Moving to Billings Montana

Panoramic view from Elk Mountain

I was looking back over the last email to see where things left off.  It seems like all of that was months ago.  I am sure many of you are feeling the same with all the constant changes in our lives.  I think we should all keep a journal of this and make money selling books. 

Monday, we left from the Bailey’s and headed home.  We stopped in Gillette for a “few things” but ended up with a cart full.  We just wanted to make sure we had all we needed to get through the rest of our mission.  Fresh things are the hardest to stock up on.  It is interesting how each area here has different levels of emptiness in the store.  Sheridan was ok, Gillette was pretty rough.  Once you get out in areas like ours, the store shelves were pretty full except for TP.  As of 2 days ago, people from Gillette and Rapid City, SD are now coming to our little towns for groceries because the bigger places are out.  Insane!  One thing that never seems empty are the cookie isles.  

The Big Horn Mountains in Story 

We called Gary to see if he needed anything while we were in Gillette.  He said he was out of donuts and cookies.  He knows priorities.  So we got his favorite donuts and cookies.  He was quite happy about that.  We picked up some stuff of ours from his big freezer as well.

Tuesday, we got back into gear and started checking on “our people.”  We wanted to stay low on visits since we had just come Sheridan, where the first case in Wyoming of the virus was.  Several of the people we visit are quite elderly and we didn’t want to spread this unknowingly.  The Pithan aren’t taking any visitors - they’re being very careful.  We asked if they had everything they needed and they had no hand sanitizer.  So we took some to them.  I knocked on the door, put the sanitizer on the porch, and stepped way back.  Gerry invited us in right away.  I told him, his wife said no.  Then he replies - Well she’s not in charge.  Silly Brother Pithan.  It was a gorgeous day, so we hiked Elk mountain near the Pithan’s.  The view up there is so amazing.  That’s one of the things we love the best about getting to hike.  We are out there, just us and nature - no news, no virus, no worries.  It’s one of the things that is getting us through. We also have much more time prayer and scripture study. There are a lot of people who need our prayers. 

First flower of  spring

Elk Mountain Hike.  Our car is the tiny black speck on the left side of the road

Looking west from the top of the mountain

Happy Hikers

Looking east from the top of the mountain,

Down the middle between the 2 groups of trees, is me.  I have on red.  Walt is at the top of the mountain.

Wednesday night, just as we were getting into bed, we got an email from President Larson (our mission president) to all the Senior Couples in the mission.  It shared with us the announcement from the Prophet and Counselors that senior missionaries ages 60 and older are at an elevated risk of complications from the COVID-19 virus.  As a result, senior missionaries would be returning home.  However, it wasn’t a one-size fits all situation and he would be calling each of us Thursday morning to discuss our individual situations.  Great way to end the night and then try to get some sleep!!

Neither of us got much sleep that night.  We aren’t 60 and weren’t really sure where things stood for us.  We waiting all morning for our phone call.  By 12:00, I wasn’t sure what to do.  I had made plans with Jody Greene to start my Wyoming quilt at 1:30   It would be good bonding and helping each other.  So we texted Pres. Larson to just ask if he was still contacting Senior couples.  With so many changes, so quickly - who knows what was going down.  He texted right back and said he could call in 2 minutes.  All of a sudden we were nervous again.  

Here is how the conversation went down.  He told us we weren’t affected by this new announcement because we were younger than 60.  He also told us there might be a possibility that we would need to transfer to Billings, to serve in the mission office.  There was only one other senior couple that was going to stay and that was because they live in Billings.  That’s tough.  He would let us know as soon as he was sure.  This was a new twist - something we never considered in the possibilities.  

Friday we got news that all missionaries were not permitted to go in ANYONE’s house for any reason.  They could not stress the “for ANY reason” enough.  That sure curtailed our possible things to do.  We almost felt useless.  We can only reach out to people with technology.  It was a little stressful to have so much time on our hands and not knowing if we needed to start packing.  Patience is not one of my better virtues.  We did go to a U-haul place and look into the cost of renting a small truck.  We have the only King size bed in the mission and we planned on taking it with us if we were to move.  We asked about buying some boxes, but the guy’s business is also an auto repair place, so he just gave us all the boxes he had.  That was so nice!!  Friday night, I did sort through the desk and linen closet to divide things into what was here, what we would use in Billings and what would stay packed until we got back home.   Later that evening, I was trying to text President about a question and called him by mistake.  He called right back - I asked my question and then he told us, there was a very strong probability that we would be going to Billings, in fact, an extreme likelihood that we would be going - we could read between the lines.  Still not a sure thing.

