Letter from Tacoma #64: January 16, 2017

Ha! I knew it was going to happen sooner or later! A new baby on the way! Congratulations, Ryan and Tia! I'm looking forward to seeing a new niece/nephew by the time I get home! Life sounds a bit crazy for you two right now, but I'm sure you'll be able to handle it all. I'll keep you guys in my prayers.

This week was pretty fun, although I don't have a lot of time to email today. It's zone activity, and we've arranged with members to go to the naval base and take a tour of an aircraft carrier at port. It's exciting, I can't wait to see it!

So, I'll tell about all the highlights this week:

-Our mission president gave us permission to go see one of our investigator's basketball games. His name is Harrison, he plays for Olympic High School, and he's a super solid investigator. He's been taught everything, but his only problem is that his girlfriend doesn't want to marry outside of the Catholic faith, and Harrison is curious to know where their relationship will go after this last year of High School. We're praying that he'll make a decision soon, hoping that somehow he'll decide to be baptized. We enjoyed the game, though Harrison's team fell short about 8 points at the end.

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-We went to the Temple this Tuesday! Half of the mission went to the Seattle Temple that day. I swear I've never seen the room more packed to the brim than during our session. It was a great, spiritually uplifting experience. I felt spiritually full by the end, and the rest of the week went a bit easier than normal. It was fun to hang out and chat with other friends in the mission on the long bus ride home, too.

-Wednesday night, not a lot happened, but I just want to mention what happened at dinner. We were invited over to eat at the Crook's, an older couple in the Brownsville Ward. That whole time, it was basically a party. Sister Crook is hilarious, just super energetic and talkative, and she kept us laughing the whole meal. She spent the first chunk of it trying to guess our first names, and she got super engaged in it too. And I noticed that anytime she talked, it was this massive, run-on sentence that left you bewildered at how long she could go on a single breath. It kind of reminded me of a certain pink pony character I used to watch back home (If you get the reference, that is), except she's old and Asian. I have to say, that was hands-down the funnest member meal I've ever been to.

-There's one thing I dislike about being in a foursome with Zone Leaders... and that's when the Zone Leaders have to leave to fulfill their responsibilities, taking the car with them. This instance came out of the blue when this Thursday the AP's called and told us Elder Simkins and Pisciotta were going on exchanges with them the next day, down in Tacoma.

So, that left Elder Gerber and I working together all of Friday and most of Saturday, without a car. This area is way to hilly to bike effectively, so we opted to work close-by and walk, as well as catch rides with members. We walked almost all day Friday, my legs burning and quivering by the end of the day. But thankfully on Saturday, our Ward Mission Leader, Bro. Knowles (Or how we call him, Grandpa) drove us around all day. I couldn't thank him enough for sacrificing his whole day just for our sake.

-Saturday morning there was a treasure swap at the stake center. Grandpa gave us a ride up there and we found the gym filled with stuff people were getting rid of. There was so much stuff! So, immediately we started rummaging through it all, and soon found that this place was a gold mine of junk people didn't need. There were tons of books that I wish I could have taken with me, like the whole Anne Maccafrey series of Pern. There were a few church books, as well. I just grabbed a Thesaurus and a guide for grammer.

But then I struck gold when I found this:

​A Doctor Who Sonic Spork. As soon as I saw it, I was like, "oh yeah, that's mine!" Haven't used it, and I'm not sure if I will yet. I just like it for the laughs.

-Oh yeah, and one last thing. There are a lot of overbearing Seahawks fans out here. The past few Saturdays, while knocking, the most common thing we hear is, "Not interested, the Seahawks are on." But now they've finally lost the playoff's and their season is done, so now people can't really use that excuse anymore. But I won't lie, there are some really awesome fans among them, like this guy here. He let me take a picture of how he decorated his house for the season:

​LOL

I love you all!

Thanks for reading!

-Elder R. Austin Moe

Wa-Tac Missionary

Area Mailing Address:

6362 Pine Rd NE

Bremerton WA 98311