Transfer 2; Week 2; Cover Zone

New Zone, new companion... everything is different here. I am assigned to the Beehive House and I get to learn a bunch of new history facts. Which is nice/ hard at the same time. Now I know a lot more about Brigham Young... did you know that he had a hand in starting BYU and University of Utah ? I know that there was a reason the intense rivalry seemed odd... The tours are hard because they are supposed to be 20 min instead of 30 min and we have so much stuff we need to cover, including the restoration of the gospel and what items in the house are original to the time period. ( This hat, cane, and book of Mormon are original to Brigham young, however the painting of his family ....etc etc) The house is beautiful though, the clawed feet look is really cool...Sometimes I think that the chairs are going to walk away when my back is turned.

It's a little different to not have language tours anymore. I didn't realize how much I loved them until I didn't have them anymore. All the more reason to regain my French so I can give my own language tours. I have been able to study plenty these last few days because my companion has been sick. May I mention that being sick on a mission is hard/ weird? Especially for the person who is just sitting on the chair next to the couch watching her companion sleep through reading the Book of Mormon in French and reading the last conference Ensign.

I also am a little excited because Conference is coming and I realized that the sister missionary seats are in the front section for conference. My companion is already planning her outfits so she can get her picture in the Ensign, I am trying to figure out how to avoid having my picture taken for all the world to see. I am still getting over people wanting to take my picture because they associate me with their Temple Square vacation. I miss my organ music. I was giving a tour in the Tabernacle the other day and I wasn't mad at the organist for starting his practicing right as I was teaching about prophets in the Book of Mormon... mainly because it was Clay Christansen and I love listening to him play. My companion almost had to drag me out of the tabernacle. *sigh*

Hopefully my companion will be healthier next week so I have more exciting stories for next week. (and tripply hope that I do not get what she got... I am working hard to be healthy and drinking tons of orange juice)

Have fun.

Sister Pielstick

Transfer 2; Week 1; Cover Zone

Ni How !

I know it's been ages since you heard from me last. A whole three days. Transfers are CRAZY, everyone is going everywhere and no one knows exactly what is going on. One Zone (one I affectionately call the 'New North') was created yesterday because there are so many people on Temple Square still. Usually by now there are fewer people, but it's almost as busy as the middle of summer when I first came here. My assignment to cover is the Beehive House, which will be interesting because I do not have any historical information for the House and we're going to be assigned there for 9 hours tomorrow. I hope that my old companion Sister Inoue can give me that script before tomorrow afternoon, because I don't want to be a mute guide for the historical tours at the house. I'll take a picture of the house because I know that my family at least has never seen the inside of the Beehive house.

My new companion Sister Newman is pretty cool, she's a social butterfly and loves to explore new places. Dinner and Lunch are an hour long so sometimes we'll finish early and explore places that I haven't really been before (Like trying to find the new trees that have lights on them). She is also a fan of Motor coaches, we've only been together for 2.5 days and we've already given two. However, she also pretty amazing at them, we keep on getting referrals right and left. We talked to a wonderful Californian Engineer and he had moved to the states from India. He was so much fun to talk to, and his Computer Engineering friend who didn't say much, just pushed his friend around and nodded referred! Apparently something at Temple Square computed.

It's interesting to be with Sister Newman because I get to meet so many different sisters. She is very big on making sure that we evaluate after every tour, which is nice because then we are able to improve faster. Speeding up the improvement process is good for me because I still need to work on my social skills a little more. And I tend to accidentally wade into deep waters with teaching people ...AKA I'll answer all their questions so they just want to research things on their own instead of having other missionaries in their area who can help them come closer to Christ.

Love ya!
Sister Pielstick

Transfer 1; Week 6, North Zone

Mungu anakupenda! (Swahili)

From my friend, Sister Amuli from Kenya. There are a lot of people from everywhere on the Square. We've talked to people from Australia, and a sweet couple from British Columbia who wanted to know how one joined our church and why someone would change their lifestyle to join our church. We've met a bunch of really awesome members from Utah... too bad they don't have many chances to meet people outside the church. We need to befriend everyone, even if it is hard to see them on a regular basis. Sometimes it is just one nice thing built upon another that brings people closer to Christ. There was one lady who brought her exchange students here and she mentioned that people in Utah were so nice that if they found out that she missed having time to make chocolate cake she'd find one on her doorstep the next week.

