December 23, 2013

hey yal!

Man isn't Christmas amazing!!!! I absolutely love it! past 3 days have been 75 degrees round 1-3pm then it cools down at night so it doesn't feel weather wise like Christmas but it totally is! People are still grouchy and don't answer back when you say Merry Christmas but that's ok too cause its still Christmas no matter how much these crazy people try to hide it! haha

We had to speak on Sunday for the branch? lol 15 people there between 2 wards... lol with 8 flights home that day and another few today and tomorrow lol so our ward is officially at zero! hahaha but that's ok. We just barely got a Christmas and Christmas eve dinner lol so we lucked out there! Got a package from the Smith's. They had people write on like grocery lists and sent em.... Brandon Giles was hilarious. He was like " thanks for that letter you wrote us from bishop. I'm like you except your grammar is terrible." Super funny.... I guess I haven't gotten smarter in grammar lol.

alotta people really just are debby downers here with the holidays.... I've gotten more slammed doors this Christmas than like the rest of my mission haha its weird. Californians are ridiculous!

Thanks sooo much for the extra cash! My Pumas I left with are so about dun lol the're almost sandals now. Christmas should be good.... we can have missionaries spend the night so we'll be havin fun!! haha even our apartment complex is empty.

This week it was hilarious.... me, Hardy and Call took out this crazy large stump with only a mauler and a trench shovel and a ton of sweat. it was a blast!!! I love service and fun stuff like that!

Can't wait to see yal Wednesday! We're going for 3pm here so that's like 4ish there? Not sure but that's when I'll be on!! hopefully it'll work well.... if not we still got one more try before I get home HAHA! yal are awesome ....love you so much! Can't wait to talk to yal! and open your gifts! Celtic Women is amazing CD. Haven't stopped listening to it since I got it. Fish is tired of if but that's ok its my Chevy and I can beat him in an arm wrestle lol ;) see ya in a bit!

-Elder McAllister

December 16, 2013

Hey Yal,

So our zone went up another companionship after transfers. 16 comp or 32 missionaries... biggest zone in the mission by like 8-10 missionaries haha we're leavin everyone in our dust! its so much fun. We have so much activities together and we just have a blast all the time! love it!! So the sisters that cover with us are really bothering me.. well just one of em.... she's the kind that has to do it all herself and if she didn't do it, its not right and she has to be in charge and etc you get the picture.. she totally takes our teaching pool and starts teaching em and in WC throws us under the bus.... grrrr I was hoping she woulda got transferred but nope didn't happen... oh well I guess I gotta learn something here. maybe long suffering. or maybe I'm supposed to humble her who knows. but its really bothering me. I don't like it when people take my work.... I'm ready to be done with singles ward too. They're just not concerned with missionary work and its hard. but its ok cause it gives me lots of free time to spend strengthening the zone and helping em out! plussssss ready for this..............................

.......GOT MY NEW CHEVY CRUZE!!!!  SEE YA JAPANESE TINFOIL!!  oh man is so awesome I totally want one if I cant afford a truck. its saweeet!!!!!! I like am worried about it when we lock it up for the night and go in our apartment. like I just love that car! haha its so nice... in fact I get to drive it as soon as I'm done here! heck YES!!!!! hahaha so happy. aint drivin a prius anymore!

Speakin of cars, it was sweet ....we were down at the mission office and President has taken over the whole church parking lot with crown vics like 30 of em. The ward has to park down in the neighborhoods, its hilarious! A few of us convoyed a bunch to different mechanic shops and it was hilarious because they were ex cop cars so they had the bumpers and spotlights still. So funny all the people were slowing down near us. hilarious!

Yes as we got in my beloved chevy today, the UPS guy stopped and so we sat for a few minutes and boom there it was!!! so happy!! haha thanks so much... can't wait to open it! and I wont open all the presents early like I may or may not have done last year...... haha whoops!

Yeah so church is canceled for 2 weeks, so we're gonna try and mooch off everyone elses dinners and such haha we might be dead in the water for a few weeks... but I got my Chevy so its all mickey mouse.

So we met with all the family ward bishops and got a huge lists of LA to visit now which should hopefully keep us busy. hopefully.

Its getting super cold here..... like a wet cold that cuts to the bone... its ridiculous... Colorado isn't cold at all compared to this nonsense! but that's ok, I've got my Chevy :) she keeps me warm! haha

Fish is turning out of his shell which is good..... slowly. but some times he comes out of his shell too much and says some really out there things at dinners....... and everyone gets quiet and looks at him and then we all bust out laughing its funny.  He's really tryin to fit in and I know the zone is really starting to trust him and such so its good.

Call's now in PA1st so we still get to see him but not like it used to be. every things quieter now lol. 

We have no dinners for the week after this and the one after that.... haha its ridiculous! singles ward is a ghost town!

The zone's going over to our old Bishops for Christmas breakfast which should be super fun... we'll probably Skype there unless a better opportunity comes up.... its Palo Alto so I assume its better wifi for a 7 mil dollar home. just guessing lol..... their roads are terrible though.

Love you all so much!! Learned in church if our faith isn't being challenged, its decaying and not growing. So hard times are good :) Love you all ..... keep the faith

Hurrah for Israel!

-Elder McAllister

December 9, 2013

Hey yal,

Transfer time again but I'm stayin put :) E. Call is moving to Palo Alto 1st ward with E. Hardy and Steve Young and Dick Perry and Marc Zuckerburg(facebook guy)... pretty lucky kiddo. So it'll be just me and Fish for the next bit. I'm excited, it'll be good because then he can't hide behind me and Call and will have to get outta his shell.

Its so cold here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! idk why!!!!!!!! the humidity I guess but man there was ice today and we ran 3 miles.... what were we thinking?????? but we ended at a warm McDonald's so it worked out haha! but man it was freezing... plus our apartment's from the Nephites so the windows are paper thin and so we have all sorts of random things taped to the windows to keep the heat in haha luckily we have our own furnace so we got it blasted to 78! haha

Yeah so in running today I came to the realization I am super outta shape..... like insanely.... so we'll see hopefully I can get into a routine and start bulkin up!..... intimidate some mean crotchety white people of Palo Alto haha.

The work is ultra slow. Our 1 investigator is now in China so we have contacted roughly 2000+ people and lots of service to try and show the Lord we need investigators along with many fasts and prayers. So a guy came in from the streets named Tyler yesterday and so hopefully things will start to go for him that'd be so sweet!!! He's a Tyler so that's already off to a good start!

Man life is so good. I love this zone..... they are the bomb. Working so hard and calling down miracles. If we were a city, we'd be brought up next to Enoch's. I love em so much. AHHH!!!! never been happier and never had more fun and never had this hard of an area before too. Singles wards are totally different ball games. Its interesting to see the Lord bless us tremendously in some ways and then tell us to grow and not help as much in others.

Oh so I got a card reader so I can view files on SD cards now and I saw all the pictures you sent like eons ago......they were awesome! I couldn't help but smile my way through em all and laugh at some of em. Yal are the best! ever! love how the 3 of yal are always laughin and huggin. puts on the illusion that you all love each other.. sneaky snakes! haha just kidding! I love it! cant get enough and man have you seen Duke? Gosh he is awesome! best dog ever! what would yal do without him!? Its like having a piece of me because basically we have the same attention span so basically we're the same. I'm just less furry. hahahahaha Man I love you guys. so excited for Christmas!!! How amazing and strange was the Christmas devotional?!?! E. Nelson's talk was basically a Mormon message already and I just love the song Silent Night. I could fall asleep to that every day!

Life is so good! I can't get off of that! like yeah we struggle but God is so good! Oh funny story so the sisters were supposed to teach Gospel Principles and asked us to just start it. so I got up and started it and they went and sat down and didn't move when I said they were up.... so I got to do an improve lesson on prayer which wasn't bad but it was bad haha oh well it was super funny. gotta keep my A game on I guess.

So there's this thing called the crèche and its 400+ nativities from around the world. super cool the stake puts it on and we help with that for like 10 hrs... plus had Zone Training meeting and idk how but the Lord helped me apply the waldo canyon fire to missionary work it was so cool! I always try to share fire stories for my time I have to teach.... its way fun! so if you hear any send em please!

So Christmas stuff that I've been thinkin about lately. So being Silicon Valley you know how cool a MacBook Air would be for school?? that's not christmasy but maybe we can talk a deal or something when I get home. Speaking of school is there anything more I can do to help? I'm so excited!!!! me and E. Anderson cant stop talking about it hahah its so fun!

I think what would be way sweet for Christmas if possible would be like a speaker, like an ihome but works with an auxiliary cord because then we can plug our DVD player into it for CDs and when missionaries come over with their mp3 players we can listen to em too :) and bring it to the gym on Pday for volleyball!! Jenna btw I've gotten my hits down real well so watch out cause I'm gettin trained by Tongans! hahaha

So church is canceled for the 21st and 29th cause everyone is gonna be home.... so idk what we're gonna do lol but this area never ceases to surprise.

