Trains, tiles, and the Christmas yard trash winner in Chicago

Sorry we missed a week.  We were having fun....with the Ekins. They are a short 7 hour drive from us and decided to have an early Christmas with us. What a blessing, and a refreshing change from our routine. Our condo expanded to allow sleeping accommodations for 5 extras and we were off on adventures.  We only took one day off from our responsibilities. We wanted to take the train to Chicago. Ellie said, " is it the Polar Express?" Not quite. We visited a few sights, visited with a few nice people on the train....and some not so nice people too. We saw Christkindle land which is a German village full of good food, nutcrackers, and hand blown ornaments....and wood carved everything. It was cold. It was rainy. We got lost at one point but we had fun seeing Chicago through new eyes. We then hopped on the train back to Glenview. At one point the train stopped and the conductor said, " the conductor will be off the train temporarily." She then opened all the train doors as she waltzed off the platform. We watched a couple of punks hustles past us then a couple of minutes later, four police come running after them, guns drawn. Jennifer says to me," Is my family safe?" I assured her this was the meaning of " sitting ducks"....open all the train doors while they play cops and robbers outside. After 10 minutes the conductor gets back on and we proceed home. Ekins were gratified they had the authentic Chicago tour.
We sang carols, watched the antics of Henry (the elf on the shelf),baked cookies, played games, did Christmas crafts galore, and enjoyed the laughter of children in our home. While Emily took a shower we heard a super loud clunk in the tub. She didn't respond at first, then came running out assuring us our bathroom walls weren't very strong. Six tiles and the soap dish fell off the wall into the bathtub while she showered, revealing wet Sheetrock and black mold beneath. I told you we were living retro ghetto. Our hope is we get a new tub and shower out of the deal....and maybe a whole new bathroom since our toilet has been leaking for 3 months with no response from our landlord.
We loved taking Randy and Jennifer to the temple on Saturday, and the whole family to church the next day where Elder Taggart sang a solo.  We were sad when they left but feel sure they will be back for more adventures.
Christmas wasn't much different than last year, just the two of us in Chicago instead of Seattle. We Skyped children and grandchildren for 8 hours. Our temple president's wife said to me, " oh, that would be perfect. You get to see them all but you don't have the mess to clean up after they leave. Ours came to see us this year."  True, but I missed the hugs and interaction you get in person. All of our posterity are in good places right now and for that I am grateful.
Every missionary got a gift. I watched a "loaves and fishes" miracle as things arrived from Renton, Wa, Freedom, Wyoming, Utah, my grandchildren who made ornaments, and goodie bags put together by the Wilmette Stake YSA. We requested for 40 missionaries who never get a letter or a box and it grew to 65 missionaries who needed something for Christmas. What a blessing you were in the lives of these "kids" far away from home for the holidays. Our Elder from Equadornsummed it up beautifully. "I never get letters or packages from home. All of a sudden I'm getting 2-3 Christmas cards a day----from people I don't even know. Then boxes. It meant so much to me."
That project also helped me keep my sanity. I have readdressed literally thousands of letters and approx. 1000 boxes.none day alone I did 192 boxes and 256 letters. It restores my hope in the goodness of humanity.
So here we are, at the end of the year.  We both need to find a doctor in the area, just in case. I am leaning toward Resurrection Health Care of Glenview. Where else have you seen that kind of promise? I realized today I have been sitting beside this good man for over a year now. I like it better than seeing him from afar on the stand. I taught a lesson today and it felt good to be back doing that. We are happy and healthy. I'll be feeding 120 on Tuesday so don't worry about me getting bored. We love you and miss you all. Make a resolution to read the Book of Mormon this year and share your testimony of it.
Love,
Sister Taggart

2013 Winding Down

HAPPY NEW HEAR!

We had a wonderful Christmas. We enjoyed either a Skype session or a phone conversation with each of our kids and their families which meant we spent most of Christmas day talking or watching grandkids parade their gifts before us. Technology today is marvelous to allow you to stay connected even when far apart. Brianne (Hermana Ewell) is serving a mission in the Dominican Republic so we didn't get to speak to her, but she was able to Skype with her family.

My favorite gift was a treasure chest full of memories with grandpa/grandma/mom/dad from our entire posterity. Each of them had written memories on strips of paper that were rolled up in a nice treasure chest. Thank you Andrea for spearheading that and also for typing all of their notes.  There must have been 150-200 notes in that chest. We spent a couple hours reading all of them. They caused laughter, tears and lots of reflections on memories made with those we love. Those notes will be read many more times in the coming years.

We enjoyed a delightful visit with the Ekins family just before Christmas. It was so fun to have children in our apartment and to be able to do crafts, baking and singing together. I know that Claudia will share far more details on their visit so I will say no more.

It was my privilege to sing a solo in church last Sunday. A sweet young missionary accompanied me. I do enjoy singing and it was a treat to be able to do so to hopefully enhance the worship service just prior to Christmas. Something about music really helps me to enjoy and get into the spirit of Christmas.

Yesterday in a quiet moment, I was reflecting on the events of this year. It really has been a whirlwind year or so. I was released as the stake president after serving In the stake presidency for 17 years. That was bitter-sweet; I have enjoyed being able to sit with my sweetheart in church but I really do miss being able to serve the wonderful people of the Renton stake. I retired 10 months ago; I dearly miss the wonderful people I worked with for many years, but I don't miss the business or the pressures of work. We sold our home in Washington in only 4 days and had to scramble to find a new home in Utah before leaving on our first mission for the Church. We closed on our new home in Utah and had just 4 days to move in before starting our mission. We have been in the greater Chicago area for 7 months now and are loving the people, the diversity and all the things to see and do. I will withhold judgement for now on the weather here.

I have found there are many good people wherever you go. I was touched by the goodness of many of you and others who helped to make Christmas bright for many missionaries who rarely if ever get anything from home. Sister Taggart was a rock star as she coordinated and orchestrated  the making, gathering and distributing of gifts and cards for about 65 of these young people. Thanks to her vision and the help of many, there were no missionaries who didn't have several cards and at least 2-3 gifts to open.

We have another 16 months left to leave a mark for good on the people of Chicago. We love you, we love the Lord and we love being companions in this work of inviting people to come unto Christ so they can find the love and joy that we share. I am grateful for that babe born in Bethlehem and for the power and influence He is in my life. As we charge into a new year, my hope and prayer would be that each of us would strive to know Him better and strive more diligently to be like Him in our journey through this mortal experience. He is the reason for all that is good in life.

