Run Ragged...April 18, 2016

This week has been pretty bland to be honest haha, so I'll try my best to spice it up a bit!

Tuesday was a fun day for me though! I got to go on exchange with S. McConkie again!!!!!! In Toms River again!!!! It was so fun to see all the people there and to get to know them better. With my memory, I have all their names and faces down pat, and none of them have any idea who I am! Lol, it's the funniest thing. The poor people are so confused about how in the world I know who they are and they got NO clue who I am. I enjoy it hahahahaha >:)  but most of all I enjoyed the time I spent with S. McConkie. She's such a boss. Man, and whenever I'm with her, everything is just so easy and simple. We get along real well, and I feel like we're the same person on most fronts! It was basically a party...a really mellow, chill party. Ya. Whoo! Haha. Oh! And I realized while I was with her that we both "killed" each other's "mom"s. I sent S. Kafu home, and she sent S. Brown home. Lol! So we got a kick outta that :)

Thursday we had a 7hour zone conference with President and Sister Taggart and the Assistants (one of which is now E. Adams, who I came out with! Stinkin awesome) and PT's training about the reason we're on this earth really hit me. We're here to learn how to do the will of the Father. Christ spent His whole life following God's plan and doing His will, and He was the only perfect man who has ever walked the earth! The Plan is only going to work, and agency is only going to as well if we are obedient. And I thought it was pretty cool to cuz PT talked a lot about space haha. He showed a picture of the Milky Way and talked about how it's 160,000 light years across, and light travels at about 180,000mi/sec. And he told us to just imagine how stinkin huge the universe is. He said it brings into perspective just how great are God's creations. A lot of people were shocked and like mindblowned, but cmon people!!! Why do you think I like space so much???? Why are the rest of you not studying it as much as me??? Haha, it was pretty funny to see their faces. But God's power and love and creations are truly awe inspiring. I love it so much.

Throughout the week we've spent a lot of time with a recent convert named Laura in the hospital. No one from the ward, outside of 2 people, have visited her the past 1.5 weeks she's been in. She's so grateful every time we come, because she just craves the company and the escape from the sadness the hospital gives her. I think it's sad how more people don't care...it's really shown me just how important a visit or a call is. I think when I get home, I'll be the designated "hospital visitor" in the ward! Haha, I'm gonna kill everyone with kindness and with my annoying face every minute I can spare ha hahahahaha it'll be awesome!

Oh! And Sunday was stake conference here- and guess who I saw????  Jarren. With his wife. In NJ. Where they now live. not in CO. Not a youngin in HS at SC. Weeeeiiiiird! I wanted to go up and say hi, maybe snap a pic for all y'all at home, but he and his wife dodged out suuuuuper fast after conference was over. Lame, but I did see him! Haha

Dats it for me!! Life is pretty crazy in this ward- they all expect us to do everything since the ward doesn't care...we right now have a Less active on the phone asking us to like wash her dog, take him to the vet, drive her car, etc etc allllllll of which we can't do...but no one else in the ward apparently will. Haha, so yay for being overwhelmed with non-missionary tasks. Like I'm also organizing a cleaning effort for Laura's aprt, by myself. She wants me to run it. But I'm a missionary. And should be out knocking doors. Not supervising cleaning for the 6 hrs that it will take...aye ya yie!

Anyways hahahahaha, I'm done now.  Love you all!
Stay Jersey Strong.

Love, Sister McAllister

 Not Colorado sunsets, but it will do she says

 Splits with Sister McConkie

 Her and comp visiting someone in the hospital

 Zone 7 and 8 sisters

Hospitals and Fried Chicken....April 11, 2016

Hellllllloooooooooo!
'Twas an interesting and loooooooong week, so let's just get into it!

Monday was a super awko time for everyone so I'm not even going to
elaborate on that one...

