Hello Family and friends! Hope you're all having an awesome time doing
whatever you're doing. So even though this email is going to many
people, it'll be responding to the questions that Papa Carlini sent in
his email to me. Anyways, as you know, I got a new companion and moved
int a new area. My companion is Japanese and doesn't speak much
English. So that being said, questions.

Yeah so my first week has been slightly dull actually. Not too
much going on and just living the missionary life. This place is so
much different from my last area that I'm not sure what to think.
Anyways, having a Japanese companion is good but also really
difficult. I always thought it would be the best for my Japanese to be
with someone 24 7 that speaks fluently. And although I still believe
this to be the case, it's also very discouraging. There are many ups
and downs in a mission and one specifically is the language. Some days
you feel great and really love how much you can speak to someone. And
then the next second you can't put a solid sentence together to save
your life. So being with a Japanese person has just made those
intervals even shorter. Sometimes I can say a bunch of things in a row
that make sense to him and get my point across. But then many more
times, I realize that I can hardly say anything that I really want to,
and it makes me feel terrible that I can't even communicate with my
own companion. So the struggle is real, but it's basically 仕方がない
(can't be helped) at this point. I study whenever I have some time and
I wake up earlier then the normal 6:30 everyday to study some more. It
really gets me down when I can't speak.. It's terrible. But as time
goes on, I'm sure I'll improve.

Hmm, new area is just okay for now, but the Elders I live with
are cool guys. We are in another 4 man apartment and we have the
Privelege of living with a total of 2 Japanese Elders. So it's my
Companion, and then Elder Crandalls companion. Me and elder Crandall
are the Senpai and are both training right now. The last Elder is
Menzawa 長老. He is fresh off the train at Transfer 1 and he's a cool
guy. He's still wanting to go back home at this point though so we're
trying to push him through it. He'll be alright. Also, we as a
District are teaching a lot of people right now and have 3 baptisms
coming up soon! I'm not sure if that sounds crazy or not but in Japan,
it's pretty insane. Me and Elder Nishidome just opened up the new
Hibarigaoka C Elders slot so technically we have nothing yet. Just
trying to find and teach at this point. However, we like to teach the
other Investigators we have right now too because the District Leader
thinks it's a great opportunity to meet more People of the Church.

That's way sweet that Dimitrov is doing well. He always had such
a cool name and playstyle. I pass by these nice indoor tennis courts
now and then here and it makes me want to play tennis way bad! It'll
be a good thing to get back into when I return right? Also Raquetball,
because that is awesome. Speaking of sports with Raquet type things,
we played some ping pong with non members and soon to be members the
other night at the church. As expected, most people play ping pong
here and are pretty dang good. There's a guy called Nakamura-San here
that has like a $100 paddle. He's pretty good, but I've actually been
able to beat up on him a bit. My skills have not yet faded my friends.
I was basically beating every one I played so that was cool. Haha, the
Japan vibe just automatically enhances ping pong skills I guess.

Alright so I have hardly any time now but real quick, no, the
bike with the huge tires wasn't an Elders. We just found it outside
Costco and thought it was sweet. Then the Scanners! Yeah I'm gonna
send a quick video about that too just to slightly explain it. They
are way sweet. They have them in every single train station to scan
your Suica card. So yeah. Not much else to put. I'll send a couple
extra pics too so until next week. またね！

- Carlini 長老

What's up my mates. I hope everyone is doing swell in the states.
So yeah, I got kicked out of good old Kamiooka and put into
Hibarigaoka this week. It was a big change seeing as Kamiooka is the
land of hills in the Yokohama Zone, and Hibarigaoka is allll flat and
up north in the Musashino Zone. I miss Yokohama and the awesome people
I met there, but hopefully new and great things await me here in the
North. It was more sad then I thought leaving everything behind in
Yokohama. Last transfer was for sure my best one yet. I left the
hills, the people, and The Bunks (Elder Bunker, my last companion).
And on the last day at 英会話 (English Class) I took a lot of pictures
with students and a couple ward members that made me realize that I
may actually be missed as I left. They thanked me a lot for being
their teacher and a friend. It was a great experience and I love the
Japanese people.
Anyways, I've only been here in Hibarigaoka for a few days now
and it's very different. The apartment isn't bad and we have a couple
cool places around here. But it's not like Yokohama. Our Futons are
nice and fluffy and that's definitely a good change from the Kamiooka
apartment. Also, the new companion is a big change. Having someone
who is Japanese and doesn't speak much English is already showing how
tough the transfer may become. But it's a good thing for sure. It just
makes me realize even more so how much there is to this language that
I can't communicate yet. But on the contrary, I'm definitely speaking
more Japanese in a day then I ever had before. Crazy crazy. Hmm, so
far I've only met a few ward members but they are all incredibly nice.
I think that will be one thing that I can rely on in each area. It's
that you can always find incredible people in the ward, and good
friends outside of it too. I hope to improve a lot this transfer and
hopefully do a decent job training Elder Nishidome. He is a good man.
Not much else this week except pictures and a video I think. Got a
little apartment tour for ya, hah

