FROM: ELDER CONNER CARLINI
DATE: MAY 31, 2015
SUBJECT: Simple email

Sorry mates, I'm tired and don't want to write a big email today.
Haha, so this is the just of the week.
We were able to meet with Noguchi, a new person we met named
Yoshida, Kenny, Once more again with Kenny and also Jenny, and then
Kambayashi and his 2 co workers.
We are planning to meet more with Kenny and Jenny this week and
change Kennys life around for the best. He's met with missionaries for
quite a while now and we are really good friends with him. He likes
Mormons and he likes what we do. It all depends on his self
commitment. So our plan is to PUMP him UP! And get him motivated for
life. In the picture I'll send wih him he looks way sad and old but I
promise he's a happy guy most of the time, haha. He just doesn't smile
as much in pictures, haha. Anyways, we will help create Kenny 2.0 this
week!!
Also, we got to go,to Questions of the Soul at Kamiooka church this
week. It was way awesome and I got to see the beloved members of my
first area. So nice. So great. And Kambayashi brought his friend to
that so I was able to give him a Book of Mormon and challenge him to
read it! Hopefully we'll see him again. Good man.
And yeah, we had a decent amount of people come to church yesterday
and that was great. Apparently getting people to church has one of the
highest correlation to Baptisms. So we go hard. And yup. Me and Elder
Belnap are doing well. We get along and we love Yamate!!
Hope you have a great week and we'll see ha later. Byeeee

Elder Carlini
カーリ二長老

We offered Mr. Macdonald, who we met randomly sitting on a bench, a
Book of Mormon. He just gave us a blank stare....but better luck next
time

Pictures!! Yamate is just too good.
Me and my companion got a quick pic by the Harbor.


More pictures! P-Day
Me and Elder Scott. The Kings of Landmark Tower...haha


FROM: ELDER CONNER CARLINI
DATE: MAY 25, 2015
SUBJECT: This Week. In Yamate～～～

Shoot! So I actually don't have a lot of time left but I wanna
write the main "goods" of the week. Me and Elder Belnap are working
hard and trying our best to improve hardcore this transfer. We've got
great goals and our sights are set high for this transfer here in
Yamate. The mission just goes by too fast to not have an awesome
transfer!
So yeah, we were able to meet with Kenny, Yuuki Matsuoka, and
Noguchi さん this week and they each went pretty well! Kenny is still a
bit stubborn but it was nice meeting him along with Sister Jenny from
the Ward whom is his good friend. We went out to Sushi and then had a
good talk at his place. I got to explain my story of coming out on a
mission and the little things that lead up to it. It felt good and
Kenny said he really liked what I said because it "came from the
heart". Yeahhhh. Good game.
We also had a great After Baptism lesson with Brother Matsuoka who
was baptized a few months ago (before I got here) and that went well.
Brother Oba joined in with us and we had a really awesome chat about
service. It's really important to serve others because it helps us to
forgot about our problems a little bit and feel more worth as we give
our talents and use our strengths for good use. So yeah, since he's
been going through some tough stuff lately, we invited him to try and
serve others and that through that he could feel more peace.
Alright I have like no time left but on Saturday we had the great
chance to finally get out there and talk with lots of different people
in the parks around here with the beautiful views! We talked with an
older man by himself sitting on a kind of bench, and then his son in
law came over and we talked with him too! Eventually, the older mans
wife and daughter showed up and we had a great yet unexpected chat
with 4 people! They were all really nice. I love the people here in
Japan. We ended up getting the guys phone number and hopefully plan to
meet again for at least a dinner outing or something. They said they
weren't too interested in the church but they really liked us so it
was a good chance to leave them with a good impression of the church!
Yup.
Then lastly, we found that there was a "Belgium Beer Festival"
going on in one of the parks we were walking through and there were
tons of people! Haha, we couldn't tell if it was a terrible place to
talk with people or just the right place. Anyways, we stayed on the
outside edge of it as we walked towards the other end of the park and
actually met a couple of cool guys. One was American and the other was
Swedish but yeah, it was good talking to them. Funny people. There's a
lot of foreigners here actually so we get our fair share of chances to
talk with them.
Yeah, so I gotta go now but that was some of the good points of the
week! We'll talk to you later friends! Enjoy the week!!

バイバイ〜
愛してます！

Elder Carlini
カーリ二長老

I can't remember if I already sent these 2 but this shirt is way
sweet! Donkey Kong!!

Toru is a bro for life, haha

FROM: ELDER CONNER CARLINI
DATE: MAY 18, 2015
SUBJECT: Transfers?!?!

Hahah, don't worry I'm staying in Yamate.
Yeahhh, so they changed up the Transfer schedule and we got our
transfer announcement on Saturday, and then the changes all happened
on Monday (yesterday for us). So it's crazy stuff yo. Luckily I am
remaining in this great area of Yamate, and actually I got a new
companion for this transfer. His name is Elder Belnap and he is a
young buck. Straight Sent from my iPad
And as for this last week, to be honest, the only thing I'm
remembering is going on splits in Kamiooka!! I got to go back down to
the first area I lived in in Japan and have a great time with Zone
Leader, Elder Shurilla, proselyting. It was fantastic. I was able to
call old friends from there and actually be able to speak with them
and we set up appointments! So I got to meet with my good man Toru and
Peace at Basketball, and also the Awesome Ogawa family! It was so good
to see them again. Of course, it's still great to be in Yamate and the
Ward here is really great as well. So yeah, I have pictures of the fun
events down there. Oh and I got to see my Ward Mission Leader from
Kamiooka who is the greatest guy ever! He got married and had a kid
while I was away, haha, so I got to see his new little baby boy while
I was there. Good stuff.
Anyways, we had the chance to meet with some more great people on
Yamate like Edward and Kenny (both of whom are Japanese...but speak
fluent English as well). And also our main man Nakamoto! He is a
really nice older gentleman that doesn't understand the concept of a
God, but thinks it really is better to believe in God because it helps
us in life. Perfect mind set. What a great guy! I'll have to snag a
picture with him this next week. Also, I'll send a quick picture of me
and my new companion.

