Email: February 10th, 2011

Hey everyone. How was your last couple of days? It's weird because I just emailed you guys and not much has happened since Monday except on Tuesday we taught Wilson and Loong, The kids in my last email. We taught them the plan of salvation and Wilson had really good questions. Loong doesn't seem to have much interest right now but he'll come and listen which is good because he can feel the spirit. We also gave Wilson a baptismal date for next month!!! I really hope he gets baptized. We had a chance to ask him about what keeps bringing him back. He said that he has a good feeling and that he knows that it can help him be better. He says he doesn't think it's boring, except for sacrament meeting, and he really likes to learn the stuff in priesthood and Sunday school. He's such a cool kid.

On Wednesday we had our moves calls and I was a little worried that Dastrup would be moving but we are going to be together for another six weeks. YES!!! I love Elder Dastrup. He's really a good example for me and when he bears testimony you really can feel the spirit. Yesterday when we were finding we ran into this one christian guy on the street and told him about Joseph Smith and prophets. He told us that there were no prophets on the earth today and that the Bible says so. My first reaction was to prove to him with the bible that God will always call prophets and I'm arguing with him about authority and stuff but then Elder Dastrup just simply bears a simple testimony about the restoration and God's love for us. I'm still trying to learn to not use my own knowledge but to just bear testimony. Elder Dastrup is really good at that.

I'm really grateful that Heavenly Father sent me here where the majority of people aren't christian. It's so much easier for me to teach someone with a Buddhist or no religious background, rather then Christians. I can't imagine how much different Jon's, Richard's, Todd's and Jake's missions were. I think it would be a lot harder. I'm excited to swap mission stories with you guys when i get back. Anyway I love you all so much. I hope you have a good week this week, oh, and Elder Carrey just reminded me this week is Valentines Day so I hope you have a good one of those =) Love ya

Love, Elder McAllister

Email: February 7th, 2011

Hey everyone! Sorry I didn't email last Thursday. It was Chinese New Year and everything everywhere was closed. This email will be short because I'm still going to email this Thursday which is in a couple days so I'll save most of it till then. I just really quick want to tell you a story about how amazingly powerful the spirit is. So a couple weeks ago me and my amazing companion Elder Dastrup ran into these two seventeen year old kids on the street. There names are Wilson and Loong and they were what we call in Chinese Fei Jai or Punks or gangsters or however you say that in English. We asked them if they think families are important and Wilson said no. So we asked him what was most important, and probably just trying to act cool, he said money is the most important and then asked us to give him money. I told them that i am also very poor. We just quickly shared about how the gospel blesses families and then got there numbers. At the time I thought the numbers were probably fake or that they would never actually come to a lesson. So a couple days later me and my amazing companion Elder Dastrup are doing calls and we get to both of these kids numbers and kind of joked about them and how funny it would be if they actually came back. Anyway I called Wilson and he actually answered and I asked him if he remembered us and he said, yea your the poor white guy I met on the street, and we laughed about that for a second and then I asked him if we could see him the next day and he said if he had time then he would call us. Usually that means no in a polite way. So the next day comes and we didn't really expect him to call but randomly our phone rang and it was Wilson and he said that he wanted to see us so we went and met him and Loong at the MTR station and took them back to the church. We showed them around and stuff and they kind of treated it like a joke but I think mostly just to act tough or something. But we sat down with them and had a really good lesson and at the end they said that if they knew it was true they would be baptized. Totally awesome but anyway a couple days later Wilson came to church and was totally bored out of his mind. He fell asleep in every class and at the end we asked him if the next day he would like to go to Bishop Mak's for FHE. He's like, what more meetings?!?! haha We explained that FHE is a little different then church and any way he came and actually was pretty bored at that too but there was food so that part was good. So we're just thinking that there's no way this kid is going to still come back for more. But then last Saturday we called him to ask him to church and he said that he's coming and he's going to bring his friend Loong with him. They both show up and again totally bored and again fell asleep in most of the meetings. After we found out that durring the last week the young men also invited them to go to a BBQ activity that we didn't even know about. So, anyway, me and my amazing companion Elder Dastrup have been trying to figure this out. Why are they coming when they know perfectly well that they will be bored out of there minds? These kids are not the type to go to church and they aren't the most well behaved kids. They were both kicked out of high-school for reasons I don't know. Why would kids like that still be coming to something so opposite of them? We haven't really had a chance to talk to them about it yet so we still don't know. Maybe they are feeling or experiencing something they've never felt before and they like it or they're curious. I don't know but i do know that Heavenly Father loves them just as much as He loves any other of His children no matter what decisions they may have made in the past. I know that when they come to church and spend time with members they can feel that love from their Heavenly Father through the Holy Ghost. I don't know what decisions they will make from here, that's up to them but i have learned an amazing lesson. No matter who we are, where we are, what things we may have done in the past, whether we're rich or poor, tall or short, fat or skinny, loved or forsaken by others, no matter how or what our lives may be, one thing will never ever change and that is the Love from our Father in Heaven. He is constantly looking at us through loving eyes that don't see us as we see ourselves but He sees our true and great value and potential. He is constantly reaching out to us and I've seen it. On many occasions I've been blessed to be my Saviors hands in reaching out to others. Me and Elder Dastrup love these two high school drop out, punk little kids. Not because of the choices they have made in the past but because they are children, sons, of God. They have worth and value and need this Gospel just as much as anyone. I'm so tired of pride or the idea that we're better or worse then others. I wish i could constantly look at myself and others the way Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father do. I'll probably be working on that my whole life but it'll be worth it.

I guess my short email got a little long haha. I just want you all to know that I've seen the Holy Ghost touch the heart of these people and I've seen there hearts change. I know that God loves us and that he sent his son Jesus Christ to atone for us so we can one day return, with our families, to there presence. I love my mission and i wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I love all of you so much. I hope you have a good next couple of days and ill talk to you on Thursday.

Love, Elder McAllister

PS this last Thursday we went to Big Buddha and I'm sending some pictures. The one with the sun really bright in the background is a picture of the seven oldest missionaries in the mission. The other one is me and five of my old companions. the last one is me and elder plumb trying to do Kung Fu

Email: January 27th, 2011

Family!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!! How are all of you doing? This last week has been really crazy and hard but lots of miracles =) That's how it works, when you get to a hard time in a week, a month, a year or just a hard time in life, if you show your trust in Heavenly Father by just doing the simple things that He's asked us to do and endure then you will see miracles. We never know what's going to happen in the future, we'd like to think we do and we should plan for what might happen, but Heavenly Father knows and he will prepare us as we righteously follow the guidance of the Holy Ghost. This last week a lot of plans that we originally had have fallen through, and investigators that we're progressing have slowly stopped, and some days it seems that for hours not one person will stop to talk to us. But on the flip side as me and Elder Dastrup keep going just doing what we're here to do (smiling while we're doing it) we've seen so many miracles. The other day someone canceled a lesson but because of it we were able to be somewhere else where someone needed us and were able to share the gospel with them. Yesterday two punk kids that we thought wouldn't come to a lesson or have any interest, both came and really felt the spirit. Tuesday was a really hard day for us. It started out good. We had plans for two new investigators to come for the first lesson and then we were going to teach our golden investigator brother lam. One of the new investigators canceled and Brother Lam said he was to busy that day. But the first new investigator came but it didn't turn out like we hoped. We got through the lesson pretty good but then he just started arguing with us and pulled out his Bible and a bunch of anti Mormon papers that he wrote and just started bashing on Joseph Smith and our church. We really just tried to keep calm and bear simple testimony but he just kept insulting us and our testimony. I finally just cut him off and i told him that if you gave me all the proof in the world that Joseph Smith was a fake prophet, that the Book of Mormon was false and this church is not true and put it all in front of me, None of it would shake my testimony that Heavenly Father has given me through the Holy Ghost that Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God, That this gospel is true and that the Book of Mormon is True. I know because of the effects that I've seen from it in my life and most of all because of the happiness that it's brought to my family and the love that it's helped me develop for them. Then he said something that really pissed me off, He said, Family has nothing to do with any of this. I told him that Family has EVERYTHING to do with it. With that we were done. We said a closing prayer to try to get the spirit back and we left. You might think what miracle came from that but i know that even though the testimony that I shared might not have effected him but it really effected me. I can tell you right now that bearing testimony builds testimony. I walked out of that lesson yes a little angry and mad but also with a stronger testimony of the restored gospel then I had when I walked in. I've seen so much on my mission. Evidence on both sides that the gospel is and isn't true. But even the evidence that it is true isn't as strong as the simple still small voice from the Holy Ghost that it is true. I know it is with all my heart. I love you all so much! I'm more grateful every day that i was able to be in this family. I'm so grateful that you have endlessly shared and taught me the gospel and your testimonies. I know that Heavenly Father loves us and He really wants to help us through our hard times, and celebrate with us through the good times. He is always there.

I hope you all have a really good week. I'll talk to you soon.

I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!!!!!

Love,

Elder McAllister

Email: January 20th, 2011

Hey Family!!!! How was all of your guys' week? We've had a lot of blessings this week. We've been able to find a couple new investigators this week that are GOLDEN! One of them, Tracy, who was refereed by her friend Olivia randomly on the street. We started teaching both of them this week and Olivia originally didn't have any interest, she just came with Tracy as a friend. But after the first lesson she totally has interest now. haha I love the Spirit. He really can change peoples harts if they let him in. The only thing is that Tracy lives in Tin Shui Wai which is really far away out of our area and zone. We'll have to turn her over to those sisters soon. But Olivia lives here in Tai Wai so we'll be able to hand her over to the sisters here. But they are both coming to church this Sunday!! =)

This other lady that we found last week, Ms Wong, is totally golden. She is from mainland so her Cantonese isn't really good so we turned her over to the mandarin elders. She's practically read the whole Book of Mormon already and seems to know more then we do about it =) haha She's really poor and she cuts hair on the streets just to earn a little money to help her family in mainland. So me and Elder Dastrup are going over to her "Shop" after emails to get our hair cut to help her out. Her shop consists of bamboo rods to hold her tarp roof up with a chair and a 5" by 8" mirror. There's places like this all over Hong Kong so it's normal but just sad that it's all that she has. But she's totally awesome and she's a really happy person.

We just started teaching another investigator last week, Emme. She is the older sister of a member in our ward, A-Jay, who is out on a mission right now. A-Jay's mom is also a member of about a couple years. Emme is pretty tough and it'll be harder to get though to her but we've had a couple really good lessons with her. We have a member that is actually A-Jay's girlfriend that is also really good friends with Emme help us out. Emme is willing to meet with us but she just doesn't seem willing to pray on her own. That's what we're working on right now with her. I can see her getting baptized though. She's just needs to be willing to really try.

That's pretty much it for our week. We're just getting ready for Bro Lam's baptism on the 30th of January and really excited about that and also Allen on the 13th of February. They are both big miracles!

I love my comp Elder Dastrup. He's really helping me and pushing me to be better and not get too truncky for home. haha He's really helping me a lot and I'm really grateful for him. I love how Heavenly Father sends certain people to you at certain times in your life to help you along.

I love you all so much!! I hope you all have a really good week. and ill talk to you soon.

