Sister Abby Fillmore - Oregon, Salem Mission: March 2021

Week 79 - The one with the sleep walking...

Friends!!

This week has been so awesome and we are seeing miracles left and right...I love my God and all His love!

Me and Sister Johansen are doing a musical number on church for my last Sunday! She is playing the cello and I am singing so we went to a members home to practice because she is a cello teacher... so awesome!!

We went on 2 exchanges this week and these sisters are just so wonderful, I love them!

A lot of our street contacts have been pretty successful and so we have been busy and seeing all the miracles :)

Hermana Bomen has been doing some weird things during the night... like waking up with her glasses on in the morning and waking up in the middle of the night praying, thinking it's the morning...she cracks me up!

We had service for this lady this week and it was the second time and I knew I needed to bring up the Gospel. I prayed that God would help the conversation move a long to the Gospel. HE DID! By the end we invited her to church and she said she would! Sadly she didnt end up coming.... :( BUT opposition is in all things... (drum roll please)

LILY IS ON DATE!!!

Gosh it was probably one of the most spiritual moments ever! We taught her the Gospel and she already has been wanting to be baptized but we asked her and she said she wants to become a member as soon as possible. So she turns 18 in May so we invited her to be baptized the weekend after she turns 18!!! You know I am coming back up here to Oregon June 4th!

I hit my 18 months this last week and it's so insane! I am enjoying every minute of it!

This week is Easter and General conference I hope you are preparing!

I love you all so so much!

Happy Easter

Love, Sister Fillmore

Well this happened this last week!

We love Lilly! She is so excited to be baptized in June and so are we in case you couldn't tell!

On exchanges with Sœur Hennum.

Study Time!

Bread making with the other Sisters!

White Chocolate, cranberry and Orange sweet bread!

Week 78 - The one where it's all the Spirit!

Friends!!

Well this week was pretty wonderful :) I love being a missionary!

This week was full of tender heart warming miracles. God has shown me how the mission we go on as young adults isn't just something we do because it's good for us and it's good for others. We are literally helping Him do His work that He has been working on since Adam and Eve. All I can say is my heart is full and I am grateful to be apart of it! We have been able to teach the Restoration and Plan of Salvation a couple of times this week, in different ways depending on the people. It's so cool to see how the spirit helps us change how we teach depending on the person!!!

We had interviews with President and what a wonderful man! He is someone I look up to in so many ways. President and Sister Wilde have mastered what it means to have HIGH love and HIGH expectation!!

Like I said earlier, I have been able to teach the lessons of the Restoration and Plan of Salvation a few times and each time God has cleared my vision more and more and I can fully say without a doubt that its true. The fullness of God's gospel is back on earth. It has answered so many questions that people have asked us. Oftentimes it gives them answers to questions they didn't even know they had. It fills my heart with so much peace knowing that the answers we give them are providing so much peace in an area that probably caused them so much fear through out their life. What a blessing it is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ with a missionary purpose!!

I feel Joy in my heart all the time now! Even thought my body is SO tired, my spirit is alive!

Just go read Alma 26 and that's how I feel ;)

This is the best last transfer EVER!

FOLLOW SPIRITUAL PROMPTINGS!!

Everyone did you just read that? Follow them! Even if you don't know why, FOLLOW THEM!

Story time, we just for some with a member lesson on Friday at we still have 30 minutes before we had to get back and I got the promoting to go and walk around the block to street contact...sister Johasen had the same prompting but we didn't know it and we BOTH SHRUGGED IT OFF AND GOT INTO THE CAR! 1st lesson...don't do that.

2nd lesson...if you do, turn around!

Luckily we did the second lesson and right when Sister Johasen said "Man I just got a burst of energy" I then knew that was the spirit telling us to turn around! So we humbled ourselves and turned the car around. Luckily the women who we both knew we needed to talk to was still outside. Wow what a conversation. She was so so nice and opened right up! We shared a scripture with her and she showed us her salon and declined us coming back but said thank you for stopping and talking to her. GOD IS GOOD!

We got to do a Sisters Conference this weekend with all the Sisters we are leaders over and we had a special guest come join us....the Sister Wilde! It was so fun ♡ I love these Sister Missionaries and their love and fire for the work!

I hope you all know that this church is meant for you. I hope that you're seeking to know for yourself if it's true. God will not give you the answer unless you put forth effort. That is the simple and plain truth!

So please go and do! Seek and you will find, knock and it SHALL be open to you. But remember that it's not in our way but in the Lords way.

☆Because at the end of the day "it's not magic, it's simply God!"☆

-Elder Dawe (former OSM AP)

PS: Be kind to everyone you see please!

If not for the sake of being kind then do it because you love God

I love you all so so much!

Love,

Sister Fillmore

Love this girl...and ice cream!

LOVE Sister Wilde!

Heart Attacking!

Lunch on exchanges.

Getting a little rough around here! ;)

Face Mask night!

Green after St. Patricks day!

Sister's Conference!

Week 77 - The weather is "muy bueno"!

Friends!!

Wow what a week, kind of crazy and kind of long BUT nothing short of a miracle ;)

Let's just say we are taking a break from walking the streets of North Plains...people are pretty bashy there. We got bashed on 3 times in a row and gosh it gets to ya but the cool thing is, is after each of those Sister Johansen and I were able to have amazing spiritual discussions in the car on the way back home and man it's the best!! I love Sister Johansen she is so strong and has a cool conversion story even though she has been a member all her life. Something I learned is that even if we are members we still have to be converting to our Savior Jesus Christ!

Friday after we did a district blitz we were waiting for a potential to come to the church for a lesson and we needed one more person to reach our goal...sadly he didnt show up and we were so sad! But our AP was at the church and he said, "Its only friday. You have 2 more days" so we got home and tried to message everyone to see who we could have a lesson with. All of a sudden Sister Johasen gets this call from a guy she has been talking to...he is from India! We debated if we should answer since we are trying to find more local but we felt strongly like we should answer. So we did and wow wow!! Panner is so prepared. He wanted to learn more about Jesus Christ. We learned that he literally has never heard the story of Jesus's life here on earth, only that he was a good person and did good things. So we got to teach him the story of Jesus Christ, it was so special!! I was thinking and even though he isn't in our area it doesn't matter, prepared people are prepared people. I know God hears our prayers and has the best timing!!

Laughter is the best medicine, especially for me!! I have been blessed with the best apartment...these 4 sisters give me so much joy! Hermana Bowman, the newest missionary in our area is HILARIOUS and makes me laugh so hard, it's the best!!

Sydney Cannon is an amazing artist and she is a former missionary in the OSM. She moved to Forest Grove after her mission and had us come over one night this week to give me and my family this sweet gift. The picture below show this incredible painting she did of Christ and Maddie. I am so grateful for her and her thoughtfulness to take time to paint this beautiful moment that I know happened!

LILY, OH MAN LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT LILY!!!

She is dating our relief society president's son and she is golden! We had a beautiful lesson yesterday on the Restoration and the spirit was so strong. She has gotten a lot of her questions answered through coming to church and learning about the Plan of Salvation. THE CHURCH IS TRUE EVERYONE! We have become besties and I am beyond grateful for her sweet spirit.

Basically been a really good week full of learning and teaching! the weather was muy bueno!! That was just something a little kid said and it was soooo funny!

I hope you have a wonderful week, I hope you are preparing for General Conference because its COOOMMMIINNNGG! 🥳🥳

Love you!

Love,

Sister Fillmore

The weather is "muy bueno"!

Creepy ladies fence! Ha HA

Exchanges with Pac Thai.

Wonderful Watson Family

I love this women more then anything!

This painting stole my heart!

This is my new dear friend Lilly!

Tie-die party!

Selflies!

Week 76 - The one with all the flashbacks!

Friends!!

This week was so good and so weird! It's crazy to be back in my baby zone, Forest Grove. But it's been pretty fun to see some people from my last ward and visit some of my favorite restaurants! (Yay, for pizza schmizza and Pac Thai )

The Pumpkinridge ward is amazing and so missionary minded - it's the best!! We have met a lot of the members this past week and I love them all!

