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.
ホーム
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."
文
Entries
1.22.2011 / 3:04 PM
今週 は すばらしかった です。 けど。。。 20？ 信じられない！
Dearest Family and Friends.
おめだとう ございます！！
It's my Birthday! (Or was, on the 17th). I know you were all very excited for it and celebrated in excess, right? Well, I'm 20 now... So...
This week was awesome! Thanks to everyone for your wonderful Birthday wishes! I really appreciate it! It was actually kind of funny... The whole week prior to my birthday I didn't get any mail, and Elder Yatsunami got three packages from his family and friends! I was actually hoping I wouldn't get any mail until after my Birthday just because I love irony. But unfortunately, or fortunately, I got ONE package (and taht was all) on my actual birthday. It was actually sort of mysterious... But was a perfect end to our day. So usually mail comes aty 12:00(ish) right after we arrive home to eat lunch... But on the 17th, the only mail that came was a flyer! Lame! (Although we did get a coupon out of it!) So I assumed nothing was coming, which was fine, I received more than enough at Christmas time, you know?
However, when we returned to the apartment at 9:00 pm at night, our apartment entryway light was on (which we never do)! And when we entered the apartment, there on the floor lay one, sole package waiting for me! Talk about Tender Mercies, huh? Have you ever heard of a mailman opening your door and leaving your package inside for you? I haven't... In fact, every other time I've gotten a package they've left a note on the door saying when they'd come back (if I wasn't there). Regardless, it was a glorious package. I was so excited about it, I took a video to commemorate it! Which I am now e-mailing so you can all enjoy it. I know I didn't get the quote exactly right, but I think you get the idea. And if you don't... Ask Jon. He'll understand. (What? Did I just hear you all call me a dork all the way from America/Canada?) The only dissapointing part of the package was that it didn't include any pictures... Pictures are the best. I love pictures. Please feel free to send pictures (Not to guilt you into sending me pictures or anything.... ... .)
At any rate, after that, on the 20th I received a letter from everyone and like three packages in the mail. It was nuts. So thanks everyone for sending your love. I really appreciated it :D Other than that, we have my investigators: Miura San, Nozuki Kun and Riiyu san. Miura san is still working on the Word of Wisdom, but is, for the most part, staying on track to baptism. We always give her a bunch of Werthers Candy to eat whenever she has the urge to smoke... But it isn't really working. Now she's addicted to smoking and Werthers Candy. :/
Nozuki Kun has started up college again and has become ridiculously busy... So we've haven't met with him in a while. But he's sch a cool guy!
And Riiyu san is new! She's an old investigator we picked up this week. She's actually Chinese but speaks Japanese fluently. She has a 12 month old baby who is really cute! We only just met her, but were able to teach a lesson at her doorway. It was very powerful! We used a section from Preach My Gospel called 'How to Begin Teaching' and it was a very smooth lesson. We were able to commit her to Baptism right there at the doorway, and she was excited to set a goal for the 26th of February! Fantastic, huh? I'm telling you, there was never a better time to be a missionary! We see nothing but miracles! :D
But anyways, now I'd like to talk to you about another recent experience I had. This last preperation day, I caught myself at one moment thinking back to home, and remembering all of the fun things I used to do. While thinking about this, I randomly recalled my English 251 textbook. It was a $40 textbook (I got it for $20 off of Amazon.com) full of 1000 pages of various poems, short stories and a few full length plays. The first class we had in English 251, we opened to that book, read and studied a poem called Aunt Jennifers Tigers by Addriane Rich (one of my favorites). We spent the whole 2 1/2 hour class studying this one poem. After we had read it thoroughly I recall being awed at how deep and valuable that poem was. Utterly amazed, is how I would describe it. I also remember coming back from that class so excited to study poetry. I hurried home and finished all of my homework for that class right away (surprised?). As I was doing my homework for that class, and thinking how much I absolutely loved Aunt Jennifer's Tigers, I specifically recall thumbing through the pages of that textbook and thinking, 'How many poems like Aunt Jennifer's Tigers, are in this book?' I bought it for $20, but to me, at that moment, it was worth so much more. I felt like I had won the lottery or something. Like I had found the best deal the internet ever had. It was amazing.
Some of you may have already guessed where I am going with this. This last Preperation Day, as I recalled this experience, I thumbed through a different book with the exact same feeling: The Book Of Mormon. Can you believe how lucky we are to have this book? This is the most valuable book on the Earth. The life changing power of that book is un-imaginable. It contains more truth than any other book on the Mormon. I know it. Like Joseph Smith said, through that book you can get closer to God than from any other book (see the Introduction). And it's true! The Book of Mormon is designed to bring you closer to God. And because it CAN do that, it is the most valuable book on the Earth. Even more valuable than my English 251 textbook, and Aunt Jennifer's Tigers.
Have you all been reading from the Book of Mormon lately? Studying? Learning from it's pages? And apply the truths from that book into your lives? If you are not, please start. And if you are, well, we can all improve, right? I know that my Book of Mormon study is far from perfect, but despite my weakness, I feel the power of the Book of Mormon every time I read it. And I know that no matter who you are, how old you are, or what walk of life you're currently in, you can to. For today, that's all. I love you all.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
-- 簡単に シャウ 長老
愛 する 家族 へ
Hey everyone! Sorry I didn't e-mail last week! Our P-day sort of died... Sorry! And also sorry because I only have about 15 minutes for today's e-mail. Which is really a shame because I have SOOOOOOO much I want to talk about.
But because I'm short on time, I'll just sum up all the miracles.
1) Persistence pays off. We met an old lady 3 weeks ago named Horiba San and visited her every other day for the last 3 weeks because she lives really close to the apartment. She never let us in, and even got angry at us one time, haha. But we kept on visiting anyways, because, well, we had time. And now she's become a pretty strong investigator! It's hard to control the conversation, but she's great!
2) Last e-mail I talked about some new investigators around the college. One of them, Nozuki Kun, now has a baptismal date for Feb. 26th. Yay! Meeting with him is really hard, so the date is still pretty weak... But he's progressing really well. Sorry that's all the time I have to describe it!
3) The greatest miracle of all! So. Two weeks ago we met an Old lady while walking in between appointments. Her interest was slight, but after talking for a bit, we learned that she had a daughter who was friends with a recent convert in our ward! But all we could get the Old Lady to commit too was passing the message on to her daughter. Pretty weak right?
But we figured we'd tell the Recent Convert (Sister Yagita) about it and see what she thought. Then we forgot about it. Then, last week on Sunday, we had a miracle! Sister Yagita and her friend (Miura San) came to church! Sweet! So we talked to Sister Yagita about it afterward, and apparently the first Old Lady we found was so impressed by the missionary and the blessings we promised, and the change she had seen in Sister Yagita, that she practically ordered her daughter to come check our church out! Pretty neat huh? Then with the little extra push from Sister Yagita, Miura san couldn't resist.
And the story gets even better! After church last Sunday, we had a lesson with Miura San, Sister Yagita and the Branch Presidents wife. The spirit was there in abundance and we were all blessed to learn a lot. It was our first meeting with Miura san, but we were able to set a baptismal date for Feb.13th! (Or sometime close to that. I forgot haha. It's written down). Is that amazing or what? We've met with her after that, and her interest is so strong. Unfortunately, we learned that she has a real problem with smoking. That probably means that we might have to push the baptismal date back a little farther (March maybe), but Miura san has a real desire to work toward baptism, and really wants to quit smoking and follow Jesus Christ. I am very excited for the future and to continue working with Miura san :D Pretty fantastic huh?
Also, this computer is doing weird things, so sorry if something is typed wrong, or there's weird letters in funny places?
Oh gee! I'm really out of time! Sorry. I love you all very much, and appreicate your support and letters! Thanks so much!
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
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.
