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!

If you send letters you'll get one back ASAP! Same with packages :) Send away!

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

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. 

 

If you send letters you'll get one back ASAP! Same with packages :) Send away!

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

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!

If you send letters you'll get one back ASAP! Same with packages :) Send away!

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

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