As I mentioned in my last post, once we arrived safely home from Barcelona, we started working on trying to get Josh home.

Luckily BYU Hawaii had suggested pretty early on that people who could go home should go home, so Zandra was easily able to get a flight. She arrived home the same day we did but went to quarantine with her Mom.

We had to work on getting Josh home. He was in Botswana with his Dad. Luckily COVID 19 had not reached there yet, but we saw the airlines and flights home were becoming more and more limited so we were working on finding them earlier flights. We knew their original flight home was going to be cancelled, and so were scrambling for alternates. This was all completed by the fact that Josh and his dad were so remote that they did not have wifi access. His dad would borrow someone’s emergency satellite phone to call for updates and info. We finally managed to get them to Johannesburg (last flight before South African Air stopped flying) and then to Abu Dhabi, then home. Close to 40 hours travelling, but we go Josh home safe and sound too.

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He was happy to be home too!

Reggie was anxiously awaiting everyone’s arrival home! lol

During all this, we were keeping in regular contact with Zach. Tahiti had it’s first case and didn’t seem like a big deal. Of course, like everywhere else, it quickly escalated, and within several day, Zach was in quarantine in his apartment. Now I know quarantine is hard for all – but it’s super hard when you are a missionary – with no technology, away from all your friends and family and not able to do what you are sacrificing everything in your life to do. They were creative with playing games and trying to reach out to people (but they have flip phones which require credit to call and text out – but their credit quickly ran out). However, there was a lot of staring at walls and entering the land of anxiety of “what ifs”.

Finally, one day, they were told that they were being sent home. While Zach wanted to stay in Tahiti, he only wanted to stay if he could continue doing the work he was called to do. It became abundantly clear that life was at a standstill there like it was here.

The next few days were a roller coaster of emotions. He said that there was so much unknown and uncertainty. One day they were told they were going home. The next day they were told they had to stay because the commercial flights were stopping. We were keeping up with the facebook posts his mission president was posting, but they too struggled with getting firm details. They were trying to figure out how to get about 140 missionaries home!

Finally, late one night, we received a flight plan for Zach. I felt such relief – and sadness – that his mission was taking this turn. We found out that he was one of 30 missionaries that had a confirmed flight. The next day, another 30 had their flight confirmed. They were all on the last international commercial flight our of Tahiti (domestic flights had stopped several days before). The others they were still trying to figure out…

Zach was scheduled to come home on Sunday, March 29th. He took an overnight flight on the 28th to San Francisco. There he was to catch a connecting flight to Toronto. Unfortunately, his flight to Toronto was cancelled. We had no idea if he had another option to get home or if he would be in limbo. Luckily Gabe took the reservation number of Zach’s literary that we had and started hunting around the different options and found that he had been put on a plane for Denver, then a connection to Toronto. (Remember Zach had no phone to call us – but we also later found out that he knew when he boarded the flight to San Fran that he was being re-routed – he just didn’t know that we weren’t yet aware).

I go a little crazy tracking the flight… wanted to make sure that the flight really did leave Papeete!

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I loved this picture I saw on Facebook:

We worked on some welcome home signs:

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It all worked out well. We were so disappointed that we were not able to greet him at the airport:( His dad went so he could see him for a few minutes before he would be quarantined again. He sent me this picture:

However, it was awesome to see him when he got home. It was so exciting – mixed in with relief, happiness, sadness, overwhelm, joy (so amazing how so many emotions can co-exist). It was so great to just hug him so tight!

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He got to talk to Gabe on FaceTime too:

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We stayed up late as he emptied out his entire suitcase in our family room. We enjoyed counting his 28 new ties, haha.

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The next night we had a zoom welcome home party (I wish I had taken a picture – I forgot) and so far we have just been enjoying having him home! We were excited to have Sam and Zandra come join us too – we are all quarantining with him for two weeks! It’s so nice to have the house filled (but hard to keep up with the food! Luckily we have some awesome friends who have been picking stuff up on our behalf in between deliveries!)

The kids spent some time together just hanging out. Zach is obsessed with his rubix cube, lol. Zandra gave him a haircut, and then Zach and Zandra gave Sam a haircut. Josh is holding firm on his mop of hair, lol.

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We ordered in schwarma poutine for his welcome home dinner:

Truly a crazy time in our lives. It was a crazy time to be out on a mission. I’m grateful that Zach is back but know that he is excited to return (hopefully to Tahiti ) to finish off his mission at some point. But, my heart and prayers are out there with many of his buddies who are still in Tahiti (they are awaiting charter flights that the church is trying to arrange, but it is hard with all the restrictions from different countries). Also thinking and praying for my nephew who is still in Peru. Peru has been on lockdown so the church has not been able to get them out either. They will all come home safe and sound, but it is certainly not the mission they expected!