Aw my poor lil family is freezin and blizzarding in CO while I enjoy the 50
degree weather in the East... ;)
But man, thats stinkin sweet! 2 snow days, a day off work for dad, and now
a WHOLE week for Thanksgiving?!? Y'all are spoiled my goodness (to be directed
to Jenna & KK)
YAY Palmer family dinner!!! that's so fun! I love getting together with
family :)
Uh, so Ty hasnt written me in a month, so I havent written him in a month
soooo.... ya that was news to me lol! I'll write him today the lil flipper
I love reading your emails every day! Even if its a sentence I get super
excited and happy! So thanks!! :)
My super awesome fantastic cool LONG week will be explained in this
LOOOOOONG email (hahah "and Leons getting larger" <-- gotchu mom ;)
Monday was a super fun day! For Pday we played soccer...with about 1/2 the
zone there (yay, zone one unity..... *facepalm*) Which ok, I'd much rather play
basketball, but beggars can't be choosers here- and I was just super glad we
played a sport in the 1st place cuz they started poppin out the Pokemon and I
was like "nope. Not about that life." So soccer was great! And it was actually
super hilarious becuz our zone leaders remind me so much of Ty it's ridiculous
(except they're way more weird and awko soooooo ya haha), so it got comical.
Then we went and had dinner with the Nashes. I love them so much- I feel like
they're just an extension of you guys at home- like literally, these are our
people. #CORepresent
Tuesday was THE BEST DAY OF MY MISSION LIFE (disclaimer: so far). We got to go to the temple!!!!!! And we rode the train and the subway to get there!!!! And then walked a couple blocks in Manhattan!!!! And then the Spirit was so strong in there, my goodness it was beautiful. So many things were confirmed and reconfirmed to me in there, and I picked up on a lot more nuances and little things in the gospel that I hadn't noticed before. Which idk if it's becuz I'm goin while out on a mission, or just becuz I've been a few times now- but I feel like being out here has really made me focus more and really pay attention to all the details/ importance of it all. One really ironic thing about being on a mission is that you sit there and you've just gotten your own endowments out and then you go a cpl more times; but then you can't anymore because you're only allowed to 3 times in the mission, and all you want to do is go to the temple... and you can't. When I get home I'm going to the temple at least once a week if not more. I love it sooooooooooooooooooooo much. Also, funny story. We got on the wrong train heading back- so we still ended up in Newark, but about a 35min walk from the chapel. Hahahahah so here's a big group of missionaries walkin the streets of Newark in the dark. That was an adventure! There were a lotta guys that walked up to us sisters trying to talk to us- but our elders got us. It was beautiful weather, and a beautiful night, and even though it smelt funny and my feet hurt, it was a nice walk back. Then we all went and ate together at this Brazilian BBQ place. A+ in my book, for $11 you get a HUGE plate of chicken, rice, and fries! So split it between comps and it's $5.50 a person- just beautiful *sniff*. Also, Inca Kola and Guãrana sodas are very good as well and I might be addicted so y'all better find me a Hispanic/Brazilian grocery store in CO for when I come back. Hook a Sister up.
Wednesday was a cool day too! We had district meetings; which it's really weird cuz the old zone we all used to meet here and eat lunch together and hang out, but now it's just our district that does so- the rest of our zone meets in Paterson. So it's just us 6 that were in the old zone together that hang, while all the others that stayed together and just moved zones hang out. Super sad. But anyways, I'm digressing. We had a good meeting, I gave a training on How to Begin Teaching from PMG- which I hope was good, idk! Haha and then since the zone leaders were with us today, the 8 of us had lunch together. It was fun! E. Covington's mom sent him a "birthday" package since his year mark was Thursday, and in it were party poppers, those roll kazoo things, and a piñata! So we basically threw a party for the 8 of us and pigged out on candy! It was so funny smackin the piñata open. Good times good times! We then went and had a few lessons with Br. M and the lady in the senior home. They were really good! I love them both so much! They really mean a lot to me, and I think I've gotten quite attached....this is what 5 months in 1 area will do to you. #NeverGonnaGiveYouUp. Then we decided to go try the referral we received last week for the 4th time, hoping we would finally catch him home. And we did! And oh my good glory is he golden and solid and so beautiful I want to cry because I may finally have a new investigator to teach because in this area I've only ever had 1 or 2 new ones and then they drop us in 2 seconds but he's sooooooooooooo coooooooooolllllll!!!!! He's a stereotypical Jersey man, without the accent, but his wife is a member in Idaho and he's here for some reason. He wants to learn more, and his neighbor is a special needs guys who has a friend in the church, so he was the one really egging our guy to get ahold of the missionaries. The Lord works in mysterious ways! So we gave our guy a Book of Mormon, a Finding Faith in Christ dvd, a Restoration pamphlet and our number to set up an appointment next week (which he all took super excitedly!), and we gave his neighbor a Book of Mormon too. All within the space of like 5 min. 5 min! Fjdkxncusiskxmcidhfheiej I AM SO HAPPY. Oh gosh, and as we were saying bye he turned and was like "I'm super excited to meet with you Sisters, and I feel like this is really what I need in my life right now. But just a warning, I'm sarcastic." ...HE'S MY PEOPLE! I HAVE FOUND A FELLOW MAN. THIS IS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL AND GLORIOUS DAY. HALLELUJAH. #GodNeverCeasesToBeAGodOfMiracles
Thursday we had weekly planning where our area book apps actually worked this week so we could get it done quick! So glorious. Much wow. (For you teenagerly folks, I gotchu) and then we had lunch, and went and saw our main man Richard Rac. He's so cute, it's adorable. You can really tell though that he's such a choice spirit, and it's amazing the people that work there- they have to be super patient and loving and just perfect to take of these precious souls. It's so amazing how the Lord works and how you can truly see the Light of Christ in everyone. Then we went and tried various people and knocked a lot of slam-in-the-face doors. Fun stuff here in good ole Emerson #ItsAHardKnockLifeForUs (haha #Punny) Then we had dinner at an interesting members house. Like the whole family is a lil bit peculiar, I mean that in the most loving way- just trying to describe em. Ya we ended up there forever becuz the mom finally decided to be chatty and enjoy having us over instead of tolerating us for dinner and then kicking us out. She's actually super awesome! Like I gained so much more respect and love for her and her family so fast in the lesson/convo! It's awesome what 5 months in an area can do for the closed-off people lol.
