Best Birthday EVER!

I had an AMAZING birthday! And this week was super long and full of great things so I'll try to not bore you to tears.

Last P-day, Sister Allen and I had Lindsay ( Grandma and Grandpa's daughter ) do our hair and make up like 50's girls. Haha it was quite funny but the best part was when we had to take President's wife out with us to our lessons! I was a little embarrassed but she thought it was fun. Sorry don't have a picture to share with y'all. 

Had interviews with President and I'm not too sure if I will be staying next transfer. He hinted to me leaving so I'm just trying to prepare myself but I don't want to leave! :( I just started remembering everyone's names and where they live. Ugh. Sister Allen is going to try to plead with him to let me stay though so we will see! 

We had an FHE with the Thomas family, who I love so much, and it was so fun! Sister Thomas took charge and taught the lesson. It was with Angry Birds and they each had a name like: Cutting Words Angry Bird. Haha it was so funny :) and well done might I add. Hope everyone is doing FHE and their personal studies! It's important to do! :) 

One bad piece of news but possible miracle... Ian has a rare tumor in his sinus cavity and has to have surgery very soon. More details to come today but his grandparents are coming so possibly we will have a baptism... but we shall see. 

So on the other hand, I have awesome news! The work is moving and we are meeting more and more people. The other day, everything fell through and we had no idea what to do. So Sister Allen kept driving through the neighborhood. She felt prompted to turn and then stop at a little area with a few houses. She saw a house and said that, " we need to go to that one." I said, "Okay!" so we did. Sure enough, a man answered the door, we had a great conversation, and he accepted to learn more and have his family all there. We walked away and my eyes were wide. I just looked at Sister Allen and said, " Did that just happen?" THAT RARELY HAPPENS PEOPLE! It was such a testimony builder for the both of us. We NEED to follow the spirit, get on our feet and work! 

 

We also are now teaching a girl (21) who's from Nicaragua and started living with her cousin about a month ago. Sister Allen couldn't have come at a better time. We are teaching her in English and Spanish and she is very interested. At church, an RM who served in Tijuana gave his homecoming talk. She was the first one out of her seat and talking to him when the meeting was over. She was the one that invited him to come over for the discussion! Everyone is super excited and knows she will accept the gospel very soon! 

 

Yesterday, we had dinner with a man and his grandson at Olive Garden. He is 17 and is currently living with his grandparents. We talked a lot and you could tell that he's going through some things, which he even admitted to. But somehow, we got into talking about the Plan of Salvation. On Sunday, there were some bookmarks made that had the plan on it and I put one in my bag just because. I was able to give it to him and he was so interested! His eyes lit up as I explained some of the things we believe and it was just a great experience. He said he would be interested in learning more after his choir trip! 

 

One more! So we were in this apartment building and we saw these people knocking a door. I started talking to them and found out they were passing around fliers for their church. I asked them about the LDS church and the man said he really loves the family unity that we believe. I quickly remembered some training we received this week from President and Sister Hiers and introduced The Family: A Proclamation to the World. I prayed that there would be copies in the car and I ran out and sure enough there were! I was able to give them it and our number if they had questions. Talk about a good birthday :) 

THEN! We were having FHE and this time we were playing murder in the dark. After 2 rounds I was the murder and I couldn't find ANYONE! Then, I heard some screaming so I went to the scene. I looked and in the kitchen everyone was there and yelled, "Surprise! Happy Birthday!" and followed with the song :) it was so nice. A sister made a cake and it was hot pink because the other day when Sister Allen asked, I said that was my favorite color for the day haha! 

 

Great Birthday. Thank you for all the presents, love and prayers :) they were all greatly appreciated and I couldn't have been happier. I love you all so much :) hope you have a fantastic week! 

Love, Sister Gietz

It Feels Like Spring!!!

Hallelujah! The snow is melting and I'm wearing normal clothes again :) it's a miracle. I fear it won't last long though...

So this week was MUCH better! In regards to my emotional and mental health. WHEW that was a doozy but I'm alive! 

I don't have my journal again so bear with me as I try to remember the highlight..

So we went to a care center (one of the branches) and we were suppose to be decorating cookies... but they double booked and so instead of decorating, we listened to a bluegrass band! Haha oh it was fun and funny as well. Good ol' bluegrass haha! I forgot I was in Utah.. 