Saturday morning, I got a call from our Stake President in PA.  When missionaries are going home, the Stake Presidents are notified.  He said he got a phone call from the Missionary Dept just a bit ago and they said we were on our way home.  What??  I explained what we had been told by President Larson.  So he decided if it was different and we were coming home to let him know.  There is so much changing so fast, I am not surprised that wires get crossed.  I did text President Larson to confirm that we were not being sent home.  He texted back, No, and when could we get to Billings.  Ok - now it’s for real!!!  We told him probably Tuesday evening at the earliest.

Us at our go to place to shop in town.  We were looking for shipping tape for boxes.

So now it’s all official - We are moving to Billings to work in the Mission Office.  We are not sure what we will be in charge of, duties, etc.  We will do our best at whatever we are asked to do.  We have been packing like crazy ever since.  There is always a lot more stuff than you realize.  I guess it’s good to do a little purging now.  It’s hard because we can’t get anyone to help us because of the no visiting rule right now.  Lots of people would help us if they could.  Although we realized that there is the house to clean once the truck is packed.  With us gone, friends could do that for us; and they were totally ok with that when we asked.  We should hear by tomorrow which apartment we will be in and therefore have our new address.

Saturday, Walt wanted to get one more little hike in and decided Hell Canyon would be good.  We hadn’t hiked that yet.  We hiked a bit and were resting by the creek and were wondering how much further.  The trail makes a loop.  We saw a mom and daughters and asked how much further to the end of the loop.  We found out we are only 1/3 of the way done.  The total hike should take between 2-4 hours.  Walt loves a good challenge and figured a way to cut some time off of of that by climbing up the mountain on the left of us.  It was crazy steep.  I can’t believe we made it.  Of course, he hikes that kind of thing all the time.  I am usually resting while he climbs those crazy parts. To make this whole adventure short and to the point, it took quite a bit longer than expected to get back to the trail and by the time we got to the car, we were limping.  There was a lot of up and down mountains.  We hiked for 4 1/2 hours.  We were very grateful to get to our car and that we made it before dark.  Not the best condition to be in when there is packing to do.

Note:  Hell Canyon caught fire back in 2000 and over 83,000 acres were burned.  That is why you see all those trees lying about and sometimes it seems quiet bare.  The views are still spectacular.  

 Good view from the top of the canyon

The rock formation and pine trees are jus so pretty

Really enjoying the weather.  This was at the beginning of the hike

Looking up at the big mountain to climb

Not very often do we hike in snow wearing short sleeves

That little black thing is the trail.  The blue skies here are just amazing

We walked from the other side of that mountain.

Hiking up that steep mountain

Today, we had our Sacrament Meeting with our District with FaceTime.  The rule is no groups over 10.  With us there, our District is 12 missionaries.  Since it was in Gillette, we were great with not driving 3 hours.  Many missionaries shared their testimonies about the Savior, the difficult times we are all facing, and how trusting God is more important than ever.  All missionaries with health problems are being sent home tomorrow.  This is for ALL missionaries, not just in Wyoming.  One of our Elders has asthma, has only been serving for 7 months, and now has to go home.  It’s tough, but there are tougher things to deal with.  The Spirit was strong and made me grateful for the opportunity to know these strong and faithful young adults.  We both shared our testimonies as well.  We will really miss them all.

We were able to FaceTime with the Monn/Wilson grandchildren today.  They are all growing so fast.  It sounds like they are having fun despite being home all the time.  Beth was able to pick up the legos from our house for Emma to try out.  She is interested in them, but Beth wanted to have a trial run before spending the money.  She sent a picture of Emma with the red box of legos.  It brought back some great memories.  That red lego box has been around since Michelle and Beth were little.  

I guess I had better stop now.  There is still more packing to do and we need to be finished by tomorrow night.  I had forgotten how exhausting moving can be.  At least we have young Elders to help load and unload the truck.  We’ll keep everyone posted on any new events.  We never know what’s coming next.  We are so grateful for your support.  I know you would rather have us home, but we seem to be needed now, more than ever.  July will be here soon enough.  We love you all.