Tuesday was AWESOME! We had zone meeting where the zone leaders pumped
us all up to go out and work! Ah, it was such an exciting meeting! We
had lunch and played games together as a zone, and then we had a
training by one of our members who sells Vivint. He came and shared
with us techniques on how to get into people's homes. He makes it look
so stinkin easy, but I know it's not haha. It's something to practice
for sure, and the ideas and things he gave us to do are going to be
pretty effective too- I can already tell! I'm excited to go knocking
now.
After the meeting we had a lesson with our recent convert Kelly about
the temple. She's preparing to go on the 22nd! We can't wait to have
her go and do baptisms!! We're trying to find some of her family names
that she can take too, but it's a little harder because her family
comes from Hungary haha, but they can't hide forever from us! We'll
find the lil guys. #FamilySearchPros
Then we went and saw our MIA less active Wendy who likes to go missing
for days on end, but we finally saw her! And we were able to help her
commit to stop her Word of Wisdom issues!
Then we went back and saw our investigator Alex with Sister Vilaro
with us this time. Mom, she's basically a mix between you and me.
She's got your photography skills, but my sass level hahahahaha oh
gosh I love her so much! She makes learning so fun and simple- Alex
truly enjoyed himself haha, and he learned a lot! He has an instant
friend in her too :)

Wednesday we had a bumpin time at the food pantry where we serve. It
was mass chaos because so much food was coming in, and shelves were
trying to be put up, and people were still trying to get their food at
the same time, and there's only so many volunteers there...whew, we
were running all over the place lifting bags and throwing out the
garbage and taking extra shelf units into the creepy basement! But it
was soooooo fun too because Elder Justice and Elder Mendoza were there
with us. It was basically a party with those 2, gosh they just crack
me up nonstop! We ended up going to get Chinese food with them
afterwards for lunch, and just had a gloriously hilarious time. I
think we might have scared the owner with how loud our laughter was
haha (oh, and we were cracking up cuz the name of the place is Holy
Wong hahahahahahah #MissionaryHumor)
Then we went over to our new investigators house and HOLY COW she
cooked enough food to feed an army of elders, let alone 2 sisters! We
had homemade fried chicken, green beans and pork, mashed potatoes and
gravy, cornbread, and cheesecake. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, we're still eating
the food and it's been almost a week! We have a whole bag of fried
chicken left! And she gave us 8 of her homemade cinnamon buns so I'm
in heaven. So goooooooood. But anyways haha, Karen and Sonny are
awesome! And it turns out that her mom was a member and that she was
taught by missionaries for a while back in the 90s and early 2000s.
Maybe it's her time? Who knows, but it's cool to see the connections
that some people have with the church.

Our recent convert Laura has been in the hospital since Wednesday. She
hasn't really progressed since she's been in there so she's pretty
worried. She's been in and out of the hospital for years, because she
not only has gastro-paresis but she also has like every infection and
disease and possible health problem known to man. The poor woman is
just being put through the ringer for the past 15 years :(   So we've
been sure to visit her every day for a little while because no one in
the ward goes over besides the RS Pres and her home teacher- it's
kinda sad how cold and closed off this ward is. It's gonna be a huge
challenge to get them more involved just within ward functions itself,
let alone missionary work.  But I digress. Laura is awesome, she's a
psychologist, a NYC ballerina, and she worked with Mother Theresa- oh
and she helped cure kids of autism. True fact. You could probably look
her up and get all sorts of books that have been written about her,
she's so awesome! I love her so much.

That's probably about it for me, this whole weeks been a blur!
Hopefully I'll have more to say next week :)

Random Jersey fact: Jersey has the highest cost of living.  *looks
into empty pockets* yup. Accurate fact.

Love you all!
Stay Jersey Strong!
Love, Sister McAllister

 How can it be April already?

15 pieces of fried chicken

German: The Celestial Language & Ice Cream After Conference....April 4, 2016

My dear wonderful family (yes that includes all of you not blood
related, sheesh) it has been another week! Holy cow, time just keeps
getting quicker and quicker! Is it just me, or has God made the
minutes years and the hours months and the weeks days?? Like for real,
I'm all discombobulated right now trying to think of last week and all
the crazy psycho things that happened... Oi vai, I got my work cut out
for me today! Type faster thumbs!!!

Monday I got to play sports for the first time in 4 months!!!!! It was
so great to play basketball again- even if it did take me like 1.5
hours to actually warm up and be good again (you will not believe the
number of layups I missed XD )  'twas a wonderfully sweaty time.
Anyone who says elders stink more than sisters has clearly never met
me after I've enjoyed a couple hours of kicking everyone's trash. It's
a condition. Called something like (now I'm paraphrasing here, I
forgot what the actual certified professional called it) Sweating Hard
Enough to Cover Your Tears of Shame. Ya. That sounds right actually.
"I remembered it again!"

Tuesday was God's day.
Enough said about that. Done deal. End of story. Walking away after
gently setting down the mic. Final credits rolling. Finished.
Nah haha, but for real it was an amazing day. We had an inspired
District Meeting from Elder Brown, and then spent lunch with our
hilarious zone. THEN we went to a media referral that we had called
and set an appointment with. Well guess, stinkin, what!!! Turns out
she's not an investigator....she's an inactive member who hasn't been
active in 4 years!! I was so blown away. We had NO idea going in that
she was a member. So she started using Mormon vernacular and throwing
out "ward" and "stake" and "missionary" and S. Charles and I were just
like...........what? Yup. She requested a Book of Mormon to share it
with her fiancé's mother- and she quoted "every member a missionary".
She's doing more than most active members in the ward right now
hahaha! But yeah, her testimony is suuuuuper strong. It's just a
bummer, because the whole reason she stopped going to church is
because of the people. She was getting hardcore judged for the things
she was doing when she was young (20 years ago now) and I guess she's
never gotten over it. We're excited though to see what happens this
week. She was a real sweet lady.  So ya, this is Miracle #1.
Miracle #2
We then go to another media referrals house. And walking up its a
huuuuuuge mansion, so we were a little worried it would be a person
wanting to bash (cuz hello) but it turned out to be a reeeaaaaalllllly
nice lady from Egypt/Qatar. She had been searching for a Catholic
Church close to home and somehow stumbled upon Mormon.org. Well she
talked to some missionaries over the phone, and then requested us to
come over and give her a Book of Mormon. It's actually really cool.
She grew up Muslim in Egypt, and she converted to Christianity when
she was in her 20s- but she had to hide it for 9 years because she
would be put to death otherwise. She then came here to America, and
has lived here for 14 years. So we told her all about the Book of
Mormon and why it's so important, and we explained a lot about the
functions of the ward itself. She said "I'm 51 years old now! Why have
I not learned of this before?" And she was super excited to read the
Book of Mormon. We set a return appointment for Friday.
Then, Miracle #3, we had an appointment that night with a Former
Investigator the sisters dropped 3 months ago. He's solid! Since then
a lot of crazy things have happened in his life, and he really wants
to repent and make things right, he says that he knows this is the
path God wants him to take, and that he wants to get baptized soon!
We're so excited to help him progress on his path towards our heavenly
home. He's so prepared!!
I have no clue why we were so blessed this day, maybe to make up for
the rest of the week, but it was truly amazing to see God's hand so
prevalent in our day. It just all worked out right from the beginning.

The rest of the week goes as follows: knock all day Wednesday, no
success. Go to ELLIS ISLAND Thursday for a training!!! Eat at a turkey
farm built in 1802 that night. Knock all day Friday, no success. See a
recent convert, Laura, that night and
Answer all her questions and just love her. She's so awesome. And then
it was GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!! I learned soooooooo much and the spirit
was so strong and President Uchtdorf cried after Elder Kearons talk
and Elder Holland is a crack up and it was just amazing, I'm so glad
we could hear President Monson talk too, he's so strong. My love for
all of them has grown so much out here- I truly adore each and every
one of them.
My favorite talks (I'll just say the name and then it's up to you to
go read their talks #Challenge): Elder Duncan, Elder Bednar, Elder
Waddell, Elder Cook, President Uchtdorf, Elder Kearon, Elder Oaks, and
Elder Holland. They were so great. I want them to be on Gospel Library
now so I can devour the text hahaha :)

But anyways, that was my week in a nutshell. Pretty great! I shall
leave you with a random fact about Jersey: Jersey has the most dense
system of highways and railways in the US.

I love you all!!!!
Stay Jersey Strong.
Love, Sister McAllister

P.S. Thanks KC for the graduation card, and thanks to the Colemans for
the postcard!!! I loved them both :D

Nothing Plain About Plainsboro....March 28, 2016

Basically my week has been upside down and all around and topsy turvy (I'm dying cuz that autocorrected to "tipsy turkey" hahahaha) and completely psycho! It's been just fantastic...and yes, thats being sarcastic- but also slightly serious lol!

My new comp is S.Charles. She hails from Chino,CA and loves all things horses and dragons. So we're getting along great lol! She's a huge bookworm like moi, and we adore the same movies/tv shows/basically everything in life....except for the fact that she's a major health nut. I've never seen so many organic things in one place before- I can hear my fat cells screaming for mercy... *cough* but it's ok this won't stop me, I like giving them more friends to hang out with and stay warm together ;)  She reminds me of an elf, but I haven't decided which kind yet- I'm currently bouncing between a Santas Elf, or a Keebler Elf, but either way she's a tiny little thing. Maybe Gods trying to tell me something from the size of my past 2 comps...            Nah. Can't be.

