. And Elder Holland was so loud that if I tried really hard, I could hear him in English. So I have lots of notes from his talk haha. It was a blessing, cause that was one that hit home for me. But I understood quite a bit in general. I loved conference. We sat with two recent converts, M*** and R***. M*** is an older blind man. He´s married to R***, who has two sons P*** and Ri***. P*** has some problems with drugs, so he´s having a hard time right now. He also has a problem with touching people...or rather, he can´t refrain himself from trying to give us a hug every single time. I told him know and he grabbed my cheek. At that point, I said "P**lito! Pare!!" He laughed...but then he saw the look on my face. Let´s just say it was like ...an intense mom look. Like I was mom, and P*** had just eaten the last carmel kiss. No no no no. Malo. Yea. R*** is struggling with smoking. But we literally took all of her tobacco and dumped it last night. So there´s THAT. Ri*** is always super entusiastic and diligent about everything church related. It´s super sweet, and he´s a great example to his family. We taught a lesson and we talked for a long time about how they can´t say a bunch of mean things to each other anymore, and how they need to say ¨I love you" to each other everyday. They need more love. We´re going to clean their house for them! It´s a surprise service project. Only M*** knows. We figured it´d give them a new environment and whatnot. Plus it´s one less thing they have to worry about! R*** DOES have a baptism date for the 20th. She was doubting a little bit last night, but I know she can do this. She´s an amazing woman.

     For mom´s info, we´re in the Los Andes Norte Zona. It´s freaking beautiful. There´s no other words to describe it. 

We had a training meeting on Friday, and it was so great to see Hermana Richins! It was a pretty chill training meeting. It was a nice break. The only bad part, is that we were told that next time our trainer doesn´t come with us. I don´t know how THAT´S gonna work....seeing that I can't speak spanish..oh well!! I´ll figure it out! Hopefully I don´t end up in Antofagasta or something haha. 

     I read Jared´s April Fools mail. WOOOOW. Drag ME into it!! Stinker haha. I did write him a letter that morning! KACHOW. That´s called AWESOMENESS right there...

...dang this stupid computer won´t let me do hashtags!!! GAH. And I have SO many opprotunities for sarcastic remarks with hashtags dangit! Oh well. It can be a mediocre letter. ...with love. 

     Speaking of which, thank you so much for the letters, info, and PACKAGE! ...(not that any of those things were mediocre, I was just on the topic of mail haha)  Got my dear elders yesterday. We get them every tuesday after district meeting. So it probably gets to chile quick, but I don´t get it for a while. 

    The package was unexpected but I loved it. Super cute. Wearing my green shirt right now!

 It´s comf-comf-comfy! Wanna know what else I´m wearing? A skirt...but this skirt is special. It´s cause it´s broken. Okay! STORY TIME! We got to go to the temple today, which was awesome by the way. I got a thing to listen to in english but 20 miniutes in, I realized I´d turned the volume down and was listening to the spanish anyways. So I took it off and did fine. But back to the story!! We were on the bus headed to santiago and they´d already made me sing, and we´d sung as a group and blah blah blah...anyways. I went to stand up to say something and Hermana Parkinson YANKED my shirt down in the back. I was totally confused...but carried on. When I sat down, she explained the situation. The zipper had broken. Literally BROKE. So I´m sitting writing this email with a skirt that is buttoned at the top and barely touches my knees (cause I had to pull it up so I could cover a gaping whole over my rear...) ANYWAYS, good thing I had this shirt and my super long cardigan cause that pretty much saved me. ...It´s Hermana Water´s skirt. I don´t even know how it happened...probably I´ve been eating too much good chilean food...but I HAVE TO because they LITERALLY whine if you don´t eat all...and THEN gtet more. I seriously can NOT eat it all...like ever. They all laugh at me, cause Hermana Parkinson (the champ) ALWAYS eats it all. Don´t ask me how. She´s tiny. But she does it. 

      Who want´s to hear about my mono! ..not me. lame. But I know mom does, so here´s the jist of it! We walk EVERYWHERE. My legs don´t hurt, but my ankles and knees do. We walked a good 5 miles yesterday. Minimum. Oh well! It´s fun. We get to sing, and talk to people...and if it´s too far we ride the bus, which is cheap to take. Anyways, I wasn´t drinking water. Because the more you carry, the more your back hurts. Dumb I know. So I got somre really bad headaches...and my head was super cold and ...yea. That´s not the mono part. No throat pains, but I was seriously falling asleep everywhere. And I coud NOT walk fast for the life of me. So Sister Essig told me to eat healthier breakfasts, and to sleep an extra half an hour in the morning and at night. I managed one morning...there´s just so much to do! And today we went to the temple so we had to wake up at like 5! BUT The rest of the week calms down so I´ll be able to get a little more sleep. 

     As for the singing situation...it still cracks me up. Me having some ability really is a blessing for them though. SO I´ll try to help as often as I can! 

     Door approaches are non existent here. We don´t do door knocking...at least so far. It´s honestly like not even possible. There are fences around every building. We yell HAAALLLOOOOOO really loud when we want someone to come to the FENCE hahaha. And they will NOT let you in if they don´t know you...not even if you´re waiting for another person that actually lives here. They have mega problems with robbers. I don´t wear necklaces because so many people have literally had someone come up to them and grab it OFF their neck. Basically I´d rather be safe than look cuter. 

     Basically I´m in love with Chile. The people, the comida (most of it) EMPÑADA´S!! OH THE GLORY!! They´re the freaking bomb....gosh...I need a scale. 

     But that´s beside the point. In all seriousness...I love it here. I love everything. It´s so differnet...and that´s probably one of the reasons I love it so much. But dang, it´s fantastic. It´s a blessing  because I haven´t been sad about being here or discouraged. I´m just soaking EVERYTHING in while I have a chance. Plus, I don´t know if I´ll ever be able to be near this area again...so that sure motivates me to act like a sponge...accept a really CLEAN sponge. Cause I soak in only good stuff!!...that´s a lie. I´m a filthy mess every night. Okay. You get my picture. I love you.
AND sorry but no  pics this week. I forgot my card reader and my chord. Dang I know, but y'all will survive. 

With love,
Hermana Alexandra Johnson

(Many have asked why the *** are edited into the names of people... It's respect their privacy. - Lisa)