57 Days & Counting!

Have I really neglected this blog for that long? Shame on me... Elder Udall will be home is 57 days! Whose counting though? Oh wait I am. {Yes I made a chain and it is hanging in my room} December 21 we'll be home. Yes I do mean we'll because my dad and I are traveling to South Korea! I'm very excited! My dad's trying to brush up on his Korea so he can talk to people :) but 33 years is a long time so we'll see how that works out. Haha Here are some recent pics from the mish. He's doing great! Eric is in a little town called Taebaek. He's been there for a while now. He was made District Leader about a month ago and is the first counselor in the Branch Presidency. The Branch President was in Seoul for a good month having surgery so Eric was in charge! He's so amazing :)South Korea is beautiful!
Watching Conference. Elder Romero & Elder Udall.
"My 2 girlfriends. They come to English class with their Mom and the fam treated us to a delicious expensive meat lunch on Saturday. They are sooo cute!"
"Team Gangneung zone! Wednesday was the {Korean Thanksgiving} holiday and there was barely anyone on the streets. Pretty crazy for a city of 12 million people. The whole mission played socceer instead! Us in the "countryside" ordered matching jerseys and they were sweet! I felt really cool walking around in them. People gave us looks like we were famous soccer players or something haha. So we played hardcore for 3 hours then finished with a little ultimate frisbee. Soccer really is fun. Too bad AZians ddon't like it. If we lived somewhere with grass I probably would have played it. Anyway we ate Mcdonald's then went to a bath house. Sideote- right after email time me and vezzani {companion at the time} are going again hehe. They are fun.
The only downside to 3 hours of hardcore soccer is that the following 3 days I couldn't walk. My calfs have never hurt this bad. I feel like a 100 year old man, walking slowing one step at a time down stairs and such. Also we got back to Taebaek on thursday morning and I took a 4 hour nap. It's ok, Thursday was another day we were told to stay inside. But I'm feeling better today."
"Action shot! Look at me go!"

Finally...

I am a horrible sister. I feel ashamed. Oh well, I hope everyone forgives me!

So Eric, I mean Elder Udall has been out for 6 months and 16 days! Wow 6 months already?? It has gone by fast. He's doing great though. He loves everything about Korea and the people. He also loves everything about the gospel, which he should! He has confessed to me that the work is difficult but he is still working hard and having a great time! He was just recently transferred to Nok Beon which is... somewhere in Korea. Ha! His first companion was Elder Levine from Mesa! He lives in Kimball East Stake right next door to one of Eric's good friends. He also lived with Elder Clifford, from Kimball East Stake. They pretty much had a party for 3 months! Sadly (not really) they came home so Eric is now with Elder Smith, who is from Salt Lake City. He goes home next transfer so hopefully he will get a companion who's not trunky for once... He does know that his next companion is Elder Peterson, most likely American. Again. Here are some pics of the last 4 months in Korea! Enjoy

Eating dog soup. For reals! Elder's Arave, Clifford, Levine and Udall
"Happy half Birthday to me! I bought myself a pink tie and socks to match it!" -E.U.
Eric cooks???

Hahaha! Oh Eric

The Subway
First baptism!
"I have blonde hair and blue eyes, I should be safe, right?" -E.U.


There are sooo many more pictures to put up but I'll save that for another time. I promise I won't let it be 6 months before I post something new!

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

First Letter! It's a Little Late...

15 January, 2009
Well here I am. I guess I'm like in the MTC and living with three people I didn't even know existed. My comp is Elder Jorgensen from Richfield, UT. He's like 6'4" and a really cool chill guy. The other two in here are Elder Malcolm from Clovis, CA and Elder Davies From Taylorsville, UT. It's really fun
So today was my first full day here. It seemed to go by fast. Yesterday was slow as can be. Orientations like no other. I would like to explain my whole first day, but that would take forever. SO I'm gonna let you guess on that one. I did see Ryan Powell and Jesse Fleming.
In a mere 12 hours today (9 of it in class), I learned the alphabet, about 20 words, how to spell them and we learned how to say a basic prayer too. It's so so so so awesome! Our teachers are Brother wells and Sister Perkins. Our district is 8 elders and 2 sisters. They're the ones I spend all day with. It's a blast! Tootles.
-Elder Eric J.

Elder Eric left on Wednesday morning at 7a.m. Which meant we left our house at 5:30. It was a blast! Only mom, dad and I went to "send him off". There were 3 other elder's leaving that morning along with Eric so he felt a little better about that. It was a sad morning, just like sending off every missionary is, but it was great. My mom and I sat on the couch watching Saved By The Bell, crying, until I had to leave for school. When I got home she told me she had just gotten off the couch. Haha!
Eric's been gone a whole 5 days and already we've sent him a package, an e-mail from my mom, I sent him a long letter and the young women in our ward have too! He's going to be spoiled when it comes to letters and such.
After Eric was set apart. President Smith, Eric, Mom & Dad
Family
Eric & Friends



I'm going to miss him terribly but I know he's doing the right thing. He will be the best missionary!