Last letter home.

So, we are down to days. Two days to be exact. This is Tab's last day to email home. We all wrote him our final letters for FHE on Monday and expressed our love and gratitude to him for his example to us over the last two years. He has truly blessed our family beyond measure! We are anxiously awaiting his return and look forward to seeing his face when he walks off the plane. 

Now, we await HIS last letter. And here it is.........


hey mom,

sup?




Yep........that would be my boy! 

ONE more week.........

Only ONE more week! He's busy packing and trying to stay in the work. Our letters are short, but that's okay. It's what we expect. Can't wait till next week. We are all sooooo excited!

Hey mom! 

I haven't been able to hop on the computer to do emails until today. I did send a package this week - it was 42 pounds and it cost $71 to ship! HOLY MOLY! haha I just used the money you sent me so don't worry. The shipping cost more than the value of the package...    I think using flate rate boxes may have ended up being cheaper because flat rate doesn't factor in weight. but who cares. 

Aaaahhhh........it's the Del! yes please. it's Angel! he's my buddy. 

Love you!

Another surprise!

I love getting those surprise emails from sweet moms when your missionary is out serving. I got two this week. One from a sister in the ward Tab is currently serving in, and the other is the Relief Society President, Sister Parker. As usual, it made my day!

These are the messages they wrote:

Your son is visiting for a wedding. We love him! He is a very seasoned missionary. You should be very proud of him.

Hi! I'm Sister Parker the Relief Society president. I love your son. He is an amazing missionary. And is a hard worker. We also like his style. We will miss him!

 Elder DeJesus and McLain

Elders DeJesus and McLain with Sister Parker.

SEPTEMBER!

Two words..........TWO WEEKS! Yep, that's all. Then it will be time for my boy to return home.  I can't believe we are really at this point.  So excited to see him!

Hey mom! 

Labor day yesterday so we didn't email but I've got a minute today. Hopefully you are around to see I'm on.

I am having a good day. I'll send you some photos from today. We usually email from the library but today is from the church since we had our meetings over here earlier. 

No boxes yet. I'm going to get some. I haven't sent anything yet, though. I haven't taken time to decide what to keep and what not to keep! Oh I'll be keeping the blanket and my coat. I paid for that coat! It's nice. but things like my blue suit... I want to give it away but then I don't. My suits are not thrashed. I am nice to them. That's why I'm somewhat tempted to keep them. Eh. Plus I put a lot of tlc into my blue suit... I skinnied them pants! 

The ward is pretty good. But for some reason it isn't growing very fast... It's sad. The ward council and everyone are champs but somethings not right.  It should be exploding! 

This wednesday is the temple trip and then the 8th is the Statue of Liberty. 

Sup Colby! you're lookin mad hipster in them photos. Nice hat - that's ma boi.  In reply to your comment:

That is what we call "the Chad" look. 

"He's a Chad." 

"Look at that sweet bro."

"Watch out, it's Chad."

"Did you invite that guy? No, that's Chad."

Oh and if that was a jedi braid I'd a yelled. Only a headphone! what are you listening to? Yes we will play golf soon! Oh of course I will help you. 

Hey do you know when and at what time my homecoming talk is? Elder Priest wants to know. 

Isaac better not have gotten a tomtom. 

love you!

tab

Hi Dad!

We had a decent week. Not as good as the last two. We did have one of our new investigators become serious! She is a single mother (her husband passed away in November) and she has two young boys. Her name is Kathleen. She desperately needs the Church in her life. So, naturally, she's taking the things we teach her seriously. So that's good. We still gotta get her to come to church. She said she was dead set on coming on Sunday but she didn't show up :( That was a big surprise to me. We are still working with a couple others but we've filtered many of them out and we're on the find again. Samir and Samantha are still in the hunt...

Oh, our fishing trip wasn't much. We got all the gear, but I had no idea what to do with it. We had mini poles that are only 3-4 feet long. They are called dock demons. But I have no idea what rig to use and where to go. Trying to fish as a missionary and have success is quite hard. But, I am excited to do some real fishing when I get home. You'll have to teach me. Last week was more just to say we did it. 

