Katie's Mission - Apollo Beach - Transfer 5
Apollo Beach - Week 28 - January 27, 2020
K&K’s Baptism
Companion: Sister Hurley and Sister Waters
Hello everyone!! This week has been a good one let me tell ya! Sister Hurley and I had a few days of teaching and getting our apartment all ready for our new companion. On Thursday, we went to the training meeting and met all the new missionaries. There were 14 elders and only 4 sisters coming in. We had trainings and then at the end they announced who would become the third amigo to join us in Apollo Beach.. our new companion is SISTER WATERS!! Sister Waters is from Idaho! She is so sweet and fits right in:) She is already an amazing missionary and even had a baptism!!!;)
Kaidan and Krisley's baptism FINALLY HAPPENED ON SATURDAY. It was so wonderful to teach them all these months and finally see them baptized and confirmed. They were so happy and their family was all involved in the baptism, giving prayers and talks. Their mom Dannali gave such a beautiful talk that made us cry. She spoke about how much her testimony has been strengthened the past few months and how happy she is to see her kids following Jesus Christ. Dannali grew up here and was baptized 20 years ago in the exact same font as her kids were! I loved her testimony♥️
Krisley has come a long way. She was so happy and even cried during her mom's talk. I am so proud of her and I know we will be friends forever.
Kaidan is probably the funniest kid in the world and was commentating during the entire baptism. After one of the talks he said "that's very true" and after we sang all 4 verses of I am a Child of God, he said "finally, that took foreverrr" haha! Randomly during the baptism, he also said "now when the heck am I going to get the "Holy" Ghost?" This kid was so happy Sunday when he was confirmed in front of the entire ward :)
Sister Waters brought so many miracles with her this week!
First, we have been teaching Jackie for quite some time. Some of her kids and grandkids are members but she has many questions. We had a lesson about baptism and we invited her to be baptized and she said yes!!! We are shooting for February 8th before she goes back to Calgary (she is a snowbird, only comes to Florida in the winter) so we will see what happens! Basically everytime we walked out of a lesson this week we all stared at each other with our months wide open, shocked about what just what down.
We had a lesson with Brad's parents, Beth and Robert. Robert hasn't really wanted us to come over for a little while but when we came to teach Beth, he sat in on the lesson too and kept asking great questions. He was so impressed and kept asking us how we know all of this. He loves the History channel and I told him the Book of Mormon is a history book about the people in ancient America and he goes "now you got me interested!" He said he would read the Book of Mormon and come to church on Sunday! When we left, Beth gave me a hug and whispered "a miracle occurred tonight!" Amen Beth.
Finally, we went to the dog park to do companion study one day and our friend Tiffani show up. While her dogs are running around, we asked her if she wanted to come over and read the Book of Mormon with us. She tells us about how her husband unexpectedly passed away this year and she just moved down here for the sunshine. Sister Hurley shared Alma 40:11 which says, "Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life."
We were able to testify that life continues after death and she can be reunited with her husband someday! She loved all the verses we read with her and said she felt peace and comfort. We testified that it was the Holy Ghost telling her this was true. She was so grateful we met and said that she almost didn't come to the dog park today but God knew we needed to meet:) I am so grateful for eternal families and for God's perfect and merciful plan
Sister Johnson
- We played church jeopardy with Kaidan and Krisley which they LOVED. Me and Krisley vs. Kaidan and Sis Hurley and Sis Waters... it was close but Kadian beat us! He made several laps around the room and called me a bad missionary and said I need to study more🤣 see pictures below.
Apollo Beach - Week 29 - February 3, 2020
Journeyings Without Murmurings
Companion: Sister Hurley and Sister Waters
Hey friends! Life is so good being back in the power trio. We set goals and made a catchphrase for the transfer which comes from 1 Nephi 17:2. It talks about all of the trials Nephi's family was facing but then says "and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings." I just loved the wording of that. So we are trying to focus on having a positive attitude like Nephi. Even though the mission is a hard journey, we can trust in the Lord and stay hopeful. (:
This week I went on exchange with Sister Hartshorn and we had MLC- mission leadership conference! It was amazing to counsel with the Hollingsworths and all of the awesome missionaries. We have a great year ahead of us!
I actually have exactly 1 year left today! We had a little party on Sunday since it was also Sister Waters' 1 month plus the super bowl of course haha just kidding. I am sooo grateful I still have a year to serve the Lord! I know it will be full of miracles and amazing experiences.
We found lots of new people this week we are excited about!! After church on Sunday, we visited a part member family who fed us a whooole lot of Colombian food. Afterwards, Brother Ospina said he had a feeling his friend could use the gospel right now. He had just met her recently but took us over to see where her house was. She was outside and he told her that if she listens to us, it will change her life. She is so cute and said we can come by anytime this week! We can't wait to teach her.