Friday we did service at a senior center! We spent the morning with the ladies there playing a word game. It's super fun each time, even if all we're doing is trying to make little words out of a big one- we got 112 4+ letter words out of the word "establishment" in an hour. Good stuff good stuff. Then we went to the church for an hour of Mormon.org time. Ok, advice time: go watch Two Brothers Two on mormonchannel.org. It's sooooooooooooo stinkin amazing! I love it so much and I just want to adopt the 4 brothers into our family cuz they're so adorable and everything about the series is beautiful. It was so cool to see just a part of their mission experiences in Chile, Cambodia, and Latvia- it really made me want to like tour all the missions in the world for a week at a time or something...but I also love it here in Jersey...#DreamProbs. Anyways, it's a super awesome series, and you should go watch it cuz I'm obsessed! Have a FHE around it or something :)
We spent Saturday helping sister Cardoso out (stellar lady. Gonna hang out with her and Jo alllllll the time when I come back). Sunday was super weird because Sister Villondos daughter came back from her mission in TX. So it was her homecoming, and it was super weird cuz I realized that would be me in 13 months and I don't want it to be! I want to be a missionary forever and I never want it to end. Ever. Also, it was exactly 3 months til my birthday and that's weird cuz I'll be 20....ya, just let that sink in for a moment. 20. What in the world?! I'm not old enough to to be out of my teen years!!! For goodness sake I'm still a child! (Except plz get rid of my horrible acne, no human wants to see this). Super crazy stuff! And it was 33 days til Christmas! Whoa it's goin fast!
Monday we had our quarterly interviews with PT. The Taggarts are amazing! Literally everything about them is awesome and I love em to death. A lot of people say you're called to an area and to the people you'll meet there, but I also feel like you're called to a mission president as well. They just fit so well with you, it really makes being a missionary easier when you really gel with your leader. It all works out! :)
Yesterday we had district meetings, and fundamentals training, and weekly planning becuz Thursday is chuck full of dinner appointments. We have 4! Holy moly I'm gonna have to roll out of those houses tomorrow, and I'll have to make sure and wear my elastic waist skirt, becuz it's goin to be craaaaazzzzy! Also we had dinner with the Bonhard family (aka basically my faves) and she said she would text you tomorrow pics and everything of me haha, so be ready for that! She's so cool! She really cares SO much about the missionaries- she's our mission mom, she's gotten me a tshirt and always buys us or makes us dinner or lunch whenever we need it, she's gone on "twalks" with us, and she just genuinely cares so much about others- she's Wonder Woman. I can't say enough about her! And the rest of the family is the same way! I'm so excited we get to spend tomorrow with them :D
Lessee, in answer to your question- nope. I do not have any new investigators and I havent for quite some time now....I've been teaching the same people for 5 months now. We go out and knock doors for hours and get nothing. Like literally, we're lucky if we get 3 people to even say a word to before they slam the door. So ya, you know how my whole life I've hated rejection and its like the worst thing in the world to me? Wellll, i can safely say that I've sorta gotten over that now lol! Having your worst fear happen 24/7 everyday kinda numbs you to the pain of it- so sweeeeetness for learning experiences on the mission! I mean, I won't lie- its suuuupppeeer hard. But its a good kind of hurt, ya know? I'm stretchin, not breaking :) AND I'm just plantin lil seeds for the next missionaries in this area. Who knows what'll happen here.
I mission is definitely a strange experience. Ya hate it and love it and it
hurts but its so euphoric and you get super sad but you're always happy and you
want to go home but you want to stay forever (hahah mulan "would you like to
stay forever?") sooooo ya. lol, it's a cool thing for sure! Best 18 months of my
life. I want to go on another and another and another, but alas- im must wait
til i am a senior. #SeniorPower #SeniorDiscount? ;)
I love you SO STINKIN MUCH all you wonderful people in CO. My family is
sweet, my ward is da bomb, my friends are outta this world, and everyone else is
supa awesome! Miss ya lots, but hey- only 30 days til Christmas Mom *plugs ears
prepping for the squeal*
Have a great thanksgiving! I'm so grateful for ALL OF YOU! Eat lots of food
for me, cuz y'all know I'mma be eatin enough for all of you
combined!
Love ya!
Stay Jersey Strong.
Sister McAllister
city life
Columbus Circle
District Partay
Temple Trip
first time on a subway
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