Hundreds of LDS missionaries return to U.S. due to COVID-19
The unfolding COVID-19 pandemic has impacted every aspect of life from education, to travel, to social interaction and even how we go to the grocery store. It comes to no surprise, then, that its collateral damage has reached religious worship and their outreaches of service.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sends thousands of missionaries to serve and teach their message of Christ all over the world each year. The church has nearly 400 missions in the United States as well as around the world.
To be eligible to serve, missionaries must be single, within the ages of 18 – 25 and found worthy to represent the church through interviews and an application process. Beyond this, they must be physically, as well as mentally, able to serve.
Single men typically serve for two years while single women typically serve for 18 months, although other options are available. Married couples who are retired also have the option to serve as missionaries together. During this time, missionaries remain in their missions, away from their family and can only communicate with their loved ones through email, phone calls or skype. They devote their time wholly to giving service and are always with a companion.
A missionary’s duties centers around social interactions, sometimes even going door to door to connect with people. With the recent COVID-19 outbreaks and calls for social distancing and self-isolation, missionary service has become not only difficult but potentially dangerous for those serving in highly affected areas or who are at high risk themselves.
The church administrators quickly began making statements concerning missionary service and implemented plans to keep missionaries safe. In late March, a serge of missionaries were sent to their home nations, disrupting their service.
One of those affected by this was Regan Robins from Logan, Utah, who was nearly done with his mission in Kumasi, Ghana in mid-March.
“The process coming home was a little crazy,” Robins said. “We got a call on Wednesday telling us that the mission was closing and that we had to pack our bags and be ready to leave at any moment.”
On March 21, Robins, along with all the missionaries from his mission and a few from neighboring areas, were gathered at the mission president’s house, working to make sure everyone would be able to get home as quickly, safely and effectively as possible.
Early the next morning, Regan and his companion were able to begin their trek home by flying to Accra, Ghana. While waiting in a 10-hour layover, they heard over the intercom Ghana’s borders were shutting down.
Robins boarded the last plane leaving the country.
From Ghana, he flew first to London, then Boston, then lastly to Salt Lake City where he was greeted by his family.
On March 18, when Robins was first informed he would be leaving, there were only 585 confirmed cases of COVID-19 scattered across the continent of Africa. When he left on March 22, the number had more than doubled.
As could be expected, the sudden transition home has felt strange for Robins.
“It didn’t feel real for the first couple days,” Robins said. “It has been a pretty bittersweet experience because there was just no time for a heads up. I still was planning on being around and seeing a couple people before I left Ghana, but we weren’t able to. It feels really weird to be home.”
Young adult missionaries aren’t the only ones affected by these times: senior couples have had to cut their missionary service short too. One such couple Becky and Brad Bruton from Ashburn, VA who were serving in the Texas, McAllen mission. They presided over the small Latter-day Saint branch in Roma, Texas, along the Rio Grande river.
The Bruton’s case was different from Robins because they had completed their six-month call when the notice to return home was issued. However, they had volunteered to stay for an additional three months in the mission. They were only two weeks into their extension when they were brought home.
“We chose not to have a TV in Roma but we did listen to the news on the radio and we read the news on the Internet,” Brad Bruton explained over email. “We saw the spread of coronavirus from China to Europe and on to the States. We saw in church sources that missionaries were being evacuated from some areas. That said, the news for us to go kind of fell on us unexpectedly. On Wednesday, March 18, we got a Wassap message about 8:30 a.m. that senior missionaries over 60—we’re 67 and 66‚— were to pack up, go home, and stay home— without delay.”
The couple spent the next two days cleaning, packing, organizing the Branch’s business and dropping off all the younger missionaries, now quarantined, before loading up their car and driving 1,800 miles home to Virginia. On March 18, there were only 82 confirmed cases in Texas. By March 21, there were more than 200.
Despite their quick departure, the Brutons are grateful and optimistic.
“We recognize the wisdom of sending us home,” Brad Bruton said. “We already had two Sundays without meetings. Then we were instructed, for the well-being of our members and for ourselves, not to make home visits. So we couldn’t take cookies, couldn’t do spiritual thoughts. We had several members in their 70’s and even 80’s. Our visits to them were dangerous to them. Being in such a limited situation, it made sense to come home.”
Due to their being many cases of the virus in southern Texas, the Brutons remained in isolation for two weeks after returning home. They took this time to thoroughly clean their house and belongings and are now adjusting to quarantine life.
“Above all,” Brad Bruton said, “we’ve been well and healthy so we feel really blessed. We’ve refilled our freezer and pantry fairly successfully and easily. So we’ve adjusted to the coronavirus period but look forward to adjusting to the post coronavirus period.”
On March 31, the church’s First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles released a letter to the church outlining what missionary service will look like moving forward, saying:
“The COVID-19 pandemic has required many adjustments to missionary service, including the need for large numbers of missionaries to return to the United States and Canada from around the world. The ability to reassign these missionaries — even on a temporary basis — has now become more limited by changing conditions. This has created a measure of uncertainty for many missionaries and their families.”
This letter explains that there is no certainty of reassignment for missionaries brought home early, as well as no guarantee missionaries who have received their calls will be able to report. This uncertainty has disrupted missionaries not only currently serving, but who had planned to serve.
I myself have been personally affected by this. At the time of the outbreak and quarantine orders, I was in the midst of preparing my application papers to become a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I planned on turning my papers at the beginning of April to receive my call between the end of April to the beginning of May and report to the Missionary Training Center around April 1.
Through the confusion, I still planned on putting my papers in on time and serving, until the new statement was issued. I have since decided to wait to put my papers in until the current situation dies down enough to allow me to serve at a full, unaltered capacity.
Everyone has been affected by this current outbreak in one way or another and it is no surprise that it has likewise impacted missionary service. Until this pandemic calms, it looks as though missionary service will continue to be heavily monitored for the safety of all missionaries as well as those they come in contact with.
For more information on how the pandemic is affecting missionaries and all aspects of worship, you can go to the Church’s newsroom page by following this link.
@dara_marie_