Week 53- The one where I feel like I am back in Oregon again.

Friends!!

Holy cow this week has been full of changes but I am loving it! I went back over the mountain into the beautiful valley of North Marion. To say I was sad to leave Bend would be an understatement...lots of feelings of withdrawals having to leave my ward friends and investigators.  I guess it goes to show how much of my heart I gave to the people of Bend. 

I said goodbye to the WONDERFUL Argyle family who I will miss dearly...seriously they were my family away from family. I also said goodbye to the Seatons, I LOVE THEM! I basically love everyone from Bend! 

The drive was a long one but we had a very spirit-led conversation which was much needed. Sister Johnson asked what were some of our most spiritual experience on the mission. We all went around and shared and then it turned into a wonderful gospel discussion, which makes me so so happy!  I have been so lucky to serve around such wonderful missionaries and I can't wait to serve around so many others! 

I new companion is Sister Hawkes and I am so excited to work with her!!  Fun fact she saw me in Secret Garden in my junior year of high school. Who knew 3 years later we would be companions, yay! AND she lives in my Aunt & Uncles ward in Alpine.  Small world!

So if you were to ask me what Bend is like I'd say its like Utah and North Marion is definitely more of the typical Oregon climate...it rained the first 3 days I got here. Ha ha!  It wasn't light rain my friends...I was definitely soaked to the bone.  But for some reason walking in the rain is a really good bonding experience for missionaries so, in the long run, I am grateful. ;) 

We are meeting a lot of people and we are teaching some solid people. We have someone already on date and her name is Tami. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and man I have never felt the spirit led the lesson like it did that night. Since I didn't know her at all I really relied on the spirit, which made the lesson 10 times more amazing! 

MLC was amazing, something I really needed amongst this change. Every time there is a change there is always a time where my testimony of how God is MY loving Heavenly Father gets strengthened. I don't do well with change but change is important to life especially missionary work. Every time transfers come around and there is a change God puts something in the path to ease the heart ach. MLC and being Sister Carlson's STL was and is definitely the answer. Tender mercies have been so fun and cool to find throughout my mission.  

I HIT MY YEAR MARK!! 

Honestly, I can't believe its already been a year....I have no words to describe the joy I have felt on my mission. Joy meaning it's been good and hard but Christ is joy so therefore for I have felt intense Joy.  My friend also hit his year mark and he describes being on a mission perfectly! I just had to share...

 "I really can't believe it's been a year already. Ive been reflecting on the time I've spent here in Jersey and what it's done for me. I've thought an awful lot about how and why a mission can change people like nothing else can. It's a really interesting concept as to how a mission changes people. I wish I could explain how it works but this email would be too long so I'll just put it this way, when you come on a mission you immerse yourself in a culture of serving others and learning about The Savior with absolutely nothing else to worry about but those 2 things. And by doing those 2 things, you come to realize those are the 2 most important things in this life. And naturally, along the way, the true nature of yourself changes. It's really an interesting thing to think about.

The Savior said whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it (Matthew 16:25) that actually doesn't make any sense if you think about it. Why and how is it that when you stop caring and worrying about yourself, you find yourself and you make yourself the best person you can be. I wish I could give you an answer that me and you as mortals could understand. But the real answer is, that's just how God works. Pretty amazing stuff."         -Elder Kay

Ok sorry it was such a long email but it was full of miracles and love from God so I have to share it all! 

I love you all so much! Email me because I miss you! (Abigail.fillmore@missionary.org)

Love, Sister Fillmore

My new companion, Sister Hawks, and I enjoying some Chick-fil-A!

Saying goodbye to our friends in Bend!

So glad Sister Hair and I got to serve in the same area again!

Goodbye Sister White!  LOVED being your companion - again!

Best District missionaries!!!

Woot Woot!

Hitting our 1 year mark together!

Feels like Oregon again with all this rain! 

Lunch with the Hermanas!

Family History time!

Week 52- The one where change is good!

 Friends!

This week has been a little crazy but it was full of miracles as always. ;)

Transfer calls came ... and I AM LEAVING BEND :( but good news is, I am becoming an STL (Sister Training Leader) in an area near Salem!  I am super excited to go back over the mountains again and meet more of God's wonderful children. Going back will definitely be different sense half of the state is burned now.

We've had to stay inside until this past Friday and we were anxious to get out of our apartment!!! 

We have seen countless miracles this past week with the individuals we have been teaching.  So grateful to see the Lord's hand working in their lives as they prepare themselves to accept his gospel. :)

Stake Conference (via zoom) was a blessing in every way, if I had time I would share more!

We cut lavender and it was the BEST day! They even shared some of it with us!

I love being a missionary and I cant wait for what is ahead! 

Love,

Sister Fillmore

Cutting Lavender!

We had the BEST zone!!  Hard to say goodbye.

We've sure love teaching Ken and seeing him progress this past while.

The Argyle family has taken such GOOD care of us while we have served in Bend. 
I am truly going to miss them!

Other great families that have blessed our lives while serving in Bend.

Final dinner for us Sisters at a yummy Sushi place!

Week 51- The one with the trial of my faith.

 Friends! 

This week was a very interesting week for everyone in the state of Oregon. As you probably know...the whole state basically went up in flames in a day and it makes my heart so so heavy. 

Luckily, in Bend there are no fires (knock on wood) but seeing the devastation and people losing everything, including family members of our ward breaks my heart. 

It started out smokey on Monday and then it cleared up a little and then Thursday we got the call that we were to stay inside because of the bad air quality. When I mean bad air quality I am meaning hazardous. For a comparison New Delhi, India AQI was 124 and we were at 425 on Friday. So... basically we were put back into quarantine but I would say this time is a lot harder because we can't even go outside because we can't breath the air out there. Let's just say I got  a little stir crazy in our little tiny apartment. But I am counting my blessings: no fires close, plenty of food, fans blowing and I am safe! We have the best ward members and are so kind and care for our well being. 

But miracles still exist even during trying times!

We got on a zoom call with the whole mission and President and Sister Wilde are so wonderful and helped in building our faith to know that there are miracles ahead. We just need to have faith to make it happen! 

I really took that to heart and wanted to see those miracles even during this chaotic time. So we went to work with facebook finding...doing that all day is definitely monotonous! But we push through. We made lots of videos and had video lessons. (thank you technology!)

Here is a fun thing that happened for us this week:

 On Friday someone messaged me and asked me why the Book of Mormon is so important to me? I WAS SO EXCITED TO GET THIS MESSAGE! I bore my testimony and talked about how I feel Gods love. After some conversation we got on the Godhead and he couldn't understand why I believe the Book of Mormon and the Bible to go hand in hand if they don't teach the same thing about God. I told him I would love to answer that over video and he said yes. 

       The video call was yesterday and man it was not what I was expecting. I had a impression to get a ward member to join who is good with the Bible and knows their stuff. I am so glad I listened to that prompting because this guy brought his friend who is very well versed in the Bible and half the time he wanted to debate. In a way they were wanting to save us and saying some unkind things about Joseph Smith that broke my heart. I boldly invited them to read the Book of Mormon and they boldly told us to read something they found on our church website and pray and ask God if we believe in the same God thats talked about in the Bible. We said yes and then ended the lesson. Ya that was an intense lesson and my mind filled with questions and I was just so confused. 

       We did some family history afterwards but I couldn't stop thinking about everything and reading the thing they sent us. I was certainly curious. Luckily Sister White went into the other room to break her fast and I went on my knees and then looked up at our "Jesus wall" and thought to myself, "I just can't imagine my Father in Heaven and my older brother Jesus Christ being one being. It breaks my heart and makes me kind of sick." My eyes just filled up with tears and then went into the other room to pray to God. Talk about a wrestle. I kind of now know what Enos felt when he said "I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God,' And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul." 

       I got this overwhelming feeling of love and peace and God helping me to know that everything that I was feeling was ok. I felt total comfort while I was on my knees. Hard to explain but I hope you get what I mean. I know God loves me and helped me strengthen my faith through the recent young adult Face To Face broadcast.  Everything that was said I needed, the testimony of a recent convert and the music that bore beautiful testimony of Christ and His restored gospel calmed my heart. 

(Ether 12:6)

       

I learned something very valuable that night. Joseph F. Smith said it perfectly, "He intends to try us and prove us, and He has a right to do it, even to the death if need be, and only those who endure to the end, who will not flinch, but will maintain their integrity at the risk and sacrifice of their all, if need be, will gain eternal life, or be worthy of the reward of the faithful." 

      

God has the right to try us and that's because it helps us become more like Him. I do know that God is my Father who loves me and I am made in His image. I know Jesus Christ is my Savior and has felt everything I did and will go through. I know that in the fall of 1820 Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ as two separate beings.

One more miracle ;) 

We made a video yesterday on a prompting sister white acted on and I am so glad she did. It was a message to everyone in Bend to message us if they need a message of hope or if they know of someone that does. Well we got 4 likes from it and so I messaged all of those people. Two responded and one of them said yes to meeting with us. I was able to bear my testimony to him of what I have found in the Gospel and how its given me purpose. It was really cool! 

I love my Savior Jesus Christ and his mercy for someone so imperfect like me. I am grateful that this is a church where we learn and become what God wants us to become. Being a missionary is hard but rewarding which is so GOOOOD!!! I am grateful that God shows me my weaknesses because that means I am coming closer to Him. ⬇️

"If you’re seeing more of your weaknesses, that just might mean you’re moving nearer to God, not farther away." -Bruce C. Hafen

I love you all

Love,

Sister Fillmore 

When do you Pray?

The only time we got out this week was for groceries and laundry.

Evolution of taking a good picture - ha ha!

Sure love our Prophet - Happy Birthday President Nelson!

Week 50- The one with mission tour.

Friends!

This week was great and I sadly don't have a lot of time but here are somethings I learned from our mission tour with Elder Pearson and his wife....they are amazing!

+ Its hard until it's easy, you just need to know what to do and how to do it! (My New Moto)

+ Character isn't developed its revealed. 

+ You can or you can't...either way you are right. 

☆That is just a small portion of the things I learned!

Ken has been in Utah this week and the best thing happened....he went out to dinner with my fam!! He is so prepared, please pray for him!

Transfer calls are this week...eekk!! Can't wait to see where I will be assigned next!

Have a wonderful week everyone! God loves you, "you are enough, you are so enough, its unbelievable how enough you are", if you believe in Christ then you are a winner because He won the fight!

I love you so much!

Love,

Sister Fillmore

I love our ward members! They take such good care of us!

My parents with Ken while he was visiting Utah!

 

Week 49-The one where Jesus has all the patience in the world!

 Friends! 

This week has been wonderful and my heart is so full! This is going to be a long email....a lot of spiritual goodness that I wouldn't skip if I were you ;)

We have been able to see our people progress really well and we are finding more!

Ken is doing amazing! He is really starting to think about baptism so pray for him, he is truly a miracle sent from God!

Going outside and talking to people has been alot easier which is a blessing. Going back to what I said last week is that some times God gives us obstacles as opportunities to grow. So this has been a huge growing experience for me and even though it can be tough in the moment it is SOOOO WORTH IT! If there is an obstacle in your way don't run away from it, see it has an opportunity God is giving you to grow and become your best self.

I got to go on a wonderful exchange with my old cutie-pie comp...SIS HAIR! Love that women!

So a miracle happened....we got to go to church for the first time in 6 months!!! The YSA had sacrament in person for the first time and Bo, the recent convert in our ward, was sharing his testimony and we wanted to go. Man there definitely were some tears in my eyes as I was eating the bread and water in the chapel. Something hit me and I learned that the church building has alot more meaning then I understood before yesterday! It's a place of refuge, a place to renew our covenants that we make at baptism, where the spirit of revelation is there for all of Gods children, a place where people are repenting and wanting to become closer to Christ. I love CHURCH BUILDINGS SO MUCH! 

