Sunday, August 31, 2014

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!

For letters...
Elder Christian Woodall
Korea Seoul Mission
Gwanghwamun Po Box
210
Jongno-Gu
Seoul-si 110-602
South Korea

For packages....
Elder Christian Woodall
Korea Seoul Mission
Samcheong-ro 9 gil 45
Jongno-gu
Seoul-si 110-230
South Korea








Sunday, August 3, 2014

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!