I'm Still Here

August 10-16th Monday I bought some scissors to thin and cut my hair.  I did not take much off the length but there was a cat sized ball of hair when I was done!  It is too hot for may thick hair!  Sister Fingerless asked me to cut her hair.  I told her I had never cut hair before but he trusted me.  It is a good thing it turned out nice because we still have a week together!

Wednesday we taught Johnny about the Restoration.  We are trying to make sure we teach simply and make sure he understands everything.  Later we stopped by Miguel's house.  He has no religious background and does not believe in God.  When I asked him what happens to our bodies when they die he said they just decompose.  That reminded me of the time grandpa said that our bodies dry up like beef jerky (that grandpa) but at least grandpa also knew that our souls go to Heaven.  

Thursday, we had mid 12 training.  It is fun to see missionaries from different areas.  North Star YSA is the promised land!  We got caught out in a bad storm later that day.  We had a door slammed in our face when a lady who we were talking to go startled by a big loud clap of thunder and she excitedly shut the door but then opened it and apoligized!

Friday we did a service project at the Food Bank and had lunch with all the missionaries.  Then we meet with Johnny.  We always read a page from the Book of Mormon with him and then teach him a lesson.  When he said the closing prayer, the said, "thank you for sending me these two wonderful young ladies to my life at this time because I know you sent them to me when I needed them the most."

Saturday we received our transfer notices.  I am happy to say that I am staying in the North star YSA and will be training again.  

I am really going to miss some of the missionaries in our district who are leaving especially Sister Fingerle.  

Lifted Up

Week 11   August 3-9

Monday, I received the package from you and I loved it!  Bubbles, very nice touch!  I had the BEST kill at P-day sports.  One of those overpasses that are just waiting to be smacked....ahh it felt so good!  I know I always talk about P-day sports but its is not the only thing I focus on all week, I promise.
Tuesday we had exchanges again.  This time with Sister Robinson in my area.  She was the sister that I went on my very first exchange with when I came on my mission.  Hi is super awesome but very, very cautious.  We walked into an investigators house and the investigator went into the back room to get her Book of Mormon, when sister Robinson's eyes got really big and she froze!  She then whispered to me and said with her eyes locked on the coffee table, "is that a real GUN!"  I tried not to burst out laughing then said, no, it is the Wii remote!  Haha!!
Wednesday, I was dead tired.  It was such a long day.  But we were able to to meet with Martin again and he said thank you for not giving up on him.  SO background story on Martin.  He has had a tough life.  I am pretty sure he has been to jail because there is no one in LV who has not been to jail.  He has meet with at least 3 other sets of missionaries before us.  Through fasting on the hottest day of summer we were able to find him.  He dropped us the first week and I thought I had failed completely.  Somehow I convinced him to come to institute on Wednesday and then we talked him into taking another lesson from us.  He heard a lesson from the Oct 2014 General Conference on Joseph Smith and his heart was changed.  He continued to progress more and more in the gospel.  The best part about being a missionary is the ability to see the Atonement applied in peoples lives.  Martin texted us that he wanted to be baptized and the 15th is the date!
Thursday, we had lunch at IHOP with sister Fingerle's family friends.  They were so nice! After that things went downhill fast. One of the ladies in our ward committed suicide.  It is horrible to think that Satan could have such a hold on her and gave her such false hope that she felt she could not continue in this life any longer.  It is one of the saddest things and the biggest lies - that there is no hope.
To make things even worse, Martin who had just committed to be baptized told us he did not want to be baptized because he did not understand how why thing like suicide happened and blamed the church for it.  So Satan may have taken one body and two souls.
Friday was better, we had zone training.  We have the best zone and everyone is like family.
Saturday we taught some less actives and some new investigators.
Sunday, after dinner we went to a candle light service for the girl who passed away.
  D&C 42:45  "Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the off of them that die, and more especially for those that have not hope of a glorious resurrection."
I am so grateful to have the knowledge that we will live again through Christ and my heart aches for people who are in pain for the loss of loved ones and who do not have this knowledge.  I guess that is why I am out here - to share this good news - the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer.

The Church is true.  I miss you!