Anyways, I digress. Onto my week! Lol

Tuesday I said goodbye to the Land That Stole My Heart, and my Sister From Another Mister (but it's ok, cuz she's coming back next month! YAAAY!!!!) and moved my little self into my even tinier new apartment. We live in the garage of a members home. Yes, you read that right: the garage. So ya, haha, it's tiny and cramped and super fun. It makes cleaning quick tho, so that's a plus.

We also switched out the areas car for a new one that day- and the car they gave us is not only missing hubcaps and has a dent, but it's headlights weren't working either...thanks Elders... So we spent most of Thursday day out of our area in the nearest Pep Boys. On the plus side, it gave S. Charles and I a LOT of time to get to know one another! 

Wednesday we had District Meeting at the Princeton Chapel, and I'm suuuuuuuper excited for this zone! There's 6 elders here I already know, and a bunch of cool ones I'm excited to work with, and it's a BroZone!!!!!! Ah. God just continues to bless me with greatness. I could never do a SisTrict *shudders*

Friday I actually got to meet members from the ward! The first week is always the worst week because you literally know no one, so it was great meeting our 2 Recent Converts and a Less Active. We had some great lessons with them, and I've already grown to love them all.

Saturday we went knocking all day and found some pretty awesome people, none of them were really interested or willing to listen to us about the Gospel, but some we were able to just talk to and get to know besides that. They were kind and I learned a lot about India! (Our area is full of Indians) Did you know India has 28 states? And that each state has its own gods it worships? It's pretty amazing stuff. I love learning about the world :)

Sunday was church!!!! I actually got to meet some members! Yaaaaaay! But also, not really haha. The ward here is kinda full of antisocial/socially awkward people...so none of them really talk to us. Haha, were kinda the outcasts here- they aren't too missionary minded. So it'll be an interesting process trying to get them to like us! I'm calling it "Project: Missionaries Are People Too". I'm going to kill them with kindness, and they will suffocate in my love. Muhahahahaha! >;)

But here are some highlights from studies/the woman's broadcast/randomness of this week!

I found this super awesome talk/quote from President Benson from the Oct 1985 conference called "Born of God": "The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature." I never thought of it this way before. But it's so true! In the MTC I learned that "the what informs, but the why transforms". God doesn't just give us a fish so we can eat for that day, He gives us knowledge on how to fish so we can eat for a lifetime. He doesn't inform, He transforms- and we then become new creatures, willing to do His will. Mosiah 27:25-26

I loved loved loved loved LOVED the Woman's Broadcast on Saturday! Sister Esplin's analogy of looking into a mirror while trying to help others vs. looking through a window while trying to help others really illustrated the point that we all need to be engaged in selfless service. Selfish service gets us no where, and it really isn't worthy of being called service sometimes. When we focus on others, we know we are the Lord's hands. I loved when Sister Marriott said "BUILD BEDROCK FAITH"  the definition of bedrock, is a solid rock underlying loose deposits. It involves digging deep. We cannot build a shallow foundation on Christ, we can always dig deeper. But the whole night brought to mind the song that Sister Teeples composed the summer before my senior year "Go and Bring Them In". This song is still sunk deep into my heart because of the overwhelming Spirit I felt while singing that at the trek firesides and on trek itself. It really is our call to go and bring the struggling, the downtrodden, the weak and helpless, the failing hearts, the hopeless- our brothers and sisters- into our hearts and into our service and into our love. How great is our calling! We can give selfless service to everyone around us! And we can know we are the Lord's hands while doing so. God has given us so many blessings, but the greatest of all: is the ability to serve.

It's been a difficult, sad, wonderful, fun, and awesome week. I hope your weeks are awesomesauce this week!!!!

I love you all!

Stay Jersey Strong.

Love, Sister McAllister

 

 

Bowling for Temples Whilst Eating Chick-Fil-A in Princeton....March 21, 2016

Oh my goodness, I have no idea where to start with my week! It's been crazy, it's been long, it's been an absolute blast, and it's been sad, it's been hectic, it's been amazing, and I never wanted this week to end. But it has. Sooooo now all of you get to hear about it! Haha

Monday, marks S. Brown's 2nd to last Pday (I can feel her glare right now as I'm typing this, but she can get over being the first thing in my email lol) and we had lots of fun bowling as sisters! The 6 of us went for a couple hours and just went crazy as usual haha, we had too much fun! We spammed each other's iPads with selfies and super awko pics (in other words, we have lots of blackmail for each other haha) and were total dweebs as we bowled #GrannyShot.   S. Browns pretty much the best thing since sliced bread. I can safely say I have very few friends in this world, but she's definitely one of the best. I've said it before, but if I had served my whole mission, only to gain her friendship, it would have been worth it. All the pain and struggle and tears and heartache would be totally and completely worth her friendship. I've truly found my Poly half <3

Tuesday was a STINKIN FANTASTIC DAY. We went to the temple!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhh I missed it sooooooooooo much! It was a breathe of fresh air after 3 months of stale, polluted grossness that is called The World. It was so quiet, peaceful, mind blowing, beautiful, spiritual, and a much needed rest for 3 hrs. I LOVE the temple. I want to go there everyday of my life! *sigh* If only...
But yeah, we got to ride the train into NYC from Newark, then hop on the subway, and then boom- there's the temple! And I had my lamb gyro from the street vendor by the temple that I've been craving for the past 3 months, so that was a big bonus too :)

Wednesday we had District Meeting down in Toms River, as well as S. Brown's Hot Seat where she gets to tell us all the good stories from her mish. Then we drove the 45min back to our area and had a lesson with Beloné! Idk if I've mentioned him before, but he's an insanely sweet Haitian man who just absorbs everything we say. He would fit right in at the church, whenever he comes. Oh! Just thought, he's the husband of the lady who let us into her house while fighting with the superintendent who was telling us to stop knocking doors! Haha that'll probly clear it up a bit :) but ya, he's great.
Then we had dinner at....CHICK-FIL-A that night!!!!!! There only like 4 or 5 in the whole stinkin state of NJ! Can you believe that heresy!?!? Tis a crime to humanity. So I had Chick-fil-a for the first time in about 6 months, and it was beautiful. But not as beautifully awesome as the member that took us, Sister Bruchez. She and her family are one of my favorite people out here on the mission. She's so kind, and so loving. I just adore talking to her! And she's sooooo nice! She knew transfers were coming up so she got us little gifts- an angel that says "faith will carry you through". :)

Thursday we Transfer Apartment Cleaned (or TACed) for 3 hours. And lemme tell ya, our apartment definitely needed it.... You'll be surprised to hear Mother, I'm sure, that I am actually the "clean" sister in my past 3 companionships. I take out the trash and clean up the kitchen and sweep the floor and clean up messes etc etc etc, becuz my comps tend to just leave the mess behind and that's gross to me lol. But yes, a missions has changed me Mom! Aren't you proud??
Oh! And then since it was St. Pattys Day, we had corned beef and cabbage at Sister Tyler's house! It was really really really good! Corned beef might be like, my fave thing now. AND, I had a DRAGONFRUIT! Yup. Dragonfruit. It was interesting, and didn't really taste like much, so it wasn't too fun to eat, but now I can say I've had it! Haha

Friday was supposed to be a day of service for us, but then S. Bulson got called at 10:20 the night before to become a trainer. So she had to go to the meeting in Morristown on Fri. So I spent the day in Princeton with S. Clarke and Hna Nielson! We had tons of fun, and I got to sit in a Corvette, eat at the Cracker Barrel, paint an office, try to understand Spanish, and see the Princeton campus that day! Princeton looks like Hogwarts!!!! No joke! It's soooooooo cool!
Then we had dinner that night at the Conner's house. They're the sweetest couple, and we got to wear some pretty cool aprons as we ate too! Haha, it was fun

Saturday I had my last coordination meeting with Br. Murch. And my last apt with S. Woods, and my last apt with Carmel, and my last team up with Desiree, and my last Saturday in Eatontown- tho I didn't know it at the time. But it was a great end to my time here. Sunday was a fantastic day where I got to speak in Sacrament Meeting, and we had a Linger Longer after church. So I got a lot of pictures with my favorite people who were there. We talked and laughed and basically had a blast for an hour, including with Elders Clark and Oakley. Then that night we had dinner with the Swindlers and I got to see Attorious one more time!!! Man, I love that family.

