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