20 January, 2009

Hey Fam!
I absolutely love it here. That's about it. My companion is Elder Jorgensen from Richfield, UT. He's way cool. And 6'4". Our other 2 roommates are Elder Davies from Taylorsville, UT and Elder Malcolm from Clovis, CA. They are way cool guys and we have a great amount of fun in our room. My district is 8 Elders and 2 Sisters. Us 4 in the room and one of the Sisters are going to Seoul, the other 5 are going to Seoul West. The day I arrived, 38 other Korean speakers did also. Before, there were 18 in the zone, now there's 56. We all (besides Sisters of course) are on the 3rd floor on the Addison Pratt building. It's very very fun. I sent a letter a few days ago, it probably got there today. Yeah Tuesday is my Pday. The letter basically has summed up (if I remember right) my first few days here, so I'll fill you in on the last few:
Sunday was pretty much like every other day: wear a suit all day and study the Gospel a lot. We go to Priesthood in the morning, then all 56 of us speaking Korean went on a Temple Walk and took pics. I'll be sending those on Friday probably. Then we had Sacrament meeting at 3. It's real hard staying awake, I won't lie. Every Sunday night we have a huge devotional with everyone and one of the Branch presidents spoke. It was really good. Monday was the first day of our usual everyday schedule. The first days were special with a million orientations and such. Everyday accumulates about 9 hours sitting in the classroom studying the Gospel and Korean. And I hated High School...... Ok I don't hate this because I'm actually using this knowledge I'm learning. So this morning we went to the Temple at the 740. Needless to say, the 10 minute walk there while is still dark is really, really cold. I felt like on Dumb & Dumber when they ride into Aspen on the little scooter and their snot is all frozen on their nose haha. After the session we ate in the Temple cafeteria to give ourselves a break from the food here. Hey, it isn't really bad, just gets old after like 5 days. But to be honest, the Temple food wasn't tremendous either. Maybe Doug can smuggle me a Breakfast Jack or something. Oh dang, no Jack in the Box here. Wendys then. After the Temple we did laundry. Yeah..... Remember Mom how you lectured me on how to do laundry and I told you I was going to forget what you said anyways? Well I did. So Elder Jorgensen (that's my companion) and I just kind of experimented. After I pulled my pants out of the dryer I remembered you told me to wash them inside out. They're terribly linty. After that we've just been writing a bunch of letters and hanging out in our room.The Korean is coming along way better than I thought. We're already saying most our prayers in Korean, though they are way way way way simple and basic. And I can bear testimony and introduce myself and ask some questions. It's so rad. It's amazing how much the Spirit helps though. There is no way one could learn that much in 5 days if they didn't have the Spirit helping. And as it says is Moroni 10 and D&C 46 about gifts, that if one asks sincerely and asks in Christ's name with real intent, and it be God's will, they will receive the gift. I've been praying specifically for the Gift of Tongues, and it's quite apparent I have recieved it. Sorry if that seems boastful or whatnot. But I love it!

Alright I think that's all. Oh! Tuesday night is the General Authority devotional. Last Tuesday Elder Holland was here. I have no idea who is coming tonight, but it should be good. Well, thanks for everything. I love you all. The Church is true. -

-Elder E. J. Udall