Letter from Tacoma #21: March 21, 2016

Hey everyone! I don't know why, but this week just seemed to be very long. I don't know why, but whatever it's been, it's been getting better, so no worries there.

Nothing much different has happened this week than what we've been doing the past couple of weeks, just the usual knocking, visiting investigators and people we've found. Though it stinks whenever we find somebody with at least some interest in joining the church, but they won't put in any effort to get to church or to read the Book of Mormon, and no matter how many times we re-commit them and teach them more, it's gone in a downward spiral until we have to end up dropping them. That's been the case with a few people this week.

But on the other hand, the whole mission had a really good week for baptisms. I think it was 18 baptisms just this week, and that's really good! We're not about to lose hope on getting more, just because some people aren't using their agency in the best way.

Looking back though, I realized I never really touched on what goes on in a foursome companionship. Well, it's not really like 'two sets of two' and they split off for the day then come back at the end of the night. It's more like throughout the day, we swap with each other, so everybody gets time to work with everybody throughout the week. It's true that you can still have fun while in a twosome companionship, you're guaranteed to have fun in a foursome.

There's actually a game out here that's pretty widespread in the mission. It's called What Are The Odds. It's a game of luck and dares, and how it works is if I ask my companion, "What are the odds you read the book of Genesis out loud for half an hour" or some other crazy thing, they would choose the odds to play with, "1 in X".    X= Any number between 1 and 30. The higher the number, the lower the chance the person will have to do it. Then both participants in the dare pick a number between 1 and X. On the count of three, both missionaries say their number, and if the numbers are the same, or they add up to X, then the person loses and they have to do the dare. If they still don't want to, they can take a slap to the face to get out of it. At that point, it's all dependent on the mercy of the other person.

Hope that explanation wasn't too confusing.

It's a really fun game, and the things we come up with can be just hilarious sometimes. I've had try eating a 1/4 cup of flour because I lost, and it tasted terrible! I think I got a video of that one.

The best part is that once someone asks, "What are the odds...?" You can't back down. You have to pick the odds and win to get out. Just playing the odds is fun in of itself, but you'll get a kick out of it when the person loses. It's a way to have fun during the mission, all throughout the day, but some of the tasks in the game sky-rocket once we're back in the apartment for the night.

Here's a missionary, Elder Bosshardt, who lost "What are the odds you wear this empty pancake mix bag over your head for half an hour?":

​He was a good sport about it.

But yeah, I'm having a great time out here, both during the work and the in-between times.

I hope everyone is doing as well as Mom and Dad say they are! I hope everyone enjoys this Easter as much as I know I'm going to. After being out here with months, having to focus solely on The Lord and His Gospel, I know I'm going to appreciate this time of the season more than any other year before. Back then it was all about the candy baskets and the fun activities with them (My favorite still was when Mom and Dad tied yarn to our 'baskets', hid them, and wrapped the yarn all around the house in a winding trial that made it look like a rainbow spider nest). But now, I'm really going to focus on what it was meant for, to celebrate the victory over death and the price paid for our souls.

... but if you still want to send candy, I wouldn't be opposed. I finally got the mission office's address, so you can send my mail there, even if I leave the area next transfer:

4007 Bridgeport Way, Suite D

University Place, WA 98466

I love you all!

Thanks for reading!

Elder R. Austin Moe