Love yal so much.... have great week! This gospel is so true! Prayer is amazing!!! We can talk to the most powerful being in the universe! who controls the universe and all 3000000000000000 trillion billion stars in it! We can talk to Him personally one on one amego el amego and he listens and cares! That's soooo cool!! and it just blows my mind that that is our potential. That's the potential we have as children of God. How amazing is that. How amazing is Christ? Christmas spirit just hit me. The Savior and Redeemer of all mankind we get to celebrate His birth. That's an honor and a privilege and a blessing to have thoughts of Him always in our hearts this season. I love it. Christ is our big brother, way better than I could be or that anyone could be. We learned about gratitude in church. A quote was "Our hearts should break in gratitude whenever our thoughts turn to the Atonement of Christ" and that's still an insignificant amount of gratitude compared to the sacrifice Heavenly Father made and Christ made. That's like someone builds you a house and pays for whatever you want for the next 100000 years and you just point out the house wasn't the color you wanted. no bueno! I'm going to be more grateful and be a more positive and happy and grateful person :)

Love yal

-Elder McAllister

 

**Here are some pictures another Mom sent to me last month...kept forgetting to add them to his posts.  The middle 2 I believe are from Thanksgiving.  This first one is a service that gave as a Zone to a man who needed help cleaning out his garage.  The last one is typical Tyler...playing with fire.  It's the firefighter in him I guess

 

December 2, 2013

hey yal

Wow I am so happy! I love talkin to yal! This week was crazy. E. Call didn't know we eat dinners all day Thanksgiving so he loaded up like 4 plates at the 1st one and practically died the next 2.  So funny!!!!!!!!!!! He was dying. He didn't eat for the next 2 days.  

Our investigator Wei is going to china for a month......... hopefully we can face time him for lessons.

Please apply for me..... I haven't had time to look stuff up! I wanna go to USU so bad. Hopefully E. Anderson has a room open for me cause that'd be sick! The Lord is totally preparing the way for me to go to USU. 

Christmas stuff- a nice football.

                         - some ties

                       - sweaters are now legal with the new dress code rules.

                        -some long sleeve white shirts.

                       - cant think of anything else right now.... thanks for keepin me in mind!

Life is super good. I've got pictures going your way super soon.  Thanks again for the food and package, I love em cookies! 

So I agree, it was pretty cold the other night. I had to put a jacket on when it got down to 45 one night. I can totally see your pain and sadness with the 14 that's comin. hahahahahaha!!! CALIFORNIA baby!! hahahah sorry had to rub that one in a bit.

Transfers comin up the 10th... we'll see how the zone will change..... I'm hoping not much because I love everyone here so much! Its so much fun here.

So we knew all the singles were outta town this week so we just carpet bombed the main citys with contacting and between the 2 sisters and us 3, we talked to 1400+ people about the gospel in a week. Pretty sweet..... the WC of both wards were super impressed and hopefully they realize they are slacking in giving us people to teach.  

You guys are awesome! Went to print pictures off today and saw all the pictures you put on my card when you sent it back! only super small versions of em but hey it was cool to see!!

I love it here so much! I wish things wouldn't change. My life right now is perfect..... absolutely perfect.

Love you all so much! 23 days til Christmas. My last Christmas out here.......!!! what?!? SEE you all then!

-Elder McAllister

November 25, 2013

Hey yal!

 

Yes I got the shoes thanks so much! haven't tried em yet. haha

 

Finally got my suit taken care of and I go in today to get the final alterations to make it amazing!! haha yal are gonna see one good lookin missionary comin off that plane hahahahahaha

 

No way Momma Smith called? haha I spent like 20 min in her house..... that was it! She's super nice though.... love her!

 

This week's been rough with all the people leaving for thanksgiving and this current week will be even tougher but that's ok .....we're stretching and gonna do some big time goals. 1000+ contacts this week. Probably a mission record, just saying...  

 

I'm doing so good!!! soooo happy. I love this work.... its just the absolute best. I love it and I love helping people! ahhhh Can I stay here? Is that allowed?? hahaha

 

So this last Saturday I beefed my ankle pretty bad.... swelled up like a baseball and is all purple and couldn't put much weight on it at all, like standing hurt a ton! So I realized it was the Lord humbling me to get a blessing, like my 1st one out here on the mish. And man, 3 days later with a ankle brace on and I'm back to normal. The Lord is amazing and He loves humbling me hahahahaha which I'm grateful for...... really grateful for that.

 

Well this week! oh my gosh!! So we got him a Chinese BoM and so usually we take all our time answering his confusion of the chapters he read because he only had an English one and didn't want a Chinese one. Well we go to meet and ask what questions he has and none!!!!!!!!!!!!!! zero!!!!! he understood it all and felt the spirit!!!! AHHHHH!!!!!!! So amazing! He's totally getting baptized soon..... so happy for him.

 

The zone is doing miracles too ....our baptisms and key indicators are soaring!! sky high!! we're pushing for 15 baptisms in Dec. We have 7 dates...... we can do it! I feel missionaries believe people can get miracles and call em down but don't  necessarily believe they can do it themselves. So we're helping em to learn that.

 

Companions are great! We're getting into the swing of things! loving it so much!

 

Oh so get this! E. Anderson in my zone offered me a place to live with him and some other kids that go to USU!!! He is emailing today to solidify it! The Lord is totally preparing the way for me to go to USU..... I feel it so strongly. I need to get my application in.  Can you look and see what possible scholarships I can get?  The Lord is just paving the way. I Love it and I Love Him too..... so much. Great great stuff! Can you believe its been 15months? I was looking at the pictures of me and Meg from when I left, outside the MTC and I'm like dang that was eons ago.... I'm so old! haha man o man time flies! I'm so excited to see what the Lord blesses me with next!

 

Love you all so much! Have a great week!!!! Have a good Turkey day!

 

-Elder McAllister

Novembr 18, 2013

Hey yal,

Really hard week. There's just no work here! 2 investigators and 1 was outta town... how stressful but the wards are doing well. Members are really starting to want to talk to us so that's a good start. Life here is crazy fast pace, but I love every second of it. Just got back from Gilroy and got my new suit. Looks pretty fly.... its like brownish and its saweet! Gotta wait for the pants to come in though and then get it fitted. Store didn't have the stuff. Plus we visited a lady in Hardy's old area of Morgan hill.... she gave me a fishing blanket and some food.... it was sooooo nice. I just met her! really cool.

We stacked out dressers and made bunk beds... too super fun! Fisher's scared he will fall off. its pretty funny. 

The zone grew by 2 sisters today..... that's always fun.... more to look over. Plus AP exchanges tonight to tomorrow..... grrrrr. APs are to grouchy and strict. haha oh well I guess. I just don't like leaving my area because then idk whats going on with it. but that's OK.... I;ll go down to SJ tonight.

Well 1 of our investigators is coming along slowly. He comes from mainland china and doesn't know what God is. So that's interesting but pretty fun too. He's getting there. Fishers OK..... tries to take over things but I don't mind it, besides it being annoying lol but I let him and I think he's starting to feel happy with himself. idk cant tell. Call is amazing super funny and the chillest greenie I've seen round. super cool stuff.

got a new Toyota....................................................not happy.........................................................and its white....... looks like a girls car....... and its not American...... oh well. Only cool thing is bluetooth and a back up cam. oh well I tried trading for my beloved Chevy Cruze but it didn't happen.

Man its freezing up here. The ocean to the west and the bay to the east. This place freezes over......... its ridiculous!

Life is so good. I love it. Love the zone...... the mission........ the area (wish it had more work though) and yeah. Good good stuff. 

Love yal.... hope ya have a good week!

 

-Elder McAllister

November 12, 2013

Hey yal,

Man it was a great week.... lots of good stuff and it went fast.

Anyway, yeah in a trio! and its good except Fisher keeps trying to complete me sentences and it bugsssssss haha but that's OK..... I'm patient and he's just tryin to be a ZL. So we're getting 2 more sisters into this zone for a total of 33 missionaries. No biggy right?..... just the biggest zone in the mission by 9 missionaries lol. its good though.... they all self govern themselves.

Thanks for the shoes. I'm sure they'll be fantastic! and still haven't gotten the suit tailored. It'll happen at some point..... the longer I wait, the newer it'll look when I get home haha.

We picked up a ton of potentials this week...... middle of EPA at 9 at night isn't scary at all lol... not a missionary at least.

Life is so good out here..... like seriously good. Kinda wish I could just get released out here and start fresh..... the new me. Who knows what will happen but right now I am dreading the old drama and the old past that I'll be going back to. That's why I wanna get off to school so quick. Be the me I am now, not the one I was when I left.

