LETTER!

It's been an interesting week this week. My missionary work has really changed a lot of the last week. I feel like I'm starting to lose a lot of the fear that I've had in the past about talking to the people and stepping out of my bubble. It's been really weird and really hard. I'm not afraid of people at this point.

I hit the realization this week that what we're teaching IS the RESTORED message of Jesus Christ and his church. It's not just some feel good thing that we're going about and trying to tell people about to brighten their day up. It's something That WILL change your life, it's something that WILL bring you happiness, it's something that EVERYONE needs, and I've got to put aside my fears so that people can have the chance to change their lives. Those of the that haven't had the chance to hear it, go hear it. It's why I'm here serving and it's why I'm here trying to help people. I promise you that if you go into it with an open heart looking to know the truth, you WILL find happiness and it WILL change you life. You might already be attending church or believe in Jesus Christ or doing whatever it is that is making you happy. If you're happy now, you will be just that much happier. Please do it. Please. I promise you it's worth it. 

To those of you that I email who are members of this church and have been baptized, gain a testimony of this Gospel, the Church, and the Book of Mormon. I promise you that it's worth it. I'll be really honest with everyone here. I didn't have a strong testimony when I left to come to Korea. I mainly came out here cause it was expected of me. I didn't really know what I was doing, and I didn't know what I would be giving up to do this. When I left to come here I just wanted to get this over with to come home. Now I'm dying for more time. The last few months have changed my life, I've become someone that I'm proud of. I'm someone that I want to be. And I'm blessed to still have another 12 months of so to figure it out even more. I've come to realize that the things I was taught when I was young are true, and that the things I was taught are the things that bring happiness. Over the last year of so I've seen it not only in my life, but the lives of others too. So get your scripture out and read them. Get on your knees and pray for an answer. If you think that you're too lost to get back on the right path, you're not. Everyone can do it. Anyone can pray. You're never too lost. You can do it. Don't do it just because I said to do it either. Do it because it's worth it, it's worth knowing that Jesus Christ IS your Savior and that he is the path to happiness. So do it. It's hard, I've spent 11 months getting to this point, it wasn't easy, but it was worth it. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So this week not a ton of real stuff went on. My companion and I baked cookies which were AWESOME, except..... The chocolate that we used melted STRAIGHT into the dough. So now we just have a bunch of cookie dough that we con't really bake because the chocolate just starts burning in the over. So we're going to try again this week!

Then we also had a stake choir competition this week. We had to do a ton of practicing for it, but it was AWESOME. The missionaries in our ward sung "Love at Home" in Korean, and Elder Larsen in our ward is an AMAZING guitar player, so he played it on the guitar as everyone else sung to it. I wish I had video of it!

I also gave a 12 minute talk in sacrament meeting in Korean. It was rough! My reading skill are going to get worked on over the next few months now. Luckily there were some people that were able to understand me! Yay!

Missionary work was a little rough this week, we had one day where we went out for 6 hours and talked to only 45 people. Normally we would talk to over 100 people in that amount of time. It just means that I'm that much closer to finding the right person. I'm just that much closer to finding someone who has been waiting for this their whole life. It's so amazing, and I'm so happy to be here. 

I love you all. Be safe, and I can't wait to hear back from you! :)

Rob

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Pictures this week!

1. I got my 2nd letter since I've been in Korea this week! (This is a hint to send me mail!) One of the best days EVER!  

English fast ...

Nothing too huge this week. I went on exchanges to another area this week. I was with Elder Weight for 24 hours on Halloween. It was pretty crazy. Koreans don't party too hard on Halloween, mainly because every night is a party in Korea. But... We went and heart-attacked some members doors for Halloween. I've been to a lot of really weird places in Korea, but one of the members houses was literally the scariest place I've ever been to. It was straight out of ... it was bleak. Definitely an awesome Halloween experience. 

The day after Halloween I went with Elder Weight and talked to people at like one of the biggest herbal medicine markets in the world. It's weird to see the kind of stuff that people eat to get healthier, cause it definitely wouldn't be on the top of my "healthy foods" list. 

This week I also started a 40-day english fast. I've been wanting to work more on my Korean, and now it's the only language I'll be speaking for about the next month and a half. It's been REALLY hard, but REALLY helpful so far. You learn a lot of stuff that you wouldn't learn normally. If it goes well then I'll probably just give up speaking english for the rest of my mission. When I heard that Korean was the 2nd hardest language in the world to learn, I definitely didn't believe it. But ... it is! 

I really wish there was more to talk about, but there isn't! Not really any pictures either! I'll have more next week! I promise!  Can't wait to talk to you all next week!

Rob!

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Another just pics

Just photos this week! I was too busy replying to all of you guys to send out a big email! I love you guys so much! Can't wait to hear from you all next week! 

Rob

Elder Choi with his busted foot from last week! He had to keep it elevated for a few days because of it!

Octopii

What a week. 

So on Monday we went biking on the Han River with the rest of our zone and it was SUPER fun. But it was just biking so I won't take up too much time with that!

Tuesday was crazy. We met with all of our investigators before Elder McLeod left on Wednesday! 

We found out that our investigator that's been progressing a ton has to move for work next month, so we're going to try to get him baptized before he leaves! It's such a bummer! Our other investigators are doing really well, but not progressing like we would like them too. 

One of our investigators took us out to eat after we taught him and it was crazy. He took us to eat live octopus. It was crazy. I've never eaten food that literally fights back when you eat it. When you order it, you can hear the chef just killing the octopus with a huge knife and just mashing it out to death with it. Then this plate of purple and while stuff comes out and you realize that it's moving all over the plate. First you dip it in oil so that it can't stick to the inside of your throat, then you keep chewing it until it stops moving. It's SUPER tasty! After we ate through two plates of octopus, we got this fish that translates to "money fish". It was cooked, but you eat all of it. The bones and everything. It was really yummy! 

