If we do all we can, He will take care of the rest.

Here's Tab's letter to his dad.......great as always!

Hey Dad!

 

Thanks for your letter. I am doing well. This week was again a slow teaching week for Elder Thompson and I, but it was a great week. We have been getting really good at finding and working this area effectively. A large portion of our time this week went towards finding. I feel like we are now making progress. Unfortunately, our two most promising investigators, after we addressed baptism with authority and invited them to be baptized in March, dropped us. They had been baptized at a young age in the Catholic Church and while they willingly accepted a baptismal date and prayed about it, their mom was extremely offended. She told us not to come back :( We did what we could to try to change her mind and explain our message and purpose, but she refused. I don't know what to do. It was discouraging but I was only frustrated for that night. My awesome companion and Zone Leaders reminded me that this is God's work. If we do all we can, He will take care of the rest. So we've got to continue to work on them.

 

Interestingly enough, Elder Thompson was talking to me about this talk just the other day. His mom sent him a copy and he read to me the last part about becoming like God. It is motivating! I haven't read the whole talk but I know it is great. It is my roommates favorite talk, so when he got news that Elder Callister was coming, he was excited.

 

I would say that we had a pretty good week. We didn't have big numbers and it definitely wasn't flashy, but it was hard work. I know that it will pay off soon.

 

Thanks for the inspiring messages! Have a great week. Skiing is still cool. I am so excited to go with you and Rorie when I get back.

 

Love,

Tab

!'m a pro self hair cutter!

I love Tab's letters! It's an instant pick-me-up. He is alive and well and from what I gather......happy! 

Hi Mom!

 

Yeah this week went by really quickly. The last few weeks with Elder Thompson have been going by quickly. It's interesting because each day you feel like you've done so much and then you look back over the last six weeks and it feels like nothing has happened! The work we have been doing is slow, but we make good use of our time. We have been doing work in the last week or so. Elder Thompson is a good example to me of a hard worker, and we get along really well. So I have enjoyed the last transfer and a half with him. He tells me of past experiences... it seemed like he liked his trainer but they never worked that hard and his second companion... they got along ok but never really worked well together. At first when we were companions, he didn't say much at all. I asked him if he ever participated in lessons back in his old area, and he said not really. But now we teach in pretty good unity and I would like to think that's because we get along well. He doesn't feel obligated by me to participate and I don't have to knock his knee to get him to chime in. We do well. He's great!

 

Thanks for the Spitz! And the other things you sent. Today I'll find out what's in the other package I got on Saturday. It better be good! Just kidding, I know it's always good.

 

I don't really have any awesome experiences from the week other than that we are getting pretty good as a companionship at teaching the Restoration. Last week we saw a lot of member and we taught each one of them the Restoration and asked about their conversion. That was a good way for us to help them remember what this Gospel means to them and put them in a mood to share it with others - to give us a referral ;) - we're pretty sneaky missionaries. So we're getting good at that and we've basically hunted down every former investigator and cleared out the area book. It's been busy work that is hard to do because at the end of a saturday we have only taught 2 or 3 lessons, often with members only. But it proven to be most effective in this area. We've been knocking a lot of doors too so that's good.

 

This week was good! Haha Reese's companion... I didn't know that story! He still writes to me so I have been trying to write back just as often. Clark and him and I email every week though, so we stay in touch. I wish I could have been there for Elder Peyton's homecoming. I remember his farewell, and I had the feeling that he would be a great missionary. I am sure he is. I think Elder Burr will be coming home soon too! Man, that was fast. If Elder Dylan Parkinson sends emails home, I would like to read those too to see how he is doing. I haven't heard from him since he left!

 

The black Santa. That is a classic. I hadn't seen one before either, so of course we had to take that picture. I have some good other ones. Did Elder Thompson send home the close ups of my face? I took a few on his camera as a joke but he loved them! They're pretty funny. There's a grafitti wall in Newark/Passaic that I want to get pictures of still. Perhaps there are some on Google that you could look at? It's like three miles long and some of the murals are actually really well done. Check it out.

 

Oh I cut my hair :) I'm a pro self hair cutter. Actually I figured out that cutting hair is pretty tough so kudos to all the good hair cuts you ever gave me, which was like every one. Thanks!

