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
No comments:
Post a Comment