11-13-2017 - Center of Importance

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, November 13, 2017 3:09 PM
To: Kathy Junk
Subject: RE: The Center of Importance

Friends and Family, how are we all doing this fine Monday? It is great to write you all another Email and catch up on everything that has happened in this eventful, tough, but incredibly spiritual week. I would like to first start off with a goal my companion Elder Miller wrote down for our companionship. The goal was "Enjoy the now." I loved that goal and it really stuck out to me. I can proudly report to all of you that I am doing my best to "Enjoy The Now" and am loving each day on the mission despite hardships or tough times. This mission is truly an incredible experience. Each day I am learning something new and am continuing to improve on the little things. I am growing closer to my Savior and am thankful for Him and everything he has done for all of us. He truly is and should be the Center of Importance in our lives. I can testify to all of you that He is the center and head of this wonderful Church on the Earth today.

This week we have dedicated our days to finding and working through less-active members and part-member families to find investigators and get these Less-active members back to church. We had two great experiences where Elder Miller and I were able to commit two less-active members to receive the missionary discussions. One of those members was John Stevens who we ran into on Halloween shortly after praying to hand out a Book of Mormon. Elder Miller and I are both what people call "rookies" in teaching lessons. So this will be a great experience to not only improve our teaching skills but bringing back the spirit into these members home.

On Wednesday, we had a blitz with Elder Cottle and Elder Richardson. A "Blitz" is where 2 sets of missionaries go on a finding hunt in one missionaries area. They came to our area and we took on the rich part of town up north by the Potomac River and Golf course. Elder Richardson and I took on the street 'course view way.' We missionaries, related the experience to Alma The Younger in the city of Ammonihah. We tracted for 3 hours and got a lot of doors slammed in the face and unfortunately didn't find any new investigators. Okay...It wasn't as bad as the city of Ammonihah. BUT it was a great learning experience. Elder Richardson and I had a great and fun time trying different door approaches. Elder Miller and Elder Cottle talked to some awesome people and we had some return appointments that unfortunately fell through. Continuing to work hard and we are having fun doing it! 

Saturday was incredible. The whole mission had the wonderful opportunity to hear from the apostle Elder Neil L. Andersen. I felt as if  Elder Andersen told me what I specifically needed to hear. I loved his talk and the spirit he brought with him. One thing that really stuck out to me was what he said about Jesus Christ. He told us to all look past everything and asked us specifically to focus on our testimony of Jesus Christ. Is Jesus Christ the center of our testimony? He went on to EXPLAIN Jesus Christ IS the center of all importance. Our testimony should first be centered on Jesus Christ. Your testimony will not fall if you continue to build upon Christ as your foundation. He bore strong testimony of The New Testament and The Book of Mormon. He explained that they are both essential in our works today. The new Testament focuses on the resurrected Christ and the Book of Mormon bears powerful testimony of Jesus Christ's atonement. Elder Andersen was amazing and had a great personality with all the missionaries. We also got to hear from Bishop Causse and Elder S. Gifford Nielsen of the 70. I loved Elder Nielsen's remarks. He said it simply. We don't have enough time to just waste on our missions. We only get this once in our earthly life. It was powerful and it stuck me deep! Incredible speakers. 

I love this gospel so much. I Testify to all of you that it is true and Jesus Christ is the reason this church is true. I'd invite you all to look past your doubts and begin to build your testimony on Jesus Christ. Begin with him first because he is the most important. It's been a great week. Big shout out and Thanks to everyone who reaches out to me each week. I love and miss all of you so much. This mission is amazing and there is truly nothing better.  

Love, 

Elder Junk 

Driving for 5 seconds backing out - crazy the rush you get after not being able to drive for 4 months

Me on the couch was when we were tracting in the rich area. Had to sit in it after a long day!