Sister Abby Fillmore - Oregon, Salem Mission

Week 31- The one with the same view...our window

Dear Friends!!

What a week, glad it's over ;)

We have had some good member lessons and are slowly getting referrals so if anything that is whats keeping me going.

Days and weeks are tough as a missionary. One thing that I have learned is..."so what are you going to do about it?" We as missionaries right now are so fortunate to have weekly missionary devotional from general authorities. This past week Elder and Sister Gong spoke and it was just what I needed to hear to carry me through the week.

They talked alot about using the time you have been given and become someone in the place you are put in....bloom where you are planted.

Sister Gong shared a wonderful quote by a WW2 Vet. It reads "When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. Everything can be taken from a man but one thing, the last of human freedoms. To choose ones attitude in any given circumstance." -Victor Franco

Something that I have been trying to do every day is to recommit my self and move forward.

That's honestly all can do. We can wake up each morning saying I am going to show up today and work. We aren't perfect and sometimes we will stumble more than we thought we would have hoped. Christ's grace makes it so we can get up, learn and move forward learning from those experiences. I am very grateful for Him each day I am here trying to learn and "become".

J and E are doing great! We will be having scripture study with J during the day to help her understand it better. We are excited and happy that she is so willing to learn even with the crazy thats happening in the world and in her life.

Baptism is more of a possiblity since we can do baptisms now and not have to wait until this virus is gone.....so that's exciting!

I am excited for what God has in store for me and His children who are being prepared to hear the message.

Friends and family if you have anyone you think could benefit from a message of hope and peace send them our way! We have gotten permission to video call people from home who aren't of our faith or less active and need a message. Please think and pray to know who you could reach out too!

I love the Book of Mormon, it's been a source of comfort during this time. As well as my patriarchal blessing! They are love letters from our Heavenly parents and the love has given me strength! I have a firm testimony of the Book of Mormon and I know it can change lives and make life easier to endure because it helps us know what we need to do to get back to our Heavenly home...doesn't that sound nice? Yes it does, so please read both daily!

I love you all so so much!

Have a wonderful week, love you!

Love,

Sister Fillmore

We didn't mean to match!

Enjoying some time outside for lunch and fresh air!

We love to cook - this week we made breakfast burritos!

Ahhhh... the sun - and fresh air!

I love to look for Rainbows whenever there is rain...

Week 30-The one with the raw egg!

Friends!!

I hope you all have had a wonderful week and are trying to get used to this new normal.

Missionary work continues to conquer the world and I LOVE IT! Definitely a virtual learning curve but I am grateful for it. We continue to make music, hold virtual member lessons, look up the people in our area book and call everyone!

Going back to music...my companion is SO talented and it has been amazing to see and hear her compose incredible lyrics and melody. We have made an original song this week and it has touched my heart in so many ways. Soooooo...tune in next week to hear that one!

Those we are teaching are doing good. Our most progressive people are doing great so we continue to help them. We are also virtually talking to members a lot which is good because I am new to Bend and I'm anxious to get to know them!

Bend continues to amaze me, the people are amazing and its beautiful everywhere we go!

CHICK-FIL-A has a drive through so life is GOOD!

Ok about the title.....so to keep our sanity we make funny random videos and send it into a zone group chat. We have made some quality videos, my friends! One of the companions in the zone did the cinnamon challenge (crazy Elders - don't do it) and so I decided to step up and I might have drank a raw egg. :)

We have gotten really creative as missionaries and have made short videos for the first couple lessons. (Plan of Salvation, The Restoration etc.) It's been super fun!

God loves us so much and He wants us to feel His love and He also wants us to progress so sometimes it's not as fun. It's amazing how loving God is to let us fall and find our way:)

God is a successful parent and needs us to learn some things but it makes us the divine being He wants us to become.

I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior!

I love you all so so much

Have a wonderful week! You're the best!

Sister Fillmore

Life is Good!

Making our Plan of Salvation lesson videos.

Gorgeous views everywhere we go!

Ever tried hiking in a mask?

I feel like I'm camping!

Tomula Falls

Week 29- The one where we write scripture tunes

Dear Friends,

It's been a hot minute but I'm back! Nothing much has changed besides getting to know Bend a little bit more. I am loving this place more and more each day! It's amazing because it feels like Utah. We are surrounded by pine trees and it looks like spring - its gorgeous!

We have had a lot of member lessons which has been nice. These people are so sweet and my heart grows bigger and bigger for them every day!!

We had a couple lessons with our friends that we are teaching.

We taught E and J Saturday. Though it was a good lesson it was rough. E is one tough cookie! J has the biggest heart and is trying to so hard to get her self back on track. I have never seen someone so in tune with the spirit while trying to come back to living and believing the gospel like J. If you could, please pray for them! Pray that E's heart will be soften.

