Christmas

December 28, 2008

hey everyone,
i hope you all had a good Christmas. i had a small but peaceful Christmas here. it was really good to talk to everyone on the phone and now i feel like i don’t have much to say. but some things i forgot to mention were:
we got cell phones. that was weird. i was just getting used to not having a cell phone and now i have one again. the cell phones here are really cool. they have a camera on the front next to the screen and you can actually video chat with the cell phone. its pretty cool.

on Christmas eve all of the 6 missionaries here got together and we set up a table and pictures in front of the city hall and sang Christmas songs. we were hoping for people to stop by and look at the church pictures and ask questions but no one did. so we grabbed a bunch of Book of Mormons (copies of the Book of Mormon if you want to be correct) and proselyted there in front of the city hall for a few hours. it was really effective. i loved telling people merry Christmas and explaining to them what Christmas actually is. it is always sad to talk to people that have no idea who Christ is or what He did for all of us. but at the same time it makes me want to work even harder so that i can bring as many souls unto Christ as i can. i have gained a lot of understanding this Christmas season about the countless sacrifices that Christ made for us. i am grateful for His sacrifices and the ability i have to give such a small sacrifice of 2 years back to Him.

Love,
Elder Wells

Christmas

December 21, 2008

i tried to upload some photos so i hope that you can see them. if you cant, sorry.
so anyway, one of the pictures is of the baptism we had yesterday. it was the first baptism i have seen in Korea. his name is kim sung su. i told you a little about him before but basically his mom and brother were baptized about 8 months ago and he finally decided to get baptized. he was taught before i got here so i didnt really teach him or anything. but im glad he was baptized. his mom spoke at the baptizm and she talked about how the church has changed and blessed her life. it was really cool to see the change that the gospel can bring in such a short amount of time.
this last week our ward had a christmas party/performance night that went really well. a lot of people participated and we did a dance. my companion and i were walking on the street before the party and we met a guy and invited him. well i thought the guy was kinda sketchy but my companion thought it would be good to invite him. sure enough the guy was a bum and he showed up 2 hours early and brought a huge hiking backpack with him with all his stuff. everyone was kind of afraid of him. it was really funny.
at the end of the christmas party they showed clips of Christ's life from church videos. a lot of nonmembers came to the party so it was good for them to see. i was also glad to be able to see the video because Christmas isn't celebrated here like it is in the US. the members don't even do anything on christmas from what i have heard. so i havent been able to see things like our wards nativity and stuff. the video was a good reminder of how much the Savior has done for us and i am grateful for his sacrifice.

Love,
웰스 장로

Stuff about the mission and JeJu

December 14, 2008


well i lost the email i was just typing so i have to start all over. here it goes again:
i dont have any good stories so heres some facts about korea:
everyone eats on little tables and sit on the floor (we do too). even restaraunts, if it is a nicer restaraunt you sit on the floor, the cheaper ones have you sit at tables (ironic right?)
we sleep on things called yo's. they are pretty much an inch thick blanket that we sleep on and then roll up in the morning (its way better than making a bed). i was worried that i wouldnt like them and they would be uncomfortable but i have been sleeping fine. to heat the houses they use a water boiling system that heats the floor. so sleeping and eating on the floor is nice and toasty.
they dont have dryers in korea. we hang our clothes to dry them. it takes like 3 days because it is cold outside. i dont know why they dont just get dryers.
the fruit is really good here. the pears are probably the most different and my favorite. they are big and round, almost the size of a canteloupe. and they arent mushy, they are sweet and crunchy. i heard that costco sells asian pears so you should go buy some. the oranges are also really good. we went and did that service project again for the old lady at her farm thing.
i saw a group of elementary kids performing songs and stuff the other day. they were all playing ocarinas. it was pretty funny and now i want to learn the ocarina.
another elder taught me how to read music so now im learning the piano. i can already play book of mormon stories.
the weather has been weird here. its supposed to be pretty cold and windy but its normally pretty warm. it did snow for 2 days last week though.
i live in a 4 man appartment and the other 2 missionaries here live in a city about 30 minutes away. they come to our city (jeju city) for district meetings and p days.
president jennings and his wife came down this weekend to do interviews with us. they took us to a good american restaraunt called vips and we will probably do something with them today.
president announced that every team of missionaries is getting a cell phone. i am pretty excited. it will definately be helpful. he also told me that my mtc companion, elder bennett (the one that went home because he was throwing up) has been cleared to come next transfer. i am really happy and excited to see him. i probably wont see him for a while though cuz i'll be here on this island.
we had a baptism scheduled for yesterday (sunday) but our investigator wasnt ready. he is technically my investigator but i barely know him and havent taught him at all. he was taught a few months ago with his mother and brother and they were baptized but he wasnt. so we are trying to prepare him to be baptized next week.
we dont really have any other investigators. i told you about the guy last week that we taught about Joseph Smith. he could become an investigator but i dont know because we havent met with him since then.
things are going good. my companion and i have seen little miracles here and there. we are working hard and have been patiently waiting for success. if the baptism goes through next week, it will be good. i cant wait to see my first baptism as a missionary and witness first hand the fruits of our labors.

