Elder Scott Snell:

(Monday, 3/24/08)
Well, here I am all the way from the other side of the world.
OK - before I get in to the Korea part, I will tell you about my plane ride. It was probably the best plane ride ever! I just got done talking to all of you and we were getting ready to get on the plane and such. Elder Harris and I were sitting together in a three person row which meant that I got to sit next to someone I didn't know at all.
So, we get on the plane and there is my seat right next to this Korean girl. We sit down and get all situated. I started talking to this girl in the very broken Korean that I know. She was very impressed that we had only been studying for two months. Her name was Sue Reem. I told her I was a missionary and to make a long story short, Elder Harris and I ended up teaching the whole first lesson and I gave her a Book of Mormon which she started reading on the plane. I got her phone number and info. It was awesome! Oh and this was all before we even left the ground in Atlanta. The amazing thing is that I had been stressing out because I had bought a Book of Mormon to give away. I had no idea how I was going to do this. So I had been praying for help all day. So, there is some proof that if you ask, ye shall receive.

We got to Korea and the first meal I ate in Korea was Bennigans. Yeah, you know the English resturant. Yeah, I had a fajita - how lame is that! We were on our layover in Seoul and we ran into the Mission Presidents of the Seoul West and Tajeon mission and they took us out to eat. It was really nice of them.

We got to Pusan, met our President and they took us back to the misison home. We really didn't do anything that night. We were all beat and I was asleep before my head even hit the pillow, when I swear what was two seconds later, we were woken up. We got rushed into our clothes and out the door before six. We went to heaven on earth! It is this little piece of goodness called Mogioton. It's a public bath house. I know, it sounds a little iffy but oh WOW. They have giant pools of just about everything you can imagine. It was so nice to relax and try to recouperate from the two days before.
After the bath house we ate, got ready for the day, met some trainers, and got matched up with some random ones and off in to the city we went at an all out run. To the subway to talk to peolpe. They threw us into the deep end. It was insane. We ran everywhere. I even got to do some soap boxing. It was actually kind of fun.

After that and seeing a lot of Pusan we got our real trainers and area. My trainer "dad" is Elder Mitchell. He is from Kansas and he is not taller then me and he is a pretty cool guy so I got pretty lucky. We are in the Shi Gul which means country. Our area is called Samcheonpo (som chun po). That is where our house is. You still send all the letters and stuff to the mission house first and they foward them where they need to go. Our church is in Sacheon. It's above a Japenese resturant and we have about fifteen members in our branch and I am now the Second Counselor.

We have squatter toilets which is like going in the woods pretty much. A ping pong table. It is a good branch though. I am just trying to take it all in right now. I really don't think that it has hit me that I am in Korea yet. The food is so different and is going to take some getting use to. So thanks dad for that little bit on what you guys ate.

Mom don't worry about me, I am probably safer then you are at the moment. I love you all and can't wait to hear from you next week. I love you all. Elder Snell