The Bacon is done!

So much work and so little time but he does continues to Do Work! 


Hey mom and family! 

Sorry I'm way low on time today but I'll write back quickly. Thanks for your letter!

We had a somewhat boring week. We are low on people to teach, so a lot of our time (since we don't have many members) was spent visiting the same people or walking to far away less active members and potential investigators. We waved to a lot of people and I probably got in about 5000 "how we doin's! The broadcast was great! I don't know how they'll incorporate the internet into our work, and I don't know how long it will take but as you probably read in the mission president's letter, they'll have iPad mini's in the coming months. That's neat! I have always thought that would strongly assist our work. Maybe they won't give them to walking missionaries, though.

I'm so glad you talked to Dylan! What is his home address? I want to write him back today but I won't be able to mail it till I have his address. Or I can mail it home and you can take it over there. I hope to be able to play golf soon. If we can just find some members to let us borrow their clubs...

So exciting for Bayley and Tyler! Alaska is probably a beautiful mission. I think you can see Russia from there. And Landon and Chase! That's a great example to their friends I am sure.

For colors of scriptures, I think either brown or black. I'll have to wait till I can see the brown and then I'll tell you.  For music, I am good for now. The mission circulates some pretty good music.

I love hearing the family news... And I'm happy you are all doing fun things. Don't hurt yourself while skiing! Haha. You can tell regan to go to Boulder City and visit Elder Traasdahl's family. They're pretty cool I think.

My companion is still a champ. I quite like him.

Alright I gotta jet. But if there's anything you want me to throw in my letters, I will! Oh we proselyted all of Bacon Avenue (a street in Hamilton) this week! So that was good work.

Love you,

Tab

Made a layup inside the Manhattan Temple!

He got a new companion. He went to the Manhattan Temple. He made a layup inside the Manhattan Temple. He confirmed Arding. He got some Chick-Fil-A. I'd say it was a pretty good week!

Hi!

How's everyone doing? Is regan married yet? Does dad have a new car? How's the yard coming? It looks like you did a little interior decorating from the pictures you've sent... I like it! Now you just need some church artwork on the walls. Especially one of Jesus Christ. Can you send me a small one that is laminated? The size of a regular sheet of paper or smaller. I don't really mind which one it is but just one of His face, to put at my desk.

So this week was pretty great. As you know, I got a new companion and his name is Elder Vargas. He is originally from Argentina but he lives in Spanish Fork with his family. So I know some of his friends and he knows some of mine from elementary school. He's pretty funny. We all like him in our apartment and I am glad to have him as my companion. He is a very organized and on-topic teacher, which is something I like and something I can learn from. He's a good guy.

We had a really low lesson week because a bunch of stuff happened to us and we also went to the temple on Thursday. That was awesome! I learned more than ever before and I wish that I would have gone to the temple more often before I left. I enjoy it. Something interesting about the Manhattan Temple is that it also serves as a chapel on Sundays. We checked out that part of the temple and I made a layup on the basketball court they have in there, just so that I can say I've made a layup inside the Manhattan Temple. I took a couple of pictures of Manhattan but the more times I go the less I enjoy it... Everything smells like cigarettes and the cigarette is the worst invention of all time. Plus there's a billion people. However, I did see a shop that was selling Banh Mi's and I really wanted to get one. I'll have to find a Vietnamese place in Trenton or Princeton somewhere. Or make one.

So I got a letter from you but it was just a letter... And I got your package with the cookies and chex mix. That is good stuff! Thanks. I haven't gotten a gift card yet. I don't think I know Tom Rust. Is he an active member? I don't think he's in our area, otherwise we would have visited him by now. But I'll try to go see him if he's close or talk to him at church.

I don't know exactly what done early means either, but I do know that a lot of missionaries have been going and will go home early to make space for new missionaries coming in.

I think we'll just make a flan for our cake assignment. And then we'll probably just eat it! And I will keep taking pictures. I have been taking plenty!

