Week 35- The one with two time zones in one morning!

Friends! 

The title of my email this week is no joke! We have been able to call a few people around the globe and it's been super fun. 

This week has been full of miracles and I am humbled in every day! We have had some random people message us on Facebook. There is this guy from India and he was meeting with the missionaries before they had to leave due to Covid and so he went out on social media to find missionaries! I am humbled that I was one of them. He is so prepared! We have had 3 lessons and he is ready to be baptized. WHAT?!? When we taught him the Plan of Salvation my heart grew!  He was so into it and he kept saying "this just makes sense!" That touched my heart because I have always said that my whole life and to hear someone else who is learning say that made me so happy. We are getting in contact with his Bishop over in India to see what we can do to get him baptized. So excited!!! 

Uganda! Yep I said it. We had a lesson with a guy from Uganda! He found Sister Carlson on Facebook and contacted us that way. He is a worship leader and musician there and has an amazing story! He asked us what we did before our missions and what our hobbies are. Because he loved our videos on our FB pages he wanted us to sing for him too. After we did he kept saying "Sisters you're messing me up!" Haha it was the best! After we sang he sang to us...for 10 minutes! It was the best thing ever, he has a really good voice! Just imagine the voice from black panther and that's his accent. It's awesome!! Anyways, I shared a verse from the Book of Mormon and he loved it so we are excited to meet with him this week. 

All of this happened Sunday morning between the hours of 8:30-10am people!! 

Lynn!

Long story short, he's back and after a few attempts from other missionaries,  he is finally is progressing and is reading the Book of Mormon!! That is big for Lynn so keep him in your prayers as he is reads and learns!

We have been able do have some lessons with people here in Bend because of Facebook stalking being successful so YAY!

This week God has helped me to see that even when it's tough you still have to keep the faith and to not give up on His children or Him! When life is tough we can't say "I see God this is a time to test myself" and then not involve him. This life is time of testing but God doesn't say to do it alone but with him. Use Christ's atoning power! 

KEEP THE FAITH PEOPLE!!

Also I invite you to read Ether 12 and Elder Jörg Klebingat talks called "Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence". SO GOOD!

I love you all so so much! Email me....I would love to hear how everything is at home! 

abigail.fillmore@missionary.org

Love,

Sister Fillmore 

Old Mill shopping center field trip on P-day!

Always a beautiful view wherever we go!

Our new obsession - Spring Rolls.

Chick-fil-a breakfast, thank you Brother Argyle!

Us being funny! :)

Week 34- The one where we get hit on by our Muslim friends.

Friends!!

As from what you can see it's been a crazy, fun and interesting week. 

We have been able to contact a few people on facebook here in Bend and some have said yes's to hearing a hope message. So we are slowly finding success from Facebook!!

Funny Sister Fillmore moment:

Ok so one day I wasn't really listening while we were meeting with the Zone Leaders. They were talking about bringing back a crock pot that we lent them use and then switched to talking about bringing some caramel popcorn that one if the elders made a lot of. Soooo in my mind I thought he cooked the popcorn in the crock pot so I asked "wait he cooked the popcorn in the crock pot?"....just so you know you can't pop popcorn in the crock pot. :)

Wednesday was a little rough but we got through it....staring at a phone all day kind of makes a person go a little crazy!!! I really appreciated the closing prayer a member family gave at the end of our lesson that night.  It was just what I needed after a trying day.

J and E have been busy this week so we hope we can reconnect this week and start having consistent lessons again. 

So about our Muslim friends... after one of our conversations he said he wanted to create a relationship with Sister Carlson sooo we got off of that train really quick! But the other one is promising and is super interested in the Book of Mormon so that's exciting.  We hope we can keep teaching him.

Haha ok so we made another funny video of us dressing up like "Elders" ....meaning we put our beanies above our ears....I mean, what is that? But we made a video of things Elders say. It's pretty grand! And then the next night the Elders made one of what Sisters say. It was so funny! 

Our mission president and his wife have really gotten us in the spirit of having faith and seeing miracles! Ether 12:12 and Mormon 9:15-21 are my favorite chapters right now! Miracles are still coming and we can see them if we have faith and open our hearts to see.  I am so grateful to be on my mission and see how Gods work is continuing on and will forever! One thing that I learned is that God is loving his work forward with or without us so we have to make the decision to get on board and get to work. I am excited for this week to work and show God my efforts!

I love you all so so much!

Love,

Sister Fillmore 

Dutch Brothers in Oregon = Swig in Utah. Love it!!

Using our creative talents while filming our short video.

"What the Elders Say" Funny District video in the making.

Don't judge - I was beat!

Rainy Day Ninja

Week 33 - The one with the interpreting dancing.

Friends!!

What a week full of miracles and learning!

I have some sweet updates on our people here in Bend. We are basically international Sister missionaries with all of the people we are teaching over seas. Ok not that much but we are getting pretty cultural out here. ;)

We passed off our friend Marin to the Bulgarian sisters and we are excited and happy to see where God takes Marin (aka) Emco!

We are taking a break from talking with our friends from Morocco until our Mission President gives us further instruction. They are so kind and understanding we love them! Love planting those seeds where seeds haven't been planted before :)

J and E are doing well. We are excited to see where our discussions lead this week! They are wonderful people and we love seeing them draw closer to the Spirit.

