Pinch Me! I'm Really In Japan!
If you want to send a letter or something to meJust send things to the mission home and they will send it to our apartment.Email:
Ashton.Canepari@myldsmail.net
Mailing Address:
Elder Ashton Blake Canepari
Japan Sendai Mission
3-1-5 Yagiyama Minami
Taihaku-ku
Sendai-shi, Miyagi
982-0807 Japan
Mailing Address:
Elder Ashton Blake Canepari
Japan Sendai Mission
3-1-5 Yagiyama Minami
Taihaku-ku
Sendai-shi, Miyagi
982-0807 Japan
I was so tired I was just trying not to fall asleep, and I understood almost nothing.
Well, this past week has been pretty crazy. The flight took probably about 33 hours. We left Monday morning and got to Japan Tuesday night. My companion is Japanese and he speaks almost no English, so have the time I:m not completely sure whats going on, but with our dictionaries it works out ok, in the long run it will probably be better because you learn a lot faster with a native companion. He is considered one of the best missionaries in the mission, right now we have 2 progressing investigators, the first day I got to our apartment he said we were going to teach a lesson that night, so we walked over to the church, and I was so tired I was just trying not to fall sleep, and I understood almost nothing, but since then I can understand a little bit better but I just catch words here and there.
Ishinomaki (石巻市 Ishinomaki-shi?)
Our branch here in Ishinomaki (right on the coast of Sendai) oh and btw the Sendai mission is the whole map from in the book, the whole top part of the island) it has about 30 members, maybe a little less. But they are all great people.
Ishinomaki is a city located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. As of January 1, 2010, the city has an estimated population of 164,294 and a population density of 295.83 persons per km². The total area is 555.35 km². Wikipedia
Area: 214.4 sq miles (555.4 km²)
Ishinomaki and the 2011 earthquake, tsunami
The city was among the most seriously affected by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Several tsunamis, up to about 10 metres (33 ft) high traveled inland up to 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from the coast. The tsunamis destroyed around 80% of the 700 houses in the coastal whaling port of Ayukawa, and the Kadonowaki neighborhood was largely leveled. Approximately 46% of the city was inundated by the tsunami.
As of 17 June 2011, a total of 3,097 deaths had been confirmed in Ishinomaki due to the tsunami, with 2,770 unaccounted for. Approximately 29,000 city residents lost their homes.
The earthquake shifted the city southeast and downward, lowering it by as much as 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) in some areas and causing it to flood twice daily at high tide. A once sandy beach in the Kadonowaki area has completely disappeared and tides now reach the wall that once separated the beach from the road. Near the Mangakan Island, a walkway with benches is now partially submerged in the river.
Culture Shock and New Dialect
My first reaction when I got here, I couldn't believe I was actually in Japan, huge culture shock, everyone is speaking Japanese, everything is written in Japanese, Im like the only person in this whole city who isn't Japanese so I get weird looks from people because they aren't used to seeing white people here, also the school girls think its really funny seeing americans so they always laugh when they see me, and Ill say something in Japanese and then as we walk away they will say hello nice to meet you in English and then start to laugh again. It was a crazy start, we went straight from the Tokyo airport onto a plane to Sendai, which I was asleep right when I sat down, I was super tired the first few days. After I got paired with my companion (which everyone says he is the best missionary in the mission) we started walking he said the apartment was about 2 hours away, we went down into the subway and he told me to sit by myself so that we could talk to as many people as possible, and I barely know and Japanese so when I ask someone a question and they respond I usually have no idea what they are saying. Also in Sendai they speak in a weird dialect, especially the older people out in the country. So I have an even harder time understanding what anyone is saying. The first few days were pretty rough but now I have a pretty good understanding of whats going on. its really nice here, I love all the Japanese people, I love going into the stores and seeing everything in Japanese, and I love all the cool Japanese buildings. We went tracking to some really rich peoples homes, and you have to be super polite with everything so I mostly didn't talk because polite Japanese is really hard to say. My companion also left me at one of the doors so I had to talk to the person by myself. Luckily my Japanese is good enough that I can at least introduce my self as a missionary for the church and my name and stuff but thats about it. One thing that was a nice surprise is that one of the Elders I was with in my zone in the MTC is in the same apartment as me, so I see him all throughout the day. Its hard preparing for lessons because my companion will say what we are teaching and then he will say you talk about being cleansed from sin, or something like that and I don't really know much Japanese to say more then a sentence or two, but I have definitely been retaining things easier since I got here.I'll see if I can send pictures next time, it already started snowing here, but it has been off and on.
anyways, I'll talk to you guys again next week.
あいしています。
Elder Canepari