We usually email at a library in Woodbridge and we only get an hour or so there but since we had zone meeting at the church today we're using the computers in the family history center. I don't enjoy emailing that much so I am usually brief either way. 

Thanks for mentioning that about your campus ward... I've been wanting to move back to New Heritage. I loved it there! Perhaps I can live there again when I go back to school. Maybe even get some of the same roommates! 

Thank you for your little message. I had my departing interview this week with President Taggart. It wasn't much, but he talked about some of the things he did after his mission that made a big difference in the end. I haven't planned anything really, so that was a little bit of a wake-up call. I am going to need your help making some post-mission plans, but I'm not thinking about it too much yet. I feel that my time and energy is best to be spent on my area and my companion for now. Even then, I find it hard to focus. 

I am losing a little bit of motivation these last few weeks. For example, today in zone meeting our leaders committed us to do a few things for the zone goal and our mission president also asked us to do some things different starting today. I would be gung-ho about it all, but I am going home in two weeks! It's difficult to keep my head in the game and plan ahead for when I get home. I am not really enjoying this last transfer for that reason. It's like I'm being tugged at on both sides. Thankfully they're both good things to think about. 

well that's about it. Thanks for being the bomb. 

Love you!

Tab  

Tim's advice.......

My only advice is to be obedient and work hard. Build up your companion — don't drag him down.  Only do the essential going-home things and let everything else wait.  Most going home things can wait until your last couple of days. We can take care of the other things when you get home.

Be good — I know you will!

Love,

Dad

Shortest letters ever.........but we STILL love him!

Shortest letters we've ever gotten. He must have been excited to go fishin'!

hey mom gotta go! love you lots

i'm going fishing :)

tell Isaac not to buy a tomtom GPS, only Garmin. Garmin.

love you!

Tab

baptism maybe next week if the ward is okay with it :/

Hey Dad!

love you man.

TAb

We STILL love him!  On the bright side, we got a bunch of great pictures!

24 lessons this week!

Hi Dad!

This week was neat. We stay super busy, so we'd have to try hard to teach less than 15 lessons. Or so it seems. We spent a lot of time helping people move this week and we were still able to teach 24 lessons. That is more lessons than I have taught in a week for over a year! I think. I enjoyed this week but I still feel like I could improve at using my time as productively as possible. I think we are teaching a lot of good people, but we could be doing better. I can foresee only a few of the people we teach actually progressing towards the temple and lifetime activity in the church. That is something I am thinking about a lot.

I have so many things I want to do this transfer and I know I won't have time to do them all. I want to write letters to Clark and Reese and I want to have time to prepare for my departing things and I still want to be fully engaged in the work in my area and I want to do many other little things before I leave. That frustrates me but I don't worry about it too much. Any advice?

Kickball tournament last week turned out to be a softball tournament that was poorly organized. We played one game and lost and never played again. I hate wasting p-days, but it happens sometimes. It did last week -_- 

Elder Traasdahl and I went and got chinese food on our way home so that was a nice ending to a mediocre day. We did meet a really cool kid named Samir back in our area and we taught him for the first time. He should be someone I will mention again.

Thank you for talking to Igor! I did what I could to help him, but he likes to adventure so it doesn't surprise me that he's off to California. I'll stay in touch with him.

Have a great week and tell Regan congrats on her graduation! Why are your robes so strange! those sleeves are pretty wild...they're cool and beautiful. but they are also strange. Gryffindor!

Love,

Tab

Hey ma!

1. yes I will mail stuff home. i will use ups. 

2. my bag is the perfect size for a missionary. BTW, I (i.e. you) hipstered this mission by introducing timbuk2 bags. a bunch of people liked my bag and I told them where to go to get one... now many people have them. #sohipster.  the one Isaac got isn't outrageously large. Elder Packham actually has one. But I prefer the size you got me - the smallest one they have. It's personal preference.

3. I like the spread collar. Tell Isaac... spread collar is the way to go. I would go 50/50 with the number of long sleeve and short sleeve shirts.

4. my camera is okay. I wouldn't recommend it, though. I have seen couple of nifty sony or nicer canon cameras and they tell you not to buy a nice camera but he'll end up wanting it. I wish my photos were higher quality. But cheap canons aren't all that nice from what I can tell. Just have dad research a good cheap camera! that's his hobby.

5. don't buy a trench coat and he probably will never need bulky boots. Don't go to missionary clothing supply stores or mr. mac - their stuff is uber cheap. Like dad told me - pay a little extra to get something nice. It will last longer and end up being worth the extra money. As for suits, I have seen some pretty nice fitting suits at burlington coat factory that are on sale. Buy ties at burlington or thrift stores... wool ties are the way to go. Ugly ties baptize any way! : )

so hopefully dad forwards the email I sent to him. I talked about the week. I'll try to send you my photos tomorrow because I forgot my cord today. but it was a neat week!

thanks for the emails! and love!

:)

tab

Avenel, a new companion, and he's back with Traasdahl!

The last transfer and I don't think it could have gotten any better than this. He's back near the area he loves, he has another companion from the Phillipines, and Elder Traasdahl is in his zone.....even better, his same district! He sounds excited and happy. The people are "prepared" and he is ready. Can't think of anything else he needs to finish JERSEY STRONG! 

Hi Mom! 

We have like no time to email today because there is an all mission kickball tourney today and it's somewhat far from our house. However, I will tell you a little bit about what's going on in my new area. I may not answer all of your questions because I briefly skimmed over your email so I apologize!

So I am in Avenel, on Avenel Street. It is like a nice hood. I already like it a lot. About half of the people in our area are black. Parts of our area have only hispanics. We live in a very spanish part of New Jersey. Lots of Dominicans. They are my favorite spanish speaking people so that's good. They make yummy food. My companion is Elder DeJesus and he is from the Philippines. His family now lives in Utah in Eagle Mountain. He was trained by Elder Thompson so he is a lot like him. We get along really well. I think I told you that I was being transferred because my future companion was struggling a little with the work and needed my help. Well, he's not really struggling. He had a tough companion last transfer. This week we got out there and worked and he did just fine. He does stress a little, but not to the point that he is hindered by it. He is very intelligent and so we have nice discussions all the time.

My area is great. And guess what? Elder Traasdahl is in my zone, in my district even. We are having a good time. A really good time! Our new zone leader is one of the Korean missionaries from South Korea. His name is Jooyool Kang. He is a champ. We have a pretty neat zone. So I'm happy!

So just to confirm my address is:

177 Avenel Street Apt. #2D

Avenel, NJ 07001 

America

We had a neat week. There are many "prepared" people here who will get baptized soon. The ward is neat too, but not as big as I anticipated. Scotch Plains is the headquarters of the stake. However, the members have caught the wave and many of them are fully engaged in missionary work. In particular, the members of the ward council are great missionaries. I love to see that. I am excited about this ward! They will see great growth in the near future.

Well that's about all I've got for now. I forgot my camera but there are a few pictures I will send you from my new area. We had some Thai food last week at Mie Thai and it was pretty yum. Not as good as Bangkok but that's okay - it's New Jersey. Anyway I have to jet!

Love you much!

Tab

p.s. Yeee go Indie, get them wildlife!

* Tim got a letter too (a little more personal) but much of it was a duplicate of mine. 

Bless the sweet mothers who send pictures home!

Another sweet mom sent this to me today. Bless her for knowing how much this would mean to me!

Transferred......for the LAST time!

Today is a BIG day for Tab. He is officially starting his LAST transfer! I can't believe how quickly time has gone. It has really seemed to fly by. He thought he would stay in the same area to finish up, but no. I have been told the new mission president is "shaking things up." So, he has officially been transferred to Avenel, NJ. It's an area just south of the Oranges - not exactly his old stomping grounds, but close (I got this from Sister Gilcrest who works in the mission office. She called to get information regarding Tab's flight home). I guess we'll see what he thinks about it next week.


Hi Mom,

Yes, I'm being transferred tomorrow! I don't know where yet. Maybe back to the hood! I hope.

