Katie's Mission - Tampa Bay YSA - Transfer 6
Tampa Bay YSA - Week 34 - March 9, 2020
Welcome to TAMPA
Companion: Sister Tauanu'u
What's up everybody! Hope all is going well. We had a great first week in YSA. My companion is Sister Tauanu'u and I LOVE HER. This is her 2nd transfer and she is such a great missionary. She is from St. George and yes she looks like Moana and she is half Samoan. We are having so much fun🥳
Plus we are in THE Tampa zone and loving it. It's going to be a great transfer.
We don't have a lot of people to teach so we have been working super hard trying to get some good things going with members and finding people. Our whole mission is praying for miracles so that every companionship in the mission can baptize in the month of March. #miraclemarch We were trying so hard but couldn't seem to find anyone all week.
THEN on Sunday after stake conference, the missionaries were all prepping for a baptism and a girl named Vanessa walks in the church at 1 (the time we usually have sacrament meeting) and asks for someone to show her the chapel. All of the missionaries perk up and we ended up taking her on a church tour! She said she felt she was guided to the church and that she needed a cleanse. We told her there was a baptism about to start and she was welcome to come and see it. She hesitated but said let's just do it! I felt the spirit was soo strong as this sweet Chinese family was baptized. The sisters in New Tampa also gave an amazing presentation on the restoration while they were changing. Vanessa was mesmerized the entire time and kept putting her hand to her heart and saying "that was so amazing." She asked for our number and started introducing us as her new best friends. We are so excited. It's amazing how God works. I know He is aware of each of us and He truly answers prayers.
As a mission we are specifically praying to find the elect or that the elect will be able to find us, so you are all welcome to join us!!
Love you all,
Sister Johnson
Tampa Bay YSA - Week 35 - March 16, 2020
Hope in Christ
Companion: Sister Tauanu'u
How is everyone doing?? I am praying for all of you to stay safe and healthy. Of course this has been a crazy week! USF campus closed early in the week and Thurday night we got word that church was cancelled which was soo sad because we have a bunch of new people we really want to get to church! There were so many unknowns which was pretty stressful. The next two nights we had mission wide phone calls with the mission President and a Q&A. We basically were instructed to continue missionary work as normal but to utilize video calls and wash our hands often and stay stocked on food, water, medicine, etc. I'm sure many of you can agree with me that this has been the longest week ever because of all of the updates!
We are doing our best to stay hopeful and continue helping our people as best as we can and we are seeing lots of miracles still. In one of the calls, President Hollingsworth talked about Joseph Smith's time in liberty jail and shared this scripture from D&C 121 "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment" I especially like verse 9 which says "Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands."
I love that even through the hard times, we can find FAITH and HOPE in CHRIST. He knows us and loves us and He has overcome the world.
Sending air hugs to everybody since we aren’t supposed to spread germs!
Sister Johnson ♡
Tampa Bay YSA - Week 36 - March 23, 2020
Keep your spirits up!!
Companion: Sister Tauanu'u
Hellooo everyone! I'm sure it's been a crazy week, how are you all doing??
Its been a week full of crazy updates including my bff Sister Hurley is leaving this week because of her health:/ She has touched so many lives on her mission !! I'm super lucky to be in the Tampa apartment where the sisters stay on their first and last night so we will get to spend her last night together!!
Also quick shoutout to the 7 sisters- my best friends, some of them have to go home, some to be reassigned. My prayers are with them as they have to say goodbye to the places they have come to love so much!! They have been such a strength to me throughout my mission and continue to be. They are always sending inspirational quotes and experiences and are encouraging each other to trust in the Lord through this hard time.
