Ewing, Trenton, Eatontown- we can't seem to stay in our area!.....June 27, 2016

NAAAAAAAAAAAAAHNISQUANIA FAVALEEESEEEBADO mmmmmmm WENYAMA wenyama
WENYAMA wenyamaaaaaaaaa. Pink pajamas penguins on the bottom, pink
pajamas penguins on the bottom, pink pajamas penguins on the bottom,
pink pajamas penguins on the bottom---From the day we arrived in the
field, and blinking stepped into the sun. There's more to see than can
ever be seen, more to do than can ever be done. There's far too much
to teach all now, more to find than can ever be found. But with the
sun rolling high, through the smog covered sky. It keeps us going on
the endless round- ITS THE CIRCLE OF MISSION LIFE! *insert random
animal noises, not far off from us obnoxious missionaries'*

Heeeeyyyyyoooooo!
It's been a fantastic week! I mean, it seems like it's lasted a month,
but it's been awesome!
Monday as you know if you read my last email, was the All-Mission
Summer Conference. It was a blast!!!!! I got to see all my old
buddies, hang with my sisters, take random pics, eat good food, and
play softball for 2 hours (man I'm terrible at it now...). Twas
wonderful.
Tuesday was even better! We had a great District meeting with our
super sassy district, and then we had a great lesson with one of
investigators named Allan. He's 27 and insanely philosophical and
literal. He wants proof of everything. This lesson seemed to go a
little smoother than last, and he said he would read the BoM and pray-
but we'll see how this goes. We then went and saw a new investigator
of ours named Adrienne. She actually lives in a different ward, in an
elders area, but she wanted to be taught by the sisters and we're the
closest ones. LUCKY US!!! And we got to go with a new member of our
ward named Stefanie. She's basically the coolest, craziest, awesomest
girl ever. We taught Adrienne twice this week and both times it was
THE most spiritual lessons I've ever had, hands down. She is SO
prepared. She was telling us about her grandson who died of cancer a
couple years ago, of some experiences with her mom, and about how she
hadn't felt happiness and peace since his passing- until we came
along. Everything made sense to her and she's so ready to grasp on to
the gospel! It has been a pure pleasure and joy to teach her, she's a
breath of fresh air after a loooooooooong time. AND SHE CAME TO CHURCH
ON SUNDAY!!!!! And brought 3 of her friends, 2 of which are the
patients that she cares for and have sat in on our lessons! I'm so sad
to have to hand her over to the elders, I've come to love her so much
just within the last week. The Spirit does amazing things.
Wednesday we had an AWESOME lesson with Varsha! We had planned to only
meet with her, but as we were walking she started calling someone on
her phone, and a girl popped up out of nowhere! Her name is Tina, and
her whole family actually converted to Christianity when in India. So
she came too, and we taught the 2 of them the entire Plan of
Salvation. They both were so into it, and the Spirit was so strong!
And we were able to teach them again on Friday!! Funny story there
though, we were planning on meeting with Varsha and Tina again, but
instead we met with Varsha and Sreeja. Now, let me explain this whole
convoluted/awesome story!!! I was on exchange in the end of May, and
S.Shaffer and I knocked on only 2 doors that day. One door was
Sreeja's. We explained the BoM to her and gave one to her, and got her
number and were super excited- but she was always busy so we never
could set up another appt. we kept stopping by her apartment at random
times though, hoping she'd be there. Each time we met someone
different! First we met her cousin, then Varsha, then another friend,
and then this last time we knocked again Varsha answered. She was so
cute too, she was like "Sreeja's not here, but can you teach me? Is
that alright? I want to learn!". Ah! So cool! So we have 1 progressing
investigator and 2 new investigators all from that one apartment!!!
It's soooooooo cool! But yeah, so in our lesson with Varsha on Friday
we taught her the Restoration and she said "Why didn't I know this
before? This is my first time hearing all of this!" And we were able
to explain to her that most people don't know the truth simply because
they don't know where to find it. That rung true to her, and
everything we talked about was jampacked with the Spirit!!!!!! I have
such high hopes for her!!!!!
OH! And on Friday and Saturday I got to go on exchanges with........S.
Bulson!!!! It was SO MUCH FUN! Ah, we were cracking up all day about
all of our inside jokes and funny things we know about each other. It
was glorious. I had so much fun with her. But my mind was tripping the
whole time! Because we were back together, but in my new area/her old
area, and then when we drove to Eatontown to exchange back it was the
2 of us in our area we served in together again. She's so awesome. One
day I want to be as cool as she is. We made plans to hang in Seattle
after all this, and for her to come camping in CO with me. It'll be a
party, I'm so excited!!!! :)
Right now it's a struggle bus with my comp, but that's nothing new.
Same ole same ole that it's been for 2 months now. Hoping it'll get
better.