Valentine's day was an interesting day! But good! We had choir practice and planned and other little things. It was nice though. The night before, we decorated the table with a bunch of hearts and a note for Grandpa and Grandma. Funny enough, we woke up to a nice hot yummy breakfast, a rose and a card! They are awesome. 

We had our musical fireside on Sunday night which went really well. We were in the choir but after the solos and beautiful numbers performed... I didn't want to sing again. They were SO GOOD. There's a lot of talent here and there was just a beautiful spirit in the room. 

Sister Allen and I are getting along really well! We have lots of fun (of course we work too) but it's nice to just be able to laugh with someone. We get quite the AB work out from it too. I'm learning a lot from her and it's great! She is super good at teaching children which is perfect because that was something I really wanted to work on. I read something just today that said you don't fully know a principle or doctrine until you can teach it to a child. Interesting! You should try it! 

We've been getting a lot of referrals but still are a little slow right now.. The work will come though I just know it! I also know we need to get it out there and work for it. 

We met the other night with Brother Graham because I felt like I just can't stop teaching him. There's so much to learn and know and for him to teach us! So we asked what he would like to learn about.. he has quite the list! So we started with Patriarchal Blessings :) he wants to get his and it was just such a nice refresher on what they are and how to use them. We went over President Monson's talk: Your Patriarchal Blessing: A Liahona of Light. Another SO GOOD. Anyways, he is super awesome and doing great! He said he felt like he was on fire for days after his baptism and that it was just amazing. Pretty much, he's a rock star. 

We had a good lesson with Brother Trujillo and things seem to be going.. slowly but surely to baptism. He's got some things that need to be cleared up before we can baptize him but I think his faith is growing and he knows that what we have is true! 

Nicholes hasn't called us back since our last visit :( hope we didn't scare him off. We're still trying though! 

Well that's all I can remember so hope that's enough! Love you all and you are always in my prayers! Thanks for all the prayers that come my way :) they are needed and appreciated. 

THE CHURCH IS TRUE! THE BOOK IS BLUE! AND I LOVE YOU! 

Love, Sister Gietz

Utah Ogden Mission!

I have a new companion! Her name is Hermana Allen and this is her first English area! She's been out 8 months and is from Casper, Wyoming.

This week has been pretty interesting... I'm learning a lot about myself and as a missionary. I'm not going to lie and say everything is happy go lucky but I will say it's a mountain I will climb and can climb. Since Sister K left, I have a lot on my plate now. I didn't realize how much was really going on until it was all in my hands and the blind fold was taken off. I will get the hang of everything I have no doubt about that, it's just the matter of organizing and letting the work be divided between us two. This is a whole new experience for Sister Allen because she's never been in the English program so it's my job to show her how it's done. Please pray for me that I don't get overwhelmed! It will be all good though, no worries! 

So I know lots of you are dying to hear about Brother Graham's baptism. It. Was. AWESOME! I was super stressed out trying to coordinate with the new ward mission leader who never did a baptism before but eventually it was all put together. Bro Graham had 2 friends from work give talks and they were just amazing. One of them brought in the spirit so much and talked about his son that passed away. She talked about how angels were in the room celebrating with us and I can say that I felt their presence. After the baptism, he gave a beautiful testimony. He sat back down next to me and said wow.. that was just amazing. He later sent us a text that said: "I'm ecstatic! Thank you." Sunday, he was confirmed and given a great blessing by the bishop. He said he felt like he was on fire and it's describable. He had me write my name and stuff in his brand new scriptures he bought. It's amazing to watch someone grow and develop a relationship with the Savior. I'm so excited for him and this new adventure. I love him so much, he's one I will never forget. 

We got a referral and from that, a new investigator! Yay! His name is Nicholes Klien. He's 32, working 2 jobs and will be moving into the stake soon. He grew up here and just is interested in how everything works and it's structure. He is so ready to learn! I hope we can do just as good if not better with him! We have a lesson tonight and will be teaching him the Plan of Salvation... possibly. Depending on the spirit of course! 

