Hello Friends!

こんにちわ！
(Hello)

It's P-Day again!? Where has all of my time gone?? This is going by too fast.

Got some Ramen!  Yay food!

Anyways fun highlights: My first English class a girl walked in wearing a sweater and her and another lady started talking about how cold it is. So I looked over and said "smart for wearing a sweater, I wish I had a sweater". Like I wish I had a sweater in the moment. Then this last week at class the lady (not wearing a sweater) brought me a bag a sweaters.. She said, "for you cold, here some sweaters. I have them for 3 years but they still nice." I love their English here it's so great. Anyways now I have all these random sweaters! They're actually super cute! But lesson learned be careful what you say around Japanese People. 

Then it was pouring rain the other day and we're riding to pick up an investigator from the Elders and we are turning into to her buildings parking lot and then what to you know I wreck on my bicycle oh so gracefully. Yay, first bike wreck! I'm so proud. Then on Sunday a Sister just came home from her mission in Colorado! In church she had a comment and she's just going off in Japanese and then she stops says "um" and then keeps going. Oh my goodness it was so weird sounding! Japanese People do not say um, ever. My companion and I just looked at each other, like what just happened. She's super cute and she come up to us all excited and started speaking English. When she gave her homecoming talk she bore her testimony in English at the end. It was a super cool experience because in America you hear all these different languages in homecoming talks so hearing English and everyone in the ward get all excited was cool!

When the going gets tough  wear rain pants!

This week has been crazy. I'm not going to lie this has probably been the hardest week of my life. We went from door to door talking to person after person all week with no success. It was hard super hard. I came home every night like why am I doing this to myself. No one wants to listen to me. Then yesterday I prayed harder than I ever have in my whole life. And we went out again. House after house after house. But this time is was different. People still weren't talking to us but I had all this energy. It hurts when someone says no but I just kept going and I didn't get discouraged.  Everyone prayer is real. It doesn't matter who you are, what you're doing. What you need, nothing.  Heavenly Father is listening and when times are super hard he will comfort you. 

Sushi!  The real stuff.  American sushi doesn't even come close. 

Don't worry there's a happy ending to this story. We got a new investigator! Her name is Takagi San! She's so cute and she loves Americans. She was so excited we came to talk to her and called us like 10 times after we left to make sure we were okay. Before we left we asked her if we could pray together. She had never prayed before so we taught her how. Seriously the coolest experience ever! Even though this week was so hard I saw so many miracles. The hard times make the good moments greater. Life isn't always going to be perfect but it's okay because Heavenly Father is always there and every thing we are feeling has been felt before by someone that loves us more than we can imagine.

I burritoed myself inside of my futon. 

I'm gonna leave you with one last thing. Because of how many people have been saying no to us I decided I needed a little line to say back to them. So my little thing is "God loves you!" We role played that 100 times yesterday so you best be bettin' that's what I'm going to be saying tonight! So remember "God loves you!"  

愛しているよ！
(I love you)

Sister Zollinger

Everything is better...

こんにちわ！

(Hello)

How goes it? That's great! Me too!

View from my apartment

Funny Highlights: The other night we were eating dinner at this members house and after we asked her for directions. So she's like okay follow me. So this little old lady takes off running to her bicycle. She hops on her little mama chatty and takes off. And I mean she was flying! Then before I know it were at the mission home and she's running inside to say hi to the elders she doesn't know. Seriously the greatest thing of my life! So funny. Don't have a lot of funny highlights this week but life here is great!  This week my companion's bike broke down three times and I wore my rain pants. Fun times. I've decided everything is better when you're a missionary. 

Here is a list of all the things that are better.

1) Your prayers: Heavenly Father is so willing to give you everything you ask for as long as you are willing to work. Some of the tiniest things I pray for happen. I see so many miracles everyday. It's amazing the power of prayer.

2) The food (if I'm 100lbs heavier this is why). In Japan they have these little Oreo chocolate covered twix cookie thing that are 31 yen of Jezebel's lust. A got a box with about 20 of them for my birthday. They are called Black Thunders but I call them Thunder Thighs because that's all you get from them. It's great. Also the best Ramen in Japan is in my mission… we eat that a lot. Also rice cheeks is real!

hangin' onto my teen years...Now I'm an adult 

3) Your scripture study. I learn so much every day! I never want to stop studying the gospel. I feel like I won't learn anything new but them I'm always amazed by how much I learn. It's the best!

4) The people. Everyone here is so nice! When they say no they say it so politely. Also everyone is so willing to do anything for the missionaries. The members in the ward are so great. They watch out for us every day.