いつも神様があなたを助けってくれると覚えて下さい。悪い気持ちを持っていっても祈ることが出来て彼から導きを受けられます。
Trans. - Always remember that God will help you. Even if you feel bad,
you can pray and receive guidance from him.

Love from Japan, Carlini 長老

Alright, so here is the jist of this week. First off, I can't
even believe that this transfer is over now because it was sooo fast!
Also, I'm going to be a transfer 4. That is a fourth of the way done
with my mission friends. I have been out for just over 6 months now
and dang does time fly! Usually...

Unfortunately I got a bit sick this week and I've been pushing through
it for the most part. My throat has been killing me and my body
doesn't want to do a whole lot. But at least I made it to the last
P-Day of the transfer and it was well worth it as you can see.
However, I'm going to be resting up a bit for the next couple of days
(with permission from the President of course) and...packing? Yup,
that's right, I'm getting transferred! This will be the first time
moving to another area. It has been a great time here in Kamiooka and
I will really really miss the ward here. Another crazy thing about me
transferring is that I'm going to be follow up training someone. So
I'm going to be transfer 4, and I'll be senior companion to a Transfer
2..Woahhh, was not expecting that. Oh yeah and he's also 日本人
(Japanese) so this is gonna be crazy! I hope he's nice to me because I
am gonna be asking a lot of questions and he'll have to put up with my
low level Japanese skill. I just hope I can use this opportunity to
help progress mine and his growth as a missionary. It should be
interesting!

So yeah, the new place I will be transferring to is called
"Hibarigaoka" and it's in the Musashino North zone. Sooo, hopefully I
don't get lost on the train ride over there, cause I've never been
there before. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. The actual
transfer day is on Thursday so we'll see what it brings! Crazy crazy.

Oh yeah, and I was able to grow some more friendships in the ward
yesterday with Elder Bunker. We first had a Mogi (a practice lesson,
to members usually) at the Inoue family's house, and that was a lot of
fun. I was sitting in legit Japanese style position the whole time to
so right afterwards, my legs were totally numb and I was in Pain.
Lying on the floor.. But, I gotta give it all for the word members
right! Haha. Also, after the lesson we went over to the Ogawa family's
house and had a dinner! It was awesome! I tried a thing or two, and
then they had chicken...sooo good. Welp, that's about all I can type
for now. Hopefully you liked all the pictures and vids. Talk to you
next week when I'm in a different ZONE. Bye bye

