President & Sister Wilde

There are no words to describe President and Sister Wilde.  President Wilde told me in my departing interview that missionaries aren't just called to a certain mission but we are also assigned to a Mission President and wife.  I 100% believe that to be true.  They are a perfect example of high love and high expectation.  They show us their love through so many ways yet when they train they expect us to use the skills we learned and apply them into our missionary work in our respected areas.  

They were an answer to a prayer I didn't know I fully had.  They strengthened me during times of trail at the beginning of my mission, helped the mission and I see what ridiculous faith can do and most importantly they comforted and mourned with me when Maddie passed away.  That time was so very sacred and I couldn't have asked for a better pair to be with me while I was away from home.  I know they know that this church is Christ's church restored back on the earth. They have faith in Christ and in His words.  I love them with all my heart and regard them as my second set of parents.  They will always be a couple I will look up to and love for the rest of my life.  I love you, Wilde family! 

 

April 14, 2021 - The one where they reunited!

After 18 months of serving my Heavenly Father and His children in Oregon I have just had the best experience for my life. It has shaped me into the women that I am today. 

I am so grateful for the principles that I have learned and I know it will help me as I continue on. I am grateful for every experience God gave me through my mission. It helped me to know who is in charge and who I can truly rely on during challenging times. 

Miracles still happen today because God is a God of miralces. I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. And because I know that I know this is His church and it is led by a living prophet, Russell M. Nelson.  

 I love my Savior and I am grateful for the opportunity to have helped others know who He is and the power He has to change our lives. 

Home at last!!

Love my sisters. 

We went out together and came home together.  
Love you Sister White!

First stop....visiting my sister.

All together again...for now.

YAY! I'm finally really home!

Ahhhh....Rudy!

First and last mission dinner - Cubby's!

Love Granny Hirschi!  She helped me so much on my mission. 
She can still recite the Standard of Truth with me at 96 years old!

Week 81 - The one with the ministering of angels - especially in the ER!

 Friends!!

Wow what a week and it's been full of faith strengthening experiences. From ice cream with Lily, to a beautiful lesson with Dinah. An inspired zone conference to ending our week in the ER (more on that later ;))

My heart is full and tender today as I am just breathing in every last second as a missionary. One of my dear friends that I met up here in Oregon, Yvonne, once said that a lot of the time experiences need to be taken second by second. These last few days I am doing just that. I love who I have become as a disciple of Jesus Christ with a missionary purpose! I have seen myself grow and stretch in a way I didn't know I could, but had full confidence that my Heavenly Father knew. Isn't it crazy how that happens? I don't like the phrase "God will not give you more then you can't handle." Because He definitely pushes you to the breaking point, making you think you can't but then, through his Atoning power, help you know that you can. He shows you that you can do more than your mind thinks it can. I have seen that throughout my whole mission! 

Well, here is how my final week on the mission has gone:

We had a wonderful time with Lily on Tuesday. She showed us her Book of Mormon study journal and gosh that women is amazing! 

We also had such a cool lesson with Dinah! We went thinking we were going to do service for her and then a lesson but she just wanted us to teach her! We taught her about the Book of Mormon and the spirit was so strong and lead the whole lesson. We read the Intro and afterwards I asked her what she thought and she said "its reasonable...and more!" Gosh that was music to my ears! She was so excited when we gave her her own copy. 

She is such a wonderful women and a blessing!!

We had a wonderful last zone conference and I am so grateful for everything that happened and I am so happy I got to train again one last time with my wonderful companion Sister Johansen!

Ok now the story you have been waiting for! So Saturday we got our COVID vaccine and it was pretty fast but man it felt like some one just slugged you in the arm! You have to wait 15 minutes after to see if there is any side effects. While we were sitting there, there was this man who basically had a small seizure in his chair so that was MEGA scary!  The rest of the day was good until after dinner around 6pm. As we left our dinner with members there was a cold wind. We got into the car and Sister Johansen was shivering, which makes sense. But then it kept going for basically and hour and a half. I asked if she was ok but she said she was fine and so we drove to our lesson. When we got there she said that she couldn't breath and started panicking and crying. I told her we can go home and so we left and that whole time driving she was shivering really bad!! We got home and she got so panicked and started hyperventilating pretty bad and so we called our mission nurse and she could tell she was having a shortness of breath and was shivering hard! Sis. Johansen gets major anxiety when it comes to hospitals and so when our nurse told us to go to the ER she started getting more panicked and we are trying to tell her to breath. We had to leave our mission area because that's the only one that's closer then 30 minutes away. 

        We got there and by this time she is fully shaking and breathing super fast! We got her into a small room and they made her breath into one of those blue bags and her air ways were clear but her heart rate was at 130 when we got there so she was pretty bad!! It took 10 more minutes for her to calm down. They did some blood tests and a CT scan and everything took way longer then it should have, so we got out at about 2:30am. Now it was scary...definitely more for Sister Johansen then for me. But like any hard trial it can also be looked at as a learning experience! We had many spiritual experiences while we were there. Our nurse was so unbelievably kind to us.  She luckily had a friend who was a member so she very respectful of us in every way. 