On Wednesday I got my new companion: Elder Choi! He is AMAZING. We've already been living together for the past couple of months, but now we're companions. I love it. We get along so well. Then we also have a new greenie living with us! He's straight out of the MTC and the best little missionary ever! His name is Elder Sederholm!

Last night was crazy, though. Elder Choi has had a really bad cold/flu the past few days. Last night he sneezed at 11:30pm and he went to go wash his hands and face.... Then we just hear this HUGE crash. We turn the lights on and the sink is literally in a million pieces all over the bathroom floor. He put his hand on it and it just fell off the wall. We were in shock and went to go get our cameras, then we realize that Elder Choi has a really bad cut on his foot... and he had walked all over our beds to get his camera. Our white sheets were covered in blood. We ended up having to call President Christensen and get medical advice about his foot. It was a crazy night. Our landlord is really mad about it. 

That's about my whole week! I love you guys! Please email back! :)

Rob!

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Photos this week!

1. Live Octopus.... 

2. The aftermath of the bathroom sink... 

3. Elder Sederholm

Pics

I don't have a whole lot of time, so here are some photos!  ( This is Sister Woodall : photos ... which I can't post because my iPhoto needs an upgrade.  Photos to come ... )

Also, if you didn't get a reply this week, it's cause I didn't actually get your email! Everyone has been replied too!

Rob

1. Elder Lee Young. AKA the best missionary I know! This was right after a service project week did picking up trash around Seoul!

2. I totally failed at taking this photo, but these are the sisters in my zone that we picked up trash wish! Sister An and Sister Amituanai

3. I'm now writing all my notes in Korean! It's so hard, but SO much fun!

High on the Mountaintop!

First off, I could REALLY use more emails. Most of my email time was me just sitting around last week! Wake up and sent me something! Even if it's short!

This was a AWESOME and interesting week. Most of our weeks are spent out contacting people on the street everyday and trying to find people, but all of a sudden, we've been teaching people everyday of the week. 

So my crazy story from this week.... Last week we were out street contacting and we said hello to this guy, and he immediately starts speaking English to us; which is pretty normal cause there are a lot of fluent English speakers in Korea but.... This guy is from Korea, but grew up in Japan going to a English speaking school then moved to Georgia when he was 18 or 19 years old. He has the slightest Georgia accent to him and he's AMAZING. We talked with him for an hour on the street then met with him again later in the week. He accepted everything that we taught and was telling us how he could feel the Spirit when we taught him. IT WAS SO COOL! Then he read half of the Book of Mormon that night! We're going to meet with him later again this week. 

Elder McLeod and I taught an investigator everyday this week. It's been so great to see a sudden burst in people meeting with us. The blessings are just pouring out. Hopefully this will week be even better! I really hope that people realize that what we're sharing WILL change their lives. I wish everyone would realize that.

One of our investigators has almost quit smoking and came to the church the first time. He already has a HUGE testimony of the gospel, it's just the smoking that's holding him back. We now 3 investigators that could get baptized within the next month. It's awesome. 

We got permission this week to go up and pray on top of Achasan this week, which is the mountain that splits Seoul from the countryside. It's right behind our house, so we woke up at 5:30 am and hiked it at sun rise. It was AMAZING! Getting outside of the city is my favorite thing in the world. The moments where I can just get out in nature and see things other than concrete and more concrete are the best. I've seriously grown to have so much more of an appreciation for Idaho and living outside of the city since I got here, and it's not like I didn't already love it before!

Oh, and one of our investigators is taking us out to eat live octopus on Wednesday! I'm so excited!

Love all of you guys! 사랑해요! 다음 주에 많는 email를 주세요!

Rob 

Pictures!

1. Elder Lee and I went to Costco this week. Expensive!

2. Elder McLeod and I on top of Achasan.

3. Seoul from on top of the mountain! 

Slow weeks happen in the fast lane ...

Not a whole lot happened this week, but... Our investigator named Kyoung FINALLY came to church! it was literally my greatest moment ever. We've been trying to get him to come since I moved to the Hwayang area of Seoul. He's been progressing more and more, and it's be awesome to watch! Hopefully he'll get baptized pretty soon here!

 

A bunch of people from my old area were also at church this week because it was a big combined meeting, so I got to see all my old church members from Gyomun! 

 

We started teaching a guy from Santa Monica this week, he's from Korea but he worked as a mental health specialist in Santa Clarita. I just happened to run into him one day on the street! It was super crazy! He's supposed to be coming to church on Sunday!

 

Other than that, not a whole lot happened! 

 

I love all you guys and I can't wait to hear back from you! I should have more time to email next week with a bigger email for you all! If you email I'll write back next week!

 

Rob

 

Pictures!

 

1. Elder Lee and I enjoying some fine American food. 

 

That's it this week... I didn't take a ton of photos. 

 

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Thanksgiving!

What a week! We had a mission conference this week and it was SO much fun. The food was amazing and words that were spoken were even better! It's so amazing to see how the Lord is hastening his work here in Korea. Being with all those missionaries is such a reminder that I'm around some of the biggest spiritual giants out there. 

It's currently Korean Thanksgiving right now, so there is NOBODY out on the streets right now. Everyone is inside celebrating, which means there are a LOT of drunk people around. We found out a couple of weeks ago that Korea beats Russia in consuming more alcohol than any other country. It doesn't really shock me! 

We had an amazing experience with one of our investigators this week. He's been struggling with giving up coffee for a couple of months now, and it's been a really struggle for him. So the other day we met with him and he told us that he hasn't had a cup of coffee for 6 days. He told us we didn't know what giving up our favorite food was like so I committed to no longer drinking chocolate milk. Which is no fun at all because I drink 6-8 cartons of it a day and I love it. But, it's been a super cool experience and it's letting me see what he's going through! 

My companion got called as district leader this week, and it's been stressing him out a ton. I've been trying to help him out as much as possible with it. Elder McLeod is seriously the best, I'm so blessed to be serving with him and having the chance to serve him too. 

Love,

Rob

Pictures!

1. Elder Thompson left our area this week and it was super sad! 

2.  We had a game night with the youth in our ward this week! They're such amazing kids!

3. Our Bishop got us all super cool socks for Thanksgiving! The big missionary in the middle is elder Choi! He's my new housemate and he's the coolest Hawaiian elder ever!

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When the Spirit calls ...

Hey everyone! This was a really interesting week that was filled with a lot of super cool stuff! We've been working with the ward lately to do a Missionary Musical Night for all the church members in the stake, so we spent a lot of time prepping for that and decorating this week! One of the missionaries in my area is an AMAZING artist, and he did a full wall mural for it. I'll attach a picture! Here's the crazy story about the prepping though.....

 

While we were decorating I had the impression that I should go to the bathroom, which was super weird cause I didn't actually have to go. But I went anyways. I got out of the bathroom and this kid was staring at the musical night flyer that was posted on the front door of the church. I went and started talking to him; he was super cool! I invited him to the musical night, and he said he would come, but then when I tried to get his number he pulled the "I don't have a phone" line, which 99.9% of the time means "I don't want to actually give it to you cause you're a weird foreigner" cause EVERYONE in Korea has a smart phone. The next day he ACTUALLY CAME! Then we invited him to church and he said he would think about it. Then... HE CAME AGAIN! He hit it off really well with one of the youth leaders and we're meeting him again on Saturday! All cause I actually followed a promping to go to the bathroom when I didn't have to! It's so nuts.

 

We also have an investigator getting baptized in two weeks! He is super cool and an amazing guy. He called us multiple times this week asking us questions about the Book of Mormon and how he can get closer to God. We met with him and he said that he'll get baptized! It is SO cool cause he's not a normal person that you meet off the street, he's a really successful real estate developer that happened to walk into the church while Elder McLeod was there. Right now we're working with him to get him prepared and ready for baptism! Keep him in your prayers!

 

This Musical Night that we had was a HUGE success and we had a ton of people at church the next day afterwards. All the missionaries that performed were amazing, the amount of talent the peple serving here have is crazy! I'm so happy that I have the chance to be here with such amazing people!

 

Rob!

 

Pictures!

1. Elder Kang's AMAZING mural that he made!

2. The Han River Looking towards Gangnam! That huge building is going to be one of the largest shopping/fashion centers in the world once it's done.

3. This is Elder Jolley and I hanging up decorations! He and I were in the same class at the MTC and learned Korean together!

A Trip to the Zoo!

Hey everyone!

 

This week was very slow as far as missionary work goes, but I feel like I've grown a lot as a person. I keep having experiences that are showing me that this is where I need to be right now. It's so strange how everything seems to just fit into place when you're doing what God wants you to be doing.

 

Earlier in the week I had a crazy experience. I was with a missionary that has been struggling a lot, and it's apparent. I decided to ask him what was wrong, and he told me that nobody could really help him cause nobody has had the problem that he's having. I got him to tell me what was going on. It's something that I used to have a problem with and there's no way that anybody else has had the same problem in our mission area. It's been really cool to see that Heavenly Father put me in his path so that I could share my experience with him and help him to over come his problems. It was SO COOL!

 

This week I had the chance to go on exchanges with my District Leader Elder Thompson, and we focused a lot on growth and progression. I got SO much great stuff out of it and I can't wait to keep progressing into who God wants me to be. We also went to an all-you-can-eat meat buffet. It was the worst idea ever.

 

I've also been resorting to prayer and studying the scriptures this week as problems have come and gone. It's amazing to see how studying the scriptures can give you relevant answers to what's going on in your life even though the people you're reading about lived 2500 years ago. The scriptures really are applicable in our day and time.

 

Last week I had the chance to go to the biggest park in Seoul. It's about 10 minutes walking from my house, but we've been too busy to go! It has the COOLEST ZOO inside of it. I got to see a ton of sweet animals!

 

Love all you guys!

 

Rob

 

Scroll down for this week's pictures!

1. All you can eat meat with Elder Thompson!

2. Me next to some otters! My name in Korean is one letter away from the name for otters, so people always call me 수달 장로 instead of 우달 장로!

3. This sign literally translates to "Don't put your hand in cause the otters will eat it"

 

Don't forget to write!

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The Heart of Seoul

So on Wednesday I moved to Seoul! It's so crazy here and I love it! My new area is right across the river from Gangnam and is SUPER nice. Everyone here is rolling around in Bentleys and Rolls Royces. My new area is also way small; I can walk from one end to the other in about an hour!

 

My new ward is super amazing and they're great people. The ward here is about half the size as my last ward, and that one was tiny!

 

I'm now companions with Elder McCloud, who's been in Korea for a year now and he is really an amazing missionary. We get along really well and working with him is seriously a privilege. We live in a 4 man house which is quite a change from the 2 man apartment that I used to live in. We're living with Elder Thompson and Elder Lee, who are probably two of the most fun and hardest working missionaries in the mission!

 

So far I don't have a whole lot to say about being here because I really don't know a whole lot about it!

 

I love all you guys and I LOVE hearing from you! Be safe!

 

Love, Rob

 

Pictures!

 

1. I got to see Yoon Jay before I left Guri! I wasn't going to be able to see him before I left because of his school work, but the stars aligned! It was pouring rain that night, but all that matters is that I saw him!

2. Elder McCloud and I! He's a goon, but I love him!

3. I got to eat with everyone one last time in Guri before I left!

Six Months Later ...

So tomorrow I hit 6 months on the mission, and I thought I would do something a bit different than my usual email that I write every week.  I want to reflect back a bit on everything that I've learned so far on the mission and what it's actually meant to me.

First of all, I can easily say that the mission has been the best experience of my life so far. I can also say that it's been the hardest, but every second of the sacrifice has been worth it.  When I look back at who I was when I first left on a mission, I really can't believe that I was such a spoiled-spoiled-complainer.  I had an amazing life, but I didn't appreciate it at all.  I didn't realize how great all of you actually were and how patient you were with me.  There's no other way I would have realized this without going on a mission.  The mission has honestly changed me so far, and I can't wait to keep growing physically, mentally and spiritually over the rest of my mission.  I really hope that I can turn into someone that all of you are proud of, because I definitely wasn't that before the mission.  When I left I remember thinking that I didn't want to change at all, I just wanted to do my 2 years and go home to my life that I had before. My mission would have been such a waste if I had done that.  While I definitely have plans for after the mission, a lot of them have changed as I've grown.  I'm excited to see what life brings!

The MTC and the first month I was in Korea were easily the hardest 3 months of my life.  My life was turned upside down those first few months.  My life seemed perfect the 2 months before the mission, and I thought I would never have that again.  I thought that I had a solid plan in life and it would go perfect, I thought I had good Korean in the MTC, I thought that missionary work outside of the MTC was going to be easy.  All of those things weren't even close to the truth.  I thought that I would never like the mission and that I was going to just suffer the whole time.  About half way through the 3rd month things started to click.  I started realizing that it wasn't so hard and that I just had had a negative outlook on things.  BEING POSITIVE IS SO IMPORTANT!  Life is what YOU make of it, so choose to be happy.  When I started actually trying to be happy and enjoy things is when I realized that I love being here.  I love Korea, I love all the weird food here, I love the people that reject me and cuss me out.  I'm still not positive 100% of the time, but I'm working to get there!  I can honestly say that life is perfect right now here in Korea.

To all my friends who haven't gone on a mission yet or are about to go on one: it's worth it.  Every second of it is worth it.  Being on a mission is the best choice that you can make, even if you don't think that it's for you.  I remember hearing people talk about how a mission just isn't for them and how it's just too hard to go on one.  YOU CAN DO IT!  There's a girl in my ward right now who's parents HATE the church.  Her whole family got baptized, then the parents went crazy a few years later.  She's 19 and is about to serve a mission.  She gave up a full ride scholarship to one of the best music composition schools in Austria, and her family hates her because she's serving a mission, but she's going.  So if you think that it's just too hard to leave, think of the sacrifices my friend is making.  You can do this! Have faith that it'll all work out in the end, because the Lord will bless you for serving him.

The language is still pretty nuts to me.  I'm not even close to understanding 90% of the things people say, but I'm able to have full conversations with people if the stars align and we're talking about the right stuff.  When that happens it's pretty much the coolest thing ever.  I'm so set on mastering this language.  I WILL get it at some point!

I seriously love ALL of you and you all mean everything to me.  I want to thank everyone for helping me get on a mission.  There are a few of you that I couldn't have done without, and I really thank you for being there and pushing me to do this.

Love,

Rob

P.S. Everyone needs to get better at emailing me! :P  I don't get enough emails anymore!

Photo -- I only took one this week.  I went to Taco Bell and it was possibly the best thing ever...

Blessings ...

So this week so much went on, I'm not even sure I can remember it all!

 

On Monday our whole district went out to this spot in Guri called Guri Tower; it's this 30-something- story tower that looks out over our whole area. Since we knew that a ton of people from our district were leaving we all took photos together and just talked. It was super chill and laid back. That night we had dinner with one of the sisters in our ward who feeds missionaries all-l-l-l-l the time. She ordered a ton of Chinese food and had it all ordered to the church for us. These two delivery motorcycles pulled up super fast and just started throwing down tablecloths and setting the table for 13 people. They were done in less than a minute! It was nuts. On Tuesday we just spent the whole day visiting members since Elder Leavitt was leaving. He had been in Gyomun Ward for 8 months and everybody loved him, so we spent a ton of time visiting people before he left. I've never eaten so much food, though. Everyone fed both of us even if it was a quick visit. We got up super early on Wednesday and headed to the Seoul temple for transfers. I got to see a ton of my friends from the MTC which was really nice. It was really sad saying goodbye to Elder Leavitt. Over the past 3 months he's become one of my best friends and it was hard to let him go! I picked up my new companion Elder Killpack and we headed headed back to Guri. He's a super cool dude, but I've been with him for 5 days now and still have no idea who he is. He won't really talk to me about anything not directly related to what we're doing at the time, so I have no idea what he did before the mission or what he's planning on doing afterwards. On Wednesday night we had the baptismal interview for Oh Jay, our investigator that Elder Leavitt and I had been working with since I got to Korea. He passed the interview and we practiced for the baptism, it was so great! Nothing really happened at all on Thursday or Friday. We do have a new investigator named J.J. though, we just randomly met him right outside of the church and he seems to have real interest in getting baptized.

 

On Saturday, Oh Jay GOT BAPTIZED!!!! It was so amazing and it was such a spiritual service. The ward came out for it and it was so beautiful. I'm so proud of him and he's progressed so much since we started meeting with him. I can't wait to see him progress even further now that he's baptized. Afterwards we went out with Elder Leavitt and his friend Chuy Hyun for nangmyun, which is this really weird cold noodle stuff that I've been avoiding since I got to Korea. It was covered in spicy stuff and I was kinds freaked out by it. After trying it, I can say that it's probably my new favorite food in Korea. I've been craving it since Saturday and I still haven't had the chance to eat it again!