Love,
Elder Wells

Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil

Picking Oranges

December 7, 2008

Well this week went by pretty fast. nothing really special happened but we had some cool experiences and a good service project.

our service project was on wednesday and was in another town on the island called so gee po. we spent the day out there picking orange/tangerine things in a huge orange grove/garden thing. it was actually really cool. jeju has a ton of farms that grow oranges and everyone eats them. they are really good. we have a billion oranges in are apartment and a lot of them go bad because we can't eat them fast enough. one of the missionaries said that he didnt drink water for a week because he got enough water from eating the oranges. so for the project we went out to this farm and this old lady just watched us pick her oranges (we had to cut them off the trees cuz if you pluck them, the peel comes off too and ruins them) so anyways ya this old lady just watched us and yelled at us in her crazy korean that i couldnt understand whenever we did it wrong.
last night we had a good appointment with an older man. his wife is a member but he isnt. i couldnt understand very well but i think he is buddhist but has a lot of interest in christianity. the missionaries have visited him many times before but he is a little stubborn so they havent been able to get him to sit down and listen to a lesson. we started talking to him about our church and how we are Christian but have a little different view about how God and Jesus are two different beings. my companion explained that when Jesus was baptized, Heavenly Fathers voice came from heaven and also when he was on the cross, he talked to the father. i then said that when Joseph Smith saw God, he saw God and Jesus Christ. well he hadn't heard about Joseph Smith so my companion and i gave him the first vision story. it was awesome and the spirit was there. i felt it. we then explained a little about the Book of Mormon and asked if he would read the introduction before we visit again. he popped it open right then and read the whole thing. it was a good experience.
Welp i gotta go.
the church is true. it really is.

Love,
Elder Wells

A Letter from Elder Wells' Trainer, Elder Lee

You should be able to click on the letter to make it larger to read.

Jeju week 2

November 30, 2008

Jeju:

This week went well. the first thing that i have learned while i have been on the island is that i am still doing missionary work. the island is just another area in the mission and a lot of work needs to be done. we worked a lot this week with a few investigors and some inactive members. we visited a philipino lady named share-anne. she is a member but is inactive, her husband isnt a member and she has a 3 year old son. we couldnt come in and talk with her because she was home alone but we shared a really good message from the door (in english luckily). she started crying during our conversation and told us how hard it has been to live in korea becuase she feels alone since she cant talk to anyone (besides her husband who speaks english). it has stopped her from coming to church too because she doesnt learn anything. we recognized her concern and i told her that i can really relate to her. it is hard to go to church and to live here becuase i honestly dont know what people are saying. the only people i can have a normal conversation with is my companion and the other american elder in our appartment. but i told her that it is important to come to sacrament to feel the spirit that is there and to renew baptisimal covenants. it was a good meeting. unfortunately she didnt come to sacrament yesterday though.

oh and we also had thanksgiving this week! it was a really good day and no, i didnt even eat kimchi. we went to an american restaraunt called young gu's pizza (sounds like an american name right?). its really good, almost american style food but its pretty expensive. so for thanksgiving i had cheese fries, onion rings, and pizza. probably the best meal i have had yet.
also this week our branch put on a music night. it was more like a talent show and a lot of people performed. it was a lot of fun. we (the 6 missionaries here) did a dance. i have it recorded on the memory card so you'll get that whenever i send it home.

Love,
Elder Wells

JEJU

November 23, 2008
This week was the best week yet. i got transfered to a new area. the new area i am in is called JEJU!!!! if you look on a map, its the little island below Korea. i flew to the island (by myself) this morning. it was awesome. i am so excited to serve here. there are 6 missionaries on the island. it is an honor to serve here because they only send the most obedient missionaries here since no one can look after them. i was shocked to find out that i was coming here on my second transfer, it is a little rare. im thrilled.
some facts about the island: it is a pretty big island (2 cities) and its almost tropical. theres palm trees and stuff, it kinda reminds me of California but i have only been here for about 4 hours so i dont really know. the most famous thing about the island is called saturi, it means accent or dialect. they speak a very weird dialect here on the island and its hard for missionaries to understand. its not just an accent, they use different words that people on the mainland dont understand. its crazy.
i cant understand korean well so the dialect is going to be an even bigger challenge but im not very worried. i have faith. so thats about all i know about the island so far, it looks like the missionaries that serve here stay for at least 3 transfers because you have to take a plane to get here so i'll be here for a while.
My companion: his name is Elder Boardman, he is from Idaho Falls, Idaho. maybe the Saadehs know him? i didnt know Sister Saadeh's maiden name so he doesnt know. this transfer is his 6th transfer and its his first time being a senior companion. because its his first time going senior and im still a greenie this transfer might be interesting. i have faith in his korean abilities but we'll see how everything works out because he is still new. he seems like a very nice, diligent missionary and im excited to serve with him. we have a lot in common (track, football, BYU).
last week was nothing special compared to the past 5 hours of riding on a plane and having my whole world change in a matter of hours. the only highlights of the week were:
i ate dog. it was at a restaraunt and it was dog soup. its called bong shing tong. it was really tender and kinda tasted like beef. i couldnt really taste the meat though because there was a ton of random spices and leaves in the soup. there was also a dog bone just floating in it, kinda gross.
we also played a lot of sports last week. every week with the ward we go to this big sports park and play badminton. koreans love badminton. its in this indoor staduim with like 20 badminton courts. it was a lot of fun and im going to miss it. we also went to a multi stake soccer tournament on saturday. we brought an investigator and he really liked it. the tournament lasted all day. it was a lot of fun. i hurt my toe though.
so thats what happened this week. i still cant beleive im on Jeju. (its sometimes called Jeju doh, doh means island).its really awesome. i am excited to serve here and experience all of the cool things here. (this area is for sure the envy of the mission). i feel a little insufficient to be put in such a demanding area. im not worried about keeping the rules but with saturi and a young companion, i know that i will have to work hard to pull my weight. i know that i have been called here for a reason and i can't wait to find out what that reason is.

Love,
Elder Wells

November 16, 2008

This week was pretty typical. i am finally starting to get into the groove of a missionary and how things work here in Korea. some exciting things that happened this week were: the bishop took us out to lunch on Tuesday. we went to a really nice restaurant where we ate this food called 삼겹살 (sam gyup sar) it was really good. definately the best food i have eaten yet and i have heard its a lot of missionaires favorite food. its really thick bacon but it doesnt taste like bacon. to cook it, there was this dome in the middle of the table that the waiter put it on. then we put on other things to cook too, like onions, garlic and kimchi. once it was all cooked we put it in a lettuce rap and ate it. it was really good.
I got to go on splits this week twice. the first time was with one of the AP's his name is Elder Thorley. it was nice to be with an american and i learned a lot. he taught me some good sayings to use when proselyting. then we taught the first lesson to one of his investigators. i taught about prophets, the apostasy, and the Book of Mormon. the lesson was good but the investigator didnt seem very into it.
i also went on splits with elder nash. he is one of the office secretaries. it was a little dissapointing because i had to stay in the office and do work. my companion got in trouble for sticking his 'greenie' in the office all day. we went out and proselyted for a little while so it wasnt too bad. and we also walked down this cool market street. do you remember the picture we used to have on the computer of the market with the fish and weird things laying out? it looked exactly like that.
That is about all that i did this week. i dont get a lot of opportunities to teach but when i do it is awesome. i love bareing my testimony in Korean, especially about our Heavenly Father. there are a lot of people here that dont believe in God and i feel His love when i talk about him. I know that He lives and that He loves all of us.

Love,
Elder Wells

Looking back at Salt Lake City Airport on way to Korea

Nov. 9, 2008

Hey everyone,
This week was a really great week. we have one progressing investigator. his name is Pawk sung peer. he is 15. we have taught him the first lesson and committed to read the book of Mormon and pray. i got to teach about God, families, prayer, and The Restoration. i recited the first vision in Korea for the first time to an investigator. it was awesome and really spiritual. but i have really bad pronunciation so my companion gave him the first vision on paper to read. (kinda embarrassing that he didn’t understand me but o well). we have to teach him at a park because he doesn’t have much time cuz he goes to school and so we meet him there. we still teach the Chinese man, Barry but he cant come to church because he has school at busan college. so we might drop him and tell him to call the missionaries when his schedule changes.
there are 3 teams of missionaries in my area and we all work together with 2 wards. we put on a Halloween party last week for them. it was so fun. we carved pumpkins, had a scary movie going on in one room (it was a full on asian horror movie, very weird and only scary to Asians. do you remember the Chinese version of the ring we watched one time called ringu? it was a lot like that). well the movie wasn’t approved so we kinda got in trouble but anyway..there was also trick or treating. the mission presidents house is attached to our church so the kids went over and trick or treated there. it was a lot of fun and the ward loved it. we also had a haunted house maze thing. so fun.

I am really starting to enjoy cooking. its fun and rewarding. ive made applesauce, mashed potatoes and hash browns. a typical meal is something like ramen noodles (they originated in Korea and Koreans love them) the ramen here is a lot better than in the US but always really spicy. the food is normally really spicy. kimchi, always a soup and some other side things. i never really know what they are. its usually pretty good. the best thing i have eaten was actually Chinese food but a lot of Koreans eat it. its sweet and sour pork.
Korea is beautiful. we went to a members house in another city and the way there was all countryside and stuff. it was really cool green and orange hills because its fall. but im mostly in the city so it gets boring and everything looks the same. there are always fun weird billboards and advertisements that have weird english words here though.
yes for the record, everyone is naked in the bathhouse (including the missionaries). therefore they are banned in most of the other korea missions.
well thats that. im studying hard and really learning a lot from the Book of Mormon. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It is such a powerful tool and i am so grateful to have it has a missionary.
Love,
Elder Wells

Nov. 1, 2008

Nov. 1, 2008

Sorry about last week. i was e mailing in the mission office and they kicked me off right at 6:00 and i didnt realize that they would do that so i spent time the ten minutes i did have reading e mails instead of typing. i will try to make up for it this time.

these past two weeks were a lot similar to the first. i still cant understand what people say to me in Korean but thats alright. some cool things that have happened:
we are teaching a 25 year old chinese man that doesnt speak korean, he only speaks a little english. so i get to teach while my companion sits and tries to understand whats going on for a change. the investigator is really cool and loves learning about the gospel but we might have to drop him because he isnt progressing. he does what we ask but he has school every sunday during church (school is RIDICULOUS in Korea, high school kids go to school from 8 am to 9 pm and sometimes later) so he cant come to church at all.
well i am getting kicked off the computer again..maybe i will have time to e mail later but if not i am sorry.

