Katie's Mission - Apollo Beach - Transfer 3

Apollo Beach - Week 16 - November 4, 2019

JUST HAPPY TO BE HERE:)

Companion: Sister Bingham and Sister Hurley

Sister Hurley just got here & Sister Bingham is about to leave & I am just loving life. My companions have this joke that the J in my name stands for just happy to be here. Ha!

The Elders had a baptism on Saturday and our friend Irish came! There was such a joyful feeling in the room as this family of 3 was baptized. Irish was able to come with her husband and she loved it! It got her even more excited for her baptism and we are pulling the please-get-baptized-before-sister-bingham-leaves card so we are hoping it works. She is so prepared and has so much faith that God will guide her through this process. She studies the Book of Mormon in depth and asks us great questions. She is amazing!! She lives far away but we video chat with her almost every day. So grateful for technology!

HALLOWEEN! We were in Tampa that day and happened to see the new trainees, one of which is my good friend from my BYU ward, Hermana Frei! It was so fun to see her!

One day, Sister Braden from the ward called and told us to come over immediately. We walk in to find out she has a friend over who wants to learn about the gospel! We got to know her and taught her almost the entire Restoration and Plan of Salvation! She loved it and even thanked us for clearing up that there is one true church! We are so excited to teach her more.

We taught the kids, Kaiden and Krisley, again this week and Kaiden is really getting good at praying. He thought we say "I am a man" at the end of our prayers instead of "amen" so his prayers usually go "Dear Heavenly Father... I love you... in the name of Jesus Christ... I am a man." Too funny.

On Sunday we made our rounds in Sun City Center, the retirement community where most of our ward lives. We visited this cute lady who is 94! Her house was adorable and she talked to us all about how she met her husband. She just loved visiting with us and it made my whole day.

We are living it up in a trio and we are trying to make Sister Bingham's last 5 weeks the BEST! Some great things are happening in Apollo Beach!! Thanks for the prayers:) Love you all!

Sister Just-happy-to-be-here ;)

Apollo Beach - Week 17 - November 11, 2019

THE CHURCH EXPERTS!

Companion: Sister Bingham and Sister Hurley

Hi all! This week was actually amazing. I have so much to say. We found TWELVE new people #blessed. Here's a few of the miracles that happened...

One night we ended up in a neighborhood in Apollo Beach and we felt like we should stop by a member named Ernie who we had never met. So we went over there and met this couple in their garage. We were like "are you ernie?" and they were like "what? who is Ernie?" so I guess Ernie has moved away but we met Josh and Tiffany! They are the cutest couple from Texas with southern accents (#goals) and they have 5 kids. Tiffany kept saying "everything happens for a reason!" Amen Tiffany! It is so cool how the Lord works to help us find His children.

We met a guy in our neighborhood named Mark earlier in the week and gave him a Book of Mormon. He was super interested but he is moving to Tampa soon so we told him about the ward up there for when he moves. I kept thinking about it later like maybe we should go back and teach him. A couple days later we walked out of our apartment and there he was walking down the street! Talk about perfect timing. He said he had already read a couple chapters and thought it was really interesting. We set up a church tour and lesson for this week and he wants to come to church on Sunday.

I gave a talk in church on Sunday! It was such a blessing because people were more inclined to come to church when I asked them to come listen to my talk. We had 9 people come!! It was amazing. I spoke about Elder Christofferson's talk "The Joy of the Saints" and how we can find joy through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our neighbor Phyllis came and it was fun to speak because the whole time she was just nodding and saying "Amen. Mm hm." So funny.

There is a lady in our ward who moved in and she asked for her calling to be a ward missionary. She speaks English and Spanish and she told us to put her to work and she can come out with us every day. She is amazing! We were able to teach a bunch of our friends who speak mainly Spanish. We are teaching the wife of a part member family who speaks Spanish. AND they referred their neighbor who wants to learn about the gospel. We accidentally knocked on the wrong door at first but that neighbor wants to learn too and even came to church! So now we are teaching three houses in a row!

We had a movie night with the kids, Kaidan and Krisley, and watched the Book of Mormon videos. Kaidan always calls us the church experts.. "are the church experts coming tonight?" He is so funny. He asked us if we are "passing" church and said "If we got grades I would give you guys an A+!" Thanks Kaidan.

We asked him about baptism and he said "I could be baptized tomorrow!" so that's a good sign. We also taught him about the kingdoms of glory and he goes "Heck no! Heck no!" to the Telestial and Terrestrial Kingdoms and then points to the Celestial Kingdom and says "YESS!"

We were basically in shock the whole week because of all the lessons we had and all the people we were finding. And they are all amazing. We are working our hardest to help these people keep progressing!

