Transfer 2: Week 5; Cover Zone

Hola!

This week has been an interesting one, to say the least. There have been fewer people around here, so it's been a bit of trouble finding people to talk to. However, there are more gardeners here putting in the tulips and the Christmas lights in time for Thanksgiving. It's hard to believe how many people work behind the scenes here at Temple Square to make everything gorgeous for the holidays (Easter and Christmas, not necessarily in that order though). There have been a lot of youth groups that come here for their young men and young women's activities. Imagine how amazing that would be, to live close enough that you could actually plan an activity to Temple Square. Some of the Youth just take it for granted and text during the entire thing, but some of them are drinking in every second of it, even though some of them may have grown up here.

There are always fun people to meet here. This last week we had 18 hours at a desk assignment, which means that the area that you cover gets limited to a single area (the 'desk' being the center of it). It's hard to really get to know people there, but I had a lot of fun talking to the many guests who came and visited with their families. There was a 'Fall break' here in Utah so there were a lot of stellar members who were fun enough to share a few mission stories and missionary experiences. I love talking to the little kids too, they know who Jesus is. One little girl was waiting for her parents to get out of the temple with her grandmother so she was playing at the map of Jerusalem. Her Grandmother was trying to make her understand what Jesus did at Gethsemane, and finally gave up saying that a 3 year old couldn't understand. I later heard that three year old explain,”Jesus was hurt there for us" to one of her older siblings who hadn't been paying attention earlier. Little kids are a lot smarter than we sometimes give them credit for. They are sponges for information, if I've forgotten where I am in a tour I can just ask them and they set me straight immediately about what I have and have not told them. I think it's great for an absent minded person like myself, and it makes the kids think about what they've been hearing.

We also got to start all of the church movies in the North Visitor center, which I thought was nothing short of a miracle in some cases. We had one Catholic lady who went and saw the Testaments movie and came out so touched by it she went immediately to Deseret Book to buy a copy of the movie and the Book of Mormon. She started telling us how she is trying to be a defender of all Christian Faiths, because she thinks it's silly for Christian churches to fight among each other when we're already being torn up from the outside. It was a fun conversation and she says that she's going to prove anyone wrong who claims that Mormons aren't Christian. Sometimes I wonder if non-members who love the Church do more help when they are not of our faith than in our faith. Because we met an amazing man who leads the huge tour buses here and he made sure that his guests know that Mormons are not polygamists and that he teaches everyone the truth about what the Mormons believe. (His wife is a member, and he learned his truth from the missionaries and general conference, so pretty awesome sources I think) If he only believed that you could know that there is a God...

Oh yes, funny joke from one Jewish couple that came through the Beehive house. So we were taking a tour of the Beehive house on Saturday (which is typical) They were talkative, but not very interested in the history of the church (even more typical). We were in the kitchen and the husband says (out of nowhere) "Do you want to hear a joke?". His wife rolls her eyes and tries to keep him from saying it, so we got nervous (Beehive house is a wonderful place for not so nice jokes). Then he surprises us with this:

So a Cardinal goes to the Pope and says " I have good news and bad news"
The Pope says, "well I'll hear the good news first"
"Well the good news is that Jesus Christ came again"
So the Pope says: "That's WONDERFUL news. What could possibly be the bad news?"
" He's calling from Salt lake City"

While it would be nice for everyone to want to learn more about our church, at least some people make being rejected a whole lot of fun.

Love until next week.
Sister Pielstick

General Conference (Transfer 2 Week 4 Cover Zone)

Hello!

Sorry for no new nifty languages this week, I'll do better next time promise. This week has been a rather crazy one. From General Conference to Christmas (which starts here Thanksgiving), it seems like there is not enough time for everything to get done here. Oi!

There were some amazing miracles, and the members are so nice during conference. Usually they try to avoid us, but this time they were more than willing to talk to us. And we had some amazing people, couples who had just joined the church and were getting sealed this week, people who had been on 4 or 5 missions together as a couple, people who were just starting school or just finishing it. There were amazing families of people who were listening to conference while they were eating lunch on the lawn... I enjoyed it. They also were able to let us call their friends, which is a huge trust that they put in us. I hope that I can talk to their friends and do the best I can. If the members were that amazing, I can't imagine how amazing their friends are going to be...

We also get to see only one session of General conference, which was sad because apparently this one was especially good. I saw the Saturday afternoon session and I was only 10 rows away from the pulpit (albeit I was also only 10 seats from the wall) and I loved Elder Scott's talk about Faith building character. I hope that all the faith I have to use is helping me build some sort of character... otherwise I am just sitting here on my mission learning nothing more than a few new ways to say hello/ how are you.

We've also had a couple of amazing people, Charlie was my personal favorite though, he is a water quality guy for the government and his tour was really fast. (Sister Newman likes short tours, but he likes them even shorter: we saw the three historic buildings and the North visitor center before most people stop gawking at the Tabernacle roof) But we had fun talking to him about Joseph Smith, which was funny because he wasn't interested in anything before, then he asked if he and his wife could learn more from the missionaries about the Book of Mormon. He then walked to the Book of Mormon displays and saw the Christus in the time it took us to get upstairs.

There isn't too much more to report here, except that temple square is now officially in slow season... which means that there are fewer people and that I have time to push more buttons and see all of the media that temple square has... someone told me that there is over 12 hours of material on just one floor, so I may be able to listen to everything before it gets too slow. :)

Love you all,
Sister Pielstick

Transfer 2: Week 3; Cover Zone

Bienvienue a Temple Square!

Conference is coming, are you ready for it? I'm not so sure, over 100,000 people are coming just for tomorrow. Eek! It's going to be crazy, but it'll be good. This week has been interesting, especially since our friends with the signs are enjoying coming to Temple Square to scope out the best places for the big two days. A lot of sisters have encountered them and it makes me a little sad to see so many people so against people trying to come unto Christ. But I suppose that just means that they are fulfilling prophesy so I can't complain.

We've met some amazing people here though. This morning alone we got to meet two gentlemen from California one who has been a member for all his life, and one who is preparing to enter the temple himself in a couple of months. The convert had the most amazing testimony I've ever heard... He's such a good man and going to conference was his dream come true... and then he got to see what the Temple looks like inside. We've also met members from Guatemala and Tahiti. They had brought their families and were enjoying everything, just drinking in the spirit of the place. There are a lot of people from Ocala here, that surprised me. All of the guests (and many of the members) these last few days have been from Ocala. Interesting.

We also met a fun lady from Florida who was Jewish and was an interior designer. She loved taking photos and kept on trying to teach us how to take better photos by framing the subjects just right. We told her that we read the Book of Mormon to help us frame the shots of our lives, to give us perspective. She then wanted to learn more about this book of Mormon and how she could get one. Sadly she didn't want to meet with the missionaries, but she wanted to tell them about her experience on Temple Square the next time they knocked on her door... so that was a decent end. I always love it when we get people to want to read that copy of the Book of Mormon gaining dust on the Shelf. (or when members say they don't have anyone to refer because all their friends are already meeting with the missionaries.)

Wish me luck as I go on the next two days... we are going to be busy from 8AM-9PM, and we're going to the Saturday afternoon session of Conference so look for me in the front section :) Not much else to report, but I'm sure more will come later as time goes by.

Love you

Sister Pielstick

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