Easter!!

In Jesus Christ I found new life

Good morning! Happy Easter to everyone in America where you're a day behind! How's your Easter going? Did you watch the video? It's so good! Go to lds.org asap and watch it!

Starting last transfer, each transfer I chose one Christlike attribute to study and ponder over. This transfer was humility. Therefore this weeks ponderizing scripture is one about humility. It's a mashup of Colossians 3.  "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth... Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;...  And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness... And let the peace of God rule in your hearts".  I really love this a lot. When Elder Choi came to our mission and spoke to us he told us to look up to heaven and eat the snow. :) #frozenchosen We really should be focusing on the things of heaven.

Remember that God loves us and we is waiting to shower snowflakes of blessings on us. All we have to do is have kindness, charity, humility, meekness, and endure to the end. Then the peace of God will be in our hearts forever!

Some funny things from this week.  I went in splits at the beginning of the transfer and received a special soup from Okinawa. So Saiki Shimai and I were feeling adventurous and decided to eat it. So here I am eating this weird soup minding my own business when all of a sudden I hear my companion trying to pronounce "internal organs". Let's just say it stopped tasting good real quick. Turns out the name of the soup was naka mi ziru. Which basically means inside soup. (与座長老ごめん美味しくなかった)

When you accidentally match

We were at the lovely Momoka San house teaching about life when her four year old son came up to me and asked why my eyes are green. I was about to tell him I ate too much salad when his mom got mad. It was the cutest thing. It just made me remember the time when I was really little and I asked an elder why his skin was black.

This week has been amazing! I realized that a year ago today I opened my mission call to the best mission in the world. I love this place with all my heart! The people are all so loving and amazing! This week I prayed for humility and then I had a crazy humbling experience. I forgot the password to my iPad and it reset. EVERYTHING got erased. But after I cried inside, really hard. I realized it's not about all the pictures or notes from people. All the memories are saved in my heart. Sounds cheesy but I'll never forget the miracles I see every day. The feelings I get from teaching about Jesus Christ. That's something that no picture can capture.

I love you all!

Happy Easter!

Sister Zollinger

District lunch.  Yay!!  Sushi!!

Easter

We made "Pot of Gold" for St. Patrick's Day

Good Morning Hanna! (Who can name the movie?)
 
Who's ready for Easter!? Can you say me, because yes I love jellybeans. :)  The real meaning of Easter though is really special. We have a loving Savior that did so much for us to become clean an live forever with our loving Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, family, and friends.
 
Therefore my ponderizing scripture this week is 
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words".    


Isn't this pretty? We will be with the Lord forever. And through these words we can find comfort. This week share about Easter with someone. Comfort them with the story of Christ!
 
This week has been so good!  Here are some of my favorite things. 

-Volley ball with a ping pong net, (pictures to come later )
-when you ping a house and an old lady forgot to put in her teeth so she gets all embarrassed
-telling someone you love Japan and the people - so they say you can come back.
-wearing green for St. Patrick's Day
-when your companion says "everyone's houses says welcome but they deny us"
-then when your companion says "hag" instead of hug
-running from house to house during finding to find the golden ones
 
I could list for days. Life is great. I love Japan. The church is true. And I love you!
 
Sister Zollinger

Volleyball with a ping pong net

We heart-attacked the Nakatsuka's!!

Mold

After mission tour.  Saiki Shimai did my hair!

Good Morning, Evening, um hello... How is you? This week has been so good! I swear I say that every week but this time I really mean it!
 
🎁🎊🎉HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!! 🎉🎊🎁
 
Stop, return... Ponderizie!  2 Nephi 12:2
"And it shall come to pass in the last days, when the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it".  So this week I've been thinking about temples a lot. I love the temple. Everyone please go. I don't realize this until last week but almost every temple in the world is on the top of a hill or next to a Mountian. Gila Valley, mountain base; Logan, hill top; Las Vegas, Mountian base; Draper, Mountian; Hawaii, mountain; etc. Japan Sapporo, hill top! 

The temple is such a beautiful place. Inside miracles happy and family are sealed forever. It's just such an amazing blessing. The new Easter video is out! Watch it! It talks about how through Jesus Christ you can be with your family forever. Something I'm eternal grateful for.
  

Made lunch for an investigator.

