I'll give you some cookies if you'll let us come back and teach you!

Hello everyone!

I only have a short time to write to you today, but don't you love my lovely subject line? I'll explain later on in the email. I was able to go to the temple on Tuesday and it was amazing! They just redid the endowment rooms of the Oakland Templs so they were super big and nice!! We also went to the mission home for a sister's meeting where we learned about the power of women. I loved the questions that Sister Frandsen (*my mission president's wife) gave us to think about: "Who was I in the preexistence?" and "Because of that, who am I?" "What are my responsibilities in the house of Israel?" and "How do I fulfill my responsibilities?" and then some other questions about the temple I won't write here. But I would like to ask you to also pray and think about those questions.

I love serving at the Visitor Center at the Oakland temple!! We basically do half the day at the Visitor Center where we give tours, go on the "phones" where we call people who requested a copy of the Bible or the Book of Mormon. We also take chats from Mormon.org. We started our Christmas schedule for Saturday and Sunday and it was amazing to see so many different people from all across the world!! For Christmas we have a different place we stand each hour and a different companion each hour (so we rotate positions) and it's really cool! I really hope I can be an usher for 'Handel's Messiah' or the 'Nutcracker' or the play 'Scrooge'. That would be really cool! And then the other half the day is going to teach lessons to investigators, recent converts or less actives.

We have 2 potential investigators that we've been trying to meet with. We have a hard time setting appointments and getting in contact with Miss Lilian but we're hopeful she will actually meet with us this week. The other one wasn't home when we went to his house. We also went out to Taco Bell with this recent convert who is homeless by choice and a ward member who paid for us. The homeless guy, Matthew, has a smaller version of the harp and played that and his harmonica for us and it was fun.

I'll explain about the subject line now. We went to a members house for dinner last night and the Grandma who lives there isn't a member. She's been going to church for like 20 years and even has a calling (she's the door greeter and hands out programs on Sunday). Brother Lemmo had made us cookies for dessert and the Grandma has a sweet tooth and asked us if she could have some cookies. We gave her some but towards the end of our stay I got the idea to say "I have a proposition for you. I'll give you some cookies if you'll let us come back and teach you." She declined but I thought I'd ask ;) She says she won't get baptized because she's never felt the Holy Ghost and doesn't have a testimony and doesn't know if the church is true, etc.  And I told her we want her to do it because she wants to follow Christ and not just because others want her to. But it's difficult, She's just attached to the people. Basically the whole lesson she's just kind of shaking her head no and stuff. We had Sister Hunt come to our class last Sunday and Sister Hunt said the closing prayer and we asked Sister Croll how she felt and she said nice and we said "THAT'S THE SPIRIT!" xD So we're working on trying to get her to recognize when she is feeling the spirit.

Now, this is the really important part of my email: WATCH THE CHURCH'S CHRISTMAS VIDEO: 'LIGHT THE WORLD'!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go to https://youtu.be/mJmAV0gTp_Q to watch the video. For Christmas, I want everyone to share the light of Jesus Christ, who is the "light of the world" (John 8:12). Also, there is an advent calendar you can download and print out that gives you ideas on ways we can serve others like the Savior and brighten people's day!! It starts December 1 and goes through December 25th - 25 ways over 25 days. SHARE IT!!!!! Share the video with everyone! Post it on social media and share your stories using the hashtag #LIGHTtheWORLD

Anyway, I had a great thanksgiving at the Relief Society President's house :) Hope you have a wonderful week!!

Sister Alyssa Phillips

P.S. - Here's a picture of me with my Mission President and his wife, President and Sister Frandsen and my companion, Sister Muench on my first day in Oakland.

I Made It!

Hello!

So I found out after I got there that we don't email until p-day, but i'm here safely! It's gorgeous here!! Sorry if I keep this email short because the desk top i'm using is very old and the screen it freaking out my eyes. xD Anyway, My companion is sister Muench (pronounced 'Minch' like pinch. It's German) She has been here a year and has about 5 months until she goes home. Our proselyting area is San Lorenzo and we are in the San Lorenzo ward.

Cool story, I found someone interested in our church when I was on a chat on Mormon.org the day before I left the MTC and he is here in my mission boundaries but he's not in my proselyting area since he's in San Pablo. But I emailed him a few days ago (Santosh if i remember correctly?) and he is going to come to the visitor center with his friend (who he says is a member) on the 29th!!!!!!

Last night we went to the Relief Society President's house to get to know her better and it was so nice! I love the ward here! She said that they signed up to have us over for Thanksgiving and said to let them know if anyone else (ward members etc) didn't have anywhere to go for Thanksgiving and that they'd love to invite them over and feed them :) There's also this recent Convert called Michael Angelo (yes, that's really his name) who is so funny!! He's at the temple visitors center basically EVERYDAY. He just got the Aaronic priesthood on Sunday!! Yesterday at the visitors center we met this Nigerian Couple who live in the Bay area. They came into the visitors center to show their niece (who is from Nigeria) around and it was cool to give them a tour and talk about gospel stuff with them. I think the wife was Catholic, the husband and the niece were members of another religion. But what was really cool was the husband took a really big interest in the temple and really wanted to go inside of one. That was one of his goals/dreams. And so I asked one of the senior couples if they knew where any of the new temples were being built because we told them that they can go if there is a temple open house. Apparently there was a long list of temples being built in the US and in other parts of the world. So I gave him the list and hopefully they'll be able to attend :)

Anyway, I only have about 30 min today to email but we'll have longer on a different day this week (we can only have 2 hours for a week), and this week is very weird because we have like 3 sorta p-days. Monday is my usual p-day, but we also have Tuesday and Thursday sometimes. On Thursday we're going to decorate the visitors center for Christmas! It's going to be so fun!!

Oh, btw, I didn't notice until a few days ago but I found a slip of paper saying the TSA had checked my bags at the airport and it was probably because when I opened my bag I saw that one of the containers of powdered mashed potatoes had exploded so there was white powder everywhere.... xD  So that's my fun story from the airport xD and they cracked my purple suitcase!!!!!! >:( it's not too bad but i'm a little mad.

Anyway, I'll write more soon. Love you!!! (If I have time the other days I'll write my weekly email. but I just wanted to send an email to you letting you know i'm safe :)

Love,

Sister Phillips :)


Sister Alyssa Phillips
California Oakland/San Francisco Mission
4945 Lincoln Way
Oakland, CA 94602

alyssa.phillips@myldsmail.net

First Picture From the Mission Field

Today a former sister missionary from the Oakland/San Francisco mission was back visiting members and she met Alyssa and her new companion/trainer. She was kind enough to send us a picture of the three of them.

Safe Arrival in the California Oakland/Sand Francisco Mission

Dear Brother and Sister Phillips,
We are very pleased to welcome your daughter to the California Oakland/San Francisco Mission. Sister Phillips was welcomed with the other missionaries by President & Sister Frandsen at the airport. She is well and happy and ready to go to work.  You will hear from her on Mondays, which is preparation day.  We look forward to working with your daughter.

Sincerely,

Sister Clark

Mission Secretary

California Oakland/SF Mission

4945 Lincoln Way 

Oakland, CA 94602

Last P-day at the MTC week 4!

November 11, 2016

Hey everyone!!!

So a lot has happened this week. I had to say goodbye to most of my district on Tuesday and that was really hard. Now it's me, Sister Garn and Sister Mudrow, who joined our companionship so we're a trio now :) Since most of our district left, we got 3 new sisters in our room and I’m slowly adjusting to them being there. LOL. I'll try sending pictures again. Maybe email me (alyssa.phillips@myldsmail.net) if you want the pictures so I can share them with you on google drive.

We started our special Visitor Center training on Wednesday and that's been great we have 3 teachers Sister Gessel (whose father is part of my mission presidency in Cali) and she teaches us in the day, then we have Sister Riding who helps us with our online teaching and chats we do from Mormon.org and then we have Sister Kendall Who teaches us in the evenings and she'll be the one to take us to temple square tomorrow!!! I'll be at temple square from around 2:30/3:00 pm until around 7:20pm.

We've learned about greeting and how to manage our time and how to study for our investigators. So to clear up some stereotypes everyone usually makes about Visitor Center Sisters; half the day we are in the Visitor Center and the other half of the day we are out proselyting in our assigned area. We also teach people online for a portion of the day as well and something that I learned that I didn't know before is our job doesn't end when those people leave the Visitor Center. We get their info and follow up with them and the missionaries the whole way all the way up until baptism as a support and even after. And if they don't feel comfortable with being taught by the missionaries we can teach them at the Visitor Center or online/phone/texting, etc… which I think is super cool! Most people think that since I’m going to a VC that I won't get very many baptisms but it's the complete opposite because of the follow up and also the teaching online. To all of my missionary friends out there, please treat our referrals like gold, because they are!!!! We get these people ready to be taught for you!!

Hermana Farnsworth was chatting with a man from China who came here to the US and visited a Visitor Center and wanted to learn more about the church so he moved his family here. He only has 6 months left until they have to go back to China but he wants to learn as much as he possibly can before he goes back and even wanted to attend church this Sunday! The Lord definitely prepares those who are ready for us to teach. We just have to be led by the Spirit!

OH! I forgot to tell you about the Referral Center (my dad called it the tele-center). We're doing that here and our district was in one of the pilot programs for it so the other sisters in my visitor center class hadn't done it before so we were lucky. We call people to verify their address if they've ordered a free Bible or Book of Mormon and it's so much fun to offer to send them a free Book of Mormon if they've ordered a Bible. Most of the time they say yes and then we send the referral to the local missionaries. We do that for all over the world not just in the US. We also do online chats from Mormon.org and yesterday we talked to a guy about priesthood and relief society and women and the priesthood. I also chatted online with someone who wanted a tour guide who spoke Chinese (we were both typing in English) and she wanted to chat online before meeting with the missionaries so I transferred her to the Mandarin speaking missionaries online so she could better understand. I'm going to hopefully send her an email to follow up with that tonight. 

Oh, I sent in my vote on Saturday. I voted for the first time and found out Trump won :P Just know the Lord will protect and guide us so just remain faithful and remember it's a commandment to keep the laws of the land! LOL. I saw my little sister's teacher that works at her daycare today. She apparently talks to people here about her faith and how she goes to a community church.

On Fast Sunday (it was brutal but worth it because we got steak for dinner), we heard from the members of the MTC presidency and their wives. President Bertasso (one of the councilors) said we, as missionaries, are becoming the 1st vision to those we teach and that the Book of Mormon combined with the Spirit is the most powerful converting tool we have. I also liked how President Burgess's wife, Sister Burgess, talked about gratitude and humility going hand in hand and that you can't grow spiritually unless you have an attitude of gratitude. She also shared something from Elder Oaks’ talk "Give Thanks to God in All Things Even in Our Afflictions".

OH!!! Before I forget, we had the famous violinist Jenny Oaks Baker who is the daughter of Elder Oaks!!!! She and her family are SO musically talented! They all played songs for us in between Sister Baker giving her talk. They played and sang "The Prayer;” “I Am a Child of God;” “Abide With Me;” “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief” and “Amazing Grace.” It was SO beautiful!! She and one daughter played the violin, another daughter sang and played the piano, another daughter played the cello and her little boy played the acoustic guitar (he can also play electric too apparently ;)) and her husband also talked. Sister Baker talked about when we acknowledge God, He will guide us (Proverbs 3:6). She also said we shouldn't dismiss God after we think our trials are over. She also talked about priesthood blessings and how she'd get them before her auditions and performances. She also talked about how we all sometimes get jealous of each other and she made a great point (I think her mother told her this.) "Do you think you can build the kingdom of God by yourself? (Proverbs 3:5 lean not unto your own understanding). You should be happy for other's successes. She also talked about keeping the Sabbath day holy and she said that she made it a goal to not practice on Sundays like everyone else did and that she was able to be more energetic and able to practice the rest of the week and put in 100% because of the rest she got on Sunday.

