CHRISTmas

I cant believe that its almost Christmas....how quickly time has flown down here in Chile. I bet, as for Hannah and I, its at least a little weird for you guys without the whole gang, but thats okay. We´re all doing what we need to be doing. We just have to remember that the Lord is with us and he loves  us! 

Hermana Clark is doing great. Everyday her basic missionary skills improve. She is starting to get into the swing of things...bit by bit. 

Sunday we had the Christmas devotional and everything went well. Our song went great too....but more than anything I could really feel the spirit and the spirit of CHRISTMAS. That there is something just SO special about it. .....I love the season. FOR SO MANY REASONS, but there is so much to learn every Christmas, and it doesnt matter where you`re at. Seek and ye shall find. 

Yes. Sunblock is EXTREMELY expensive here. I have yet to use it...and I have yet to get burnt. I know God is looking out for me. 

My leg is doing better. Going out to excersise has really helped...its crazy cause I havent been taking lots of medicine or anything but every day I feel just a little bit better. BUT YESTERDAY. I had the double dragon haha. I exploded yesterday. I had a bad case of the flu.....and that really sucked. I slept ALL day long..and like every hour I had to throw up. It was horrible...and there was literally NOTHING left in my stomache, but I still was throwing up. Pretty sure I threw up my stomache acid. Literally. I even took medacine to STOP throwing up, and I threw THAT up. ....plesant right? But today I was able to eat a few crackers AND I was able to hold them down haha. I got a blessing yesterday too so that was good. 

This week was another great week....like EVERY week is here in the mission feild! 

Something we´ve been doing is more teaching. We`ll see someone sitting in the grass or on a bench and instead of just a contact, we´ll go right into a lesson or share a scripture and just take advantage of the opprotunity God has given us to TEACH. We´ve seen some really awesome miracles as we´ve done it. 

I´m still working on Creole and French. Its interesting cause I can only say some things in creole and then there are other things that I can only say in French.. but knowing a little more of the language has helped me to be able to teach our many investigators from Haiti. I wish I could just speak BETTER. I think Hermana Clark kinda tunes out in those lessons...which makes sense. She has to learn SPANISH. I think I´d get all wide eyed if I had to learn THREE languages too haha... Im so excited to learn a bunch more languages when I get home. 

P* is progressing for her baptism. We were gonna have it the 29th but I think we´re gonna change the date so that everyone feels more comftorable about it. ...for me, I would feel a lot better that she STAYED in the church than if she just gets baptized to complete a zone goal or something...this IS salvation we´re talking about here. 

This last week we had several great experiences. One day we were headed down the street and I felt strongly we needed to visit a family...turns out she'd been praying for lots of answers, and as we shared a short message with her, it was the answer that she was looking for. She cried...a lot. As we left I felt another strong prompting to visit ANOTHER family (and both of these families weren´t in our plans at all) and we visited them. Turns out they really needed a visit. They cried a bunch too. I guess we´re just good at making people cry haha. ....even in our contacts. We had several contacts start bawling to us this last week! It was pretty interesting...Oh yea! And one of our amazing new investigators, the one that could TOTALLY serve a mission, called us on Wednesday crying....we were able to talk with her and help her, and that sure helped us build more confidence with one another, but it was just a week of tears haha. 

We left the house one day and as I looked at our plans...nothing seemed right. I looked at my companion and told her we were just gonna do some contacts and go THAT way. We did.. and we came across a man whos father was the bishop for many years, it new to town, who wants to start fresh ...and start coming to church (since he hasnt gone in over 16 years) It was so cool to see the smile on his face ....as it literally SPARKLED: 

We had to let some investigators go this last week...and it literally made me cry. But I know that if I REALLY love them, then I will be able to do that. I will be able to let them go...so I did. 

Well....here we are in the Christmas season and I was thinking a lot about why I love it. I remember in college always getting made fun at a little bit cause I was always singing christmas songs, or I´d be counting down the days till Christmas from when we had 364 haha....I LOVE CHRISTMAS: and there are a LOT of reasons. Clearly I love it for the Christmas trees, the snow, the beautiful lights, the carols, the smiles and joy....the hot chocoalte and cookis....candy canes and all the fun christmas movies. Or even better, just being with family, relaxing, thinking about all the blessings I´ve recieved this year...but theres something even MORE important....a bigger reason why I love Christmas. ...it´s because during THIS time, EVERYONE thinks about Christ for just a second. Yes, there´s a lot of drama with a bunch of people that are thinking about presents and STUFF...but I know that for at least a moment, they are thinking about Christ. ...and it´s the season that eveyone is a little bit MORE like Him. TO LOVE. 

In third Nephi 27:27 Christ asks ¨What manner of men out ye to be?....Verily I say unto you, even as I am¨ For me....THAT´S the purpose of Christmas, just like everyday, but it gives us an EXTRA opprotunity to be able to remember Him and BE LIKE HIM. And to LOVE. 

I pray that we can all remember Christ and the sacrifice that he´s made for us.... he has brought peace on earch and goodwill towards men. He is the ¨prince of peace¨
Let us remember him in everything we do....

I feel so blessed to be in the mission during this time....for that exact reason. I remember him more, and I remember the sacrifice he has made for me. I know he loves us so much. ¨God so loved the world that he gave his only begotton son...that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.¨

I know, without doubt, that God loves us and that´s why he sent his only begotton son. As we remember Christ, and become more like him, we will also remember the other important purpose of Christmas, which is Charity, or the pure LOVE of Christ. We will remember.

It says in the scriptures that the whole world, and every creature suffered and cried when Christ died...if that´s the case, imagine how they rejoiced when he was born! JOY TO THE WORLD. 

I´m so blessed to be able to share this mission to the people here in Chile, and I pray that you all can enjoy CHRISTmas.....because that´s what it´s all about.

I LOVE YOU! 

Let it snow!....somewhere cause it´s sure not happening here! 

Love, 

Hermana Alex Johnson