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Elder Nelson - Coronavirus

Dear Family,

Mission NewsThis week we dealt with the effects of the corona virus. A few weeks ago the Church quarantined all of the missionaries in the Hong Kong Mission for two weeks. They sent them home to their families for two weeks. Then they reassigned them to other missions. Tuesday we received 2 Hong Kong missionaries. One was Cantonese speaking and he is working with the English elders. The other is Mandarin speaking and he is working with our Mandarin speaking elders.

Friday night we picked up 2 elders from the Mongolia Mission. These elders needed a place to stay overnight before going to their permanent assignments in the US. It was fun to hear how different the Mongolia Mission is. They can do NO proselyting. They don’t were suits and ties. They teach English 15 to 20 hours per week. If someone on the street asks if they are missionaries they say, “No, we are English teachers.” They get some of their teaching pool from the English classes, but most of their contacts come from members. There are 12,000 baptized members and about 1,000 are active. They do a lot of reactivation work. Baptisms are easy because it is difficult to say no in their culture. As a result, retention is a challenge.

It was also fun learn about the food and customs of Mongolia.

The Church was afraid if there was an outbreak of the Corona Virus that the government would shut down the boards and the missionaries would be trapped in the country with poor medical care. The 30 or so English missionaries were transferred home or released. The 30 or so Mongolian missionaries stayed in the country as did the mission president. The mission president’s family went home.

Tuesday I went to a district council in Ashburn. I really enjoyed these missionaries. Thursday I attended the Annandale Zone. Mom went with me this time and that made it more fun. Going to district councils is the most fun thing I do. I really admire and enjoy the young missionaries. I do a little 15 minutes of “training” on remembering the mercies of the Lord with journals and new member conversion stories. The President is asking the missionaries to help new members write their conversion stories. I hope to go to 6 more district councils in the next three weeks.

Fun StuffDerek visited Tuesday night for about 3.5 hours. As always it was a delightful visit. We will miss his visits after we leave.
Elder Perry in our apartment on his way to Idaho Falls Mission from Mongolia.
Elder Perry stayed the night and we took him to the airport

WES News 
No news

Family NewsMaggie turned 2 years old today.

Olivia’s throat is better and she lost a tooth. Grandma Kenney’s house is going on the market next week.

Kate and Tyler are starting soccer.

Lindsey is “enjoying” physiology and other classes.

Chelsea moved into a much bigger house with her roommates. Chelsea would like to buy a “house” in the next couple of months.

We fasted for Matt Perry today and wish him the very best.

Jessica teaches first grade Monday and Wednesday (or Tuesday and Thursday) and every other Friday. She will teach part time next year too.

Have a great week.

Love you all,
Dad

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