Don't Stop Believing

Jan10-17th

This week was AWESOME!

Thanks for the birthday surprise.  Chelsea Upshaw asked the zone leaders where we lived and then brought a lot of members from the YSA ward and surprised us when we came home!  It was awesome and very thoughtful.   Thanks mom!  I love you!

We also went on exchanges with the hermansas and my spanish is getting worse...not that it was that great to begin with but still...

Saturday night we received a call from the president telling us one of the sisters in our zone went missing but it was a miscommunication and it turns out everyone is alive and well.  But we were all a bit worried for a while.

Steve was baptized this weekend.  It was incredible.  The night before the baptism he had to Book of Mormon bash his family because they were giving him a hard time that he had been brain washed and was joining a cult and he did not understand what he was doing..   He went and picked up his Book of Mormon and said, "READ THE COVER".   It says it is another testament of Jesus Christ and that its whole purpose it to testify of Christ.   The he flipped to a page and read it and it talked about baptism and the holy ghost, he told his parents that is what he wanted in his life and if you don't believe in this then you are not Christians!  Pretty bold but awesome.   After the baptism we walked around the temple and he knew all temples needed a corner stone.  Who knows stuff like that?!

I don't have much time but thanks for everything!  Love you!

Sister Gier

The New Year

Dec 26-Jan 4th

Hmm...where to begin.  At day sports the missionaries started paying volleyball without me even begging to play.  I am starting to get better at basketball.
Tuesday we had exchanges and that is always fun.
Thursday we had dinner with our part member family who's kids are investigating the church.  WE love them!  They are so amazing and should be getting baptized soon!  We had to be inside by 6pm so we did weekly planning and made our usual calls and headed to be by 10:30!  This was the first year in I don't know how long that I did not stay up until midnight on New Years eve.  Not a very exciting for Vegas.  Haha
Friday, I was in the Spanish area and had to give my first prayer in Spanish, so that was fun!
Saturday was awesome because we met with Shayla and Shaundricka.  They always have some crazy questions but diligently search.  Sheryl read 1 Nephi 1 and had some specific questions on two of the verses.  How awesome!  Then in the middle of the lesson, Shaundricka said, "how Howard?! "  Puzzled by this inquiry she continued and said, "you know like Howard be his name"!  Hahahah, I was dying!!!
We almost lost our car and had to bike for a week, but all is good now.
Sister Wilde and I won the Iron Rod!!   We crushed the elders by 10 points!

Jan 5-11th

My week was less busy than usual but I still felt like I was scrambling around.  Getting the iron rod means that we had the most points in the zone based upon the number of people we find, teach, bring to church and set a baptismal date.  Not easy because our zone is really competitive and this area is prepared to be harvested.
We played basketball instead of volleyball this week so that was weird but no complaints since Elder Sawyer and I were killing it on the court!  Shooting 3's left and right!
Tuesday we went out on exchanges.  I was in an area with a sister who has been out for 3 transfers.  It was great and we saw plenty of miracles.  And it rained...no POURED on us.  We were walking around soaked to the bones.  We had forgotten our umbrellas so by the time we got back to the car we looked liked drowned cats.  I literally had to wring water out of my shoes.
The rest of the week went well.  There was a lot of snow on Mt. Charleston.  A family in the ward found out my birthday is this week so they gave me a cute gift.   We served at the Salvation Army which is always a joy and adventure.
In case you are wondering what the most common excuse is why people can't meet is is because they are getting their hair done.  And it takes at least 5 hours to get your hair done in Vegas!
Our investigator Elizabeth was finally coming to church this week.  She has a hearing handicap and needs a service dog.
Our investigator, Steve, is getting baptized this weekend!  His is awesome.  Reminds me a bit of grandpa.  He lives in a trailer and talks a lot.  Like so much that while we were in a lesson this wok I just remember thinking how in the world did we get through all the lessons with all his talking?!
There is no way we could have gotten Steve to the point he is now without the Book of Mormon and the power of the Holy Ghost.  Steve always read the assignments we gave him and knows most of the stories from the Book of Mormon.  The Book of Mormon is key to having faith in Christ.  It is so important to Heavenly Father's plan.
It was Sunday night and sister Wilde and I were just short of our goals for the week.  It is important for the SLT to meet there goals since we are the leaders and supposed to set the example for the other missionaries.  We knocked on the door of our last appointment and it fell through.  Disappointed, we went to the car and prayed, asking Heavenly Father "where do we/I need to be"?  A thought came to my mind, "you are exactly were I need you to be."  I thought about this more and how Heavenly Father lead me to go on a mission in Las Vega.  It was His Plan for me.  He brought me here at this time and all I had to do was be willing to listen.  Then I thought about where I would be if I had not listened.  All this was streaming through my mind when suddenly an apartment came to mind.  We followed that prompting and found a new investigator.  Talk about a miracle and the importance of listening to the promptings we receive!
Love you,
Sister Gier