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!