Letter from Tacoma #24: April 11, 2016

 

Hey Everybody!

This week has been pretty long, though I blame that on the fact that this transfer is a week longer than usual. If that weren't the case, I'd probably transferred out of this area by tomorrow. But for now, still got another week at least here in Lakewood. But that's alright; This area has been the craziest one I've been in so far, and I doubt any other will be crazier as far as the people I meet go.

But I'm glad to hear that everything is going great back home. It sounds like this is going to be a busy week. Good luck on everything!

Oh, and Happy Birthday Krista and Kyler!

In contrast, I don't have a lot going this week, besides transfer calls this Saturday. This week was a bit of a downer, mostly because we were going to have a baptism last Wednesday, for this guy we've been teaching the whole transfer, and finally he had committed himself to stop smoking so he could be baptized. He went nine days without smoking, and five days without drinking alcohol, which is miraculous if you're going cold turkey. But then, two hours before the baptism, when we were about to fill the font, we get a call from him that he had relapsed just barely.

Gah! Two hours before his baptism, and he decides to take a puff! Oh, it's so frustrating! That basically killed our mood for the rest of the day. He's so ready! The only problem is his wishy-washy wife who isn't on board with his goals and basically acts like Satan's took in tempting him back into the world. For now, we're still working with him, and this time, we're trying to get the wife into the lessons, too. As soon as she's working to be baptized, her husband will be too, either with her, or just after her.

This week has taught me a lot about patience and long-suffering, both for my companions and our investigators. My companions can annoy the living daylights out of me sometimes, but I keep following the advice The Lord counseled Joseph Smith with while in jail: D&C 121: 7-8

7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

 8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

That's a good promise, and it helps in any case. It really helps when things feel like they're getting difficult.

Pictures:

 I love P-Days, mostly because I really miss wearing regular clothes

Speaking of P-day, went fishing last week, but today we're going bowling!

These are two of the crazies I have to live with: Elder Ellis (standing) and Elder Clark (just chillin'). They're both fun to be around.

Thanks for reading!

Love you all!

Elder R. Aus

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tin Moe