Christmas is coming.......you'll hear from me on Wednesday!

So this week is extra GREAT! We get our Monday email, a quickie call on Tuesday, and our Christmas call on Wednesday! Couldn't ask for anything more for Christmas. Hallelujah!


Hi Family,

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU!

I kinda feel lazy and like not writing anything but I will. It will just be short. You'll hear from me on Wednesday, after all. This week was really pretty slow for missionary work. We had a bunch of meetings/stuff during the week and we didn't use the phone well last week so we had no set appointments. Many people are out of town or are working an extra amount to get the holidays off. So all that added up to us only being able to teach 10 lessons and finding no new investigators. I hate weeks like this because I don't feel satisfied even though I was always doing something. Plus, I haven't had any time to make gifts and write letters home. BUT we did see some awesome things this week. Alex Boye made it to our Christmas concert through a miracle. He flew here on the day that the airport closed, but somehow his flight opened up. Diane was overjoyed to go to early morning seminary when she found out about it (5:30am) so that's good. Comfort gave a talk in church for our Christmas program and it was incredible! It was better than anything I could have put together and mind you, she's been a member for less than a month. Dad might be the only one to understand/appreciate this, but she even closed "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen." And she was quoting conference talks and everything. She ordered a scripture quad for Christmas. I offered to give her my scripture case from home. Just the regular size black one that covers my blue scriptures. If you could send it to me that'd be awesome! She and Diane are doing super well. We should be going to the temple with them on Jan. 4th. Ange and Curt and Jos and Marchelle (someone we taught, but was baptized the Sunday after Elder Vargas and I were doubled out) also went to the temple last week. I think it was first time for all of them. I was so happy to hear that! They loved it. 

Hey! I got the same score on my American Heritage final too! I feel better now about that. I hope you do too. It was almost silly how specific the questions were. Remember? I told you how I felt after I took it. It's like, "how many soldiers were remaining after the battle at Gettysburg and how is that number related to the economic success immediately after the civil war?" Jokes like that. It took me four hours too. I was about ready to pass out after it was over.

I did get all the packages I think. I didn't open two of them. I got the one with the doughnuts :) and the one with the candy and lights. And I got your letters. I also go the box with the wrapped gifts. I haven't opened the one from USPS priority mail and the one with the Amazon Prime tape. So I think I got everything. Speaking of Amazon Prime - does dad use it? I just signed up because I order enough things a year to make it worth it but I can just use his account to order stuff and I'll save $70. I haven't paid for it yet. I am still on the free trial.

I think I am good on shirts actually. I don't wear them to bed and I don't wear them really on p-days so the ones I did bring just sit in my drawers. plus I have acquired a few over the year.

So that's about it. I loved the doughnuts! That was a pleasant surprise :)

This week will be great. I'll call you on Tuesday, about 6pm? (8pm here) and then confirm what time to call on Wednesday.

Love you! I pray for you!

Tab 

p.s.  I knew that I should have opened the packages, but I practiced my self control just for the sake of getting better at it : )

Haha - I was up at that time (6 am). In the shower probably!

I'm glad Dad finally got my letter. The one to you wasn't even my letter to you! That will be on its way soon. I have to break the rules a little bit to get it finished. The last three preparation days we haven't had any spare time, annoyingly. Like today, we went to the mission home because our jingle with the Jeppson's got rescheduled to our p-day. UGH! oh well. We had a SUPER good mission Christmas conference. Alex Boye came and gave an amazing talk. I loved it. He's a quality guy. And I hung out with Elder Vargas and Elder Traasdahl and Elder Bell so that was nice!

I have to finish up making some gifts for Dad and Colby and Nate (ties) and think of something to make for you and the sisters, but I'll get it. I might be able to get them to you by New Years. But you'll like them!

assuming they haven't changed...

your cell 8013603585

home 8017654512

my old phone 8016916322

dads cell 8015921267
dad's work number 8014226537

regan 8018501796 

Christen's home phone 8012253423 coleman's cell is 8013606301

Mitchell's house 8012251579 and his t-mobile cell is 8014008190 

There - I don't forget these things.

He's full of Holiday Cheer.........and a baptism!

Sounds like he's full of holiday cheer! Another baptism.....SNOW.....and good work this week.

Hi Mom!

Ah man I missed Bishop! Next time he comes, tell him to call us - we'll go out to lunch or go out and teach or something like that. Can you imagine? Taking bishop Barnard on a team up to go teach my investigators... that would be so awesome. Haha!

So this week was pretty good. We didn't have that much time to go out and teach because of storms and our temple trip and other meetings. But we still did what we need to and I enjoyed it all. I went on exchange this week with Elder Morrill again and he is great as ever. He knows what he's doing. He knows a lot about everything haha. But he's a fantastic missionary! Elder Pabla handled things well (he had to run our area) and so I was happy to hear that it went well for him too. He helped Diane prepare for her baptism and she passed her interview and the baptism went well! Even though it snowed a lot on saturday night, we had a good turnout at church and so many people came to the baptism. Okai performed the baptism and it was his first time. He did everything right, but unfortunately the water level in the font was pretty low so he had a hard time. It took him three tries :) I think he was a little bit embarrassed, sadly. He shouldn't be!

We had a nice snow storm and it was awesome. I enjoy going out in the snow! Don't worry, we stayed warm. We did a lot of sidewalk shoveling at the church so I actually got really hot.

Good ole Elder Vargas and Elder Traasdahl. I saw Elder Traasdahl this week... it was a sweet experience. I hugged him for a couple minutes. I got a nice picture too. He's a fabulous guy. I miss those two.

Tell Nate happy birthday for me! I had no idea. I will get some balsamic chicken one of these days. I'll find it somewhere. I passed a super yummy smelling vietnamese restaurant in New York... but the rule is no eating in restaurants in new york so I had to pass it up :( They had Bon Mis! The place was called Boi, maybe you could look it up to see if it's any good. Cause if it's not, that would make me feel better. The new temple video is really good. 

I got two funny ties for Reese and Clark, really funny suede ties. Reese is actually on the computer right now so I am chatting with him. it's nice! Ok he's done. Question! Could you send me a couple pairs of pants in my christmas package? Ones that I already own. My black corduroy levis and I have a black pair of RVCA pants that are like jean material. You can include them in any package you already planned to send - no rush. Also, I do need new white shirts. 5 will be good. Cause mine are getting a little gross now. Have you already purchased some? I like any collar style. I'm not picky :) 

I'll be praying you do well on your tests! In turn you can pray for Lula, that she'll get baptized soon.

Tell Regan that I say I love her and that she should write me back that slime!

I am taking more pictures, I just forgot my camera today .... :?

Yes, I think I will still email next monday! I hope it snows. 

Thanks - I will have a good week! We are going to go sing today. Haha. 

Love you all!

Love,

Tab

Here's a portion of Tim's letter. I wanted to share it since it is such a good message for the season!

Hi Tab,

I hope you had a good week.  From what we can tell here, the cold weather has arrived in NJ.  I hope you are adapting quickly to winter weather and that you are staying warm. I read in President Jeppson's weekly letter that you and Elder Pabla were able to baptize Diane yesterday. That's really great! It's nice that she and her mom can be new members together — hopefully they will be able to help each other.

Before I forget, two people told me to say hi: Taz Murray and Bishop West's counselor from PG (younger guy with dark hair).  I guess Bishop Barnard was out seeing Joe last week, but didn't have an opportunity cross paths with you.

For a Christmas thought this week, I have a couple of things to share.  First are excerpts from Elder Uchtdorf's 2011 Christmas Devotional talk:

In his 2011 Christmas Devotional message, President Uchtdorf said that we, “like the Wise Men of old, should seek the Christ and lay before Him the most precious of gifts: a broken heart and a contrite spirit. We should offer Him our love. We should give Him our willingness to take upon ourselves His name and walk in the path of discipleship. We should promise to remember Him always, to emulate His example, and to go about doing good.”

President Uchtdorf’s  went on to say, “We cannot offer perfection, and the Savior does not expect it, but He does require that we bring as gifts our best efforts to move ourselves, one foot in front of the other, walking in the ways He has prepared and taught.”

President Uchtdorf concluded, “Of course, we do not need a Christmas holiday or Christmas traditions to remember Jesus Christ, the Savior. … May each Christmas season remind us to lift up our voices and fill our hearts with joy and gratitude that Christ the King has come! Christ lives! He is real. He is our Redeemer at Christmas and always.”

One of my favorite thoughts from Elder Neal A. Maxwell is that the only gift that we can give to God that is uniquely our to give is to surrender our will to Him. Elder Maxwell said it this way:

The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we “give,” brothers and sisters, are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give! Consecration thus constitutes the only unconditional surrender which is also a total victory!

Tab, I am proud of your efforts and service.  I'm sure you are a great missionary.  I hope that you are finding ways to have your individual will swallowed up in God's will. I hope you continue to have a wonderful Christmas season.

Love,

Dad

Love you too Dad!

Thanks for the thought. I hope you got my letter this week! New Jersey mail... I sent it a week ago. It should come today! 

Tab

Diane's Baptism (Her mom, Comfort was baptized 2 weeks ago)

Diane was baptized by Okai (in white on the right)

It snowed!

What a week! And it snowed. I know that made Tab happy. It will be exciting to see what happens this weekend with his other baptismal dates. Stay tuned......



Hey Mom and family!

So! 

This week was really good. Elder Pabla and I saw a lot of miracles. We prayed a lot for miracles, so it was good that we saw them. First, Comfort is doing really well as a new convert. Super solid. She wants to go to the temple, but we are having a little bit of a hard time 1) visiting her frequently enough to get anywhere quickly and 2) finding her ancestry in Africa. She doesn't even know her parents birthdays and doesn't know where to find them :/ so that's no good. But she can still go and do work for other people. Along with that, Diane asked us if she could be baptized this Saturday. So after a long discussion, we finally said yes. 

Really though, we were super excited when she said that. It is funny because we used the flirt-to-convert technique with a young man who goes to her school (we used him as a team-up... best idea ever) plus Sister Comfort (her mom) encouraged her like every day to join the church! Trust me, it was not coercion or even convincing. After two visits with Okai and many, many prayers, she asked us if she could be baptized. It is great! 

Then we also have Lula who is planning to be baptized this week. She already thinks she is a member, so that's good. We had to explain that she is not a member of the church until she is baptized and confirmed, so she agreed to that. She is being fellowshipped like none other thanks to our awesome ward. They love her. 

We also had 20 lessons this week! That is the standard for the mission, and I have not had 20 lessons since I left Trenton. In fact, I don't think this area (since it became an area) has ever reached 20 lessons. So that was quite the accomplishment. I don't feel like we did much differently. We just met more people while they were home and they let us in! 

We had a couple more miracles but the most pressing on my mind is the fact that it snowed yesterday. I couldn't have been more happy about that. It's about time! Sadly it snowed about one inch and then it rained last night so now it is all ice. 

We're still working with Daphney and Michael... pray for them! We had a really good lesson with Michael yesterday where we set things straight and I hope it makes a difference. He keeps all our commitments but he isn't experiencing conversion... so that's not good. We're still trying to see Daphney again.

Not much news for me. Could you send me David Weekes email address? I have some good news for them. To all my golf buddies, you can tell them that I made a sega melt yesterday. It's a good sandwich. 

I got your package! I am actually wearing the pants right now. They look appropriate enough to work in, especially when I wear a big coat that covers the back pockets, haha. Dad might disagree with that, but oh well. 

Thanks for the letter! Sorry I had to be short today. I hope everyone is well! I got a nice letter from Regan last week... I don't remember if I wrote back. I'll check. Anyway - 

Love you all,

Tab!

A beautiful sight!

I'm a little behind in getting this out. I guess that's what happens during the holidays! It was another great week thanks to more surprise emails and pictures. Monday came and went and nothing from Tab. On Wednesday afternoon I checked my email while sitting at a traffic light. Up popped 8 of them! I literally had to pull over in a parking lot so I could look at them all. The BEST feeling ever! Along with the emails were a few pictures. I have to say that one of them was the most BEAUTIFUL thing I've ever seen. I laughed, and smiled, then maybe I shed a little tear. I love seeing him with the people of New Jersey. His love for them is obvious - it shows on his face. He continues to share the gospel message and bring many unto Christ. And he continues to bless us and bring us so much JOY! It doesn't matter if there isn't one Christmas present under the tree this year, THAT alone would be enough for me.

Hi Mom!

Thanks for the packages! I didn't get to email on Monday because the computers were down, but I'm on now for the next hour and a half or so. We ate at the Taber-Kewene family's house (with Bro Barnard) on Thursday, and then at the Gustave's house on Friday. I haven't really mentioned much about either of those families, but the TK's are like a Utah family basically and the Gustave's are straight out of Newark. The food was great! Lots of fun. We love them both. 

The gloves were great! They match my new jacket, haha. Oh, for another Christmas gift, could you send me two new white tall tees from GenX? I think 2XL tall is what I usually get :) I think I'm good on other colors. And I think I want my brown corduroy krew pants now. I know I sent them back but I change my mind! Other than that, you could send a few t-shirts I own but I think I'm fine. I would still like a new pair of grey corduroys (they're warm) 34x34 levis.

Well, I don't have much news from the week really. Other than the baptism, which went really well. It was the first time Comfort had been in water above her knees! I had no idea. Our investigator Lula is getting friendshipped super well so she should also be baptized soon. She already thinks she's joined the church! We have a few other people out there who might also get baptized. We started teaching Daphney again after losing contact for a couple weeks! I've been communicating with recent converts from Trenton who are also doing really well. Johnson and Ange are considering, more than before at least, serving missions! Johnson is going out with the missionaries a lot! That's great news, and Jos is doing well too. : )

Other than that, I don't have much news! We're doing well. Thanks for everything! It sounds like you are too. Stay in school! haha

Love,

Tab

Hi Dad! 

We didn't get to email on Monday, but today I am on for a little while so that I can send a few emails and wish you a happy birthday!

Thanks for your letter. I will look at familysearch.org and I will also try to find some material to help you understand Isaiah. There is a book in the church library called "Understanding Isaiah" - I took a look at the back page and I don't know if it will exactly help but it may. I'll look at it again.

This week I received [indirect] advice from President Jeppson to try reading Jesus the Christ. I went on an exchange with an older missionary who was in the same position as me, pertaining to valuable and meaningful scripture study and how he hadn't had one in a while, and he told me that President Jeppson suggested reading Jesus the Christ for further learning in the scriptures. I am also considering reading the Old Testament at least for a little bit of my studies. Hopefully that will help me to have enlightening and exciting studies again, like I used to have. 

I'll do what I can to help Elder Pabla! We've been getting along pretty well lately. I don't have any major concerns... he works hard and he is obedient. He's a good missionary. He reminds me of my MTC companion, Elder Price. 

I guess I could say I'm somewhere in the middle of obedience ceasing to be an irritant and exact obedience being my quest. We have a new zone goal that I know will help me a lot: always remembering the Savior. We have great zone leaders. And a great mission president!

I love you too. Sorry I don't have much for your birthday. I would have a letter but I didn't finish it on Monday. So it will come in about a week. I hope you have a fantastic day! You can know that I will be working hard with you in mind. But mostly Jesus Christ! Haha

Love,

Tab

Here's Comfort's baptism and a picture of my main man Esa and I on thanksgiving!

 Comfort's baptism

My main man Esa and I on Thanksgiving!

(a beautiful sight!)

I'm thankful for missionaries!

Got another surprise email and pictures for Thanksgiving! The Barnard family is taking good care of our kid. So today I am thankful for..........missionaries, and the selfless service they give, and for those who take them in when they are so far away.    

Elder McLain and Joe (Bishop Barnard's son)

Elder McLain and his companion Elder Pabla

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

I could really use a jdawg!

My boy! That kid just melts my heart. Seems to be doing good - just has to endure that damp cold!

Hey mom! 

I wasted so much time trying to figure out the silly missionary.lds.org website (where I write to president) that I now only have about 15 minutes left. So chat with me while you can. I am going to print out your email so that I can write back by hand... it is freezing in the library so my hands are moving slower than I could write right now. 

Nevertheless, I will answer your questions! In my hand written letter I'll tell you how my week went. It was ok... some good stuff, lots of annoying stuff. 

As for transfers......I'm staying!

As for p-day... I have no clue. We're way behind today so we're probably not doing much. And it's really cold. everywhere. Hahaha. We're baking cookies for our friend Lula because it is her birthday today and she's been sick. I might go get some food, write some letters. nothing much.

Yes, our apartment is much warmer! The library is cold because - One, we're sitting by the door. Two, it's too cold outside to heat this building with the old fashioned gear they have. (hot water radiator things)

I'm for sure good on socks and good for now on razorblades. I could use a new bottle of facewash! :) And if you can find one, I could use a lint brush for christmas. Not a lint roller with the sticky pads, but a brush that can collect lint and you can reuse it again and again. The ones I have seen are red, maybe that's what they all look like?

Yes, chocolate covered pomegranate seeds would be nice right about now! Dad is right, but he is being picky ;)

For Christmas, I could use a new towel (white one) and I probably need to replace most of my shirts. I know that is expensive, and I'm over halfway done with my mission, so probably just a few new shirts would be fine. I had something on my head but I forgot. I will remember when I get home, so I'll include it in my letter!

Christmas ideas... I don't know how I will do it but I will pick some pictures for you to print. I will list them in my letter according to what I remember. It's nice to have some funny pictures on my desk. I have the office chair from dad's office that has the asian face... -_-  haha

Hey, if it makes you feel better, I think that is the same exact score I got on the Am Heritage final. It ended up being a high C, like 78. It is what it is! You learned that it's the dumbest class ever! I agree. I could complain all day about the ridiculous questions on the test.

Facebook and iPads will come, at the latest, by April. It'd be nice right now - we have a lot of investigators and members who don;t have/use phones but are always on Facebook.

Alright I am out of computer time!

I love you! You are the best. Really.

TAb

Hey Dad!

Thanks for the awesome letter and funny story, too. You know how I am - I don't tend to share much. For example, I could have had the most spiritual experience of my life and it would have been "a pretty good week." I find that you are the same way... like the time I didn't find out that you were big into audio equipment as a kid until I actually started picking it up as a hobby. I'll tell you one thing that I thought about today -

I could really use a jdawg.

Remember the first time I tried a Jdawg? We were cutting wood for something - I don't recall what - and we were at the ME shop by your office. That day changed my life forever.

I love you,
Tab 

I'll put details in my letter to mom ;)

A plain old normal week!

A plain old normal week! 


Hi Mom and family,

So!

 

How was your week? Mine was pretty good. We had a good day at church yesterday. I can't get any pictures downloaded to the computer so I'll have to send you my memory card. I haven't taken as many pictures since I moved to Maplewood for some reason. But, I still have a few new ones.

 

If you don't mind me asking, how did you do on your tests? I hope it went well.

 

I'll make brief replies to your comments...

 

Clark told me his family is moving to Sandy- isn't that near Draper? I don't know north Utah that well. I gave him a little beef about it; he was pretty sad to find out. But, he'll still be at BYU from what I have been told.

 

Rita's! I was thinking about trying the frozen pear, but it's a little cold to do something like that. That flavor sounded really good. Swedish fish and vanilla gelati (or however you spell that) is great, though.

 

And to answer your questions...

 

1. Another pair of dark blue, (navy) maybe even with a pattern in it just to spice things up. Either way though, I love my blue pair. Um if you can find a dark olive, I like that color. No pleats please :) I think I'll be good without brown. Perhaps a light grey. Things that go with black shoes. I'm not too picky. In fact, I like when you pick the pants. And ties too. As far as colors, I could use a nice dark red tie. And a blue tie. I like any tie that you send to me, really. I especially like Tommy Hilfiger ties. But I'm not exclusive to them.

 

3. Send the packages to the mission office for Christmas! They bring them out at the all mission Christmas conference so then the missionaries aren't tempted to open them before Christmas day :) If they're small, you can send them to my apartment. It's pretty safe to get mail there.

 

4. Perhaps, I think he'd be fine with it. You don't have to send it in a separate package, though.

 

5. Um... another five guys card :) Haha. Don't put too much money on it though. $50 is probably the max. Otherwise, there aren't many other chain restaurants I like to go to in our area and I don't have a clue what will be in my next area.

 

I got the package and it was exactly what I needed at the time! I was basically out of pens. I had one left. And the scarf is great. Don't get me a new one! I don't need or want one - the one you sent is great. We have a nerf hoop too, so I won't need a new one this year hahaha.

 

I PROMISE I will write you a letter and send some pictures soon. I haven't done that in a while I know. And I will help some people this week. Sorry I didn't write more about the week... it wasn't extremely eventful. It was kind of a normal week to me. The highlight was that we had our investigator Lula come to church and she had the best day ever. She's a really old lady - mid to late 80s - and so everyone got along with her. We love Lula! I imagine she'll keep coming to church. Last time we visited she had a neat experience when she prayed about the Book of Mormon. She got a very profound feeling, and I haven't ever taught someone who has had the same experience. So we're working with her! and our other investigators. Pray for them! Lula, Daphney, Comfort, Diane, and Michael.

 

Have a great week! 

 

Love,

Tab 

Halloween Dinner with the Barnard's!

I received two more surprise pictures this past week from our Bishop's son who lives in New Jersey. They had the missionaries over for Halloween dinner and one of them happened to be Tab. Sister Barnard was kind enough to forward those pictures on to me. It was a most wonderful Halloween treat!

Elder McLain and missionaries  

Look.....Elder Thompson is with him again!

Tab.....always the tallest!

I played golf Yesterday!

Another holiday so we had to wait an extra day to hear from Tab.......worth the wait!

Hi Mom!

 

Guess what? I played golf yesterday! I took pictures, but I forgot my camera today so I'll send them next week. We had one of our potential investigators take us out because we helped him paint his deck. We went to a course in Union called Galloping Hills. It was super cold - colder than the last Timpview father/son tournament I played with dad - so it wasn't as fun as it could have been, but I played really well. If I remember correctly, I only had 13 putts. I ended up shooting a 38 with a triple bogey and 8 pars. :) That's how I always play! I'm sure Coach Ward would laugh if he heard that. 

 

Well, this week was pretty good. We had the most success of all the weeks this transfer... and we found a very prepared new investigator named Daphney. I mentioned her to dad, so you can look at the letter I sent to him. We are teaching Pedro too. I haven't taught him yet, but I will see him this Saturday assuming our appointment goes through. Our other contacts are doing well, but most of are investigators are progressing very slowly. That is why Daphney was such a good person for us to find - she is progressing quite quickly.

 

My companion is doing quite well. I think he is one of the more pre-trained missionaries of the group that he came in with. I could do better at focusing more attention on him, because he takes priority over our area and the missionaries in my district. That's more difficult for me than it sounds... It's something I have never done before. That's why. He's getting into the rhythm - he's very obedient and he is always on task. I am yet to teach him how to use the phone and how to contact though. I am fairly good at both of those things, but the only way I know how to teach those things is by example but for now it's not enough to just lead by example.

 

IT is cold! I got a new coat yesterday at the mall and it is an awesome coat. It is made by dockers. Super warm. So now I am warm but I am fighting a little bit of a cold so it is tough for me to find motivation to work. As a missionary, you never know when it is an appropriate time to rest if you're sick ;) Dad might know what that is like. Oh! I remember what I wanted to ask for. Could you send me a new scarf? Mine fell in the street last winter and I haven't needed one till now, and I don't really know where to get one for cheap that is thick enough to keep my face warm. Black, grey, blue, whatever color is fine. And if it has patterns, that is cool with me.

 

Alright I have to jet. But thanks for writing me. I will continue to pray for Grandma Sharon. Tell her I say hi! Good luck on your exam! And let me know when you find out if Caitlin is having a boy or a girl. Say hi to Regan - tell her to get married already. And to Colby and Rorie - be awesome!

 

Love you,

Tab

Open your mouth buddy!

I think I've mentioned this before but I love Tim's letters to Tab. Occasionally, I will post one if the message is worth sharing. This week was one of those. So, I will share both father and son's letters.

Hi Tab,

I hope you are having a great day and that your week has gone well. We think of you constantly and pray for you all the time. Having you on a mission is a great blessing to our family. Thank you for your hard work and devotion. I hope that you feel blessed for your efforts.

We received a copy of the letter sent to you by President Jeppson when you were called to be a trainer.  What a great letter!  I hope that you will take the time to read it frequently so that you can understand his expectations for you as Elder Pabla's trainer and be encouraged by his trust and confidence in you.  You have a great president. Follow him!

This week was a little unusual with your mom away in Georgia.  We did fine without her — not as well as we do with her though! It was pretty uneventful really, which is probably good.

How are your investigators?  I really appreciate the thorough rundown that you gave us last week. I hope you were able to meet with them this week and that they continue to progress towards conversion and baptism.

