Believe

June 20-26

Sorry last week's letter was so short. I don't know if this one will
be much better.
We were on exchanges for most of the week I only slept in my bed
twice. Weeks with a lot of exchanges are hard because they seem like
I'm never in my area and I can never keep track of the days.
We first went on exchanges with the MSTLs. I was with sister Erickson
in their area. It was neat because just 5 months ago we went on
exchanges when I was her STL. As we talked she expressed the impact I
had made on her mission. I needed to hear that. Sometimes missionaries
hate Sister Training Leaders because we are part of a cult or
something, but it was nice knowing that my efforts aren't wasted.
Actually all three of the sisters I went on exchanges with, I have
been their STL previously which is rare but I've been in leadership
for a while. I think hey may take me out next transfer but I'm not
sure. What ever happens, happens. It's all in the Lords hands.
I was rarely with sister Koyle this week because of all of the
exchanges but she got sick for a part of the week. The doctors have no
clue what is wrong but she had a pain in her chest and only one side
of her throat swelled up and she had a rash on her neck. I think she
may be evolving into a lizard but she didn't think so. Haha
Needless to say it was an off week. But most of our investigators are
back in town so we are pumped!!
We are trying to work with youth and inspire them to do missionary
work. There are only two Priest in one Ward and none in the other. And
we baptized one of the priest, Axel. They come out to do missionary
work a lot. Ryan is like our best friend. Literally though! It makes
me glad there were so many good youth in the stake and in our Ward
because out here there is a lot in the other wards but they aren't the
best example. So it's good that he has two examples of how girls
should act. His mom is really grateful for it too. She texted us
telling us how much it meant to her and it was so nice!
We are excited for the Fourth of July! So thanks for the package!I
Love you!
Sister Gier
Sorry the email is short again.

I'm On Fire

June 6- 12

I'm losing track of the days here! I have no clue what day it is anymore.
I don't remember a whole lot from this week because Thursday night I
got sick but I worked through it until Sunday when it progressively
got worse and we went outside for sacrament meeting and to pick up
dinner. Sister Koyle thinks I have a fever. I think so too. Sunday
after dinner we watched all the missionary movies. I had a bag a
frozen mixed veggies on my stomach and neck and I'm pretty sure they
were fully steamed when I was done with them. Haha sister Koyle thinks
the "Sick Sister Gier" is funny because I say whatever without really
thinking straight.

Now for the good parts of this week. For district council our district
leader "rent his coat" and we all wrote what we were fighting for or
in other words why we are on our missions. As I was typing this out
the spirit lead me to Read Alma 46:12-13 about the Title of Liberty.
In my head it sounds like Captain Moroni went to a tux shop, rented a
coat, tore it, and used it as a flag... Classy. I love reading the
scriptures. Haha

One night after planning Sister Koyle wanted to plan her wedding. Just
in case someone proposed to her the day she gets home or something. She
doesn't have a guy waiting for her but boy is she prepared! Now if you
look at the picture of our white board my wedding is on the left and
her's is one the right. I was scrapping my head to come up with
something to put on the board while she was trying not to overtake my
side of the whiteboard! She is great! Haha (don't take my side
seriously... I need Pinterest to help plan it)

June 13-20
Last pday we played pool again. And PDAY sports were fun but all of
the cool people are getting transferred so we will have to come up
with different plans of teach people how to be athletic.
Since sister Koyle and I didn't get transferred we went to Kneaders on
Tuesday and ate French toast while we had morning studies. Man I love
that stuff. For dinner we ate with a family who's dad is a chef at one
of the Casinos on the Strip. But he "doesn't cook for famous people...
Only Pitbull, Brittany Spears and Usher... But he doesn't like them so
that doesn't count." Haha it was so good!! And the family is
hilarious!
Then on Wednesday night our waiter used to be a backup dancer for
Madonna. It was cool because when we left he asked the members how old
we were and who we were because he thought we were so polite and well
dressed. Glad I showered that day!
I don't have a lot of time to email. It's been an off Pday. A lot of
our investigators were out of town this week. So we just found more!!
We saw lots of miracles.
I emailed president about the departure date and we will see what he says.

