With the world in commotion, one of the adjustments that has been made by Daniel’s mission president is that the missionaries are allowed to call home twice a week and those with health concerns can send a daily text updating their parents on how they are doing. As such, Daniel has messaged Kevin and I nearly every day this past week and I’m really grateful he has been able to do so because he’s been kind of freaking out about possibly coming home. It has been extremely stressful for him and being able to communicate with us has been good for his state of mind.
Daniel called this morning and about five minutes into the chat (we video chat via Skype), he got a phone call from the mission president’s wife. He ducked out for a minute and when he came back, he was visibly calmer. He gets to stay for now and he is so glad. We are glad. Yes, I do have worries about him, but I’m his mom and I had worries before Coronavirus crept into our vocabulary so that’s nothing new. And he will be on the mission nurse’s high priority watch list so that gives me a measure of reassurance. We know that there have already been several missionaries sent home due to health concerns, a dozen will be released next week at their 21-month mark, and there are at least three who will hit that same milestone in early May. With so many being sent home early, Daniel was really worried that he would join their ranks. He has learned so much already. He is a different person after just six months in the field. There is so much more work he wants to do and so much more that he wants to see and experience. He knows very realistically that he will probably not serve a full two years. With the way the world is right now, it seems to be a fact of missionary life. But for now, he gets to stay and hopefully he will see every day that he has in Oregon as a gift from the Lord.
During the course of our conversation, Daniel told me that he has spent a lot of time reviewing the notes I took when he was set apart. The stake president handed me a pen and paper before he started, and I typed it all up so Daniel could take it with him. Although I’m the one who did that work, I didn’t remember much of what was said because they were blessings for Daniel and I’m not the one who needed to keep them in mind. Or so I thought. Daniel reminded me that he was blessed that sickness would not prevent him from doing the work. At the time, that wasn’t a big deal. But in the midst of a pandemic, it’s huge.
So I still have a full time missionary. He is currently mostly quarantined and trying to figure out how to do the work of salvation digitally, but that’s ok. The Lord will provide what these valiant young men and women need in order for his work to progress. And he will bless all of them for the work they have given, even if is for a shorter time period than they had anticipated. feel so honored to have a child who has willingly chosen to serve and wants to serve so much that the thought of coming home early was keeping him up at night.
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