Whew. This week was a doozy! I'm glad we made it out alive with all our sanity intact...barely. Haha!
The
craziness really started on Thursday, and we haven't had much of a
break until now. We're exhausted lol. So on Thursday we were running all
day from appointment to appointment trying to fit weekly planning into
the middle of it all. We luckily got everything done that we needed too,
but let's just say my pillow never felt so good before haha!
That
night we were able to meet with our new investigators that came to the
Ward Christmas Brunch last Saturday! Lisa and her girls are so awesome!
We brought Sister Roberts, the YW president, with us and the 2 daughters
want to start coming on Wednesday's now! The family is so nice, and
we're becoming good friends with all of them. We even met all of their
boyfriends and everything lol, that was kinda awkward, but still cool.
We also spent a little while that night serving them by helping them
make stuff for a bake sale they're doing. We made these strawberry
milkshake cookies from Pinterest and I fell in love. They are my new
favorite cookie! They're just melt-in-your-mouth goodness wrapped in a
pink and white cookie haha. And then, Lisa took us downstairs because
she wanted to show us her Christmas tree and all the decorations. Or at
least, that's what she said- but when we got down there she went to the
tree and pulled out 2 presents and gave them to us! My heart just melted
right along with those cookies we were eating! It was sooooooo sweet. I
just know I'm going to talk with this family forever, whether or not
they get baptized haha :)
Friday
was the All-Mission Christmas Conference! It was so exciting to see all
my friend again!!! I was Picture-Happy all day that day haha. We
started off the conference listening to Bart Oats of the NY Giants and
SF 49ers talk to us about winning 3 Super Bowls and how we need to live
our mission like a "2 minute drill". He actually used a clip from the
Giants beating the Patriots in a super bowl a couple years ago to
demonstrate a lot of principles, so that got my hyped for this years
super bowl haha! Some of my favorite one-liners from him are: "One wrong
choice, one mistake, does not define who I am. One of the very few
things I control on a mission is my effort. Give my best, doesn't matter
if it's better or worse than anyone else. and Always fight. Never give
up!" He passed around 2 of his bowl rings too, and man, those are a
piece of hardware haha! They're huge! And one of the things he told us
is that the team gets to pick the style and everything on their rings
when they win! I thought that was cool.
Then
President and Sister Taggart talked with us, and I loved some of the
things they said too. President talked about how this is their 3rd and
last Christmas here in NJ, and I loved the chance I got to spend it with
them. I'm so grateful my mission got pushed back those 2 weeks, so glad
I got to be here for this wonderful season and holiday. I can't imagine
it any other way! 18.5 months in a state I now consider my 2nd home!
And Sister Taggart was just amazing too, she talked about how she's been
looking at the weather constantly the past week and just watching the
number sink lower and lower and the snow raise higher and higher. She
said that she just sits there and prays for us. She knows we have to go
through trials and hardships, but (she was in tears relaying this all)
she pleads that it doesn't have to be THIS cold, THIS windy, THIS snowy.
They both just brought me to tears while they talked. You can't help
but feel the love they have for us, they truly do have 180+ children to
watch over and love out here- and they've been parents to like 300
others! I just love these 2.
Then
we had lunch and hung out all together as a mission. There was song,
raps, dancing, the whip, laughter, a slideshow, pictures, presents,
letters, good food, the price is right, minute to win it games, and just
lots and lots of fun! I said goodbye to all my Spanish friends, because
unless they come to transfers, I won't see them again :( that was
rough. I've been feeling both raw and overwhelmingly full these past few
days! I said bye to Elders Mendoza and Justice, and Sisters Pace,
Virgin, Holguin, and lots of others but I'm starting to get sad listing
these names so I'm gonna stop lol! Gosh, endings are so hard. And I know
I'll get to chill with them later, but that's months down the line! For
some of them it's almost a year away haha
But yes, it was a fun day! And I got your package and letters family! Thank you!
Then
on Saturday we got to go to Ellis Island!!! It started snowing at
midnight and continued through the morning. We had to scrape off a
couple inches of snow from our car, and then navigate the roads that
hadn't been plowed haha! I drove 30mph on the highway in a single file
line, slipping and sliding all over the place for 2.5 hours to get to
Ellis Island lol! It was an adventure. But now I can say that I know how
to drive in the snow, and I have in fact done it. Boom. It was actually
not too bad. And it was technically S.Hall's day to drive, but she
didn't want to, so I'm glad we survived lol! But Ellis Island was super
fun! Not too many people were there, so the staff let us walk around the
museum for a little while. I've done it before, but I got to see the
exhibits that I hadn't before. That was pretty cool! It was a fun day.
Sunday
was the English Missionary Christmas Fireside where yours truly sang in
a small group in front of 500+ people...yikes! I was suuuuuuuuuper
nervous all day. But it ended up going pretty well I think. I have a
video of it, so you guys can be the judge lol! The music was amazing
last night. I love how we truly can worship Him with song, and it's one
of the quickest ways to bring the Spirit in to your heart too! It was a
real fun evening! And I got to see the Murch's and S.Abraham from
Eatontown, the Alkemas from Princeton, the Russell's from Emerson, and
S.Williams and Monique and Br.Peña from Scotch Plains! I'm sad more
people weren't there, but it was nice to get to say bye to them all and
catch up for a bit! I also got to say goodbye to my English friends too.
Elders Oakley, Hicks, Adams, Koo, Jessop, and Sisters Llana, Flinders,
Burk (basically I'm naming people for my own benefit of looking back on
this lol). It was a good night, sad as well, but good. I've become real
good friends with one of the elders, and he lives all the way across the
Atlantic Ocean, so we were both pretty bummed out that that was
probably our last time ever hanging out. Lame. One day I'll go to the
U.K., I have to find Hogwarts! Haha
But
yup, Christmas is in 6 days, it snuck up way quick on us! We started a
countdown on our whiteboard on Dec 1st! It's already Dec 19th!!! Gah,
time slow down!!! I'm excited for it though, we already have 2 members
having us over on Christmas Eve, and one on Christmas! Woohoo! Party!
Stay Jersey Strong.
Love, Sister McAllister
Driving to Ellis Island in the snow
Ellis Island
Ready for Christmas
The Taggart's....Mission President and his wife
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