Week 10 - Quarantine!

 Hello everyone!

     What a crazy time to be alive, and what a crazy time to be a missionary! Just a quick update on what's going on that's effecting missionaries. I know most of you have heard this already, so skip on down to the next paragraph if you would like. Alrighty, so, we are all in quarantine! We cannot go into anyone's house under any circumstances for any reason. We also cannot contact people outside, or knock on doors, nothing. All senior missionaries and high risk young missionaries have been sent home. Missionaries are all returning to their home countries to be reassigned. We're probably going to get a LOT of missionaries from foreign missions get sent to our mission. Insanity.

     Ok, so what are we doing during all of this when we can't go out? We are writing cards to people in our area, making plarn (plastic yarn from grocery bags), making facebook posts, calling everyone we have a number for, friending people on Facebook, teaching lessons to members, and going outside for walks and such. During our free time during meals and at night before bed we spend time doing things to keep ourself sane!

     For anyone worried about me, here's a bit about what the mission and members have been doing to take SUCH good care of us. So the mission is broadcasting movies to all of us every night over zoom that we can look forward to and wind down with, they've also given us permission to be able to call our family whenever we need to, we can call grandparents who are quarantined, we can call previous companions and other missionaries in our district to make sure we're all doing ok with everything going on. We are welcome to call our mission president's wife whenever we need to. They are having huge video meetings at least weekly to get updates and have a big Q and A. 

     And then there are the members here!!! So I am now in Rapid City, South Dakota serving in the Mount Rushmore ward. The members here have been treating us so kindly! They bring us dinner every night, we get multiple texts a day checking in on us, they bring us anything we need (like toilet paper lol), and we have people knocking on our door all the time dropping off puzzles, snacks, coloring books, etc. Needless to say, we are well taken care of and honestly doing very well! Slightly stir crazy at times, but that's to be expected.

     One cool thing we got to do to get out of the house was drive up to Mount Rushmore!! Not too many people get to just do that whenever they have the time. It was so pretty! I love the black hills. It was so nice to see trees again for once and have some semblance of being in the mountains. The number one thing keeping me sane though (besides scriptures and prayer) has definitely been my new companion, Sister Barnes. She is so kind, and SO funny. We get along incredibly well! We have been laughing and talking since the day we met (aka Tuesday). 

     I've actually had two companions most of the week, actually. Sister Caughlan stayed with us for a good 3 or 4 days before we dropped her off at the airport yesterday morning to head home due to medical complications and the virus. It was nice to have the extra company! A little hectic though trying to get it all sorted out. 

     I'm sure I'll have a lot more to write about that I missed, but alas. Life is all good here in the Dakotas! All of you just keep yourselves healthy and safe, ok? I love you all!

Sister Balls