Elder Junk's Washington DC South Mission Blog: 11-6-2017 -Boast of our God

From: Carson Lewis Junk [mailto:carson.junk@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, November 6, 2017 12:49 PM
To: Kathy Junk
Subject: Boast of our God

Hey family and friends! The week has been an interesting and crazy one like always. Different plans getting changed and things never going according to plan. It keeps Elder Miller and I on our toes that's for sure! It's crazy to think we are already halfway through this transfer! Some other crazy things happened this week. I hit my 4 month mark yesterday which is insane. I can never figure out if it feels like I have been here way longer than that or haven't been out that long at all. Some mixed and weird emotions. I also had a great 19th birthday on Saturday! It was an awesome day and big thanks to all of you who sent me some nice emails wishing me happy birthday, they made my week! The best present I got was for sure spikeball. We got to play that today after basketball. Elder Miller is a Guru at spikeball and all of the other Elders have played, so we had some great games!

For starters, Halloween was super fun. We had a great District Meeting on setting Goals. I've set some personal goals as well as some companionship goals to keep Elder Miller and I working hard and to keep the work progressing. After District Meeting, with it being Halloween we had to be in by 6. We had a couple hours before 6 and decided to work hard for that time being. Elder Miller and I knelt down in prayer and set a goal to give out 2 Book of Mormons before the end of the day. Literally a miracle happened a couple minutes after leaving our apartment. The first guy we talked to was named John Stevens. Turns out he was baptized in our church and has been meaning to get his records moved over to our ward since he moved from LA. He invited us back to come teach him and his family. He also didn't have a Book of Mormon so we were able to give him one! Awesome guy and awesome experience. We look forward to teaching him. We were also able to give out another Book of Mormon to a super cool guy named Josh. The Lord definitely is looking out for his missionaries and answering our prayers!

Halloween night we got to go over to a Spanish Family's house in the Ward with the Spanish Elders (Elder Cottle and Elder Richardson). We had a great Papusa dinner and saw all the kids dressed up. Elder Miller bought a creepy purge/jester mask last P-day at the "Spirit" store and got to hand out candy and scare the kids. He was in heaven and I have never seen a man more happy on Halloween, it made his comp happy. Halloween was a great day and we finished the night out watching some great "Living Scripture" videos. The next day I got to go on an exchange with Elder Cottle to his area. I love that man. He's going home after this transfer and I am freaking sad. We have become best friends and he has enlightened my mind with his amazing outlook on life, the Gospel, and studies. The 2 exchanges I have been with him, I have felt myself grow as a missionary and have never been the same. Truly an amazing missionary and luckily, I think I will have the opportunity to go on 2 more exchanges with him.

The Birthday was awesome and crazy to say the least. We had to do an emergency run to the store and buy some much needed cleaning supplies to get rid of some mold that came out of nowhere in our bathroom. Then, I told the Dale City Elders & Elder Gibb to come over for Dinner time and I would make them my favorite Chicken Roll-ups. We spent the hour together and they all watched me open presents and were all jealous, it was an amazing time. We did of course, whip out Spikeball and play one game before it was time to head out for the night.

The investigators and work has been slow this week and unfortunately we had to drop a lot of great people, who became uninterested or we just weren't ever able to get ahold of. We haven't gotten in contact with Lary Henderson who was incredible and had to drop him after countless times calling and showing up at his house. I guess that's all apart of mission life though. I read one of my favorite scriptures of all time last week. In Alma 26:12 it says, "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."

I hope we can all learn to be a little more like Ammon in this scripture. Not boasting of yourself but boasting of our God. It is through our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that blessings and miracles occur. Although a tough week, I will continue to count my blessing and boast of my God and his amazing mercy to all men. I am thankful for this great gospel and am so blessed to be on a mission and to have great friends and family supporting and praying for me. I love this gospel more than anything and I love all of you. I hope we can all count our blessings and stay humble "boasting of our God who in his strength we can do all things". I love my Heavenly Father and our brother Jesus Christ. Have a great week and I look forward to this week of finding. Love Elder Junk