Sister Abby Fillmore - Oregon, Salem Mission: October 2019

Week 5-The one where I give away my FIRST Book of Mormon!!

Friends!!

This week has been another good/crazy week.

We started off the week with some good old pizza from the best pizza place in town called "Pizza Schmizza"! So if pizza doesn't sound like a good start to the week, I don't know what does! We then talked to our Bishop about some member/nonmember families, to see what we can do as missionaries. We had a few lessons with members this week. One that really touched my heart was dinner with the Baxter Family! Oh my gosh Sister Burton and I LOVE the Baxter Family!! They are so sweet, have the cutest house and the SWEETEST BOYS! We came in and shared a lesson about the restoration. The boys testimonies of Joseph Smith and Christ made me tear up. You can tell that they have studied and prayed to know. So I invite everyone to study the scriptures and pray daily to know if its true.

Wednesday was so much fun!! Each week on Wednesday we help with the farmers market. Sadly it is ending this week but it was so much fun to help with! We help with setting up the waste center. Where people can put their plastic cups and plates. The people that we work with are so sweet. The lady that is in charge is so funny, she is big into recycling and made a song about it. Ya Sister Burton and I can't seem to get it out of our heads, haha. After we set up we get to look around and try some food! Such a cute thing they do here in Forest Grove.

Lots of planning this week and lots of appointments falling through, which is NO FUN!! Sister Burton and I have gotten so excited for every lesson we have planned...sadly one by one they kept canceling. But we keep praying with patience and moving forward.

I hit my 1 month of being a full time missionary this week! Its crazy how fast time has gone by.

We found one person who is interested so we will check back with her this week.

Ok now for the exciting part and the reason why you are all reading this email ;)

I gave away my first book of mormon this week! It's kind of a crazy story. But to make is short. This lady comes to the church in distress. The Elders call us and said only sisters know what to do in these scenarios. So we go down to the church and see she is crying and finds out some pretty sad things about her and her husband. We prayed with her and our Bishop came over and helped her get some help. We talked and told her while she is waiting for calls and such, she can read the Book of Mormon to give her something to do. It would also help her realize that she isn't alone and there is someone who knows what she is going though and it will give her peace. Gosh when I handed it to her I was so excited!!

But ya that's my little ditty for the week! I love and miss you all!

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Fillmore

I month mark!

Pizza never tasted so good at Pizza Schmizza.

Look mom! It's your street...I mean lane!

Lesson Planning

We caught a frog!!

I live in the most beautiful place!

Week 4- The one with the dead Raccoon...and Caterpillar.

Hi Friends!!!!

I am in OREGON!!

Yes it rains all the time and yes I have given up with staying dry ;) but we do use umbrellas even though people here don't. I wear rain boots 24/7 and the rain comes down side ways, but I LOVE IT!

BEGINNING OF THE WEEK:

TUESDAY, was a sad sad day leaving the MTC. My experience there was something I will always hold dear! But something very special happened that day too. For Tuesday devotional we got to hear from Elder Quentin L. Cook. He was amazing. He talked about the importance of missionary work. His wife also spoke and said something I loved. "strive to obtain the Christ like attributes and you won't fall into temptation." We all want to be like him. Well then do it. Work on those attributes.

During this devotional we as missionaries got to witness something very special. Elder Cook brought along the original manuscript of Alma 34 from the Book of Mormon. Yes I said it, the ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT!! The one that Joseph Smith transcribed with his own hand! It was such a special moment for me. It truly testified that this is the work, the Book of Mormon is real and its very important today and also that Joseph Smith did this work. It's real and I got to see it for my self. We also got to see the printers manuscript for Alma 34 and 3 Nephi 16. I was touched beyond belief. It was so cool to see them.

Later, we had our devotional review and in the room there were only 4 sisters and 2 elders left of my district...but the Spirit was so strong and it just told me we are ready! And we are in front of Gods army ready to go find those who are needing the gospel. The elders walked us sisters to our dorms. And we firmly shook each others hand and said "Good night, see ya later!" It was so sad. We probably delayed going into our dorms every 10 minutes because we didn't want to say goodbye.

WEDNESDAY, was travel day. The plane ride was the best. Only 1 1/2 flight! Oregon greeted us with rain and everything green, the fall colors are amazing. No joke everything is green and every building has some type of plant on it or in it. Nothing says welcome to Oregon to this girl like a man playing "Fiddler on the Roof" on the piano in the airport. I was trying so hard not to run over and sing along ;).

Our President and his wife greeted us with a cute sign, big smiles and big hugs! To say I was excited is an understatement. We then went to the Portland Temple which is gorgeous and took some pics there.

Then the best thing happened....I saw one of my bestest friends in the who is serving in the temple visitors center mission. I asked if she was in the building...and SHE WAS!!! Gosh it was so good to see Sister Brockbank's face. She comes home in 7 weeks and I was hoping to see her before she came home. One of the best ways to start off my mission.

That night we had interviews and devotional with President and Sister Wilde at the mission home in Newberg. Wow! I love them! Then we were sent to a hotel to sleep.

THURSDAY, I got my new companion and she is the cutest. Her name is Sister Burton from SLC, UT. She is 6 months in and such a good trainer. Right when we got to my area we put my suitcases in the bedroom and went out knocking on doors. We gave 2 pamphlets away and talked to a Jehovah's Witness. Ya that was interesting. She was a sweet lady but when we knocked on her door, I think she thought we were one of her missionaries. She was very happy to see us but when she found out we weren't, the spirit of the discussion totally changed.

We shared whatever we could with her. We actually had to tell her we didn't believe in the trinity and do actually use the Bible too. We said this is the restored Gospel. But she didn't believe and said "its a little bit more harder then that dear." We said thank you for letting us drop by and talk and then we hurried out of there. It made me sad. She said she cant wait until the doctrine is back on the earth and all I wanted to do is jump up and down and say, "IT IS PLEASE LISTEN AND READ THE BOOK OF MORMON!" Instead, I just smiled and showed God's love for her in the best way I could.

That night showed me again that this is the true church and Christ church is on the earth today and I am doing the right thing by sharing it.

FRIDAY, was kind of hard. We knocked on a door to a home with a family of atheists, which also made my heart hurt. We basically walked around the rest of the day having Sister Burton introduce me to members and those we are serving. By the end of the night I was really sad. My comp gave me this talk about patience which I needed because I was running low on it. The next morning I listened to it and it totally changed my perspective. I also studied patience in my personal study. And let's just say this helped a ton. I learned that faith and hope are the back bone of patience. And when we have to wait for something, keep going, keep looking forward and working hard. God will give you what you need in his time. And he did!! I GOT MY FRIST INTERESTED PERSON!! His name is Kevin. We met him while he was packing up for a trip. We got talking about church and relationships with Christ and he said that his relationship is distant. We asked if he wanted to strengthen it and learn more and he said YES oh my heavens I was so happy. When we walked away I just hugged my companion and thanked God for that moment. Be patient have faith and keep looking forward and God will bless you. Oh yeah while walking we saw a dead raccoon on the side of the sidewalk :( ....it scared the crap out of me. Hence the title ;) The whole rest of Saturday was so fun!

Sunday was awesome. Ward council which was cool and we received a referral who are teaching him this coming Friday. I can't wait!! Church was good. We did some proselytizing. While we were walking we saw this fuzzy caterpillar and 2 minutes after talking a picture of it, it got ran over by a car. It was very tragic. We finished out the day with a lot of member lessons, which was good.

Its definitely been an adjustment. Not seeing the sun can be a little hard. But in the last 4 days God has shown me the importance of "it's all in the small and simple things." Because we walk and knock on doors most of the time we get a lot of people saying "Not Interested" or "I already believe in Jesus".

A lot will be happening this coming week and I am super excited and ready to hit the ground running.

Love you all

Have the best week!

Finally found our family friends, Mike & Char who work at the MTC!!

Love my District Girls!

Oregon Bound!

Mission President and his wife welcoming us to Oregon!

RACHELL!! Oops, I mean Sister Brockbank

My cute companion & trainer, Sister Burton

Giant leaves - EVERYWHERE!

Doing the girly girl thing!

Week 3- The one where everyone leaves...

Ahhhhhh friends!

Tomorrow I leave for Oregon!

This week flew by! I have had some amazing moments this week. The MTC has a special place in my heart. To anyone who is reading this and gets to go to the provo MTC when they leave on their mission, you are so LUCKY!

Wednesday was very cool. Me and Sister White have been teaching this guy named Daniel and he is awesome. But holy smokes he was tough!! He is a senior at BYU and is studying philosophy so he knows his stuff. All of his questions were really deep and he has a hard time feeling with his heart and wanted to just think academically. But after Monday I knew that something would change and God would soften his heart. Tuesday I talked to my Dad and asked for his help on how to best reach Daniel. He gave me some good council. Thanks dad!! He told me to study grace and also apply grace for myself. I learned when we do all that we can do God will make up the rest. We just need to do our part and through Gods power we will be ok. I totally felt that way going into his lesson. It went really good! Daniel understood more of the importance of Christ's life here on earth and why he had to die. I was just so happy because I knew God really spoke to him. I left that lesson knowing we did all we could do now its between God and Daniel.

