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