*insert really creative email title*

Mod Shimai, Nanami & Wootan Shimai

Heyooooo!

Captions... the trial of my existence. Lol. I am convinced this week did not even happen... honestly, it's all a blur. Time flies when you're working hard, aye?! ;) This week we had an amazing miracle happen in Sakado. *drum roll pleaseeeeeeee* We got a new investigator! WOOHOOOOO! Her name is Nanami and she is 19 and literally the cutest girl I have ever seen in my entire life. Like Japanese model material and sooooo suteki (the Japanese word for stylish). We met with her twice this week and she really wants to learn more! She said her first prayer yesterday and I almost cried I was so happy. After she finished she goes, "Woah. I've never said a prayer by myself before... that was so cool! It feels good!" I think Sister Wootan and I almost fell over we were so excited. I LOVE WHEN PEOPLE FEEL THE SPIRIT. Haha! She is darling and we are so so soooo excited to work with her.

This week I feel like I got my personality back... lol #holla! Not being able to speak the language very well made it hard for me to be my crazy weird self, but as the language has gotten better, I have gotten happier and happier and crazier and crazier. Just ask my companion... she's probably dying at this point.  At Eikaiwa (English class) this week I was talking with a group of 5 or so students and after a while one of them goes, "Ah Moda san you are crazy." Except the word crazy in Japanese is really hard for them to say, so it sounds more like ku-ray-gee. Lolol so great. Life is fun :)

Also, I got real kanji this week from one of our Eikaiwa students! My name is 藻田瀬月 姉妹 . (and no, I cannot write that without looking like I am 4 years old lol) In Japanese, all kanji characters not only have a sound, but a meaning too.. My 4 kanji put together mean a beach and sea under the moonlight which is still and peaceful... OKAY HOW COOL RIGHT? When my cute friend wrote it for me and showed everyone they kept telling me what a pretty kanji I had... saweeeeetttt, and ya that's a thing. Pretty kanji.. who knew, right?

Speaking of good food, this is yakiniku.
You cook your own food right at your table!

Life is good. The work is good. My companion is good. My ward is good. The food is changing my life it's so good. But ya. Basically, I am doing good if you catch my drift. ;) 

Thanks for the prayers! I am thankful for each and every one of you! 

愛しています！

Xoxox

Modersitzki 姉妹

Fun facts:

- I mentioned earlier that an Eikaiwa student called me Moda san. In Japan you put san after everyone's name as a form of respect. Or chan if you are little. So because my name is hard I am normally refered to as Moda san or Setsuki chan. Haha! Japanese people are the cutest!

- Japan is soooooo safe. Safe enough that is not even weird to see 5 year olds taking the trains or walking around town by themselves. Like what!? 

"Let's take a picture so everyone can see how tall Sister Modersitzki is!"
She is definitely tall! :)

Weekly dinner with one of Shae's favorite families, the Shimamuras.
I'm so grateful that she's being fed by great people! Thank you!

Just casually eating a sweet potato. Who is she?

Another cute picture with Nanami.

Apostles, transfers, shrines, and all sorts of fun stuff

Konnichiwaaaaa!

This week was unreal. Crazy busy, but unreal. Let's just start with the most important thing of my week.... ELDER BEDNAR CAME TO JAPAN! We were able to go to the mission home on Tuesday and have a devotional with him. Let's just say I have never felt more inspired in my life! That man sure knows how to bring the Spirit. I literally have like 12 pages of notes..... like.... literally... haha! I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to hear from an apostle of the Lord on my mission. It was an experience I will never forget, that is for sure! *feel free to be jealous... I understand* ;)

Sweet potato ice cream is GOOD!

I also had follow up training this week, so we went to the mission home once again! And ya, you heard me people... follow up training because I FINISHED MY FIRST TRANSFER. I know! I can't believe I am still living either.  We had transfer calls this morning and both Sister Wootan and I are staying in Kawagoe and Sakado. We were super relieved. This place is the best to start a mission. Although it is a pretty hard situation, I love it. The ward members especially make it all worth it. Since we are the first sisters in both areas, everyone is overly nice to us. Everyone is always wanting us to come over, they always give us food, and we have dinner appointments allll the time (that's like not a thing in Japan). Sister Wootan said she's never been fed more on her mission than here. They are toooooo good to us. We are spoiled. That's for sure!

