Elder Junk's Washington DC South Mission Blog: 10-9-2017 Change of Heart

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, October 9, 2017 12:57 PM
To: Kathy Junk
Subject: Change of Heart

Hello good people! I've had another great and exciting week here in Woodbridge, Virginia as always! I'm Elder Junk and I'm happy to be emailing you all again today. For starters, I'd just like to say while sleeping here in the mission, I've had the weirdest dreams known to mankind. Anywhere from flashbacks to the MTC and them supposedly holding me captive to fictitious nightmares of me messing up and saying the wrong things in lessons with investigators. The mission is just taking over my dreams I guess haha. Well, it truly has been an amazing week and the work in this area is starting to pick up! I wouldn't say I'm used to the mission by any means because there is something crazy that happens every day, BUT I'm getting used to the weekly routine and constantly finding things to improve on and bettering myself.

This week I went on 2 exchanges here in Woodbridge and led out the area! Elder Roper has had me practice leading out the area, as he is most likely being transferred. He's been here in Woodbridge for 3 transfers (4 and a half months) and the Woodbridge area as a whole for a total of 4 transfers (6 months). This Saturday we find out what will be going on for next transfer, whether I am going or staying, who will be my new companion, and all that fun stuff. I'm really hoping to stay here in Woodbridge 1st.

The first exchange I went on was Tuesday with the Spanish speaking missionary Elder Lee! Elder Lee is the man! He's a year older than me and he's from Salem Hills, Utah and has been out for one transfer! We biked all along the north side of our area and knocked a lot of doors and tracted the whole day to try and find some new investigators. Since we are both 'greenies' it was challenging but a lot of fun! I felt as if we really improved on our door to door approaches and we didn't have anyone else to lean on but each other. We also got to attend a funeral service that night for a lady who died in Elder Lee's ward. The funeral was at the church and all of the missionaries in our district were invited to sing a hymn (in Spanish) during the funeral. It was super fun being with everybody and singing the hymn. I didn't understand much of what was said at the funeral but it sounded like she was a great lady and the spirit was definitely felt there! We got hooked up with a lot of food after, it made for a great day and a fun exchange!

Thursday, Elder Oldroyd came to my area and we had a great exchange. Elder Oldroyd is a Spanish missionary as well. He is from Farmington and went to Viewmont High School (shout out to the sis Sara). He is an awesome kid and attended BYU for a semester before coming out here, and has been out for 7 months. We set a goal to find two new investigators that day as we had been struggling finding people. At the end of the day, we found two new investigators just like we had set a goal for. It just goes to show that if you set goals, work hard, and talk to everybody, then the Lord will take care of the rest. He taught me a lot about the importance of setting a daily goal and working hard to achieve that each day which ultimately pushes you to work the hardest you can. I love that kid and was thankful to go on an exchange with him!

I had one of the best days of my mission so far on Saturday. The 8 year old girl Charlie who we had been teaching the lessons to recently got baptized! She is so awesome and such a sweet girl. Her family is so amazing. Her mom is a member but her dad isn't, so we are going to try our best and get him involved with the church now! After the baptism we had a return appointment with a man named Larry Henderson. This guy is a solid investigator. We met him the day before just looking through some potentials in the area book and decided to knock on his door. Larry is in his 50's and is from Alabama. He was so nice and told us immediately that we could come over the next day. He invited us right to his backyard on a nice hot Saturday afternoon and we taught him the Restoration. Larry grew up Baptist his whole life but after hearing our lesson he told us we had a glow about us and he could tell this message has really benefitted our lives and has brought us happiness. We have another return appointment with him tomorrow and I am super pumped! We also got a text message from Pamela, our other investigator we passed off to the Sisters. She is doing great and is starting to take all the lessons with the Sisters, and she finally got a job. She sent us a text thanking us for the help and how the Book of Mormon and prayer has helped her through her hard times and helped her find a job! That was so awesome to hear. We finished the night meeting a Japanese woman named Akiko. Akiko is awesome and has been to church 3 times before and was introduced to the church from her cousin who is a member in LA. She expressed to us that the last 3 times she went to church there was kind of a language barrier and she didn't understand the terms. We told her we would explain everything to her simply so she could understand and get back to church! We also committed her to all of the lessons! She is awesome and told us about her experience coming from Tokyo and making it over here to Woodbridge! We got the relief society involved and are going to meet with her soon!

It was an amazing and incredible week! After a couple of hard weeks where I was down on myself a couple of times, we have seen our work progress and things are really starting to look up! It just goes to show that as long as we continue to strive faithfully to keeping the Lord's commandments and work hard, then we are blessed for it. I appreciate all the prayers, love, and support from everyone. I really do feel them and can't thank you enough. I love this gospel so much and am so thankful to be on a mission where I can bring others unto Christ and grow spiritually. The mission is an amazing thing and there's things you can only learn by going on one. I read a great story about converting yourself and changing your heart over to the Lord in your work. I definitely think I can work on that and instead of groaning about no investigators, changing my heart and mind to the Savior and serving with a smile on my face and staying positive. I love you all and have a great week!

Love,

Elder Junk