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.
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.
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…
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| Guri |
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| Duckghyay |
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| 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