Man, I wish I could write a better letter but everything left my mind.   Man, sorry guys.

I'll get yal a twice as good one next week!

Love you all super much and man I just cant wait to see yal at Christmas. Almost 15 months out.... crazy!

-Elder McAllister

November 4, 2013

hey yal

So glad to hear about yals week!!!

KK remind me in a year haha

meg you already know mex food is 2nd only to BBQ

Jenna.............what?!(high pitched voice)

haha man I'm glad Halloween was great! that's really creepy you found sis Spencer's mom... haha but hey whateves! haha shes super cool.

So this week was the most insane, long, and stressful week of eternity. I couldn't imagine college finals being this stressful.

Tue we had 3 whitewashed Tongans put into EPA and no phone and full bike, so no way to get a hold of em...... still don't have a phone..... then everyone was looking at me for answers and what the heck! 1st time bein a senior ZL and it was only 1 transfer in the area... the Lord is trying to stretch me like a million feet.... but luckily everyone probably saw I was about to pull out my hair and so they were patient with me and the day after I was like about to puke. I was so stressed.... I was praying and thought how Pres Monson always says he feels our prayers and I'm like.... I don't feel jack.. Then I starting think about yal and how yal pray for me and this electric surge of warmth and peace and calm came and washed the stress right out of me. I since have been happier than a tornado in a trailer park. So amazing, and the zone is so fun! I think I'm earning their trust and we just laugh alllllllll the time!! best ever. I'm so happy all the time now. My stress has been like airdropped into the Pacific Ocean. Well actually, its been givin up to Christ to help pull that yoke with me. I just finally realized I can pull equal weight with Him instead of me all the way and failing.

Oh side story..... met these middle eastern guys who are tight! We talked for like 30 min on University Ave. They were way cool and ended up wanting me to go to the bar with em and then we talked more about the WOW and then they wanted to invite me to go to Israel with em next month.  I was so down!  haha they're cool. A lot more open and accepting than the white people in Cali, that's for sure.

So we got a new STL or basically a sister ZL..... Hermana Billings, man shes amazing! She has revelation for the zone and if the 3 of us can keep in the loop and all things zoneish then boom... this zone's gonna explode. We came up with a goal for 60 baptisms by the end of the year... we're at 37 now. So we'll see how many miracles can be givin and how faithful the zone is. She is a rock star, man so awesome to work with her!

So my comp is E. Fisher.... he's my great grandson. from Hollister and apparently there's a lot of rumors about me being a terrible missionary down there, but that's OK.... no biggy for me.  Just hurt a little. He's such a stiff and blames it on everyone but him and he's just AHHHH .....follows me around like a lost puppy and tries to answer things and be the point man when he knows nothing..... super stressful. Well not really,  just irritating... so I can see why he was put with me so I can break him and rebuild him haha! no bigs.....we had a fantastic chat the other night til like 1am and it really helped I think. I pray for him all the time to strengthen him and how to help him. I really hope he can be happy and himself. That's his biggest thing is.... he's not happy and so he's getting there a little so well see.

E Call is my new trainy and man he is a rock! super motivated and wants to do everything. I love it, he is on fire! and we laugh alll the time!!! love love love him!!

Sorry, gotta go. hope it was a good letter. yal are amazing! Can't wait to see ya at Xmas! Oh as a reward for my stressful week guess whose getting a new Chevy Cruz!!!!!!!!!!!!! USA USA USA I had to fight not to get a stinkin Corolla hahahahah I haven't changed a bit sorry yal hahahaha love you so much..... have a good week

-Elder McAllister

andddddddd so last day I trusted Lavelua to go to a hair cutting place and some non English speaking Asians buzzed off all my hair....... almost allll of it!!!!!!!! what the heck!!! laugh it up hahaha

cake fight on last P day with Lavelua

A Mom Note!

I have joined a "Missionary Moms" list that a friend of mine recommended.  She said she heard it was a great way for moms of missionaries serving in the same area to connect.  It took me several months to finally subscribe, but I am glad I did.  There are several posts that are for other missions, but every once in awhile I connect with someone that makes me smile.

Today, one mom remembered my original post describing my son and sent me an email.  Her daughter is serving in his area and Tyler is her Zone Leader.  She said her daughter sends tons of pictures to her each week (so jealous) and when this mom asked her daughter if she knew him, she said "Yes...he is awesome!"  And she sent me this picture......I love pictures! (and she said she would send me more if she gets any others with him in it!)

Even if I don't make any other connections with people, it was worth it for this ONE picture!  I am such a sucker for my son!  :)

(by the way.....the daughter is the cute blonde!)

Oct 28, 2013

Hey Yal,

This week has been crazy...

I'm super stressedddddd...... Lavelua's leaving and I don't know the wards or area too well and I'm training and ZL over 30 missionaries...........stressville population me. I probably feel like Meg before 4 AP tests.... yeah, so we'll see how it goes. I know the Lord will qualify me. I was told an awesome quote......"Don't tell your God how big your storms are... tell your storms how big your God is"

Man that just pumps me up! Makes me feel (backed by the Savior) invincible.(oh no, fell back into the teenage years of invincibility) haha but spiritually. yeah just a great quote and is the best thing ever.

I've really dove into my prayers trying to make em more personal and a conversation not a grocery list and its amazing what comes from having a conversation with Heavenly Father.  He is the best listener and the best giver.
 

This past Sunday in 2nd ward(older ones), we had an "intro to church" day. We had Pres. Clark from the mission presidency and Elder Packer from the area 70 come talk to everyone and we gave out a bazillion pass along cards for the event and we packed the chapel! It was sweet and went perfect! I cant wait to see the work and interest that comes from it! I'm just nervous.... Lavelua's a really good talker and idk why but the wards intimidate the heck outta me. So instead of the Lord blessing me to be more outgoing and such, he gives me opportunities to grow my outgoing trait. I just love how Heavenly Father works! its great!

Life on the mission is fantastic.... I couldn't imagine my life any other way. I just love it.

Went to the outgoing fireside last night and I'm like wow.   I remember when I thought I'd never be up there and now I'm like, I pack my suitcases like 2 more times and I'm home...........ay carumba!!

Love yal so much! This is the Lord's church. He could pull people into the gospel any way He wants and in way more effective ways and yet he chooses 18-23 year olds to bear humble testimonies of His church and Gospel. Speaking of which.... so testament means covenant too like they're the same word and a covenant is a promise between us and God himself. So if you look at the old "Testament" it was the covenant that Christ would come. The New "testament" was that Christ would set the means for us to return home to Heavenly Father and the Book of Mormon or "another Testament of Jesus Christ" is a covenant that the Christ will come again and that through Christ, the Plan of Salvation can be accomplished. Go through the whole plan of salvation..... every single fraction of it goes back to Christ. that's crazy! blew my mind! reading the scriptures is God's easiest, for lack of a better term, covenant for us to keep. WOW! haha good stuff
 

Love yal have a good week. Some extra prayers would be fantastic.... strength and ability to cope with stress.

 

Love you so much! It finally dawned on me when a missionary was talking last night that he was going home and will be sealed to his family. It dawned on me that I get to be with you each for Eternity. I cannot think of a better way to spend eternity. It clicked and I almost broke down in the meeting but I didn't because I'm a man(football) haha but it means the world to me. Thank you both parents for raising us up in the covenant of eternal families. I love it so much.....so grateful. It means everything to me! I love it:) and I love all of yal!

-Elder McAllister

October 21, 2013

Hey yal,

 

Sounds like Jenna's gonna be varsity next yr just sayin....

 

Meg.... talked to a lot of missionaries and singles here and they all keep saying Utah State..... all of em. UVU.... everyone gets accepted and its like older people too. Utah State is more of a college town and more fun they all say :)

 

So we had interviews with president and I was talkin about yal and told him about meg and school and pres was like..... are you going to college?? and basically I didn't know how to answer and so we talked and he wants me to start lookin at colleges, like Utah state or u of u. or byui so I'm gonna take a gander at em and see... my futures so blank and black right now idk whats gonna happen after mission... but pres was like, yeah you get home in  August so you should be gone to school by Sept. I was like dang .... well looks like I gotta step it up and see where the Lord wants me! sooo yeahhhhh and so I'm gonna stop running away from the blessings given me in my P blessing and see where the Lord wants me to go.

 

This week has been one of miracles. We started inviting people to be baptized randomly on the street and got 5 new investigators! so cool! plus 3 old investigators randomly came back to church so that was wayyyyyyyy cool!! Dinners can be awkward and there's a sister Gregerson who is from Georgia and is the biggest "me monster" I have ever seen.(Brian Regan skit) oh my gosh, its soooooo annoying..............and pres says that she told him that she thinks I hate her. So now its my fault that she's a me monster and annoying haha so looks like I've got my work cut out for me... other than that life is so good.... I love it.

