Exciting News For September

Baptism's and a Visit With Elder Whiting

9-7-14

Well this last week has been really good. Our new investigator excepted a baptism date for October 11th. He has been coming to sacrament meeting every week. Its very exciting although I may not get to be here for it because its happening next transfer and I have been here for 3 already (so btw if you ship anything you may want to do it through the mission home because I could be getting a transfer call in a few weeks). He had a problem with almost every part of the Word of Wisdom, coffee, tea, smoking, beer. But he has stopped doing all of it except for smoking. He is working on it but of course its a hard habit to stop. We may teach the stop smoking lesson with him. I have never had to teach it before.




A Special conference. Can you find me? 

This week we are going up to Morioka the zone head quarters for a few days. I have splits with the zone leaders up there and we have a special conference with one of the members of the 70. It looks like either me or my companion is also going to have an interview with him.

We usually actually take a 2 hour block for email, but it does go a lot faster. In my last area we just did about an hour a person, here we have 2 computers though so we can both email at the same time. Most of my companions like to write letters also though, so we usually spend some time doing that. But I just go and practice the piano.



Sister Missionary Baptisms

The sisters investigator is getting baptized this week, I was asked to play a special musical number, I threw together a rearrangement of my favorite hymn number 100. Hopefully it will go well, everyone keeps telling me it needs to be super spiritual because I am playing it right before she gets baptized, no pressure I guess. I asked if I could just do a medley of video game music but no body was down for that (sarcasm). 

Heres a selfie!

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And a random one of me and my companion when we were at the aquarium, its of course right next to the ocean  (or sea of Japan as everyone kept telling me, but I still say its the ocean).  That was also taken before the hair cut.

 I did get a hair cut, its a lot shorter now.  Explaining how you want your hair  cut in Japanese is never easy

After My Hair Cut.  Just a Little-I say. So she gives me only a little hair.

In fact it reminded me of the first time I got a hair cut in this country. I was with a Japanese companion so he was no help to me, when the lady asked what I wanted I just used the one word I could think of for a hair cut and I just said "sukoshi" which means "a little bit" I was trying to mean just cut a little but I guess she took it the other way and the next thing I knew I had almost all of  I did get a hair cut, its a lot shorter  hair buzzed off. But there isn't really much I could do at that point. My hair grows back really fast anyways. 

I cant believe that I am going to hit the half way point and turn 20 next month.

love you guys!

-Elder Canepari

9-14-14

The sister missionaries baptism happened last Saturday. There was a couple things that came up but it ended up just fine. No one said anything bad about the piano I played so hopefully it invited the spirit because I was asked to play it at the President Smith training next week, I'll maybe see if my companion can get a video of it or something, but unfortunately I cant send videos so you guys will have to see it when I get back. We had both of our investigators come to the baptism which was really great. Our investigator with the baptism date said that he felt really good and he knows he needs to get baptized. Then they both came to church the next day and we were able to teach both of them a lesson after church. We taught them at the same time so me and my companion split up with 2 members to teach the lessons. I asked our other investigator to be baptized again during the lesson. He basically said no, but he is getting there. He said he was planning on coming to church again next week so that was good, but he has no desire to give up coffee right now. Our other investigator says he hasn't touched a cigarette since we went over the Word of Wisdom with him so that was great to hear. He is still all set for October 11th. This is the most productive I have ever felt so I started my mission. So much great things are happening. I had splits with the zone leaders this last week and they told us that our districts numbers are better than the rest of the zone combined, we need to make sure we are staying humble though.




Reading the Book of Mormon

Transfer calls actually change, we get called on Sunday every 6 weeks So the next one will be on the 28th. I was interviewed by Elder Whiting of the 70. He chose about a half dozen or so people from our zone to interview. The conference he gave was really good. The first part was just him answering questions, I learned a lot. He has such a wealth of knowledge about the gospel, every question that he answered he pulled something out of the Book of Mormon and then explained it so clearly. I wish we could have talked with him all day. He also called us all out on our obedience, he said we need to all be exactly obedient all of the time. Its so hard though, there are so many little things and rules that its so easy to not be exact with everything all of the time, in the interview he specifically asked me "what are you going to do about it?". It was really good though, I hope it was a wake up call for everyone else in the mission just as much as it was for me. He also said that he actually used to live in Sacramento and was in the North Stake. But this was like 30 years ago.


It was a very crazy last week, we went up to Morioka which is about a 4 hour train ride on Thursday morning for the conference, then the next day we had splits with the zone leaders, and then we had to get up at about 4 am on Saturday to catch a 5 am train back to Akita, we had to set up for the baptism that day.

Rugby

Rugby

But we also got to go see a rugby game, we were invited by one of the members, 2 of the Tongans in the branch play on the Japanese rugby team, I got a few pictures. One thing that was pretty cool was that after the game they were calling out ticket numbers and give out stuff for people that had the matching tickets. The last thing they had was pretty cool and everyone was really excited but it happened to be my ticket, lucky me I guess

My Winnings,  I would not be tempted!

I cant really do anything with it, so I just put it in my suitcase. The funny thing though was he read my name off of my name tag, so I guess that was some good publicity for us missionaries here in Akita, he was surprised that I could speak Japanese

I had never seen a rugby game before, its pretty brutal to watch sometimes, but it was much funnier than watching a football game.

I'll send another email with a few more pictures, but that's basically all for this week.

 Love you guys,
-Elder Canepari

[It was us and another zone combined which is why there was so many people. I'm in the top right corner in the grey suite.]

I ran into all of the Elder I was with in Ishinomaki on a train going to zone conference last week. Well, all except for Elder Whittle, but he is just Andrew now since he returned a few months ago.

A few more from when we went to the OGA Aquarium.



We have a transfer call every 6 weeks, but that doesn't actually mean we will be transferring. For example, I have been in Akita for 3 transfers now. But every 6 weeks we get a call from the mission president and he tells us who is transferring.

 Not to much new happened this last week, we got like 3 new investigators though, but they were mostly passes from the sister missionaries.

 Our investigator still looks ready for baptism. We taught him most of lesson 4 on Sunday which is the Commandments. He was good with all of them, although we haven't gotten to law of chastity yet, that's next time. Our other investigator  we visited last Saturday. He told us he prayed about baptism and he said he received an answer and it was that he doesn't need to be baptized. Obviously he does and that answer he thinks he received was from another source. We taught him the doctrine of baptism and after a long lesson he said he would be baptized, he said he would come to church next Sunday and that we could set a date for him after sacrament meeting.

That will be 2 baptisms next month. We also ran into a guy from Popanugueni (I have no idea how to spell it) some island near Africa I think. He speaks English and has been studying in Japan since about March. He is very interested in the church, we have a lunch appointment with him on Saturday, hopefully that will go well. I will be sad if I transfer, but I will find out on Sunday, my goal is to always leave an area better than where it was when I got there. I know that is definitely the case for Akita. When I got here we only had 1 investigator, now we have 5 and a baptism date, its really been great here.

Love you guys!

-Elder Canepari

We also found a cool T-Rex!

Happenings in Augest

Fun In Japan

Kanto festival 8/10/14

We did get a pretty big earthquake here. It was actually the first one I have felt since I came to Akita. It was right in the middle of sacrament meeting, which is always kind of funny because everyone including the speaker suddenly pause and it lasted for about a minute which is actually pretty long for an earthquake. Its typhoon season here so we keep getting those, its basically constant rain but we are able to keep ourselves pretty dry.






Kanto Festival



Missionary experiences are always good. Things are going pretty good here recently. Our district got most of the numbers for lessons taught for this last week in our zone which was good, and the sisters have a baptismal date for next month which is very exciting. Also one of the Tongan boys is getting baptized this Saturday so we are all looking forward to that. We found someone recently that may become a new investigator this week, we are having dinner with him and the branch president later this week so hopefully that goes well. Our investigator surprised us and actually came to church this last Sunday. We are also teaching him later this week and hopefully he can come to the baptism this week also, it would be a very good experience for him. We feel really good about him and our hoping that he is getting close to excepting a baptism date also. We will hopefully get I-pads soon, my guess is maybe around Christmas time, but I don't really know for sure. We had a less active in my last area that wasn't able to come to church so me and my companion brought her the sacrament every week, she was very grateful for it.

Love you,
Elder Canepari

I also attached a few pictures from the Kanto festival.