I'll write more next week!!

Love you!!

You Are a Tourist

May 30-June 5th

Man, it seems like P-day came early this week! At sports last week we
played basketball and the elders called me Stephanie Kurry (I don't
know if I spelt that right... Stef Kurry is someone on the Golden
State team). Bottle line I was baller!
Monday evening we went to Axel and Adrianna's house to finish filling
out their baptismal records. When we asked how they felt when they got
the Gift of the Holy Ghost Axel said "I felt like my veins were
popping out and when I stood up I could fight anyone!" And then
Adrianna said "that didn't actually happen..." Haha I love those kids!
While we were at their house I asked if they happened to know the
score of the game. It was sad to hear that OKC lost. When Axel said
that he was a Golden State fan I was like "oh no! He got ahold of
false doctrine! We need to teach him the righteous way of being an OKC
fan" sister Koyle just laughed.

The rest of the week was hot hot hot! The picture of what looks like a
Lego is actually me walking around the streets.

One day we decided that it would be a good idea to drive to Primm. Let
me tell you it was not a good idea to drive to Primm. It's technically
in our area but there is nothing out there besides a couple casinos
and an outlet mall! ("And a couple scary people on drugs" - Koyle) Oh
well now we know.

Wednesday we went to a mutual activity for the youth because they had
all just gotten out of school. It was neat because we had a lot of
investigators there since we've been working hard to find through he
youths friends. We also played gotcha and I testify that the Lord
blesses missionaries because I was draining 3s left and right. No one
would think a sister missionary would be able to shoot in a skirt. It
also helps because now the members know we are so stiff and if we can
connect with the youth and their families then they are more willing
to have us teach their friends.

This weekend we offered to help on of our investigators at a
neighborhood party because she is the HOA president. She was so
grateful for our help and it was a great way to interact with the
people in the neighborhood! It was Luau themed so they had free snow
cones, and cotton candy, and blow up water toys and food and hula
dancers. It was fun helping out at the craft table. Ironically sister
Koyle and I were put on tattoo duty. Some of the non member neighbors
recognized the irony and we were able to testify... and tell them it
come off with soap and water! Haha
As we were leaving our investigator Tommy came by! He has been going
through a lot so we haven't been able to see him frequently. When he
saw us he told us that he was going to text us Sunday morning saying
"Liberty?" Meaning that he was going to ask where the church building
was!! Although it was less of a surprise, sure enough he texted us
Sunday morning and came to church!! He know that when he is reading
the Book of Mormon and is coming to church his life improves. Now we
just need to prepare him for baptism!

Now for the more spiritual side of things. Axel wanted to come out and
knock tract with us. Normally sister Koyle and I don't like going door
to door because we feel like a sales men and it's just not as
effective, but because Axel was there we decided we would show him
what missionaries do. We saw some neat miracles with him. One door we
knocked on was a guy named Carlos who was a pastor for another church
and both his parents had been pastors. He had talked to missionaries
in the past and has some LDS friends. We testified boldly about how
the Book of Mormon is the word of God and how it is another witness of
our Savior Jesus Christ and it show how much God loves all of His
people. He had read the Book of Mormon in the past but wasn't reading
it for the right reason. If you read the Book of Mormon with the
objective to prove it wrong the Holy Ghost can't testify of the truth.
His whole hold up was that he doesn't believe God stills calls
prophets therefore it takes away from "his" Bible. Once we had
testified of the truth of our message for a while we realized he was
too prideful and wasn't prepared to receive it at this time.
Walking away both sister Koyle and I were talking about how we could
have bashed so easily with him because his thought process was
illogical. Like "Of courses you don't believe in prophets, because if
you did then that would prove you were a false prophet, because you
don't have the priesthood like they do! Who gave you your authority?!
Some college?..." We opted out of saying things like that because 1)
Axel was there 2) that would drive the spirit away. However, as we
were walking down the street two kids ran up and gave us each a bottle
of water. We saw that their dad, Carlos, had sent them and knew that
something we said touched his heart in some way.
Bottom line: contention drives the spirit away. (Don't fight with
people who don't know what they are talking about because in their
mind they are winning even if they don't know what's coming out of
their mouth). We know we could have easily won the argument. However,
because of this, our testimonies were strengthened knowing that the
Spirit testifies of truth and can change people's hearts. Axel is
continuing to build his unshakeable testimony in the Book of Mormon.

