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