Hope everyone has a great week and keeps journeying without murmuring;)
Sister Johnson
Apollo Beach - Week 30 - February 10, 2020
hellos & goodbyes
Companion: Sister Hurley and Sister Waters
Hello!! This week started off kinda hard. Monday we said goodbye to Kaidan and Krisley which was sooo sad. They have to move back to Texas because of a couple heath reasons. When we got there, Kaidan asked for a lesson, so we taught them about how Nephi's family had to leave all of their stuff and move unexpectedly. They have faith that God has a plan for them. We already got them in contact with the missionaries in Texas and they are excited to go to their new ward. Krisley set an alarm on her phone for a year from now when we can be "real friends". Haha.
Jackie just moved back to Canada also! We went out for one final lunch with her and said our goodbyes. We are excited for her to keep learning from the missionaries in Canada and she will be baptized by her son when she moves back to Florida in September. WE LOVE YOU JACKIE!
Then Sylvia texted us and said she will not be getting baptized:/ Please pray for her.
Our people seemed to be leaving right and left so we spent a couple nights finding. We had no luck and felt a little discouraged. Everyone in our zone was seeing miracles and we didn't feel like we were. We set a goal and prayed to find 3 new people and we didn't find them that night but God answered in His timing and helped us find those three by the end of the week! The next two nights we felt like we were guided to certain places at certain times to find LOTS of new people. It was cool to see how when we trusted in God, He helped us. It was like he was saying "don't worry Sisters!! I am still here!"
One night we stopped by a couple Spanish friends with Sister Espinal. One cute family remembered missionaries coming before and wanted us to come back. We also met their neighbor who wants to be taught! On the way back, we got a prompting to have Sister Espinal let us out so we could walk the rest of the way home. She stopped and let us out and we walked through a neighborhood on our way home where we met Kahlan. She was pushing her stroller and walking her dog. We started talking for a bit and told her he message we share about eternal families! She was so grateful we talked to her. It is amazing how God works!
This week we also had ZONE CONFERENCE WOOT WOOT! Here are some things I learned...
•back to the basics! focus on the simple doctrines of the church so we can help our friends
•pray that we can find the elect or that they can find us!
•positive attitude, high goals, self-discipline
•high expectation, high love
•at the end, President Hollingsworth quoted President Nelson and said, "next [zone] conference will be different from any previous conference!" and he literally dropped the mic on the pew. Can't wait for next zone conference
Love you all!
Sister Johnson
Apollo Beach - Week 31 - February 17, 2020
Be a little BOULDER
Companion: Sister Hurley and Sister Waters
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY. This week, we had exchanges so Sister Waters and I headed up to Lithia with Sister Jackson. We had a great time and celebrated Valentines day by handing out passalong cards with pictures of Jesus Christ and little chocolate hearts attached. We handed them out to as many members as we could and challenged them to give them to a friend or a stranger on Valentines day. We also felt like we should go around and hand them out to some of the local businesses. First, we stopped by this little doctor's office. We thought it was weird to go in but we told ourselves to be a little bolder and just walked in. Then I hear "Miss Johnson!" The first person we saw was PHYLLIS, our neighbor down in Apollo Beach!! I don't know how we ended up in Lithia but we haven't seen her in forever and she told us she knew God planned it so we could meet up.
Then we walked by a barbershop and thought we might as well just give some to the barbers. We hesitated but decided to walk in. We gave them to the cards and started to leave but when we looked back one of the girls we gave it to was still standing there and bawling. Sister Waters ran up and gave her a hug. She said the timing was perfect and that is exactly what she needed right now and we got her number to send a scripture
In district council, our district leader gave us little rocks to keep in our pocket to remind us to be a little boulder. To talk to everyone and be the best missionaries we can be. So every day we remind each other to be a little bolder and we are seeing miracles!
We had SPECIALIZED TRAINING this week. This is where all the trainees and trainers meet at the mission office for a super fun day of trainings and contacting on USF campus. It was awesome. I learned a lot and I'm excited to work harder at every aspect of missionary work. Sister Hurley and I took Sister Water's MTC companion, Sister Thurgood, on campus and we met some awesome people. One girl walked by us and we asked if we could share a scripture really quick. We talked for a bit and she said her grandma had just passed away recently and she was really sad. Sister Hurley, being the scripture master she is, pulled up Alma 40:11. Natalie loved this and said it made her whole day. She's the SWEETEST and is excited to meet with the YSA sisters.