Sister Seaton one of our ward missionaries and is the BOMB! She gave us a referral for a hope message to her friends. Guess where they are from....ITALY! They moved here 2 years ago and their accents are literally the best thing ever! If you are thinking of an exaggerated Italian accent in your head that's what they sound like. It's the best! We were planning on a hope message but like the spirit pointed us in a different direction in the middle of the lesson. They are catholic but aren't super active. They started talking about the differences from our church and theirs since they have come to a sacrament meeting before and the husband said that we are more interactive with each other. He also loves that in our church we have a personal relationship with God and don't have a "middle man" like the priest, we go directly to God. He thought that was really cool. Anyways by the end we extended an invitation to pray more to God instead of only talking to Him once in awhile. They excepted and were very grateful for the opportunity to meet with us. So we are meeting again this week, YAY FOR ITALIAN FRIENDS!!

Ok MIRACLE OF THE WEEK...JUNE!

So if you remember June good for you because she has had lots of health challenges recently that has kept us from teaching her but she is back and GOLDEN!! We were going to ask her to see where she is at after our lesson and think about dropping her. Well the spirit had other plans and now she is praying about being baptized. WHAT?! I was not prepared for that. After talking about the sabbath day we asked her how her commitment for praying was going and she was like, "Ya I have prayed a couple of times. I have been asking God what he wants for me? And I can tell that He is saying this isn't the road He wants me to take. I asked him which church then?" She then went on to tell us all her past churches she's attended and how she doesn't feel good in them at all but every time she meets with us she feels peace and we don't turn her away. She even said she has been thinking about being baptized. WHAT?!?! PEOPLE I WAS FREAKING OUT IN MY MIND AT THIS POINT!  So we invited her to pray about being baptized and we will talk about it tonight! 

In my head I was thinking, "This is a whole new June! She has never opened up like this!" 

Friends do you know why? Because even though we haven't had a whole lot of contact...the spirit has and that's the most important kind of contact. Through this lesson I learned more about the importance of listening with intent and asking inspired questions that go along with what they are saying. That my friend is only through the spirit and I kind of finally got the hang of it and I am so BEYOND grateful! 

Dance off (in our eyes we won;))

I don't know if I have told you guys this but to keep our sanity we as a zone send in funny videos at the end of each day. It helps us laugh and keep spirits high. Since transfers are Tuesday we did a dance off Saturday to determine the best dancing companionship. We decide to put our professional dancing minds together, don't worry sister Hair, I was thinking the whole time "Is this what Sister Hair would do?" ;) 

We  made up an interpreted danced to "Colors of the Wind" and I think it was the best thing I have ever done in my dancing career, that career has been small, people, but I was very proud! The Elders in High Desert won which they deserve but in our eyes we were the best!

Lights Out

The power went out for 2 1/2 hours in half of our area on Tuesday which was fun, haha. We had to do our lesson at the church under the emergency lights but we did it! Then we came back to our apartment and it was starting to get very dark...and my phone was at 11% but luckily at 9:30 the lights came back on and I was so so happy to see light again. Made me grateful for electricity that's for sure! 

I got to sing with my bestie Sister Jun one last time before she was transferred! It was super fun since I haven't sang with her since my first zone conference back in November, crazy! We sang Amazing Grace and it was my favorite rendition of that song I have ever heard.  She is sadly leaving me AGAIN! But it's ok we will see each other soon :)

GOOD NEWS: I am staying here with Sister Carlson and I am beyond grateful and excited! 

Happy Mothers day to all of the best moms in the world (that means all). You are amazing in every way! It was so fun to call my mom and family yesterday. I love my mom with all my heart! She has supported and helped me in all my endeavors and I am so grateful for her and her endless love! I love you MOM ♡

I love you all so so much! 

Keep killing it back at home, I love you!

Love, 

Sister Fillmore 

Happy Mothers Day, Mom!

Lights Out!

I love all our trees!

Heart Attacking June's door for Mothers Day. She is single mother and needed some love.

Week 32- The one with our Bulgarian friend, Emco!

Friends!!

This week was full of contacting and becoming professional Facebook stockers... don't worry we aren't creepy. ;) Just finding new people to share our message with. But hey it paid off because we are now talking to a new person named Emco, and he is from Bulgaria! Like LIVES in Bulgaria! We got some missionaries over there to translate for us when we call him tomorrow. 

Here is our week in a nutshell: 

J and E are so wonderful! They are so close to being baptized people so keep them in your prayers! We had a powerful lesson with them last night on the priesthood. 

I have been taking advantage of our little porch by going outside and painting whenever I have the time.

Soooo my trail mix obsession has come back...my poor companion ;) good thing she is nice and doesn't hate me for eating all the M&Ms. 

It has been so fun making music especially the last one we post on Facebook. That song has a special place in my heart! AND from that one song we are finding people to teach!

Quotes of the week: 

"525 BC to 2020 and we are still struggling" me after finishing the Isiah chapters. ;)

"Cake over the sink" we are quarantined so don't judge. 

"Its called recycling people" me when I put the raisins, cashews and peanuts bag into the bag of trail mix and add m&ms....it works!

Me: "I know people who play Zelda" 

Eugene: "Thats like saying you know people who smoke weed and know all about it." 🤦‍♀️

Needless to say it's been a fun week full of laughter:)

Life is good folks and I am grateful everyday that I am here!

Thoughts from the week: 

We will be weak at somethings and good at others. But if we just keep going knowing that we will get better at it some day he will be able to strengthen us. We can't stop and ask "why didn't you help me?" Or "why am I not good at this yet, I am doing everything I am supposed to?" We need to keep going forward and be resilient and know that we will get better and be better. 

Love you guys!

Sister Fillmore

My obsession. :)

Who wants cake?

Painting on the deck getting some fresh Oregon air!

Doing lots of member lessons online. I love these times together with our ward family!

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.