 Although he only had possession of the Bible for three weeks, he saw its messages as the reason for his survival and resolved to become a devout Christian.His conversion included learning a few words of Japanese and treating his captors with respect, which resulted in the guards reacting in a similar fashion.After his release, DeShazer entered Seattle Pacific College, a Christian college associated with the Free Methodist denomination, and began studying to be a missionary, eventually to return to Japan with his wife, Florence, in 1948.