We have a musical fireside next week and so we went to a choir practice on friday. Haha oh my goodness. It was like I was back in high school. It was funny to see that I'm still the same choir student. You may not understand what that means but pretty much I just have the same feelings and attitude as I did before. It was good though and we are singing some nice songs. 

We are slowly but surely getting referrals and the work is moving! Keep us in your prayers please! We are doing well and have a lot of adjusting to do but this will be a good transfer :) 

Something that I've noticed a lot about this mission, is how many people get offended and leave the church. Why do people do that? Seriously! I just want to tell people to get over themselves. It's just like what was said in conference not too long ago: God works with imperfect people, so we ought to be patient as well. Not word for word but that's what was implied. The gospel is what's perfect, not us. That's why we go to church each week, because we're not perfect but are doing our best to be like Christ. 

Love you all so much! Hope you enjoy the pictures! Oh and the one with the big family is the Johnson family. They are active members and there son is preparing to go on a mission so we taught them all the lessons. Love them! 

 

Sister Gietz

I'M STAYING!!!

Hello everyone! So this week has been a little crazy but not too bad. So the big news... Sister Kuwahara is being transferred to the North Ogden East Stake with Sister Norton who was at the MTC with me! I love that girl, she's the country one from AZ. I'm interested to see how that companionship goes! So my companion will be Sister Allen. All I know about her is that she was in the Spanish program and I think this will be her first English area, should be interesting!

So good news and terrible news... So in our lesson with Brother Graham, we told him that we need his wife's consent to be baptized. He said that she won't give it although she's been in the mood for signing things. My heart dropped. She's filing for divorce. He really opened up about it and I'm sure we were one of the first people he's talked to about it. We gave our condolences and said that he could get a blessing if he's like. He said he would and so one was given right then and there. So great to have a worthy priesthood holder there on site. The spirit was so strong during the whole lesson. I wish I could describe it but it was just comforting. Later, we asked permission to get him baptized without his wife's consent and President Hiers said yes! We're so excited!!!! So his baptism will be this Saturday :) happy happy happy. 

You wouldn't believe how much Japanese food I've had.. but it's a lot! Haha we're having some again tonight for a goodbye party for Sis K. We had a Sushi night with Ouza (Japanese exchange student) on Wednesday and that was really fun and we had a great lesson on the Atonement before that. It's amazing to think that so many people don't know who Christ is and what he did for us. It made my testimony stronger to talk about it and to teach someone with little knowledge of him about it! 

We had our last lesson with the Guay family :( I will miss them sooooo much. We also had our last lesson (possibly..) with Chase and introduced him to the YSA Elders. I hope it goes well for him, he's never had Elders teach him in the past. We also kind of dropped Brother Ferguson. He's not progressing and has no desire to stop smoking. Thankfully, Sis K did it and not me. She started teaching him so it was best that she end it. I also got some bad news yesterday when I went to visit a family. She wants a divorce because he's been cheating on her for 7 years and is a lazy bum. It's so hard to see families struggle and to look at the kids and think about their future if they do not cling to the gospel. I know I would be a wreck without it. Please keep the Gailey family in your prayers. It's funny being a missionary, people just open up to you and you have to deal with it all. It's like we're portable psychiatrist... Haha 

Finally, someone gave notice to my roots and took us to get Mexican food! Haha the Thomas family took us and it was super good but not as good as back home.. sad. I love them so much and we are now done teaching them as well. Gracie (daughter like 13) wants to go where ever I go haha she's so funny. Her mom told me that Gracie thinks I knew her from the pre-existence and I'm like her soul sister. So funny. I've also been getting a lot of people telling me I look like someone they know. Probably happened 4 times in the past week or two. Crazy... 

Yesterday, Sis K had a leadership meeting and so I was out with Sis Whitfield and Hermana Maldonado again! After meeting with as many people as we had to meet with, we decided to do something awesome... We went to Farr's Ice Cream!!!! It was Hermana Maldonado's first time having ice cream in America and my first time at Farr's! So fun :) 

Well, that's all I can remember for this week! Hope you all are doing well. I think of you when I can and pray for you always. I know that this work is so important because it's true. I urge you to deepen your relationship with Christ and think about how amazing it is that you have the truth so accessible to you. Love you all! 

Love, Sister Gietz 

Pics: First family is the Thomas family. The second with all the girls is the Guay family.