Things really are strange right now. With all of the restrictions because of the Coronavirus and the fear, coming home from our mission is definitely different than we had imagined. We came home to a spotless home that was well stocked with groceries in the frig and freezer. The Hope's and the Orr's were worried that because we are to be quarantined for 14 days and the coronavirus has people scared into binge buying we would not be able to buy food so they have us set up very well. We did head to Walmart to get phones and internet so we can be in touch with family and friends.
The Hope's came by to check on us and then the Orr's came by to check on us. We didn't do a very good job of being in quarantine today. We went to Twin Falls in the afternoon to see Mom. She is in lockdown so we called Serenity and nurse came and helped her get to the window and we called and were able to see her as we talked on the phone. Not exactly the reunion I have dreamed of but much better than not ever seeing her alive again, which was the fear when she had her stroke. How I long to be able to give her a hug! Go away Coronavirus!!!
We went shopping for a mattress as we are sleeping in the guest room cause our mattress was thrown away when we left for our mission. I think we have decided on one and will go and order it on Monday. Tracy and his family came to the house to help set up our bed frame and work on the internet and phones for us. So thankful to them for helping us with technology issues.
Sunday the 22nd, we enjoyed being with George and Kim Orr. We went to Millie and Sara Ray's to partake of the Sacrament with them and then back to the Orr's for our Sunday School lesson. Then we enjoyed lunch of taco stew and cheese quesadillas. It was a very quiet, peaceful day.
Monday the 23rd after breakfast George came over to help us get the camper off of the truck. We took it to Twin to make sure that the battery is fully charged. We went be and visited with Mom again. She looks so weak. It was very cold and windy for us to stand outside and visit. Coming from 85 degree weather to 45 degree weather is not easy! We got our mattress ordered. It will take about 3 weeks to get it delivered. I spent most of the rest of the day on the internet to get our lives back on line and hooked up. Technology is so challenging for me! I spent Tuesday on the internet again all day. Lon decided that it was nice enough to try to golf so he went out about 3. The weather was so Idaho, cold, warm, windy and calm. The saying goes that if you don't like the weather just wait for 10 minutes and it will change. About 8:30pm Lon is opening a #10 can of dried apples when he slices all 4 fingers. Of course he says that he doesn't need to go to the emergency room so I am trying to get bandages on them. The little finger is ok with just a band aid but the other ones are not good. About this time George calls and when I tell him what has happened he heads over to help. He convinces Lon to head to the emergency room and calls them to let them know he is bringing in a return missionary who is in quarantine. When they get to the emergency room, George is not allowed in and waits for an hour and a half in his truck to bring him back home. The nurse was amazed when Lon walked in, she was expecting a young missionary, not a grandpa. He ended up getting stitches in three fingers. He had cut the artery in the index finger.
He had the whole hand wrapped for 2 days which kept him in the house and quarantined!
The governor has asked everyone to remain home for the next three weeks to try and slow down the virus so we spent the next few days at home. We were able to call and talk to all of Lon's brothers and sister. We are pretty much unpacked. Our mattress will not be ready for quite a while now with the stores closed that are not essential so we moved the mattress from the spare room into our bed frame in our master room. It has been cold, windy and rainy all week.
Sunday we were asked by our bishop to not be with anyone else in order to be obedient to the social distancing that we are to do. So Lon and I had our own church services here at home. I am so thankful for a faithful priesthood holder so we can enjoy the blessings of the Sacrament in times like these. We studied our Sunday School lesson and watched a couple of movies about the restoration of the Gospel.
We have come home to a very different world than we had dreamed about. We didn't have an assignment to attend a specific ward on our mission. We attended a different ward every Sunday. We lacked 4 of visiting every one of the 54 wards in our mission. We were so looking forward to "belonging" again. It looks like it will be weeks before we get to associate with our ward family. And all of the temples in the world are closed!!
Tuesday morning we learned that Costco had fresh veggies going to waste cause people were not buying them so they were being offered at half price so Tracy went to Costco and bought enough for us to get some vegetable soup canned. Tuesday afternoon at 5:00 we felt an earthquake. Challis had another earthquake which was a 6.9. In 1983 they had one. We felt both here and the blinds and the chandelier were rocking. It seems that the whole earth is reeling.
We were thrilled to have Chandler, Ashton and Eisley come over on Wednesday morning to help us peel carrots and potatoes, clean and put through the slicer the tomatos, onions, celery and the carrots and potatoes. They are so tired of being confined to their home that they worked and enjoyed learning something new. Chandler pretty much did all of the filling the jars and helping me get them processed. It was a very nice day and we ended up with 40 quarts of soup at the end of the day.
Lon and George decided to go fishing while we finished the soup. George wanted to get out of the house so they headed to Salman Falls Reservoir.
Too cold for me! They each caught a fish and we ate them!
We received word that all of the US, Canada, and England missionaries from our mission are home. When we left, we had 169 missionaries serving in the Santiago East Mission. There are now 60 serving and some of them are waiting for flight itineraries right now. But the good news is that they will be getting 7 new Chilean missionaries at the end of April. When we left, there were 100 scheduled baptisms in the mission. The new missionaries will have immediate success as they are able to complete these baptisms when circumstances allow it. The work will go forward!
We enjoyed watching General Conference on Saturday and at 4pm our Stake President called. President Brian Williams called to release us as missionaries. He had been waiting for our 14 day quarantine to end and had hoped to be able to meet with us in person. But the coronavirus continues to rule right now and we are now quarantined by our governor till the 15th of April. So it is final. Our third mission has really come to an end and we are no longer missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. We will put away our missionary badges once again. Our missionary dolls are posted as a reminder of another amazing mission.
Our duendes keeping watch over us
No comments:
Post a Comment