Elder Junk's Washington DC South Mission Blog: 8-14-2017

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!