So yes, as you might have already guessed, I'm being transferred tomorrow. I'm going to Plainsboro with a Sister Charles. Some things I know about the area: I will be living in the infamous "shoebox" of the mission, we will live in the basement/garage of a members house, I will be in the Princeton 2nd ward, I will be 20 minutes from Princeton campus, Elder Holmes will be my Zone Leader if he's still there, they are currently- as always with me- in the finding stage of missionary work with hardly any investigators, and it's not Eatontown. Man. 2 transfers was too short in this area of mine...I absolutely adore this place and the people in a way that Emerson could never touch. I spent half the time here, but I have 20000x the love for everything. Which is probly why I'm leaving, can't have what you love on the mission haha

My new address will be: 118 Springcrest Dr, Hightstown, NJ 08520

Random Jersey fact: Jersey has more race horses than Kentucky.

Love you all!

Stay Jersey Strong!

Love, 

Sister McAllister

 

 NYC...her zone

 her district

 Princeton for the day

 Temple

 opened her call one year ago on St. Patrick's Day

 Princeton and owner of Corvette

 

Lighthouses, Exchanges, Investigators, and much much more!.....March 14, 2016

Holy moly it has been a CRAZY week. So much has happened I don't even
know if I can get it all out today haha, but I'll try my best, becuz
believe it or not this weeks even crazier!

Soooo last Monday we went to Sandy Hook again, except this time we
actually had time to tour the lighthouse and walk around all the
batteries and beaches. It was beautiful weather too- 50s!!! And we had
the best people to go with- E. Clark and E. Oakley. I swear, these are
my 2 favorite elders out here haha, we've spent so much time with
them! It was a fun day, we ran around like kids as we explored the
abandoned batteries and forts, the shore with the horseshoe crabs, and
the oldest lighthouse continuously working in the nation! We did
cartwheels down the shore, saw the NY skyline from a distance, saw a
small aircraft carrier docked by the base, and basically just had the
best day ever. Man it was great. And I got a lot of pics too, so sorry
if I inundate you all with them- I think they're pretty great :)

On Tuesday we had a great District Meeting, and then went knocking for
6 hours as usual on Tuesdays haha. This time we found 2 new
investigators and had some pretty cool contacts with people! We met a
woman named Ferliene who is originally from Haiti. She says that she
is Catholic, but not very ecstatic about her church. She just wants to
know which church is true because there are so many of them. We had
planned on just showing her a video, but she invited us right in and
we were able to teach her the entire Restoration and leave her with a
Book of Mormon! She loved it and said she wants to come to church with
her kids when she's off work on the 20th! She was so kind. I can't
wait to teach her again on Wednesday.
Then we were in the courtyard of the complex and a girl was riding her
bike. Well shoot, she was the nicest little girl I've ever met! She
immediately just started talking to us and complimenting us and we had
this cute little convo with her, and then she invited her 2 friends
over to talk to us too! So we shared the He Lives video with them and
they all loved it! We gave them cards with our number on it so they
could give it to their parents and have them call us. Don't know if
it'll happen, but the kids at least we're super excited! They wanted
to share it with all their friends.

Wednesday we had a great lesson with our progressing investigator
Beloné. We went in to teach him the rest of the Plan of Salvation, but
instead we talked all about baptism and the importance of turning our
hearts to God. It was a solid lesson with scriptures and the Spirit,
and his many questions, and I felt inspired to finally invite him to
be baptized. The Spirit was SO strong when I asked him, I was given
everything to say exactly how it should be said and I honestly don't
even remember what I told him then, but it was straight from God. He
declined, and said he needs to know more and needs to come to our
church first, so we'll keep working with him on it. But really, as far
as my first ever solid baptismal invite goes, it was great! Sheesh,
I'm gonna go out asking everyone to get baptized now! I've just never
been given the chance to before...or I guess I've never taken it. Lol

