Miracles, miracles everywhere!!

Cake for Sayuru Shimai (see below)

Hey-yo! How's life? That wonderful, me too.


This week has been so amazing! One of the best weeks to date. I wish I could list everything but I can't. Not enough time. But if you want to know call me in four months ;)

Ponderize this my friends
Jeremiah 1:6-9 (Sorry it's long. Actually I'm not sorry...I lied.(free shimai))

"Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.  Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth."

I seriously love this. It's me. Sometimes it's so scary to talk to people. I'm only 21 years old. That's so young! I'm a child. I know nothing of life. I haven't been living my life very long and I'm here telling all these people how to live theirs. It's a little intimidating sometimes. But the Lord says, don't be afraid. I'll tell you what to say. I will deliver thee. We really are so loved.

Saturday Keiko San was baptized!!! Ahhhhhhh it's so exciting! I wanted to go to Hakodate so bad but I got to call her. It was so special. We cried like babies together. And one of the first things she said to me in her cute English, she said, "I feel like one million dollars!" And then asked if that's okay to say. She's perfect! She was so ready! Yay Keiko Shimai! :)

Then Ozawa San is progressing so much! We were able to teach her twice last week. Monday we saw her and she said she wants to talk to us because she found Jehovah Witness things and had questions. I was so scared thinking she was going to drop up so yesterday when we showed up she could tell I was nervous. But then she just started asking all these questions. Like "if it's the same Bible and the same Christ why are there so many churches?" So we taught her the Restoration. The Spirit was so strong. In the end. We told her that we can't prove what we say is true. All we have is our words but I testify that it's true.  When we finished she thought back to when Muratta Shimai and I found her a year ago and how that shouldn't of happened. Everything that happened that day was out of the ordinary. It was so cool!

There's so much more but I'm out of time. So here's a quick funny for your day. Yesterday we stopped at a convini to go to the bathroom. Seriously the nastiest place I've ever seen, mold growing in the corner and shenanigans. So I tried really hard not to touch anything and then right when I was going to flush my ring slipped off my finger and fell into the dark crevices of that porcelain seat... Cried. Seriously. Cried. Good news my ring is safe and disinfected.

I love you all so much!  Make someone smile this week and then tell me how it goes!


You're the best!


Sister Zollinger

Itou San and her member friend from childhood! They are they cutest! We are going to teach her with Chayama Shimai and she's going to be baptized and then they'll,go to the temple together! 

We eat this ice cream a little too much... #addicted 

Sayuru Shimai taught us how to make tamagoyaki! Soooo yummy!  
We made her a cake but it was raining and we didn't have any tin foil or saran wrap sooo I walked it to her house holding the umbrella under my armpit. Got more funny looks than usual :)   

Ice cream with Moeka Chan! She's the cutest!

Desserts, Death and Dendo

birthday dessert number two (thanks Ebisawa Shimai)

Thank you so much everyone for all the birthday wishes and packages and desserts and things. I seriously love you all a lot!
 
This has been such a crazy week. First we had transfers! I will be staying with Hackett Shimai!! This is the first time since my training. Hackett Shimai gets to be my 10th companion on my 10th transfer :)  Buuuut Kotoni Area went from 4 sisters to 2 and I became a Sister Training Leader. So that means we have two times the area, two times the people to focus on, and half the time. I'm so excited! Seriously it's been so fun! This last week we ran everywhere talking to everyone! Having appointments and people to see is the coolest part of dendo! And to make it cooler we still had time to find! Miracles everywhere!
 
This week Free Shimai died (term to mean that her mission is complete and she is going home), her mission came to a graceful close. Seriously love her so much. Living in the same apartment for two transfers was so fun. I learned so much! We ate maybe 3 deserts everyday to celebrate :) then her angel family showed up at our apartment with bags and bags of groceries. Best present you can get as a missionary. It probably didn't seem like much to them but it meant the world to us.
Lastly Keiko San gets baptized this week. I want to go down to Hakodate so bad to see her but I got permission from Nakatsuka Kaicho to call her! She's such an angel. I'm excited for her to have the blessings of the spirit. I know it's going to change her life!
 
Oh ponderizing this week!
Pslms 119:111 "Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart".
 
I really love this a lot. This week I've been thinking a lot about papa and when he passed away. His testimony is a heritage I have taken. And that is where my joy is. Our testimonies come from the spirit through the words of people around us. Prophets, grandparents, friends, teachers, everyone. That is our heritage. That is what our heart rejoices in.
 