 

Sunday morning came and Oh Jay was all prepped to receive the Holy Ghost during sacrament meeting, we had texted him the night before and we couldn't have covered all of our bases better. He was going to be there for sure at 9:45am, and church didn't start until 10. We were set. Well, 9:45 came and he wasn't there... Then 9:50... Still wasn't there... 9:58... Nothing. I was so worried at this point. I've heard horror stories from other missionaries about recent converts just disappearing between baptism and confirmation. Sacrament meeting started and he still wasn't there. I kinda maybe started making phone calls after the meeting had started... I was that missionary just making calls during the opening hymn and announcements. Suddenly the phone stopped ringing and it was Oh Jay. He was on his way. I was just filled with joy, suddenly realizing that he wasn't going to just disappear forever. Once he showed up it was 10:20 and he was able to get confirmed right after the sacrament was passed to the congregation. The confirmation was amazing and the Spirit was so strong even though I couldn't get most of what was being said. During all of church that day I just felt the overwhelming feeling that Korea is really where I'm supposed to be right now. This past week has made all of the sacrifice and the hardship on the mission worth it. Oh Jay is so amazing and I'm so blessed to be part of his life. It's weird to have so much love for someone even though you can't understand half of what they're saying. I can't wait to speak to him once I actually have Korean down.

 

This week as seriously been awesome. I'm so blessed to be here. I love you all so much and I really home that everyone is safe back home! Can't wait to hear from you all! I can always use more emails!

Elder Woodall

 

 

Photos:

1. Elder Leavitt, Oh Jay, and I at the baptism!

2. The crazy delivery drivers setting the table!

3. Elder Kim and I at transfers. He's been on the mission with me the whole time and served in Guri with me. He got a call a few weeks back from the Korean Military telling him he's being drafted, so he's having to end his mission 5 months into it. I'm gonna miss him!

 

What an Awesome Two Weeks!

Sorry that I wasn't able to send an email out last week! I was short on time and wasn't able to send one! So I'll cram two weeks into an email!

 

Week 1... May 26 - June 1

 

So the week started off really slow for us. On Monday we went to this huge clothing market in Seoul where there's pretty much every type of clothing imaginable. It's definitely one of my favorite places here in Korea! I wish I could wear more casual clothing … oh, well. Wednesday we had our district meeting and the zone leaders came to it, Elder Leavitt gave us an awesome training on setting goals and being accountable to them. After district meeting I went on companions exchanges with our zone leader Elder Ross, which meant heading into Seoul for 24 hours to go learn and get trained by him! I went to an area of Seoul called Jungnang which is just on the outer edge of Seoul. The cool thing about Seoul is that there are always a ton of people to talk to, they only problem is that they're all "really busy" and don't have time to talk; you'll finally start talking to them and then find out that they don't actually have a job and just chill out all day. The companionship exchange was really good and I learned a lot from Elder Ross. On Thursday I went back to my area in Guri City and went on companionship exchanges AGAIN, but it was in Guri this time with Elder Carpenter. Since my companion, Elder Leavitt, is the district leader I get to exchange with everyone once every 6 weeks while he's training with their companion. Elder Carpenter and I get along super well and it the exchange was a blast, the only problem is that since we get along so well, we have trouble focusing on missionary work sometimes. We actually ended up getting a lot done and it was a really sucessful exchange.

 

On Friday night we taught our investigator Yoon Jay and the lesson went AMAZING! We were teaching in the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity and were sort of worried about it cause those are big things for a 19 year-old guy to overcome. We ended up teaching with Yoo Jay, who's a 20 year old convert that was baptized on Christmas Eve last year. Long story short, Yoo Jay is a boss. Before he joined the church he used to drink and smoke all the time with friends; he gave it all up and is now a super strong member that teaches with the missionaries all the time. Yoo Jay was able to bear a super strong testimony to Yoon Jay about the commandments, he accepted everything we taught. The Spirit was soooo strong in that lesson!

 

On Saturday we went to the Seoul South Mission area for a joint mission conference with Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It was such an amazing experience. He taught us about how we can love the people better and how we can come out of our missions better than we went in. He talked about all the blessings that we would receive because we're on a mission serving the Lord. He then went on and spoke about how we can develop ourselves on a mission and become the best people possible. It really made me excited to better myself and work hard! I don't want to come home as the same person as when I left! Hopefully, it'll still be me but with less of an attitude and more loving! At the end of the meeting he gave an amazing apostolic blessing on all the missionaries that their families, future spouses, and friends would be blessed and protected because we're here in Korea right now. He also talked about how he knows that each one of us is supposed to be here right now for specific reasons and that all of us are meant to be here. It was such an amazing meeting and I'm so blessed to have been apart of it.

 

Week 2... June 2 - June 8

 

On Monday we emailed really quickly, then went out and just did missionary work the rest of the day, but.... On Tueday we got to go to the Seoul Temple in the morning and then played around in Seoul for the rest of the day. It was a bunch of fun and Seoul is way different from Guri City, there's just sooo much always going on. The rest of the week was pretty boring up until Satuday night. We met with Yoon Jay again and taught him everything else that needed to be taught. At the end of it we went over the baptismal interview questions with him. After going through that he said, "How do I get baptized?" So we showed him the baptismal font and talked to him about how it's done, we asked what he thought, and he was said, "I want to get baptized." We were soooooo excited about it. So at 3pm on Saturday he's being baptized! On Wedneday he's getting interviewed for baptism by the zone leaders! It should all go through this time! We're sooooo excited. It's been a huge process getting him taught and ready, and he finally has a super solid baptismal date! We can't wait for it!

 

We also got transfer calls this week! Elder Leavitt is moving into an area in Seoul called Sinchon and I'm staying in Guri! My new companion is named Elder Kilpack; I have no idea who he is and I'll meet him for the first time when I go and pick him up on Wednesday morning! Wooooo! It'll be an adventure!

 

 

These past two weeks have been awesome and I feel like everything is just getting better and better. I'm so blessed to be on a mission right now and I'm so thankful for all you guys back home that shaped me into who I am now. I wouldn't be here without all of you. I can't wait to hear back from you all! I miss hearing from all of you all the time! Email back please! :P

 

 

Elder (Rob) Woodall

 

Photos!

