Hi again Mom!
This week went by quickly. It seems like I don't have much to talk about because it was only a day or two ago that I last wrote emails. But this week was a blast!
We got to see more of our referrals and begin teaching some of them. One in particular that I enjoyed visiting with is Nikida. She is probably close to 40 years old and she has 3 kids with her husband. And then he has one kid, named Unique, who he had before they were married. So a total of 6 of them. We visited twice last week and got to meet Nikida and her 8 year old daughter Imani. Her husband and other kids are there too but don't usually stay in and listen for some reason. But Imani is quite smart for her age and somehow knows a lot about religion. She's super funny too. So we taught Nikida the first discussion and a lesson about the Book of Mormon and she accepted everything we taught and kept the commitments we gave her. I hope that we can see her more in the coming weeks because she is probably the most promising new investigator we've had. She already wants us to come over for Christmas dinner and she invited gave us a yummy pecan pie that she made from Thanksgiving. She's extremely nice to us. We have planned to extend a baptismal date to her in tomorrow's visit and I hope that it works out.
We met some crazy new people on the street and had some success with door to door contacting, actually. We have a zone challenge to have a Book of Mormon in hand where ever we go and it has worked out that we have given away over ten Books in a week. And we are the driving elders so I'm sure that the walking elders gave out plenty more.
So really the only thing my mind is thinking of right now is the service that we did on Saturday and Sunday. It was so awesome. As I've said many times before I love service. On Saturday we went to Bay Shore, Long Island which was like 2 hours away and helped a man remove his deck that got destroyed in the hurricane. He had basically covered his whole yard besides the front in wood and so when the waves hit it ripped everything up and made a huge mess. It took forever because the deck was massive and taking it apart screw by screw is difficult. But we went with our branch and since we are all friends it was really fun. Our stake high counselor took us - his name is Brother Nagano - and it turns out that we had several things in common. He lives in New Jersey but since he is super wealthy he has homes all over the place. He has one in Provo just above the temple in the Oak Hills 5th ward. He also has 2 kids attending BYU and one more that will be there next year. But I got to know him quite well and he is a really cool guy. Very humble as well. That was fun getting to talk to him for the whole two hour drive. Plus, we went directly through Jersey City, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx on our way there so it was interesting to see all of those areas. I think we took the long route just so we could see those areas. Oh and we went through the Holland Tunnel.
But even better than Saturday was yesterday. We didn't have enough rides to go to New York again with our branch so us four elders went to Union Beach again. We picked up supplies from the chapel in Eatontown and headed to a house that was really close to the shore. We took pictures of homes along the shoreline and I'll send them to you - wild stuff. But our job at the house was just to destroy it more or less. It had heavy flood damage and so the walls needed to come down and everything inside needed to be broken down and hauled out. We had so much fun. Since the walls were so soft and wet we filmed ourselves running clean through the walls. We were busting doors down in one hit too. We came up with a story line and then filmed all of the destruction on the camera. It was hilarious. I didn't get any on my camera but I'll see if I can get them on to my memory card and send them home. American Red Cross came by and asked if we wanted a hot meal, and of course we said yes, so they gave us some locally made fresh microwave meals that were super good and then some MRE meals (look it up). We haven't tried them yet but they seem pretty intense. And then they gave us a ton of Toblerone chocolate and M&Ms and chips. It was a miracle. They were so nice to us. So we finished up and the Disaster Recovery Team came and cleaned all the garbage up with this huge truck and we headed home. Then we got fed last night by our Jamaican members. It was a great weekend. I've probably never laughed so much in my life.
Well that was my week. I know most of the focus was on the service but the missionary work was a blast too. Each day is something new which I really appreciate. It keeps us on our toes. My Book of Mormon studies have been pretty awesome lately too. I'm learning a lot of things that I had never understood in the Book of Mormon before. So obviously my testimony is growing and I can testify more powerfully and simply to those we teach. Good stuff.
I didn't read a letter from you yet but there's a new one in my inbox that I am about to go read. I hope it's good! I sent my letter today and it has my camera memory card in it. That has good stuff too. I hope all is well at home and that you have a good week!
Love you all,
Tab
My favorite part........getting chocolate and thinking it was a miracle!
Elder Brandon Morrill and Elder Tab McLain
When Tab was in the MTC I would send him packages from the BYU post office. On one Friday afternoon I was in a rush to make it there on time and ran into another mom who was doing the same thing. She asked where my son was going and I told her. She said her son was going to the SAME mission! What are the odds?! Thus began a beautiful friendship! We told our sons about each other and they met. They were able to sit together on the plane flying to New Jersey. They probably won't get to serve together as he is spanish speaking and Tab is english. However, they do get to meet up at the mission home for conferences. This is one of those occasions. His mom, Cheryl, and I now correspond weekly and share our sons adventures. Lucky us!
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