Reschedule Christmas, 80 Tornados, and "You are a part time missionary"

No wonder I haven't written in two weeks. This is a lot to take in. When I speak to a parent who wonders why their son/daughter hasn't written in two weeks, I promptly call that Elder/ Sister and tell them they are breaking my heart. Why wouldn't they communicate with their loving parent? Julie called us on the carpet. She does our blog. She was concerned something may be wrong. That was even before the tornados. No--I just needed a cooling off time before I wrote something I would regret.
I love our missionaries. I talk to 20 to 30 daily. Not the calls Elder Taggart gets...." I left my bus pass on the bus. What should I do?" Or "I left my phone at an investigators house and they won't give it back." Or " a member just backed into our car in the church parking lot. What to we do?" No, my calls are good news..." Sister Taggart, we have a referral for you." Or "we need another case of Books of Mormon" or " we are sending you 2 baptism forms, filled out completely."
So imagine my surprise last week when a young , inexperienced, techy from Headquarters said these words to my husband...." You are a senior missionary. You are not considered full time.." WRONG WORDS TO SAY TO ME...a week after transfers, a shipment of 65 cases of supplies in one weeks time, and literally hundreds of letters and boxes to reroute. I am OK now but with the sacrifices we are making it was a low blow to call me Part- time.
We spoke in church last week. I spoke on testimony and my companion was asked to speak on How the missionaries are using social media to spread the gospel message to invite others to Come Unto Christ. His was the better talk and everyone wanted to know more after the meeting. Pioneers, that's what we are. Pioneers into cyber space teaching. We probably won't ever be asked to speak in out intellectual ward. Not smart enough nor do we have the right degrees.
We had snow last week, then a warm streak, then Sunday it was warm in the morning and at around noon, all hell broke loose....literally. We were in Relief Society when the warning sirens went off. We were hurried into the hallways, the only safe places in that building, and mothers went to get their children. I couldn't find Elder Taggart anywhere. They said a prayer for our safety and the Bishop said we were to evacuate the building.(not a smart decision since a car is the most unsafe place to be during a tornado.) Where was Elder Taggart? These people were calm but I have never lived through a tornado before so I wanted my husband with me. This is high adventure. We do high adventure together, don't we? He was in his classroom with the rest of the High Priest group, finishing their lesson, oblivious to the warnings and chaos. Funny, huh?
We went home, cooked dinner, then decorated our Christmas tree and took a nap....only the second one we have taken on our "part time mission". 80 tornados touched down in and around our mission area yesterday. All missionaries are safe and accounted for and the worst damage was in the Chicago West Mission.
Last week, in our meeting with the president, we received a calendar for December. I kid you not....on Dec. 25 it had "reschedule?" How do you reschedule Christmas? I know it will be different without family or friends or any of our usual traditions but really, reschedule the whole thing? It turned out to be a glitch with the other secretary, who does the calendar, trying to move a meeting that would have fallen on Christmas Day. Calm down, Sister Taggart.
We have had missionaries to dinner this week. They feel like they have had a visit to Grandmas house when they leave. I wish I had Snow White at my condo to sweep the cobwebs and cook the meals while I am in the office 9-10 hours a day.....part-time. I would fix better meals. But they enjoy whatever I make and we love having them in our home.
Elder Taggart is with people from Salt Lake training Missionaries on iPads this week. I am doing luncheons two days. Never a dull moment.
As the missionaries were leaving our condo, one of them said, " wouldn't it be great if they had lights on the pulpit? One would go off with an alarm if false doctrine were being taught. One would go off when their time was up. One would flash when it was time for them to sit down and one would warn if a testimony wasn't really a testimony." With all the technology we have in the church, I think they could come up with something like that.
Today is a new week. Minimal damage was done by the wind to our condo parking area. We are so blessed to be serving with these 200 youth and a fantastic mission president. We love the time we get to spend together. I am grateful Elder Taggart is having his 64th birthday tomorrow. At 45 , after the first heart attack, we didn't know if he would be around this long. We are having a good experience, inspire of techy brains who don't know what they are talking about. The gospel is true. We love you and miss you.

Sister Taggart

iPads

I have been slothful this past couple of weeks and have not written. So I am repenting. I realize there may be a few of you who might actually read these and notice that I didn't write.

 

We have had 6 car accidents in the past 10 days and the roads aren't even slick yet. I am nervous about what will happen when the snow flies. Fortunately no one has been injured but I now have 6 cars in various stages of repair in body shops across Illinois and Indiana.

 

The two of us spoke in church for the first time this past Sunday. I realized that other than speaking just before we left, this was the one of the few times I have spoken in the past year. That seems so strange since I spoke so often for 17 years in the stake presidency. It was a positive experience and hopefully we invited the Spirit into the lives of some and also encouraged some.

