Elder Junk's Washington DC South Mission Blog: 7-18-2017

How is everyone doing?? I never know where to begin with these emails because there is so much that needs to be said and I don't want to jumble everything together without making sense. First off I need to thank everyone again for all the love, support, emails, letters, and packages here at the MTC. My buddy The District Leader, AKA Elder Fowler (rooming with me), AKA The Mailman, is pretty jealous of giving me package slips and letters to me. He is probably sick and tired for how I have the best friends and family out there. Everyday it is the same "You're killing the game Elder Junk" hahaha. Good to hear from everyone and all of it is brightening my day and helping me push on. Everyone has been awesome and I have enjoyed reading all the emails and letters.

Well I will just start off with Wednesday since it was a pretty eventful day. Unfortunately, my companion Elder Birrell got super sick. I had the opportunity to give him a blessing and it was my first one. That was a super sweet experience, and he has been a trooper this whole past week pushing through sickness to meet with investigators, go to the meetings, and get up. He did not let anything stop him! I was on edge the whole day because I knew Elder Thornock was coming. I was on the lookout and literally told everyone in the building if they see him they have to let me know where he is at. Well at dinner time people thought it would be funny to tell me his room was right next to me and that he was part of my zone. They all proceeded to tell me how they met him and they knew all about him and he was my best friend. I eventually got sick of their "pranks" and told them all to be quiet because I knew they were messing with me. They apologized and said they were just "kidding". After a long day finishing class, no sign of Elder Thornock and I was pretty bummed. As I am walking around the corner some of the Elders said, "let's go meet the new kids that just got here today" so I followed them in a room and sure enough Elder Thornock was in a room right next to mine. The elders in my district were telling the truth. They did some kind of reverse psychology on me. Nonetheless, I was pumped to see Sage. He is apart of my zone which means we all have the same meal time, study time, gym time. and we get to see each other pretty much everywhere. We all get to hangout with all the Elders before going to bed. His companion is a stud, and I have gotten to know the Elders in his room a little bit. All the Elders in the district have grown close with him and his companion! Super sweet to have him here with me.

Had some great lessons this week with our TRC investigators. With my companion being sick, we gave him some time off so I had the opportunity to teach the same people just with different companions. I got to teach with Elder Fowler and Elder Gibb. They are awesome and I loved teaching with them. Seriously I have grown so close with the Elders here that they seem to have been my best friends forever now. Speaking of best friends, Elder Holden is coming here tomorrow and I am hoping somehow he gets in with the same situation as Elder Thornock!

We got a new teacher for our classroom and he is from Argentina. The first thing he said was "I am going to push you hard and to your limits to make you the best missionaries you can be". To be honest at first glance and by looking at him I thought he was going to be kind of boring. I was dead wrong. This guy is amazing and is incredible at teaching. He is only 21 but I feel as if he has been around for over a century the way he knows the scriptures and gospel. He expects a lot out of us after his wisdom and teachings. Brother Leszynski has motivated me and got me pumped to get out to the actual field and try my absolute hardest. I can't wait to give it my all out there in DC South.

Yesterday was one of the most spiritual experiences I have had here at the MTC. There was a district leaving to Wisconsin and they were all super great kids. They were here a week before us and helped us get settled in the MTC and showed us the ins and outs of everything. So every week before a district heads out we all meet together as a Zone in the main room and have a testimony meeting. It was honestly so amazing hearing everyone's testimony and story leading them to a mission. I am going to miss a lot of them.

From L to R-Elder Earnest from Brigham City, Me, Elder Allred who is a stud and I need grandma to do some family history work on how we are related, and Elder Thompson nicest kid ever from Syracuse. All going to Wisconsin.

Now it's weirder to think that we will be those Elders leaving. We got our flight plans and leave the MTC at 2:30 AM on Monday. Our flight leaves to DC at 5:50 then we have a layover for an hour in Minnesota at 9:20. Super crazy! I know this week is going to fly by. Tomorrow we are hosting missionaries and are waiting by the curb for them to get dropped off and take them to their rooms. I am super pumped because my Host helped me out a lot and reassured me that everything would be okay. I am excited to help the new missionaries while getting to know them!

As I have mentioned before, the MTC basketball is awesome here. We have had some great and competitive games everyday. It is all we do for gym time. We were playing on Saturday with Sage and a ton of other guys. Some of you may know how passionate I am about things and sometimes let the emotions get the best of me. We were playing one of the Elders in Sage's room and me and him got after it a little bit. Nothing too physical but there was some exciting tension in all the games which made it even more fun. It all makes for an eventful time here at the MTC. People overreacting, flopping, and ankles getting broken left and right, all the way to Elder Junk getting after it with an Elder in his zone. Haha everything is good and I am enjoying it a lot.

I do not know what to think about leaving the MTC in less than a week. It seems like I have been here for eternity but has gone by quick. I am beginning to understand the notion of "A day feels like a week and a week feels like a day." I am going to miss everything and all the relationships here at the MTC. It has been great to me but it is "time for me to fly" and get on out of here. Earlier this week we were able to go off campus to pick up a prescription for my companion. I cannot tell you how free I felt taking that short 15 minute vacation away from the campus. With anything a new journey awaits and I am feeling all sorts of feelings from excited to nervous. I miss and love all of you so much. I would like to end with this quote, "If you are experiencing trials you have the opportunity to come unto Christ" I can testify to all of you that this is true. When we are going through trials that is when we need to turn to Christ the most and start doing the things to get us back on track. When we do this we become stronger and closer with him. Life is great and just know that we are all blessed and I love this Gospel.

Talk to you soon!

Love,

Elder Junk

P.S. ALSO, HUGE HUGE THANK YOU FOR ALL THE PACKAGES AND LETTERS AND EMAILS ESPECIALLY FROM YOU AND ALL THE FAMILY MEMBERS. Everyone is jealous and I am so thankful for everything you have sent. It means the world and I think I have about a million cankers but it is all worth it. LOVE YOU so so so so so so so much.