Well happy to report when we met with him again Friday we asked him how his commitment went with praying to know if the teachings we taught were true. He said he felt something. He said, "I know God is all knowing but for some reason when I prayed I felt like some one was listening to me. It also felt nice to just get everything off my chest." Ahhhh if I could I would have jumped up and down and given him a big hug!! I told him that was the spirit and our Heavenly Father is there listening to you! I just was so so happy!

We got to see the MTC cat Sister Mittens on Thursday. We were about to walk out of the building when we saw her laying next to the inside door. I was so so happy. Rudy (my cat back home) was definitely in my thoughts the whole rest of the day. I love you buddy!

There are so many people that I run into that I know or some how end up knowing people I know. Sister White and I decided that we would sit by this cute old couple for lunch one day. We got talking and turns out he knows my Grandpa Hirschi and my other Grandpa Fillmore's brother. We both were in shock! We had to get a picture. So every one meet Rick Thornton. Grandpa Hirschi, he says hello. And Grandpa Fillmore he says to tell Wayne hi! I also met this sweet temple worker who also knew my grandpa. Grandpa Fillmore, Ray Smith says hi too! It just made me so happy that I got to meet friends of both of the people I hold dear. It truly made my week!

Saturday was the last day for some of us in my district. We got one last picture with everyone and our teachers.

Sunday was pretty special! It was our last Sunday there and I think the MTC knew because we got some awesome speakers! Sister White and I got called to teach Relief Society. Our goal was to help deepened their understanding of the Plan of Salvation because heck, we all know about it so well now! We made up some questions so they could share their testimonies and think deeper. We also shared one of my favorite Mormon Messages. It's called "We lived with God." Please go watch it! https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media-library/video/2011-06-03-we-lived-with-god?lang=eng After that class our Branch president gave us some good council. And then we got to hear from Sheri Dew!! Ya I know I was as shocked as you are. I was so so excited! She speaks in a way that makes every one ready to serve! After, we had devotional review and also testimony meeting since a few left Monday. It was very special! Going to miss this awesome group!

I love my district! These missionaries are going to be amazing in every way. I am glad I get to be in the front lines of Gods army with them!

Until next week in Oregon...

Love, Sister Fillmore

Sister Mittens - The MTC cat

Brother Rick Thornton

My District with our morning teacher, Brother Henderson.

My District with our afternoon teacher, Brother Tripp!

Love my District Sisters!

Love my Companion!

Oregon! Here I come!

Sharing my homemade cookies from mom!

Week 2 - The one where Sister White gets hit by a frisbee

Friends!!

It's so good to talk to you again!! This week was full of special and turning moments for me. First off Conference was the best!! I hope you all got to watch it!!

P-days are the best!

It was actually nice not to think so hard ;) and just relax. I talked with my family which was the highlight of the day! It was so fun to see there cute faces! Don't worry I didn't cry (score for sister Fillmore). We went to the temple as a district and the temple couldn't have looked for beautiful that day! Going to the temple was something I really needed. Getting out of the MTC for a couple of hours was pure HEAVEN ;). We took our time walking back. We had Tuesday night devotional with a member of the 70! It was so amazing. Him and his wife talked about remembering who we are and where we came from. We watched the trailer to the new lion king. It was another little slice from heaven. We were actually watching a real movie! Haha but it had a lot of meaning to why we are here and what we can become.

TRC teaching has been a huge learning experience for me. Knowing how to balance out talking with the comp. also making it simple so those we are teaching understand. Wednesday I was having a really hard time. Putting my thoughts together, staying focused in class and feeling the spirit was kind of getting harder. I was so frustrated. My companion was also struggling. So we decided to get a blessing. Our zone leaders were very kind and gave us a blessing. The spirit filled my heart and made me have a better week!

Thursday was the best!

Sister white and I learned a lot about teaching people you meet for the first time because of a referral. We also practiced with some TRC's and it went so good. My thoughts were organized and we were really speaking with the spirit. The guy said we did really good at noticing his needs and mixing it with our lesson. I was so so grateful for what he said. And I knew the blessing from God the night before helped a tone! We did another TRC with a guy named Dwayne. No no not the rock silly. But this guy was pretty cool. I got to connect with him because he was recently in a car crash. He also got divorced (not the connecting part;)) so he was feeling a little less love and acceptance and wanted to learn a little bit more about Gods love. Our teacher was also in the room listening in. After the lesson he gave us some things to work on. But other than those things it went really well he said!

