Sister Alyssa 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: