Hello family and friends!

I apologize this email is short. I just get so busy sometimes. This past week has also likewise been busy. These past three weeks I have had over 15 member present lessons and they have been great! Having a member in a lesson is so very important because they speak the language like a native (because they are) and two, most of them have served a mission therefore they let us know how we can improve in our teaching abilities. Next next Saturday we have two baptisms set and are very excited. Korea is so hard sometimes but the most important thing is i know being here is worth it. Thank you all for you support. I love you all!

Running Trials

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday Elder Meeks and I go running for about 30 minutes. We run at least 4 kilometers or so in this very mountainous area with many hills. When I first started running this track it was hard and I thought I was going to die while trying to keep up with the rest of my district. At the end of the first run I was exhausted and collapsed on the floor for the next 15 minutes making a huge Joe puddle where I was laying. I feared the  coming day that we would run again.

As sure as day comes after night, it was time to run again You could say I was less than excited about this great exercise experience I was about to have with my district.  I was so tired after all the other times and felt like I would die during the runs but nonetheless, I pressed forward.  This time it felt different, I knew I could do it.  I had done it before, I had made it through and I knew I could do it again.  I had overcome that difficult trial, even with it being so hard.

We all have trials that seem to bring us to our breaking points, or so it seems. At the beginning of our trials we fail to realize who has taken upon Himself every trial that we will experience in this life for the pure benefit of us.  Jesus Christ experienced unimaginable pain and suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. He overcame each hardship for me and for you so that we will never be alone in our darkest of times.  We will never be faced with a challenge we cannot over come if we turn to Him, realize His love and sacrifice  for us and seek Him through prayer, repentance, and knowledge of our Savior.

Since that run I have continued to challenge myself each week.  I no longer return feeling "close to death" and exhausted, but energized, uplifted and ready to take on even greater distances in the future!  It is great!

Thursday was a  temple P-day!  I always enjoy that and while many times they can speak in English I asked them to speak in Korean. They spoke so fast and used such proper Korean I had a hard time keeping up.  However I did have this one experience recently where I understood Korean perfectly. two days ago we were in Daiso which is like a posh dollar store. This woman says very loudly to her friend across the store in Korean, "Hey I see a really tall foreigner!". I turn around and looked right at her and while laughing  I say (in Korean), "Thank you, I am exactly two meters tall." Her face goes blank, nervously laughs and walks away and says to me, "I didn't know that you speak Korean so well"

We also recently went and got fitted for suits.  You can get a new suit, measured, sewn and fitted for under $160 here.  The place where we had to get fitted was near a military base that has a lot of American restaurants.  We  enjoyed some delicious huge and juicy bacon and cheese hamburgers that day.  On another occasion Elder Gehrig and I were able to have pizza and American muffins  I like Korean food but a little taste of home was much appreciated.

Also I just wanted to pass this on, for those that may want to write me a letter.
starting 8/1, the Korea postal system will begin to implement a new ZIP code system. this only matters because if anyone wants to send a letter or package, it must be to the updated mission headquarters address. the new address is:
29, Wiryeseong-Daero 22 Gil
Songpa-Gu
Seoul, Korea 05655

Thank you for all your love and support.  I miss and love you all so much.  I appreciate all the letters I receive.

Love,
Elder Eads

Elder Gehrig

Yes!  Pizza!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom note:  I am a bit behind in posting Elder Eads' letters this is from August 17th:


Hello family and friends!


As always it was another busy week here in Korea. Last P-day was a mission-wide cleanup day where every missionary devoted all of P-day to cleaning. Luckily I have always made it a goal of mine to keep the house that I am staying in very clean therefore we were able to clean the not-so obvious places around the apartment. I was always given the cleaning tasks that involved high reaching places as i am sure you all know why.

As far as missionary work goes, Saturday we have a total of four appointments scheduled one with a member present!...unfortunately every single one of them canceled. That's never happened to me before but its not uncommon from what I have been told. Nonetheless I continue to love the people with my full heart.

Yesterday the ward wanted the missionaries to sing a musical number in sacrament meeting. As a district we chose to sing 'Abide with me Tis' Even Tide'. I sang the first verse as a solo and we all joined in for the rest of the piece. I thought it went very well considering we only had time to practice the day before. Sometimes that is just how the mission life goes.

Two P-days ago, while everybody else went to "Ashley's" (a ten dollar buffet) Elder Gehrig and I hiked the near-by mountain where I lost over 2 kilograms. I don't know how but I did. A lot of it was from sweat for sure.

My Mom's birthday is August 18, I just want to wish her a very happy birthday and let her know and letter and package is on the way and that I love her very much!  Happy Birthday Mom!

Love,
Elder Eads

I never sweated so much in my life...

This past week was hot hot hot. I am constantly sweating. Everywhere I go I have to have my towel with me otherwise I drip where ever I go. Even in my apartment, if I don't have a fan directly on me I create little Elder Eads puddles. The humidity is through the roof. It's great! (mission rules say i cant say anything negative about my area) therefore it is great. :)

Despite the weather this past week has been tough. More people have dropped than we have gained. Elder Gehrig and I were just discussing how it gets very frustrating  when we do all we think we can like talking to everyone in our path, get numbers from those people and they do not want anything to do with us. I have never shaken so many hands in my life and yet people don't seem to be interested in our message. I think it is no coincidence that one Christ-like attribute that we are studying is patience. I know patience is not a passive submission to your situation thinking you can just "wait it out" but it is a proactive attribute, doing all you can to achieve the results you desire.

I wish I had more to report but this period seems to be quite the magnifying phase.

In other fun news I had my first meal of 보싱탕 or 영양탕 provided by a member of my ward. I know most of you cannot read Korean therefore 보싱탕 and 영양탕 is simply dog meat. Ella would not be proud that I ate one of her friends but I will say that it tasted OK in my opinion. The member gave specifically me sooo much of it. (My companion Elder Gehrig hates dog). I had it in the soup as well as right off the bone. It was definitely  interesting because the under layer of skin was still on the meat.

Another member took all the missionaries out for kim-chi chi geh or 김치치개. It was sooo delicious.

This is NOT the dog that I ate but a very funny thing that I saw on the street this past week.

In Korea we cut the food with scissors!  Genius!

All Most A Quarter of my Mission Completed!

This past week has been exciting as always. I have never worked harder in my life and the scary thing is I am going to have to work even harder than Ii am now in the future. Every minute of the day there is always something that I am supposed to be doing, There is never "free-time" or "relaxing" time in our schedule. For example, in our missionary schedule we are allotted an hour for lunch and an hour for dinner. If we happen to finish early, we are expected to begin missionary work again. This concept as missionaries call diligence. This word is used A LOT. We are told always to ask ourselves, "How can we be more diligent in our work?". Diligent missionaries see miracles on a daily basis. Elder Gehrig and I always try to talk to everyone that is put in our path. As a result, we are able to meet many people each week. We know the more people we contact on the street, the more people we will have to teach, the more people we have to teach leads to more people accepting what we have to offer- the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

In other news, this past Thursday was our zones temple P-Day. After attending the temple in Seoul, the four of us elders decided to go to 강남 (Ghangnam sp?). This city is the same exact city that is mentioned in the very famous song "Ghangnam Style". This city is HUGE. It reminds me so much of New York City. Thousands of taxis and buses on the streets. Extremely tall buildings and very expensive stores. One store in particular that we went to was the Nike store. Before we went I was told that there was a mini-basketball court inside. Needless to say I was more than a little excited to go there because I haven't played a game of basketball in about 2 months :(. As soon as we walked in, anybody could tell that only rich people could afford to shop there. Every item was right off the market and displayed beautifully and the prices were through the roof! One pair of socks was 30,000 won.(About $40,.00 US) Crazy! But as you all know, i did not go there to shop. I went there to play basketball . The small court they had was all I needed. I was able to try out different kinds/ types of basketballs. While I was playing a group of teenage Koreans saw me. I invited them to come over. When they came I spun the ball on my finger and then transferred the spinning ball to each of their fingers. For each of them the ball fell off after a few seconds but they were so excited and happy because of it. 

I absolutely love Korea and its people. I am extremely thankful to be where I am today. Thank you for all of your support! Till next time!!

Elder Eads

Stand a little taller...

Another p-day trip to the zoo...no email but excerpts from some snail mail letters.

The following are from some handwritten snail mail Elder Eads has written recently, I am sorry I do not know how to change or type words in Korean yet to help with the following paragraphs.

One interesting translation in Korean is the word (Korean letters) which means "to repent" it is also the thing that I say when talking about my major at BYU-Hawaii, Accounting.  I take the route of the word (Korean Letters)=accounting (Korean letters)=the act of doing something) So sometimes missionaries get confused when I say my major is (Korean letters) accounting, because they first think repentance which really is defined as "reconciliation for sin." First time I learned that I chuckled.

Ward members always get a kick out of my nickname out here.  My name is (Korean letters) which is "Eads Elder".  My nickname is (Korean Letters) "0/" means two and (Korean Letters means meter so directly translated it means "Two Meter Elder" which is very accurate because at 6'7" tall I am just over two meters.  Every Korean gets a kick out of it.

I am so busy I forgot about the fourth...

So believe it or not, Korea makes you forget about American holidays. Although the American elders in my district did some American things. For example I had my first experience at McDonald's in Korea. It was also my first hamburger in Korea as well. Because I eat crazy healthy here in Korea (I have lost about 12 kg of fat, I am currently 102 kg) the burger did not settle very well with me and I realized that paying about 6,000 won for a big mac when I could buy something for half that price for twice as much food, McDonald's is no longer worth it. It was a bittersweet realization. 

In other news, I have never been so busy. We have a lesson everyday about and talk to everyone here on the streets of Korea. Interestingly, our potential investigators take us to a near by coffee shop. I have been there many times. Of course we only drink juice but I personally think its interesting seeing two missionaries at a coffee shop. 

I personally love Korea. I see reasons everyday why I have been called to serve here. This service is a lot bigger than I am. I realize that more and more everyday. 

All my love,

Elder Eads

Fourth of July salute for the American Elders

Companionship study?

Sometimes I am a little to large for Korea