Week 26- The one where I am just glad there was sunshine!

Friends!

Man, it's been a CRAZY WEEK! My heart aches for those missionaries being sent home due to this virus. But I know God is mindful of everyone. We have to trust in his plan for each of us no matter what it is.

Our first week in quarantine was sort of crazy. We could only be outside for 5 minutes then back then we had to go back in. Yeah that was pretty hard since it was sunny all this week and we really wanted to be out tracting. BUT we got a call Thursday from the Zone leaders again, they pulled the rudest joke and said that we have to stay in another week. Then they said "Just Kidding! You're out of isolated quarantine." We both started crying when they told us we could go outside again for some fresh air! Instantly we got on our shoes and went for a walk before our FB live! However, we got the official news from the area presidency Thursday night that we can only go outside for walks but we can't talk to people. All lessons and contacts will be online. It's hard but I am glad we get to still go outside for walks and we still have people we are teaching. Counting my blessings for sure!

FACEBOOK LIVE!

GUYS! I am so grateful for being able to be with you all on Facebook Live! Have you seen us yet? It's been a huge blessing for Sister Hair and I. We love going on and answering your questions so please keep them coming. We love sharing stories, baring testimonies (etc...) it's been a cool experience. They will be every Wednesday and Sundays at 4 pm MST so hop on! We'd love to have you!

Life hasn't been too eventful but at the same time it has. I am so grateful being able to have the companion I have, the place I live in and the Ward we have to help take care of us.

There have been many spiritual moments for me during this time and I think for all of us. We are very fortunate to have a living Prophet who leads and guides us as a church but also as God's children as a whole. Many people all around the world are looking to President Nelson for comfort and peace. I know I have personally felt it.

There was this story that Sister Hair shared on our live yesterday but I want to reshare it again because I think it's so important. This story is from the Facebook account "Come Follow Me Daily" I would encourage all of you to check this account out, its amazing!

"One day, a distraught girl came to her mother with a problem heavy on her mind.

The mother let her daughter finish telling all about her hardship, then went to the kitchen. She got out a potato, egg, and coffee beans.

Without saying a word, she put each in separate pots of boiling water, waited for five minutes, and took them out. She asked the daughter what she saw. The potato, which had gone in strong, came out mushy and soft. The egg started fragile and came out hardened. The coffee beans changed the water into something completely new.

Each one faced the same adversity, but their response was unique.

She asked the daughter, “Which one are you?

The potato, which starts strong but in the heat becomes weak?

The egg which starts out malleable but afterwards hardens?

Or the coffee bean, which releases fragrance and flavor with the heat, changing the water around it. At the worst, it gets better. (Original source unknown)

The moral of this potato, egg, coffee bean story is typically “life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react” (Charles Swindoll) I’d like to add, how you react can be 100% aided by our Savior. I was struck by these words by Isaiah this week: “And Christ shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling” (2 Nephi 18:14)

The very rock that can provide us refuge in life’s “boiling water” can also be a stumbling stone. What is the difference? Us and what direction we are facing.

In moments of adversity..what do we become? And what do we allow Christ to be in our lives?When Christ is our refuge, He allows trials to not DEFINE us, but REFINE us into the people He wants us to be. In the fire of adversity, He helps us to not lose strength like a potato, or become hardened like an egg, but to become like a coffee bean. He helps us change ourselves in our circumstance, becoming better instead of bitter in the heat. Allow Christ to be your sanctuary today."

It's all in the way we look at it and see the opportunities that are open because of this virus. Please look at the positive during this time. Pray for family members, others around the world, church leaders and political leaders that they may be guided to what they should do to help us.

This time has been bittersweet for me on my mission but something I will treasure for forever! Keep on moving forward. The Lord is laboring with us in his vineyard. He hasn't stopped so we shouldn't either.

I love you all!!

Would love to hear from you ;) abigail.fillmore@missionary.org

Love,

Sister Fillmore