Love, Elder McAllister

Email: January 13th, 2011

Hey Family!!! How are all of you doing? This last week was so amazing!!!!!! I'm starting to get to know the ward better and our investigators. We gave two of our investigators baptismal dates, Brother Lam, and Allen. They are so amazing and humble. We've had a lot of good spiritual lessons this last week and me and Elder Dastrup are getting pretty pumped upped about this moves. Yesterday was probably one of the best days of my mission. First off on Tuesday night we weren't able to get any body scheduled for Wednesday and we would have the whole day for finding. So we decided to just go all out. We planned to walk out of the apartment on Wednesday morning just like the stripling warriors and just literally talk to everyone that we see. We set a goal to get 15 people's phone numbers, and to hand out 3 Book of Mormons. Pretty good goal since the most phone numbers i ever got in a day was 6. So Wednesday morning, yesterday morning, we woke up, did our work out, did our studies and then we hear a knock on the door and it's President and Sister Chan. They came to do a surprise apartment check and to do interviews. SSOOO glad the apartment was clean!! haha Anyway i love President and Sister Chan. We had interviews with President Chan and got a good spiritual boost. After they left we finished our studies and got ready to go out. We said a prayer telling our Heavenly Father about our goals and asked for his help to achieve them. Then we walked out the door and I wouldn't say we totally looked like the stripling warriors but I felt like one on the inside. =) We got on the MTR because we live in Mong Kok we have to take the MTR everyday to Tai Wai. We tried to talk to a couple people on the MTR but no luck. So we get to our area and have a quick lunch at our favorite restaurant. SOOO GOOOD. That pumped us up and then we headed out. Our area is pretty small so we find in the same spot almost everyday. It's this bridge that everyone walks on so there's always a lot of people. So, anyway, as the day went on we had little miracle after miracle. About when we had two hours left we decided that we needed some Hot Chocolate. It's seriously FREEZING right now here so we get hot chocolate a lot. And while we drank them we did some calls and we were able to schedule some people that we haven't been able to get a hold of in a long time. Miracle after miracle. And the end of the day is coming and we still have 2 Book of Mormons to hand out. We finally get one out on the bridge but still have the other one and no matter how hard we try no one will stop to talk to us or take the Book of Mormon. Finally it was time to go home. We had to stop by the mission home to pick up a heater for our apartment. While walking up to the mission home we see a couple mandarin missionaries. We talk to them for a second and this random guy is walking by and Elder Reber starts talking to him. He was from mainland and speaks Mandarin. The Mandarin Elders wanted to give him a Book of Mormon but they didn't have one, so we whipped out ours and gave it to him. MIRACLE. Heavenly Father was totally testing us to see if we would keep finding despite the rejection and cold and because we did we were able to be in the right spot at the right time with a Book of Mormon. So we were able to give out 3 Book of Mormons and we got 17 phone numbers. More then I ever have got in one day on my mission!!!

Totally awesome day!!!!!! haha I'm so grateful to be here. It's hard and sometimes it totally sucks but I'm learning so much and i wouldn't want to be anywhere else doing anything else. The other day we had a lesson and the investigator asked why the world sucks so much. There's so much bad stuff. and we just explained that the bad helps us apreaciate the good. If you can learn to have Joy during the hard sucky times, how much better will be the good times =) I'm so grateful for my companion Elder Dastrup. He is helping me to keep going and to push myself. He's a huge blessing to me right now.

I love you all so much and I miss you. I know that the gospel is true with all my heart and no matter how much proof that the world gives me that it's not true and I will never deny that I KNOW its true. I love the words of Joseph Smith when people tried to convince him that the first vision didn't happen, "I knew and I knew that God knew and I could not deny it." So powerful!!!!! I love you all so much! I Hope you have a good week.

Love, Elder McAllister

Email: January 6th, 2011

Happy New Year!!!! 2011!!!! So cool =) How are all of you doing? How was your New Year? I'm loving my new area, Tai Wai. On the first our ward had a really fun activity for the New Year. We all got on two buses and then toured cool and historical parts of Hong Kong. I felt like I could be a tourist for my first time in Hong Kong. We stopped by in West Point to have lunch and I happened to run into one of my old investigators, Simon Wong, from West Point. It was way cool to see him again. The Bishop of Tai Wai is so cool. On every Monday we go over to his house for FHE with some investigators and his wife makes some really good food. Last time we had ribs and potatoes, cheese bread and some really really good cake =) Totally American style.

Right now we have a few investigators that are amazing. One of them Brother Lam is the coolest guy ever. He just got back from visiting his son (who is a member) in San Fransisco and when he got back he wanted to take the lessons. His Wife is still in San Fransisco helping with there new grandchild but will be coming back soon and I hear that she wants to take the lessons as well. YES I love FAMILIES!!! haha

Another one of our investigators, Allen, is only 10. He is going to be baptized in a few weeks. His mom is a member but his dad isn't but neither of them appose him getting baptized. We taught him plan of salvation last week and he already has the coolest testimony.

The other day we found a new investigator. He's a vegetarian. He's a really nice guy and he believes that eating meat is the worst sin you could make. He told us that Jesus Christ was a Vegetarian, Buddha was a Vegetarian, Mohamed was a Vegetarian..... and he told us that he wants all the members of the church to be Vegetarian. It's very important to him. Everything revolves around Vegetarianism. haha We didn't want to argue with him and we don't care if he's vegetarian just as long as he understands whats most important so we just started teaching him lesson one. Every single principle we taught all somehow came back to vegetarian =) haha And then after we taught the first vision the first question he asks is if this Joseph Smith was a vegetarian. haha I love being a missionary!!

Elder Dastrup is amazing! He's got so much fire and ready to work. Tai Wai is a pretty small area so we have to find in the same place every day and it gets pretty hard but we've been having some success so we're totally excited for this moves together. We're pretty sure we're going to dominate everyone =) haha

I love you guys so much and I hope you all have an amazing week.

Love, Elder McAllister

PS I KNOW THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!

Email: December 30th, 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! =) How are you guys?!?! It was so awesome to be able to talk to all of you on Christmas!!!! I hope you all had a good Christmas. On Christmas night for us we went to a members brother's house who isn't a member and had dinner with them. They have a little interest in the gospel and hopefully we can start teaching them soon. Oh, by the way, I moved!!! I'm not in Tai Wo anymore =( They moved me to Tai Wai but I'm going to be living in Mong Kok in my old TST apartment. Really crazy but I'm way excited! My new Companion is Elder Dastrup who is also from Elder Jolley's MTC group. I'm still in the Tolo Harbour zone but just in a different district.

This last Sunday and yesterday we had a pretty amazing miracle happen. On Sunday a recent convert, Rita, took us over to her brothers house after church and we started to teach him for the first time. He used to hang around a bad crowd and has done a lot of drugs and this weekend he is going to rehab but he seemed so humble. Rita's whole family are not members and they have a lot of problems. Rita's mom is always worried about her children but after seeing Rita change after learning about the church a few months ago she started to be interested. And after we taught Rita's brother, that night they had dinner together as a family and Rita's mom was in shock with the change in her son, just after one lesson. Rita told us that her mom cried because she was so happy. And then yesterday Rita was able to bring her mom and brother to a lesson and when Rita said the opening prayer she couldn't stop crying because she was so happy that her family was finally there listening to the gospel. Her family gives her a lot of pressure and she's been under a lot of stress lately but she knows that the gospel can and will change them. It was so awesome to see it though and to feel the spirit there in that room. I wish i could stay there to continue teaching them but I know that I need to be here in Tai Wai right now. I love you all so much. I'll give you more of an update next week after i get settled. I love you all!!!!!!


Love, Elder McAllister

Email: December 24th, 2010

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!! How are all of you?!?! How is your Christmas going? This email will probably be short because I'm going to be talking to you on the phone tomorrow so I'm so excited to talk to all of you!! I'm planning on giving ALL of you a call on your Christmas eve night. I'll be calling probably sometime between 8:00 to 11:00 Christmas morning my time so that should be around 6:00 to 9:00 Christmas eve night your time. So be ready!!! I can't wait to talk to you.

I just want to share something that I've learned this year for Christmas. In Hong Kong Christmas is a lot different then the states. Most people don't really even know what the true meaning of Christmas is. It's pretty much one hundred percent commercial. So one thing that me and my companion have been focusing on is to help others remember why we celebrate this day. The other day in church a member who had a son on a mission gave a talk and told us that his son sent home a Christmas card and wrote inside Merry Christmas. But the way he wrote it was Merry in a normal size font and then CHRIST in a much bigger size and then the mas in small letters on the bottom. He didn't write anything else in the card about it but this member said that this really touched him. Without having to say anything his son reminded his father about the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas is about our Heavenly Father's loving gift to us, His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. I love the scripture in John and I can't remember the chapter or verse or even how to quote it correctly right now but it roughly says, For God so loved the world (each and every one of us) that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever would believe on him shall not perish but shall have eternal life. I know that this scripture is the true meaning of Christmas and I know that Jesus Christ did come to the earth to do the one thing none of us could do for ourselves, the atonement. He loves us so much and knows each and everyone of us. I asked my companion, Elder Dodd, the other day what Christmas is all about, Giving or Getting, the Lights or the Tree and so on. He simply said with a smile, It's about love. The love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have shown to us and love that they hope that we will show to them and to each other. I really hope that all of you can remember the real true meaning of Christmas this year. That doesn't mean you can't have lights, trees, presents and all that. But I want to challenge all of you this year maybe on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning to kneel down as a family and in humble prayer thank our Heavenly Father for the most precious gift of all that he has given us, our Savior Jesus Christ and for all the many other blessings He has given us. I promise you that if you do this not only will your Christmas have more meaning but the Holy Ghost will testify to each of you the truthfulness of the atonement of Jesus Christ and will bring you closer together as a family. I love you all so much! I wish I could be with you but I know that I need to be here and i thank my Heavenly Father that I am hear and I hope that he will watch over all of you especially at this Christmas time. I love you and I'm so excited to talk to you tomorrow, so don't forget to turn on your phones and be ready =)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Love, Elder McAllister

Email: December 16th, 2010

Hey Family!!!! How are all of you doing? Any snow yet? Today it was 8 degrees C and 95% humidity. Hong Kong cold is different then California and WAY different then Utah cold because of the humidity. But I'm loving it!!! =) There's only eight more degrees for it to drop so it would snow but that won't happen. I heard that a long long long time ago it hailed once in Hong Kong only for a couple minutes but it's never snowed here. I asked the ZLs if we could do a mission wide fast this year for it to snow on Christmas morning over all our chapels. They said no. =( haha Anyway I hope you are all enjoying the Holidays. I wish i could be there with you. Christmas in Hong Kong is really different then from the states but us missionaries are trying to change that =) haha. This weekend we are having an activity and we are going to make Gingerbread Houses with our members and investigators. We can't use real gingerbread because it's so expensive out here but we are going to buy some biscuits or gram crackers or something. Our zone just got new sisters this week and they said that they can make some frosting so it will be way fun!!! =)

This last Sunday we had steak conference with President Prat from the 70 and the temple president and President Chan. It was way good and we got a few investigators to go to it so it was even better. It's really interesting how church to missionaries is way different then church to members. We don't go so much for ourselves but for our investigators. The other Sunday we didn't have any investigators come to church so for the second and third hour me and Elder Dodd just went finding. But when your really working your hardest and sacrificing that's when Heavenly Father will bless you. The other day me and Elder Dodd contacted a Kidd on the street named Syler. We shared a little with him and gave him our number and got his. Later that night he texted us and asked if he could see us so he could ask us questions. We saw him yesterday and we were able to share the Restoration with him. He's from another church and didn't really seem to accept all that we said but he said he wanted to see us again so we scheduled him for next week. We can't control how many people will accept our message but we can control how often we open our mouths to share the message of the Restoration. Just gotta keep going.

I love you all so much!! I hope you all have an amazing week and a MERRY CHRISTMAS next week. Just to let you know our P Day next week is on Friday because our mission Christmas party is on that Friday. So i should be emailing then but I'll also be calling the next day which is your Friday (Christmas eve) night. I love you all.

ＭＥＲＲＹ ＣＨＲＩＳＴＭＡＳ

Love Elder McAllister

Pictures!!!!

Email: December 10th, 2010

Family!!!!! I'm so sorry I didn't email on Thursday like I normally do. It's now Saturday. On Thursday we had lessons and didn't really get a P-day and then Friday the library was booked so we waited till today. I hope all of you are doing good!! I'm so excited for Christmas!!! This year is going to be amazing!!! We found a really cheap 4 foot tree and we all got something simple for everyone in the apartment so we already have some presents under the tree. But the funny thing is that we haven't got decorations yet because there too expensive but there's a member that is going to find us some cheap stuff. This is Elder Dodd's and Elder Wright's first Christmas in Hong Kong and me and Elder Lee want it to be fun for them and for us =) haha
This last week has been really good. Last weekend Trista brought a friend to an activity and we were able to teach him after. He had a lot of questions and he's really stubborn but He has some potential and Trista is doing really good at fellowshiping him.

And also Kelvin, the referral from a couple weeks ago, we taught him yesterday and gave him a baptismal date for January 9th!!!!! YES!!!!!! I love miracles!!!! When members refer their friends instead of us having to go find them then it's so much more likely that they will progress and be baptized. Kelven is so cool too. When we asked him if he wanted to be baptized he said, Very Willing. haha I've never had that answer before, it was so AWESOME!!!! I had to ask him why and he said that he knows that by doing this he will make a promise to Heavenly Father to follow him and that Heavenly Father will also make a promise to him that his life will be happier and have more direction and meaning and then somehow it will help his family relationship. He's so amazing!!!! He's mostly acts like a kid but then when he shares his feelings he becomes an adult and really shows his faith. I love being a missionary and being lucky enough to be around people with so much faith. Most of the time I feel more like some of my investigators are my examples rather then the other way around. They're willing to do anything and I still find myself complaining all the time about whatever but when we give them a commitment to completely change around their lives they do it willingly and with so much faith. I love them so much!!! I love the people of Hong Kong, even the stubborn ones. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father sent me here. Heavenly Father wanted me to be more humble, so he sent me to china of all places to learn the hardest language in the world, and I am so grateful for it. I'm grateful for all of you. i miss you all so much. I'm excited to call home on Christmas. I'll probably call on Christmas morning here so probably Christmas eve night there. If that times not good just let me know and I'll work it out. I love you all so much!!!! I hope you have an amazing week and a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!! =)

Love Elder McAllister

Email: December 2nd, 2010

Hey FAMILY!!!!! How are you all doing? I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving. I MISS AMERICAN FOOD!!!!! haha We had a Thanksgiving activity with the ward last Friday and the only thing American was the turkey. Everything else was Chinese haha. It was really fun though and they had a lot of activities and games and we got some of our more stubborn investigators to go to it. It was pretty cool because our English class is normally on Friday nights but we forgot to tell everyone the week before that it would be canceled because of the ward activity so all the students showed up but we just made them go to the activity instead and they were able to meet a lot of members which was amazing!!!! The ward did so good with fellowshiping them too.

One member brought her non-member boyfriend to the activity too so we were able to meet him. His name is Kelvin and he's way cool. He came to church on Sunday and we taught him a lesson on Monday and it went amazing!!! He has a lot of family problems and when we asked him what he hopes the gospel can do to help him he said he just wants his family relationship to be better. We bore a lot of testimony on that and he really wants to try. Because he's dating a member she already is making him quit smoking and drinking and everything so we don't have to worry too much about that. He's a way cool kid though that really likes cars which is really rare in Hong Kong because no one drives. haha

On Monday was also Elder Wrights birthday. Trista a couple weeks ago talked to me about a surprise birthday for him and so i talked to his companion Elder Lee and we figured something out. Elder Lee scheduled a "new investigator" named A-Sing on Monday night. My Chinese name just happens to be A-Sing =) haha Anyway we planned it out that they would be nowhere near us that day so we could go buy stuff and hide in the church. Elder Lee and Wright went to the library to meet their "new investigator" and when he didn't show up Elder Lee called him (me) and then i canceled the lesson. So Elder Wright not knowing anything was pretty sad and disappointed about the new investigator so they came back to the church and when they walked in we flipped on the lights yelling happy birthday and all that good stuff. It was pretty fun.
I love you all so much!! I hope you all have an amazing week.

Love, Elder McAllister

Trista's Baptism - November 20th, 2010

Email: November 25th, 2010

HAPPY THANKS GIVING!!!!!!! How are all of you guys? How was your Thanksgiving? Today we had a service thing at Kowloon Tong chapel where we made some Happy New Year cards for people. And then after we had our Thanksgiving lunch. They had mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing, gravy, green beans, some kind of pumpkin pie, and cranberry sauce. =) SO GOOD!! Some of the Hong Kong Elders were asking what is the cranberry sauce and why are we eating it with everything. They thought it was pretty gross. haha It's been a pretty good thanksgiving so far though. Tomorrow Tai Wo ward is going to have a Thanksgiving activity. It's pretty rare because Thanksgiving is only an American holiday but I'm totally excited for it. The Relief Society keeps asking us if we know how to cook turkey. I guess i should have paid more attention to dad and mom in years past but I just told them I have no idea so we'll see how the turkey tastes =) haha

TRISTA GOT BAPTIZED LAST SATURDAY!!!!!!!! It was so cool!! And on Sunday she was confirmed. She told me that when they put there hands on her head and gave her the Holy Ghost and gave her a Blessing that she had a feeling like a burning through her whole body. SO AWESOME!!!!! She has such an amazing Testimony! I sent some Pictures of the Baptism. Elder Lamb who originally found her and started teaching her did the baptism. I hope that you all get the pictures. Last night we asked Trista to help fellowship for a lesson with another investigator and she did amazing! It's the same investigator that i told you about last week with the cell phone analogy and prayer. Anyway he is really stubborn but Trista bore a really strong testimony. It's amazing how much the gospel has changed her for the better. She seriously is another person now and I know that the gospel can do the same for anyone. I just found out today from Elder Ward, who is serving in West Point right now, That an investigator there that i taught (Brother Wong) is going to be baptized on December 5th!!! MIRACLE!!!!! He always told us that he would be baptized but he always said maybe in a few years but I'm so excited that he changed his mind. So many missionaries have taught him and I was lucky enough to be one of them. Why is it that around Christmas time cool things just start happening?!?! haha I LOVE IT!!!!

I love you all so much!! I wish you could all be here with me but I feel all your love and support and most important my Heavenly Father's love. I'm so thankful for all of you and your examples. When you all sit around the table for Thanksgiving dinner and say what your all grateful for add this for me...I'm most grateful for my families, all of you and our heavenly family. The Gospel is true. Jesus is the Christ. God lives and loves each and everyone of us. We are his children and His one desire is that we help each other to return to him. When President Monson was asked on his birthday what the members could do for him on his birthday he simply said, "do something for someone today." How simple is it. I stand with President Monson with that. If we could just learn to love each other and help each other and quit thinking about ourselves then I can promise you that not only your lives but the lives of MANY will forever be changed and effected. We are all, as members of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints, representatives of HIM. You have all been an amazing example for me. I love you all so much!! I hope that during Thanksgiving we can all remember the many blessings that we have and share those blessings with all those around us. I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving and week.


Love Elder McAllister

Email: November 17th, 2010

Hey Family!!!!!! How are all of you? This last week has been one of the most stressful on my mission. We're getting ready for Trista's Baptism this Saturday. She's been going to Tai Po ward but she actually belongs to Tai Wo ward but she says she doesn't want to go there because she doesn't know anyone. Anyway we're trying to figure it all out with the bishops. But the most important thing is that she's GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!! Saturday at 2:30pm!!!!! So excited! We had a really good lesson with her yesterday. we read the conversion of Alma the younger story in Alma 36. We explained to her that Heavenly Father would always be there for her. That even though it might be awkward to go to Tai Wo but that Heavenly Father would be there for her and help her though it. Right now she'll be baptized in Tai Po but eventually she has to go back to Tai Wo. Really confusing. haha Anyway
So this week is moves week. We just found out that they would split Tai Po and Tai Wo back up into two companionships. Elder Cheng moved to open a new area in Chyun Wan so I'm really going to miss him. Elder Wright is going to be covering Tai Po ward with Elder Lee and I will be covering Tai Wo with Elder Dodd. Elder Dodd came to Hong Kong with Elder Jolley. I lived with him on the island so I'm really excited to be working with him this next moves.
Other then getting ready for the baptism we've still been trying to help out our other investigators. We have one right now that has very little if no interest in the gospel. He only wants to learn English. But last night we had a really Really REALLY good lesson with him. We watched the touch of the masters hand (one of the FHE videos) in English and discussed it in English. And as we were discussing it we started taking it more into a gospel discussion. It was amazing how we all knew what and how to say everything to him. He is a very logical man and he asked me a question. He is having trouble at work and he asked me what would i do if i was in his shoes. would i quit or just endure it. I told him i don't think he would like my answer. He thought that it would be a regular logical answer like yea you should quit or just get over it. I told him that I would pray and ask our Heavenly Father for guidance. He kind of just rolled his eyes like oh yea that's what any christian would say. Then we started talking about prayer, what it really is. That it's not just something we do because everyone else is or because it's just what we're taught to do but that it really is a conversation with our Heavenly Father who loves us so much. We asked him if he's ever prayed before. He said ya. Then i asked him if he has REALLY prayed before. He said there's no way to say if he's really prayed before. And then, like as if it were heaven sent, my phone started vibrating in my pocket and i got an idea or as Elder Wright says, inspiration. I pulled the phone out of my pocket and told him that i can yell and talk into this phone all i want but it's not going to do any good. Unless I type in a number and believe that someone on the other side will answer and then I can have a conversation with that person. We can say prayers all we want, we can yell, scream, talk all we want but it's all useless, until we learn to pray, really pray and show that faith in our Heavenly Father that He will hear us and answer us. Our investigator just sat there. We asked him to pray and showed him how. IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! Elder Cheng, who has been teaching him forever, said that's the first time he's seen him pray. I LOVE THE SPIRIT!!!!!!! It's so powerful!!!! I don't know if i really explained what happened really good but all in a nutshell is that Heavenly Father answered our prayers and I know that He will answer our investigators prayers and everyone's prayers. It's so powerful. I love it. I love being here on a mission in the China, Hong Kong!! I love and miss you all so much but until we meet again, as Paul said, "Keep the Faith." I love you all!!!!


Elder Peter McAllister

Email: November 11th, 2010

Hey Family!!! How was your week? Our was pretty good. We just called to repentance yesterday by President Perkins of the 70. He came to tour our mission yesterday. It was really cool and I learned a lot. He told everyone to write down two questions that we might have and then promised us that during the meeting we would have both of those questions answered. It was amazing!! He told us that revelation starts with asking a question. All revelation in the D&C are because someone asked a question. In the bible and the Book of Mormon when there was revelation it was because someone asked a question. Anyway, he really wanted us to understand that power of asking questions. So I decided that I'm going to start writing down more questions and just during the day, teaching appointments, sacrament meetings, and whatever I'll think about them and pray about them and then I'll be able to find the answers. So COOL!!! I love revelation! =) Yesterday's meeting was seriously amazing with President Perkins. We had a testimony meeting and we all got to bear our testimonies. He also told us that we aren't talking about the restoration enough. And it's true. Sometimes on the street or in lessons it's not brought up as important or as strong as it should be. He taught us how we could do better. It was really cool. We all felt the spirit a lot yesterday.

This week we haven't seen Trusta yest but we will tomorrow. We're really excited for her baptism next Saturday on the 20th!!! Bro Yeung is doing a lot better! He's been smoking less and next time we go we're going to give him the week long quit smoking plan. HE'S GOTTA MAKE IT!!!!!!! I really want him to make it. He's such a nice guy and we really love him a lot.

Last Saturday something crazy happened. We took one of our investigators to see the temple. It was amazing. We went into the waiting room and had someone from the temple come down and explain everything that goes on inside the temple and stuff. It was really good. And there's a new chapel build across from the temple and we took him there to tour it. It was a really good day but then something crazy happened. We were at the train station to go back to Tai Po and we hear a girl a few yards away from us, in her 20's, kinda screaming. They were a family from India or something. Anyway she walked up to the edge of the platform and we were just like what is she doing. And then she jumped down and laid down on the tracks screaming I want to die. We were all in shock. Her father jumped down to get her back up. We went to try to help him back up after he got his daughter back up but there were a bunch of people around him pulling him up before we got to him. The whole time the girl was just screaming I want to die, I want to die. And there were a bunch of people holding her down so she wouldn't try again. Finally some of the workers got there and helped out. It was really crazy. I couldn't even think of what to say to our investigator on the train ride back to Tai Po. That was the first time I've ever seen someone try to commit suicide. I just feel really grateful that our family has the Gospel. But that experience really helped me realize that importance of what we're doing here in Hong Kong. I've lived in a bubble and I got a wide view of what the world is without the Gospel, without hope. I am so grateful for what we have in our family!! I'm so grateful for a Loving Heavenly Father that knows and cares about each and everyone of his children. I'm so grateful that I have the opportunity to share this Gospel, This Perfect Brightness of Hope that it talks about in 2 Nephi 32, with the people of Hong Kong. I love you all so much!!! I love every minute of being here in Hong Kong and the time that I have to share what I know to be true. Thank you for all your love and examples that you've been for me. I hope you all have a good week.

Love Elder McAllister

Email: October 28th, 2011

Hey FAMILY!!!!! Today was pretty crazy but to put it short we were almost attacked by monkeys =) haha It was way fun!!! Anyway I'll get to that later. How are you guys? What are your plans for Halloween? I miss American Halloween. I don't even know if I can spell it right =) haha But yea Halloween in Hong Kong is really simple. I'm pretty sure I told you about it last year. Tai Po and Tai Wo aren't really celebrating it this year. Just Tai Po is having a BBQ thing with the young men and women. Trista, out investigator is going to go to it even though she is 20 and not even in the Tai Po ward area. For the last few weeks she had to work on Sunday morning and couldn't go to the Tai Wo Sacrament Meeting (Tai Wo 9:00am and Tai Po 2:00pm) so she has just been going to the Tai Po Ward. And the Tai Po ward loves her. We're trying to figure out how to get her back to Tai Wo. But anyway right now it's the gospel she needs it doesn't really matter where yet. Anyway the young women's in Tai Po ward really love her and invited her to the BBQ. I'm almost positive that after she's baptised she'll be a Young Women's teacher or something.

Bro Yeung is doing really good too. Still has a smoking problem but slowly working on it. Last week we have him a commitment to not buy cigarettes for just a day and then after that it would be up to him. He agreed and did it. This week we asked him to do it for two days and then after that it's up to him to decide. This was Elder Wright's idea and it's really working so far. Just to slowly help him quit. He let us know something last time that really let us know more of his concern. We already knew that both his parents have already passed away but this last time he told us that his mom committed suicide or something like that. (it was hard to understand his Cantonese) he told us that before in his life that he did worse things and worse drugs. He said that he feels like what he did influence his mom. He feels responsible I think for what happened to his mom. We really tried to explain the atonement and that both his parents love him and want him to be happy. It didn't seem to really help him. We're really praying for him and really trying to figure out what to teach him next. We're also looking for a fellowshipper to help him and be his friend. He told us that he knows that if he gets baptised that his life will be better with the gospel. He just needs to keep the desire to change.

We taught Trista yesterday some of the commandments and it went amazing. She said in the closing prayer that she really feels the spirit and know that what we shared with her are true. AMAZING!!!! We might even try to move her date to the 13th of Nov. Right now it's for the 20 but we will see. As long as she gets baptised!! =) There's lots of miracles happening but it's still hard but we're trying to keep working. The hard times mike the good times even better! =) We're also trying to find some new golden investigators so that when Bro Leung and Trista get baptised we still have someone to teach. After Candy and Keven were baptised on the island we didn't have any other investigators that were progressing and that was hard. So we really want to always be looking for others to teach.

So yea, about the monkey thing. This morning we went to a place called monkey mountain. There's just a lot of monkeys! We originally planned to do our emails a little later today but because they were already booked we had to come here so I didn't have a chance to go home first to get the cable to send you some pictures but I will for sure next week. I got a couple of the monkeys getting down ready to jump on us. They kinda look like baboons but uglier =) haha One of the big ones got mad at me and yelling at me and wasn't really scared of the stick that I had. It was a little scary =) Anyway I'll send pictures next week.

I love you all. I hope you have a good week this week and have fun for Halloween. Don't do anything too crazy. I love you guys!!! =)

Love Elder McAllister

Email: October 21st, 2011

Hey FAMILY!!! How are you all doing? How was your week? How is Madelyn? I wish I could be there for the blessing! Take pictures for me. This last week has been amazing!! We now have two investigators with a baptismal date!!! Last week then we went to go teach him we asked we felt to ask him to be baptised and he said yes!!! He has a lot of things that he needs to overcome but I know that with the Lords help that he can do it. After his lesson I asked him to give me his cigarettes and he did. I tried to find a garbage out side his apartment but couldn't find one so I put them in my bag and totally forgot about them until later when getting really to leave the next day I found them in my bag. It felt weird to have them. We just taught him again the other day and he said that he's been smoking less and he reluctantly gave me his almost brand new pack. He pulled out three asking him if he could keep them. I explained that if he doesn't start now by showing faith then he won't be able to over come his addition. He put two of them back in and then after staring at me a little bit put the last one in. haha I love being a missionary! =) He's changing though and it's amazing to see the atonement working in him. He has a long way to go but I know he can do it =)

Our other investigator, Trista, just accepted a baptismal date yesterday. It was pretty interesting though. Our lesson didn't go as well as we wanted and it had it's rough spots but it's okay. She's accepted the date and we learned how we can do better next time. The threesome is a little harder then the last one. Elder Cheng is very quiet but one of the most caring missionaries I've ever met. Elder Wright is still pretty new and doesn't quite have his teaching skills down yet and I talk way to much so it's definitely an interesting threesome. We're working on it though. I'm trying to remember to be humble. =) Threesomes are never easy but in my mission the most miracles happen when in a threesome. It's harder and you have to work harder but it pushes us to do better.

I love you all so much! I'm so grateful for your support and love. I hope you all have a really good week. I love you.

Love, Elder McAllister

Email: October 7th, 2010

Hey! How are you all doing? I miss you all so much! How was General Conference? It doesn't start till this weekend for us. We're all excited about it. I only have one more general conference in Hong Kong after this!!!!!! President Chan hasn't asked me yet what day I want to pick but I'm positive I'm positive I'm going to pick my late date. They moved it back a week though so it'll probably be the beginning of May. I'm not totally sure when yet because the president hasn't asked me. Anyway that's depressing stuff. Let's talk about mission =) haha

This week has been pretty good. It was the first week in the threesome and trying to get to know the Tai Ward and area. We went finding the other day all over Tai Po and Tai Wo to get used to all of it. Last week we also had a couple of the Mandarin Elders come down and go finding with us. I went with Elder Wall. We were walking along the harbor on this bike trial and all of a sudden we heard bag pipes so we had to go find it. It ended up being a girl playing bagpipes and another guy playing the saxophone. Really weird combination. Se we just sat on a chair and clapped when they were over. we went up and talked to them for a little bit. It was really weird because Elder Wall was talking Mandarin with them and I was talking Cantonese. Ever once in a while they would ask me questions in Mandarin and I would just get this blank look on my face like I did when I first got to Hong Kong and didn't understand a word anyone was saying. Anyway it was really cook and I really want to learn how to play the bagpipes now =) haha

I did learn how to play an instrument this week. Our investigator, Trista, knows how to play the Erhu or Yih Wuh in Cantonese. She taught us after a lesson the other day and it was pretty sweet. I'm definitely buying one before I come home. There only a couple hundred Hong Kong dollars which is about 40 American dollars. Anyway I totally want to get one. =)

Trista is one of our best investigators right now. Eric who had the baptismal date for the 23rd called us the other day and said that he wants to go to his old church. We asked if we could see him one more time. He agreed and we taught him the restoration again and watched the dvd and he is willing to try again. =) But we're not sure when he can get baptised yet. Our other investigator, Jimmy, is doing good. He can come to church and will read the scriptures but his mom gets mad at us when we call him because she wants him to do his homework and not talk to us. She's all for letting him come to church though. Anyway, Trista is an investigator from Tai Wo and she kinda reminds me a lot of Mr Leung from West Point but a lot more humble. She's willing to try. She doesn't want a baptismal date yet though. We'll get her though =) haha

There's so much going on here it's hard to say it all in one email. I love it so much though. The work is hard but worth it. The people are amazing and the members. There's a member in Tai Wo that was baptized a couple months ago and she's constantly giving us referrals good ones too. I love the food here, except that I'm getting fat =) haha And I love my companions. I have a picture with all of us and I'll send it to you next week . I love you all so much. I love Hong Kong. One day I hope that me and some of you can come back here and I can show you it all =)

I hope you all have a good week. May the Spirit be with you =)

Love Elder McAllister