This week I did good things in the world

I guess it's still cold in Jersey. It sounds like Tab might be ready for a little warm weather. I don't blame him. It's been a long hard winter there. As for his finger, we are still waiting to hear what they are going to do, but I think surgery is inevitable. And once again he called home and talked to....his DAD! I guess he thinks if he calls me I will talk too long and ask too many questions and get all emotional. Whatever! Well, here's his letter from this week.

Hey mom! 

I'm on for the next hour or so.  I'm doing alright! It's a little bit colder than yesterday :( and it's supposed to snow on Tuesday. I like cold weather as long as it snows. But warm weather would be nice for obvious reasons. 

This week I did good things in the world. My finger is doing fine - haven't heard back from the doctor yet but the surgeon in Salt Lake got my X-Rays and I am waiting to hear back from him. I was told I may have to do the same thing as Tyler and get a pin in it. The break makes it so my joint isn't supported by anything and as a result I can't bend it that well. It doesn't really hurt, but I can't really do much with it. It's just in the way at this point. I thought about getting it removed entirely. 

Yes the weather is good though. Saturday was beautiful. We walked along the beach to one of our appointments and there were about 1000 people out walking or running. Tons more people were surfing too. It is...... 37 degrees here haha. I miss pretty sunsets! If we do have cool sunsets here (once every 5 months or so), you can't even see them! Mountains are nice too. I never know what direction I am facing.  

I am eating decently :) I made some hot wings and some red curry this week if that makes you feel better.

You see I started writing a letter today and I got one intro paragraph done and then I lost all train of thought. I have no idea what to write about. Anything you want me to write about? I haven't really had many funny experiences as of late (if you check my Facebook I think one of my friends posted a picture of a nerf war I had a couple weeks ago for FHE - GG DaCosta) or anything out of the ordinary happen to us. Just busy teaching! I know you probably think my life is more interesting than I make it out to be but I am so used to the things I do that everything is normal! Nevertheless, I will write a letter! It should come around by thursday or friday. Even if it is not finished I will send it. That's a promise! I am amazed that Reese had time to write you a letter! He is a zone leader now (what a guy) so he has even less time than I do! He's also teaching more people from Ghana than I am now :( Lots of Ghanaian people in Germany for some reason.

This week we taught some lesson and we picked up a new investigator who now has a baptismal date. Her name is Marcela. She is 14 years old. She is from Minas Gerais, Brazil (dad?). Her brother joined the church in Brazil and then they moved here before she turned 8. She is really smart and we love teaching her but getting her to come to church is tough. The mother would join the church, too, if she could free her schedule to come to church on Sunday. She works a lot. So (optimistically) Marcela's name should be popping up again soon as a baptism. I'll keep you posted. Sister Pacheco keeps coming to church faithfully but she wants more time to think about being baptized. The last two or three lessons we have had with her have been more or less the same. We start out following up on her reading and her prayers (about baptism) and then it ends up taking the whole hour. She's awesome, but I am not really sure what else we can teach her that would change her mind about waiting. She is just a hesitant person, apparently. Some people we teach are like that. 

EEEERRRRRMMMMMMM I got nothing left. I gave a baby a priesthood blessing yesterday. That was a first on my mission. He is missing a valve in his heart so he was in the intensive care unit and we have an awesome member family named the Oliveras' who told us to go visit. The baby belongs to one of their friends. So that was cool. Damond Brown is working on going on a mission so we're helping him with that. here's a good snapshot we got of him: (attached)

ok I am really done now. Have a nice week.

I love you! 

Tab

Hi Dad!

Oh man, I really like that talk! It brings more light on the reason for living a life of integrity and righteousness. 

I will accept the challenge to contact 10 people a day. I am excited to hold myself to it and reap the blessings of being faithful to it. I have seen many blessings before in my mission when I made an effort to contact everyone we saw. 

I don't have time to write much to you but I am writing a letter this week (I promise) so there should be something interesting for you to read in there. 

I feel that I have reached a point in my mission where I am not quite sure what I should specifically be looking forward to. I hope that makes sense to you! I am just doing my best to be obedient and use my time wisely! Let me know what helped you the most in your mission.

Thank you for your support. I love you a lot.

Tab

Tim's response:

You are almost to the point where you have served longer than I did as a missionary (next month) since I served an 18-month mission (still bitter about that  :^).   I'm not sure that I ever reached the point where I felt like I had the basics down.  I think if you strive to follow the admonition of D&C 4, you will be on the right track.  Obedience and making the best use of your time are certainly high priorities. Developing Christ-like attributes would also be high on the list (see section 4, BofM scriptures on charity, etc.)

You are doing great and we are so proud of your efforts as a missionary.  Be good and do good!  Endure to the end! 

I'm so glad you are doing well.  Love you too!

Dad