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR LETTERS/EMAILS OF TWUE WUV!!!!
Love you all!
Stay Jersey Strong.
Love, Sister McAllister

 teaching on the street

ONE YEAR MARK....wearing the same outfit she wore into the MTC!

Big Fat Goose-Egg....June 20, 2016

My wonderful familia and friends- I hope I will find the time to email
you all today, because we only have about 20 min to do so! We are
having an All-Mission Summer Conference today where we play games at
the park and then meet back together for a slideshow, talent show, and
a fireside from the Taggart's son. It's pretty weird to come full
circle, because this same exact event happened my first ever Pday in
the mission last year...blech. *shudders* But anyways, I hope this
email will make sense (I rough drafted it last night)

Well in the first exciting bit of news: we got fed 4 times this
week!!!!! Two of them being yesterday haha. It's a Christmas
miracle!!!! I feel like the ward is slowly warming up to us, and I
actually have a few friendly faces in the crowd now :)
And 2nd (not so much exciting news, as weird news) I've met sooooo
many people this week that remind me of Dad or Ty. I mean one of the
Elders in particular, but a couple others too, are spot on for Ty- and
then a few members here remind me of Dad. So it's been kinda nice! A
home away from home so to speak lol.

And then for the rest of the news, and most of it is blah haha, so sorry!
The last transfer, and then this week too, have been the hardest in my
mission so far. Not just because of companion issues, but because the
work in this area is suffering SO bad. We have NO progressing
investigators, NO one interested in coming to church, NO one wanting
to give us the time of day, and hardly any new investigators from week
to week. We have been out knocking doors, street contacting, Walmart
contacting, park contacting, chalk-drawing, Home Depot contacting,
parking lot contacting, food contacting, pleading for referrals from
members, knocking with the youth...you name it and we've probably done
it this week. This has been THE longest week of my life... For at
least 6 hours each day we are out walking around trying with all our
might to find someone who is interested and wants to progress. We are
searching our guts out for ONE prepared person. And we haven't been
able to find a single one... Not a single person. *sigh* Am I doing
something wrong? Am I not trying hard enough? Should I grab myself a
wheelchair so I can walk faster and talk to more people quicker? My
feet are literally about to fall off because they hurt so bad. My
liver is going to be shot after all the ibuprofen I've been popping!
And I feel like we should be getting some sort of blessings because of
the efforts and tries we have made. But we get nothing. Zip. Nada.
Zilch. And it's been like this for 75% of my mission, not counting my
awesome 3 months in Eatontown. It's been rough feeling so discouraged
all the time. I feel like I'll never measure up to what God needs from
me. I'm too weak. I feel like I'll never meet someone who wants to
progress and eventually get baptized.

But enough with the doom and gloom- ain't nobody got time for that! Haha
This week we saw one cool blessing. We went to try and see a
college-aged Hindu that I had knocked into on exchange about a month
ago. We've been trying and trying to see Sreeja again but every time
we go back we meet someone new that lives there haha. Well this time
we met her friend Varsha (well, we had already met her before) who
told us Sreeja wasn't there, but that she wanted to talk with us
herself. Apparently Sreeja had been telling her 3 other roommates
about us and about the Book of Mormon we gave her! And Varsha,
although a Hindu, was raised by her grandma til she was about 13 and
her grandmas a Christian! So she knows most of the Bible stories, and
the general idea of Christ, etc etc. So when we showed up again this
time, she invited us right in and wanted us to teach her! We only had
15min until our next appointment, but we were able to teach her the
1st part of the plan of salvation- and she understood it all! We
taught her about Adam and Eve and the wonderful plan that God has for
us and she said "I haven't heard that before. That makes sense!" She
said the closing prayer perfectly, and wants to meet with us again
next week!  That was pretty cool.

That's it for me! I'm currently writing this as we listen to an Elder
jam on the piano for the talent show. I love you all!

