Week 61- The one all the faith.

Friends!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you had a wonderful week this week. I've been out 13 months as of this week. My companions helped make it a special occasion with sweet notes about me! Today is Thanksgiving and our P-day so we are enjoying good food and talking with family!

We had 2 exchanges the last week and a half with Sister Yorgason and Sister Johnson and in the next 5 days, I go on 2 more. Trying to cram them all in before this transfer ends which is in 2 weeks! So many mixed feelings because Sister Hawkes will probably leave me :( some of my besties are finishing their missions but the bright side is my cousin is coming!! I don't know if you remember but my cousin is originally called to my mission and he comes this transfer! The Oregon Salem Mission is ready for Elder Hasleton!

I have been able to feel a lot of peace and happiness with doing the #givethanks challenge President Nelson gave us. His message was one that I needed. I have been really trying to put my faith in the Lord with the work I have been really trying to let the spirit guide the lessons. We are finding so many great people that we have to send to transfer them to the missionaries that work in the areas they live in. It's hard to give away someone who is SOOO golden but by trying to change my mindset and putting all my faith in God's plan I have been able to have a lot of peace and say, "come what may and love it." It's hard, not going to lie, but I am grateful for the chance God gave me to be a part of their journey.

We found someone through our Facebook page! His name is Asa, and I found him through a quick post that Sister Hawkes and I made. I have been talking to him for a good month now and we had a lesson with him right before we listened to the message from President Nelson on Friday and it was amazing! We shared a hope message with a scripture from the Book of Mormon and he wanted to break down the verses which definitely brought in the Spirit. He asked what the difference was with the Book of Mormon and so we taught the restoration briefly. He wanted to learn more so we had a lesson with him Monday. It was so powerful! We had a member join our video call and he was so good for Asa. We taught the restoration and that was probably one of the most powerful Spirit-led restoration lessons I have taught. To make a long story short he wants to learn more and get into the Book of Mormon! He lives in the Salem zone so we are going to pass him off soon to them. Yay for facebook!

One of my past companions shared with me something her grandpa shared with her and it has become such a testimony to me. He told her there are 3 phrases that are the most powerful phrases.

The three phrases are:

I love you

Thank you

I am sorry

I have seen that become so true throughout my mission especially this past week.

We had zone conference and MLC this week and so much spiritual goodness came from both of them.

**We talked a lot about distractions with being a missionary. One of them is Facebook and that's pretty self-explanatory. I learned that distractions can be good things. Just not what we are supposed to do at that time or in that way. When distractions come stop reevaluate and start over.

"Will I feel the pain of discipline or the pain of regret?"

**We also talked about comparison and they gave us so many good quotes. If you want them then email me and I will send them to you. We learned why we compare and some ways to stop the comparison.

We have a natural desire to evaluate ourselves. In order to have something to evaluate ourselves with we compare. It's a natural man tendency. (It's easy to follow the natural man. It takes effort to follow God.)

How we can stop comparing:

1. Practice gratitude

2. Unlock the power of contentment

3. Don't compare your life to others

4. Focus on your strengths

5. Celebrate other people (Alma 29:14-15)

I hope you all got the chance to watch the message from the Prophet recently. If you didn't please go and do that. Please also go and share the video with everyone you know. Also if I could add one more please it would be to keep the #givethanks going. Even if it's just in your home. Gratitude shouldn't be a one-time thing. President Nelson said it's a remedy, not a one-time cure.

Loves to you all!

Sister Fillmore