Hey All!
Today I went to Ellis island on my departing trip. Super mixed emotions about that, but I'll get to that later haha
This week was a "miracle, last-minute
twist, hard work, and fun times"-filled week. Life seems to have just
gone crazy since Christmas!
Monday we went to the Stevenson's house
so S.Hall could make her pen on his lathe. We got some yummy homemade
cinnamon rolls out of that too! They were supposed to have us over that
night as well for dinner, but there was a delay in a flight from Utah
and yadda yada they couldn't have us over- which I actually felt better
about because I felt bad taking up their whole day! So they had us over
the next night for dinner.
Tuesday we had my last ever district
meeting...that was the beginning of the end haha! All my lasts are going
to be coming up! Gah. But yeah, I love my district leader Elder Jordan,
he's a super awesome leader! His trainings are great and he's really
adapted his teaching to meet the needs of his district. It's cool to
serve around him again too, because it was back in the beginning of my
mission that we served around each other last. It's always cool to see
how people change and yet are still the same goofballs they were in the
beginning. They just become more of a spiritual giant :) So
anyway, I'm going to miss Tuesday meetings where you know you'll get
spiritually fed weekly with new ideas and things you've forgotten or
overlooked.
Tuesday we were double booked with
dinners, so I made sure to wear my stretchy skirt, and boy was I stuffed
after! We went over first to Sister Menendez's house and had yummy
fried plantains with rice and pork. One funny thing about Spanish, is
there's dozens of different dialects, so words mean different things in
different countries. For instance, she's from Ecuador and plantains to
her is "maduro", but to other people it's "plátanos". We were really
confused when she first told us what she was cooking, but then she
showed it to us and we got it haha! Then, we went straight from her
house to the Stevenson's where we had authentic Chinese food made from
authentic Chinese ingredients. Brother Stevenson served his mission in
Taiwan (and sis Stevenson in Scotland), so they made us a bunch of stuff
I can't dream of pronouncing. There was lots of rice, weird meat, and
weird vegetables, but it was all pretty good! I also ate my entire meal
with chopsticks, so I felt pretty proud of myself! And then we had
homemade mango pudding for dessert- yum. I swear, just in these last 3
weeks I will have gained at least 10lbs from all the stuff we're getting
fed.
Wednesday we were able to see a miracle
of getting in to an inactive, part member house that we've been trying
by for 3 months!!! The timing was right I guess, probably because of the
holiday cheer, and we were able to share a short video with Dawn and
George before they kicked us out haha! We talked about the poems he
writes about God, and we shared our Christmas Day festivities with each
other, before she got antsy and started ending the conversation. Woohoo!
We took them brownies another night, just to build trust and friendship
with them, so we're hoping that'll start going somewhere in the next
month or so. Small and simple things! Little tender mercies lead to big
miracles! Wednesday evening we also got a call from our district leader
that the STL's were on there way to our apartment right that minute for
an exchange....one we were not informed about til that very moment...And
it would go til Friday. Surprise! We were a little frustrated at first,
and felt a little judged by the whole situation, BUT God is good and
I'm a prideful sack, so it ended up being perfect haha! We had Hna
Higginbotham with us here, and we all learned a lot from each other. I
learned to not judge a situation right away, but to step back and see
the bigger picture. She was sent to us to learn something, and we were
given plans that day to learn something as well! More on that later. So
Wednesday we went over to the Thompson house for dinner and guess what
we had!? Chinese food! What in the world haha?? I've had it once in the
past 2 transfers, and then all the sudden here it comes! It was good
though, her egg rolls were to die for.
I'm realizing this letter is all about
food...I guess it's easy to see what I love haha! I hope I'm not making
y'all hungry. Thursday we still had the sister with us, but it was also
weekly planning day, so we spent the majority of the morning and early
afternoon planning while she studied Spanish and did other stuff. I
learned some more Spanish with her too, so, maybe one day I'll actually
know more than 20 words! Lol
That day we had lots of plans to go
finding because we had no set appointments. Our mission is doing this
thing where we try by a less Active, and if they're not home we knock 20
doors around them asking their neighbors if they know them, who are
they, what's their schedule, etc etc. President has said that this is a
beautiful way to knock down barriers and get in their houses, and I have
seen it work before, but for some reason that day it was so not
working. We got yelled at twice, scorned a couple times, and one man
walking his dog was pretty rude, BUT we met a super nice guy named Jesse
who had the most hipster, eccentric outfit and vibe going on and he
took a card with our number on it! Woohoo! And we had another lady (who
had had a leeeetle too much wine) who opened the door, called us pretty,
started to close the door, and then without us saying anything said
"alright, give me your stupid pamphlet" lol! We're so good we didn't
even have to say anything haha ;)
Friday we had more Chinese food, and lots
of other stuff happened this weekend, but I've run out of time! The
Statue of Liberty is huge, and the inside was cool! My feet are killing
me, and my hair is drenched, and my life is still a surreal mess. But I
love you all and wish you well! Talk to you next week!!
Stay Jersey Strong.
Love, Sister McAllister
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