 

I monitor almost 200 posts on Facebook daily and also have 25-30 chats with various missionaries. Most of the missionaries are doing a great job of posting uplifting, inspirational information, inviting people to learn more. It just hit me that I really need to 'like' more of their posts so that they will appear on my timeline. If you want to be 'friends' just type in Elder Bruce Taggart and send me a request. When you think of the reach of Facebook, just consider that most people have at least 300 friends. If someone gets 50 'likes' on a post, that would mean that at least 15,000 people would see that post. That is a very fast way to get an inspirational message to many people quickly.

 

So, here are just a few exciting successes from using Facebook this past month. A missionary from Poland is the only member in her family; she joined the church just 3 years ago. She reached out to her mother and her brother and his wife. Her mother isn't interested in learning more right now. But her brother and his wife are. This Sister served in Poland for a few months before her papers came through for her to come to Chicago. She contacted her brother via Facebook and communicated with him until he was interested in learning more about who we are and what we believe. She then had Sister Taggart send a referral to the mission there in Poland to contact her brother. She prayed that great missionaries would contact him and be able to teach he and his wife. Well the missionary who was given the referral in Poland just happened to be the Sister who had been her companion while she served there. His brother and his wife are now being taught by Sister Lidtka and her companion. Yes that is Sarah Lidtka from the Renton Washington stake back home. There are no coincidences, God really is in charge of everything. We just sometimes fail to see His hand in the details.

 

Another missionary has his mother on date to be baptized when he gets back home this next Spring. He has been able to teach her via Facebook chat and she is also meeting with local missionaries there in Germany, learning and preparing to be baptized when her son returns.

 

A young Sister missionary from California, who joined the church just 2 years ago asked me permission to reach out to her father to see if he might be interested in learning more about what she believes and what she is doing. She said he is a tough nut because he is a pastor for another Christian church. Well she sent him a link to Elder Holland's talk, "Lord I Believe" two weeks ago. This week he shared with her that he had used that as his text for his sermon last Sunday. I replied to her that little did he know that he was preparing his congregation to receive the missionaries and learn more; he taught them Mormon doctrine and they didn't even know it. But there very well may be some in his congregation who might invite two young missionaries into their home when they hear a knock on their door.

 

The possibilities for using Facebook and other social media to share the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ really have no bounds. So, if your local missionaries happen to be able to use Facebook, please don't be afraid to 'friend' them. You just never know who might enjoy one of the posts you 'like' and want to know more.

 

This coming week will be crazy but also exciting for this old guy. We have three different meetings where every missionary will receive their own personal iPad mini provided by the church to assist them is using Facebook and other social media to enhance their purpose as a missionary to invite all to come unto Christ. Yours truly gets to be the lucky one to oversee 200 missionaries using and keeping track of these devices. By Thursday they will all have their iPad, have it set up with approved apps and will begin to use them. That is when my life will get crazy with many questions, etc. I am sure. I am just hoping that they will keep better track of their iPad than many of them of their cell phone. More stories to come in weeks ahead.

 

Then on Friday, just because there won't be enough going on, the fleet manager from SLC will be with me because we will go live that day on a brand new software program to keep track of everything related to cars. I know I won't have time to be bored next week.

 

Have I said recently that I love what I am doing? I also love my companion and thoroughly enjoy being able to spend this time with her. She is becoming quite proficient in using the computer and various software programs. Kids watch out, she just might put you all on a spreadsheet to keep track of you haha.

 

Have a blessed week and don't be afraid to look for opportunities to let someone know how much you love the Savior and to let them know how blessed your life is because you know who He is. We watched an old movie last night, "Cheaper by the Dozen" and boy did it make me realize just how much I miss my kids and grandkids. But we are loving this time together. We love and miss each of you.

 

Elder Taggart, Oh this is a picture out my office window one night this week. 

 

 

Testimony of a Lego up my sister's nose

This week was transfer week. 33 new missionaries, names to learn, supplies to pass out,letters of verification of address to send, training on how to fill out a baptism certificate correctly and on and on and on. I think we are getting the hang of it. After the first two days (the arrival and then departure) we had put in 28 hours and stopped counting for the week. Seriously, this is a job with many overtime hours and I'm hoping our family at home is reaping many blessings for our service. We also had Elder Martino and his wife in town for 6 days. Who planned that? So we had two zone conferences back to back amid passing out cars to new missionaries, etc. That meant two huge meals for 100 each day and the wards came through and it was a huge relief to me. I have learned to not panic if I never hear from the Spanish wards ahead of a meal. Nine times out of ten they come through beautifully.....the one time they don't......well, that means hungry missionaries. What can you do? I thought of packing 10 loaves of bread and a couple of jars of peanut butter but my companion said you can't serve that to a General Authority so oh well.

