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