Katie's Mission - Carrollwood - Transfer 9

Carrollwood - Week 52 - July 13, 2020

MISSIONARY FOR ONE YEAR!

Companion: Sister T and Hermana Warren

It's been a fun week!! First of all, we got 18 new missionaries this week! Some of them came early on Monday so we had a sister.. Hermana Gardner stay with us for 2 days. It was soo fun to have 4! Hermana Gardner served in Paraguay and she is so awesome. She got to join in on all of the festivities with Sister T's birthday! We got breakfast at Keke's breakfast cafe and at night we played volleyball and ate cake for one of our outside breaks with the other sisters! It was also our zone leaders birthday so we got Sister T and Elder Hawkes matching pink birthday girl badges(:

The rest of the sisters that came in this week were originally assigned to Hawaii so they will be here until it opens up! They are all brand new missionaries who just finished the OTC. Some of them came to our zone so we now have 15 sisters which is insane (There was 4 of us in my first area!)

FL update: it has been extremely hot!!! Yesterday felt like 104!

We still do most of our work online but we have district council, ward coordination, and lessons at the church building with our friends. There are so many missionaries working from the Carrollwood building so it's pretty much a party 24/7. For our outside breaks we play basketball and soccer with the sisters in the gym. We also got permission to visit members on their doorsteps and share a message! So nice to get to know them in person.

We worked so hard this week and felt like our friends weren't progressing but funny how God ALWAYS has something better in store...

1) We finally had a lesson with our neighbor we have been texting and taught him the whole restoration which he LOVED. The spirit was so strong even over the phone and Hna Warren recited the first vision she had been practicing in English! We set up a lesson at the church building and we are going to pass him off to YSA!

2) We have been calling a self referral who has never answered until YESTERDAY. Her name is Brandi and she has 4 kids. She wants to become closer to God and understand the bible better. She said she had a dream that people gave her another Book to help her understand it! So we testified of the Book of Mormon and shared a scripture which she loved! She doesn't know how to be properly baptized but she wants her and her kids to be baptized! We told her that as missionaries we help people get baptized by the proper authority and she got so excited:)

One more update.. we got permission to do a video call with KAIDAN AND KRISLEY & SISTER HURLEY!!! to pass them off to the new sisters in texas where they moved! It was so fun to see them and teach with Sis Hurley again and catch up with Dannali.. I LOVE THOSE KIDDOS.

Y'all this might blow your minds but I hit 1 YEAR ON THE MISSION on Friday! I'm so grateful I came here to Tampa and for every single person I've met!! It has been the craziest and most fun year and its gone by way fast. But if you have time I would LOVE an email back with the biggest advice you have from your missions or a favorite scripture or talk from this week! I loove reading suggestions and I would love to hear from you! THANKS A TON!

Love, Sister J

Carrollwood - Week 53 - July 20, 2020

YOU CAN DO IT NOW

Companion: Sister T and Hermana Warren

Happy Monday! I can't believe how fast July is going by, time is flying!

We had MLC this week IN PERSON and it was incredible as usual. It made me soo happy to see all my friends again! Even with face masks on We talked a lot about becoming blind to the "obvious realities" of the circumstances we are in and seeing things with an eye of faith. We talked about all the things that we CAN still do as missionaries. There isn't much we can't do honestly (we can't baptize people older than 65 and we can't go inside members homes). Satan wants to convince us we CAN'T DO and that there are limitations keeping us from being the best missionaries we can be. The Lord is teaching us a better way to serve and HIS WAY is always best. He teaches that we CAN DO.

We also had exchanges this week!! I went to spanish land (the tampa spanish ward) with Hermana Samples and Hermana Gardner (the sister who stayed with us last week!) Oh it was so much fun. I love them both with my whole heart. Hermana Samples did so well leading her area and even made us enchiladas for lunch. We read everything in Spanish so I got a lot of Spanish practice and I even read a scripture and bore my testimony in a lesson! Hermana Gardner has been out the same amount of time as me and is going to BYU next year soooo we kind of have to hang out.

