Across the U.S., some states are cautiously trying to reopen parts of their economies. At this time, many missionaries who were brought home from foreign countries are receiving their reassignments. A couple of weeks ago I wrote some of my thoughts about all of this, and gave a few good sources to read through. This week, I have some thoughts from a couple of my relatives, both of whom are currently serving missions.
"My name is sister Curle, and I'm currently serving in the Michigan, Detroit mission! This is a little about my experience as a missionary during the Covid-19 pandemic. At first, before we really knew what was going on, we were only restricted a little bit. We couldn't tract, and we couldn't visit anyone over the age of 65. That came as a total surprise to me, and I thought it would be over shortly.
"Then, several days later, we were told we would be in self-isolation for the next two weeks. Again, it came as a total surprise to me, and I was very hopeful because I thought it would be over soon. A day later, we got word that missionaries were being sent home around the world for various reasons. This meant that 4 members of our district, my good friends, would be sent home, and around 60 missionaries in our mission as well. They left less than a week later. Then, the 'stay at home' order, as it is called in Michigan, got extended again and again and again. As far as we know, it ends on May 28th in Michigan.
"We have been in self-isolation since March 17th. We are allowed to go on walks, and go grocery shopping when needed. We wear masks everywhere, and teach A LOT of phone call lessons. The work moves forward, and technology has been such a blessing. The past few months have been a roller coaster.
"I would be lying if I said I was doing fine. This whole series of events has triggered more depression and anxiety in me than I have ever felt before, and I know I'm not alone in feeling this way. This has not been an easy thing for anyone. The one thing that has been apparent to me throughout this entire experience however, is how real the tender mercies of God are. I have felt sustained and comforted many times through these months. However deep my distress has been, God has given me sweet moments where He has told me that He is aware of me. Those moments may not last long, but they are consistent. I am not fully healed, but I am on the path to it. I have learned a lot, and I know we're not alone! We can always reach out to those we love around us, and always up to God. We can get the support and love we need if we ask.
"Even though the past little while has been hard, I am not without hope for the future, because Christ is the reason for my hope!"
What were your feelings when you heard you would have to go home temporarily?
"I remember, I knew something was happening because we got a text message from our mission president, and he said to go to the church immediately to check the computers so we could see something, and he didn't tell us what it was. And we were all like, 'Oh, we're probably going to have to go buy more food or something,' because we had already bought, like, 3 months supply of food, just because of the quarantine that might happen. So we get there, and there's this huge long letter, and I didn't understand any of it because it was all in Spanish, and I wasn't there [in Chile] long enough to learn Spanish, really. And so I had to wait for everybody else to read theirs, and they had to translate for me. So they translated it for me, and I literally just broke down, I just started crying, I was so upset. I knew deep down that it was the right thing, and it was the safer thing, but I was just heartbroken, because I already loved Chile so much, I already loved everything about it. I was so excited to get better at the language and be able to teach people, and learn more and get trained, and be able to learn how to be a missionary, I guess. I was just so excited for all of those experiences, and I was already so happy there. Then that came, and it was just not what I expected, I guess, out of my mission."
How has it felt being at home waiting for a reassignment to come?
"I want to say it's easy, and I've been super good at reading scriptures and all of that, but that's not true at all. I got here and honestly, I was like, I could be here for months, I could be here for 2 weeks, I don't know what's going on. Because nobody really knew anything, so nobody could tell me anything. And I don't know how I felt. At first I was just tired, and just wanted to get over everything, and I was reading my scriptures, and I was practicing Spanish. But then within a couple of weeks I started to fade out on that, and I started reading less often, but I would still pray. And that's kind of where I'm at right now, I still try to be faithful and everything, but I'm not missionary standards strict kind of thing. I just went back to my normal life, because I wasn't gone very long. I didn't have time to adapt to the missionary life, to really have that whole stage of 'what am I supposed to do with myself?' Well, I'm back to what I actually understand now. I know I struggled with it a lot at first, but I've prayed a lot about it. I've had a lot of time to pray. It just feels right. It feels like the thing that needs to be done right now. And this is God's plan for me. It just feels right, even though it's different."
What did it feel like when you did find out where your reassignment was?
"I had my sisters on the phone call, and when I got it I was surprised, I didn't know I was going to go to Arizona. I'm kinda excited... I think I'm still processing that it's happening."
Does it feel like you have more purpose now?
"Yeah, definitely. Because before, I would just sit at home and not really know what to do with myself, or how long I was going to be there. Like do I go get a job, or what do I do with myself? But now that I have my call, it's like, OK, I know what to do with myself. I know what's happening, I know how to plan. Because I need a plan or else I'm just going to lay in bed and start at the ceiling all day, you know? So it's nice to know what I'm doing. Even though it's not Chile."
Would you feel sad if you were in Arizona for the rest of your mission?
"No, I wouldn't feel sad, because I know it's my mission, and I'm where I'm supposed to be. I feel a little bit like, 'Oh man, I want to go to Chile,' because I love it there. But mission wise, not really. I'm kind of at peace with it. I wasn't for a while, but I am now."
What miracles have you seen related to all of these reassignments going on, even small things?
"I remember my first week back, I was sitting in my bed, Facetiming people constantly, because I didn't know what else to do with myself. I love talking to people. I was like 'I just want to do missionary work, I want to help somebody, but I'm stuck in this house,' because I was in quarantine, I could not leave the house. I was getting kind of frustrated because I just wanted to do something, and I hadn't been released yet, so I was still a missionary. My sister bought pizza for me for my birthday, and had it sent to my house. She was talking to me over Facetime while I was waiting for the pizza to come, and I got a phone call and they were like, 'I'm so sorry it's taking so long, we accidentally delivered it to the wrong house,' and all of this. And she was freaking out, she was having a really hard day, and I was like, 'It's OK, trust me, it's not that big of a deal, I'm cool with waiting.' And she was freaking out, and I felt bad for her. And I was talking with my sister, and it hit me, 'I need to do something for this lady.' I don't know what to do because I couldn't touch or talk to her, but I need to do something. And so, I realized that I had a $5 bill in my wallet, and I had a lot of sticky notes, so I wrote on one sticky note, 'Dear pizza delivery person,' and on the second sticky note, I put 'Thank you for your service, and I hope you're having a good day.' And the third sticky note, I wrapped it around the money, and inside the money I put a little picture that I used to hand out in Chile to people there. It was a picture of Jesus holding some little children, and it said, 'Jesus taught me how to love other people.' And I just wrapped that up and put it on the doorstep, because it was a contact-less delivery. And she started crying, and waved through the window 'Thank you!' and about 10 minutes later she called me and said, 'Thank you so much, I needed that, this is what I needed today, I was having a really hard day.' And I didn't really know what to say, so I just said 'You're welcome.'"
If you had a friend who is also serving a mission, and came to you asking for advice, what would you say to them?
"If they were going back out on a mission and I knew them personally, I would become study partners with them, because that's what helps me. It helps to have someone to study with. I would challenge them to read their scriptures then send me a picture of their favorite scripture they read that day, and tell me why that was their favorite scripture. And I would do the same thing, and we can talk about our scriptures. And also, just pray a lot. It's not going to be easy, and it's not going to get better automatically. We just need to keep reading our scriptures, keep praying, and just trust that this is the best thing, because the prophet and the apostles are helping us, and everybody is saying this is what needs to be done. And I've prayed about it, and I know this is what needs to be done. So I would encourage them to pray about it too, and find the answer for themselves. And they could talk to me anytime they needed to, about anything. Because it's good to have somebody else that's going through it too."
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I hope reading their experiences helps to put things in a better perspective. It gave me a better sense of the suffering and challenges some people have had to go through. I hope we can all be better about connecting with each other (from a distance of course) to support each other in our trials.
