Sister Abby Fillmore - Oregon, Salem Mission: Week 28 - The one where I am in Utah, oops I mean Bend

Friends!!

I hope you have had a wonderful week, especially since it was conference weekend!

I LOVED Conference but what a crazy week this has been for me!

We got transfer calls this past Tuesday at 11pm....let's just say Sister Hair and I didn't remember much besides when they said she was staying and I was leaving to be a follow up trainer to a Sister in BEND!

Leading up to transfers on Friday was a lot of "see you later" calls and trying to not cry thinking I would have to leave Forest Grove, my home! Sister Hair and I (mostly Sister Hair ;)) cracked on Thursday....we have been inside for basically a month and we are kind of going crazy!

Friday morning was hard! Saying goodbye to Sister Hair was super hard. This women has been a rock for me these past 3 months. I am so grateful for the time I have been able to laugh, cry laugh, doing FB live, learn and grow with her! My new companion Sister Carlson is so GREAT! I love her so much! Bend is beautiful but I legitimately feel like I am living back home in Utah - my skin feels it too! We even woke up to snow Sunday morning! Its been an adjustment after being in the same place for 6 months so to help me through this transition I have definitely been holding onto every word in the scripture Ether 12:27 this weekend. God is strengthening my weaknesses every day, even though being outside of my comfort zone isn't my favorite, it's how I grow and how we as Gods children progress!

(And all your prayers would be great;))

Institute has been so wonderful! So grateful that President was inspired to let us do this. It's a way to reboot and strengthen my knowledge from other missionaries.

We have been able to have some lessons here in Bend and Saturday was fantastic! A couple we are teaching is stellar! They have been members before but had their record removed. Sister Carlson told me a bit about them before we spoke. Eugene is pretty sarcastic and believes he is going to hell. His wife Jill is praying about a baptismal date. We got on the call and he like me more then Sister Carlson (as a joke) because I am from Lehi, not Provo. They are really funny and at the very beginning Eugene said that he talked to God and said he will soften his heart to hear what the missionaries have to tell him. Well that was awesome for us to hear! Then he turned to his wife half way through the lesson and said "why don't we get re-baptized together?" He said in a year but I'm sure that will change, ;) What a good first lesson in Bend! Sister Carlson was beyond excited and happy, which made me even more happy because she knew them before this whole change in Eugene's heart. We also talked to this lady named Valerie and she is the sweetest old lady! Her husband just died a month ago and is having a really hard time. She is more open to hearing the message so that's great! The members are so kind, can't wait to get to know them more!

Weird/funny moment:

As missionaries we have to wear masks when we are in public now, sooo going to Walmart was very interesting. Shout out to Sister Russell for making these cute masks! Masks are in folks, they are in ;)

Going off of the scriptures Ether 12:27, Elder Uchtdorf talked a lot about using the weak for God's work! God loves all of us, our part in this journey is to learn of Christ's words. Love and serve God and his children. We might not be perfect but God didn't call perfect people for his twelve apostles and he doesn't call perfect missionaries for his work. It goes along with what President Nelson said, "The Lord loves effort, effort brings reward." When we do our best as Gods children and show him that we are willing to progress and are teachable then he will reward us and teach us more. I am grateful for this knowledge. It's still hard don't get me wrong, but with Gods grace I am able to be much more then I would be without him.

I love you guys!

Have a wonderful week, can't wait to see what God has in store for us as we put our faith into action!

Love,

Sister Fillmore