J is someone else are teaching and is the sweetest lady. We have been able to help her feel calm and try to keep commitments a little better.

I have learned to slow my pace down a lot more with those we are teaching. It's all in Gods timing and I need to be patient and go at His speed.

We have been creative in what we do since we are quarantined. Sister Carlson and I are writing scripture songs and it's been so fun! We wrote a song to her favorite scripture and asked the other sisters in our zone to send us their favorite scripture to make into songs. I will be posting a few on my Facebook Stories so look out for those! If YOU have a favorite scripture you'd like put to music please email me!

Easter was wonderful! We had the Sacrament brought to us which was more special then usual. Sister Carlson hasn't had it for a month so the spirit was so strong for the both of us because she felt so much relief and love from taking the Sacrament. It helped me to appreciate it more then I already do. During this time of quarantine (which has been a whole month from yesterday by the way) I have learned to never take sacrament for granted. It's a special experience that we as missionaries don't get very consistently now with this pandemic.

I finished the amazing book, "Changed Through His Grace" by Brad Wilcox. It's a life changer and has helped me see Christ's love for me in a different light. At the end of the book he talks about grace for grace and what that really means especially when we renew our covenants by partaking the sacrament. We receive grace from our Savior all the time so we need to give it to others. Like the parable "Forgive 77 times 7" we need to give to others what has been given to us. I am going to share what he says from the book because it's perfect...its a little long

"I love Spanish. There are words in that language that mean more and are more beautiful to me than any equivalents in English[...]one of the words I say during those personal moments is gracias. To me it communicates more than thanks. It speaks also of grace. Each Sunday I think if my Savior and my covenant relationship with Him. I promise to remember Him and offer grace to others as He offers it to me. I reflect in my life and ask that I can continue to be changed through His grace. With great gratitude I close my eyes and pray, 'Much thanks for Thy much grace-muchas gracias por to mucha gracia'"

That has been my new phrase, I wrote it on a sticky note and I see it every day when I do my studies. I am so grateful for Christ's matchless love. He loves me eternally which is hard to understand sometimes but it gives me a reason to live and to endure through this life. He helps me in the weakest areas and helps me improve even more in my stronger areas. He gives me second chances to take the action to change and mentors me to know what I can do to be better. He has made it so that all of the things I learn I can take to the next life. He rose so we could. He suffered so we wouldn't have too. He made it so we can progress to not become angels with harps but heavenly begins like our Father!

Truly a beautiful holiday to celebrate every year!

I am especially grateful for my Heavenly Father who sacrificed his only begotten son. Its totally important to focus on Christ during this past week and especially yesterday. We also need to recognize that our Heavenly Father sent his son. What a beautiful thing and something I am grateful for that he did for me as his child. So let's also remember the matchless love and sacrifice that God gave to us so long ago!

I love you all! Keep trusting, keep believe and keep persevering because we have Christ and our Heavenly Father on our side...we can make it!

I love you guys!

Send me all the emails! I would love to hear what's going on back at home:) abigail.fillmore@missionary.org

Love,

Sister Fillmore

Sing...write...sing!

Teaching Sister Carlson how to cook.

Guitar Selfies

7 am Sunrise - Beautiful day!

Happy Easter from Bend, Oregon

I LOVE this picture.

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

Saying goodbye was SO HARD! Love you Sister Hair!

Love Sister Dotson, our Relief Society President in Forest Grove. She took such good care of us!

I love my new companion, Sister Carlson!

General Conference weekend!

Walmart Shopping!

Week 27 - The one where we are LIVE

Friends!!

It's been a good week and I am grateful!

Nothing big happened this week but I had a lot of cool learning experiences. One thing that we have done to get creative with sharing the Gospel is to go LIVE on Facebook! You can check out our Facebook Lives every Sunday(3pm) & Wednesday(5 or 6pm) PST! We love doing them and we would love your comments and questions so hop on and join us!

Funny & random stuff:

* When we go outside for a walk we have to be 6ft apart- it's so weird!

* We love putting together puzzles and coloring in coloring books while we listen to conference talks. (Even we feel like little school girls but we are happy as can be!)

*We now get 1 hour to workout and and 1 1/2 hours of personal study...especially happy about that!

*Our little page "Milk and Honey Daily" Facebook page has been a huge success! If you haven't seen it go and take a look! We post every day and it ranges from inspirational stories, talks, videos, quotes and insights. It's been so fun and such a beautiful way Sister Hair and I have been able to share our testimonies and share the things that inspire us each week. Don't worry - we will continue to post daily even after we are transferred!