5) Birthdays. Seriously the best birthday of my life. There was surprise after surprise after surprise all day. It was so great. Everyone around me made sure that I had a good day.

Yay!  Birthday cake!

Being a missionary is so great. Sorry mom I'm never coming home! My companion and I were talking the other day and we started talking about why we went on missions. We both wanted to come out here and repay Heavenly Father for everything he has done for us. But you soon realize that you can never repay him for what he has done. I came here to serve those around me but they do more for me then I could ever do for them. Every time I teach someone I leave feeling so great. I have been blessed so much by being here. In my two short weeks of being here I have been taught more than I have taught. Even though we don't have any investigators I see so many miracles every day. All of these moments help me through the hard times. My journal looks like a roller coaster. One day is great and awesome and then the next day is slow and I feel down and then it's great again. But I started something new. Every night I write a miracle I've seen that day. Now I see miracles all the time! Miracles are real. They do happen. I love being a missionary. I've said that 199 times already but in case you forgot I love it.

Sorry my email was all over the place this week. But I love you all!

Jesus loves you!

愛しています！

(I love you very much)

Sister Zollinger

P.S.  Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

Home Sweet Nihon

こんにちは！！！
(Konichiwa - Hello)

How is everyone? Probably not as good as me!

"Heart Attack" with my companion Kempner Shimai

Funny first week highlights: So we get off the plane not even been in Japan for 15 minutes and I walk into the men's room... This Japanese man was walking out and I looked up and realized what I was doing and freaked out. He just laughed probably thought this foreigner over here doesn't know what a blue men's room man looks like. The toilet paper in our apartment smells like roses... I have no comment.  At least our bathroom never smells!

Yesterday at church I bore my testimony and said "toki doki doki doki, kedo waku waku desu" (sometimes I'm nervous but I'm excited) everyone died laughing. The all said I'm fluent so I know my Japanese is bad. Then we were street contacting and this girl said my trainer and I look so cute and took a picture with us. She invited us to her concert and we got permission to go, yay! I am so glad I practiced kneeling. We were in a lesson and my leg fell asleep. It was so bad but for the first 20 minutes I was set!

We went to get ramen the other day. Oh my goodness it was so much food. I was halfway done but I was so full, I looked up and my trainer had downed hers.  I literally rolled over and died. I'm going to get so fat. Everyone here asks me about my hair, EVERYONE. Those weren't exactly funny but hey this place is cool!

I love love love Japan so much! I feel so at place here. Everyone is so nice! When they

Mission President and his wife

don't want to talk they just bow and walk away. You literally bow all the time. I'm starting to pick it up but it's still hard. When in doubt, bow. The members here are so awesome. I'm in a small ward with two companionships of Elders. Before church all the missionaries line up outside the door and shake everyone's hands. They are all so friendly! Their testimonies are so strong. I am seriously the luckiest person in the world! The language is so hard though. I only understand like every 5th or so word.

The first night 3 different people asked me how old I was and I had no idea what they were saying.  Embarrassing.. But I am in a apt with two Japanese Sisters. They are in the area next to ours. So I get to practice my Japanese a lot. It's great. My area is Moiwa! Everyone here wants to learn English so they practice on my constantly. It's sooo helpful! I teach English class tomorrow super excited! I don't know what else to say but how lucky and blessed I am to be here. We have no investigators, no prospects,
nothing. Starting scratch. But I know that I am supposed to be here and that if I do everything I can the Lord will fill in the rest!  Every time I have to say something in Japanese the words find their way to my mouth.

Silly Sisters!

The other day we were teaching a recent convert (she's so cute!) and we showed her the "Because of Him" video and after my trainer Sister Kempner looked at me and said bear your testimony on Jesus Christ and all I said was I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I felt the spirit so strong. Sometimes we forget the small and simple truths of the gospel. But in that moment I knew more than I ever had in my life that Jesus is the Christ and he loves us. It was really awesome.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful week. Next time I email I will no longer be a teenager!!




I love you all very much!

ゾリンジャー 姉妹
(Zorinja Sister)

Home Sweet Nihon!

Hello Family!!

Guess who made it to Japan!!! This Sister! This place is beautiful! But I have a constant fro! Cool story though my Trainer also has a fro! Curly hair friends!

Sorry for everyone I didn't get to call. It was a super stressful day! I love you all a lot! P-Day is Monday! I'll email with pictures then! I get to go to my apt tonight!

My area is in Sapporo so I don't have to go far! Woohoo!

Zollinger Shimai

P stands for Packing!

Today P-day means packing day...and pants day...and preparation day... just go with it. 

