Mar. 31, 2020 -- The Day the World Fell Apart

"Don't worry! We're just in red alert!" 

This was the message we received a little while back when they threw us, along with the rest of the world, in quarantine. And now, here we are, living in history. Crossing some uncharted waters.

The astute reader may have noted that last week was the first time I missed my faithful weekly email. (Kudos to you, oh ye faithful.) This was because with the lack of technology for El Salvador missionaries, we were pretty disconnected from everything. They put us in quarantine and we sat there sweating in front of our fans asking, "Do you think this is happening in other parts of the world? I wonder if our families know what's up. You think the virus is in the country or not?" We pretty much had no idea what was going on. About once every two or three days we would get a phone call on our little brick phone and they would put a new quarantine rule or announce that we weren't going to church. All we ever wanted was information! Just to see the church website or something. We didn't really know anything until a week later we got to call home and our parents told us the news. Every time the phone rang it was very exciting and we would sprint over and answer it. 

The quarantine was pretty crazy in El Salvador. It was military and police enforced, and the first day about 70 people were imprisoned for leaving. They said that people could only leave for their job or if it was the head of the household to buy food. We had to sign up for a government traveler tracking program to make it easier to pull us out in an emergency, and this was the summary it gave me on my home for these last months:

"Exercise increased caution when traveling to El Salvador due to crime.

Country Summary: Violent crime, such as murder, assault, rape, and armed robbery, is common. Gang activity, such as extortion, violent street crime, and narcotics and arms trafficking, is widespread. Local police may lack the resources to respond effectively to serious criminal incidents."

Haha, good old El Salvador. I love that place.

So, we entered quarantine. We got a letter for missionaries in their apartments from the mission department full of helpful suggestions like, "do family history," "share the gospel on Facebook," and "watch church videos." We laughed a little about that and imagined doing it on our little nine-button. So, we started doing lessons by phone. It was kind of fun and different, the two of us hunched over the little phone with one ear-bud each. We literally called everyone in our contact list and everyone that had ever been taught within like 4 years that had a phone number. It was kind of crazy. The whole ward and everything. One kind of cool moment was when we called a young woman that has her mission call. After we shared a scripture about missionary service, she said that just that day she had been having some questions and doubts, but just then, we called! I love moments like that. We called our recent convert Allison and shared a scripture. Then we said, "Allison, we'd like to invite you to - [beep beep]" Right then we ran out of minutes on our phone plan. We could sometimes get a member to buy us minutes, but thus began the days of waiting. 

We were just waiting in quarantine for the day to pass so we could sleep and wait for the next day to pass. We were waiting, but we didn't know what for or for how long. Days? Weeks? Months? We played Uno roughly 1000 times, built card houses, cleaned everything a ton, and played every pen and paper game we knew. One day I got super inspired by cousin Devin and did 1000 pushups in one day. I would just crank out 25 every 15 minutes for hours. The little buttons on the phone also make different sounds when you push them, so I learned "Mary Had a Little Lamb" with the phone buttons. My comp also taught me a little guitar, and when I started playing the harmonica, he said, "Now it's really like we're in prison."

Our most exciting moment was when a big old mouse came in the house through the drainage pipes. The ensuing chase involved throwing furniture about, nervously lifting up suitcases and then leaping away when the mouse ran right for our legs. We also accidentally shattered and entire bottle of cologne on the floor. It was only about 6 minutes before my comp chased it out of a room and I swept it out the door like a golf ball, but it was very exciting. 

Later on they told us we would be reassigned and were going home. It is hard to explain how big this surprise was and how hard it hit us, so I won't right now. More on that towards the end. They called us and told us a bus would come by and to be ready. Only the Americans left that day because the US embassy required that we all leave. We had to wear a mask the whole time and the mission rented a bus that picked a bunch of us up. Once on the bus, we were headed to stay the night with the APs. We passed 7 military checkpoints. We had to carry documents from the church, government, and embassy saying that we were authorized to travel. They sometimes asked who we were and where we were going, but didn't give us any trouble. That night we slept 18 missionaries in the same house. It was fun to have everyone together. Just kind of a happy and nostalgic atmosphere. Then we left at 6 in the morning to hit the airport. More military checkpoints. It was empty empty empty. Just us there. We got on an airplane full of missionaries to make it home by Sunday. We were almost 200 strong. Before we hit Salt Lake, we sang hymns in Spanish, and then when we were close enough that we started recognizing things on the ground, we sang "The Star Spangled Banner" followed by lots of cheering. It was super cool. Probably not many times in the history of the world that a choir more than 100 strong has sung hymns above the cloud level. One of the flight attendants filmed us. Another older flight attendant said that she had worked for the airline for 48 years, and this was the best flight she'd ever been on. She said we were all great examples to each other, to our church, and to our country, and that this was a special memory for her. 