I have had a thought on my mind this week and on other occasions that I feel like I should share with you.  It is a simple thought, but it may help you and guide your decisions. The thought is this: "Our Heavenly Father loves ALL his children."  I'm sure that you have run across many individuals that are hard to love and for whom it is difficult to imagine how they might contribute to His Kingdom. Remember that our Heavenly Father loves them.

To close, here's a thought from Elder Ballard from this last General Conference:

You don’t have to be an outgoing person or an eloquent, persuasive teacher. If you have an abiding love and hope within you, the Lord has promised if you “lift up your voices unto this people [and] speak the thoughts that [He] shall put into your hearts, … you shall not be confounded before men;

“[And] it shall be given you … in the very moment, what ye shall say” (D&C 100:5–6).

Preach My Gospel reminds all of us that “nothing happens in missionary work until [we] find someone to teach. Talk with as many people as you can each day. It is natural to be somewhat apprehensive about talking to people, but you can pray for the faith and strength to be more bold in opening your mouth to proclaim the restored gospel” ([2004], 156–57). You full-time missionaries, if you want to teach more, you must talk to more people every day. This has always been what the Lord has sent missionaries forth to do.

Open your mouth buddy and have a great week!

Love,

Dad

Dad,

Thanks for the thought! I can relate. There are many people that we meet that are hard to love. I think it is particularly more difficult to have patience with them. I would say that patience is one of the greatest sub-attributes of Christ-like love. I do well to stay patient during affliction, but my patience with people who don't keep commitments is not what it should be. I pray that I can have the same patience God has for me. :) 

 

That letter president sent me was super neat! I could tell it was specifically written to me, which means a lot considering how busy he is already. I will continue to look over it... it's almost like a patriarchal blessing! 

 

Our investigators are good. Many of them are in the same position... they do not come to church with us. But there are also many who do that are choosing to take things slow. On average, we have about 4 investigators at church each week. But probably about half of them are not progressing at a very fast pace, sadly. We found some great new investigators this week - one in particular that will join the church soon. Her name is Daphney. She's about 30 years old. She is the sister of an active member. She had been taught by missionaries in the past and never felt ready to be baptized but she told us in the first visit that she is ready now. She is awesome. We saw her 3 times last week. She really enjoys having us over and it's nice because we teach her in a members home and so we don't have to do much to set up fellowship for her at church. She came to church on Sunday but left within a few minutes because her son had a fever : ( Member referrals are awesome. I wish we received more.

 

Comfort and her daughter are doing well too. We're trying to gauge how strong her desire is to join the church. I think she'd do everything we ask and be baptized but as far as conversion to the doctrine of Christ, I am not sure. Anyway, we'll figure that out soon.

 

Thanks again for the thought. I hope you have an awesome week. Stay busy, but not too busy!

 

Love,

Tab 

Gotta love surprise emails!

Today I received an email from my dear friends, the Miner's. Attached was a picture of two handsome missionaries, one being my sweet son Elder McLain. The Miner's had forwarded it to me along with this explanation. It completely made my day! 

Dear McLains,

Thought you would enjoy seeing this picture of your handsome missionary.  While serving briefly at SVU (Southern Virginia University) we meet Elder Ramos.  Oneil had a chance to hear him play the piano and offered a short piano lesson to him.  He is such a fine young convert to the church.  When we found out he was going to New Jersey, we told him to find our neighbor Elder McLain and he did!  It is a small world in the church.  

Love to you and your family,

Tamera & Oneil 

I love getting surprise emails and pictures like this...and I love my dear friends who make these things possible!

A cool experiment........Purification.

Tim and I wrote really short letters this week - a first! But, we got a great letter from Tab! I think he is still DOING GOOD WORK!

Woah short letter! Both you and dad were up too late - I hope you got some rest! I was on exchange yesterday in Elizabeth and I forgot to change the time for daylight savings time and then I woke up at what I thought was 6:30 (5:30am) and Elder Hughes and I talked for an hour before we realized the time change. So then we talked for another hour, so that was good. Elizabeth is a really weird city.

 

So it sounds like your week was busy but somewhat uneventful? We had dinner with the Barnards, (Bishops son) but Brother Barnard had to work so it was just Sister Barnard and all the missionaries. And her mom, I think. She made some cool halloween food. And that family is great. We had to go inside at 6pm on halloween night, so we just gave candy to trick-or-treaters for a couple hours before planning and going to bed. We only had two groups show at our door (it helped to have that sign you sent me a while back) but they were hungry for candy so they absorbed the whole bowl haha. I did a little origami that night too.

 

It was a very cold week. Yesterday it was probably close to 30 degrees when it got dark. I'm not used to that yet! I have warm stuff I just don't really feel like putting it on. Other annoying part: my hands get really dry in the winter so I always have to use lotion. I have this giant bottle that smells kind of like chocolate because it is cocoa butter. Chocolate hands-

 

Dad was asking about the people we teach, so I'll give that a mention, starting with investigators. First of all, we have Comfort and Diane. Comfort is from Ghana. This is the woman that Elder Thompson and I found in East Orange about a year ago. She is progressing pretty well. She could be baptized next week, but she likes taking things slow so she accepted December 8th. I think next time we visit we'll try to move it forward. But it is something she wants to do, so that's good! She comes to church every week, and she usually gets there before we do :) Then we have KC. She is from St. Lucia. You already know a little bit about her. It's been tough to visit her regularly, but she keeps all the commitments we leave with her. Except she couldn't come to church whenever we invited her, so we're working on that. She is very smart. She's progressing fairly slow as well. We're still teaching Michael Armand, but we haven't had many opportunities lately to visit because translators keep being busy all the time. His brothers are doing alright. However, I think that overall the family situation has improved a lot. We found a few new investigators this week - Lula and Pedro - who are good finds. Lula is pretty old and has the most funny southern accent ever but she loves the missionaries. She was supposed to come to church yesterday, and she was ready, but didn't get a ride :( While Elder Pabla and Elder Morrill were still on exchange, they found Pedro and taught him the message of the Restoration. He knew a lot about the church, but never had been taught by missionaries before. Other than that, I don't know much about him but we have a return appointment though!

