Korean Drum






Korean Jet plane... Brian's caption said "dad, i'm


leaving on a jet plane.."







It's grape season again in Korea... yummy!







Elder Pak getting pushed into the water... silly Brian!

Letter from August 27, 2009

Dear Family,

I hope you enjoy the pictures i sent! It has been a good week. We had a Family Home Evening on Monday. It turned out pretty good except that the Bishop and his family showed up late and so it was just us, the ward mission leader, and our investigator for a while... not a huge turn out but it was still fun. It didn't go quite as planned but we want to try it again, maybe with all the singles in our ward and tell them to bring their non-member friends. I think it could be a really good finding tool if it is well planned. We had a zone conference yesterday. There is this lady who is going to take the place of a sister missionary this coming transfer. She is from the United States but she was like an actress or something in some Korean film. I guess while she was here she met missionaries and members of the church. She told her story of how she came to know the Book of Mormon was true, which involved her praying to know if the Book of Mormon was the word of God and then randomly opening up to 3rd Nephi 27:26-27 and getting her answer. It was a really cool story. Some people come all the way to Korea to find the gospel. I hope everyone is doing well. Have a great week.

Love, Elder Brian Woodbury

Letter from July 30, 2009

Dear Family,

It was another week that just kind of went by in a blur. Oh yeah, I have some kind of bad news... I went to a district meeting on Tuesday and took the subway on the way back home and accidentally left my scriptures on the train :( They were scriptures that i had had for a very long time... since my baptism. I told the workers at the station and they made some phone calls and nobody was able to find them. I am a little bit sad, but it was about time for new ones anyway ( i kind of wish i would have gotten new ones at the beginning of my mission.) I prayed that i would be able to have them returned to me, but still no work from anyone. Who knows? Maybe they will be of some great use for someone else. I am not sure if you will have to send me new ones. I am going to find out if i can order some through the mission office. For the last couple of weeks i have been studying out of a paperback Book of Mormon in the mornings, like the one i sent home at Christmas. It's okay though, don't mourn my scriptures.

Other than that it has been a really good week. The bishop asked me to speak in Sacrament meeting on Sunday about an hour before Sacrament meeting started, about member missionary work. I really like the bishop in our ward. Did i ever mention that missionaries found him drunk on the beach 9 years ago and now he is a bishop, married with two daughters and one on the way? He has a powerful testimonyand he is a blessing to the other church leaders in Korea. Anyway, my talk was about 5 minutes long and I have been thinking about member missionary work a lot lately.I hope to see miracles that come as members and missionaries work together to find people ready to receive the gospel. Well i love you all. Thank you for your prayers!

Love, Elder Brian Woodbury

Letter from July 9, 2009

Dear family,

There is still good work going on here. I am keeping my chin up and trying my best. I am learning a lot workingwith a new missionary. I have had experiences that have made me feel almost like a parent. There is wonderful advice in the Doctrine and Covenants that talks about Christlike leadership. (there is a reference to it in the missionary handbook) I think about how great it would be if everyone in leadership positions could follow that counsel at the end of section 121. I think about a loving Heavenly Father who gave all his children the gift of agency and i wonder how he feels when he sees them using that gift in ways that cause them to lose blessings. It has definitely been the greatest challenge i have faced on my mission, training that is, but i'm hoping it will turn out to be the rewarding as well.

We still have a baptism for Yun Jae Sung scheduled. Pray that everything will turn out well with that and keep praying Yun Hyung Geun will have the desire to be baptized. Other than that not much has changed here. We got to go to a special meeting today in Song Pa. A specialist on Korean history and religions came and talked with us and it was really interesting. I had no idea about a lot of the history, like the different dynasties throughout Korea's history. Anyway, I love you all so much!

Love Elder Brian Woodbury

Brian's letter from July 2, 2009

Dear family,

It has been a great week. Training a new missionary is quite a different experience. I have taken for granted how much there is to learn, mostly about the basic things of missionary work and Korea. Yet sometimes i feel i am still learning the most basic things about missionary work and korea. We are working hard though and seeing the blessings. We have another baptismal date set with Yun Jae Sung. It is for the 25th of July. Pray that he will be able to come to churchand that his baptism will go through. Also, pray for Gwak Gyung Lim to get an answer to his prayer.

My companion is doing good. He just needs a little bit of courage and faith to dive straight into the work. We are working on it. It is strange to think that it was last July when i first came to Korea. Where does the time go? I have been studying a lot about the doctrines of the gospel. Throughout the mission we have been talking about a quote given by President Packer that says something along the lines of " the study of the doctrines will improve behavior faster than the study of behavior." Anyway, it is a really cool quote and it makes me think of how amazing the Atonement of Jesus Christ is. Through His Atonement we can become new people, disciples of Jesus Christ and put away old attitudes and behaviors. I love you all so much. Have a great week!

Elder Brian Woodbury

Overview

Okay so since I'm coming in a little late into Brian's mission, i am just going to give an overview of the main events that have occurred so far. Basically, Brian left to the MTC on May 10, 2008. He stayed there until July 21st, then left for Korea. He arrived in Seoul Korea on July 23rd and was assigned as Elder Blatter's companion. They worked together for several months, until Brian was transferred to Yongkin in October of 2008. There he was paired with Elder Roe. They worked together until about April and then Brian was transferred to Anyang (Ahn-yahng), where he worked with Elder Verhagen. At the end of June, Brian got a new companion to train, Elder Bessey. They are still working with each other.
Since summarizing Brian's letters just doesn't do them justice, i am going to post them on here, starting from the beginning of July 2009.

Just Leaving

Brian has been out for 13 monthes, yet naturally, i have just started this blog. Since I don't want anyone to miss out on the whole story of Brian's mission, i will just start at the beginning....



Brian was called to serve in the Korea Seoul West Mission and reported to the MTC on May 7, 2008. We took a family vacation to Utah and dropped him off there, getting to see the MTC and stay for the orientation meeting.



After the meeting, we said our final goodbyes and left for the long ride back to AZ. It was unsettling how fast the farewell was. However, as a family we agreed that saying goodbye is easier the second time around...



Here are some pictures of all of us at the MTC:







Brian and his Dork Dot







Although it was hard to say goodbye, Brian had a strong love for Korea (as shown in the video) and so we let him go...