Sister Wald- this super funny lady in the ward wrote me this note and stuffed it in the side of my bad after church. She says we are her kids.

Also we saved a turtle!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Sister Johnson

Apollo Beach - Week 18 - November 18, 2019

4 MONTHS!!

Companion: Sister Bingham and Sister Hurley

Happy Monday everyone!! We set three and a half dates this week which was so awesome!

Tuesday night, we invited Kaidan and Krisley and fam to the church for a church-tour-scavenger-hunt! We made rhymes as clues for different rooms in the church. They loved it. We ended at the baptismal font which they thought was super cool. Their mom almost started crying because this is the font she was baptized in when she used to live here at age 13. We had an amazing lesson in the primary room afterwards and talked more about their baptism and set a date for December 7th! We are so excited! Their 12 yo cousin Julia was there too and she bore her testimony about her baptism and attending the temple. It was so sweet. She has been an amazing example and so helpful in teaching Krisley.

They came to church and also the children and youth broadcast at night. They hadn't been to church for a while because of many different things but they now have renewed motivation to come every week! Kaidan walked in to church as I was conducting the opening song and was pointing at me and laughing and it made me laugh.

We set a date with Irish for early January. She is doing amazing. We went through the baptism interview questions with her and she kept saying "I feel so ready! Do you think I'm ready?" She wishes she could be baptized tomorrow but the scheduling is complicated. Her and her husband are doing everything they can to get to their goal of being sealed in the temple next year!

We had a great lesson with our friend Sylvia. She is a great grandma and she is hilarious. We taught her the whole plan of Salvation which she loved. We asked her what her next step is and she said "I know I need to be baptized" and when we asked her when she said "...maybe june" Haha we are trying to help her understand that she is prepared and she doesn't need to know everything perfectly before she is baptized. :)

It was cool how the Plan of Salvation helped her understand how important it is to be baptized. She knows it is such an important covenant with God and it is the gate to the Celestial Kingdom. God provided us with a way back to Him so that we can find joy and be with our families forever! And that way is through Jesus Christ! I am so grateful for my Savior and all that He sacrificed for me. God's plan is PERFECT and completely stacked in our favor. And the first step is baptism! It is amazing to be a missionary to help people come unto Christ through baptism!

Love you all,

Sister Johnson

Apollo Beach - Week 19 - November 25, 2019

JESUS LOVES YOU

Companion: Sister Bingham and Sister Hurley

This week went by so fast and a lot of great things happened. Not every day is easy or perfect but we love being missionaries and teaching the gospel. It's the best!!

This week was spent preparing for baptisms coming up the next couple of weeks! One of them is Brad: he is in his 20s and is being baptized on Saturday. The elders found him when they were here last transfer. He is awesome! We also started teaching his parents who are THRILLED he is being baptized. They say he is the happiest he has ever been. His mom Beth is super enthusiastic and says she already knows Joseph Smith was a prophet and the Book of Mormon is true. She said she could tell even over the phone that we had something she wanted. And her husband said they have already decided they are going to start coming to this church so yeaahh!

Kaidan and Krisley are going strong preparing for their baptism on Decemver 7th. We taught them about the Word of Wisdom this week. We asked what foods we should avoid and Kaidan makes a while guess and goes "beans and cheese?" No Kaidan, you can have beans and cheese. When we first started coming over, Krisley did not want to be baptized. But now she told her mom she is really starting to like church. She even told us she has been studying for her baptismal interview. I JUST LOVE THEM.

This week we also had ZONE CONFERENCE with half the mission and area president Elder Martino! It was amazing. The spirit filled the room as all the missionaries went up to shake the hands of the Martinos and Hollingsworths. I felt so much love for them and our whole mission.

We learned SO much and received so much revelation we are excited to apply to our area. We talked a lot about how to be even more effective mission and how to use Light the World! We have a goal to share the Christ Child video with as many members and nonmembers as possible. The video is amazing and we have already watched it 7 times with people since Thursday. It is such a beautiful and simple video that is easy to share with friends and neighbors during the Christmas season. ;)

I am grateful for a lot of things- I'm grateful we got extra miles from the assistants, I'm grateful for Shannels adorable babies who say "Je-sus.. loves.. me" , I'm grateful we have a real life chef in our ward who feeds us amazing food, I'm grateful for my companions who work hard but also make dumb jokes, I'm incredibly grateful for the gospel and all the wonderful people in Florida and all my friends and family!! HAPPY THANKSGIVING Y'ALL

Sister Johnson

Apollo Beach - Week 20 - December 2, 2019

SWEATER WEATHER?

