Hello From Chicago

Hi,

It's been another busy but wonderful week in Chicago. The work is definitely hastening. At least the pace is either picking up or I am just getting older.

As Pioneer day (July 24), came and went without any fanfare here, I couldn't help but think of the many who have gone before me to pave the way and leave a legacy of faith and devotion. I am humbled and impressed by the pioneers today both here and around the world who because they are humble, have faith and recognize truth are laying the groundwork for future generations in their families.

As I get to know the young missionaries and learn of their story, I am humbled by their faith and humility. On Monday I had two Elders come into the office to get supplies. I always ask them how the work is going and what their teaching pool is like. As we talked, amidst their excitement of having a family of 7 on date for baptism and 7 other progressing investigators, they mentioned that they haven't been able to sleep because it has been so hot and muggy. Last week there were several heat-related deaths here. When I found out they have never had air conditioning in their apartment, I decided to take them to Costco to buy them a window unit. On our drive to and from, I learned more about their circumstances and personal lives. Neither of them has a father who is a member nor who is very involved in their life. Their excitement for the work was so evident as they talked about those they are teaching. Both said they hoped their dads would soften and join the church while they are here serving.

While at Costco I asked them if they had eaten lunch yet. They indicated that due to an emergency transfer they were involved in, they only had $20 to last them the last two weeks of the month. I bought them lunch and while we ate, we had a wonderful discussion with 4 people at the next table. They were Seventh Day Adventists. They noticed our black badges and started asking us questions about the Church. One of them was a sweet little 84 year old lady. She said that she had been through the Chicago temple before it was dedicated. She had also been to SLC and seen Temple Square. Watching these two young Elders ask questions and share a message was inspiring. We didn't realize until we were ready to leave that one of these people just happened to be their pastor. As we left, he and the older lady both thanked us for the conversation and also thanked us for the good we were doing. I have no idea if any of them will ever join the Church, but it is so easy to talk about the gospel and invite others if you are unafraid to strike up a conversation.

The two young men called me the next morning to tell me they had a good night's sleep for the first time in weeks.

On Friday, the president had a training meeting for those who had been out for 3-9 weeks plus their trainers. Sister Taggart had the responsibility to provide lunch for the 75 of them. On the budget she was given she knew we couldn't do Subway, KFC, etc. so she orchestrated a spaghetti feed. It included spaghetti with meatballs and Italian sausage, tossed salad, garlic bread and homemade brownies that she made the night before. Three of us cooked everything at the mission home and then took it to the stake center they were meeting at just a mile away. It was a hit. Numerous missionaries told her it was the best lunch they have had at a meeting.

During lunch I was able to take care of 3 car problems and 4 phone problems plus have conversation with many wonderful young people. Being the 'car czar' and the phone guru gives me many opportunities to talk to missionaries. I live the privilege of rubbing shoulders with this mighty army. They are amazing.

Speaking of cars, SLC told me this week that we will double the fleet of vehicles here by the end of the year. I approved $11,500 in gas receipts for the mission for the month this week. I am supposed to look at each receipt and sign off on them.

I met with the two region managers of Pep Boys this week. I don't recall there being any of their locations out West. They are auto service centers. The church is their oldest and largest account nationally. That is where we get all of the cars serviced unless it is warranty work. As we met, these two men asked me questions about the church and what the missionaries do for over 45 minutes. At one point, one of them said that he has a 19 year old son who should be doing what the young missionaries are doing because it would really be good for him. I told him we could help make that possible if he would like to learn more. He has called me twice since then, so who knows what the possibilities might be.

Have I said how much I love my companion? She is doing an amazing job! You all know how she hates computers but you would be amazed at what she is doing with them. She is learning a ton about technology and will do a great work. We are in the same office 9-10 hours a day but really don't get to spend much time together until we leave the office.

We went on a teaching appointment this week with the sisters serving in our ward. We visited Leta Cabrera who joined the church in 2007 but hasn't been to church for years and is very shallow in gospel knowledge. She also has a tobacco addiction. She has had one leg amputated so she has some mobility challenges. We had a great visit. Before we left we asked her if we could pick her up for church. She is coming to church with us today but she said she could only stay for sacrament meeting because it hurts to sit too long. We hope to be able to make a difference in her life while we are here. More to come.

I have rambled on for too long now and must go get ready for church. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ and testify that the only way to lasting happiness is being living it. I am grateful for my Savior and His redeeming love. I am also very grateful to be part of this great work. Catch the wave; it is exciting. I love and miss each of you.

Elder Taggart


Mom reading her scriptures.

Patience

We got a letter from our oldest granddaughter this week about patience.  I think that is the theme of most missions....patience with a companion, or investigators, or less actives, or a computer, or your body that is adjusting to heat and humidity and smells.  In writing my letters of verification for missionaries every day, I send one quote in a post marked envelope and the letter in another post marked envelope.....thus identifying them as a resident worthy of a library card so they can e- mail on p-days.
    " Patience is tied very closely to faith in our Heavenly Father.  Actually, when we are unduly impatient, we are suggesting that we know what is best----better than does God, or at least, we are asserting that our timetable is better than His.  Either way we are questioning the reality of God's omniscience."      Elder Neal A. Maxwell.
We are busy for 8-10 hours a day at the office and then we go home, grab a quick bite to eat and go to missionary meetings with our ward or last night we sat in front of Leta's house for 20 min. Waiting for our appointment only to find she was not there.  We are working with less actives and honestly, I want to just say to them, " why would you make the dumb choice to leave the church, start smoking, live with your cat and cat hair in squalor conditions, let your ex convict take your money and food?"  Instead, we learn patience.  She is one of God's children and as such, we are all allowed to make dumb choices.  Patience.......
The office keeps me busy.  One day this week I unbowed and shelved 32 boxes from the distribution Center, entered 9 referrals (more about that later) wrote 2 letters of verification, rerouted 20 pieces of mail, loaded 9 boxes of supplies for zone leaders to pick up, fielded 20 phone calls, entered 2 baptismal records, deleted 30 items off my computer that went back two mission presidents ago, made labels for the shelves, and on and on.  My contact with missionaries is wonderful.  One example.  I got a desperate phone call from a father in Idaho Falls.  His daughter and her non-'member husband would arrive in Chicago the next day and needed someone to help them unload a truck.  She is 25 and has been anti-church for years.  This father was hoping that with missionary help, perhaps their hearts would be softened.  S I called the two missionaries I thought were in that area, told them about the daughter and situation but didn't mention where she was from.  They said they could help her.  I then felt prompted to give this missionary the phone number of the father so he could personally assure him all was taken care of.  I gave the area code and this missionary said, " wait, that is the same area code as my parents.  I lived in Idaho Falls."  We both felt the Spirit had guided me to make the assignment I had made.  Later the mission president said I had done exactly the rig thing in allowing him to call the father.  Tender mercies.
Another missionary called in to report his referrals.  He gave me a list of about 20.  This one was not interested, this one didn't live at this address, this address was a park, this one was a less active member and not interested, this one was an excommunicated member working with his bishop but he takes the missionaries out to lunch every Tuesday, on and on and on.  Finally he came to the last name and said they were teaching her.  He commented," I guess this isn't a very good report, is it?"  I assured him not only had he completed his assignment and returned and reported.....he had found the one.  Twenty were not ready but he had persevered until he found the one.  I told him, " Elder ---------, in about 10 years I know you will make an awesome bishop.  You know how to find the one ."  He thanked me and said he hoped he would be talking to me again because I am nice.  Imagine,
I failed to mention....I'm cooking for the masses again.  Zone conferences are fed by the stakes but leadership meetings are fed by me!!!  I have none of my big serving trays, bowls, pots....but next Thurs. I am expected to feed 90 hungry missionaries for 4.50 per missionary....and include lots of carbs, meat, fruit and a yummy dessert.  Not going to go out and spend a fortune on large serving items.  Should be interesting.
My tasks at the office are like being a detective.....where can I find that on my computer?  Who do I call in Salt Lake for help on this problem? (Lots of those calls.  I ordered $2300 worth of supplies and the Chicago West mission got the bill.). Our secretary erased calendar items from the other mission on her computer and got an irate call from the secretary in the other mission.  She had deleted their whole calendar.  Oops!!!  This separating of missions has been difficult at best.  I am sent referrals from visitor centers, pageants, neighbors, coworkers and my assignment is to look on a map and assign them to the right missionary.  You who know me know I don't read maps well.  I assigned a missionary in Indiana to teach in Illinois.(later to find out he had the wrong phone so that is why he got the wrong referrals.). The missionary is then to go find this referral within 24 hours and give them what they requested....a DVD, Book of Mormon, Pageant CD, whatever.  We are getting Nauvoo Pageant referrals and they haven't sent us the CDs yet.  Ah, the joys.  Most of the time I get it right.....when I don't, the missionary and I get a good laugh and then I go back to my detective work.
We had dinner with Audrey Yan, Justin and wife and two adorable children, and Alisha last Friday night.  What a breath of fresh air.  So fun to interact with Jaxon and hold tiny Abby.  Audrey is still the same and it was just good to have a minute of home.  The Chinese food was awesome and we ate it for days.  I cried when they drove away.  Didn't realise I was homesick until then.  Thanks for taking some time with the Taggarts, Audrey.
Our apartment is beginning to look fantastic.  I have been making chair covers for the kitchen chairs, we got four live plants, I have made pillows, and we are feeling settled.  We also got Comcast this week because our hot spot wouldn't work in our condo and neither do our phones.  Talk about feeling isolated.  The smell is still there but hopefully plants will help that.  The heat has been horrid along with humidity.  One day the air conditioning went out in the office and even with 5 fans going, it was 90 with 98% humidity.  I try not to complain.  I just think of Brianne and know she has it worse.  The katydids are interesting here.  When it is going to storm, they go crazy.  After a good rain, they are quiet again.  We are learning to love where we are.
Long enough.  Must get to work.  We love you and miss you.  Bet you are learning patience too.

Love,

Sister Taggart

Week Two in Chicago

Hello from Chicago. So much has happened this week, I am not sure just where to start. I guess I will start by simply saying that we are extremely busy which has mad things somewhat stressful but we love it here and are excited to be part of this great work.

A week ago yesterday, we picked our new mission president and his wife up at the airport and had a wonderful visit with them. Last Sunday evening, he asked the other office couple, the AP's and us to join them at the mission home for dinner and also to be part of dedicating the new mission home. He also invited the stake president and his wife along with 4 people from the FM group who had worked so hard to secure and totally update the mission home. We had a lovely evening and got to know each other much better. Our new president is nothing like the other one. He actually wants our input and values the perspective of everyone. We know we will love working with him.

At the end of the evening after much conversation, dedicating the mission home and having the opportunity to enjoy the Spirit, one man who works with the FM group and who is not a member, said that he would like to have the first discussion and see where that goes. He obviously felt the Spirit that evening. The mission president and stake president conversed and then asked us to attend Notheshore 2nd ward where we will work with less-active members in the evenings after taking care of our office duties.

We officially opened the new mission office last Monday amidst many boxes, etc that still needed to be unpacked. On Tuesday we had 4 youth from our ward help us unpack and organize all of the pamphlets, Books of Mormon and missionary supplies. that gave us a chance to get to know them.

We spent 8 hours on the 4th of July scouring our new apartment so that we could stand to move in. The previous tenant was a smoker even though the contract states that no smoking is allowed. The landlord said she had cleaned the carpeting 3 times and repainted everything with a paint that is supposed to eliminate the odor. There is still a very stale smell that we are hoping will go away as we cook, etc and invite a few smells of our own liking into it. We scrubbed everything. There was grease all over the cabinets and fixtures in the kitchen. The fridge still had food in it and had obviously not been cleaned for some time. I tried four different cleaning solutions to get rid of the grease and was successful in getting rid of most.

We even scrubbed all of the retro furniture we picked out of the mission storage units to furnish the apartment. It reminds us of our early married years when we furnished with early depression flavor. Sister Taggart is going to buy some fabric and spruce things up a bit and also tie the various colors together. We also spent too much at Costco and Walmart for furnishings we will use and then donate to the mission for some future missionaries to enjoy.

We moved in yesterday with the help of 6 different missionaries. It took that many because the storage unit we got furniture out of is in the old mission so we had the AP's from that mission help us load that in the mission truck and trailer. They couldn't help us move out of the old apartment because it is now in the new mission boundaries, so we had two Elders from that area help us load things from that apartment. Then we had the AP's in our mission help us unload things at the new apartment. They don't want the old missionaries lifting too many things. I guess they think  we are too fragile.

We went grocery shopping last night and finally stocked The fridge for the first time in over 3 months since we left Seattle. It will be very nice to actually unpack and not have to live out of a suitcase.

Our new ward is gong to be awesome! It is very diverse. Today we heard testimonies from a sister from the Ukraine, a brother from the Congo in Africa, a sister from England, a Hispanic brother and others. Besides these we have met people from Mongolia, Australia, Japan, Korea, Mexico and all over the USA and Canada. I personally love the various accents and all of the color. We are excited to get to know these people and love them as we do all we can to help them move the work forward. In addition to us in this ward, there is a set of young sister missionaries and the mission President has already told the bishop they will get a set of Elders on the next transfer. The stake president challenged us to help create a new ward before we leave in 22 months. What an exciting time to be part of this great work.

With the creation of the new mission, we now have only 124 young missionaries. But there are an additional 82 missionaries who already have their call to our mission. By the end of the year we are supposed to have 250 missionaries and the mission that just split off ours is also supposed to have 250. Look out Chicago.

I am hectically trying to make sure that we have sufficient vehicles for all of these new missionaries. I currently have a fleet of only 44 vehicles but have an allocation of 92 by the end of  October. The young missionaries are awesome and we love being able to work with them. We are counting on the Lord to keep us young enough to keep up with them.

This is a great work. The gospel is true and it changes lives for the better. There are many who need what we are blessed with and often take for granted. Pleas open your mouths and talk To those in your circle who need what we have. Catch the wave and be part of this huge tsunami that is on a roll. We love you.