Friday we had exchanges!!! I went down to Toms River with Sister
McConkie while Sister Bulson and Brown came up here. It was a great
day. Oh gosh I love Sister McConkie. She's so solid! She taught me so
much about myself and the mission and life in general, and she's
basically a BOSS and she doesn't even realize it... I'm seriously so
grateful for her. She helped me in ways she doesn't even know and in a
way that would take me like an hour to type out. It was truly special.
We were then able to exchange back on Saturday, but we all 4 went up
to Hillside to see Br. Acampora and his Magical Hands. Ahhhhhhh, my
neck feels so much better! The chiropractor is life. For realz. We had
Taylor ham bagels on the way back down, and then we split off. Upon
splitting, I realized that 1. Sister Brown is a straight up boss at
life (well, not so much realize, as reaffirm). She literally found 4
new investigators, and got a LA I've been working with for 3 months
now to finally start her family history so she can go to the
temple....all within like 6 hrs. Man, I wanna be like her when I grow
up. And 2. I realized that this is Sister Brown's last week here in
the mission... That's pretty sad haha. All my friends are old and
dying! Whyyyy must I be so young? Lol, but yeah. So I'm gonna be
trying to spend every waking moment with her this week! Gotta get my
Momma Time before she leaves me to fend for myself #Rude

Oh oh oh oh oh OH!!!!!!! GUESS WHAT?!?!?! IM GOING TO THE TEMPLE
TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY
LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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The Mission did a challenge this past month where you had to do
certain things each day for the months period and then you'd get a
prize. Well, our zone did it! We came to the challenge, we accepted
the challenge, and we conquered the challenge- and now we goin to New
York!!!!!! Ah I'm so excited. And I love our zone and we get to spend
alllllllll day with them tomorrow, and we're driving up the Sandy Hook
elders to Newark so that'll be a crazy hour car ride too LOL.  So be
prepared for SO many stinkin pics next week!
Oh. And we're going bowling today with the sisters in Toms River, so
there's even more pics hahahaha oh gosh, I'm so excited 😄

But anyways, back to the past week haha- we were able to find (drum
roll please)------------------- 9 NEW INVESTIGATORS! *faints*
                 Oh, hi. Yes, I am still alive. Sorry. Just passed out
from shock there haha. 9! New! People! To! Teach! The! Gospel! To! Yes
yes yes yes yes yes YES. Oh my gosh, God is good all the time. And all
the time, God is good. He's just been blessing us out the wazoo this
past week and it's just been bizarrely crazy to see it unfold. We
literally do basically nothing, and they just fall into our hands...
So now we gotta a lotta responsibility in teaching these people haha.
Bring it on! I've got my game face on! Whew. Whoever is trained here
next transfer is gonna have the Promised Land as their training
grounds! I woulda done anything to be born into an area that's bumpin
like this! Haha

Ok, so I could totally keep writing for DAYZ here, but looking at this
small novella I just wrote, I think I'm gonna close now haha. One day
you'll here the rest of the stories from this week- they're kinda
endless haha :)

Random New Jersey fact of the week: Jersey is a peninsula.

Stay Jersey Strong.
Love, Sister McAllister

You can see NYC in the background

I Gots Da Sickies...March 7, 2016

HOLA!

Sooooo I've been sick the past 3 weeks, and me being me, I was all "rub some dirt in it, keep going, it's just a flesh wound" type of thing. Well, it got progressively worse and worse and my health was just slowly declining. S. Bulson made me call the mission nurse and Doctor to see if they could help me- but they're thinking its stress and still haven't gotten back to me about anything. So we started asking everyone in the ward cuz basically all of them are nurses or medical field of some sort- and nobody knew! On Friday I had basically gone over 48 hours without sleep, had had headaches and migraines everyday for the past 3 weeks, and was absolutely starving and nauseous, at the same time, 24/7. Oh! And we're pretty sure I had a fever cuz I was freezing all the time (and I'm never cold, but S. Bulson always is, but she wasn't cold when I was) and my face was bright red. So it's been super fun this past week as I've tried real hard not to stop working cuz I feel guilty when I do. Ive tried to sleep and take naps multiple times throughout the week, but I can never fall asleep. I gave up on sleep a while ago- now I'm just trucking along with my Diet Cokes and bleary eyes (very healthy, promise). Anyways, I asked the Elders for a blessing on Friday night (in other words, both S. Brown and Bulson bullied me into it), and it was beautiful. This is only the 2nd time on the mission I've had a priesthood blessing, and the first blessing I've actually received counsel and guidance from Heavenly Father. I asked Elder Oakley to anoint me and Elder Clark to bless me, and it was perfect. Elders Black and Silva also jumped in, and lemme tell you- having 4 worthy holders of the priesthood standing around you with their hands on your head calling upon the powers of Heaven is an incredible feeling. It was just what I needed and the Spirit was SO powerful in that room. The priesthood is such a wonderful gift. God has truly given us the privilege of seeing the fruits of it, and the men bearing the power of it. (Interesting side tangent: when reading my patriarchal blessing, I've taken to defining words in it. I already know their meaning, but the actual dictionary definition is pretty awesome. For instance, privilege- something regarded as a rare opportunity and bringing particular pleasure.) But ya, so I basically cried that entire night and I was a serious mess when the blessing was over, and those poor elders had to see me with a puffy red face and smeared tears and snot everywhere haha! That's ok, what are friends for, right? Also, another side note, it was suuuuuuuuuuuuper weird to hear my first name in the blessing. But also really nice, because having not heard it for 8 months now made it stand out as a rare and wonderful occurrence. It also made me feel super loved and like an individual and like God knows ME. Because I already know of at least one other "Sister McAllister" out there right now ;)
But have no fear family and friends! My health is on the rise! I was blessed that the sickness would be taken from me, and that all my "trials, sufferings, afflictions, and sicknesses" are to "build [my] testimony and strengthen my faith in Jesus Christ". I'm on the mend! My headaches and fever went away that night, and now I'm just working on my sleeplessness and nausea- which are decreasing by the day! So no worries, all is good in the hood of Neptune ;)