 Miracles do exist.

Love
Sister Gier

Rollin On

May 23rd-29th 

This week was LONG. It seemed like it would never end, but it ended on
an incredible note. I think it all started with a lame Pday. For
whatever reason it wasn't fun playing volleyball and the other sisters
in the stake didn't want to play basketball. But on the bright side, I went
 shopping at Downeast! I may need
to get transferred just to save my bank account. I'm planning on
sending the clothes home that I bought because I don't want to get
tiered of them... Or I might just keep them in my suitcase and hide
them away until I get home. (T-minus 6 months). Either way I'm
justifying it because they were 1) cute 2) on sale 3) I haven't gone
shopping in awhile so it better for me to buy what I want than for you
to buy something that I don't like as much and have to take it back.
There. It's justified!

Tuesday we had to exchange cars across town because the car we were
driving had a dent in it when we got to the area. We met the vehicle
coordinator there and on the way back our car monitor wasn't working
so it kept yelling at us which is the worst when the vehicle
coordinator is in the car! Afterwards we went to the Cheese Cake
Factory with one of sister Koyle's old ward mission leaders (who I
also knew from my last area). He was so nice to take us out for lunch
and it was great talking with him.

Wednesday we met with the district leaders in the morning and our
investigators passed their interview!

Thursday we had Zone Training Council. I gave a training on teaching
the doctrine. I got really high scores. Even the sister that hated me
gave me a higher score than the other missionaries. Afterwards we ate at
Cici's (I love the cinnamon rolls) and went on exchanges. I was with
sister Greene. I've been her STL for the past 3 transfers (her whole
mission) she's probably ti
red of me by now. But we saw lots of
miracles. The last guy we had talked to seemed really interested and
opened. He believed that God would call a prophet today and that
families are eternal and was excited to read the Book of Mormon. Right
as we were about to set up a time to come back, two rowdy drunk guys
came up and started talking to him. They were the devil! But he still
wants to meet no matter the distractions.

Friday morning we went into the doctor to get sister Koyle's ingrown
toe nail cut out. She acted like she was getting her toe chopped off!
That poor Doctor! Haha. I took a really funny video of her crying when
they gave her a shot to numb her toe. I feel bad for her but then she
fought me because I wouldn't let her go out of the house with out
shoes on!! Haha she's crazy funny!!

Saturday we had a baptism. It was a brother and sister Axel and
Adrianna. We have only been teaching them for 3 weeks and they got
baptized! They are so elect! Their friends gave the talks and baptism
it was the most spiritual baptism I have ever been apart of! When
Adrianna got out of the water she came up gave us the biggest hug
soaking wet and started crying as she said "I've never been so happy.
You changed my life. Thank you so much". That made me cry. And I never
cry! Two of her friends want to be baptized now and the Zone Leaders
investigators asked "when can we be baptized?" It was wonderful.
Zach's cousin Miko gave the talk on baptism and did a great job! There
are so many Cox people here!! Later that night Adrianna texted us
again and said "I love you Gus so much!! Thank you for being there for
my brother and I and for helping us change our lives completely!! It
really means a lot to our family!!"
I was a wonderful ending to a long week!

P.S. I might have told you but we see bunnies all the time. But this
week we saw baby bunnies which were smaller than some chocolate
bunnies that I've eaten!