Sunday, September 26, 2010

Short But Sweet

Mom!!! and Family!!!

 The holiday was fun but it's been good to get back to work now!! This email will be a little short because were going to Lotte World for Elder Christensen’s last p-day!! Time flies. This transfer is already over. Wow!! Did Boots get his call?? Mom, I wrote you a 3 page letter that I will be sending tomorrow I think! You will like it! I've still only got one letter from home, the very very first one! Nothing else has came yet. I heard packages can take a month but it's only a few weeks for letters like 10 days or 14. I don't know haha.. We had a bunch of crazy stuff happen to us this week but I wrote about it in the letter home so I don't want to spoil it all!! I get a new companion on Wednesday which is insane but it will be good! I'm pretty excited!!! Elder Christensen will get home on October 1st I think so I will give you his info next week and you can call him! He's just going to be working until January when he starts school! I'm almost done with the New Testament as well! I love it!! Well, we have to run , sorry this is super short! I'll write a really long one next week!! And you'll get to find out about  my new comp! We took two of our investigators to a baptismal service yesterday! they really liked it, tonight we are going to set a date for our other investigator that is ready to be baptized!!!! I will let you know how it goes!! I love you all!

Love, Elder Frei

Monday, September 20, 2010

Pictures from Elder Frei in Korea!

Chase's new name tag.


Chase's tiny, tiny bathroom/shower.



Chase in his South Korea Soccer Jersey !


Elder Christensen and Elder Frei


Elder Frei's $70 Rolex :)

Elder Frei and Sister Lee


Hello mom! and everyone else!


Ha that's sweet that elder Beasely's dad called you! They took us out to eat and stuff! It was way fun but it was awkward for me to talk to people that were American I didn't know what to say.. It was so weird!!! That was right after I got here though so it's better now I think ha! I want you guys to come pick me up, I'm not sure how it works I'm sure I'll find out around next September or October and we will start planning it! I'm glad you decided to write me letters with pictures every week! That will be nice! Ha it's about time Zack started playing! What is Dixie's record so far this year?? What about sc??? Ha maybe one day Zack will be almost as good as me! Probably not though.. I could run so fast right now! I've lost some weight I'm getting pretty skinny! I got my soccer jersey! It's awesome! I'll attach a picture of it! I took a bunch of pictures for you!

That's sweet that Voran got his call! Germany will be sweet! But hard to baptize! So is Korea though! But the Lord still prepares people everywhere!! That's for sure! When will boots get his call?? I’ll have been out for like 9 months by the time he leaves! Crazy!!!
So anyways, right now we’re teaching 3 people that are serious about joining the church! One of them tells us to call him Michael Choi! His real name is 최 하 섭! He is awesome! He took us out to eat the other night and bought us both gifts! He bought me a stamp box (everyone gets stamps with their name on it to use at banks and stuff) he has committed to be baptized but, he doesn't want to until December! So right now we are teaching him the importance of baptism! Hopefully he will change his mind! One time he brought a friend with him and he introduced me like this " this is Elder Frei, he is my teacher for MY church" he already considers himself a member of our church! It's awesome!!! He is way nice!! I love him!! Everyone is going to be gone this week because of the holiday so we just have to do different stuff this week, yes mom I will have time to write you a detailed letter this week!!! I will try to find somewhere to print off some pictures! It's hard to navigate in Korea though! Especially when your not fluent in Korean!! Sorry I ended up emailing today, we thought it was Wednesday but then they told us to do it today!!! on Wednesday we have a huge soccer tournament! I'm pumped!! Ha we bought wax so we could do our hair like were European!! I'll send you a picture with my whole zone in them next week!

Well that's about all!!! I love you all!!! Be gratefull to have to gospel in your life everyday! And to live in a place that is not corrupt and wicked!!! I hope everyone has a good week!!!

사랑해요,

프라이 장로



love,

Elder Frei



Sunday, September 12, 2010

20 Questions

Mom! Thanks for the email ha it was good to get one from you this week!  I'm excited for Haden’s baptism! One thing I would really stress is scripture study! and not just reading the scriptures. It's totally different! I've learned that already since I've been here! I always study with a purpose and my studying has improved like 20 times since I was in the MTC! I love it. Liken all scriptures unto ourselves! I'll write another one today. I got the letter from you two Wednesdays ago but I’m not sure when it got here because I only get mail when we see the office elders cause they receive it all! so right now I see them at least once a week because I'm in their zone! When I get transferred I might only get it once a transfer! anyways.. that's awesome that hunter is loving football! tell him to work hard!!!
In my email to Chase I asked him 20 questions. Here are his answers.

Will You send pictures of your apartment? Any anything else that is interesting?
I'll attach some pictures and stuff .I see interesting stuff every day haha my apartment is so ghetto though.. Next week I'll send you a pic of the bathroom! It's so small.

Did the tree fall down Yet?
Ha the tree got cut down! They had workers come cut it down and a bunch of other trees! It was crazy though

Will you get me some Korean ties for the boys?

I only wear Korean ties because the American ties are silk and the humidity destroys them!

Do Koreans use tooth paste or sell it? (Chase has asked me in every letter to send tooth paste.)

Koreans use toothpaste but it's like this nasty sugar paste stuff it's gross! They don't sell American toothpaste.

Do the Koreans use deodorant? (This is another thing Chase keeps asking me to send.)
Koreans have adapted so much that they don't stink when they sweat as long as they eat Korean food! Ha it is so weird. So they don't sell it over here!

What is your apartment address in Korea, so that we can Google Earth you?

I'll look up my houses address and tell you next week!

How often do you see your Mission Presidents?
I see president about once a week.. Because I'm in the zone where he lives! So that's awesome. I love him he is the best man in the world!

How is your toe? Is it healing? Another one of Chase’s injuries before he left.

I cut my nail way short in the MTC and now it is growing back fine! I'll get a picture next week.

How is your ankle? Chase’s second injury before the mission
.
My ankle is ok. Not normal yet though, it's frustrating!

Are your wrist’s completely healed? Chase’s third injury before leaving.

 my wrists are normal.

Are you getting exercise?

I exercise every morning! We've been running stairs every morning that isn't pouring rain! I'll send a pic of the stair case it's huge!

Have you given any of the English CTR rings away? Grandma Winn said that you sent a picture of some children. I haven't seen those yet.

I thought I sent you a picture of those little girls?? I love them!! Their mom got baptized recently, I gave all three of them rings! They love them! They are so cute! I can finally communicate with them a little bit now!


W
ill you let me know how a typical day In Seoul, Korea goes?
ha there is no such thing as a typical day in Korea! So the typical day is: you expect that something crazy is going to happen to you every day. Ha we see drunk people just passed out on the sidewalk all over the place. We want to make a documentary of it! When we go out at like 11am people are already drunk it's so crazy! let's see.. typical day we go out and talk to people and it's just insane!! we went to this really really poor neighborhood that was built right after the war yesterday.. I'll send you some pictures of it, it was insane!
When I get time I'll go print some pictures.

Any new interesting foods that you have eaten?

Always new foods! haha two days ago I ate oyster soup! It was good! I'll send a picture of it! I'm pretty good with chop sticks now!

Did the pig intestines give you the stamina that you needed to get through the summer?

ha so much stamina from the intestines you have no idea ;)

How is the humidity? Are you always wet? Do you have any idea what I was talking about when I was always fine with it being warmer that most. Anything dry seems fine to us. :)

 I never stop sweating. It's cooling down a little.. I would give anything for Santa Clara dry heat! It's rough!

Can't wait for next Sunday! I love hearing about your week and love seeing your pictures. Have an awesome week. And a great  ???? Ha I hope that google translator works.

ha thanks. the translator works it says chu suk day! good job!
 ? ? ?.

New Photo's From Chase

          South Korean girls learning English.  Chase and Elder Christensen at the Seoul Temple.  

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Typhoon Kompasu strikes Seoul

Family! This past week was awesome!!! So many awesome things happened!!! Ha I was in a typhoon Wednesday morning! It was insane there were like 60mph winds! The city got wrecked! A tree in front of my house is about to fall from it! And if it does it will fall right on top of our house!! Haha this past week we had two of your investigators tell us that they would get baptized when they knew it was true!! We had some very good lessons with them. They were amazing! I want to know everything that is going on back at home! I only got emails from Hayley and Grandma Winn this week! What's up with that?? Did you get all the pictures I, attached with that last email? When you send me a package will you put some pictures of me playing basketball and football in them? Or just interesting pictures.. All of our investigators love to see pictures of us so I, think those would be sweet to have! Ha today were going to get jerseys made for chu-suk day! That's like thanksgiving in Korea but way bigger! It's on the 22nd I think or the 23rd.. so that week my p-day is on Wednesday! but anyways we are having a big soccer tournament and we can get jerseys made for 20$! It's like legit jerseys that the famous soccer teams wear with shorts socks and names on the back of them Haha! I'm excited! Korea is sweet! Dad's birthday is coming up! That's crazy! time goes by so fast out here I can't even believe it! I love it though. So much!!! A few days ago we stopped this guy and started talking to him and he went off on us and we started bible bashing with him! ha he said we didn't know the bible and he asked Elder Christensen how many times he had read the New Testament! He said like 5!! the man said then read it 10!! He said read this once!!! And held up the Book of Mormon! He said OK! And snatched it out of his hand it was so funny! And then he was super nice to us ha Koreans are super funny like that! They'll be so mad but then it just doesn't matter! ha! the last 3 days we had someone stay at our house with us! his name is elder 정 (jung) he left for the MTC today!! Haha it was a pretty cool experience to get to know him and he's going to the MTC so I know most of the people he will meet! I had him take some letters to my teachers and a couple of elders with him so that should be pretty sweet!!


Well, keep me updated on football!! I'm missing out! Mom, you better not miss another week!

Love,

Elder Frei

I am not sure what happened last week but my email did not get to him, and I did not get his second email with pictures. :(
 
Here is an article from the Korean Times about Typhoon Kompasu.
 
Typhoon batters Seoul, west coast areas




Typhoon Kompasu struck central South Korea early Thursday morning, bringing downpours and gusts that paralyzed metro operations in Seoul and adjacent areas.

With almost all above-ground sections of Seoul's subway lines out of service, street trees toppled and winds blowing at a speed of over 20 meters per second, commuters and students were forced to undergo the worst transportation chaos in decades.

The typhoon caused power outages along the west coast and forced airlines to cancel or divert domestic and international flights.

Kompasu is the strongest tropical storm to hit Seoul in 15 years.

The seventh typhoon of the year reached Ganghwa Island on the west coast at a speed of 45 kilometers per hour as of 6:35 a.m., according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).

The KMA issued typhoon warnings for Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and South Chungcheong Province, forecasting the tropical storm is expected to move to the East Sea Thursday afternoon.





Best Zone In Korea
 
 
Elder Christensen, Chase's companion. Behind them you can see the pouring rain.
The falling tree.