Elder Taggart

A gangster, a circus train, and 2 degrees below zero....brrrrrrrrrrr

I gave this photo the title "mail madness" . Yes, this is my desk and that is just one days worth of mail....piles of it, all waiting to be readdressed.  We survived the transfer. I have six words to say about that....they come, they eat, they leave. Nineteen new missionaries are now adapting to a Chicago winter.....2 degrees below and then add the wind chill which usually drops it another ten degrees. Not to worry, Chicago has 287 snowplows. They can handle anything. Our car required $500 to winterize it. We think it prefers Seattle weather.
We went to our ward Christmas party and focused on investigators.none man came because he was lonely. He is 50 something, from Poland and his soulmate just died of cancer. He showed up to church the next day because he had felt love, concern, and caring from the people of the ward.
Our newest convert brought his wife (not a member) and his two little girls. As I visited with the wife, she expressed an interest in her 3 year old having what Mormon children have---opportunities to sing and speak in public with an adoring audience.
It has been a hard week having missionaries go home early, one for surgery and one for other medical reasons. They will be home for Christmas but would rather have stayed here .
We found out we have a Texas Ranger baseball player living in our ward---Adam Rosales. He would like to meet up with you sometime, Doug.
We felt waves of homesickness on Adam's baptism day....and also Anne's performance, Lydia's drill team, Dani and Lexi's talent show, Todd's girls singing in church, and Sadie doing the penguin cha cha. We have learned wherever you are you need to "unpack your bags". We have done that but it still doesn't stop the tugs on your heart strings from home.
My 4! Best referrals this week:
1) a brand new missionary gave a Book of Mormon to a homeless lady at O'Hare airport. She wanted me to follow - up on it.....no name, no address, no phone number, and out of our. Issuing boundaries. Oh for the faith of these young things.
2) a sweet sister missionary had made contact with a member of a traveling circus. "He's going to somewhere in Indiana next, can you assign him?"  Because we had his Facebook info, I could assign him. But I needed an address. I plugged in Circus Train and the system took it.
3) a Latino Elder I love dearly called me with a referral. "Sister Taggart, he is a gangster but he loves Jesus and wants to turn his life around." As I went to assign him, Westchester popped up. We have a set of sweet , timid sisters there, and a set of Elders. I said a prayer. It was answered. He is in the Elder's area.
4) I assigned a random referral to Chicago 7th. They get a lot of referrals daily and have three sets of missionaries to handle them. The referral comment said, "call his mother at ------------before contacting him."  So our Elder called the mother. She turned out to be a teacher at the high school he graduated from.  Her son left home, left the church, and ended up in Chicago. Would this Elder please go find him?  This Elder was so excited to be placed in just the right area to possibly rescue this peer from his past.
We ate at a restaurant on Friday for date night. I had Lake Superior white fish which is not half bad. We had been here before in July when we first moved here. The owner is a former member of the mafia but has left that life for this one. Our name tags often cause restaurant owners to place us at tables near the rear. Not this owner. We had talked to him in July about our missionaries and what they do for 1 1/2 to 2 years. His son was a delinquent at that point. We told him Utah had some great wilderness survival programs. He came to our table Friday night and said, " Guess where my son is? Utah. They are getting him straightened out. We need to talk but not right now."  So even brief encounters can impact the lives of people we come in contact with.
Heartbreak of the week.....an Elder who had waited 3 months for ANY piece of mail got a letter from his grandma. When he anxiously opened it by my desk, it was a letter to his cousin who is also serving a mission. She writes to his cousin but had addressed it to him. But thanks to good people in our Garrison Creek ward and people from Freedom, Wyoming, he started getting cards and letters last week with gifts to follow this week. That has helped me to forget being home for Christmas. I have made and bought gifts a plenty for the 40 missionaries like this one.
Remember the reason for this season. Serve where you can. Give if you can. Bless the lives of those around you. Share memories with the ones you love . It will sustain you through times when you may be far away.  We love you and miss you. Have a giving week.
Sister Taggart

Warmth in spite of the cold

Yes, Chicago has been in a bit of a deep freeze this past week or so. We have had several days where the temp was in single or negative digits as we have left the warmth of our little apartment to head to the office. With the wind chill, every day for at least ten have been -5 to -18. Even with my extra fat layer for the winter, that is just plain cold. Yesterday was the first day with a temp as warm as freezing. And today, the high is again only 16. We got 4 inches of snow yesterday and it is supposed to snow again later today. It's so cold, you can't even make a snowball out of it.

With the cold temperatures, I have replaced 7 car batteries this week on cars with 40,000+ miles. I have also replaced tires on 12 vehicles to make sure the missionaries can be safe on slick roads.

Monday we received 19 new missionaries and on Wednesday we had 9 return home. 7 of those had completed their mission here; the other two went home for medical reasons. One of those is having surgery tomorrow morning to remove a 7 lb. tumor in her abdomen. Hopefully she will come back out after she has recovered.

It is so exciting to see new eager and enthusiastic missionaries arrive. We get to great them straight from the missionary training center, provide some training a car, cell phone and a mini iPad and then send them off to their area to begin their service here. I think the sweetest part of our service is being able to be grandparents to 200 young missionaries who often just need to know that someone cares and is willing to listen to them.

By Wednesday of transfer week, we have already put in about 40 hours because we are up late Monday night having dinner and providing training for the new missionaries and up late on Tuesday night to have dinner and a testimony meeting with those who are heading home on Wednesday morning. Now that we have been here over 6 months, it is difficult to see the ones who are going home leave. They have now become ours and though we are excited for them to go home to family and friends, it tugs at your heart-strings to say goodbye to them.