Oh man that missionary mom thing is crazy. I'm gonna make fun of Elder House for days! Haha just kidding, but he gets a good laugh out of it. He's great! Good for you, though. Gotta love me some good Cafe Rio! Glad you got to meet all those moms.

Tell Colby to have a blast on his campout. I'm jealous. One thing I have resolved to do when I get home is go on tons of campouts with him and dad and probably some friends. I love campouts. All my lasting memories are from campouts, a lot with dad and Brother Crowther, cause he's a champ. Anyway, lucky duck Colby...

Well I can't find the scriptures I want to order yet... The 2013 edition (NON-thumb-indexed) with genuine leather. Maybe they'll make them soon, but as for now they're not online so I won't order anything yet. I am wondering if you can find a small backpack satchel type thing (like a man purse sorta for scriptures. The backpack I have is good but in the summer it gets nice and sweaty on my shoulders so I usually carry around a scripture case in my hand. But if you find a cool one, send me a picture of it and I'll tell you if it's legit or not. That and a consecrated oil vile to carry around and that's a good birthday for me. I can't really think of anything else. You could send money and I'll go to Ross or take the comps out to eat or something : )

Alright gotta jet and go get me some Chick Fil A.

Thanks and love and have a good week! I will.

Love,

Tab

Hi Dad!

Hey happy late Father's day! My letter won't get to you till this week but I know you'll still enjoy it. I wanted to make it special and so it took me two preparation days to write. I'm sure you've already seen it because it's on the home page of lds.org, but here's something to watch:http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/fathers-day-video-2013?cid=HPL1P01W01038  

Right now we're staying close to Ange and Arding... they love us and they love the members. I was glad to see that they were mingling with the ward members rather than us during and after sacrament meeting. I confirmed Arding yesterday and the Bishop confirmed Ange. I wasn't really nervous, so that was nice. Initially I worried about what to say because the Bishop's blessing was so well done but after all was done I felt like the one I gave was good too.

We're also working with Johnson to get him to the temple soon. His family history work is a little bit more difficult to do, and visiting him regularly has been hard because he graduates in a week, but he's doing well. I'm really happy for him.

We had a low lessons week because of all the things we did, like going to the temple! and transfer conference. Elder Lucas Vargas (de Argentina), my new companion is a good companion. He knows how to work and he is a good teacher. I got to experience that a little bit this week and I look forward to what progress we can make this transfer.

I'll finish up, but thanks for being a great dad to me. I love you.

Tab

Wait.....What happened to Elder McLain?!

A Trenton Baptism!

Arding and Aang get baptized!

Elder Mulleneux, Arding, Aang, and Elder McLain

A happy missionary!

Elders Mulleneux and Traasdahl

Another baptism and transfer!

I LOVE MONDAYS!!! It's always great to hear from Tab. Exciting week.....He had two baptisms on Saturday! He also found out he would be staying in Trenton for another transfer. He will be getting a new companion but was happy to find out that Elder Traasdahl (the other missionary in his apartment) would be staying as well. He also sent more pictures which we love to get! 

Hi mom!

Yes, so just to answer your questions real quick, Ange and Arding were baptized yesterday! It went pretty well and was a funny experience. They're great people and they were super happy to be baptized. I have pictures I'll upload in a minute. Elder Mullenaux baptized Arding and I baptized Ange. No, they were not confirmed yet. For convert baptisms they usually wait till the following week to do the confirmations.

