Stay-Cation/Self-Isolation

When we first received word that we could not return to Frankfurt, we were told to self-isolate in Canada for 14 days.  Thinking that we could take care of our self-isolation period in Canada, we made arrangements to fly out of Calgary on March 24th. Then we were told that after traveling to Salt Lake, we would have to undergo another 14-day self-isolation period.

We don't need to remind you how things changed from day to day with changing pandemic updates, border closings and travel restrictions.  On Wednesday March 18th we checked the weather forecast for the following week as it is a 3 hour drive from our daughter's home in Raymond to the Calgary Airport.  The forecast showed snow on the 24th, so we contacted Church Travel again and asked if we could fly out on Saturday the 21st.  Our flight itinerary was changed and we prepared to leave on Saturday.  On Friday we washed our clothes and packed our bags.  On Saturday morning we left Raymond at 8:15 am.  We drove to Calgary, returned our rental car, checked our bags and breezed through security.  Airport personal seemed pleased to see us (the airport was basically deserted).

When we arrived at the customs section we put our passports in the scanner, answered required questions and continued to the customs counter.  At the counter the officer asked to see our passports.  We surrendered them and the lady there asked us a few questions, handed us masks and asked us to follow her.  She took us to a room marked "CDC Referral" and asked us to wait for another officer.

About 15 minutes later someone came in the room and asked a few more questions.  He then told us that we were going to be rerouted through Seattle and we would be issued new boarding passes. We were told to wait in the "CDC" room.  About 10 minutes later another person came in and provided us with our new boarding passes. We were then told that we could go wait for our plane.  BUT - the customs officials had not returned our passports and they could not find them.  The customs officers made several phone calls and asked us to make sure we did not have them.  As many of you know, Gary keeps a tight grip on his passport.  Finally after silent prayers the passports were found and we were free to go upstairs to wait for our first flight.

The airport was like a ghost town.  We found a seat by our departure gate and sat down to wait.  While waiting, another flight crew came up to the desk to check in so they could "dead-head" (fly with space available) to Seattle.  Susan heard the flight crew captain tell the gate agent that he would just wait over there by that sister missionary.  It turned out that the airline captain's son was serving a mission in Iceland.  We boarded our flight on time, left Calgary and arrived in Seattle where we had a 6 hour layover.   The Seattle Airport too was virtually deserted.

As we were preparing to board the plane in Seattle, a gate agent came up to us and said "Elder and Sister Winters, I've changed your seats and upgraded you to First Class."  It turned our that he was a member of the church and felt that there was plenty of room on the plane and wanted to show his appreciation for our willingness to serve.  It was a tender mercy, a great blessing for us and very much appreciated.

We arrived in Salt Lake about 9:30 PM.  Our missionary companions and friends from Frankfurt (Elder and Sister Davis) picked us up and brought us to our hotel "stay-cation" in Cottonwood Heights not far from our home.  When we checked in to the hotel we were told that our daughters had left some food in our room and the keys to a car that we could use as needed.  Our refrigerator was well stock and other necessities had been delivered to our room.  We will continue our "self-isolation" until April 5th (14 days) and then we plan to return to our home and continue our "remote service" until we receive further direction from Frankfurt.

Our days consist of conducting Zoom Calls (video conferences) with the office in Frankfurt  and the 15 missionary couples we support - some in Europe and others (missionaries sent home like us) in the USA.  The last two days have been spent helping our couples continue their humanitarian missionary service on a "remote basis".  Sometimes we can take a break from the computer and phone and go for a walk in the area where we are staying by the Old Mill, but mostly we do what we did on a day to day basis in Frankfurt.  Today we went for a ride up the canyon.  It was a beautiful sight.

One of the highlights of our days is when we get to Face Time with our grandchildren.  During these tumultuous times hearing from our family and renewing our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is what helps put hope in our hearts and smiles on our faces.

"It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is.  Don't worry.  If you do your best, it will all work out.  Put your trust in God and move forward with faith." Gordon B. Hinckley Jordan Utah South Regional Conference, priesthood session, March 1, 1997

Baptism

We received permission from the Europe Area Presidency to fly March 9th from Frankfurt, Germany to Calgary, Canada for the baptism of our grandson on March 14, 2020.  We purchased a round trip ticket and planned to return to Frankfurt on March 17.  It has been an interesting week and our plans to return to Germany have changed.
See COVID-19 post.

This awesome young man was born in 2012 shortly before we began our first full-time missionary service to Adriatic North Mission in Croatia and Bosnia.  He has prayed for us and communicated via FaceTime with us through 3 over-seas missions.  He is a great boy.  On Saturday we as a family went to the church and participated in his baptismal service.  It was a very small group - primarily family.

His Mom said the opening prayer, Grandma Sue gave a talk on baptism, Papa Winters performed the baptism while his brothers acted as witnesses.  After he was dressed again his Grandma Pam gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and Grandpa Dan confirmed him a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and bestowed the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

It was a wonderful day.  We are thankful that we were able to be here.

COVID-19

On Monday, March 9, 2020 we boarded a plane in Frankfurt, Germany and flew to Calgary, Canada to participate in the baptism of our grandson on Saturday, March 14, 2020.  It was a direct flight and we had previously received permission to visit our daughter and her family.  On Thursday, March 12th we had lunch with friends and upon returning to our daughter's house we learned that we had received numerous attempted calls from our children.

Apparently on Thursday morning our daughter who is the primary contact for us on our mission papers received an email from a mission president in Frankfurt Germany that we would be coming home and would need to be in self-isolatation for 14 days and then we would be released from missionary service.  Our bishop and stake president had also been contacted with the same information.  This information was coming from sources other than our direct priesthood leader (Europe Area Presidency), causing some "head scratching" and a little confusion at home. With a few phone calls and emails, we were able to sort things out and let everyone know we were healthy, safe and in good spirits.  Our leaders let us know that all the senior missionaries in Frankfurt were being sent home due to the worldwide pandemic. We were asked to maintain a 14-day isolation person before traveling home.