1. Elder Leavitt and I went down to the Han River this week while visiting less active members …

2. Elder Leavitt wearing a quite-dapper apron while cooking meat at a members house … super ...

3. I got my first package this week!!!! It was the best thing ever!!!

Not My Fault ... !

We apparently e-mailed for wa-a-a-y to long yesterday, because Elder Woodall said he didn't have time to write us a post.  He PROMISED that next week we'd have two posts in one, with pictures.  (He didn't actually promise pictures, but I'll insist that we get some.  Start banging your silverware on the table now.). Meet back here Sunday night!

Monsoon Season ...

So this week was a pretty slow week.  Summer is heating up here and monsoon season has kicked off. We get rain on rain on rain a lot of days.  I never realized what humidity was until I got to Korea. Everything here seems super hot and sticky all the time.  I'm sure I'll get used to it, though!

This week I went on exchanges in Seoul with Elder Jeong while my companion Elder Leavitt had leadership training at President Chrisensen's house.  It was great and Elder Jeong is an awesome cook; he made a bunch of really good rice dishes while I was there.  I also got to go hiking last P-Day!  We hiked a local mountain called Chunmasan that was supposed to be pretty easy.  It wasn't.  Koreans don't believe in switchbacks, so the trail went straight up the mountain!  I loved it.  It was such a great workout and such a great way to relieve stress.  The view at the top was amazing and you could see almost all of our area!  

On Saturday we had one of the investigators in our ward get baptized!  His name is Tak Hyun and he's the coolest 11 year-old ever.  I love getting to hang with him at church and he's super smart.  He's going to make an awesome member of the church, and his younger brother should be getting baptized in a few weeks!  It's so great to see young kids progress in the gospel -- I wish I had been half as spiritual as they are at my age.  This week we also re-commited our investigators Hyun Suk and Yoon Jay to baptism this week, so they should be getting baptized on the 6th of June!  Pray for them, they really need it!

We've had members feeding us all this week.  This past weekend the only meal that I ate at the house was breakfast -- everything else was provided by ward members for us!  My parents won't be able to make fun of me for being a picky eater when I get home -- everything here is so nuts when it comes to food, but it's all super tasty. Kimchi is tasty to me now, which I never expected to happen!

I've had some awesome spiritual experiences in the last week. I had the privilege of giving someone a blessing the other night and it is such an amazing thing. Everyone always talks about how the priesthood blesses the people around you and not yourself, but I really don't think that's true. The feeling that you get when you give someone a blessing is so amazing, and it only builds your confidence in priesthood power. Elder Leavitt and I have been focusing on obedience this past week and we're starting to see little blessings in a ton of things, hopefully as we work harder we'll see the blessings start to flow even more.

I love all you guys! I really love hearing from you all. I'm sorry my emails are always so short, I just never have any idea what to put in them! If you have any questions or anything, feel free to ask!

Rob!

P.S. I really apologize for any spelling errors or anything, writing in English is something that only happens during email now!

Photos!

Here is Elder Leavitt and I at the top of Chunmasan!

Tak Hyun and I after his baptism --

Here's Elder Jeong and I on exchanges.  He had me eat this crazy spicy food; maybe you can tell I had been crying before this photo was taken!

Keep Moving Forward ...

I didn't get the chance to email last week because it was Mother's Day and I didn't really have a whole lot of time on the computer. So I'll try to put these past two weeks into one week's email since not a whole lot went on!

Missionary work has been straight up tough these past two weeks, but it should all pay off in the end. Both of our investigators that had baptismal dates haven't been able to meet with us at all for the past two weeks, so they no longer have a baptismal dates anymore and aren't considered progressing at this point.  We're working hard to meet with them again but our schedules never really match up since they're seniors in high school.  (Korean high school is really difficult senior year and most students attend school for 12 or more hours a day.)  We had three appointments last Friday and none of them showed up. :P  Tomorrow we're meeting with a new investigator who's part of a less-active family -- he's my age and apparently a crazy good basketball player.  We also got a new ward mission leader this week, so we'll see how that works out!  He seems really excited about the calling and wants to meet with all the missionaries ASAP.

The longer I'm here, the more I notice that a ton of things here are just way different than in America. I remember everyone telling me how when they were on their mission they wouldn't ask what they were eating; I thought they were crazy for putting something into their mouths, having no idea what it was.  Now I can completely relate to everyone who's ever said that.  Last night I had this freezing cold noodle dish that I thought was just flavorless alfredo served cold, it was apparently mashed beans and a ton of weird stuff.  At the end you had to drink all the rest of the mush down; it was really interesting. The weather has also been crazy.  It's been super humid and in the 80 degree range.  It feels soooo hot out, but the crazy part is that there are sudden down pours of rain that feel just as hot.  It's so strange, but I love it.  Korea is seriously one of the coolest places ever.

I can't wait to hear from all you guys!  Stay safe!  I love you all!

Elder Woodall (Rob :P)

Photos...

1. This awesome dish called Mandu, it's kimchi with some meat mixed in. It's super tasty and really cheap.

2. Last week I made this dish called Kimbob, which is sort of a Korean version of sushi. It's sooooo good.

Hike, hike, hike, hike ...

There was so much cool stuff that went on this week.  I got to go to the Seoul Temple for the first time on Tuesday, which was super cool.  Everything there has a Korean theme to it, and it was an amazing experience.  After the temple we had P-Day, and all the Elders in our district went out to Dobongsan to hike. I have never been on a hike that's had such stunning views, it was way different than hiking in Yellowstone and Yosemite.  The whole first part of the hike we were completely convered by trees and brush, then about half way through we hit this clearing and you would see all of Seoul.  It had rained the day before and the air was super clean and fresh, which made the view just that much better.  The second half of the hike was almost completely vertical climbing rocks and steps through more trees, but when you hit the top you could see over the whole city and the mountains outside the city.  We had some of our Korean friends with us, and they pointed out that some of the mountains way far out north are actually part of North Korea.  It was such an awesome experience and a great workout too.