 

I'll send my memory card home and write a short letter today. I have lots of letters I still have to write! Being a missionary is tough work! Everyone writes you and then you feel obliged to write back. [to all those who wrote me] Even if you tell me I don't have to I am not going to listen cause I know you secretly want me to write back!

 

Well I can't think of any news for now. I looked at old emails and couldn't find anything to write about. Sotty about that! Hit me up with some questions and I'll answer them.

 

Have a great week! Tell Rorie that she's awesome at skiing and tell Dad that him skiing is cool. Thanks for the awesome letters and emails! Love you guys.

 

Love,

Tab

Dang these holidays......

Why is it these holidays seem to be happening a lot lately? Maybe it's just me but we had one again this week! We didn't hear from Tab until today (Wednesday) and it made for a LONG 2 days. And even though his email was short, I was so happy to hear from him! 


Hey Mom!

I'm on today! I don't have much time but I wanted to still say hi. I have written ALOT of emails today.

I have to be quick today and so I'll make sure that next monday I write a big letter. Maybe a written one ;)
I'm glad Colby got to speak in church! I bet he was awesome. David Weekes told me at his farewell there were two general authorities... that would be nerve racking. 

So our washing machine's spin cycle doesn't work anymore so we have to hand rinse our clothes and it's super annoying haha. But it works! Did you send some spitz?? Oh, and one thing just for next time you send a package: Elder Thompson got these super good things from Costco called Cashew Clusters. It's a pretty big bag so it's probably like $20. So a one time thing probably but if you're feeling like giving me a gift for my bday or something, you can send those. 

Congrats to Noah and Landon! That's crazy good news and I am really happy that he finally made the decision to serve.  I know it will be worth it!!

We had a snow storm that was really fun but now it's warming up. So it's getting more like spring weather now. Hopefully it doesn't go cold again. It has been raining some. No I'm not freezing :). I haven't been to Trader Joes yet and I haven't seen Sis Boshard yet. Hopefully soon when we get some free time we can head over there. I said a quick hi to Sis Boshard and found out she is pretty close in an area called Caldwell. That was cool. Anne is coming in soon and Reese is already in Germany! Time is going by very fast.

Well I have to go. I'm sorry it's so short! The work is going a little slower than usual as we are trying to find new investigators. All of ours are moving away! Well it sounds like everything is good at home. Keep up the good work!

My testimony has grown a lot as of late. Elder Thompson is a good help in that. He's awesome. The Church is true!

I love you guys! Have a great week.

Love, 
Tab

Staying in East Orange!

Transfers again and Tab is staying right where he's at! Guess that's a good thing. This was the first thing he wrote today.........


I'm staying in East Orange! Thank goodness; I did not want to leave.  Oh and I don't want to leave because moving stinks first of all, and East Orange is great. I don't feel like I am finished here! I guess it probably feels like that for every missionary. You make friends with the branch members and investigators and you become a part of your area. We know the regular street walkers and say hi to them. Our neighbors call us by name and what not. It's just a tough move!  

Hi Mom!

It was another long week! The work is going slow for some reason over the last month or so... We try to stay busy but there just isn't much going on. The snow kept people in all weekend long but somehow we had a large turnout at church. It's hard for me to explain how it works, but that always gives me a little moral boost when the branch is successful. Just to give you an idea, we only got about a foot of snow. So of course, us being from Utah, we went out and visited people just like any other day. We had to park the cars about halfway through the day and so from 5pm on we walked. It was a blast! It wasn't very cold and the snow is perfect for snowballs so we had a good time walking to appointments. It usually takes about 45 min to walk into our area so there's not much to do other than throw snowballs at things... The funny part is that they declared in New Jersey that it was a state of emergency! It's not even bad out.

Well lots of strange and sad news! I know 2 of the 3 people you mentioned who died. I don't think I know who Parker Allred is, unless it is the brother of Michael Allred. I know him. Added to my friend Josh Nelson, that is a lot of unexpected deaths in the area. It is quite sad, but I know that all will be well for them :)

You finished the Book of Mormon! Hoorah! I only got through 2 Nephi because I chose to read parts of D&C and the Bible. I guess I have had scattered studies the last few weeks. But it is always nice for me to explore parts of the Bible and D&C I have never read... Today we came across a scripture in D&C 132 that talks about how we will be Gods, as long as we are married in the new and everlasting covenant. Cool stuff. D&C 88 - angels can fly! Run and tell that!

I haven't written anyone in the MTC yet... sorry! I think I will today. Last week we really didn't have any time to. I have been emailing Reese of course and Clark as well. Tell David good luck!

The Falanas are actually a member family if I didn't already tell you that. So the trick is getting them to attend East Orange branch instead of Maplewood. Our main focus in on our investigator Amanda, who is ultra ready and prepared to be baptized, except that she is moving to the North Branch elders area (Elder Estipona haha) on the 15th so she will be baptized there. Everything is well with her, we're just working on helping her have more spiritual experiences with the Book of Mormon and church. We also had a crazy lesson with another investigator, Mayjella, who really just did not grasp the Restoration and the concept of authority. We had taught the Restoration lesson twice and she likes us and all, she just thought that we were good people preaching God's word. That's one of the biggest problems we face around here. It takes a lot of bold explanation for them to understand that we aren't just any other good church. Anyway, we decided to teach her the Plan of Salvation, hoping that we would be able to help her understand what a religion is and what is Christ's one church, how it could help her, etc. Well about halfway through the lesson she asked a key question, something along the lines of how can she know who has God's authority and power? So bang we used that to basically explain the Restoration and how we are different from every other church out there. We were pretty straight up with her. Like we told her that her church, the Catholic Church, doesn't have the authority and power of God that we have. It was starting to get pretty heated in there. But she understood it, finally! Obviously we told her to read the Book of Mormon and pray about the Restoration so we'll find out soon if she did that. It was all new to her. Elder Thompson and I were talking about it and I just had this idea that the message we share is pretty wild. Either it's way out in left field, and false, or it is way true. Fortunately we have the evidence that it is true through the Book of Mormon, a prophet, prayer, lots of things. Of course, the Church is true!

So about the ties, tell Dad to go ahead and send them to me! I will find a use for them. I will send some back home, too. Also, I have another request. So I have those Louis Raphael pants that I really like (dark blue) and so I wear them a lot. the only other pair of blue I have is my suit pants and the Louis Raphael pair are getting a little too much wear. So could you send another pair? I believe they are 32 waist/34 length. they fit real nice and I have no idea where I could get some more around here. One other thing... spitz dill pickle seeds. Oh and did you ever say if you saved the photos from my memory card? Like I said, it was empty so I am hoping you saved them the last time I sent it home. Otherwise, they'd be gone.

So, we went to five guys this week and it was bomb. Also Star Tavern and it was crazy good. Equivalent or better pizza than Slab. It wasn't cooked the way I like it but the flavors were awesome. Also this new place called West Market BBQ which is like 500 yards from our house. It is super cheap and pretty drn good. I got a half rack of ribs and rice for $5. It was really good and it was like 3 pounds of food. So we go there a lot now.

Yes, I know the Nemrows! Peter is awesome. I played golf with him for a year and he was a very good player. They are returned mission presidents I think, or maybe senior missionaries. Anyway, super solid family in the Church. I think! They seem it. 

Man... Karson Peyton just left it feels like! That's amazing for him. I am sure he is a fabulous missionary. 

Well we had lots of funny experiences this week (usually we do every week, Newark's crazy) but I am out of time! I'll let you know next week. Tell Dad to do my taxes! Haha. Let me know if you want anything!

I love you all and have a great week! I will too.

Love,

Tab

P.S.  We're having Elder D. Todd Christofferson come to our mission in march! As well as Elder Tad R Callister. They will be giving a training and we'll get to attend! Woo!

Dill pickle sunflower seeds......

Monday again! They just keep coming. It's the only day of the week that I sit in my bed for an hour right after I get up and get the kids off to school. With my laptop in hand I wait for the "Hey Mom" to appear on my screen. It's the best part of my day. Today I got the hey but nothing else.  It took forever but he finally sent another message mid afternoon. The internet crashed, THAT made for a long day! Luckily, I was able to respond while he was on the computer. So.....it was a GOOD day!


Hey Mom!

I did leave because the internet at Newark library crashed but I'm on now so I'll finish writing ....
No I don't need anything. I'm good! Actually, I wanted to ask you if you could send dill pickle Spitz sunflower seeds. They don't have those around here. Also, I don't want you to send it because they have it here but see if you can't find Aloe Saliva drink. It's really odd stuff but it's quite good if you get the right flavors. It's like Aloe Vera nectar and the pulp and it's not overly expensive either. Another good drink I found was called Pear J and Orange J. I forget the manufacturer but it's probably Jamaican. 

