home based

 - early 2020- a pandemic has been declared as the Corona virus Covid 19 spreads across the globe. Gatherings of all types are being cancelled.  People are practicing social isolation. Stores are depleted of toilet paper, sanitary wipes, water and other items.  Panic buying.  Exciting times.   We have enough TP for a few weeks just in the natural course of things.  I do not have storage supplies of TP, however.  So, I am neither panic buying nor sitting back in utmost confidence.  When I go out I will look for TP to replenish, but not to stock pile.   Stores are still open although their wares may sometimes be erratic.  I have an erratic supply of food storage, so we could go some weeks, but it would be a weird menu. I expect to ride through this with relatively minor inconvenience.  Andrew is home as schools, including the community colleges, are closed.  Some classes are going on-line.  I think Andrew will work his tutoring job on-line.  Some things will have to be worked out later.

email to my granddaugher, Acadia, serving a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

It is great to hear of the people who receiving the light of the gospel into their lives. It must be a great joy to be part of that!

Our ward Relief Society had its birthday dinner just in the nick of time. The next day all church meetings and activities were suspended. Sisters brought enchiladas and hand holdable desserts. We were told to make our favorite enchilada recipe. Apparently, everyone likes chicken and turkey. There were no beef enchiladas. $$ The ones I had were tasty. We heard a little bit about the beginning and the goal of Relief Society. Our RS 2^nd Counselor was going to tell us all about Fiji, but she has a new job that sent her out of town for training. So a Fijian friend of hers stood in for her. Someone asked about ministering in Fiji. She said sisters visit each other all the time, but they didn’t report it as Visiting Teaching. She showed us various handmade articles made from plants in Fiji. They use every part of the coconut tree from roots to fruit. Youth danced a Fijian dance. Then our Stake Relief Society President told as a bit about the history of RS in our area and about service RS has rendered through the years. It was all lovely. 

I was able to bring a mostly homebound 87 year old sister to whom I minister. Along with her nonmember great granddaughter who lives about half and hour away, but was visiting Delores overnight. Delores called Katie her best buddy. 

Then things started closing down. The first thing to affect my life was learning that there would be no more samples at Costco. 

Then the church canceled meetings including broadcasting General Conference to Stake Centers. And then I realized. For the first time in decades, no missionary luncheon! The only other time we have missed feeding the missionaries during GC was when we visited you guys in Massachusetts so many years ago. It was the only thing about that trip that I regretted. 

We haven’t decided what we are going to do for Conference. Normally, we spend all day both days at the Stake Center. All my children in the Sacramento area (except Debi) and their families. We have sandwich fixings and other stuff for lunch for all the missionaries at the Stake Center and ourselves. We never know how many missionaries there will be, almost always at least a dozen. We may have had 30 once. Two dozen is not unusual. We do a family potluck ice cream party after Saturday afternoon conference and left overs after Sunday. We will probably be at my cluttered, chaotic house. We will see if our missionaries can come, but I think they are going to try to do conference with their “friends”. I wonder if most of my kids will want to stick to the comfort of their own homes at least most of the time. I suspect that the grandkids will advocate for joining us. We will talk after the Hinds come back from visiting your folks and maybe we know more the situation. 

The governor has asked all people over 60 or 65? to stay home and isolate. I am 68, also higher risk because I have diabetes. I do not feel high risk. But there is no question that Miriam is very high risk and we need to protect her. 

Teresa and I went to the temple and did a few initatories Friday. Again in the nick of time. Temples were closed to all proxy ordinances effective today. Some temples are closed altogether. 

I asked my Facebook friends how they are handling at home church. Most of them, especially those whose Bishops have authorized in home Sacrament (our Stake has not yet, but then our Stake has only canceled meetings for two weeks. I think that may change. David says at least until Easter because it would be weird to stay home, go to church on the 29, and then stay home for conference. Maybe) anyway, people who were having the Sacrament in their home dressed in church clothes (except one whose severely autistic adult son would have gotten upset if everyone got dressed up and didn’t go anywhere). One family put a white table cloth on the table and covered home focused items with white sheets so they were not distracted. I liked the idea some shared of reading the Sacrament prayers and thinking about the atonement even though we could not have the Sacrament. We studied Come, Follow Me a bit. Some people assigned talks or will for next week. I don’t think I will meet with much enthusiasm if I try that. Many people spoke of the wonderful spirit in their home as they worshiped and studied together. It is inspiring to see the Saints respond. I need to work our our home atmosphere. I am not a spiritual giant or good spiritual leader. Just keep trying, right? 

February was a dry month. Drought talk started up again. This weekend we finally got rain. It is raining now. I am grateful. We need it. 

Lots to do, as always.

Lots of love !

Grandma Barbara