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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.
横顔
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
6.22.2010 / 1:41 PM
Konnichiwa!
Hello again! Happy Fathers day, by the way! First off, thanks to everyone who wrote me this week. Which was only like two people. But still. Thanks. It's good I suppose to only get a few letters, so I can focus more. At any rate, I have some bad news! The temple is closed! They close every year for 2 - 5 weeks for rennovations. And they just closed (as of this Sunday) for rennovations for the next 5 weeks. Major bummer huh?
Other than that, there isn't a whole lot to report on. This week was the older batch of missionaries last week here (they left on Monday for Japan), so they were really distracting as they packed, and etc... They had all sorts of random "heirlooms," that they passed down to us younger group (I didn't want any part of it because I thought it was silly, so I didn't get any). For example, they handed down these painted easter eggs that they called the dragon balls. I don't know why... Just for kicks and giggles I suppose?
At any rate, that was, to major extent, the whole of this week. As always, the MTC is great. I'm learning so unbeleivably much. On Thursday of this week I start teaching in Japanese, so wish me luck!
For a spiritual thought this morning, I'd like to share a little bit about faith and miracles. I heard an interesting definition of faith recently:
"Faith is following a higher law, that we do not understand, that supersedes all lower laws, that we do understand." It's like a cell phone. If you went back 500 years ago, and showed a cell phone, or a computer, to someone who lived back then... They would say it's a miracle, right? But it's not really a miracle is it? They just don't understand how something like that could work. Miracles are the same way, we don't understand how they work... They follow a higher law. What we do understand about faith is that faith is a principle of power. God works by power, but his power (which is manifest in miracles) usually is excercised in response to faith.
Thus it follows, as I'm sure everyone knows, that through faith, we see miracles. There's a french poem that reads something like this:
"He said, 'Come to the edge,'
We replied, 'No. We'll fall.'
He said, 'Come to the edge,'
We replied, 'No. We'll fall.'
He said, 'Come to the edge,'
And so we come.
At the edge, he pushed us.
And we flew."
That's a great poem isn't it? It's talking about the saviour. The saviour is telling us to come unto him. Even if we don't understand how, and even if we think that going to the edge will result in us plummeting to the ground, he asks us to just come unto him. And when we do... We have his promise that we won't fall... But we will fly. It is a wonderful message, and one that I know to be true.
If there is one thing that has been stressed most vehemetley at the MTC, it is that each missionary, each individual person, can make a difference. It is our faith that matters. Elder Holland said this in regards to living and doing missionary work:
"Don't miss one day. Don't miss one hour! Do not live with that regret..."
And I know that to be true as well. We are the ones that can make a difference. When we come to our saviour Jesus Christ with absolute certainty, we will see miracles. We will make a difference. And if we do not, we will have to live with that regret. I already experienced this regret to some degree, as in my senior year of high school, I felt really impressed to share the BoM with someone in my Physics 30 class, and despite the prompting I received, I sought to hide myself, and not share what I know. And I have always, and probably will always, regret not sharing the Book of Mormon with the Ben that sat behind me in Physics 30. I do not want to feel that regret ever again. And hope that you don't ever feel that regret either. So I urge you to have faith! And to act on the promptings you receive!
I'm out of time, but here are some good scriptures on how we can exercise faith in Christ:
Acts 4:13
D&C 103:36
D&C 97: 8 - 9
Alma 26:12
Alma 29: 1 - 2
Alma 57: 21
Jacob 1:19
Okay I have 20 seconds left! I love you all and thanks so much for your support! I look forward to hearing from you! Syonara!
Sincerely,
エルダーショー
Elder Shaw
アドレス
Address
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:
While at the MTC
Elder Brian Derek Shaw
Provo Missionary Training Center
MTC Mailbox # 89
JPN-SEN 0804
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793
While in Japan
Elder Brian Derek Shaw
Japan Sendai Mission
3-1-5 Yagiyama Minami
Taihaku-Ku
Sendai-Shi, Miyagi
982-0807
Phone:81-22-245-8851