My new comp, Sister Johansen is the sweetest thing ever! I was able to go on exchanges with her while she was in Lincoln City when I was an STL over Monmouth and loved her. So I am really excited to be her official companion! We have the best gospel discussions and talk about food way to much, haha! (Don't worry we are off sugar ;))

We did some service and a lot of street contacting this week! We have been doing all we can to get to know the area.

☆Please please go read the talk, "The Challenge to Become" by President Oaks

Me and Sister Johasen were reading it for a training we were planning for and the sweetest thing happened. God gave me a little bit of an understanding why Maddie had to leave this time on earth. It was very special and I thank God for that new level of understanding!!

Some quotes from the talk:

"It is not even enough for us to be convinced of the gospel; we must act and think so that we are converted by it. In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something."

"Follow my example, mastering as I have mastered, and you will become as I am, and all that I have will be yours.”

"For example, returned missionaries, are you still seeking to be converted, or are you caught up in the ways of the world?"

Anyways please please go and read!

I love you all so so much!

Love,

Sister Fillmore

LOVE my new companion, Sister Johansen!!

Sad to say goodbye to Sister Porter!

Twiners in our pants!

Lots of service opportunities and beautiful views!

First week planning!

"Greenie" party for our new Hermana Sister!

My first Bishop on my mission taking me to one of my favorite places to eat.
Thank you Bishop Littlefield!

Yay for late night milk runs!

Week 75 - The one with all the love!

Friends!!

This week was rather wonderful in every way :)

We had a wonderful MLC meeting where I got to sing with my main gal, Sister Jun! It was a last minute thing but I am so happy we got to do it since it was her last MLC. So many wonderful things were said and some powerful testimonies were given. I am the luckiest missionary in the whole world. I have the best Mission President and wife, AP's and I am surrounded by wonderful young missionary leaders!

2 things that were said that I LOVED :

Sometimes better can be an enemy to BEST

When we focus on Christ everything can only exponentially increase! (This is truth!)

I got to go on exchanges with the wonderful, Sister Brooksby! Talk about pure optimism and love for the work. She is such a hard worker yet enjoys every part of the mission life. Its not naive optimism, it's real and something that I strive to have. We talked a lot about making sure that we put Christ the center of everything we do because a lot of the time we know Christ is important but we don't make him the center of all of our thoughts and conversations. Once I started doing that my mind was so clear and it was just so cool!

We also got to go train at 2 Zone Councils Friday so that took up most of the day but it was a lot of fun. I love hearing different perspectives and best practices from other missionaries.

TRANSFER CALLS!!!!

I am going...back to FOREST GROVE!! Yep, going back to my baby zone to be an STL. I seriously can't believe I am going back for my last transfer. I am so excited!

BIRTHDAY DAY WAS THE BEST DAY!!!

So we have been struggling to find people but today was the day to find people....I could feel it! Lets say there were lots of birthday miracles :) In the morning we did a community service project and we got paired with this sweet couple that I found out I was messaging the husband on facebook earlier this week! They were so kind and they are letting us come back for "tea" this coming week!!

The wonderful Elders in my district and the ZL's surprised me after the service project with confetti cannons and donuts. It was so sweet of them and definitely made my day! We also had a fiesta with the Hermanas so it was the best!! We then went and did a blitz and found some wonderful potentials that I am so excited for Sister Porter and her new comp to teach. There was this one guy we started talking to and he is expecting his first child and so he and his wife were thinking about religion more and he knew LDS families when he was growing up and really liked how they lived. He asked for a Book of Mormon and is going to talk to his wife to see if we can come back. PRAY that her heart will be open!! The guys name is Jake.

We also talked to this one guy and he said that their family is Catholic but he doesn't practice. We asked if he would be interested in learning and he said YES!!! He was going to come to church but couldn't so next week he is coming!

We also went over to a members home and they had some sweet decorations for my birthday. I LOVE THE COOK FAMILY!

That's pretty much it for the week.

I love you so much and thank you for the birthday wishes!

Have a wonderful week <3

Love,

Sister Fillmore