Oh it's starting to look a lot like... Korea?

Hi!

Things are still great here. Still very much alive. Last time I checked, anyway. I only check about once a month. Monthly check-ups. Yep.

So anyway, much good is going about here in Korea Land. We're doing a lot of hard work and having a ton of fun. These past couple of days have been 설날 - or Korean New Year. Nothin too exciting went on - mostly just a LOT of food. So much. On Monday I'm pretty sure I ate my weight in delicious Korean munchies. They have this soup call 떡 (duck. Not actually anything to do with a duck, however) that is really good. It's tradition to eat it for Korean New Year - much like how we eat turkey or ham for Thanksgiving or Christmas. But anyway, it's a soup with smashed up rice.. slices. Not quite sure how to describe it, but it's good! I had one bowl on Sunday, and then an investigator or Monday invited us over for food, so there's another bowl, then later that night we had dinner with a member, and there's the third... And then! On Tuesday (yesterday), I had one more bowl with another member. Four total - it was really good. The member from Tuesday is apparently infamous for trying to kill the missionaries by overfeeding them. Yesterday wasn't so bad. Still felt like I was going to pass out, however.

Anyway, we're doing great with our investigators over here too. We met a newly married couple (not actually sure how "newly" they are, but they're young, so.... newly married!) that are perfectly prepared! It's been a lot of fun teaching them - they keep making comments like "Oh yeah, that makes sense..." or, "You know I've always been wondering about that." Ok, as if they aren't going to get baptized... ;) We'll be teaching them the third lesson (Jesus Christ's Gospel) today and we get to teach them about baptism! Yay! No commitment yet (that we have planned), but they're progressing wonderfully.

We haven't had the chance to meet with our other investigators due to the holiday - a lot of people went out of town and whatever else, so that was kind of difficult. But, this upcoming week we'll get back into the swing of things.

So over the past week I've made a list of things in my mind that I'm still getting adjusted to in Korea. Here it goes, from what I can remember:

-Everyone points with their middle finger. It was confusing at first.
-The Buddhist houses or temples use the same sign as the Nazi symbol. it just makes me laugh inside.
-Spitting is ok.
-If you're talking to someone and their phone rings or they see a friend, they'll leave you mid-sentence.
-They love healthy stuff - foods and exercise - but everyone smokes and/or drinks.
-The driving laws - or massive lack thereof. Yesterday and the day before we were walking about, both times heading back to our house. At this particular intersection at night, it apparently attracts the crazy taxi drivers. The gist of the story is that what I've learned about driving in Korea is that it's quite alright to blow through an intersection - red light or not - if you honk your horn or flash your brights as you go through. That's all you need.
-Dryers.
-Hot showers.

I think that's about it. We do sleep on the floor, on these nifty things called a 요 (yo). It's just a fold out padded thing. But since the floor is heated, and they have freakishly comfortable winter blankets - it stays quite warm. Plus, the storage is great!

I've been snapping pictures but haven't quite had the time to get them on the computer yet. Sorry, but I'll try and do that soon. Today is a packed schedule - we're going for a little walk to a cool Buddhist temple with a member and hopefully an investigator.

The members here are great - they all really enjoy the missionaries and totally understand when we screw up in Korean (and by we I mostly mean "I"). But most of all - they do a wonderful job at fellowshipping the people that we invite to church! It's really fun to see. It's almost like an attack mob. I think they coordinate before each sacrament. "Ok Red Alpha, you'll move in from the left and compliment her outfit. Blue Tango, take the rear just to make sure she tries to leave early. Orange Foxtrot, go for the head on and ask her name and about her family. Ok, she's getting up. SWARM SWARM!"

Yep, just like that. I overheard it.

Anyway, sorry for the quick message. Not too much else has been going on. It has been snowing quite a bit the past week, but then it warms up and then melts again. And then it just gets cold, and then it snows, and then it warms up.... And so on. The weather here is much like Utah. I don't know everyone kept saying it was so cold here - it really isn't much different from what I've seen. Although I think the snow is slightly acidic from pollution and other wonderfulness in the air... Don't eat yellow snow, and don't sing the "If all the raindrops were lollipops" song. I don't think it's lollipops, because those would hurt. But, that's the first thing that came to mind.

Anyway! Church is still true. I think. It's hard to understand Korean, so unless the Second Coming already happened and I haven't been informed...

'til next time! :D

Stay happy and stay healthy!

Love,
Elder Webster