8-28-2017 - I Become A Math Tutor

Mail:

Elder Carson Lewis Junk

Washington DC South Mission

5242 Lyngate Court

Burke, VA 22015

From: Carson Lewis Junk [mailto:carson.junk@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, August 28, 2017 2:31 PM
To: Kathy Junk
Subject: I become a math tutor

Hello! How is everyone doing? It has been a great 5 days since I have last been able to talk to everyone! The days are still flying by and I am enjoying the sweet, funny, crazy, and spiritual experiences here in the Washington, D.C. South mission.

This week has again had ups and downs as far as contacting people goes. We have been really trying our best to find other investigators besides Pamela and Joe. We contact everyone in our area book and it seems that we are whittling down the list of investigators and potential investigators. This can be a good thing though, because we are still doing some cleanup around the area and finding out who really wants to hear the message.

I appreciate all the prayers for the investigators Joe and Pamela. Joe is doing awesome and came to church for the first time with us yesterday which was awesome! This was my first investigator I have had attend church so it was kind of a defining moment for me as far as missionary work goes. The ward is awesome and extended so much love and support to Joe and he said that Church was interesting and he really loved it. He definitely said he would be coming back next week and we could meet with him on Thursday. Pamela is doing better! She told us unfortunately that one of her friends she had hung out with a few times in the past had unexpectedly died. That would be very hard, but that is what makes The Plan of Salvation so beautiful. That she will be able to see her friend again, and it is all because of the wonderful Plan of Happiness and Jesus Christ suffering for us and going through the Atonement. The Plan of Salvation is my favorite lesson to teach because it truly is so awesome that we will all be able to live in Heaven and return back to our loving Heavenly Father. This Earth life is so short compared to eternity! Anyway, we had a great lesson with Pamela and we talked more about baptism. Unfortunately, Pamela wants to be baptized at her Baptist church. It is amazing that she is taking a step and coming closer to Jesus Christ, but sad she doesn't want to come to our church. She is still open to it though and our Bishop is going to meet her and help her with a program in the church called "MyPath" which helps people find better careers and jobs. Another awesome thing about the Church and helping others in life!

I definitely have had some of the most funny moments here these last 5 days. Elder Roper and I were walking home one night on the main road of Woodbridge the 1, or the Jefferson Davis Highway. These Highschoolers were jammed inside a small Chevy Cruze. For some reason when they saw Elder Roper and I walking through the crosswalk, they went absolutely nuts. They were honking their horn, yelling at us, flashing some inappropriate bird hand signals at us, and laughing there heads off! They were having the time of their life just looking at the missionaries! Anyway, I thought that was pretty funny and I just turned and gave them a good thumbs up. Shout out to those cute knuckleheads haha. 

We also had a pass-off lesson with The Dale City Elders. This guy is a less-active member who was baptized in our ward but moved for a short period of time to the Dale City Ward. He got his member records transferred back to Woodbridge 1st and is now claimed as ours. His name is the famous Brother_______, and his catch phrase is "EAT THE BLACK BANANA" For some reason he only likes bruised bananas and claims they are better than the normal? This guy is a character and has a lot of problems with his testimony but knows that the church is true so he has the missionaries metaphorically hold his hand to help him. I will get to the point, he has a master's in English but is absolutely terrible at Math. Brother____ is trying to get a teaching license but the test requires to pass a math portion. He has also never read The Book of Mormon. SO The Dale City Elders have been tutoring him in math for 30 minutes in exchange that he reads 30 minutes of The Book of Mormon. We met with him on Saturday and I was taken back to 6th grade math. Elder Roper and I have to teach him the basics before we get to any material for his exam! Quite the experience!

Yesterday, Elder Roper and I were waiting to teach a member from our church. There were these two guys from Sierra Leone outside and we decided to talk to them. One of them named Jacob was easily one of the nicest guys out there. He was praising us for the work we were doing at such a young age. We talked to him and referred him to the missionaries in the area. I got a picture with him. He posted all these "live videos" of me with him on Facebook praising us and the lord and "The greatest Country in the World" Great guy and made me feel great and glad to be doing what I am doing!

I love this gospel so much and I am so thankful for the work and opportunity I have to serve the Lord for this short time. I have a strong testimony in Jesus Christ and how much he has done for us. I know that he has the ability to help us through any trials and things we are struggling with. After all, he suffered every pain and affliction out there and did it all for US, and for us to be able to have eternal life and live in the presence of our loving Heavenly Father. I love all of you so much and would invite all of you to realize the great joy found in this Gospel and Jesus Christ. Have a great week and talk to you soon.

Love, Elder Junk

Elder Roper and I with Samuel Saidu - "the man"

Jacob - the guy from Sierra Leon who I met yesterday and was so nice to me

Master Chef Macaroni Skills

Me in normal clothes - get to go help someone move tonight

And well no real, reason

8-23-2017 - A Change of Scenery: Wood"rich"

Mail:

Elder Carson Lewis Junk

Washington DC South Mission

5242 Lyngate Court

Burke, VA 22015

From: Carson Lewis Junk [mailto:carson.junk@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2017 3:12 PM
To: Kathy Junk
Subject: Elder Junk's A Change of scenery: Wood"rich"

Well it is good to finally be able to talk to you. Let me start out by saying that the two extra days without P-Day have been tough. Those two days felt like a while. P-Day is always much needed to relax after a hot, long, and humid week! Today Elder Roper and I as well as The Dale City Elders (Elder Saxton and Clark) had the wonderful opportunity to go to the temple. A Senior couple Brother and Sister Parker took us all out for a 10 o clock session. First off, the senior couples out here treat all the missionaries like their grand kids, (at least that's what their rules are) They picked us up and brought us donuts and milk, drove us to the temple, then treated us for lunch after at FiveGuys. Honestly, some of the nicest people around making it a great P-Day. We got to go with our brothers, the Dale City Elders. The Dale City Elders are amazing because we have grown so close to them and they are the ones with the car. Thanks to them they drive us to get groceries, play basketball, and everything else we need, all on P-Day. They even save us from huge random rain storms that hit during the week while we are walking and drive us home. Great Elders and people as well as a Taxi service. It truly has been awesome getting to know them like we have and to be right next to them in the mission. Anyway, the temple was amazing and it has been a wonderful opportunity to have already gone their two times during my mission. Incredible place. 

Well, to start off this week has been a good one full of different ups and downs.Thursday we had a great day/interviews with President Huntsman. President Huntsman is such a great guy and has an amazing spirit. The interview was only about 10 minutes long but I wished I had about an hour to talk to him. He told me that there are 32 new missionaries coming this transfer which is insane! I'm curious to see what will happen with all the companionship's. Lots of rumors going around about "trios" or different training methods. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Saturday we were in a trio just for the day with the zone leader Elder Walker who I had gone on an exchange with previously. His companion is going home so we spent the day with him doing work around our area. He drives a car and I am not sure which one makes you more tired, a car or a bike. On a bike, you can only have so many appointments or people to try to see and then you have time in between to get to different peoples houses. With a car, we stop by s  many places and talked to so many people I was all worn out by the end of the day. I love the bike though because it has kept me in shape. Also without the bike I might actually gain a few pounds, which would be unheard of but actually nice for the little C-Town BUT we are biking so much I stay at the constant weight. It was a great time being in a trio and felt like we accomplished so much. It was kind of intimidating because we taught a whole Catholic family as a trio and it was my first time teaching a full family. They were super nice and super super cool and didn't bash or anything. We ended up inviting them to do a lot of things but they didn't really accept. I felt as if it was more of a social experiment for their kids to see what we believed. Either way, it was a great experience getting to know that family and actually teach a family.

