Helloooooo Tokyo!: when the clouds dump.... joy?

Zundel Shimai & Moda Shimai---Looking joyful in their superrrr
attractive helmets!

HELLLLOOOO AMERICA (and whoever else is reading this.... cough cough Kyoka, cough cough Kiyomi;)

This week was crazy.... as usual. Definitely way fun. We had 2 different sets of exchanges which was a blast. I loveeee getting to work with so many different sisters!

One super cool thing that happened this week was on my exchange with Sister Zundel. For starters, she is the cutest and we get along soooo well. I was so excited to be able to work with her. Well, she comes and we realize we have the exact same clothes so were we matching all day? ABSOLUTELY. Okay, that's beside the point, but it was fun so hey. lol. In our companionship study we studied about joy. It was something I really needed. Sometimes missionary work is stressful and hard and you just kind of want to curl up in a ball and die for like 30 seconds. Haha also not going to lie, transferring away from my second home was pretty hard for me, so this was a good thing to study. Annnnyyyways, we read "Joy and Spiritual Survival" from the last General Conference (AND YES THIS IS ME SAYING GO READ THIS TALK) and it was so so good. Exactly what I needed. We had a lesson with a member and a less active that day so we planned to teach about that.

Well, let's just fast forward throughout the day..... Was it pouring SO HARD THAT WE COULDN'T EVEN SEE? Yes. Did we get lost in the rain? Yes. Did our appointment fall through because the less active member wasn't home? Yes. Was anyone interested in what we had to say? No. Were we soaked to the bone and freezing? Yes. Now I don't know about you, but normally for me that is not what you call a "joy filled day." But this one was. There was just something so fun and happy about it. Just like the talk says, "The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives." As we were riding our bikes, literally drenched, I just had this smile on my face. Being a missionary and focusing on nothing but others and the Savior is something that can make any situation good. Like when else would I have the opportunity to do this? Never.

We arrived at our lesson soaked and really scary-looking, but the message of joy we were able to share with this member was one of the coolest lessons I have had on my mission. As we testified that we can be happy when we choose to focus on Christ and rely on His Atonement, we felt the Spirit guiding us. Why? Because we had experienced that same joy in a not so joyful situation just 20 minutes before. My testimony grew sooooo much through this little experience, and not only that, but the member was so touched by the message that she began to cry and said that she needed us at that point in her life, and she needed that message.

The Lord works in mysterious ways people... even if it means dumping 40000 gallons of water on you.

There is just no way the church cannot be true.... I PRAYED ABOUT IT!

xoxo

Modersitzki 姉妹

Fun fact:

- Well. Niigata is known for being freezing. And WOW is it true. I am not lying when I say I have yet to be warm here. Now yes, you would think, well just go inside. It's warm in houses right? Let me answer that for you. NO. People have these heaters that they only turn on when they are home. But not in the whole house, just in 1 room that they are in. So the rest of the house is just as cold as outside.... Heat. No need? Who would have known!