Week 74 - The one with the pure testimony.

 Friends!!

This week was pretty crazy but the lights are back on and we are finally warm, haha. Yes the lights finally came on in our apartment....Saturday!! It took 8 days but it's ok ;) it definitely was an adventure living out of a suitcase but can't complain!! 

This week we did a lot of service and we found a person through it!! We are working on a follow up lesson so pray for us to have that happen! 

We also had THE COOLEST THING HAPPEN! It tops every teaching and testimony moment on my whole mission. We had zone devotional yesterday and our ZL's talked about always bearing testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. Well 2 minutes later we did exactly that and it was so amazing...

We had a dinner with this less active family we are trying to reactivate. Their son, Mario was there and he is very in active. After dinner we had a lesson with the whole family and we watched the video and asked what everyone thought. Tomas (dad) thought it was cool that the girl in the video was an atheist and then came back to believing in Christ. Brooke (step mom) liked how she talked about how it was hard and that it was her way of seeking the truth instead of it being this perfectly framed way. We asked Mario what his thoughts on the video were and he said he had nothing and that he was on the complete other side of where we are at. He later explained that he doesn't believe in God or Jesus Christ. But the importance of work and family and being completely reliant on ones self for success. We continued on with the lesson and Mario kept expressing his opinion and then he said that he can't "do faith", in some things he needs plain evidence. He asked us why we believe and have faith. We then bore pure testimony of the existence of God and also the power of Jesus Christ and His Atonement. The spirit was so strong and Mario changed from there.  At the end that he said our testimonies where valuable and that he is considering getting back into the whole religious thing. Starting to doubt his unbelief!!!!!! We invited him to do the same thing as his parents which was to read from the Book of Mormon a few times this week. He said yes!!!! 

So that was amazing in every way. My testimony of Jesus Christ strengthened while I was bearing it. 

Something I learned this week : 

The secret of success is to be ready for opportunity when it comes. 

I love you all, have a wonderful week! 

Love,

Sister Fillmore 

Yay for service opportunities!

Service proselyting in the rain, my favorite! 

Our little suitcase for the week!

The Spanish Hermanas got to sleep over for a night before they went over to redmond. 

Week 73 - The one with the visit from Elsa!

 Friends!! 

This week has been very interesting haha! Tuesday day was perfect weather with the sun our which is good because we filmed our music video and it was BEAUTIFUL!! Thursday is when it will be posted on FB so watch for that!!

We had to drop basically all our people for different reasons, but I am hopefully and here's the reason why. Everyone was saying that an ice storm was coming this weekend and people say it can get bad here in the NW. Well my friends, it was bad and will be until Thursday. The ice storm was so bad it broke branches off and made large trees fall all around us!! This caused so many power lines to fall and get destroyed. So where I live in Woodburn and North Marion county is out of power and has been since Friday and will continue to be until Thursday most likely. But it's all good, I literally can't complain. Members are taking good care of us during the day and then we sleep with sleeping bags and a lot of blankets to warm us up in our freezing apartment. This is a blessing in a way because it's going to let us have a lot of service opportunities which let's opens people's hearts and homes. 

So ya that's basically been my week! One thing I am grateful for is Gods way to help us keep going. When we feel like we can't but keep going trusting in Gods power, He somehow helps us get through and become better from it. 

Some thing's I learned from district council earlier last week:

☆We shouldn't have to see the fruit of our labors to keep moving forward. 

☆Blessed are those who believe and not seen. 

☆Even if there isn't success in my area there is success around me and that's God's work. 

☆Success should be based off of your devotion to God. 

I love you all so so much, have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Fillmore

The day before the night storm hit.

So much destruction around us.

No power means getting creative for dinner!

All snuggled in my warm bed inside my freezing apartment.

Breakfast in my warm bed!

More broken trees.

On splits with Sister Utiu ♡♡

We love service opportunities!

Week 72- The one where I redoubled my faith

Friends!

I hope you are all doing well :) this week was a little rough in the area. But that also led me to really see the importance of continuing in faith and patience. This is a principle that I learned at the very beginning. Trust me, ask my trainer, I was an impatient greenie. 

