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."

Good morning! How is everyone doing today? Since you can't really respond, I'll assume you are fantastic. I'm sending my e-mail earlier today than usual, because breakfast was gross and resultantly I have more time in the morning than a typical p-day. So I figured I'd go and take my 30 minutes of e-mail time right now!

First off, I'd just like to thank everyone for the many, many, letters (actual and dearelder.com) that you have all sent me. I've been getting so much mail, it's hard to keep up with it all! And I'd like to apologize, I only get about two hours every Tuesday to write home (1/2 hour of which is e-mail), and so there is no possible way that I will get to respond to everyone... And we are "strenuously" (Dad... name that movie!) discouraged from writing letters home during the rest of the week, so if I don't get you this week... Sorry, but you'll have to wait until next Tuesday. Still, I'll try my best to get everyone, without sacrificing quality of course.

Oh, and also, last week on Monday the mail was closed until Tuesday night. So... if you get a letter that I sent last Tuesday, just a heads up that it won't have any response to anything you sent me on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday of last week. Just a heads up.

At any rate, my past week has transpired famously! Can you believe I've already been in the MTC for three weeks!? If I was speaking English, I'd have already left yesterday! It's pretty crazy to think about... Although 9 more weeks still sounds like an eternity away! But I love it here. My district is really fun (sometimes too much fun) and I'm learning so much more than I ever thought possible. Wednesday of last week was interesting. Sort of. The whole of the day was pretty regular by MTC standards... But at about 10:10 when I was preparing for bed I had a very interesting experience. In the bathroom brushing my teeth when Elder Anderson (who is in my zone) swung upon the bathroom stall door that he was still sitting on and commanded "Huge me, right now." Did I mention that he was still sitting on the toilet? Missionaries are odd. Very odd. At any rate, that was my Wednesday.

TRC on Thursday went well too! TRC is where we go and teach "investigators," (or volunteers if you'd prefer) and practice missionary skills and what not. It went well, and they guy I taught served with Brent Hill (Elder Cord was his name) so that was pretty cool to meet someone who served with Brent. He told me I reminded him a lot of Brent, and I took that as a big compliment. We still are teaching in English, and not Japanese though. I got some bad news on this day though... One of my Sensei's is leaving (actually he left yesterday!). Jay Sensei is going back home to work for the summer. It's really too bad. He was my favorite sensei. He's super funny and a good role model. But oh well. There are plenty more super funny/role model teacher's hanging around at the MTC.

Friday was Friday.

Saturday was swell. Started out less good because I slept in until 6:30 am (which is when I'm supposed to wake up... but I'd like to wake up earlier, you know?). But after that, breakfast, gym and a great lesson from my Senseitachi (teacher's) on creating good Language Study Plans (which has been helping heaps!) and on Recognizing the Whisperings of the Holy Spirit, we went to a TE appointment with a Mongolian named Brother Mortensen. TE is where you can practice whatever you'd like... Teaching a lesson, just getting instruction on something like contatcting, etc... Anyways... It was my best lesson my companion and I have given yet! Brother Mortensen had lots of good feedback and it was a very good experience. At least I now know I can teach in English! We'll see about Japanese :/

Sunday was exceptional! It was fast sunday, and my district fasted for Jay Sensei (since he was leaving) and to learn Japanese of course! At any rate, instead of priesthood meeting, we had "Mission Conference," which meant all the missionaries gathered in the gym for the MTC presidency to speak. It was gr-r-r-eat. Better than Tony the Tiger even. It was two hours long and was followed by a district meeting and sacrament meeting. Sacrament meeting was also interesting because I got to hear the native Japanese speakers bear their testimonies. I probably only understood 1/10th of what they said... But it was really cool just to hear it, and feel of their spirit. They're so great! After that we had one of my favorite Fireside's yet, that I know all of you would have also appreciated. It was 1 1/2 hour long of having famous church composers and conductors teach, sing, and play for us. It was great! I got to hear from an 88-year-old man named Crawford Gates who wrote "Our Saviour's Love" (he was really funny!) and then we sang it. Then we heard from a woman who's name escapes me (is that sexist?) and then a 98-year-old man named.... Cudnick? Who wrote a less well known hymn titled "Let thy Holy Word Guide," or something like that. It was really cool to hear them speak! They taught me a lot about music, theory, how to appreciate hymns more, how hymns come into being, shared really cool spiritual stories and even taught me a little about poetry. It was a good fireside. They also had a violinist play (nothing compared to Kristy of course ;) ) and had some special singing musical numbers. Also of interest, on July 25th (I think) all the apostles are coming to the MTC and they are putting together a small choir of 25 people. Naturally I wanted to try out for it (of course I wouldn't get in, but I might as well try, right?), but alas I do not qualify. Oh well. It will be cool to listen to the apostles. Oh, they're coming to train new Mission Presidents. (Which is also really cool).

That leads us to yesterday which was also great. Jay Sensei gave us his last lesson, which was naturally awe-inspiring and motivational.

That's pretty much my week in a nutshell. My computer just alerted me that I have three minutes left to write everyone... So I just want you all to know that I love you very much. I appreciate so much your support of me and I sincerely love it at the MTC. There's no place I'd rather be! I'm learning so much too! You would be amazed if you heard me speaking Japanese to you... I mean, I've only been here three weeks, but already I've learned so much! And about the gospel too. And still, there's so much to learn! I've only hit the tip of the ice berg of Japanese per se. Oddly enough, I'm also picking up a lot of French since there is someone from Tahiti in my class (and I'm the go-to for French translation... Hah!). Anyways. One minute. Thanks again, I'll try and write to you all. I know God lives and loves each one of us individually and personally. Take care... and don't forget to write me!

PS. Sorry for spelling errors, and sorry if I forget to say anything, and... yeah. Sorry :)

Kbye!

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: