My First Burn/Tan of the Summer

Hi everyone! Yes, you read the subject line correctly. On Saturday we were outside tracting for a few hours and I got burned slightly on my face and I have a tan line on the back of my neck from where my necklace was. That's because I was wearing a cardigan and tights so nothing else got burned :)

Last week I forgot to share this scripture with all of you so I'm doing it now so I don't forget :) Doctrine and Covenants 127:4 "And again, verily thus saith the Lord: Let the work of my temple, and all the works which I have appointed unto you, be continued on and not cease; and let your diligence, and your perseverance, and patience, and your works be redoubled, and you shall in nowise lose your reward, saith the Lord of Hosts. And if they persecute you, so persecuted they the prophets and righteous men that were before you. For all this there is a reward in heaven."

So to continue from Saturday the 18th: Recapping - I'm staying in San Lorenzo and I'm getting a new companion Sister Rice! She's from Alpine Utah :) LOVE HER TO DEATH! I was so excited when I found out :) 

Sister Rice and I with Brother Krowshaw who used to be my old Bishop back home!

But that happened Saturday night. The craziness that happened today is that I accidentally left our phone in the Spanish Sister's car when we drove home from playing sports this morning. Long story short; we had a prompting to go to the chapel (at 8 am) and there were people there! So we used a brother's phone (found out he's in the stake presidency I think) and we saw an area 70! We were told that Elder Natress was just around the corner! They were doing interviews to call the new Stake Presidency. So we called the Spanish Sisters and got their address and picked up our phone. The Spanish Sisters played a prank on us; they changed their name in our contacts to our mission president. Then they called us, pretending to be our mission president on the phone to call me as the next Sister Training Leader! ugh... silly sisters.. But then Sister Shkapich actually DID get a call from President a few hours later. We also got a few potential investigators today! Cassandra really wants to go to the Visitors Center! She was taking an online test when we knocked on her door. We also had a really weird thing happen; we were knocking on some doors in a town home complex and all of a sudden smoke starts coming from out of nowhere and gasses us away from one of the doors we were going to knock on. Then we heard the door open so we walked back and there were kids home but no parents. We moved on and while knocking on some other doors a little ways away, we hear loud fire crackers or something, Huge bangs! I looked and that same house with the kids in it had a kid on the top floor throwing firecrackers and "smoke bombs" even when we left! So silly... 

Sunday we had Stake Conference with Elder Natress! Then we took Linda our recent convert to the Visitors Center and gave her a tour. It was a really spiritual experience! Then we ate lunch with the Samoan ward. 

Monday:  We went to lunch at Chili's and then bowling with the Walnut Creek Sisters.

Tuesday: Transfers! Today Sister Rice became my new companion! We made a goal to memorize Mosiah 2:41 (which i have down! :)) Also, a tip from a worker at the grocery store regarding Pineapples. Before you cut them up, you want to turn them upside down for 3 hours. That way all of the sweet juices will go to the top :)

Wednesday: New missionaries arrived in our mission! We also met a Brother and Sister who used to be in the same ward as a senior couple that helped to fill in at the Visitors Center! It was super cool! Brother Grow used to be the bishop in San Diego and is 5’ 4.” The other brother was his councilor and he is 6’ 9 ¾” tall. XD Imagine that! 

I made a Mexican Pie!

I have to go :( But I'll finish next time :) WE have 2 new investigators! Odalys is one and she really seems promising! She really wants to change and be a better person. 

Love you all!!

Sister Phillips

3rd times a charm, right? *Transfers*

Exchanges with Sister Brinton

So to finish from last week’s email: Papusa's are like a pancake filled with meat, beans and cheese, etc… with cabbage and a tomato sauce on it. We get them from a Salvadorian bakery :) Also, something I really liked about what our member told us during lunch is that our name tags are like training wheels for real life :) Last Monday we we were eating wings at this awesome wing place called wing stop! 1- It has wings 2- It's airplane themed!

Selfie at Wing Stop - Yummy Wings!

Also, the guy from the Czech Republic and the girl from Japan got a tour when they came back and they hesitantly asked if they could have copies of the Book of Mormon in their languages! They didn't want missionaries coming by but they agreed to have the sisters who took them on a tour keep in touch :) We also visited a member who used to collect antiques and go to antique shows (her house is filled with them - even her furniture) and at the end she gave me a little Buddha and she gave Sister Shkapich an elephant carved out of ivory :) We also found out two weeks ago that a less active member we went to visit while she was in the hospital had passed away. So two older ladies in our ward have passed away within the last two weeks. Also, two weeks ago on Sunday, Sister McLeod (McCloud), talked about if there was any advice she would give to the girls in the young women’s program, it would be to master understanding and recognizing the Spirits promptings. I think this is very important too and something I'm trying to do right now. It's not easy, but I know that if we learn how to do this we will be able to know what the Lord's will is for us and how we can have the most happiness and direction in our lives. In Relief Society I loved this quote in President Hinckley's manual in Chapter 5 - Daughter of God "Lack of virtue is totally inconsistent with obedience to the commandments of God. There is nothing more beautiful than virtue. There is no strength that is greater than the strength of virtue. There is no other nobility equal to the nobility of virtue. There is no quality so becoming, no attire so attractive."

