Letter from Tacoma #42: August 15, 2016

 The wedding looked incredible!

I'm happy for you, Ryan and Tia! Enjoy the honeymoon!

Yeah, that looked like a blast! I miss you all, too!

Wait, they changed Soaring over California to Soaring over the World? When did this happen? That sounds like something I really really really want to try!

Although, I assume it was pretty hot everywhere. There were a bunch of members over here on vacation from just about everywhere else: Utah, Arizona, California, Washington. And they all commented on how hot it was back home, which is super hilarious because Ocean Shores just seems to be set apart from the heat. Once you're within a mile of the coastline, the temperature in the air just plummets by at least ten degrees. It was hilarious riding in our Branch Mission Leader's car into Ocean Shores, because when we watched his thermostat, it did exactly that.

Heck, it might even be too cold. This morning, I woke up in the middle of the night because the window was left open and it was freezing! Oh well, I'd rather by cold than hot, because when you're cold, you can just bundle up and deal with it.

Anyways, this week has been alright. We drove up to the top half of our area last Thursday, to go see some less-active members who just can't make that hour+ drive to church every week. While we were up there, we went sight seeing around lake Quinault. It's a super beautiful area up there. It's nothing but forests and highways, most of which is on the Quinault Indian Reservation, so it's relatively untouched because it's tribal land. Especially the lake, which doesn't allow any kind of motor powered boats at all, and all lake access to the public is a small corner where you can swim, or going onto the lake with canoes you have to rent from the Quinault tribe.

The scenery was beautiful; A crystal blue lake with calm water, surrounded on all sides by forested hills. Unfortunately, my camera died on me, so I didn't get a picture myself. So here's one I grabbed off Google

Pretty, ain't it?

That was a fun adventure, but there were also a few other fun ones this week.

There's a fruit stand outside of our area, in Aberdeen, where we go every other P-Day to shop at. This stand is super good, lots of variety, and pretty darn cheap. Elder Hansen, my companion, bought about ten pounds of fruit for $8. So, this week I got myself a cantaloupe.

​Don't worry, Mom! I can't get married on a mission, because I 'cantaloupe'! 

So, we've been eating a lot of fruit this week, it seems. Up here in the northwest, there are blackberry plants that grow so rapidly, they're considered weeds by the locals. But right now the berries are in season, which is fantastic for missionaries, because they're everywhere! Anytime we knock a street, we can be sure to find at least one blackberry bush that's ripe. They're great for a small snack and a short break from proselyting in the day.

Yesterday, we went to dinner at a member's house, and they have about five acres of land just filled with blackberries. So, they let us pick all the ones we could. We filled two containers full.

​

We took them to another members house, the Wikan's, because Bro Wikan is an amazing chef and he promised that if we brought the berries, he'd make a pie for us. He didn't expect us to bring so much, I guess, because the amount we brought was enough for four pies. I'm excited because he said the pie should be ready later today! Looking forward to it!

There were a lot more seagulls around this week, for some strange reason... I'm thinking they're preparing to migrate, or something?

​​I'm almost completely finished with my first journal! I've only got about ten pages left to fill, and I've already got another journal ready to open up afterwards (I've been lugging it around all the way since Christmas!) I'm so excited about this, because this is a big accomplishment for me. I've never gotten close to filling up a whole journal, but having to use discipline on a mission has made it possible for this to happen. Hopefully I can fill up the next one quicker, but hey, a whole book in 10 months isn't too shabby.

​Here's the airport of a small beach community up north... I think it's called Ocean Beach? Either way, I'm thinking it'd be interesting to take-off or land from here.

It's so weird, though; This is the last week of the transfer already. It has flown by so stupidly fast, I can't even believe it. Next P-Day, I'll let you know whether I'm being transferred or not. I'm pretty sure I'm staying another transfer or two in Ocean Shores, while Elder Hansen gets transferred out; He's been here for 6 months already, so there's a very slim chance that he'll stay for another. I just hope if that's the case, the missionary who replaces him will be good, or even better than him!

Having fun here at the freezing cold beach!

Love you all!

Thanks for reading!

-Elder R. Austin Moe

Wa-Tac Missionary