Sister Pielstick and the MTC

Hola!

This seems to be the most common greeting at the MTC here. There are so many Hermanas in my hall. I love talking to them, they teach me the lessons and some cool phrases in their languages. Dieos los amos. God loves you. They like to practice the lessons in their language on you. So far I've had lessons in Spanish and Portuguese and a contact in German or Hungarian (couldn't tell which). I have them teach me a phrase or two in exchange for my personal study time. They seem to appreciate it. My companion Sister Nelson is very nice and from southern California. She loves to exercise so I'm either going to be very ripped or dying by the time I leave the MTC. The sisters get to have special exercising classes early in the morning, my favorite so far is the kickboxing class. It's so hard, but as close to dancing as we can get here at the MTC.

I love to sing here, I sing all the time: every time someone reminds me of a musical I end up singing it. I feel a little bad, but I am working on trying to attach these songs to church songs. I get to be in the MTC choir. I am so excited to be able to sing and work on Sundays. We open everything with a song.... even eating. I LOVE it.

My classes are all about teaching to the investigator. Tailoring the lessons to the people I am teaching, I love that emphasis. People don't want lectures on the gospel, they want conversations about themselves. We've not covered long lessons yet, but we've covered one minute lessons. Those will be really useful to my mission. I am also excited about learning about how to contact people, I want to be able to talk to everyone everywhere about the joy of the gospel. There are actors here who pretend to be real investigators instead of the typical TRC experience. We have tried our luck with several, but the hardest is the Eternal Investigator. I hope we can make headway with him before I leave, there are going to be so many people like him where I am going.

I just took off my beginner's 'Dork Dot' but I feel like I just got here yesterday. As it happens, I am only going to be here for four weeks. And I am leaving my mission December 18th 2011. It's going to be such a short mission. I am sad I don't get two Christmases at Temple Square, but it will be nice to see everyone again. There are 28 sisters who are going to temple square the same day I am (August 4th). We have other visitor center sisters in my zone (three districts of peeps) but they are going to Kirtland. I love meeting so many different people here.

Regardless of the bumps and inadequacies, I feel very much at home here. Everything seems to be going so fast here. I feel like time is falling through my fingers. I just want to have a time turner and have more time to be here and on my mission, but it'll be very fun all the time. I am grateful for my time here and I can't wait to see what will happen next ( good or bad).

I love all of you and wish you the best.

Sister Pielstick