Apparently the missionary department suggests that all missionaries end their mission in at least one or two transfers outside of leadership as an RPM (regular proselyting missionary). But he told me that my new companion is a district leader is a bit stressed and that he could use my help. Perhaps they think I am good at handling stress, so I would make a good mentor. But I am terrible at being a mentor. So that may be why I am going - so I can learn to do that a little bit better. Anyway, he said that it would probably be the most important thing I do on my mission so I am doing what I can to prepare. I don't really have any idea who it is. I'm sure he's great! But being a zone leader was fun while it lasted! 

Hey can you send me a white 2xl tall tee? thanks! Oh, and we made the tacos last night and ate them for breakfast this morning. Yum. Thanks again!

I'll try to send you some pictures today.

Love you!

Tab

P.S. where did you and dad live in san francisco? 

Hi Dad!

You've been busy! Lots of naps... sounds like me when I was working at IMFT. What is Jeremiah up to? I look forward to seeing him again. 

Yes I got to play golf. Actually, I kept the same ball the whole round. I guess that goes to show how bad I was playing... I shot in the 50s without any penalty strokes! It wasn't too frustrating though. My mission experience has helped me to be more patient in many ways, including golf. But the wicked slice sure was ugly. 

Our week was alright. Again, the weekdays were tough to find people to teach. Our contacting numbers were pretty low as well. We stayed busy but it wasn't always the most productive work. However, our weekend turned out very nice. We helped a member move all day on Saturday, then made some chicken Masala and planned and went to bed. I slept really hard that night and I was quite sore yesterday. We were fortunate to have six lessons yesterday after church. The last two Sundays have been money days for us. We also got to play soccer this week with our Mexican friends. Igor wasn't at church so I was really worried because it was supposed to be his confirmation that day. Turns out he was invited to the YSA Branch in East Brunswick and so he attended there. He was also confirmed there, as we later found out. That was a relief. He emailed me and said that he wants to attend BYU but he needs two ecclesiastical endorsements by the 9th in order for him to be able to attend the fall semester. I guess he received some admission extension. I hope he gets them in time. Hopefully he will sign up for the winter semester. That would be really good for him. 

We picked up a lot of new investigators this week and I hope that many of them will pan out to be progressing investigators soon. I am being transferred (surprise!!) so I won't be around to see that happen. One of our hopefuls, the Miller family, should be coming to church here in the next few weeks. We really put a lot of effort into our planning for them. We pray for them a lot too. It is a golden family. We brought the perfect team-up with us yesterday to go teach them. Though we weren't able to have a lesson because they were going out the door, we were able to invite them to come to church and they said yes! We had our team-up invite them. It is really easy for me to picture their family in the church and all dressed in white at baptism. They are a special family. I really hope that they will be baptized before the end of the year. They would make a valuable addition to the church and the ward needs them. 

So, that's about it from me. I am not sure where I am being transferred to but I was released as a zone leader. President Taggart told me a little bit about my new companion and why I was being transferred but he didn't tell me who it is. Hopefully it's back in the hood!!

Love you,

Tab

Tab and a starfish

Tab said...... "look in the back at Elder Packham at me"  ;)

Tab said......."my favorite guy. ​i'm coming back for him​!"

priceless!

I played golf last Monday!

Hi Mom,

We did get to go "goffing." I played awful (~50) but I enjoyed it. My short game hasn't faded away yet, but I couldn't hit a driver or iron straight down the fairway to save my life. My nice draw has been replaced with a banana-like slice." (quoting myself) I only started with one ball and I didn't lose it! So that was the good part. 

Sounds like Vegas was HOT - haha. I probably would have stayed in St George with Colby. Las Vegas has some nice golf though. Did Colby stay there with any friends?

Well, I hope that Isaac gets to play at BYU. That'd be really neat. We'd go to school together! We've been playing soccer a lot with all the hispanic kids and I am still terrible. 

Chick-Fil-A peach shakes are pretty yummy. And the grilled chicken bacon sandwich is one of the yummiest fast food things I have ever eaten. You gotta try it. 

