Ode to Aleksi

A while ago I wrote an ode to Liz and Miguel and told Aleksi his was forthcoming.  I realize I’m a little late, but later is better than never.

First off, Aleksi is Liz’s nineteen year old brother who lives with them.  He wasn’t at church our first week so we didn’t meet him until fhe our second week in Peru.  Since that day, I don’t think a day has gone by that we haven’t seen Aleksi.  He’s our adopted brother…well as adopted as he can be since we aren’t even real sisters, but that’s not important. 

What makes Aleksi, Aleksi??  Aleksi has been nothing but kind to us since we’ve been here…even when we haven’t been as kind to him.  Brittany and I miss having younger brothers to pick on sometimes and Aleksi get’s the brunt of it.  He’s the butt of our jokes and the boy we want to boss around.  And he’s even better than a real brother because he does whatever we say and doesn’t even fight back!!  But that’s just how awesome he is.  He’s always willing to run to the store for us or go with us to make sure we’re safe.  It’s good we have him around to worry about our safety when we don’t want to worry about it. 

Aleksi is always up for an adventure and sometimes has more adventure in him than I can handle.  If he has the chance to get out of the house and go somewhere he’ll generally take it.  He loved going on runs with us in the mornings and, again, never complained when I tried to boss him around and tell him how to run better.  He came with us to Chiclayo and showed us around and helped us get on the ride combis back to the house.  Sometimes I highly doubted he knew what he was doing but nine times out of ten he knew exactly what he was talking about.

Have I mentioned yet that Aleksi gave us his room for the entire time that we lived with Liz and Miguel (6 weeks) and SLEPT IN THE HALL.  He didn’t even have his own space to live!  He slept on an air mattress that would deflate by the morning so he would then be on cold, hard ground.  Later, he slept on a mattress that soaked up the stench of burnt beans.  Once Seminary started he would be out in the hall which is basically the same room seminary is in…so he was awake by at least 6:30 on those days (not to mention Sandra liked to throw water in his face every morning).

Aleksi came with us to El Bichito every day to help with the kids.  His Spanish is less than perfect but he’s great at trying to talk to them will just make noises and large hand gestures to get his point across.  He is also spectacular at making riisiporro (please excuse my spelling, Aleksi!), a milk and rice dish similar to arroz con leche, from his native country, Finland.  Oh yeah, forgot to mention that he’s from Finland.  If that doesn’t automatically make you an awesome person, I don’t know what will.

I know there’s a million and one more awesome things about Aleksi but this will have to do for now.  We keep telling him that him having to live with four women/ sisters/ mothers at the same time is going to prepare him so much for having a wife (we were constantly “training” him).  This boy’s going to be a keeper one day.  She just has to wait a few years for the braces to come off and for him to get back from his mission. 

Dear future wife of Aleksi,

You’re welcome.

Abigail, Brittany, Noelle and Liz

Our last minute with Aleksi before he returned to Cajamarca.