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About
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.
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Profile
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."
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Entries
7.20.2010 / 5:09 PM
MTC de hokano hi dake! (Just another day at the MTC)
Hey everybody! Thanks for your letters and prayers. I really appreciate the support you all have shown me, and it makes everything I do just a little bit easier. This last week has been, as is typical, fantastic. I can't pinpoint anything extraordinary or particularly different than any other week... But it was really good none the less. As of today, I only have 12 days left in the MTC, and then I'll be off to Japan! Isn't that so exciting?
As I reach the close of my MTC experience (I've been here for over 2 months!) I've come to realize that during the course of a mission, I'm going to have to sacrifice a lot of things. As of yet, comparitively, I don't feel like that I've had to sacrifice much. At BYU I didn't see much of you guys anyways, and I can still keep fairly regular contact with everyone while at the MTC. I mean, I write pretty much everyone in the family every week!
However, the Lord requires sacrifice from us. In Alma chapter 8 verses 14 - 18(ish) Alma returns from teaching the Wicked people of Ammonihah. And what does the Lord tell him? To go right back and teach them again. I'm sure he'd been away from his family for a long time, with a whole lot less communication than we have, and yet he "speedily," returned to accomplish the Lord's will. He had so much faith that the Lord would take care of those he loves, and he persisted in doing whatever the Lord asked of him, regardless of personal sacrifice.
Examples like this are found time in and time out through the scriptures. Ammon and his brethren during their mission to the Lamanites, Nephi and his faith in coming to the Promised Land, etc... I don't feel the need to name them all. Needless to say, all sacrifices, regardless of size, are pleasing unto God. All sacrifices we make, for his name's sake, are ordained of him- and he will bless us for them.
In a recent devotional (Robert T. Halverson - Retired Quroum of 70), I heard this: "The first experience that every missionary needs to learn, is that it is not your mission at all. But his mission." - Boyd K. Packer
It's very true. This isn't my mission. I came here to see what the Lord had in store for me, and then, to do it. You may be wondering what the point is of all of this? I'm mostly just taking a round about way to arrive at a conlcusion I came to recently. I need to focus. Sure P-Day's are set aside for me to write family, and things like that. But I do not want to be distracted.
Of course, a letter here and there from my family is not a bad thing, but it's been difficult not to look forward to receiving dearelder's each day and hearing about what is going on in each of your lives. But I don't want to be a "dearelder," missionary. It's also been hard to not look forward to P-day's when I would get to write everybody and share my experiences from the week. But I don't want to be a "p-day," missionary. I want to be the best missionary.
So, I'm going to sacrifice those desires that I have as soon as I leave the MTC. Once I am in Japan, I don't want to spend all day writing letters like I do here. So here's what I plan on doing (or rather, not doing):
I will not continue to write everyone weekly. I will send out my e-mail every P-day, and I will respond to any letters I have gotten that week, but that's all. I also ask that if you write me while I am in Japan, that you keep your letters short. I also probably won't respond to e-mails that are sent to me, and the letters I write will probably be quite short (except for the weekly e-mail-- I'll keep that one relatively longer).
I know that this seems like something very silly. I mean, everyone writes their family and friends. And to say "I'm just going to do it less," certainly doesn't seem very hard. But it actually has not been a very easy decision for me. I am, after all, a communications major. Isn't that what I want to do the rest of my life? Communicate? It is. And maybe in part due to that, I have really struggled to conclude upon this action. However, I know that no matter how small sacrifice, if it is done for his name's sake, I will receive blessings from it. I also know that this is such an important time in my life, I already love every second of it, but I realize that I could be doing more. Everyday I could be working harder.
I heard a quote once that the difference between good missionaries and great missionaries isn't some secret baptism recipe. It's that the great ones do the exact same things as the goods ones, for a little bit longer, and little bit better. It might be much harder for me to do anything "a little bit better," than other missionaries... But I can do it for a little bit longer. However, every minute I spend reading letters, and every minute I spend replying, is a little less time I have to do the Lord's work.
I hope you don't think I'm silly for trying to do this, as I am really determined to stay more focussed on the work, and this is something I truly believe will help. Of course while I'm in the MTC I will continue to write regularly, but in 12 days, I plan on changing things like I've outlined. And I know, that even though it seems almost insignificant, that the Lord will bless me, and you, for it. I know it.
I know that my redeemer lives. He lives, who once was dead. And I want nothing more than to do everything, and anything, that he asks of me. It's my prayer that we will all strive to better seek our father's will for us, and then do whatever it takes to accomplish that. To do, just a little bit more. And to do it just a little bit better.
I love you all and thank everyone so much for the love you've shown me. I hope you understand what I hope to do. Until next week!
Sincerely,
Sha Chourou
Elder Shaw
