April 28, 2014

hey yal!

Man mom, sounds like a crazy week for ya! Hope it was good though! Man my smile went through the roof hearin about church yesterday for yal that's so legit! Isn't it amazing the feeling you get from bearing testimony of some part of the Doctrine of Christ. Something that means everything to us and always comes straight from the heart and just means the world and is precious above all our stuff and things that we "claim" are our favorite things. Nothing compares to a testimony of Christ and the miraculous task He performed of shouldering alone our Salvation. Watched that "Because of Him" video like 20 times this week and it hits me every time when it shows the earth and is like we all will live again. It hit me.... we ALL.... like the guy that cuts you off in traffic. the one that pulled your hair in 3rd grade, the one that you love to death, the one that just bugs you, the stranger down the street and everyone else! will live again because of Him! that's huge! absolutely crazy!

haha mom don't stress! Watch this ....it always helps me!

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages/topics/gratitude?v=1101413031001

Its a simple truth but man it can really help. Plus equally.... yoke yourself to Christ, Alma 7.12 teaches us that he didn't just take every sin upon him but every ill feeling , every stress, every anxiety, every hurt and headache and stubbed toe and sadness and happiness and love and joy... he felt it all! so He can help! Just like in Matthew.... come unto him for his yoke is easy and his burden is light. All that stress will go away and you'll be able to handle it all :) I know it!

UVU is my 1st choice.... its got the degree I want! thanks!! Me an Hardy are looking at ways to live together down there. He's goin to the Y so well see what happens.

I'll be prayin for Bishop and Uncle Lloyd.

This week was crazy! We stretched like a rubber band and got the most lessons this area has seen in a week! It was bomb! We are so happy!! Well I am... Tripp doesn't show much emotion lol but hey its all good! Best thing ever! This guy Cleve said hi to us and asked us what ward he is in and so we turned around and chatted. He's a member! baptized on the Church's bday in 2000 it was legit! but he had some hard times and didn't know where the Church was and so within a week get this.... he called and met with the bishop, met with us twice and wants to do service with us! holy cow! Hes flying!! Everyone we tell about him just lights up and is like that's so cool! and it is!!! love him! He sells cars for a livin and is workin with one of the kennys in the bay area to lease his 1st dealership! its legit I'm so excited for him!! oh man its bomb! oh so guess how much service we did this week... normal is like 10-12. we did 24 hrs! it was so fun! I love service! As bad as it is to say if there was a disaster here and we had to just help people here I'd be so down! The ward is lovin us! We're just chattin em up and workin our tail off for em and its payin off with respect points haha I wish more with dinner points but oh well.  I'm so tired lol so tired.... like I can sleep standing up now its that bad.... so one of the services a LA showed up from Saratoga ward and we worked with him and he invited us to his place. He's got 50 acres in richy Saratoga! It's insane but we're going to play beach volleyball today in a few hrs I'm so excited!! love it!! Plus is gonna get real warm this week so that's even better! love it here!! best ever.

Life is so good. I'm lovin it. The only thing that stinks is Sanchez and Tripp destroy the kitchen lol its so gross!! And they don't clean up so me and Zollinger usually do. haha Sanchez left the garlic out and open all night it was so gross.... oh well haha love ya guys so much! Thanks for the prayers and support! You are rockstars!! Mother's day in what 2 weeks? whose counting?? haha love ya!

-E. McAllister

 Elders McAllister, Ayotte and Featherstone

 West Valley College cleanup

 