Another highlight was visiting members on their doorsteps and sharing messages with them! It has been a game changer meeting them in person! I have talked to them all so many times but it is so different seeing them in person. We got a huge loaf of homemade break from Sister Begg and we visited Bishop's family on their back patio for an hour yesterday and it made my whole life. They are the cutest family in the world. We also visited one lady on her porch in 100° humidity for like 30 minutes and I felt like I was back in my training knocking doors in the summer. It's so hot I feel like I just got to Cwood but Bishop said I keep killing people off and I didnt realize I have been here for almost 3 transfers! I love this ward.

Almost all of our lessons fell through this week but we got to meet with all the members who were going to join in our lessons so it's all good! They are so aweosme. We also had our first week of CARROLLWOOD ZOOM SACRAMENT MEETING! They don't do the sacrament ordinance but it is recorded in the chapel and there are prayers, songs, and a talk! Bishop gave an amazing talk and it was so fun to see all of the families in our ward watching together Plus Manoj joined! He has been reading and praying lots! please keep him in your prayers.

One of my favorite talks is called You Can Do It Now from President Uchtdorf. He talks about how he fell when he was skiing with his grandkids and couldn't get up. Then his grandson came over and said "you can do it now!" and it gave him the motivation he needed and he got up and kept skiing! He says, "Every person, young and old, has had his own personal experience with falling. Falling is what we mortals do. But as long as we are willing to rise up again and continue on the path toward the spiritual goals God has given us, we can learn something from failure and become better and happier as a result." Whenever you are feeling down, just imagine him with his german accent saying "YOU CAN DO IT NOW!" (If you need to listen to the talk to hear the accent, I would highly reccomend:)

Love you all, keep being amazing!

Sis Johnson

Carrollwood - Week 54 - July 27, 2020

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

Companion: Sister T and Hermana Warren

This week has been sweet. We were blessed with lots of self referrals and have more amazing people to work with! 

One of the referrals is from PANAMA (where Sister Warren first served) and his name is HEYNAR. He is sooo awesome. His girlfriend is a member and he has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying about being baptized! He said he knows this is the right thing to do. When we first texted my companions were laughing so hard because we said "hey heynar!" His date is set for August 8th!

We also had exchanges this week

Sister WATERS (yes my girl) and Sister PERKINS came to Carrollwood for the day, which was so fun. So good to be back with "swaters". She loved teaching again since she is currently serving in the office! Sister Perkins just started her mission a couple weeks ago and she is doing AMAZING! She is the cutest and already knows the lesson so well. She will probably be heading to her original assignment in Hawaii in September!

We taught Karina one of her recent convert lessons (she's doing great!) and also had an awesome lesson on the phone with a family that was formerly taught! We weren't sure if they would remember our lesson but when we called they were all ready sitting around the phone. They sang us a song they learned from another church and we had a ukulele near by so we played Did You Think to Pray for them which they loved. We are hoping to set up a church tour with them!

We have ministering assignments in our zone and on the 25th, some of the sisters dropped off some stockings and oranges and christmas lights!! #chrismtasinjuly 

This week we had Z O N E CONFERENCE! It was so great and it was in person with face masks! We couldn't eat lunch together after so Sister Hollingsworth put together huge snack bags for everyone afterward. Sister Anderson and I gave a training about FAITH & WORKS and what would happen if we stopped at the end of what we know how to do aka our WORKS. If we have FAITH, God can take us so much farther than we ever could go on our own. As missionaries, we need to do all we can to reach our goals but also have faith that God will magnify our efforts and help us accomplish what He needs us to. I am soo grateful for that, we could not do anything without Heavenly Father!