This week went pretty great for Elder Mullenaux and I, especially because we had a baptism and a ward party to close out the weekend. During the week we didn't get it as many lessons as we'd like but we got to stop by a lot of less actives homes and just say hi, or meet new people on the streets. Not many had time for us to teach them, but I know that the ward members appreciate that we know and care for them, regardless of whether we can get in a lesson or not. Again, somehow we met another group of Johnson Browne's (recent convert) friends as we went looking for a move-in member. As we began to teach them Johnson walked by, coming home from school, and said hi to us all. It is amazing to see the great network of friends that he has... and whether he refers them to us or not, his friends that are prepared to accept the restored Gospel are finding it. That puts a smile on my face.
Ange and Arding's baptism went well... Arding slipped while exiting the font, but otherwise I think it was a great baptism. They were so excited for it and so were we. Our ward members did a great job of supporting them and we had representatives from the mission presidency (thank you), the elder's quorum and the young men's presidency, as well as the bishopric and other auxiliaries. We also had two investigators and the Hightstown elders had an investigator who were able to attend. It was a great experience that I am so grateful to be a part of. 

 

Oh, Elder Mullenaux is getting transferred and I am staying. It might take a bit to get used to a new companion but I always am excited to see who's next. Elder Traasdahl is staying and so is his trainer. I'm still around so that's good - haha.

Hey, the quote from Hayden McKay was given by Elder Uchtdorf in a conference talk! Ha

What videos were you trying to upload to a disc? I have rewriteable DVD so I can figure it out whenever we go to the library during the week. I'm thinking I'll just get all the bible videos. Cause they are AWESOME! You should watch them as a family. I just finished the gospel of Matthew last week, almost done with Mark. So I am making steady pace, while also trying to finish the Book of Mormon soon. I'm in Alma 50. Yes I'll take a photo with Flat Reese this week. I tried to remember to do it last week but missionary work makes me forget things to do like that. And I saw we got another Timpview Thunderbird. So that's good.

Yes President Jeppson has been to a few of the baptisms we've had. Not the one yesterday but President Nielsen came and he's a cool guy. I like him. I cut my own hair thank you. If I let anyone else do it it usually looks worse so I just do it. I have been eating tons of junk food so I don't deserve a burger but I'll eat one today anyway maybe. We're going to Chick-fil-A right after this haha. Sorry for the scrappy email! Here's some more pictures to make up for it:

Ok. I think a Five Guys gift card would be a better birthday gift. Or both maybe. But I want to preorder some scriptures for my birthday when the new model comes out. I'll let you know what style and size and color when I think about it some more. That's about all I need for my birhtday. Ok. I gotta get going!

Love you!

 

Tell The Rasbands hello for me and a big thank you to Sis Madsen for sending me that awesome package back some time ago. I never got to tell her thanks for that. I'll write home soon :)

 

Love,

Tab

Hey Dad!

 

Thanks for writing me again. We were pretty excited to that Ange and Arding were baptized. They are some quality lads. The service was filled with good people and the room was very hot, so everyone was sweating. It was great. We also went to a spanish branch party last night and had some good food and I got to exercise the little spanish I know. I whipped out a few Korean words too.

 

I'd love to go on a trip with you to DC. I have no idea what it even looks like or where it really is, other than that it is below where I'm at now. And somewhat close. I would love to go to that temple as well.

 

Alright I have to go but you'll be getting a letter from me for Father's day. I love you! I hope work is going alright for you too. Have you missed any days riding your bike to work? Oh! I met a guy last night, Brother Greg Sanchez, who is pretty good friends with Brent Webb. I told him that you knew him so he asked that you say hi to Brent for him.

 

Alright gotta go,

 

Love,

Tab 

 

 

Pictures glorious pictures!

Elder McLain and Traasdahl having a moment

Elder Traasdahl

Doing a little preaching

Elder McLain.......or Elder House?!?!?

Elder House.....you da man!

Tab in Trenton

Waving from DC......that's as good as it gets!

Elder McLain continues to Do Work! He is going on exchanges with Elder Traasdahl and seems to really enjoy serving with him. He sounds much happier this week. We happen to be on vacation in Washington DC right now - approximately 175 away from where he is! Not fun to be so close and not be able to see him. I waved.....that's as good as it gets!


Hi Family!