T-shirt Weather

July 27th - Aug 2nd

Monday was Christmas in July!  Elder Jones (my district leader) and I received iPads today.  Excited is an understatement.  We played Christmas music in the background (specifically "where are you Christmas") (Gabby would have been proud) while we set them us.  It was so cool, because Elder Jones is kinda a nerd like me so we took about an hour organizing our apps.  I still have the plastic wrap on my because I want it to be perfect when I put on the screen protector.

The carpets were getting cleaned in the stake center where we normally play on Pday, so I suggested that we to the the Craig ranch park.  It was to hot but is was the best p-day ever!  Some member gave elder Jones BBQ and rolls so we had a little picnic.  Then we played sand volleyball.  It was kinda lame because the san was so hot.  But the nets were super cool, they have sprinklers come out to the top of the nets to wet down the sand.  It was the closet thing to swimming while on our mission.
Then we play kenacky (not sure how you spell it).  I was killing it!  I would make my mamma proud!  The elders in my zone seem to think I am cool because I am athletic and I can catch and throw a football.  They also think that my "sense of humor" is funny but in reality it's just me saying stuff very straight forward and them thinking I am joking.  Kinda like Grandpa!  I am still very awkward so I guess not everything can change while you are on your mission.  Anyway...it was to hot I felt like I was going to throw up.  So we went to the water park thing and ran through the water shoots up and splashed each other to cool off.  This zone is the best!  Hope I don't get transferred soon.

Tuesday we tried walking fore instead of using miles on the car.  It was nice.  I can proudly say that I am not fat! (yet).  Later the sisters in our zone help an investigator go though stuff to move and clean.  We had to organize everything outside and I got a little sunburned.  But when I went inside I had the worst allergy attack ever because the lady had a cat.  My eyes ere so red and swollen and I started togged hives.  I was miserable!

Thursday we had our first Zone Conference.  It is where two zones come together and have training given by President Snow,  his wife, a few others and yes ME!  Sister F and I were asked the week before to give a 30 minute training lesson not realizing that the other people who were asked had been out on their missions for at least a year.  It went well though!  In part of my lesson I boldly read D&C 88:124 "cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated".  A couple of the elders burst out laughing because I was so direct with it.  Haha.  I don't understand why God trusts me with all the responsibilities he had given me.  Honestly, it's is overwhelming to think about where I am now and the potential I have. (letters of encouragement are accepted)
Thursday we had a really neat experience with a lady named Karmen.  We were kinda lost but God put someone inner path.  Karen was walking her dog and wanted to talk to us.  Immediately, she recognized the spirt and she was ashamed that she was drinking in front of us.  We found a bench to sit a while.  For an our she poured out her soul to us.  While we were sitting there, the picture by Greg Olsen of the young man with a backpack who is sitting on a bench with Christ came to my mind.  At that moment, I truly felt like a representative of Christ and even though I had just met her my heart ached for her and I could feel how much God loved her and how important she is in our Heavenly Father's eyes.  No words can express how much our Heavenly Father loves us and the indescribable sacrifice Christ made so that we all can return to our home above.  As we left her my eyes filled with tears.

Perfect Situation

July 20-26th

This week was something else!  We met with Greg (the investigator who is gay) on Tuesday.  We tried teaching him the law of chastity and you can imagine how that went!  We had an older member from Henderson, NV who is also gay, and holds a temple recommend come out to teach Greg.  Things went well for a while but then they were yelling at each other and Greg used the "F" word 1000 times and stormed out of the church and threw his Book of Mormon on the ground.  It was the worst lesson ever!   We went to Greg's house the next day to drop off a note and surprisingly things are on good terms with him.

We had exchanges on Thursday.  You know you like your companion when you both don't want to go on exchanges.  My exchange companion was sister Martin, from Mexico and 24 and has already graduated from college.  Its cool how on missions it does not matter your age, or how long you have been on your mission but what matters is your spirit and your faith in the Lord.  Think heaven will kinda be like this.  No one will care about ages, but it will be a measurement on your age of your spirituality and how well you know Christ.