It was pretty rough this week teaching and finding and by Friday I was so done with the week. I was so low on faith and wanted to kind of give up but I knew I couldn't. I knew and still know we are so close to seeing miracles and I didn't want to be that person who gave up right before things start happening. So after 9pm I opened my Book of Mormon and read and read and read. Guess what I read about. Faith, repentance and patience. I actually read my hope scripture I picked out at the beginning of my mission. Alma 34 : 40-41 and God gave me the understanding of not quieting and that this is what life and missionary work is. I got up and said a prayer of gratitude.  Life will give you experiences to strengthen your faith or test it. But like it says in D&C 122 it's all for our good. Now it wasn't like I woke up the next morning and everything fell in my lap but I felt peace that it would fall into place eventually. I felt more motivation to keep going and that was a definite answer to prayers. 

So though this week was tough but there were miracles! 

First, Sister Porter and I became closer. This experience is crazy weird but so awesome. We were supposed to have exchanges on Wednesday and that morning we prayed to see if the plan we set was still good. We prayed and we both said ok and went on with the morning. Well throughout that whole morning I had a weird unsettling feeling about it that kept coming up. I knew it was the Spirit. I told Sister Porter about it and asked her to think about making the change I was suggesting. We got ready for the day and had personal study. We were supposed to leave for exchanges at 11 and by 10:15 and we still couldn't make up a firm answer to where they should go. We talked about it and other things came up that needed to be talked about, about our companionship. This truly helped me to see what the Character of Christ is. Turning out when I want to turn inward. God showed me it mega clear in this conversation. We became so close. Well the feeling in the apartment still felt weird and Sister Porter said she didn't even want to do the exchange that day. Truly, it wouldn't be fair to be on exchanges and not give it our all. So we reschedule the exchange. Literally 45 minutes later we receive a call from our wonderful sisters we serve with and they asked if we could talk. For the next few hours we helped them with some troubles they were having. If it wasn't for the spirit pressing on my mind and heart this morning we would be on exchanges and not have been able to help these sweet sisters.  We won't always know why the spirit is making us do something but brothers and sisters we NEED TO follow through with those prompting. They are for a reason!! 

Second, We were able to talk with people....it was so nice! Nothing really happened but we had solid street contacts 

Third, I GOT TO SING! Watch out for a video sooooon!! So much healing while singing with Hermana Seegmiller ♡

Fourth,I was calling formers and I called this number and it wasn't a person number...it was the school district office, haha. It was a Saturday but this lady picked up and so I kept talking to her. I told her we were missionaries and asked if she had a belief and she said yes. I asked her how it has helped her through this year and she explained. After she said thank you and that she really needed that. I said of course and asked if we could share a scripture so we did and shared Ether 12 : 4...she loved it so much and thought it was from the Bible. We told her it was from the Book of Mormon and asked if we could get her one. She said YES!! So we are having one of our members who work with her give her one! So cool!!

I am grateful for this mission. Its shaping me, its allowing me to touch people's lives in ways I don't always understand .... but I know it is pure love and goodness of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Please be kind. Do service and ask God to change your nature. It's amazing! 

Have a wonderful week! Look out for miracles because they are everywhere. 

Love, 

Sister Fillmore

Exchanges with South Marion Sisters.

Week 71- The one with becoming like Christ.

 Friends!!

This week was full of patience, hard work and growing - all with smiles on our faces! It doesn't matter how long you will be out on your mission. If you are humble then God will continue to teach you. That's what happened with me this week.

Tuesday we had MLC and the meeting was awesome. I am excited to incorporate these new practices in the missionary work here in North Marion.
☆IT SNOWED!!☆
It was so weird to see snow again but it was a fun surprise :) the roads were pretty bad so Sister Wilde had the APs drive some of us sisters home. It was a fun little road trip!

We had interviews with President this week and it was much needed. He gave me some good council with how to balance out the mission and everything that comes with it and the process I am going through with grieving/healing. It has been a battle I deal with every day. But He gave me good advice and gave me a talk to read called, "The Character of Christ." by Elder Bednar. It's something missionaries get to watch when they go into the MTC. I read it today and WOW my mission president is an inspired man because there is a lot in there that I am excited to apply. I learned that the character of Christ is to turn outwards when the natural man wants to turn inwards. Which happens a lot more than we think. Basically it means to find ways to serve. When we serve we turn outward and we are able to feel the love of God when we serve his children. I am really going to apply that this week so I will get back to you on how it goes next week!