Missionary work this week was really hard but extremely rewarding!  We had our highest stats yet this week and talked to hundreds of people.  We ran into a less active named Pong Jay Hong this week, we usually go over to his house and visit him, but we ran into him on the street this week.  We've been trying to get him to church, but he never wants to come.  So when we ran into him I may have resorted to begging and pleading, but...he was at church on Sunday!!! We really enjoyed it and he told me that he felt a lot of peace while in sacrament meeting -- hopefully he'll come again next week!  Do you remember that less-active family that I tried visiting 2 weeks ago out in Namyanju?  We tried to visit them again and they actually let us in!  Turns out that Sister Kim's father is a preacher at one of the big anti-Mormon churches here in Korea and he was visiting when we knocked on their door this week.  Apparently he has no idea that they're members of the church, which is probably why they haven't really been attending lately.  Brother Kim used to be first counselor in the bishopric in our ward. They said that they're interested in taking the lessons again and coming back to church.  We're gonna work hard to bring them back!

I'm really loving it here and I feel like I've grown so much over the last 3 months.  I seriously never want to leave Korea.  Being here is such a blessing.

Rob

    Noodle run?

Halfway there ...

Getting closer ...

The summit!

Busy week ...

So this week was super hectic cause we had so much stuff going on in the
mission.  On Wednesday we took a train all the way out to an area called
Wonju that's way outside of Seoul.  We went there for a mission tour that
Elder Whiting was conducting.  This town is seriously out in the middle of
nowhere and there were just a ton of missionaries walking around
everywhere.  Elder Whiting gave really awesome training on how we can be
better missionaries.  He also talked a lot about after-mission life and what
we need to be doing after the mission (it was kind of annoying to hear
considering that I've only been out for just over 3 months now.)  Then, on
Sunday, we had Sister Burton of the General Relief Society Presidency come
and give a fireside on Saturday night in the Seoul South Mission, so I
actually got to go outside of my mission area, which was something that I
hear NEVER happens!  Sister Burton gave a talk about raising your children
in the gospel and it really made me think about how much I want to raise my
kids in this church cause it's blessed my life so much. It really put a
different perspective on what I want family life to be like someday. It was
a great talk and I got some amazing advice out of it.

On Saturday we had a ward picnic out in Deokso with the ward that was
really fun. We played a ton of different games and ate. It was all around
just awesome. Korean people apparently really like exercise dances, so we
did crazy dances for like half an hour and then played a ton of soccor.
After that we had a baptism in our ward for the other elders' investigator.
His name is Park Ho Young and he's this 92 year-old guy who's a serious
stud -- his family members are all members and he finally took the plunge to
get baptized!  He showed up to his baptism wearing a full track suit!  It was
legit!  All in all, this week was really good.

    An eternal family ...

I've also had some really telling thoughts this week.  Looking back at these
past 3 months, I can honestly say that they've been the hardest 3 months of
my life, but they've been worth it.  The experiences that I've had have
helped me grow in a way that I wouldn't have if I had just stayed home.
I've had so many experiences that just give me the overwhelming feeling
that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.  I'm so glad for those of you
who pushed me and helped me get on a mission.  It's you guys that keep me
going on days where it gets rough!

Rob

    On the train with the best district in Korea ...

A great week ...

So this week was crazy -- a lot went on! On Wednesday our two investigators, Hyun and Yoon, committed to baptism! We're so excited for them; keep them in your prayers! They're going to be baptized on May 11, if all goes well.  The  super awesome thing that happened this week: on Thursday we had 12-week training follow up, so I got to see all my buddies from the MTC! That was great.  President and Sister Christensen gave a couple of great talks and the spirit was so strong. Then we got training from the APs. It was super good and it was on evaluating ourselves so that we can learn from what we're doing, and molding our lessons to better fit our investigators. I definitely got a lot out of it and they did really great!

On Thursday I went on exchanges with Elder Bishop, who's only a transfer ahead of me.  So we spent 24 hours trying to talk to people with our zero Korean that we know.  It was definitely a good experience and I came out of it speaking better than I had before.  My Korean is getting to the point where I can hold a small conversation with more teenagers and students -- I still have a ton to learn!  On Saturday, we had ward  family home evening, which was super fun -- we played a bunch of different eating games!  I also -- drum roll -- made a full phone call in Korean!!!  It was nuts!  Elder Leavitt had to help me script it all out, but I did it!

On Sunday, we decided to start finding and talking to less-active members, so we went out to a member who used to be in the bishopric and went inactive after he was released.  Our ward probably has more inactive people in it than active people.  So we went out into a little city called Namyangju to go and find this guy and his family.  It was like a 4 mile walk out to this apartment building and then they didn't let us in.  We're not giving up on them, though!  We really want to work on bringing people back in; it's soooo sad how people just get baptized then go inactive! We're gonna get them back, though!

I love you guys! Everyone stay safe and happy!

Rob

Pictures!

1. Me totally stoked about making a phone call with my script :P

2. Elder Miller and I at 12 week training -- it was so great to see him!

When Kimchi attacks ...

So this week was super routine.  Just lots of jundo-ing.  We have been trying to talk to as many people as possible and trying to get the word about the gospel out.  We taught 2 lessons this week -- one to a guy about the restoration, but he was only interested in the church because he want's to find a wife who's also Christian.  It was really awkward and he kept on telling us how much tithing he gives at his church.  Apparently he's going to come to church next week and see what our church is all about.  Then we also taught a man named Frank who is in his 40's with no family.  He used to take care of his parents who were old and ill, but they passed away and he's all alone now.  We taught him a really quick lesson because he was short on time.  We're meeting with him again and we're going to teach him the Plan of Salvation next.  We had 2 former investigators come to church on Sunday.  They're both seniors in high school, so they're going to start coming to church every week and we're teaching them a lesson on Wednesday.  