Things I learned from the speakers at church:

-Its going to take effort and it's going to take His grace to keep going. 

-Keep yourself so full of good that there can be no physical way for evil to come in. (Braya Robbins)

For zone devotional yesterday we held a testimony meeting and some wonderful things were said that I want to share:

-"What shall I do then with Jesus?" (Matthew 27:22) A question we should all ask our selves. 

-How can I be more like Nephi, and aline my will with Gods?

-Few are asked to die for the church and Christ but we are all asked to live for Christ.

-Christ isn't secret. He never was and never will be.

-We are Christ's biography 

Alma 29 is my new favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon!

It's amazing how patient God is because He sends us imperfect missionaries out to find His lost sheep. I wish I could shout to everyone my love of the Gospel, how the church is true and that we need to all repent! I know it won't happen and that I make mistakes. God has given me the talents, strengths and weaknesses to talk with those who He knows will accept the Gospel or not, through me. He trusts me enough to send His children my way. Gosh He is so patient and loving to all of us. Because I am growing and His children are learning!

Some food for thought ;) 

One of the elders in the zone shared this poem that made my heart melt and helped our zone see what we can do to show our appreciation for our Savior:

Holes

I had been in that hole for a very long 

time

In the dark and the damp, in the cold

and the slime.

The shaft was above me, I could see it

very clear

But there's no way I ever could reach it

from here.

Nor could I remember the world way up there

So I lost all my hope and gave in to despair.

I knew nothing but darkness, the floor, and

the walls.

Then off in the distance I heard someone 

call:

"Get up! Get ready! There's nothing the

matter.

Take rocks and old sticks and build up

a fine ladder."

This had never occurred to me - had never

crossed my mind.

But I started to stack up all the stones I

could find.

When I ran out of stones, then old sticks

were my goal,

For one way or another, I'd get out of 

that hole.

So I soon had a ladder that was sturdy and tall

And I thought, "I'll soon leave this place

once and for all."

I climbed up my ladder, it was no easy chore,

For from lifting those boulders, my shoulders 

were sore.

I climbed on up the ladder, but soon had

to stop.

For my ladder stopped short - some ten

feet from the top.

I climbed back down my ladder and started

to cry.

I'd done all I could do. I gave my best try.

And in spite of my work, in this hole I must die.

And all I could do was to sit and

think, "why?"

Was my ladder too short? Or my hole much

too deep?

Then from way upon high came a voice,

"Do not weep."

And then faith, hope, and love entered

into my chest

As the voice said to me that I'd done my

best.

He said, "You've worked very hard, and your

labor's been rough,

And the ladder you've built is at last tall

enough.

Do not despair, you have reason to hope.

Just climb up your ladder, I'll throw down

my rope."

I climbed up the ladder, then climbed up

the cord

When I got to the top, there stood the Lord.

I couldn't be happier, my struggle was done.

I blinked in the brightness that came from

the Son.

I fell to the ground, His feet did I kiss

I cried, "What can I do to repay the 

for this?"

Then He looked all about Him. There were

holes in the ground.

They had people inside, and were seen

all around.

There were thousands of holes that were

damp, dark, and deep.

The Lord turned to me and He said,

"Feed My Sheep."

Then He went on His way to help other

lost souls.

And I got right to work, calling down

to the holes:

"Get up! Get ready! There's nothing the

matter.

Take rocks and old sticks and build up

a fine ladder."

It now was my turn to spread the

good word

The most glorious message that man

ever heard.

Find one way you can show appreciation to Jesus Christ. After all, it's all we can do since He did everything for us!

Thanks for hanging in there...it was a long email. But I know what I wrote is true, I love my mission and I love my Savior for loving me enough to push me! 

I love you!

Love,

Sister Fillmore 

We hit 11 MONTHS!! Breakfast burritos to celebrate 🥳

Sister White's studying position - Ha Ha

Love this girl ♡

We were craving ice cream... my comp is wonderful and has a juicer that can make fruit ice cream...YAY!!

 Professional root beer flouts, YUM!

 

Very blurry but our song was so fun to record with Elder Huff!