We also did a FB LIVE!! It was so much fun and super cool to see how many people watched it from around the world. It touched me and I hope I will get to do it again!
If you want to watch go to, "Your favorite guys with white shirt and ties" on FB!

We had a good lesson with Angel this week. It was just her which ended up being really good. We can tell she is retaining information which is always a good sign and also wanting to learn more. We are going to put her on date so I am excited for this week.

We did exchanges this week and that was super fun and of course, full of miracles!! In MLC we talked a lot about what makes a good exchange and so Sister Porter and I really tried to apply that and man did we see miracles. Hermana Wiltbank came with me to North Marion and gosh she is such a wonderful person. We talked to 3 wonderful people and got their numbers and it was just a wonderful time together. We talked about goals and we tried to review them the whole day and we both were able to achieve our them. I love her example of love and wanting to be better.

I learned a lot about the phrase, "Trust in God." Some times I had to learn the hard way but I can tell you when you just trust in Him it saves a lot of stress and worry. Another goal this week is to not stress so much about the small stuff. Its been a bad habit that I am trying to break.

Saturday night was so cool. We were having a lesson with Devin, a recent convert and we wanted to talk about getting him to the temple since its been a little over a year, close to 2. I didn't really want to since the last 2 times we spoke with him we had a hard time helping him understand the importance of the temple covenants. Well the spirit humbled me and told me that it was a good idea to attempt once again. Glad I listened because he picked a date and SISTER PORTER AND I WILL GET TO GO!! Devin is already a spiritual power house and the spirit was preparing him for this lesson. We held the meeting at Brother Pippert's house and he gave a beautiful testimony and was a great support to Devin. Honestly baptism is essential but the main goal is for God to have His children make promises with Him in the temple. I am so HAPPY for Devin!!

Remember, "It is wisdom in me." God knows what to do!

I love you all so so much!
Have a wonderful week.
Love,
Sister Fillmore

The Daily Joy, a good read!

Pizza Pizza!

Haha so we went to a monastery today for P-day and got to see a couple of monks. It was cool and interesting but they had beautiful buildings.
Sister Yorgason and I might have been singing Sound of Music the whole time ;)

Exchanges with Hermana Wiltbank.

Week 70 - The one with being consecrated!

 Friends!

I hope you have had a good week :) I did and it was weird! Probably the best week emotionally since Maddie's passing. It's a blessing and also hard - but I will take it!

This week was good and full of setting up lessons and having them cancel. You know- the usual. But we made good plans and are excited for this next week!

Our people are doing good but we are having a hard time getting consistent lessons with them so that's what we have been trying to figure out.

Angel is an angel like I say all the time! She is doing so good and came to church this Sunday!! Yvonne, her grandma, said that she really wants this and it's her choice. That made us super duper happy!

It was so sunny this week which also made me so happy! Its weird because we will be driving and it's so sunny and it looks warm but it's very deceiving because as soon as you step outside it's real cold! But I would rather take the sun and it be cold than gloomy gray.

On Monday we were able to have a special lesson with my family about the Plan of Salvation. Since Paisley has been asking those kinds of questions since Maddie's passing, my parents thought it would be good to have US teach them. It was definitely a privilege to teach what I have such a strong testimony of to them. The Spirit was so strong and helped us make this lesson personal.

We also got to teach the same lesson again to a member who I served around in my first area. We got permission to teach her and it was amazing!! Again, the spirit personalized it so well for her.

I have been learning a lot about consecration and that's been a focus here in the mission and I am so glad. It's been really cool to figure out what consecration means and what it means for me and how I can change to become a more consecrated missionary.

