Letter from Tacoma #39: July 25, 2016

 July's reaching a close, and it looks like it's going out with a bang! Happy Birthday Kamryn, Jake, Ryan, and also Aunt Donelle and Uncle Don!

Why are there so many birthdays in July?! Heck, out here, there's a member who is turning 100 years old this next Sunday, on the 31st! She's still pretty high-functioning, getting around with a walker and dressing herself, so I'm impressed! We're going to her birthday open-house this Saturday to congratulate her on the accomplishment.

Anyways, hello from Ocean Shores, where the tourists are plentiful and all the locals are just crazy. But I love the area! According to my mission president, dozens of missionaries request to come here throughout their mission. Heck, I didn't even ask, yet I still got sent here. I'm glad though, because everything is just beautiful!

The beach especially!

This is turning out to be one of my most favorite areas! We had a spare moment before we had to be inside our apartment at the end of the night, so we found an apple tree on the side of the road and picked some. Then we biked down to the elementary school on the way home and stopped to feed the 5-10 deer that always gather there to graze on the lawn. The deer love apples, so they all gathered around us, just waiting for their piece. It makes an awesome sight that the tourists driving by on the road loved to see!

Here's my companion, Elder Hansen, feeding two of them. By the time I remembered to get out my camera, the other deer got bored of waiting around 'the strange hairless monkey with food' and walked off. Can't make any sudden movements around them though, because they're still a bit skiddish around people.

​Speaking of Elder Hansen, he's a great companion so far. We get along well enough, though he wants everything to be exciting... which excitement doesn't come usually to me. I'm working on being more excited about everything for his sake, so he can't really complain. We teach well together, and he's more adventurous than I am, so everyday always has some fun in it. We played Jenga yesterday for decomp at the end of the night, and I was afraid I was going to lose! He said he worked with contractors and landscaping before the mission, but I didn't realize how good he was at architecture.

We're having a good time as far as the work goes though. This week we found two new investigators. One of them, a young lady named Kaitlynn, loved the first two lessons, but she's leaving for California for the next month, so she excitedly took a book of mormon and all of the lesson pamphlets to read while she's travelling. We hope we can teach her more when she gets back.

The other investigator we found, Diane, we helped her sweep off her roof and clean her rain gutters. As a missionary, I've found you become adept when it comes to house-keeping work. It went well, so to repay us, she came to church this Sunday. She liked it and let us know we could stop by anytime later for another visit.

So, there's work still to be done in this tiny slice of paradise. I love going to church, too, because half of the people that show up are just visitors on vacation. In fact, just yesterday a family came to our branch that I knew from Gravelly Lake Ward, one of my past areas! It was great to see them, and they were glad to see me too! Also, if I recall correctly, next week another couple will be coming up here from my last area in Toledo, so I'm looking forward to seeing them as well.

Riding our bikes out to the beach! There's a fun tiny trail connect the beach to the road, not accessible by cars, so we decided to take a run down it out of the blue.

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A family of racoons, one mom and three little cubs. Truth be told, we almost ran over them with the car, but we stopped just in time before they got hurt.

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There's this flat beach a bit north of Ocean Shores, still in our area (still 30 miles south of our north border. #3rd largest area in the mission!). It has an awesome scenery both looking out at the sea, as well as looking back at the forested cliffs behind it!

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But I can't believe Kamryn's getting baptized next week! That's crazy! She can't be eight already! Well, I'm sad that I'll be missing it, but I know it'll be a great experience she'll remember for a long time.

Good luck to Ryan and Tia... your wedding is coming up so quickly! Michael's already hitched, so it's only a matter of time before your day hits too. Have a great birthday Ryan!

Thanks for reading!

Love you all!

-Elder R. Austin Moe

Wa-Tac Missionary