Next, less active members. We happened upon an inactive member named William Lima who had moved from the address on the ward list, but he was happy to have us come over to his new apartment. We've seen him twice now, and one of the big reasons that he isn't coming to church is because he works 6 days a week and hasn't had a sunday off in months. But there's probably another reason he doesn't come, we just don't know it yet. Super nice guy though. I'd be his friend. He's 24 years old. We're also working with Maureen Edwards, who is a long time member of the church. She is an endowed member, but she just barely started coming back to church about 3 months ago. She still doesn't attend weekly, sadly. She's come a long way though! I'm not quite sure what the reason is... but she's been offended before a couple times and though she says those things are behind her, I think she still dwells on them a little bit. She has a strong testimony and a neat conversion story but she makes excuses not to attend church like "the sacrament and church attendance is not the only way to have spiritual growth" but we hit her with a stinger when we explained that the temple is not available to less-active/inactive members. We had a weird lesson that was really powerful, but I might have gotten under her skin a little bit... :/  She wasn't super happy when I told her that we aren't coming to her house to half-heartedly tell her that taking the sacrament is good or a neat thing. It is a commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ! And I think it is a commandment she isn't quite ready to commit to keeping weekly. It's tough teaching people who carry a certain pride that is founded upon the thinking that since we're only 20 years old, we don't quite know what we're talking about or we don't understand peoples situations because we're from Utah. To some degree, that is true. But the basic remedy (the Gospel of Jesus Christ) is the same for every concern and many people don't see that. We closed up that visit with lots of love, so that was good.

 

So I'll move on. Here's some things I would like for Christmas:

-new pants

-a couple new white shirts (probably 6 - 3 long sleeve and 3 short). I won't be facing any more winters after this so I won't need as many long sleeve things.

-2 shoe stretchers (those wooden things you put in your shoes when you're not wearing them)

- errrrbb erebrbbebrbe I don't know other than that. Size 34/34 levi's 511 grey corduroys (I think that's the right stats)

 

Well I am about done. I have a cool experiment I am going to try over the next few weeks. It's a pretty big deal if I can do it. It's called a spiritual fast or something like that. It comes from a talk titled, "Purification" by Elder Neal H. Maxwell. Maybe dad has heard of it. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Thanks for the letter! I hope you do well on your schoolwork and in the yardwork too! Let me know the gender of Caitlin and Nate's kid! And tell dad he needs a new car! haha just kidding don't do that. The truck is grand. I love that thing. I am proud of it too!

 

I hope to you're alive and awake, too.

 

Love,

Tab

Gonna be a missionary for Halloween?

Here we are approaching a second Halloween in the mission field. No more after that. I asked Tab what he was going to be for Halloween. A missionary maybe? His reply was, "Seriously, people think we dress up as the missionaries from the Book of Mormon play - haha!" Everything about his letter this was random but we take anything we can get!

Hi Mom! and family,

So I figured out a good christmas present. You could just send me printed pictures of the stuff I or you have taken pictures of. I used to go to Walmart and print them out but now Walmart is so far that we don't go there anymore. Not a big deal though. I don't really like Walmarts here - they have terrible produce. And they are expensive!!

Our week was alright, kinda similar to last week but a little bit better. Our weekend was pretty lame again. Sadly, we weren't able to see any of our progressing investigators this week - it's like a curse! Kidding, but we didn't see Comfort or KC or Raymond. We saw Michael (haitian) and he is doing well but it's been really hard to teach him because nobody in the ward that can translate has time to pick him up and take him to the church. So, our lessons with him are with his brothers and it's difficult to teach them all at the same time. Anyway, we've decided to not get too preoccupied with people that don't choose to progress or don't have time to meet with us. We'll still go over there when we have an appointment, but we won't waste time trying to stop by at random hours of the day every day. The hard part for us is finding new investigators who don't live in Newark. We're trying to make use of the area which we have, but nobody I've met yet in Maplewood or South Orange really want to change. It's a different approach to missionary work that I'm not used to.

I remember doing a project on the Bill of Rights... I had to write a paper about one of the amendments. Have you done that yet? What is your constitution project like? As for a religions class, it would have been nice to take that World Religions class before my mission haha. Then I would know how to better help people. But it is what it is.

The Gospel is good news, isn't it? Some people don't get that. I tell them there is a prophet who lives - and they get upset. That's a good thing! They should be excited to find out for themselves if that is true, but for some reason they aren't. The effects of the apostasy are annoying. But, I do what I can.

Yes, please send me pictures of Brazil. I'm sure Elder Priest would like to see them. I haven't really learned the lesson of not procrastinating for myself yet, but I feel like I have gotten better. The problem with my calling is that I don't know whether I should be spending study time or proselyting time or what ever time to prepare for district meetings and filling out forms and what not. And with training, it is somewhat the same. I have a few things I have to do and we don't have free time to do them. Don't worry, I am not complaining, even if it sounds like it. But it is a predicament I think a lot about. If I had advice on how to help Colby and Rorie, I would give it to you. I think the biggest thing that helped me in college was if I had lots of homework, I would just stay on campus in the library or something like that. That way there is no distraction and there really isn't much else I can do besides do homework. And they don't have computers, so it would be even easier for them. Tell them to study and work hard!

I bought some black vans. Not the ones you are thinking of though. I like them, but I have to admit it was somewhat of a rash decision. I like those nikes I saw even more and they are the same price - $40. I still have the old shoes. I like the way they look and they are in good enough shape that I use them for service stuff. 

I can't find them on the website but tell Colby to get these: 

http://shop.vans.com/catalog/Vans/en_US/style/sdi9sp.html?categoryId=91108

They're funny looking but cool - or any vans OTW shoes are cool.

I am sad to hear about Cameron - I knew him really well, actually. I worked with him a lot in the grill. And I played a lot of rounds with him too. You can leave him a nice message in my name :) He will be missed.

OK, it looks like that's about it. I'll respond to your other letters if there are any.

Say hi to everyone for me. Apologize to dad because I didn't take time to write back to him. I hope his trip to Brazil went well. I love you all!

Love you!

Tab

p.s. Rorie has adult teeth!

Some weekends are kind of rotten

Sometimes I read Tab's emails and feel a bit sorry for him when he's had a bad week. But, it doesn't last long because he doesn't have too many of those. He always ends with something like "I'm sure next week will be better" or "Sunday was great so that made up for a bad week".  I'm grateful that he can find something good even when it seems bad. He is a great example of that!


Hey Mom!

How are you?

 

I had a decent week - I'll just fill you in from Friday on. So it was kind of a rotten weekend... we had a lot of appointments and every one juked so I was bummed. But I stay patient. The annoying part is 1) trying to find things to do when all your backups aren't home either and so your day is spent just driving from place to place and you never get to teach anyone and 2) worrying about the investigators' well-being and 3) worrying about how to cheer up my companion. Anyway, we made it through the week and I assume it won't be that bad again for another while. So that's good :)

 

We didn't get to teach any of our investigators again, sadly, but Comfort and her daughter came to church as usual and enjoyed it. We will see them again on Friday. KC is doing alright, she is just flakey sometimes. However, whenever we have lessons with her, she is super solid. So that is a little frustrating. We taught a new guy this week, named Ralph. He is dating a YSA member and he has come to church almost every week for the past month or so. We asked him if he wanted to join the church, and he said yes. So now we just have to help him get a testimony! That's what he asked us to help him do. He doesn't live in our area, but I assume that he will move here soon and the two will get married in a couple of months. He's awesome.

 

Other than that, I don't have much to add! For Christmas, that'd be cool if you sent me another pair of blue slacks. The ones I have are starting to fade. I think the material they are made of is prone to do that. I also have a pair of black slacks in my closet that you can send me, I think. And some new shirts would be good. I'm just not sure how many. I can let you know. I have some that are still nice and white, actually almost all of them are, but the problem is that they are fraying on the sleeves and near the neck. Otherwise I'd probably use them for the rest of my mission. And I'm good on shoes and what not. I bought a new pair a couple months ago. However I saw some at the nike outlet that I think Colby might like. The Eric Koston 2 in red, with a gum sole. I thought they were cool. They were on sale, but I already have way too many shoes - haha.

 

OK I think that's about it.

 

Have a great week! I love you all. Let me know if you have more questions. I can answer them when I come back during the week.

 

Love,

Tab 

Hey dad! 

Thanks for the letter. I know it's a late reply, but I still read what you wrote.

 

First of all, I would love to learn how to fly fish when I get home. There are a few hobbies I want to pick up, one of them being fishing. And of course, I also would love to get better at golfing. So I'll go with you when you have free time. I thought a little bit about skiing too... whether I should stick with snowboarding or switch to skiing or just give up both entirely. I'm not sure yet.

 

I like the equation you shared. Is the idea that the more you expect of yourself, the less others have to discipline you? I have noticed that correcting discipline isn't something I usually receive easily, or gladly. I think that is just human nature. So rather than receiving correction from others, I could just correct myself. Hopefully I understood that correctly.

 

Well, I will go write mom. She has a lot to ask me ;)

 

Thanks for your example. I love you.

 

Tab

p.s.

Thanks again for the thought. I have never read that scripture in D&C 121, although I have spent a lot of time in that section, mostly at the beginning and at the end of it.

 

Question, do you still speak Portuguese? When Elder Priest said his prayers in Portuguese, I could pick up about 60/70% of what he said. That was nice because then I could help him speak the mission language from 6pm to 9pm. I could understand what he said and then respond in English or Spanish. I have noticed that my Spanish has taken a real dive since I left Trenton. I still contact hispanics on occasion, but my Gospel vocabulary is very limited. I can still understand just about everything that is spoken to me, though.

 

If you haven't already, you should take a look at Elder Bednar's talk called Becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary. I think I have mentioned it before. I really like it. It gave me a lot of confidence when I read the qualifications to become a PMG missionary. They are very simple.

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Love,

Tab

Staying in Maplewood and Elder Thompson is back!

Another holiday came and went, which meant we didn't get a letter from Tab on p-day. After sending a short message on Wednesday, he wrote again on Friday. I'm okay with two in one week! As usual......All is well! 

Hi Mom! 

I don't have any time to email today (we only had like half an hour to come before district meeting) but I will come back to the library probably on Friday and finish emails. Monday was a holiday so we didn't do much - elder Priest and I went to Costco because it was open and then we ate at Rio (rodizio grill type deal) for an elder's birthday.

I am staying in Maplewood, but I got a new companion and his name is Elder Sterling Pabla. He is from Bountiful Utah but his dad is from India so there's a little bit of indian in our companionship now so that's good. Now we can teach all the indian people I've always wanted to talk to. Elder Priest went to Jersey City Heights. Don't worry - he didn't get transferred because we had companionship problems. Often that's what is implied if companions only stay together for one transfer, but that's not true for us. 

Hey, I know Tyler pretty well. I like him a lot. He was taught by the Hightstown missionaries but we went over to their home a lot for dinner and they were in our ward, so that's how I know him. They just started teaching him before I left. But that is great news that he finally got baptized!

I let you know on Friday more about Christmas stuff. Probably just a couple new shirts and pants haha. And some chocolate : )

 

Alright I'll talk to you later!

Love,

Tab

And another......

Hi Mom! 

I just realized I don't have much to talk about... I answered most of your questions right? As for Timpview winning state, I heard! Elder Gregson Aspinall from Timpview just got to our mission, and I talked to him for a while at the trainers meeting. He's great. He knows Colby, somewhat. So that's good! I was really happy about that! Send me the article when you can.

 

How is Colby doing in school? He never mentioned that in his letter to me :) 

 

Well, there are a few great people we are teaching... namely KC, Raymond, and Comfort and her daughter Diane. KC is from St Lucia, and she has read the Bible. She's smart. She has felt the Spirit many times when we have taught her, so I think we can make some great progress with her. But she wants to know everything before getting baptized, so we have a lesson planned out for that :) She has a baptismal date thought, and she's praying about it. We have to get her to church too :/ Then Raymond is this cool guy from Ghana, and he's like 24. He would probably join the church in 3 weeks if he didn't have to work on Sunday. He's too afraid that he won't be able to pay his bills if he quits working on Sunday. So we're helping him out with that. But he's super cool, so that's good. Then there is Comfort. You might recognize the name; she is someone we taught back in East Orange. She lives at the same place, but the boundary for the area changed so now she's in our area! It's great because she wanted to go to Maplewood chapel anyway - it's much closer to her house. She is being fellowshipped really well by the ward members, so I don't suspect it will be very long before she is baptized and confirmed a member of the church. She's already been taught everything, and she's come to church many times. We have a lesson with her tonight... I'll let you know how it goes! And we have a couple others we are teaching who are progressing well too.