For those who are somewhat hesitant to get on Facebook, let me just say that some amazing things are happening as we continue to learn how to best share the gospel of Jesus Christ using social media. We are teaching people in Russia, Germany, India, Africa, Poland, China, Mexico, Canada, and in at least 25 states in the US. That is all in addition to many who are being taught right here in Chicagoland face to face as well as on FB.

The Lord has said, "I will hasten my work in my time". Now is that time and He is making it possible for many more people to learn about His Son, Jesus Christ. It is exciting to play just a small part in all of that.

We are looking forward to a visit from the Ekins family this week. Randy is doing his residency as an ER doctor in Ohio and that is only 6 1/2 hours from us. They will spend 4 days with us and we are excited to hear the laughter and excitement of children in our home here. We are actually going to take a couple days off from our office responsibilities and see some sites and have some fun in Chicago.

As children sang two musical numbers in church today, I realized just how much I miss my grandchildren! I've decided that the biggest sacrifice we are making while serving here is being away from our children and grandchildren. We love them and miss them, but know that this is where the Lord needs us right now.

The warmth in spite of the cold comes from knowing that we have a Father in Heaven who knows  us and loves personally; we have an elder brother, Jesus Christ, who gave his life that we might have hope and a way to return to our heavenly home to enjoy the eternities together with family and friends. I know that he whose birth we celebrate this season is the Savior of the world, he is the great Jehovah, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. He is the babe born in humble circumstances in Bethlehem, the promised Messiah. I know that He lives, that he knows us and loves us and that as we learn of Him and strive to pattern our lives after Him, we will have joy and happiness in this life as well as in the life to come.

May you feel His love and warmth in your homes and hearts this Christmas season is my prayer for each of you. Have a great week!

Elder Taggart

How to get a Book of Mormon past prison guards and other mysteries....

What a crazy week this has been. You would think with the Thanksgiving break we would have had more time. We heard of stores staying open on Thanksgiving and Black Friday deals and it really doesn't apply to us at all.
Thanksgiving was perfect. I had 4 Sister missionaries to dinner Tues. night and 2 Elders on Wed. Night so I was tired of cooking and since there were plenty of leftovers, I did not cook one thing on Thanksgiving. That is really something to be thankful for. We couldn't go to the office that day because we work over a bank so we stayed in our pajamas til 11, went without shoes all day, spoke to or texted all of our children and ate good food with no effort. We also addressed Christmas cards. For the first time in our marriage, my companion helped!
RANDOM calls for the week.....take 4:
1. Sister Taggart, how do we get a Bible and Book of Mormon past prison guards? We have permission to visit this guy but there is a special procedure for getting things in . So I call Salt Lake and did you know....there is a Correctional Facilities Department in Church headquarters? Books going into a facility must have the Church logo on them, be sealed, etc....then they let them through. I could have had my choice of books too.
2. Sister Taggart, someone in a rehab center in Chicago sent us a request for a Book of Mormon and a Bible. He also wants our help. The minister at the desk won't let us deliver anything or see him. We think he is being held hostage." I politely explained to these 18-19 year olds that is basically what a rehab center is. Try again in a week or so. Good luck.
3. I'll copy this one straight off the e-mail " I am copying Sister Taggart on this message so she can respond on how best to order and ship Books of Mormon to my nephew serving in Japan. His mission can't give him all he needs." Are you kidding me? I'm good but really---I have my limits.
4. Elder Taggart, we need to take our tornado damaged car in for repairs. Can you Google to see where a location close to Rensselaer is? Elder Taggart did so. A few minutes later these same sisters called him back. " you are not going to believe this but that garage is the only building the tornado completely destroyed. Could you find the next closest garage?"
We give more time, love, and compassion this time of the year. It is bone- chilling cold and during the holidays, our missionaries long for a piece of home. If they come into the office we have hot cider or chocolate and a granola bar for them.....and hugs, lots of hugs. The response for missionaries who dont get letters or boxes from home, has been gratifying to see. We have had wards back home in Washington and Wyoming respond, moms who don't want anyone to be left out, and family members who just wanted to send something. If you want to send a card of encouragement and appreciation to an Elder or a Sister, send it to MISSIONARY
800 Waukegan Road #203, Glenview, IL 60025.
We are doing great. We took our car in to be winterized. Elder Taggart orchestrates cars for 200 but had to walk 2 miles home because they needed the car all day. Then he reversed the process late that same day. An Elder called, who had lost his bus pass, and I heard Elder Taggart tell him he would have to figure it out because we were without wheels too. We just hit our 6 month mark and we feel we have hit our stride. Our children sent us 8x10 pictures for Thanksgiving. What a delight to be surrounded by family, flat though they are. Home for us has always been about being together. We look forward to Ekins coming for Christmas, the Texas branches coming for their Spring break and Ferrells next summer. Transfers next week bring 19 more "kids" so we are never in short supply.
We hope you all draw family closer during this season. We love all the Nativity sets placed in front of churches all over Chicago. Try to remember the reason for the season. Help someone come to know their Savior. And if you need a Book of Mormon, I can get one into almost anywhere. We love you and miss you.
Sister Taggart