So yeah I'll probably stay here for transfers. Too many missionaries are already leaving our zone. I think it would be ridiculous to have me go too. Who knows though! The bigger kid in some of my photos is Ryan Stojka. He teams up with us like three days a week so we just hang out with him on Mondays. We're buds! He's 17 but he'll be going on a mission soon. The photo from church has him in it as well. He's great.

Haha - is that Chase sitting next to Regan in that photo of home?

Yeah send another Chicken Taco seasoning packet if you find one. Finding pork butt or shoulder is a task so I won't cook those as much but chicken is easy and we have a crock pot. 

I should have taken photos when we went golfing. BAH! Man. HA Elder Packham chucked a club by accident in a tree and it got stuck something like 80 feet in the air. I don't even know how he did that but it sure was funny. 

Yeah everything is good here. We've got one of the best members ever in our area of Point Pleasant. His name is Brother Rob Cinotti but we call him Uncle Cinotti because he's got this goofy italian accent and Elder Packham and I both concluded that we wish he was our adopted uncle. He's hilarious. I'll send you a photo next monday. I didn't snag any new photos this week... my b!

love you much!

Tab

PS I'll be around for a minute.  Then we're off to Barnegat Lighthouse again! it was too much fun. Gonna go get some Abalone shells. maybe.

Hi Dad!

Haha that was an interesting story you shared of your interview with President Reichman. I hope to play golf with him again. He is a good guy. I bet one day that he will be the Stake President. If not, he'll be a mission president. 

(Tim's story - I had a temple recommend interview with Pres. Reichman today. We chatted a bit and then he started through the interview questions and was going through them at 90 mph. He was almost done and lost his train of thought and had to take a few minutes to regroup. When he was done asking questions, he said he lost his  thought because he had images of you swinging a golf club come into his mind. And then he said Tab sure loved to play golf.)

We had a pretty good week. I've been working on doing meaningful things with my time and not just doing things that fill time. For example, meaningful planning. It is easy just to put in members and the same people we visited last week for our plans every day. It's easy to be lazy that way. But I've been trying to use the area book to plan more effectively and plan new places to go and new people to find. It takes more time but we've been seeing more blessings from it. My companion is awesome. He gets really pumped by Saturday or Sunday afternoon because that's right before we have to report our numbers. I work slowly but daily. But I'm learning how to be bold from him. From my perspective, he seems confrontational. I'm more on the opposite side of the scale. We even each other out. And we get along really well so that's nice. 

I just started rereading the Book of Mormon. I'd been spending a lot of time in the Doctrine and Covenants and the New Testament and as I started reading 1st Nephi I began to remember how much I like the Book of Mormon. It is very plain and I like that. I wish more people would read it. It even looks like a neat book. I think that if I had never seen it before and someone gave it to me, I would probably read it. 

By the way, I played golf last Monday. I played awful (~50) but I enjoyed it. My short game hasn't faded away yet, but I couldn't hit a driver or iron straight down the fairway to save my life. My nice draw has been replaced with a banana-like slice. 

well that's about it. 

Love you!

Tab

Lovin' Lakewood!

Visiting Barnegat Lighthouse

Beautiful Atlantic coast

The ocean

Starfish

It's all good!

Lakewood baptism

Tab the trigger cowboy!

Elder Packham

Rug with a face?

Tab is definitely in his HAPPY place today!

Got Tab's email today and I forgive him for being so short. I'm thinking he had a good p-day! He is definitely in his happy place. 

Hey ma!

no time to email today cause we're going to play gof! (Grandma Sharon)

but here are some photos. we had a baptism and so that was good : )  We went to eat for my birthday at Chickfiluh and I got a peach shake in remembrance of you....cause you're from the peach state. actually it was just the best looking one.

here are some photos though! we went to a lighthouse and we ate some good foods.

https://www.dropbox.com/home/mission%20ok/phots%207.20.14

Yes I enjoyed being with president taggart when I went on a day exchange with him! and then we hada  meeting called meet the taggart's and that is when I wore the umbrella hat. nice right? which is better, that or the cowboy hat or my blue dog ear hat? ​

I love you lots!

Tab​

Hey Dad!

