ELDER JIMMY LEBARON: March 2020

Mon 3/16/2020 2:33 PM

Dear parents,

How grateful we are to serve with your sons and daughters in the Lord’s cause. We love these young women and young men as our own. Please know that with the coronavirus, or COVID-19, affecting people here and around the world, our highest priority right now continues to be your missionary’s personal health and safety.

To help ensure the missionaries’ continued physical and spiritual well-being, we are following the inspired and well-informed direction of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, our Area Presidency, and the Missionary Department. We also are instructing the missionaries in following local and national government guidelines and precautions, reminding them to:

Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
Stay in their apartment whenever they themselves are sick. Avoid touching their eyes, nose, and mouth.
Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces with household cleaning spray or wipes.
Wash their hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds (which should always be done if their hands are visibly dirty), and, if soap and water are not readily available, to use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.

We are asking your missionary to contact us immediately if they feel sick so that we can involve health care professionals and our area medical advisers. If your missionary has chronic or critical health issues that we need to be aware of, we also invite you to reply to this email to make sure that we address any concerns. We understand very well that the current situation may be stressful and cause concerns for some of our missionaries and their families, but we will watch over your missionary carefully and will communicate with them often.

Currently, our mission boundaries has one of the lowest counts of coronavirus cases at 24. Missionaries are continuing to find and teach with adjustments that keep them safe. If it becomes necessary for our missionaries to only work from their apartments, we will provide additional funds for them to purchase food and supplies. We will help the missionaries prepare and make sure their needs are met.

These are challenging times and circumstances, but to us this also is an opportunity to continue sharing the gospel. In the event that our missionaries are required to work primarily from their apartments, they will continue to focus on their missionary purpose by teaching using technology, studying the scriptures and Preach My Gospel, language learning, family history, online community service and other activities as needed. This is also a significant opportunity for missionaries to work closely with local Church leaders to reach out to new and returning members, families where some individuals are not yet members, and members with special ministering needs. Our missionaries will continue to go outside for exercise and fresh air while observing wise guidelines for personal contact. If we transition to working from missionary apartments, we will instruct them that they may communicate with you twice a week to share their status and experiences.

All of these activities will help them continue the Lord’s work, grow spiritually, and bless those in the communities they serve.

Going forward, we will continue to send updates to you as mission circumstances evolve.

Please be assured that we are completely dedicated to keeping your missionary healthy and safe. And we are most grateful for our loving Heavenly Father’s supporting hand in caring for them. May he continue to abundantly bless you and your family, each and every missionary, and the people we have been called to serve.

With our greatest love and appreciation,

President and Sister Vest

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Tue 3/17/2020 9:26 AM

Dear Parents, in our effort to communicate, we would like to update you with the most recent changes occurring in the mission, and how we are caring for your missionaries.

As of today, the Church has asked that all the missionaries self-isolate for 14 days.

We are ready for this; the missionaries have already stocked their apartments with food and necessary supplies. During this time, they will be able to leave their apartments twice a day and take a walk using safe distance practices.

Each missionary has been given guidelines on things that they can do during this 2-week time period when they will stay indoors.
The missionaries will stay on their purpose of ministering and bringing others to Christ with the use of technology.
The missionaries are now able to call home twice during the week. P-day and one other time of their choice.

The church, in a spirit of being cautious and careful, has identified missionaries from our mission who have health risks that could be exacerbated by a coronavirus. They have gone home today; we love them and know that their safety is very important.

Please know that we love your missionaries and feel their safety and well-being is our priority.

Sister Lund

New York Syracuse Mission

Secretary to President Vest

(315) 736-2308

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Fri 3/20/2020 2:03 PM

COVID – 19 Update – New York Syracuse Mission

Thursday, March 20, 2020

Current cases inside the boundaries of the New York Syracuse Mission: 182

Starting Tuesday morning all missionaries have been working from their apartments. This is a real change for them as in the past we always wanted them out of their apartments 😊. It is an adjustment and in some respects is like learning all over again. We are making sure that they are leaving twice a day to go outside and get fresh air, take a walk, throw a frisbee. Of course, when they are out on these walks, they are distancing themselves from others. Each of these walks/exercise times is about 30 minutes.