Stay Jersey Strong.
Love, Sister McAllister

It is Hot, Hot, HOT!....June 13, 2016

Hello Everyone!!! It looks like I'm staying here in good ole
Plainsboro for another transfer with S.Baine- should be an adventure!
Something else I learned about transfers- instead of 2 companionships
we cover, we'll be covering 5 companionships now as STLs! Wow! We now
have all of zone 7 and zone 8 to train and lead! AND my old comps
S.Bulson and S.Carlson fall under that umbrella now, so that should be
fun hahaha! Bringing back the good old days :)

As a note before I start detailing the awesomeness of my week- telling
you this now in the hopes that it will eradicate any future tangents
before they begin- I'm getting so old in the mission...I hit my year
mark in 11 days... and that scares me, because I'm not ready to be
this old and start thinking about the fact that my time is short. I
don't want my time to be short in the Lord's service! It's sooooooo
weird! I feel like I just came out yesterday. But here I am almost a
year down the road! Time flies too fast, it needs to slow its roll
haha

*ahem* K. Yes. On to the week!
Monday, as you know from my pics last week, we walked around Princeton
with the Hermanas taking pics and being goofs and getting creeped out
in dark cathedrals- you know, the usual. And then that night we got to
go over to the Bishop's house for dinner! A few other members were
there, from Ghana, and they had brought their friend with them. Cool
story: he was supposed to leave the day before, but they convinced
him/forced him to stay one more day so he could come to this dinner.
Well, we shared our spiritual thought and everyone was talking about
their thoughts and feelings and sharing testimonies and all that, and
the friend was just sitting on the couch taking it all in. And then,
right as we're about to close, he pipes up! And he says that this was
exactly what he needed to hear because he's been struggling with a
dilemma for a long time, and this was the perfect answer he needed!
And then he basically bore his testimony about Christ and the Spirit
was SUPER strong- and he recognized that it was the Spirit too! Ah! So
cool. God works in mysterious ways! :)

Tuesday was zone meeting and S.Baine and I gave our 2nd training
together. It went IMMENSELY better than the 1st because: 1. I wasn't
dying of disease 2. We were better prepared and 3. It only had to be
10 minutes long instead of 25. Whew. Then we had a training given to
us by President Taggart- it was so fun to see him and have lunch with
him! And then I went on a Spanish exchange the rest of the day. I was
actually pretty amazed at how much I could follow a conversation based
on the few words I know, the little French I know, body language, and
expression! S.Rhein kept asking me if I wanted her to translate, but I
could understand the gist of what was said each lesson. Super weirdly
awesome! Man, I want to learn a 2nd language soooooooooooooo bad!!!
One day.

Wednesday we exchanged back, went to service and got a TON of food,
and then I went on an STL exchange with S.McConkie in Toms River. That
was a much needed exchange haha. It was so great to be with her for a
3rd time! The "Mc's" were together again at last! I really needed the
2 day break from my area and companion. It's been a struggle bus the
past transfer, so it was nice to take a step back and breathe, look at
life from the outside, and then go back and work on it. And S.McConkie
is a boss too, so that helped as well haha! She's so awesome. She
knows how to lead and help and love and serve and advise SO well. I
want to be a leader like her one day! She's amazing.

Thursday we cleaned our apartment and car after we exchanged back.
Friday we had service and apartment inspections. And we went to Taco
Bell with the 4 Spanish missionaries afterwards- that's always a
blast! Although sadly, our cool group keeps dwindling. S.Bird and
E.Mendoza got transferred away, it won't be the same :/
I adore S.Bird. She truly is not only an amazing missionary with a
heart of gold, but one of the most genuine and honestly-herself people
you will ever meet. I'm gonna miss her. But we still have 3 transfers
to serve around each other again!

Sunday was a beautiful day. It's so cool how wonderful the Sabbath is.
The Spirit was so strong during church, and everything just seemed to
work out. We went finding for the few hours we had last night from 6-9
and taught 6 lessons! That's insane for this area. Usually we get 6
lessons in 2 days, not 3 hours! Everyone we talked to was sooooo nice!
We were able to give out 3 Books of Mormon and invite someone to
church!!! I love missionary work :)

It's already June 13! Summer is just flying by, and soon it will be
chilly enough for long sleeves!!!!!!!!!!! Yes!!!!! Haha
I hope you all are doing well, and aren't dying from heat and humidity
like Jersey is haha

Love you!
Stay Jersey Strong.
Love, Sister McAllister

Stalker alert!

Not sure why but this picture just makes me laugh

Avocado Madness...June 6, 2016

Man, this week has been a psycho roller coaster of emotions. This
transfer so far has been, without a doubt, the hardest 5 weeks of my
life. But I've also never been so blessed spiritually. God is good.