She also shared something her nephew said in his homecoming talk when he got home from his mission: "When you put in 95% on the mission you have success but when you put in 100% you have even greater success." She also talked about how service is important but what people need more than service is love; she said “When you are in the service of your fellow men you are in the service of your God.” She also talked about how she lost her mother and how she prayed for her and had faith that God could heal her but her point is that true faith is faith and trust in Christ. We exercise our faith but it is ultimately the Lord's will. She said because she put her faith in Christ and not in her mom's recovery, when her mom died her faith was strengthened and not shattered. The Lord hears our prayers. Keep His commandments (do all we can do) and D&C 46:13-14 eternal life is promised even to those who believe on other's words. But if you know Christ is the Savior you need to speak out about it to those seeking to find. Her husband, Matt, talked about establishing our legacy in the mission. Legacy's definition: legal term - leave someone something in a will. But in our culture it's more so defined as leaving something for future generations and he told us to establish our own legacy in the mission where you teach - will leave something with the people there. 

LOVE you all!!!! 

Email Address:
alyssa.phillips@myldsmail.net

Mission Address:
Sister Alyssa Phillips
California Oakland/San Francisco Mission
4945 Lincoln Way
Oakland, CA 94602

My MTC District (District 34B)

My MTC District - 34B

The Sisters of District 34B at the Provo Temple

My District on a Temple Walk

District 34B with our MTC Teachers; Brother Lee and Sister Ditto

Another picture with Brother Lee and Sister Ditto

Me and Sister Davis, another one of our instructors

Sister May

Us with Brother and Sister May

Halloween Fun! Candy, Pumpkin Painting & Reverse Trick or Treating!

My Dad and Susie sent us pumpkins and paint so we could decorate our room for Halloween!

The front of my Pumpkin

                                                         

I couldn't just stop with a traditional Pumpkin face so I decorated the top of my pumpkin with a black cat too.

Sister Garn got creative and used the stem of her pumpkin as a nose and painted this funny face.

Sister Mudrow and Sister Wadman painting their pumpkins too

Sister Wadman's Pumpkin

Sister Mudrow's Pumpkin

All lined up read for Halloween!

I got a ton of candy and goodies to share with my district for Halloween

My Grandma Phillips sent me this awesome Halloween package.

She even decorated this pringles can like a mummy (and gave me yummy cookies!)

Sister Wadman dressed up as the little mermaid in her little mermaid footie pajamas and I figured out a Cinderella/maid costume and we went knocking on the sisters doors giving them candy and brownies (reverse trick-or-treating) it was a lot of fun! 

Some Random Pictures...

My Companion, Sister Garn

I took a picture of this rose on one of our temple walks

Blurry "Selfie" of the sisters in my district.

Group picture with some of my MTC District members.

Lots of missionaries enjoying the warm weather on our "Temple Walk"

Some Random Pictures...

My Companion, Sister Garn

I took a picture of this rose on one of our temple walks

Blurry "Selfie" of the sisters in my district.

Group picture with some of my MTC District members.

Lots of missionaries enjoying the warm weather on our "Temple Walk"

Second Full Week in the MTC

Hey everyone!! SO MUCH has happened since I emailed you last!!!!

Saturday: I saw Sister Shiffman and Sister Lockett!!! I've seen almost 20 people that I know here and it's amazing!! Today was the last day we taught our first TRC investigators Hannah and Heidi. We were all so sad! I took pictures I'm just having technical difficulties... 