Things have been a little slow around here in Woodbridge. We are struggling to find some serious and actual investigators who are interested in learning the message. Elder Roper and I continue to work hard and do our best and don't let anything stop us. Its has just been a little hard due to so many hours of no actual lessons or communication with people. There are two specific investigators we could use some prayers for, Joe and Pamela. Joe is a guy we met peeking out of his door when we were talking to someone not interested on a side of a road. We decided to go talk to him and see how he was doing. As we were talking to him we scheduled an appointment with him and got to know him. Joe is 52 year old single guy with no kids,  and has been going through a really hard time in life. We were able to meet with him twice this past week and share how the message of the Gospel will bless his life and his difficulty with his family. Needless to say he has been awesome and loves our message. He tells us that he believes we have been an answer to his prayers. He shared a cool story with us that he has seen other missionaries like us in the past and would tell them he wasn't interested, but for some reason his heart was open to the message Elder Roper and I shared. We committed him to a baptismal date in October to give him some time and he accepted! That has been super awesome working with him and we will be going to church with him on Sunday. Pamela is another girl age 19 who is going through a hard time but loves our message! we have been sturggling to meet with her but would love the extra prayers for both of them. They are our most solid investigators and are super cool people.

So the eclipse….I will address this quickly, on Monday Elder Roper and I were able to see up to about 25% of the eclipse.  Elder Ropers mom  sent us some glasses to view it and it was awesome. We got to watch it for about 45 minutes  and about 15 minutes before the "Total Solar Eclipse" was going to happen it started storming and pouring down rain. It was unfortunate but still very cool to see what we got! Later that night something happened that  I consider to be one of the hardest times/testimony builder so far on the mission. Elder Roper and I were walking home from a long day and contacting people on the sidewalk.  As we were walking, we were sharing pictures of Jesus Christ. A middle aged man with his wife was walking with his 2 kids. I went to ask him if we could give him a card with a picture of Jesus Christ on it. Before I finished he said "not interested." So I said okay and continued on, but he turns around anjd says "Who is Jesus Christ to you?" I proceeded with "The Son of God" Well this guy went from not interested to jerk Basher real fast. For whatever reason this guy was different from the other bashers we have encountered. He looked at us disgustedly and told us to be careful about what we preach and basically was going off on us about how stupid we were. First off, Elder Roper and I handled it well and just testified of the Savior and invited him to find out for himself that the message we share has blessed lives. As you all know, I am a passionate guy so when he said "You should be careful" deep down I was furious and couldn't believe this guy was being a jerk to me for sharing what makes me happy. Anyway, for whatever reason that encounter hit Elder Roper and I pretty hard and we were pretty down walking home in the dark. But right then we were blessed to have a member immediately pull up next to us and offer a ride home which we gladly accepted. I went back home and decided instead of sulking to watch some Mormon Messages, specifically Elder Holland. Man he cheers anyone up. That encounter with the middle aged man strengthened my testimony so much and I am thankful for that experience. Going home and watching those videos, I felt as if my testimony has never been stronger and almost even testified to me more that what I am doing is true. So in the end I won! Haha Mr. Basher!

Sorry for the long E-mail but I must address my subject line--Wood"rich." Elder Roper and I traveled to the most northern part of the mission. Man, their are some dang nice homes up there. Obliviously, some ghetto too but a lot of rich people up north. There are literally only like 7 members who live in this huge rich area in the mission. It made me realize that this mission is bigger than I thought. It is about a 30 minute bike ride up there but for how many houses there are, we have to do better. It makes sense why it was my first time up there, just no previous success. It has given me a desire to do some work up there and do our best. Out of all those people in Wood"rich" we can do better. The scenery up there is beautiful. Deciduous trees and all kinds of ponds. Right along the Potomac it truly is a beautiful area. I look forward to working  there soon. I have so much to improve and work on as a missionary but I love it. I have a testimony of this Gospel and can tell you it is all true. If you want to know for yourself you can find about through simple prayer and reading. I love you all and talk to you soon!

Love, Elder Junk 

PS Shout out to everyone starting school back home. That is so crazy to me!!

