Sister Pielstick and the Quantum States

A strange thing happened today. I got my mission call. You might wonder why this is strange, but if you understood how my brain works you would not be surprised. You see I love a letter in its quantum state, it has so much potential…. It can say anything…it can mean anything. I hold it close to my heart and wonder about the awesome things it may contain. To be perfectly honest, I hate opening things because they might not be as awesome as I imagine them to be.
This feeling is multiplied by the fact that this is my MISSION CALL. It could say I’m going anywhere… to Hawaii, to Guatemala, to Italy, to Spain, to London, to Paris, to New York--oh man New York would be awesome, just like living in twelve different countries at once—I could go anywhere really. It seems a pity to have to open the letter and break up the suspense, to have it settle down on one single place. It also seems sad that I wrote this instead of studying for my astrophysics exam tomorrow… oops.

Sister Pielstick and the Fanakenga

I've been researching the navigation systems of Polynesian navigators for the last month or so for a side project at school. It's interesting to see how little the scientists cared for what the Polynesians did. There are lists of the stars the Hawaiians used for navigating, but they are not identified in the sky. Let me tell you, it was hard to get enough information to make a decent program attached to reality.

One of the methods they used was to find a fanakenga, or a particular star that represented an island. for example the fanakenga for Hawaii is Hōkūleʻa, or the star of gladness. For Figi the star is A'a or burning brightly. What is my fanakenga? What will people remember how to get to me? Am I a person who is only interested in herself, or do I think about others? Am I the smart one, or am I the one who appears to be smart? Perhaps I am the weird one who knows esoteric information that no one cares about. Or maybe I am destined to be the missionary who writes to her converts not ever expecting a letter for herself...

I think that if I could choose my fanakenga I would want it to be faith. I want to be remembered as the faithful, the one who was willing to follow the Savior... the one who did not waver, and went forward excited for the future. That would be my fanakenga... Faith.

Sister Pielstick and the Wolverines

When one prepares to serve an LDS mission, they expect to have a doctor's appointment or two, a few vaccinations, and * shudder * a trip to the dentist's office. There are interviews with the bishop, the stake president, and miles of paperwork to fill out and file. They never warn you about the wolverines.

Wolverines, you ask. What do wolverines have to do with your mission? Wolverines are nasty little critters that jump out at you and remind you of your worst fears and laments... like leaving your favorite people in the world or learning a new language, or not being ready for the black nametag... they snarl and snap, and if you show an instant of weakness they will rip your resolve right out of your trembling fingertips and eat it for lunch. (or breakfast as the case may be)

How do you defeat these wolverines? Good question. I am severely tempted to let the wolverines into the all out fight for my time, along with the twin tigers of physics, the bear of biology, and the tyrannosaur that embodies Organic Chemistry. That would be a battle of Epic proportions, although admittedly my money's on the wolverine for the win.

Am I terrified? Absolutely. But that's not going to stop me from building a steel cage and watching it from the middle of the fight.