We had MLC this week and to prepare us they sent the MTC talk by Tad R. Callister "becoming a consecrated missionary". Something that was really sweet that I will add is Jake, Maddie's boyfriend sent this talk to me the Monday before their accident. So this talk means more to me in many ways - but back to the story. I re-read it and man am I glad I did! I learned so many things and God has suggested to me ways I can improve. Some thoughts from the talk:
☆ "I do not think the Lord expects immediate perfection of us, but I do believe He expects immediate progress."
☆There is only 1 thing that is more important than missions. That's repentance.
☆Think of others before yourself.
☆Positive and optimistic attitudes will get you through good and hard days.
☆There is no time to think about other things other than the mission. You were set apart as a missionary for 18 months to be a disciple. You gave up that life to be here.

I am grateful for the things I learn and I am excited to put them into action. Change is good, Allowing God to help you see where you need to improve is good! So I am going to continue to progress and ask for help when I make mistakes.

I love this work. I love that it's God's work and that it can't be frustrated. Thank heavens because I definitely make mistakes ;) I am grateful for how merciful God is to me and also to His other children when they don't accept the massage.

Sinning and not repenting is not worth it. It's worth it to repent. I always think that if I make a mistake then I don't want to have that mistake stand between me and living with my family forever. So daily repentance is so sweet. I invite you all to do it. It's very freeing!!

I love you all!
Have a wonderful week :)

We love having Sister Hinkle with us!  Dropping her off to her new area though. 

Chick-fil-a is BACK!

I am not a dog person but this cutie stole my heart!

Week 69- The one where we get stuck in the mud.

 Friends!!

This week was really good and full of miracles and funny moments. 

We had zone conference this week and it was so good! Zone conference is basically mini missionary general conference. So now that you a reference of what it's like you can imagine I much I love zone conference!!

We got to train with the Hermanas and it went super well. It was our second time training this transfer and we were in charge of half of it this time and it was very spirit led which I love! It's the best when you get done and think, "Wow I don't really remember what I said but I feel so so happy right now". We were also invited to work hard and promised us if we prayed for finding opportunities and specifically through families we would find someone. WE DID! WE FOUND SOMEONE! We were on exchanged and we got a call from the Portland elders saying they have a reactivation referral for us. We called her and she was so excited to get back into church and we found out she has grandkids and they aren't members. We had a lesson Saturday and the 14 year old granddaughter was interested and sat in on the lesson too. Promises are real, prayers are heard and God is a God of miracles. The end, period, AMEN exclamation point! 

We had transfer calls...I am staying! Yay for 6 months in each area haha :)

I only have 1 more transfer after this one and I don't know how I feel about it. 

We had 2 of the same experiences that happened in the same day. We were going to somewhere to teach someone and they both said they couldn't at that moment and so we kept walking and we ran into two really awesome people who gave us their numbers. While we were talking with the first man our discussion because very spirit led. The unity between me, the Spirit and Sister Porter was on point! I love being a missionary! 

Maddie knows me. She knows that this week was great for the work but also rough emotionally. It washes over me in those moments when I realize, wow my best friend is gone. I can't talk to her the same way I used to any more. Then it hits me like a ton of bricks and it's exhausting. But since she knows me so well she also knows I love to laugh! So what does she do? Creates an experience to make me laugh and enjoy life in the moment. This is where the title of my email comes into play.  Yes, we got stuck in the mud...our car got stuck in the mud...by the one and only Sister Fillmore. Yes, yes, I was the one who got the car stuck.  Funny Maddie, really funny! I can only imagine how Maddie looked. She was probably rolling on the floor laughing. Like the kind when you can't breath or make sounds, so you're basically silent laughing. We did that together all the time so I have no doubt that's how she was laughing looking at us all stuck in deep sticky mud. :) 

So how I got stuck is weird and annoying. Google maps is sometimes my friend or my enemy and yesterday night it was my enemy. We were going to a members the opposite way I am used to but I was still trusting it until Sister Porter told me to turn right a little earlier then I thought but again I still trusted google maps and so I turned right. Well then she said ok turn left and we should be there. Well we were but behind these rocks that wouldn't let me turn. It led us BEHING the house we were going to. So I looked ahead and I saw a little dirt path and grass field and thought "cool I will just turn around up there". Well it's dark and I didn't anticipate how muddy the grass was because it looked fine.  Well I started to realize that it wasn't fine when we got deeper and slower until I couldn't get the car to move forward. Sister Porter and I looked at each other in shock and started to panic laugh. 

