a letter from dad!

I loved this message so much that I wanted to share it. It seems like what Tab will be experiencing throughout his mission.......

Hi Elder Tab!

I hope your first week in NJ was great!  No doubt, you are seeing and experiencing many new things.  I look forward to hearing from you tomorrow.

I've been super busy at work.  I don't think it will let up until the end of the semester, so I will just have to hang on.  I gave an exam this past week that was too long for the allotted time — I am hated and despised…

I hope that you are having opportunities to teach.  The life of a missionary speeds along when there are lessons to be taught — especially if the investigators are truly interested.

This past General Conference has excited a missionary fervor throughout the church — there were a number of great talks about missionary work to go along with the new announcement by Pres. Monson.  Although I know you heard it, I thought I would share a quote from President Monson's talk in priesthood session:

Back in the year 1961, a worldwide conference was held for mission presidents, and every mission president in the Church was brought to Salt Lake City for those meetings. I came to Salt Lake City from my mission in Toronto, Canada.

In one particular meeting, N. Eldon Tanner, who was then an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve, had just returned from his initial experience of presiding over the missions in Great Britain and western Europe. He told of a missionary who had been the most successful missionary whom he had met in all of the interviews he had conducted. He said that as he interviewed that missionary, he said to him, “I suppose that all of the people whom you baptized came into the Church by way of referrals.”
The young man answered, “No, we found them all by tracting.”
Brother Tanner asked him what was different about his approach—why he had such phenomenal success when others didn’t. The young man said that he attempted to baptize every person whom he met. He said that if he knocked on the door and saw a man smoking a cigar and dressed in old clothes and seemingly uninterested in anything—particularly religion—the missionary would picture in his own mind what that man would look like under a different set of circumstances. In his mind he would look at him as clean-shaven and wearing a white shirt and white trousers. And the missionary could see himself leading that man into the waters of baptism. He said, “When I look at someone that way, I have the capacity to bear my testimony to him in a way that can touch his heart.”We have the responsibility to look at our friends, our associates, our neighbors this way. Again, we have the responsibility to see individuals not as they are but rather as they can become. I would plead with you to think of them in this way.
You will be challenged to do this as you serve in NJ.  Many of the people you teach will live in humble circumstances and face challenges that are daunting.  Many are suffering from the circumstances they were born into and some suffer from the consequences of a lifetime of poor decisions. You will be challenged to remember that each of these is a child of a loving Heavenly Father and that his gospel plan offers remarkable prospects for them if they will accept it and try to live it.
Remember: obedience, hard work, love (the Lord, the people you teach and live among, your companion), and service are the keys. You are fortunate to be a part of this great work. As you devote yourself fully and lose yourself completely in the service of others, you will be blessed beyond your ability to comprehend.  You will lay a foundation that will serve you for the rest of your life.
We are proud of you. Do work — the Lord's work!
Love,
Dad

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