THIS POST WAS WRITTEN IN MARCH OF 2020, THEN LONG FORGOTTEN. I CAME ACROSS THE DRAFT OF THE POST AND PUBLISHED IT IMMEDIATELY. IT IS CRAZY TO ME TO LOOK BACK 5+ YEARS TO SEE WHAT WE WERE GOING THROUGH WHILE THE WORLD SHUT DOWN DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC. THERE WERE MANY THINGS I HAD FORGOTTEN ABOUT. …ENJOY THIS TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE.
Spring Break started out as ordinary as could be. The first week was scheduled with appointments. Carson was to get his 2nd set of braces on and Grace was set for all 4 wisdom teeth to be removed. We had some fun in between with Bowling and Mini Golf at Fat Cats with Friends and Daniel. We toured some model homes because we like to, got our annual Shamrock shake from McDonalds, and started planning our trip to Utah for the next week to visit Audrey at BYU. We were looking forward to spending time with her as she was planning on staying in Provo for spring and summer term aside from a 10 day visit for Grace’s graduation the end of May. We weren’t going to see much of Audrey this year, and that made us all a little sad. I wanted to take any time that was offered to spend together as a family. Really, our family is getting older and with that comes more and more time apart. Sad.
As the first week of break progressed, we started realizing that the Coronavirus outbreak in China was quickly spreading to other countries and it had started to affect us in more and more ways. A few weeks previously, I had ordered Grace a formal dress for Spring Formal. Yes, it was months away and she didn’t have a date yet, but was planning on going with friends if she wasn’t asked to it. I knew that shipping could take awhile from China and once it arrived, might need some alterations, though it was pretty much a custom dress as I had sent her measurements and asked that cap sleeves be added to the gown. Early February we found out that her dress was completed and sitting in a warehouse in China waiting to be shipped. Unfortunately, the virus had shut down international couriers and so there the dress sits…still. When we first received word of this, I was a little annoyed, but not stressed as there was still plenty of time for China to heal from this awful virus and the dress to reach Chandler, AZ in plenty of time. I was also feeling bad for the people of China and what they were dealing with. In the grand scheme of things, a dress was nothing.
Anyway, back to Spring Break. As the second week of break started, the virus had quickly made it’s way to the USA (and many other countries across the world). Many states were shutting down. Schools (including BYU) were closing their classrooms and transitioning to online classes for the remainder of the semester. People were starting to panic. Toilet paper was no where to be found, then water, then food started disappearing off the shelves in every grocery store around. I have never seen anything like it. Empty shelves, worried faces, packed store parking lots mid-morning in the middle of the week. Where did all these people come from? This made us re-think our family trip. Audrey was planning on staying in Provo, working on campus (as her job was still available) and doing her classes online. She was running out of TP and groceries and the shelves in Utah were just as bare as the ones here in Arizona. Hour by hour we heard new instructions from the government, from church, from every direction. This was a completely new, unknown, and fluid situation. It was quite unnerving to say the least. Our plans to visit Audrey must have changed about 37 times within a 4 day span. Audrey’s roommates were leaving, work was not a social outlet anymore as her employers were limiting the number of workers at a time and separating those who were working together (social distancing is real). After a few days of complete boredom, and AN EARTHQUAKE in Salt Lake City that was felt at Audrey’s apartment in Provo, Audrey (and her roommate Haley) decided it was time to come home. So again, plans changed from me & Grace driving food and supplies up to the girls for a quick trip (our latest plan), to Grace and I driving up, packing up Audrey and bringing the girls home. Haley’s sister, Siera would be following us in her car with a few other young adults heading home during this global pandemic. (As a side note, Haley and Siera are Audrey’s 2nd cousins. Their dad, Eric is Marc’s cousin & he actually is married to Jen. A friend that I grew up with in my ward).
By this time, our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) had announced that all church meetings, Sunday or any other, will be suspended and Home Centered, church supported worship was going to have to step up a notch or two. Home church for the forseeable future. Was this really happening? Churches locking their doors, missionaries being quarantined, some coming home. What is going on? Our stake presidency had issued a statement that sacrament can be taken in the home and should be offered to all ward members at least once in March and once in April…..April? How long are they thinking this pandemic will last? As Marc serves as Stake Clerk, and I serve as ward Relief Society president, a very large task was placed upon both of us. Marc created a spreadsheet for each ward in the stake and sent it to Bishoprics, RS & EQ Presidencies. It was time for me to go to work. My counselors and I immediately began contacting our ministering routes and asking each companionship to reach out to those they minister to and make sure they knew that the next day (Sunday March 15, 2020) was to be conducted within their homes. Did they need help with the sacrament? Did they have enough food, water, medicine, & supplies (TP anyone??? Seriously, where is it?) to get them through the next couple of weeks. That’s how long we were being told we might have to quarantine for. Once we started getting word back from ministering sisters, we needed to input it on the spreadsheet provided by the Stake. During all of this, I realized that hearts can be softened at times such as this and I needed to reach out to ALL sisters in my ward. There was probably another 50 plus sisters that have no ministering sisters assigned to them. Those were my responsibility. I spent hours that Saturday reaching out by email, text, phone, social media, etc. to my district as well as all the other sisters in our ward. Then logging the information as it came in. WHAT A DAY!
The next day was Sunday. Our first in home church. I can’t even begin to describe what a spiritual experience it was partaking of the sacred sacrament emblems in our own living room. Grace playing beautiful prelude music on the piano before the meeting, Sophia leading our opening song. Carson preparing and passing the sacrament to us and Marc inviting a beautiful spirit into our home by sharing with us some words on the importance a sacredness of the the sacrament, then blessing it. The Spirit was felt incredibly strong and I couldn’t help but be completely humbled and grateful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. So grateful for a living prophet who prepared us over a year ago to do more gospel instruction in our homes. So grateful for a husband and son who honor their priesthood and can perform sacred ordinances in our home for our family. BLESSINGS! I reflected that day on how beautiful personal revelation is and how well it works when one puts effort into learning how the Spirit speaks to them. …Back in November I received a few impressions that we needed to stock up on a 3 month supply of food and basic necessities for our family. A commandment that our church has encouraged us to comply with for times of need. I kept putting it off because I truly did not have space to store the things that we would need. About a week before COVID-19 took over our lives Marc reminded me about the prompting I had received a few months ago and suggested we go out and get started on that supply. We did just that. We purchased a good amount of food, some TP, soap, cleaning supplies and such. I still didn’t have room for this, but we felt a bit of urgency to get it done….I’m so glad we did.