8-14-2017 - "Hoodbridge"

From: Carson Lewis Junk [mailto:carson.junk@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, August 14, 2017 2:24 PM
To: Kathy Junk
Subject: "Hoodbridge"

Well the week started off with the Spanish exchange on Tuesday with Elder Walker. Elder Walker is an amazing guy. He is one of our Zone Leaders and is a Spanish missionary. He went to Skyline High School and it was so great getting to know him more. Seriously a stud. His willingness to talk to everyone stuck out to me immediately. We would be across the opposite side of a parking lot and we would run over to someone getting out of there car and strike up a conversation and talk to them. If he saw someone walking on the sidewalk while we were driving, we would pull the car over and jump out and talk to them. He would mark off in his notepad that he talked to at least 20 people a day. If Elder Walker was talking to 20 people in a car area, I should easily be able to do that in a bike area. FIRST off, listening to lessons in fluent Spanish was an experience. Some of the times I didn't know what the heck was going on, but other times I felt as if I could follow along with the conversations and picked up what they were talking about. It was a lot of fun. We were able to have lessons with two fluent Spanish speakers and 1 lesson in English that went very well! A lot of them understood English pretty well and would try and help me through my struggle of speaking Spanish. They were impressed when I said "Puedo usar El bano" or "Podemos de jarle con una tar jeta? Translating to "May I use the bathroom"  and on the street if we were contacting people, "can we give you this free card?"  and it was a picture of Jesus. Great day and I spent the night in his apartment.  In his apartment he had a shirt hanging up that said "Hoodbridge" on it. I liked it and it applied well. I learned a lot of great missionary skills to help me improve!

One of the highlights this week was teaching investigators "Salome" and "FatMada" Elder Roper and I were on our way back to the apartment to have dinner. We decided to knock on some houses that had previous or potential investigators that missionaries had talked to before. We knocked on a door where the family we were looking for had moved, but another woman named Salome answered. She told us to come in immediately and that we could share a message and teach her. They had a big family and they were all from Sierra Leone. We ended up teaching Salome and her mom. It was a really great lesson and we answered some of their questions involving Joseph Smith. We have a lesson scheduled tomorrow to teach more of her family including her husband. FatMada doesn't speak English but understands all of it. She speaks Krio, which is perfect because our friend Samuel who is in the ward and is a recent convert who I've talked about in emails and hangout with all the time; speaks Krio and he's coming to the lesson with us to translate and help us out! Awesome stuff.

Another highlight consisted of playing the first game of "ProsBall" or proselyting ball. As Elder Roper and I were walking back from a lesson, we saw a kid playing basketball, we asked him how he was doing and when the usual games and all the other brothers show up to play basketball. He told us and we started leaving, but he said he had questions about Mormons. So we said, when can we meet with you to help answer these questions? He simply said, "well right now" SO we talked with him and answered lots of questions right then and there on the basketball court. Also gave him a Book of Mormon and Restoration pamphlet. This was one of the many people who had the preconceived notion that Mormons still practice polygymay. But this was the FIRST person I had ever talked to in my life that said polgymay was totally acceptable and understandable, he then proceeded to delve in the Bible and actually supported our prophet Joseph Smith and all of this hahaha. We made sure to tell him it wasn't acceptable or practiced anymore though hahaha. Anyway, one thing led to another and of course I had to play him one-on-one. Let me be the first to say and complain that basketball is hard getting used to in the mission attire and shoes. So after two games, I was warmed up and ready to go. This kid was pretty good but it was time to take it to him. The third game I said that if I beat him he would have to read The Book of Mormon and Restoration pamphlet that same night. He said he was already planning on it, but either way I beat him 7-0. His buddy came by and Elder Roper and I played them one game 2 on 2 and took it to them and beat them pretty quickly. The sweet sweet fun of playing basketball in good old Woodbridge on the mission.

The mission is full of wild and weird experiences. For example, we got a call from a Sister in the ward asking if we could check out something in her attic describing it as some kind of critter knocking each night and morning. This past week we have stopped by twice to find the mysterious creature in the attic. We are not only missionaries serving the lord, but an exterminator service as well. The kid who is living in the room is my age and thinks it's a raccoon but is scared to check himself haha. So Elder Roper and I are the sacrifices, we haven't found anything yet but the first time we threw a pesticide bomb and nothing was dead in there and the second time I was searching up there in the bloody sauna hot, attic for about 15 minutes and I couldn't find the mysterious alien but all in all it adds to the experience. 