So the dearest Nakatsuka Shimai doesn't really know how to handle curly hair so every time she sees me she says "genki", pats my hair, and walks away. When I saw her last, my companion had straightened my hair and when Nakatsuka Shimai saw me she didn't know how to respond to my hair so she said "genki", giggled, fluffed my hair, and walked away.  It was super funny. Then yesterday I was on the phone with an investigator scheduling an appointment and when I got off my companion looked at me with a straight face and said "you are so mold". I was so confused. Saiki Shimai did you just say I'm moldy?? Haha it was so funny turned out she got mold and bold mixed up. :)

This church is true everyone I promise. I love you all! Thanks for all your prayers they mean the world!

Sister Zollinger

Playing ping pong with an investigator.  

"Where Love Is"

All at once, one day it's Spring

Hey everyone!

This morning's ice rink!

How's your life? So guess what? Spring is upon us! But in Hokkaido that doesn't mean sunshine and rainbows.. It means ICE!  And a lot of it. Yesterday Saiki Shimai and I were walking around but we were slipping more than a seals so my angel companion gave me her arm and we walked together!

This weeks ponderizing 聖句 be Moses 1:39
"For behold, this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man".

This past week Saiki Shimai and I decided we wanted to heart attack (plaster paper hearts on someone's door) everyone in the ward. This is one of the funniest things I've ever done! So we heart attack them, sing a song, ask for a referral, and then leave. When the members see us they are so happy! When ever I visit people I think of this scripture. Right now I am God's worker. I am helping him bring to pass his work and glory. I've been thinking a lot about the world glory lately. When I read it or think about it all I can picture is rays of sunlight and happiness. So God's work and happiness is to bring about immortality and eternal life. This gospel really is happiness. And I get to share that happiness with people everyday!

I have the best companion ever!

This week has been so good and full of English.. The other night we were at a members and they asked me to say the closing prayer, in English. It was the hardest thing I've had to do in my life, but
really it was rough... After the members all giggled and said it sounded cool. Then last night we went to see a Less Active member that is fluent in English. He's an English teacher in Sapporo. So when we got there he said hi to Saiki Shimai in Japanese and Hi to me in English. Then I talked to him in English and I Saiki Shimai talked to him in Japanese. He switched back and forth between the two and sometimes forgot and spoke to me in Japanese and Saiki Shimai in English. It was so funny! I love the people here! They are my favorite!

Thanks for all you do! I love you all!

愛してるよ~！
(I love you)

ゾリンジャ-姉妹
(Zoringa Shimai) 

My first Sakura Mochi for Hinamatsuri.

.....  :)

After we sang at ZTM!

Hello!!

Hey-yo everyone! 

I've done it again! It's official, I'm addicted to the potato truck...

Thanks for all the awesome scriptures this week! I love reading people's favorite scriptures! I always learn so much!
 
Speaking of scriptures read this one!  D&C 25:12
"For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads".
 
I love music, no but really I LOVE music. So I learned the kanji for music the other day. It's so cool! 音楽 but here's what's cool. 楽⬅️ this kanji is the same kanji used in fun. Then this ➡️音 kanji is noise. Music is a fun noise. So cool right!? I love the special spirit I feel through music. We were teaching a lesson the other day about music and we said that music is a song of the heart. She got really happy and said she loved music. Then the other day we were walking around and we saw this lady snow shoveling so we stopped and talked to her. She says she sings a hymn in her heart every day. It was so amazing.
 
Some funny highlights: the other night we were praying right before we went to bed. When the prayer was over I collapsed to this side with my hair flying everywhere. When I landed Saiki Shimai crawled over to my futon and picked up my hair and yelled "it's so fluffy" (in Japanese) and then gathered it all into a ball and laid on it. I love Japanese reactions to my hair :) Then we went to say goodbye to a member that was moving and as we were leaving he yelled to me in English "have a life!" Japanese English is my favorite thing of all time. Saiki Shimai's English is so cute! Our first few days together in almost every prayer she said she's thankful for my English :)
 
This week has been so good! I know I say I see so many miracles but this week I really saw a lot of miracles! I got the special opportunity to go on splits with my MTC companion Kuta

Shimai. She's sooo awesome! It was so fun! We got to go with this cute 3rd transfer. We all don't have a lot of Japanese but we ended up doing so much. Kuta Shimai has grown so much! I never would have guessed how much a mission would change us. It was so good to work with her in the field. 