Today a member, Hatakeyama Shimai took us to tour old Kawagoe. We got to go to a shrine which was soooooo cool. I had only seen them in pictures but they are WAY cooler in real life. So so fun! Japan is the cooooolest. Everyone should have it on their bucket list of places to go, in my opinion. ;) Also, I had sweet potato ice cream. Like what? Ya that's a thing. Way good surprisingly... who am I?

This week we were able to teach a lesson to a family in Sakado about Jesus Christ. I was pretty nervous about it, but when we got there and began speaking, I felt the Spirit so strong. The language is hard but I felt the Spirit helping me speak. It was such an amazing feeling being able to testify of Him and how anything is possible through Him. Sometimes I feel like my language skills hinder the Spirit from being as strong, but this lesson I felt it so strong that I actually began to cry. I am here because of Him, and my testimony of Him was strengthened immensely this week.

I am grateful for this gospel and for the chance I have to be here as a representative of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the reason for all joy in this life. I couldn't do this without Him, that is for sure! Thank you for the love!

THE CHURCH IS TRUE

xoxo

Modersitzki 姉妹

Fun facts:

- Japanese people drive on the left side of the road.. still throws me off sometimes. Their driver's seats are also opposite... they are on the right side! Seriously counting my blessings I don't have to drive here.... I would legit die. Haha!

- We don't have an oven or anything of the sorts. Everything is cooked on the stove or in our rice cooker! Haha! I forgot ovens were even a thing for a while! Buttttt, I can now make dang good banana bread in a rice cooker so ya #wifeme #jk #missionary 

Touring old Kawagoe with Hatakeyama Shimai. :)

Reunited with MTC friends at the Elder Bednar devotional!

And now she does origami? Her talents are endless! Haha!

Day. Made. Shae LOVES sausage egg McMuffins. Love her!

Delicious ramen with Hatakeyama Shimai. Yum!

And next thing I knew.... I couldn't breathe

Konnichiwaaaa!

Lol because my caption for this week is so dramatic and makes it seem like I almost died. 20 bucks says you all opened this email just to see if I am even still living. I am. Thanks for wondering;) Bahahah! I'll explain my caption in a second, but speaking of death... I experienced my first earthquake this week and WE SURVIVED. Also, it like barely did anything and just felt like someone was working out reallllllyyyy hard upstairs, but still.... I thought it was pretty cool;)

Now to explain the real reason why I couldn't breathe. Kimonos. Oh baby. Let me explain. Sooooo... this week was our ward talent show! We have been looking forward to it for forever. Everyone was super super excited. Well, one of the ladies in our ward is a beautician. She also is a pro at kimono dressing (and yes, it is a legit talent). We ended up being her "talent!" She did our hair all fancy and Japanesey, and dressed us in these crazy cool kimonos! When I say crazy, I mean like CRAZY. There were probably 20 different layers of fabric, knots, padding, towels (yes, I know, I was confused too), strings, and all sorts of other things on me. She wrapped me in that sucker so tight that I couldn't even move. I now understand the shuffle that I saw when I saw traditional Japanese people in movies. It's a real thing people. You can't breathe, move, or even be a human. But it was SO COOL! The Japanese culture is honestly so fascinating and it was so amazing to be able to be a part of it! They had us legit do a fashion show for the whole ward. It was kind of hilarious, but everyone freakeddddd out when they saw us. We were celebrities. Lol! I stayed in that kimono for probably 3 hours and let's just say air never tasted so good;) It was so so fun though.

How amazing are these kimonos? They're beautiful!

On a completely different note, one of our investigators came to church this week! WOOOOHOOOOOO! She loved it and I was so so so happy. Her story is actually super cool. Sister Wootan and I were going to visit some less actives one day. When we stopped by this woman's house, she told us that her mom had been a member, but had passed away. Her daughter (the woman who we were talking to) is not a member of our church, but immediately invited us in and has been loving learning ever since! She gets so excited every time we meet and discuss the gospel. In Japan, we call her a "kinjin," which directly translates to golden person. She truly is golden! It is so cool to see how the gospel makes her as well as others so happy. AHHH! I JUST LOVE THE CHURCH YOU GUYS. It makes me so happy and I have already seen how the knowledge of it can change lives.

