Letter from Tacoma #36: July 4, 2016

 Hey, Family!

You know what day it is?!

JULY 4TH; INDEPENDENCE DAY!

This last week was pretty usual... except for the fact that my watch broke right after we got back home for P-Day. Literally, it quit right as we got back to the apartment to plan, which I would have been fine with, except for the fact I wouldn't be able to get a new watch until next P-day, seven days away. Oh well, my old watch was really cheap, but it lasted me almost nine months from the start of the MTC, so I can't complain too much.

Anyways, this was a good week work-wise, but we had a bit of a funny miracle. It was basically like a message from God saying, 'I know you were expecting chocolate cake, but it has to wait a while. Until then, have a brownie to tide you over.' ... If you're confused, don't worry, just read the story:

You know how I wrote about our solid investigator, Lorie, and how she said she was interested in being baptized? Well, before she had told us a bit about her past and some less than legal stuff she's done before, but she had contacted the Courthouse to get that all squared away... but she got caught up in working a new job and missed her court appointment. So, now she's in jail.

Bah! This is literally the third time I've had an investigator go to jail! What even is my luck!?

But Lorie shouldn't be locked up for too long. She should be out in a couple of weeks? I'm not sure.

However, this is where the miracle part comes into play. Later that same day, we were knocking doors and came across this lady. She said her daughter had been baptized by missionaries years ago, and even she, the mom, had been hoping to get baptized, too. But at the time she was investigating, she was working on Sundays and she was living with a boyfriend. Years later, at this present day, that guy is out of the picture and her work schedule is changing in a week and she won't be working Sundays anymore.

So, this lady, Charity, says she wants to be baptized, so we're gonna be going back to visit and teach her tomorrow. And if that wasn't exciting enough, she has twin 13-yr old boys who she'll have listen to the lessons, too! Can't wait to see them again! That was our miracle this week.

This week we had two member families have to cancel on us for dinner. One of those was on Thursday, but everything we had planned that afternoon and evening fell through for us beforehand anyways, leaving that day almost completely open for us. So, we decided this would make a good time to take a 'mini roadtrip' down to the southernmost part of our area, Ryderwood...

But Ryderwood is a community completely made of old, retired folks, so we got met with a lot of resentment and actually got told to get out of town on two occasions. They were a bit grumpy, so we didn't find a lot of progress down there. But on the way down there, we had dinner at a really great place we found: The Little Crane Cafe in Vader. It was just a small local joint, but they give you so much food compared to everywhere else around, for a decent price. I was stuffed by the end of it, because one dinner there is like a three course meal! Great place, but slightly expensive. I hope to be able to eat there again before I'm transferred out of this area.

Speaking of which, transfers are next week, and transfer calls are this Saturday. Most likely, I'll be staying here for another transfer, but Elder Jensen, I think, has a 50-50 chance to stay or leave. But who knows? I like this area a lot, and I'm glad I'll probably stay another.

Fourth of July is today, and after emailing here, we'll be hanging out and having dinner at the Mclean's house, the High Priest Group Leader and one of my favorite member families here. I hope Independence Day is as fun as it usually is back home! Even better with the little kids!

This weekend, though, we're also having Toledo Cheese Days over here. Don't know much about what's going on, except that we're running another family history booth there on Saturday. Looking forward to it.

Pictures:

-Not many pictures this week, so here's the meal I got from the Little Crane Cafe: Popcorn Chicken w/ mashed potatoes and country gravy, and a buttered, toasted english muffin on the side. That was only the second course though, the first being salad, and dessert being an ice-cream sundae. I got a large Mt. Dew too, which came with a free refill. (So much FOOOOD!)

Happy 4th of July!

Love you and miss you all!

Thanks for reading!

-Elder R. Austin Moe

Wa-Tac Missionary

Mailing Address:

4007 Bridgeport Way W Ste D

University Place WA 98466-4330