Letter from Tacoma #85: June 12, 2017

Hey Everyone!

So yup, transfer calls came. Elder Stuart's mission is over and he's going home. Meanwhile, I'm staying another and I'll be getting Elder Stewart... Yeah, I'm pretty sure President Blatter just made that the call to be funny, seeing as this is his last transfers he'll decide before he goes home next month.

The ironic part is that this new Stewart only has two more transfers, so if things work out this way, I could potentially be his last companion, too. But dogone it! I'm still not the senior companion! I only have three transfers left and I still have never been a senior companion! Hahaha, apparently either the Lord or the mission president doesn't trust me being alone with a younger companion out in the boonies. At this rate, I'll somehow never be the senior companion my whole mission. Don't know how that'd work out on the last transfer, but I'm sure with my luck it'll happen somehow.

So, I'm excited to be getting a new companion. I've been having a good time serving with Elder Stuart, and it's bittersweet to see him go.

We had fun this week:

On Tuesday we were able to teach our top investigator, Nathan. We started teaching him the Plan of Salvation, but of course his mind is going a hundred miles per hour like usual, so with all of his questions he's throwing out, we ended up teaching lesson three as well: the gospel of Jesus Christ. We had the lesson at Bro. Bautista's house, first counselor in the bishopric, and he was an invaluable asset to answering most of Nathan's questions.

After a very long lesson full of deep questions and answers, Nathan was able to come to the conclusion that if he wanted to know if the church holds authentic priesthood authority, he'll have to 'search the spirit that he feels when reading the Book of Mormon for the truth.' I'm impressed with how spiritual Nathan is, and I'm sure next time we meet, he'll have received an answer.

Wednesday was Zion's Camp! This is the most fun Zone Conference of the year, and this year wasn't a disappointment. We have team building activities out on the ropes course, and we finish it with lunch, trainings, and then mission pictures. It's a blast because half of the mission is there, and it's even more fun considering that Zion's Camp is in Belfair's area.

Here's some pics Sister Blatter took of it: See if you can find me in all the pictures!

We all got T-shirts at Zion's Camp. I like mine, here's what they look like:

Thursday was the temple trip for departing missionaries. Since Elder Stuart is going home, we drove down to Tacoma to the mission office to drop him off. While he was at the temple, I worked with the Tacoma North zone leaders for most the day... yeah, Tacoma is still as crazy as I remember it. Lots of crazy people. But it's a lot of fun still. A member took us out to eat that day, so she took us to Chick-fil-a! I never really ate that stuff back home, but I've grown to love it out here.

Friday through Sunday was full of the usual work, mixed with a lot of getting stuff done in preparation for Stuart going home. Got transfer calls on Saturday, and Stuart and I got ice cream to celebrate it.

I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting. My topic was on 'blessings of the gospel'. With such a broad topic, I went with the route of 'Count your many blessings'. So, I talked about the blessings I've received from the gospel, the ones I've come the cherish the most. So that included gratitude, repentance, forgiveness, joy, and courage in a world where men's hearts will fail them. At the end, I tied it into missionary work by asking everyone to think about their greatest blessings, then think of somebody in their lives that needs that, too. Therein lies the root of missionary work, that it must be done out of love and the desire to give others the good that you have. I think I did pretty well, and I got a lot of compliments on it.

Before I end this email, I want to tell of an experience I had just this morning. Before the library in Gig Harbor opened up, we ran to Target to do some grocery shopping. We were there with the Key Center Elders as well. As we were shopping, the Key Center Elders saw an employee there and they recognized him as a member of their ward. They started to say hi, but when I looked at him, it took me a bit because he looks a lot different now, but I recognized him, too! It was Blake Edgar! The only guy I ever baptized on my mission! He recognized me, too. We hugged and talked a bit. He's still active, he lost a LOT of weight, and now he had a job. After a year and a half, he's come a long way, and I felt great joy in knowing that I had helped him to this point. It was a testimony of how great the worth of this work is, and that accepting the gospel will change people's lives for the better. It might not happen immediately, but the change becomes more drastic over time.

I love you all!

Thanks for reading!

-Elder R. Austin Moe

Wa-Tac Missionary