 

Lavelua and I get along super super well. Transfers are coming next Tue though :/ hopefully he stays another. The missionaries here are so much fun.

 

Last Monday was "poly day" and and we played volleyball the whole day.... it was sweet. I hung with some of the Tongans for most of it but 2 of em were just Olympians it was insane. but super fun. and they're so chill and laid back I just want them as companions all the time..... so much more fun and productive because no one's stressing out so bad...

 

miracles miracles miracles.... I love it.

 

I love Ether 12 too.... I love the precursor to that verse.....verses 11-22, all those miracles and great things were done "by Faith".   Count how many times the phrase "by faith" or "have faith" or just "faith" is in those 10 verses. Its remarkable and lays it out how we should live and what faith can do!

 

love yal.... have a good week. Know that I'm super happy and loving every second right now.... even the morning when I'm tired haha

 

-Elder McAllister

Oct 14, 2013

Hey yal,

MEEEEEEEGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I'm doing jumping jacks and did 20 laps round the church!!!!!! that's so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you get free college!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ssoooooo happy for you Meg and the best part is..... there both solid LDS colleges and will let you go on a mish and still honor the scholorship!!!!!!!!!!!! aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ssssssooooooooooooo haaaaaaaaaaapppppppppppppppyyyyyyyyyyy for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that's amazing!!! Meg do you realize what you have??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? you can study whatever you want for free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ssooo cool!!!!!!(have fun reading that aloud) hahahahahaha

Man that makes me wish I did better in school.... kind of... haha man I can't do nothing!!(George Lopez for ya meg)

Wow, then to add to that Jenna's a VB playmaker!!! golleeeee why's everyone deciding to grow up now??? Jenna's gonna break some records for sure!!! plus Megan's on an all star softball game. All Star meaning best of the best. meaning your crazy good! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

This is great news!!!!!! I am sooo happy.... you have no idea! ask Lavelua.... I'm so happy! way to go!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The only thing that could top them is if KK wrassled a Grizzly while at cave of the winds....and won!!

Man that's crazy! and Logan's getting married?? man life is marching forward... fast! like Stripling warriors march fast....

Wow, did dad win a new car too? Mom, are you goin be going to Australia? What next! haha so happy!!!

Life here on the mish is fantastic! Great week.... went to the temple with Courtney (the one like Claire) and a ridiculous RM tried to just impress and hit on her the whole time........ killed the Spirit. and boy he was talkin about all sorts of inappropriate stuff in general and even more when on temple grounds.... it was straight up terrible. The RM doesn't even wear his G's.... who is this guy?? But we left him in Oakland.... hahaha and the ride back was super spiritual and man she is gonna get baptized soon.

Really cool experience....... sooo we were contacting on Stanford campus and joking with each other. I kept lockin Lavelua out of the car and this guy walked by and he went to go contact him and I followed after and the guy turns out to be a member and thought God gave him bad revelation and such and didn't want anything to do with the faith. And then we asked for just 1 visit and he agreed but said he was super unoptimistic because he's been through it all before and his dad's a Stake pres and yah. Here the crazy part that Sunday we were talkin to bishop and said a David Christensen called to meet with him and such and it was the same guy!!!! The Rescue is so easy when you have the Spirit! These LA and inactive people only are because they forgot what the Spirit feels like and the happiness it brings and bam in Santa Clara and here it's the same. Bring the Spirit and they do the rest. sooooo coooolllll!!!

I love the zone so much.... A team of missionaries here. Everything is good. No, its actually fantastic. I love it...... every second. The good, the bad, and the ok. Its all great. Time is flying by. I've already been here a month..... that's insane. My mission is flying before my eyes..... it needs to slow down! haha I love it out here too much... I've only got 3 more transfers here and then 1 more area...... AAAAHHHH!!!! that's crazy to think!!!!!!!! I go home in August.... not in 2 Augusts or next August but August. what!! where'd the last year go??? Man its crazy. I love it out here..... every second. Best decision I made with the help of some severe kickin in my chops to get me movin haha ....thanks you yal. man thank you.

Oh crazy last experience..... so went to visit a member from Sunnyvale in the Stanford psychiatric ward.............. 2 steel doors and separate buzzers and getting our packs taken we were in... felt like I entered a prison... There were some crazy people in there and then the guy we met............. thinks he saw Christ and that Christ is evil and he prayed for Satan to be good and free and it happened and alot of shady stuff.. He kept shaking like he was shivering kinda and would have to calm himself down alot to keep from shaking outta his seat. Then at the end, was like you, need to pray to know what I saw was true and we were like no we need to go! It was insane. Then he wouldn't let us leave and whew... someone thinks there Korihor like straight up...

Love yal so much! Maybe Meg we'll be at UVU or USU together or maybe me and Jenna will be at a beach in Santa Cruz kickin Cali trash at beach volleyball. or ya know maybe me and KK will go put bullet proof vests on grizzlies and create invincible bears. Who knows what time will bring especially now. soooo coooll. Meg... pray about it.... Heavenly Father knows where and what you need to be and do. Go to Him:) He answers in His own way and in His own time but He DOES answer.

Love yal!

-Elder McAllister

MOM NOTE:  He finally sent some updated pictures....ok so not really updated since these are from Santa Clara area and he is now in Palo Alto, but you get it! We don't get many, so these were so fun to get.  They were mailed so these are scanned into my computer so I could put them on his blog... the quality looks really bad.  But you get the idea.....

 Carlos Ayala after his endowment (most recent picture because Tyler was able to go for his big day even though he is not in the same area anymore)

 Elder Lavelua tryin to be American (his companion NOW)

 Lewis Davis

 Geo Tkach...going to the Colorado Springs mission...RIGHT NOW!

 The Yuen's...had lunch every Sunday with them...funniest kids ever!

Oct 7, 2013

Hey yal,

So glad to hear the good things comin to our family.... love it!!

So before I forget.... I figured the money in my account was for the suit and the stores in Gilroy so I've got the reciept and waitin on Pres to give my the green light to go down. Its hard with all the mission rules to go an hr south for a suit and back.... so we'll see.  It'll happen in the next monthish. The longer it takes, the nicer the suit will be looking when I get home and better condition it'll be in haha!! So I'm OK with patience. Yeah so I'll let you go for the shoes unless you want me to shop around. There's a nordstroms rack here which I hear is fantastic! Nordstrom stuff for like Ross prices, so I can try that out and if I don't find anything, we can go from there? idk how you'd like to go forward.

Cinnamon rolls were fantastic! Loved em and Lavelua ....aka lava girl.... never had one before so he tried one and fell in love with em haha.

Yeah singles are weird looking at it from a missionary point. Theres some really great girls and the guys are all super shy and scared kids to ask em on a date. Rations like 10 guys to a girl in the younger ward and like 14 girls to 1 guy in the older ones. Really interesting haha. Yeah our WML is a RM and we didn't have a chat yet cause conference and we tried talkin to him at a ward function and yeah didn't even acknowledge us... oh well..

Yeah I probably showed how tired I was haha I couldn't keep my eyes open while emailing haha but Lavelua told me something interesting.... he was like " when I prayed I asked to not be so tired and God like was angry with me like you signed up for this and you want me to take it away?" and so I got thinking... man that's so true how would we grow if we just had God change our natures to give us what we need. If we gave a kid candy every time he wanted it he'd be like Fat Albert "hey hey hey" and I think its the same with God. He knows we're tired and stressed and working hard and he's happy and he can see the growth even if I can't.

This week was crazy jammed. 4 district meetings to go to 6 hrs total. Mission leadership council for 8hrs. Temple twice! 1 for endowment 6 hrs. one for visitor center. 4hrs. man oh man plus 10 hrs of General Conference. And that's how you get a really really busy week haha. But it was great!   I loved every tired eyelid falling second of it, specially the temple. Its always amazing to go there and to take place in the work of salvation for the dead. You should go do baptisms for the dead some time soon.

We picked up a new investigator and she reminds me so much of Claire Genesy, the girl that was baptized in hollister. same voice and concerns mostly and everything. Its so cool! She wants to be baptized and just doesn't know what church and is having spiritual experiences and knows it and is so happy. Like on the drive home from our lesson, she asked HF to play a church song on the way home if what she's doing is right and boom last song before she got in the driveway. And now she can't find it on her ipod of 2500 songs. Heavenly Father has a special love for her. She is so prepared and is going to do such great things when she starts acting on faith more and more. Really cool experience. plus over the past 2 weeks, 4 investigators have randomly come to church and 3 are solid courtneys one and the other 2 the sisters are teaching. I love singles ward..... so much fun! I've just got my family ward cobwebs covering my singles ward self so I'm workin on dustin it off.

