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12.24.2010 / 6:59 AM
Merry--What?
Hey everyone! Sorry again for the late e-mail, but we had to move
P-day over a day because of splits with the Zone Leaders. Also, I have
very little time, I much apologize. (Uhh... Sorry, that's my Japanese
coming out... I could fix it, but whatever.) Can you believe that it's
Christmas already? Have I really been a missionary for that long?
Well, I trust no one has changed or done anything since I left...
Right? I expect you all to be exactly how I remembered you when I
return. Just saying...
Anyways, this last week has been full of things that I don't have
adequate time to describe. First, we went to Misawa USAF last Sunday
for Church. It was way fun! It's a branch of about 200 or so Americans
and it was great to completely understand everything everyone was
saying! When they asked me to bear my testimony and what not, all I
could think was 'Boy! This is sure easy in English!' Hahaha...
Sometimes it's easy to think that serving in America would be a whole
lot easier... But I'm sure English speaking missionaries have a whole
bunch of challenges I don't have to worry about. Like dealing with
people who have a Christian background. Or using the bible. Haha,
everyone is buddhist here, and they accept the BoM as easily as they
accept the bible... So I almost never use it! That's a definite
blessing of Japan.
Anyways, this week also we had our first district meeting ever! Yay!
It was very nerve wracking to have to prepare for a two hour block of
time, but I think it turned out alright. Elder Yatsunami helps me out
a lot. He's so amazing!
Oh gee. No time. Well, the final cool thing this week was splits with
the zone leaders! It was amazing! Combined between the four of us, we
found 5 investigators in one day! In Japan, that's really something
(maybe it is other places too?). And the Zone leaders had lots of good
advice for me and Elder Yatsunami. I wish I could talk to you about
all the people I'm working with... But I'll just mention one: Francis.
He's a Phillipino who has been living in Japan for 13 years. But he's
fluent in Japanese and English. And he's amazing! He's served as a
missionary 2 times (for a Catholic church) and spent over 5 years
working with Humanitarian aid in the Phillipines. He truly is one of
the most saint-like people I have ever met! He's met with the
missionaries a long time ago, and was close to baptism once... But
couldn't ever accept only one church being true. He's belief is that
all churches are true, and he wants to help them all. Which is great!
But not so great for his and his families salvation... :\ Any advice?
Please feel free to share :)
Ah! Sorry, I have no more time. I love you all and thanks so much for
your continued support and love and prayers.
Oh wow! I almost forgot! The Christmas phone call. SO here is how it
works. I have 40 minutes on a date and time I decide that fits in my
schedule. I give you my phone number, and you call me at that time.
Pretty simple, right?
So. Mom. Please call me at 4:00pm on CHRISTMAS for 20
minutes. It will be 7:00am in Japan(the next day).
Dad, please call me at 4:20pm on CHRISTMAS for 20
minutes. It will be 7:20am in Japan (the next day). (Just in case, in
your old age, you forgot how to add time! ;) Haha, just kidding!)
Okay. Sorry I don't have time to share any miracles or a message on
Christmas. It's true! Just remember that! Talk to you soon! Byeeeee!
--
Realistically
シャウ 長老
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).
Bonjour! That’s French, not Japanese.
Hey everyone! How's your week been? Fantastic I hope! Mine sure has been. Lots of fun stuff. Although Elder Swenson has gotten a little sick (of sorts) recently which has made some things a little difficult, but we are still teaching plenty.
Our investigator Yoshida San is still progressing, but hasn't been able to pray yet >.> But we are meeting with her tomorrow, so hopefully she'll have tried praying on her own! But she's still reading all the time! Right now, she's alreay in 2 Nephi 29! Which is fantastic!
Our other progressing investigator Kasahara San did start praying on his own again! Which is great! However, in another stroke of inspiration which I don't have time to explain, we learned that he wasn't closing his prayers in Jesus Name, or starting them by addressing Heavenly Father. :/ But at least he's praying. We got him to commit to pray properly. He's struggling most right now with his testimony of Joseph Smith. It's so weird, but he believes the Book of Mormon to be true, but Joseph Smith as a prophet is wishy-washy! Haha. But he's lots of fun to work with.
Other than that, not much else is going on! We got a new cell-phone this week. I suppose that's cool. It's the same as before only slightly cheaper. Haha. Probably you don't care to know that, huh? As for any exciting culture experiences or things like that... Hmm... I tried some Fried Oysters the other day that were really delicious? Haha.
Okay. Sorry, I have no time! That's a common theme isn't it? But today I also sent off a package with everyone's Christmas Presents and a few things to store for me in it (don't worry, all of the presents except 2 were free, and the 2 cost only a dollar each). I sent it to Mom because, well there's no real reason, I just picked to send it there. It probably won't arrive till mid January or so, but please enjoy a late Christmas from Japan.
Except of course Dad and Jon's presents, they were small enough that I just could fit them in a regular letter. So I sent those to Dad. Just for your information.So yeah... O negai shimasu!
Ah! Okay. Sorry. I hope everything makes sense that I'm writing? On to the pictures!
IMG_3143.JPG (image/jpeg) 864.00K - Funny English. Yes, names do indeed use the alphabet!
IMG_3136.JPG (image/jpeg) 1,090.00K - Guess who else put up a christmas tree this week! (You all wrote me saying you did that a while ago, so now it's my turn). Oh the things you can find in Missionary Apartments!
IMG_3140.JPG (image/jpeg) 1,087.00K - Oh Christmas Tree
IMG_3142.JPG (image/jpeg) 945.00K - Oh Christmas Tree
IMG_3149.JPG (image/jpeg) 1,238.00K - Comic!
IMG_3155.JPG (image/jpeg) 670.00K - This is me, right before sening this e-mail. Just in case you forgot what I look like.
Also, to answer all of your questions about weather. Japan has become rather cold. About 5 in the day, and -5 in the night. At least that's my guess. I don't really care to find out for sure.
Well, thanks for all the letters! I love you lots and keep working hard!
--
Wholly,
シャウ 長老
Hey Everybody!
Hey! Sorry for the slow e-mail this week! So our regular spot to do e-mail became infected with some sort of virus. So I was unable to e-mail this last week. And the only other place to e-mail in Furukawa is in a electronic store that is super far away from everything. And we couldn't spare the time to go to it. But! Today when we went to visit a member they were unfortunately not there and the member lives only a few minutes away from the said Electronics store. So... Here I am! Sending a quick 5 minute e-mail just to let you know what's going on. Sorry, the e-mail's been all that consistent lately!
Also, sorry. I'm writing very quickly as store employees eye me suspiciously, so I'm not sure if anything I'm writing makes any sense or not. Or if it's spelled correctly or not. So forgive me. But I'm doing really well! Our investigators are doing strong and progressing, so Elder Swenson and I are very pleased. As of yet, however, we have no baptismal dates. But have lots of plans in motion, so things are looking fantastic! Thanks to everyone for the letters and packages (I wrote letters to all of those whom I've received a package from, so I won't thank you individually here).
Well, that's all I've got for today. Sorry it's short. But I have no time! :/ I love you all and thanks again ;)
PS. Could someone send me like a wikipedia page of all the different styles of shoes? And all the famous shoes in the world? (I.E. Cinderalla's slipper...) I know it's random, but I promise there is a purpose.
PPS. No one sent me pictures of Halloween costumes... Just saying,..
PPPS. But I really do appreciate all the mail I get! And I don't mean to always be asking all the time... like 'send me this' and 'send me that,' whatever you send is amazing and I truly appreciate.
PPPPS. Sorry for all the PS's
Kbye!
--
Truly,
Elder Shaw
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.
