Dear Family and Friends,
Transfer week.....not my favorite. We welcomed in 13 amazing, wide-eyed missionaries and said goodbye to 11 teary-eyed missionaries. In the process, 53 changes were made to companionships and several apartment swaps took place. When you get 11 Elders in, we have to move Sisters to accommodate the increasing numbers of Elders. Then I am supposed to happily return to my desk and figure out where Waldo went. It doesn't matter that you have 65 letters to change the addresses on, the phone keeps ringing, supplies need shelving and re-ordering, and referrals keep popping up to be assigned to missionaries in their area. Add to this a drive to Waukegan (45 min away) to pick up a repaired car. Whew! Will I survive?
Imagine my surprize when I get a request on Thursday from the President and 2 assistants to make "the commitment quilt project." And we need the design, fabrics, and other supplies to make it happen by Tuesday, the first of 4 Zone Conferences. I was planning on attending all the Zone Conferences anyway to help my hubby inspect 74 cars in sub-freezing temperatures. Why? a) because I love exposing myself to the possibility of frostbite b) because I'm an outdoor kind of girl c) because I love my husband---"you freeze, I freeze!"
Friday night was our Senior dinner, so Saturday was my only day to fabric shop and get it all together. They want the handprint of every missionary. Their idea is to have a quilt block per each missionary and have me stitch around each little finger and they stitch the blocks together. GET REAL--we have 200 missionaries, I work full-time, not gonna happen. How about a king sized flat sheet....no blocks? Great--and we can have them dip their hands in paint, each zone a different color. Not on my watch. I taught pre-school for years. They will get paint on their suits, you need 2-3 hours of drying time, the sheet will get moved and ruin a Sister's perfect handprint. (at this point, the Pres. said, "You sound like a mother or grandmother." SURPRISE!!) How about fabric hands in their zone color attached with Wonder Under? What is wonder under? Oh, and we want FEAR NOT I AM WITH THEE across the top in bold appliquéd letters, the Chicago Skyline in silhouette appliqued in the middle of the quilt and our mission scripture written at the bottom. (Alma 26:22....73 words plus punctuation and reference. So we're talking 200 adult handprints plus 22 Senior handprints, a skyline silhouette, two scriptures---are you sure that's all? And you want this done by the time I leave in May? Oh no---Dec. 15.( At this point I'm thinking, Did you forget you gave me the assignment to put together a gift box for Christmas for 40 missionaries who never get anything from home....also by Dec. 15?) I've got to start eating wheat again so I can "run and not be weary and walk and not faint." Each missionary will sign his name and also write one of his fears or sins to be covered the fabric hand.
They are trying to push me over the edge. We are down one couple in the office now so i've taken on part of my old responsibilities. No sweat. This will be continued I'm sure........
"Sister, where is your baptismal record?"
"We will mail it by the end of the week."
"Today is Friday."
"(laugh) ---oh---by Monday?"
We noticed 4 police cars gathered around a vacant house near our apartment.
"Did you hear gunshots last night?"
"No, did you?"
"No--must be a drug bust then." ONLY IN CHICAGO
"Sister Taggart, we have about 20 Polish speaking people who want to learn English. Is there a book for that?"
One of the women at the bank said, "Your new young recruits are amazing." Does she think we put up Wanted--You recruit posters? No--a prophet extends a call and they come. We have been warned not to give any Mormon literature out to those in the bank. Our young missionaries have been instructed to smile and be examples but not say a thing about the church to anyone in or around the bank. Imagine my surprize when I was confronted twice this week by bank employees.....in the bathroom. I was cautious--looking for hidden cameras in the lights or wires running into the pockets of those asking me questions. Was this a trap???
"How old are these missionaries?"
"What do they do?"
"Who pays?"
"They can't see their families or friends for 2 years?"
"Where do they live, with host families?"
"How long are they here?"
"My son could never be a Mormon."
I called 2 Elders to go to the hospital to give a Priesthood blessing, two others to take the sacrament to someone in a different hospital (cleared through a Bishop first), and 2 others to find some forgotten soul in a group home. They are more than willing and eager to serve.
We have Elders serving here from Nepal, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Chile, and Germany. I am getting the hang of their accents. Our Sisters from Italy, Poland, and Australia are easier to understand.
I went to vacuum the office after transfers and couldn't find the vacuum. Being the tidy person I am, I always put it back where it belongs. Not everyone does. So I began to ask, "Where is our vacuum?" At any given time we have 1-2 in our office, new or old, as apartments open or close. Now our floor has leaves and crumbs all over it and we have no vacuum. It finally came out Sister ____ had left it out in the conference room where we keep supplies. Our 83 year old Sister came in one day, ask Elder______ if there was an extra vacuum, was told to go look in the conference room, found our vacuum, and marched out with it under our very noses. And she didn't even have on her gorilla suit as a disguise!!!
One Elder excitedly told me, "You sent us a referral. We had stopped by her house 3-4 times and she was never there. She never answered her phone. (she had typed 1 digit wrong in the referral system) We were about to drop her when we noticed an email address. We contacted her via email and she responded "I've been waiting 3 weeks for your visit!" She had had many Mormon friends in college and liked what they had. Six weeks after contacting her, she was baptized.
And so our time here in Chicago goes. They have 400,000 tons of salt waiting for another glorious winter here. We shuffle as fast as we can most day just trying to keep pace with these missionaries. Our can turned 100,000 miles on Saturday. I think I have a few more than that on me. We love the work. We recognize the Lord's hand in our lives daily. He is in the details of all of our lives. Watch for Him in yours.
Sister Taggart
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