Sister Curle
The first started serving in Michigan late last year. I asked her to write some of her thoughts about the current situation. Here are her words:"My name is sister Curle, and I'm currently serving in the Michigan, Detroit mission! This is a little about my experience as a missionary during the Covid-19 pandemic. At first, before we really knew what was going on, we were only restricted a little bit. We couldn't tract, and we couldn't visit anyone over the age of 65. That came as a total surprise to me, and I thought it would be over shortly.
"Then, several days later, we were told we would be in self-isolation for the next two weeks. Again, it came as a total surprise to me, and I was very hopeful because I thought it would be over soon. A day later, we got word that missionaries were being sent home around the world for various reasons. This meant that 4 members of our district, my good friends, would be sent home, and around 60 missionaries in our mission as well. They left less than a week later. Then, the 'stay at home' order, as it is called in Michigan, got extended again and again and again. As far as we know, it ends on May 28th in Michigan.
"We have been in self-isolation since March 17th. We are allowed to go on walks, and go grocery shopping when needed. We wear masks everywhere, and teach A LOT of phone call lessons. The work moves forward, and technology has been such a blessing. The past few months have been a roller coaster.
"I would be lying if I said I was doing fine. This whole series of events has triggered more depression and anxiety in me than I have ever felt before, and I know I'm not alone in feeling this way. This has not been an easy thing for anyone. The one thing that has been apparent to me throughout this entire experience however, is how real the tender mercies of God are. I have felt sustained and comforted many times through these months. However deep my distress has been, God has given me sweet moments where He has told me that He is aware of me. Those moments may not last long, but they are consistent. I am not fully healed, but I am on the path to it. I have learned a lot, and I know we're not alone! We can always reach out to those we love around us, and always up to God. We can get the support and love we need if we ask.
"Even though the past little while has been hard, I am not without hope for the future, because Christ is the reason for my hope!"
Sister Hill
The second was originally assigned to serve in Chile. She was there for about 3-4 weeks before all of the missionaries not native to Chile were sent home. We had a video call and I wrote down some of the things she said:What were your feelings when you heard you would have to go home temporarily?
"I remember, I knew something was happening because we got a text message from our mission president, and he said to go to the church immediately to check the computers so we could see something, and he didn't tell us what it was. And we were all like, 'Oh, we're probably going to have to go buy more food or something,' because we had already bought, like, 3 months supply of food, just because of the quarantine that might happen. So we get there, and there's this huge long letter, and I didn't understand any of it because it was all in Spanish, and I wasn't there [in Chile] long enough to learn Spanish, really. And so I had to wait for everybody else to read theirs, and they had to translate for me. So they translated it for me, and I literally just broke down, I just started crying, I was so upset. I knew deep down that it was the right thing, and it was the safer thing, but I was just heartbroken, because I already loved Chile so much, I already loved everything about it. I was so excited to get better at the language and be able to teach people, and learn more and get trained, and be able to learn how to be a missionary, I guess. I was just so excited for all of those experiences, and I was already so happy there. Then that came, and it was just not what I expected, I guess, out of my mission."
How has it felt being at home waiting for a reassignment to come?
"I want to say it's easy, and I've been super good at reading scriptures and all of that, but that's not true at all. I got here and honestly, I was like, I could be here for months, I could be here for 2 weeks, I don't know what's going on. Because nobody really knew anything, so nobody could tell me anything. And I don't know how I felt. At first I was just tired, and just wanted to get over everything, and I was reading my scriptures, and I was practicing Spanish. But then within a couple of weeks I started to fade out on that, and I started reading less often, but I would still pray. And that's kind of where I'm at right now, I still try to be faithful and everything, but I'm not missionary standards strict kind of thing. I just went back to my normal life, because I wasn't gone very long. I didn't have time to adapt to the missionary life, to really have that whole stage of 'what am I supposed to do with myself?' Well, I'm back to what I actually understand now. I know I struggled with it a lot at first, but I've prayed a lot about it. I've had a lot of time to pray. It just feels right. It feels like the thing that needs to be done right now. And this is God's plan for me. It just feels right, even though it's different."
What did it feel like when you did find out where your reassignment was?
"I had my sisters on the phone call, and when I got it I was surprised, I didn't know I was going to go to Arizona. I'm kinda excited... I think I'm still processing that it's happening."
Does it feel like you have more purpose now?
"Yeah, definitely. Because before, I would just sit at home and not really know what to do with myself, or how long I was going to be there. Like do I go get a job, or what do I do with myself? But now that I have my call, it's like, OK, I know what to do with myself. I know what's happening, I know how to plan. Because I need a plan or else I'm just going to lay in bed and start at the ceiling all day, you know? So it's nice to know what I'm doing. Even though it's not Chile."
Would you feel sad if you were in Arizona for the rest of your mission?
"No, I wouldn't feel sad, because I know it's my mission, and I'm where I'm supposed to be. I feel a little bit like, 'Oh man, I want to go to Chile,' because I love it there. But mission wise, not really. I'm kind of at peace with it. I wasn't for a while, but I am now."
What miracles have you seen related to all of these reassignments going on, even small things?
"I remember my first week back, I was sitting in my bed, Facetiming people constantly, because I didn't know what else to do with myself. I love talking to people. I was like 'I just want to do missionary work, I want to help somebody, but I'm stuck in this house,' because I was in quarantine, I could not leave the house. I was getting kind of frustrated because I just wanted to do something, and I hadn't been released yet, so I was still a missionary. My sister bought pizza for me for my birthday, and had it sent to my house. She was talking to me over Facetime while I was waiting for the pizza to come, and I got a phone call and they were like, 'I'm so sorry it's taking so long, we accidentally delivered it to the wrong house,' and all of this. And she was freaking out, she was having a really hard day, and I was like, 'It's OK, trust me, it's not that big of a deal, I'm cool with waiting.' And she was freaking out, and I felt bad for her. And I was talking with my sister, and it hit me, 'I need to do something for this lady.' I don't know what to do because I couldn't touch or talk to her, but I need to do something. And so, I realized that I had a $5 bill in my wallet, and I had a lot of sticky notes, so I wrote on one sticky note, 'Dear pizza delivery person,' and on the second sticky note, I put 'Thank you for your service, and I hope you're having a good day.' And the third sticky note, I wrapped it around the money, and inside the money I put a little picture that I used to hand out in Chile to people there. It was a picture of Jesus holding some little children, and it said, 'Jesus taught me how to love other people.' And I just wrapped that up and put it on the doorstep, because it was a contact-less delivery. And she started crying, and waved through the window 'Thank you!' and about 10 minutes later she called me and said, 'Thank you so much, I needed that, this is what I needed today, I was having a really hard day.' And I didn't really know what to say, so I just said 'You're welcome.'"
If you had a friend who is also serving a mission, and came to you asking for advice, what would you say to them?
"If they were going back out on a mission and I knew them personally, I would become study partners with them, because that's what helps me. It helps to have someone to study with. I would challenge them to read their scriptures then send me a picture of their favorite scripture they read that day, and tell me why that was their favorite scripture. And I would do the same thing, and we can talk about our scriptures. And also, just pray a lot. It's not going to be easy, and it's not going to get better automatically. We just need to keep reading our scriptures, keep praying, and just trust that this is the best thing, because the prophet and the apostles are helping us, and everybody is saying this is what needs to be done. And I've prayed about it, and I know this is what needs to be done. So I would encourage them to pray about it too, and find the answer for themselves. And they could talk to me anytime they needed to, about anything. Because it's good to have somebody else that's going through it too."
----
I hope reading their experiences helps to put things in a better perspective. It gave me a better sense of the suffering and challenges some people have had to go through. I hope we can all be better about connecting with each other (from a distance of course) to support each other in our trials.
The faith of these young missionaries is so strong it helps me, as an older person, to keep trying and keep walking the path as a follower of Christ.
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