right places at the right times

The one and only SHIHO!!

HEYYYOOOOO!

OH MAN. Where to even begin this week. Sooooo much happened and there's not much more I can say besides, this is God's work. I have a testimony of that! Here's a few of the miracles of the week.

First things first. Remember the man, Mark, who walked up to me a few weeks ago and told me he had been talking with missionaries online and wanted to learn again? Welllllll..... Mark has been meeting with the elders almost every day, is speaking with both us and the elders in a group message 24/7, came to church yesterday, and IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON SUNDAY! I KNOW RIGHT?? The other day I received a message from him thanking me for finding him that day in Nishi Kasai a few weeks ago. He said that he was touched by studying with the Elders and felt God calling him to be baptized into the restored church. I read it, FREAKED OUT, called the elders, and then they told me to go look at our group message with him... I did, and saw the following message.

Live on the streets showing the new Christmas video.

"I decided after prayer to go thru repentance and be Baptize. Today while studying i felt a very deep calling in heart. Hope Devin (Elder Smith's first name lol) can schedule it. Thanks to God and also to Mod." 

My district has began using that phrase ever since.... "Thanks to God and also to Mod." Lol too good.  But being serious, over the past 1 1/2 years I really have learned that it's not us who deserve the credit in the slightest. I am not the one to thank at all, but I am grateful that God was able to guide me to be in the spot that I was that day. Mark is very special to me and honestly I consider him as one of my own investigators. I am sooooo excited for him and soooo happy that I get to be here for his baptism! God is good. 

Speaking of being at the right place at the right time, this week I had exchanges in Nakano. It was the definition of a miracle-filled day. We were able to find 3 new investigators, so many people wanted to stop and talk, and we were feeling the Christmas Spirit. WELL. Just as I thought the day couldn't get better, a girl literally jumped out in front of me and said, "ARE YOU MORMON!?" I said yes and she began to scream, jump up and down, cry, all the works. I WAS IN SHOCK. THAT IS SOOOO NOT JAPANESE. Lol. 

Shiho with the missionaries. :)

Well, meet Shiho. She is a college student who did a home stay with a family in Utah last summer. She LOVED her host family so much, in fact they were still her phone background! She said that she had been to church before, had a Book of Mormon, and loved everything about it. In fact, she pulled up her instagram and showed me the pictures of when she went to the Salt Lake Temple, etc. HELLO GOLDEN PERSON. She almost cried when we invited her to learn and come to church with us. In fact, she invited her friends to come too! WHAAAATTTT.

I felt so honored to be at the train station where we were at that specific time. Truly a miracle. Being real with you all, I have been getting nervous about coming home and when I met Shiho and invited her to learn, I realized that I probably would never be able to teach her. It broke my heart a little bit, but then Shiho told me the family she stayed with lived in Cottonwood Heights, literally 20 minutes from where I live. She told me that she wanted me to go meet them, and so even when I return home we are planning on doing a lesson through Skype where I will translate for the host family. I AM SOOOO EXCITED. Shiho is definitely another eternal friend, and I'm so grateful for A. That family for making such an impact on her life, and B. The opportunity I will have to continue to teach her.

SO YA. SORRY THAT WAS WAY LONG BUT THERE IS JUST TOO MUCH TO SAY AND TOO MUCH TO BE GRATEFUL FOR. 

Here's to the last week..... 頑張りましょう。

xoxo

Modersitzki姉妹

Risa and Keiko, my bff Eikaiwa students.

Party at Illya's

After death interviews (their last interviews with their mission president)
with Sister Anderson (we went on an exchange this week and it was so fun!

When your recent convert's little sister becomes an investigator (!!!)

Sakamoto 姉妹 aka my second mom

Action shots.

Hmmm. I wonder which one is Shae Mod? Oh! The tall one! haha!

LIGHTING UP TOKYO

"What's the most important thing in your life?" Finding:)

KONNICH

Hahahahahahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa this week. I loved this week. It was one of those weeks where you are so busy and your schedule is so packed that you leave your apartment at 9 in the morning and don't get back till 9:30 at night.... Every night. The whole week. And yes, that does mean we did not have time to come back for meals.... LOL WHO'S GOT TIME FOR THAT WHEN THERE'S WORK TO BE DONE? (PS Mom, it's okay. I did eat, just in 5 minute increments or with members, so NO COMPLAINTS) But ya..... Sister Robertson and I are both dead. Well let me rephrase that.. Bodies? Dead? Hearts? Alive and GENKI (happy/healthy/pumped about life) as ever. ;)

So, more updates for the week..... IT HAPPENED YET AGAIN. A WAY PREPARED DUDE WALKED UP TO ME ASKING WHAT I AM DOING AND THEN ASKING IF HE COULD LEARN MORE. The current count for referrals for the elders in the past 2 weeks is 6... 3 investigators, 2 English students, and 1 potential investigator. Hahahah it cracks us up every time it happens. But hey, a prepared person is a prepared person right? ;)

#LIGHTTHEWORLD takes downtown Tokyo

This week like I mentioned was superrrrrrrrrrr crazy, but despite running from appointment to appointment, in our mission we find for at least 1 straight hour every day. Well this week Sister Robertson and I decided to switch things up and do more fun and creative things. We did surveys asking people what they thought about God and if they had ever thought about Him or not, we made a giant poster asking people what the most important thing in their life is, and we tried sharing the #Lighttheworld video to people in their homes, on the street, ANYWHERE! In fact, one day all of the missionaries serving in Tokyo (about 40 of us) got together in Shinjuku, aka the busiest place in all of Tokyo practically, and did a Zone Blitz where we did surveys asking people about Christmas, sang Christmas carols, and showed the new video to people on the streets. IT WAS SO COOL AND FUN. (also yes, this is me telling all of you to go watch the new Light the World video. It's SO GOOD) Annnnyyyyyways. That was SO FUN. I love focusing on the light that the gospel brings. This week finding felt different and as I testified about God, families, and Jesus Christ, I feel like I became a little more converted to the gospel that I already love so much. God prepared so many people for us this week and it was cool to just even be someone's first encounter with a missionary. The gospel lit Japan a little more this week and it was so fun to be a part of it.

Christmas caroling with the sisters

I can't believe I will be seeing you all so so soon, but for now..... I'll stay in Japan, and keep doing missionary work and as for you all.......

SAY YOUR PRAYERS

xoxo

Modersitzki 姉妹

Tanisha aka my soul mate

Our favorite "WE HAVE 10 MINUTES.... EATTTTTTT" meal. Curry Udon
and Tempura... I am so blessed. 

Recognize these faces? Kaoru, Kouki, and Oguro came from Kawagoe
to visit me before I go home!

Shake Shackin' in Shinjuku! <33

this week i'm thankful for miracles

KONNICH.

First of all, HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Being completely honest, I totally forgot about Thanksgiving, but the members here sure didn't. We had 4 Thanksgivings.... in Japan. WUT. Seriously so blessed. I am so grateful to be a missionary right now. It's been an amazing experience that I will NEVER forget. So many things to be thankful for.

Soooooo.... I have 3 weeks left as a missionary. WHAT. This week officially started the lasts.... We had Tokyo Zone Conference and it was sooooo weird knowing that I would never have one again. President Nagano was going off about a bunch of new things are going to be happening in our mission and then kept teasing us who were going home. Let me just say..... IT'S ALL FUN AND GAMES UNTIL YOU'RE THE ONE GOING HOME..... LIKE SERIOUSLY WHAT. Still cannot believe it.

Look! Another pic in front of a Japanese church (!!) 

This week was full of miracles though! The first, remember that guy who randomly walked up to me last week? Well, that happened again. With a different guy. IT WAS SO COOL. This time he came up and started talking to me and told me that once upon a time he had chatted with missionaries online. He met some in person a while ago but then just kind of lost contact. He wanted to meet and learn again so bad, and texted me later that night saying that he knew meeting me was a sign from God telling Him he needed to study again. WHAT? I KNOW. SERIOUSLY SO COOL. In our mission though sister missionaries can't teach males, soooooo ya. Let's just say the elders are more than happy with us at the moment. Hahahah! 

Another miracle is the sequel of Miki. Remember her? The Mission School student who watched part of General Conference with us and was way interested? Welllllllllll... We had a meeting with her this week and IT WAS SO COOL. She said that since getting to know us and talking to us she has developed a huge interest in God and in church. At one point she asked us how she could receive power from God. Yep. THESE PEOPLE ARE SO GOLDEN. We talked to her about prayer, scriptures, going to church, and baptism.. I had the opportunity to testify of the atonement and about the gift of the Holy Ghost and at the time I had the prompting to invite her to be baptized. I did.... anddddddddd she said YES! WOOOOOOOOO! It was a soft baptismal invitation, but she is now planning on seriously taking the lessons, coming to church, and doing everything with baptism as the goal! We hopefully will be able to set a date soon!