I love being a missionary. I try to think about my life without the experiences I am having here, and it just does not feel complete. Missions are hard, but they are worth it because the gospel is a gospel of joy. I feel very lucky to be spreading that joy with the people of Japan, even if I still can't quite speak their language;)

Thank you for all the emails and prayers! I miss you all so much! Sending love from 日本 :)

xoxox

Modersitzki 姉妹

Fun facts:

- I am surprised that I didn't include this in one of my first emails... but uh ya, we don't have beds here. They're legit not a thing! Everyone sleeps on futons on the floor. It's awesome! Mine is way comfy though, so #blessed

- So many grandmas here have purple hair. Like bright purple. And not just anyone. Only grandmas. It's truly incredible. I have a tally on my tablet because it makes me so happy everytime I see one. So far we're at 16. I know, right!? I think I am gonna bring the trend back to America. Purple hair makes life more fun... right!?

This is their kitchen in their apartment.

These are the kind of things that you find at the grocery store.

Sister Boden and Sister Mod on exchanges.

This is their church. It is HUGE!

This is the talented sister who dressed the girls in the kimonos.

Lost... but never hungry ;)

Heyoooo!

I swear I just emailed yesterday, butttttt I'M BACK. This week was a pretty average week. Sister Wootan and I are working our little booties off here in Kawagoe and Sakado. It's pretty hard white washing 2 areas and being alone to help run a ward when you're 5 weeks old and still can't really speak the language, but in the words of Nike.... we "just do it." There is a lot to do and a lot to figure out butttttt we're doing it!  My trainer says I have the craziest situation for a greenie in the whole mission. I would have to agree, but as of right now, it's all I know, lol! Woooooo fun stuff  Memories right?

This week we got to watch the last half of General Conference. I LOVED IT. Russell M. Nelson's talk about joy would have to be my favorite. As I have applied his teachings more and focused more on the Savior, the hard times have gotten easier and I have been able to feel true joy. Joy that I have a Savior who loves me and is supporting me in this journey! Ahhh I wish General Conference was like every other week. That would be bombbbb.

I got to experience my first Matsuri (festival) this week in Sakado! Everyone was dressed up in kimonos and traditional clothing and was on main street. There was music, performances, food and games, parades, and all sorts of stuff! It was so cute and so Japanese. I just loved it! ALSO, I had the greatest food there of my entire life. Seriously, Japanese food is to die for. I can't even describe it. Meat and bread and ramen and sushi and pastries, aahhh, the list goes on and on. I lucked out that's for sure! Also, I'll probably be 300 million pounds when I come home. #noregrets

Speaking of food. Follow up from last week. Remember the guy who said he wouldn't drink coffee or tea if I didn't eat chocolate? Welllll of course as soon as that bet was made, a member of the ward came up and handed me a king size chocolate bar that her husband brought back from America.... LIKE BYE.  Chocolate was everywhere this week.. but I came out strong. Lol.

Funny story for the week. I spent Sunday with my favorite human, Yoshioka 姉妹. We had a blast as usual, except for we were the two biggest messes on the planet. First, we got lost for probably an hour trying to find this college we were trying to get to, and when we finally made it, the event we were going to was over. Soooo we headed back to the train station. We got on and what happens? Of course we get on the wrong one which takes us about 20 minutes past our station. FAIL. I have never laughed so hard. That's what they get for putting a greenie as a senior companion ;) We finally made it back to the church and got to break our fast with a bountiful meal of bread, bananas and candy. Too good. 

Missions are great. There are so many opportunities to learn and grow. I have never been more grateful to be a member of this church than being here and realizing what life would be like without it. The gospel is amazing and I feel so lucky to be able to teach people about the blessing that it is.

CHURCH IS TRUE MINASAN

xoxo

Modersitzki 姉妹
モダーセッツキ 姉妹

Fun facts: 

- Japanese toilets are freaking crazy. They have all sorts of buttons and heaters and fancy things on them. Not gonna lie, sitting on a heated toilet without expecting it is a bit strange  Also, if they're not fancy they are straight holes in the ground. TRUE STORY PEOPLE I WITNESSED IT IN A TRAIN STATION. So interesting lol.

- There are so many bugs here. And not just normal bugs. HUGE GIANT ENORMOUS SPIDERS THAT MAKE WEBS THE SIZE OF MY HOUSE AND WILL PROBABLY EAT ME BY THE END OF MY MISSION. So scary. Everything in Japan is small.... BESIDES THE SPIDERS. #prayforshae2k16

Practicing her note writing

Mod Shimai with some of the young women in her ward.