The people here on the street really don't like missionaries a whole lot; it's interesting how rude people will get when you have a name tag on.  People seem to totally change once they realize you're a missionary.  

I had the spiciest kimchi ever last night. We went over to a member's house and she made us try some of her kimchi.  I seriously wanted to cry, it was so spicy.  Elder Leavitt did cry -- haha.  We get to watch General Conference this upcoming weekend and I'm really excited for it, getting a spiritual recharge is exactly what I need right now!

 

Love you all!

This is a view of the Han River:

This is the view of Guri from the other elders' apartment:

 Have a great week!

A week in the trenches ...

So this week has been pretty uneventful! I've been out every day talking to people on the street. We still haven't really taught a lesson yet, which is sort of frustrating. People don't seem too interested in our message, but that's no reason to give up! We have two appointments set up later this week, so we'll see what happens with those! I'm really hoping that we'll get an investigator at some point this week.

 

Last week on P-Day after email we had a really weird experience. We were waiting at the subway stop and some guy walked up to us and started talking to us, which is really weird cause Koreans usually don't approach us for some reason. We asked where he was headed and he responded rather quick and said, "Heaven," Which just made the whole situation weirder, but we realized that we could talk religion with him. We asked him if he was religious and he was, but doesn't attend church at all because he hates all the strife and conflict that happened amongst churches during the middle ages. We started talking to him about our church, and he told us that he had already read all of the Book of Mormon when he went to Salt Lake City during a tour of the USA a few years ago. He told us that he didn't believe in the Book of Mormon, but he agreed to meet us again. So we met with him on Thursday with a lesson on the Restoration and the Great Apostasy prepared. We meet up with him and talk to him about his religious beliefs and get to know him some more. Here's where it gets really weird... as we're about to start out lesson he whips out a super ghetto-looking book that's compiled in a three ring binder. Turns out the dude is a self-proclaimed bible scholar that is writing his own fan fiction based off the Bible. Apparently this fictional book answers some of the worlds mort important real-life questions such as...

 

"Did the Garden of Eden really exist on earth? If so, where was it?"

"Did the City of Atlantis really exist?"

"Did giants once roam the earth?"

 

It was the weirdest thing, and he started talking about how Adam and Eve had dinosaurs and it was just really awkward. Then he started to bible bash with us and tell us that everything we believed in was wrong. He refused to read any of the Book of Mormon and then pray about it. So we talked with him for a bit then left. It was a huge waste of time and was really frustrating, but it makes for a great story. I honestly think the dude is crazy. He wants to meet again this week but I don't think we

 

The ward here is super awesome and is full of recent converts. Almost all the youth here have been baptized in the last 6 months, so it's really cool getting to know them. We get fed all the time by the ward members and I'm used to the food here now. The phrase "don't ask what it is" applies at most meals. Some salad I had the other day definitely had small octopus tentacles in it. I almost enjoy salad now because it's one of the more normal types of food here, same with fruit. All the food here is crazy spicy, David would love it.

 

I seriously love and miss all you guys!

 

Rob

 

Finally In South Korea!

So it's 1 in the afternoon here in Korea! We just finished a 2 hour trek to go register me with immigration services here in Korea. I seriously love it here. The flight to Korea took 14 1/2 hours, then we had another 6 hours until we could sleep, so by the time I got to bed I was just done.

The next morning(Wednesday) we had some training then we went out and talked to people on the streets for a few hours, we went out to dinner, then President Christensen showed us slides from his mission.

The people are awesome and I love being out and about. On Thursday we woke up, had more training, then found out who our companions were. My trainer is named Elder Leavitt; he's from Mesa, Arizona. So far the food has been good. I just don't ask what it is and eat it. We usually only eat at a members house 1-2 times a week, so we make our own food or eat out. I'm in a city called Guri that's right outside of Seoul, it's a wealthier suburb where a lot of people retire but there's tons of poeple. We spend a lot of time jundoing, which is street contacting. So we basically walk the streets at the center of the city and talk to people. I try to use as much language as possible, but it's extremely different than what we learned in the MTC. The forms are different, and once you're here you realize that nothing really translates from english so you have to learn a lot of vocabulary over again.

So far we haven't really taught a lesson yet, but we teach people English 2-3 times a week. Our mission has a big focus on teaching people to speak English. Saturday we went and put up wallpaper at a less-active's home; it was really fun but the home was infested with mold, which is one of the reasons why we tore all their wallpaper out. I had to speak in church on Sunday. I introduced myself and said a bit about where I'm from. In priesthood I was sitting there, having no idea what was going on, then it turned into an argument. Apparently, the ward members aren't doing a good enough job cleaning up the building and some people were offended by it. We thought that it would end quick. But it didn't.... and they argued over it for 45 minutes and we didn't end up having a lesson. It was pretty hilarious! After church some members made us lunch and then we went and jundoed for a few hours. I love it here, I know it's where I'm supposed to be. Here are some photos…

Guri

Duckghyay

Over the Bering Strait?

So the first photo is of downtown Guri, this is where I spend most of the day on the street. The second photo is me out Duckghyay which is this little middle of nowhere town that had the immigration office I had to go to. The funny part is that even small towns in the middle of nowhere still have 20 story apartment buildings. The third photo is somewhere over the Bering Strait. Our flight probably flew over the most deserted places in the world. We went over Canada, Alaska, Russia, and China. It was almost all just frozen solid, except in China there would be random apartment buildings everywhere.

So all is well in Korea!

Love,

Elder Woodall