Some of the Shimaitachi in my district with our matching shirts!

So I leave for Japan on Monday!!! When I got my flight plans I screamed like a small child.. seriously though! I am so excited! We're so fancy, you already know, we're flying from LA to Tokyo! :)

Funny Highlights: On Sunday I taught the Japanese Sister "lame" on accident. They say it all the time not but they say it super dramatic and slow because I had to say it super slow for them to hear it. So they say "ohhhh laaaameeee" It's so cute!

I don't have a lot of funny highlights this week because we're just been getting ready to go to Japan.. Sorry I guess I'm lame.. ;) 

Missionary selfie! 

So I forgot to mention this but every Sunday everyone has to prepare a talk for Sacrament Meeting because you never know who's speaking. They literally call you out on the spot to come up and speak. So guess who got called. Yeah Zollinger Shimai. I thought I was going to pass out. But I did it! I actually gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting in Japanese. The craziest thing was I was allowed to read my scripture in English and I could not get the words out properly. It was crazy! I guess that means I'm ready to go to Japan now! This Sunday the Japanese Sisters sat next to me during choir and asked me what every word in the song meant. And somehow I was able to translate it in my broken Japanese. I know I'm not perfect, but Heavenly Father always provides a way! I cannot even begin to describe how excited I am to go. Nine week of learning about this amazing place is over and now it's go time. I'm going to hit the ground running and I cannot wait. I know it's going to be hard, but I can do hard things through Christ! Nippon here I come!!

Sorry I didn't have much time to write this week, got to go pack! I love you all! 

あいしています!

ゾリンジャー姉妹

PS. Mom I'm singing in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday! It's an arrangement of 'If You Could High to Kolob. Don't worry I'm keeping my promises! ;)

Nashville Tribute Band picture! The lead singer is the one in the middle without a nametag!

NASHVILLE TRIBUTE BAND!!!

こんいちわ!

How is everyone doing?? Cool me too! So this week have been nuts! I get my flight plans tomorrow! I'm literally losing my mind! However everyday I learn something new, everyday is a spirit bomb to the face and a reminder why I'm still in the MTC. Heavenly Father is so much smarter than me!

Funny Highlights: (I hope you like my funny highlights, sorry if they're lame everything is funnier in the MTC) So first off one of my Teachers is Japanese. The other day we asked him if he had to learn the American alphabet and if it was hard. He said he had to learn it in Kindergarten but they taught him a song to help him remember so he started singing the ABC's. Our other teacher looked over at him like why are you singing that and he looked at her and said, "you know that song too!?!" She just said, "yeah.." and everyone started laughing. It was so great! 

 

Yesterday we got Japanese Sisters in our branch! I was talking to them and one of the other girl in my district was wearing a shirt with the Facebook cat stamps. So the Japanese Sisters got so excited and asked where it was from and I said, "it's right next to the emojis isn't it". They were like "American's have emojis!?!" It was so cute! They kept calling me "steki" which means handsome, cute, fashionable stuff like that. 

One of my companions mom made all her skirts and I joked with her to have her make me one. Then last week she got a package and I was messing around saying it was my skirt and it actually was! So awesome!

 

They also said my Japanese was great, but in Japan that means your Japanese is terrible...So I have a lot of work to do.. Also my eye just randomly started twitching a few weeks ago. I have no idea why but the other day we were eating dinner and one of my companions saw it twitch and started freaking out. I would say it's annoying but it's super funny when people see it twitch. I was walking in the cafeteria the other day and this lady yelled at me and said "Hey I really like your hair, I would trade my left pinky for that hair." So I looked back at her and with a straight face said "Okay, I wouldn't mind having two pinkys" and then I walked away. I LOVE THE MTC!!

If you haven't guessed already from the subject of my email the Nashville Tribute Band came and did a devotional on Sunday.(Mom remember that CD you bought me for Christmas, the one with my favorite songs? It was them!) Yeah that's right first time something like that has ever been done in the MTC and I was here. See I knew I didn't need to leave last week :) It was the coolest thing ever. The spirit in the room was so powerful! My companions and I like to sing in the MTC choir. Because it's a music group we got to sing a few of their songs with them. It was so powerful. I want to share a few lines from some of their songs. Look them up they're so cool! 