Sunday: Sundays' sacrament meeting topic was "Enduring to the end". We started learning our next song for the Tuesday Devotionals which was "Praise to the Man"!!!!!!! I loved it SO much!! Like I've said in the past, not only do I love singing, but I also love the choir director because he tells us background information on the songs and stories to help us to understand the words better and to give us power when we sing the songs!!! After we heard a talk from Richard N. Holzapfel and he talked about studying the 6th chapter in Preach My Gospel about Christ-like attributes and to pick one at a time and try to develop  that attribute. He also said that when we get home to not store our preach my gospel books away but to study them often because it will help you in all aspects of your life. Then we watched our Sunday film which was the Joseph Smith restoration story and the Kirkland temple video combined. We also had out Sunday temple walk and played in the leaves! Sister Wadman was super happy because her Boyfriend left the MTC so she could finally open her letter from him and read his emails. 

Monday: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!! I got 4 packages!!! 2 were filled with food because I get hungry before bed and another was filled with Halloween candy! the last was from my Grandma where she decorated pringles cans to look like mummies and gave use cookies for all of the sisters in my district! Today we taught our new TRC investigators! They are Karisa and Olivia. Karisa's lesson went VERY well but with Olivia's lesson something just felt off and we accidentally ended 15 minutes early... (we later just learned that Olivia shows her interest and emotion differently than others). We finally got to teach Katia (the Russian investigator played by sister Davis) again!!! We taught her as a whole class and we recommitted her to baptism!! Sister Wadman was sent a huge box of brownies from her boyfriend's family and she dressed up as the little mermaid in her little mermaid footie pajamas and I figured out a Cinderella/maid costume and we went knocking on the sisters doors giving them candy and brownies (reverse trick-or-treat) it was a lot of fun! Plus my dad sent us pumpkins and paint so we could paint them for Halloween!! Oh! I forgot to tell you that Sister Garn and I are the new Ward Music leaders so we pick out sacrament hymns and stuff! Elder Hayes (a missionary from Wales) showed us where the Book of Mormon prophesies about the Holocaust (Ether 8:20) and that whole chapter is about WW2 (ether 8). It was really interesting.  

Tuesday: We had choir practice again today!! and guess who spoke at our devotional!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!????????????? PRES RUSSELL M. NELSON!!!!!!!!!! It was SO cool to be able to sing "Praise to the Man" for him and his wife! Plus! It was broadcast LIVE to the other MTC's around the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then that night we had companionship inventory and then we tried out sister Mudrow's destresser thing she does which is where you write down all of the things that are frustrating you, etc... on a piece of paper and once you're done you crumple it up and rip the paper to shreds xD and then you do a happy dance once you throw the paper away! 

Wednesday: Class tonight was amazing!!! We had our teacher and one of the missionaries in our district pretend to be companions and had Sister Wadman pretend to be the investigator and had Elder Jenkins be the member who was there to help us teach. Sister Wadman was playing the role of her grandma who is afraid to  come back to church because some of the things shes done would get her ex-communicated and her sealing with her ex-husband would be canceled and she was afraid for the welfare of her children and grandchildren. Sister Wadman was using her so she could know what to say to her grandma. We were teaching her the first lesson about the restoration and they swapped me in as the companion and I talked about the atonement and she said she was sad that Christ had to go through all of that and I told her how Christ already paid for her sins, and that He wants her to come unto Him. We finished up the lesson and then I added a last comment; "There is no sin great enough that God and Christ wouldn't forgive you for." Both Sister Wadman and I started to get watery eyes and after Sister Wadman thanked me and said that that's exactly what she needed to hear to tell her grandma. 

Thursday: Today was basically in-field training where we get taught what to do and what not to do when we go out into the field etc. It was really great! And we talked about getting the members involved with missionary work and having the boldness and courage to talk to their friends and co-workers about church and inviting them to learn more etc. I  saw my friend Jared Domino!!!!!!!!!

Today!!! We woke up and went to breakfast and the temple and then we did laundry and ate lunch and now I'm finishing my email.