Kanto Festaval



Aug 17, 2014

Here last Saturday one of the Tongan boys turned 8 and was able to get baptized, his father of course baptized him but it was still nice to see a baptism even though it wasn't one of our investigators. All though the sister missionaries here have an investigator that excepted a baptism date for next month, and we got the transfer calls and me and my companion are still here so I will get to be here for that. I don't know which one of us will preform the baptism but I'll let you guys know about that when it gets closer.

Also with the one investigator that I do have we brought up baptism in the last lesson, we hadn't planned on it before hand but both me and my companion felt prompted to ask him if he would be baptized. I know the last Elders here asked him twice and he declined both times saying "kibishi" which means he thought it was a little strict. This time his reply was "mada" which means not yet. We asked him what his concerns were and they mostly seemed to be about the waters depth and temperature, we told him that of course we can work with that. We asked him to think and pray about it. He has been really good about keep our commitments and we have a lesson with him on Wednesday so we will see how that goes.

 Keep being strong! The Lord puts obstacles in our path so that we can gain great strength, and with his help we can accomplish all things!

-Elder Canepari

A letter to Elder Canepari's Mom

8/12/14

Sister Canepari,

 Elder Canepari is an inspiration to us all. I thought you might want to read what his current companion wrote about him in his weekly letter to the mission president. He wrote:

“I love my companion! Canepari Choro is doing great! His attitude about dendou [missionary work] is best summed up in this experience we had last night. We were trying to contact someone and this little grandmother opened her door. After we had exchanged some pleasantries, she then told us (very politely) to "akiramete kudasai!" Then she closed the door. My Japanese is still lacking, so I had to look up this word, but "Akirameru" translates to "give up" or "abandon," so basically she was telling two LDS missionaries to "Please give up" on doing missionary work. Elder Canepari just started laughing as we walked away from the door. After we had gotten away from the house, he said, with a big smile on his face, that someone telling him to "give up" just made him want to try harder. I love working with him. “

Sincerely,

President Jeff Smith

8/31/14

I remember reading that article on faith. There are 2 words that I have realized have a little different meaning that what I thought when I left on a mission and that is faith and hope. I think that when most people think about the word hope they think its something that they want to happen but isn't very likely, just something they wish would happen. I have learned that in the church hope is more than just wishing for something, when we have hope we change the way we think and act about the situations in life that we go through.

Faith has been something that I have probably learned the most about on my mission. We are told to always have faith and without faith we cannot see miracles. I used to believe that faith is something that if we have enough of we can do anything. There are lots of examples in the New Testament, like when the apostles see Jesus walking on water and Peter jumps out to him and then as he starts walking towards him he becomes afraid and starts falling into the water and calling out for Jesus to save him, and then Jesus says "O ye of little faith". I have noticed that those words are used a lot. The scripture that puzzled me the most, which is in not just the New Testament but also the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants is the scripture where Jesus talks about how if we have faith as a tiny mustard seed we can move mountains. For the longest time the scripture has puzzled me. I have never been able to command a mountain to move into the sea, and does that mean that I don't have faith as a small mustard seed? But a few weeks ago when I was reading that scripture I realized that the word faith has a different meaning which also changed the meaning of the scripture for me. Having faith doesn't mean that we just can see whatever miracles we want and that we can command mountains to be moved, having faith means that we are following the commandments of God and that we are willing to follow his will whatever it may be. My mission president told us when he got here that if we want more faith we need to be more obedient. I didn't initially understand how faith and obedience have a correlation but if we are being obedient than God will know that we do

Japan Sendai Mission

have faith. And if we have faith as a tiny mustard seed we can command the mountains that block our way. Not real mountains, but the spiritual mountains. The mountains of hard tests, trials and faith testing moments.