 

Before they started the song they said to all the missionaries, "you are part of a millennial army that has been fighting before Christ was born." Then at the beginning of the song they had the missionaries that were from other countries come down and tell where they were born in the native tongue. It was crazy how many different countries were represented. The part that the missionaries sang was the coolest. We sang, "We are here to serve our King. Children of the most High. It's his good news that we bring. As we labor gladly bringing souls to Christ." The song is called, I Was Born. I love it so much. That song hit me so hard though. Gospel means Good News. Here I am laboring, gladly, bringing souls to Christ. There is no better work on this earth that could be done. At the end the lead singer said, "One day every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is the Christ, are you excited?" The knowledge I have that Christ is my Savior is something I hold so dear. I am excited for that day! When all of my Brothers and Sisters will know who their Savior is. That he is the reason we can return to live with our Father in Heaven again. Can't you just imagine how amazing that day will be? What makes it even better is that in Japan there are people that have never heard of God and Jesus Christ. I will get to be the one that introduces them to their Beloved Big Brother. I get to teach them how to pray to their Heavenly Father. I get to share this Good News. Pretty cool stuff. 

 

You know you've been in the MTC for 8 weeks when you start to do your hair in the "King and I" buns... Just prepping myself for sumo wrestlers!

I only have one week left in the MTC so if anyone wants to send me a letter or package or anything before I leave the country I wouldn't be upset.. ;) 

あいしています!

ゾリンジャー姉妹

Who wears matching shoes anymore???

こんいちわ！

My companions and I had a english fast this week. Which means we didn't speak any english all day. Hardest thing ever but it was so cool! I know way more than I thought I did, except I had to look up like every other word in the dictionary.. It was super fun! 

Funny Highlights: On Monday my Senpai left. (The sister missionaries that got to the MTC before I did) So all the other girls in my zone blew up baloons to send them off with. Since they were all leaving at different times we had to wake up at 4:40 and 5:40 to send them off. In the comotion of trying to get out the door before they left I almost forgot to put on my shoes so I ran back and slid them on. We were standing in the stair case when one of the sisters looked at me and said Sister Zollinger, did you know you're wearing two different shoes. I don't think it would have been as funny if it wasn't 4:40 in the morning and the fact that the shoes were totally different. yeah I was tired.

 

Sunday night we get to watch movies after the devo. This Sunday my companions and I went and watched the Testaments. Seriously the best movie of all time! Watch it! In the movie though two of the main characters share a kiss and every companionship in the room covered their companions eyes, Funniest thing ever! #missionayprobs

 

My companions and I started practicing our kneeling last week. Liteatlly the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. In Japan it's costumary to kneel for 15 minutes unless the host tells you otherwise. So we've been practicing for 15 minutes everyday. The other night it hurt so bad I started sweating. We look so silly kneeling there squirming around. But I am pleased to say I can successfully kneel for 10 mintues before it feels like my legs are about to fall off. I won't even meantion what it;s like to walk after though. By the time I'm in Japan though I'll be a pro!

 

 

Yesterday we got our Nihongo nametags!!! They're so legit!!!

MY NIHONGO NAMETAG!!!! It says Zoringa Shimai

This week has been the best week of my whole mission. I feel like I say that every week but it's so true. Something always happens to make it great. Everyday I learn something new. Everyday I draw a little closer to my Savior and learn more about his Atonement and every thing he did for us. Last night we got to skype Nihongin and teach them a lesson. My companions and I got to skype Taguchi! He's the coolest Brother ever! I think he taught us more than we taught him! He has such an amazing testimony and a hunger for learning. We asked him what he wants to learn and he said everything. He wants to fully understand the Atonement and what it does for him. What an amazing man. I want to have a hunger for learning like him and a desire to serve like he does. He thinks about the Savior more in one hour than I do in a day. What a powerful testimony!

 

Then one of the sisters that left came in and shared her conversion story with my district. She bore the simplest most powerful testimony of our Savior. She really knows who he is and what he does for us. How did I get to be so blessed to be called on this mission. To teach these people and be in God's Army with this people. Heavenly Father is so much smarter than us. He knows exactly where we need to be and when we need to be there. He will send us wherever we are needed. I know this to be true more than anything. Last week there were so many cases where I was in the right place at the right time and said what I needed to say and lift someone's spirit. I love my Heavenly Father, my Savior, and the Holy Ghost. They are my best friends and always watcing out for me. Whenever I'm down they send someone to pick me up and when someone else is down they send me to the rescue. There is no greater a feeling then when you respond to a prompting or when someone responds to a prompting on your behalf. This church is true minason!

 

 

I got to be a new missionary host again!! It was so fun. It's my favortie thing to do, well everything about being a missionary is my favorite thing to do but this is pretty cool!

 

Thanks for all the letters and emails, you're the best ever! I'm praying for you all everyday! 

あいしています

ゾリンジャー姉妹