We are locked -down, quarantined, and all the other fancy words that we have been assigned for during this time. Our time is a little different in Ecuador. We started March 17 with restrictions that quickly turned into more strict restrictions consisting of us being able to drive one day a week, only to the grocery, pharmacy or banking. Since Jon and I are over age, which is hard to come to terms with, we are not allowed to do any of these things. If we do go out which has been just a few times, it is to the seminary for a short visit or pick up things. We must wear a mask and wear gloves at all times as well as in our cars. Curfew starts at 2 pm - 5 am and no movement allowed on weekends. At the beginning, we had reminders of a helicopter with a siren and a loudspeaker to remind us to be in the house. The other day Jon saw a cloud of smoke outside our neighborhood and upon further investigation realized it was not smoke but there was a team of people in hazmat suits fumigating the inside of a car! When he drove into our neighborhood one time the guard had his hazmat suit on and sprayed down the tires of the truck! Our order will be re-evaluated on May 31.
It is hard to imagine that everyone in the World is sheltering in-home just like we are. Although some have fewer restrictions than others. We have been thinking about this and it is not that difficult for us. We have been away from family for many years, and when we lived in Venezuela the last years we lived at a campground away from most civilization. I, Shirley, work at home every day, and it can be weeks before I am around other people other than my weekly walks to the mall to buy groceries. It has been nice to have Jon home every day even though he is buried in paperwork. The days seem to fly by and the cabinets and refrigerator seem to never run out of food. We are so blessed!
Thank goodness we live on a large property where 2 other family units live also. Carlos, our neighbor is so kind to do our grocery shopping. We are catching up on computer work and many projects. Jon has a major accounting project that will take several months to complete. We do, however, seem to find other projects to distract us for a bit.
We are so, so thankful for our connections to family and friends and have weekly family chats. At some times we feel more connected to our family and friends than we did before, through zoom, bible studies, and webinars. The one thing that we enjoy the most is being able to hear many church services online. Shirley's Sunday is full with following 5 different services. I, Shirley, feel that I am being mentored by our daughter Michelle who works at The Foundry Publishing, and is providing Live Bible Studies.
Ecuador has made the International news a couple of times because of the devastation of one of the coastal provinces. Thank goodness it is more or less under control. We don't really know the real numbers or the real news. Our churches are taking precautions as they deliver food to the ones in their churches and neighborhoods. All the Compassion Centers are closed but the pastors and teachers are connecting with the families through online videos or calls and delivering food.
Some of us will come out of this different, different sizes, different hair style or color, educated, new talents, increasing of family size, but we will all come out stronger!
May God continue to bless you and give you courage as things begin to slowly open up to the new normal. Normal will never be the same.
We have enclosed pictures of some of our Covid-19 activities.