Transfer 12: Week 5; North 3

Hello!

This will most likely be my last post... I leave on My P-day next week.

This week has been super crazy. There are so many things that have to be done because this mission is not like any other in the world. We have to split up our area book and give our beloved investigators to the other sisters in the mission. Sister Au-yeung is already on top of the people I sent to her and some of the people who met with the missionaries before stopped meeting with them and now she is teaching them with her trainee... my crazy cat man friend and the Philippine man obsessed with finding the secret to happiness. Our investigator in Kenya hasn't been picking up recently because his phone died, so hopefully he doesn’t get lost. Sister Platt and Aranda have some interesting troubles with our investigator from Nairobi... so hopefully everything is going well.

We've met some amazing members during the Christmas lights. One lady I met was an amazing member missionary... she was a convert of a couple of years and wanted all of her friends to know more about the gospel. The funniest thing was that I never invited her; she just stopped me because I was a missionary. I love miracles like that, people who are so prepared that they would refer with anyone... I was just in the right place at the right time. I shouldn't have been there, but I was in the right place to get a miracle. I also love hearing people's conversion stories, whether it be because of a missionary or because of a scripture... the spirit comes so strongly. I think that one of the general authorities stated that when you speak by the spirit then miracles come out of your mouths. Miracles are interesting beasties to have. Following God's will and not yours is always interesting. I talked to this one older man who was a farmer and I remember thinking that we were wasting our time talking to him because he loved talking, but then he thought of a bunch of farm hands who needed the gospel. I never would have guessed. Just to prove that my judgments were incorrect I met another old man who was just getting active in the church again, but was telling us how he adopted one of his daughters and then we found out about his son who was so excited to be a missionary that he is already following the white handbook and studying his scriptures... it'll be fun to see where his son gets sent when he turns in his mission papers in two years.

We've also met some amazing guests as well... not any that were interested in learning more about the church, but some really neat people who were sincerely interested in learning more for themselves. I hope that the skiers get the snow that they want so badly. I'll pray for them to get some more.

Good to hear from you all and the Christmas tree is so covered with ornaments that I can hardly see the tree itself.
Sister Pielstick

Transfer 12: Week 4: North 3

Welcome to Temple Square!

We did the math... if you see how many people came here last year for the lights and divide it by the number of days that the lights are on we get about 30,000 people each night to see the lights. This explains why we are all so tired at the end of the night... (which are even more tired because we stay out one hour later almost every day... much to the chagrin of returned missionaries from other places, "sisters isn't it time for you to go home now?") It's good to be able to talk to more people though... There are so many from places all over the world, not just Utah. If you think about all these people who are here, every one of them have problems and stories and a life behind their frozen exteriors.

I've met some amazing people, some of who should not be alive. I met an old friend the other night and he was telling me a bunch of his old mission stories about being hit by vehicles and attacked by muggers and the like... it was fun. I'm glad that my stories are not dangerous, merely interesting people and funny awkwardness and being guided by the spirit. Knowing that God can and will talk to you is a great blessing. It's not just about getting a yes or no answer to a question that you have carefully formulated in your mind... it's also about knowing things about the people you meet without asking, or ask but they are incapable to telling you, or being able to turn to a scripture that helps them with a problem that you didn't realize that they have. Then there's recognizing the potential of people that in no way look prepared to hear about God, much less Jesus Christ or the restoration of his gospel. And the most miraculous one is that people understand my French and feel the spirit when I talk to them over the phone or on Temple Square. That definitely makes me interested to see how much God really wants His children to hear his gospel... One man I talked to, I am certain that he wasn't able to understand much of what I was saying but he wanted to get in contact with the missionaries to understand what he was feeling. I've come to recognize many different ways to receive answers to my prayers.

Just this week I was teaching an investigator in Africa (not in French) and we were talking about the nature of God... when my Bible opened to a scripture about Baptism (Romans 6:4)... one that I rarely, if ever, use. And one that was not even marked in the scriptures that I was using... the wording was weird so I didn't want to share it, but he apparently brings his Bible with him everywhere so he opened it up and read the scripture. It wasn't the King James Version that I was using, but when he read the verse I understood why God had brought it into my mind, because the wording in his version was exactly what he needed to hear and resolved his concern with what we were teaching about the purpose of Jesus Christ in God's plan. It was amazing. God is so aware of each and every one of us, no matter whom we are or where we live.

Life is traveling on wings of lightening... but I thought that I would add the link to the neat Bible Videos that were shown at the Christmas devotional because I love the depiction of the angels in them... a new and different version that seems more real than other depictions that I've seen before... I've been thinking a lot about angels recently, just how amazing it is to have the scriptures declared to you by a heavenly being from God. Angels are so different in different denominations of Christianity, some believe that they are an entity entirely different than humans, some that they are glorified humans, some depict them with wings, others with halos, some with merely white garb, others with colorful. I'm just fascinated by them.

Have a wonderful day!
Sister Pielstick

Link address: http://lds.org/bible-videos?lang=eng

Transfer 12: Week 3; North 3

Hello Everyone!

I am now no longer confused about the ornaments that everyone's been sending. I got the tree yesterday and now Sister Bryers from Australia has decided that she really wants to meet mom. (she also didn't believe that my dad was a surfer, but there is no ocean nearby... I suppose we're just going to have to visit her someday apparently she has some good surf beaches where she's from) thanks for all the ornaments... I loved them, I was just confused because there was no place to hang them on the Christmas tree that we found in our apartment...which just so happens to be the same Christmas tree that I had last year because I am back in the apartment that I had with Sister Bruno about this time last year. Sister Keliamakia almost stole a fish off of mom's tree... because she thought it was funny to have fish on a Christmas tree. (She’s from new Zealand and she's pretty much hilarious) The tree is now tacked up next to Jesus and I'll just show you the picture when I get home because I don't remember where I packed the camera cord for the computer.

This week was funny because I passed off in French... and I've been drawn to all the Quebequois on temple square. They all now have the spiritual equivalent of a neon sign that lets me know that I need to talk to them. One man came up and talked to us, he has such a sweet spirit... he was trying to find out how to know god better, and even though my French was terrible... he was almost crying because he felt the love of God so much when he heard about it in his own language. I wish that I had the words to tell him how much love I felt that God had for him... it was very overwhelming. God truly loves his children and goes above and beyond to help them understand and feel his love when they are seeking him out. I wish that I could bottle up that feeling and tap into it when I feel like I'm not worth anything... it was so strong. It was a testimony that God loves all of His children... even ones who have been avoiding him for a little while.

Another interesting experience came from a delightful Philippino... they are possibly the happiest people I've met in the world (except for the Chinese that come to Temple Square) He was a little shorter than me and was chasing his grandchildren around when he saw us. Usually we're the ones who ask for information, but he said that he always sends Christmas cards to one or two sister missionaries each year and he decided that we were the missionaries that he was going to add to his group this year. He must be one of the most amazing grandpas ever for his kids... just collecting friends from all over the world, so that they can see the stamps and things.

Christmas lights are out and so are all the people.
Have a wonderful day!
Sister Pielstick

Transfer 12; week 2; North 3

Life is revving up for the time of the Christmas lights. So exciting, they are going to open the Square an hour later for the entire season, instead of only being later on the weekends. We're so excited for all of the people... even though we've had loads here because of the Thanksgiving holiday. God is amazing; He takes care of everyone so well. Sister Fox and I met the most amazing couple from Costa Rica who came here to ski. It made me think because sometimes we get couples who come here for their honeymoons and they seem to be so focused on themselves that they can't even avoid walking into things... but these two were so considerate and cared for each other so much. I was happy to be around them and talk about everything. God really brings the prepared people when it's a little slower here. They wanted nothing else, but to be with each other forever and to feel God's love with them at all times.

When you meet different types of people you wonder what you need to go and do to be a better person. They are all children of God, but some you would emulate and some you would not. just thinking about how the people became the way they are... to their belief, to their hearts... it makes one start to think why anyone would assume that we are merely determined by our environments. There has to be something else, people who have had similar upbringings can have such different personalities. We are all so individual. Life is so amazing.

Albeit meeting new people is so good, our investigators are having a collectively bad week. They all got the "deadly flu" as one of them put it. I think it's amusing that they all got colds when they are from all over the world... Kenya, Romania, USA, Jamaica... I certainly hope that the telephone is not a conductor because one of them sounded like he just needed to rest for about a week... we hope that he gets the Book of Mormon soon so it can keep him company. Life is fun though and seeing how they learn about God and coming closer to him is the best experience ever.

Have a great week.
Sister Pielstick

Transfer 12; week 1; North 3

Hello!
I'm a little baffled because I am not in Extended or Cover... so that means that I will not be in the Beehive house anymore. I am still coming to terms with that sad eventuality, but it'll be good. I am companions with Sister Fox from Athol Massachusetts. Yeah, east coast! We're also the only Americans in the entire zone (aside from Sister Shaw and Sister Felici, who people never believe that she is really from Austin Texas), which is so funny considering there were only three international trainees and both of the sisters training got international sisters. This makes zone meetings hilarious, to say the least. I'm going to miss being with internationals.
Missionary work has been wonderful as well. This week has been one of the most productive (teaching wise) my entire mission. I've taught more discussions, invited more people, and helped resolved more concerns than any other time. Needless to say it is also the happiest time of my mission. We have new investigators from all over the world and they are reading from the Book of Mormon as often as they can. (One lost contact with the Internet, but next month it'll be fixed... hence the need for daily contact. There is Such a difference when they don't read... you tell the loss of spirit so much.) I am excited to call people And I got to call Sister Fox's mom to invite her to learn more.... she didn't want to learn more, BUT she said that she knew some people who would love to learn more... in fact she was so excited for me to call them she gave the phone to them so I could invite them there on the spot. They are the sweetest couple in the whole world. I am so excited that I get to help them understand God's plan for their lives. Missionary work is like that sometimes... you find people and they are amazing and they do actually want to learn more and you can't really do anything about it. I mean it is crazy to think that someone who has never heard of our church before would agree after one phone call to meet with missionaries to learn more, but they do. And sometimes when you invite them to be baptized they say yes.... when they haven't even seen a church building before... that is a miracle to me greater than the parting of any Red Sea.

Everything is doing well, and I am enjoying learning more and I had a wonderful pokey stick day (the Korean holiday that is on 11/11... which meant that it was especially special this year) Thanks for all of your love and support.

Sister Pielstick

Transfer 11; Week 6; Cover Zone--Beehive house

Oi vey!

This transfer is going by so quickly. I can't believe that it is already over and I'm about to start my 12th transfer. Crazy.

Everything is going well, I had some rather interesting experiences with people from different religions. I met some of my first Church of Christ Congregationalists. They were some of the nicest people that I've had the pleasure to meet whilst I have been on my mission (second only to the Catholic priests that I have met while on my mission). They had amazing questions and it seemed that we both were having a hard time figuring out why one wasn't the other. (They believe in Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, everything except modern day revelation... but we couldn't figure out why though. It was fun to try and figure it out though)

Also I have a firm testimony of the Book of Mormon and Satan's desperate attempts to disprove the validity of the Book of Mormon. There is something that needs to happen in order for someone to truly take the book into consideration is to believe that reading it will not turn you into a cult. (I tried in vain to explain the definition of a cult was not to read a certain book, but I gave up in the end... some people just don't listen to the spirit or the Webster dictionary) It was fun trying to help people, albeit it's hard to help them when they resort to speaking in gibberish whenever you are testifying about the Savior... I'm going to have to go back and study Corinthians more fully soon.

Thanks so much for everything that you do! I'm excited to see what happens next. (even if it means that some of my best friends on the mission are leaving on Wednesday :(... so sad... except maybe my new friends will be coming to the mission as well)

Sister Pielstick

Transfer11; week 5; Cover zone--beehive house

Hello!

How are you doing? There is so much to do in order to get everything done. I talked to the most amazing fisherman (imagine Deadliest Catch, like Dad likes watching only it's actually his life) who loves the change that he saw in the life of his daughter because of the restored gospel... the people you meet on your mission help you see how amazing God's children actually are.

Still more people in hibernation, at least in hibernation they answer their phones on a more regular basis and we get to talk to more people than we usually do. Sisters get really restless though. I think that they are all stir crazy in the motors... most zones get 40-50 hours on the computers so they find it rather difficult to manage everything and be on task... but that's the challenge of any mission I imagine.

Our investigator from Kenya just agreed to be baptized... we're so happy. But we didn't get much farther because his phone died. He's really amazing though. (and he's getting a new phone soon that should accept our calls on a better basis.) We're learning a lot and everything is going well otherwise... missions are a whole lot of work and I'm not certain of how I am going to adjust to real life at all... but that's what happens I suppose.

That's all! We have to get to a German language meeting for SIster Kaberry.... fun, right?
Sister Pielstick