Maps...Maps....Maps.....

Feb. 1, 2015
All day I stare at maps. I type in referral addresses then stare at maps to try and figure out which missionaries should be assigned to which referrals. I come across some fascinating information. Last week I assigned an ALMA who speaks Spanish. Today I had a SARIAH who speaks Spanish. Coincidence?? I think somewhere way back they had ancestors names Alma or Sariah and I would like to think they were the ones recorded in the Book of Mormon. Meanwhile I search more maps. I've told Elder Taggart that he better know the way home because I'm not reading the map for him.

Why do people put themselves into the referral system? There are as many interesting reasons as there are people. I could fill this whole letter with different reasons. This week a Muslim Hindu said he doesn't want to hear the missionaries message but he wants the Book of Mormon to read. That is the #1 reason people refer themselves....they want a Book of Mormon. The #2 reason is they want to learn more about the Mormon Church. Then in no particular order # they need a Priesthood blessing, # they are interested in talking to our missionaries about Joseph Smith, personal revelation, or any number of things,  # they need service like help moving. I am approaching 5,000 referrals assigned so far on my mission so I should be used to maps, right?


My knee is doing fine. The cortisone seems to be doing what it should and I am doing muscle strengthening exercises 5 days a week. We have an appointment May 13 with a doctor in American Fork, Utah. Todd says this doctors' patients have better results and shorter recovery times so we are going with him. Then Todd can be my physical therapist and get me on my feet quickly. Thanks for your prayers in my behalf.

I heard about one of our baptisms this week that really touched me. A mother, Spanish speaking, had a daughter who was dying of kidney failure. The mother was a match so she decided to donate one of her kidneys. The surgery went well and they were both sent home to recuperate. A few days later, they both took a turn for the worse. In fact, the mother felt like they might both die if they didn't get help. She prayed to her deceased mother and ask for help. That day our missionaries knocked on their door. They were able to give them a Priesthood blessing and get them the help they needed.  Immediately they both started to improve dramatically. They invited the missionaries to teach them and they joined the Church. When she found out she could go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead, she immediately wanted to go and be baptized on behalf of her deceased mother.  I love the way people are placed in the path of others to accomplish God's work here.

On Monday the President gave me a project extraordinaire. Could I extract address labels for all people baptized last year so he could write a follow-up letter to each of them to see if they have remained active? Sure---no problem. So on Tues. I phoned RECORDS in Salt Lake to see if there was a way I could generate address labels from past records. I entered them all, one by one,  into my computer. I was hoping my computer could just spit them out magically in label format. They connected me to a Joseph Anderson who proceeded to tell me:
1) once the records are sent to Salt Lake, they no longer live in my computer ( not those exact words)
2) once a person is baptized, they fall under the stewardship of a Bishop and Stake President, not a mission president.
3) only with area authority approval could our mission president get those addresses from Salt Lake.
In Preach My Gospel (p. 223) under MISSION PRESIDENT it says (in Chapter 13): " Occasionally follow up with recent converts to find out how they are doing and how missionaries and members can be of help."
Who do I believe????? So I go to my RECORDS book and I have all the addresses I need on hard copy---I just have to extract them off each Baptismal Record. So I proceed to do that, for days, in between doing referrals, mail, running a car to the auto body shop and phone calls. On Friday the President comes in and we talk. He has changed his mind. We will begin with Jan. 2015 baptisms. (I didn't tell him I had 175 labels from last year already typed up.) I smiled and said I would get right on it. (Who is this person and what have they done with the old Claudia?)

Random call for the week: "Sister Taggart, I'm going home on Wednesday. Before my dad left his mission he ordered a name tag for each of his sons. Isn't that neat? I would like to order a name tag for each of my children. How many children do you think I'll have?" Haven't been asked that by a missionary before. Should have told him a dozen.

This weeks' mending was a pair of suit pants torn opposite the direction of the seam across the butt of the pants. I now ask how these things happen. They were building a pyramid of Elders in the gym and he was on the bottom. The thing that irritated me the most was not his stupidity but that the only gray thread I could find at JoAnns.....out of probably 30 shades of gray....was on a cone! So I had to buy 3000 yards of thread for a 10 yard fix. Murphy's Law.


We are not skipping church today. Church was cancelled due to the snow. This is a view out our glass door. We have 7" so far and we are forecast to receive that much more. Transfers are Monday and Tuesday so this should make life interesting the next three days. Airport runs with possible flight cancellations, half the mission coming to the transfer meeting on slip and slide roads, missionaries coming from the MTC in Mexico with no coats......just a barrel of laughs for all. We aren't complaining that winter finally decided to arrive the first of February. Last year we had 50 inches of snow by this time. No complaints at all. Just makes for messy transfers. So our next door Elders were over here as soon as they heard church was canceled to see if Elder Taggart would give them permission to go shovel driveways. We will have dinner with them later this evening. One of them goes home this week and we will miss him. The new Senior Couple comes in this week so that apartment will have to be cleaned and vacated by Wednesday. No they are not our replacements but we are still hopeful. We are working hard to the end. We love these missionaries and their enthusiasm. We are starting to be thankful we will settle in Utah because that will mean continued association with these wonderful youth.

Have a great week and finish strong whatever you may be involved in. And stay warm.
Love,
Sister Taggart