I love you all so much! Have a good week!
Sister Zollinger
 
Oh funny story, last transfer we all wanted to be a little more fit so we did 50-75 push-ups everyday. Then one day we were walking and saw a park with a bar perfect for pull-ups. I've never been able to do one in my life so I decided to try. 75 push-ups right, I got this!  Epic fail,... Couldn't even do one. This transfer is burpies...I'll try again in a few weeks ;)

number three same day we love ice cream!

Baskin Robins for Wednesday dessert number two

Lunch with the Free

And of course we made green chili enchiladas for my birthday!

21 Where'd you come from???

Thanks for the dress parents!

Happy Birthday to Me! 

My age is my birthday backwards..  I am officially as legal as I can be in America and Japan.   Next stop -  Senior Citizen Reduced Prices!
 
Since it's such a jolly day here's my scripture!
Proverbs 17:22 "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine..."
 
Isn't that cute? Life is supposed to be fun! You're supposed to be able to laugh and play. To feel joy. Also the best cure for anything is a good laugh! Unless you just got your appendix removed then use caution. But really Gods plan is a happy one. That's all he wants for us is happiness.
This weeks has been crazy.
 
Spiritual stuff first:
Last week we stopped this lady on the street and talked to her about church and Christ and invited her to church gave her a Book of Mormon but could not make a return appointment. But we got her number so it was good. Called her on Wednesday and she said I wanted to come to church but I couldn't figure out where it was. So we made an appointment to meet her and walk to church together! Saturday we were at a sports day for Ozawa San's son and she came running up to us yelling "Zolly San!" And told us how excited she was for Sunday. She came yesterday and she was sitting talking to a member saying how she wanted to see us again. How she felt so much love and happiness and wanted to feel that again. She also read some of the Boo of Mormon it was amazing!
 
Yesterday the Elder's investigator got Baptized. They asked me to sing at the service. It was so amazing. I sang I know that My Redeemer Lives. Every time I looked out I saw so many people singing along and so many crying and so much happiness but Uchida San was beaming. He was glowing so bright. It was all for him. After his baptism he looked so good. So happy. Goodness the church is true! (PS mom I want to take voice lessons again. I'm sorry I quit them..)
 
Then in other news on Saturday we were riding our bikes home in the pouring rain and I almost got hit by a car it was so scary. We just kept riding and then not even 100ft later Hackett Shimai went down. Got hit pretty bad by a car... She laughed so I think that means she was okay. We went to the hospital later that night. It was some pretty scary stuff but she's got no broken bones and is up and walking. We'll be on the bikes again tomorrow! I feel so bad for her beanhood. In the first transfer of her mission she got lost for 4O minutes and then hit by a car. I am the best trainer there is. Good thing my bean is a stud!
 
Last night for Free Shimais last Sunday we made s'mores.  We put chocolate in a pan with marshmallows on top baked it turned the lights on low and all said why we went out on a mission and while we are still here. It was so special. Then today we put in the birthday party hats and had a picnic in the prettiest field. It's been a good birthday! Hackett Shimai make me an omelet and the Elders know I don't like snacks so they got me vegetables for a present. :) they're the best! Birthdays in the mission are the best! Thanks for all the emails.  It's P-Day and my birthday so I'm going to go play and eat green chili enchiladas!  Catch ya in the flip side!
 
I love you all!
You're the best!
Sister Zollinger

My breakfast this morning!  Sooo yummy!!

S'mores!

Party Hats!!

Gift from the Elders

Temple!

Hey everyone! Happy Wednesday!

So sorry I'm emailing on Wednesday. Today the Sapporo sisters got to go to the temple! It was so amazing. Oh my goodness I love the temple!

It's my favorite place in the world. I ended up going into the celestial room before Hackett Shimai so I sat there and waited for her to walk in. It was so special to go there with her. Coolest bean trainer experience ever. We just sat and talked about the first time we went though, what we learned today, and cried like little babies. #sistermissionaryprobs

After I got to go inside the new mission home. It's beautiful! It's so big. The temple is huge too! We had to add chairs in our session today. The Sapporo temple is really serving a lot of people. Got a legit package from mom and dad. Kinda opened it already... Hope I wasn't supposed to wait until Monday. Buuuut if it makes you feel any better I shared my candy! :)

This week and a half has been so fun. So many things happened I can't remember them all. But I got a good scripture!

Ether 12:16 "Yea, and even all they who wrought miracles wrought them by faith, even those who were before Christ and also those who were after".  The only way to accomplish things is through faith. You can just expect to see miracles if you don't put work into it. I've been thinking about that a lot lately.

I love you all very much. Remember who you are and Jesus loves you!

Sister Zollinger