Sean McAlister Called to Serve: Learning the importance of the Spirit

Sounds like Elder McAlister had a much better week than last week. He learned important lessons on studying the language and listening to the spirit in his missionary work.

He finally received the Christmas package and letters from the Ward this week, just a month late.

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Hey Everyone,

How’s everyone one doing? Sounds like the past week you guys had a lot of fun! Sounds like Mom, Dad and Sabrina had a really good week and a little relaxed. Derek and Todd I´m sorry but I asked my President and he said no, but I really asked him in a joking way (HaHa). Sounds like Jessica and Brooke had a normal week. Also, happy birthday to Todd I hope you have a good Birthday and wow you are really old!!!

This last week was a lot better with my Spanish and I realized that I didn't even really have a language plan set to help my Spanish which kind of is bad! So I have one now and my district leader said if I follow my plans I will be a lot better with Spanish in two weeks, so I´m taking that as a challenge. I have started to study with the things that could help me teach better and my sentences, but I realized I need to focus on something much bigger than my language. This last week I have really be focusing on the spirit and my prayers lately. I love the section in Preach My Gospel where it talks about recognizing the spirit. If you guys have Preach My Gospel, read that chapter and do the little prayer test that it has. I noticed this last week how sad my prayers were, it just seemed like a task to me and I just needed to get it done. When I read that and started applying it, I can tell you it really makes a difference in my prayers.

Also in my prayers I have started to focus around the spirit and how I could receive specific answers when I pray about specific things. I´m always searching for the spirit and thinking of the atonement and how much that has helped me in my life. I have realized when I am sitting there in a lesson and not thinking oh what can I say next and start practicing those sentences in my head. I have really began to listen to the person and I realized how much better I could speak Spanish when focused on them and not what my Spanish sounds like. I also want to say I´m sorry to parents because I learned how bad of a listener I was before my mission, or I was just super lazy at listening (HaHa).

We haven't found the gold ticket investigator yet, or the families that we are looking for, but we did find two this week which are okay. This week we are going to focus on the 4 investigators that can progress really good, we think!!! The names are Francisco, Tamara, Edison and Sut. So if you guys could pray for them and hope that they will listen and progress this week, because we really need them to progress!

On Saturday we had an activity of food around the world, which was super fun. The idea of the activity was a typical meal from that country. I had no idea what to do for the United States so I went with the good old classic hot dogs. I could tell you one thing, my food was gone with-in minutes. They really liked my hot dogs and the funny thing was I couldn’t find any mustard at our little store near our house. So it was hot dogs with BBQ sauce (HaHa). They absolutely loved the BBQ sauce here, and some went and bought it after the activity.

I found out that people in Chile are really funny with food. They have this sauce that is called aji and it’s really hot for them, but it’s nothing. I don't know if they have it in Argentina, but they have it here and they can’t handle it at all (HaHa). I use to love hot sauce on my food, but since the hotel accident that happened (I´m still sorry Sabrina), this is really has no kick to it or anything. So for the first four months in Chile I was scared of it thinking it was super-hot, then I tried it and it only adds flavor for me. It’s super funny for me!!!

Also today was cambios, me and Elder Coronado and staying together to our knowledge just have to find out about the Chile and Peru conflict. I will have to keep him focused because he is now talking a lot about home. I will let you know how that goes!

Thanks for everything and I hope you guys have another fantastic week. I love hearing from you and I am glad you guys are my family. Guess what, I almost have 6 months in my mission wow, its going by super-fast!!! I love you guys and stay awesome!

Love you!

Elder McAlister

P.S. I got all the letters from the Ward and from grandmas, so tell them thank you!

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This week I shared four quotes on Missionary work with Sean.

First by M. Russell Ballard, from "Put Your Trust in the Lord". He said "Trust the Lord. He is the Good Shepherd. He knows His sheep, and His sheep know His voice; and today the voice of the Good Shepherd is your voice and my voice."

Next from Thomas S. Monson, from "Dare to Stand Alone". He said "Once we have a testimony, it is incumbent upon us to share that testimony with others."

Again from M. Russell Ballard, from "Put Your Trust in the Lord". He said "Heed the promptings of the Spirit. Supplicate the Lord in mighty prayer. Become engaged in doing what you can in sharing the great message of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Finally Henry B. Eyring, from "We Are One". He said "The Lord made it very clear at the start of this last dispensation that we were to take the gospel to all the world. ... Whatever our age, capacity, Church calling, or location, we are as one called to the work to help Him in His harvest of souls."

These four quotes should really let him know he is out doing the right thing in the Lords service bring the gospel message to the people of Chile. I am so proud of Sean, and even thought I miss him, I am happy that he is out sharing, learning and growing in the gospel.

Enjoy this week’s pictures from Chile!