Alone

Thursday was a strange kind of day.  The compound was silent.  

We were alone.  

Thursday morning, we took the Warrens to the airport to travel home.  They have been here with us for most of our mission, since October of 2019.  When we first arrived in the mission, there were 3 Senior Couples. Then we had 4, and then 5.  But in March of last year, things changed overnight.  3 couples went home in the same week because of the evacuation.  At first we thought they would all go, but the Warrens and the Becks were given the option to stay, and we were so grateful they chose to continue to serve.  

We had each other to rely on through the long days of lockdown, as we all lived in the same compound.  We had sacrament meeting and lunch at the mission home every Sunday.  At first there was nowhere to go, but eventually, as restrictions were eased, it seemed we were going somewhere every day, helping the missionaries.  A lot of it was driving missionaries places, because their was no public transportation for a long time.  The Becks went home in January, and then it was just us and the Warrens.  Sister Warren is the faithful and diligent nurse, who has been my lifesaver.  She has volunteered to continue to serve as our nurse from home for the next 6 months, or maybe even longer if we still need her.  Elder Warren looked after so many different things, supplies, mission applications, temple recommends, departure videos, bikes.  That was a big one.  The bikes were a lot of work to get up and running and to the areas, working properly.

It was a different mission than they ever expected.  

It has been a different mission than any of us expected.  

It has turned out to be so much better.

At the beginning, we were kind of mad, thinking of Nephi's lament, "Oh, that I could have had my days in the days when my father Nephi first came out of the land of Jerusalem..."  But as the months and year have passed, our attitude has changed.  Now we are thrilled to be able to serve at this new and exciting time.  We have learned to be flexible, agile, creative.  We have learned to recognize our blessings, even in difficult times.

We have learned that the Lord is truly "hastening His work" and "None shall stay them".

The 3rd wave of Covid has hit hard here in the Cagayan Valley.  The checkpoints are set up again, the restrictions are back in force, and they tell us to "Stay Home".  But we are so much better equipped for this than we were a year ago.  Last week we were forced at the last minute to cancel our Zone Conferences due to the new restrictions.  So we went forward, holding a mission-wide Zone Conference by Zoom over 4 days.  We have learned that day-long meetings are dreadful on Zoom.  So we had a 2-hour conference every day, modelling it after the virtual Mission Tour we had in September.  It turned out so good!  As we finished the second day, I was hit by a wave of joy.  This worked!  We were still able to do the work we have been called to do.  It would be all we had hoped, and probably better than originally planned.  

We don't know if we will ever get any more Senior Couples for the remainder of our mission.  We heard that Senior missionary applications are down by 80%.  The mission continues to shrink with young missionaries as well, as the number of new missionaries is also so much smaller than it once was.  But the work is going forward, in fact better than it ever was before.  We wouldn't trade this for anything.  We hope people aren't waiting for things to go back to the way they once were, because we will not be going back.  This pandemic time has been a great time to watch the Lord do His own work.

And really, we know that we are never alone.  The Good Shepherd is watching over us and each of his missionaries around the world.  He is there to pick us up when we falter, and strengthen us in our weakness.  

Hurrah for Israel!