We had a great lesson with one of our investigators this week named Pammela! We hadn't brought it up at all but she out of nowhere said she had a desire to be baptized and we had just met her! We taught her a lot of important principles such as who God, Jesus Christ, and the holy ghost are. She had questions about the apostles and Jesus Christ's church. We also got to read the Book of Mormon with her! It was an awesome lesson. This week we also had the opportunity of having Samuel come with us to knock doors and meet with people. This is when I realized that the beautiful city I am in is really "Hoodbridge. " From sketchy little alley fenceways and people hanging out there at night. Or my personal favorite, brothers all hanging out to get there picture taken while throwing 100 dollar bills in front of the local park. We were walking past them and they recognized us as missionaries and said they had balled with us before. I said I would challenge them soon. I should've got a picture with them and all their stacks. 

  

For P-Day today we got to play basketball over at the Stake Center for an hour and a half with our zone. That's what we do every week and then we either shop for groceries before or after.

I can tell you all that this is the mission for me. I'm supposed to be in the Washington DC south mission and I love all of it. The good, the bad, the hard, the crazy, the ghetto,  and the weird, It's all amazing. Even checking for critters in an attic.  Woodbridge or "Hoodbridge" is my home and I'm happy to be here. I love the people and the wonderful learning experiences.  There's no other place like this that could teach me the things I have learned, gained, and developed... and it's only been over a month. I miss you all like CRAZY but this is the best thing I can be doing at this time. Did I mention I love it? Hope you're all doing great and would love to hear what's going on with everyone or just how everyone is doing even if it's short! Love you all

Love, 

Elder Junk

PS it's been storming a lot at night and has been pretty cool! It's lightly raining right now but it makes it nice for biking in. Have a great week everyone! 

ZONE PLAYING BASKETBALL AT THE STAKE CENTER TODAY

THE "CLICHE' ROAD SIGN

ON EXCHANGE WITH SPANISH-SPEAKING ELDER WALKER AND EL LIBRO DE MORMON

TARGET ON P-DAY

THE "READING" CHALLENGE

8-7-2017 - Cat Sitting

From: Carson Lewis Junk [mailto:carson.junk@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, August 7, 2017 2:04 PM
To: Kathy Junk
Subject:

Group Email

Well this week has been an interesting and another eventful one. Full of heat, humidity, rain, sunshine, people trying to Bible bash, investigators, tracting and knocking doors, and an odd assignment of babysitting 6 cats and so much more! All apart of the amazing missionary experience here.  I would first like to start off by saying my concept of time is absolutely bizerk right now on the mission. I have been out for over a month now. It feels like I am a veteran and have been out here for way longer than a mere month. But at the same time it seems to have gone by fast and P-Day couldn't have been a week ago. It's just so weird, the memory of dropping me off at the MTC seems like ages ago. On the flip side, I now hear about all my friends about to leave on their missions and it seemed like they had an eternity time before they were to head out but their time has come! Once school starts for all the people back home,  my mind will be absolutely blown. Sorry for the weird contradicting thoughts and none of that probably made sense, but trust me it does to me and it is such a weird feeling.  

Countless times this week I would wake up at 4 and then couldn't fall back asleep. So the mornings have been a struggle. I have been studying the plan of salvation a lot and have noted scriptures in the Bible and book of Mormon all talking about the plan. It is honestly my favorite doctrine and I can't wait to teach a lesson on it. We have done a lot of different methods of contacting this week. We specifically have been reaching out to literally everyone in the area book calling them and leaving messages. Also, lots and lots of tracting. Which was good,  it finally gave me experience on the door to door approaches. I have a lot to learn especially when people say I am not interested, instead of just saying "oh okay."  I need to focus on building there faith and having them come closer to Christ and not be afraid to still talk to them about similar views. That is the whole purpose I am out here! 

We were riding back from tracting one night and we were close by the house and suddenly my bike exploded. The gear shifter or "derailer" broke off and the chain went flying. That was kind of disappointing but I wasn't too mad about the bike because it had 500 dollars put into it previously by the missionary before me and I only have to pay for the repairs. It just left Elder Roper and I on foot the rest of the time until it gets fixed. 

