Three Reasons for Hope

 SK was up all night....watching the election returns.  He has been checking on them all day too, but as yet, we have no conclusive numbers except to say that Arizona has gone blue.  And that is a sad thing.  I don't know what made the difference, influx of liberals from California or whatever, but it is depressing.

I have gotten a fair amount done today and for that I am happy.  Mundane things,  But doesn't it feel good to cross mundane things off the list?

Today was the last day of the Tier 2 restrictions before moving into the major lockdown at midnight tonight.  Tier 2 is so restrictive that I don't think tomorrow will bring much of a change.  We didn't even go out for a walk today.  I had a good night's sleep but we both just decided to skip the walk.  We'll start out again tomorrow.

There is a senior couple in Germany who are a "support" couple for all the senior couples in Europe who are serving YSA missions.  They set up a meeting for this afternoon with all couples.  I know there are not many out right now but there were only about a dozen couples on the zoom conference  (plus the support couple and the area authority and his wife, and I felt that it was inspiring.  We began with introductions.  Nearly every couple was from Utah!  They were serving all over Europe.  We were the only ones serving in the UK who attended.

There were couples serving in Spain, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Iceland, Germany, Serbia, etc.  There was one couple who are currently at their home in Utah, who will be in England on November 21.  I took that as a very good sign.  Here is another couple in our age range who were just granted a visa to UK!

After some training, we shared what we are each trying to accomplish at this point.  There were some good ideas given.  What I was most impressed with however, was there was no whining.  Not a soul wondered aloud if we will all get COVID.  Not a single person mentioned that possibility.  All were concerned only with how we can best serve.

During that conference, I got a call from a family who just moved here from Salt Lake.  They are each 45, and they have four children ranging in age from 15 to 8.  Through some extraordinary circumstances, the woman was accepted into Oxford to further her studies about delivering health care to sub-Sahara Africa.  She will be three weeks late starting, but they got their visas for the family the day Boris Johnson announced a lockdown - which was less than a week ago.  They arranged air travel (it's going to be a lot more difficult to get into the UK as of tomorrow.) and arrived today, in a whirlwind.

They feel like a whole series of miracles got them here.  They will be in Oxford for three years.  The husband has been working remotely from home, and has been approved by his office to continue working that way.  They are now here - in 2-week isolation and a month of lockdown.  What a way to start!!!

They are currently in an Air B&B, and will stay there until they can find a suitable home to rent.  Understandably, any real estate agents they have reached out to have said, "Well, you finish your two-weeks of isolation and then we'll talk!"  I told them we will help in any way we can, including going to the possible homes just to let them know what kind of shape they are in etc.

Getting groceries delivered around here is a snap, but I offered to help with that if needed.  

But another ray of hope....they were granted visas in just a very few weeks time period!

 Our evening began with Zoom Institute.  Another great lesson with good participation from the YSAs.  Poor SK was practically asleep!

We crossed the finish line for the day with a Zoom Mission Call.

Third ray of hope:  SK has been praying that we will be granted the visas.  I know the Lord is responsive to SK....possibly because he is very frugal in asking for anything, choosing to leave most things in the Lord's hands.  But hearing him pray for visa extensions gives me great hope.

There you have it...three reasons to look forward to finishing up our mission here in Oxford - in October 2021.

p.s.  Dave closed the mission call by announcing the raised threat level here in the UK.  The level is the second most severe, meaning that a terrorist attack is highly likely, similar to what has happened in Vienna and Paris.  There is no definite information, only the knowledge that they are expecting something to happen.  He cautioned everyone to stay away from crowded areas when they go out once a day for exercise.  But it looks like the lockdown will be a protection for all the missionaries.