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!!