Pioneer Days were this weekend.  I thought is was just a Utah thing, but you know Mormons find anyway they can to have a "party".  It was actually really fun and a great activity to brin investigators to.  They say that the north stake pioneer day are the best in the vally so I am happy that I am in this area!  Friday night we cut up a bunch of watermelons and served food to the members.  The food was pretty food.  They used KC bbq sauce which is a bummer.  At least elder Riley knows what Head country tastes like!  And at eh end of the night they had all the kids throw colored chalk stuff, like in color runs, up in the air.  I totally would have jumped in but I did not want to ruin my clothes.
Saturday night was even better because there were different booths set up with food and treats.  I had street tacos from the Spanish ward, cotton candy, root beer floats, some fried thing and a bucket load of watermelon!  (Amanda wold be proud)  The missionaries in our zone had a photo booth sue up with pioneer props and clothes people could take fun pictures.  And the best part of the night was that we had permission to stay our later so we could watch the fireworks.  I LOVE FIREWORKS!  Seriously, I don't know how Igot so lucky to have eh best mission in the world and then the best zone in the mission and the best ward in the zone.  God loves me so much. It just makes me nervous to know where i will be sent next cause nothing can compare to Number 1 North!!!

Now for the best part of the week, Jairo's baptism.  It was awesome!  Jairo was in prison when someone slid him a Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price under his jail cell door.  He told us that he was so bored he decided to read it and wanted to meet the missionaries when he got out of jail.  The Spanish speaking elders had been teaching him since February and he had been waiting since March to get his baptism approved by the first presidency of the church.  The first day I arrived in the mission, the Spanish elders (Sims and Thorne) passed him off to Sister Sandoval and me so that he could come to the young single adult ward.  I remembered the love that the elders had for Jairo.  I have never seen someone want to be baptized so badly. I am still sot amazed that he never lost faith during those months and I am so grateful I was able to be a part of his conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  When he came up out of the baptismal water you could tele was a new person.  He truly changed because of Christ.  After the baptism, elder Chambers said , "sister Gier, you've got to look in the mirror!  I have never seen you smile so much."  It was such a neat experience.

I Believe in a Thing Called Love

Week 8: July 13-19

This week was BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!!  Monday was the usual play sports (P-day) and make the Elders cry of embarrassment day.  That is what Giers do!
The best part of the day was when we received the call that Jairo could be baptized.  I was in unbelief.  He had been waiting to hear back from the first presidency since March and this weekend he will finally be baptized.  I have never meet someone who wanted something so badly.  When we went to  his house to talk with him and help him plan his baptism he said, "wow, you guys are like wedding planners except it is for a baptism."  That is why sister missionaries are the best.  This will be the first baptism of my mission.  I will send photos.
This week we met with Martin, 4 times I think.  He was the guy who wanted to stop meeting with us because he had decided he hated Joseph Smith.  But this week during a lesson he randomly said, "you know I may have been too hard on JS"...umm, yes!   It was a miracle that he has had a change of heart.  After one of the lessons we were talking about the area we cover and he was surprised that we are being sent to a sketchy area because it is dangerous.  He said he would be our body guard any time we wanted and he is about 6'5" and around 300lbs so we might take him up on the offer!
We met another investigator, Greg.   We meet with him 4 times this week.  At the beginning of the week he was telling us stuff like I smoke, drink cuss and I am who I am and I am not ever going to change.  Later in the week he was a different guy.  He told us that he had stopped smoking and wanted to stop doing drugs...he continued telling us how amazing he feels when he comes to meet with us and how his dad has seen a change in him since he started the missionary discussions.  He was very thankful and told us we were the nicest people he has ever met.
This week I have finally learned to truly love my investigators.  Even though it is sometimes hard to get through to them and they are stubborn sometimes on purpose.  I know they are all children of God.  I can't even begin to describe the changes I have seen in them over the past week.  When we told Greg about the Celestial Kingdom, he immediately said "He was going there!"
On Friday we went to the temple which is always a great experience.
Saturday, was zone training and they lesson was on how to teach like angels.   Afterwards sister F and I went to teach an investigator the lesson on the Restoration of the Gospel .  When he was saying the closing prayer, he literally said, "thank you for sending me these beautiful angels to teach me."  Pretty amazing!   We have been visiting a lady who has been less active in the church for nearly 20 years.  But we have built a great relationship with her.  We bring snacks for each other at church.  She always brings me dried mangos - she already knows me well.  She is a dealer at Aria.

The Church is True!   I miss you!

Love, Sister Kaila Gier

7/11

July 13, 2015

 Monday I made tortilla soup like I told you and it was so good! I can actually cook now! And it was finally under 100 degrees this week so it wasn't too hot to eat soup... although I guess for most people 90 degrees is still too hot. oh well it was tasty!