I have also grown a lot spiritually since mom was diagnosed with cancer. Around the time when I started high school I noticed that I had stopped doing personal prayers and personal scripture study. The day you told me that mom had cancer was the first time I really prayed in several years. And it was the first time that I told myself I should be reading the scriptures. I used to pray every night asking God to remove mom of her cancer. I used to think that if mom wasn't cured of her cancer than itBut then there was a great talk during general conference, I believe it was President Uchtdorf who gave it but he said that when we are going through challenges and trials in life we shouldn't be immediately  meant that I didn't have enough faith.

 praying to God asking him to remove them. That sentence hit me right to the core and I realized that that's all I have ever done my whole life when I get a challenge. He said rather we should be thanking God. Thanking Him for the opportunity we have had to go through this challenge so that we might be able to learn and grow, I now know what the word faith really means, it means that even though we may be going through a hard challenge through faith in Jesus Christ we are willing to accept that by His will anything can be accomplished and we need to have trust in him because He knows what's best, and although challenges are hard we need to have them so that we can learn and grow and we should be thankful for them. I wouldn't say that I am thankful that mom has cancer, but I am thankful that because she has cancer we are all as a family learning and growing and hopefully becoming better people. It has given me greater purpose in life, as a person as well as a missionary.

I know that by aligning our will with the Lords we can get through life's challenges bravely, boldly, and with the faith that no matter what happens God knows best.

I love you so much

love,


-Elder Canepari

Aug 31

This last P-Day we went to this place called the OGA Aquarium, which was really cool. Then on Tuesday we went to a hanabi show. Hanabi is Japanese for Fireworks. The kanji (花火) literally mean flowers fire. It was really cool and I have some pictures from both that I will attach.

 We got a new investigator this last week, and both he and our other investigator came to sacrament meeting. Then one of the members in our branch asked if my and my companion could come teach a short lesson or something to her father who is currently living in an old folks home. We were talking with him for about a half hour when she told us that she wanted us to give him a blessing. My companion looked at me and I said "well I guess I can give it". I had never given a blessing in Japanese before so I was a little nervous, but I think it went good. Afterwards I told them I hadn't given a blessing in Japanese before and she said " I don't believe it". I guess my Japanese has been getting a bit better although I still feel like I can hardly understand and speak the language. But I hear that's how you feel even when you are on the plane going home. 

This months Liahona had a really great thing in the back that I read and wanted to share with you guys.

Where can I find hope?

"Everyone of us has times when we need to know things will get better....My declaration is that this is precisely what the gospel of Jesus Christ offers us, especially in time of need. There is help. There is happiness....Don't you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come. Some blessings come soon, some come late, some don't come until heaven but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come."

-Elder Jeffery R. Holland 

As you might know every week we have weekly planning, where we plan literally every hour for the next week. Its usually about 3 hours and is really boring. But this time we combined it with dinner and ended up having a lot more fun and being a lot more awake (probably from the soda). love you so much!

Love you guys,

-Elder Canepari


And yes, I know my hair is looking a little long, the branch president actually commented on it at church, I'm getting it cut today.

Half Way Though Transfers

Ashton Canepari

Jul 20

Hey, everyone.

This has been a great week.  I have been learning a lot from my companion Elder Moffat, and we have been able to get a lot of work done this week.

Although first I wanted to give an update on my last area.  One of the other Elders investigators had a baptism date before I left.  I recently learned that the baptism happened.  The first baptism the Ishinomaki branch has seen in several years, unfortunately I wasn't there to see it.  But, 2 of my old investigators did go see it.  One of them said that at the baptismal service he saw 2 angels in the baptism font and he knows that he needs to be baptized, he still isn't ready to give up tobacco, but at least he knows he needs to now.  My other old investigator said that he wants to be baptized now also, but he doesn't feel like he is ready yet.  The baptism for Shimizu san happened on the 28th of last month which was Elder Whittles birthday and the last week he had on his mission.  What a great way for him to end!

This week we followed up with one of our investigators, he said he went the week without drinking coffee, but he also said after the week was over he started drinking it again.  Well, at least that is something!  Hopefully we can get him permanently off of it.  We also went out on a long journey to visit our other investigator, although he wasn't home.  It really is a beautiful area though so eAshton Canepari


Jul 20

Hey, everyone.

This has been a great week.  I have been learning a lot from my companion Elder Moffat, and we have been able to get a lot of work done this week.

Although first I wanted to give an update on my last area.  One of the other Elders investigators had a baptism date before I left.  I recently learned that the baptism happened.  The first baptism the Ishinomaki branch has seen in several years, unfortunately I wasn't there to see it.  But, 2 of my old investigators did go see it.  One of them said that at the baptismal service he saw 2 angels in the baptism font and he knows that he needs to be baptized, he still isn't ready to give up tobacco, but at least he knows he needs to now.  My other old investigator said that he wants to be baptized now also, but he doesn't feel like he is ready yet.  The baptism happened on the 28th of last month which was Elder Whittles birthday and the last week he had on his mission.  What a great way for him to end!