Now here comes the story about the title of this email

So as a district we went on to the field to play some frisbee. It was so much fun and I was actually pretty good if I do say so my self ;)

Exercise time ended and we needed to give back the frisbees. So me and sister white were throwing it back and forth to each other while walking back. I was going to throw it back to her. When I did she wasn't looking and I nailed her square in the nose. Ya....nothing says a good day then getting hit by a frisbee from your companion...Dont worry I felt super bad and could not stop saying I'm sorry. And the elders who witnessed it haven't had a problem reminding me what I did. But I would say it brought us closer ;) kind of.

Got a package from my family!!

It felt so good to receive homemade pumpkin cookies. Me and the other sisters devoured them. On Friday night us Sisters had a movie night. How, you might ask? It involved popcorn (thanks mom), sweetheart chewies my addiction, elastic bands, my phone and the bunk bed. We watched the new episode of the Book Of Mormon videos. Go watch them they are the best! And then watched "The Restoration". Gosh it was the best movie to watch before GC! I love my sisters! They are the best!

GENERAL CONFERENCE.

Well I hope you all watched GC. So many wonderful things! 2 things really struck out to me during this conference.

1. Love thy neighbor

2. Make christ the center of everything you do.

Fun/funny moments

--while I was getting ready for bed this sister started singing, stars and do you hear the people singing from Les Miserables. I was so happy I just smiled the whole time and of course hummed along. It was nice listening to some one sing something other then hymns ;)

--while watching GC towards the end I saw this elder doing something on my right. I looked and the elder was pretending to drive with his journal and was putting his "imaginary car" in gear. Me and sister wicks just chuckled and said "he must be really bored if he is pretending to drive."

I love you all! Remember Christ loves you. He wants to hear from you so talk to him! Involve him in your life!

Have the best week this week!

Love,

Sister Fillmore

Playing outdoors on P-Day!

Cutest TRC - hard to say goodbye.

Watching General Conference

Dog tired...

Sister White icing her nose.

Temple day with the sister in her District.

Week 1 - Gosh guys, it's the best in the MTC!

Oh my heavens!

Guys it's almost been a week! Tomorrow will mark my first week of being here. How fast and how slow it's gone Haha. But I would not change anything! This week has been full of humility, diligence, relying on the Holy Ghost more than ever, knowing who the Holy Ghost is to me, knowing that this mission is NOT about me!! Knowing how I can turn out word instead of in word during hard times. Its been a struggle but the best thing ever! I seriously can't believe I get to teach and learn about the power of this gospel and the importance of a relationship with Christ to people here in the MTC (not going to lie...its scary) and in Oregon (I CANT WAIT).

My teachers are the best! Brother Henderson and Brother Tripp have taught me so much about teaching in the right way and understanding doctrine. The first full day of class was the best! I could actually understand what was going on in scripture verses!! My whole life I have had trouble understanding what certain verses mean in certain topics and stories. But today that all changed! That was definitely a tender mercy. It made me and Sister Green (a sister in my district) so excited! We got so excited that a teacher helper noticed and called us out and said, "It makes me tear up seeing the fire and excitement in you sisters. Because that's how it should be. The Gospel is the path way home!" That's a big thing that I learned the first couple of days!

DISTRICT!

Such a stellar district! Not joking. We have 2 Sister companionships and 5 Elder companionships. So 14 of the best missionaries you will find...just kidding ;). Its so nice being in a class where we all want to share and have awesome insights. It feels like I'm in institute/seminary on steroids!!

My companion is the best!!!

Her name is Sister White and she's the cutest! She's from Loa, Utah ;) if you don't know where that is, your not alone...I didn't at the Beginning. It's by capital reef. She is so nice, sweet and so in tune with the spirit and has amazing insights. It's super easy to plan lessons with her.

Gosh guys it's the best in the MTC!

I feel a little more meek, loving and motivated as a missionary. Temptations aren't as troubling as they used to be. My mind doesn't wonder during class like they did during school and I'm not wanting to be looking at my phone. It's such a relief.

Food is ok ;) miss my moms cooking for sure. Don't worry I am eating healthy, luckily I have a companion who is a healthy person.