Ok... NOW I'm starting my weekly email! :) 

Wednesday: We were on shift at the Oakland Temple Visitors Center and we had to go back out to the car to get Sister Shkapich's ‘Preach my Gospel’ manual and we saw a big group of monks in bright orange taking pictures in front of the temple. We went over and gave them a tour of the Visitors Center and walked on the terrace of the Temple! It was so cool to talk to one of the monks and be able to both learn and share our religion and see how similar they are! There were six monks; two who live here in California (their Temple is in Berkeley) and the other four were from Thailand!

It was cool because we learned about their culture too and how to say ‘hello’ and ‘thank you.’ What the best part was for me is the monk I talked to the most asked us what we do when we are sad and I told him we can pray and find peace, comfort and direction in our lives and that we also read The Book of Mormon, which helps us feel the Spirit as well. I explained the difference between the Bible and The Book of Mormon and he asked if we had on in Thai! One of the reasons I love being at the Visitors Center is we have copies of The Book of Mormon in so many different languages readily available! So I was able to give him one in Thai and he invited us to celebrate the Thai New Year and to their Temple to eat food and stuff. All of the monks wanted to include us in their group pictures and also took individual pictures with us too :) We also had 2 engineers that were working on the parking lot for the Oakland Temple come into the Visitors Center for a tour. What was cool is we showed them one of the new ‘Meet the Mormons’ presentations and afterward, when one was using the restroom I talked to the other and he said the guy in the restroom was a less active member of the church and how this really made an impact on him and how his daughter would love coming to the Visitors Center!

Thursday: we watched the 2 new videos that were uploaded on our system about Joseph Smith translating The Book of Mormon. The videos were made from Oliver Cowdery's perspective. Then we watched another video that talked about the struggles and challenges the Whitmer family went through to allow Joseph Smith to come and translate in their home. Then we did our community service at the Salvation Army (and I found out that the Salvation Army is an actual religion!). We sorted boxes of clothes and folded them. We also watched "Mountain of the Lord" which is about the building of the Salt Lake Temple. Also! George, the guy we found in the Visitors Center parking lot the other day says he also talked to other missionaries online at mormon.org and they got him tickets to watch General Conference at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City! So he's going to Utah in April! So excited!! And he asked how he can meet with missionaries and how he can become a Mormon :) So he finally let us send missionaries to him :) Also! There is this lady I've been talking to from Latvia who is a convert and she's been having a hard time with her depression and she doesn't believe God's there anymore. What's cool is she loves talking to me because for some reason I can make her laugh and happy :) We as missionaries can't give members advice, we can only refer them to their Bishop which she doesn't want to do. So I committed her to watch General Conference April 1st & 2nd in hopes that it will rekindle her testimony and that she can know that God is real and that He loves her :)

Friday: Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! We ate at a members house and she said that the goal we gave her and her husband to read the Book of Mormon every week together has really paid off and that her husband, even though he's on a trip (he's a convert), lets her read it to him every night!!

Saturday: TRANSFERS!!!!! Sister Shkapich is going to Berkeley to be the next sister training leader with my last companion Sister Muench!! I'm staying in San Lorenzo!! My new companion is Sister Rice!! Today was really crazy! I'll have to finish next week!

Sunday: Stake Conference with Elder Natress and Elder Mark Davis!!  

Here are a few more pictures:

My "Bestie" Sister Altansukh

Russian candy from Sister Altansukh

The Sisters went bowling for P-Day

The Sisters went bowling for P-Day

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! <3<3<3

Papusas!

Unfortunately I don't have my journal with me so I'll try my best to remember what happened this week... :) But that also means I don't exactly remember all of the miracles and stuff that happened last Saturday to tell you. I'll hopefully make it up next week! 

Monday 3/6: We had our P-day and Sister Shkapich got her hair done by a member in our ward. She tried dying her hair with a box from the store and it didn't go very well.. so the member put toner in her hair and it looks better but she'll probably dye it again soon professionally and not from a box.. :) Then we had a lesson with Mike a recent convert about enduring to the end.