Sounds like you are having a good time in Washington DC... and it seems like dad has some free time to do stuff with you guys. That's nice. I'm assuming you want to go there after my mission is over. That's fine by me as long as I can eat some good foods. You can tell dad that last week I got the best five guys burger I have ever eaten, probably the best burger I have ever eaten, in Hamilton. All I changed was that I got a bacon burger instead of just a regular. And it was awesome. The fries were perfect too. So that was nice. I'm assuming Ray's is better, so that is something to look forward to.

 

Rita's Water Ice is pretty good - the best I've had there was swedish fish with vanilla custard. I think that's the most popular choice. I'll wear the einstein shirt as long as it fits me! Ha.

 

The transfer ends in a week from tomorrow. So pretty soon. I assume I'll stay along with Elder Traasdahl (more on him later). Yes we have a dvd player but no laptop.

 

Wow Mom - you finished D&C! That's really impressive. I think you should start reading the New Testament. I've gained a lot of knowledge just reading through Matthew. I am about to start Mark. But PoGP is short so you could probably finish that up real quick too.

 

Who did Devon get engaged to? So many missionaries... Elder Traasdahl had his mission cut short by like 3 months because they can't take them all.

 

Well we had a good week! We didn't really pick up any new investigators but Ange and Arding are progressing really well. They will be baptized next week, and both told us that they feel ready. We still have to get permission from their dad - we've talked to him about it but haven't specifically asked him to sign the baptismal record. We saw them several times during the week and they never cease to amaze me at what good kids they are. They've already built relationships (especially Arding) with the ward members and are getting involved in the church programs... it's great. Ange is somewhere in Mosiah for his Book of Mormon reading. He's coming along really well. Our other investigator, Jos, didn't make it to church this week because she was sick but she is already in Alma. They're awesome!

 

So on Sunday we were having a struggle cause the A/C in the building was not doing so hot. It was still functioning but hardly. So in our classes I was sweating big time - I don't even sweat that much! Something about the humidity will make me sweat just standing outside. I don't like it. But I heard that the weather will cool down a little this week. Despite the broken A/C our meetings were pretty great. Especially sacrament and testimony meeting. For some reason there were a bazillion people there and all was well. A bunch of great people bore their testimonies (including Brother Isaac Aiken). Ange got up and talked about how grateful he is for this opportunity he has been given and how excited he is to repent (!) and be baptized next Sunday. Arding got up too with Elder Traasdahl and Arding said a few words about how grateful he is. That just warmed my heart... Oh was I so happy to find out that they understood the importance of repentance and that they desired to be baptized. That doesn't happen very often with investigators. But Ange and Arding understand it. That meeting made for a great sabbath day and a great week overall.

 

To go back in time a little bit.. on Saturday Elder Traasdahl and I went on another exchange. Elder (Evan) Traasdahl is from Boulder City, NV and he is about the coolest funniest guy ever. I have loved being around him and I don't think I've made better friends with anyone in the mission than him. He has a somewhat similar personality to Reese, so that's good. He's way into music and he can jam on just about any instrument; it's great. We have similar tastes in the music we listen to and random things, like scootering and food. He also wants to go with me on a trip to Vietnam after our missions are over (that's something I've planned for quite some time now). So on our exchange we weren't having much luck finding people to teach so we started just contacting everyone and it went pretty well. Somehow we ended up miles from home by taco bell and after eating there we hiked back home and taught another lesson to some great Haitian folks. It was a fantastic day. I took some pictures too. So that adventure made the week good. I hope he doesn't leave this transfer cause I've really enjoyed being with him.

 

Well I can't think of any other things from the week so I'll finish up. You kids have fun in Washington DC. Get me a cool hat or something... 7-3/8. Remember that. Just kidding ;)  Well I'll send you those pictures and head out.

Have a great week!

 

Love,

Tab 

Oh and about Johnson, the recent convert... he didn't make it to the temple last saturday, sadly. He wanted to, but he had to work. So we're working on finding a name for him to do a baptism for and finding a member who takes regular trips to the temple that could take him and Coruage. And maybe even us! But it should be soon. I am excited for that. He's doing pretty well.

Love you!