This week we followed up with one of our investigators, he said he went the week without drinking coffee, but he also said after the week was over he started drinking it again.  Well, at least that is something!  Hopefully we can get him permanently off of it.  We also went out on a long journey to visit our other investigator, although he wasn't home.  It really is a beautiful area though so
even though we biked for like an hour we got to see what is probably one of the most beautiful parts of Japan.

Zone Training

We also had zone training this last week which means that I was in Morioka for 2 days, its a long train ride (about 4 hours) so we always go up the day before.  It was great and the focus of the meeting was about how charity is the center to everything we do as missionaries and we need to make sure that we are setting goals to have more charity.

Look What We Found!  Time To Shop!

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Shop

Also last P-Day we found a Yu-Gi-Oh card shop, which was pretty cool!



7/27/2014
The guy we met we haven't gotten a chance to meet with him again. We called him when Elder Earl got the transfer call but he wasn't there. I later called him and talked with him for a bit, but he didn't have any interest in meeting with us again. Although we are thinking about going back over there to try and talk with him in person.

Lots of Farming

There hasn't been much this last week, although we did have interviews with President Smith. It went really well, he is a great mission president. We have an investigator who lives about 45 minutes away by bike. We don't have his phone number and he never seems to be home so we keep going over there trying to talk to him but he never seems to be home. He didn't seem to have that much interest the one time I have met him but we are going to keep dropping by until we are finally able to get a hold of him.


Rice Fields

Other than that there really hasn't been too much going on, although I do have a picture of the current district:

I hope everything is going good at home!

love,

-Elder Canepari

The Strangest Experience On My Mission Thus Far

June 29 2014

A Full Week of Akita

The Strangest Experience

I've just been in Akita this week but it has been a pretty normal week, with the exception of yesterday; probably the strangest experience I have had on my mission thus far, we were leaving an area after a few hours of knocking on doors, and then some guy starts yelling at us, I looked at my companion and said maybe we should hurry and get out of here, then he said well it looks like he wants us to come talk to him.  Then we noticed that he was actually talking in English, but he obviously didn't know more that just hello and come here.  As we started walking towards him my companion said, at least we are in public so if he is crazy and tries to do something we can just run away, then he started speaking to us in Japanese and said I want to show you my house.  So we followed him to his house, he had us come in, his poor wife looked extremely surprised to see 2 tall Americans walk into her house, he told us to sit down, then he said you guys cant drink beer huh? Let me get you some coffee.  Then we said, we cant drink coffee sorry.  Then he said oh, let me get you guys some tea, then we said sorry we cant drink that either.  Then he said, can you drink water?  And we said yes.

Then he went on and on about himself, saying he was part of the Japanese military, showing us his pictures and awards and his house and his dogs.  And talking on and on, for almost 2 hours, then he said so you guys are missionaries right? and we said yes, then he said ok teach me about your religion, so my companion just looked at me and said what the heck do we say? And I said well I have the lesson pamphlets, so I pulled out the Restoration pamphlet and started talking about the basic stuff like we believe in God and we have a heavenly father. Then he stopped me and said put the pamphlet down! so I did, and he said wow this is amazing you guys speak fluent Japanese, and we said no not at all. And he said how do you speak Japanese so good? And I said well I got here last December and study it everyday, and he said yeah but that's not why you speak it so good, and I said no its not, its because I pray for help from God everyday to speak Japanese and its through his help that I am able to speak it.

And he said I will read the pamphlet. Then he said he wanted to take us to get dinner sometime, we told him we had to go and gave him our number, he gave us his and told us to call him, tomorrow we leave to Morioka for the Meet The New President conference and then we get back on Wednesday and on Thursday we move into our new apartment but after that we are going to give him a call back to see if we can meet with him again.

It was a pretty crazy experience, we came to the conclusion that he wasn't crazy, just really friendly with people.

A connection To Home

Also yesterday me and my companion got to teach the 2 Tongan boys, they are from Tonga but only speak English and a little Japanese. Believe it or not they actually have a lot of family in the Tongan ward in Sacramento, their mother said they go on trips there every once in a while. One of them is getting baptized soon because he is about to turn 8 so we are teaching him the lessons during church.

The World Cup

The world cup is huge in Japan. Stuff is promoting the Japanese team everywhere, and of course Pokemon is really big in this country so there is lots of stuff everywhere with Pokemon in the Japanese uniform. In stores lots of the employees wear the uniform.

. I talk to you guys next week.

-Elder Canepari

Same Story From Earl Choro's email: 

Earl Choro and Canepari Choro

Also, as we were putting fliers in people`s mailboxes (perfectly legal in Japan, at least), a man yelled out to us and told us to come to his house. We went in and "san (his name) gave us milk and pickled shallots and showed us all his pictures and stuff from his army experience. He was very impressed that we put our lives on hold for two years and come out here to volunteer and teach people about Christ. He told us that he wasn't planning on joining the church, but that`s what everybody says at first! He said he`ll pay for us to go to yakiniku if we want, (Yakiniku is like grilled meats and veggies with yummy dipping sauce.  You usually grill them on a table top.)  so we`ll definitely follow up with him after this crazy week of zone conferences, parties, and moving finishes."

I don't think this happens often. He was pretty excited to have someone so interested in talking with them!

View From New Apartment

July 6 2014

Moving and New President

Last week I had the opportunity to meet with the new mission president.  President and Sister Smith seem like really great people.  We also finally moved into our new apartment which is right in the middle of the city: Its a lot smaller then our last apartment, of course there is only 2 of us, but its nice being right next door to the church.

Zone Conference with President Smith

New Companion

We also got the transfer call last night, every companionship is changing and my new companion is named Elder Moffat.  He is the new district leader but oddly enough I am senior companion, he has been in the mission longer than me though, but usually when you are senior companion for the district leader it means you are going to become district leader but we will see what happens.

I seem to get a new companion every transfer, Elder Akiyama is the only companion I have had for more than 1 transfer.

4th of July Ward Party

Singing Patriotic Songs

We also had a 4th of July party.  All of the American missionaries sang patriotic songs and talked a little bit about American history.  We also put together a BBQ and did a water balloon fight.  It was a lot of fun, but us missionaries had to put together and organize the entire thing by ourselves.  There is no such thing as activity committees in these small Japanese branches.

Robertson Sumisi and Canepari Choro with Sparklers 

We haven't met with the guy we met last week yet, but we are hoping to be able to meet with him before Elder Earl leaves on Wednesday.

Just For Fun

Thats basically it for this week, I just had one more picture to show, you guys should like it, Japanese English is pretty funny:  

Love you guys,

-Elder Canepari

Saying Good-by and Hello

June 22 2014

More Diversity

It seems that with Japan the larger cities tend to have more Americans, I have seen several while I have been here. Although the Tongans that live here play rugby for Japans rugby team, it kind of seems like cheating but I guess America is pretty diverse also. 

New Mission President

President and Mrs Rassmasan and Mrs Smith with President Smith

The last time we got to see President and Sister Rasmussen was at a special goodbye devotional they did here in Morioka yesterday. It was a crazy week, we actually were only in Akita for one day this last week. We had splits with the zone leaders and there was a special conference (kind of like Stake Conference) for all of Morioka. President Rasmussen only did his goodbye devotional here in Morioka so I guess we were pretty lucky to be here for that.

Cool Broadcast

We had a really cool broadcast from church headquarters in Salt Lake. It was a lot like General Conference except it was only for Japan. Elder Christopherson talked as well as the Presiding Bishop and Elder Walker. Elder Walker and the Bishop both served in Japan and they actually spoke in Japanese which was really cool to here, of course Elder Crishopherson doesn't speak Japanese so they translated it to English, but all of us English speakers were in a different room so we just heard them talk in their native language.

New Apartment

President Smith and his wife get here in 2 weeks, they will be doing a devotional here in Morioka and then they are touring every single missionary apartment in the mission, luckily we will be in a new one so it should be all clean and everything before he sees it, you wouldn't believe how messy some of these missionary apartments get. I don't know when we will be doing interviews with him, but I imagine it would probably be when he comes to Akita. 