What is URS? Did they do a flight test for you as well? Haha - I hope that you get some of the paint our of your jacket. I've been fortunate to keep both of my suits in pretty good shape. They are getting a little bit worn, especially my blue one. I really like my blue suit. 

Funny that Colby spoke on repentance in church... I did too. My talk was very short because the first time I was asked to speak in this ward I was up there rambling for nearly thirty minutes. Thankfully they gave me a chance to redeem myself. I think I did alright. I just talked about sin, what it is, and why we all need to repent. Elder Packham spoke about the principles of repentance. I had almost no time to prepare, but I guess that's how it goes as a missionary. We got a few compliments.

​I made some chicken tacos a while back and I used the seasoning packet that Mom sent to me. I forget the name of the place but it's something like Buster's or Bubba's. They were really yummy. I haven't used the pork seasoning/marinade yet. No main stores out here sell pork butt/shoulder. I miss me some home-smoked meats.

Well, I think we're going golfing today so my emails will be short. We had a rough week numbers wise, but we had a baptism. Igor was baptized. It was a really interesting service. I wish you could have seen it. He'll take a minute to come around to the way things are done in the church, but he was ready. I'm excited for him. He is like the greatest missionary ever waiting to happen.

Well, that's about it. I'll send you some photos from this week. We went to Barnegat lighthouse last Monday... That area (Surf City) reminds me a lot of St. Simons Island and Fernandina Beach. There are many expensive beach houses. Anyway-

Love you lots. Thanks for the birthday wishes and gifts!

Tab

Tab turns twenty-one!

When Tab left on his mission he was 19 years old. Since he's been out he turned twenty and I knew that I would never see him at that age. My saving grace was knowing that when he turned twenty-one I would get to see him again. His birthday is this Friday. I have refrained from doing a countdown but i will say.......it's getting close. Really close.

Hi Mom! Hi Dad!

I'm almost out of time today but I did have something I wrote to dad so I'll copy and paste it. Sounds like you have a lot of things going on lately. That's good. I like staying busy. ​

"Speaking of pioneers, I have been doing a lot of family history work lately. I go slowly and we don't have much time to do it, but I've made many additions thus far to Mom's side of the family tree. I really enjoy it.​ I've been hit with the Spirit of Elijah! I'm sure Grandma and Grandpa would be happy to hear that. Much of the work on Mom's side wouldn't be all that hard to do if I could get in contact with Grandma Sharon. I'm limited in the resources I can use.

Did Colby go to EFY? That would surprise me. How are Ryan and Sam doing? I know that EFY is a pretty big deal here in New Jersey - the ward will pay to send the youth to go because it will really help them with their preparation to serve missions. That's nice for the missionaries because all we have to do is convince them to set aside time and go!

The work has been pretty good lately. Week after week we do pretty well at finding new investigators. The difficult part of things here is getting them to progress quickly. However, this weekend we had an experience where I felt that my faith was strengthened and my expectations for miracles were raised.

We are teaching a less-active/part-member family called the Tifts. The mother is a member and the children are not. They are awesome and super nice to us. We just recently started teaching them. We had invited them to church but they were shaky about it and for the last two weeks they hadn't come. They told us they'd come when they felt ready. On Saturday night, we started teaching a young Haitian woman named Wilaine and we invited her to church and she said she'd come. However, she didn't have a ride. So, that night in our planning we said a prayer and quite quickly the thought came into my head to ask Sister Tift to bring Wilaine to church. Though I doubted that it would work, we still went for it. I couldn't think of a better way to get a less active member and our investigators to church! We sat there stumped for ~10 minutes because we had no idea how to ask Sister Tift so we prayed again and the idea came. Sister Tift responded saying that she'd be able to drop her off, but that she wouldn't be able to stay. Still, that was very generous so we took her up on the offer and we gave thanks and we went to bed. The next morning, we waited for Sister Tift to drop off Wilaine and wouldn't you know it, they all came to join us. Sister Tift, her daughters, Wilaine and her son got out of the car together and joined us for sacrament meeting. Miracle! That helped me to realize ways I can raise my expectations and see more miracles... one of the ways is to give people a responsibility!