April 22, 2014

Hey yal,

This was a crazy week! We are so blessed that Easter worked out so well. We didn't have a dinner til last minute and then a surprise lunch right before so we were stuffed! haha it was good. We had Stake Conference the past weekend and we accidentally went to the priesthood leadership training lol it was so boring and things I feel Bishops should already know. Oh well they are champs for stickin with it! haha President Watkins spoke at the adult session and man he is such a good speaker! The whole session was on Hastening the Work of Salvation and people were getting up and saying to do this and do that and I was even thinkin man this is alot to swallow and then pres gets up and is like all that stuff is well and good but just let others see the joy and light the gospel brings into your life. He gave an experience of him at Chili's with some missionaries. The place was down a cook or something and it took forever to get the food and the waitress was always bringin chips and salsa and sayin, it'll be right out and fillin drinks and doin her best and after the meal pres asked for the manager and she was so nervous and didn't want that but reluctantly she brought him over and he looked like he had been chewed out 20 times that day and pres was like I assume you had a problem in the back because the service was so slow and stuff and the manager was tryin to explain and pres was like look I don't care about that. This girl was a rockstar... she was under pressure and in a tight situation and she did a rockstart job with what she was givin. She needs a raise and should take the rest of the day off and just talked her up. The manager and the waitress were shocked. Completely shocked. The moral was it took about 30 seconds and didn't cost a dime to talk someone up or do something nice and it totally changed their day. Just being on a mission.... a simple hi to someone on the street can lift their spirits and change their day. He taught that if someone you bumped into during the day took an inventory of the day and everyone they met, would you stand out? Would they think wow that person was so nice and courteous or would they not remember you at all? We should be remembered and bring joy to others! That's way easier than a goal of 10 Book of Mormons passed out in a year! lol it was awesome.... he's such a good speaker.

Met with him about college last week too and talked alot like 2 hrs. I'm pumped! I'm gonna make it happen and he said if he finds me on the couch in October with a bowl of Coco Crispies on my stomach watchin TV at 3 in the afternoon, he's gonna kick my trash lol.

So I'm emailing on a Tuesday if you haven't noticed. Yesterday we had 2 moves for pday! whahoo lol it was pretty good for the most part.  The 1st move we got to borrow E. Claytons GMC 2500HD to move some stuff into storage for Tila the lady we moved a few pdays ago. His truck is so nice! and we washed her and filled her back up and they were like you can't do that! hahah too funny love doing nice things for people especially the Clayton's..... they are amazing. Then we moved a ol lady outta the ward and the truck was so small I wasn't confident we could fit it all plus we had too many Chiefs and not enough Indians and I was so done with the HP group leader... he wanted it his way when it wasn't the best way or the majority and blah lol oh well it got done but I was glad to be away from him. 

E. Sonenstalhl is with E. Hardy in Monterrey, that lil girl.... they are having such a blast down there. I'm with E. Tripp now.... been out 6 months and from Arizona but has to be technical and says he's from Provo even though he lived there 6 months then moved to about 25712341234 places then Arizona. And anytime anyone asks wheres he's from he has to give the whole story..... ay carumba. He reminds me of someone but not nearly as well rounded. After 3 hrs of listening to the Halo story plot and gears of War Plot I can tell you anything you want to know about that junk.... he's been out 6 months and i don't think he has contacted a single person while he's been here... loves humming and singing random hymns when members try talking and tries to correct me on every little thing.... its rough. oh so rough.... but this is what the Lord has givin me so that's what we're rolling with. I feel I'm shouldering the ward by myself with out WML leaving too. man its alot. so glad for exchanges with Jackson...... a chance to relax and breath. They stay with the polys and so I pranked E. Tupua last night with the typical shaving cream to the face. It was hilarious.... then I ran and hid and when I went to see if he woke up he was making a sandwich hahaha I love the polys the're bomb!  Lets just say though with Tripp I really hope I get 1 more comp before I go home to end on a good note.

The work is slowly growing in our area on our side. The sisters always are blessed with all they need lol and we are slowly getting more LA to teach and things to fill our time. Adopting the Ammon idea of serve serve serve and so we'll see how that goes. Time was cruising by with Sonenstahl, now its a little slower.. like alot lol  Been out 20 months today. can't believe it... I'm reading D&C a chapter a day so when I'm finished with it I'll be home hahaha so I'm kinda counting down.  

love you guys so much! Thanks for the package! I really enjoyed it! Shot everyone in the house hahah it was great! Oh the other night E. Strauss decided to cut open some glow sticks and in the middle of the night he flung it around and 5 glow sticks later our apartment looked like avatar it was so cool! and didn't leave any stuff on the walls or clothes so it was a huge blast!

Have a good week! I love you guys! Pray for me lol I need it. And pray for Tripp that he keeps his teeth. lol JK... its not that bad... yet.

love ya!

-E. McAllister

April 14, 2014

hey yal,

Man its so good to hear from you ....really happy to hear all the great stuff that's going on back home!

The week was good.....went by so fast.... E. Sonenstahls getting transferred. I'm super sad. He was from the same cut of beef. He's bomb. Really probably my favorite companion. We just clicked from the 1st day and now 3months later we gotta pull our roots out and start fresh. I'm nervous but not too nervous. Just want a good comp to end my mission on.

Last Pday there was a 3 alarm fire not too far from us so we went and checked it out. Got there before the cops so we could see it all. Man the house was almost gone before they could get enough water on it. The natural gas line was just pumping out fire basically. There was 8 engines, a tiller and 2 trucks plus hazmat, an EMS, and a dozen cops stuffed into a cul-de-sac putting it out. Plus 3 helicopters and 2 C-130s flying formation over. Dunno why, they couldn't drop anything on it in the city but it looked cool! Then yesterday there was a commercial building that caught fire in DT San Jose..... it was crazy. We just see a plump of smoke go up from out apartment. Don't know much about that one cause it was way outta the zone and we had to go to a stinkin meeting lol oh well. Love fire fighting.

It was cool this week..... we went contacting with the Chinese missionaries a lot and it was interesting to see how they do it in Chinese and how weird and awkward that culture is. lol but its cool for them I guess.  We contacted on Deanza college and it was weird being on a college campus again but there was some cool people.

Went on exchanges with E. Jackson..... that was fun. I love that guy. We had a blast and of course talked about USU and all that fun stuff.

Saturday, the Ocampos, a super cool family that moved from Lawrence station ward who remembered me. We eat with em and the hermanas a bunch cause they're awesome and our ward doesn't always feed us so they're awesome and it was so fun.  They are now the managers of their apartment complex and so they had tenants leave and trashed the apartment so they asked us to come help and paint the whole place. It was so much fun.... the polys and hermanas and us had a blast! And of course the walls didn't just get painted.... we all got covered and we're laughing and man it was a blast! 5 hrs of our Saturday. It was legit.... so much fun! Then the Clayton's, a senior couple who are headed home now took the zone to lunch at Chevy's. It was so good and so much fun! me and the polys just talked and they taught me Fijian and Tongan and Samoan.... it was legit. Love those guys.

So the zone finally was getting good. We were changing our zone culture to the better and then most of the heavy hitters are getting transferred... its rough back to square 2, not 1 luckily. lol but its good. Plus our WML is leaving too so now I feel like I'll be shouldering the whole ward :/ The Lord will qualify me for what it takes though I know in whom I have placed my trust.

Talking to president about college tomorrow.... I'll let ya know how that goes.

love yal.

-E. McAllister

April 7, 2014

Hey yal!

Sounds like a rockin week! Conference was amazing, we all think something big is gonna happen with in the next year with the motivation and the need to step up our faith in Christ and to firmly plant our flag and let it be seen by all. Something about being a missionary and in the trenches 24/7 makes conference just that much better..... like we're on the same battlefield. Its a cool feeling and the spirit is soooo strong in conference. That's amazing that yal could go to 2 sessions, E. Sonesnstahls fam was there too for the sun afternoon. It was a cool conference ....one of my overall favorites if not my favorite. Dad, now you have an excuse to get your Silverado ;)

Yes sorry, got the packages! The cinnamon rolls were eatin within the day and the pants and shirt I've got to take to a tailor to fit em a bit. Thanks for them, they are super nice clothes! The rolls were delicious as always! You are the best!

Wait we have 3 pets now?

So USU was a let down it sounds like? hmmm well I'll keep prayin where I should go.... E. Hardy decided BYU and Housekeeper is going BYUI and Jackson is going USU or SUU for generals then USU for major.

The cool thing.... oh man its legit. So I want to go to USU right and obstacles keep coming up that would keep me from there and the more I go to Heavenly Father and search for other options the more the Lord opens possible doors and ideas to help me get to USU. Its pretty awesome. So obviously it hasn't come full circle but its on the way!  So I talked to a rep there who I forwarded the email of. and I've thought about it and I can take the ACT again. The test date is Sept 13th and deadline is Aug 8th for registration. but if I can do that and knock out a 26, then I can get OOS tuition waived and enter the winter semester with Jackson. Plus a member is willing to sell me his 2001 Dodge Durango  as well. Now that's not a need just a possible thing so I'm not thinking heavily on that but the important part is I might be able to swing in state and if I can do that it might just be doable..... might. I have also looked at BYUI and I will apply to both BUYI and BYUH and Provo because they're the same application just to see what happens. I'm pretty sure I want to go into school at the winter semester though. I can get home and work my tail off, go into construction or carmax or somewhere maybe with the family business. maybe.... work like crazy til winter and then go to school. I still gotta talk to pres and more with God.  I'm just trying to prepare my presentation before I show them it so they can see I am putting my effort in and then I can partake of the blessings of their revelation to me. So we'll see how it goes but I think were makin some headway here.

I'll let you know what happens as it happens. In between conference, I took a blackboard and just went to town drawing and writing every possible idea and way I could get an education and set up my life. Every pro and con I could think of. It was pretty intense and luckily I've got some awesome friends here that helped out a ton! so I'm grateful for them.

Other than that, the week was pretty usual. We got 2 new possible investigators which is amazing! A huge blessing! and yes transfers are next Tuesday so I'm hoping that Sonenstahl stays one more but idk if it'll happen. I should stay here unless something crazy happens. We'll see.  I am spiritually filled to the brim between the Temple and General Conference and reading through Doc. and Cov. and Jesus the Christ and I'm just starting Mormon Doctrine. Man I turned into a book worm what happened to me?!? haha but its all good and I love it and eat it up as much as I can! I'm lovin my mission. I'm loving the weather and I'm lovin the struggle I'm having with finding out what I should do in the future. I love it. The Lord loves me and you all and blesses us so much!

Quote of the week,"pray casually if you want God to bless you casually." Prayer is so important it was a huge theme of conference too so make sure your being heartfelt and personal! You guys are awesome..... thank you for all the help and support and love you send my way. I definitely feel the strength and revelation I am blessed with because of your prayers for me! You all are the best! Love you so much! Have a super week! Let me know track details!!!

love

-E.McAllister

 Why is he is a tshirt when everyone else is in a shirt and tie?

 He made the outgoing list!

Temple before Conference

Mom Note:  This was also sent by Tyler in a separate email with this picture.....

This was our service last week.... 7 hrs of cleaning out an Asian's garage with tons of food left in there. It has hilarious! about 45 rats total.... 7 Elders and 2 neighborhood kids armed with golf clubs cleaned out her garage and had a blast! We all were down the next day from all the rat mess we breathed in but we got the job done! It was definitely a motivator to be a clean freak hahaha

 

NOW....this is a letter I got from Elder Sanchez's mother through an email group I belong to telling about the same story....

 

Wednesday, that was a crazy day, we talked to a lady named Nancy , she doesn't go to our branch, but the English ward that meets in our same building, anyway, she asked me and Elder Zollinger to go and help her with "some help in her garage" is how she stated it, and so we showed up, and there were probably 100+ moving boxes full of clothing, and later we come to find out, boxes full of food as well. So let's do the math here, boxes full of food like spaghetti and cereal, and things like this plus in a garage that is very poorly sealed off from the outside world... what does that equal? Rats.