Let's talk about the miracles I've seen this week first:
Monday we were able to have a lesson with a former investigator of
1.5yrs named Amos, from Ghana. We had randomly called his number, and
he agreed to meet with us, the first time he's agreed since his
original missionaries got transferred away. We had an amazing meeting
with him and he is a HILARIOUS guy. Hard to understand sometimes, but
soooooooo funny. He's 24, in the army, and loves food like you would
not believe. He's also super stubborn. About everything. Including
reading and praying and meeting with us again. But we were able to
make a deal with him, that if he read 1 Nephi Chapter 1 we would tell
him our first names so that he could find us on FB hahaha! Well, he
read through chapter 2!!! And he took us to breakfast at a diner on
Saturday for our 2nd lesson :)  he's great. I gotta get a pic of him
soon!
Tuesday we got to see Alex again!!!!! We had to drop him because he's
been so busy with work, but we were able to meet with him again and
pick up where we left off!!! He's so willing to be baptized, we just
gotta arrange for us to meet so he can be taught the gospel! (Also,
there's a story attached to this meeting that I will tell later)
Wednesday we got fed by a cute couple who's interning here in NJ for
the summer as biomechanical engineers. They just got married in March
and are basically who I want to be off my mission haha. They went on
their missions to Paris, France (yes she actually knows Dallin Smith,
small world!) and he (from Tennessee) went to St. George,UT. And they
were kind enough to come to Amos' lesson on Sat at the diner, and they
were PERFECT to teach him! :)
Thursday we were able to have President Bean (in mission Pres.) come
with us with his daughter. They drove alllllll the way over from
Clinton to go to an appointment with us, which unfortunately juked,
and then they took us to dinner. We had Charlie Brown's! That place is
soooooooooooooooooo good! Then he gave us an hour long leadership
training full of scriptures and other awesome doctrine. He works for
the church as like a head supervisor for Institute and Seminary, and
he was called to the mission presidency last year- I swear, one day
he'll be a general authority. It was such an honor to have him be with
us for the night.
Friday we had our 6 hour long Mission Leadership Council in
Morristown. We left at 8am and didn't get back til 5pm because of
traffic. But it was worth it because the trainings that President and
Sister Taggart gave were amazing! I enjoy being a leader just for the
fact that I get to go to those hahaha, they're basically like winning
the spiritual jackpot.
Saturday we ate at diners twice for breakfast, and didn't eat anything
after that until 8pm when we got Subway and passed out on the floor.
So basically, my body is wrecked.
Sunday I got a much needed priesthood blessing from the elders. It
gave me the direction and counsel and comfort I so desperately needed.
I love the priesthood.

Now! Story time!
So, we finally get to meet with Alex again, after over a month of not
seeing him. We meet him at his aprt and walk with him over to a park
nearby. We sit at a picnic table and start getting into a discussion
and everything's going well and the Spirit's there and it's awesome. I
pull out the story in Mosiah where Alma and his people are suffering
under heavy burdens and taskmasters and start to cry out to God for
help, and He hears them and strengthens them to be able to carry the
loads on their backs. It's an awesome story, and it went really well
with what we were talking about, but I noticed as I was reading it
that Alex was getting a really creeped out look on his face. He was
staring past S.Baine and I looking concerned...and then this guy with
bugged out eyes comes around the fence behind us and asks if we were
talking about God. He was kinda creepy looking, but we gave him the
benefit of the doubt and Alex asked him if he would like to join us.
He sits down, and we ask him his name....its Alex....and he's from
Guatemala too, even though he's whiter than Marah (sorry lol, love
you). Well that's a lil creepier right? But in my mind I'm like,
"sweet! Yes! Another investigator! This can't be coincidence!".......I
was so wrong. He proceeds to bash us. For 30 minutes. And he won't let
us talk or stand up or do anything. He was so scary that I felt like
if I moved he would jump across the table and grab me and start
speaking in tongues or something. Yikes. And our poor Alex was just
sitting their speechless as the evil Alex spewed false doctrine and
started talking about the temple and Joseph Smith and oh my goodness I
was getting so annoyed at this guy. We told him to leave several
times, but he wouldn't listen, and all the while he kept talking to us
in a soft, tempered voice...so creepy. So eventually I interrupted
him, told him I don't care what he thinks, and then proceeded to bear
my testimony of what I know is true. And then we got up and left. It
was sooooooo lame. He ruined our lesson :(
But small mercy, Alex didn't believe a word the guy said, and said he
felt super "pukey" after that convo. So it's all good! Haha

Oh and we also got a huge box of avocados from the food pantry we
serve at. So we were using them contacting and we contacted this
Hispanic man without a shirt on and he really should have been and it
was gross and weird, but we gave him 2 avocados and hopefully that
helps out some missionaries in the future... Hahaha

So yeah, that's basically my week. I won't belabor you guys with all
my struggles. Hope you all have a wonderful week!!!!
Love you all!
Stay Jersey Strong.
Love, Sister McAllister

 Princton Campus

 Cupcake Wars