Kuta Shimai

 
I love you all! Thanks for all you do! Keep sending me your favorite scriptures!
 
Sister Zollinger

 Her first Goldfish!!

You know your frozen when...

Hi everyone! 

Before I said goodbye to Adams Shimai

Guess what it's a new transfer! Can you believe it? Yeah me either. My new companion is a Nihongin! Her name is Saiki Shimai from Nagasaki! She's the coolest! Everyone at church was so excited for her because she's really good at Japanese.. ;)
 

Hmmm ponderizing...  Isaiah 58:8
"Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward".
I had a really hard time picking a scripture this morning so I let my scriptures fall open and look what I found! This scripture is super cool! I love how it says light shall break forth like a sunrise! I love sunrises and sunsets they are two of my favorite things in the world. But Nakatsuka Kaicho (Mission President) said in a workshop once Japan is the land of the rising sun. And the land of the rising church. It's so true. I love the idea of the Light of Christ rising over all the earth. It just looks so pretty! Then at the end it says the Lord shall be your rearward. God will always protect us! I love the scriptures!

Let's cool down a second and talk some ice, you know you're the frozen chosen when:

                  1. You're hair freezes every time you step outside
                  2. You can see your breath in your apartment
                  3. Your companion is wearing 5 pairs of tights
                  4. It's pouring rain like crazy and 5 minutes later it's a blizzard
                  5. You can't see anything because the snow is blinding you it's so bright
                  6. You're abs are growing stronger from catching all your falls on the ice
                  7. Your mission is known for its ice
                  8. You sit next to the heater to write in your journal
                  9. Getting hand warmers from the members every Sunday
                 10. And when the name of your blog is the frozen noodle
 

We had a Japanese day her last day and dressed like Nihongin.  :o)

My new companion eating potato chips with chopsticks because... Japan.

It's cold but it's my favorite place in the world. There's no place I'd rather be. The people here are so amazing! Everyone shows you so much love! Before Adams Shiami left I asked her what she wanted to do that she hasn't done. She said get a kimono. A few days later one of the members was taking us home and stopped at a store and bought her one. No idea she said that earlier. Everyone here is so willing to love and help. I was talking about it to Saiki Shimai the other day. Love is so important. We really need to say I love you to people and from the heart. When you say it not only does that person feel it but you do too. We have an investigator that always says it to me in English. It means so much and I really feel her love. That's really the most important thing.

I love you all!
 
Sincerely,
 
This frozen noodle
Sister Zollinger
 
PS. I want some good scriptures to ponderizie.  Send me your favorites!

I saw Sister West Mountain!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

Hello!

The snow festival.  So Cool!!

How is everyone's week! Mine was so great! Sleepovers with a ton a other Sister Missionaries, Zone Conference, Snow Festival, and all kinds of stuff!

This weeks ponderizing scripture is: 1 Cor 10:13
"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it".  Heavenly Father knows us individually. He knows what we need and what we can handle. He is faithful to us and will love and he'll us no matter where we go! Never forget his love!

I love this gospel! I love being a missionary! I've felt so much love this week and on Thursday I have to say goodbye to some really good missionary friends. But I know that I'll be able to see them again. I love you all! Never stop looking for miracles. Never forget the love Heavenly Father has for you! He is there and he is listening I promise!

愛してるよ！
(I love you)

ゾリンジャ姉妹
(Zoringa Shimai)

Editors Note:  Here is a small excerpt from the letter sent to mom. 

My attempt at making cute heart shaped pancakes like mom. Burned them - but they still tasted good.  

Oh my goodness I have so much to tell you! I can't fit it all in an email. I want to write a letter but wow never have time!  I've sang in Sacrament meeting for the last two transfers now. So I have officially said at a baptism, in Sacrament, at missionary meetings, church parties, for members, investigators, less active members, companions, and at English class. At least 2 times a transfer. Promise fulfilled. (Mom asked her to make sure she shared her beautiful singing voice).

Wow so much more can't even remember. Found some awesome script. Share later. Talked about how much I love you to an investigator with 2 kids, single mom.  We both cried. Shared with her your mommy scripture. She cried. I make every apartment clearer than when I got there because mom said always leave the place nicer. Loved the package. Wearing the leggings now. Golly so much more can't remember we but I love you! HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Because everyone needs a little fro in their life!