Oh what a day..... It didn't exactly start out that great but i am going to bed one HAPPY mom! After getting my Monday morning "Hi" from Tab, i waited patiently for his letter. After an hour and a half I gave up. I called Tim - he got his letter. Not fair AND not like Tab. It made for a really blah day! Then about 4:30 pm his name popped up in my email. It showed that he had sent it about 9:59 am. Can't figure that one out. Oh well, it doesn't matter. I got my letter! I was plenty happy but then we checked the mailbox and BAM......a 10 page letter. TEN! complete with pictures and video. That is HAPPINESS right there. Take a deep breath before you begin. It's ALOT of reading, but it's oh so good.
Hey dad!
I've got a lot to write and little time to do it so I hope that I can remember to git everything in.
That's really neat that you had that spiritual witness in your talk. We had a lesson where I was able to testify of Christ as our Savior (at Christmas time we get to do that a lot) and I just felt fabulous afterwards. Unfortunately she cut me off but it didn't matter because I knew what I had said and felt was right. It sounds like you had a similar experience. I'm sure the talk you gave was great too. Sara Avila and other friends always told me that they loved when you spoke in their ward.
I hope you get some rest this Holiday as well - you work too hard! But I know that it pays off for you and that's why you do it. I think just in the last week we have seen the fruits of our labors in our work - we had been attempting to become more "consecrated" missionaries after a zone conference we had three weeks ago, and in that week it seemed that nothing went right. You could probably tell in my last letter that our week was pretty uneventful. And I got a ticket :( for an illegal u-turn. The other elders need our car and we are forced to walk our area for now, so we were frustrated and confused. But we worked just as hard this week and on Tuesday we set up 5 baptismal dates, 3 of them with former investigators for this Sunday, the 16th! I'm really excited to work with them and help them prepare for that date. We are seeing them 3 times a week now. The other two are for the 30th of December and in our follow up with her last night she said that they received an answer to their prayer that baptism was the right thing for them to do.
I failed to mention that all of this was done in a week where we really only had about 3 days to teach, so we are satisfied with what we've done. On Monday, we helped the senior couples organize our storage for the mission and that ended up taking till 7pm, so we only got one lesson in. On Tuesday and Wednesday we got to teach. Then Thursday we went to the temple in Manhattan (I'll tell you more about that) and that used up the whole day. Then Friday and Saturday we did service for a woman in Newark who's home was destroyed in the storm. That was basically our week! Yesterday we had an amazing time at church and we had a huge turnout for investigators, branch members and strangers, too. There was an area seventy who came and spoke to us as well. It seemed like everything went well! We got to see our investigator Neketa, who I mentioned earlier about her baptism on the 30th. It was a great day. So while our numbers weren't impressive, I can say that our hard work was effective and we are satisfied with the success that we have had.
So about Thursday's temple trip... It was kinda crazy. We first went to Union City chapel, which I have heard is the most expensive chapel in the United States. It had an underground parking garage and an elevator and all. Crazy stuff. And then we took a bus to New York through Lincoln Tunnel and we saw a football stadium on top of a really nice high school. We arrived in New York and it was a neat experience to see Times Square and Rockefeller Center but there is no way that I would ever live in New York. I could vacation there for a week just to check it out and see all the tall buildings but the lifestyle there is so strange. The people are strange too. It's just a constant barrage of blinking advertisements, street vendors in your face, and riots/strikes. In general, there are too many people there. One thing that was cool though was the fact that we saw several MASSIVE mormon.org advertisements that talked about Christmas, etc. And I'm sure that they work well to attract attention. But the most interesting part about Manhattan was the stark contrast between the lights and commotion in the streets, and the quiet and peace that abides in the temple. I am glad that I got to experience that and I believe seeing that contrast really opened my eyes and gave me a renewed outlook on my life. Unfortunately, on our walk back to the bus stop I had a hard time retaining that peaceful spirit that you get each time you visit the temple.
Anyway, after our trip we went to a place called Casanova Brazilian Barbeque in the Ironbound, and it was fabulous. It is more or less the same thing as Tucanos or Rodizio Grill. We ate a ton of food and shared many funny experiences from the mission. It was a great day.
I know there isn't much to this letter but as you can tell we had a good week. I will be writing letters today and I might get time to throw some of our other experiences in the letter I send home. I hope so. I'll be sending pictures too because it goes without saying that I took many while we were in New York. Let me know if you can think of any souvenirs you want from Newark! We'll be shopping on Broad Street today so I'll look for something. Next week we planned to visit the Graffiti Wall in North Newark which is a 3 mile long tunnel that is lined with tags from years back. I'm looking forward to that too! We haven't gone to any famous pizza places yet, but we've been talking about going to more brazilian restaurants in the Ironbound because I've heard that's where the best food in New Jersey is. So I'll let you know how that goes, and we'll be looking out for pizza too.
I hope your finals week goes well. It's probably an extremely stressful time for you right now but it will soon be over and you will be able to celebrate the holidays! I really like this time of year. I hope it snows here soon because I get jealous whenever you say you have been getting snow in Provo. All we're getting is rain and fog! I look forward to hearing back from you soon and I hope that you have a great week.
Much love,
Tab
Hey Mom!
So I already sent a decently sized letter to dad that included a lot of the things you were asking me about and so I won't take time to write them again. But we had a really great week! We didn't have a lot of time to teach and somehow we still pulled of a week's worth work. Say that three times fast. Yes, we did go to the temple and I met Stephen Suprise, who is the older brother of my friend Michael. Super odd, but really cool. We had a lot to talk about and we walked to the temple with them. They didn't come in with us because they were on their way out but it was neat nonetheless.
Sorry I have to be quick because I want to send some pictures to my camera from the other elders' cameras. But I'll answer your questions and then finish up!
1. Just got the Christmas cd by Jars of Clay that is really good. I like it a lot.
2. Yerp, we got your box.
3. New place we went to eat - Casanova Brazilian Grill, in the Ironbound. Super good and really similar to Tucanos just not as nice. Other than that, not really. Altas Horas in Newark and Five Guys!
4. Elder Estipona was happy that he got mail from you and said thanks for the gift cards. As for stuff to send them, maybe just stuff for our apartment would be good. We need a knife sharpener and if dad is willing to give it away, the Magnum hunting knife in his drawer. Hopefully you can find it. If it's not in their it's in one of the pockets of my blue Clive backpack. But we have picked up wittling (sp.?) in our spare time. Just a dumb hobby but really fun.
5. No I don't have a thermal top, and I could use just one, maybe two. I'll probably send back the black thermals you sent because I don't think I'll ever use them. But thank you for thinking of that for me!
So funny that you already knew I got a ticket. Yeah it was a bummer and I paid it last week. So that is taken care of I think. I don't think I have to go to court for it though so that's nice. I'm hoping it doesn't make your insurance go up! that would be rotten.
I'm in Alma too now... Alma 14. I'm trucking along at a pretty good pace. I am back on track to finish by the end of the year so that's good. But you're right, the reading is interesting! I really love the Book of Mormon. I just read the epic story of Alma and Amulek confounding Zeezrom. It's cool stuff.
You keep telling me that you have lots of surprises and you haven't told me any! I hope to hear some of them soon because you're making me nervous. My guess is that one of them is that Regan is engaged now. Hopefully. I can't think of anything else. Maybe you finished landscaping! Haha kidding.
So I would say to anyone who got called to New Jersey and were surprised: NEW JERSEY IS THE MOST FOREIGN MISSION IN THE WORLD! I'm quite sure of that. There are more foreigners here than there are street cones on I-15. But do not be dismayed, you'll absolutely love it once you get here! There's nothing like it and the people are one of a kind. They're from everywhere. I love it!
I'm happy to hear you're doing well at home. That's always comforting. I love you all! Yeah, skype soon :)
I was thinking of two more things I forgot to include in my letter home for Christmas presents. I'll send them with my next letter and my memory card. One of the things was an Amano Chocolate bar. I loved the stuff from Clark by the way - super duper funny. I'll be writing him today! And hopefully you too.
I love you all and hope to hear back soon. Do work at home! Merry Christmas.
Love,
Tab
* I'll post his 10 page letter tomorrow. It will take me a while to type THAT one!
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