じゃ心配しないでね。がんばっています！また来週ね？

私に愛しなさい！
- Carlini 長老

今日はいいね。先週のためごめんなさい！
Heyyyy, sorry mates. There just isn't enough email time in the
week to write sometimes ya know? I try to contact Logan, Taylor and
Sean sometimes so since there wasn't an email directly from the fam, I
didn't end up writing one. Also, you may be a bit worried because I'm
"late" again on writing to you guys. Sorry, I always forget to say
when there's a temple p day the next week, haha. So yeah, that always
switches our P Day to Tuesday. Sooo we were at the temple today!
東京神殿はすごいね？！ Also, since it was BOTH of your birthdays within these
last weeks (very sorry to mom for not saying anything about it last
week). But I made a small little video for you guys because of it!
Hope you like it. Also, we had a cool day so far. We went to one of
the only Wendy's in Japan today. Got pictures, don't worry. It was a
solid meal and it was nice to have a hamburger again...just way
expensive, haha. Had to have the experience at least once though
right! Anyways, just yesterday I had splits with a Zone Leader and it
was a ton of fun. I was with a good friend of mine (Elder Young, a ZL)
and we went hardcore! Both in missionary work, and in our morning
workout. Now, he is actually one of the few missionaries here that
worked out a good bit at home on their own so we get along in that
respect. Anyways, the workout we did (because we have such limited
equipment, (like a pair of dumbells)) was a straight up push up fest.
The idea is that you do a set of 20 push ups every minute for around
an hour. So the quicker you can do it, the more rest time you get in
between a set. Even though the push ups turn into something really
really wimpy, it kills ya. I ended up getting 1,255 by the end, so
pretty insane. We've (me and another Elder in the apartment) have been
doing t for a while too but never get that high. Long story short, the
split was way fun and we had some good chatting and working out.
Now onto some answers to questions. Everything is going pretty
good right now. Getting slightly better at Japanese and me and my
companion get along most of the time. I got moms email and I'll try to
reply, but we literally have such little time I miiiight not get it
this week. Maybe if she puts her questions in these emails too then I
could answer them. But other then that, I really appreciate her
support and love. Love you Mom! Next. Got your video. Great stuff!
Haha, that Zeus is a crazy puppy huh? Jumping all over the place,
hahaha that was funny. Way cool that all the family is coming up
around soon! That'll be a nice thing to come back too. Good old family
and friends. Although I feel pretty awesome with some of the people
that I've met out here. Wayy cool, lifelong friends. Privileged to
have met them. Oh yeah, and you just reminded me when you said Adam is
going to "Logan". Cause Logan gets home in 4 months! That's so crazy!
And Jake gets home in a week? What?! Way crazy how time flies
sometimes. And think of this now too....starting tomorrow, I will have
been out on a mission for exactly 6 months! Woahhh. やばいな
Hey that's way cool that you went to the Alaskan inn again. That
place sounds and looks way fun. I wouldn't mind going there someday
with my wife in the future, haha, way cool getaway spot it seems. The
pictures looked great too by the way. Thanks. Yoooo, good stuff on
Tennis too. Did I tell you that I kinda miss it now? I start
conversations with Junior High and High School students all the time
when they have tennis stuff. Then I always tell them that I played a
lot in America. And then it begins conversation. Good stuff. Good
skills to learn. You better keep playing when I'm back too! Just make
sure you get way worse so I can beat you finally! I can't believe I
still got whooped by my dad in tennis still, haha. Every time!
Doggies! I miss the dogs. I love every one that walks buy here
and want to pet it. Wiener dogs are pretty dang popular here so it's
funny to see them cruisin around with their tiny little legs, hah. Oh
yeah, so I think I told you about the Kanji cards a couple weeks ago.
But yeah, they are still awesome! It really helps to have them on me
all the time and learn these whacky symbols I see EVERYWHERE. There's
just so many it's crazy.. Still hardly understand any signs. But, I
can get the idea and/or some of the words on things here and there. I
am now on right around #90. They are great. Once I hit 100 I'm going
to review over them all again to make sure I still have them and can
write them all. Cause I'll be even cooler if I can hand write in Kanji
as well. Oh, so my 3 companions have been from different places. Elder
Kuniyuki is from Seattle, Washington, and he was my first companion.
Then my second comp, Elder Lundberg, is from Utah but I can't remember
where. And my current companion, Elder Bunker, is from Islands Ranch
(close to Littleton, I'm told), Colorado. So yeah. But something
that's pretty crazy is that we have Transfer Calls next Monday! (most
likely). So there is always a possibility of me leaving the area and
stuff. But me and Elder Bunker have a way fun final P day planned next
Monday. We are going to Sakuragichou and eating at La Salsa again!
Then we are going to the Pokemon Center and probably inside of
Landmark Tower!! So that's exciting. We'll probably even get our call
while we're out having fun.
Hmm, I'm trying new foods when I have to, but nothing crazy
recently. I just kind of eat what gets placed in front of me at
Members now so at least I don't have to worry too much. I still
dislike or hate most things I'm trying, but at least they have the
chance. Still don't like noodles. But Gyoza and Tonkatsu are some way
good Japanese foods I'd say. So just tell people that, haha. Salmon
isn't to bad either. When you get the right soy sauce on it. Hmmm, now
I'll just send some pics and vids. I have stuff from last week too
cause we went to the beach with our zone! So way cool stuff happening.
We also have some really cool plans for our future as missionaries to
so yeah.

皆さんを愛しているよ！今週の間楽しんでね？またね!

Carlini 長老