Tuesday: We went to our investigator Shonda's house and we taught her part of the plan of salvation. She also has other people living there too and when we walked in there were bongs and ashtrays and Sister Shkapich said weed too... Needless to say we're trying to meet outside of her home. Possibly at the church house. Then we had an awesome lesson with our recent convert Linda! We re-taught the plan of salvation. Then we went to lunch with a group of old widowed sisters in our ward called the "J.O.Y. Group" which is "Just Older Youth" They took us to Mountain Mikes which was a pizza buffet :) After that, we went to the Visitors' Center early so that we could do our companionship study there. While we were in the car doing our companionship study, we saw this guy looking around and acting kind of confused. He was about to get back in his car but Sister Shkapich bolted out of our car and said “Hello” to him. He said that he was trying to get into the temple but it was closed for the month and he wasn't a member but that he wanted to go inside. So we said we'd love to tell him more and he came back after a few minutes and we were able to give him a tour. We showed him Elder Christofferson's special witness which is on the restoration and George (that's his name) said that he needed to read the book to know that it was true. When we asked ‘why?’ He said because that was how Elder Christofferson got his witness! I emailed him a few days later and he said he talked to some other missionaries online as well and he's planning on going to church! I emailed him last night (Sunday night) to see if he went and how he liked it. I'll update you tomorrow :) 

Wednesday: ZONE CONFERENCE!!!!! AMAZING! and we are potentially meeting with 2 kids that are former investigators! 

Thursday: Our appointment fell through with Kevin :( but we met with a recent convert at McDonalds and had a lesson. After that, we went to visit a less active member who hasn't gone to church in over 30 years. He kept asking us why we were coming over and we kept telling him it was just to get to know him. The senior couple who came with us went on a tour of the USS Hornet, which is a ship that he had served on years ago and now he gives tours there. He told the senior couple that he couldn't get us Sister Missionaries off his mind and our strong testimonies etc. Hopefully it'll give him a nudge in the right direction :)

Friday: AMAZING!!! We met a guy from the Czech Republic and a girl from Tokyo and they both wanted copies of the Book of Mormon in their language! What's cool is the guy is super into theology because both his parents are atheist! I don't have time to finish but I'll write more next week! Love you all!!! <3  

BTW We have a lesson with Kevin in a few minutes here at the Visitors Center!!!

Oh - I totally forgot to tell you about the title of my email this week - I guess you'll just have to wait until next week!

Here are the pictures I wanted to send from last week too!! 

Here's the Lasagna I made last week - it turned out YUMMY!

Here I am getting ready for our community service at Medshare

We were walking by and saw this really cool old piano and I wanted to get a picture of it so here it is!

I Made Lasagna

Sorry that this is such a short update – I ran out of time!

Monday 2/27: We went out to lunch again with the Alameda sisters and San Leandro Spanish speaking sisters :) We went to a place called Lola's Chicken in Alameda and our cashier had a Jack Sparrow pirate tattoo :) Sister Shkapich bought $30 worth of cards and I got a San Francisco shirt! We also had a Family Home Evening (FHE) for recent converts at the Visitor Center :) 

Tuesday: I learned a lot today about adversity and conversion in “True to the Faith!” We had lunch with Sister Scott today! Best Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese! We also learned a lot about not settling for mediocre and how stress can help us be motivated. Missionary work is about saving human souls! It's God's work and glory! And it’s our job to help him. Some of the ways we can help are:

• Become the tools He can work with
• Understand what is required to do this.

The gospel requires us to change, BUT IT'S TRUE!!! We can find joy in the work :) There was another car accident in front of the gate to our apartment so we went to the side exit and waited until someone drove out of the parking lot. When they did, I ran to catch the sensor so it would stay open and we were able to drive in through the exit :)

Wednesday: I MADE LASAGNA! And it was REALLY good! We did our community service at this really cool place called Medshare :) It's a non-profit organization that collects old, unused or surplus medical supplies from lots of local hospitals and ships them to other countries :) We got to help sort through expired stuff and repackage boxes! :) You can help by making a donation here. Then we went to Classic Burger for lunch and we played a game there and we all won bouncy balls!! 

Thursday: At our Visitor Center training, Sister Neves shared the spiritual thought on President Uchtdorf's talk “A Mothers Hope: Overcoming Fear Through Faith & Hope inGod.” I love how much faith his mother had! To pray and keep searching for her children. We had dinner at Sister Davis' house. Applying our new Visitor Center training from Salt Lake City really helped her open up to us! It was great! We also found a new potential investigator named Kevin! He's Catholic but says he hasn't found anything that's "clicked" for him! 

Friday: Personal study today was amazing!! I read all of the scriptures about Christ being lifted for us so that he can lift us and I learned about the things we need to do so Christ can help lift us :) Kevin said he wanted to go to church on Sunday! I talked to a Catholic priest who wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon because he grew up reading it as a child :) and I talked to a lady from Latvia! 

Saturday: Will have to wait for next time because I’m out of time... :( I had a lot of awesome experiences today!! Some updates though: An older member of our ward passed away this last week and I got a new skirt and shoes today! I LOVE discount stores and buying shoes in the kids section :) ​

P.S. - I have more pictures to share but didn't have time to send them so you'll have to wait until next week.