For fast Sunday I was hoping they would have my moms roast and mashed potatoes. It wasn't my moms but they did serve roast and potatoes (dad your potatoes are WAY BETTER) They could learn a thing or two from your mash potato skills ;)

The schedule is good! I haven't had a hard time waking up early. I love class, teaching people is so fun and SO SCARY!! I have had to really rely on the spirit more then I have in my whole life here in the MTC!

I have seen so many people from school and family. It's the best.

I have seen Elder Jeppson (my cousin, Hunter)

Sister Cooper (friend from HS)

Sister Cummings (a close friend of mine when I was 4-5 years old from way back in the day when we lived in Gig Harbor. Small world. )

Sister Hacking (friend from work)

And some other friends from school and EFY.

Grandma and Grandpa Fillmore, I have yet to find Mike and Char. Still on the look out ;)

Fun/funny moments

Well let's just say, it's pretty hard not saying guys to every one and saying elders. I can do sisters...cant do elders. I am working on it of course. But most funniest thing that has happened so far is calling an elder a sister. Yep it happened and he called me out on it (in the nicest way possible), hehehe.

The Elders are so funny. One of the Elders on the first say was introducing him self and said "I am king of the nerds" he was so confident it was the best. He's so awesome.

Me and Sister White forgetting our keys to our room and being locked out of our room and every building. Not joking we prayed and had faith that some one would be there to open the gym doors for us. AND THERE WAS!! It was so cool to see that even in those small moments you think are dumb God is totally there.

TRC TIME IS THE BEST TIME!!

Teaching has been the greatest blessing. I have learned so much. It's so much fun and scary all at the same time. We taught our first TRC Monday which is some one who comes into the MTC looking and interested in the church. They could be acting or a real person seeking to know more. Our TRC is Elizabeth! She is amazing. She's tough to crack but has so much love and desire I can tell! ;) so the first time we met Elizabeth was a little rough. We were excited to see her and meet her but the invite and lesson was a little rough. So me and sister white prayed and planned as much as we could for Monday's lesson. Well Monday's lesson went a little crazy. We were excited but nervous. We told her basically about Christ and our relationship with him/atonement/God and how he loves us. By the time we left me and sister white felt a mix of emotions. I was feeling like it went ok, by the end it got better. I felt like we talked about to many topics and she didn't really understand. Well fast forward to last night. We have to take a survey about how she (Elizabeth) thought the lesson went. We had hope and put the most reasonable answers we could, Haha. Well 20min later we got an email comparing the 2 answers between us and E. Holy cow! Her thoughts were way higher in a positive way. She actually felt closer to Jesus christ more than we thought. She learned and understood more than we thought she did. How amazing is that?! That moment testified to me that God had all control over everything. He will put the words we say to their understanding! For me this was a huge success even though it was small. Little by little. 2 Nephi 31:3 is so important to understand.

Any ways long story. But it just touched my heart and strengthened my testimony of Jesus Christ.

This Sunday we got to watch this amazing video. A video that basically all missionaries watch in the first week of arriving here. It's called character of christ. I couldn't wait to watch it because I was told before my mission about it. Gosh it was the best. I learned. I was humbled and so ready to work harder! My mission isn't about me, it's about him.

I learned that I can not and will not live off of borrowed light.

I learned That everything Christ did while here on this earth was for others. Not him. When the natural man turns in, he turns out.

Brothers and Sisters I really challenge you this week and for the rest of your life to work on that. Work on turning out ward when life gets tough and when we want to think about our selves. Don't, don't do it.

We want to become like Jesus. Then do as he did. Turn outward. Don't worry about what you want and need. Worry about what others need. Be a proactive server.

We need to be converted. Having a testimony is so important and great. But the most important and the thing God worries about is that we are converted unto him. Not the church. Him. The difference between testimony and conversion is having the knowledge and believing in Christ. (Alma 23: 5-6) shows that the people not only had knowledge of Christ but they believed in him. That's conversion.

When we are converted we will not fall away from the church. Elder Bednar promised. And I could feel the spirit tell me that.

Hearing that, this past Sunday really stuck out to me that I am suppose to be here. That without becoming a missionary I would have never heard that message. And I needed that message. Not only for being a missionary. But for living life after the mission.

This message I get to teach isn't only for those I get to teach here and in Oregon. It's for everyone. Including me. We invite ALL to come unto christ. Not just investigators. everyone. That's why we aren't aloud to call those people we are teaching investigators. Because we are all invited to come unto Christ.

I love you all

Thank you thank you thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support.

Good luck with everything you do this week. Remember to involve him in the things you are doing. Its will make it a bit easier. Trust me...it works;)

Love you,

Sister Fillmore