Sometimes things are hard to do, like giving a tour to 30 people from the Netherlands. They are sweet people, but I do not speak Dutch, and they didn't speak much English... but they seemed to like the buildings. And one lady had a son who does the same thing that Dad does, but since we didn't speak much of each other's language we didn't get much more than that understood. But it was scary and fun at the same time. Temple Square is slowing down a bit so we get to go on the Square at 10 instead of 9, which means we get full uninterrupted study time! I am so excited to actually delve into more things that will help me teach more effectively because the shortened study time meant that I go to study the assignments for zone conference, mission conference, and district meeting and had no time for my own personal questions I needed to find answers for.

Yesterday was transfer conference, when we find out our new assignments. Transfer conference is the most unusual experience I have had on the mission. Imagine 200 girls sitting together and the mission president announcing the new companionships and the outbound sisters. There are 26 people going out! That is pretty insane, they're going all over the place: Georgia (Birmingham), Washington (Spokane), Virginia (Washington DC), Minnesota, Florida (Ft Lauderdale), and obviously many other places. No one to Alaska this time of year, thank heavens... it would be dark and freezing the entire time they were out serving. Then they announced the new leaders... which was sad for me because Sister Inoue is now a Zone leader, which means that I can't be her companion anymore. My new Zone is called Cover, which means that I can go anywhere on Temple Square... even maybe welfare square or the Humanitarian Center. My new companion is Sister Newman, who I don't know very well... but she is from the US and she tackle-hugged me yesterday, so she must be pretty nice. *this means P-day is now Friday--TWO P-days this week!!! SWEET!*

I also took my first tour of the Beehive house with one of the departing sisters, Sister Santana from Brazil. Sister Santana taught me so much about how to work with incorporating meaning to the tours, because it is impossible to properly teach about the history of the pioneers without explaining a little about the beliefs that they held close to their heart. I've been a bit of a fact machine, which is good, but doesn't make people remember their time here. Dates will fade, feelings will not. Everyone works here so different, each according to her own personality. Having different people makes life interesting here. And apparently Chocolate and gummy candies are the cure for when people are sad that they didn't get to go outbound, or that they've lost their friends as they go home to far away countries like Pakistan. I am sad that some of my friends are leaving...because I wanted so much to be companions with them. I guess I'll just settle for visiting them when I am done with the mission.

Love ya!
Sister Pielstick

Transfer 1; Week 5; North Zone

Alofa atuki'e otua! (Tongan)

This week has been busy and colder than usual. I've been begging sweaters from the sisters who are leaving this transfer because it gets cold in a skirt and a shirt. There were a lot of people that came to Temple square on Saturday and Sunday, but Monday there were not very many so we got to do service in the temple (aka deep cleaning some of the rooms). Mostly my companion and I did locker rooms and lots and lots of hallways, but we got to clean the glass in the waiting area too. That Temple is probably the most beautiful building I have ever been in. You can see the pioneer work everywhere.

There were a couple of fun miracles this week, and I love Singapore businessmen. We met one man who buys and sells pianos around the world and he was visiting with a member friend from Utah. His friend said that he wanted to be baptized (which oddly enough happens all the time) then we just laughed it off until the man asked us where he could be baptized right then and there. He said that he was tired of his church changing so he wanted to join one that wasn't changing. We obviously couldn't baptize him here (they removed the Font in the Tabernacle, and the reflection pool is too shallow to immerse anyone) so we told him that missionaries in Singapore could come and bring him a book of Mormon. He wouldn't give us his information until we assured him that the missionaries would be happy to baptize him and his family in Singapore. Apparently this doesn't happen every day because the Chinese sisters were so excited (as well as many others). I also like Romanian carpenters because we met one gentleman who asked us how he could get the Book of Mormon while we were letting him into the Tabernacle. He was such a fun man, apparently he got interested as he went around building Mormon churches around the States so that was pretty awesome.

Also I have at last purchased my own copy of PMG in French, so now I can learn some more. There are so many amazing people, I just wish that I could say good morning to all of them in their own language. I am learning how to hold my own in a conversation in Japanese... aka ask people where they are from and what their names are. I am not the best, but the other sisters from Japan understand me and the Guests just smile and nod (and some answer, but I can't follow that fast..eep!). I'll get it eventually. Next P-day I'll know where I am going to be for the next 6 weeks as well as who I am going to be with. I hope I get to stick with Sister Inoue, but new people would be funtastic as well.

Love ya!
Sister Pielstick