I usually post only Tab's letters but on occasion I read correspondence between the two of them (Tim and Tab) and love the message so much that I want to share it. This is one of those occasions.
Tab,
It was sure great to talk with you on Christmas day. It sounds like you are doing great — I'm not surprised! I am happy to know that you are working hard and having good experiences. I'm also happy to know that you are handling the ups and downs of missionary work with a calm certitude about the truthfulness of the work you are engaged in. I am proud of you and grateful to have you serving.
It is difficult to comprehend the full impact of your work as a missionary. This is one reason that you must be fully engaged and devoted — you never know how your words and actions will impact the lives of others, whether members, converts, or acquaintances. Even for those who accept the gospel and are baptized it is really impossible to measure the impact of your efforts on their lives and the lives of their posterity, and all of the people they will influence through the eternities.
In August of 1982, I taught and baptized a family – Ulisses Pereira Filho and his wife Maria Olivia Ferreira Pereira. They had two children at the time, Leonardo and Fabiana, both younger than eight years old. It was clear they were a special family — they accepted every challenge and kept every commitment. They were not particularly well to do — they lived in government housing — although he had a good job in the city working for a bank. I have tried to stay in touch with them over the years. I last had contact with them when I went with your mom to Porto Alegre in December of 2000.
I have been trying to get in touch with them since last May without much success. Shortly before Christmas, I got the idea that I should try to find them on Facebook. Facebook is becoming popular in Brazil and I thought I might be able to possibly find one of their children. It didn't take too long for me to find Ulisses — he's been on Facebook for about six months. I was looking through his children's pages and I found a picture of Ulisses and Maria with Elder Uchtdorf — I thought that was pretty neat, but I wanted to figure out why they were together. I resorted to a Google search and came across this from lds.org website:
Ulisses P. and Maria F. Pereira Filho Manaus Brazil Temple
Ulisses Pereira Filho, 67, Glória Ward, Porto Alegre Brazil Stake, called as president of the new Manaus Brazil Temple. President Pereira's wife, Maria Olivia Ferreira Pereira, will serve as temple matron. He serves as a counselor in the Porto Alegre Brazil Temple presidency. He has served as a stake president, stake president's counselor, high councilor and bishop. A retired banker, he was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil, to Ulisses and Maria Alzira Correa Pereira. Sister Pereira serves as an assistant to the matron of the Porto Alegre Brazil Temple. She previously served as stake and ward Relief Society president, stake and ward Primary president and ward Young Women counselor. She was born in São Luiz Gonzaga, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, to Álvaro Ferreira Madruga and Florisbela Fagundes Ferreira.
So, you never know what will happen as a result of your efforts. I am grateful to have been worthy and prepared to deliver the message of the gospel to them. Of course, they were converted by the Spirit that they felt as they exercised faith and lived the truths of the gospel. I certainly could not have anticipated the tremendous good that these people were going to do as a result of their joining the Church. I hope and pray that you will have the opportunity to teach people that are ready to receive and live the message that you have to share.
I love you! Have a great week!
Dad
Hey Dad,
I just got to read your letter after a long wait. I glanced at it on Monday but ran out of time. I was highly anticipating what it had to say, and of course I wasn't let down! That is an amazing story, especially because it is from someone I am directly related to. It seems that only stories like that are had by apostles and prophets! But like you said, "It is difficult to comprehend the full impact of your work as a missionary." I bet many missionaries have had, to them at least, plain and common mission experiences that ended up having a deep impact on those they met. And they may never even know the effect they had on those people. You never would have known that Ulisses Pereira became a temple president until you came across him on facebook! That is an awesome experience for you and for him. I'm glad you shared that with me.
I hope that perhaps I can be able to do that for someone else. You're a great example of a dedicated and hard working missionary that I want to follow. I hope you know that I admire you and am extremely grateful to have you as my dad. I love you very much!
Have an awesome New Year and keep sending me cool stories and quotes! I appreciate them.
Love,
Tab
I just got to read your letter after a long wait. I glanced at it on Monday but ran out of time. I was highly anticipating what it had to say, and of course I wasn't let down! That is an amazing story, especially because it is from someone I am directly related to. It seems that only stories like that are had by apostles and prophets! But like you said, "It is difficult to comprehend the full impact of your work as a missionary." I bet many missionaries have had, to them at least, plain and common mission experiences that ended up having a deep impact on those they met. And they may never even know the effect they had on those people. You never would have known that Ulisses Pereira became a temple president until you came across him on facebook! That is an awesome experience for you and for him. I'm glad you shared that with me.
I hope that perhaps I can be able to do that for someone else. You're a great example of a dedicated and hard working missionary that I want to follow. I hope you know that I admire you and am extremely grateful to have you as my dad. I love you very much!
Have an awesome New Year and keep sending me cool stories and quotes! I appreciate them.
Love,
Tab
“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to just be people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old time rail journey…delays…sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling burst of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.”― Gordon B. HinckleyMissions can be like this too! Remember to thank the Lord for the opportunity to serve.Dad
I love it! Thank you
Tab
Hi Mom!
Just really quickly I wanted to ask you a few things and then catch up from the new transfer.
Next, if you can find it, recipes for:
Ensaymada (it's gonna be a filipino recipe most likely) which is like a roll with cheese and sugar and other stuff in it. Really yum. We have the Jersey City sisters buy them for us because there is no filipino bakery in East Orange or Newark, and they are amazing.
Sour Cream Waffles recipe and then if you can find a good one, vanilla bean syrup.
