Letter from Tacoma #78: April 24, 2017

 Hey, Family!

This week has been alright, but not much happened in the way of work. Every time we've tried to visit any of our investigators, they've all either been busy or sick. It kind of sucked.

We had Zone Conference this week, and it was lots of fun. We spent a bit of it just doing roleplays for door approaches in front of everyone. The goal was to start up a conversation about a prop the 'potential invesigator' was holding, and then lead the conversation into talking about the gospel. There were some funny results, and I was one of the missionaries to get brought up there to do it. I think I did okay, but the elder I was working with in the roleplay used a baseball cap with some team logo on it. I really don't know that much about sports, so it was kind of difficult to get a conversation going.

At zone conference, we focused on baptism and talked about all the importances of having that ordinance done. My favorite take-away was D&C 84:20-22 "Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest. And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh; For without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live." So, without the ordinaces the power of God isn't made manifest to me. In order to have fullness of God's power in our lives, we need baptism and the other ordinances of the gospel. This is reaffirmed by just the Gift of the Holy Ghost, which we receive after baptism. It is the power of God influencing our lives and sanctifying us as we strive to live worthy of it's companionship.

Also, on Saturday, we went out to Home Park to do a service project with the ward. We helped shovel and dump down fresh woodchips onto the playground floor. We got to work, and we got it mostly done before it started raining. And even in the rain we kept working until it was all finished. I'm finding work like this to be a lot of fun, even in bad weather. It's a good break in the middle of missionary work, even though it technically still is missionary work. But when we got home, I had a lot of wood chips stuck on my tennis shoes.

It's exciting to hear that Kobe is on the way soon. First niece/nephew to be born while I've been on the mission!

Also, I got my Easter package from Mom and Dad! Thank you so much. That's a lot of candy, and I'm having to hold myself back so I don't just graze on it all. Yeah discount candy!

Oh yeah, and I heard back from one of my old companions, Elder MacQueen. He's honestly my favorite companion so far, and I just heard that he and his fiance got sealed in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana temple. So congratulations to them! Sounds like he's having a lot of fun!

... Oh yeah, and I just hit my 18-month mark... and the sister missionaries I came out with go home next week... that is really, really, reeeeeaaally weird. I'm starting to realize how little time I actually have left. Anyways, this week is transfer calls. I don't think I'll go anywhere next transfer. I'll probably stay here with Elder Stuart for his last transfer. I hope I do, anyway.

We're having so much fun out here in the middle of nowhere, knocking door to door is like going on nature hikes everyday! Look at these pictures! I'm being dead serious.

But that's all from me!

I love you all!

Thanks for reading!

-Elder R. Austin Moe

Wa-Tac Missionary