Our desire and that of our leaders is to help them to continue to be focused on their purpose to bring souls to Christ. They are finding, teaching, lifting, and inspiring those around them. Many missionaries are reporting they are very busy with the work and some even report they are teaching more now than before. Miracles are happening all over the mission and the missionaries are sharing those miracles in their zone groups. I wish you could see them. We have many people being baptized tomorrow in the mission and we have many people in the last 3 days that have been put on date for baptism via video lesson. It is critical to us that they continue to feel purposeful in this most important work and keep their focus on the sacred nature of their calling. It is also very important that they are healthy physically, emotionally, and mentally. We want to make sure that they have time each day to refresh, renew, and unwind as well. Keeping that balance on both sides is important.

I thought it would be good for you to know a few details about their days. The morning routine is the same as always with lots of flexibility and time for them to prepare for the day. From 6:30 am to 10 am they have 3 hours of time to exercise, eat, dress, refresh, do personal study. From 10 am to 6 pm they have 4 hours of time where they are not proselyting (lunch, dinner, walks, companion studies) and 4 hours of time where they are finding, teaching, inspiring others. This gives them the ability to spread their time working and their time refreshing throughout the day.

Many have asked what they can do to help their missionaries. Here are a few of my thoughts: 1) Build their faith in Christ. As you send notes to them during the week, please consider the impact of your messages to them. Positive thoughts and faith-filled encouragement can truly help them. 2) Turn them to the Savior for strength and help. As many of them struggle with the uncertainty swirling around us, I am trying to turn them to their Savior and their loving Father in Heaven. This reliance upon Them is one of the greatest things they can learn on a mission and for their lives. 3) Send them these things: Handwritten notes of encouragement, messages filled with faith and hope, Twizzlers, variety packs of chips, aggie ice cream, and other food items. Please do not send them games or playing cards, etc. Their call packet asks them not to bring these items and they have an important work to do. As missionaries continue to engage in inviting others to Christ, to the best of their ability, they are finding great fulfillment and a sense of purpose.

Today on a call with all missionaries, we encouraged them to take quick breaks as needed for 15-20 minutes throughout the day. This is in addition to the 4 hours of time that they already have. During these quick breaks, we invited them to use the Calm App and do meditation exercises, journal, exercise, draw, or color.

We are striving to stay in constant communication with them via phone, text, GroupMe, and ZOOM calls. We had a mission-wide devotional last night via zoom – our son Kolby did a magic trick for them, we had a brief spiritual message, sang a hymn and prayed together. Today at 12:30 pm we had another mission-wide ZOOM call to provide them tools, help, and resources that will assist them in their efforts. This included ways to plan effectively under this new model, setting goals, spreading the work and the times of refreshing throughout the day, effective finding methods using area book, and working with members during this time.

Currently, we have no instances in the mission of any missionary exhibiting any symptoms that would resemble coronavirus. We feel so blessed. We continue to pray diligently for them and their safety. They are doing amazingly well. We will continue to have mission-wide devotionals three nights a week to cheer them on and to see their beautiful faces.

We pray together as a mission every morning at 6:31 AM and invite you to join us (either at your 6:31 or our 6:31). Our prayer is for one another and always includes praying to find the elect and that we can flood the mission with positivity and optimism.

We love your missionaries and promise our very best to help them through this extraordinary time. They are doing well, learning to rely on their Savior, and bringing souls to Christ.

President & Sister Vest

Being hipster by drinking out of a Mason jar 😁

The Jensens (branch president family) dropped off a care package!

We get two 30 minute walks every day, and we have a high school football field right behind our house, so we just go throw stuff around and look awesome!