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.
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