Wednesday I drove down to the mission office with my mini missionary (everyone thinks that we are twins or sisters. I'll send a picture of her later) to pick up my new companion. We don't know who it is when we get there. we all sit in the chapel and then president calls both names of the companionship and they stand up, look at each other and give each other a hug. When I was holding the door open for the new sisters and welcoming them, one of the sister said "You have a very German name!" Haha at least someone can tell why Gier is pronounced differently!

Anyway... that German sister... is my companion!!! She was happy to hear that I had so much German blood in me! And we have a theory that we are both competitive because of our German ancestors. (we are about to kick some Elder's butts in laser tag today!) Sister Fingerle is my companion's name and we get along wonderfully! This weekend we were eating dinner and she said "I feel like I've met you before" and I had that same feeling! Maybe we were friends before we came to this earth or something. She is very organized and we work really well together! And she loves her German chocolate! She teaches me new words all the time and speaks English really well cause they have to learn it in school. She told me that Gier means "envy" in German... maybe that's why everyone wants to be a Gier! 

Martin, our investigator who kinda dropped us last sunday cause he thought that Jospeh smith was the root of all evil, showed up to institute on Wednesday! And by talking with him afterwards we convinced him to meet with us again! In this lesson that we had with him I was very direct and upfront and I was trying to think of ways to get him to read the book of mormon so I told him "I DARE you to prove me wrong by reading to Book of Mormon and finding something false about it!! and I never lose so you better search really hard!!" My companion just laughed!! Haha

Sister Sandoval (I write S bacause its faster) has been transfers to Lake Havasu in AZ. She is going to MELT!! But she only has 9 months left of her mission. 

Pictures are awesome! But overall I'm good cause I have walmart and I'm still in the USA. 

Sister Gier and Fingerle

FOURTH OF JULY

This week was something else!  Monday, we woke up early and drove to the edge of our area where there are no buildings and took pictures as we watched the sunrise.
One of our investigators, Martin, that we had asked if he wanted to be baptized called us and told us that he wanted to be baptized on the 18th!  It was a miracle.  Now I will be busy teaching him all the lessons before he gets baptized.  We were told that on Saturday we would be receiving transfers and that President Snow emailed me and mentioned he has something special planned for me the next few transfers...  Most likely Sister S will be transferred so we have been organizing our records.  She has had such a great relationship with the ward so everyone is sad that she will be leaving.  As a missionary you learn to love your investigators so much.  Sister S will be sad to leave the area.
Wednesday, we taught Martin...he had a lot of questions about Joseph Smith.  We encouraged him to continue reading the Book of Mormon and gain a testimony of the gospel and everything else would fall into place.  It finally RAINED!  The silhouette of the mountains that the lightening caused was gorgeous!
Thursday we had mid-12 week so I had to drive to Paradise.  We taught Martin in the evening.  He asked if they had alcoholic drinks in Heaven.  I said, "no", and he said, "Man that is what the other sisters were telling me!  But if they do, I'll buy you a drink when we get up to Heaven!"  I think he still is missing the spirit!
Having members come out with the missionaries is so helpful.  When you get the chance go out with the missionaries and I promise you, you will be uplifted!
Saturday, we went to the park and helped people set up for their parties and they invited us to come back later.  It is cool to see the disposition of the people change from when we started helping them until when we said goodbye.  It is because we had the Spirit with us.
We caught the end of the 4th of July choir concert at the stake center.  Later in the evening we were walking in our neighborhood and there were many people shooting off fireworks.
So.. the moment we you been waiting for...I am staying in the North Star young single adult ward and I will be training a new missionary.  I've only been here 6 weeks.  I'm not done with my training yet!
This is such a humbling and encouraging assignment.  God and President Snow must have a lot of faith in me.
Sunday, Martin told us he was no longer interested in learning about the gospel.  So sad.  But everyone has their agency.
I am grateful to live in this country and to serve my mission to better the country.  I am thankful for the members in the ward and in the church.  I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and lived an honorable life.  I know that God has called Thomas S. Monson to be the prophet on earth today.  I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world and the Son of God.  I know that we are children to our Heavenly Father and he wears and answers our prayers through the Holy Ghost.  I know that the Book of Mormon is the work of God and is has greatly blessed my life and made me the person I am today - a daughter of our loving Heavenly Father.  I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Love, 

Sister Gier