Finding new people to teach has been hard but teaching those we already were in contact with has been good. It's been slow but hey it's still going and we are sure happy about that! We are still teaching Alanna and that's been awesome. We invited her to watch General Conference and she was totally excited for that! She told us that her mom Lynn, said the next time we are on a call with Alanna that she would like to join. We were BEYOND happy about that! Even though we aren't meeting with her any more I feel like we all still need a message if peace and hope so it makes sense that she would want to join in. We were so so excited and grateful!

Dave has been so awesome! It's been a while since I have talked about him in my email but he is the one where we were walking down the street and we stopped to talk and he said "you are sent from God. I just got done filling out my divorce papers..." he had moved and he has said it's all because of us.....its actually because of God ;) but we are grateful anyway! It has taken him the whole time of us meeting and the deadline to get out of his house to finally find a house to live in. He gave us a call last night and said he would like to continue to talk and when he gets settled he would like the missionaries over where he lives to contact him. He is definitely Golden and a blessing. He is someone who is completely humble and wants to hear from his Father in Heaven. He his open to reading in the Book of Mormon and we are excited for him!

We have been doing a lot of member lesson and that has been a huge blessing. The lessons have been amazing and we have great discussions with them!

We will be getting transfer calls this Thursday and if we have to leave it will be on Friday morning. That's not much time, we will see what happens. We have at least 60 missionaries that have either gone home or will be soon. Each week we will start to see reassigned missionaries coming in....so we will see what happens. Our mission president is under alot of stress so all the prayers to him and his family would be much appreciated!!

Like I have said before I have been able to learn a lot of wonderful things during all my new study time. I have seen my self improve so much and that has been a blessing in of its self.

I have said this multiple times in our FB live but I have been studying the topic of, Grace, because that has been a topic I have never understood really well before. To be honest it's a hard concept to grasp. My parents gave me the called "Changed through His Grace" by Brad Wilcox. I highly recommend it!

I have learned that God wants us to come as we are but to not expect to stay there.
It's the divine help to get us to the divine being he knows we can become.
We are all weak, it's our human nature but because of Gods grace we are able to become stronger through him. It's a covenant relationship!

One part of the book that I would like to share helped me understand it so well.

"Brent Fillmore (not related - I don't think) teaches at the institute of religion at USU. When he speaks to his classes of the covenant relationship, he talks about a stalactite hanging from the top of a cave dripping water on the floor below. In the water are minerals that soon start building up until they create a stalagmite reaching up towards the stalactite above. In time the two join and create a column or pillar...The receiver reaches up as the giver reaches down. The stalagmite is not self-sufficient. Without the stalactite, no growth is possible. Brother Fillmore says, 'The droplets from above contain within them the elements and minerals of the stalactite through which they have passed. Those minerals fall on the stalagmite-drop by drop, line upon time-and help it grow like what is above in until they become one.' He asked his students to stop running around just be still like a stalagmite. Just let yourselves get dropped on from above!'"

Isn't that awesome?! That totally helped me understand how Grace works because we see stalagmite and stalactites when we hike Minnetonka Cave up in the Bear Lake area and so visually this is the perfect example to help me understand. We have the time right now to stand still and let heaven drop grace on us to become better!

I Love this work, I Love being a missionary. My heart is humbled being able to still be out when so many are being sent home. I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father! They help and edify me in everything I do!

I love you guys!

Love,

Sister Fillmore

We didn't take many pics because....we are inside but here are some of my FAVORITE pictures/paintings of Christ to brighten your day :) ENJOY!

We are LIVE on Facebook!

The following are some of my favorite pictures of Christ.

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

So excited for our first FB Live!

We love our ward members!!

We may have taken the last of the toilet paper.

Thanks mom & dad for sending us things to help fill the extra time indoors!

First walk after quarantine...soaking up the rays!

Twinning with our buns!

So good to see our District missionaries for a little while!

We love Sister Maynes!

Week 25- The one where viruses ruin everything!

Friends!!

This week has been awesome and crazy!

We have been able to have some awesome street contacts and spreading the good news of Christ church.

We had an awesome lesson with Sarah about the restoration of Christ church and man I have never felt the spirit so strong while teaching and discussing the lesson. It was amazing in every way. The lesson before we were kind of confused on what she felt and if she wanted to continue but after THIS lesson we could tell she felt something. Sister Hair and I both testified of the Book of Mormon and it took everything in me to hold back the tears because the Spirit was testifying to me and teaching her. Seriously amazing and she is totally fine with us coming back.

Thursday was kind of the start of the whole craziness of the virus and man it was one thing after another. Since Washington has been pretty bad, it's coming down here in Oregon so we have been doing alot of things differently but the work keeps going! :)

You're probably wondering how the Coronavirus is affecting us missionaries in Oregon. Our Mission President and his wife and our ward are making sure we are taken care of and are kept out of harms way! We feel very blessed! Unfortunately, a lot of our missionary events have been canceled, including mission tour (where a general authority comes) Elder Pearson was suppose to come, I am so bummed!! Hopefully we can get him to come back after this whole virus quarantine is over.