Sister Tauanu'u and I have done our best to keep our spirits up and have fun during the crazy updates that keep coming out. Her jokes and kindness are making this quarantine business a whole lot better!!! We have really missed social interaction so calling our people and other missionaries really helps. Plus the cutest senior missionaries in the world all live across the street from us and sometimes "go on walks at the same time as us" so they can see us haha! The Tampa zone started a Book of Mormon passing video this week, where one of us catches the Book of Mormon and shares our testimony or our favorite scripture and then tosses it off screen. And then we tag someone else in the zone and they have to create a video of them catching it and doing the same thing. It has been super fun and helped unite our zone a ton!! Cool to hear everyone's testimonies. And after everyone had gone, we got another video of the legends themselves! Some of the missionaries got President and Sister Hollingsworth to join in and sent us their video! It was so funny:)
The work is still going.. two people we are teaching are ANGEL and STEPHANIE. Seriously they are the best people ever. They video call us all the time and they have the best questions and desire to do what is right. So grateful for their examples. Please pray for them to receive the answers they are looking for and that they will continue to stay strong and follow the Savior. Angel is from Peru and has only been speaking English for a couple years. He just started praying and says the best most heartfelt prayers. I KNOW GOD TRULY HEARS US & He really answers prayers. Remember, God always has something better in store.
Sister Johnson
Tampa Bay YSA - Week 37 - March 30, 2020
Celebration time!
Companion: Sister Tauanu'u
Hey y'all! Its actually been a super busy week for us. We had two groups of missionaries leave due to health issues so we have been busy washing bedding, picking them up, etc. We had to get up at 4 am to help them get out. We are pretty exhausted but it's been so fun partying with everyone! (s/o to Sis Hurley)
Remember our friends Angel and Stephanie? We have been in contact with them every single day and they have both set a date to be baptized!! MIRACLES. Please pray for them to be prepared for their baptisms in April. They are so awesome !
Sister T and I have been studying the restoration a whole lot and we even hosted a virtual church lesson on Sunday! One of my favorite quotes is from Elder Holland, "We cannot testify of the Living Father and the Living Son without testifying that we know They have appeared in our day. And we cannot testify of Their great introductory appearance in our day without testifying of the divine calling of the young prophet, Joseph Smith Jr., who saw Them. Others have seen Them since and will continue to see Them until Christ comes in His glory." I have loved the focus on Jesus Christ. Through learning about the First Vision and the Restoration, we come to know that Christ is our Savior and this is His church restored on the Earth! It's a 200 year CELEBRATION and we are excited to make it a wonderful week. We get to celebrate all the amazing things that have come out of that First Vision.
I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ truly appeared to Joseph Smith 200 years ago and Jesus Christ is at the head of this church today. The gospel not only blesses us with eternal life, but it helps us to have the peace and guidance and joy we need in our life now. I love the gospel & I love my Savior!
Praying for all my family and friends !!
Sister Johnson
Tampa Bay YSA - Week 38 - April 6, 2020
Sister T’s famous pancake balls
Companion: Sister Tauanu'u
When I said we were going to celebrate last week, I didn't think it would be my last week with Sister T! But I am moving to the next area over to be companions with Sister Anderson (the other STL) and Sister Thurgood (she was MTC comp with Sister waters, a little background for ya) I LOVE them and I'm PUMPED to stay in the Tampa zone.
This transfer has gone by so fast even in self-isolation and the next one is gonna be a 7-weeker so pray for us.
We had VIRTUAL ZONE CONFERENCE this week. It was so cool that we could still receive the trainings and revelation we needed in a different way. We talked all about how we are transitioning to using technology and being able to reach tons more people than we could have before! Its amazing. Plus they are calling 2 elders and 2 sisters to be social media specialists in the mission and SISTER TAUANU'U IS ONE OF THEM! Man she's gonna kill it.
General conference was amazing right? It was really cool to be watching from my apartment with my companion, knowing millions around the world are also listening. I am so grateful for all of the talks that were given (some awesome ones about sharing the gospel yall) and I'm excited to read them again! So grateful for the direction we receive from our prophet, I know he is called of God. Our friends were able to tune in to some of the sessions as well which is wonderful:):)
PLUS Sister Tauanu'u made us some good old pancake balls (thanks sister t!) Seriously she is the most service oriented and awesome missionary and she gets stuff done! She's got some big things in store for her mission(:
Let me know what all of your favorite talks were!!
Sister Johnson
