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

Transfer 5: Week 2: South 2

Rock on everyone.

I say that because even though there is virtually no one on Temple Square (we get excited if we talk to 3 people in a day) we are having so much fun calling and talking to people over the phones. One of our new investigators is a hard core rocker (or was when he was younger) and is having a blast learning more things about God. He still doesn't believe us that God forgives every one of everything, but hopefully as he reads the Book of Mormon and meets with the missionaries in person he'll understand that. There are also some fun people who are not always answering the phone, but are great. We have a film editor from California and a physical trainer from Arizona who are excited to learn more. As Sister Bruno says, ”Heavenly Father is Amazing”.

We're also having fun as I learn more and more about the physics of the sound equipment (and FYI running into the previous sound equipment hurts when you're not expecting it.) We are trying to let everyone know about going to see the sisters and getting tours after the Music and the Spoken Word. The logistics are pretty fun to explore and figuring out who to talk to to get things done is pretty interesting as well. I find that being in meetings makes me feel more at home than anything else in missionary work. Funny how being a missionary can change meetings from a dreaded thing to something that is as at home for you as going to church.

Sister Farmer and I are having fun learning and growing together. Being a senior companion is a lot more work than I thought it was... I need to be more responsible and keep better track of the apartment keys. (Whoops) But it is good to have this experience, even if I am learning by my mistakes. Hopefully I will get things figured out by the end of the transfer.

Best regards,

Sister Pielstick

Transfer 5: Week 1: South 2

Transfer 5: Week 1: South 2

Notice anything different?

I stayed in the same zone for the first time in my mission! It is rather exciting, because everything else changed-new companion, new place to live, new assignments, everything else. But for once something did not change. Sister M Farmer from Oregon is my new companion and she is an artist. We were in the Beehive house together my second transfer and we had lots of fun and joked about being companions. I guess God listened and trusted us enough to give us a try after we had a little more experience and training. We're both excited to be working together (First time I've known what my companion looks like before transfer conference).

We're teaching some amazing people, and we've found a bunch of awesome people as well. One person we called and taught the first lesson to on Sunday hung up on us because she wanted to get to church on time. (I am refraining from singing the song right now) She is so excited to learn more about why her ex-husband's family is so tight knit and caring for each other. Heaven is watching over these people and God is making sure that they have the opportunity to have His guidance in their lives. Heavenly Father is amazing that way.

Temple Square may be a little less than busy, but now I get to help coordinate the language announcing after music and the spoken word. We are really excited to help the people who come to listen learn more in their own language. I get to help fulfill prophecy, isn't that exciting?

Nothing much more to report.

Have a wonderful day!

Sister Pielstick

Transfer 4: Week 6! : South 2

Hello!

This week has gone by lightening fast. So much to do and so little time in which to do it in... We have many people that we are teaching now, many from Brazil. Those lessons are interesting because they don't understand me and I do not understand them so we just feel the spirit and I say 'oy'. The other lessons are pretty fun, there is one person from California who was originally from Japan but loves everything about the church... unfortunately she works a lot and rarely picks up her phone for us. Such is the life for any missionary I suppose. We are also about to teach an amazing woman from Australia... fortunately she doesn't work in the afternoons otherwise we'd never get in contact with her.

I also got a random phone call from a lady who lives in Utah who wanted to know how to get in contact with the missionaries. After being taken aback, I got her in contact with them and she wants to go to church on Sunday! We are both very excited to see how she liked it. She wanted to see what it was like because she works at a care facility and saw how the old couples treated each other, even when they couldn't care for themselves they tried their hardest to care for each other. Such a sweet testimony to go off on, it proves that you can be a missionary at any stage of life.

We've also met a lot of amazing people on Temple Square. They may be few in number, but they are big at heart. Argentineans as so funny, we started taking them around temple square and explaining everything in English... and we thought they understood, but then at the last place we took them they asked Sister Bruno to explain everything we had just said, only in Spanish. She explained everything and then they got really excited and wanted missionaries. So miracles happen even when there is hardly anyone anywhere.

I also got to see Elder Bonaro teaching one of his investigators in the North Visitors Center... it was fun to watch them work. He's making his mother very proud I bet. We're working closely with the mission president of his mission... no idea why but he's been over visiting us for a while now, looking at the computers and everything. It sounds like fun though, because one of our investigators just got contacted in his mission and from what we understood he was golden.

Hopefully this finds everyone well!

Sister Pielstick

Transfer 4: Week 5: S2

This picture is from our presentation of 'The Little Mormon'

Hello!

This week was rather exciting as we finally got two of our investigators to meet with the missionaries. One is a southern gal from Texas who has been trying to win custody of her daughter now that she has cleaned herself up and moved into a more stable environment. It's amazing the change that Jesus Christ can bring to people's lives, just in the hope category. She was tearing up when she told us about how the missionaries told her about God having a plan for her on their first visit and was terrified that they'd never come back again because she had a family emergency and missed one appointment. She is a real sweet heart.

The Indiana chemical engineer met with the missionaries this week as well and reported that they are helping him on his quest to find God in his life... which is amazing. And his friend, who referred him to us, miraculously got in contact with us and we got to tell her that her best non-member friend is investigating the church in Indiana at university. J

I have also discovered how difficult it is to work around time zones with people in other countries. Just trying to contact our friends in India, Australia, and Zambia has been a hassle, but when we get to talk to them it will be worth it. You have to be very careful calling other countries because they don't appreciate being called at one or two in the morning... and Utah time really messes with everything. At least Australia and Zambia have 2 hour windows where we can call... it is a lot of fun to be able to do missionary work all around the world.

The square is surprisingly busy, with loads of people from conferences and random countries on holidays. We talked to two fun Frenchmen who came to ski and see the sights. One spoke English and one spoke only French so it was definitely an interesting experience, but I learned a few new French phrases to help teach people and they finally understand what the words God and prophet mean. We have also had a lot of Brazilians who want to

-a. learn more about this odd religion and

-b. want to get some snow skiing in on their summer holidays.

Sister Bruno Keeps on speaking Portuguese at least once a day to people from her country or RMs who just got back and are missing it incredibly.

The transfer is almost over, yikes! I am excited/apprehensive about what will happen next. Hopefully Sister Bruno will get her dream of going outbound to New York-Utica next transfer. I don't have any dreams, except staying alive and getting in contact with the people I've been trying to for over a month now, but that is irrelevant compared to switching companions and zones and such so, oh well.

Happy New Year!

Sister Pielstick