Conference was fantastic.... best one yet! totally get that one on DVD.

So best part! Sister Latu, my MTC teacher, is dating a guy in my ward and came to conference! We got to catch up and all... it was so cool!  Who sees their MTC teacher on a mission??? no one! haha it was sick! SO happy! 1st thing she said was "awww you've gotten fat" I was like great.... haha but it was hilarious. We talked about the whole district and all. She apparently still talks to missionaries about us and stuff, its crazy! She still remembers us haha even though we were all like lil pups there in that MTC. so cool.

Ah, so E. Baumert.... he's in the zone and a total kill joy basically so I took him at the last DM and broke him and I was planning on being really mean and just getting inside him and tearin him apart because he doesn't want to be out here and is dragging everyone down and out right hating life right now. But the spirit was so strong and all that came out was love and cheerleading and told him to go to the temple looking for joy and happiness from Heavenly Father and oh man I saw him on Sunday, 4 days after the temple, and he had a smile on his face and was laughing and talking and his whole countenance turned happy and positive ahhhh!!! I'm sooooo happy for him! Hes on his was to loving his mission and the great miracles that come! So happy.... sooo sooo happy! What a change the spirit can bring to anyone. Hopefully the momentum continues.

Life's great. I keep feeling that this won't end and I'll be a missionary forever and I'm in love with it. Serving the Lord and being dead tired at 5 in the afternoon is the best feeling ever...looking back on it. In the moment, it bites but that's OK haha..

Loving every second of it out here. I wish I had like a go pro camera and you could follow me around for a day.... its sooo amazing. Ah, I just love it haha

Have a good week.... enjoy break! Remember I'm still waking up at that crack of dawn Meg when you wake up at noon............. hahahahah

love yal

-Elder McAllister

Sep 30, 2013

Hey yal,

So glad to hear the week was good. My week was alright. I am so stinkin tired all the time here. idk why just am.... like I feel my eyes burnin and could fall asleep at a moments notice haha. Guess that's what happens when you work nonstop for a yr. The area's great.... we cover the whole stake. Lavelua's from New Zealand but is Tongan.

Sorry I ran outta money last month a little early and spent a few of my personal. So that musta been what did it. sorry!

So this area is super hard even without fightin my sleep deprivation. The singles..... 2 singles wards I cover.....they are only concerned with flirting and impressing and so on Sunday not even possible to get anything done haha But during the week it's sweet..... they do alot for us. So is pros and cons. and our WML for the younger singles is a total jerk..... like flat out jerk.... acts like a know it all. Doesn't know a thing, is critical of us and murmurs to the ward members about made up things, he's just a total me monster jerk faced kinda guy.... so I ain't gonna take it. We're havin a big pow wow on Saturday to figure out why he's got so much beef with us..... we'll see how that goes.

I am so tired! and sadly I wore the soles of my everyday shoes and now wearin my Sunday shoes each day. Man I just can't seem to keep stuff from going south sorry. Maybe for Christmas I could get a new pair? I'm lookin at Ross but the last ones that wore out were from there... where as the ones from Kohl's that ya got me like 5 yrs ago just barely wore out before these. Anyway, just never was good with shoes was I mom?

Sorry can't think.... I'm just so fried... think I'm burning myself out or I'm just out a yr and that's what happens. Who knows. oh lavagirls been out for 19 months.

Temple tomorrow..... interviews with pres 16th.

Keep up the VB. Meg seriously enjoy senior yr cause you only get one.

love yal.... enjoy the spirit of conference

 

-Elder McAllister

Sept 23, 2013

Hey yal,

This week has been intense.

I'm glad you get to go to the temple.... the new film is spectacular .....you will love it!! I know I do! Its really really well done and I just love it.

Glad the girls are gettin better and better at sports!!!

Man this week has been absolutely crazy!! Oh man I dunno where to start. So it might be kinda mixed up but that's OK!

So 1st off my new address is.....

2369 Wellesley St.

Palo Alto CA, 94306

I'm covering the Stanford singles wards 1st and 2nd. Its so much fun! Tuesday, 1st day in area I was at dinner with bishop and the other members of the bishopric showed up randomly and we had an awesome night and I guess they either liked me alot or wanted to put me in my place quick cause I got a call to give a 20 min talk on Sunday. So I did that yesterday and it went well. Made lots of jokes to keep the kiddos awake. Got E. Lavelua as a comp. yes another poly! and I love it so much more! The white elders are just so stiff and strict. Lavelua and I are ZLs and the zone's twice as big as my last. 27 missionaries...... like half are sisters which means tons more drama... but that's OK. We're rockin the zone! Its one of the highest work and results zones...... tons of great missionaries here. I love it! Lavelua is so fun too, man its better than Ketywan seriously. Life is great! Funniest thing.... so once I found out I was going here on the ride up, I texted Carlos Ayala (he's always wanted to go to Stanford singles ward cause that's where the girls his age are) Guess whose in Stanford and he texted back "NO WAY!" and I could just picture his voice.... it was awesome! Sooooo happy I still get to see him. Plus the guy who made those golf videos of me is also moving to Redwood City which I cover so I'll see him again too. Its sweet. Absolutely love it here. Covering the ward with 2 rockin sisters and one reminds me of Taylor cox.  Life is perfect once again haha. This is the richest area in the world. Valparaiso Ward is the richest ward in the world in the church. Oh met a guy on campus from Rampart HS.... it was pretty cool. We're teachin him more this week :) I love it! Absolutely am happy here haha.

My talk was comparing the game of volleyball to life and how we can either be on the Lord's team or Satan's or do nothing. It was a well idea talk but didn't come out the best. but I got a few compliments so hopefully it worked. Said "what the heck" over the pulpit.... that's no biggy right??? haha too funny. It was good.....really lovin it here

E. Lavelua is fantastic! Love the guy to death! better than ketywan, I think. maybe....

Life's reaylllllly good. Best area of my mission so far.

Man idk what else to say. Its just so good.

Oh so we go on Stanford alot. Man that place looks like Hogwarts and even has a "hogwarts bathroom".  Meg you should go here, you'd like it haha.

Happy anniversary Grandma and Grandpa! Hope yal are doing well :) Enjoy the family for me! and have a really good time. Love you both lots. Still remember going through the SLC temple with yal and it was such an amazing experience..... thanks for going through with me :) Means a whole lot!!

Can't wait til conference! Getta go to the temple again and hear the prophet:).... that finally sank in. We have a Prophet of God speaking to us. How privileged are we to have that..

love yal..... have a good week

-Elder McAllister

Sept 16, 2013

Hey yal!

Good to hear everything is going well. Man I heard about the rain! That's insane! 1st tons of fire then the rain belated to put it out haha but I'm glad its not a drought anymore thats for sure lol hopefully everyone is stayin dry and no leaks in the house.

Glad meg liked HC and we finally won a game..... thats insane lol never done before.

Yeah I got the pictures..... holy snap meg and Jenna could be twins. Its ridiculous how big Jenna's gotten. Slow down sis! got back to 12 lol.
 

So this week was insane. Went by so fast! Incredibly fast..... lightning quick. Ridiculous how time flies out here. Yes I'm getting transferred but I'm at peace with it. I'm gonna miss alotta the people here. So many friends that I see as family, but the best experience of all was Saturday. President allowed us to go to the temple with Carlos for the 1st time! Oh man it was an amazing experience. Best day of my mission by far. We talked and talked and talked and talked and the spirit was there the whole time. Our eyes weren't dry the whole time. It was so special. Man I love that guy. Harder to say goodbye to him and I've only known him 7 months than sayin goodbye to most of my life long friends back home. It's crazy. I really feel I've learned at least a piece of how much Heavenly Father loves his children. He wrote in my journal and I lost it. You'd think I was a 4 yr old girl that got her lollipop takin away. It still is gut wrenching but the last thing we said to each other was see you at each other's weddings! So I'm lookin forward to that now for 2 reasons!!
 

Other than that, I've just been sayin goodbyes and packin my things. I'm gone on Tuesday. Who knows where the Lord will take me. I just hope its someone a little more easy going that E. Barber. I have been struggling the whole time with him. I feel I need to be 100% perfect or I get hugely judged and ugh its so stressful. My face is like the Himalayas too. But I give credit.... he's been doing this alot longer so maybe thats how I'm supposed to be but I just feel super inadequate and ready to ask pres to drop me to a reg missionary. But I keep getting back to "this is where the Lord wants you" so I stay lol. Its probably me and my personality that is just not meshing with his but that's ok..... different people do things different. I just wish I coulda made it work smoother. oh well.
 

