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12.24.2010 / 6:58 AM
Okureta! Gomen! (Sorry I’m Late!)
Wow! Where to start! The past two weeks since my last e-mail have been
some of the most hectic weeks since I've come on a mission.
So first, lets start with the obvious. Elder Swenson is gone! Crazy!
He's back in Washington as I'm writing this! (Probably playing video
games!) But I'm really glad for the opportunity I had to work with him
and I learned a lot! I'll definitely be keeping in touch with him! But
I'm sure you're very curious who my new companion is? What the
situation is? And why it took way too long for me to send an e-mail!
Well here's the just of the situation. Furukawa became a 'Sisters'
area, I got transfered to a new area and my companion is Japanese.
Pretty crazy huh? My new companion is Elder Yatsunami. He's an amazing
missionary who used to be AP! I have a lot to learn from him and am
very excited to get to work! He only has two transfers left, so I'll
probably kill him as I did Elder Swenson (in missionary terms 'kill,'
means just to be their last companion). He's from a are way south of
the Sendai mission boundaries and thinks it's freeeeezing cold all the
time. He's also hilarious and one (if not THE) of the best finders in
the mission! So hopefully I can learn from him how to be a good
finder.
Furukawa is such a great place! I will truly miss it! There are two
sisters that came in to replace Elder Swenson and I am so hopefully
that they will get to see some baptisms really soon here! Right before
I left (which was very surprising... I found out the morning of
transfers :/) our investigator Yoshida san was very close to baptism.
But thinking back, it truly amazes me how much I love the Furukawa
people. People always told me it would happen, but you can't really
understand it until it happens to you I don't think. It was truly
heart wrenching when I was told that I would be getting transfered.
But I know it's the Lords plan and Furukawa is in good hands, so I'm
not (too) worried. :) I would very much like to visit Furukawa again
though, I have made many life-long friends there. And I could probably
live there for a month for free. Just saying...
Now the exciting part! Where am I now? Well, I'm in a place called
'Hachinohe' which means '8 doors.' It's a city of about 200 000 people
waaaay up north near Aomori (which is the most north area in the
Mission). It borders the sea and is 13 miles away from the Misawa
Navel Base. Which is also in our mission boundaries. The army base has
a ward of 200 active ENGLISH-SPEAKING members. Next Sunday we are
going there for sacrement. It will be very odd to speak in English for
a change. It's also called 'Little America' because, well... It is.
There's a Taco Bell, Wendy's, and even a Costco! The ward has already
invited me and my companion over for Christmas dinner, and are working
on getting us some referrals! I am sad to say that I have in the past
judged people who are in the army as right-wing extremists who are
only concerned with themselves, but I repent! Because the people in
Misawa are amazing! I've only talked with them over the phone, but I
am already amazed. About 2 transfers ago they had a two-week referral
baptism from Misawa and apparently it's not that uncommon! Wow :D
Another interesting thing about Hachinohe is that it's a white wash!
Which means that before me and my companion came in... There were no
missionaries! Two transfers ago or so, a missionary got sent home (I
don't know/want to know why) and so the area was closed for a while.
But me an Elder Yatsunami are re-opening it and it's been very
exciting trying to navigate these crazy streets so far! Haha.
Also, Hachinohe is very cold. I feel like I'm in Canada again, except
for all the Japanese people.
Oh, and there's one other surprise this week... I've been called as
District Leader. Which seems absurd for a number of reasons, but I
know God's in control, so I'm not worried about it. Elder Yatsunami
(who has been a DL, ZL, AP before) is really helping me and teaching
me the ropes. There's so much to remember though! But someday I'll get
the hang of it I'm sure!
Ah gee! I'm short on time. But at any rate, I'm having the time of my
life. Elder Yatsunami and I are seeing nothing but miracles everyday!
It's amazing! We're working really hard and we are bound to see a
baptism any day now! We don't really have many investigators at the
moment, but they'll come. I wish I had time to tell you about all the
amazing miracles we are seeing! God truly blesses his missionaries! My
Japanese has never been better, I've never been happier and everyday
God just keeps blessing Elder Yatsunami and I more and more to see
more and more miracles. I am so grateful to be a missionary!
I'd like to share one cool miracle we had just yesterday. We were out
'stricking' as well call it (proselyting on a bike), and talking to
everyone we saw. While we stopped and talked to this one guy who
didn't have much interest in the message when someone else came
whizzing past us on his bike. I didn't think much of it... But a few
minutes later I saw him again. Riding towards us slowly... HE stopped
US and asked us what we were doing. It was awesome! We had a good talk
with him about Buddha, God and a little bit about the Big Bang (of all
things?). He seemed interested and we exchanged phone numbers to meet
again. Right now, he's not even an investigator... But can you talk
about Spiritual sensitivity? He went past me and my companion at 50
miles an hour and yet felt something strong enough to make him stop,
turn around, and come back! Isn't that amazing?
God truly blesses his missionaries, and I know the fellow we found the
other day (his name is Hinata san) will be blessed for following the
spirit. Will he get baptized? Who knows. But It's a miracle
none-the-less!
At any rate, I'm out of time but I love you all so much and thanks for
your continued support. Also, I received a christmas package from
everyone but haven't opened any of the presents yet (except for
Kristy's, because when I opened the package, the gift was the
package-- Sorry! I love the pants though!). And don't worry, I opened
the PACKAGES, just not the gifts inside. Thanks so much for making me
feel at home while in Japan.
Also, the computers we use to e-mail in Hachinohe don't have anything
for sending pictures... So. Sorry. I'll just have to start mailing
pictures I guess :/ And that means no cartoons for a while! Sorry!
Okay. Thanks so much! I love you all! Kbye!
--
心から (that's sincerely in Japanese)
シャウ 長老 (And this means 21 birds, if you were wondering). (Nah, I'm
just kidding, it's just my name-- It has no meaning).
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.
