Several days after coming home from St. George, COVID-19 (corona virus) decided to make it's debut in the United States. And boy, did it ever make an entrance! Life changed pretty darn quick for everyone. Literally the whole world is sheltering in place. "Social distancing" is a daily word everybody knows. It naturally makes people panic and rush the grocery stores. Toilet paper and water were the first things a lot of people hoarded. Yes, that is a good thing to have in storage but not necessarily the first things people should have been buying for preparation. The grocery stores have seemed to recover from the initial onslaught of buying up everything in sight. As long as the trucks are able to keep up their normal deliveries and as long as the public can go to the stores for essentials, then we will all be good. I feel like we have decent food storage, but I certainly could be more prepared. I will keep adding to my pantry and freezer and do what I can. I didn't get a picture of what some of the store shelves and lines looked like in the first week or two. I was able to avoid going shopping since we had food at home to get us through the rush. I still haven't gone to Walmart or Costco. But here is a pic I snapped of the lines at Sprouts.
At the very beginning of this pandemic, Matt had to don himself in PPE (personal protective equipment) and go out to a car where a patient got swabbed for the virus. As of right now, they aren't doing testing at the instacares. Test kits are few and far between. They have special testing areas at various hospitals. He does his best to stay protected when he's in the clinic, and he tries to only allow the necessary people to actually come into the clinic. A lot of stuff can be done on the phone or out at the curb. When he comes home, he takes all his clothes off in the laundry room and then showers.
Our YSA friend, Erin, did this funny wedding picture with her new husband. They were able to have their sealing happen, but their reception had to be postponed. But even since this happened for them last weekend, the temples have now had to temporarily stop all previously planned live ordinances for people.
This is a picture I got off Facebook of one of the planes the Church chartered to bring home all the non native missionaries out of the Philippines. They don't look very happy at all.
Then on Wednesday, March 18, we had a 5.7 earthquake here in Salt Lake City centered in Magna, only twelve miles from our house. I was home by myself when it happened at 7:10 in the morning. Matt had left at 6:15 to work in Provo for the day. It was pretty darn scary, and the aftershocks kept me on edge all day.
There was structural damage to a lot of buildings downtown and of course in Magna. Angel Moroni's trumpet on the Salt Lake Temple broke off! A bit freaky, really. Thankfully, nobody was hurt from the quake. But it certainly got everybody's attention that morning to get more prepared. What a wake up call! God is speaking loud and clear. Here are pictures of the visible proof that our house had a good shaking. I'm surprised that more didn't fall over.
My brother Erik got out his "water Bob" that our mom gave each of us probably 16 years ago. Now we know that they work great. I still have mine and hope to never have to use it.
Our church gatherings have stopped for the time being. No gathering whatsoever. Temples have all closed down. Many missionaries are returning home from around the world or are sheltering in place for now. It really is so surreal. It seems like it's all fake, but it truly is happening. Normal society has basically stopped or drastically slowed down. No pro, college, or community sports. No public entertainment like theaters or museums, etc. Restaurants have to close down, some can still do delivery or take out. Schools are all closed and probably won't reopen for weeks or maybe this school year is over for everybody. Online schooling for college students. Homeschooling for everyone else. Many people have lost their jobs. It's gonna get uglier before it's gonna get better.
I'm still able to go out on my morning walks, thankfully! The gym I've been going to twice a week has had to close down for now. So I'm so glad I can get outside and enjoy moving my body. Here's the temple I get to walk passed on my walks. So beautiful and brings me peace.
Keeping the humor...
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