Zone Conferences

I am reminded this week that everything you do for the Lord and to help move His work forward are needed and important regardless of how mundane or insignificant the task may seem. 

We had 4 zone conferences this past week; one every day Tuesday through Friday. So, we drove to Indiana, Lake Villa (not far from the Wisconsin border), Wilmette and South Chicago. I had the responsibility to inspect 71 cars to make sure they had safe tires, etc. going into the winter months. And since, I cannot check everything that is required to be checked on a car by myself, my sweet companion helped me. It just happened that those 4 days were the coldest days we have had yet with temperatures ranging from 12 degrees (with windchill, it was -2) to a high of 23 degrees. The wind was blowing every day, so what the temp felt like was colder. I was encouraged that some of my training, harping, etc. must be paying off because overall the cars were considerably cleaner than they usually are. 

We had a couple of cars where sister missionaries had left a note on the seat; one even had some Mexican candy as a bribe I guess. Their note read, Dearest Elder Taggart, 1. We love you, 2. Don't hate us, 3. We washed/vacuumed the car on Monday, then it snowed, 4. The scuffs/broken taillight on the back corner are from when the police officer hit us, 5. The scrapes on the right side of the car are from yesterday. We accidentally scraped a car in a tight, narrow 2 way street trying to let another car slide past us; there was no damage to the other car.  We are sorry, Love your fav Hermana's. Mind you the scratches on the right side of that car went from the front bumper to the rear bumper. How the other car got away without any scratches is a wonder to me since our car will likely take $3,000 to fix. Oh, and this same compionship called me last night; a semi had come to close to them (or them to close to it) and the driver's side mirror was torn off. I think it's time for them to be on the bus or train. 

I did safety training at all but one conference which obviously is desperately needed, since we are now up to 16 accidents in the past two months and we really haven't had any bad roads. I trained on helping them stay safe physically by showing a video and also talking about winter driving, etc. I also did some training on proper use of their iPads and Facebook to hopefully help them to be spiritually safe. There are so many dangers and pitfalls when they are online particularly for those who might not be prone to being obedient with exactness to policies and guidelines. 

I assisted Claudia as she instructed and supervised every missionary tracing their hand, cutting it out, writing on the backside what fear, sin, etc. they were going to bury and give up and then writing their name on the front. These hands are all being sewn onto a quilt that she is making that the mission president asked for. I do hope that she survives this project since she has to sew around each hand and 5 fingers for 225 hands. We have 203 young missionaries and 22 senior missionaries. I know she will include much more detail on this in her email. 

The highlight of the week for me was seeing and being with all 203 young missionaries. They truly are a delight to be around. We love them and they love us. 

I celebrated my 65th birthday inspecting cars in the cold. But the young missionaries sang to me, I was with my sweetheart and I heard from many of you. Thank you so much. When I realized that 20 years ago, the doctor told me I had 6 months to live, I am truly grateful to see 65 and now hopefully many more. 

As we go into this Thanksgiving week, my heart is full of gratitude for many things. I am appreciative for each of you and the part you play in my life. I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and its ability to change lives as one embraces the gospel and then strives to live to be more like Christ. The enabling power of the Atonement and its power to heal all hurt and to give one hope to press forward is a huge blessing in my life. I am blessed to have had righteous, hard-working ancestors who embraced the gospel; I am also blessed to have a righteous posterity who are striving to become more like Christ. We live in an amazing country even with its problems and challenges. The beauties and wonders of nature lift my soul and help me to know of the love of our Father in Heaven. Music stirs my soul and calms me when troubled. I am grateful for the influence that each of you has and is having on my life. May you feel the love those around you as you gather to feast and may you feel the love of the Savior as you make time to approach him. Have a blessed week. 

Elder Bruce Taggart