Companion: Sister Bingham and Sister Hurley

Week 20 what's up!! Florida is the best. Most days still feel like summer so it is weird that it is already december. But there have been a couple colder days where we get to wear sweaters which is super nice.

Miracle of the week! One day we stopped by our friend Yolbi. It didn't look like anyone was home so we were writing a note to leave at her door. But then she opened the door and invited us in to have a first lesson with her and her 5 kids! It went so well. We taught the kids all about the Godhead and how to pray. They didn't know any of it before and were super excited to learn. They promised to pray every day! They are the best. I just love teaching kids.

On Saturday we had BRAD'S BAPTISM! He is in his 20s and was so prepared for the gospel! The elders found him when they were in Apollo Beach (they were neighbors!) and so they kept teaching him after they left but he was baptized into our ward. We spent most of the day preparing for it and everything looked so good and a bunch of members came! All of the talks were perfect and the spirit was so strong. We are also teaching his mom Beth and she is one interesting woman. She just loves us and told the elders that whenever we come over it is a "godly experience". She could barely sleep the night before he baptism because she was so nervous and excited. She was in tears throughout the entire thing. She said Brad is the happiest he has ever been. When we were taking pictures she told "Bradley" to "show his beautiful smile" or else she would tell baby stories. 😂

We had the best December 1st. We went over to this cute family in our ward to watch The Christ Child and they invited their neighbors! When they opened the doors to their house to let their neighbors in, we could almost hear the light the world music playing in the background. They had cookies in the kitchen and missionaries in the living room. It was perfect. We had the best lesson with the kids about Christ's birth. They are the cutest. We talked about how the wise men gave gold, frankincense, and myrrh and we can give gifts to Jesus too by loving and serving those around us! I am so grateful that Jesus Christ was born for us and gave us the greatest gift of all.

HAPPY DECEMBER!!

Love, Sister Johnson

Apollo Beach - Week 21 - December 9, 2019

BOAT LIGHT PARADE AND WAFFLE COOKIES

Companion: Sister Bingham and Sister Hurley

GOOD NEWS. Prayers have been answered. President called this morning and I'm staying in Apollo Beach with Sister Hurley! He even joked about how he knows we dont get along very well and its gonna be tough just because he just knows we are best friends. We are sooo happy we have a lot going on with our people right now so its gonna be great. Plus I am going to be a sister training leader so that will be fun too!

SAD NEWS. Sister Bingham goes home tomorrow but I am so excited for her. She has been the best trainer and friend and is gonna kill it at home(: love you sister bingham!!!!

OTHER NEWS. Kaidan and Krisley weren't baptized this week because they decided to wait till January when their grandma can come. Kinda sad but we are using this extra time to make sure they are extra prepared. We had a lesson with them this week and asked why they are being baptized. They gave some solid answers those kids know their stuff! Kaidan said the closing prayer and it was his best one yet! "I love you God, I am excited for my baptism, please help me get ready for my baptism" :)

This week we also had EXCHANGES which are the absolute best. Sister Hurley and I stayed here with SISTER BALL (she's also leaving tomorrow which is soo sad) and we had some miracle lessons let me tell you. We had straight lessons all day and you can really tell our friends are progressing towards baptism. We are meeting with a bunch of them 2 or 3 times a week and they are coming to church which is super great.

Brad's parents, Beth and Robert, are doing awesome! We taught them the Plan of Salvation with Brad there. Everything went great except Beth had a hard time with the spirit world and the term "spirit prison" and even started crying. We explained everything to her and asked her to pray about it. A couple days later she called us saying she had been praying really hard about it and God helped her understand it. She then explained in detail what the spirit world is like and how it can be like a prison if we choose to separate ourselves from Jesus Christ and reject the gospel. She really understands it well it was pretty crazy. God is really helping her understand! She is so funny whenever we say goodbye on the phone she starts telling Robert "oh they are just so cute..." before we even hang up. Every time. It is hilarious.

On Sunday, we hadn't met our finding goal and felt like we should stop by one of our friends by the church. We had met some of the 6 kids around but never the mom. She was home and said we could come back to watch the Christ Child with their family! We walked around for an hour and met some more neighbors. In that short time being in that neighborhood we met a ton of great families who agreed to have us back to watch the Christ Child and were interested in church and the Christmas party. It is cool how God magnifies our efforts because that is the only time we have gone "finding" in a while because we have been so busy and He helped us exceed our goal!

Love you all & thanks for all the prayers(:

Sister Johnson

pictures!

-best district everrrr!

-a lady in our ward gave us this for our car

-lesson with polo

-making waffle cookies with betty!!

-we got invited to a BOAT LIGHT PARADE in Apollo Beach and it was my favorite thing I've done so far. Theres there's much water here and everyone has a boat in their backyard. I love florida!