        Sister Johansen asked me to read Moroni 7 and it talked all about ministering of Angel's. I knew angel's were with us and I asked Maddie specifically to be there. But today I was thinking more about it and there were many more angel's and they were the nurses! Jax our nurse was so kind and loving towards Sister Johansen because of how scared she was. Everyone who came in to help her were understanding and kind to us when we told them who we were. We said many prayers for the people who were next to us on the other side of the curtain because of hearing their circumstances. Our Mission President came and gave her a blessing and then drove us home at 2:30am...literally waited for like 4 hours, BLESS HIM AND HIS WIFE!! 

        God is our Heavenly Father! It is a literal fact and I witnessed it this weekend. He knows us, He knows what we need and who we need and he never leaves us. Even though it wasn't fun, I am so grateful for the experiences we had this week that have taught me this once again!!

I finished the Book of Mormon this morning and it was so amazing! I know is true and it is a gift from our Heavenly Father.

I have felt the Joy of Christ during my mission and I know my Savior very intimately! I am grateful for all the experiences that I have had to learn and grow to become the disciple He wants me to be. I am definitely scared/uncertain about coming home, but by and by I will become more and more what God wants me to become. Now I just have to figure out life as a changed person. I know the messages I have shared for the past 81 weeks is true. The church is true. I know that God's plan of happiness is given to us as a gift. It's how we can find true happiness in a world of chaos. I have seen it in the the people I have served and taught and more importantly in my own life. I am extremely humbled and grateful to have served my Father in Heaven for the last 18 months and can't wait to serve Him the rest of my life! 

I love you and will see you soon! ;)

Love,

Sister Fillmore 

4 hours into our fun ER visit. 

Cheers with our cute hospital cups.

Pink spoon with Lily!

Cheese and crackers for our last weekly planning! 

Zone Conference

All vaccinated!

I sure love these 4 beautiful sisters.

Week 80 - The one with all the faith filled miracles!

 Friends!!

This week was so wonderful and full of miracles that makes my heart smile. 

There was a lot of "lasts" this week which made me mega sad but they all ended so well! I had my last MLC meeting, exchange and General Conference on the mission this week and they were all so amazing! 

Ok, MEGA miracle! 

So thursday came and we literally had no energy. We were going to go street contacting and while we were driving I was getting pretty stressed out because it was towards the end of the week and we had a goal to find 2 new people and we had found no one! We started thinking of people we could start teaching and 2 people came to mind and they all lived in North Plains. We turned around and drove to North Plains and talked to this one couple that was a referral from their son and they are awesome but it will take some time. We then thought of Dinah and she was the one who was supposed to come church last week but didn't and we weren't able to get in contact with her. We drove there and luckily her car was in the drive way and when we knocked on the door she let us in...HALLELUJAH!!! We talked about life and then we shared an easter video from President Nelson. She believed everything that was shared and so we talked about Easter a little more and then invited her to General Conference and she said YES!! On Saturday she came to a members home for the afternoon session! It was the best!!  She also wants to learn more, which was a wonderful thing to hear. Ending my mission with a bang! 

General Conference was amazing and we had 4 people that we are teaching watch! I luckily had all of my questions answered and I am very grateful for the revelation God gave me.

This weekend was pretty tough with Easter and Maddie but over all my relationship with my Savior got a lot closer and I love Him with all that I have! He has shown me that I am stronger than I think I am, especially with Him by my side! We literally can't and shouldn't do life without Christ. President Nelson talked all about faith, it was amazing!! 

We have a lot of lessons this week so we are going to be BUSY! 

 I honestly am so grateful for my mission and all the experiences God has given me to become a disciple of Jesus Christ! I know that this is Gods work and this is the most important thing God thinks about. He has NO other side hobbies! I love my Savior, Jesus Christ and I know He loves me. 

 I love you all so so much!

Just one more letter till I will see you all!

 Love,

 Sister Fillmore 

Easter & Conference weekend. The members took good care of us!

I LOVE SISTER JOHANSEN!!!

Our favorite lap dog - Poppy

Ice cream with Sister Wild (our Mission Mom) and Brecklyn!!

Conference morning - chocolate milk testing!

Last Exchange!

We love meetings with APs and ZLs!

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

 Friends!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

LILY IS ON DATE!!! 

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

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

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

I love you all so so much!

Happy Easter 

Love, Sister Fillmore

Well this happened this last week!

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

On exchanges with Sœur Hennum.

Study Time!

Bread making with the other Sisters!

White Chocolate, cranberry and Orange sweet bread!

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

 Friends!! 

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is the best last transfer EVER! 

FOLLOW SPIRITUAL PROMPTINGS!! 

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

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

2nd lesson...if you do, turn around! 

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

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

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

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

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

-Elder Dawe (former OSM AP) 

PS: Be kind to everyone you see please!

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

I love you all so so much! 

Love,

Sister Fillmore 

Love this girl...and ice cream!

LOVE Sister Wilde!

Heart Attacking!

Lunch on exchanges.

Getting a little rough around here!  ;)

Face Mask night!

Green after St. Patricks day!

Sister's Conference!

Week 77 - The weather is "muy bueno"!

 Friends!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love you!

Love,

Sister Fillmore 

The weather is "muy bueno"!

Creepy ladies fence! Ha HA

Exchanges with Pac Thai.

Wonderful Watson Family

I love this women more then anything!

This painting stole my heart!

This is my new dear friend Lilly!

Tie-die party!

Selflies!