In the office, we did have a table set up after transfers....my deal. The other office couple keeps threatening to help but so far we go to Costco, haul the food home to prepare it, haul it back to the office, and then clean up the aftermath of 60 missionaries having a "little something to eat." Along with veggie platters, crackers and cheese, chips and salsa, puddings, and bowls of orange wedges (a whole case) we brought a bowl of tuna,dressing and pickles and made sandwiches as fast as we could and the missionaries devoured them. That was an afterthought for our lunch after everyone left but I did open 4 cans of tuna and there was lots for others to share. So it was a hit, the missionaries didn't leave the office hungry,and they know we love them.

Elder Martino was wonderful.....lots of good ideas to help the missionaries be more efficient working with the wards. He used Alma 8 through 12 with Alma as the missionary and Amulek as the ward member who helps with lessons. Now I will jump ahead to one of our wards, because they are the perfect example of how it is done. I will call him Sam. His name came in as a media referral that I sent on to two sister missionaries in one of our wards. They went to visit him. He was ready for baptism but his wife was anti and his little children too young to care. Sam has only one leg because of an automobile accident when he was three years old. He is a sharp guy with a lot on the ball but the sisters knew he needed a few more lessons and time, hopefully to calm his wife. He has been progressing for about two months, having lessons every week.....in the home of a member each time....8 different members in this ward. They have had his family in for FHE or dinner or just a lesson. His wife totaled their car a couple of weeks ago and then the members started giving him rides. He was baptized Saturday. His wife refused to come but he felt compelled to move ahead because of his strong testimony. Two brothers from our ward wore white because they weren't sure how they would get him in the font, etc. Sam is about 6'2" and uses crutches all the time but that day he thought he could just hop into the font. It was the most touching scene. Everything went off without a hitch. He bore a strong testimony after his baptism and he was so happy. The mission president had all the people in the ward stand who had helped in any way. The Relief Society room was packed and almost every person in the room stood. Either they had invited him into their home, taught a lesson, fed them a meal, or given him a ride. The support system he has going into this new venture is huge. We picked him up Sunday morning because the car they had been using had been removed by a sister-in-law who didn't want him to be confirmed. Didn't matter. The ward members will always be there for him.(we did it because it was such short notice, none of the ward members were home.....they were all on their way to church)

Fast forward to our other ward. A little boy, about 7 stood up to bear his testimony. He told of a hard time in his life. His 3 year old sister stuck one of his legos up her nose and they had to go to the hospital to have it removed..."and the hospital didn't even give my lego back!" It wasn't the trauma of having his little sister in the hospital. They didn't give his lego back. The Bishopric was laughing (silently) and the rest of us were trying not to crack up.I love little children.

We were reproved by our mission president this week during zone conferences. One of our outgoing missionaries had a "suit burning" in the parking lot of one of our Chicago buildings. There were 25 missionaries there to watch. The only problem was, there were many from the Spanish Branch in the building who saw the whole thing. Turns out, most of them can't afford a suit, or tie, or nice white shirts. They work two to three jobs just to pay rent and put food on the table. The mission president suggested we do as Christ would do.....if we have a tie to burn at our 6 month mark, donate it to one of the Branches. If we have a white shirt to burn at the year mark, donate it. If you have a suit to burn, donate it. Most of these members will never own a suit so what kind of example are we setting when we ungratefully burn these things. The President did it with much thought, humility, and love and I am sure we won't witness anymore of that nonsense.

As the cold weather sets in, we have more and more car problems. I hope my companion survives the winter. The sisters call before church like they expect him to bring them our car or something.We have no spare cars again and several missionaries who need cars before winter because public transportation doesn't exist in their areas. Our counterparts in the office found 14 new apartments in 6 weeks and now get to turn around and find 6 apartments before our Dec. transfer. His job is the pits. So we continue on....another day, another dollar.....oh wait, we aren't getting paid for this. We are up to 200 missionaries, 10 of which have come in the last 90 days. Many are home sick. I asked my companion the question, "Are we not homesick because we don't know which place to be sick about? Our new home is in Utah but we have never lived there. Our old home is in Renton but a big dog now occupies that space. Chicago is home for now and I can honestly say homesickness hasn't been an issue, yet."

Two missionaries got on the train last month and stood at the front of the car they were on and held up a Book of Mormon and said," We are here to find the elect. We will be talking to each of you to see if you are the elect." Talk about courage. We also had two Elders learn this week that there are "silent cars" on the train. They didn't know that but they were soon told. An Elder had his mother die last week of breast cancer. He is staying and is stronger and more obedient than ever. I know if you get a letter to Elder Dizzle and file it under D in the mailbox, it won't be taken. If you file it under G it will. We drove to Buffalo Grove on our P-day (after the baptism) to see the autumn leaves. They are spectacular in the Midwest. We have heated floors in our apartment. Who knew? When we come home from work each night the temp. is 85. We have waited two weeks for the problem to be fixed. What do you expect for $900 a month?

So life goes on. We love you. Try to be missionary in your ward. Invite someone into your home. You never know who you may influence. The Church is true. The hastening is real and will happen with or without us. It is a good time to be a missionary. Have a great week.

Sister Taggart

Illinois Chicago Mission