MIRACLES ARE OUT THERE. I love this work...... You wonder why I don't feel ready to come home......

THE CHURCH IS TRUE 

xoxo

Modersitzki姉妹

Fun fact: All trains before the doors shut play a little song, and at the Disneyland station it plays It's a Small World and Zip A Dee Doo Da! SO CUTE!

When Disney is casually 15 minutes from your house by bike.

Biggest ferris wheel in Japan with Anderson姉妹 doing this nice pose? Idk.

Tokyo Sisterzzzz

I would be lying if I said we weren't tempted.

District dinner at the Rainforest Café..... WIN

Ya know, just making junior high school friends on the side of the road. lol.

this one goes out to the #modsquad

Sister Robertson and Sister Mod

KONNICH.

This week was a fun one, as always. It became about -847831829347 degrees this past week and so while we are consistently freezing our behinds off, the Lord is still good and there are still many miracles to be seen! :) I had a few way cool experiences but one was a "never forget," so I wanted to share. If any of you know me, you know how much my family means to me. I loveeeee them and they seriously are my best friends in the world. 

Well, a few weeks ago after Eikaiwa, an Elder in my District gave this Eikaiwa student a copy of The Family, A Proclamation to The World. We asked her if we could talk to her about it and she said yes! We met up with her this week and as we began talking about it, we realized that this was going to be a special lesson. This student is soooooo darling and is so close to her family. Her husband passed away about 3 years ago and she opened up about how hard that was knowing she could never see him again. 

This is Shae's Grandpa Dave walking around
the property in Poland where his dad grew up.

Of course we testified about the Plan of Salvation and that she, in fact, could see her husband again. Her face lit up and she said, "If I could believe that I would be so happy."  WELL LUCKY FOR YOU SAMI. YOU'VE COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE. YOU CAN! We began teaching her and it was sooooo cool. Probably one of my favorite parts of the lesson was when I got a prompting to talk about my own family and experiences with knowing the plan was true. I pulled out a picture from when my family and I went to Poland to visit the place where my great grandfather lived. (s/o to you Modsquad;) Just a background for all of you who don't know my family history; my great grandfather was from Poland and came to the states around the time of World War 2. I didn't really know him, but everyone in my family talks so so highly of him. About 4 years ago, my family and I went to visit the place where he lived, and when we found it, of course there was no building structure, just a forest. We weren't sure if we were in the right place, but then out of LITERALLY NOWHERE a couple appeared from out of the trees. We asked them what had been here and they described exactly what we knew was my grandpa's property, and, in fact, after that we were able to find actual bricks from the house! The Spirit at that time was something I will never forget, in fact it brought everyone to tears. I felt my great grandfather at that time and KNEW that I would be able to meet him someday. 

I have always held that experience super close to my heart, and sharing it with Sami brought me to tears. I KNOW the Plan of Salvation is real and that families really can be together forever. Sami now gets the opportunity to learn about this AND to make things better, she wants to do Family History work as well! WOOOOOHOOOOO! :)))))))))

Also, this week a man walked up to me and said.... AND I QUOTE..... "Hey. I'm not Christian, but I read the Bible and go to church sometimes.... I don't really know what is right or what Christianity is though... Could you help me with that?" You heard me....... I'll just leave it at that. 

'Til next week....

SAY YOUR PRAYERS

xoxo

Modersitzki 姉妹

Fun fact: So you know how there are pizza delivery cars in America....? Well here...? BIKES. They literally ride bikes with food deliveries on the back... NICE.

Just ya know.... missionary-ing around Disney

YOGA CLASS with my favorite members EVER
(Shae has permission to teach yoga as a finding tool. Pretty cool!)

Eikaiwa peeps

Idk either.

MEXICAN FOOD IN JAPAN ROUND 2

Mai chan and Yuka chan. They always braid my hair. Bffs? Kind of.

Yay @pretty views.

Sushi bowl. One of Shae's favorite things.

Hair braiding. :)