BUT there are MIRACLES even at times like these! We were smack dab right in the middle of two members, one was 2 seconds away. So we called him, he came over and said we will need a truck to pull us out. So we called the other member and he has had his fair share of cars stuck in mud so he came over and pulled us free from the mud! The whole time we were laughing, taking pics and filming it. Just having so much fun!! God helped me see the silver lining that day and laugh about it. Laughter is still the best medicine! 

AFTER our mud situation we had a great dinner and met some amazing people including their pet rat, yes you heard that right- pet rat. It was actually kind of cute - yes I said it, cute! Don't think I am weird you would probably think so too. 

God knows how much we all struggle but He also isn't going to leave us in misery forever. He will put a little sunshine in our soul - you just have to make the decision to see it and feel it. 

I love you all so so much!

Thank you for your constant support and messages. I truly treasure them!

Love,

Sister Fillmore 

Stuck in mud!

Yep - stuck!

Exchanges with Sister "Yorgasoon" - inside joke!

Last District Pic!

Mother Nature's remedy...

Hiking Silver Falls

 My parents know how to make one Sister missionary very happy! Thanks mom and dad! 

Week 68- The one with all the exchanges.

 Friends!!

This week was really good and really busy. :) 

We had 2 exchanges this week and it was super fun. We also had a few meetings. Since Sister Porter and I have only been comps for 2 1/2 weeks we have had to push all of our exchanges to this month and its been a party. 

I had Sister Robertson from Lincoln City and she is so cute! Then I went to Monmouth to be in a trio for 8 hrs. These sisters are so fun to be with. Sister Dalton is so sweet and painted a portrait of Maddie. Man, everything makes me cry. ;)  In truth it made my heart so happy and grateful for all the love and support I have been given out here on the mission. 

I thought I was doing pretty good with things, and I am, but God has also shown me some things I need to do to heal more. It's ok to feel all the feelings that come with mourning and I need to be ok with feeling them.  I thought I was but i actually think I am bottling it up more than I thought I was. So I made a goal that each day I will watch a video of Maddie and look at pictures of her. Writing my feelings down and talking about her to people actually really helps more that I thought it would. So I am writing this to help keep my self more accountable! ;)  

I am so grateful for Sister Porter. She is definitely who I need to be my companion right now.  She listens,  she help me see what I can do to actually heal and help me not get to consumed and go outside and work. I love her!! Her compassionate, full of kindness and humor and that is definitely what I need. 

We have been making a lot of videos and doing a lot with our Facebook page. If you haven't followed our page, please do! Its "Come unto Christ in Woodburn Keizer area". We need all the support, likes, comments and shares because it helps us find people. Crazy right?! It works trust me. 

Nicole is someone we just started teaching and we found her over Facebook. God knows his children and this is a witness. Her grandma died this week and she is really close to her. So I have been able to help her out in a way. I asked if I could share my experience with her family and she said maybe not yet but she would like to hear. So I am excited to see how that goes!! Pray, because I know I am here to teach her because of our similar circumstances. 

Like I said, the support has continued and I am so so grateful for it. My OSM family made my family and I a video of encouraging words from a lot of missionaries and members who I have served with. It gives me strength and comfort during the hard days. 

I am a living witness of the power of Christs atonement. He has given me physical strength to keep going. Crying takes a lot out of you ;) but he helps me and shows me why I am needed in this work. I love my Savior and I love being a disciple with a missionary purpose. It's the best way to know who you are as a child of God and how I can become a greater person. 

This week we have transfer calls. It's been a quick, weird and hard transfer. Happy to see it end to be honest! Over all I have learned so much and even though I am glad it's done, I wouldn't trade the things God has given me to come closer to Him and His Son. 

I love you all so so much ♡

Love,

Sister Fillmore 

I love this painting of Maddie that Sister Dalton painted for me. I feel so loved out here!

Sister Robertson on exchanges. She is darling!

