By Mary O’KEEFE

Everyone is adjusting to social distancing – limiting face-to-face contact with others to reduce the spread of COVID-19 – but that does not mean people have to miss out on welcoming home loved ones.

Members of the La Crescenta Ward/Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday celebrated Easter and welcomed home missionaries who returned from working abroad while practicing social distancing. Church members took part in a “car parade,” driving by the missionaries to celebrate their return.

“All those in our congregation who participated were so happy to gather together [social distancing in their cars] to welcome our wonderful missionaries home,” said Melissa Wilson, LDS congregation member. “These kids made sacrifices to serve their missions so valiantly and deserved to be welcomed home.”

Wilson and her husband Craig proposed the idea when they found that other congregations in other states were doing holding car parades. Their son Chad, who was part of the Mexico Torreon Mission, was originally scheduled to return home in June 2021 but came back to La Crescenta in March due to COVID-19. He will return to his mission once the church deems it is safe to send him out again.

“[Chad] was serving in Bermejillo, a very remote area in the middle of Mexico, when the mission leaders required all the missionaries to quarantine in their houses and only go out for food and exercise. A week later he was on a flight back home to the U.S.,” Melissa said. “He arrived on March 29 and self-quarantined for two weeks.”

His family is very thankful for his safe return. Until Chad returned home he didn’t realize how serious the pandemic was since life in Mexico was pretty much unchanged until he was told to self-quarantine.

The missionaries, all in their 20s, included Brianna Jenks, who had completed her Argentina Buenos Aires North Mission, Avery Barnes who was originally scheduled to return in June 2020 but came home in March due to COVID-19 and Dane Artis, who was in the Illinois, Chicago Mission. He was supposed to return in May.

The trip home was unusual for many of the missionaries; not only did many leave their missions early but the flights home were not simple.

“Avery was supposed to come home on June 12 but came home March 12. She had one day to pack and leave. It was stressful because there were a few scenarios that were being discussed but, ultimately, they had no companion for her because she was in Malta. Her companion [in Italy] was finished with her mission but Malta wasn’t letting anyone fly to Italy. If Avery had been in Italy proper she’d still be there.

“The missionary travel office was a rock star and got her through London into LA the night of the shutdown. She was in isolation at home for two weeks. She will not be going back; she starts online school on [April] 28,” said Avery’s mom Gretchen Barnes.

The case for Brianna Jenks was a little bit different. 

“She was due to finish her mission on April 20 but, because she was to start at BYU Idaho on the same day, her mission release date was moved up. Her sister, Kristen, and I went to pick her up in Buenos Aires and she was released on March 9. Our trip was supposed to be for two weeks so that Brianna could visit with members who she had the opportunity to teach while she was in Argentina; however, two days after she was released we had to contact the airline regarding our return because of COVID-19 and the rapidly changing rules Argentina was setting for foreigners,”

said Brianna’s mother Veronica.

When they finally were able to reach someone at the airlines, they discovered that the last flight out of Buenos Aires was in just two and a half hours. They booked the flight, packed and quickly headed to fly back to the U.S.

“Since she’s been home she self-quarantined for two-weeks. She successfully finished her mission in Buenos Aires, Argentina and she is starting online school on April 20,” Veronica added.

Dane was scheduled to return home in late May but arrived on April 8. He and other missionaries had stayed in their apartments for three weeks before he was able to return home. They continued with their missionary work via Facebook. Some of the rules had changed due to the pandemic; he was allowed to call home twice a week instead of just once, which was helpful while his family made arrangements for his return.

“He wanted to ship his mission bike home. [We give a] shout out to Rudy’s Bike Shop in Chicago and Shipbikes.com that were very kind and answered my many calls and got him supplies,” said mom Christine Artis. “I had heard about flights being canceled so I was waiting for that shoe to drop. Sure enough – about 9 p.m. (PST) on April 7 we got a call from a strange Chicago number. It was Dane telling us his flight to Burbank was canceled but the missionary travel office had gotten him on a direct flight into LAX.”

There were only 20 people on Dane’s flight.

“I did not think to send him a mask but fortunately he saw masks for sale in a shop right near the apartment so he was able to buy one for the flight. He is one week into his two weeks of self-isolation. Going out to the car parade was his first time out of the house since he got home. Dane has completed his service. He is scheduled to return to BYUI in January,” she added. “I was crying during the parade … tears of joy … so glad to see people and appreciative of the show of support for my boy.”

  Dena BLOOD, Mary Okeefe