And then like I asked last week the Singapore Shish Kebob recipe. You can just email the recipes and I'll write them down or mail them. Whatever works for you.
Last is if you could send me a .38mm Pilot G2 pen. It doesn't need to be a new one, it could even be out of ink. I just want the tip of it so I can reuse it. I figured out a way to turn any size pen into a .38 just using the tip so. I believe I have one in my room in my jar of old pens. It's out of ink, but remember .38mm Pilot G2! Thanks!
I wanted to thank you for sending that huge box of letters. I still haven't read all of them but I looked through and glanced at a few and saw who sent them. I read some from Brother and Sister Rasband, Brother Hunter, Brother Burr, and Brother Crowther. They were absolutely amazing - I was really touched to read what they had to say. That was by far the best gift you sent to me! The chocolates were nice but the letters made my Christmas day. Oh the Hot Chocolate mix is super good too.
I didn't finish the Book of Mormon before the end of the year, for a few reasons, but I am really close. I am in the later chapters in 3rd Nephi, so I only have about 50 pages left before I am all the way through the book. Hopefully I'll finish by the end of this week. It's awesome. I love the Book of Mormon!
Last week we had a baptism in our branch that was really awesome. It was for a man named Frank, who was an investigator that was taught by the other elders. He had been coming to church every week for almost 3 months, but he just needed extra time to get baptized. He was extremely well prepared to be baptized because he had been taught for so long. He already has a strong testimony. The baptism was great because we all made extra preparations to make it special for him. And we had a long, but spiritual testimony meeting afterward. It got a little roudy because of the way these people "feel the Spirit" and celebrate it, but I loved it. AMEN!! HALLELUJAH!!
Oh one other funny thing is in Elizabeth, an area near ours, there is a street called Praise The Lord Plz. Good stuff. And there's a chapel converted into a Subway right by it. I already told you that, but still I find it funny.
Last thing: I got a new companion, and Dad is going to be really happy when he finds out who it is. His name is Elder Cache Thompson! He was in Dad's BYU ward from last year. So when I mentioned that I lived in Heritage he told me that he knew Brother McLain and I told him that is my Dad. He has been to our house before, actually. So we had a little bit in common. He's rather quiet, but I think he's really smart and he studies hard. He seems like he would have been a good student in college. I think we'll get along really well too because he has a good sense of humor.
Alright I think that's it for now so I'll close up shop. Thanks again for all the stuff you sent for Christmas! You guys are the best and I love each one of you. I'll be writing home soon. Take care!
Love, Tab
Just really quickly I wanted to ask you a few things and then catch up from the new transfer.
Next, if you can find it, recipes for:
Ensaymada (it's gonna be a filipino recipe most likely) which is like a roll with cheese and sugar and other stuff in it. Really yum. We have the Jersey City sisters buy them for us because there is no filipino bakery in East Orange or Newark, and they are amazing.
Sour Cream Waffles recipe and then if you can find a good one, vanilla bean syrup.
And then like I asked last week the Singapore Shish Kebob recipe. You can just email the recipes and I'll write them down or mail them. Whatever works for you.
Last is if you could send me a .38mm Pilot G2 pen. It doesn't need to be a new one, it could even be out of ink. I just want the tip of it so I can reuse it. I figured out a way to turn any size pen into a .38 just using the tip so. I believe I have one in my room in my jar of old pens. It's out of ink, but remember .38mm Pilot G2! Thanks!
I wanted to thank you for sending that huge box of letters. I still haven't read all of them but I looked through and glanced at a few and saw who sent them. I read some from Brother and Sister Rasband, Brother Hunter, Brother Burr, and Brother Crowther. They were absolutely amazing - I was really touched to read what they had to say. That was by far the best gift you sent to me! The chocolates were nice but the letters made my Christmas day. Oh the Hot Chocolate mix is super good too.
I didn't finish the Book of Mormon before the end of the year, for a few reasons, but I am really close. I am in the later chapters in 3rd Nephi, so I only have about 50 pages left before I am all the way through the book. Hopefully I'll finish by the end of this week. It's awesome. I love the Book of Mormon!
Last week we had a baptism in our branch that was really awesome. It was for a man named Frank, who was an investigator that was taught by the other elders. He had been coming to church every week for almost 3 months, but he just needed extra time to get baptized. He was extremely well prepared to be baptized because he had been taught for so long. He already has a strong testimony. The baptism was great because we all made extra preparations to make it special for him. And we had a long, but spiritual testimony meeting afterward. It got a little roudy because of the way these people "feel the Spirit" and celebrate it, but I loved it. AMEN!! HALLELUJAH!!
Oh one other funny thing is in Elizabeth, an area near ours, there is a street called Praise The Lord Plz. Good stuff. And there's a chapel converted into a Subway right by it. I already told you that, but still I find it funny.
Last thing: I got a new companion, and Dad is going to be really happy when he finds out who it is. His name is Elder Cache Thompson! He was in Dad's BYU ward from last year. So when I mentioned that I lived in Heritage he told me that he knew Brother McLain and I told him that is my Dad. He has been to our house before, actually. So we had a little bit in common. He's rather quiet, but I think he's really smart and he studies hard. He seems like he would have been a good student in college. I think we'll get along really well too because he has a good sense of humor.
Alright I think that's it for now so I'll close up shop. Thanks again for all the stuff you sent for Christmas! You guys are the best and I love each one of you. I'll be writing home soon. Take care!
Love, Tab
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