This week has been amazing!
We've seen so much progress with the area, and we've been having lots of fun
adventures along the way. :)
So first the fun awesome
stuff, and then I'll finish with the fun spiritual stuff!
On Saturday we had the trunk
or treat/chili cook-off for the ward. It was SO fun! The chili was awesome, and
the people hilarious. Some of those costumes were just too good haha! We passed
out pass along cards with candy taped to them, and you know, the kids go around
10 bazillion times, so they should have a nice stack to hand out later
lol
Last night and tonight we have
a curfew at 6pm, because only here in Jersey would they create something called
Mischief Night and let everyone run rampant through the streets...I love this
state haha! Last night we had dinner at a Members house, and to get there you
have to drive through a backwoods road for a few miles. Well, we drove back in
the dark, after it had rained, and even with the brights on you could hardly see
anywhere. Let's just say I almost hit a deer and 3 baby raccoons while I was
driving haha! But don't worry, I missed them all. Later, S.Hall and I painted
our faces while we went through area lists and tried contacting our people on
the phone or through FB. I tried making mine look like the Scottish flag, but
also look tribal and war paintish- yeah, looks nothing like either, but whatever
lol! And S.Hall was a tiger. It was a pretty fun night :)
Oh! Saturday we were running
around helping the members get ready for the cook-off, while also running to
appointments, when we saw that our street was covered in tents and cool
merchandise. We stopped to try and talk to a few people, see if we could get
anywhere with them, and we met a lady selling LuLaRoe. Now, idk if any of you
know what this is, but it's literally the cutest clothes I have ever seen in my
life! I was so excited to see she was selling them!!!! But they're also the most
expensive clothes of my life...so no bueno for cheapo me haha. But we talked
with the lady and got to know her a bit- she was so sweet. She's truly awesome!
And after we got done talking she grabbed some leggings and gave them to us for
free! And maaaaaaaan are they comfy and soft and they actually fit me and it was
just beautiful! We've been wearing them every night right before bed because
that's the only time we can haha- it pays to be a missionary!
Ok, spiritual missionary
awesomeness time!
Lately there's been a focus in
the mission to go and find the less actives and bring them back. President
Taggart was inspired with a way to go about doing this called "the Invite". We
show the video "Because of Him" and then go through the process of the Invite.
Each time it brings the Spirit so powerfully, they really feel of God's love for
them! So S.Hall and I have been going around doing this on all the less actives
we can find. This week we found 6 of them, of those we have 3 part member
families, and 2 people that want to come back and want to get back to the
temple!!!!!!!! We've met some truly amazing people, and I feel successful in a
way I haven't for a while! It's been so exciting to see them feel the Spirit and
have that desire to come back.
Also on Friday we were able to
have dinner with the Cook family in Blairstown. We don't go there too often
because it's a good 35 minute drive away, but we decided to block out a whole
day to go there and find less actives and others that we can teach. We ended the
night at the Cook's house, and they invited their neighbors over! Mary is a
sweet old lady who lost her husband last year and is taking care of her autistic
son Josh. We talked a lot with them, and they've actually been taught by Elder
and Sister Dunn (senior missionaries) last year, so they have a BoM and she
knows that families,can be together forever. Super awesome! She wants to meet
with us regularly now!!! It was so cool to see what good comes out of doing
service. The Cooks have been splitting Mary's wood for the past few years, and
then this happened! Nothing you do is ever wasted guys!
Ok, last thing, I don't want
this to be super long for you all. On Tuesday we had our normal roleplay class
at 10, district meeting at 11:30, and then afterwards we had fundamentals with
President at 2. Such a long day haha! He was training us on the Invite and how
to do it successfully. Well, the time came to roleplay it, and he was going to
pick 2 missionaries to come up, and ROLEPLAY IT IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE
ZONE.....ya. You've probably already guessed where I'm going... the second he
started describing what he was going to do I started thinking "oh man, please
please please please please please please PLEASE do NOT pick me not me not me
not me please" etc etc etc. K well, as I'm thinking that i think "the fact that
I totally dont want to do it probably means he's definitely going to pick me.
President can smell fear, I bet he can hear my thoughts right now...don't make
eye contact! No wait. What if he picks the ones who avoid eye contact??? Ok.
Look at him. But not excessively, just normally? C'mon act innocent! Don't be
overly confident, but don't look like a wiener either! What if.....aaaaaaaaand
he picked me...... *internal screaming*" I was literally sweating SO hard. I was
nervous and I had to go to the bathroom and I was sweating and I was jittery and
I wanted to pass out and fall through the floor and do ANYTHING to make it so I
didn't have to be standing there in front of the whole zone and my leaders and
President! Ugh. I wanted to cry.......aaaaaaaaaaand you guessed it. I did.
*facepalms* I literally cried my eyes out, lips quivering, unable to talk, in
front of EVERYONE. Blah. But in my defense, it wasn't from nerves, it's because
the Spirit was epically strong in the roleplay. These 2-3 minute videos the
Church has produced are spot on and beautiful. It hit me so hard watching it,
and then as we talked to "Mitch and Marvin" (aka our zone leaders) I didn't have
to wonder what to say, I wasn't worried about all the missionaries looking at me
and judging my lack of skills, I was focused on the Spirit and on what the two
of them needed. It was an awesome experience, one I hope to remember forever-
even if it did give me a heart attack haha! So in other words, I'm grateful for
President picking me to do a slightly humiliating and embarrassing, but building
and strengthening roleplay. In front of 20 other boss missionaries.
Ok ok! I'm done for now, sorry
for the long email haha!
Love you all!!!Stay Jersey Strong.
Love, Sister McAllister
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