Letter from Tacoma #82: May 22, 2017

Hey Everybody!

This week was exhausting! We never had a slow moment. But unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures! oops!

Monday: It was a good P-Day. After emailing and shopping (I made a Costco run again, so now I'm good on food for a couple of weeks), we went to the Gig Harbor missionaries apartment to play some games. That's always fun. One thing that I noticed though is that we have a really 'old' zone. All of the elders, except for one, are all within the last six months of their missions. That's pretty crazy to think about, but it just makes for a united zone, too, because we've all seen each other around the mission for a long while.

Tuesday: We had exchanges with the Zone Leaders in Wollochet Ward. I went to their area, while one of the ZL's went to Belfair with Elder Stuart. It was enjoyable, though nothing too exciting happened. It turned out to be a long day though. It wasn't because of the weather or the people, even though it was raining and people didn't want to talk to us. It was because of the zone leader I was with: Elder Quinton. He's a fun guy to be around, but our personalities just seemed to clash. The exchange and the work was still good, but it was just exhausting to be around him.

Wednesday: We had district meeting, but I went to the other district in the zone with Elder Quinton. After District meeting, we swapped back companions, then stopped by the church so Elder Stuart could do this week's portion of "My Plan". We had dinner, knocked some doors, and then visited some members.

Thursday: Weekly Planning, which seemed to particularly drag that afternoon. We were so off-topic a lot of the time, and we couldn't seem to focus. But thankfully we got it done before dinner. We knocked from 5-7's, but unfortunately Gloria wasn't available for a visit, so we went and checked on some other potentials. At the end of the night, we went home and packed for ANOTHER exchange, this time with Key Center. We drove to their apartment that night and slept over there. We played some scum before bed, which seems to be a tradition for exchanges with them. Either that, or we don't have the creativity to play a different game whenever we do.

Friday: Exchanges with Key Center... lots of fun, but honestly not a whole lot to do. So, after studies, we went out and knocked doors, met at Subway for dinner, swapped companions, knocked some more doors, then at 7 we changed to basketball clothes and played at the church with the youth. Let's just say by the end of the day my feet hurt and I was ready for bed.

Saturday: Back in belfair, but Elder Stuart didn't feel good. He had a massive headache that wouldn't go away, so he couldn't work. He napped for a good part of the afternoon. We did go out and knock a little bit before dinner. We had dinner at the Watson's. Their an awesome family, but Brother Watson isn't a member. He grilled us the best steak I've ever had! It was so good! We knocked 5-7's afterwards. But after that, Elder Stuart's headache was getting really bad again, so we turned in early that night. Thankfully though, his headache was gone by the next morning.

Sunday: Church is always so relaxing! Sacrament meeting was good. The speakers were from the High Council, so they had some really good talks. For second hour, Elder Stuart and I taught the 15-17 year old sunday school. We talked about agency and making good choices, pulling a lot of good stuff out of 2nd Nephi 2. At the end, we did a little Q&A about what it's like being a missionary.

Every week at priesthood opening exercises, I play the piano for the opening hymn. I've actually learned a couple new hymns since I've been in Belfair, and I think my favorite hymn has to be "Be Still, My Soul". It's a simple one to play, but that's probably the most powerful one I can play at the moment. Third hour lesson was good, though it veered from the original path of the lesson. We talked about testimonies, and how vital they are to one's happiness in this life. The discussion came up about some family members who had lost their testimony... but the most heartbreaking had to be when they talked about their children who had gone away from the church. Most of the time, these fathers were in tears, telling about the times that they wondered if they could have done more for their wayward children.

Over the course of my mission, I've developed a great fear of having a close family member lose their testimony, just because of the pain I've seen it cause for other members in the church. But with that fear comes a great admiration of these fathers, who are saddened by their children's decisions, but they hold onto that faith that Heavenly Father is watching over them, guiding them back towards Him in His own time. That lesson was a very deep one that I hope I won't forget in the future.

After church, Sister Russel had us and the Zion's Camp missionaries over for lunch. (Zion's Camp is a church-owned camp in our area, which is usually used for young woman's camp or other activites. Senior couples are serving there on their missions). Sister Russel made BBQ ribs for us, which were so tender that the meat fell off the bone when you picked it up. It was so good!

By the time we got out of there, after visiting with everyone there, we had a dinner appointment with the Keely's, and they grilled us up some burgers! They also served us some fruit salad, with strawberries, blueberries, and razzberries! Yum, I haven't had razzberries in forever, it seemed! Tasted just like the ones we picked at Grandma and Papa's.

We've honestly been getting spoiled with member meals. First steak, then ribs, then burgers. Haha.

Then we knocked some doors, and then ended the night by seeing a potential investigator, Adam. We've been seeing him every once in a while. He's not interested in joining the church, but he enjoys having 'intellectual conversations' with us, even if they include religion. He's honestly like a member. He lives all the standards, and he believes a lot that we do, just based off of his own conclusions, but he just doesn't believe that Jesus Christ is God.

However, to our surprise and pleasure, Adam has noticed a bunch of subtle miracles in his life. Like, out of the blue, his 8 year old daughter asked him what baptism meant. Surprised, he asked where she had heard about baptism, because they're not religious at all as a family, and she could not tell him why she had asked; she didn't know why. To Adam, this was a sign, like someone was poking him a bit in the right direction. So, after talking to him a bit more in depth, and this time he willingly listened to everything we said, he committed to praying in the name of Jesus Christ. Elder Stuart and I were way excited by this simple, little commitment, because this was honestly a huge step forward on Adam's part. We'll check back with him later this week.

That's all from me! Sorry about not having any pictures this week, I'll try to fix that!

I love you all

Thanks for reading!

-Elder R. Austin Moe

Wa-Tac Missionary