It all started with a conversation with Elder Taggart. I wanted to know if we could flip a switch and have light in our entire new familyroom in our new home or if we needed to buy a bunch of lamps when we got home. Neither one of us could remember. We never lived in that house. We watched it be built and we moved in but we never lived in that house so neither one of us knew if we could flip a switch or not. That led to the doldrums OR the wall OR "I made it through the half-way mark of my mission but I still have an entire pregnancy to go. (9 months) At first I thought I was an awful person for feeling this way but then I realized it had a lot to do with things going on around me.
a) our largest group of missionaries (38) is about to hit their year mark. We also printed out the list of those releases that will happen by year's end and we will lose 43. That is not a Happy New Year!! These are our "kids" and we have grown to love them.
b) We had dinner with our Senior Couples Friday night and what a group we are. 22 strong---when we say "pot luck" there is more than 1,000 years of cooking experience combined and it is wonderful. It was bitter sweet, however, as one couple has completed their "documents" mission and the sister Sisters go home in August. The documents mission has fascinated me. They ride the train into Chicago every morning, go to the Cook county courthouse, and take pictures of and record documents. This Elder found a great-great-grandfather's documents while doing this. The sister Sisters are two widowed sisters who decided they could go on a mission if they could be together. They have reactivated, found long-lost shut-ins, and have driven and lived in Logan Square for 18 months. Logan Square has bullet proof glass in the chapel, but the two of them raised 19 children between them so what are a few stray bullets?
c) I'm back to feeding the 5,000.....OK so it was 4 Elders on Monday night--one from Calif.,one from Germany, one from Hanksville, Utah, and one from the Congo. Let me share the Elder from Germany story. His mother is German and a nurse. She was living in Nevada with the American dream life until one day she woke up and her husband had left her with their 5 sons to care for alone. She worked long enough to save enough money to get back to Germany with her boys and buy a house. This Elder was 3 years old when all this happened. She raised her sons in the Mormon faith and two of them are on missions--one in England and one here in Chicago. The missionary from the Congo was raised in poverty by a single mother who had also been deserted by her husband. When he was 16 and his sister 14, his mother put both of them up for adoption. What courage and selflessness for his mom to be willing to realize she had given them all she could and for them to have a better life, she had to make the ultimate sacrifice. The siblings were adopted by the same family, a large yours, mine, and ours family in Utah. They brought them into their circle of love, raised them with TLC, and this Elder joined the Church and is now on a mission. Today I am feeding 4 returned missionaries dinner. They are here from Spanish Fork, Utah and are working on the Chicago Temple remodel for a month. They need a home-cooked meal too, right? Later this week I will help prepare food for 100 Sisters for our Sisters Training Meeting.
d) On the subject of Sisters--some of our Elders are getting pretty tired of homes letting Sisters in where they would not let Elders in. Some of these even request Sisters. Bethany is one of these. She received a Book of Mormon a year ago from 2 Elders but didn't feel comfortable having them teach her. She declined their offer to teach her but kept the Book of Mormon and read it. A year ago a sister in New Jersey was praying whether she should serve a mission or not. She received the distinct impression she should.....she would serve in the States, she would not have to learn a language, and there was one person who needed her influence to join the Church. A year later, this Sister is in her 2nd area, where Bethany is praying for the missionaries to find her again, but please, not Elders. So this Sister found Bethany, taught her the restored gospel (easy since Bethany had read the Book of Mormon for that whole year), and Bethany was baptized Saturday. A year ago we didn't have enough Sister missionaries to put them in that area.
e) humdrum....Name of the week--Latrina. Can you imagine going camping with that name?
Call of the week: "Hello, I'm so and so and I was on the high council with your mission president 8 years ago. I have a referral to give you and I want him contacted by the President, not a young missionary." Right! And I want to live the rest of my life in a luxury resort where I have room service for the rest of my life. Pigs will fly first, buddy. Actually I handled it in a professional way, but I was tempted to be myself.
f) Thinking of things I am missing.....the annual camping trip by all of our Utah kids. Our oldest grandson turned 16 this week and will be ordained a Priest. We are proud of you, Joshua.
g) We have held down the office alone this week as one couple was moving out of a house into a different apartment for the last 5 months of their mission and Elder Crook had some major oral surgery and was down and out all week. I guess that is why we have 9 months left. We are the constant in the office. What we do is repetitive and sometimes boring but it needs to be done. My e-mail for a nametag order read, "Dear Pat, I realize you all have today off because of Pioneer Day in Utah. That trek began here in Illinois but the people here see no significance in a July 24 date. We still need this order filled at your earliest convenience."
On a bright note....our average temperatures for July have been between 72-76 this year. Only 3 days have been in the 90's. There are tender mercies!!! We will press forward. But will someone in Utah check to see if I have ceiling lights in my house in Utah? Just curious.
Love,
Sister Taggart
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