"Hell has frozen over"

Notice the  quotation marks?  A news  person said it first. I laughed and laughed. I had not thought of Chicago as Hell but when a city has the dubious honor of being the murder capitol of America---I guess the name fits.
Mission Trivia for the week:
1/ One letter was addressed to Elder d-dawg Otter-Puppy. Come on people---really?
2/    I found out Elder Potter was made to sleep in the mission home closet the first night he was here. Why does persecution still follow some names? He said he didnt't mind, the familyroom floor being filled with 26 sleeping, snoring bodies. I made sure he knew we loved him and that he wasn't traumatized by the incident.
3/ we have felt like the Frozen Chosen this week with temperatures ranging from -40 (with windchill) to 40 above...all in 7 days. One Elder suffered frostbite on his ear by not wearing a hat while he shoveled snow. 5 minutes is all the longer it took. By Friday we had rain which started making everything icy slush and eventually flooded several areas. What a mess. At least Seattle can handle it's water! We went to the Mall Friday night for date night and needed hip boots in the parking lot. (We also saw Saving Mr. Banks which was interesting---not cheer-y-o)
4/ May I just say I have the most amazing companion. As I watch him patiently deal with accident after accident in a calm, loving way---I love him more each day. Our life has much day to day stress yet our safe oasis is our apartment and each other. His phone rang non-stop on our p-day but he patiently walked each one of them through what needed to be done. (two blown tires from hitting pot-holes, one Elder filling out his accident report for rear-ending another car, one Elder needing anit-freeze because the heater in his car wasn't working (I know, right?, and some needing windshield washed fluid. We all know I would not be so patient but he lovingly deals with it all in a Christlike manner. Glad I married the boy who became such a great man.
The bulk of my time has been spent on referrals this week. Manually reassigning them is time consuming but Salt Lake assured me there is no other way to do it. Most of our referrals come from the internet. A person visits the Mormon.org site and expresses an interest in the Book of Mormon or a church DVD or just having the missionaries visit. I then go to a map and assign them missionaries in their area. I push a button on my computer that sends a text to the phone of the appropriate Elders or Sisters. I average 25 new referrals a day. Then I change the status of each referral as missionaries drop off the requested item, teach a lesson, or drop them because they are not interested in a gospel message. We have 200 missionaries so that takes up a chunk of every day as they phone in the results. I have a few heros this week.
One Elder actually found the circus train referral. The train is in Mexico now so he can't be taught except on Facebook. We are an online mission now. See the miracle of Ipads? This same Elder found a referral in a Woman's Shelter and gave her the Bible she wanted. He covers Gary, Indiana---found a sweet lady there who is on date to be baptised. We will attend that baptism.
Some of the referrals have their comments in a box under their contact information.
"I have issues to discuss with you. Certainly, need the Mormon Book of Covenants. I filed Letter of Recommendations, Formal complaint Pending investigations of, 7th charges, within 50 states." This man was contacted.  He has a minister license and demanded our Elders pay him money for being out there sharing the gospel for free. He was dropped.
Another woman wrote "I am a minister interested in reading the Book of Mormon to lift my spirits."
Salt Lake says we are one of the highest referral missions in the Church. That is a blessing for our missionaries yet not even half of the 200 "get it" yet. Another comment, "Have been waiting several weeks to hear from missionaries," I want to wring some necks when I read comments like that!! Lucky I have Elder Taggart to counter balance me.
We are concerned about one of our Senior missionaries who is showing signs of dementia. Elder Crook said there are advantages to dementia: a) you meet new friends and family members every day and b) you can hide your own Easter Eggs.
We have another cold front coming next weekend. Utah will seem like a paradise after we live through 2 winters here. Take care of each other. Treat people around you with Christlike love. Take time to enjoy the beauty nature provides--even if it comes in the form of frost and ice crystals on the inside of your cars' windows.
We love you and miss you.
Sister Taggart