 

Good news - Elder Thompson was transferred to Irvington walking area, so now he lives across the street from us. So, that means I'll be spending a lot of time around him again. Which is great! We went to Five Guys on Wednesday. The previous elder there, Elder Smith, was ending his mission and just went home. He is probably the most efficient missionary this mission has, and there are so many good things happening in their area, so he asked President Jeppson to replace him with the best missionary he can get. And it happened to be Elder Thompson! So, that means that he's doing something right.

 

And that's about all I've got! My companion is great. He's a simple means type, kind of like me. Doesn't need much to make him happy. He doesn't complain and what not. He's really calm. And he is obedient! He's a good missionary. I have to work with him on being bold and confident, but of course that will come with time. I'll let you know more about him as I find out...!

 

Have a good week! I'll talk to you on Monday.

 

Love,

Tab

Baptisms and a zombie apocalypse

GREAT letters from Tab this week, but sometimes I wish he didn't share so much! There are things about his mission that I would rather NOT know. He tells his dad but he should remember that I read those letters too! I guess that's why he chose to share the part about the baptisms with me : ) 

Hi Mom!

 

I had a good week this week. As I told dad, it was really stressful and really happy and really peaceful. About the baptism, it was stressful preparing because we have been trying to prepare the oldest brother to pass his baptismal interview so he can get baptized with the other brothers, but sadly he did not pass. He is awesome, but he has a lot of influences on him that are not helping him find out what is true. So, we have to work with him still. But his three younger brothers passed, and were baptized and confirmed on Saturday. They are awesome. Like you read, most of the service was in Creole, so I didn't understand much. The boys have a long way to go still, but they knew enough and best of all they had a desire to repent and be baptized and follow Christ. I hope that we can get them to go to the temple this month. That would be a miracle, but their aunt would be willing to help us so we will do it! I have a picture I attached at the bottom. They only took one, and it's kinda goofy but it works :) I was smiling; that's all that matters. It was really tough to prepare for the baptism because we weren't even sure it was going to happen and we didn't have much time to prepare but everything came together by 6:45 pm on Saturday and the service proceeded! Once it started though, I felt relieved. It was out of my hands. Also, the ward did a really good job of helping us.

 

And there were many other interesting things that happened during the week. I talked to dad about most of the other stuff. I went on exchange in our area with my zone leader, Elder Morrill (Brandon - you know his mom) and we had a good time. He claimed that he learned more from it than I did but I learned a lot from him. He is really humble and he knows how to work. I like him. We met tons of great people that day and we went and taught one of them yesterday for the first time. Her name is KC, she is also Haitian. She accepted the message very well and committed to be baptized! Spiritually, she is very mature. She understands the scriptures, and she is the first person that has actually read the Bible cover to cover. It's frustrating when we meet people who say, "the Bible says this" or "I only believe in the Bible" when the truth is that they've probably only gandered through the new testament and read a couple of verses on their own. Anyway, she understood the Restoration! Seriously, I think I could use the Bible to teach the entire restoration lesson (we did with KC). So I'll be letting you know more about her soon. We are also contacting two other new people who have serious potential, we are just yet to sit down and have a lesson with them about the Restoration. Raymond and Benjamin (and his family). They are both from Ghana. 

 

When you get time, you should look into ichthyology theology... Elder Thompson said he wanted to major in that field of study. It is the study of fish religions. Apparently he had taken classes at BYU about it. Also, in your class do they go into the subcategories of Christianity? Like Protestant, Catholic, Mormon, etc. Something I have noticed about Hindus is that they will believe everything you tell them. Maybe that is just their culture, but they don't quite understand the apostasy and the fact that Christ has one true church, according to what we believe. So, it is tough to get very far with them, because either they are non committal or they do get baptized and then start going to whatever church. haha.

 

I talked to dad all about conference. Elder Uchtdorf always, in my opinion, gives the best talks. and he didn't let me down this time. I think the two he gave, one being in the priesthood session, were the best. And Elder Bednar's talk. I loved all the new seventies... it was a special thing to see Elder Dube on the stand. As you could imagine, the members in the Maplewood ward were very excited to see that. I was too. I hope to see more African general authorities. They are fabulous people. Our bishop is one of them... I don't know how he manages to do all that he does. We ate dinner at his house last night, and I was so impressed with his capacity to balance work, church, and family and stay as peaceful as he is. He and his counselors are wonderful.

 

Stay in school! Let everyone know I love them and that I am jealous they are in school. I've said this before - oddly, I miss being in school. 

I love you too!! Have a great week

 

Tab

Hey Dad!

 

I will take more time today to type a letter to mom, but I would like to answer your questions. I had a crazy week! It is one I will not forget because it was so good but so stressful. I went on two exchanges this week and one in particular, was one of the neatest experiences I've had on my mission. It wasn't special really, but I never was so happy or at peace as I was that day. I went with Elder Penrod to their walking area in Irvington (the hood of hoods in our mission) and it was awesome. I really miss being in a walking area. It's so busy and crazy there, but I felt more at peace than I have in my entire mission. I just wanted to talk to everyone and there was no rush to it. Maybe it was ignorance - haha.  Later that night though, we got stuck in the more dangerous part of their area and it so happened that the power was out for a couple blocks. That was a funny experience that if I wish I had more time to explain. But I honestly felt like I was in the middle of a zombie apocalypse - police everywhere, traffic is all messed up, flares in the streets, crime going unnoticed because there's no streetlights, houses empty, etc. It was something like the beginning scenes of I Am Legend. Eventually we got picked up and we went home. So that was fun!

 

We got to watch conference at the Maplewood chapel. There were more members there on Saturday than I would have expected, and Sunday there were even more. It was nice. I don't think it's on TV anywhere here, so the members who didn't come to church hopefully watched it on their computers. My favorite talks were by Pres. Uchtdorf, especially his priesthood session talk. I also liked many of the new seventies' talks. They did well! I really liked Elder Hamilton's talk and Elder Vinson's talks, but I had a hard time paying attention when the fly came in and wouldn't leave. Elder Bednar I enjoyed, and of course, President Monson. I was surprised when he didn't speak at the end of the afternoon session yesterday!

 

I'll write to mom all about the baptism.

 

Smoked turkey....? interesting! You ought to try frying it. I still hope to one day have some smoked salmon :)  

 

Thanks for writing. I love you!

 

Tab