We started teaching a woman named Sandra this week and she is absolutely amazing. She even came to church on Sunday. Guess who else surprised us at church? President and Sister Hollingsworth!! They are the best & they made our friend feel so welcome.
One thing I love doing with members is watching a video about the Restoration and then asking them how their life would be different if the church had not been restored. They always have the best answers. There are so many truths that we would not know if we didnt have the Book of Mormon and a living prophet to guide us. I know this is Jesus Christ's church and I am so grateful to be here sharing it with as many people as I can! This week I challenge everybody be just a little bolder in talking to others about the gospel. :)
Sister Johnson
Apollo Beach - Week 32 - February 24, 2020
Last week in Miracle Beach?
Companion: Sister Hurley and Sister Waters
Sister Jackson and I had another legendary exchange on Tuesday. She is such a solid missionary and so good at contacting and teaching people in a natural way. She's the bessst and were praying to whitewash YSA together hahah.
Then we had interviews on Wednesday where President kinda hinted that it's my last week in Apollo Beach. Yes I've been here my whole mission!! So who knows where I will go?? I am really going to miss my companions and the whole Brandon zone.. or "BRANDOOONNN ZOOONEEE" as we call it. We always see so many miracles and get each other excited about missionary work and our people.🏼
Here's a few awesome missionary stories for you..
1. One day we had a great night planned but 2 of our people fell through. We saw 1 garage open so we went to talk to the man in there. He said he had been taught by missionaries last year but their records were nowhere to be found. Then his daughter came out and invited us in. She has SEVEN KIDS and one of her daughters still reads the Book of Mormon every day! How sweet is that? They said they were almost baptized but then the elders left. We are so excited to teach them !! God is so good.
2. We had a wonderful lesson with Shannel. At the end, we taught her what a testimony is and asked if she knows the church is true. She said "yes, I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet and this is the only true church!" Shannel is seriously such an inspiration. She gave her friend at work a Book of Mormon and we are planning to have a lesson with her at Shannel's house next week! She is the most solid member missionary and she's not even a member. I want to be more like her.
3. Remember Luis who got baptized back in August? He has been doing AMAZING. He's been to the temple tons of times now and is preparing to recieve the Melchezidek priesthood. He is planning to visit Utah this April and even sang a hymn in church last week!! It is so cool to see how much his life has changed for the better in just 6 months. The gospel blesses us in so many ways! Helping others strengthen their testimonies each day strengthens mine so much.
One last thought. We taught the old folks Come Follow Me class this week and talked about GRACE. The Savior has already done everything for us so we can return to God! No matter where we are or what we have done, His grace is sufficient and we can always come back to Him.
I love my mission and I love you all. Have a good week!
Sista J
...fun pics of me being a missionary, enjoying some hibachi and sushi, and my cute companions at interviews!
Apollo Beach - Week 33 - March 2, 2020
I’m going back to college
Companion: Sister Hurley and Sister Waters
TRANSFER 6 NEWS... We just got the call and I'm headed to YSA to finish Sister Tauanu'u's training!
I'm finally leaving my first area, so here are some shoutouuuuts!
S/O to all the old ladies in Apollo Beach for being my grandmas out here:)
S/O to Bishop Kekoolani for always beginning sacrament meeting by saying ALOOOOHA!
S/O to Sister Espinal for being the best member missionary and example ever!
S/O Luis and Brad for being the most solid recent converts ever, always bearing their testimonies and being the best examples for the ward.
S/O Irish for keeping the temple as her goal, she got to visit the outside this week and loved it!
S/O to the humidity for making me feel like I'm on vacation when I go outside in the morning
S/O to Sister Hedin for accomplishing her goal of attending the temple 50 times last year. She is such a great example.
S/O to Shannel for being the most faithful investigator and sharing the gospel with her friends. I hope I can come back for her baptism!!
S/O to her kids Nariah and Nehemiah for being the cutest kids in the world and learning how to pray all by themselves.
S/O to the 11 year old Isabella for drawing a picture of me conducting the music in sacrament meeting. So cute.
S/O to the sisters in our zone Sis Hartshorn and Sis Jackson. They are the best examples and friends.
S/O to Sister Waters for being the best greenie ever! Seriously she is such a great teacher and always speaks with authority and has the best things to say. She is also so funny, I LOVE HER.
S/O to Sister Hurley for being my best friend and teaching me how to be an all around fantastic missionary. We got so lucky staying together for 4 transfers!!! I'm gonna miss her so much.
I love this area! It's crazy to think about how far I have come in the past 7 months. I have learned so much from sooo many people here and I have come closer to my Savior Jesus Christ. I am excited for the adventures ahead in YSA!
Love Sister Johnson