The Carrollwood ward is having virtual zoom sacrament meetings and this week we got to attend and sing a musical number! It was soo nice to be in church! We sang Gethsemane and roped a bunch of other missionaries in as well:)

We also had a youth fireside on zoom with the cwood elders and talked about the WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE and WHY of missionary work and how they can reach out to their friends during this time. We have the best. ward. ever!

Love you all, keep on keeping on! Let me know if I can do anything for you:)

Sister Johnson

Carrollwood - Week 55 - August 3, 2020

I’M A YOGINI

Companion: Sister T and Hermana Warren

HAPPY AUGUST Y'ALL!

We have been seeing lots of miracles and we taught a lot this week which is such a blessing!!

First of all, Heynar is doing A M A Z I N G and is so ready for his baptism on Saturday! He can hardly wait another week. In one of our lessons, he taught us the Restoration which blew our minds and he even watched this past general conference! Wow, Heynar is so prepared and he is so grateful to have found the gospel!!

Craziest miracle! Do y'all remember back when me and Sister T were together in YSA, a walking miracle named VANESSA came into the church building and attended a baptism with us, she LOVED IT and felt the spirit so strong but we have since lost contact with her. Anyways, there is a lady we are working with named Carmen who is enjoying the lessons and always asks us to pray for her daughter.. anyways you have probably guessed but we finally found out that VANESSA IS CARMEN'S DAUGHTER We had another lesson with both of them and Vanessa was telling her mom how she met us and all about the baptism and the songs we sang! We had an awesome lesson and it was so cool to connect with Vanessa again. Please pray for them as we continue to teach!

•In other news, Sister T chopped my hair this week!

•We also got to do yoga at the church with a member named Cat which was way nice! Apparently girls who do yoga are called yoginis?

•We had interviews with President! (over zoom)

•We had dinner with a family on their back patio while their kids played in the pool!

•I am sooo grateful for the gospel!! God has such a perfect plan!! & none of it would be possible without the Atonement of Jesus Christ! This scripture says it perfectly..

Alma 42:15 And now, the plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also.

Love, Sister J

Carrollwood - Week 56 - August 10, 2020

FLORIDA MAN PROPOSES IN CHURCH PARKING LOT

Companion: Sister T and Hermana Warren

Hey!! It has been a very exciting week that's for sure! SO MANY HIGHLIGHTS here are some of them:

•HEYNAR'S BAPTISM•

He is honestly the most prepared person and could not stop saying how grateful he was to find the church. :) The spirit was so strong as Heynar was baptized and confirmed and then recieved the priesthood afterwards! The night before, we had a little recent convert party at the church since most of Heynar's friends are other recent converts. They all talked about their baptisms and Seve (the one who baptized him) helped him practice being baptized but he actually fell back as if he was going into the water and seve just let go and let him fall on his chair. They were okay, it was soo funny! The actual baptism went well;)

•EXCHANGE• 

I went to YSA with sister Farley and sister Wilson! & sis Anderson was also in the YSA apartment with the social media specialists sis smith and sis samples! It was such a party and we laughed way too hard! LOVE THEM. We had some awesome lessons, those sisters are killing it! We tried to make cookies with a new recipe which did not work at all and we kept adding things until it tasted better. We ended up with muffin-cookie-bars which were actually pretty alright don't worry.. so we dropped them off to this extremely solid girl who hasn't been in contact with them at all lately AND SHE TEXTED US TO SET UP A LESSON. The elders always make fun of sisters for making and delivering cookies all the time but it works;)

•SHANDA•

So we met Shanda on Monday night when we were calling formers, she was so open and excited to talk to us. We delivered a Book of Mormon on Wednesday. On Friday, we had a lesson with her where we talked about star wars for like 30 minutes and related it to the gospel. Wow there is so much, thanks for making me watch star wars ryan it really paid off!! It was so good though.. her and her daughter had a question about why there is a Hell if Jesus Christ came and died for all of us! we explained  the Atonement and the plan of salvation and it really made sense to her. We talked about how everyone is saved by Jesus Christ but we will go to a different degree of glory depending on our actions.. she said "that is what I believe!" She is soo amazing. And then in her lesson yesterday, SHE SAID SHE WANTS TO BE BAPTIZED! ON AUGUST 31st! & her daughter is 10 and so interested in the church as well, so pray for them(:(:

•DRIVE-BY DEVOTIONAL•

This was one of the highlights of my life just wait.. so all the missionaries in our zone got together on Saturday and set up a drive by devotional where cars can turn into the church parking lot and go through 3 stations where they get a message, prayer, and then free lemonade+a book of mormon. There were a bunch of us out on the road with huge signs pointing cars in to the parking lot and if they passed we told them to turn around (which like 5 cars did!) The people loved it and left with big smiles, lemonades, and future appointments with the missionaries! Sooo towards the end, there was this couple walking by and we asked them if they wanted lemonade and the guy, Gordon, says no we already got lemonade *holds up a big box of beer* but we kept talking and Gordon says, "actually you three will be my witnesses.. I have been waiting to do this all day".. and he KNEELS DOWN AND PROPOSES to his girlfriend RIGHT BEFORE OUR EYES. ring and everything and she starts crying and we didn't know what to do so we just cheered and all the other missionaries were so confused. Then they decided to walk through the drive through and the New Tampa sisters shared a message about eternal families and set up a lesson at the church. It was the most bizarre moment but they took a selfie with us and said they are going to be married in the church! WOOHOO for Shannon and Gordon!

I'm super grateful to be a missionary right now and for all that I am learning! I know this is Jesus Christ's restored gospel and the power of God us truly on the Earth! There is nothing that brings me more joy than helping others find the truths of the gospel! We read one of my favorite chapters in a sisters comp study this week and I really loved this verse.

Alma 26:30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.

Sister Johnson

-also we played pickleball today with all the sisters in the HEAT #teamWaters&Johnson back at it again

Carrollwood - Week 57 - August 17, 2020

BLESSINGS

Companion: Sister T and Hermana Warren

TRANSFER NEWSSSSS... we were totally surprised but I am STAYING IN CARROLLWOOD! Sadly, Sis T is going to Ocala zone and Sis Warren is going to another area but staying in the zone! My companion will be Sister (Amanda) Anderson who is also an STL which will be nice! (Yes my current stl comp Sis Emily Anderson is out)

It has been a great week here! Our friend Shanda who is getting baptized Aug 31st is doing SO WELL. We have met with her almost everyday this week. On Saturday we did a chapel tour with her and her 2 kids, Simon and Fatima. We gave them each their own Book of Mormon and they loved it! On Sunday they all came back for a lesson and bishops family joined us. We had a lesson and then the girls started playing basketball and the boys started talking video games and the moms got to know each other.. it was a beautiful sight to see the fellowshipping in process. We invited the kids to be baptized on the same day as their mom and THEY SAID YES

Pray for this cute family! We are meeting them at the park tonight for a lesson and Simon is going to join the elders in a football game with some other friends!

We got a few self referrals as well, CHARLOTTE AND SHARON are the cutest ladies and we can't wait to keep teaching them about the gospel. I know that it helps us through hard times !! They both have surgeries this week so pray they go well

We had a final "tampa sisters comp study" this week which was actually a goodbye party for a bunch of the sisters that are going home or to their original assignment (Sister Perkins is going to HAWAII!!) #tampa4ever

I have LOVED this transfer and LEARNED sooo much. So grateful for my cute companions for making everything such a party, teaching me so much, and helping me to be better :) honestly this whole zone and everyone I've met has been such a blessing #blessed

One thing I have been enjoying this week is just taking more time to just sit and read the Book of Mormon & it is so good. I know the Book of Mormon is true and it brings so much guidance & comfort.. can I get an amen?

Love you all so much! Have fun starting school soon!!

Sister Johnson