The adventures and misadventures of Elder Shaw as he teaches among the Japanese, and is no doubt taught in return.

Head to the 'Profile,' section to read more about who I am, and what I believe in. For more information on where I actually am, please click here.

The adventures and misadventures of Elder Shaw as he teaches among the Japanese, and is no doubt taught in return.

Head to the 'Profile,' section to read more about who I am, and what I believe in. For more information on where I actually am, please click here.

My name is Brian Shaw, though you can just call me エルダーショー (Elder Shaw). As of the 19th of May 2010, I have been rigorously engaged in serving the Lord by laboring to bring the Japanese people back to their savior, Jesus Christ; and I will continue to do so faithfully until the 19th of the same month in 2012.

I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I have an unshakable testimony that this church is of Christ. I know Christ lives, and I know he suffered for my sins, so that I could return to live with my Heavenly Father after this life. I know that Joseph Smith, the founder of this church in the latter days, was called of God to restore Christ's authority to this earth, and establish the covenants and ordinances that were lost long ago. I also know that Joseph Smith was given a set of gold plates to translate into scripture called the Book of Mormon. I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

If you would like to know this just as I do, please click here, or click here for a free copy of the Book of Mormon.

2 Nephi 25:26
"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."

Hello everyone! As you may have noticed, I've decided to use the subject of my e-mails to introduce everyone to knew and fantastic Japanese phrases. Last week was "Konnichiwa," which means hello. Today is "Genki desu ka?" Which translates to "are you well?" Careful though, it's sort of seen as a personal thing in Japan. So don't ask it unless you know the person quite well. To reply, you just answer "Hai, genki desu." If you are well. Or "iie, genki deshita."

So yeah. Now a star can come soaring overhead trailed by a fantastic rainbow with "The More you Know," singing in the background.

But seriously! The MTC is fantastic! I absolutely love it here! They keep telling me that it will only get better once I get out into the field. But to be honest, it's sort of hard to imagine. This week has been really cool. Last Tuesday night we had a devotional where Elder D. Todd Christoferrson came and spoke to everyone, and obviously that was super cool! I also got to go the temple last week, and I have to say, I liked it significantly better the second time through when I was less worried about remembering everything! The Provo temple is great.

Other than that, I've just been doing a lot of teaching, studying, and laughing with my district. My district and I get along so well. It's amazing! I feel like I've known them all for years! But it's only been like 10 days or something ridiculous. I'm sad that I'll only see them for the 12 weeks that I'm in the MTC. But a few of them are considering coming to BYU after their mission, and another few already go to Weber State or other similar and less exciting colleges. My district is great. I sent a picture of my district to Emily this week. So she should upload it to my blog after she scans it into a computer. Which I'm assuming she is willing to do for me. :)

What else has gone on this week? It's so hard to keep track of everything... It all just kinds of blends together. Sometimes I feel like I got here just yesterday. If there's one thing I've learned with a surety, it is that time has no bearing in the MTC. Let's see... I've taught the first lesson from Preach my Gospel like 50 thousand times. I've been breathing, eating, sleeping, etc... Japanese (Nihongo if you want to be cool). It's so hard to remember all of the exciting things I do everyday. Everything is so exciting. So sorry I don't have any super cool experiences to report.

Also, thanks to everyone who has written me letters and/or dear elders. I really appreciate the encouragment and support. It's nice to know that you haven't forgotten about me yet ;) Haha. Oh yeah! So yesterday the Nihonjin got here! Which is to say the Japanese missionaries who are actually from Japan! I haven't had a chance to really get to know them though. Which is to say, that I can't understand a word they say since they can't speak English, and I preactically can't speak Japanese... They'll be here for three weeks before heading back to Japan with the group of missionaries that are older than my district. They seem really cool though. They bow a lot. I like bowing. Much more sanitary than shaking hands. And certainly easier! Spare me all the jokes about how my handshake is like a "limp fish," or whatever... I'll just bow and be done with it!

I should bring my journal with me next Tuesday. Then I'll have lots to write about. Yes. I like that idea. Sorry again for my lack of interesting topics.

Eto...
(Umm...)

I've taken lots of pictures since I've got here, but haven't had a chance to print many off. I sent a few pictures out in mail this week (mostly to Mom and Dad), but they're super cheap to print (like 9 cents per picture) so I'll probably be sending lots of pictures to everyone as time goes on. I only wish I had a better camera... Jodan (joke)! The camera dad gave me is working great. Even if it doesn't take quite as fantastic pictures as Lukes.

Speaking of Luke. I think I've met his counterpart. There's an Elder in my district named Elder Einfeldt, who I honestly think has seen and recognizes as many movie quotes as Luke! He's also the one who played basketball at SVU, so he and I have had plenty to talk about. And I always quiz him on movie quotes as we are walking from class to class or whatever... But so far I have yet to catch him! (Except with a quote from What's Up Doc... But I didn't think that was fair).

Oh yeah! One of the Elders in my district got transferred. That's something new! There was a three-some companionship of Elders in my district, but another Elder in another district went home for personal reasons (sad, I know), and so Elder Warner [part of the threesome] was transferred to the other district so that there wasn't two three-somes. It's sad. But we've pretty much gotten used to it by now... Plus it's not like we don't see him anymore...

Okay. Well I'm pretty much out of time. Sorry I just talked about nothing for my whole e-mail. Next Tuesday I'll bring my Journal with me so that I'll actually have some interesting things to talk about. Just know that I love you all and am enjoying my time serving the Lord! It's such a blessing to only have to worry about one thing: The Gospel. Take care and don't forget to write me! Or dearelder.com me or whatever.

Also, would someone mind telling me what's going on with the NBA finals? Just curious...

Also, no one has yet, but please do not send me packages of the cupcakes that BYU Catering makes. A few other elders have gotten them, and they are... yokunakatta desu.

I'll let you figure that one out on your own!

Anyways, until next time...

Sincerely,
エルダーショー
Elder Shaw

A list of my writings by their entry date:

05.25.2010

06.01.2010

06.04.2010

06.08.2010

06.15.2010

06.18.2010

06.22.2010

06.29.2010

07.02.2010

07.06.2010

07.13.2010

07.20.2010

07.21.2010

08.10.2010

08.12.2010

08.17.2010

08.25.2010

09.06.2010

09.15.2010

09.20.2010

09.28.2010

10.04.2010

11.01.2010

11.30.2010

12.24.2010

12.30.2010

01.22.2011

01.26.2011

03.02.2011

03.07.2011

03.14.2011

03.18.2011

04.25.2011

To my friends and family... Write me! And I promise I will write back as promptly as reasonable.

First, please do not contact me through e-mail. I have an e-mail, but have been told by my mission president not to read e-mails from anyone (not even family!). Sure, some other missions might do it differently, but for Sendai, I'm not supposed to read your e-mails. Just write me lots of letters instead!

And please direct all mail to this street address: