MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR

Wow.  It's weird when you realize that Christmas already happened. And then weird when you realize that it happened recently.

This last week one of the sister's investigators got baptized, and it was such a nice baptismal service.  Her family was referred by a member and her (the one who just got baptized) mom and little sister will probably getting baptized soon!  When she came out of the water and got cleaned up and came back out, it was incredible to see just how bright she was.  It was almost as if she was glowing.  She was so happy, and her family was so happy, and it was awesome!

The baptism

This week my investigator gave us chicken and I found the feet~! And so of course, I ate them! At least, I had a few bites before my investigator realized and made me stop....Dang it... ^^

Eating chicken feet!

Also, our ward had its Christmas party on Christmas Eve and I was recruited to be Santa and give the primary kids presents.  They gave me the gifts, bag, and clothes, and I got suited up and did an excellent job (in my opinion at least).  In Korea, Santa speaks English and doesn't know Korean, so that was a lucky break for me!!!  They call him "산타 할아버지" which basically means like "Grandpa Santa" in English.  So that was fun!

My santa getup!

My loving family sent me a Christmas package back in November....But as of yet, I have not received it.  And the mission office hasn't either...So maybe there are some kids in Africa having a super awesome Christmas right now with my package!! ^^

Our Christmas

On Christmas day, after studying, we went over to a member's house and spent the day with them.  We had 6 American missionaries all skyping home, and so we had to coordinate well with times and the few computers available to us there.  That was super fun (and kind of bizzare) to get to see my family again! But I really felt super strong as soon as they were on the camera, how much I love them all to death.  In my 6 1/2 months of serving so far, I haven't seen or heard them, so it was so new to talk to them again.  Mom and Dad are just as awesome as ever! Holly and Justin were, well, Holly & Justin.  Roger is turning into too much of a stud for his own good, and Henry was just as fun and energetic as ever.  It was literally the fastest hour of my life.  Every time I checked the clock, 10 minutes had gone by. Crazy!  SO basically this is their shoutout from me; that they're the best and I LOVE THEM!

SKYPEing the family!!! (They're the best!!!)

On that lovely note (get it? "LOVE" ly??? Sorry if my level of wit has declined after speaking mainly Korean...), after Skyping we played cards and Settlers of Catan (the Korean version) along with eating, which was super fun.  And I guess that basically covers the big stuff.

The intense hour+ long game of Catan

So, I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and that you all have a MARVELOUS NEW YEAR!!!!

Elder Calvin Woods

Staying for another transfer!

So we just got our transfer calls today, and I will be doing basically the same things in the same place with the same companion next transfer as I did this last transfer! So yeah!!!

 

 

Last night, our ward's 10 missionaries had a Christmas dinner at Brother Holley's (one of the members in our ward) house! And it felt so much like Christmas and a Christmas party.  It was weird!!!!  There was food from Costco and just American food.  There was like: turkey, stuffing, rolls, pumpkin and apple pie, fruit salad, etc...And there was a Christmas tree, decorations, and it was soo cool! Two of the sisters that have been in my district here since I first arrived finished their missions today! So last night was there last night! So weird!! They're done!! I wonder when I'll see them again!!! Who knows??

 

 

Anyhow, it's been deathly cold this last week (yup....I know. Texan...) and I hope I don't freeze to death or anything!

 

You're all the best! Enjoy your Decembery Christmasy time!!!

SNOWWWWWWW!!!!

Wow!!!! I saw snow this week!!!!!  The most I've ever seen!!! (Texas kid.  Cut me some slack)

So that was like the best thing ever! It's all gone now, but it was great for those few days it was here! It made the cold weather totally okay! Now it's just cold...But that's okay because I have a scarf!

Anyways, this past week we had a baptismal service (last Monday) and it was awesome!  They were for 2 of our sisters' investigators.  I was requested to do a piano battle like I did a few months ago at another baptism, and I went more for style rather than for actual skill.  So it was funny I think! Koreans really think vibrant American body language and acting is super funny, so they really liked it!

Also, we had a mission tour. Elder Aoyagi of the 70 came to our mission and we got to hear him and his wife speak to us. They're Japanese, so he spoke in Japanese, which was then translated into Korean, and then translated into English for the newer elders!  So that was quite the experience!  3 languages going on there!  But that was a great experience hearing from him and I was able to get some good personal revelation!

This past week was great! We're doing well, working hard, and helping people progress in the gospel! Have a great December week wherever you are! (cause December is the best!)

Love you all!

Elder Woods

Wow, Thanksgiving!

We were severely lacking in the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, jello, rolls etc etc department, so we ordered chicken!  It was soo good!!!!  (I'm just trying to make myself feel better about it...But it really was delicious!)

Our Thanksgiving

A couple weeks ago for FHE (us missionaries in the ward do it with some members and our investigators) for our activity we played 'spoons,' but we didn't use spoons... We used chopsticks! ...So I guess we probably should have called it 'chopsticks'....It was pretty difficult explaining the game in Korean, but somehow we managed!

 

Recently we've gotten two new investigators who are absolutely awesome!!! We gave them the English names of Spencer and Jason.  They were both referred to us by a member in the ward who was studying at BYU last year (served a mission in Anaheim, CA a bit before that) and came back to Korea to go to the military service cause it's required for Koreans.  But he's been here a few weeks and he got us these two amazing investigators.  People we couldn't have found or set things up the way they are, without a member behind it.  Member missionary work is SOOOO important!!! (just wanted to put a plug in for that)  Spencer wants to learn English, wants to learn about the church and gospel, and wan'ts to go on a mission of all things!  Jason after talking with our member, wants to go to BYU-Hawaii to study really really bad.  So he wants to get better at English with us and to work with us to strengthen his very very small testimony and to become a member.  They're super funny and great to meet with! I love them soo much!  Whenever we meet them, I never want to transfer out of this area because they're just the best!!! I have such high hopes for their progression!

 

The coffee shops around Gwangju (my city) are all putting up Christmas trees and Christmas lights, but the Christmas spirit is nothing like in the states.  Totally different and kind of bizarre. It's just like any other holiday here.  Weird...

 

Anyways, love you all! Have a great Decembery week!

Out of email time!!

So I don't have time, but here's a delicacy we ate this week!

~~~~SOOOOO COOOOOOOOLD~~~~

Sorry it's been so long! Wow I'm just such a slacker when it comes to the writing part of my blog entries.  I promise it's not because I don't like you! (Well....maybe a lit-  just kidding, just kidding!) It's just really hard to type everything in an hour time slot!

Well let's see...how much have I not told you about....  We had a Halloween party! That was fun and it had a big turn out of church members and their friends and their (the friends) families.  (I mean, yes the members' families too of course, but just to clarify I wanted to just-...well you get what I mean)  For the party I dressed up as Draco Malfoy. Super easy costume for a blonde missionary with a green necktie.  But slicking my hair back was a task! Elders Wagner and 박인오 had to both be in on it to help it work (even with a bunch of gel and hairspray!!)

After English class! The girl on the left is 박유진

Jumping around here and there, one of the sisters in our ward leaves on her mission TODAY!!! (November 17th)  Her name is 박유진 (so I guess like 'Yoo Jin Park' in English... you have no idea how hard romanization is; for Korean names especially!), and she's super cool! Fun fact about that, she will 귀환 (finish her mission) about 1 month before me! So, if my last area of my mission is back here, it'll be as if I never left to her, haha.  She's going to the SLC Temple Square Mission.  So if any of you are ever at Temple Square and see a Korean sister (there's only 3 of them counting her), you should talk to her and see if she knows me, cause hey, wouldn't that be legit?!

Me and my new companion 하용식!

We had transfers (about 2 weeks ago...) and I got a new companion! He's a Korean and his name is 하용식 (Ha Yong Shik). He's pretty cool! Everyone told me that your first Korean companion is really different and difficult.  At first it didn't seem like it could be that different, but it really is.  Not tooo much really, but just the feeling in the companionship and the way you do practically everything is just a little different than you're used too.  The culture really does play a big part in all of the difference!

We had a ward activity last-last Saturday, and it was a chilly kind muggyish day.  And the first part of the activity was a 식사 (meal).  So they fried 삼겹살 (Korean bacon) over a fire, had cuties and 감 (persimmons) and also lots of rice cookers.  The cookers were just sitting out on these picnic tables and it was just sooo.....Korean.  The second part of that activity was making pottery.  All of us 10 missionaries in the ward wrote our names on the inside of our Ward Mission Leader's bowl, so that way he remembers us forever!!!

Lastly it has been soooooo cold!!!! Gosh, and it's only going to get colder! Ahhh!!!!

Just a bunch of Korean girls that wanted me to take a picture of them after English class

Hope you're all doing great!!! You're the best! Thanks for being patient with my lack of emails lately!!!

Blog titles are really hard to come up with...

So this past week we got the chance to meet with some new investigators that we found who have so much sincere interest and potential to grow in the church.  They like us and what we're doing, and the message that we're sharing, which is so important.  One of the guys named Kim Charles (김 차르스) worked as a seaman on board a ship from when he was 19 to when he was 30.  So he has so many cool stories about that.  He's in his early 50s now, and works as a real estate agent with his wife at a cute little shop.  Family means the world to him (he has 5 siblings! 5!!! And he's a Korean!) and he is just so sincere with us.  And he speaks English really well!  Also, a guy we met on the street a little over a week ago came to church yesterday and just loved it.  It was the primary program, which was so cute.  They were little kids speaking Korean, so it was really hard to understand a lot of it (how are little kids so dang good at Korean?!).  But the Spirit was really strong throughout the whole thing, especially when they were singing.  Music is one of the most amazing gifts we've been given.  I love it so much!

 

Elder Wagner practicing his photographer skills

Last night, the 6 elders in my area all went to Brother Holley's house and had dinner there with a recent convert who is about 17 years old.  That was super fun! They made us American style food, and I think it was my first real meal with members/investigators/or others, without chopsticks!  Fork, knife, and spoon.  That's it!  And they have a super cool view of Gwangju from their house.

 

 

This week was busy, but good.  Like usual, we're always going around place to place, having appointments here, and having appointments cancel on us (or just flat out not show up) there. And I love it! :)  This work and this church are true.  It will bless the lives of all those who seek to find the truth held in it, and for those who have found it, as they continually live it and draw closer to their father in heaven and their savior Jesus Christ.  I know that this church is true, and that the Book of Mormon is God's word; and through studying the words it contains, we can find a peace and joy in this life that we didn't know we could ever have.  I love this work and wouldn't rather be doing anything else. And I love all of you! Pray often to your Heavenly Father, search the scriptures, and keep God's commandments.  It will bless you life.  Stay safe and stay strong all of you!  It's not easy, but it is worth it.  I testify of these things in Christ's name, Amen.

  You're all the best! Keep it up!

~Elder Calvin Woods