Yes, rats. The evidence of their existence was ever so prevalent. We did some deep cleaning, and removing each box and item one by one into her driveway, sweeping and wiping down as we went. No sign of an actual rat though. We realized at around 2 pm, after working for almost 2 hours, that we could not finish this project by ourselves, either we got help or we would not even make a dent in this project we deemed and named "Rat Eradication" so we called our good friends and elders. Elders Sonenstahl, McAllister, Featherstone, Ayotte, and Morgan. Elder Sonenstahl is a hunter, and so is Elder Featherstone, so they were more than willing to come out for the 'fight' so we finished one side of the garage without a single sign of any rats. But the other side was a lot more treacherous. We got to the middle of the tower and pile of boxes and realized that there were tons of holes in the boxes as if it were a network of delicious food tunnels for these vermin. One by one we removed and shook and hit eat box as if to provoke them out of their "Ritz Carlton" for rats, or should I say "Rats Carlton"? One by one, they came out in a frenzy, only to meet their demise by the head of a golf club or other blunt device. I know this seems quite morbid, but these vermin were causing much trouble for this single woman who is deathly afraid of vermin of this sort. In total after cleaning, and inspecting each and every box, the count of vermin was 18 in total. Yes 18. We reorganized her garage in such a way that no rats would be able to lounge in the boxes, and also threw away all of the food items. Set about 8 more traps just in case, and called it a night. It was an adventure of sorts, but a little bit too much for an average missionary to handle in one day.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 I had to laugh at the difference in the stories.....too funny!

April 1, 2014

Hey yal,

 

So it was amazingly wet this week haha we got drenched all day everyday basically. but it was so good. I decided I didn't care to stay semi dry and went through 4inch deep puddles as fast as I could and it was awesome! but I was so cold after that. Me and Sonenstahl have become wussies to the cold now. but its ok well get back into it. so much fun though I love it!

 

Yes the Fijian made her plane and should get back tomorrow to a brand new apartment.

 

Best part of the week! Went to the temple today like 4 hrs ago and oh man it was the best! I went asking about college as my big question and boom I feel I've gotten my answers or at least some push in the right direction because after I got out the hermana's we rode down with..... one went to BYU-H and told me I better apply cause all the poly friends I've made out here are going there and it is cheap and she said I would just fit in. Which if I can get in would be as cheap as BYU Provo.... and she said the classes are way easier cause English is a 2nd language basically soooooooo I could actually do good in grammer and English classes for once! heck yes!! So I'm going to apply there and school then doesn't start til September. Plus president also said if me and E. Jackson room at USU he would help with $$ for a apartment and vehicles. so I'm still tryin to work out that whole thing and will be calling him this week and meeting with him the 13th to talk about it. So hopefully he will help but the overwhelming answer I got in the temple was don't rush the Lord. And that I need to be patient and be satisfied and grateful for a days filling of help or basically taking things on the Lords time and letting the things He wants for me roll in motion. Plus all this time I've been so greedy I cant believe how greedy I've been.... I want to be a Fire fighter, I want to do military, sheriff, I want to go to Logan, I don't want BYU... I want I want I want! Finally I humbled myself and realized its not what I want. So graciously He reminded me of parts of my Patriarchal blessing and I realized I want to do whatever He needs of me. I want to be put in the places I can help Him with the things that I can do to help. I want to have a career, schooling etc that will allow me the adequate time I need for my family and for my church callings to help others. And I gotta follow my plaque scripture. Funny how I picked that and its been a theme in my whole mission and basically what I teach everyone.! crazy

 

Loving my mission basically! Yesterday for pday was a state holiday so I couldn't email but pres let us borrow one of his crown vics so we looked like cops and drove down to Morgan Hill to see mama smith and e. Hardy and Whaley it was a blast! Plus went to the boot barn and picked me up a new hat! Its basically legit. hahah love it. Love my mission. Love the way the Lord just makes my day everyday and how he has a huge elaborate plan for me and it just keeps falling into place better and better. Love it so much. Other than the temple its just the usual.....few dinners and trying to find a new investigator to teach the gospel to. We're keepin our heads up and workin hard and having a blast!  So thankful for yals prayers they are what I need! and I feel them strengthen me and keep me movin forward. Its crazy my time is so limited but still feels like I'll be here forever. Its so good though. Transfers comin up in 2 weeks. nervous but hopeful.

 

Love yal so much! Sorry only thing is temple on my mind but I'll have more fun crazy adventure for you coming up next week!

 

-E. McAllister

 

 his new bike...painted Aggie colors

 His companion Elder Sonenstahl