Transfer 5: week 6!!!!: Zone South 2

Hello family and friends!

The mission sure moves faster than I bargained for. I'm not so sure I'm happy to be so ancient here. Oh well, you're only as old as you feel, right?

Sister Farmer and I have been having loads of fun with people from all corners of the US and the world. One of our new friends is from Taiwan... she's pretty much amazing and moved away from a job and promising career to take care of her aging parents. She is so sweet and the promise of being with her family forever made her want to learn even more about the church. It's amazing how something that I've lived and learned all my life is something so new and interesting to the people we meet on Temple Square. Simple things like a living prophet or knowing what'll happen after we die are things that we take for granted sometimes. I'll try my best not to when I get back.

I also got to meet a few members that I want to be like when I go home from my mission. Honestly, I’ve heard the best excuse ever for not knowing anyone to share the gospel with... with an upgrade… all his non member friends were learning more at his house when they got back to Missouri. Man, I want to be that kind of member for the missionaries when I get back. I know that sometimes it may be hard to trust the Elders in an area; they are only 19-21... but they are representatives of Jesus Christ when they have on the name badge and if you trust them as such then God can only bless you. You never know what you'll learn from the experiences on your mission.

Everything is going super fast as we prepare for General Conference... I cannot wait. The tulips are blooming (and they kind-of look like upside down ballet tutus before they fully form the tulip shape) and everything is deceptively warm as March rolls around the corner. Be aware that I may have a new p-day next week as well as a new companion... but life is an adventure... and now I have three countries to visit after my mission (Columbia, Philippines, and Brazil (with Esther)) more likely than not I'll add a couple of more before the time my mission ends.

Best of luck to everyone!

Sister Pielstick

Transfer 5: Week 5: South 2

Hello!

Life has been pretty crazy and interesting. There have been a bunch of fun members on temple square recently... Oh and God really does love everyone, even our friends of other faiths who are so concerned for the welfare of our souls they come to visit us on Temple Square. I love being a part of the only church that I know of that doesn't send people immediately to eternal suffering for eternity if they are not a member of our faith. It's a nice feeling.

But there have been amazing people around here lately, my personal favorite was a cheeky bloke from Wales/ Spain who loved learning more and throwing his quips at us as a 'non-believer', the temple touched his heart and he said that he was so happy that his granddaughter decided to get married to her bloke forever even if it meant her favorite grandfather couldn't be there. (This was said in front of her other grandfather, mind) He was a blast and even though he feels good with where he is with his life right now, he felt the spirit of the temple here and that's one step closer to understanding why his granddaughter wanted to get married there.

We also got to talk to a couple of members who were pretty awesome. I guess Valentine’s Day just attracts people who have the love of Eternal families. One couple who was going to be sealed in September, but decided to come up and see the temple model before they did so, showed me a little more of how much the light of the Gospel can lighten the darkest days.

There are plenty more people to talk about and experiences to share, but I’ll just leave you with one more... we get to talk to people from all over the world and we met one member from the Philippines and she let us call her friends and family in the Philippines... Sister Farmer and I got the time zone mixed up with another island and we ended up calling some of her family members at 2AM... but when we called them later in the morning we were able to talk to some of them and one of them wanted to learn more... even though we woke him up at 2AM and made his wife unhappy. Heavenly Father is amazing and that is one prepared person. I want to go the Philippines after my mission, they are such nice people and Sister Asendente and Dela Gracia have already invited me over to their houses...

Best regards to everyone, and remember God loved us so he sent his son!

Sister Pielstick

Transfer 5: week 4: South 2

Hello!

I love Californians and people from the Netherlands. For some reason they make me feel like myself and a missionary... They were basically the highlight of my week. Oh that and a person who started off hostile and then softened to the church... but didn't want to learn more from the missionaries or from us. We had been hoping for a miracle, and I guess turning someone who was anti to someone who thought about learning more about our church is a good start at least... Heavenly Father is amazing that way. Temple Square is fun when there are not many people around, you get to talk to some of the amazing people who have been going to the temple for 50 years and people who are missionaries for the church history library and learn of their amazing experiences they have had whilst they are here from places like Australia and Japan... Then the security guards are awesome as well, one I met the other day is an ex-marine who helped protect people for foreign affairs. We're blessed here really...

We had an appreciation breakfast for the people who help make Temple Square work... I have to admit that it was a little intimidating to talk to all of those people (including the head of History for the Church, yikes!) but I guess it's practice for everything. I'm glad that I just have to be a missionary and I don't have to network and find a job as of yet... things here are fascinating, you learn people skills and how to act at formal gatherings... Much more than I was figuring when I said OK to being a missionary here.

This week was a little sad (and way exciting) because so many of our investigators met with the missionaries... because it means that we don't get to teach them as much anymore (we only contact them once a week after they meet with the missionaries). But it is good because they need to be with the missionaries in their area so they can be helped as much as possible to learn and join the church. It's just a little sad to see them move on with their progression in the gospel. We're finding more people that we can teach though... there are a lot of ways for us to find. If you know anyone who might be interested in learning more let me know! I'd love to call them and introduce them to the gospel.

Missionary life is hard but good.

Sister Pielstick

Transfer 5: week 3: South 2

Hello.

Another week has flown by. we have been teaching a lot of fun people over the phones, but it is really hard to be able to reach people sometimes. I think that if Satan knows that he can't phase someone he just makes them really really busy so that they have to make time to meet with the missionaries and learn more. Life is good though. Everyone seems to be preparing/ waiting for General Conference... and fun visitors are coming from all over to snow ski. Hopefuly it snows again so more people come.

As a missionary there are a lot of things you have to learn how to do that are incredibly out of your comfort zone. For me that is talking to other people and getting to know them, most of my life I was content to only talk to those people who came up to me and started a conversation... but now I must learn how to be that person. Fun? not really. Worth it? I certainly hope so. I've noticed that i've begun to loose my fears of talking to important people. Before I notice that there was a lot of things to be scared of, now if I have a good reason to talk to them I can talk to them. Official meetings to help get better sound equipment for the language coordination for the tours on Sundays are now second nature... I suppose if I was interested in going corporate I would be fine now. I am also learning how you find out who you talk to to get things done. You just ask and people typically tell you. Mystery of mysteries solved.

We also realized that we are a little apprehensive for the missionaries to meet some of the people we are teaching. One of them described himself to us and we realized that we were telling the missionaries to meet with some pretty scary looking people. But God wants us to help those who need the help, not the ones who are already well. And since Sister Farmer seems to attract those who are just out of prison or reformed drug addicts, means that we get to teach a lot of amazingly humble people about how much God loves them and really does have a plan for their lives. What is funny is that no one has figured out what kind of people I attract on Temple Square. I just get all sorts of people, not any one group in particular. (Sister Seube said that she can't classify me anymore)

Remember that everyone is a child of God and that God loves all his children so much that he prepared a way that we could grow and develop into the best person we can be.

Best regards and best of luck!

Sister Pielstick