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."

Hey everyone. How is everyone doing? So I got some mail this week from some of you. Which was really surprising! But thank you! I enjoyed it very much, and also was very surprised to learn that apparently Elder Taylor and I are famous? My picture was on the news? Which picture? I hope you chose some good pictures to give the news! Did I look very silly? Haha.
 
Some exciting news for this week, is that for the first time since coming to Japan, I played basketball (I was very rusty! And I'm way out of shape!). We never had any time while I was in Sendai, but President Daniels is really big into sports, so he makes time for everyone to get active. I'm sending some pictures! We played basketball and volleyball but don't have any basketball pictures unfortunately. Next time :D
 
Other than that... This week has been awesome! We've been doing lots of finding and seeing lots of success! And imagine you are all wondering about last week's miracle, Yamakawa San. Well, unfortunately, we learned this week that she suffers from Schizophrenia (a slight case). And as such, there's a lot of things she would have to overcome before she could get baptized. But other than that, she's about as Golden Investigator as you can have. However, she won't be getting baptized for a while. Maybe a year or so,  which is too bad because I'd like to see her get baptized! But, we will continue to work with her none-the-less. Other than that, the miracles have been left right and center. Our investigator pool is still small (like 5). But they're all great. Ones from Poland, which is super strange. But she's way awesome. She's been an investigator for years, but only talks to missionaries who speak English. So they weren't teaching her before. But we picked her up again. She actually has an 11-year-old daughter who IS a member. As weird as that is! But she's great. :D Her name is Barbra (spelling? Barbara? In Japanese it's Ba-bara...) Alright, I'm pretty much out of time. If anyone has any questions about the tsunami or earthquake or something feel free to ask me. The mail to Hokkaido seems to be a lot faster. I got letters about 1 week after they were sent. So... Feel free to send some letters!
 
I'll try to reply, but I've got to be honest, my motivation for writing letters has been low of late! Sorry! I'll try to get a few off this weeks! I haven't had time to write letters for like 3 or 4 weeks or something, and I guess once your out of the habit, it's hard to motivate yourself to get back into it... So sorry... But I'll try to get some off today!
 
Other than that... Let's just go to the pictures :D Boring e-mail, sorry.
 
 
  IMG_0015.JPG (image/jpeg) 1,397.00K - This is a new knock-off watch I bought for a few dollars.
 IMG_0004.JPG (image/jpeg) 1,650.00K - This is all the YSA in my new ward. I'm serving in a ward! Crazy! There's like 100 people in it and everything. How do normal missionaries remember everyone's names?! Also, sorry the picture is really grainy... My camera has been doing that lately. I think it's getting old.
 IMG_9114.jpg (image/jpeg) 57.00K - This is me serving when we played volley ball. This makes me look like I might know what I'm doing. But I don't! Don't be fooled. I am a terrible volley ball player.
 IMG_9091.jpg (image/jpeg) 59.00K - This is Kobayashi Choro, who I am living with right now. He is really funny, and this picture is just funny. Enjoy!
 IMG_9157.jpg (image/jpeg) 88.00K - This is a picture of all the missionaries that played volleyball and basketball on that particular day.
 IMG_9141.jpg (image/jpeg) 56.00K - We're not totally sure... But we think that's me? Doing some sort of side-ways-attack.
 IMG_2648.JPG (image/jpeg) 1,011.00K - This is a tasty dish that I ate recently. Doesn't that squid just look delicious?
IMG_0020.JPG 1,363.00K - This last one is just me. Sorry it's grainy again (silly camera!). But, the desk in the background is my new desk. The apartment I'm living in is made for 2 people, and I'm living with 4 in it right now (Me, Taylor, Ovard, Kobayashi) and it's a little squished. So it's actually the kitchen table... (Or was! Haha). But it's all we got! But it's okay, we got a new kitchen table, don't worry.
 
Any questions? Feel free to ask :D
 
Anyways, I love you all. You are in my prayers constantly! Thanks so much for your continued prayers, support, love, etc... I feel all of it and continued do what I do (which isn't really all that much) without it!
 
Kbye..........

--
Yours truly,
シャ　長老

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: