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