March 23, 2020
Hey everyone! This week has been literally crazy, but there were still miracles!
Last Monday night after P-day, we got to feed Bishop Johnson's donkeys! They were so cute! The light colored one is Daisy, and the darker one is Marigold!
So last Sunday night we were told we cannot visit anyone unless we had appointments ahead of time, and so on Tuesday we tried to set up visits but it wasn't working out so we mostly visited members, we also met with one of our ward history leaders to try to learn more about family history, since we are moving towards online missionary work.
On Wednesday we had interviews with our mission president and I was basically told that I was going to stay in the area next transfer, but nothing is for sure with the coronavirus.
Oh boy, this is the part of my week that was the most exciting. Let me preface by saying that me and my companion are completely safe!
OKAY So this story actually goes way back to the MTC back in October, when we watched all the Safety Zone videos. If you don't know, the Safety Zone videos are these cheesy videos they make you watch in the MTC that are about keeping missionaries safe, and they start with "from around the corner and across the globe, it'sthe safety zone". WELL, me and my companion and our roommates (If you are reading this Sisters Shipley, Lantz, and Oleson, I love you!) And we got to the carbon monoxide one, and I felt the tiniest little nudge telling me that I needed to remember that video specifically. I didn't know why then, but I know why now. So around 1am on Thursday morning, I heard the Carbon Monoxide alarm upstairs (we live in a member of the church's basement) go off, and I immediately woke up and sat right up, because I knew exactly what that alarm meant. However, for some reason I still found myself questioning whether it was really an emergency or just an malfunction. It was, after all, 1 in the morning and I didn't want to bother everyone and wake them all up if it was a false alarm. I went and checked the water heater in our bathroom, because it has a light indicator that tells you if something is wrong, and based on that, it was functioning normally, but I still wasn't sure. So I prayed to know what to do, and just then I heard the members upstairs (the Osiers) get up and turn it off. WELL I was still a little nervous so I didn't go back to bed yet, and I heard the alarm go off again. And I was like, oh heck, this could be bad. And still I wasn't sure if I should bug everybody, because my companion was asleep and I knew she would be upset if I woke her up. So I opened the window and got on a sweater and socks to prepare myself in case I did decide to wake everyone up, and said another prayer, "Heavenly Father, should I act on this?" And then I heard the Osiers get up and turn off the alarm again. And so at this point I was kind of panicking. If everyone in the house died it would be MY fault because I didn't say anything. Honestly, I'm not sure why I was so hesitant, I had already heard it gone off twice, and I should have acted the first time. And then finally the alarm went off a third time and I said to myself "yep, there is your answer again, you need to act NOW". So I said a prayer that my companion wouldn't be mad at me for waking her up. And I said, "Sister Beckstrand?" And she said, "what." And I told her, "the carbon monoxide alarm has gone off three times upstairs and I think we should go check it out." And so she agreed, and we went outside and around to the back door (our apartment doesn't connect to the upstairs on the inside) and we knocked and they answered. So I said, "I heard the alarm and we wanted to check to see if everything was okay" and so after we talked briefly, the members decided to call the fire department. So we did, and we were waiting outside. Well there are two basement apartments under the Osiers, and our neighbor and her son hadn't heard the alarm. So we called her and she answered luckily, and she and her son got out too. She later told us that normally her phone is on do not disturb late at night, and so the fact that her phone went off at all had to have been divine intervention. Anyway, the fire department showed up and when they opened the door, they told us that the carbon monoxide levels were already abnormal. The paramedics arrived to test us all while they inspected the house, and another miracle is that none of us had high levels of carbon monoxide or any symptoms besides slight light headedness. The fire department told us that 35 parts per million of CO was a cause for concern, and come to find out, the furnace in the garage wasn't ventilating properly, and was just blowing CO into the house. The was 150 parts per million in the garage, 50 in our apartment, and there was about 23 at the front door where the fire department first started testing. Basically, we could have all died. But none of us did and we lived to tell the story! The fire department ventilated the apartment and turned off everything that could cause any more CO problems, and we all went inside finally around 2:45 am and went back to bed... Sort of. I wish I could say that was all that happened that night, but NOPE. I was trying to sleep but for some reason I just couldn't, and so I got up to use the restroom. I opened the door and felt drops of water. Coming from the ceiling. And it was like a lot. It wasn't a little. And I was so done because it was about 3:30am and we had almost died already and now the ceiling was leaking. Wanna know why? Because the fire department had shut everything off and now something somewhere was not working anymore. So we had to call the Osiers and so Brother Osier spent a good portion of the morning trying to find out where it was coming from, BY CUTTING HOLES IN THE CEILING. At first he was just using a hand saw but then it was taking too long so he got the power saw. At 3:45 in the morning.... and so we found the spot where it was leaking from and we couldn't get it fixed right then so we just put a bunch of pots and bowls around the area to catch the water. By the time all the cutting and drying and picking up drywall was done, it was 4:30am and we had to be up fro zone conference in 2 hours. I knew that if I went to sleep then, I wouldn't wake up until like noon so we just stayed awake and wrote wrote talks for zone conference just in case we got called on. But at that point, we were just so glad to be alive! There were a lot of miracles that came from that night. None of us were hurt! And it was honestly weird to think about the possibility of "I could actually be dead right now", it's interesting how your perspective changes. But I'm okay, I promise!
Right after that, we had zone conference. The worst part was that the zone conference was over the phone and so it was SO hard to stay awake!
It was there that we found out that we are to be in "self isolation", so that means we can't leave the house unless we go to the store, on short walks, or to planned service projects. Everything else is done by phone :/ But it has been good! We have had two lessons with people we are teaching over the phone so far, and it hasn't been that bad! We are also trying to post more things on Facebook! So make sure that we are friends on Facebook so you can see my posts! We are also doing classes over ZOOM. I'll send the links for those. Every Tuesday night at 7pm is a Book of Mormon class, following Come Follow Me, and every Friday night at 7pm is a missionary lesson! They will be really cool, so make sure to tune in!
I'm trying to think if there is anything else... OH YEAH, we watched the fighting preacher with our upstairs neighbors, and it was SO GOOD! We are now allowed to watch one uplifting church movie a week! So that's pretty cool. I also finally took a picture with the two lion statues that the Osiers have in the front yard, Charlie and Leopold! Anyway, that is pretty much all I got for ya! I love you all, let me know how you're doing! Have a safe week and don't get Coronavirus!
Helaman 5:12
And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.
-Sister Hatch
Also pineapple bandaids are cool
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