Speaking of quarantine....We can go outside and talk to people (with a 6 feet distance) but we can't go inside peoples homes even member's homes. BUT we can have porch discussions and lessons. Luckily this week is suppose to be sunny so it will be nice to get out of the house. Friday was kind of the same thing, a lot of door knocking and video chatting with ward council and members :)

Saturday was NO fun! I got sick with the stomach flu. :( BUT Sunday and today I feel a lot better so don't worry - no virus for me! Homesickness is a real thing when your sick people!

I was able to post something on my Facebook and I just want to invite people to go and watch President Nelson last video the church just posted. This is a living Prophet of God! He has been preparing us as God's children for a very long time. Just like the Prophets in the past! I think this is a time where God needs us to focus on him and Hear his words through is prophets and apostles and the teachings in the Book of Mormon. While I have been sick this weekend I have been able to hear amazing council from the apostles from a podcast on the church website. These men are amazing in every way and are trying each day to live the Gospel and help us back on the strait and narrow. I am so grateful for them and their diligence for serving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

I have also started studying the topic of FAITH. Growing up we always talk, sing and pray for and about faith. But I have always had a hard time understanding what faith is for me. God has helped me on the path of understanding faith in his son Jesus Christ.

I highly recommend the following talks:

From Elder Bednar, "Seek Learning by Faith" You can find it on the church website.

Spiritual Preparedness: Start early and be ready, by Elder Eyring

Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, by Elder Pearson

All are amazing and have helped me understand faith!

One thing that I love from Elder Pearson's talk is "If we desire more faith, then we must be more obedient."

"To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone."

"Learning by faith and from experience are two of the central features or the Father's plan of happiness." -Elder Bednar

Anyways they are amazing and I encourage all of you to listen and read those talks.

Anyway I love you all!

Abby

Sister Fillmore

All is good mom & dad! (What Abby added to Google Photos on Thursday when asked her if they were ok!)

My favorite picture of the Savior.

Week 24- The one where there is good things to come

Friends!!

It's been quite a week and I am glad it's over. It was a rough week as some of our most wonderful investigators won't meet with us anymore. Despite all that we had some awesome lessons and a fun service day!!

We sadly are no longer teaching Florana. She didn't want to make the commitment to stop smoking and the influence of her daughter made it so she doesn't want to stop and doesn't want to be taught. It was hard, especially when we saw the spirit work with her. We still love her, though.

We had 2 lessons with Lynn and Alanna. The first was on the Plan of Salvation which was super special! The spirit was so strong it was almost tangible. We got to tell them that there daughter and sister is doing fine and she is being taught on the other side. Both were extremely happy and at peace. We asked them to pray to see if what we taught them was true. The next day Lynn said that she prayed and she knows it's true and it brings her much peace. I was able to sing "Families Can Be Together Forever" and it helped me share my testimony even more.
On Thursday we had another lesson with them on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and when we were about to ask if they wanted to be baptized, Lynn beat us to it. She said "I want to be baptized, can I be baptized?!" We were so happy! Alanna said no but Lynn was so excited. She set it for March 27th!!!!She came to the Book of Mormon study with us and it was an amazing lesson filled with the spirit. Gosh it was amazing!The next day she said she said she wanted to wait until September for her husband to get baptized and also her daughter.

On Sunday she texted us and said that she will no longer be getting baptized and listening to the discussions because her husband said he will leave her. Wow, what punch in the gut for us. We got the text right before the Relief Society lesson so both of us tried hard not to cry. I was so sad! To see the spirit work with her and testify to her that all of these things are true. That the Book of Mormon is true and then nothing...so hard.

BUT God loves all of his children and sent us a tender mercy. We have been helping this women name Tiffany come back to the gospel and she came TO CHURCH!! She has a lot of anxiety and the adversary was definitely working on her but SHE CAME! At the end I heard her say she was very glad she came! It made me smile through all the hard events that just happened!

WE PLANTES TREES!
On Saturday we went up to Vernonia and planted some trees next to the lake. It was a blast! We had a youth from our ward drive us up and stayed to do the service project. Something we definitely needed after this week.

Spiritual Thought (Hang in there this one is a goodie!)
Missions are hard but every time I feel like I can't do anything and I am so down, I turn to God! That's the KEY! When life gets tough, that is not the time when you turn away. In that moment it is essential that we turn to him and ask for help! We need to trust in him and his teachings (with faith) to go forward, knowing he has a plan!

“Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead.” Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come."
-Jeffret R. Holland

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Love,
Sister Fillmore