Elder Junk's Washington DC South Mission Blog: 12-18-2017

Hello everyone! This week has been a rough one but always a great one here on the mission. I hope you are all having a great Christmas season and I can't believe that Christmas is only a week away. I hope that we have all continued to do our best by serving others and remembering what Christmas is really about, The Savior! I am going to hopefully keep this one a little bit shorter compared to the others.

I will begin with Sunday/Saturday and work my way backwards rather than starting on last Monday. Unfortunately, on Saturday night, I got hit violently with the classic stomach flu. I am not going to go into detail or anything, but I hope that with the word "violent" you get the idea. Being sick on the mission is probably the worst thing ever. You can't go anywhere and on top of being physically sick, you get homesick and wish your Mom was here to help you like she always does back home. I wasn't able to go out at all on Sunday except for just laying in bed and being stuck on the couch. Apparently the flu has been going around the mission, as well as in the Ward, and the Virginia area in general. I was told that half of the members weren't at church due to flu-like symptoms and being sick and having the same thing as me.

I have to brag about my ward and I definitely have the best one in the mission. Everyone reached out to me immediately once they found out I was sick. The 1st Counselor, Brother Gessel, brought me 48 sodas consisting of coke and ginger ale to help me get better Sunday morning. I got text messages from ward members all wishing me the best, as well as from President and Sister Huntsman. The legendary Brother and Sister Michaelis; stopped by and dropped off chicken noodle soup, more soda, and all different food items and medicine to help me get feeling better. Elder Miller also gave me a blessing and was helping me throughout the whole day serving me the best he could. I definitely felt the outpouring of love and support from loved ones in the ward and am very thankful for all of them and for helping me out, Even when everyone else was suffering through the same thing I was. I would also like to point out and thank the Good Lord for allowing me to get sick BEFORE Sheca's baptism this week and before Christmas, so I can be healthy and 100% for those events. That was a big blessing. I am still not feeling great but am doing better. I had to get out of the apartment and write an email real quick before I went too crazy.

Now, talking about Friday/Thursday. Elder Miller and I this December season, have spent our proselyting time inviting people to our Christmas party and sharing Light The World with them. Many people promised they would be at the party and we were very excited to see them there. The time had come, and we had our Ward Christmas party on Friday. I repped a nice Christmas Sweater Vest I found in the apartment closet, where a missionary before me must have left. At the party, unfortunately, not one person we invited this month showed up. I was pretty bummed after we had been spending our whole month inviting people out, but it was still a great time being with the ward. On Thursday, we had Zone Conference and President Huntsman said exactly what Elder Miller and I needed to hear, almost as if he had saw into the future. He said, "Often times missionaries become discouraged because they don't always see the good they are doing. We need to understand and appreciate the little things and every thing you do is to help people come unto Christ. What if all you do is help someone feel Heavenly Father's love for them?" President Huntsman's challenge - anytime you think you're not making a difference, STOP! This was incredible counsel. Often times, I feel like we get discouraged because we don't see the fruits of our labors. We have an amazing calling of simply inviting others to come closer to Christ. I really like what he said, what if all we do is share Heavenly Father's love for them? It was tough not having anyone show up, but President Huntsman's counsel was perfect. We helped each of them come closer to Christ and that is all that matters!

In Conclusion, I would just like to say how thankful I am to be on a mission to be serving my loving Savior. I truly have grown so much spiritually and my love for my Savior and this great Gospel has grown so much. Stepping back for a second, (Each year, our family at Christmas time writes a letter to ourselves to open a year later. I got my letter last week that I wrote a year ago. In my letter, I asked if I had grown to 6'4 like I had always thought I would.) Now, I haven't grown to 6'4.....yet! But...I would like to say my spiritual growth has exceeded 6'4 and I am so thankful for that and that I have been blessed with this great knowledge and love. I love all of you and am so thankful for all that you have done for me. I feel all the prayers and support. I hope you all have a great week and an amazing Christmas!

Love,

Elder Junk