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