Humidity Dropping . . . Headed Back to the Desert!

Like many of you, this has been a really rough couple of weeks for us! It started with the unexpected death of a young sister missionary serving in our mission. She was NOT infected with COVID-19 but had a short illness that sounded like a typical GI bug.  So sad and so sudden. We were still trying to process that news when another young sister in our mission was in a bad accident and was life flighted to the hospital. She ended up having surgery for a broken back and is now paralyzed below the waist. We got to spend some time with her at the hospital before the mission president and his wife could get there, and we hope that we were able to be of some comfort. John was able to go into the trauma room where he was able to look at her CT scan and more importantly was able to help give her a blessing. Her parents were able to get there the next day before she came out of surgery, and just today, the doctors were able to give her some hope that she'll get some function back. In the meantime, this whole COVID - 19 thing was ramping up, and last night we got the news that they want us to return home and keep serving as an AMA and assistant there. Our hearts are breaking at the thought of leaving behind this beautiful city, the amazing missionaries, and the friends we have made here. But, we have made some precious memories and friendships that we will treasure forever! We are excited to be able to spend more time with our kids and grandkids (once this virus moves along) and we are grateful that we will get to continue serving thanks to the technology that makes that possible. Many senior missionary couples just had to return early and be released, so I'm trying to look at the upside of this experience. 

This is the first day that things started to get crazy at the store. Luckily, we had been stocking up on extra supplies for a week or so before hand,  or we might not have had any bottled water or toilet paper! 

This was the first time I had noticed this line that says, Hurricane Harvey Flood Line 2017. It is hard to imagine this beautiful area that we live in underwater, but it was! I can't imagine living through that. President and Sister Hewlett had just gotten here in July and that August they had this event happen - the mission home and their personal things were flooded. Now they are finishing up with this whole crazy world  turning upside down! They are so strong.

I had to document the pollen that gets all over the cars and sidewalks here in springtime - no wonder a lot of people have trouble with allergies here!

This was the baptism of Maria, a sweet girl who was in the Sunday school class that we taught. Her baptism was when they had suggested no gatherings larger than 100, so we were following that, but we were also suggesting that missionaries shouldn't hug or shake hands. We decided that this is nearly impossible in our ward - they love to hug and kiss!! 

These sweet Hermanas - we are going to miss them!! Luckily one is from Las Vegas and one from Utah, so we will meet again soon.

Later we took some supplies to their apartment because one of them had a bad cold - 

It is fun to see how completely different the Sisters and Elders apartments are from each other!

Our first big roach sighting of the season!

A pretty red cardinal that we saw on one of our morning walks. 

 We were able to borrow a couple of bikes from the mission and have enjoyed exploring Kingwood.

It's been so nice during this very stressful time - luckily the weather is beautiful right now.

There are so many great paths in Kingwood!

Like many of you we have been having more rainy days lately. We'll miss out on the really big summer rainstorms though. 

We will miss seeing the cranes and ducks on our walks. Soon we will be back to road runners and coyotes!

While we all have a lot more down time lately, we have seen people heading to the river to fish. That is a good way to do social distancing!

The next time we went to the local H.E.B. they were limiting the number of shoppers. The line waiting to get into the store wound through the garden area and we were all trying to stay six feet away from the other shoppers. It moved very quickly though. I guess that is our new reality for a while. The curbside on-line shopping is a week to ten days out so you have to really plan ahead for that option!

We enjoyed these fun garden animals while we waited.

People have been trying to support the neighborhood restaurants - they were doing a brisk curb side business.

This patio dining area is usually crowded in the evenings. 

We have been so busy for the last two weeks helping the mission presidents in our ten missions decide which missionaries are at greater risk from the virus. They have been deciding who to send home and who they can keep. This has been a heartbreaking process for these mission presidents and for the young missionaries too. But, I am looking forward to seeing the miracles that come from this. The missionaries are still finding and teaching and baptizing. This is the Lord's work and it will continue. We are so happy to be part of it!

So, we topped of the car with this amazingly cheap gas at Costco and we'll start the long road home. 

Goodbye for now Texas, it has been fun getting to know you a little better.