That reminded me of President Monson's address titled "See Others as They May Become". You should read that one again.

That's just one thing from this week. If I had time I would write more. But hopefully that answers your question a little bit. Igor should be getting baptized here in the next two weeks! So that's good."

I did get your package this week with the goodies in it. Thank you for sending that! Sometimes I eat those for breakfast haha.

That's exciting about Isaac. Let me know how he does in his tryouts!

 LOve you too. ​

tab

Tab's new hat!

 Tab and his trigger!

It was an OK 4th of July........

Tab is a funny kid! So it's the fourth of July and he finds a pretty neat cowboy hat and wears it all day. Who does that??? Tab does! 

HEy Mom,

How was everyone's fourth of July? We saw some deec fireworks at Beachwood and they were just ok. Not as good as last year, but it was still pretty fun just to be out. I found a pretty neat cowboy hat so I wore that all day. We had a good day! 

There wasn't much to my 4th of July. There was a supposed hurricane that was going to hit on Friday so all the fireworks were cancelled. As it turned out, Friday night was a beautiful, clear night. But we went and saw some fireworks on Saturday so it worked out. They were okay fireworks. 

Yeah President Taggart is awesome. He is super duper different from President Jeppson. He works smarter. President Jeppson was a little bit of an old school knock doors work your socks off type of guy which was great too. I love both of them, regardless. Sister Taggart is still getting used to things. 

Tom's River is pretty good! We have lot's of people to teach. I will be here until I go home, I'm quite sure. There are plenty of people prepared and plenty of people in the area, but building up the ward is hard. It's a long story but I think things will progress here. It will just take time. It's odd, but we have some move ins that are sweet so things are getting better. And we'll be getting a new bishop soon. I like the area! We have plenty to do. 

I wish I could send you photos but I have not had my camera for two weeks! I left it in President Taggart's car. So when I do get it back, I will send you photos of our apartment. It's in a big complex called New Hampshire Commons. https://www.google.com/maps/@40.047037,-74.197289,3a,75y,271.13h,87.7t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sAHrNoAjzrjQbgB77WMGtRQ!2e0 That is an outside view of the buildings - we live in the back so you can't quite see our door. They're nice though. 

Sure, I'll go out to lunch for my birthday. It's just the two of us but I can bring along another two if you give me money ;) haha. We had a great time last year doing that on my birthday. We ate the Chicken Korma  this week and I didn't like it as much as the Masala. The yellow one tasted too much like squash and it was a little too sweet for my taste. But it was still yummy and we ate it all! Thank you for sending it! I'll be getting more probably today when we go to Target. We have a Walmart in our area too but I kind of like Target more. 

Nothing too new this week as far as teaching people goes. We had a good week though! 

Elder Jake Packham from Twin Falls, Idaho. We are definitely having a fun time together. 

Tell Colby to text my friend Zack Duke! So, Zack is one of our investigators. He lives in Brick, NJ with his Mom. His Dad is a member of the church and he lives in Provo. In the summers Zack goes to his Dad's house. I'd been teaching him for a couple weeks before the school year ended and he left to Utah. He is a quiet kid but he's friendly and he's a super good kid!

Oh man I am so lazy today. I don't feel like writing anymore! Sorry I was so short in writing! I didn't even write Clark or Reese haha. 

Well, I'm gonna go. 

Love you too! 

tab

A little bonding........

One of Tab's signature poses is the "trigger finger". Ruby decided to throw it right back at him. This one's for you for Uncle Tab!

Right back at cha Uncle Tab!

President Taggart and I went on a split!

So, Tab gets a new companion and gets to go on splits with President Taggart on his first day in the field! No pressure. And I was lucky enough to get a sweet text and picture from a sister in New Jersey who had them over doing some service work in her yard. It was a good week!

Hi Mom! 

Well I'm here.......Are you on today?