200 Mini iPads

Nov. 25

What a week it has been! We had training meetings three days this week to activate and provide training on Mini iPads for 200 young missionaries. The set-up and preparation to make sure we had a strong internet signal in the buildings we did training in plus all of the logistics, etc. made for a hectic week with long hours and not much quality sleep. Thankfully, I had called and trained 6 missionaries to help me as techs to trouble-shoot and assist in the training. They are amazing and understand the devices and learn the software so quickly. Which means that my life will be a bit easier. I will utilize these techs to field most of the questions the missionaries have particularly about their iPads and the specialized software we are using. Each of these meetings required me to find the wireless router and plug a long cable in the back of it so that I could plug that into another router in the room we would be activating devices in. This enabled us to bypass the Church firewall so that we had a signal strong

 

That means that I can have more time to monitor their Facebook activity. That is time-consuming but I am actually very impressed with most of their posts. For the most part, they are uplifting, inspirational and great invitations to learn more. There are some, particularly young men, who don't understand that goofy pictures are fun but they don't really invite anyone to want to be nourished spiritually. I know that for some, having an iPad will make it that much more tempting to be online when they are not supposed to be.

 

The weather has shifted; when we left for church yesterday morning, it was 12 degrees and the wind was blowing. The high on both Saturday and Sunday was only 26 degrees. Today it snowed for about 2 hours. Not much actually stuck but it was quite slippery as we left the office.

 

On Friday, the fleet manager from Salt Lake City was in our office t train me on the new software to keep track of all of the cars. So, we spent from 8:30 to almost 5:30 together loading that program and then going through all of the details pertaining to it. So by Friday night, my brain was totally drained and stretched.

 

Fortunately I was able to sleep in until almost 7 on Saturday and we had a somewhat relaxing day once we got the apartment cleaned, laundry done, shoes shined and grocery shopping taken care of. Ok, I had about 1 1/2 hours to relax a bit before we headed off to a baptism in the afternoon.

 

I enjoyed talking to each of my children and their families on my birthday last week. But I must admit, it did make me really anxious to be able to give a big hug to some of the little ones. It was also enjoyable to speak with Linda, Darren and Ken from my old office. Personally I was grateful just to see another birthday and know that I had lived and enjoyed another year. Oh, the simple pleasures of getting old.

 

As we go into the Thanksgiving week, I am grateful for so many things. I appreciate the part each of you has played in my life and the wonderful times we have spent together. As challenging as it is to see all of the craziness going on in our government lately, I am still very appreciative to live in this great country. I truly do appreciate life and the opportunity to experience so many things. I am grateful for the scriptures and knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father's plan for each of us. I appreciate my older brother, Jesus Christ, and for his Atoning sacrifice that makes it possible for me to have hope when I fall short of his expectations of me. I have been blessed with an amazing posterity and extended family. My companion and friend is the joy of my life. She helps me to desire and strive to be better.

 

 I wish you a blessed Thanksgiving week. Take time to tell those you love just how much you appreciate them.

 

Elder Taggart

Bethy Babe, Grandma Woolf, and Paul Newman for a Stake President

Nov. 25

I love my job. The mail can be so enlightening. This Beth has some interesting mail....at least the names people use for her are a kick.  She is known as BFF Bethy, Bethy Babe and this week To the Princess, Beth.  Honestly? Can you believe sending mail to a missionary addressed like that? Return addresses interest me too.  This week I processed a letter with a stake pres. By the name of Paul Newman. I thought he died. Maybe he has come back as a Mormon leader. I chuckled. But my LOL this week was when the return address said Grandma Woolf! What? This was a twist on Little Red Ridinghood I had not expected. Grandma married the wolf? What happened to Red Riding Hood? Did the woodsman never show up? I thought about the possibilities through the rest of the mail......which is a ton these days. Ah, Christmas is coming and these funny, funny parents send a box to an 18 year old with DO NOT OPEN TIL CHRISTMAS and think that will stick! Probably not, Mom and Dad, far away.
This week has been one of highs and lows. One of our sweet Polish sisters mother died on Monday at the age of 48. It was completely unexpected. This Sister bore a strong testimony on Thursday about the plan of salvation.  She is not going home. She was promised in a blessing that her mother will now be able to share her mission, hear the gospel taught by her daughter to other investigators, and understand the big picture. What strong young people we are working with.
Several of our missionaries are facing medical challenges, like tumors, heart problems, back issues, and on and on. They work through their pain, with smiles on their faces. As it gets colder and my arthritis hurts, I just follow their example. I am not sure how I will handle Utah's cold winters but this moist, right off Lake Michigan cold is something to experience. Ah for the days of curling up in a blanket with a good book!
Novice techy from SLC apologized to me on Wednesday. I got to the iPad roll out early with Elder Taggart so I could get things ready for the lunch, set up my sewing machine, and make sure I was ready for my training bit. We had to divide the 120 missionaries into two groups so we wouldn't blow a fuse or something with all the iPads going. That meant training two separate groups. So I ran from the kitchen to the RS room where I mended pants, coats, pockets, and tears. Then back into the kitchen. Then into the chapel for training. Then back to the kitchen to serve lunch to 120. Then back to my mending.....back to the chapel again.....and on and on. This guy who the week before had called us "part time missionaries" came up to me and said, " Are you Sister Taggart? I owe you an apology.  I had no idea what you did out here. I have watched you today and I can't believe everything you do. You are not part time." I assured him what he had been watching me do all day wasn't even what I do. My office job is intense too. Good to have validation.
I got my first referral this week. The postman came in and wondered what this place was. He had a stack of 20+ boxes on a cart, 100 letters, and just wondered what we did. So I explained what we all did, 50-60 hours a week....for free, paying all of our own expenses so we can be here to support 200 young missionaries inviting others in Chicago to come to Christ. He said he was a believer but he had never seen any of our missionaries. I asked him if he would like to meet some. He said yes. He said he would also like to come to one of our meetings. Did we have a chapel near him? I got his name, address, phone number and in less than a week, he was being taught by our missionaries in Logan Square. Cool, huh?
I went to my third "referral baptism" Saturday. This man was a referral from Belgium, here on a three month professor deal with the University of Chicago. He had one discussion before he left Belgium. I assigned him to missionaries in his area. One was a football player from BYU. He said to me, "He will be smart. I play football. What can I teach him?" I answered, " the gospel". Well, these two young Elders taught this scientist and he was baptized Saturday. He came up to me after to thank me for finding him missionaries so he could learn about Jesus Christ and his church on the earth today. Awesome moment for me.
We have 4 Sister missionaries coming for dinner tomorrow and two Elders coming Wed. And then Elder Taggart and I will have leftovers for Thanksgiving. Then we have to man the office Friday because Crooks are taking off for Ohio to be with family for the holiday.
We love the work. We put in 30 hours in just two days this week. We go fast so our joints don't freeze up. We love our missionaries. We miss our family but know they are being blessed because we are serving. Have a Happy Thanksgiving and if Little Red Ridinghood comes by, tell her not to go to Grandmas. It's too late.
Sister Taggart