After getting on the bus at 6:00 AM, we got off the airplane and got through customs and the baggage claim by about 7:30 PM. We found the whole church travel department guiding us to a parking garage, where all our parents were waiting in their cars. Reunited with the family again! It was so cold. Half the temperature of El Salvador. We were driving home and could see the snow on the mountains and everything was a little brown. We got home and I lay down on the carpet and took a warm shower. Everything here is so clean. I think what is the most weird for me is how I have been doing crazy things and changing a ton, and then I come back and everything is pretty much the same. Familiar streets, same house. It is just sort of surreal to me that this normal world existed all along even when I had left it behind and lived in the jungle taking bucket showers and using mosquito nets. I think all my siblings were super excited to see me except for Starling. She had no idea who I was and was pretty terrified. 

So, here we are at home again. Waiting to see what comes next.

The pictures this week include some sort of humorous stories. First, we were sitting there in quarantine and I went into our room and saw a big old spider on the wall. Looking a little closer, it had a big white mass of eggs and babies underneath it. Not only did we have this spider, but we were about to have 100 more. But we are talking BIG. It was hairy and had legs like pencils. I thought it was a harmless tarantula and scooped it up in a dust pan and tossed it outside. Then my companion told me it is actually what is known as a horse spider. It is so called because it has enough venom that it kills horses with it's bite. The whole rest of the night I had those phantom feelings of bugs crawling on my skin when there's nothing there, haha. A little scary that that was living with us. And that I picked it up in a dust pan. I don't know what I was thinking. The picture of the four blonde missionaries was from when we were in the AP's house with 18 missionaries. The four of us happened to be sitting on the stairs together, and one of them leaned over to me and said, "I think that right here we have the four whitest people in the house." I agreed and said that we were probably also the four whitest people in the country. All the missionaries in the house agreed and we took a photo to commemorate it. 

So, here is my last story. The one I wanted to save for the end. While we were sitting in quarantine on Saturday night, the zone leaders called and said we were going to do a conference call. They then told us that all of us would be going home and then be reassigned. It was just like a punch to the gut, completely out of nowhere. I wanted to feel sad but was just in shock. I felt like my whole little world had broken into pieces. We tried to distract ourselves until bed, but couldn't get into Uno or anything. The only thing that felt good was taking an ice-cold shower. Then we went to bed, but I just laid there all night and could not sleep. It was like when Lehi told his family to leave Jerusalem, but I was feeling more like Laman and Lemuel. We were fasting at the time, and I remembered how Nephi prayed when he had to leave his home and his heart was softened. I kept fasting and praying all night to be able to have comfort and understand the will of the Lord, but I did not feel like anything changed. 

I still felt really down, but the next day was Sunday. We had received permission to bless the sacrament in our houses. So, we put on our suits, laid a white towel on the table, quietly swept the floor, and pulled up our little plastic chairs. We carefully laid two small pieces of bread and two small cups of water on napkins and reverently covered them. Then, as we sang to ourselves a hymn in Spanish, I just started tearing up. We knelt and prayed and blessed the bread and water, that we would take it in memory of Christ and always remember him. I suddenly felt sort of silly for being so angry and frustrated about something as small as serving in another place. I remembered someone else who suffered far more than I have or ever will. Someone who knows exactly how I feel and has greater plans for me. I felt the spirit bear a powerful witness of the sacrifice of our Savior. I felt of his great love for me as tears welled up in my eyes. Never had the sacrament been so powerful to me. I will forever cherish the memory of that day in that dusty little green, cinder-block house with a sheet metal roof and the soft morning sunlight filtering through the slatted windows. There, two boys far from their homes and in the middle of global panic were able to pray, remember God, and feel his peace. I was able to have my heart changed and be less like Laman and Lemuel and more like Nephi. 

I thank God for His plan and his infinite wisdom. I glory in the chance I have had to serve him. I am grateful that he was patient enough to love and teach a boy far from his family who needed an answer to prayer. I know that whatever happens now is part of His plan. It will be okay. El Salvador will always be a part of me that I take wherever I go. 

God answers prayers. 

We can get bitter, or we can get better.

I am at peace.

Elder Harris