Here's a little bit that I wrote to dad and I will write back to your letter as well... "I was not able to say goodbye to the Jeppsons. We had an all mission transfer conference and we got to hear their departing testimonies. Some missionaries lined up to hug them and say goodbye but somehow I missed that. I'm not distraught that I missed it. They were pretty darn good, though. President Jeppson shared some wild stories with us about his growing up. He has an amazing life. I like the way he speaks - he's very Baptist-preacher-like. The churches in some areas (like Tom's River) need more of that, in my opinion. Anyway, President Taggart is the new mission president. His first day here he decided to take a road trip down to Tom's River and go on a split with our companionship! So Elder Packham (my new companion) went with Elder Jones (one of the assistants) and I went with President Taggart. They called us about an hour before they got there so we didn't have near enough plans to be prepared for that. We had some set appointments, however, so Elder Packham and Elder Jones went to those for a couple of hours and President Taggart and I went and saw inactive members. It was a treat for me. I have never done anything like that. I had almost no idea what I was doing, but we got it done. It reminded me of home teaching with Brother Kahn. We ended up teaching three lessons together and so did the other elders. So, we had seven lessons that day. It was a good day! Hopefully I impressed President Taggart at least a little bit ;) I really like him. He said he would much rather be spending time teaching with the missionaries than doing things in the office or whatever would take him away from that. I am sure President Jeppson felt the same way, but perhaps President Taggart has no idea what he's getting into OR he'll place more of a priority to come out with us than President Jeppson did. We'll see. I like them both! Of course, I would never compare him to President Jeppson. That's the same advice that President Jeppson himself and our Stake President gave us.

That's about it from me. We saw Igor again. He was on vacation for the last two weeks. He came to church and had an ecclesiastical endorsement interview with the bishop. So that was great. He has a baptism date of July 13th! We'll see how that works out."

So that's President Taggart for you! He's awesome. He will probably do a lot of things differently and perhaps he will catch on to writing letters in a couple of weeks. He had about 2 hours to spend with President Jeppson when he came into New Jersey. An hour was spent eating dinner together, haha. They really left it all up to him and the Lord and the missionaries. I find that impressive. It's another reason to believe that this is God's work. Elder Perry shared a neat story I was just reminded of about a conference he had with the leaders of Christian churches across the world. I forget the name of the group but it's a big deal. They discuss how to maintain religious freedom and equality and how to build interfaith relations. Anyway, they meet once a year or so and in the last meeting Elder Perry said that the counsel
(including guys like the Presiding Archbishop of Rome, the senior Apostle of the Quorum of the Twelve, etc.) discussed how to protect religious freedom. They were very concerned at the way the world is turning. After all was said and done, they had many ideas and actions to take. The question was asked who would be able to take the initiative and lead out taking a course of action. Nobody spoke up. Nobody knew what to do. All of them looked at Elder Perry. They knew that the Quorum of the Twelve was the only group that could and would do it. In essence, he was the only one in that council that held the Priesthood of God. Only The Twelve would have the divine assistance and power from the Priesthood needed to carry out the plans the council had made. I wish I could tell it how he did. But he said that that happens every time they meet together. He bore a strong testimony that the Priesthood was restored to the earth and that the fulness of the keys were held by President Monson. I felt it! Especially when he talked like a cowboy out of the side of his mouth.

I got your package. Thank you again! you knew exactly what I wanted. I did give my coat away because I bought a new one. I will bring the new one home, though. It is really nice. I don't think I will stay out longer. Nobody that I know of has been granted an extension. Perhaps President Taggart would have a different opinion on it.

I'm glad Sister Reynolds sent you a picture. We get to do service every once in a while. Maybe once a week. I forgot to bring regular clothes though and we were far from home so we just stayed in our missionary garb. Sister Reynolds is great!

Well that's about it that I can think of!

Love you, 

tab

Thought I'd post the sweet note and pictures I got this week. Love getting these!

My text from Sister Reynolds

Doing work with Elder Packham

Sister Reynolds and Elder Comish

Still the same old smiley, goofy, laid back, happy camper Tab!

Love these faces!

Just chillin.

Gettin' some good grub!

Doing work!

Elders McLain and Comish

Zone 9

The dynamic duo

yep.....a frog!

He would kiss it.

Subway into New York.

Baptizing in Tom's River

On the way to the temple!

Gotta love him!