So this week was medium slow... we didn't find many investigators to teach and all our appointments were falling through. Something about the combination of the cold and the superbowl weekend just killed our success. But we still have our investigator Amanda to keep hope in. She is awesome. Westernia actually moved... to Maryland. Her dad regained custody over her and so she moved back there :( But we'll be getting her new contact information soon so hopefully missionaries over there can pick her up. Rough stuff. But we'll move on.

We had a good day! Just finished basketball/dodgeball and so we'll be going back home soon. I don't really have much to write about... One thing we encountered this week was a lot of intoxicated people. Drugs and alcohol will mess you up! It was annoying because not only would our lessons be near worthless but then we'd go to appointments afterwards and everyone thinks we smell bad. We met this kid named Hassan who we talked to about agency. To preface, they are a lot of so-called (conservative?) Muslims in this area and I don't know why but it is really popular. Kinda like the hip thing to do. It is annoying because I don't think we're allowed to teach Muslims without getting permission and many people know that. So when we street contact, they'll throw out a "I'm Muslim" so that we'll leave them alone. Sometimes it works, but sometimes I'll get fed up and just attack them with questions. Usually they trip over words and they have no idea what they believe in. It's funny because even I probably know more about Islam than most of them do. Anyway, we met Hassan and his friend who are Muslims. Hassan didn't know much about it but his friend did and you could tell that his friend Rasheed often had to cover for him. We continued to get to know them and taught them about the Restoration and they totally grasped it. The next day we showed up to Hassan's apartment and he had no idea who we were. I don't know what he had taken the day before, but that made me mad! So we had a little throw down about how he needs to stop taking drugs. The lesson we had with him was about agency, like I said, and he just kept blaming his addictions on the fact that "everything happens for a reason". That's a pretty popular saying among Muslims. So we asked him when he was going to plan on stopping and he said "whenever God wants me to". So we really laid it down that God does not control his actions. If he want's to quit he has to do it himself. He really had no idea that there was such a thing as agency. He just thought God made his decisions for him. Now I sure hope he grasped that. Crazy things people believe in!

One funny thing that happened this week is we found 4 move in members, and 3 of them by our own efforts. Kind of randomly, actually. So, first we found the Falana family, which was a street contact as we were leaving an appointment where we had met another new move-in member who had called us to come visit her. The Falanas had recently moved from Irvington but didn't tell anyone about it so they weren't attending church. So that was like a 3 in 1 find there. Then the day after we were teaching Amanda, and since she has no male in her home, we have to teach her at the door. Her neighbor walked by and saw us, but didn't say anything. She later asked Amanda if she was meeting with missionaries and Amanda told her yes. Somehow, Amanda helped the neighbor, Sis Fournier, to rekindle her desire to return to activity. I think Sis Fournier told us she had been inactive for nearly 2 years and during that time she moved from New York to East Orange. We scored 4 new members this week, and each one of them seems pretty solid on coming to church. We only had 1 come to church in East Orange but the Falana family went to their old ward in Maplewood to meet familiar faces. So I guess that was like 3. 

Lastly, I wanted to ask if you knew Elder Tate Cowley's email address. I met another elder who is big into golf who lived in Boise, near Eagle, and thought he might know him. So I wanted to ask if they knew each other. It's nice to have some deec golfers in our zone... someone to relate to. Elder Thompson is the bomb! He's really funny and he still stays quiet but I get along with him really well. He's way smart too. So sometimes, not that I am really much of a philosopher but, we'll have deep doctrinal discussions. He created this genre of jokes that he calls resurrection jokes, which are basically jokes that you would only get if you had a good understanding of the resurrection. Pretty funny stuff. 

We're doing good. I'm learning a lot. Thanks for all the stuff that you and Dad are sending me! I appreciate your support. Hopefully I'll get time to write home soon. Interesting things are becoming more commonplace so it is hard for me to think of things to write about. I got both of your packages - thank you!! We needed sharp knives so that was much appreciated. I don't think I need anything else.

Have a great week! I love you!

E. T. McLain


*I love how he starts his letter with "No, I don't need anything" but he WANTS his Spitz dill pickle sunflower seeds! That's my golfer.