At present we are in Raymond, Canada with our daughter and her family.  We will remain here till our 14 days of self-isolation is over and then fly from Calgary, Canada to Salt Lake City, Utah.  We will return to our home in Sandy, Utah where we will work remotely with the Area Office in Frankfurt, Germany.  We will not be released from our missionary service.  Our release date is not until July 2020. Several of the missionary couples we support in Europe have been temporarily sent home.  There are still 5 couples remaining in the countries of Hungary, Romania, Bosnia, Serbia, and Montenegro.  Some of the missionary couples who have gone home will also continue their service and work remotely.

All of the senior missionary couples working in the Frankfurt Area Office have been returned to their homes indefinitely.  With the requirement to leave Frankfurt quickly, the senior missionaries packed their belongings and prepared to leave.  Meanwhile we were here in Canada and unable to pack our belongings still in our Frankfurt apartment.  Thankfully our missionary friends went over to our apartment and packed our possessions.  The church will ship our bags home.  We are yet to learn where or when, but we know that the Lord is in the details of our lives.  We feel confident if we had not left when we did, we would not have been able to attend our grandson's baptism.  We will follow the counsel of our prophet and know that all things will work out.  

Watch this message of Hope from President Russell M. Nelson -

https://www.facebook.com/russell.m.nelson/videos/199840471336927/

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for us - but as for us and our house we will serve the Lord. 

"In the coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting and constant influence of the Holy Ghost." Russell M. Nelson, April 2018 General "Conference, Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives." 

Training in Hungary

On February 3, 2020 we flew into Budapest, Hungary.  We were met at the airport by Elder and Sister Richards from Bluffdale, Utah.  We spent our first night in Budapest and the next morning went to visit two organisations that Latter-day Saint Charities is working with.  The first organization was a seeing-eye-dog training school.  This unique organization breeds and then trains dogs to work with blind people.  There is much more that goes into training a dog than one thinks.  We enjoyed our visit and found the work fascinating.  Latter-day Saint Charities helped this dog-training organization prepare an apartment that those receiving a seeing-eye dog can stay while they and their dog learn to work together.

The second organization we visited was "Equal Chances".  This is a sheltered workshop where people with various disabilities work, socialize, receive job training and feel valuable.  Latter-day Saint Charities helped provide sewing machines that workshop clients use to make a variety of different articles.  

The Richards live in Debrecen, the second largest city in Hungary, about a 2 and 1/2 hour drive from Budapest.  After our visits in Budapest we drove to Debrecen where we spent the next 3 days training Elder and Sister Richards.  On Friday, February 6th we returned to Budapest and flew home on Saturday morning.

"Be we reminded that a perfect body is not required to achieve one's divine destiny.  In face some of the sweetest spirits are housed in frail or imperfect bodies.  Great spiritual strength is often developed by people with physical challenges, precisely because they are so challenged." Russell M.Nelson, April General Conference 2012, Thanks Be to God

Get Your Guide

While in Rome we signed up for a tour with a group called "Get Your Guide".  On our tour we visited the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica.  Our scheduled tour was not until the afternoon so we located our meeting place and then walked around the streets of Rome.  While walking around, a man walked up to Susan and said "Don't I know you?"  It was Richard Westergard.  He and his wife, Carrie served with us when we were in the Adriatic North Mission 7 years previously in 2012/2013.  They were on their way to tour the Vatican and then were going on an ocean cruise.  It is interesting to note that later they posted on Instagram that the cruise ship was delayed a day because of the coronavirus (this was at the beginning of the outbreak).

Prior to our tour, we visited several local shops and bought a few souvenirs.  After lunch, we met at the appointed time and place for our tour.  Our "Get Your Guide" tour was well worth the extra money to have a professional guide with us.  Our guide, Georgia, was very informative and taught us many interesting things about the Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica.  You can take pictures throughout the tour, but you are not allowed to take photographs in the Sistine Chapel - but we must say it was amazing - you can look at pictures on the internet if you are interested.

"In life, you'll meet two kinds of people. The ones who build you up and the ones who tear you down.  But in the end, you'll thank them both."  Daily Inspirational Quotes

Meeting with JRS

We were invited to come to Rome and participate in an Operational Review of the Europe Area Welfare and Self-Reliance Department.  Elder Shayne Bowen and his wife came to Rome to provide training and learn first-hand of the work being done in Europe. Elder Bowen and his wife had served in the Philippines prior to his assignment at Church headquarters.  We learned that we have several mutual friends.

We had the opportunity to hold our meetings at the Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS) headquarters building which is located right by St. Peters Square and the Vatican.  Latter-day Saint Charities and Jesuit Refugee Services partner together to do several humanitarian projects in Europe.  

Just before lunch we had the opportunity to go up on top of the JRS building which gives you a birds eye view of the Vatican.  Father Tom Smolich provided us with all kinds of wonderful information about the Vatican, the Pope's apartment and lots of trivia.  

After our JRS tour we had a small photo op with the Vatican in the background.  For lunch we walked across a bridge over the river to a small restaurant for lunch. 

Our group divided after lunch - some went to the Church operated Friendship Center in Rome for a visit and others went to the Colosseum and to see a few of the other famous Roman sites. Friendship Centers are places where refugees can come to learn about their new country and learn how to integrate better into society.

We all met together for dinner that evening at a place called Hummus Town where we learned how to make Syrian food.  It was a unique team building experience.

May I never forget on my best day that I still need God as desperately as I did on my worst day." Unknown