Oh so funny story...... sacrament meeting yesterday. So this lady walks into the lobby during the sacrament and all the members motion for us. So we go out. and she's holding a dog... what are we supposed to do with a dog?? We teach, not play fetch lol. so she's freaking out about how to get help for this dog and then says she cant hold it anymore and like throws it at me. So there I am halfway through sacrament and holding a dog... and then she wants to go outside to call because she doesn't want to ruin any ones sacrament experience(apparently ours wasn't important lol) and so shes callin like 15 numbers and were just standing outside for like a half hour and while shes doing that I'm tryin to sell the dog to members walkin around haha! but it didn't work and finally I'm just like ok who cares and let it go and told her it'd be fine and she freaked out again but after a few minutes decided it was best. Then we finally sit back down and a few members come up to us and question us where we got this dog and why he's by the church and this and that and its like holy cow its just a dog. Let him be..... his owner will probably come lookin for him and then they left lol finally.... never an ordinary sacrament meeting in Santa Clara that's for sure lol.

But I'm getting transferred. We'll see where I go. I'm excited mostly. kinda burnt out right now though from all the stress. I'd love a good just 1-2 days of rest.... that'll get me goin at 100% again. Doubtful but hey I can dream haha! Loved the temple and the new film is extraordinary. You will have to go soon! I loved every second of it!

Love you guys...... do good on your games and homework and of course live it up! Have fun ...you only go through HS once. Enjoy the ride now rather than look back at it. :) Have a good week!

Oh and just sent a missionary outta Santa Clara to Colo Springs mission. Geo TKach. maybe he will get called to your area.

-Elder McAllister

Sept 10, 2013

Hey sorry gonna be short.... long and crazy day as a ZL and just had like 10 min to shoot a quick email to yal and Mel.... so sorry for it ahead of time

The suit is a audible. Pres asked me about a suit cause he saw the condition of mine and told me he had a better deal than Men's Wearhouse, so he sold me a brooks brothers suit for 200. Way nicer than a men's wearhouse. so I'll just need the money to pay him back. It's untouched so I can go to a brooks bros and get it exchanged for anything in the line up. :) He's such a loving guy! He's great!!

Saying goodbyes is so hard.... specially after 8 months in a great ward, but it's died off a bit when Ketywan left. Barber is just so serious all the time and stiff. It's hard cause he doesn't laugh at anything really and just stays quiet so it's awkward after I say something usually 99% of the time lol but I just cope and hope for the best. He is a spiritual giant which I love, just different personalities I guess.

We have 2 big things going on right now! Carlos Ayala who kety and me activated and ordained to Melchizedek priesthood and his son to Aaronic and then talked him into a camero lol and now he's going to the temple this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I pray so hard that president will let us go to get his endowments with him. He wants me to be his escort! So exciting!!!!! I'm just waiting now for pres to call and give us the green light. So cool! Then number 2... we got 2 new baptismal dates. The Rezendes..... they're Brazilian though and totally want the gospel.  It's just hard to teach so luckily we have a lot of Portuguese speaking members to help us out, but they are such a loving family and are just great!!!!!

Send me a picture of Jenna blocking..... that I wanna see!! my sisters are excellent athletes. Be aggressive to be aggressive......both of you. You're stronger than any of the girls out there... just run em over and get in there face! haha

I'm most likely transferred the 17th, so don't send anything :)

Barber's good..... total spiritual giant. Just really doesn't seem to like me. He's super stiff.... makes it hard sometimes. Actually a lot of times lol ....in lessons and with others just great cause I can chat with others but by ourselves.... just awkward all the time.... oh well.

Life's good. Can't wait to get the new suit fitted and the right style picked out :) I'll be looking great! Hopefully it lasts for like 5 years.

It's hot here but not too bad. Got a Mexican tan and a redneck neck haha but life's good.

Loving my mission and man its flying by. I'm trying to live in the moment and seems I'm just watching em fly out the window as I'm tryin to grab hold of em.

love yal gotta go!

-Elder McAllister

September 3, 2013

Hey yal!
 

So good to hear how everything's going!

Good luck to Jenna and Megan! yal will do great!!

Kayla I bet mom didn't write on here how many push ups you did because it was more than she could do and she didn't want me to know my sister could beat my mom in push ups! haha!!

Duke's getting grey? That pooch better stay livin til I get home! I miss him alot!

I saw the other email and was so confused. Hope you didn't start cryin cause you didn't get it off in time. Labor day, so the library was closed....haha!!

So not much this week.  The mission is good. Met with the stake president and mission president and we were talking about the zone and how to improve and what's going on and all that and I sat back for a second and thought man what other 20 yr olds are meeting with such high officials in business or outside the church..... it's crazy! I was real privileged especially with the trust and confidence they had in us as those lil 20 yr olds.... haha It was a cool experience.
 

So the week was long, but good. The mission's shooting for a 101 baptisms this month. 2 months ago was 17ish then Aug was 45 and now we're going for triple digits!!! How exciting!!! haha for California..... in Brazil and down in S America they baptize that many a day lol.

E. Barber's a great guy..... love the time I'm spending with him. And the zone is really looking up. The Rezende family came to church for the 1st time and it was perfect because a bishopric member and wife both speak Portuguese and so they hit it off like the kids at McDonald's! We're planning a trip to the temple Sunday. Plus Carlos Ayala, the coolest member here, is finishing up temple prep tomorrow and wants us to come to the temple with him for the 1st time! Hope pres lets us!
 

Life's good. Haven't found a good suit yet. I know what I want and so I'll be patient until I can find it :)

Love yal!

Aug 26, 2013

hey yal,

So yeah heard about the new temple film..... haven't seen it yet but heard it is indescribable and makes the whole experience a million time more spiritual.
 

As for the suit.... we're lookin around. I don't want the one I have now lol so I'll keep lookin. Want a nice window pain suit if ya know that pattern. Tried an 800 suit on 2 weeks ago that had it and it was so fly for a white guy haha. No JCPenney round here. That shirt and package you sent were great! Thanks so much! I'm outta money for the month so it'll come in handy haha! Perfect timing. The shirt was a little tight around the arms, guess I'm getting bigger haha but it's white and not grey so it works hahaha! Glad to hear Jenna and Meg are doin good. Show Jenna the Mormon Message about that Tyler kid that played basket ball. It's called..... "a work in progress" or

http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2010-12-0160-a-work-in-progress?category=mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2010

We got 2 new baptismal dates! These amazing parents from Brazil and they love us to death and when we told em we pay for our missions they practically wanted to live with em.  It was hilarious but they are amazing and he knew the church 10 yrs ago but didn't take it so he is super serious about it now and believes everything...... so great!!!
 

Then we had Zone Conference and I had to conduct the meeting. I was so nervous idk why it's just conducting.... not like a talk or anything but I was. It was weird.... but it went well. President bought a new truck and he let me and E. Barber drive it. haha it was fun! 

 

Then the interesting part... E. Haas(from my MTC group. the red head one) was in my zone and he was sent home Saturday. He stole $600 from a LA member of his ward and was absolutely trashing the missionary title in his ward..... one of the mission presidency was the former chief of police for the city of San Jose and basically interrogated him and told pres he was guilty and so we went down that Saturday and boom Haas was sleeping in his own bed that night. I was sad for him at 1st but then I wasn't...... let me explain. So the Lord works in mysterious ways.  We were supposed to get a mini missionary last weekend to see how missions are but he couldn't come til this weekend. And it worked our perfect because Barber and him worked Santa Clara and me and E. Barney went to Los Altos ward for the weekend. It worked out great and seeing the condition of the ward and how there was not a hint of trust or care for the missionaries in that ward I was so glad Haas was gone. Barney is a super hard working country boy from Rexburg and he is so ready to work. We just contacted when we got there, went through referrals and street contacts to start up the area, and we got tons of potential investigators.  E. Barney was telling me how he was learning so much and was finally able to feel the spirit again. It was great.! That Sunday, the way we carried ourselves and had fun but were pro and showed the work we did in the progress record put a huge smile on the Bishop probably the 1st smile towards missionaries in 6-9 months. It was a great feeling and the ward just swarmed us because Barney is really new too and it was only his 2nd week, so everyone wanted to meet us and see if we were good missionaries or not. And we got like 4 referrals just from how we acted and carried ourselves, which means that the members had like zero faith in the previous elders. So it was good and then people called us after church asking if we would eat with em and such.  It was a total change of culture in the ward. Apparently Haas was trying to get with the young women and just terrible things like that, lying and stealing, and making it sound like missionaries are a joke. But that will all change and now I'm torn because I love my Santa Clara ward and the members and the friends I have there but I also really want to work in Los Altos to get that area on fire! Maybe I'll ask president to demote me to a missionary to work Los Altos for awhile. (we're a trio right now... Barber, Barney and me in Santa Clara) and we're meeting pres to discuss how to move forward. I'd love to work Los Altos. We'll see where the Lord wants me I guess.

