It's too cold to shoot people

Murder rates for the month of January are down 40%. Dah!!! Do guns even work when it is this cold? I promise you one thing. When temperatures rise in March and April---so will crime rates. People will be so sick of this cold and this much snow---they will go out and be irrational.
A bit of trivia:Glenview (the community we live in) has received 45 inches of snow so far this winter. They have used 541 tons of salt and 1,807 gallons of calcium chloride just to keep roads drivable.  Snow in some piles in parking lots is already 14 feet high. Crazy though it sounds, we pray for more snowfall to make the piles white again when they get gray and yucky looking. Maybe we are part of the problem??
Another week, another dollar as they say in business. Another week, another blessing is how we see it.
* Mending of missionary clothing is down. They are covering their holes with layers. I have put in a sleeve on a lined coat (pain) this week and mended a pair of suit pants that needed the hem re-done, both sides near the pockets sewn, and the crotch rebuilt. Gotta love the enthusiasm of our missionaries. "Sister Taggart, can you sew a new zipper in my boot?" "No, I can't fix a boot on my sewing machine......yes, I'm sure."  Ah, the faith of missionaries.
*I reassigned about 500 referrals this week with our 5 new areas. Two of the areas--Logan Square and Chicago 7--get tons of referrals, so new areas were created there and I had to reassign every referral in these areas. It's my job and I can do it now but the system still boots me off (3 times one day) and that is a bit frustrating. My alternative is calling Salt Lake and listening to "Consider the Lilies of the Field " endlessly.
* I received a referral from Serbia this week. An orthodox Priest from Serbia has a son here going to school. He has watched our missionaries in Serbia and thinks that type of young man would make good friends for his son here.
*I had a BYU recruiter call to interview me on reasons why Chicago would be a great place to live and work after college graduation. I had a hard time not saying "GO WEST--AS FAR AS YOU CAN--SEATTLE!!!" Why would anyone choose to live in Chicago?
    #ridiculous taxes
    #high crime rate
    #horrible weather summer and winter
    #good mass transit systems if you don't mind watching cops and robbers while riding to town.(refer to Dec letter)
    #pay scale must be great to live in the mansions some of these people live in.
    #it is impossible to park in downtown....unless you pay an arm and a leg (literally if you get out of you car during rush hour, oncoming traffic
    #the Church is strong here, in places, with room for growth
    #we haven't come across any poisonous snakes.....yet
*A sister in Elder Taggart's office this week: "Are you leaving the mission anytime soon?"
  "No, we're here for 2 years."  "Good, you'll be here my whole mission. I couldn't love anyone like   
  I love you two."  We love our missionaries.
*A concerned mom called. Her son gets here in March. "I just heard Chicago has bedbugs." Yes, we do. Every year one or two apartments have to go through "the treatment". What a cute Mom....a million thugs on these streets and she is worried about bedbugs.
* It was the end of the month and I still had 8 baptismal forms that had not been turned in. I called to remind the missionaries. The baptism was great but until it is entered and reported to Salt Lake, they don't know it happened. One set of sisters was upset because they had given it to their District Leader for a signature and two weeks later I still didn't have it. When this District Leader finally got called on it--he apologized profusely. "I'll get it there today, Sister Taggart." That was Thursday--Jan 30--a cold day here. He showed u[ right before closing time in the office. He and his companion are not in a car area so they rode 3 buses and walked a stretch to get that form to me in time. I love our missionaries.
*One afternoon I got a phone call from a man in a mission office just like ours only across several states. His brother's fiancee was in a hospital in Evanston and had agreed to a Priesthood blessing. Did we have missionaries there? His brother was not a member of the Church and neither is his fiancee but they were to the point of desperate. The caller had joined the Church while he was a student living in Evanston. I assured him I would get the Elders there within the hour. I then called our Elders in Evanston and told them the whole story. (they are in a "car share" area and I had no idea they didn't have the car that day) No mention had been made at all about the nationality of the woman in the hospital.....or our missionaries. It was just hoped that the woman and the man's brother would feel the Spirit the missionaries brought and want to learn more about Jesus Christ. Elder D & Elder B rode their bikes and when they got there, found out the woman was from the Philippines and spoke Tagalog. Elder D is from the Philippians and speaks Tagalog. (our only missionary who does out of 212) He was able to give her a blessing in her native tongue and then teach her family in the waiting room.  Coincidence? No--God is in the details and watches over all of His children to give them exactly what they need. (today at Church these Elders told us they have a return appointment tonight to teach the whole family. They thanked me for making it happen. I assured them all I did was answer the phone and direct the request their direction.)
I love being a small part of this work. I love serving. I love knowing my Heavenly Father is blessing my children and grandchildren because of our service. I love our missionaries. And maybe one day I will learn to love 45 inches of snow in one month!
Sister Taggart