Love,
Elder Wells

sorry that this is a run on of the last one, i got kicked off earlier. here are some highlights:
last p day was amazing. we went down to the beach and ate lunch there. it was a really cool veiw of a big bridge and huge buildings. i took pictures and i will send the memory card home. then we went to a buddhist temple up in this mountain. it was awesome. it made me realize that im in Asia. everything was old and peaceful. i took a lot of pictures of the buddhist temples and statues so i hope you like them. it was a lot cooler in real life though. there was a huge golden buddha statue with a million man size statues surrounding it. i really liked going there. and there were people laying down mats and worshipping the buddha while we were there. it was definately an experience.
i ate silk larva. that was gross.
a singing group called new horizon came and did a concert. they were all missionaries in the busan mission like 30 yrs ago and the sang on their mission in a group. it was a good concert thing. and president Jennings was there so we got to stay for the whole thing. we didnt get back until 10:15 pm. crazy huh.
i met a man on the bus that spoke english. he had seen and talked to the missionaries before and wanted to learn more about the church. he was fascinated how we learn korean so quickly because it is such a hard language and wanted to know what techniques they teach us. i just bore testimony to him that i know that i am doing what God wants me to do and because of it, he is helping me learn korean so i can teach other people about him and his gospel. it was a good experience. i didnt have time to get the mans information because he had to get off the bus but i gave him a pamphlet.
well thats about all that i can remember.

Love,
Elder Wells

Looking back

Elder Wells' first Korean BBQ after Ryan's graduation from USD Law School, May 17, 2008. Family and Uncle Paul....George Saadeh at Newport Beach Temple.
. Newport Beach Temple on May 17, 2008.

July 27, Weston's farewell
July 28, Elder Wells' Setting apart by President VidmarElder Wells & district & Elder BennettThe "Boys" in the MTC, Elder Brown, Elder Procuniar, Elder Vidmar and Elder Robertson.

Letter of arrival from President Jennings

Dear Brother and Sister Wells :

I am emailing to confirm the safe arrival of Elder Wells in the Korea Busan Mission. We picked everyone up late Tuesday (no missing luggage!) and yesterday was a full day of preparation and training. We began with interviews, opening bank accounts, preparing “green card” documentation, and other administrative chores to get everyone set up. The Elders and Sisters made their own Korean lunch – “kimpap.”


Then they had a training exercise which combined cultural exploration and proselyting activities. While all this was going on, I was deliberating over companionship and area assignments.

Upon returning to the Mission Home we had a testimony meeting (in Korean) and a magnificent dinner the likes of which they won’t see again for some time. Then I gave a presentation about Korea and my expectations for them and announced companionship assignments. The trainers were all carefully selected and we depended on observation and, of course, inspiration to align the very best teams

Elder Wells will be trained by Elder Lee Tae Hee and his first area will be Kumjung one of our most active Wards and near the Mission Home. Elder Lee is an extremely bright and personable Korean Elder who speaks excellent English and is also the District Leader in his district. Elder Wells has already demonstrated an excellent ability to learn Korean and I believe that he is well prepared to serve with a Korean trainer. In some ways, this can be more challenging for a new missionary, but it accelerates their growth in the Mission tremendously. Here is a picture of Sister Jennings and I with Elder Wells and Elder Lee. We will also be sending some other photos to you by regular mail.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Faithfully,
Kenneth W. Jennings, Jr.
Korea Busan Mission

Mission Address for Letters and Packages

Elder Weston Wells
Korea Busan Mission
Dongnae PO Box 73 Busan-si
Busan-gwangyeoksi 607-600
South Korea

Packages:
Elder Weston Wells
Korea Busan Mission
(1/2) 1039-1 Oncheon 2-dong
Dongnae-gu
Busan-si
Pusan-jikhalsi 607-062
South Korea

There is NO pouch for this mission. A letter costs about $.94.