So all in all a crazy week....
 

Hope yal have a good one! How's Duke? and KK?

Love ya

-Elder McAllister

Aug 19, 2013....One Year This Week!

hey yal

So glad to hear about my awesome athlete sisters. Way to go! Meg's a rockstar and is gonna get a scholarship to Baylor this year. Jenna's gonna break the JV outsides knee in the locker room and is gonna get bumped up and Kayla's going to invent a new sport and mom and dad will just have real sore chops from the bleachers all day everyday. haha

Sounds like yal had a real good week. Wow Meg just got her license and you let her go to the west side of town on her own. Man I remember I got mine and yal tried keepin me on like a 2 mile radius from the house haha but I'm glad she's enjoyin it and I would say mom's enjoyin her sleep but I know you still probably wake up to make sure they are up and if not, then the garage will wake ya up and boom wide awake haha. ......still know ya like a book after a yr away lol.

So for my yr mark...... me and Workman, my MTC comp, are gonna burn a shirt :) it's a ritual.... like you know how they say Mormons are cultish? well it's cause the missionaries hahaha jk but it should be exciting and funny. It's at a member's house.

Speaking of shirts and such so this week alone I ruined 3 of my 3 long sleeve shirts. and a few ties lol. one a big car grease stain down the back of a shirt. another pen marks(got that out mostly) and the other from a luau and getting dirty somehow idk how. but at least I got one haha! and the tie got a giant grease stain down the front. oh well. and I haven't bought any clothes in like 5 months anyway just FYI.

We're still lookin at suits. I found that pattern that is just stunning! haha so hopefully there's one that's pretty cheap. We're gonna go to brooks brothers today I think. But hopefully before next transfer I'd like a new one. And maybe one of those satin stripe or patterned white shirts but that's not as necessary. Well I guess price em out today and go from there. What's too expensive? $100000000? or maybe $999999? haha jk I was thinkin the 200 range + or - 50?

E. Barber says there's alot of McAllisters down in Kanab lol. He's good. Really hard working and he's been a ZL for a yr now so he kinda out ranks me. But we are pretty even in like how we do things I guess is the way to say it. He's a spiritual giant.
 

So this week was fun. Went to the golf range with a member who coached me up a bit and I'm gettin better slowly. Just to lose it all for the next 6 months before I might go again lol but it was fun.
 

So church yesterday idk what it was but I was just sooooo happy. The whole day..... no idea why. I guess because I know all the people, plus maybe cause we had like a dozen of our LA that we work with show up and plus our WC was super happy with the work we did and maybe cause everything finally clicked for me and I see the real joy of missionary work. Or maybe I just had gas. Who knows! haha but it was a great day.

Well gotta run. Can't wait to talk to yal later. Good luck on the games. Go big or go home! Play like it's the last game of the season every time. and have fun :) that's the secret to winning..... is having fun.

Love yal

-Elder McAllister

Aug 12, 2013

hey yal,

haha I'm glad I haven't grown up tooo much yet.... I like bein a kid way too much for that haha.

Good luck Jenna and Megan. yal are gonna be varsity. I just know it. Well Jenna maybe JV.... sorry yer only a freshy.

haha yeah Sis McFarland is a total facebook creeper lol. She was hounding me for it for ages so I finally caved but I didn't know if it was you or not cause it was a baby picture of me I think?? I don't know but yeah it threw me off and set off the McFarland's "awwws" when they saw it lol so now I know what you do on facebook when I'm gone!! haha yeah he's the one that called me Elder Caskcall, but he's gettin better
 

So transfers. Ketywan went home. Was good the whole meeting then last prayer looks up at me afterwards and is bawling....... it was so hard to say goodbye. I absolutely love that Vanuatuan. Then once I put it behind me and was focusing on working, he called Wednesday mornin to say goodbye again before he got on the plane. Man I broke down.. He was such an amazing missionary and just a great friend. We had so much fun together. He taught me sooo much and we had the best of times. My favorite time was at the Yuen's when we pied Bro Yuen in the face. sooooo funnnyyy!!

Now I'm with Elder Barber, he's from Kanab and is awesome.... real reserved for the 1st few days then I called him out on it and he opened up and is hilarious! The next Brian Regan, seriously he's hilarious. The areas gettin better and better as we go and I now feel like a ZL and am doing ZL things since we're in the same companionship now. It's good, real good.

I'm realizing I'm not a very good missionary. With Kety gone and Barber in, I've switched from bein the lead, to learnin which I love. I'm just disappointed in myself for not being to a higher level I should be at. But it's humbling and eye opening so hopefully I'll be improving.

Love ya guys and I did know it was your anniversary. For some reason I was thinking it was the 18th + or - a week, so basically I knew it was in August haha I'm getting better at remembering things.

love yal! oh BTW, Barber and I are thinkin about gettin new suits Jos a Bank has a buy one for 300 get one free so we'd split 150 each. just so you're aware. It'd be kinda nice for a yr mark. or maybe I'll wait til 6 months left. idk we're just gonna look today. Let me know what your thinkin. and we'll get a plan in motion.

Love yal! Hope dad and Kayla and of course Duke are doin good.

-Elder McAllister

August 5, 2013

hey yal,

Sounds like one heck of a week! Jenna's gonna have so much fun vb all day everyday. I wish the guys had something like that, then maybe I'd be good. lol Way to go Jenna... just work hard, don't get frustrated, relax, and have fun. You only play good if you relax and have FUN. Trust me, I know.

Sorry to hear about my great Aunt, but whenever I see a funeral or memorial service all I can think about is the mercy of our Heavenly Father and his wonderful plan of happiness. It's so perfect in every little nook and cranny.... it's perfect and it's full of happiness. I look at those passing away as movin to the 2nd mile of the 5k of life.

So crazy stuff happened at church! A member came up to us both after the meeting and he's a very monotoned quiet yet spiritual giant sorta guy. Lived in the ward 40yrs and was bishop, ward mission leader, stake high councilor and more.... came up to us and said that in 40 yrs of missionaries we were in the top 10. Figure missionaries are in an area for 6 months.... that's at least 80 missionaries that have gone through Santa Clara. It was really humbling and a gratitude filled moment. He was even chokin up a little. We gave him the biggest hug and he just smiled at us. It was such a somber moment.(idk if I used somber right)

Ketywan leaves tomorrow. Then I'll get my new comp. dunno who yet.  This past week has been a ton of goodbyes and triple the ton of food. I feel soooooo fat... like 30lbs of straight meat and potatoes the past 4-5 days. Luckily yesterday was Fast Sunday and so I didn't eat much.
 

Oh! Speaking of Fast Sunday. I fasted for missionary work, which was the 1st time I've fasted for not myself in awhile and in church a guy came up and wants to change his life around and me and Bro Yuen are workin with him now to get him back into the church and possibly a job with Bro Yuen's construction company. It was sooooooooo big of a testimony to me how quick the Lord can answer our fasts which are like turbo prayers.

Really great week. I'm whatever about the cologne, impulse buy and I forgive the kid and so it's all on him to make restitution now or if he chooses to get away with it he will answer for it at the judgement bar. His choice... I'll be the big person!  I shouldn't of impulsed bought that anyway.... my fault.

I'm startin to stress now.   I'm the senior ZL for the zone and I'm 1 transfer out as a ZL. lol We'll see what happens I guess but luckily most the ZLs are pretty good guys.  Some are wound up tight and stiff as a board and some are alot like me so we'll see who I get. Jackson, my best bud, is a ZL now so I might get him..... hopefully!
 

So last thing. Transfers alway bring drama. "oh I don't want to go", " this has been heck, get me outta here" "why am I not leaving, I hate it here" "oh I'm gonna miss yal so much" "whine whine whineee.........." and one of the elders I briefly knew in Morgan Hill texted me outta the blue tellin me he was throwin in the towel and goin home cause he can't stand his area. It was sure tough to talk him calm down. It was so eye opening to me as we talked to immense(see learning new big words) consequences that follow dishonorable releases. It woke me up because there were and are definitely times when I'm like there's no work, this is wastin my time. But now I think back to this instance and that'll keep me out more focused. This elder is stayin and stickin it out which is a blessing in and of itself the emotions he had before. But what I believe did it for him was that his future wife and kids will either get blessed by his mission or suffer because he called it quits. Different people respond to different cords I guess.

Have a fun week, can't believe only 4 months til Christmas.... maybe this time I'll get to see yal haha! we'll see. Have fun this week.

-Elder McAllister

Ward mission leader and family with Elder McAllister and Elder Ketywan......saying goodbye to Kety!

July 30, 2013

Hey yal,

So this has been a crazy week.

Gotta go to Santa Cruz and do beach volleyball and oh it's so much better actually on a beach. fantastic fun! yes Ketywan's leavin this week.... he's so trunky and nervous. But it's good. It'll be interesting to see how this transfer will turn out cause both of the ZLs have already been 6 months in the area so one of us gotta stay. We'll see who..... might train..... might not.... who knows. I'll know Friday lol

I'm sorry life's hard Mom. But as they say..... hard as things may be, the Lord has promised us angels on our left and on our right to bear us up and He always keeps His promises. Took me a long time to learn that but it's true. And temple attendance can definitely grow that and help. I had my own outing with struggling with people. I'll explain later.

Jenna will do great with vb.... I wish her the best!
 

Glad Meg's senior pictures turned out. Can't believe she's a senior.... that's crazy!
 

Thinkin about buyin a ukulele rather than guitar cause it's easier to transport. Don't worry, not gonna buy one anytime soon but it'd be cool. Maybe Christmas or somethin. They're cheap here... 100 for a nice one Ketywan says...... islanders know best lol

I'm sure gonna miss Ketywan...... he's a great guy.

Our zone's gonna get like 1/3 of em switched out so we'll have alot of new faces to work with... it'll be good.

 

So this week was good..... with 1 big negative.... no bueno.
 

The good 1st..... went to Santa Cruz and played vb on the beach. soooo much fun! I loved it and Ketywan is so good at volleyball. Had a giant and absolutely delicious burger..... best one I've had I think. So good and I didn't get sunburned ;) haha all the makins of a good Pday.
 

This week we taught 25 lessons! It was great especially in such a hard area!  We however have a lot of missionaries sick which is no bueno but hopefully the best comes of it.
 

So the negative....... so 3 companionships broke into our apartment (via Ketywan's key) and hid with Nerf guns. So when we walked to the front door, ours were on the floor. We took em, guessed what was about to happen, and ran into a fire fight! It was a blast so much fun but when we cleaned up and everybody left, the cologne I bought with my bday money was gone. So I looked through the whole apartment, every last nook and cranny, and nothing. So I called each companionship and got it down to 1 who kept sendin my calls to voicemail and not answering my texts. Then I realized one in that companionship already had the exact same brand as mine so he wouldn't take it and so I know who it was and he lies straight to my face and idk what to do. I'm a missionary.  I can't just walk in and get in a fist fight even though that's what I wanna do. I can't call president cause that will be a huge waste of his time. So do I cut my $45 loss and deal with it or try and fight it more? I just don't know because it's a lot of money. His trust with me already is out the door, down the street, around the bend, and out to Mexico on fire. But I just dunno what to do..... I'll keep prayin on it and see what ya say.
It's sad the elders will steal from each other and then lie about it. Burns trust and hurts their eternal salvation.... I pray to love him because I seriously wanna wring his neck. But that won't solve anything. I'd like my stuff back or at least him to admit it so we can start building the trust back. We'll see what happens.....

The life of a missionary.....almost to my 12 month. Time's slowing allllloooooootttttt probably because I've been in the area so long. I think I'm ready for change since I've tried all my tricks on this area. We'll see what happens.

Love yal..... have a good week

-Elder McAllister

11 Months Today...July 22, 2013

hey yal.

So I'm pretty sure that getting hit with a 2x4 is about the same feeling when I heard about that concert. yal are sooooooo stinkin lucky... Congrats Meg, you have been to a concert before me. Hope it was super fun! Glad yal could go! It was at Bronco Stadium huh? Well, we had our own little excursion to a NFL stadium...

The new Levi Stadium to be exact!!! So we have a 49ers player in our ward right and we went to dinner and then he's like... I'll call you at 830 if the locker rooms are empty and you can come (since Ketywan's never put pads on) so we went! and it was cool..... the security guard had a cousin that did a mission and was talkin it up with us.  Then we found the guy.... Will Tukuafu .....and he showed us the locker room, met some players, looked at all the trophies and Ketywan maxed out his bench press with Tukuafu spotting him with all the fancy 49 weights and such. It was sooooooo cooolll!!!! Got tons of pictures!!!! Really sweet but the guys so humble and I love it. Might be gettin some 49ers gear too. We'll see. So I guess we broke even lol you a concert and me an NFL team. I'd take the country I think though.

So this has been a slow week. Very slow but a good one. Interviews were fantastic! Me and Pres are from the same cut of beef and it was cool to discuss everything. It's funny.... 3 or 4th interview with him and they started out being just about me and rapidly my interviews turned into talking about others and helpin em instead of me..... so cool to see Pres trusts me with takin care of everybody. And now as ZL, he trusts me even more. Really cool to see. But we talked and he was like yupp yer gonna crack some eggs and so what..... just do what ya know to do. So that's what I'm doin! Also had to give a sacrament talk in front of Pres wife and got taped! So we'll see how I did lol. I'm not good at speaking publicly... I'm glad someone in our family got that gene.

Man I loved trek absolutely loved it. If you do get those pics, you gotta send me em. Workman's got one of those electric picture frames so I can just throw a zip in it and watch em all. So we got the Work and the Glory this week from some members and I fell in love with em. I love the pioneers... I really think that's gonna be my future in the church is studyin and such of them cause when I was watchin em, all I could think about was how awesome it woulda been to be there....... to live when times were simpler and people were able to have a common goal and even though the physical persecution was tougher by far, I can take that sort. I struggle handling all this mental persecution and such but anyway..... love the early saints. Can't wait to go on trek as a pa. It'll be sweet.

Love yal so much! sorry for the short letter but Ketywans anxious to do stuff before he leaves the states...... 2 more weeks.

Love ya ,

-Elder McAllister

July 15, 2013

Hey yal

Thanks so much for your gifts.... they were exactly what I needed! It was amazing... thanks so much. I even kept the wrapping paper! It was all good fun. Got grandma's gift as well as Granny's. They were wonderful! Ketywan loves when I get food and eats usually 2/3 of it all haha. My birthday was spent at the Bishop's Storehouse, followed by missionary work and a dinner with my favorite member here... Carlos Ayala Jr. Super cool guy..... we went to Armadillo Willy's BBQ place. Sooo good but not as good as the one off hwy24, forgot the name.

haha Duke was just whining because I wasn't there..... he knew somethin was up ;) I love that dog.

Meg, that is a bombtastic picture of Capt. I'm floored and it.s placed on my giant wall of many things. It's awesome, thanks so much! Best present ever. thank you

Only thing that really is going on here is me crackin eggshells and tryin to tape em back up. It doesn't work so well but oh well...... trial and error.

Got interviews with Pres so that'll be real good. I can pow wow with him about life.

So I thought I remembered sending off a letter to Crabtree but now I don't remember if I actually did or not. Can ya follow up and see if he got one? My minds already losing it's memory lol.

Have a great week...... enjoy the relaxin summer for me. Love ya all and glad to hear your havin fun.

-Elder McAllister

Birthday Week

Hey Yal,

Sounds like a fantastic week.... nothing big, just goin with the flow that's awesome.

ZL is definitely different. I'm still in my area but go down to the Mission office frequently and have a million more meetings....... like a million. literally. but its good. Went on exchanges with the APs, that's a thing zl do too. I was on egg shells cause our area isn't productive and so he was a little disappointed. Oh well, just keep doin my best and the Lord will take care of the rest. The elders say I've totally changed from a week ago...... not cool, I want to be myself but yet they say I've changed. Hopefully it's for the better. I get alot more face time with President Watkins now too which is good. He's a great guy!

Life's good right now..... having awesome times with families. They love us here and we have such good times and also such spiritual times too!
 

So yesterday we went over to our favorite family, the Yuen's...... love em so much. We go every Sunday and this time was the wife's bday and so there were tons of families and kids everywhere and Bro Yuen told em all to go after me and so I was fighting off a bunch of primary kids for like 45 min with pillows and eventually they got me cause I was just so dang tired! And got dog piled.... it was so much fun!!! I love kids and being one haha it was real great.  I love being a missionary in those moments.

Yal be happy to know I bit the bullet and got some Pb&J stuff so hopefully that'll keep me from eatin out. It's just so much easier for missionary work to stay out and work then eat in the area we're working. Maybe I'll take a sack lunch haha

We bore our testimonies again last Sunday and it went really well.  The ward has really grown to love us which is good because they've had real cruddy elders that past few yrs. Now if only we could get a baptism!
 

Oh best news ever!!!!!!!!!!! remember Claire from Hollister???????????? She's finally gettin baptized! Super excited! Definitely going down to Hollister for that one! It's the 27th! Super happy! Clarke and I thought she burnt out and that was that but then she called us and told us. sooooo cool! Hollister reunion time!

Well gotta go. Hope yal have a great week :) Love ya guys so much! Thanks for the bday wishes.

-Elder McAllister