Something I think that is super interesting, and this goes along with the previous monologue, is that it's often our "worst" weeks that are our best weeks. Sister Bulson and I feel like we just got nothing done this week because we stayed inside a bit while I tried to figure my life out. It felt like we hadn't seen anyone and that we hadn't done a lick of good all week. But looking at our numbers (which is in no way a reflection of anything, but it was nice) we had come close to and surpassed all our goals for the week! And we had even had one investigator at church yesterday! I've never had an investigator in this area at church before!!! And the lessons we had with people went really well, and things are just looking up in our area. I often think it interesting that this applies to life in general as well. We always think things are terrible, doom and gloom, and not what we had hoped they would be- but then we realize, life is full of miracles! Tender mercies! Stop-and-smell-the-roses moments! Blessings beyond measure! Life is so good!!!    Here's the secret to recognizing it: "love life, and see good days..." (1 Peter 3:10) Love it! And you'll see the goodness in it :)

Anyways haha, enough verbal vomit. On with the week!
Friday we also had a funeral service for one of the members here (yes, that is 3 now to pass this month) and I gave a talk about the "hope of the Atonement and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ". (I'll attach a copy on the email) And Bishop Lindeman said it was super good so he asked me to email him a copy, and then he brought it up in sacrament meeting today over the pulpit, and then he sought me out at the baptism yesterday to tell me that "the Spirit told him the ward needs to hear it, especially at this time of year, and especially after all the wards gone through last month"....so I'm giving it on March 20th as well. Smh. Why am I always asked to speeeeeeaaaaaaaaaak??? Why is it always meeeeeeeeee? Stake conference, seminary graduation, like every other Sunday in CO, etc etc. *sigh* All I know is that I guess I'm bizarrely grateful that I have talked so much at church, cuz otherwise I'd be scared to death on my mission haha! So tender mercies and different perspective wins again

Ok last side tangent....for now..... No promises lol!
Can I just say how much I love our elders? They're my favorite 4! We see them basically 4/7 days in the week at least, and spend a good length of time with them each time, and I just love them. They're SO stinkin hilarious, I'm busting up every other second with the lot of them! Ah gosh. And today we're gonna go with them to the Sandy Hook lighthouse and just hang out all day- it'll be great. I'm excited :)

Here, to help y'all visualize/ get my love- a synopsis of the Eatontown Elders:
E. Clark- my little ginger brother I never knew I had, and we rolling in the inside jokes
E. Oakley- my British, hipster, rebellious friend who always makes me laugh
E. Black- adorable little bunny rabbit who is like 6' tall, super sweet
E. Silva- in his own world and dimension and category of who knows what, and it's hilarious
Yeah, it's a crack up here in Eatontown. Cuz then you have the inherently awkward Sister Bulson who also happens to have Tourette's. And then me... This poor ward. Hahahaha

So thats my week. Hope y'all enjoy and all that jazz! Love you all!!!

Go forth and slay the week, so the speak! :)

Stay Jersey Strong.

Love,

Sister McAllister

 

 She wants this plant.....haha

 Spring is coming

 doodles (oh how I love her doodles)

 food pantry is good

 what happens after nightly planning