Elder Wells is in Korea - Crazy!

Oct. 20, 2008

Holy Korea

wow this last week was the most packed, exciting, awesome, confusing, entertaining, random, awkward, and craziest week of my entire life. lets start from the beginning:

13 hour plane ride: flew over alaska and russia (or kamkatcha if you play risk.) and japan. that was awesome. i thought we were going to fly over part of china and north korea because thats what the tv showed but we veered far away from them. probably a good idea. anyways it was a very long flight. got in late at night then
Wednesday morning 5:30 am we went to the mogyoketan aka korean bath house. if you have never heard of a korea bath house, i will be blunt. its a huge hotel with a bunch of 3 foot pools where a billion koreans hang out naked. ya its wierd. but very relaxing. oh and one pool is like 4 feet deep and is for swimming so i got to go swimming on my mission. so while we were hanging out near the hot tub (we werent naked at this moment in time) an old man comes up (hes naked) and asks if we are the missionaries. so an elder got his phone number. the reason i tell this story is because the first refferal i ever saw in korea and the investigator was naked. weird. ok so next, we went proselyting at pusan college and then had a scavenger hunt where we had to take pictures of stuff and buy squid from one of the street venders, it was cool. then we had a testimony meeting that night and got our companions.
my companion: yup hes korean. his name is elder lee or just e tay wee in korean. he is awesome. we live alone in a little appartment which i was scared about because i didnt think he would know much english but he does. and he knows funny english (words like pimp and stuff, hes great). he is really funny. to be honest i dont understand a word he says in korean. i dont know korean. i would be freaking out about it but all of the older elders tell me that it was the same for them and it just takes time to be able to break up the words and define them because they speak soooo fast.
ok what else...my first minor injury: you know how doors have a push or pull sign on them to know whether to push or pull them in. well they have them in korea but they are in korean..so i tried to push a door open and ran right into it. it was funny. and it didnt hurt or anything.
my mission president and his wife are great. they are really funny. i like them a lot. my area is right next to the mission home so they were in church with us.
the food is actually really good. but i havent had enough of it to have somethign i didnt like. we eat really random stuff too. haha like saturday we had tuna sandwiches for breakfast, chinese food for lunch and spaghetti for dinner. it was weird. but i like korean food. oh except, lets just say that i had to look up the word for diarrhea already..
my area is really really tough. we are whitewashing the area which means that we are both new to it and we have no investigators..its miserable. we proselyte all day everyday. the only thing i hve done besides proselyte was a service project which was soo funny. we volunteered to serve food to a group of old people. it was put on my a buddhist chruch. so we served food to about 150 grandmas and grandpas. they are soo funny. seriously. they are all tiny and their clothes look like they got them from grandma tressie. the grandmas all walk around everywehre with little bags or the cart things in all the asian movies. its great. and sometimes they hunch over and start running. haha i love it. after teh service we ate the food we were serving wich was teh most disgusting food ive ever had. it was kimchi rice and soup. the kimchi and rice wasnt bad but the soup tasted like horse sweat, seriously.
the fashion here is hilarious. i dont have time to explain but people wear the weirdest stuff.
today pday was awwwesooommmeee. we took a bus down to the beach and played sand football with 12 other elders, it was the most fun ive had in 3 months. i also saw the most amazing fireworks on saturday night. it was some celebration. way better than american fireworks. i wish i would have had my camera..
i dotn have time to explain more.
i dont really need anything so dont worry about sending stuff. i will make a list. but when you do, send sweedish fish. my companion looves them. haha in his korean accent he says : soo delicious. its funny. i wish you could hear.

everything is going great. the work is hard but definately worth it.

Love elder Wells