My beautiful friend, Rachel, sent me this sweet Willow Tree "Sisters Mine" sculpture.
It couldn't be more perfect.

More exchanges in Monmouth! 

Week 67 - The one with car lessons!

 Friends!!

This week was good and crazy and miracle filled and I am happy its over, haha! My weeks blur together but the work is moving really well in North Marion. 

First off I'd love to invite you to pray for these wonderful people we are working with: 

Tami

Ray

Nicole and her family

Sister Hinkle & Sister Yorgason (to find people)

Josiah

Maureen and David

The Pace family 

Thank you so much for adding these people to your prayers!

We moved into our new place and I love it! I definitely miss the other set of Sisters but it's nice being back with just the two of us. It's an extra 5 minutes to our driving time so I am still working on trying to be on time...pray for me! ;)

A lot of healing of my heart has been happening this week and I am grateful but at the same time I wish I could just be healed already because it's exhausting. It's hard to explain but overall God knows what He is doing so I am trusting Him.  

We taught this girl in person that Sister Porter has been talking to on Facebook. The best part is, she is in our area so we can keep her!! She is going through a lot right now with family things so please pray for her! Because of the experience that God has given me I have been able to connect to other people a lot more and that's exactly what has happened with Nicole. 

Ray is another girl we just started teaching and she is 12 years old. She is so spiritually intuned for a 12-year-old and I LOVE IT! 

We also had 2 lessons with Tami and because it's getting so freaking cold here we have been having our lessons in the fellowshipper's car. Haha its been great and she is moving a long well!

I love you all so so much! 

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Fillmore

P-days are hard for me because I miss talking with my Sis. This last week my mom and dad had pizza delivered and it was just what we needed after a long day of moving in!

I got "heart attacked" by a good friend. 

Secretly dropping off christmas candy to the elders.... ;)

On exchanges!

Face mask night!

I don't know what we were trying to do - ha ha!

European footwear for inside. LOVE

Love these sisters!

Week 66- The one with Christmas craziness!

Friends!

I know it hasn't been long since my last email but I have to be consistent ;)

Thank you again for the sweet emails and message, they help me a alot!

I got back to Oregon on Christmas eve and I am super grateful that I am back. We did some planning and then the rest of the night we did some caroling and went to a members house to share a Christmas message. These members are amazing and provided so much strength and comfort for me since being back.  Later, went home and watched a Christmas Devotional that Elder Anderson and his wife sent out for missionaries. After 9pm our wonderful Sister Yorgason made a program where we acted out the nativity and that was a sight to see- haha. It lifted my spirits and helped me to feel so much better about being back. 

Christmas morning we did a group study and then played games. We had a member drop off cinnamon rolls and then opened presents. I called my family which was so great to to see their faces again even though I'd just hugged them the day before. Later we went to a members home for dinner and it was so much fun to be with them!! 

We had MLC Saturday and moved into a new apartment... needless to say it was a busy day!

God has continued to help me see why Maddie is on the other side of the veil. She really helped me bear testimony about eternal families to someone we are teaching. It was so powerful! 

Even though I have a little more anxiety about certain things, I feel like I can connect to people and understand certain doctrine better because of this experience. Some days are better than others but I am grateful for the comfort and peace and strength I've felt from my Heavenly Father.

Jumping back to MLC (mission leadership council), we were asked to read a talk in advance and this talk was meant for me!!

☆Do We Trust Him? Hard Is Good

By Elder Stanley G. Ellis

One quote that I really like from it is, "We see that hard is the constant! We all have challenges. The variable is our reaction to the hard."

What I took from this is that - hard is hard - and it's not bad to feel emotions BUT don't stay there and let it consume you. I found myself staying too long in the consuming emotions this morning but with the resources that have been given to me, God is helping me through it.

If you all could pray for miracles to happen in the North Marion area that would be amazing. We are ready to work hard but we need heavens help. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week and new year! God will help you as much as you put forth effort.

Love,

Sister Fillmore 

Oh Christmas Tree...

Love serving with these Sisters!

Santa and his Elf (aka our Zone Leaders) delivering our Christmas presents from family!

Love my sweet companion, Sister Porter.

Merry Christmas 2020!