We taught 3 lessons in one day. My first three lessons of the mission and we ended up handing out three books of Mormon. We taught Aaron a 17 year old the restoration and gave him a book of Mormon he seems pretty interested. It would be hard for a 17 year old senior to be interested in lessons and take time out of his summer but he did! Our next investigator who I think is the most solid is named Claire. We had an awesome lesson. She asked questions and gave us a return appointment. She attends a Pentecostal church but said are views on Jesus Christ are very similar and she wants to learn more. Awesome stuff. Our last appointment was with this Muslim guy named Alli. It was a really good lesson on the restoration but he is just stuck on the prophet Muhammed being the last prophet. Other than that he believes everything we have said is true. He dropped the F bomb at least 10 times and it was pretty funny. But overall a very friendly and smart guy who wants to find out our truth and what we teach!

Whatever reason our smoke detector alarm has been acting up a lot lately. It decided to act up at 4 in the morning (surprise that I was up at that time again)That was rough and it scared the crap out of us. We opened windows and circulated air in the room just in case it was carbon dioxide but turned out the batteries were just dead. We weren't taking any chances on dying though ha ha. I just can't seem to get a good break on sleep. Elder Roper had to go to the urgent care. So we were picked up by Elder Saxton and Elder Clark, The Dale City elders. I love those guys and they are super funny, they always hook it up and give us rides everywhere. We had a nice lunch with them at Arby's and talked all about the funny experiences out here in the mission. Elder Roper was deemed officially pneumonia free by the doctors which is good news!

Elder Roper and I got suited up and all ready for the temple on Friday. That's RIGHT, the Washington, D.C temple!! I was so pumped. A senior missionary, Elder Riding took us and drove us there. First of all what a sweet guy. Him and his wife work for the military relations where they plan family home evenings and do all sorts of different work for the people in the military who want to become chiefs and higher rankings in the military. This is his second mission with his wife. He had some phone calls and business to take care of and wasn't even coming in the temple with us, but still devoted 7 hours to getting us there! He took us to Subway and paid for our meals. The Washington DC traffic was pretty bad, a 40 minute drive took us 2 hours to get there. Elder Roper's last ward, Prince William was there. One of his recent converts who he confirmed was going to the temple for the first time! So that's why we were able to go. Funny thing, his name is Andre and he is super super cool. His family is Catholic but he is fully devoted to his views and the LDS church! He's the same age as me and has started college classes. Elder Roper and I got to do confirmations in the temple for about an hour and a half. Sweet thing was Elder Roper confirmed Andre when he got baptized. He also got to confirm him after he did baptisms for the dead. Hearing experiences like that and seeing someone he taught personally make it that far gets me super pumped! I love the temple, specifically that one. It felt so dang good to be back there. The outside is beautiful and the inside is just as incredible. I will so have another opportunity.

Like I said, this week has been full of what I call "house keeping" we've been cleaning up this area and trying to find out who everyone is and see who is interested and who isn't about our message. It's been successful and keeps Elder Roper and I busy. I look forward to next week. We had a challenge of getting as many investigators as we could this week through the Book of Mormon. We got 7 which is awesome and look forward to talking to them more but getting more next week. I've been feeling a little bit angry and down on myself when people don't want to listen to us. For example a man saw us and started making signs like slashing of his neck and said that his dog would attack and bite us when we were barely walking to his door. Just random stuff like that and people being weird but I need to realize it's not my fault and I need to keep doing my best because that's all I can do! I find when I focus on getting lost in the work everything works out! Love and miss you all. Hope everything is great.

Ps we are going on exchanges tomorrow and I am going with a Spanish elder to his area. I will be listening to people speak Spanish all day. I'm pumped but won't be able to say anything. Be careful what you wish for ladies and gents! 

Pps we have been instructed by a family to take care of 6 of their cats and 1 dog. A Pretty sweet quest. They have an epic family picture with them and their cats. Love it! 

Love, 

Elder Junk

 WASHINGTON D.C. TEMPLE