Well, that's about all I got. I have pictures so I'll send those too, hah.
Love you!

「もっと簡単な生活をできるように祈らず、もっと強い人間になれるように祈りなさい。」

-ジェイ エフ ケイーだね
Elder Carlini
カーリ二長老


Me and my new companion.


From my Split in Kamiooka! The Basketball crew!

Pictures from this week

FROM: ELDER CONNER CARLINI
DATE: MAY 6, 2015
SUBJECT: A Great Week

Heyyyy, how about that Wednesday P-Day!! Yeah, so I think I mentioned it in my last e mail...but we had a big "Yamate Open House" of the church pretty much all day on Monday and Tuesday (yesterday), so we got our P-day switched to Wednesday so we could get some things done. Anyways, this last week was truly a great week and we had the opportunity to meet with some great people! So let's jump into the good!
First off, we were pretty busy with a few things (including setting up for the Open House event) and almost weren't able to meet with our man Kenny. However, we found just a little bit of time and he wanted to take us out to see a sweet view from where he worked! He works with exporting cars on ships and so it was a really cool view from off the main land of Yokohama that not many people get to see. We had a nice chat with him there and we ended of with a great prayer by him. He has known of the church for a pretty long time and I wouldn't say he's progressing by leaps and bounds. But little by little, we hope to increase his faith.
The next cool happening was on Thursday right at the end of our weekly planning at the church. We left the doors wide open to the church just in case any one wanted to come inside and check it out! (Because it's right along a road and looks like a really nice building/has a monument) so, no one really came in for most all of the time we were there, however, right before we cleaned up our stuff to head out, a couple came in and asked if they could check out upstairs. We said, "Yeah of course! Let's go check it out!" So we first talked with them for a while and got to know each other and explained what we do as missionaries. They had only been in a church once before and it was during the Christmas season. So we showed them around a bit and then all went to the chapel. It's pretty quiet up there and it really helps to feel the peace that can be felt there. We explained what goes on each week at church and how it's really helped us out in lives, and invited them to come. Unfortunately they don't live around here and can't come every week all the way out to Yamate. But, I'm glad we got to meet them and I believe we've at least left them with a better image of missionaries and religion in general. It was a way good time just talking and loving these great people! Japan is a good place.
Also, we had the chance to take Narusawaさん to Hakuraku this Friday for an event called "Questions of the Soul" that President Wada does a couple times a month throughout the mission. This one was on Seizing the Day and taking a chance on the Gospel essentially. I've seen the little video clips he showed before but this time it really got to me. I learned from what we watched, that we really only have a short amount of time on earth and in each phase of our life. Heck, I'm 21 right now (which feels old for me) and I'm sure I'll think that's young in just the blink of an eye. So it really comes down to "Seizing the Day" everyday, and going for what we really want in life because if we don't do it right now, then the chance will be gone before we know it. And I testify that God doesn't want us to hold back and be comfortable with where we are, but rather, wants us to go for our dreams and be the best that we can be. I'm gonna do my best to improve and be happy with each day of my mission, and I can not wait to get home and go for my dreams and accomplish more of the Potential, that I have within me. I hope you all do the same. 😄
Yeahhh! And this week I had a first of my mission. And that would be, the first person I Baptized! I've been a part of a few baptisms and have taught some people who end up being baptized but I never had the opportunity to be the person doing the baptism. So even though it really doesn't matter who does the actual ordinance...I'm still glad I got to do one! My man Toguchi got baptized this last Saturday and it was a great program. I hadn't seen him in a while and he's from Fujisawa by the way. I only got to stay there for 1 transfer, but in that transfer we met and taught him several times, as well as when I left the area, we talked on the phone about things. So finally the day came when he decided he would be baptized and it was great. I got to see several people I met in Fujisawa area and we all had a good time. However, because the Yokohama Stake had "Stake Conference" this weekend, we had to leave soon after the Baptismal service and train over to Hakuraku where the next fantastic event happened!
So, the stake conference itself wasn't totally mind-blowing or anything. Although President Wada (My Mission President) spoke and had some funny words to say. It wasn't until after the meeting ended that I realized that because I am in the same stake as my first area Kamiooka, that there were a bunch of Ward members from the Ward there!!! Oh my gosh I don't know if I've been that happy to see other Ward members that much in my life. It was wonderful! I got to see wonderful families and great people that I knew, but could hardly talk to at the time I was there. And it was amazing being able to finally communicate so much better with them now that I've lived in Japan for over a year! I got to see the awesome Ogawa family and for the first time ever, I understood words that came out of their 11 year old daughters mouth....haha! She's way funny and speaks super fast all the time so I never knew what the heck she was saying. But this time, I could actually understand. I'm no where near awesome at Japanese, and I have a long way to go before reaching where I truly want to be....but that was a moment that really let me know how far I've come. What a wonderful experience!
So yeah, that was probably the best day of the week right there. Like I said, these last two days we had the open house of Yamate church and we handed out a whole ton of flyers to people all over Yamate. Everyone who helped and was stationed outside got pretty sunburnt, but it was great weather I'd say! No pain, no success. We walked along the harbor and talked with a whole bunch of people from all over. And we also had the chance to stay in the church building yesterday and lead people through/talk with them about the church. It was pretty fun. I'm glad I got to be a part of it.
Annnnnd yeah that's the highlight of this last week.
You have a good one now.
Byeeee

Elder Carlini
カーリ二長老