Elder Taggart

How Many Missioinaries Does It Take to Move The Taggarts?

Yesterday was moving day.....again.  Why do I feel like all I have been doing for the past few months is move, pack boxes, move them, unpack them, move them again?  Because that has been my life for three months.  We figured out we have moved 16 times in that length of time....but no more.  We are home sweet home now.  I sent a photo of Elder Taggart in our retro blue crushed velvet chair and bookcases from the 70's.  We had these chairs back then so while shopping in finer missionary storage units, I had to have this chair.  We got a beige couch and a yellow chair too.  No lamps yet.  Our apartment is about 800 sq. ft. And had a smoker in it.  They cleaned the carpets 3x and painted it with a special paint before we moved in.  Tobacco smoke is still here and the smell drives me nuts, but we will make it work.  I have boxes of soda open everywhere, air fresheners by the dozens, have used a whole bottle of Fabreeze and scrubbed everything in sight.  Still.....THE SMELL.  Honestly, the only thing that got me over this hump was thinking of Brianne living in the Dominican Republic where it is probably worse.  I then just suck it up and move forward.  We spent the 4th of July cleaning the smoke, moved into our new office on the 5th....where I spent the whole day unpacking supplies (after serving a luncheon to all the zone and district leaders in our mission) and then on Saturday.....the move from one apartment 27 miles from our new apartment.

That is where the trick question comes in....how many missionaries does it take to move the Taggarts.  Mind you, all our possessions fit in our car, all our borrowed possessions fit in a trailer used for missionary transfers....not a house full of furniture .  The storage units holding these retro gems is in the new Chicago West Mission. ( I'm surprised they would let us get away with such treasures of trash).  The AP's from that mission could help us with that.  It was sad to say goodbye to them as they will no longer be in and out of our office now.  They could not come to our old apartment to swap out beds, however, because that would take them out of their mission.  So we called the District Leaders in that area from the Illinois Chicago Mission to help us.  They were short on miles so could not go 27 miles to help us unload on the other end.  So we called OUR AP's and they came to unload on the Glenview end of the move.  So the answer is.....6.  That is how many missionaries it takes to move is.

After they left us we shampooed furniture all afternoon so it would be clean for the next two years.  And we did laundry......down four doors in our laundry room.  We only had enough quarters for 2 loads so that is what we did.  I am starting a book of all the things I have taken for granted for years that I now cherish.  A washer and dryer in your own house is a wonderful thing.  You can use it any time of the day or night whether you have quarters or not.  We have two dishwashers in this apartment......me and Bruce.  With 4 plates, forks, spoons, glasses, etc.....we don't have enough dishes to let them wait in the dishwasher for a week like we did at home.  We are feeling settled, somewhat......and with all this retro furniture, it feels like home.  It just doesn't smell like it yet.  Elder Jensen told me to put a rabbit in a pot and cook it for 10 hours, that would take care of the smell.  His wife said," yes, but it took us 10 years to get that smell out of our house in Wyoming."  (this is the Bernie Jensen who is a famous wildlife painter in his past life)

Our new office is going to be nice.  I am on my own as of Monday.  Sister Crook is the mission pres. Secretary and knows little if nothing about the systems I will be responsible for and visa versa.  I have already made friends with Alex in SLC and he will probably rue the day he gave me his phone number.  Monday at 10 we have our first staff meeting with our new mission president.  He is going to be a good fit for our group and I think will move the work forward.  I appreciate his style much more than the last mission presidents.

Our ward is going to be a good fit too.  We have students from Northwest University plus a few faculty members.  We have many from other countries like Rowanda, Congo, Mexico, Ukraine, Mongolia, China so it has a Seattle feel too.  Then we have the doctors, lawyers and others who live in all these million dollar homes around us.  Well, not around us.  We live in a condo surrounded by lots of different people.  We have been asked by our mission president and the stake president to work with less active and part member families to try and create enough activation that they have to create a new ward at the end of our 2 years .  No sweat.  So our evenings will now be taken up as well.  We put in 50-60 hours at the office and then we will continue each evening to share our testimonies and try to reactivate.

The temperature is climbing and with the humidity, it is hot and muggy.  We have air conditioning in the office and at home so that is good.  I love to hear the different birds here in Chicago and I saw a red cardinal yesterday.  We both sleep good at night....due to exhaustion.  As we were moving and lifting, one of the missionaries said, " don't die on us."  I was beet red and we were all sweating.  Africa couldn't have been hotter than this.

We know the work we are involved in is the work of our Heavenly Father.  We try to spread messages wherever we go....in stores, restaurants, anywhere.  This black badge gives us courage but anyone is more than welcome to bear witness.  We are happy, we try to stay focused, and we know we are here for a reason.  We love you and miss you but we are on an errand from The Lord.  The Church is true.  Remember, Remember.

Love,

Sister Taggart