I Hope To Ride The Bullet Train

I haven't gotten a chance to ride the bullet train, we really want to though, most missionaries have but they recently told missionaries not to ride them anymore, they are really nice and go very fast but they are also really expensive, a regular train ticket from Akita to Morioka is about 4500 Yen both ways which is about $45, the bullet trains are about 8500 Yen, so its almost twice as expensive, and the church will only reimburse us for the cheapest way of travel, although me and my companion were thinking if we ever have a little extra money left over one month we might try it and just pay the difference. Its way faster, the normal train takes about 4 hours and of course missionaries are the only ones that take it to go such a far distance. I think the bullet train is more like an hour and a half which is pretty nice. The used to let missionaries take it but recently told us not to because of the cost, that's why it took us so long to get to Akita from Ishinomaki, that was more like 6 hours, the bullet train would have been nice.

Sushi

Unlike America sushi is actually really cheap in this country, so usually we just go to restaurants if we are going to eat it, there are some really great sushi places here, we actually go to them pretty regularly, for $10 you can get about 20 pieces of sushi here, which is usually more than I can eat.

Church

We come to the church almost everyday for various meetings and for the English and Chinese class, the branch here also does both institute and seminary, so there is something going on here everyday. We teach some lessons here, but I actually haven't really gotten to meet any of the investigators yet, although we are teaching the Word of Wisdom to one of them today. And one of our investigators is a kid from Brazil and we are going to be playing Basketball with him later tonight so that should be good.

Well, that's about it for this week, it was mostly spent in Morioka because we had splits with the zone leaders and the conference and devotional. This week is actually all going to be spent in Akita for once.

Love you guys,

-Elder Canepari

秋田いきました。

June 15 2014

The investigator that mentioned my stomach is pretty blunt, and when my bike broke last transfer I had to carry it all the way to the church which took almost an hour, and he drove by and saw me and just laughed and drove away.

Bikes and Transfers

They used to always ship bikes to the area that you transfer to, but its really expensive and the shipping company just raised the price so its over $100 for each bike to be shipped, and that money comes from the tithing fund, so we were all asked to pray about it, and the decision they came to was that we would just leave our bikes in our area and use the old missionaries bike when we transfer there.  It was sad because I was taking really good care of my bike and now I have one that is almost 2 years old, but its for the better I suppose.

Akita is the most diverse branch in the mission, there are Tongans, Americans, and Colombians here.  Of course it is still mostly Japanese people, but all of the classes arent even in Japanese, so we have to translate either from English to Japanese or from Japanese to English for several people.  The area is also really nice to, for some reason people just seem to be a lot nicer when you are out in the country.  

The journey to Akita was a very long one.  I met my new companion in Sendai which is where you always go for transfers, since my companion is also district leader he had a district leader training meeting the next

morning at the mission HQ in Sendai so we slept in the Elders apartment there in Sendai that night. Then normally the next day we would have headed to Akita, but the following day was the Morioka Zone Meeting and from Akita it is about a 4 hour train ride, and since ZTM starts in the morning they usually just go the night before and stay at the Zone Leaders apartment in Morioka so that's what we did, then after ZTM we finally got on a train back to Akita and got to our apartment just a few minutes after 9:00 pm. I also had my bags with me so I had to drag those around the whole time which was pretty annoying but nothing you can really do about that during transfers.

Speaking of apartments, ours is super far away, its about a 20 minute bike ride from the church, but we just found out we are getting a new apartment which is right next door to the church, we just had a guy from the moving company at our apartment to figure out the costs and everything, we are moving into the new apartment on the 7th of next month I believe so we have to get everything all packed, and I just barely unpacked all of my stuff.

New Companion

My new companion Elder Earl is great. We have been getting along really well, he is a democrat from Utah, you don't meet to many of those I feel like. So sometimes we have to be careful about our discussions in the apartment because he supported Obama and everything so his political views are of course different, not that we talk about that much as missionaries, and we aren't supposed to with other people either. His Chinese is really good though, and 2 of the sister missionaries here are actually from Hong Kong, so that's been interesting. 1 of them I was in the MTC with and the other one was in my last district in Ishinomaki. The large branch is definitely one of the highlights of Akita, they are all really great and helpful, and unlike Ishinomaki, we actually get food from and fed by the members here.

And Happy Birthday to Mom and Happy Fathers Day to Dad, omedetou gozaimasu! And otanjyoubi gozaimasu!

Love you guys,

-Elder Canepari