Perilous Times

I have a lot to catch up on, on the blog, but I just wanted to take a moment and write about all that is happening in the world right now. So my kids who are all too little to remember this will know what was happening with our family during this crazy time. Last week we were on our trip to Oregon, and in the days leading up to that, coronavirus started rapidly spreading throughout the United States and elsewhere in the world. I was kind of in the “oh sure this will all blow over” camp until I heard that the Church was cancelling church meetings worldwide until further notice, and their phrasing made it sound like it would be a few months at least. Then I knew that this was getting real! The day previous they had already stated that General Conference would be done virtually only. 

Shortly after that states started closing schools. The universities announced they would finish the semester with online classes only. Then they announced all Utah K-12 Schools would be closed for two weeks, though I think we all know that it will be longer than that. Some of my family that had planned to come on the trip with us decided to stay home. The President had closed the US borders to European and other countries and there were rumors swirling of states possibly closing their borders as well or going into lockdown. As well as general panic about possible food or gas shortages. We prayerfully considered if we should still go to Oregon or not, and felt that it would still be okay. Luckily, everything was great and we had no issues. More on the trip in another post. 

Then a few days into our Oregon trip, we heard news that Utah had been hit by an earthquake! It was the biggest earthquake in Utah in 28 years. After I heard that I was a little rattled! This really did seem like the end of the world! I hoped that everything was okay back home with our house and cats. Our kind neighbors were house sitting for us and told us everything was good. There was some damage to buildings in SLC, but no damage where we live. 

Then I saw that the Angel Moroni statue on top of the Salt Lake temple had lost his trumpet during the earthquake. This was wild! What did it all mean?! Surely an earthquake hitting Salt Lake during a pandemic was not purely just coincidental timing. I don't know what it means, but it definitely makes me want to be more prepared, temporally and spiritually. If you experienced the earthquake here in Utah, please comment and tell me your experience and thoughts about it!

Since the earthquake, things have settled down a bit. There is not much left to be cancelled! They have cancelled the NBA, college and high school sports and more. (Leland could tell you better than I can). Everyone across the nation, (world?) is effectively staying home for the next two weeks except for grocery shopping, essential jobs and healthcare. Some locations restrictions are stricter than others. Here in the United States, there are only guidelines, not strict laws about social distancing. Almost everything is closed so there aren't many places to go. Leland will begin working from home this week. Everyone who can is working from home, and many people have been laid off or lost their jobs entirely.

People on social media LOVE to judge other people for their social distancing, or lack thereof. People are really getting fired up when they see people out, or posting about being in a crowd when they should be at home. And I get it, but it is also really annoying to me. First of all, you can't control other people so please just let it go. Secondly, we shouldn't be judging people because we don't know their circumstances or state of mind. These perilous times have brought out anxiety in everyone, some to more degrees than others. Not that anyone who posts these things reads my blog, but that would be my advice to people who find themselves getting extremely angry over the actions of others.

As for me, I am not a person prone to anxiety at all. This situation has made me worried a few times, but if I just stop reading the news, get off social media, and get outside, then I feel better right away. This situation is further teaching me to turn to the Lord for comfort and support, not to worldly sources. When I turn to the Lord I feel peace about the situation and I know that everything will be okay. The Prophet posted a video in which he said “I remain optimistic for the future,” Nelson said. “These unique challenges will pass in due time." That comforted me and I am looking forward to General Conference more than ever before. 

As for the temporal challenges that this sickness has brought, I am so grateful that it doesn't seem to hit children hard, or young people, usually. I am concerned for all the elderly people in our ward, not only for the coronavirus, but for the loneliness they must feel. A lot of them had a hard time when church was reduced to two hours, so I can't imagine how they feel with it being canceled all together.  If anyone has any ideas on how to cheer them up that doesn't risk exposing them, let me know! (Our Relief Society is already helping them out with shopping and things like that).

We already homeschool, so no change there! Esther won't have her Monday classes and all field trips were cancelled. I'm not too worried though. We will just add science, art and history into our schedule of math and language arts that we were already doing. I am also grateful we cloth diaper, since diapers and wipes have been hard to find in stores. We also already had some food and water stored, and enough toilet paper to last us a while. The toilet paper shortage is the strangest thing ha. I went to the store yesterday and I was able to find everything we needed, with a few adjustments, even though the shelves all looked like this.

Sometimes I do get concerned when I think about how this is going to affect our life long term.The economy is not looking great, but luckily Leland has a pretty stable job. Baby Boy had a court date that was cancelled, and all court dates will be cancelled until June 1st. I have no idea how this will affect his case, I don't know if his mom will be able to get all the services she needs to complete her case plan. I know most people have much bigger things to worry about though. Our kids are still young so we have been relatively unaffected. Today they made a day of prayer, and I have been praying that this pandemic will end and that all the deaths that have been predicted will not actually happen.

And in ^athat day shall be heard of ^bwars and rumors of wars, and the whole earth shall be in commotion, and men’s hearts shall ^cfail them, and they shall say that Christ ^ddelayeth his coming until the end of the earth.

And there shall be men standing in that ^ageneration, that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing ^bscourge; for a desolating ^csickness shall cover the land.
-Doctrine and Covenants 88


This know also, that in the ^alast days perilous ^btimes shall come. -2 Timothy 3:1